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 turns your creatures into thieves. When they deal combat damage to a player, you exile cards from that opponent's library and can cast them. The deck wants evasive creatures that connect on attacks, since every hit means more stolen cards. The stronger your opponents' decks, the better the strategy gets.
Gonti, Canny Acquisitor turns combat damage into steal triggers. Every evasive attacker that connects hands you a card from an opponent's library to cast. Stack up enough unblockable or flying creatures and you're adding your opponents' decks to your hand each turn. Facing powerful opponents helps you directly: the stronger the deck across the table, the more valuable your stolen cards become.
Key Cards
Thief of Sanity
A 2/2 flyer that exiles the top three cards of an opponent's library when it connects, and you cast one of them. Flying means it gets through without any setup. Per mana, it's the deck's most efficient theft engine: three mana for a card every turn. Gonti adds its own steal triggers on top, so hitting with Thief of Sanity and three other creatures in one turn exiles fifteen or more opponent cards.
Villainous Wealth
Pay X in black, green, and blue mana to exile X cards from target opponent's library, then cast any number of nonland cards among them for free. With ten to fifteen mana available, that's ten to fifteen exiled cards and the best ones cast for nothing. Against a powerful Commander deck, Wealth hits multiple bombs and usually ends the game on the spot. The green ramp package gets you to a lethal Wealth before opponents can close out on their own.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
The original Gonti and the classic theft creature. When it enters, it exiles the top four cards of target opponent's library and you may cast one for free. Blink it with Conjurer's Closet or bounce effects to steal several cards per turn cycle. It's the deck's most reliable single-card theft engine: it lands and hands you an opponent's best card right away. Add Gonti, Canny Acquisitor's triggers and every attack carries multiple steal effects.
Felix Five-Boots
An alternate commander and the deck's big evasion enabler. Felix Five-Boots gives all your creatures ward 2 and makes them deal combat damage as though they weren't blocked. Pair that with unblockable effects and every creature connects, so every attack is a guaranteed steal trigger. Ward 2 across the board makes removal expensive and keeps the theft engine intact. With Felix out, the deck hits full theft capacity every combat step.
Silent-Blade Oni
A Ninja with ninjutsu that steals cards on combat damage. When Silent-Blade Oni connects, it exiles a card from an opponent's hand and lets you cast it. Ninjutsu brings it in as an unblocked attacker: swap it in behind an unblocked creature and steal from an opponent's hand right away. Hand cards often beat library cards for immediate threats, since opponents keep their most relevant spells in hand.
Triton Shorestalker
One mana, and it can't be blocked. That makes Triton Shorestalker the cheapest guaranteed combat damage trigger in the deck. Hang equipment that grants abilities on it or tuck Ninjutsu creatures behind it, and every turn it connects to fire Gonti's triggers. One point of damage, sure, but it activates your commander's ability every turn without fail. The deck runs several cheap unblockable creatures for exactly this, more combat damage triggers each turn.
How to Play
Turns one and two set up mana and drop cheap evasive creatures like Triton Shorestalker and Slither Blade. Turn three brings down Gonti, Canny Acquisitor. Turns four and five you swing with evasion and start piling up stolen cards. Once you're casting opponents' spells back at them, the deck snowballs fast: their removal gets spent on your attackers and their win conditions turn on their owners.
The midgame depends on what you've stolen. Playing the best spell from four different libraries each turn builds an overwhelming lead. Villainous Wealth is your closing bomb. Save it for fifteen or more mana, when you can exile and cast a half-dozen of the best cards in an opponent's deck. Win with combat damage backed by stolen spells, or fire off Villainous Wealth for a pile of opponent threats that ends the game in one turn.
