MTG Salvation

You know you've thought about it. You see a card like Possibility Storm or Confusion in the Ranks and you think to yourself, "what would happen if I built a deck with this card?" or perhaps, "good god, this is a real card?" I decided to do some research and brew up a deck with only the craziest and most chaotic cards that the game has to offer.



Other cards considered:

This deck does it all - swaps permanents, sells to the highest bidder, copies, cheats, bamboozles, dominates, misdirects, and basically does all it can to throw the game state into complete and total chaos for epic lulz. The only thing it doesn't have is a win condition. But hey, who needs that, right? And now, it can also start causing some damage, albeit very slowly.

Am I missing any really nutso cards that would be a good fit here? I'm sure EDH specialists like all of you have some little-known gems that could work. I did lots of research into red and blue cards, but there could still be some fun artifacts I haven't uncovered. Remember the key word: chaos. Let's build the craziest deck in Magic!

Update (11/3/2013): Deck updated with a few cards from the new Commander 2013 release, and some new picks I found. Any new card suggestions still appreciated!
Update (11/13/2013): Further updates, most coin-flipping cards and damage-dealing cards removed in favor of "shift"ing cards and other chaotic options
Update (1/24/2014): Two new Born of the Gods cards were begging to get into this deck
Update (6/9/2014): New Conspiracy card added, other tweaks
Update (6/22/2014): Further tweaks, new clone creatures
Update (7/10/2014): Added Jalira, Master Polymorphist from M15 and others
Update (8/14/2014): New Commander!
Update (9/15/2014): Continued tweaks, added Clever Impersonator from KTK
Update (2/11/2015): Getting back to the roots, re-adding coin-flipping cards and adding damage dealers in an effort to speed up the deck

i didn't notice shared fate.

definitely causes confusion. make sure you get all your cards back though. my riku deck used to run all these kinds of effects, toned it down after resolving a twincast scrambleverse that took over 30 minutes to resolve.

much easier to build this deck for online vs paper

Quote from SamuraiMunky

i didn't notice shared fate.

I was hesitant on Shared Fate, seems like the color restrictions would mean everything just shuts down, which is the opposite of what this deck wants to happen.

Chaos Orb

Quote from Ninja Bob

Chaos Orb

Definitely out of the price range That card would be more than all the other cards I need for this deck combined!

Here are a couple:
Chaos Moon
Reality Twist

Quote from Jungian Thing

Here are a couple:
Chaos Moon
Reality Twist

Thanks! Reality Twist is pretty funny, but with a cumulative upkeep of 3, it probably wouldn't stick around for long unless I had Eon Hub or something like that.

shared fate can shut decks down; i played it against ib halfheart once with my riku deck. i could play all his spells and he kept drawing blue and green spells which he couldn't play.

i guess that it's playgroup specific. if someone else has red and/or blue in your group then it shouldn't be too bad. also, all the cards your opponents draw from you are chaotic. so you force them to draw from each other or embrace the chaos.

Quote from SamuraiMunky

shared fate can shut decks down; i played it against ib halfheart once with my riku deck. i could play all his spells and he kept drawing blue and green spells which he couldn't play.

i guess that it's playgroup specific. if someone else has red and/or blue in your group then it shouldn't be too bad. also, all the cards your opponents draw from you are chaotic. so you force them to draw from each other or embrace the chaos.

Hmm, not sure, just doesn't seem quite like the right fit.

Any other ideas?

Check out my Nin, the Pain Artist list from my sig, it should give you a ton of ideas ^^

@Imari, Toonamiguy - thanks both! Some really good ideas, much appreciated.

Some changes and updates to the deck, the Commander 2013 release had lots of cards that were perfect for this deck. Details below:

Creatures: +2, fun new options
+1 Norin the Wary (hijinx with Confusion in the Ranks)
+1 Goblin Test Pilot
+1 Djinn of Infinite Deceits (new card, perfect fit)
+1 Akroan Horse (more Confusion in the Ranks hijinx)
-1 Goblin Bangchuckers
-1 Fatespinner (funny, but not as conducive to chaos)

Instants: +4, adding a nice redirect package
+1 Redirect
+1 Reroute
+1 Swerve
+1 Shunt
+1 Wild Ricochet
-1 Aura Graft

Sorceries: +1, cut two, added three
+1 Legerdemain (even better than Switcheroo)
+1 Order of Succession (new card, really like it)
+1 Tempt with Reflections (new card, love this one too)
-1 Reality Strobe
-1 Reversal of Fortune

Artifacts: -1, was tough to cut Orrery/Leyline, but this deck needs the spaces for the chaos cards
+1 Proteus Staff
-1 Vedalken Orrery
-1 Gate to the Æther (chaos should not be optional)

Enchantments: -1, interesting options here
+1 Puca's Mischief
+1 Witch Hunt (might be the closest thing to a win-con)
-1 Custody Battle
-1 Goblin Festival (not as good as Witch Hunt)
-1 Leyline of Anticipation

Planeswalkers: -1
-1 Ral Zarek (too much of a "real card")

Unfortunately, this means that I'm currently sitting at 104 cards, and I have no clue what to cut. Have some of you perhaps played with these cards and found them not to be as funny or chaotic as you thought? The OP has the updated decklist, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I think Copy Enchantment can be useful in here.

One extra copy of Forced Fruition, or Hive Mind and people are going to literally need to be escorted out of the game shop with straight jackets.

Paradigm Shift is a card I think could really cause havoc.

Quote from Umaro

I think Copy Enchantment can be useful in here.

One extra copy of Forced Fruition, or Hive Mind and people are going to literally need to be escorted out of the game shop with straight jackets.

Paradigm Shift is a card I think could really cause havoc.

Hmm, interesting choices. I'll keep Copy Enchantment in mind. In the meantime, still trying to make cuts down to 100.

Cuts:
-1 Stitch in Time
-1 Timesifter

Decided that lots of extra turns flying around might be funny, but not necessarily fun. Also, Timesifter exiles cards, which is something I've tried to avoid; I much prefer cards that shuffle back into decks (ie. Winds of Change over Wheel of Fortune/Reforge the Soul)

Quote from Sword of the Morning

Cuts:
-1 Stitch in Time
-1 Timesifter

Decided that lots of extra turns flying around might be funny, but not necessarily fun. Also, Timesifter exiles cards, which is something I've tried to avoid; I much prefer cards that shuffle back into decks (ie. Winds of Change over Wheel of Fortune/Reforge the Soul)

Good choices, you don't want to hog all the turns, spread the insanity for everyone.

Have you had trouble ramping up mana? These are some pretty price enchantments, with little card draw, and pretty much reliant on land drops it seems.

I'm all for the crazy deck, but how do you make sure you get to land the crazy?

Quote from Umaro

Good choices, you don't want to hog all the turns, spread the insanity for everyone.

Have you had trouble ramping up mana? These are some pretty price enchantments, with little card draw, and pretty much reliant on land drops it seems.

I'm all for the crazy deck, but how do you make sure you get to land the crazy?

Yeah, pretty much - the problem is that with all the permanent swapping that will be happening, trying to put in mana rocks seems like a useless endeavor. Ending up needing more than 40 lands could be a possibility, but I think this deck is going to need to rely solely on land drops, yeah. With how long I expect games with this deck to go, though, I don't see it as a huge concern yet.

EDIT: Final few cuts made!

-1 Stolen Goods
-1 Acquire
-1 Knowledge Exploitation
+1 Mindmoil

Decided that deck pilfering wasn't something this deck wanted to do, I never find that to be much fun in EDH. Removing the three cards put me at 99, gave the final spot to Mindmoil, which I think will help in card draw and be hilarious to pass around the table. Back at 100 finally, but still open to suggestions!

Quote from Sword of the Morning

Other cards considered:
- Whirlpool Warrior
- Deflection
- Illusionist's Gambit
- Commandeer
- Switcheroo
- Time Reversal
- Avarice Totem
- Temporal Aperture
- Soul Conduit
- Arcane Melee
- Cast Through Time

I'd be interested in getting any opinions on these other cards as well - would any of these be better fits? We have a few cases where some cards here are outclassed by other options that did end up making the main deck (Deflection inferior to Redirect/Swerve/etc., Switcheroo inferior to Legerdemain); however, inferior doesn't mean redundant in the context of EDH.

I do really like Arcane Melee, Commandeer and Illusionist's Gambit. I think Soul Conduit would also be hilarious, especially with Grip of Chaos or Psychic Battle on the field. Would appreciate some outside opinions on these, and of course, any suggestions for new cards are still welcomed! Thanks.

Some additional changes:

-1 Nivix Guildmage
-1 Creepy Doll
-1 Tide of War
+1 Cinder Giant
+1 Kaboom!
+1 Knowledge Pool

The creatures should be focusing more on table-wide effects, and the Guildmage isn't helping anyone being passed around; similar with Creepy Doll, I don't think this deck will be focusing much on combat. Instead, I added Cinder Giant, who will be funny as a hot potato being passed around, and another card that I couldn't believe was black-bordered. Kaboom! isn't really what the deck does, but it's too funny not to include. Also, was finally able to make room for Knowledge Pool!

Have you considered wheel and deal?

Quote from Umaro

Have you considered wheel and deal?

Thanks I did decide that I don't want this deck to cause discard, but instead involve shuffling back into libraries; that's why I went with Winds of Change over something like Reforge the Soul. I think it's much more flavorful for this deck to continue the chaos by shuffling back into libraries instead of getting tossed away.

Have you considered Reins of Power? It's no Insurrection, but it's useful with a low creature count deck like this. If you double it, you can probably crush an opponent or two in the same turn. It's exceptionally useful in MP too because you can just swap with someone you aren't attacking and you don't have to worry about him using your dudes as blockers. Or you could just use Insurrection lol.

Quote from Ixrixis

Have you considered Reins of Power? It's no Insurrection, but it's useful with a low creature count deck like this. If you double it, you can probably crush an opponent or two in the same turn. It's exceptionally useful in MP too because you can just swap with someone you aren't attacking and you don't have to worry about him using your dudes as blockers. Or you could just use Insurrection lol.

I think that's too much of a real "strategy" for this deck, haha. It's really just about sowing chaos and destroying order. Given how many creatures will be changing hands and coming in and out of play, Reins/Insurrection likely won't be a viable choice. I appreciate the suggestion though.

Another big round of changes, OP updated. The deck is starting to morph a bit into a deliberate chaos, the coin flip cards are slowly being weeded out. I felt like most of the damage dealing cards were a bit boring and might not be that relevant - what's a couple points of damage here and there in a multiplayer game where everyone has 40 life? The deck would rather create chaos in the board state and let everyone else figure out how to deal damage.

Creatures: +3, made a concerted effort to increase the number of creatures in the deck, the board presence felt lacking
-1 Goblin Test Pilot
-1 Mogg Assassin
-1 Karplusan Minotaur
+1 Bazaar Trader (pass around Cinder Giant, Akroan Horse, War-Riders)
+1 Shapesharer
+1 Varchild's War-Riders
+1 Braids, Conjurer Adept
+1 Roil Elemental
+1 Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar

Instants: +1, found a cool one to add
+1 Spellshift

Sorceries: -3, this section took a hit with the removal of coin flip damage cards
-1 Mana Clash
-1 Fiery Gambit
-1 Game of Chaos
-1 Kaboom!
+1 Polymorph

Artifacts: +2
-1 Krark's Thumb, no longer needed
+1 Avarice Totem
+1 Glaring Spotlight, since hexproof is one of the only things that could stymie this deck
+1 Soul Conduit, really wanted this one

Enchantments: -3
-1 Fractured Loyalty
-1 Goblin Bomb
-1 Planar Chaos
-1 Chance Encounter
-1 Witch Hunt
+1 Mana Flare
+1 Paradox Haze

After some consideration, I've mostly filled in permanent swapping enablers, and cards like Braids that could be considered more "bearhug"-y. I want to keep the randomness and chaos element, but it can't be one-sided - I think that this deck should be subject to the chaos just as much, otherwise it won't be fun to play against.

Would greatly appreciate some input! Am I making the right decision for the direction of this deck? I think it's stronger this way, but I'd like to hear some other viewpoints. Thanks.

Thieves' Auction is a pretty crazy card and Steel Golem is an awesome card to give away in decks like this. Hope that helps!