Quick summary: I got my boyfriend into MTG a few years ago after a ton of nagging. Now he's a ton more obsessed than I am withe the game and I've found it losing the luster because I never stand a chance. So I'm trying to build the meanest nastiest deck I can in order to have even a reasonably toe-to-toe game with him.
I'm going up against various decks that do things like mill, crazy artifact things among others.
I've had mana problems with this before too, so it's a chronic problem. I pile shuffle, but that's because this deck is double sleeved(and I want it to be worth of it's dual sleevedness when it's done).
Hey! First of all, welcome to the forums! I'm sure we can help you tune this thing into a monstrous beauty of efficiency and ruthlessness. First things first, let's organize this decklist by card type so we can take a better glance at what we're looking at.
Alright, so first thing I'd clean up is the manabase. It's not bad persay, but I don't really think you can support Lotus Vale here. If you're deadset on running it, I'd up your lands to forty and add in Life from the Loam, Crucible of Worlds, or both. But I suspect you might do better with a Golgari Rot Farm in it's place here, especially once you add an ETB land like Bojuka Bog.
After getting lands squared away, next we ask ourselves "What is my deck supposed to do?" To me, I think you're doing some kind of infect strat, but it's lacking focus. In order to make this work, you need to be all-in with Infect, or non-Infect as the two sources of damage do not mesh very well. I think there is potential there with the Infect strat, but you need the right creature base to do it - where's your Phyrexian Crusader, Phyrexian Vatmother, Inkmoth Nexus, and even Glistener Elf & Rot Wolf?
I feel like you're overall lacking in creature removal too. Just adding in a Dismember and a Go for the Throat would go a long ways, but there is more removals you can get too. Devour Flesh & Nature's Claim both seem particularly good if you're on Infect as the lifegain is irrelevant versus you (it usually is anyway, but even more irrelevant versus this archetype). Versatile removals like Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, and Beast Within would be pretty sweet. You're also awfully light on card advantage, I'd add Night's Whisper and Read the Bones, and also a Phyrexian Arena (or Necropotence if your mana can handle the BBB cmc).
Oh, I think there's an option under your account settings here to tell this site to keep you logged in, so that you may make longer posts as desired.
I may have somehow missed this, as I didn't read the post extremely carefully, but which banlist do you guys use, and what general does your boyfriend play?
Thanks for the replies everyone! And sorry, I was a bit hasty in my rewrite of the post that I didn't get all the detail I initially had. I am trying to improve it, and I honestly have no idea what I'm going up against anymore, my boyfriend disassembled Bolas and made a ton of new decks that I am overwhelmed by. And $200 additional cash into a deck is low budget? wow!
@3drinks, I was aiming for an infect theme, initially, and I normally play green/red so I love me some land ramp(which is why this deck has been so frustrating).
My initial idea page was to hunt down a bunch of creatures with shadow because it can be ridiculous in some instances, but that does have some major downfalls(I have a sliver deck as well, and all my slivers with shadows is amazing on those kill turns but if I don't off the opponent, oops!
I have a few of those cards you mentioned somewhere. No clue where tho, but when I find em, they'll get slipped in and I'll take em for a spin.
@avasatu, I'm not sure what ban list we use. I suppose it's the one our shop uses for the regular commander format(not 1v1, but we use the same decks to play against each other, I tried to talk him into it but he won't give up that darned turn one sol ring). And his commanders vary from deck to deck, I wish I could remember their names, all I remember is Bolas because he has been such a thorn in my side, but he's disassembled that one. You didn't miss it, however. I didn't think to post it. I used to play just for fun for a LONG time, so this is the first real deck I've decided not to have any silly fun with(read UN-cards) so this thing will be legal when we play at the shop without modding.
Ha, I get where you're coming from. I've been running this Nicol Bolas old school grindy Grixis Control deck on Magic Online a lot. It's been entertaining. But very hard for, especially creature decks, to battle against.
What I would do if I were trying (According to the title of the post) to beat your S/O there's a few places I would start.
Assuming your BF is playing a deck that mills and uses artifacts I think its safe to say the backbone of his deck is blue. Black or Green could be in there too... Who is his General/Commander?
I would change your general to suit your play style. I think I read you wanted to try an infect deck and just from what little I read Id stick with the colors and play Infect Elves... Or you could just play plain old elves and just wreck him period lol
These are the Generals Id chose in your color:
Glissa, the Traitor
She comes out fast, I expect because the card is female it holds a certain level of appeal to you, She can bring back answers to your BFs Deck if they are destroyed or milled, and last but not least she can get there for General Damage after everything is all said and done.
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Hmm Ive never played with this card but its ability seems cool. It doesnt really have anything to do with anything but the colors but anything (Well except for one other really expensive card in the color) is probably better than your current General.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Mostly because his creature type is troll and I feel like if you give it unblockable and even if your BF mills you your general keeps getting stronger.
Again going back with no synergy with what your deck wants to do id stick with...
Ill give you a basic deck list try it out and tell me if it works for you. I dont know your play style particularly (Timmy, Johnny, Spike, ect) but Ill try to make it straight forward.
@ChrisRTaylor09 - Why would you recommend such a list to her? 34 lands, with mana artifacts and negative synergy with Null Rod? Why. It's perfectly viable to build around a N-Rod effects, but you don't do it in a deck that enjoys it's ring/vault/lotus/signet and divining top - no, you add cards like Molder Slug and perhaps even Creeping Corrosion or Seeds of Innocence. And you should feel just awful about suggesting a player run only thirty-four lands. Unless that deck is Edric, Spymaster of Trest, or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben WW, I would never build a deck with so few lands in it.
While I won't be following any of your deck mod ideas specifically(for the most part),everyone gave me great ideas! It does need more synergy. And overall, Jon seems to run a lot of just HATE and CONTROL style decks(they are capitalized because that it his playstyle overall.
For those that asked, we follow Official Commander from MTGCommander, meaning I have to take out my Sylvan Primordial, and I'll probably pull out that bitterblossom proxy since it's shooting up in price, I only proxy things I'm thinking of actually getting, so yeah, lol.
I didn't pick my commander because she's a lady, I just picked her because she seems like a real mean jerk, she was cheap(money wise not mana wise) and I took latin in High School and actually ended up with the name "Medusa" as the result of an unfortunate joke where everyone else got latin names like Cornelius and the like.
Gorgons aside, I think I might swap out the Sisters for the Glissa, the Traitor per a recommendation. If I want more synergy, I need to stick with the poison stuff and a cheaper commander. If a game goes on long enough where I can play the sisters against Jon, he's likely winning, I'll need to knock him out fast if I'm going to beat him.
He seems to play a lot of creatures as well, so if I go with that, and I put a bunch of artifact creatures in my deck with infect, then that would be beneficial, plus if I'm being mana screwed, colors won't matter as much if my blockers and attackers for the most part are colorless.
I do want a lot of control over the board state, however, because you give Jon an inch and he will take a country, at least in MTG, so I will need to have plenty of goodies to protect my artifacts. I also got a Maze of Ith in the mail today, so that will be handy when he gets those darned problem cards that want to wreck my face when I'm not terribly prepared. It's basically a 0 reusable Fog(closest I can compare) so pretty sweet. I won't factor that into my land count, however, since it doesn't tap for mana.
If you have ideas for really cool cards for that concept in green/black, feel free to let me know, and when I get a deck list written up of my own, I'll share it with you all.
@3Drinks: Simple... The deck isnt a null rod deck. It has Null Rod in it as a soft lock if someone using a lot of artifacts gets out of hand. You just play Null Rod as its printed instead of trying to get super complicated. She plays it, it gets blown up then she kills a creature and gets it back. The point is just to shut off her boyfriends combos. On the subject of the lands, 40 or so mana sources is standard for an EDH deck. No need to bloat a low curve deck with dead draws. Please dont bring the I should feel awful sentiment into this. If you dont agree then fine but Ive been playing exclusively EDH as well as improving several brews and decks from those interested in the format. Its just a start and its a good one at that.
@OP: Im not familiar with that first general, but against Karona you shouldnt have any problems, Im not exactly sure what he is running but most 5 color commanders (Im using most here loosely) should be poorly built and against a focused deck you should run through it. Now the Sygg deck seems like it could be trouble. Ive seen some ugly Sygg decks on both colors and when focused and built correctly seem to fit the profile you described in the beginning.
Good luck with the infect and I hope it works out for you. Let me know if you need any additional help.
Oh and I didnt intend to infer you picked the Stone Sisters because they were female. About 90% of the females for some reason use female generals and im not sure why. Its mostly an observation. If you want to talk mean Lady generals I think almost all of them are mean... another observation lol
I could keep going on but its a looonnnnggg list... Ladies in MTG are vicious I facepalm and prepare for a tough game when I see any of those cards at roll call.
@3Drinks: Simple... The deck isnt a null rod deck. It has Null Rod in it as a soft lock if someone using a lot of artifacts gets out of hand. You just play Null Rod as its printed instead of trying to get super complicated. She plays it, it gets blown up then she kills a creature and gets it back. The point is just to shut off her boyfriends combos. On the subject of the lands, 40 or so mana sources is standard for an EDH deck. No need to bloat a low curve deck with dead draws. Please dont bring the I should feel awful sentiment into this. If you dont agree then fine but Ive been playing exclusively EDH as well as improving several brews and decks from those interested in the format. Its just a start and its a good one at that.
Okay, I apologize for the "you should feel awful" comment as it was not relevant to the purpose of this thread. I guess it really depends on what you and I consider a "low curve" for a Commander deck. But generally, I would rather see more lands than not enough. I can always use more mana - but sitting with two lands and a grip of six drops is never a fun experience.
RE: Null Rod. While good, when the one card invalidates a number of your other cards and actively works against your strategy, this is a problem and should be re-evaluated. N-Rod is more the kind of card you add to a specific hate package, not a random card to toss into the deck. It's perfectly viable to build a deck like this without Ring/Top and then add the Rod and the Slug (among others).
@3Drinks: Simple... The deck isnt a null rod deck. It has Null Rod in it as a soft lock if someone using a lot of artifacts gets out of hand. You just play Null Rod as its printed instead of trying to get super complicated. She plays it, it gets blown up then she kills a creature and gets it back. The point is just to shut off her boyfriends combos. On the subject of the lands, 40 or so mana sources is standard for an EDH deck. No need to bloat a low curve deck with dead draws. Please dont bring the I should feel awful sentiment into this. If you dont agree then fine but Ive been playing exclusively EDH as well as improving several brews and decks from those interested in the format. Its just a start and its a good one at that.
Okay, I apologize for the "you should feel awful" comment as it was not relevant to the purpose of this thread. I guess it really depends on what you and I consider a "low curve" for a Commander deck. But generally, I would rather see more lands than not enough. I can always use more mana - but sitting with two lands and a grip of six drops is never a fun experience.
RE: Null Rod. While good, when the one card invalidates a number of your other cards and actively works against your strategy, this is a problem and should be re-evaluated. N-Rod is more the kind of card you add to a specific hate package, not a random card to toss into the deck. It's perfectly viable to build a deck like this without Ring/Top and then add the Rod and the Slug (among others).
On Null Rod - If built with/around properly it can be the best card in the deck. Even with a couple activated artifacts the level of shutdown it provides can be gamebreaking.
For an example, the artifact suite I used in my Adun list is:
All of these are incredibly good artifacts, and are of course completely neutered by your own rod, but the ability to completely stop your opponent's mana rocks and other utility artifacts is insanely good.
On that note, a deck with 34 lands isn't that bad. It's fine - green has access to a huge amount of one drop mana dorks. Deathrite Shaman, Llanowar Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow, Fyndhorn Elves, Mystic Elf. You don't need many lands if you build the deck properly and mulligan properly. My own skullbriar list plays only 34 lands (there is some cheating involved) but it is true that traditionally having so few lands can be detrimental, particularly if you're used to playing high curve lists (above 2.)
In practice, 34-39 lands is the optimal amount.
If we move to the deck in question, it seems like you like to play large, cumbersome critters. While this can be a good gameplan (win through value) I hope you'll consider a more... oriented approach. I mentioned Skullbriar earlier, and my recommendation is to look at my list, ferverous' slightly slower list, and take note of the lessons to be learned. You can find the link on my sig.
Low cost, high impact cards are how 1v1 decks thrive. You don't need to cast big scary monsters if your opponent is dead by the time they could cast their own.
However, if you want to stick with your midrange approach, I highly recommend looking at Glissa, the Traitor. It is possible to play some big scaries while maintaining s lower curve, and to play lots of value cards.
Basically, the secret to beating your boyfriend is to shrink.
Private Mod Note
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
Thanks everyone! Yeah I'm going with glissa, so I'm going to swing by the shop tomorrow morning, in all likelihood.
I have caught on with being mamascrewed that I need smaller faster things. That's a huge reason why I'm switching commanders. If I have enough mana to cast the sisters, they game has probably gone on far too long against him. I need to beat him fast or it won't happen.
I will note I ADORE Eldrazi(so yes I love big behind monsters), and have had an Eldrazi deck of some kind for most of the time since I got back into Mtg (I dabbled, fell out and back in HS got back into it). I've also always had a sliver deck built(super irrelevant notes).
Back to relevancy, Jon's going to let me buy his bitterblossom off of him too, but first I need to get my car repairs settled down, so I can still think about it as opposed to jumping in.
I did make some changes including swapping out that Lotus vale but I put in a non mana producing land, Maze of Ith!
And I played a e way game with jon and a friend last night, I didn't beat him but my mana situation worked great and I had a toe to toe match that was fun, which is what I truly want out of playing games. That said It does still need work! When I get the new commander I'll update my deck list.
And I love how polite everyone is being to each other, even after exchanges that weren't so nice right off. I really like that, it's not like some other forums I've been on in the past(which was why I was reluctant to join this one, actually, but I'm glad I decided to).
And I love how polite everyone is being to each other, even after exchanges that weren't so nice right off. I really like that, it's not like some other forums I've been on in the past(which was why I was reluctant to join this one, actually, but I'm glad I decided to).
You're welcome! I'm glad you made the decision to come here for advice, and for your deck to get such a strong number of replies. It feels good to be able to help others. =)
On Null Rod - If built with/around properly it can be the best card in the deck. Even with a couple activated artifacts the level of shutdown it provides can be gamebreaking.
For an example, the artifact suite I used in my Adun list is:
All of these are incredibly good artifacts, and are of course completely neutered by your own rod, but the ability to completely stop your opponent's mana rocks and other utility artifacts is insanely good.
This is a fair point. Though I'd argue that playing Rod + three artifacts is simple enough to play around - not like the suite of signets and super rocks, a top, and equips; I think it was that point where the Rod starts to be as cumbersome to you as it was intended for an opponent.
On that note, a deck with 34 lands isn't that bad. It's fine - green has access to a huge amount of one drop mana dorks. Deathrite Shaman, Llanowar Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow, Fyndhorn Elves, Mystic Elf. You don't need many lands if you build the deck properly and mulligan properly. My own skullbriar list plays only 34 lands (there is some cheating involved) but it is true that traditionally having so few lands can be detrimental, particularly if you're used to playing high curve lists (above 2.)
In practice, 34-39 lands is the optimal amount.
I guess I'm used to the mulligan practices in place on Magic Online, where I'm not near as used to the "Partial Paris" thing (which still feels like cheating in the few times I've done it). But the Partial Paris does allow to cheat on land drops a bit, especially if you're playing Land Tax.
Thanks everyone! Yeah I'm going with glissa, so I'm going to swing by the shop tomorrow morning, in all likelihood.
Hey TRT,
How are you planning on running Glissa? Straight swap in for Sisters? Full infect, good stuff GB or Glissa synegy?
If you do go the infect route, things like Throne of Geth can be quite nasty once you have creatures with -1/-1 counters & a couple of infect counters. Sacrifice it to its own ability, kill something, add a poison counter, get the Throne back, repeat etc. Another one, though not specifically infect related, is Executioner's Capsule Allowing you to shoot something & get back the capsule to go again if you have Glissa in play.
Thanks everyone! Yeah I'm going with glissa, so I'm going to swing by the shop tomorrow morning, in all likelihood.
Hey TRT,
How are you planning on running Glissa? Straight swap in for Sisters? Full infect, good stuff GB or Glissa synegy?
If you do go the infect route, things like Throne of Geth can be quite nasty once you have creatures with -1/-1 counters & a couple of infect counters. Sacrifice it to its own ability, kill something, add a poison counter, get the Throne back, repeat etc. Another one, though not specifically infect related, is Executioner's Capsule Allowing you to shoot something & get back the capsule to go again if you have Glissa in play.
For sure. I've always been a fan of Glissa with Ratchet Bomb. Like, it feels slow when looking at it on paper, but it's really a certain amount of added inevitability. Not as good as your Capsule suggestion, of course, but still worth a slot. I'd rank it up there in power level as Glissa + Solemn Simulacrum, Burnished Hart, & Wurmcoil Engine.
I'm going up against various decks that do things like mill, crazy artifact things among others.
What I have thus far:
1 Sisters of Stone Death
1 Constant Mists (proxy)
1 Necrogenesis(proxy)
1 Bitter blossom (proxy)
1 Doubling Season (Proxy)
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Phage the Untouchable
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Doomgape
1 Fog
1 Awakening Zone
1 Skithyrix, the blight dragon
1 Diabolic Servitude
1 Life's Finale
1 Fallen Ideal
1 Parallel Lives
1 Ranger's Path
1 Garret Wildspeaker
1 Acidic Slime
1 Stronghold Overseer
1 Woodland Cemetary
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Boundless Realms
1 Vulturous Zombie
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Ring of Xathrid
1 Swiftfoot boots
1 Spinebiter
1 Decree of Pain
1 Krosan Grip
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Bramblecrush
1 Grave Pact
1 Creakwood Liege
1 Oran-Rief, The Vastwood
1 Sign in Blood
1 Polluted Mire
1 Prized Unicorn
1 Grim Backwoods
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Ancient Craving
1 Glistening Oil
1 Triumph of the Hordes
1 Cultivate
1 Predatory Rampage
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Phthisis
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Viridian Emissary
1 Gleancrawler
1 Lotus Vale
1 Painful Quandry
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Deadbridge Chant
1 Doubling Cube
1 Increasing Savagery
1 Carrion Call
1 Summoning Trap
1 Veteran Explorer
1 Putrefax
1 Consuming Vapors
1 Birthing Pod
1 Phyrexian hydra
1 Genesis Wave
1 Putrefy
16 Swamp
15 Forest
I spent 30 minutes typing up how the game went nice and smoothly but then the forum signed me out and lost my post, so yay for that.
So, instead you get my gross handwritten notes from last night because I really don't feel like typing everything up again.
http://www.evernote.com/shard/s126/sh/83f3343c-1f2c-4d6f-a899-148256f2ce1b/d743fbd993ff771e4e62b0d4155ccae2
I've had mana problems with this before too, so it's a chronic problem. I pile shuffle, but that's because this deck is double sleeved(and I want it to be worth of it's dual sleevedness when it's done).
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Alright, so first thing I'd clean up is the manabase. It's not bad persay, but I don't really think you can support Lotus Vale here. If you're deadset on running it, I'd up your lands to forty and add in Life from the Loam, Crucible of Worlds, or both. But I suspect you might do better with a Golgari Rot Farm in it's place here, especially once you add an ETB land like Bojuka Bog.
After getting lands squared away, next we ask ourselves "What is my deck supposed to do?" To me, I think you're doing some kind of infect strat, but it's lacking focus. In order to make this work, you need to be all-in with Infect, or non-Infect as the two sources of damage do not mesh very well. I think there is potential there with the Infect strat, but you need the right creature base to do it - where's your Phyrexian Crusader, Phyrexian Vatmother, Inkmoth Nexus, and even Glistener Elf & Rot Wolf?
I feel like you're overall lacking in creature removal too. Just adding in a Dismember and a Go for the Throat would go a long ways, but there is more removals you can get too. Devour Flesh & Nature's Claim both seem particularly good if you're on Infect as the lifegain is irrelevant versus you (it usually is anyway, but even more irrelevant versus this archetype). Versatile removals like Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, and Beast Within would be pretty sweet. You're also awfully light on card advantage, I'd add Night's Whisper and Read the Bones, and also a Phyrexian Arena (or Necropotence if your mana can handle the BBB cmc).
Oh, I think there's an option under your account settings here to tell this site to keep you logged in, so that you may make longer posts as desired.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
@3drinks, I was aiming for an infect theme, initially, and I normally play green/red so I love me some land ramp(which is why this deck has been so frustrating).
My initial idea page was to hunt down a bunch of creatures with shadow because it can be ridiculous in some instances, but that does have some major downfalls(I have a sliver deck as well, and all my slivers with shadows is amazing on those kill turns but if I don't off the opponent, oops!
I have a few of those cards you mentioned somewhere. No clue where tho, but when I find em, they'll get slipped in and I'll take em for a spin.
@avasatu, I'm not sure what ban list we use. I suppose it's the one our shop uses for the regular commander format(not 1v1, but we use the same decks to play against each other, I tried to talk him into it but he won't give up that darned turn one sol ring). And his commanders vary from deck to deck, I wish I could remember their names, all I remember is Bolas because he has been such a thorn in my side, but he's disassembled that one. You didn't miss it, however. I didn't think to post it. I used to play just for fun for a LONG time, so this is the first real deck I've decided not to have any silly fun with(read UN-cards) so this thing will be legal when we play at the shop without modding.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Assuming your BF is playing a deck that mills and uses artifacts I think its safe to say the backbone of his deck is blue. Black or Green could be in there too... Who is his General/Commander?
I would change your general to suit your play style. I think I read you wanted to try an infect deck and just from what little I read Id stick with the colors and play Infect Elves... Or you could just play plain old elves and just wreck him period lol
These are the Generals Id chose in your color:
Glissa, the Traitor
She comes out fast, I expect because the card is female it holds a certain level of appeal to you, She can bring back answers to your BFs Deck if they are destroyed or milled, and last but not least she can get there for General Damage after everything is all said and done.
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Hmm Ive never played with this card but its ability seems cool. It doesnt really have anything to do with anything but the colors but anything (Well except for one other really expensive card in the color) is probably better than your current General.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Mostly because his creature type is troll and I feel like if you give it unblockable and even if your BF mills you your general keeps getting stronger.
Again going back with no synergy with what your deck wants to do id stick with...
Ill give you a basic deck list try it out and tell me if it works for you. I dont know your play style particularly (Timmy, Johnny, Spike, ect) but Ill try to make it straight forward.
1 Sisters of Stone Death
Creatures: 21
1 Eternal Witness
1 Genesis
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Devoted Druid
1 Acidic Slime
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Glissa Sunseeker
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Terastodon
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Duplicant
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Elvish Visionary
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Golgari Thug
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Shriekmaw
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Visara the Dreadful
Instants: 8
1 Crop Rotation
1 Doom Blade
1 Krosan Grip
1 Entomb
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Putrefy
1 Life's Finale
1 Plow Under
1 Decree of Pain
1 Bramblecrush
1 Harmonize
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Cultivate
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Damnation
1 Creeping Mold
1 Recollect
1 Farseek
1 Life from the Loam
1 Genesis Wave
Enchantments: 4
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Sylvan Library
1 Abundance
1 Survival of the Fittest
Artifacts: 14
1 Sol Ring
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Birthing Pod
1 Mana Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Null Rod
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Black Vise
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Smokestack
1 Skullclamp
1 Gruul Signet
1 Liliana Vess
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands: 34
1 Windswept Heath
1 Dakmor Salvage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Marsh Flats
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Temple of the False God
1 Twilight Mire
1 Polluted Mire
1 Woodland Cemetary
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
7 Swamp
10 Forest
This should be a good start for you and you can tweak it to have more synergy from there but its basically beat face and goodcards.dek
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
While I won't be following any of your deck mod ideas specifically(for the most part),everyone gave me great ideas! It does need more synergy. And overall, Jon seems to run a lot of just HATE and CONTROL style decks(they are capitalized because that it his playstyle overall.
For those that asked, we follow Official Commander from MTGCommander, meaning I have to take out my Sylvan Primordial, and I'll probably pull out that bitterblossom proxy since it's shooting up in price, I only proxy things I'm thinking of actually getting, so yeah, lol.
Anyway, Jon's commanders: Sezian perverted of truth, karona false god, and sygg river cuthroat(if there's typos, sorry, that's exactly how his text message reads).
I didn't pick my commander because she's a lady, I just picked her because she seems like a real mean jerk, she was cheap(money wise not mana wise) and I took latin in High School and actually ended up with the name "Medusa" as the result of an unfortunate joke where everyone else got latin names like Cornelius and the like.
Gorgons aside, I think I might swap out the Sisters for the Glissa, the Traitor per a recommendation. If I want more synergy, I need to stick with the poison stuff and a cheaper commander. If a game goes on long enough where I can play the sisters against Jon, he's likely winning, I'll need to knock him out fast if I'm going to beat him.
He seems to play a lot of creatures as well, so if I go with that, and I put a bunch of artifact creatures in my deck with infect, then that would be beneficial, plus if I'm being mana screwed, colors won't matter as much if my blockers and attackers for the most part are colorless.
I do want a lot of control over the board state, however, because you give Jon an inch and he will take a country, at least in MTG, so I will need to have plenty of goodies to protect my artifacts. I also got a Maze of Ith in the mail today, so that will be handy when he gets those darned problem cards that want to wreck my face when I'm not terribly prepared. It's basically a 0 reusable Fog(closest I can compare) so pretty sweet. I won't factor that into my land count, however, since it doesn't tap for mana.
If you have ideas for really cool cards for that concept in green/black, feel free to let me know, and when I get a deck list written up of my own, I'll share it with you all.
@OP: Im not familiar with that first general, but against Karona you shouldnt have any problems, Im not exactly sure what he is running but most 5 color commanders (Im using most here loosely) should be poorly built and against a focused deck you should run through it. Now the Sygg deck seems like it could be trouble. Ive seen some ugly Sygg decks on both colors and when focused and built correctly seem to fit the profile you described in the beginning.
Good luck with the infect and I hope it works out for you. Let me know if you need any additional help.
Oh and I didnt intend to infer you picked the Stone Sisters because they were female. About 90% of the females for some reason use female generals and im not sure why. Its mostly an observation. If you want to talk mean Lady generals I think almost all of them are mean... another observation lol
Mean Girls:
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Sharuum the Hegemon <- My favorite General of all time!
Merieke Ri Berit
Kaalia of the Vast
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Braids, Cabal Minion When she was legal... for like a week lol
Captain Sisay
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
I could keep going on but its a looonnnnggg list... Ladies in MTG are vicious I facepalm and prepare for a tough game when I see any of those cards at roll call.
Okay, I apologize for the "you should feel awful" comment as it was not relevant to the purpose of this thread. I guess it really depends on what you and I consider a "low curve" for a Commander deck. But generally, I would rather see more lands than not enough. I can always use more mana - but sitting with two lands and a grip of six drops is never a fun experience.
RE: Null Rod. While good, when the one card invalidates a number of your other cards and actively works against your strategy, this is a problem and should be re-evaluated. N-Rod is more the kind of card you add to a specific hate package, not a random card to toss into the deck. It's perfectly viable to build a deck like this without Ring/Top and then add the Rod and the Slug (among others).
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
On Null Rod - If built with/around properly it can be the best card in the deck. Even with a couple activated artifacts the level of shutdown it provides can be gamebreaking.
For an example, the artifact suite I used in my Adun list is:
All of these are incredibly good artifacts, and are of course completely neutered by your own rod, but the ability to completely stop your opponent's mana rocks and other utility artifacts is insanely good.
On that note, a deck with 34 lands isn't that bad. It's fine - green has access to a huge amount of one drop mana dorks. Deathrite Shaman, Llanowar Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow, Fyndhorn Elves, Mystic Elf. You don't need many lands if you build the deck properly and mulligan properly. My own skullbriar list plays only 34 lands (there is some cheating involved) but it is true that traditionally having so few lands can be detrimental, particularly if you're used to playing high curve lists (above 2.)
In practice, 34-39 lands is the optimal amount.
If we move to the deck in question, it seems like you like to play large, cumbersome critters. While this can be a good gameplan (win through value) I hope you'll consider a more... oriented approach. I mentioned Skullbriar earlier, and my recommendation is to look at my list, ferverous' slightly slower list, and take note of the lessons to be learned. You can find the link on my sig.
Low cost, high impact cards are how 1v1 decks thrive. You don't need to cast big scary monsters if your opponent is dead by the time they could cast their own.
However, if you want to stick with your midrange approach, I highly recommend looking at Glissa, the Traitor. It is possible to play some big scaries while maintaining s lower curve, and to play lots of value cards.
Basically, the secret to beating your boyfriend is to shrink.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
I have caught on with being mamascrewed that I need smaller faster things. That's a huge reason why I'm switching commanders. If I have enough mana to cast the sisters, they game has probably gone on far too long against him. I need to beat him fast or it won't happen.
I will note I ADORE Eldrazi(so yes I love big behind monsters), and have had an Eldrazi deck of some kind for most of the time since I got back into Mtg (I dabbled, fell out and back in HS got back into it). I've also always had a sliver deck built(super irrelevant notes).
Back to relevancy, Jon's going to let me buy his bitterblossom off of him too, but first I need to get my car repairs settled down, so I can still think about it as opposed to jumping in.
I did make some changes including swapping out that Lotus vale but I put in a non mana producing land, Maze of Ith!
And I played a e way game with jon and a friend last night, I didn't beat him but my mana situation worked great and I had a toe to toe match that was fun, which is what I truly want out of playing games. That said It does still need work! When I get the new commander I'll update my deck list.
And I love how polite everyone is being to each other, even after exchanges that weren't so nice right off. I really like that, it's not like some other forums I've been on in the past(which was why I was reluctant to join this one, actually, but I'm glad I decided to).
You're welcome! I'm glad you made the decision to come here for advice, and for your deck to get such a strong number of replies. It feels good to be able to help others. =)
This is a fair point. Though I'd argue that playing Rod + three artifacts is simple enough to play around - not like the suite of signets and super rocks, a top, and equips; I think it was that point where the Rod starts to be as cumbersome to you as it was intended for an opponent.
I guess I'm used to the mulligan practices in place on Magic Online, where I'm not near as used to the "Partial Paris" thing (which still feels like cheating in the few times I've done it). But the Partial Paris does allow to cheat on land drops a bit, especially if you're playing Land Tax.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Hey TRT,
How are you planning on running Glissa? Straight swap in for Sisters? Full infect, good stuff GB or Glissa synegy?
If you do go the infect route, things like Throne of Geth can be quite nasty once you have creatures with -1/-1 counters & a couple of infect counters. Sacrifice it to its own ability, kill something, add a poison counter, get the Throne back, repeat etc. Another one, though not specifically infect related, is Executioner's Capsule Allowing you to shoot something & get back the capsule to go again if you have Glissa in play.
Commander BLOG: The Crazy 99
Gonti ; Sissay
For sure. I've always been a fan of Glissa with Ratchet Bomb. Like, it feels slow when looking at it on paper, but it's really a certain amount of added inevitability. Not as good as your Capsule suggestion, of course, but still worth a slot. I'd rank it up there in power level as Glissa + Solemn Simulacrum, Burnished Hart, & Wurmcoil Engine.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.