Sigarda, Host of Herons crushes my mono black deck, which intends to control the board with Pox effects.
Recently my Xira lands deck got annihilated by a turn 2 Ankh of Mishra.
On the other hand, I'd like to recommend the black humility, tainted aether. It crushes creature decks, but you also need removal for what creatures have already hit the board when you cast it.
I have about 8 decks right now, but only 3 of them are more than a year old. Those would be:
Narset, Enlightened Master superfriends. I barely ever play this, probably going to scrap it soon. It has lost its novelty and is now pretty unfun. I think it's less than 18 months old.
Kuon, Ogre Ascendant control. This is my baby. I've never met another Kuon player, and I love impressing people with my unusual commander and his synergies. However, the deck tends to draw hate and is more cutthroat than most of my decks. I don't play it often, but I love every game I get with it. It's about two years old, and I'm never taking it apart.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind spellslinger/mill/voltron/control. Lazav is the only commander that I've taken apart and wanted very badly to put back together. So much that I've actually done it twice. Lazav is such a versatile and fun card, and his abilities ensure that no two games will be the same. He also enables me to build a deck that can pivot seamlessly from one strategy to the next, which I enjoy greatly. The original deck was built maybe three years ago, and the latest incarnation is about a year old. I can't see myself ever taking him apart again.
Pox and its cousins are my all-time favorite magic cards, so I'm glad to see so many good suggestions in this thread. Obviously, choice of commander is going to have a large impact on how the deck you build plays. Mazirek will likely attempt to accumulate value and large creatures on the board, and often win through combat damage. Conversely, Shattergang will play a longer and more controlling game, and your creatures may not stay alive long enough to attack.
Since you've said you like 'weird' commanders, here are my three off-the-wall suggestions:
Kothophed, Soul Hoarder draws you six cards just from a simple Smallpox, and obviously has much greater potential. There's also the added comfort of having a 6/6 flier in the command zone, meaning you always have access to a reasonable win condition. You do need to watch your own life total, but Whip of Erebos and Exquisite Blood help out with that.
Rakdos, the Defiler is the most aggressive Pox deck I can think of. It That Betrays is a key card in any Defiler deck, and it also happens to have great synergy with Pox effects. Silenciaco has a primer on the forums, and I'm currently playing a deck based on his.
Alternately, Kuon, Ogre Ascendant is one of the weirdest commanders available. Casting him after a Pox effect will almost always flip him to his enchantment side, and then you have pretty good control over any creature deck. He's ideal for a creature-light build, since he himself is (usually) not a creature. My decklist here.
My Lazav deck sometimes wins through mill, but can just as easily win through voltron damage or by stealing enemy wincons. I greatly enjoy being able to pressure opponents along multiple angles of attack: if they let Lazav live they'll die to commander damage, but if they keep dedicating their resources to killing him they slowly lose their libraries.
Lazav also solves the eldrazi problem. If you can't mill Ulamog, simply become a hexproof Ulamog...
Like some have said, I run Swords to Plowshares in every deck that can play it. I also like Fellware Stone a lot; I've seen some people run jank like Fire Diamond, but the stone doesn't come in tapped and can usually tap for the relevant color if you want it to. Sudden Spoiling goes in every black deck, it just saves my ass too many times. Krosan Grip in every green deck too, split second is straight voodoo. For a while my red tech was Lightning Bolt, but lately I haven't played it as much.
Holistic Wisdom is also kind of a pet card, I'd fit it into virtually any deck that can play it. It's got great art and left alone it gives you a crazy amount of options as the game goes longer.
You basically never get voice tokens except through the death trigger, but that's because people treat the voice like a Grand Abolisher. If you do randomly get a token, it's because they're about to wrath or they just forgot it was in play. However, you can get political with it, letting people bribe you into not attacking them if they kindly cast a Fact or Fiction during your turn. You can feel confident that nobody will counter or kill your creatures during your turn, since the token would generally be almost as threatening as the creature you lost.
Another card I'd suggest is Treasonous Ogre. A 2/3 dethrone is actually a pretty decent attacker, and the mana ability is just insane.
Elspeth, Knight Errant isn't technically a creature, but the +3/+3 and flying is great with any double striker, especially Samut. Arlinn Kord and Ajani Steadfast have similar creature-buffing abilities.
So, last night I played a pretty sweet game where I formed an alliance between myself playing Kuon and an opponent playing Alesha. I was in danger of dying to a third player and his Kozilek, Butcher of Truth .
The Alesha player came up with a plan to save me. He could dredge Golgari Thug, then use it to get back Nighthowler, draw the Nighthowler with Ob Nixilis Reignited, bestow the howler onto his flier, and then attack the Kozilek player for lethal. But, he needed a little help--with no sac outlet, he'd need me to cast a kill spell on his Thug in order to do anything. I gladly agreed, and he began his turn...
But after he cast the Thug, I realized there was a small problem. In order to cast my kill spell, he needed to pass priority. Meaning, he'd immediately go to combat without having a chance to draw and bestow the Nighthowler. It would have been no problem at all if we were playing two headed giant, but this was a five player free-for-all. (That's how I'm pretty sure the rules work, anyway. I'm 99% sure)
I decided to bend the rules a little and nobody at the table protested. However, I didn't say anything and it's possible that none of them realized that rules were being violated. It mattered a whole lot, since it made the difference between the Kozilek player living (and quite likely winning) or dying.
What would you have done in this situation? Under what circumstances would you fudge the rules of the game for the sake of allowing more interesting politics?
One time I was playing in a four-player pod and one opponent was totally screwed on lands. I made a deal that I would target him with a future draw spell if he split my Fact or Fiction 5 cards vs 0. Then I cast Compulsive Research... and drew three cards. He got pretty salty and scooped. In my defense, I genuinely thought the spell didn't target.
Usually I think I'm one of the cooler heads at the table, and if things don't go my way I'm able to just laugh it off.
OP, I agree that Vizier and Soul are comparable, at least when you have Top or Library to help the Vizier out.
I have started to kinda hate Soul of the Harvest and I don't play it in any of my decks currently. It's frustrating for me to always pick between casting Soul or a more threatening fat creature. I usually pick the more threatening option-- Rampaging Baloths or whatever-- and Soul just sits in my hand for a long time. When I finally do want to start drawing extra cards, it means my hand is getting small and I won't be able to actually cast many creatures.
So, I expect vizier is going to be much stronger, since he can actually generate CA when you need it most. That's what I expect in my meta, with my playstyle.
Recently my Xira lands deck got annihilated by a turn 2 Ankh of Mishra.
On the other hand, I'd like to recommend the black humility, tainted aether. It crushes creature decks, but you also need removal for what creatures have already hit the board when you cast it.
Narset, Enlightened Master superfriends. I barely ever play this, probably going to scrap it soon. It has lost its novelty and is now pretty unfun. I think it's less than 18 months old.
Kuon, Ogre Ascendant control. This is my baby. I've never met another Kuon player, and I love impressing people with my unusual commander and his synergies. However, the deck tends to draw hate and is more cutthroat than most of my decks. I don't play it often, but I love every game I get with it. It's about two years old, and I'm never taking it apart.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind spellslinger/mill/voltron/control. Lazav is the only commander that I've taken apart and wanted very badly to put back together. So much that I've actually done it twice. Lazav is such a versatile and fun card, and his abilities ensure that no two games will be the same. He also enables me to build a deck that can pivot seamlessly from one strategy to the next, which I enjoy greatly. The original deck was built maybe three years ago, and the latest incarnation is about a year old. I can't see myself ever taking him apart again.
Since you've said you like 'weird' commanders, here are my three off-the-wall suggestions:
Kothophed, Soul Hoarder draws you six cards just from a simple Smallpox, and obviously has much greater potential. There's also the added comfort of having a 6/6 flier in the command zone, meaning you always have access to a reasonable win condition. You do need to watch your own life total, but Whip of Erebos and Exquisite Blood help out with that.
Rakdos, the Defiler is the most aggressive Pox deck I can think of. It That Betrays is a key card in any Defiler deck, and it also happens to have great synergy with Pox effects. Silenciaco has a primer on the forums, and I'm currently playing a deck based on his.
Alternately, Kuon, Ogre Ascendant is one of the weirdest commanders available. Casting him after a Pox effect will almost always flip him to his enchantment side, and then you have pretty good control over any creature deck. He's ideal for a creature-light build, since he himself is (usually) not a creature. My decklist here.
Whatever deck you build, enjoy!
Lazav also solves the eldrazi problem. If you can't mill Ulamog, simply become a hexproof Ulamog...
My commander was Mistmeadow Witch, and it was actually pretty playable.
I agree with many of your choices, but I've always been doubtful of spoiling. It just doesn't seem versatile to me. What does it do for you?
Hellrider
Gideon's Avenger
Restoration Angel
Another card I'd suggest is Treasonous Ogre. A 2/3 dethrone is actually a pretty decent attacker, and the mana ability is just insane.
Voice of Resurgence has always been pretty excellent for me in commander.
Prophetic Flamespeaker carries equipment well.
Markov Blademaster is surprisingly deadly when you can give it evasion.
Mother of Runes is great with any of these.
Elspeth, Knight Errant isn't technically a creature, but the +3/+3 and flying is great with any double striker, especially Samut. Arlinn Kord and Ajani Steadfast have similar creature-buffing abilities.
Rite of the Raging Storm, maybe?
I wonder if this means they designed five decks and realized one was just going to be the next Wade into Battle, then decided to just not release it.
The Alesha player came up with a plan to save me. He could dredge Golgari Thug, then use it to get back Nighthowler, draw the Nighthowler with Ob Nixilis Reignited, bestow the howler onto his flier, and then attack the Kozilek player for lethal. But, he needed a little help--with no sac outlet, he'd need me to cast a kill spell on his Thug in order to do anything. I gladly agreed, and he began his turn...
But after he cast the Thug, I realized there was a small problem. In order to cast my kill spell, he needed to pass priority. Meaning, he'd immediately go to combat without having a chance to draw and bestow the Nighthowler. It would have been no problem at all if we were playing two headed giant, but this was a five player free-for-all. (That's how I'm pretty sure the rules work, anyway. I'm 99% sure)
I decided to bend the rules a little and nobody at the table protested. However, I didn't say anything and it's possible that none of them realized that rules were being violated. It mattered a whole lot, since it made the difference between the Kozilek player living (and quite likely winning) or dying.
What would you have done in this situation? Under what circumstances would you fudge the rules of the game for the sake of allowing more interesting politics?
One time I was playing in a four-player pod and one opponent was totally screwed on lands. I made a deal that I would target him with a future draw spell if he split my Fact or Fiction 5 cards vs 0. Then I cast Compulsive Research... and drew three cards. He got pretty salty and scooped. In my defense, I genuinely thought the spell didn't target.
Usually I think I'm one of the cooler heads at the table, and if things don't go my way I'm able to just laugh it off.
I have started to kinda hate Soul of the Harvest and I don't play it in any of my decks currently. It's frustrating for me to always pick between casting Soul or a more threatening fat creature. I usually pick the more threatening option-- Rampaging Baloths or whatever-- and Soul just sits in my hand for a long time. When I finally do want to start drawing extra cards, it means my hand is getting small and I won't be able to actually cast many creatures.
So, I expect vizier is going to be much stronger, since he can actually generate CA when you need it most. That's what I expect in my meta, with my playstyle.
I'm sad that I don't get to see many wacky commanders, though I do try to use them myself from time to time.
In the last year or two I've built...
Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant (wacky green storm)
Kuon, Ogre Ascendant (not wacky, dead serious monoblack control)
Mina and Denn, Wildborn (wacky land shenanigans)
Currently brewing Jalira, Master Polymorphist and Lavinia of the Tenth, if those count as wacky.