So my edh group and I have been thinking up new ideas for commander, after having gone through normal multiplayer, french, tiny leaders, and pauper and thought up doing block constructed commanders. Has anybody out there ever tried this? What set would you pick and who would you build around/would you pick the commander for colors? It'd be fun to play with a normally really good commander such as Arcum Dagsson that is bad within his block. Anafenza, the Foremost seems really good because she's good, and there were a ton of good abzan cards in that block, or Zur the Enchanter as he's in the same block as Necropotence and can tutor it out. If I were to pick a set for the cards in it though it would either be Old Ravnica, Alara, or Old Zendikar.
So after seeing Necrotic Ooze got banned, and testing my Meren deck running Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion combo (which is really, really bad) I can't see a way to make my Meren list work. Anybody got anything I could turn my husk of Meren into for about 200$, excluding fetches and duals? Alternatively does anybody have a combo to fill the necrotic ooze combo's void?
I've had more then my fair share of doing gross things with Spore Frog, Victimize, and the king combo of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion, I've been wanting to build a more casual deck for commander. A recent discussion about an infinite combo with no 'may clause' (Sporemound + Life and Limb,) that cause the game to no longer be able to continue, has sparked an idea of building a deck around infinite combos with no may abilities, or other nightmarish things like Knowledge Pool + Arcane Laboratory that make the game unwinnable for anyone. I don't already have a specific color combo in mind. I'd love it if anybody has any more similar combos, or sick tech to add to the cesspool, I'd appreciate it.
I think part of the reason that Wizards banned Pod is because it makes them unable to have standard have good enter the battlefield effects without wrecking modern. Also I don't think township is enough to stop pod from being a problem.
The solution to the problem of horribly unbalanced planeswalkers could be A) play with people with a similar definition of OP, B) add a mana requirement for abilities, or C) add a turn based solution like unlocking the first ability first ability first turn, second unlocked on third, ultimate on 6th or seventh, or you can't activate abilities requiring adding or subtracting more turns than it has been.
Honestly I'm upset that they unbanned GGT. I knew that TC had to be banned, and DtT with it, and I think delver has already dominated enough formats. But GGT is still absurd to me, even without Dreaded Return. First of all, he has to be answered in decks he sees play in, or he easily swings for 7 damage or more. Second, he brings the dredge amount average up too high. Without him, there's only a couple cards above three cards, meaning dredge decks couldn't mill out their deck by turn 6 with not much effort. In the case of wheels, especially with the new one, Dark Deal, you can get four dredge triggers by turn two, if you have any t1 mana accelerator. With GGT, he adds at least one more card to each dredge replacement, giving the deck both speed, in looking for your threat, and consistency, in finding more cards to find your game winning threat.
First of all, I should mention that this is running on a budget of 50$. So for some context, one of my friends who plays Magic very casually asked me to build him re-animator, because back when my entire group of friends played casually, my reanimating an Inkwell Leviathan was the be all end all of the group. My knowledge of cards is pretty good, but within a leftover room of 15$, and no Boseiju, Who Shelters All incorporated into the list, the deck loses to counterspells. The game plan is to use Buried Alive to find Krosan Cloudscraper, The Mimeoplasm, and the current best threat, those being Tidespout Tyrant as a catch all, Inkwell vs Jace TMS so you don't get hit by a Terminus as easy, Sphinx as a way to gain life if that's necessary, and Empyrial Archangel for burn. The problem with this plan is that you lose to people countering your spells. If anyone has a way to help with this, please tell me.
tl;dr I need a way to deal with counterspells in mono-black for 15$
Once again, lands are dependent on budget, and Phyrexia's Core, and/or Buried Ruin would be useful. In this one, Academy Ruins would be very good.
I'd consider using a fourth Glissa, the Traitor because lightning bolts are very common, and make it easy to beat up these decks. I haven't been able to get all these cards yet, so this isn't playtested.
tl;dr I need a way to deal with counterspells in mono-black for 15$
Creatures
3x Glissa, the Traitor
4x Spellskite
4x Perilous Myr
4x Epochrasite
4x Necropede
4x Falkenrath Noble
4x Myr Retriever
Enchantments
4x Heartless Summoning
Non-Creature Artifacts
3x Throne of Geth
2x Lightning Coils
Instants and Sorcery
3x Immortal Servitude
I didn't include lands, though I would advise Phyrexia's Core, and/or Buried Ruins and the rest would be based on your budget.
A second list I came up with was more of a control based deck, here's the decklist:
Creatures
3x Glissa, the Traitor
4x Spellskite
2x Dross Scorpion
3x Necropede
3x Perilous Myr
3x Wurmcoil Engine
3x Myr Retriever
Non-Artifact Creatures
3x Ichor Wellspring
4x Executioner's Capsule
2x Welding Jar
3x Trading Post
2x Throne of Geth
3x Thopter Foundry
Once again, lands are dependent on budget, and Phyrexia's Core, and/or Buried Ruin would be useful. In this one, Academy Ruins would be very good.
I'd consider using a fourth Glissa, the Traitor because lightning bolts are very common, and make it easy to beat up these decks. I haven't been able to get all these cards yet, so this isn't playtested.