MTG Salvation

Probably gonna be building a new Commander deck since I took most of mine, but I want some feedback on my current options before shelling out cash (money tight on holidays haha.....)



1. Yldris, one of the new guys on the block, 4 colors, awesome typing/art, etc. Planning on throwing in more Ogres for flavor, while throwing in more Cascade/Chaos/Wheel type effects for fun/flavor. Still doing some research on how to build him though. Since he's new along with the other C16 lot, Im not sure how much hate he could potentially draw (I suppose its all in the build), I don't doubt he will be fun though

2. Breya, Artifacts. What Im wondering about though is how to focus the artifact theme? She seems pretty versatile so I guess I could build her with artifacts however I want? My only hesitation on her is that the commander herself doesn't quite appeal to me (to clarify I like the colors and what she does, but not the character herself if u get what I mean)

3. Derevi, I like the commander itself, the colors, the untap/blink theme, but from what I understand this is an extremely powerful/predictable commander. Unntap, Blink/ETB effects. Can draw me lots of hate it seems. Does anyone have other interesting takes on this commander, or is abusing Derevi really the only way to go? (Edited)

4. A W/B enchantment deck with Daxos with Angels and Demons and control elements. Would this work? Or is it too unfocused? I dont want to go down the +1/+1 counter route as my brother pilots an Atraxa deck with just that, and I found through playing Prossh that I really dislike keeping track of tons of counters


What have been your experiences with these commanders?

For Derevi, blink/etb is the opposite of the default, imo. Derevi has very little synergy with blink in most cases - his strongest synergy is with evasion and winter orb-type effects.

I also might upgrade my mono red deck to Boros, I like the color pair despite it being so simply aggro focused, have there been any new options for leads though other than Gisela/Aurelia?

Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder and Akiri, Line-slinger are from the new set.

Breya from what I understand is a pretty powerful combo commander in her own right, so if that's not your jam stay away from her. Derevi is known for being extremely oppressive too. I guess it's all in how you build.

I've never built with either of the other two, but of them I'd go for Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder though. I like the chaos of an unpredictable deck though so that's me.

I vote for Yidris. There are multiple ways you could build him (discard/wheel, enchantments, saboteur, goodstuff, etc.), and even within those different themes there is a lot of room for customization. I personally built mine with a focus on making creatures unblockable as well saboteur creatures (creatures that have an effect when they combat damage a player). I added a sprinkling of randomness cards as well. It was a lot of fun to play but was also fun/challenging to build as some cards that are normally great are terrible to cascade into.

On the flip side, I am having a horrible time finding that sweet spot with my Breya deck. My first iteration was weak and slow, and my current version feels hollow (combos without tutors to find the missing pieces). YMMV.

As for Derevi, you could build a deck that focuses on the untap ability without the stax elements. Or there is bird tribal. Either way, you may catch some flak until people realize you arent playing the typical overpowered version of Derevi.

Thanks for the feedback!

Right now Im leaning the most towards Yldris or a W/B deck



For those who pilot a W/B commander often, what other strategies are there besides stax, enchantments, and tokens? Im a bit interested in making a stax deck, though Im not sure what the best commander option for that would be (never made anything cutthroat like that before, and Im aware it overlaps a bit with the enchantment theme, Im also more inclined to make a stax type deck in these colors and imo you need black, for what it offers and flavorwise)



While I did ask about Boros (edited it out of first post), I have to say the more I look at it, I think its something I will get bored with pretty fast, Im gonna put this option on the backburner for now. That being said though, Im thinking Boros + another color might be something better I would like to try now, particularly Mardu, though the only commander I think in those colors that appeal to me is the new Marchesa, but I have zero idea how to build her.

Regarding Stax, it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be cutthroat. It just means that you cost your opponents resources, in the case of W/B that is usually life. To make a successful Daxos the Returned, I do think you need to build Staxy but that's not necessarily the full build using Smokestack to make people sacrifice their lands by turn 5. You play Rule of Law to stop the action economy, Oppression to cost them cards, you play little Enchantments and then use your dudes to slowly accurate advantage. There are a whole bunch of B/W generals that deal in killing creatures, which to me isn't Stax but Control. You're stopping their action. Probably more friendly to your friends than Daxos the Returned. If you just want to be as friendly as possible, there's Kambal, Consul of Allocation where you drain people who decide to play certain cards. If you insist on an Angel and Demon theme, I cannot recommend Daxos but I should point out Kaalia of the Vast who happens to be Mardu.

Quote from Skye629 »

For those who pilot a W/B commander often

1) I've played half (seven) of the current total (fourteen) W/B legends as commanders

2) Everything in this post is still the opinion of one guy. I know the person above me is going to disagree with at least some of it and I'll disagree with some of their opinions and then we'll all have a big laugh and go out for some chocolate malts.

My big problem with Daxos is that he takes the biggest weaknesses of W/B (slow buildups, slow reloads, having to choose between slow early plays that leave you without a reaction or being reactive but delaying what you need, being slow if you're creature based, being very susceptible to disruption if you're creature based) and rolls them into one package that's disguised as an enchantress theme. He's a super tempting brew, though, I'll give you that.

As for your question about W/B overall strategies you named most of them. Stax (Ayli, Ghost Dad), combo enchantress (Selenia), pillowfort enchantress (nearly any of them; real gamblers play Big Teysa), token combo (mostly just Little Teysa), and lifecannon (Karlov, Kambal). Voltron (Karlov, Vish Kal, Big Teysa) is fairly risky but I won't be the one to tell you not to do it. Fly; be free.

edit: Figured I'd mention the few commanders I'd left out of the initial post.

I'm sure there's probably some kind of value aggro build you can make out of either Athreos or buddying up Ravos and Tymna. I haven't used any of those commanders, though.

I also don't know how to make Triad of Fates not excruciatingly slow, which is a shame, it's a dope card. Maybe if you don't mind either tutoring hardcore for untappers or playing a slow drown of a stax-ish enchantress?

Return of Ghost Dad seems limited to a goodstuff deck with a low creature count. Otherwise B/W goodstuff probably prefers having a sac outlet commander (Ayli, Ghost Dad, Vish Kal).

Hmmm out of those commanders, I think the ones Im most interested in are:

Teysa (both, probably my first choice, who doesn't like her? Both as a Commander option and character)
OG Ghost Dad (why is he called this???)
Daxos
Ayli
Athreos? Maybe



As another question to those that play Orzhov, if you go the token/counter route, how much do you make? I was put off from these because I played Prossh and it became a mess because there were so many to keep track of, but at the same time I had access to green, which obviously made those spin out of control fast. How is it here????

I avoid Derevi, mainly due to how oppressive it could be for playmates, but that's a personal choice.

Lately I found Yidris plays a lot like Narset, Enlightened Master where you only need one attack to prevent your opponent from having another turn (by using lots of turn taking spells and combat spells, and mana rocks which if you cascade into will allow you to play more spells). My approach is creature-less Temur, perhaps I should try Grixis style for a change. Yidris has potential for different deck types, which I like.

Breya is very much a combo piece no matter what you have in hand, so if you like combos she is a good choice.

Dexos is very fun to play, requires set up and not as powerful as the previous three, but once you set up the board you would'd be hard to defeat (until a mass enchantment removal).

Thanks to the cardpool, many WB generals can go stax and enchantress effortlessly.

Quote from Skye629 »

Hmmm out of those commanders, I think the ones Im most interested in are:

Teysa (both, probably my first choice, who doesn't like her? Both as a Commander option and character)
OG Ghost Dad (why is he called this???)
Daxos
Ayli
Athreos? Maybe

As another question to those that play Orzhov, if you go the token/counter route, how much do you make? I was put off from these because I played Prossh and it became a mess because there were so many to keep track of, but at the same time I had access to green, which obviously made those spin out of control fast. How is it here????

Teysa 1.0 is pretty amazing since she provides token making and a sacrifice outlet for white tokens. She is probably one of the strongest in the WB colors. As for how many tokens she makes, it depends on how you build it, of course, like with extra makers like Field of Souls or Requiem Angel to pump out extra spirits, not counting Darkest Hour to make infinite spirits. Even so, they can be used to exile creatures so you don't have to let them build up unless you're aiming to swoop in and kill someone with them and Cathars' Crusade or similar.

As for Athreos, I run him at the helm of my WB deck, with other enablers like Phyrexian Reclamation and Strands of Night for the people who choose to take damage rather than give me my creature. Athreos gives me an early game play before setting up another engine, so it's grindy the entire game.

Ghost Dad is a nickname picked up while Ravinca 1.0 was in standard, where they appeared in so many decks since damage still was on the stack and their self-exile was amazing since they could dodge damage while killing creatures. I think it was also a reference to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dad

Thanks guys! Im definitely going Orzhov now. Im ditching the Yldris idea because I got dragged back into the faith of our lord and savior Nicol Bolas (on a serious note I was motivated to rebuild by Grixis deck with Amonkhet and the Bolas teasing from Kaladesh/Aether Revolt)

My two orzhov decks. U might get some ideas:

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/selenia-recruiter-of-the-guard-suicice-combo-edh/

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/teysa-connoisseur-of-culling/