Hi everyone,
I'm very new to EDH. I have a pretty casual Kresh the Bloodbraided deck that aims to produce a lot of tokens. I have a few good cards and one of better ones is Dragon Broodmother, but after playing with the deck a few times I realize that I might not really know the best way to utilize her. It seems like in an ideal world, I'd have Broodmother and something like Verdant Force out at the same time. I could have a dragon devour a saproling each upkeep, making the dragon bigger and Kresh both at the same time. But there is no way to assume that I can have those cards out together each game. The last time I played, Broodmother was the first token producer I got out and was around for a bit before she got removed. I started having a dragon devour another dragon every other turn. So let one come out, the next one would eat it. Let one come out, the next one would eat it.
Anyway, I'd love some advice on how to best use the card. I can't help but feel like the math of devour 2 means I should usually do one thing and not another. Or maybe I'm just totally over-thinking this.
I play 4-5 player almost exclusively, so take that into consideration. When I play her, I typically hoard tokens until the last player before my turn, then devour all the little ones, so I've got a big baddie for swinging with on my turn, and maximizing power output. Then, if she continues to survive, I'll make another big one the next cycle around the table. If I have a way to grant haste, I devour on my upkeep, if not, then on the upkeep of the player before me in the rotation.
I love her in Thromok the Insatiable. All those cute little dragon tokens either get eaten (by Thromok or perhaps Skullmulcher) or do some serious damage with Craterhoof Behemoth. I think if you are planning on devouring the dragons you're making then you are probably using it "wrong", if that is possible. Just the fact that it makes tokens every upkeep is sick enough.
I agree that the ideal situation would be for those dragons to be devouring some crunchy 1/1 saprolings or insects. And my deck has a variety of ways to make that happen. But sometimes things aren't as ideal as you'd like them to be. Assuming I'm not being seriously threatened and have options for what I can do, would the smart thing to do be to keep Broodmother in my hand until I can get something like Ant Queen or Verdant Embrace onto the board first? Or is dragons devouring dragons good enough, even though it's not ideal?
In bigger mutiplayer games, I think that just devouring the dragonletts would be good enough but in smaller MP or 1v1 you'd want to have some other options. My playgroup size is so inconsistent that I don't run her often. On a side note, I agree with SuperSonik, she's a house in Thromok.
It also depends on the deck you're playing her in. Crucible of Fire makes her 3x better but you'd obviously only play crucible in a dragon heavy deck... She also does well when you can afford to use Doubling Season and Parallel Lives. Since you have access to B, you could also run Nether Traitor (love that guy lol).
If your deck is more focused on the birth and/or death of creatures, (and the things they trigger) take a look at Warstorm Surge and Death's Presence.
And to close off, one of my favorite "oh hey what does that dooOAAAAGHH"s from Thromok works equally well in Kresh: Ion Storm
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Real Men Play Aggro
EDH:
R Heartless Hidetsugu R Godo, Bandit Warlord G Kamahl, Fist of Krosa B Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker RG Thromok the Insatiable WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon
If you're looking to have broodmother in play with other token producers to devour their tokens, I think you're playing her wrong. Why put multiple of your good token producers out to die to a board wipe when she can build a solid board position by herself? I would recommend trying to just sit on her and not overextend if you don't have to. Here's how I'd play her: make the 1/1s devouring nothing until the upkeep of the player before you. On that player's upkeep, have the new baby eat its siblings (probably only 2, maybe 3) so that it will be able to attack on your turn while also giving as few opponents as possible the opportunity to deal with it with sorceries. I think you'll find that if you get at least one large baby this way, your opponents will be left with little choice but to board wipe to deal with your roost. If they do, so be it. Then you can play more threats. But why run more good stuff out into a board wipe when she single-handedly forces it?
I play 4-5 player almost exclusively, so take that into consideration. When I play her, I typically hoard tokens until the last player before my turn, then devour all the little ones, so I've got a big baddie for swinging with on my turn, and maximizing power output. Then, if she continues to survive, I'll make another big one the next cycle around the table. If I have a way to grant haste, I devour on my upkeep, if not, then on the upkeep of the player before me in the rotation.
This is correct in a bubble. By in a bubble, I mean in cases where you want to maximize damage output, have no other token producers, no pump, and the defending opponent has no flying blockers.
Otherwise, it will be fairly obvious what the correct play is. If you want more clamp fodder, don't Devour at all. If you need more buff for Kresh, Devour every upkeep instead. If you have some sort of pump that goes to each creature, like an Overrun, then don't Devour at all. If you have other token producers out, have each Dragon devour those instead of Devouring each other. If you are trying to get past a blocker or two, keep enough tokens to get by the blocker(s). But since increments of ~3 damage rarely decide games in Commander, you are probably playing Broodmother for ancillary effects, and so you just have to keep track of and optimize those.
As for it getting wiped, it kind of depends what your meta-game is. Even the on-line meta is getting light on wipes nowadays. One of my favorite cards to run with Broodmother in Kresh is Predatory Advantage. It's great against wipes.
Running non-creature producing token generators helps with reducing the exposure to mass removal. I suggest cards like Bitterblossom, Goblin Assault, and Awakening Zone as cheap options in your colors.
I'm very new to EDH. I have a pretty casual Kresh the Bloodbraided deck that aims to produce a lot of tokens. I have a few good cards and one of better ones is Dragon Broodmother, but after playing with the deck a few times I realize that I might not really know the best way to utilize her. It seems like in an ideal world, I'd have Broodmother and something like Verdant Force out at the same time. I could have a dragon devour a saproling each upkeep, making the dragon bigger and Kresh both at the same time. But there is no way to assume that I can have those cards out together each game. The last time I played, Broodmother was the first token producer I got out and was around for a bit before she got removed. I started having a dragon devour another dragon every other turn. So let one come out, the next one would eat it. Let one come out, the next one would eat it.
Anyway, I'd love some advice on how to best use the card. I can't help but feel like the math of devour 2 means I should usually do one thing and not another. Or maybe I'm just totally over-thinking this.
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Commander
BBB - Erebos, MBC
GB - Glissa, Recursion Valuetown
UB - Wrexial/Phenax Mill
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My 540 card Free-for-All Multiplayer Cube
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My 540 card Free-for-All Multiplayer Cube
WUB Sharuum the Hegemon, the Destroyer of Darksteel
BGW Teneb, the Harvester, my Pimped Out Reanimator
GUB The Mimeoplasm Ooze-Mill
GWU Rafiq the Exalted
WUB Sharuum the Hegemon, the Destroyer of Darksteel
BGW Teneb, the Harvester, my Pimped Out Reanimator
GUB The Mimeoplasm Ooze-Mill
GWU Rafiq the Exalted
If you want to use them as is, without eating their nestmates, consider some Kresh-appropriate pump like Eldrazi Monument or Beastmaster Ascension.
If your deck is more focused on the birth and/or death of creatures, (and the things they trigger) take a look at Warstorm Surge and Death's Presence.
And to close off, one of my favorite "oh hey what does that dooOAAAAGHH"s from Thromok works equally well in Kresh: Ion Storm
Real Men Play Aggro
EDH:
R Heartless Hidetsugu
R Godo, Bandit Warlord
G Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
B Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
RG Thromok the Insatiable
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon
This is correct in a bubble. By in a bubble, I mean in cases where you want to maximize damage output, have no other token producers, no pump, and the defending opponent has no flying blockers.
Otherwise, it will be fairly obvious what the correct play is. If you want more clamp fodder, don't Devour at all. If you need more buff for Kresh, Devour every upkeep instead. If you have some sort of pump that goes to each creature, like an Overrun, then don't Devour at all. If you have other token producers out, have each Dragon devour those instead of Devouring each other. If you are trying to get past a blocker or two, keep enough tokens to get by the blocker(s). But since increments of ~3 damage rarely decide games in Commander, you are probably playing Broodmother for ancillary effects, and so you just have to keep track of and optimize those.
As for it getting wiped, it kind of depends what your meta-game is. Even the on-line meta is getting light on wipes nowadays. One of my favorite cards to run with Broodmother in Kresh is Predatory Advantage. It's great against wipes.
When putting together Kresh and emphasizing tokens, +1/+1 counters, and sacrifice effects Devour is pretty much the best mechanic ever. Throw in Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, and Corpsejack Menace in conjunction with cards like Feed the Pack and you end you end up with huge Dragon Broodmothers, Mycoloths, and Thromoks. Kresh is so awesome just for that reason.
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