Vaan, Street Thief

Gameplan

Vaan turns combat damage from your Scouts, Pirates, and Rogues into theft engines—exiling top cards from opponents' libraries to cast yourself or convert into Treasure. You build a wide, evasive board of relevant creature types, swing in, cast the stolen cards for value, and snowball your team with +1/+1 counters every time you cast something you don't own.

Key Cards

• Vaan, Street Thief — The entire engine—every other card is built to trigger his theft and counter abilities.
• Goblin Rabblemaster — Spits out evasive-ish Goblin tokens that double as bodies to trigger Vaan and grow with counters.
• Reconnaissance — Lets attackers connect for Vaan triggers then pull back before damage, abusing the steal every turn safely.
• Hellrider — Pushes extra damage to ensure your small Rogues and Pirates actually land hits and trigger theft.
• Krenko, Mob Boss — Floods the board with Goblin bodies, multiplying both combat triggers and the creature types getting counters.
• Breeches, Brazen Plunderer — A Pirate that doubles down on impulse-stealing and benefits directly from Vaan's counter ability.

Upgrade Path

Add evasion and unblockable enablers (Rogue's Passage, Dolmen Gate, Reconnaissance) so your creatures reliably connect, plus Treasure payoffs and ramp like Dockside Extortionist and Smothering Tithe analogues in red. Tighten the curve with efficient tribal lords and token producers, and include protection for Vaan via Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots; top-end haymakers like Etali or extra-combat spells (Aggravated Assault) push toward combo-style finishes.