At present, the group meets regularly at 12:00 PM on the first Saturday of the month and the 3rd Sunday of the month at Shuffle and Cut Games, 2121 E. Lambert Rd., Suite 305, La Habra, CA. (Time, date, and location are potentially subject to change, but the Meetup page will always have up-to-date information.)
New Commander players are welcome. We can even lend you a precon deck to play if you don’t have a deck of your own.
This event is not a tournament. There are no entry fees or prizes. It’s solely for the love of the game.
In my experience, this deck tends to recover from board wipes fairly easily due to the high number of cards that create tokens, so I'm not sure if I need Boros Charm. However, I do like to play charms, and both Rith's Charm and Naya Charm have proven to be very useful.
Iroas, God of Victory can help tokens survive through more than one combat, and makes them harder to block.
This is an interesting idea -- I think I might give it a try. Any thoughts on what to take out in order to make room for Iroas, God of Victory?
A lot of your creatures have ETB effects, a flicker effect like Eldrazi Displacer/Conjurer's Closet/Mimic Vat/Flickerform can be powerful with a decent setup
I like this effect a lot, so much that I've been thinking about building another token deck to abuse it, possible with Hazezon Tamar as the commander.
Beastmaster Ascension is a really solid card for this kind of setup. It will probably go active in no more than 2 turns, then it buffs your creatures on that same attack. It's the best effect of its kind.
Otherwise, cards like Jazal Goldmane, Kamahl Fist of Krosa and Marton Stromgald are solid.
I've had my eye on Beastmaster Ascension for a while, along with other strong token enhancers like Cathar's Crusade, Shared Animosity, and the ones you mentioned. This gets to the larger issue of what is the right balance of token generators and token enhancers for this deck. Since my commander is good at enhancing tokens, I'm operating on the assumption that I need more token generators than token enhancers, and this seems to work in practice -- but I could still add more of the latter. Where possible, I've tried to use cards that do both.
And I know you mentioned no tutors, but Skullclamp wasn't a card that you mentioned as not wanting to see every game. It would be very solid draw, and tutorable by Stoneforge Mystic, Steelshaper's Gift, etc.
As you point out, Skullclamp is almost always great in this deck. The only times I don't like to see it are after a board wipe and when I'm worried about decreasing my board position. Since Skullclamp is the only equipment in the deck, I'm not sure if I would add equipment tutors just to find it, but it's another reason why something more versatile like Enlightened Tutor could be a good addition.
What cards would you take out to make room for the additions you suggested?
I got tired of not having a regular place in Orange County to play Commander during the daytime on weekends, so I made a Meetup group to get something going. The link is in my signature. For anyone who is already on Meetup, please join the group, but if you want, you can just come and play without joining.
I just sold my collection to MTGOTraders for $2625. I'm not leaving the game or anything like that, but I've found that I prefer real life to digital. It was a fast and efficient transaction with clear, courteous communications. If I ever go back to MTGO, I would certainly buy/sell with MTGOTraders again.
Gahiji, Honored One has been one of my favorite commanders since it was first printed, and I have loved token decks for as long as I can remember.
The deck featured in this post is actually my second Gahiji deck. The first version made use of the hunted creatures from Ravnica block and similar effects to give tokens to my opponents. While I enjoyed the first version immensely, it was more fun in concept than in reality, and it couldn't compete in my metagame.
My current version of Gahiji is designed to be more competitive. So far, it has been performing relatively well, but I could definitely use some advice on how to tune it:
At the store where I play, the metagame is dominated by highly competitive, blue-based midrange decks that play the best cards in their colors and make heavy use of ramp spells and artifact mana. Infinite combos are penalized by the point system, as are any effects that reduce an opponent’s mana sources below six.
Strategy
This version of Gahiji is intended to be a fast, aggressive deck that puts early pressure on opponents who would otherwise dominate the game, ideally allowing the entire table to gang up on the most threatening player. If this deck isn’t attacking, it’s probably losing. It aims to play a ramp spell or artifact accelerant by turn two, a token-producer on turn three, and the commander on turn four, potentially attacking for 8-15 damage. Since token producers comprise roughly a third of the deck, it can usually keep cranking out tokens for Gahiji to pump up. It also runs a set of token-producing x-spells that can be enough to take out one or more opponents (and sometimes the entire table) in conjunction with Gahiji. It’s absolutely bonkers when it draws Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, or Gaea’s Cradle.
Weaknesses
Although this deck is relatively resilient to a single board wipe, it will run out of gas when faced with a series of board wipes in rapid succession. It can also stall out against pillow fort strategies and opponents, such as other token decks, who are able put a large number of blockers on the battlefield — but it does run some answers to both. Like a lot of aggro decks in Commander, it performs better in 3-player games and worse in games with 5 or more players — but most of the time, it can hold its own in a 4-player game. Because it tends to start explosively, it can easily become a target for the rest of the table, and my commander can be a magnet for removal.
Notes on Deck Construction
Redundancy. In order to achieve the early consistency describe in the section on strategy, above, this deck runs a lot of redundant effects, especially token producers at 4 mana and ramp that costs 2 or less.
Multipurpose Spells. Wherever possible, I am trying to run cards that service multiple purposes, such as Rith’s Charm, which is a cost-effective token producer that also does duty as removal and defense. The planeswalkers are also great examples of this principle. Since my commander is pretty good at pumping up tokens, I don’t run a lot of other token-buffing effects, but cards like Hero of Bladehold and Angel of Invention, which both produce and enhance tokens, are also all-stars in this deck. Similarly, the deck is purposefully light on removal, and many of the removal spells have a dual purpose such as token creation. Artifact Mutation and Aura Mutation are good examples.
No Tutors. I’m not running any tutors at this time, partly because I felt like they were slowing down the deck and partly because I don’t want every game to revolve around Doubling Season and/or Gaea’s Cradle. However, I have thought about adding back Enlightened Tutor and/or Crop Rotation on the assumption that low-cost, instant tutors might not slow the deck down as much as some of the other options.
Snow-Covered Lands. I’m running snow-covered lands mostly as a way to sneak in Mouth of Ronom as a bit of extra creature removal and Into the North as another redundant ramp spell at 2 mana.
Planned changes
When I get a chance, I’m planning to test out the following substitutions:
I’m also looking to replace White Sun’s Zenith, a terrific card that has been stuck in my hand on more than one occasion due to its WWW cost.
Where I could use some advice
Honestly, I’m open to any and all feedback about this deck. For reasons of tempo, I am committed to ramp that costs 2 or less, but I suspect that there is a better package than what I’m running. I prefer effects that put lands onto the battlefield over artifact mana, but as you can see, I’m running both. I’m also a bit underwhelmed by the draw package.
I'm a longtime Magic player in Orange County, California, the home of Disneyland. At this point, I exclusively play EDH/Commander (multiplayer), but I've played other formats in the past. The store where I play is usually closed on Saturdays and Sundays, and I just started a new job that makes it hard for me to play during the week -- so I'm looking for someplace in my area where I can get in a few games of EDH/Commander on the weekends. Speak up or message me if you have any suggestions or want to help get a group together!
This is an update since the store where I used to play closed down.
New Commander players are welcome. We can even lend you a precon deck to play if you don’t have a deck of your own.
This event is not a tournament. There are no entry fees or prizes. It’s solely for the love of the game.
In my experience, this deck tends to recover from board wipes fairly easily due to the high number of cards that create tokens, so I'm not sure if I need Boros Charm. However, I do like to play charms, and both Rith's Charm and Naya Charm have proven to be very useful.
This is an interesting idea -- I think I might give it a try. Any thoughts on what to take out in order to make room for Iroas, God of Victory?
I like this effect a lot, so much that I've been thinking about building another token deck to abuse it, possible with Hazezon Tamar as the commander.
I've had my eye on Beastmaster Ascension for a while, along with other strong token enhancers like Cathar's Crusade, Shared Animosity, and the ones you mentioned. This gets to the larger issue of what is the right balance of token generators and token enhancers for this deck. Since my commander is good at enhancing tokens, I'm operating on the assumption that I need more token generators than token enhancers, and this seems to work in practice -- but I could still add more of the latter. Where possible, I've tried to use cards that do both.
As you point out, Skullclamp is almost always great in this deck. The only times I don't like to see it are after a board wipe and when I'm worried about decreasing my board position. Since Skullclamp is the only equipment in the deck, I'm not sure if I would add equipment tutors just to find it, but it's another reason why something more versatile like Enlightened Tutor could be a good addition.
What cards would you take out to make room for the additions you suggested?
-1 Allied Reinforcements, +1 Sram's Expertise - In Gahiji, Sram's Expertise is 9 power of creatures with an upside, which seems much better
-1 Predator's Howl, +1 Tana, the Bloodsower - With Gahiji on the battlefield, Tana has the potential to create 4 tokens per turn
-1 Mana Echoes, +1 Garruk Wildspeaker - All three of Garruk's abilities are great in this deck, while Mana Echoes was only conditionally good
-1 Kher Keep, +1 Kjeldoran Outpost - Replacing Kher Keep, which moves to my Godo, Bandit Warlord deck
Also thinking about what to swap out for Goblin Bombardment or Kyren Negotiations...
Gahiji, Honored One has been one of my favorite commanders since it was first printed, and I have loved token decks for as long as I can remember.
The deck featured in this post is actually my second Gahiji deck. The first version made use of the hunted creatures from Ravnica block and similar effects to give tokens to my opponents. While I enjoyed the first version immensely, it was more fun in concept than in reality, and it couldn't compete in my metagame.
My current version of Gahiji is designed to be more competitive. So far, it has been performing relatively well, but I could definitely use some advice on how to tune it:
1 Gahiji, Honored One
Creatures
1 Angel of Invention
1 Beetleback Chief
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Tana, the Bloodsower
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Visionary Augmenter
1 Mirror Entity
1 Ogre Battledriver
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Diligent Farmhand
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
Planeswalkers
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Artifacts
1 Carnage Altar
1 Skullclamp
1 Slate of Ancestry
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mind Stone
1 Sol Ring
Enchantments
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Rise of the Hobgoblins
1 Saproling Burst
1 Doubling Season
1 In the Web of War
1 Parallel Lives
1 Outpost Siege
1 Earthcraft
1 Secure the Wastes
1 White Sun’s Zenith
1 Naya Charm
1 Rith’s Charm
1 Aura Mutation
1 Artifact Mutation
1 Aurelia’s Fury
1 Oblation
Sorceries
1 Battle Screech
1 Captain’s Call
1 Decree of Justice
1 Hordeling Outburst
1 Hunting Triad
1 Sram's Expertise
1 Increasing Devotion
1 Spectral Procession
1 Spontaneous Generation
1 Tempt with Vengeance
1 Collective Unconscious
1 Harmonize
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Explore
1 Farseek
1 Into the North
1 Nature’s Lore
1 Rampant Growth
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Three Visits
1 Martial Coup
Land
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Contested Cliffs
1 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Gavony Township
1 Homeward Path
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 Krosan Verge
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Arid Mesa
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Command Tower
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Tranquil Thicket
4 Snow-Covered Forest
5 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Snow-Covered Plains
5 Gahiji, Honored One
Token Producers
0 Kjeldoran Outpost
0 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
3 Hordeling Outburst
4 Battle Screech
4 Beetleback Chief
4 Captain’s Call
4 Hero of Bladehold
4 Hunting Triad
4 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Spontaneous Generation
4 Sram's Expertise
4 Tana, the Bloodsower
4 Tempt with Vengeance
4 Visionary Augmenter
5 Angel of Invention
5 Assemble the Legion
5 Cloudgoat Ranger
5 Increasing Devotion
5 Saproling Burst
5 Siege-Gang Commander
6 Spectral Procession
1 Secure the Wastes (X-spell)
2 Rise of the Hobgoblins (functions as an X-spell)
3 White Sun’s Zenith (X-spell)
4 Decree of Justice (X-spell)
Token Multipliers or Enhancers
0 Gavony Township
3 Mirror Entity
4 Ogre Battledriver
4 Parallel Lives
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
5 Doubling Season
5 In the Web of War
1 Skullclamp
2 Carnage Altar
3 Mentor of the Meek
4 Harmonize
4 Outpost Siege
4 Slate of Ancestry
5 Shamanic Revelation
6 Collective Unconscious
Mana Acceleration
0 Gaea’s Cradle
0 Krosan Verge
0 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
2 Diligent Farmhand
2 Earthcraft
2 Explore
2 Farseek
2 Into the North
2 Mind Stone
2 Nature’s Lore
2 Rampant Growth
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Three Visits
3 Search for Tomorrow
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
Answers, Recursion, and Multipurpose Cards
0 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
0 Contested Cliffs
0 Homeward Path
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Mouth of Ronom
2 Aura Mutation
2 Artifact Mutation
3 Oblation
3 Naya Charm
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
3 Rith’s Charm
5 Elspeth Tirel
6 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
2 Aurelia’s Fury (X-Spell)
2 Martial Coup (X-Spell)
0 Command Tower
0 Horizon Canopy
0 Plateau
0 Savannah
0 Taiga
0 Sacred Foundry
0 Stomping Ground
0 Temple Garden
0 Arid Mesa
0 Windswept Heath
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Forgotten Cave
0 Secluded Steppe
0 Tranquil Thicket
0 Snow-Covered Forest
0 Snow-Covered Forest
0 Snow-Covered Forest
0 Snow-Covered Forest
0 Snow-Covered Mountain
0 Snow-Covered Mountain
0 Snow-Covered Mountain
0 Snow-Covered Mountain
0 Snow-Covered Mountain
0 Snow-Covered Plains
0 Snow-Covered Plains
0 Snow-Covered Plains
0 Snow-Covered Plains
Metagame
At the store where I play, the metagame is dominated by highly competitive, blue-based midrange decks that play the best cards in their colors and make heavy use of ramp spells and artifact mana. Infinite combos are penalized by the point system, as are any effects that reduce an opponent’s mana sources below six.
Strategy
This version of Gahiji is intended to be a fast, aggressive deck that puts early pressure on opponents who would otherwise dominate the game, ideally allowing the entire table to gang up on the most threatening player. If this deck isn’t attacking, it’s probably losing. It aims to play a ramp spell or artifact accelerant by turn two, a token-producer on turn three, and the commander on turn four, potentially attacking for 8-15 damage. Since token producers comprise roughly a third of the deck, it can usually keep cranking out tokens for Gahiji to pump up. It also runs a set of token-producing x-spells that can be enough to take out one or more opponents (and sometimes the entire table) in conjunction with Gahiji. It’s absolutely bonkers when it draws Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, or Gaea’s Cradle.
Weaknesses
Although this deck is relatively resilient to a single board wipe, it will run out of gas when faced with a series of board wipes in rapid succession. It can also stall out against pillow fort strategies and opponents, such as other token decks, who are able put a large number of blockers on the battlefield — but it does run some answers to both. Like a lot of aggro decks in Commander, it performs better in 3-player games and worse in games with 5 or more players — but most of the time, it can hold its own in a 4-player game. Because it tends to start explosively, it can easily become a target for the rest of the table, and my commander can be a magnet for removal.
Notes on Deck Construction
Redundancy. In order to achieve the early consistency describe in the section on strategy, above, this deck runs a lot of redundant effects, especially token producers at 4 mana and ramp that costs 2 or less.
Multipurpose Spells. Wherever possible, I am trying to run cards that service multiple purposes, such as Rith’s Charm, which is a cost-effective token producer that also does duty as removal and defense. The planeswalkers are also great examples of this principle. Since my commander is pretty good at pumping up tokens, I don’t run a lot of other token-buffing effects, but cards like Hero of Bladehold and Angel of Invention, which both produce and enhance tokens, are also all-stars in this deck. Similarly, the deck is purposefully light on removal, and many of the removal spells have a dual purpose such as token creation. Artifact Mutation and Aura Mutation are good examples.
No Tutors. I’m not running any tutors at this time, partly because I felt like they were slowing down the deck and partly because I don’t want every game to revolve around Doubling Season and/or Gaea’s Cradle. However, I have thought about adding back Enlightened Tutor and/or Crop Rotation on the assumption that low-cost, instant tutors might not slow the deck down as much as some of the other options.
Snow-Covered Lands. I’m running snow-covered lands mostly as a way to sneak in Mouth of Ronom as a bit of extra creature removal and Into the North as another redundant ramp spell at 2 mana.
Planned changes
When I get a chance, I’m planning to test out the following substitutions:
-1 Predator’s Howl, +1 Tana, the Bloodsower
-1 Mana Echoes, +1 Garruk Wildspeaker
-1 Kher Keep, +1 Kjeldoran Outpost
I’m also looking to replace White Sun’s Zenith, a terrific card that has been stuck in my hand on more than one occasion due to its WWW cost.
Where I could use some advice
Honestly, I’m open to any and all feedback about this deck. For reasons of tempo, I am committed to ramp that costs 2 or less, but I suspect that there is a better package than what I’m running. I prefer effects that put lands onto the battlefield over artifact mana, but as you can see, I’m running both. I’m also a bit underwhelmed by the draw package.