Hello, I have been playing magic for about two years and am doing a headed giant edh tournament with a friend. Right now I was just asking for your guys' help on what commander to choose. He has narrowed down his deck to Grand Arbiter Augustin IV He is going to do a taxes and counter spell deck and that leaves me with some questions of my own. I was considering a Yisan, the Wanderer Bard deck for aggro and answers, a Geist of Saint Traft for answers and aggro, and a Narset, Enlightened Master control aggro build. The rules for the tournament are like standard rules in which extra turns affect both people on the team, commander damages is set at 21, and starting life totals are 40. We are also using multiplayer EDH rules which is why Geist is allowed. To give you some help as to what I have piloted, I have made a few decks but my favorites and current ones are, Hapatra, Vizier of PoisonsAlesha, Who Smiles at death andWasitora, Nekoru Queen
While all of those commanders can win, how badly(and how HARD) do you want to win? Narset is your answer on that. Tune her just a little bit, and you will steamroll most all opposition.
Mind you, this will generate a fair bit of resentment if the atmosphere at the store is not at the same competitive level, but it sounds like it will be close, at least.
just load up with a bunch of extra turn effects, ramp, combats, a smattering of protection, some equipment, maybe a few removal spells.
mix in his counter/control elements... you'll have a good time. your opponents will hate you.
my experience up against her in 2v2 is that you focus her down right away, or you lose. horribly. here's why: if you focus the other player the narset player goes ham with combats and extra turns. extra turn effects are absurd in 2v2 because you both get one, same with extra combats. meaning the non-narset player gets to keep playing anyway and usually combo off as an alternative win to narset face smashing if she can't get through. meanwhile, if the narset person gets focused it allows combo-controllypants to slowly build his perfect machine and go off all over his opponents faces.
in your case, you should be relying on his control/counterspell elements to get your key pieces through, and keep attacking.
we ended up having to house rule the extra turn/combat effects because its such an easily broken rule when two decks sporting them get paired together. its especially obnoxious when one person time warps, then on the next turn the other person time warps while the first time warper gets back time warp with a regrowth effect and time warps on the next turn while the second time warper gets back his time warp and suddenly the two decks sporting time warp effects get 5 turns in a row.
think of it this way, the sooner you get her down and doing her thing, the better. sure, the possibility of removal goes up with 2 opponents, but the chances of both opponents having a board wipe/sac effect while your teammate DOESN'T have a counterspell is generally smaller than it would actually seem on paper.
alternatively you could just load up on purphoros/impact tremor type effects and then politely remind people that they essentially deal double damage. that siege gang commander sure does feel spiffy in 2v2 with a purphy in play. (this is a much different gameplan from narset however)
your job as the narset player is to get her down fast and hard, and keep up pressure.
his job is to protect you.
its a pairing that works VERY well if the decks are built correctly.
2v2 is dumb. so. god damned. dumb. exploit the hell out of it.
Well if you are going with GAAIV as your partner, you need to protect him. Narset is a good bet as you can load the deck with extra turns, more taxes, protection and propaganda effects. Heck you can even run a copy of GAAIV yourself.
Are you suggesting a narset destroy? Just super aggro and smash face?
Everyone below me has given better suggestions on how to build it than I could. Narset is literally a steamroller, and unless people are at the same competitive level, she is widely hated in EDH due to how overwhelming she can be, and how quickly games will end(guess who wins?).
As was said, if the GAAIV deck does a good job of slowing your opponents down, a decent Narset deck will lay down enough heat to make most people scoop.
If you're NOT in the mood to steamroll that hard, again as said, Yisan is a great and powerful choice.
Mind you, this will generate a fair bit of resentment if the atmosphere at the store is not at the same competitive level, but it sounds like it will be close, at least.
EDH decks: 1. RGWMayael's Big BeatsRETIRED!
2. BUWMerieke Ri Berit and the 40 Thieves
3. URNiv's Wheeling and Dealing!
4. BURThe Walking Dead
5. GWSisay's Legends of Tomorrow
6. RWBRise of Markov
7. GElvez and stuffz(W)
8. RCrush your enemies(W)
9. BSign right here...(W)
just load up with a bunch of extra turn effects, ramp, combats, a smattering of protection, some equipment, maybe a few removal spells.
mix in his counter/control elements... you'll have a good time. your opponents will hate you.
my experience up against her in 2v2 is that you focus her down right away, or you lose. horribly. here's why: if you focus the other player the narset player goes ham with combats and extra turns. extra turn effects are absurd in 2v2 because you both get one, same with extra combats. meaning the non-narset player gets to keep playing anyway and usually combo off as an alternative win to narset face smashing if she can't get through. meanwhile, if the narset person gets focused it allows combo-controllypants to slowly build his perfect machine and go off all over his opponents faces.
in your case, you should be relying on his control/counterspell elements to get your key pieces through, and keep attacking.
we ended up having to house rule the extra turn/combat effects because its such an easily broken rule when two decks sporting them get paired together. its especially obnoxious when one person time warps, then on the next turn the other person time warps while the first time warper gets back time warp with a regrowth effect and time warps on the next turn while the second time warper gets back his time warp and suddenly the two decks sporting time warp effects get 5 turns in a row.
think of it this way, the sooner you get her down and doing her thing, the better. sure, the possibility of removal goes up with 2 opponents, but the chances of both opponents having a board wipe/sac effect while your teammate DOESN'T have a counterspell is generally smaller than it would actually seem on paper.
alternatively you could just load up on purphoros/impact tremor type effects and then politely remind people that they essentially deal double damage. that siege gang commander sure does feel spiffy in 2v2 with a purphy in play. (this is a much different gameplan from narset however)
your job as the narset player is to get her down fast and hard, and keep up pressure.
his job is to protect you.
its a pairing that works VERY well if the decks are built correctly.
2v2 is dumb. so. god damned. dumb. exploit the hell out of it.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Yisan can be good since you can combo off very consistently while your partner runs disruption.
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
Everyone below me has given better suggestions on how to build it than I could. Narset is literally a steamroller, and unless people are at the same competitive level, she is widely hated in EDH due to how overwhelming she can be, and how quickly games will end(guess who wins?).
As was said, if the GAAIV deck does a good job of slowing your opponents down, a decent Narset deck will lay down enough heat to make most people scoop.
If you're NOT in the mood to steamroll that hard, again as said, Yisan is a great and powerful choice.
EDH decks: 1. RGWMayael's Big BeatsRETIRED!
2. BUWMerieke Ri Berit and the 40 Thieves
3. URNiv's Wheeling and Dealing!
4. BURThe Walking Dead
5. GWSisay's Legends of Tomorrow
6. RWBRise of Markov
7. GElvez and stuffz(W)
8. RCrush your enemies(W)
9. BSign right here...(W)