This deck was 100% free, made from the leftovers of my collection, allowing me to play with Cromat as a commander. The odds and ends makeup of the deck is very inline with Cromat itself. Slivers and volvers from a couple of defunct 60 card decks gave me a workable creature base and I had one of the bringers. Add to that the remainders of my goodstuff, and I had just enough to put together a functional deck that I use when I just want to kick back and really play casual games in my group (as opposed to some of my other decks). Goldfishing indicates it has enough of the main card types to be balanced and able to take care of itself. Since you don't know what I have in my collection, it's going to be hard to comment on it. This post is just to document the deck for my signature line. Cheers.
The other night I did some playing between Cromat and two of my other edh decks, my most combo-oriented deck with Sliver Queen, and my most casual human/angel/bant tribal with Rafiq. It did not go well. The only single game Cromat won was against Rafiq, and ironically was a poison kill from the slivers. Too funny, but the trend was clear. Slivers weren't cutting it. I also noticed too much killing of my stuff with the whole-board nukes. So, I took a lot of those out, going more for situational sweepers and targeted destruction to better preserve my side. I also added some more recycling sources, and oodles of more spot removal. Finally, added equipment that is very favorable for this non-cohesive creature list. The result is (totally) a good stuff, but totally casual deck. The idea now is to put a couple threats out, manage the interactions when people look my way, and save my resources for when I need them to avoid over-commitment. In many cases, Cromat will be one of those threats, but just about any larger creature will work with the equipment and removal I have lined up.
In the end, this is a challenge I set before myself to make a deck as good as my others to play within my group without spending a penny or trading for a card for this deck.
Well that didn't take long. Early returns show the upgrades played an instrumental role in Cromat beating my Sliver Queen token combo deck in straight games. It kept the token spammer off balance the entire time in both games. Vraska alone put the Sliver Queen on the sidelines, driving up Commander tax in the games, and Jund Charm performed awesome as both a Pyroclasm and buff card. In the second game, Obzedat ended up being a very effective finisher that dodged a late Damnation. It wasn't a total wipeout, though, as the Sliver Queen deck went toe to toe for awhile, but the changes have definitely put Cromat into the right power level for my meta. I think I'll keep it.
1 Cromat
Critters: (38)
1 Virulent Sliver (alternate win con)
1 Spinneret Sliver
1 Darkheart Sliver
1 Gemhide Sliver (also ramp)
1 Muscle Sliver
1 Crystalline Sliver
1 Spined Sliver
1 Sinew Sliver
1 Winged Sliver
1 Talon Sliver
1 Heart Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver (also removal)
1 Harmonic Sliver (also removal)
1 Frenetic Sliver
1 Dormant Sliver (also card draw)
1 Shifting Sliver
1 Essence Sliver
1 Telekinetic Sliver
1 Toxin Sliver
1 Reflex Sliver
1 Synapse Sliver (also card draw)
1 Ward Sliver
1 Spitting Sliver
1 Might Sliver
1 Synchronous Sliver
1 Psionic Sliver (also removal)
1 Battering Sliver
1 Fury Sliver
1 Cetavolver
1 Degavolver
1 Rakavolver
1 Necravolver
1 Anavolver
1 Bringer of the Red Dawn (also removal)
1 Eternal Witness (also recycling)
1 Desolation Giant (also removal)
1 Child of Alara (also removal)
1 Gleancrawler (also recycling)
1 Expedition Map
1 Sol Ring
1 Farseek
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Journey of Discovery
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Cultivate
Removal: (9)
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Exile
1 Crib Swap
1 Damnation
1 Chain Reaction
1 Decimate
1 Grave Pact
1 Spine of Ish Sah
Card Draw: (6)
1 Rhystic Study
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Hunter's Prowess
1 Mind's Eye
1 Soul's Majesty
1 Conflux
Recycling: (3)
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Marshal's Anthem
1 All Suns' Dawn
Lands: (36)
1 Island
2 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Grove
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Sacred Foundry
1 City of Brass
1 Rupture Spire
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Watery Grave
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Temple Garden
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Urborg
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Bojuka Bog
In the end, this is a challenge I set before myself to make a deck as good as my others to play within my group without spending a penny or trading for a card for this deck.
1 Cromat
Critters: (30)
1 Soul Warden
1 Spore Frog
1 Ashling the Pilgrim (also removal)
1 Alloy Myr (also ramp)
1 Filigree Familiar (also card draw)
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth (also recycling)
1 Skinrender (also removal)
1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Acidic Slime (also removal)
1 Fusion Elemental
1 Maelstrom Archangel
1 Havengul Lich (also recycling)
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Shriekmaw (also removal)
1 Pontiff of Blight
1 Avatar of Woe (also removal)
1 Crater Hellion (also removal)
1 Visara the Dreadful (also removal)
1 Necrotic Sliver (also removal)
1 Cetavolver
1 Degavolver
1 Rakavolver
1 Necravolver
1 Anavolver
1 Bringer of the Red Dawn (also removal)
1 Eternal Witness (also recycling)
1 Desolation Giant (also removal)
1 Gleancrawler (also recycling)
Ramp: (7)
1 Expedition Map
1 Sol Ring
1 Farseek
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Journey of Discovery
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Cultivate
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Godsend
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Mage Slayer
Removal: (14)
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Exile
1 Crib Swap
1 Tsabo's Decree
1 Hex
1 Decimate
1 Spine of Ish Sah
1 Star of Extinction
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Putrefy
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Turn to Frog
Card Draw: (5)
1 Rhystic Study
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Hunter's Prowess
1 Mind's Eye
1 Soul's Majesty
Recycling: (3)
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Marshal's Anthem
1 All Suns' Dawn
Lands: (36)
1 Island
2 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Grove
1 Choked Estuary
1 Sacred Foundry
1 City of Brass
1 Rupture Spire
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Watery Grave
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Temple Garden
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Urborg
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Bojuka Bog