The responses which presume that any deck packing sufficient answers to not lose to a competitive or combo deck must itself be a 100% tuned, flavorless competitive deck itself, constitute an implicit strawman argument. I'll illustrate a counter example.
I have a Queen Marchesa deck now, about 5 months old. It is a theme deck, built around a core of Conspiracy II cards and the Monarch mechanic. It wins via token shenanigans and crazy interactions between cards like Cathar's Crusade and Blade of Selves. Lacking even shock lands, it is not what anyone would consider a "competitive deck" by any reasonable standard.
These answers, combined with a bit of careful play (not squandering resources and tapping out every turn like some scrub) leads this deck to fear very little from the so called competitive combo decks. When they combo off, you answer by removing one of the combo pieces instantly. If you know the combo player is running substantial counterspell backup, you use two pieces of removal. Tutors facilitate this as well. Once the faster decks at the table have been hobbled and forced to revert to their slower "Plan B" win conditions, I then have room to expand my board and do the nasty shenanigans that my deck was meant to do.
Fill it with cheap black creatures, kill spells, rituals, and Pestilence effects. Add an Infernal Darkness, Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood. Coffers and Nykthos if you want to spend a little bit.
It can play creature beats or use Raz to tutor the combo up and drop it after locking the board with ID. Decently competitive, simple and cheap.
It is not your opponent's responsibility to hold back. It is your responsibility as a player to stop him. If your deck is incapable of doing that on a regular basis, then your deck is fundamentally flawed or you are making play errors in managing your resources.
When I swung, The Cap split off 4 myriad copies that each ETB'd with three more tokens. The Garrison attacked and added two more tokens. All my creatures got 18 +1/+1 counters added to them in addition to all the anthem effects from the 5 Captains stacking, and then I took an extra combat because of scourge and did it again + swinging all those tokens (Anger in the yard).
I'd like to make a fun Kaalia of the Vast deck, but she's a no-go in my meta. I went with Tariel instead.
My most hated deck is probably Hanna. She's an old-fashioned, hard stax deck that people never see coming the first time they play her. Because cute little 1/2 with the pretty foil art.
I'm not too proud to admit that I rarely take a knockout without being a superdick, but it does depend on the circumstances. Usually its because someone is picking on me, or is politic-ing the rest of the table against me.
A good example that happens now and again is the local group-hug player constantly pointing out to everyone that my almost-creatureless Grixis deck has no blockers on the field when they're moving to combat. I've been known to Insurrection and send the entire board at his face despite it being massive overkill, just to make a point about him doing that. Or the time I had a Krenko deck swinging at me from turn 2 because he was scared of my combos and openly stated he wanted to knock me out early. He got me down to single-digit life and I cast Wake of Destruction calling mountains and followed with a Blasphemous Act that set his board state to zero. I still died to someone else, but I put that guy out of the game for good. Don't bully my dragon.
Yes, I'd like to destroy every creature on play except this giant flying beater. And here's an instant-speed board wipe that can kill a Blightsteel and be brought back to my hand with any of my various creature recursions.
I've told this story a couple times and it still makes me salty.
I'm playing a grixis hate deck (Nicol Bolas) against a 75% Rakdos deck, a super degenerate Narset deck, and an equally degenerate Kaalia deck. I mulligan hard and burn a tutor on turn 3 to fetch my trump card: Æther Flash. This stops Kaalia and Narset from sticking until they can answer it.
The game goes on, with the two degenerate decks digging for answers, and I'm digging for control spells to prevent those answers while trying to deal some damage to Narset and Kaalia. Its only a matter of time before they catch me tapped out and stick something, and the game will be over instantly if that happens.
But Rakdos? He starts playing aggressive 2/3s and 3/4s from hand. Stuff just big enough to survive the ETB ping. And he's swinging at me. Every. Single. Stinking. Turn. The damage is adding up fast and as I hit about half my life I asked him what the heck he was doing.
"Well, you seem to have these two locked down pretty good, so you're my biggest target now."
6 damage here. 10 damage there. Next thing I know my life is in the single digits. I resort to converting a manland to block one of his beaters to live one more turn and tell him exactly what's going to happen. "If you kill me, they're going to destroy you instantly." Nope, he turns his whole board sideways at me again. I scoop out of spite.
Narset goes next, and immediately proceeds to drop Narset and Greaves, swings, and triggers right into extra turns and combats for a while until sticking a SOFAF and comboing off. I've never wanted to choke-slam a fellow Magic player so hard in my life.
As someone who recently built a group hug deck (Ludevic / Kraum if anyone was curious) one of the strategies in a hug deck is to give your opponent's so many resources that they overextend themselves, while also leaving you - their sugar daddy - untouched for most of the game.
The way you win is to pick your turn and blow them out, by using their over-extended board states to punish them. In my case I tend to win by a timely late-game Cyclonic Rift at end of turn, backed up by countermagic. Then I drop a Psychosis Crawler and Molten Psyche for the win. All game they've been drawing lots of cards, and I usually have a Mana Flare in play. Those huge board states all get bounced and wheeled away for massive damage. Kraum and my swarm of "chump blocker" thopter tokens can then finish off any survivors.
What you want is a way to punish your opponents who have overused your hug resources.
Child of Alara. "I'm going to spend 90% of the game with a total board wipe on a hair trigger. If you do ANYTHING I don't like or even look at me, you're losing everything you have. Repeatedly."
Maelstrom Wanderer. "I have more ramp than God and 18 different combos. I WANT you to kill my commander so I can recast him for another chance at an instant win. You don't want to kill him? Take 7 commander damage and these two 8/8 tramplers to the face every turn."
Nicol Bolas. "You don't need that hand. Having cards is for winners!"
I was kind of thinking Jund, actually. I had a Kresh deck once but it sucked. He gets huge and dies to everything.
Jund Goblin Tribal though. I don't have a token deck anymore, and I could maybe get some jank going with sacrifice engines and such. I might just go with this one!
I'm retiring the Rakdos deck because I'm bored with it, and the Mardu deck does its job far better. But I don't know what to build. My hangup is that I can't repeat color combinations or deck themes/wincons. If anyone can suggest an interesting theme (or even tribal) in an unrepresented color I'd be interested. I have all the new C16 commander sets to pull from as well.
I thought about doing a Tana/Ishai 4c werewolves/MLD deck but it doesn't sound fun. Also considered Grixis morph tribal but that also sounds meh.
I have a Queen Marchesa deck now, about 5 months old. It is a theme deck, built around a core of Conspiracy II cards and the Monarch mechanic. It wins via token shenanigans and crazy interactions between cards like Cathar's Crusade and Blade of Selves. Lacking even shock lands, it is not what anyone would consider a "competitive deck" by any reasonable standard.
It also runs 4 counterspells.
And about 13 or 14 instant-speed removal cards. Fate Forgotten, Dust to Dust, Anguished Unmaking, etcetera.
These answers, combined with a bit of careful play (not squandering resources and tapping out every turn like some scrub) leads this deck to fear very little from the so called competitive combo decks. When they combo off, you answer by removing one of the combo pieces instantly. If you know the combo player is running substantial counterspell backup, you use two pieces of removal. Tutors facilitate this as well. Once the faster decks at the table have been hobbled and forced to revert to their slower "Plan B" win conditions, I then have room to expand my board and do the nasty shenanigans that my deck was meant to do.
Fill it with cheap black creatures, kill spells, rituals, and Pestilence effects. Add an Infernal Darkness, Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood. Coffers and Nykthos if you want to spend a little bit.
It can play creature beats or use Raz to tutor the combo up and drop it after locking the board with ID. Decently competitive, simple and cheap.
Had a Captain of the Watch in play, Scourge of the Throne, and a Hanweir Garrison with a couple of tokens. I played a Blade of Selves and equipped it onto the Captain before tapping out to drop a Cathar's Crusade.
When I swung, The Cap split off 4 myriad copies that each ETB'd with three more tokens. The Garrison attacked and added two more tokens. All my creatures got 18 +1/+1 counters added to them in addition to all the anthem effects from the 5 Captains stacking, and then I took an extra combat because of scourge and did it again + swinging all those tokens (Anger in the yard).
4x Anticipate
2x Doom Blade
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Spell Pierce
4x Telling Time
4x Terminate
4x Vapor Snag
Enchantment (2)
2x Blood Moon
Land (22)
1x Crumbling Necropolis
3x Dragonskull Summit
3x Drowned Catacomb
6x Island
3x Mountain
6x Swamp
2x Banefire
2x Cruel Ultimatum
2x Languish
Creature (4)
2x Gurmag Angler
1x Sphinx of the Final Word
1x Torrential Gearhulk
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Dispel
3x Exhaustion
4x Negate
1x Pithing Needle
1x Tainted Remedy
My most hated deck is probably Hanna. She's an old-fashioned, hard stax deck that people never see coming the first time they play her. Because cute little 1/2 with the pretty foil art.
A good example that happens now and again is the local group-hug player constantly pointing out to everyone that my almost-creatureless Grixis deck has no blockers on the field when they're moving to combat. I've been known to Insurrection and send the entire board at his face despite it being massive overkill, just to make a point about him doing that. Or the time I had a Krenko deck swinging at me from turn 2 because he was scared of my combos and openly stated he wanted to knock me out early. He got me down to single-digit life and I cast Wake of Destruction calling mountains and followed with a Blasphemous Act that set his board state to zero. I still died to someone else, but I put that guy out of the game for good. Don't bully my dragon.
Spite is a form of fun.
Yes, I'd like to destroy every creature on play except this giant flying beater. And here's an instant-speed board wipe that can kill a Blightsteel and be brought back to my hand with any of my various creature recursions.
I'm playing a grixis hate deck (Nicol Bolas) against a 75% Rakdos deck, a super degenerate Narset deck, and an equally degenerate Kaalia deck. I mulligan hard and burn a tutor on turn 3 to fetch my trump card: Æther Flash. This stops Kaalia and Narset from sticking until they can answer it.
The game goes on, with the two degenerate decks digging for answers, and I'm digging for control spells to prevent those answers while trying to deal some damage to Narset and Kaalia. Its only a matter of time before they catch me tapped out and stick something, and the game will be over instantly if that happens.
But Rakdos? He starts playing aggressive 2/3s and 3/4s from hand. Stuff just big enough to survive the ETB ping. And he's swinging at me. Every. Single. Stinking. Turn. The damage is adding up fast and as I hit about half my life I asked him what the heck he was doing.
"Well, you seem to have these two locked down pretty good, so you're my biggest target now."
Narset has an Aggravated Assault in play, by the way.
6 damage here. 10 damage there. Next thing I know my life is in the single digits. I resort to converting a manland to block one of his beaters to live one more turn and tell him exactly what's going to happen. "If you kill me, they're going to destroy you instantly." Nope, he turns his whole board sideways at me again. I scoop out of spite.
Narset goes next, and immediately proceeds to drop Narset and Greaves, swings, and triggers right into extra turns and combats for a while until sticking a SOFAF and comboing off. I've never wanted to choke-slam a fellow Magic player so hard in my life.
Than the stax engine comes online...
Chrome Mox (black) or Lotus Petal
Mana Crypt
Buried Alive (Puts Triskelion, Phyrexian Devourer, and Necrotic Ooze in the yard)
Reanimate on the Necrotic Ooze.
Win.
The way you win is to pick your turn and blow them out, by using their over-extended board states to punish them. In my case I tend to win by a timely late-game Cyclonic Rift at end of turn, backed up by countermagic. Then I drop a Psychosis Crawler and Molten Psyche for the win. All game they've been drawing lots of cards, and I usually have a Mana Flare in play. Those huge board states all get bounced and wheeled away for massive damage. Kraum and my swarm of "chump blocker" thopter tokens can then finish off any survivors.
What you want is a way to punish your opponents who have overused your hug resources.
Maelstrom Wanderer. "I have more ramp than God and 18 different combos. I WANT you to kill my commander so I can recast him for another chance at an instant win. You don't want to kill him? Take 7 commander damage and these two 8/8 tramplers to the face every turn."
Nicol Bolas. "You don't need that hand. Having cards is for winners!"
Jund Goblin Tribal though. I don't have a token deck anymore, and I could maybe get some jank going with sacrifice engines and such. I might just go with this one!
Grixis discard/group slug
Dimir fast combo (cEDH)
Bant superfriends
Azorius artifacts/stax (cEDH)
Mono-B value/sac
Mardu reanimator/aggro control
Mono-U aggro (casual)
Mono-G lands/aggro (casual)
5c storm (cEDH)
Izzet thopters/grouphug
Sultai Elfball midrange
Rakdos control/infect
Golgari one-hit kill/player assassin
I'm retiring the Rakdos deck because I'm bored with it, and the Mardu deck does its job far better. But I don't know what to build. My hangup is that I can't repeat color combinations or deck themes/wincons. If anyone can suggest an interesting theme (or even tribal) in an unrepresented color I'd be interested. I have all the new C16 commander sets to pull from as well.
I thought about doing a Tana/Ishai 4c werewolves/MLD deck but it doesn't sound fun. Also considered Grixis morph tribal but that also sounds meh.