Err... tough question. Refer to my signature for a current swathe of favourites, I reckon.
If I had to pick one... *conjures up a d33 and rolls it*... Jarad? Guess that works.
(On a sidenote, I still need to get onto making Jarad into undead Jafar (from Aladdin) with the quote 'It seems that Aladdin's role is played by tall, ugly and mean person'. For reasons.)
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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 like commanders that don't make you an immediate target, plus the ability to run green ramp, blue counters for the inevitable phase of the game where one player tries to ruin everything and a deck that synergises towards high mana cost spells. The amount of times a Fireball X spell or some variant is needed to wipe out a major threat makes those spells and access to red a must have.
Tough call, but I'd say that Sisay just barely edges my other decks. In building that deck, she educated me on how versatile so many legendaries really are. I also keep running into people who misread her, and then act surprised when I tutor up legendary lands, enchantments, artifacts, and thanks to Dominaria, spells. Being cheap means I can pull her out a few times without getting drained by commander tax, she provides a great response to just about anything, and being green means I can easily splerge my hand onto the field...and then do it again if need be.
Merieke is in the hard-fought second place; she's often the first legendary to hit the board, which makes everyone else cautious about casting any creatures, giving me time to set up the first layer of defense before I start taking theirs.
Free Eldrazi - there's a reason why it's my flagship deck, never have I passed a suite of decks that didn't include one with it at the helm.
While I wouldn't say I disliked them, but I didn't particularly enjoy the mainstream 60-card formats because they seldom featured battlecruisers (and when they do it's also streamlined to very select choices) and even in Limited, let's just say my favorite Limited format is still Rise of the Eldrazi Limited (I understand it was a very divisive format, just establishing which end of the division I'm on).
Honestly speaking, if the EDH precons didn't debut (with Animar, no less) soon after I've experienced what I considered to be peak MTG Limited, I daresay my overall participation of the game would have been much, much less in the past 7 years or so (okay it's admittedly not a lot actually either due to other commitments, but the situation would still be a lot worse).
Just as an reinforcement, it's not so much the end result (of battlecruiser) that makes Animar my favorite (I guess in an alternate timeline where Animar doesn't exist, I would have settled for just ramping into battlecruiser) but the relatively unique aspect of progression of how Animar does it that puts it heads and shoulders above even the other myriad of commander options for battlecruiser we have now - being able to cast an Eldrazi for no cost simply because your Commander is large enough itself as well is a level of joy no other Commander/strategy can replicate. It's like some sort of zenith of the concept of battlecruisers...
Mine varies all the time but I guess my answer would come back to something mono white first then mono black as a second. I guess I will say Gisela, the Broken Blade for now.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage takes first place. I've had that deck for what's closing in on a decade now, it was the first deck I foiled out, and it's still entertaining to me. That's pretty good for building mono-R because people argued it was the worst.
Green ramp, blue control, and black manipulation of librarie(s).
Sultai is my favorite 3 color combo and damia is open ended enough that you can litterally do whatever you want with her, as long as you like drawing cards.
For the moment I would say Slimefoot, the Stowaway. I went all in on it as a combo deck with ways to make tons of Saproling tokens and sacrifice them. I also added in Grafted Exoskeleton and some ways to buff the tokens and Exsanguinate as a way to use infinite mana if needed.
I learn to up my plays every time I pick the deck up. It’s strong, quick and has different avenues towards victory. Every game is different, every game is fun, and the lengths the deck can go to to stay in the game are pretty tremendous.
If I had to pick one... *conjures up a d33 and rolls it*... Jarad? Guess that works.
(On a sidenote, I still need to get onto making Jarad into undead Jafar (from Aladdin) with the quote 'It seems that Aladdin's role is played by tall, ugly and mean person'. For reasons.)
The only thing I want to do in Magic is sacrifice things for value.
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
I like commanders that don't make you an immediate target, plus the ability to run green ramp, blue counters for the inevitable phase of the game where one player tries to ruin everything and a deck that synergises towards high mana cost spells. The amount of times a Fireball X spell or some variant is needed to wipe out a major threat makes those spells and access to red a must have.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Merieke is in the hard-fought second place; she's often the first legendary to hit the board, which makes everyone else cautious about casting any creatures, giving me time to set up the first layer of defense before I start taking theirs.
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)
Runner-up is probably Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder, a land themed deck I built but adding blue to a previously disappointing Jund land deck.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
+1
Hard to keep Karador down. Love his late game staying power. Plus I love graveyard manipulation.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
While I wouldn't say I disliked them, but I didn't particularly enjoy the mainstream 60-card formats because they seldom featured battlecruisers (and when they do it's also streamlined to very select choices) and even in Limited, let's just say my favorite Limited format is still Rise of the Eldrazi Limited (I understand it was a very divisive format, just establishing which end of the division I'm on).
Honestly speaking, if the EDH precons didn't debut (with Animar, no less) soon after I've experienced what I considered to be peak MTG Limited, I daresay my overall participation of the game would have been much, much less in the past 7 years or so (okay it's admittedly not a lot actually either due to other commitments, but the situation would still be a lot worse).
Just as an reinforcement, it's not so much the end result (of battlecruiser) that makes Animar my favorite (I guess in an alternate timeline where Animar doesn't exist, I would have settled for just ramping into battlecruiser) but the relatively unique aspect of progression of how Animar does it that puts it heads and shoulders above even the other myriad of commander options for battlecruiser we have now - being able to cast an Eldrazi for no cost simply because your Commander is large enough itself as well is a level of joy no other Commander/strategy can replicate. It's like some sort of zenith of the concept of battlecruisers...
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
I come back to Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter and Dralnu, Lich Lord a lot, so there's probably an argument for either of those too.
There’s nothing that says serious cardboard wizards more so than rakdos.
Card advantage? Inevitability? Token generation? Value engine? Who cares! Carnage and chaos is the way forward!
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Green ramp, blue control, and black manipulation of librarie(s).
Sultai is my favorite 3 color combo and damia is open ended enough that you can litterally do whatever you want with her, as long as you like drawing cards.
Current favorites:
Tribal - Inalla, Archmage Ritualist Aggro wizards, not combo.
Spellslinger - Toshiro Umezawa
Token - Emmara, Soul of the Accord
Reanimator - Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Lands Matter - Lord Windgrace
Artifacts -
Equips -
Anything blank is just cause I haven't built one in quite a while, so I don't have one I like a lot right now.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
B Toshiro Umezawa
BG Pharika, God of Affliction - Necromancy and Politics
WWW The Church of Heliod
WBR Zurgo, Helmsmasher
RG Wort, the Raidmother
UBR Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
UG Vorel of the Hull Clade
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.
I'm currently working on a Varina, Lich Queen list that I'm loving how it looks so far.
Building: Varina
amazingly epic sig courtesy of DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Planes.
I learn to up my plays every time I pick the deck up. It’s strong, quick and has different avenues towards victory. Every game is different, every game is fun, and the lengths the deck can go to to stay in the game are pretty tremendous.
She's also very versatile in how you run her.
- Rabid Wombat
Currently getting great enjoyment out of Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood budget_vamps.dek.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝