So I'm back to my relentless game of "which commander do I build" and I had the idea of trying to incorporate the themes of my first magic deck into EDH for nostalgia's sake. Now in my mind this seemed really fun. I loved my first deck no matter how terrible and I think it would be really fun to bring to EDH. The only issue with this idea is that my first deck ever was the "Call of Blood" intro deck (it's terrible I know but don't laugh I was new to the game ). My concern with this is that life tends to be abundant in the commander format as is. Every article I've read or podcast I've heard treats life as being relatively insignificant due to the large starting quantity as well as the existence of alt win-cons. So with that being said I usher the question: Is a gain/drain strategy in BW viable enough to use in the commander format?
Some important things to note are that I am unwilling to change color identity and I don't want to reduce life gain to a sub theme if it can be helped.
These are important to me because I feel they are two things I can keep from the original deck with minimal change and the whole point of the deck is to be somewhat "tribute-y" while keeping some semblance of viability.
Looking at Kambal and Obzedat for commanders.
Kambal + some protection to keep him around can already do a lot of work for you. It's almost deceptive how quickly he drains.
One relatively solid approach is simply all the extort cards (yeah, even the kinda-bad-otherwise ones) and cheap control spells, of which you have no shortage in BW. Extort is nuts in multiplayer.
Gaining life constantly also keeps you very safe from random pokes that happen over the game.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
It can't stop a combo player or a voltron player without concessions.
So you need to be able to beat those decks too. Keep in mind that combos are also available for your deck. Sanguine Bond + Exquisite blood is the easiest to assemble, and has a few redundant pieces. This is a way to keep up with faster combo decks.
You can also play alt win conditions, like Felidar Sovereign. Leveraging the extra life is a good plan, as mentioned above. Erebos, God of the Dead or Necropotence are great cards to have in this type of deck.
Keep in mind that you may not want all the creatures that fit the theme. It may be better to play only the best creatures, and play a lot of mass removal to keep other players from developing their own wins. Black and white can destroy anything. Black can also exile cards from opponents libraries to pick apart the combos ahead of time.
Ive played against a few Kambal decks recently and although they are far from busted I have been consistently impressed by their performance. As said by Fox, the extort cards are deceptively powerful in EDH especially on cards that are reasonable includes in of themselves like Crypt Ghast and Treasury Thrull.
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EDH BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern: RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
So between the two commanders I mentioned prior to this discussion who do you guys recommend? I see a lot of talk of Kambal but I'd still like to hear opinions on Obzedat!
Obzedat has one flavorful thing: every time they go away, imagine where they are going for a vacation. My friend does this and it's moderately hilarious crafting the silly stories where a bunch of ghosts go for a vacation.
"End of turn, Obzedat takes a visit to Cuba."
It's silly and fun.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
I don't know anything about the Call of Blood precon deck, but if you are wondering about BW Life drain strategies I can personally attest that they can work if your meta gives you enough time to play decks that win through incremental advantages. My meta shies away from infinite combos and mass resource denial, so games last long enough for incremental effects to actually add up to something over time. It's also relatively sweeper-light; because everyone wants to build up a board presence there is less incentive to want to constantly sweep the board. These are important things to consider before really committing to a deck that pecks away at opponent's life totals.
I have an Obzedat deck that does exactly this (link in my signature). It's slow and grindy and you have to commit to running a lot of removal to slow things down. Hopefully that helps.
These are all very strong options for commanders that can lend themselves to BW based life gain strategies.
I know Teysa may seem weird to think of as a "life gain deck", but trust me, she can lend herself very well to this strategy as most BW life gain hinges mainly on tokens. I explore you to check out my checklist at: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/teysa-orzhov-scion-life-gaindrain-v-10/ for ideas for any commander deck you choose in the life gain realm.
I can't speak to flavor themes, but Karlov's starting cost keeps him coming out repeatedly. With repeated lifegain, he can play both voltron or control strategies in the same decklist. I would say Karlov over Obzedat for mechanics alone, imo. Good luck!
So I'm back to my relentless game of "which commander do I build" and I had the idea of trying to incorporate the themes of my first magic deck into EDH for nostalgia's sake. Now in my mind this seemed really fun. I loved my first deck no matter how terrible and I think it would be really fun to bring to EDH. The only issue with this idea is that my first deck ever was the "Call of Blood" intro deck (it's terrible I know but don't laugh I was new to the game ). My concern with this is that life tends to be abundant in the commander format as is. Every article I've read or podcast I've heard treats life as being relatively insignificant due to the large starting quantity as well as the existence of alt win-cons. So with that being said I usher the question: Is a gain/drain strategy in BW viable enough to use in the commander format?
Some important things to note are that I am unwilling to change color identity and I don't want to reduce life gain to a sub theme if it can be helped.
These are important to me because I feel they are two things I can keep from the original deck with minimal change and the whole point of the deck is to be somewhat "tribute-y" while keeping some semblance of viability.
Looking at Kambal and Obzedat for commanders.
Thank you to all who share their opinion!
One relatively solid approach is simply all the extort cards (yeah, even the kinda-bad-otherwise ones) and cheap control spells, of which you have no shortage in BW. Extort is nuts in multiplayer.
Gaining life constantly also keeps you very safe from random pokes that happen over the game.
It can't stop a combo player or a voltron player without concessions.
So you need to be able to beat those decks too. Keep in mind that combos are also available for your deck. Sanguine Bond + Exquisite blood is the easiest to assemble, and has a few redundant pieces. This is a way to keep up with faster combo decks.
You can also play alt win conditions, like Felidar Sovereign. Leveraging the extra life is a good plan, as mentioned above. Erebos, God of the Dead or Necropotence are great cards to have in this type of deck.
Keep in mind that you may not want all the creatures that fit the theme. It may be better to play only the best creatures, and play a lot of mass removal to keep other players from developing their own wins. Black and white can destroy anything. Black can also exile cards from opponents libraries to pick apart the combos ahead of time.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
"End of turn, Obzedat takes a visit to Cuba."
It's silly and fun.
I have an Obzedat deck that does exactly this (link in my signature). It's slow and grindy and you have to commit to running a lot of removal to slow things down. Hopefully that helps.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
These are all very strong options for commanders that can lend themselves to BW based life gain strategies.
I know Teysa may seem weird to think of as a "life gain deck", but trust me, she can lend herself very well to this strategy as most BW life gain hinges mainly on tokens. I explore you to check out my checklist at: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/teysa-orzhov-scion-life-gaindrain-v-10/ for ideas for any commander deck you choose in the life gain realm.
Happy building and good luck!