If you like turning enemy cards into your cards, this one is for you. In this Commander Deck Tech – Tinybones, Bauble Burglar, I walk through a clean mono black discard shell that pressures hands, steals value from exile, and closes games without needing to swing big. It is simple to pilot but rewards tight timing. We will talk discard engines, payoffs, sequencing, and budget swaps. I’ll also share a few political lines that keep the table from dogpiling you on turn three.
Tinybones, Bauble Burglar asks you to do one thing well. Make people discard. Whenever opponents discard, those cards get exiled with stash counters. On your turn, you can play those stashed cards using any color of mana. There is also an activated ability that makes each opponent discard. The loop is clear. Strip resources, bank them in exile, then spend their stuff to pull ahead.
That plan fits Commander pods because discard scales. One card that hits each opponent is three cards worth of impact. Tinybones turns that into real advantage. You are not just deleting options. You are stockpiling them.
Your opening turns should set up three pillars. An early discard effect. A repeatable engine. A payoff that turns discards into material advantages.
I like a hand that has one surgical pick like Thoughtseize or Duress, one table hit like Delirium Skeins or Syphon Mind, and one engine like Necrogen Mists, Oppression, or Raiders’ Wake. Curving spot discard into a permanent that keeps hands low is the safest way to avoid becoming the archenemy too early.
Spot discard that hits the right card
Thoughtseize, Duress, Inquisition of Kozilek, Agonizing Remorse. These snipe win cons and ramp. If you expect fast mana, nuke it. If the table is slow, remove their card draw so your engines stick.
Mass discard that scales in pods
Delirium Skeins, Mind Rake, Unnerve, Syphon Mind, Awaken the Erstwhile, Rankle’s Prank. These chunk the table and quickly seed the stash pile. Mindslicer is blunt but effective in casual pods that hold up too many answers.
Repeatable discard you can forget about once it lands
Necrogen Mists and Oppression do a lot of silent work. Painful Quandary turns casting spells into a tax that bleeds life totals. Geier Reach Sanitarium is a land that quietly fuels your plan every turn cycle. If you like redundancy, Words of Waste sits in the draw step and keeps the wheel turning.
Punish discard directly
Liliana’s Caress, Megrim, Raiders’ Wake, Bloodchief Ascension. These turn every discard into damage and drain. With two of these out, a single mass discard can swing a game.
Turn discards into resources
Waste Not and Geth’s Grimoire are the two best engines here. Waste Not gives mana, zombies, and cards based on what opponents pitch. Geth’s Grimoire draws you into more gas as hands empty. Tinybones loves these because they multiply the value of every forced discard.
Creatures that stabilize while you grind
Sangromancer gains life as creatures die or opponents discard. Hostile Investigator makes Clues and keeps your hand full. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is still Gary. In a deck with many black pips, Gary is often a two player kill and a reset of your life total.
You need removal that keeps your plan intact. Feed the Swarm answers problem enchantments. Deadly Rollick and Murder clean up creatures at different speeds. Toxic Deluge is your reset when a wide board threatens to race you. Liliana’s Triumph plays well because it hits hexproof and fuels discard payoffs.
Opposition Agent deserves a mention. It punishes tutors and often steals the exact card you were going to stash anyway.
Mono black ramps in slices. Crypt Ghast and Jet Medallion speed you up. Arcane Signet and Charcoal Diamond smooth early turns. Cabal Coffers plus Urborg if you run it, or Coffers plus Cabal Stronghold if you do not, lets you chain multiple discard spells while keeping interaction up. Since Tinybones lets you use mana of any type to play stashed cards, you are free to cast off-color haymakers without treasure support.
The activated ability is four mana and a tap. You can reduce the generic part with Training Grounds. That takes it from three and a black to one and a black. Agatha of the Vile Cauldron can also reduce the generic portion of creature abilities based on her power. If Agatha is at three power or more, you are paying just the black pip. These pieces are not mandatory, but they help you keep the discard loop going once hands are thin.
You can win by a thousand paper cuts or in two swings. Here are the cleanest lines.
Group slug line
Two discard punisher enchantments plus any repeatable discard closes the game without combat. Painful Quandary plus Liliana’s Caress is the classic. Add Bloodchief Ascension to snowball.
Gray Merchant drain
Resolve Gary after you have stacked pips on the table. Use recursion or Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal to grind more triggers. Gary into a second mass discard usually ends it.
Tergrid swing
If your group allows it, Tergrid, God of Fright flips the table quickly. Discards and sacrifices turn into your board presence. It is strong but attracts heat. Announce your intent with the group before you slam it.
A few small habits make this deck much easier to live with in a pod.
Hold your first mass discard until you can follow it with an engine or a payoff on the same turn. That way opponents do not get a free topdeck cycle to rebuild. Favor effects that let you choose the card early so you look like you are surgically removing threats, not griefing. When you cast a symmetrical piece like Oppression, say out loud that you will play from under it too. It signals you are not trying to lock anyone out. Use Geier Reach Sanitarium at the end step of the player on your right so you untap with fresh stashes.
If someone is mana screwed, let them draw a few turns before you flip on constant discard. It costs you very little and makes the table less likely to unite against you.
If you do not want to buy Coffers or Deadly Rollick, try Myriad Landscape and Hero’s Downfall. If Painful Quandary is out of stock, Raiders’ Wake and Tinybones Joins Up fill the slot. If Waste Not is pricy in your area, Geth’s Grimoire plus extra mass discard keeps the engine going. For boots, Swiftfoot Boots is fine if Greaves is taken.
Turn two Duress to remove a board wipe. Turn three Waste Not. Turn four Delirium Skeins to refill on mana and zombies. Turn five Tinybones with Liliana’s Caress. Activate at sorcery speed if you have Training Grounds or enough mana to double spell. In most pods, that sequence gives you bodies, draw, and damage without making you the early archvillain.
Tinybones, Bauble Burglar is not as oppressive as older Tinybones versions, which is good for your social life. You still need to ask your group about Tergrid. If your friends hate permanent theft, skip it and lean harder on Gary plus discard punisher damage. The deck scales well from budget to bling. It also tolerates meta shifts. If your pod is full of recursive graveyard decks, keep Bojuka Bog and add more one-shot discard to get high value hits. If your pod is fast, add cheap interaction and shave a five drop.
Want a printed proxy list to test builds before you buy cards. We wrote a quick walkthrough you can use here: Where to Get the Best MTG Proxy Cards. If you need a quick way to print the whole list for a playtest night, use our tool: Print a Card List.
This commander rewards restraint. You do not need to empty every hand on turn three. Keep the table playing at a slow drip while you stash value and bleed life totals. Pick your moments, protect your engines, and you will steal more wins than you expect. Commander Deck Tech – Tinybones, Bauble Burglar delivers a clear plan and plenty of small edges. It is honest about what it wants to do. It just happens to be very good at it.
