Ruric Thar, the Unbowed is a pretty fun commander. You can shut down the board pretty fast and he's hard to deal with without getting beat down yourself. I made a thrown-together deck a few days ago and it's surprisingly fun, especially with cards like dictate of the twin gods and gratuitous violence which is pretty much a win if they're down before you play him, even though it isn't commander damage it's still a game ender
I like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, but mostly because she's less than a year old and unique among Mardu legends, she hasn't shown up as much in my meta as Kaalia and Oros.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I've got a Jalira deck, and it's great fun to play, and one other person at me LGS has one too. Other than that, yeah, don't see much of the M15 legends. I've seen Yisan and Ob as part of the 99 a couple of times, but never as commanders.
I've long eyed mono-green voltron under either him or Mirri, Cat Warrior... unfortunately green can't toolbox and its card draw is generally based on number of creatures, so you're just crossing your fingers you get what you need at a given time.
I play Tymaret too, but what am missing here? 4 mana to draw a card?
You also get a zombie token, which fits well in a sacrifice themed deck. 4 mana for a card and a 2/2 as a repeatable effect at instant speed is not too shabby.
Yisan, Wandering Bard is really fun to build around. He usually is ignored for about 3 turns, so you have to load your deck with quality 1, 2 and 3 drops. Mistform Ultimus has a special spot in my heart for being so worthless by itself. You just stuff the deck with as many different blue lords and tribal effects as possible. Obsidian Battle-axe is awesome with the changeling weirdo!
I've long eyed mono-green voltron under either him or Mirri, Cat Warrior... unfortunately green can't toolbox and its card draw is generally based on number of creatures, so you're just crossing your fingers you get what you need at a given time.
You've genuinely never heard the answers to the question "why not use [the most obvious general] for [strategy]"?
Fair enough. For awhile, I was high on the idea of Lady Orca Voltron, despite the existence of Tsabo Tavoc, among other examples.
Actually, I think Mirri, Cat Warrior and Mirri the Cursed are both great. For green Mirri, it's pretty easy to give them a forest and make her unblockable, and vigilance is a very good ability in this format, plus she's cheap to cast. She definitely has a lot of potential without making you feel like she's straight up outclassed. Lady Orca is a demon, and that's something, but Mirri definitely offers more.
You've genuinely never heard the answers to the question "why not use [the most obvious general] for [strategy]"?
Fair enough. For awhile, I was high on the idea of Lady Orca Voltron, despite the existence of Tsabo Tavoc, among other examples.
Actually, I think Mirri, Cat Warrior and Mirri the Cursed are both great. For green Mirri, it's pretty easy to give them a forest and make her unblockable, and vigilance is a very good ability in this format, plus she's cheap to cast. She definitely has a lot of potential without making you feel like she's straight up outclassed. Lady Orca is a demon, and that's something, but Mirri definitely offers more.
Yeah, as another user said, the reason I didnt mention thrun is because he isnt underrated and underplayed.
Mirri, Cat Warrior is quite interesting, but the coolest cat by far is Jedit Ojanen of Efrava. I remember seeing him when I first started playing magic and thinking that he looked really badass. I bought a foil version some while ago, but I never got down to building him. Im guessing he needs vigilance and stuff like doubling season. It might even be possible to play him as Kemba-Like deck with more creatures and enchantments instead of equipment.
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My finished EDH decks:
GSelvala, Heart of the Wilds Inf Combo/FattiesG GWSaffi Eriksdotter Inf ComboGW BLiliana, Heretical Healer StaxB RKiki-Jikki, Inf Combo/ETB AbuseR
The hardcore crowd doesn't like it because, first, creatures are bad and they hardly ever cast them, even if they're the commander. Given that, no reason to limit yourself to the spells and combo's of one color when you can get twice or three times the selection with little drawback. Unless your general is a combo-piece of course, and certain Mono-U generals that get played.
For the Timmy crowd, multicolor anything is still about the most Timmy thing in the world. Why play something like Tahngarth, Talruum Hero or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa when there are tons of multicolor generals that kill stuff and pump stuff. Stretching themselves really thin and inefficient in order to chase the oddball play is what these players do. There's also somewhat of a visibility problem with a lot of mono-color legends, since a ton of them are really old, and the more experienced a player gets the less likely he'll be as Timmy as the new players. So, you have to have a veteran player who is committed to wacky play to try some of this stuff out.
The hardcore crowd doesn't like it because, first, creatures are bad and they hardly ever cast them, even if they're the commander. Given that, no reason to limit yourself to the spells and combo's of one color when you can get twice or three times the selection with little drawback. Unless your general is a combo-piece of course, and certain Mono-U generals that get played.
For the Timmy crowd, multicolor anything is still about the most Timmy thing in the world. Why play something like Tahngarth, Talruum Hero or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa when there are tons of multicolor generals that kill stuff and pump stuff. Stretching themselves really thin and inefficient in order to chase the oddball play is what these players do. There's also somewhat of a visibility problem with a lot of mono-color legends, since a ton of them are really old, and the more experienced a player gets the less likely he'll be as Timmy as the new players. So, you have to have a veteran player who is committed to wacky play to try some of this stuff out.
This is what is going through my head as I debate building either Eight-and-a-Half-Tails or adding black to make some Orzhov deck. I want to do a bunch of protection/indestructible stuff with maybe an angel subtheme for 8.5 Tails, but I worry that it will end up being "cute" and not powerful enough to contend with the decks at my LGS.
From my own experience, Mageta the Lion can be a very strong general for a controllish sort of deck, and I'm the only person I've ever seen play him.
I think Vela the Night-Clad is highly under-rated, mostly because UB has some obviously stronger generals (Bad Sygg, Oona). She's actually quite strong, but not enough to put people on guard as much as if you are running Oona.
I just put Vela together after being bored of the other choices and she rocks house.
Started playing this format since 2008, and I've never once in my life seen anyone--online or real life, play Patron of the Orochi. I think this card has a LOT of potential to be an incredibly powerful commander given that Mono-Green has the tools to be incredible. Granted, Yeva provides the draw-go control aspect of mono-green, and Omnath provides the gradual mana-over-time style of ramp. I do believe Patron is a powerful commander in its own right since untapping your entire army and mana means having a very strong field on your side (Think Asceticism)
Fair enough. For awhile, I was high on the idea of Lady Orca Voltron, despite the existence of Tsabo Tavoc, among other examples... Actually, I think Mirri, Cat Warrior and Mirri the Cursed are both great. For green Mirri, it's pretty easy to give them a forest and make her unblockable, and vigilance is a very good ability in this format, plus she's cheap to cast. She definitely has a lot of potential without making you feel like she's straight up outclassed. Lady Orca is a demon, and that's something, but Mirri definitely offers more.
Yeah, just the fact that she's a nicely-costed bundle of static abilities sort of (though not completely) outweighs green's inability to toolbox for equipment, since any given equipment at any given time will probably compliment one of her abilities; even a simple power boost will go nicely with first strike + vigilance.
For the same reason (speak of the devil), I've always been fond of Tahngarth as a voltron general as well; even if what you top-deck is nothing more than a simple Vulshok Battlegear, he's able to put it to triply good use: attack + block + fight. He's two mana more expensive, but on the other hand red can actually work with artifacts a bit.
I saw several people mention Chainer earlier in the thread, so I'll throw out Balthor the Defiled as a less... Notorious alternative. He's still pretty strong, and I've had a lot of fun with him as a general.
Yeah, just the fact that she's a nicely-costed bundle of static abilities sort of (though not completely) outweighs green's inability to toolbox for equipment, since any given equipment at any given time will probably compliment one of her abilities; even a simple power boost will go nicely with first strike + vigilance.
I just want to mention that while green struggles to toolbox for equipment in the traditional sense, you can at least run Ancient Stirrings, which I've found to be very worth it in most builds, especially if you also run useful utility lands.
Ashling the Pilgrim is one that I use but have never seen anyone else use. Who doesn't love a Blasphemous Act that also hurts players that's always readily available?
As one of the few players win my play group and LGS that uses commanders with an old border I've noticed it really is the fact that its that the newer legendary creatures really are more flashy and made for EDH which I feel greatly effects why so few players play the older commanders. But hell I do love my Selenia, He who Hungers, Chrous of the Conclave, Barrin, Bladewing and use to be mishra decks and I kinda secretly hope they stay unknown as I enjoy the passing of my commander around the table and a lot of what does this do.
Personally i think Karn, silver golem is underplayed. Hes overshadowed by Sydri, Galvanic genius for the wrong reasons, makes a brutal stax , aggro or insanley fast combo deck, and is pretty unique. He's colorless so its also a challenge to build around. My karn deck has a turn 1 infinite turn lock if i get to untap.
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Who needs Colours?
My most played EDH deck:
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion
UBR Nekusar, the Mindrazer
I like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, but mostly because she's less than a year old and unique among Mardu legends, she hasn't shown up as much in my meta as Kaalia and Oros.
On phasing:
As a combat general he lacks haste and doesn't hit particularly hard
As a control/combo general he doesn't do much to support either
Still fun to cast other people's spells though.
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsYeah, it's mostly just cute the way it cycles. Stockpile is two less to cast than Jayemdae Tome, but then again so are Candles of Leng.
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
You also get a zombie token, which fits well in a sacrifice themed deck. 4 mana for a card and a 2/2 as a repeatable effect at instant speed is not too shabby.
Why not use Thrun, the Last Troll? He's like Isao, Enlightened Bushi but much bigger for an extra mana.
As for draw, it's easy with Thrun, because of his hexproof and pump and things like Soul's Majesty, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Momentous Fall, Life's Legacy, Hunter's Insight, and Hunter's Prowess.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
Fair enough. For awhile, I was high on the idea of Lady Orca Voltron, despite the existence of Tsabo Tavoc, among other examples.
Actually, I think Mirri, Cat Warrior and Mirri the Cursed are both great. For green Mirri, it's pretty easy to give them a forest and make her unblockable, and vigilance is a very good ability in this format, plus she's cheap to cast. She definitely has a lot of potential without making you feel like she's straight up outclassed. Lady Orca is a demon, and that's something, but Mirri definitely offers more.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
Yeah, as another user said, the reason I didnt mention thrun is because he isnt underrated and underplayed.
Mirri, Cat Warrior is quite interesting, but the coolest cat by far is Jedit Ojanen of Efrava. I remember seeing him when I first started playing magic and thinking that he looked really badass. I bought a foil version some while ago, but I never got down to building him. Im guessing he needs vigilance and stuff like doubling season. It might even be possible to play him as Kemba-Like deck with more creatures and enchantments instead of equipment.
GSelvala, Heart of the Wilds Inf Combo/FattiesG
GWSaffi Eriksdotter Inf ComboGW
BLiliana, Heretical Healer StaxB
RKiki-Jikki, Inf Combo/ETB AbuseR
The hardcore crowd doesn't like it because, first, creatures are bad and they hardly ever cast them, even if they're the commander. Given that, no reason to limit yourself to the spells and combo's of one color when you can get twice or three times the selection with little drawback. Unless your general is a combo-piece of course, and certain Mono-U generals that get played.
For the Timmy crowd, multicolor anything is still about the most Timmy thing in the world. Why play something like Tahngarth, Talruum Hero or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa when there are tons of multicolor generals that kill stuff and pump stuff. Stretching themselves really thin and inefficient in order to chase the oddball play is what these players do. There's also somewhat of a visibility problem with a lot of mono-color legends, since a ton of them are really old, and the more experienced a player gets the less likely he'll be as Timmy as the new players. So, you have to have a veteran player who is committed to wacky play to try some of this stuff out.
Great post! I totally agree.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
This is what is going through my head as I debate building either Eight-and-a-Half-Tails or adding black to make some Orzhov deck. I want to do a bunch of protection/indestructible stuff with maybe an angel subtheme for 8.5 Tails, but I worry that it will end up being "cute" and not powerful enough to contend with the decks at my LGS.
The Mimeoplasm || Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher || Vial Smasher/Tymna Group Slug
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief || Talrand, Sky Summoner
Yidris - Unblockable Saboteurs || Kiki-Jiki, ETB breaker
Kess, Dissident Mage
I just put Vela together after being bored of the other choices and she rocks house.
For the same reason (speak of the devil), I've always been fond of Tahngarth as a voltron general as well; even if what you top-deck is nothing more than a simple Vulshok Battlegear, he's able to put it to triply good use: attack + block + fight. He's two mana more expensive, but on the other hand red can actually work with artifacts a bit.
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
I just want to mention that while green struggles to toolbox for equipment in the traditional sense, you can at least run Ancient Stirrings, which I've found to be very worth it in most builds, especially if you also run useful utility lands.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
WUBRG Sliver Queen 5 Color Super Friend Tokens GRBUW
RRR Zada, Hedron GrinderJohnny RedRRR