Been working on Gaddock Teeg for a while now and it's evolved into a very hateful deck. It aims to protect Gaddock Teeg and the 'meekest' of utility creatures while stalling the game for everyone else, neutering the most powerful cards in Commander. I've hedged towards a strong Enchantress engine and setting up a strong defense to get reusable utility creatures that dodge all my own hate. It aims to win with token generators or Earthcraft or Ethereal Armour.
I'm looking for opinions and ideas on how to keep sculpting this little monster to perfection. This is for multiplayer games and I'd like to be able to take it to tournaments and win.
The reason to play this deck is to interact with and hate the format. I was looking for a Commander that could hate the good cards but still be able to have a coherent strategy and not suffer too much by not playing the staple 'good' cards.
These are the two cards that do the most work. They single handedly shut down large numbers of powerful cards from Sol Ring to Signets to Equipment to Oblivion Stone....you name it. These two cards are brutal and are the reason there are 0 activated artifact abilities in this deck.
1 Torpor Orb Catches all the 'value' creatures that everyone plays. Your sweet creatures start to look pretty terrible
1 Meekstone If you go big you will also be going home. I don't think I can reliably cast Glare of Subdual but that would be a hateful combo.
And of course Gaddock Teeg himself who shuts down massive numbers of cards. Too many to name. I don't play too many other hate bears because he's the granddaddy of them all and I aim to protect him instead.
I'm also very excited about running Preacher and Willow Satyr. I love finding old cards that break the colour pie rules and these 2 seem particularly potent in a deck that is already spending a lot of effort protecting its creatures. Note the High Market and Miren, The Moaning Well to sacrifice any stolen creatures.
What do people think about including Rites of Flourishing? Does this deck break the symmetry enough? How many non-creature cards over 3CMC do you think I could include? Right now the ones that are there are mostly reset or panic cards that would usually be cast if Teeg is dead.
A great hate card as well is Nevermore. Great for calling other Generals. What about Shield of the Oversoul just for Gaddok?Flying 4/4 Indestructible seems good whether attacking or saving him to block.
- Flickerform to help keep GT around (makes Sigards so hard to kill).
Not sure how you feel about larger CMC enchantments but Primeval Bounty can take over as you grow your creatures and get beasts.
Also, with the amount of creatures to have, a great draw engine is to have low cmc auras that come back to hand: Spirit Loop, Rancor, Aspect of Mongoose (it love it when they can't get rid of GT when he has shroud).
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I like your list, it actually reads a lot like myKarametra, God of the Harvestdeck, but with more hatebears. I understand wanting to run a true hatebear deck, with Teeg at the helm, but if you were to switch to Karametra, you could actually swap out all your ramp enchantments for more control enchantments. Karametra interacts with both enchantments and hatebears brilliantly, and you'll be getting all the mana you need to feed to cards like Sylvan Safekeeper and Knight of the Reliquary. Teeg can still be included as one of the 99.
What I'm taking from the advice so far is that I may be better off to change Commanders to Karametra or Sigarda. I'm still going to work with the enchantress theme and the most hateful cards package: Stony Silence, Null Rod, Meekstone, Torpor Orb, Aura Shards, etc. But cutting Teeg gives me access to some other great enchantments I've been missing. Karametra seems very spicy...
Had a look at your list CatParty and it's inspired! Panglacial Wurm! Awesome!
Some of the suggestions like Scroll Rack and Skullclamp don't work under the Null Rod/Stony Silence/Damping Matrix so I'm not keen to use them. I also probably won't include Damping Matrix because I have so many activated abilities on my own creatures that I'd like to use. LinVala in combindation with the enchantments should leave me with the freedom to play stuff like Preacher and Willow Satyr.
I personally really like this deck with Gaddock as it commander and am taking inspiration from it in building my own Gaddock deck, I had never figured out how I wanted to build with him. I had also considered building an entrantress deck with Sigarda as its host, but it just seemed soo predictable. I like the idea of some solid lock down followed with a one sided beat down. Most aggro decks you play against in EDH play huge creatures and buff them with huge spells, not spells with low mana costs hence why I think this actually stands a chance to play competitively.
What I am considering doing is including a variety of Hexproof creatures ie:
What I'm taking from the advice so far is that I may be better off to change Commanders to Karametra or Sigarda. I'm still going to work with the enchantress theme and the most hateful cards package: Stony Silence, Null Rod, Meekstone, Torpor Orb, Aura Shards, etc. But cutting Teeg gives me access to some other great enchantments I've been missing. Karametra seems very spicy...
Had a look at your list CatParty and it's inspired! Panglacial Wurm! Awesome!
Some of the suggestions like Scroll Rack and Skullclamp don't work under the Null Rod/Stony Silence/Damping Matrix so I'm not keen to use them. I also probably won't include Damping Matrix because I have so many activated abilities on my own creatures that I'd like to use. LinVala in combindation with the enchantments should leave me with the freedom to play stuff like Preacher and Willow Satyr.
No need to really change commanders. You do not necessarily have to build around your commander --- some just use them for their colors. Gaddock is an exception has he shuts down cards. I use Sigarda as a secondary win-con. I win more games via enchantments than I do her. I even run Teeg in my Sigarda list and he is one of the first things I tutor for (even though I do have high CMC spells).
I personally really like this deck with Gaddock as it commander and am taking inspiration from it in building my own Gaddock deck, I had never figured out how I wanted to build with him. I had also considered building an entrantress deck with Sigarda as its host, but it just seemed soo predictable. I like the idea of some solid lock down followed with a one sided beat down. Most aggro decks you play against in EDH play huge creatures and buff them with huge spells, not spells with low mana costs hence why I think this actually stands a chance to play competitively.
What I am considering doing is including a variety of Hexproof creatures ie:
as some solid enchantment targets. With Gaddock preventing most wrath effects, any enchantments on these fellas are likely to stick.
One thing I love about the enchantress package is card draw. Some will be dropping a bomb here and there, but we are drawing cards, answers, and more threats.
Totally agree that's why I like the enchantress package as well, I think if your only creatures minus some chosen utility are some good targets for enchantment buffs and enchantresses for drawing, combined with Gaddock who shuts down a lot of different answers to our hexproof army, you have the making of something that could be quite powerful. I'll be messing around with some decklist ideas and posting.
When dealing with Auras, you want cards with replay value. Angelic Destiny is great, since you can reuse it. Bear Umbra is great because it's totem armor. The other auras, however, don't have as much bang for your buck. If a creature dies, you've just lost two cards. I know you're running the Greater Auramancy/Sterling Grove combo, but I think you'll find better luck with anthem effects that pump all your creatures. Spear of Heliod is utility to the max, an anthem effect as well as a bit of removal/control. Bow of Nylea makes your little bears very frightening, and it has some useful utility abilities, like giving out +1/+1 counters and recurring useful cards you may want to tutor for later in the game.
I would look at other enchantments as well, such as Sigil of the Empty Throne which turns into a powerhouse of a card in an enchantment deck. Mirari's Wake is also an anthem plus ramp. And don't forget Primeval Bounty (maxing out your curve) - it simply does to much for a single card, including haphazardly tossing out +1/+1 counters, life gain, and 3/3 beasts.
Also, I'll say it again, since you're running green in a two-color deck, I think you'll find you don't need to run quite so many redundant ramp cards. Just fit like 4 ramp spells (Nature's Lore, Farseek, etc.) and a Sakura-Tribe Elder in the deck and you'll do fine. Save your enchantment spots for enchantments that do more for the game than just fix your mana.
I should note that I forgot to put Earthcraft in the above list. That's why I have the Mana Auras like Fertile Ground. It's so I can go infinite with Ant Queen, Sacred Mesa, Luminarch Ascension or Mobilization (with Overgrowth)
I've been thinking quite a bit about this deck still using Gaddock as its general, and I really like the idea of including a lot of different cantrip like equips ie: frog tongue. The reason being it allows for digging towards a win con and makes winning with an evasive biggie enchanted with Ethereal Armor a much more viable win con.
These can be bounced with cards like Emancipation Angel as well, pretty nifty way to cycle through your deck and work towards a win con.
I would be wary of putting in too many cantripping enchantments that don't really do much and doing a quick search of Gatherer turned out that they are mostly terrible. Unquestioned Authority has some merit but I don't think it's as cheap as you'd like for your purposes.
I think you can do a similar thing with the Enchantress package and Cloudstone Curio. Rancor and Ethereal Armour now cantrip on a loop! Works great with other 1 cmc enchantments:
I've re-worked the deck to include some higher CMC cards and to include the possibility for Karameta as my Commander. I've refined the concept behind the deck too: Solitaire. This deck wants to limit interaction as much as possible by shutting off what the opponents can and cannot do. It's pro-actively hosing with Teeg/Stony Silence/Torpor Orb/Etc. and reactively hosing with Aura Shards/Preacher/Meekstone/etc. I can't cover ALL bases (at least I don't think I can) but I've done my best to spread it out to cover most types of interaction.
Helix Pinnacle can just get to 100 counters with all the mana I get between: Earthcraft, Mirrari's Wake, Seedborne Muse, Karametra. And in the spirit of the deck this does not require much interaction.
One of my top 5 favorite cards in Emeria, the Sky Ruin and I'm really pleased to finally have a deck that can realistically get to 7 plains! I like it so much I included 1 Vesuva so I can have 2 triggers!
I'm looking for opinions and ideas on how to keep sculpting this little monster to perfection. This is for multiplayer games and I'd like to be able to take it to tournaments and win.
1 Gaddock Teeg
Enchantments
1 Enchantress's Presence
1 Mirri's Guile
1 Land Tax
1 Utopia Sprawl
1 Wild Growth
1 Fertile Ground
1 Overgrowth
1 Karmic Justice
1 Ethereal Armor
1 Mobilization
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Planar Collapse
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Aura Shards
1 Sylvan Library
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Dense Foliage
1 Exploration
1 Mark of Asylum
1 Stony Silence
Artifacts
1 Null Rod
1 Torpor Orb
1 Defense Grid
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Meekstone
Creatures
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Spore Frog
1 Peacekeeper
1 Devoted Caretaker
1 Mother of Runes
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Femeref Enchantress
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Ant Queen
1 Academy Rector
1 Genesis
1 Sun Titan
1 False Prophet
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Preacher
1 Willow Satyr
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Summoner's Pact
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Proclamation of Rebirth
1 Retribution of the Meek
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Austere Command
1 Replenish
Lands
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 High Market
1 Arid Mesa
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Elfhame Palace
1 Maze of Ith
4 Plains
1 Sungrass Prairie
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Verdant Catacombs
6 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Grove of the Guardian
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Brushland
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Strip Mine
1 Riftstone Portal
1 Marsh Flats
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
The reason to play this deck is to interact with and hate the format. I was looking for a Commander that could hate the good cards but still be able to have a coherent strategy and not suffer too much by not playing the staple 'good' cards.
1 Stony Silence
1 Null Rod
These are the two cards that do the most work. They single handedly shut down large numbers of powerful cards from Sol Ring to Signets to Equipment to Oblivion Stone....you name it. These two cards are brutal and are the reason there are 0 activated artifact abilities in this deck.
1 Torpor Orb Catches all the 'value' creatures that everyone plays. Your sweet creatures start to look pretty terrible
1 Meekstone If you go big you will also be going home. I don't think I can reliably cast Glare of Subdual but that would be a hateful combo.
And of course Gaddock Teeg himself who shuts down massive numbers of cards. Too many to name. I don't play too many other hate bears because he's the granddaddy of them all and I aim to protect him instead.
I'm also very excited about running Preacher and Willow Satyr. I love finding old cards that break the colour pie rules and these 2 seem particularly potent in a deck that is already spending a lot of effort protecting its creatures. Note the High Market and Miren, The Moaning Well to sacrifice any stolen creatures.
What do people think about including Rites of Flourishing? Does this deck break the symmetry enough? How many non-creature cards over 3CMC do you think I could include? Right now the ones that are there are mostly reset or panic cards that would usually be cast if Teeg is dead.
BRGWTana and TymnaBRGW
RTeneb, the EternalR
UBRNekusar, Mind RazerUBR
Rakdos, Lord of Riots
BGWGhave, Guru of SporesBGW
Aurelia, the Warleader
BDrana, Kalastria BloodchiefB
WBROros, the AvengerWBR
Food for thought:
- how are counter spells? Do you like to have players only cast spells on their own turns? City of Solitude
- More hate and removal? Aura of Silence (supid mana rocks)
- Sylvan Library?
- You seem light on removal. Good all around answers: Krosan Grip, Beast Within, Return to Dust and my favorite Oblation
- Damping Matrix is Linvala (sort of) but another artifact).
- Flickerform to help keep GT around (makes Sigards so hard to kill).
Not sure how you feel about larger CMC enchantments but Primeval Bounty can take over as you grow your creatures and get beasts.
Also, with the amount of creatures to have, a great draw engine is to have low cmc auras that come back to hand: Spirit Loop, Rancor, Aspect of Mongoose (it love it when they can't get rid of GT when he has shroud).
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
krosan verge
scroll rack combos great with land tax
horn of greed combines with courser of kruphix, exploration as well as oracle of mul daya which im starting to use in every green deck.
ascetisism regenerates your stuff
thaumatogor auratog lets you get rid of extra enchantments
tragic poet lets you recur an anchantment
knight of the reliquary gets really big
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I second the need for more removal, though I've been running Unexpectedly Absent over Oblation.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
Femeref Enchantress + an atog + Rancor (or other similiar return to hand enchantments) = draw some cards!
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
Had a look at your list CatParty and it's inspired! Panglacial Wurm! Awesome!
Some of the suggestions like Scroll Rack and Skullclamp don't work under the Null Rod/Stony Silence/Damping Matrix so I'm not keen to use them. I also probably won't include Damping Matrix because I have so many activated abilities on my own creatures that I'd like to use. LinVala in combindation with the enchantments should leave me with the freedom to play stuff like Preacher and Willow Satyr.
What I am considering doing is including a variety of Hexproof creatures ie:
Sigarda
Silhana Ledgewalker
Thrun, the Last Troll
Troll Ascetic
as some solid enchantment targets. With Gaddock preventing most wrath effects, any enchantments on these fellas are likely to stick.
No need to really change commanders. You do not necessarily have to build around your commander --- some just use them for their colors. Gaddock is an exception has he shuts down cards. I use Sigarda as a secondary win-con. I win more games via enchantments than I do her. I even run Teeg in my Sigarda list and he is one of the first things I tutor for (even though I do have high CMC spells).
One thing I love about the enchantress package is card draw. Some will be dropping a bomb here and there, but we are drawing cards, answers, and more threats.
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
- Rancor
- Spirit Loop
- Armadillo Cloak
- Ancestral Mask
- Angelic Destiny
- Bear Umbra
- Ethereal Armor
- Shield of the Oversoul
- Unflinching Courage
...What else?Also, new brutal hoser card: Tsabo's Web
My main utility lands are Yavimaya Hollow, High Market and Miren the Moaning Well. I think I can handle the splash damage.
When dealing with Auras, you want cards with replay value. Angelic Destiny is great, since you can reuse it. Bear Umbra is great because it's totem armor. The other auras, however, don't have as much bang for your buck. If a creature dies, you've just lost two cards. I know you're running the Greater Auramancy/Sterling Grove combo, but I think you'll find better luck with anthem effects that pump all your creatures. Spear of Heliod is utility to the max, an anthem effect as well as a bit of removal/control. Bow of Nylea makes your little bears very frightening, and it has some useful utility abilities, like giving out +1/+1 counters and recurring useful cards you may want to tutor for later in the game.
I would look at other enchantments as well, such as Sigil of the Empty Throne which turns into a powerhouse of a card in an enchantment deck. Mirari's Wake is also an anthem plus ramp. And don't forget Primeval Bounty (maxing out your curve) - it simply does to much for a single card, including haphazardly tossing out +1/+1 counters, life gain, and 3/3 beasts.
Also, I'll say it again, since you're running green in a two-color deck, I think you'll find you don't need to run quite so many redundant ramp cards. Just fit like 4 ramp spells (Nature's Lore, Farseek, etc.) and a Sakura-Tribe Elder in the deck and you'll do fine. Save your enchantment spots for enchantments that do more for the game than just fix your mana.
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
These can be bounced with cards like Emancipation Angel as well, pretty nifty way to cycle through your deck and work towards a win con.
I think you can do a similar thing with the Enchantress package and Cloudstone Curio. Rancor and Ethereal Armour now cantrip on a loop! Works great with other 1 cmc enchantments:
NOTE: I'm over by 3 cards. Not sure what to cut.
Gaddock Teeg/Karametra, God of Harvests
Artifacts
1 Null Rod
1 Torpor Orb
1 Meekstone
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Seer's Sundial
CREATURES
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Reveillark
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Sun Titan
1 Devoted Caretaker
1 Mother of Runes
1 Academy Rector
1 Preacher
1 Genesis
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Eternal Witness
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Ant Queen
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Willow Satyr
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Gaddock Teeg/Karametra
1 Mirri's Guile
1 Stony Silence
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Enchantress's Presence
1 Karmic Justice
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Aura Shards
1 Sylvan Library
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Earthcraft
1 Sterling Grove
1 Privileged Position
1 Asceticism
1 Helix Pinnacle
1 Quest for Renewal
1 Glare of Subdual
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Worship
1 Multani's Presence
1 Crackdown
1 Utopia Sprawl
1 Wild Growth
1 Fertile Ground
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Chord of Calling
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Retribution of the Meek
1 Austere Command
1 Replenish
LANDS
10 Forest
10 Plains
1 High Market
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Sungrass Prairie
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Brushland
1 Strip Mine
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Vesuva
1 Arena
1 Temple Garden
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Kor Haven
The cards I really wanted to include that were uncastable under Teeg are: Privileged Position, Asceticism, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Worship Chord of Calling, Sphere of Safety and Glare of Subdual. The deck now builds a pretty insane board position and can win in a number of different ways:
Earthcraft + Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth/Fertile Ground/Mirari's Wake + Sacred Mesa/Ant Queen Infinite Tokens.
Helix Pinnacle can just get to 100 counters with all the mana I get between: Earthcraft, Mirrari's Wake, Seedborne Muse, Karametra. And in the spirit of the deck this does not require much interaction.
Sigil of the Empty Throne. Spamming 4/4s.
Cards like Worship, Glare of Subdual, Crackdown, Meekstone, Solitary Confinement and Sphere of Safety hopefully keep me alive long enough to 'go off'. Twilight Shepherd, Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Replenish help me recover and keep my board position against sweep effects if Teeg is not out.
One of my top 5 favorite cards in Emeria, the Sky Ruin and I'm really pleased to finally have a deck that can realistically get to 7 plains! I like it so much I included 1 Vesuva so I can have 2 triggers!
Removal with Karametra gets a bit easier with Arena and Ulvenwald Tracker just fighting down what's in the way. On top of that I have Intrepid Hero, Aura Shards, Nullmage Shepherd for repeatable kill. And my pet cards Preacher and Willow Satyr plus sac. outlets.
Cards that I'd likely want to look at again if I went to a wholly Teeg centric version of this are: Rites of Flourishing, Heartbeat of Spring, Land Tax.
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list