I've been meaning to draw this deck up for a while and here it finally is. Axelrod Gunnarson is on of the many (many many) legends from Legends who is basically unsuitable for use in a normal game of Magic. Unlike most of those guys, myself included, Axelrod actually has an interesting text box. A 5/5 trampling giant isn't groundshaking in EDH but it isn't the worst thing in the world, either. It's the drain ability that's got my brewer's juices flowing, particularly how it's worded. Unlike Blood Artist and company Axelrod deals a damage to an opponent when he kills a thing so this deck is built around abusing that.
Again, the idea here is to make Axelrod's text relevant. This starts with making sure he can deal damage directly to creatures. The "fight" section of cards is pretty large but I've cut it down from what it was before. The most expensive fight effects (e.g.Swift Kick and Magus of the Arena) just had to go. Nemesis Mask is a possibility here.
Now, a lot of creatures in EDH are large and won't die to a point or two (or five) of damage so that's why I've included the token producers for your opponents. Hunted Dragon is another one of the effects that I opted not to play because the 2/2 Knights may be too hard to ping away. Hunted Horror, on the other hand, is unplayable here because the tokens it makes can't be touched by Axelrod.
Then there are a bunch of cards that make doing 1 damage to a creature or player much scarier. Deathtouch makes pinging much more appealing and I can't wait to start shooting people for 1 poison counter at a time. This deck is not going to be particularly fast so maybe the symmetrical damage doublers aren't worth the risk.
With so much of what this deck's trying to do revolving around the Commander it makes sense to include some protection for him. The equipment is pretty standard and, while it may look odd, Blessing of Leeches very nearly grants indestructible. Guardian Beast is sweet in any deck with lots of artifacts and it's especially great with something like Lightning Greaves attached to it. One hand washes the other and all that.
This deck obviously sits on the casual end of the spectrum so I don't want to overload it with tutors and stuff. Still, some card drawers that let me keep hitting land drops are always good so there's a smattering of those. Expedition Map will likely be great here since it digs up Forbidden Orchard or Arena.
There's not much dedicated creature removal here because half the deck already makes the battlefield a bad time for creatures. Karn, Silver Golem lets Axelrod start fighting artifacts which makes the battlefield quite hostel to them as well. With all the fighting and pinging going on having some cheap creatures with deathtouch made sense (that's part of the reason that I think Baleful Eidolon is playable here). Agent of the Fates fills that role and there are actually quite a few ways to trigger heroic on him, too.
With a general that costs eight mana to cast and needs the help of other expensive cards to do anything this deck is going to be super mana hungry. Thus, the ramp package is vast. Not really sure if I want to play with mana doublers like Gauntlet of Might or Crypt Ghast because I already have a Jund deck based around those type of cards.
I'm not really sure what to do with the lands. Right now there are just a few ramp lands and a few fixing lands. It would be pretty straightforward to fill the other 30 slots with more of the same so I've left it open for now. It's too bad this deck can't play Tolaria West.
So, that's my Axelrod Gunnarson list. It's real super janky, just like I like my EDH decks to be. That said I'm always looking to optimize within the constraints of a theme, so let me know how to improve this pile.
Private Mod Note
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
1 Axelrod Gunnarson
Things to Kill
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Varchild's War-Riders
1 Akroan Horse
Ways to Fight
1 Arena
1 Triangle of War
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Crush Underfoot
1 Fall of the Hammer
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Surestrike Trident
1 Fire Whip
1 Power of Fire
1 Lavamancer's Skill
1 Soul's Fire
1 Tail Slash
1 Deadshot
1 Chandra's Ignition
1 Burning Anger
1 Extra Arms
Damage Modifiers
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Phyresis
1 Baleful Eidolon
1 Glistening Oil
1 Neko-Te
1 Furnace of Rath
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Death Pits of Rath
1 Dictate of the Twin Gods
1 Anthem of Rakdos
1 Embermaw Hellion
1 Gratuitous Violence
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Blessing of Leeches
1 Champion's Helm
1 Guardian Beast
Draw
1 Expedition Map
1 Night's Whisper
1 Sign in Blood
1 Read the Bones
1 Ambition's Cost
1 Ancient Craving
Removal
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Unstable Obelisk
1 Chaos Warp
1 Agent of the Fates
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Karn Liberated
Ramp
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Coalition Relic
1 Palladium Myr
1 Burnished Hart
1 Hedron Archive
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Bojuka Bog
30 Other Lands
Again, the idea here is to make Axelrod's text relevant. This starts with making sure he can deal damage directly to creatures. The "fight" section of cards is pretty large but I've cut it down from what it was before. The most expensive fight effects (e.g. Swift Kick and Magus of the Arena) just had to go. Nemesis Mask is a possibility here.
Now, a lot of creatures in EDH are large and won't die to a point or two (or five) of damage so that's why I've included the token producers for your opponents. Hunted Dragon is another one of the effects that I opted not to play because the 2/2 Knights may be too hard to ping away. Hunted Horror, on the other hand, is unplayable here because the tokens it makes can't be touched by Axelrod.
Then there are a bunch of cards that make doing 1 damage to a creature or player much scarier. Deathtouch makes pinging much more appealing and I can't wait to start shooting people for 1 poison counter at a time. This deck is not going to be particularly fast so maybe the symmetrical damage doublers aren't worth the risk.
With so much of what this deck's trying to do revolving around the Commander it makes sense to include some protection for him. The equipment is pretty standard and, while it may look odd, Blessing of Leeches very nearly grants indestructible. Guardian Beast is sweet in any deck with lots of artifacts and it's especially great with something like Lightning Greaves attached to it. One hand washes the other and all that.
This deck obviously sits on the casual end of the spectrum so I don't want to overload it with tutors and stuff. Still, some card drawers that let me keep hitting land drops are always good so there's a smattering of those. Expedition Map will likely be great here since it digs up Forbidden Orchard or Arena.
There's not much dedicated creature removal here because half the deck already makes the battlefield a bad time for creatures. Karn, Silver Golem lets Axelrod start fighting artifacts which makes the battlefield quite hostel to them as well. With all the fighting and pinging going on having some cheap creatures with deathtouch made sense (that's part of the reason that I think Baleful Eidolon is playable here). Agent of the Fates fills that role and there are actually quite a few ways to trigger heroic on him, too.
With a general that costs eight mana to cast and needs the help of other expensive cards to do anything this deck is going to be super mana hungry. Thus, the ramp package is vast. Not really sure if I want to play with mana doublers like Gauntlet of Might or Crypt Ghast because I already have a Jund deck based around those type of cards.
I'm not really sure what to do with the lands. Right now there are just a few ramp lands and a few fixing lands. It would be pretty straightforward to fill the other 30 slots with more of the same so I've left it open for now. It's too bad this deck can't play Tolaria West.
So, that's my Axelrod Gunnarson list. It's real super janky, just like I like my EDH decks to be. That said I'm always looking to optimize within the constraints of a theme, so let me know how to improve this pile.