For those unfamiliar, Grand Melee is a format with a large group of players where everyone sits in a circle and every 4th (or so) player is taking a turn at the same time. You can only attack or otherwise interact with players to your immediate left or right. When a player dies, the circle shrinks at the end of the turn (so you can't kill the guy to your left, then kill the next guy to your left and so on in the same turn because the second player over is invisible to you until the following turn). Typically infinite combo is banned or severely limited and extra turns / extra combats are forbidden.
So who's the best commander in a format like this?
I think it is something like Purphoros who is hard to remove, can take out the players to your left AND right in one shot and if you've got repeatable token production (hello Krenko) you can do it again after the circle shrinks.
In the GM games I have played, combo was *not* banned, so the ideal deck was a combo deck that achieved "critical mass" and could be repeated at instant speed as soon as the Range of Influence changed at EOT. You could combo out during the next players' upkeeps, and if they present disruption, combo out again in response (think Mind Over Matter + Temple Bell). Sharuum is a good candidate in this regard.
In the context of the rules you presented, a deck that achieves a hard lock might do well -- make it so no one can cast spells, activate abilities, or attack. Teferi might be a good choice for his interaction with Knowledge Pool.
Or, if you want to keep in the spirit of having fun, I read about a big GM event in which one guy pillowforted to the very end by resolving Chronomantic Escape and skipping his next 15+ turns with Chronosavant. It was sort of difficult (but not impossible) to kill him, but then again he wasn't really doing anything anyway, so why would you want to attack him and face a real opponent? After the dust settled he was in the Top 4 or something.
So who's the best commander in a format like this?
I think it is something like Purphoros who is hard to remove, can take out the players to your left AND right in one shot and if you've got repeatable token production (hello Krenko) you can do it again after the circle shrinks.
In the context of the rules you presented, a deck that achieves a hard lock might do well -- make it so no one can cast spells, activate abilities, or attack. Teferi might be a good choice for his interaction with Knowledge Pool.
Or, if you want to keep in the spirit of having fun, I read about a big GM event in which one guy pillowforted to the very end by resolving Chronomantic Escape and skipping his next 15+ turns with Chronosavant. It was sort of difficult (but not impossible) to kill him, but then again he wasn't really doing anything anyway, so why would you want to attack him and face a real opponent? After the dust settled he was in the Top 4 or something.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
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