MTG Salvation

Table of Contents

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Introduction
First off, thanks for reading. The thinking behind this deck is two-fold: first, I wanted the deck to take full advantage of Horde's activated ability. This meant actually playing elementals. A lot of Horde decks fall into the five-color good stuff category, which is fine, but I wanted this deck to have more distinctive personality. The second focus was actually linked to the first. Besides elemental recursion, Horde also boasts some pretty solid combat stats. A 5/5 for five with trample, haste, and vigilance is nothing to sneeze at. So the other focus of this deck is attacking for the win, and that meant skewing away from infinite combos.

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Why play Horde?
When you've committed yourself to five-color there are a number of more obvious choices than Horde of Notions. First, there are the sliver commanders: Sliver Overlord, Sliver Queen, Sliver Hivelord and Sliver Legion. I wanted a less obvious, but no less tribal, commander. Then there are the more control oriented commanders, Cromat, Progenitus, and Child of Alara (Sliver Hivelord isn't shabby as a control commander either). As much as I love a good five-color control deck, I wanted this to be an attacking deck instead of sitting behind Collective Restraint with a fist full of board wipes. I have to confess Reaper King is pretty darn sweet and might be next on my to-build list....
Horde is a mean five-color general, hitting that perfect EDH sweet-spot combining flavor and raw power. Allow the following Pro/Con list to explain my thinking on why you should consider building around Horde:
Horde of Notions' Pros
1. Horde is value machine. Horde's reanimation ability coupled with the Lorwyn evoke and other ETB elementals means repeatable access to a great tool box of effects, from Mulldrifter's card drawing to the army in a can of Avenger of Zendikar.
2. Horde actually "casts" the elemental, rather than just reanimating it. This might seem like a distinction without a difference. That is until you're trying to get Maelstrom Wanderer's cascade to trigger or get maximal use out of Equilibrium.
3. Horde rumbles. As I mentioned above, Horde can sit back and play the value game all day. But as a 5/5 for five with three relevant combat abilities: trample, vigilance, and, probably most importantly, haste, Horde can provide a decent amount of offence all on it's own. The vigilance means there is often very little opportunity cost to running Horde at the least defended player. I find the threat of death by commander damage from Horde can quickly become a relevant factor.
4. Horde's activated ability can act as a pseudo Vedalken Orrery. The possibility of chucking out an Æthersnipe at instant speed can really complicate combat math for your opponents.
5. Horde adds much needed resiliency to a creature based strategy. Your board will get swept. Usually multiple times a game. The combination of haste and reanimation means rebuilding post-wrath is a cinch. Plus with all of the ETB abilities, sometimes a wrath effect from your opponent can end up improving your position.
Horde of Notions' Cons
1. Horde's multiple angles of attack can make it a target. Recurring Crib Swap or buying back your evokers can quickly get the attention of your opponents. This is partly why it's haste ability is so important. At least you'll usually be getting five damage, even if Horde doesn't survive to your untap step. Players will often enter the game assuming Horde is just another figurehead five-color commander. But they'll quickly get the memo once you start demonstrating Horde's true capabilities
2. Horde costs five. Con two is directly related to con one; Horde will die, and recasting it can be a nuisance. With that said it's still often worth the mana. I've paid up to 11 to get it back on the battlefield.
3. Horde's reanimation ability is also spendy. Don't fool yourself. Sometimes you'll be casting guys like Omnath, Locus of Rage and be getting a pretty good deal. Other times, paying five for that Wispmare can feel underwhelming.
4. Horde can become a distraction to your goals. Just like playing a deck full of planeswalkers, Horde lends itself to playing a lot of Magic. Which should be a good thing. Cast more spells than your opponent and you'll usually be winning. But often Horde will fool you into seeking value for value sake. Sometimes the right move is to leave Horde in the command zone, force a wrath, and use it to rebuild.

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Development and Strategy
Development:The idea for this deck actually goes back to one I designed for a friend of mine. He wanted a Horde deck in which he could play his collection of planeswalkers. So it started as very much a planeswalker control deck (featuring something like 15-20 planeswalkers), with the recurrent elementals as a side benefit. Years later I was searching for a new commander to build around, and I thought back to my friend's Horde deck. I rebuilt it, again focusing on planeswalkers. What I found though was the games where I was leveraging Horde and attacking with big monsters, rather than durdling with planeswalkers, were the most fun games. So I shifted the focus, steadily cutting planeswalkers and control elements and adding more creatures and enchantments instead (I found that enchantments tend to be much harder for your opponents to interact with than planeswalkers and generate almost as much board and/or card advantage). The meta at my LGS is pretty diverse. With an average of 12-16 players for FNM and decks ranging from highly competitive to casual and devoted theme decks. So you have to be prepared for anything from turn four Ad Nauseum to Possibility Storm shenanigans. Though I may have skewed infinite combos, this deck is by no means ineffectual.
Strategy:The basic strategy for this deck across the different phases of the game goes as follows: Early Game will mostly involve ramping, trying to gain a few extra turns worth of land drops at least, while keep your eyes peeled for problem permanents like Skullclamp or Survival of the Fittest and getting a first use out of our evokers like Ingot Chewer or Wispmare. Mid-Game sometimes just means dropping Horde in, smashing for damage, and asking your opponents for an answer to the building value train. Other times you'll want to play something like Mirari's Wake or Maelstrom Nexus and try to skip right into your late game plays.Late/End Game often has Maelstrom Wanderer, Omnath, Locus of Rage, or Avenger of Zendikar (and often a combination of two or all three) swinging in fatal damage at multiple players in one turn. The idea is to leverage the CA of the EBT creatures to further your board while disrupting the game plans of your opponents. In this way, the deck plays out in a very classic mid-range fashion, and consequently, identifying your role as beatdown or control at any given moment, as well as when this role is shifting, is critical to success.

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Deck List By Card Type

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Deck List By Function