commander · Gonti, Canny Acquisitor
Grand Larceny (OTC).
A Sultai theft deck led by Gonti, Canny Acquisitor — send evasive creatures at opponents to steal cards from their libraries and exile zones, then cast their best spells against them.
The Commanders
Grand Larceny is a Sultai theft deck from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Gonti, Canny Acquisitor makes your creatures into thieves — when they deal combat damage to players, you exile cards from that opponent's library and can cast them. The deck is built around evasive creatures that reliably connect on attacks, maximizing the number of stolen cards you get access to each turn. The strategy gets better the more powerful your opponents' decks are.
Gonti, Canny Acquisitor generates steal triggers from combat damage. Every evasive attacker that connects is a card from an opponent's library that you can now cast. With enough unblockable or flying creatures, you're effectively adding your opponents' decks to your hand each turn. The deck benefits directly from facing powerful opponents — the stronger the deck across the table, the more valuable your stolen cards become.
Key Cards
Thief of Sanity
A 2/2 flying creature that exiles the top three cards of an opponent's library when it deals combat damage, letting you cast one of them. Flying makes it reliably connect without needing setup. This is the deck's most efficient single theft engine per mana — three mana for a card advantage machine that steals a card every turn. With Gonti generating additional steal triggers, hitting with Thief of Sanity and three other creatures in a single turn exiles fifteen-plus opponent cards.
Villainous Wealth
Pay X in black, green, and blue mana — exile X cards from target opponent's library and cast any number of nonland cards among them for free. In a game with ten to fifteen available mana, Villainous Wealth exiles ten to fifteen cards and casts the best ones for nothing. Against any powerful Commander deck, Wealth hits multiple bombs and usually closes games immediately. The deck's green ramp package ensures you have the mana for a lethal Wealth before opponents can close out the game otherwise.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
The classic theft creature and the original Gonti. When it enters the battlefield, it exiles the top four cards of target opponent's library and you may cast one for free. Blink Gonti repeatedly with Conjurer's Closet or bounce effects to steal multiple cards per turn cycle. This is the most reliable single-card theft engine in the deck — entering and immediately giving you access to an opponent's best cards. Combined with Gonti, Canny Acquisitor's triggers, every attack connects with multiple steal effects.
Felix Five-Boots
An alternate commander and major evasion enabler. Felix Five-Boots gives all your creatures ward 2 and makes them deal combat damage as though they aren't blocked. Combined with unblockable effects, this means every creature you control will always connect — every attack is a guaranteed steal trigger. Ward 2 on all your creatures makes removal expensive and protects the theft engine. With Felix out, the deck reaches full theft capacity every single combat step.
Silent-Blade Oni
A Ninja with ninjutsu that steals cards when it deals combat damage. Silent-Blade Oni exiles cards from an opponent's hand and lets you cast them when it connects. Ninjutsu means it comes in as an unblocked attacker — swap in Silent-Blade Oni with an unblocked creature and immediately steal from an opponent's hand. Hitting hand cards rather than library cards often produces the most immediate threats, since opponents are holding their most relevant spells in hand.
Triton Shorestalker
One mana, unblockable. Triton Shorestalker can't be blocked. At one mana, this is the cheapest guaranteed combat damage trigger in the deck. Equip it with equipment that grants abilities or put Ninjutsu creatures behind it — every turn Shorestalker connects and ensures Gonti's triggers fire. It may only deal one damage but it guarantees your commander's ability activates every turn. The deck runs multiple cheap unblockable creatures specifically to maximize combat damage triggers each turn.
How to Play
Turns one and two establish mana and deploy cheap evasive creatures like Triton Shorestalker and Slither Blade. Turn three brings Gonti, Canny Acquisitor. Turn four and five are about swinging with evasion and beginning to accumulate stolen cards. The deck snowballs rapidly once you're casting opponents' spells against them — their removal answers get used on your attackers, their win conditions get used against them.
The midgame depends on what you've stolen. A theft deck playing the best spell from four different opponents' libraries each turn generates an overwhelming advantage. Villainous Wealth is your closing bomb — save it for fifteen-plus mana when you can exile and cast a half-dozen of the best cards in any opponent's deck. Win through combat damage backed by stolen spells, or cast Villainous Wealth for a definitive pile of opponent threats that closes the game in one turn.