Looking to build a new commander deck, and want suggestions for commanders that are off the beaten path. some things to know about me:
-my favorite color to play is red
-my playgroup is usually 6-8 in power level
-i enjoy when i have to use a calculator for magic
-i love chaos, thievery & politics
-i prefer budget decks whenever possible
some of the decks i've already built:
-araumi self-mill
-lovisa dumb aggro
-sachi insanity
-jodah chaos / big spells
-xyris group hug/ politics
Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist creature type hackball, need I say more? They way I’ve built mine it’s essentially a jank-group slug-steal your creatures deck that has got to be the most meme-worthy thing to play against AND it’s budget. I run very little creatures so my board has salamanders, and I don’t look too threatening, but then I throw out some stunts like the cards below.
Notable inclusions- Artificial Evolution - Anti tribal by changing Muldrak’s salamander type Standardize - pair this with isochron scepter and you’ve got protection from that one big swing every turn Peer Pressure - got salamanders? Now you have all the salamanders, plus other creatures that have been turned salamanders... all cards are secretly salamanders.
And finally Second Harvest - they’re coming... that’s a lot of 4/3...
I made an Etrata, the Silencer deck, certainly qualifies as niche. unfortunately this pandemic thing happened before I could get a game with the deck.
My favourite commander is Glissa, the traitor she hasn't seen much love since they started printing super powerful GB commanders better suited to traditional GB play styles. Glissa, remains a strange mix of versatility and limited. where a lot of the best GB stuff tends to push hard in specific directions glissa gets all the versatility that artifacts give you, allowing her to basically do anything at the cost of not being able to maximise the way other GB commanders do.
rakdos the defiler is my fav general. Think BR suicide black with a heavy demon tribal theme. Featuring lich, it that betrays, repay in kind, hellcarver demon!
Followed by lord of tresserhorn.. mine is a leaves play tribal and a smattering of anti etb tech (torpor orb comes to mind).
Really fun, especially rakdos. Your games are liable to take about 1/3 the normal time just cuz of the punisher properties and life-pressure you put on everyone.
I've built Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient a couple times now, and always find him fun. Outside of the usual artifact shenanigans, my most recent build was planeswalker+proliferate, and that was rather exciting. I just wish they had more Liquimetal Coating effects.
Riku of Two Reflections is no where near as popular now as he used to be, but when he came out I built a budget deck with him, and all I can say is that Chancellor of the Forge with Parallel Lives gets into mathy territory real fast. (With only Rikku and parallel lives out, Chancellor makes over 100 goblin tokens. Add 26 goblins per extra pre-existing creature you control). I had a birthing pod chain in the deck, and I was looking for a step on the way to Craterhoof Behemoth (which had just come out, and was budget at the time), I eschewed the standard Avenger of Zendikar for the cheaper Chancellor. I quickly discovered that I never made it to my 8 slot. Chancellor alone was a game ending slot. Other fun things to copy over included Hellrider (Ever attack someone with 6 hellriders? It's fun), and Kessig Cagebreakers (attacked with 3 cage breakers, with 7 creatures in grave, and parallel lives out). My greatest game though, was probably where I managed to bouce chancellor and recast a few times, for over a billion goblins, then dropped a tripled craterhoof to reach something like 3x10^23 damage - non-infinite. Took a short while on the calculator to figure out the rough ballpark of damage.
I have been wanting to build a Chainer, Nightmare Adept deck for a bit now, but just haven't quite gotten started on it. He doesn't seem to be the most popular commander from that set of decks.
Depending on your group, just about any UR or URx commander can pilot a storm deck adequately well. You can adjust the commander based upon your desired difficulty. Mizzix/Kykar being easy mode, Tibor and Lumia being no help from the command zone mode.
-my favorite color to play is red
-my playgroup is usually 6-8 in power level
-i enjoy when i have to use a calculator for magic
-i love chaos, thievery & politics
-i prefer budget decks whenever possible
some of the decks i've already built:
-araumi self-mill
-lovisa dumb aggro
-sachi insanity
-jodah chaos / big spells
-xyris group hug/ politics
excited to hear what suggestions you have!
R lovisa goes berserk R
G sachi big mana G
[/spoiler]
GU vannifar's eye UG
URG xyris group hug/politicsGRU
[spoiler=modern/pioneer]URG The feral dawn GRR
WG selesnya proliferate G W
Notable inclusions-
Artificial Evolution - Anti tribal by changing Muldrak’s salamander type
Standardize - pair this with isochron scepter and you’ve got protection from that one big swing every turn
Peer Pressure - got salamanders? Now you have all the salamanders, plus other creatures that have been turned salamanders... all cards are secretly salamanders.
And finally
Second Harvest - they’re coming... that’s a lot of 4/3...
You can get extreme value from recycling cards like Ichor Wellspring and Solemn Simulacrum, especially with Mirrorworks.
90% of your deck is colorless, so you can play All Is Dust and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.
I haven't had a chance to play lately, but I have been wanting to try out Lithoform Engine, and he seems like a good home for Jeweled Lotus, too.
My favourite commander is Glissa, the traitor she hasn't seen much love since they started printing super powerful GB commanders better suited to traditional GB play styles. Glissa, remains a strange mix of versatility and limited. where a lot of the best GB stuff tends to push hard in specific directions glissa gets all the versatility that artifacts give you, allowing her to basically do anything at the cost of not being able to maximise the way other GB commanders do.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Followed by lord of tresserhorn.. mine is a leaves play tribal and a smattering of anti etb tech (torpor orb comes to mind).
Really fun, especially rakdos. Your games are liable to take about 1/3 the normal time just cuz of the punisher properties and life-pressure you put on everyone.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Nothing beats the feeling of [[Domineering Will]]ing him ins response to a [[blasphemous act]].
Riku of Two Reflections is no where near as popular now as he used to be, but when he came out I built a budget deck with him, and all I can say is that Chancellor of the Forge with Parallel Lives gets into mathy territory real fast. (With only Rikku and parallel lives out, Chancellor makes over 100 goblin tokens. Add 26 goblins per extra pre-existing creature you control). I had a birthing pod chain in the deck, and I was looking for a step on the way to Craterhoof Behemoth (which had just come out, and was budget at the time), I eschewed the standard Avenger of Zendikar for the cheaper Chancellor. I quickly discovered that I never made it to my 8 slot. Chancellor alone was a game ending slot. Other fun things to copy over included Hellrider (Ever attack someone with 6 hellriders? It's fun), and Kessig Cagebreakers (attacked with 3 cage breakers, with 7 creatures in grave, and parallel lives out). My greatest game though, was probably where I managed to bouce chancellor and recast a few times, for over a billion goblins, then dropped a tripled craterhoof to reach something like 3x10^23 damage - non-infinite. Took a short while on the calculator to figure out the rough ballpark of damage.
I have been wanting to build a Chainer, Nightmare Adept deck for a bit now, but just haven't quite gotten started on it. He doesn't seem to be the most popular commander from that set of decks.
Depending on your group, just about any UR or URx commander can pilot a storm deck adequately well. You can adjust the commander based upon your desired difficulty. Mizzix/Kykar being easy mode, Tibor and Lumia being no help from the command zone mode.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek