I've posted here before about a format in which my playgroup uses custom commanders... We each draw a color combination at random and then are allowed to create a card in the chosen colors. The commander we create can't be disapproved by more than 2 people (there's usually 8 of us that get together) or else we aren't allowed to use it. I got a lot of comments about custom commander creation on that thread and just wanted to post a follow up that I've started an MTG Cardsmith account where I'll be creating new commanders based on characters from Magic's history that I may potentially build a deck around at some point. I'd love to get some feedback on the cards I've created and wanted to share in case anyone else was interested in using any of them for a custom built commander deck. I'll try to keep this thread updated as I create more characters.
Recently, I've been playing around with the idea of a dredge commander. I'm currently messing around with Ezirith of the Dark Hours, which is a dredge-like effect. I've also always loved Deadbridge Chant and thought that creating a card that used that ability would make a great commander, so I have Sobeslav in the 99 currently. Tawnos is the card I posted in my previous thread and I've always wanted to build a zombie/cleric tribal which I'l try to do with Priestess Vaylesh. In order to use these in our playgroup, I have to make sure none are too overpowered
Hmm. When i get home home i will post a few of my creations (if i remember)
Ushally i try to pick a non legendary creature tbat has a kce ability and create a commander version of the card. Lkke notion thief and master biomancer ( change cost. Change body, change creature type or slighyly change effect.)
Yeah, I've always wanted a WB Cleric tribal commander. I think I'll need to make her ability a tap ability to suppress its' power a tad or else it might get ousted by my playgroup.
Yeah, I've always wanted a WB Cleric tribal commander. I think I'll need to make her ability a tap ability to suppress its' power a tad or else it might get ousted by my playgroup.
I wouldn't, with the existence of Azami (Or any oter creature that says "Tap an (insert creature type)" there is no need to have her ability be a tap ability.
She is versatile. Zombie or cleric tribal works. Both, or heck, just use a swarm deck and her be a fog general. Black an white can both be token swarm deck so you have the ability to swarm.
If you are tempted to use things like grave pact. Then you may have to change the ability. Maybe if you wish to weaken the power, make it so you have to pay WB for each creature you sacrifice. or just so it is not too mana intensive.
The good news is, you can use it to protect others. Politics.
Thanks for the wording help. I'm not terrible, but im also not 100% sure how WotC words some effects.
I played a tawnos deck for a while. He was originally 3 for a 1/2 with the same abilities. My playgroup argued he was too powerful so I had to dumb him down. I was able to add an extra power for an extra mana after trying some other changes with his abilities (yippee).
An effect like sobeslav would be awesome in sultai. I never really thought of that and just designed it based on deadbeidge chant instead.
I plan on actually making a deck around Runo next where I'm able to use any card already made plus 15 new crated cards like the commander precons. So I think I'm going to create some fairly powered madness support.
A horde of notions-Esque enchantment commander would be solid. I've also always wanted an Abzan enchantment commander which could utilize the same sort of effect you're talking about.
Yeah. Flash enchantments might be a little much. What about something like:
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, put an experience counter on commander
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target enchantment card with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of experience counters on commmander from your graveyard to your hand.
I like the flavor on the horseman cards. They're well powered without feeling op. Call the Horseman is a little silly, but would still be tons of fun to cast from the command zone and Reiterate a few times.
Here's my entry I made after we were let down with the lack of an Esper zombie leader in HOU. Ironically, I think he and Vaylesh would be good pals.
"Whimfeaster" 2BR
Legendary Creature - Demon Cat
~~~ 1, discard a card: Put a +1/+1 counter on Whimfeaster. Any player may play this ability.
As long as Whimfeaster's power is odd, it has haste, menace, and deathtouch.
As long as Whimfeaster's power is even, it has trample, indestructible, and lifelink.
~~~
3/2
The idea being that the keywords are extremely good if you attack with the odd ones and then switch after blockers are declared, while being much worse if you attack with the even ones and then switch after blockers are declared. You fight with your opponents to control which mode it's in, and it feeds on the indecisiveness!
EDIT: although it occurs to me that indestructible doesn't work like I want here, since damage lasts until the end of the turn. Still, the basic concept is there. Maybe
Odd: Haste, Menace, Trample
Even: First Strike, Deathtouch, Lifelink?
It's also a BR madness enabler, because I don't like any of the existing generals for that archetype.
I like Tawnos a lot as a non-busted artifact commander thanks to the "equal or lesser converted mana cost" clause. Artifacts always tend to be a bit combo-y, but Tawnos does nothing to enable that while supporting the fun side of artifacts. Goes well with Lotus Bloom
I feel like the colors of death and famine of the Four Horsemen could be swapped; give death an Engulfing Slagwurm-type effect, and then make famine apply a bunch of -1/-1 counters when attacking. I've commented a lot on them in previous threads you've posted, though.
Kras'thul bothers me simply because it has hexproof on an engine/combo general. I would only be slightly more comfortable with that commander than Narset, since at least you need to draw/mill the combo pieces and it's vulnerable to grave hate. Very scary with cards like Mindslicer, Sun Titan, Blade Splicer et. al. or any other low-power creature with ETB token support, and of course Karmic/Reveillark since it's power-based reanimation.
Kras'thul bothers me simply because it has hexproof on an engine/combo general. I would only be slightly more comfortable with that commander than Narset, since at least you need to draw/mill the combo pieces and it's vulnerable to grave hate. Very scary with cards like Mindslicer, Sun Titan, Blade Splicer et. al. or any other low-power creature with ETB token support, and of course Karmic/Reveillark since it's power-based reanimation.
That's a fair point. I haven't actually gotten to play with him at all, but I wanted to provide some sort of protection since one Bojuka Bog can shut down the whole engine. Maybe something like "1: Sacrifice a creature, Kras'thul gains indestructible/hexproof/etc until end of turn" to allow for some kind of built in protection. I think dropping permanent Hexproof could also justify bringing him down to cmc 5. Thanks for the feedback!
Whimfeaster is a bit odd, but it definitely feels like a punisher R/B card in the same vein as Kaervek the Merciless , in that opponents could be tempted to keep feeding him and losing CA to stick him with the stats that are easier to deal with. I feel like you could add something like "If Whimfeaster has more than 4 +1/+1 counters, spells that target Whimfeaster cost {3} more" or a similar damage effect if he's targeted with a spell. That gives incentive to keep feeding him as opposed to just having him eat removal.
Thanks. I played a deck around Tawnos for a while and it was good, but definitely not overpowered. Which is what I was going for when I originally designed him.
I like the idea of a madness enabling commander. Here's my go at it:
Thanks. I played a deck around Tawnos for a while and it was good, but definitely not overpowered. Which is what I was going for when I originally designed him.
I like the idea of a madness enabling commander. Here's my go at it:
she should have green in her. Arrogant wurm is my favorite Madness card.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/account/cards
Recently, I've been playing around with the idea of a dredge commander. I'm currently messing around with Ezirith of the Dark Hours, which is a dredge-like effect. I've also always loved Deadbridge Chant and thought that creating a card that used that ability would make a great commander, so I have Sobeslav in the 99 currently. Tawnos is the card I posted in my previous thread and I've always wanted to build a zombie/cleric tribal which I'l try to do with Priestess Vaylesh. In order to use these in our playgroup, I have to make sure none are too overpowered
Ushally i try to pick a non legendary creature tbat has a kce ability and create a commander version of the card. Lkke notion thief and master biomancer ( change cost. Change body, change creature type or slighyly change effect.)
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Runo Stromkirk - https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/runo-stromkirk-4
Ezirith of the Dark Hours - https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/ezirith-of-the-dark-hours?list=user
Sobeslav the Necromancer - https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/sobeslav-the-necromancer?list=user
Tawnos, Master Artificer - https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/tawnos-master-artificer?list=user
Priestess Vaylesh - https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/priestess-vaylesh?list=user
Primata Delphine - https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/primata-delphine?list=user
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
I wouldn't, with the existence of Azami (Or any oter creature that says "Tap an (insert creature type)" there is no need to have her ability be a tap ability.
She is versatile. Zombie or cleric tribal works. Both, or heck, just use a swarm deck and her be a fog general. Black an white can both be token swarm deck so you have the ability to swarm.
If you are tempted to use things like grave pact. Then you may have to change the ability. Maybe if you wish to weaken the power, make it so you have to pay WB for each creature you sacrifice. or just so it is not too mana intensive.
The good news is, you can use it to protect others. Politics.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
I played a tawnos deck for a while. He was originally 3 for a 1/2 with the same abilities. My playgroup argued he was too powerful so I had to dumb him down. I was able to add an extra power for an extra mana after trying some other changes with his abilities (yippee).
An effect like sobeslav would be awesome in sultai. I never really thought of that and just designed it based on deadbeidge chant instead.
I plan on actually making a deck around Runo next where I'm able to use any card already made plus 15 new crated cards like the commander precons. So I think I'm going to create some fairly powered madness support.
A horde of notions-Esque enchantment commander would be solid. I've also always wanted an Abzan enchantment commander which could utilize the same sort of effect you're talking about.
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, put an experience counter on commander
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target enchantment card with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of experience counters on commmander from your graveyard to your hand.
of course, to be able to use them as "commanders: i had to add an extra card.
EDIT: accidentally had death there twice
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
I like the flavor on the horseman cards. They're well powered without feeling op. Call the Horseman is a little silly, but would still be tons of fun to cast from the command zone and Reiterate a few times.
Here's my entry I made after we were let down with the lack of an Esper zombie leader in HOU. Ironically, I think he and Vaylesh would be good pals.
"Whimfeaster" 2BR
Legendary Creature - Demon Cat
~~~
1, discard a card: Put a +1/+1 counter on Whimfeaster. Any player may play this ability.
As long as Whimfeaster's power is odd, it has haste, menace, and deathtouch.
As long as Whimfeaster's power is even, it has trample, indestructible, and lifelink.
~~~
3/2
The idea being that the keywords are extremely good if you attack with the odd ones and then switch after blockers are declared, while being much worse if you attack with the even ones and then switch after blockers are declared. You fight with your opponents to control which mode it's in, and it feeds on the indecisiveness!
EDIT: although it occurs to me that indestructible doesn't work like I want here, since damage lasts until the end of the turn. Still, the basic concept is there. Maybe
Odd: Haste, Menace, Trample
Even: First Strike, Deathtouch, Lifelink?
It's also a BR madness enabler, because I don't like any of the existing generals for that archetype.
I like Tawnos a lot as a non-busted artifact commander thanks to the "equal or lesser converted mana cost" clause. Artifacts always tend to be a bit combo-y, but Tawnos does nothing to enable that while supporting the fun side of artifacts. Goes well with Lotus Bloom
I feel like the colors of death and famine of the Four Horsemen could be swapped; give death an Engulfing Slagwurm-type effect, and then make famine apply a bunch of -1/-1 counters when attacking. I've commented a lot on them in previous threads you've posted, though.
Kras'thul bothers me simply because it has hexproof on an engine/combo general. I would only be slightly more comfortable with that commander than Narset, since at least you need to draw/mill the combo pieces and it's vulnerable to grave hate. Very scary with cards like Mindslicer, Sun Titan, Blade Splicer et. al. or any other low-power creature with ETB token support, and of course Karmic/Reveillark since it's power-based reanimation.
- Rabid Wombat
That's a fair point. I haven't actually gotten to play with him at all, but I wanted to provide some sort of protection since one Bojuka Bog can shut down the whole engine. Maybe something like "1: Sacrifice a creature, Kras'thul gains indestructible/hexproof/etc until end of turn" to allow for some kind of built in protection. I think dropping permanent Hexproof could also justify bringing him down to cmc 5. Thanks for the feedback!
Whimfeaster is a bit odd, but it definitely feels like a punisher R/B card in the same vein as Kaervek the Merciless , in that opponents could be tempted to keep feeding him and losing CA to stick him with the stats that are easier to deal with. I feel like you could add something like "If Whimfeaster has more than 4 +1/+1 counters, spells that target Whimfeaster cost {3} more" or a similar damage effect if he's targeted with a spell. That gives incentive to keep feeding him as opposed to just having him eat removal.
I like the idea of a madness enabling commander. Here's my go at it:
she should have green in her. Arrogant wurm is my favorite Madness card.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist