This is part of my series of Ravnica guildmages. I a fully aware of how terrible this guy is and am trying to make him work. As always feedback, ideas and thoughts are welcome.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
I don't think they're a terrible general at all, just not as obvious to build around as some of the others.
Some ways I've been fantasizing about building her in my PDH cube:
Higher than normal land to spell ratio, that you can really pump end of turn mana into burning someone out.
Pauper wipes like swirling sandstorm and bloodfire infusion + the pestilence and crypt rats you already have, to really keep the board prostrate and free of threatening dudes.
Cards like blood lust, tainted strike, blood frenzy, psychotic fury, etc on other folk's creatures. Since you have a lot of leverage over what gets through, you can make anything that connects really hurt...for someone else. Then go nuts with the tax ability.
I don't think they're a terrible general at all, just not as obvious to build around as some of the others.
Some ways I've been fantasizing about building her in my PDH cube:
Higher than normal land to spell ratio, that you can really pump end of turn mana into burning someone out.
Pauper wipes like swirling sandstorm and bloodfire infusion + the pestilence and crypt rats you already have, to really keep the board prostrate and free of threatening dudes.
Cards like blood lust, tainted strike, blood frenzy, psychotic fury, etc on other folk's creatures. Since you have a lot of leverage over what gets through, you can make anything that connects really hurt...for someone else. Then go nuts with the tax ability.
So you advocate a political game and removal that doubles as tricks or forces others to remove the creature for you. That a different approach. I'm wary of some sweepers that will nearly always and unconditionally erase my whole field, which I why I like control of two you said I had. Wouldn't those two BI and SS be more metagame calls?
For the others, I like at least Blood Frenzy and potentially Blood Lust and Psychotic Fury, it will be a rare pauper game for me when a creatures gets to 10 power without dying.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
One thing to keep in mind with your general is if you keep all of your mana open when you swing, chances are they cannot safely block any of your creatures. If they block, you give their blocker -1/-1 until it loses in combat. If they don't you either drain them or play more creatures second main phase. Chances are, they'll never block. Now you have a B/R commander that makes all of your creatures unblockable and gives you some reach to close games. I'd personally just run a lot of cheap high power creatures. Rix Maadi Guildmage never needs to use his abilities, but the threat of his abilities can make a huge impact on a game.
One thing to keep in mind with your general is if you keep all of your mana open when you swing, chances are they cannot safely block any of your creatures. If they block, you give their blocker -1/-1 until it loses in combat. If they don't you either drain them or play more creatures second main phase. Chances are, they'll never block. Now you have a B/R commander that makes all of your creatures unblockable and gives you some reach to close games. I'd personally just run a lot of cheap high power creatures. Rix Maadi Guildmage never needs to use his abilities, but the threat of his abilities can make a huge impact on a game.
We are talking red and black here, their high powered, low cost common creatures tend to have extremely low toughness. The R/B cycling creature might fit the bill, but the deck is also designed to have a high quantity of removal outside the general, so the general is potentially more to mess with other people at the table and help mt creatures stay alive, which can require a bigger size.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
I'd like creatures like Canrophage, Jackal Familiar, Blind Creeper, Goblin Deathraiders. Most of the creatures with bloodthirst or unleash are probably solid too. Haste isn't that important if you plan on being centered on your commander since you will mainly want to keep mana open during combat and play creatures second main if they are scared to block. By the time they have creatures big enough to block yours without dying to the guildmage, they should be in range or burn + your second ability. I'm pretty new to pauper but this strategy work really well in limited and I would expect it to work here. Might depend on your meta a bit. Just search for creatures with power >= CMC at CMC 1, 2, or 3. If you want high toughness, Ember Beast, Dead Reveller, Tar Pit Warrior, and Lava Zombie seem alright.
Now that I'm thinking about it, and based on TheFishIsBig's great comments, I wonder if this should be your infect deck, rather than korozda guildmage. There are definitely fewer infect dudes in red, rather than green, but Rix Maadi will really make sure that attempts to intercept infect dudes are really really difficult. Red also shares quite a few good pump spells with green, so surprise infect attacks are also quite possible with this build (zektar shrine expedition + tainted strike + pump shenanigans).
This is part of my series of Ravnica guildmages. I a fully aware of how terrible this guy is and am trying to make him work. As always feedback, ideas and thoughts are welcome.
1 Rix Maadi Guildmage
Equipment (2)
1 Slagwurm Armor
1 Whispersilk Cloak
Mana Rocks (7)
1 Mind Stone
1 Rakdos Cluestone
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Sisay's Ring
1 Ur'Golem's Eye
1 Veinfire Borderpost
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
Gravediggers (3)
1 Anarchist
1 Cadaver Imp
1 Gravedigger
Pingers (6)
1 Anaba Shaman
1 Chainflinger
1 Frostwielder
1 Rakdos Ickspitter
1 Spikeshot Goblin
1 Viashino Fangtail
Others (10)
1 Chilling Shade
1 Crypt Rats
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Moriok Replica
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Smokespew Invoker
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Ulamog's Crusher
1 Arcane Teachings
1 Fists of the Demigod
1 Power of Fire
1 Pestilence
1 Seal of Doom
Lands (35)
1 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Command Tower
1 Desert
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Jund Panorama
1 Opal Palace
1 Quicksand
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Rupture Spire
9 Snow-Covered Mountain
10 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Transguild Promenade
Removal (12)
1 Dark Banishing
1 Doom Blade
1 Fires of Undeath
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Murder
1 Rend Flesh
1 Skred
1 Staggershock
1 Strangling Soot
1 Terminate
1 Victim of Night
1 Wrecking Ball
1 Altar's Reap
1 Grim Harvest
1 Shred Memory
Fireballs (4)
1 Disintegrate
1 Fireball
1 Rolling Thunder
1 Soul Burn
Recursion (3)
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Unearth
1 Urborg Uprising
Removal (4)
1 Aftershock
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Firebolt
1 Icefall
Other (5)
1 Faithless Looting
1 Mana Geyser
1 Read the Runes
1 Sign in Blood
1 Syphon Mind
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Some ways I've been fantasizing about building her in my PDH cube:
Higher than normal land to spell ratio, that you can really pump end of turn mana into burning someone out.
Pauper wipes like swirling sandstorm and bloodfire infusion + the pestilence and crypt rats you already have, to really keep the board prostrate and free of threatening dudes.
Cards like blood lust, tainted strike, blood frenzy, psychotic fury, etc on other folk's creatures. Since you have a lot of leverage over what gets through, you can make anything that connects really hurt...for someone else. Then go nuts with the tax ability.
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."
So you advocate a political game and removal that doubles as tricks or forces others to remove the creature for you. That a different approach. I'm wary of some sweepers that will nearly always and unconditionally erase my whole field, which I why I like control of two you said I had. Wouldn't those two BI and SS be more metagame calls?
For the others, I like at least Blood Frenzy and potentially Blood Lust and Psychotic Fury, it will be a rare pauper game for me when a creatures gets to 10 power without dying.
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
We are talking red and black here, their high powered, low cost common creatures tend to have extremely low toughness. The R/B cycling creature might fit the bill, but the deck is also designed to have a high quantity of removal outside the general, so the general is potentially more to mess with other people at the table and help mt creatures stay alive, which can require a bigger size.
What creatures were you thinking of?
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Butting in...
Now that I'm thinking about it, and based on TheFishIsBig's great comments, I wonder if this should be your infect deck, rather than korozda guildmage. There are definitely fewer infect dudes in red, rather than green, but Rix Maadi will really make sure that attempts to intercept infect dudes are really really difficult. Red also shares quite a few good pump spells with green, so surprise infect attacks are also quite possible with this build (zektar shrine expedition + tainted strike + pump shenanigans).
"Personally I love high-riak, low-reqars gambles. Life's best with a decent amount of riak. And f*** reqars."