Can I recommend that you build these decks online rather than IRL? Its going to be A LOT cheaper if you plan on doing this every month, and you'll get more opportunities to playtest. Mana Crypt is like $3 online, compared to $65 IRL. Cheap rares that are $1-2 IRL are literally a penny online. Taiga is, no *****, $1.47. Sword of Feast and Famine is $4 instead of $20. I understand that you probably already have the expensive cards in your collection, but even so you'll have more flexibility with your card choices and save bundles in the long run. Now, of course I only suggest this in relation to this project, maintaining some pet decks IRL to play with friends and at tournaments is a good idea.
I will probably do this with some decks for sure. It made sense to buy paper for the Nefarox deck because my pet deck is Gonti, Lord of Luxury and I needed to pick up a bunch of the mono black staples. That, and I have an IRL playgroup that I will definitely want to play some of these decks against.
He can also win via general damage since he can give himself +2/+2 and can't be blocked, or just let other fatties through. The ability is good even not used on snakes.
Can the ability target a single creature more than once per turn? I wasn't sure with the "can't be blocked" clause causing redundancy.
Still haven't had any other opportunities to play with Nefarox unfortunately. I will definitely keep this deck together through February to get more games in with it though.
As promised I am going to roll my randommander for February a little early so I can get forum input and order the cards I need in advance. So, here we go:
Interesting. I have long wanted to make a Simic commander deck with Vorel or Prime-Speaker, but this is definitely a whole different avenue to go down. I'm not sure there are many other great options than a creature heavy snake tribal deck, but I'm excited to hear suggestions! I've wanted to make good use of Hooded Hydra and Noose Constrictor for a while, Sakura-Tribe Elder is even better than usual here, Nemesis of Mortals is an old friend of mine from THS/KTK standard, and there are some token options with stuff like Orochi Hatchery and Beastmaster Ascension.
Well, I finally got to play my Nefarox deck last night before the prerelease. Unfortunately, my buddy and I allowed a random dude at the LGS to jump in so we'd have 3 and he had an ultra competitive Child of Alara build. Both games he pulled off turn 2-3 tutors into turn 3-4 omniscience -> conflux ->silence -> laboratory maniac -> draw entire deck. Needless to say, my swamps and lightning greaves didn't quite cut it. Hopefully I'll get to, you know, actually play the deck soon.
On a positive note, I picked up hatred in trades. I will probably put it in and take indulgent tormentor out.
When I saw Neferox i immediately went to black control/ voltron. Black Rafiq of the Many with extra sac effects and board wipes sounds like it could be a winner.
Thanks! Yeah, I think Nefarox is a pretty great option as well. It *sort of* defeats one of the purposes of the challenge to get a general like him right from the get go, which was to play some underpowered commanders. He definitely is underutilized if not underpowered though, and he comes with the added challenge of being monocolored.
I ordered all of the cards for the deck that I did not previously own and ended up spending just a touch over $71. Nice. I will let you guys know how it feels to pilot as soon as I get the chance to play (looking like next week to be honest, this is the busiest time of year at work for me). Also, I will probably roll my next random general around the 20th or so and post the result. That way I have a little time to get forum input before building a deck and can order cards in advance so the deck is ready to play as soon as February rolls around.
Thanks for the suggestions! I had definitely considered other options over cards like Indulgent Tormentor and Everglades, but was keeping the budget in mind. I came in at $71 and some change spent on cards I didn't have for the deck, so I do still have some wiggle room for some cheap substitutions.
Hey all, this is the first decklist for my commander of the month challenge. The short version of it is that I am going to roll a new random commander each month and build around them on a $75 max budget. I am giving myself a little leeway to reroll the commander that pops up randomly if its ancient, vanilla, total sucksville, or super expensive. However, I will not shy away from mediocre or unusual generals (that's the point of the challenge after all).
My first Legend doesn't seem that bad. Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis is begging to be played voltron style. Time to cross my fingers and hope I used the deck tag coding correctly! (err. . . it appears I didn't. Not sure why the card names aren't showing. I guess I'll go back and read the post about deck tags. Edit: fixed it!)
Also, do you plan on changing your avatar monthly to reflect the randomander?
Oooh, I like those two cards for Nefarox!
Yes, I will change the avatar monthly. I'm now regretting naming the thread commander of the month instead of randommander though. It has a nice ring to it
Nefarox is big, attacks alone, and lends himself to mono-black control very well. For 75$, you probably will have trouble fitting in Cabal Coffers and other big mana cards.
I think you should focus the deck on board wipes, ramp, and protection for Nefarox. If you're just going to build good-stuff, what's the point of picking a random general? Nefarox should be the only creature in the deck, in my opinion.
To clarify, the $75 budget is only for new cards. I will of course be using cards already in my collection. This puts coffers within reach, and since I've been looking to get that card for a while I am going to prioritize it.
There will definitely be board wipes, ramp, and protection in spades no matter how far down the "Nefarox only" path I go. I do see your point about the conflict between good stuff and a random general though. However, it is going to be a tension I will have to work with throughout this challenge as I do not plan on avoiding good cards in the 99 just because I'm running unconventional generals. That being said, I will be using the general's flavor and strengths to guide what the deck is doing each month. I may very well have Nefarox as the only creature when all is said and done. I'm still weighing my options and brewing away
Edit: I have uploaded a decklist for Nefarox which is subject to change, but I think I'm fairly well settled in to what I'm trying to do. Check it out here.
Sorry, are you looking for suggestions? Is this group fairly casual?
If not, ignore me.
If so...I always thought the pro-swamp equipment (Nightmare Lash, Strata Scythe) and/or the "only one" enchantments would be fun (Homicidal Seclusion, Deadly Wanderings) with this legend. None of those cards are expensive.
EDIT: Bonehoard and Nighthowler work with the sac ability, too.
Yes, suggestions are welcome! It's part of the reason I decided to register and post all this stuff! My playgroup is fairly casual, yes. Not much in the way of abusive combos, mass land destruction, and hugely expensive cards.
As I'm looking at options for my list all of the cards you have mentioned have entered my thought process. Lash and scythe are auto includes for sure, and I think Bonehoard and Nighthowler will work regardless of whether I have a sac theme going apart from Nefarox's trigger since they look at all graveyards, and I intend to play 3-5 players games.
The "only one" enchantments leave me torn. With a more efficiently costed voltron commander they would be a lot better. I'm not sure cutting creatures from the deck to set up the necessary scenarios for these cards to be "good" is worth it. Nef can still attack alone for his exalted and sac trigger without these cards around.
I'm not sure Grave Pact would be the best fit in this deck, you're trying to make him be alone right? Having only one creature to take advantage of pact seems not really good. I do like the idea of having lash and that living weapon equipment in there, and getting swords of x and y will probably be important
As I'm brewing this guy I'm quickly reaching the same conclusion re: grave pact type effects. Apart from Nef, the only creatures I'm likely to include are going to be big ol' demons like Bloodgift Demon and Harvester of Souls that have a major impact even when they aren't attacking, and utility creatures that I don't want to sac such as Crypt Ghast and Magus of the Coffers.
Pardon the double post, but I wanted to keep the original post separate from posts about the first month's general.
So without further ado, January's random commander (randommander?)iiiiiiiiiiiis. . . Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
Mono black eh? Always fun and often powerful. Nefarox is clearly wanting to be a voltron commander, so I'll probably be looking for ways to take advantage of mono black's huge mana engines, such as Cabal Coffers and Crypt Ghast to cast ol' Nef, clear the way and suit him up. Then again, Demon tribal and Grave Pact style cards might be more fun. . .
Hey everyone, I'm a new member of the forums, though I've long browsed the content and been a fan of the Multiplayer EDH primers. Why register after comfortably lurking so long? I thought you'd never ask!
As a gamer I have always been plagued with "restartitis". For those of you who might not be familiar with the term, it basically means that I struggle to simply play a game through beginning to end. This isn't because I find the game too difficult or grow bored of it; on the contrary! I love challenges in games and become enthralled by the variety and endless possibilities (side quest junkie!). "I'm really enjoying this guns based character. . . but how cool would an unarmed character be?! Punching stuff is great and all. . . but I think I'll start over with a sweet stealthy assassin!" You get the point.
Well, the same condition plagues me while playing MtG. Playing the game is great fun of course, but deck brewing and building is a big part of the thrill for me. I have always admired players that could pick a general and stick with them through the long haul, even going so far as to foil out the decks and write in depth primers about how to play them after years of experience. I won't be doing that in this thread (maybe elsewhere at a later date!).
An additional and highly relevant tidbit about me is that one of the most glaring symptoms of my "restartitis" is the constant pursuit of novelty. I don't like doing things the easy or popular way, and sometimes rather like the added difficulty of bucking the clear intentions of game designers when I play a game. So how can I give myself the thrill of novelty and fresh deckbuilding while retaining at least a semblance of an attention span? I thought you'd never ask (again)!
Enter my Commander of the month "challenge" that I am going to track in this thread. The idea is simple: each month beginning in 2017 I will build and play a deck featuring a different commander. The twist(s)? The commander for that month will be randomized using edhrec.com's random button. I believe this will give me the satisfaction of exploring a huge variety of ways to play the game while also avoiding overused and overpowered generals. I am giving myself a bit of a mulligan option though: if the first commander I roll on the randomizer is too janky, a vanilla dud, overpriced, or older than dirt, I won't hesitate to hit the button a second time. However, what I will not do is keep hitting the button until I get a commander I like or am familiar with. Additionally, I am going to try to stick to a $75/month budget for this. I'm not made of the green stuff. Any chance to save significant dough will be taken, but I still want to add staples to my collection.
I plan on posting which Legendary Creature I roll at the beginning of each month at the very latest, but I will more likely reveal it during the last week of the prior month in order to get ideas from you all! I will then, of course, post a link to a decklist in progress, any tweaks I make throughout the month, and report how it played out in my playgroup.
I will probably do this with some decks for sure. It made sense to buy paper for the Nefarox deck because my pet deck is Gonti, Lord of Luxury and I needed to pick up a bunch of the mono black staples. That, and I have an IRL playgroup that I will definitely want to play some of these decks against.
I got to play more with Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis a couple of nights ago and the deck performed very well. Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Behold the Beyond, and Whispersilk Cloak all overperformed and felt a little unfair even.
As far as building Kaseto, Orochi Archmage, I think I will focus on a couple of themes. First, tokens, which is pretty well supported for UG snakes with Orochi Hatchery, Hooded Hydra, Cobra Trap,Parallel Lives, Snake Pit, Orochi Eggwatcher, Murkfiend Liege, and for some nutty fun Endless Swarm. Second, infect, which goes great with Kaseto's ability for some insta-kills with Blight Mamba, Triumph of the Hordes, Grafted Exoskeleton, and Corrupted Conscience. Not quite as good as infect, but along the same lines, Quietus Spike and Scytheclaw are likely to be in the deck as they work well with Kaseto's ability.
Let me know what you all think!
Can the ability target a single creature more than once per turn? I wasn't sure with the "can't be blocked" clause causing redundancy.
As promised I am going to roll my randommander for February a little early so I can get forum input and order the cards I need in advance. So, here we go:
Looks like my general for February will be. . . Kaseto, Orochi Archmage
Interesting. I have long wanted to make a Simic commander deck with Vorel or Prime-Speaker, but this is definitely a whole different avenue to go down. I'm not sure there are many other great options than a creature heavy snake tribal deck, but I'm excited to hear suggestions! I've wanted to make good use of Hooded Hydra and Noose Constrictor for a while, Sakura-Tribe Elder is even better than usual here, Nemesis of Mortals is an old friend of mine from THS/KTK standard, and there are some token options with stuff like Orochi Hatchery and Beastmaster Ascension.
On a positive note, I picked up hatred in trades. I will probably put it in and take indulgent tormentor out.
Thanks! Yeah, I think Nefarox is a pretty great option as well. It *sort of* defeats one of the purposes of the challenge to get a general like him right from the get go, which was to play some underpowered commanders. He definitely is underutilized if not underpowered though, and he comes with the added challenge of being monocolored.
I ordered all of the cards for the deck that I did not previously own and ended up spending just a touch over $71. Nice. I will let you guys know how it feels to pilot as soon as I get the chance to play (looking like next week to be honest, this is the busiest time of year at work for me). Also, I will probably roll my next random general around the 20th or so and post the result. That way I have a little time to get forum input before building a deck and can order cards in advance so the deck is ready to play as soon as February rolls around.
My first Legend doesn't seem that bad. Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis is begging to be played voltron style. Time to cross my fingers and hope I used the deck tag coding correctly! (err. . . it appears I didn't. Not sure why the card names aren't showing. I guess I'll go back and read the post about deck tags. Edit: fixed it!)
1 Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
Creatures (13)
1 Burnished Hart
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Nighthowler
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Archfiend of Depravity
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Magus of the Coffers
1 Shriekmaw
1 Indulgent Tormentor
1 Demon of Dark Schemes
1 Harvester of Souls
Mana Rocks (8)
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Sol Ring
1 Mind Stone
1 Thought Vessel
1 Jet Medallion
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Hedron Archive
Artifacts (6)
1 Expedition Map
1 Wine of Blood and Iron
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Obelisk of Urd
1 Caged Sun
1 Hero's Blade
1 Sigil of Valor
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Fireshrieker
1 Barbed Battlegear
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Strata Scythe
1 Lashwrithe
1 Nightmare Lash
1 Bonehoard
Enchantments (3)
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Black Market
1 Endless Scream
Sorceries (9)
1 Sign in Blood
1 Read the Bones
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Languish
1 Mutilate
1 Behold the Beyond
1 Decree of Pain
1 Exsanguinate
1 Doom Blade
1 Dismember
1 Murder
1 Grip of Desolation
1 Howl from Beyond
Planeswalkers (2)
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Liliana Vess
Lands (39)
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Cathedral of War
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Westvale Abbey
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Temple of the False God
1 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Everglades
1 Ghost Quarter
27 Swamp
I will update sometime with individual card choices and my reasoning, although I reckon this one seems pretty clear cut.
Great suggestions! I had planned on Black Market being in for sure. I wasn't familiar with Blood Speaker or Wine of Blood and Iron, so thank you!
Oooh, I like those two cards for Nefarox!
Yes, I will change the avatar monthly. I'm now regretting naming the thread commander of the month instead of randommander though. It has a nice ring to it
To clarify, the $75 budget is only for new cards. I will of course be using cards already in my collection. This puts coffers within reach, and since I've been looking to get that card for a while I am going to prioritize it.
There will definitely be board wipes, ramp, and protection in spades no matter how far down the "Nefarox only" path I go. I do see your point about the conflict between good stuff and a random general though. However, it is going to be a tension I will have to work with throughout this challenge as I do not plan on avoiding good cards in the 99 just because I'm running unconventional generals. That being said, I will be using the general's flavor and strengths to guide what the deck is doing each month. I may very well have Nefarox as the only creature when all is said and done. I'm still weighing my options and brewing away
Edit: I have uploaded a decklist for Nefarox which is subject to change, but I think I'm fairly well settled in to what I'm trying to do. Check it out here.
Yes, suggestions are welcome! It's part of the reason I decided to register and post all this stuff! My playgroup is fairly casual, yes. Not much in the way of abusive combos, mass land destruction, and hugely expensive cards.
As I'm looking at options for my list all of the cards you have mentioned have entered my thought process. Lash and scythe are auto includes for sure, and I think Bonehoard and Nighthowler will work regardless of whether I have a sac theme going apart from Nefarox's trigger since they look at all graveyards, and I intend to play 3-5 players games.
The "only one" enchantments leave me torn. With a more efficiently costed voltron commander they would be a lot better. I'm not sure cutting creatures from the deck to set up the necessary scenarios for these cards to be "good" is worth it. Nef can still attack alone for his exalted and sac trigger without these cards around.
As I'm brewing this guy I'm quickly reaching the same conclusion re: grave pact type effects. Apart from Nef, the only creatures I'm likely to include are going to be big ol' demons like Bloodgift Demon and Harvester of Souls that have a major impact even when they aren't attacking, and utility creatures that I don't want to sac such as Crypt Ghast and Magus of the Coffers.
I appreciate the feedback guys! Keep it coming.
So without further ado, January's random commander (randommander?)iiiiiiiiiiiis. . . Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
Mono black eh? Always fun and often powerful. Nefarox is clearly wanting to be a voltron commander, so I'll probably be looking for ways to take advantage of mono black's huge mana engines, such as Cabal Coffers and Crypt Ghast to cast ol' Nef, clear the way and suit him up. Then again, Demon tribal and Grave Pact style cards might be more fun. . .
Let me know what you think!
As a gamer I have always been plagued with "restartitis". For those of you who might not be familiar with the term, it basically means that I struggle to simply play a game through beginning to end. This isn't because I find the game too difficult or grow bored of it; on the contrary! I love challenges in games and become enthralled by the variety and endless possibilities (side quest junkie!). "I'm really enjoying this guns based character. . . but how cool would an unarmed character be?! Punching stuff is great and all. . . but I think I'll start over with a sweet stealthy assassin!" You get the point.
Well, the same condition plagues me while playing MtG. Playing the game is great fun of course, but deck brewing and building is a big part of the thrill for me. I have always admired players that could pick a general and stick with them through the long haul, even going so far as to foil out the decks and write in depth primers about how to play them after years of experience. I won't be doing that in this thread (maybe elsewhere at a later date!).
An additional and highly relevant tidbit about me is that one of the most glaring symptoms of my "restartitis" is the constant pursuit of novelty. I don't like doing things the easy or popular way, and sometimes rather like the added difficulty of bucking the clear intentions of game designers when I play a game. So how can I give myself the thrill of novelty and fresh deckbuilding while retaining at least a semblance of an attention span? I thought you'd never ask (again)!
Enter my Commander of the month "challenge" that I am going to track in this thread. The idea is simple: each month beginning in 2017 I will build and play a deck featuring a different commander. The twist(s)? The commander for that month will be randomized using edhrec.com's random button. I believe this will give me the satisfaction of exploring a huge variety of ways to play the game while also avoiding overused and overpowered generals. I am giving myself a bit of a mulligan option though: if the first commander I roll on the randomizer is too janky, a vanilla dud, overpriced, or older than dirt, I won't hesitate to hit the button a second time. However, what I will not do is keep hitting the button until I get a commander I like or am familiar with. Additionally, I am going to try to stick to a $75/month budget for this. I'm not made of the green stuff. Any chance to save significant dough will be taken, but I still want to add staples to my collection.
I plan on posting which Legendary Creature I roll at the beginning of each month at the very latest, but I will more likely reveal it during the last week of the prior month in order to get ideas from you all! I will then, of course, post a link to a decklist in progress, any tweaks I make throughout the month, and report how it played out in my playgroup.
January - Nefarox, Voltronlord of Grixis