Hi,
I'm looking for suggestions on this deck, based on some random cards I have in my collection. This deck's strategy is aggro-control: attack with small/medium creatures while trying to control the board a little. Most creatures have some sort of secondary capability that can affect the board.
This deck is not Tier 1 material. However, I do want the deck to be consistent.
Can anybody suggest some cards for this type of deck, besides Tarmogoyf? Yeah, I would love to use Tarmogoyf, but its price on the secondary market is to high for me.
EDIT: I finalized this deck for now. Suggestions still welcome.
Card Choices and Rationale Gaddock Teeg: This stops Force of Will, Wrath of God, Planeswalker cards, and some red and black spells. CorpusColawesome mentioned that it is an excellent anti-combo card.
Jotun Grunt: This puts cards in my graveyard back into my library. It also happens to hurt Tarmogoyf indirectly.
Mother of Runes: After seeing this used in another deck, I decided to use this. If my opponent does not use a removal spell on it, it will provide protection to my other creatures.
Qasali Pridemage: This destroys artifacts and enchantments. If I don't sacrifice it, its exalted ability will become troublesome later.
Noble Hierarch: This provides mana acceleration. If the opponent does not destroy it, its exalted ability will become troublesome later.
Serra Avenger: This is a finisher. This is primarily used to equip a Jitte.
Knight of the Reliquary: This is a finisher. Hopefully, somewhere in the mid-game, I will have cracked a few fetchlands or used up some wastelands.
Stoneforge Mystic: This is a critical card in tutoring for a Jitte. Its secondary ability also avoids casting the Jitte, so it cannot be countered.
Vines of Vastwood: Because I am not playing blue, this is the only card that can prevent targeted removal. If they board wipe with Wrath of God or similar, I can't do much about that.
Aether Vial: This is needed to accelerate creatures into play, especially Serra Avenger, Jotun Grunt, and Stoneforge Mystic. Since using this artifact does not cast the creature, it avoids Counterbalance.
Mana Tithe: This is an inefficient card, but most opponents should be caught off guard by this.
Karakas: This returns my own Gaddock Teeg to my hand or stops an opponent's Iona or Emrakul.
Marsh Flats: This is another card to pull a Plains card.
Deck Weaknesses
1) The deck is very vulnerable to Engineered Explosives set at 2.
2) Since many cards are at CMC2, a Counterbalance is probably going to doom this deck.
If you can't play Serra Avenger until the 4th turn anyway, why not just wait an extra turn and use Baneslayer Angel? Correct me if I'm wrong as the only thing I've been playing lately is T2 Standard but doesn't Baneslayer Angel have relevance in ever format? Especially when you have mana-dorks that could have her out turn 3.
Just seems like a good idea to me.
the aether vials would be a good inclusion, I feel. It would allow you to drop serra avenger one turn early. Baneslayer is definitely not what I would consider a good inclusion, unless you're using her as a control finisher. Given that you're planning on many creatures, I'd consider leaving her out for now.
A sideboard option to curbstomp blue with: Cold Eyed Selkie is worth of thought. there is a vintage deck that draws many cards using a very similar strategy.
If you can't play Serra Avenger until the 4th turn anyway, why not just wait an extra turn and use Baneslayer Angel? Correct me if I'm wrong as the only thing I've been playing lately is T2 Standard but doesn't Baneslayer Angel have relevance in ever format? Especially when you have mana-dorks that could have her out turn 3.
Just seems like a good idea to me.
I had thought that, but I wanted this deck to move quickly and not have a heavy mana dependency.
the aether vials would be a good inclusion, I feel. It would allow you to drop serra avenger one turn early. Baneslayer is definitely not what I would consider a good inclusion, unless you're using her as a control finisher. Given that you're planning on many creatures, I'd consider leaving her out for now.
A sideboard option to curbstomp blue with: Cold Eyed Selkie is worth of thought. there is a vintage deck that draws many cards using a very similar strategy.
Thanks for that suggestion. I had not thought of that as a sideboard option. This deck could use some card drawing capability.
I know you said that you're not aiming for the deck to be Tier 1 competitive, but it stands to reason that you should have at least some plan against combo decks. As it stands, the only cards you are playing that have any relevance in those matchups are the 1x Gaddock Teeg and 1x Mana Tithe. I recommend that you dedicate at least 8 spots MD and 4 spots in the SB to cards that will be relevant in matchups with decks that have gameplan that is not based around playing creatures. A full playset of Teegs is a good start since they can disrupt so many important spells.
I know you said that you're not aiming for the deck to be Tier 1 competitive, but it stands to reason that you should have at least some plan against combo decks. As it stands, the only cards you are playing that have any relevance in those matchups are the 1x Gaddock Teeg and 1x Mana Tithe. I recommend that you dedicate at least 8 spots MD and 4 spots in the SB to cards that will be relevant in matchups with decks that have gameplan that is not based around playing creatures. A full playset of Teegs is a good start since they can disrupt so many important spells.
Thanks for your input. Do you have any other card suggestions to stop combo?
Are we talking about cards like City of Solitude or somesuch? I know that Ethersworn Canonist is generally a good anti-combo card, but it would probably be a SB card rather than a MD card, since it hurts me as much as it would the combo player.
I'm looking for suggestions on this deck, based on some random cards I have in my collection. This deck's strategy is aggro-control: attack with small/medium creatures while trying to control the board a little. Most creatures have some sort of secondary capability that can affect the board.
This deck is not Tier 1 material. However, I do want the deck to be consistent.
Can anybody suggest some cards for this type of deck, besides Tarmogoyf? Yeah, I would love to use Tarmogoyf, but its price on the secondary market is to high for me.
EDIT: I finalized this deck for now. Suggestions still welcome.
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Qasali Pridemage
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Mother of Runes
4x Serra Avenger
4x Gaddock Teeg
2x Jotun Grunt
2x Stoneforge Mystic
Spells: 8
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Vines of Vastwood
2x Umezawa's Jitte
2x Aether Vial
Land: 20
4x Windswept Heath
4x Savannah
4x Forest
4x Plains
1x Karakas
1x Marsh Flats
2x Wasteland
4x Ethersworn Canonist
3x Krosan Grip
Card Choices and Rationale
Gaddock Teeg: This stops Force of Will, Wrath of God, Planeswalker cards, and some red and black spells. CorpusColawesome mentioned that it is an excellent anti-combo card.
Jotun Grunt: This puts cards in my graveyard back into my library. It also happens to hurt Tarmogoyf indirectly.
Mother of Runes: After seeing this used in another deck, I decided to use this. If my opponent does not use a removal spell on it, it will provide protection to my other creatures.
Qasali Pridemage: This destroys artifacts and enchantments. If I don't sacrifice it, its exalted ability will become troublesome later.
Noble Hierarch: This provides mana acceleration. If the opponent does not destroy it, its exalted ability will become troublesome later.
Serra Avenger: This is a finisher. This is primarily used to equip a Jitte.
Knight of the Reliquary: This is a finisher. Hopefully, somewhere in the mid-game, I will have cracked a few fetchlands or used up some wastelands.
Stoneforge Mystic: This is a critical card in tutoring for a Jitte. Its secondary ability also avoids casting the Jitte, so it cannot be countered.
Vines of Vastwood: Because I am not playing blue, this is the only card that can prevent targeted removal. If they board wipe with Wrath of God or similar, I can't do much about that.
Aether Vial: This is needed to accelerate creatures into play, especially Serra Avenger, Jotun Grunt, and Stoneforge Mystic. Since using this artifact does not cast the creature, it avoids Counterbalance.
Mana Tithe: This is an inefficient card, but most opponents should be caught off guard by this.
Karakas: This returns my own Gaddock Teeg to my hand or stops an opponent's Iona or Emrakul.
Marsh Flats: This is another card to pull a Plains card.
Deck Weaknesses
1) The deck is very vulnerable to Engineered Explosives set at 2.
2) Since many cards are at CMC2, a Counterbalance is probably going to doom this deck.
Just seems like a good idea to me.
Commander GU Edric Control
A sideboard option to curbstomp blue with: Cold Eyed Selkie is worth of thought. there is a vintage deck that draws many cards using a very similar strategy.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I had thought that, but I wanted this deck to move quickly and not have a heavy mana dependency.
Thanks for that suggestion. I had not thought of that as a sideboard option. This deck could use some card drawing capability.
Thanks for your input. Do you have any other card suggestions to stop combo?
Are we talking about cards like City of Solitude or somesuch? I know that Ethersworn Canonist is generally a good anti-combo card, but it would probably be a SB card rather than a MD card, since it hurts me as much as it would the combo player.
all curbstomp combo pretty well. indeed, many of them even run them themselves.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Thanks for these suggestions. I had not thought about these three spells before.
In order to accommodate 4 more anti-combo cards, I have to give up some other cards. I wish that there was something like Silence in creature form.
2x Noble Hierarch
4x Qasali Pridemage
4x Mother of Runes
4x Serra Avenger
4x Gaddock Teeg
2x Knight of the Reliquary
2x Jotun Grunt
2x Stoneforge Mystic
Instants: 10
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Vines of Vastwood
2x Silence
2x Oblivion Ring
Artifacts: 4
2x Umezawa's Jitte
2x Aether Vial
Lands: 20
4x Windswept Heath
4x Savannah
4x Forest
4x Plains
1x Karakas
1x Marsh Flats
2x Wasteland
4x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Vexing Shusher
2x Krosan Grip
2x Silence