This is an attempt at a 1v1 primer, hope I do well I thank 3drinks for the formatting and Cryogen for the info
Personal Bio(how i got into Duelcommander and making this primer)
So I've been playing Commander when it started. it was really casual and the deck was sort of janky(it was the starter deck with random reanimator targets and mill). As Multiplayer evolved, a lot of combo decks started to show up at the store, and all of them had sol ring, mana crypt, omniscence, mikaeus the unhallowed etc. In other words, all the staples and cheap combos. Thinking that Aggro saw less play and combo saw more(it was sort of easy to win because I was running mill at the time, so combo pieces would be sent to the yard), I was trying to find a solution to my problem. This is where I found a solution, namely Duelcommander tournaments at my LGS. So at first, I got assassinated, my curve was way high, there wasn't enough card draw, not enough protection against aggro decks, Etc. So, desperate as I am, I get into Duelcommander and make my deck better. After lowering my curve, adding more card draw, the deck got better and faster. I started to win a lot more of my games and eventually placed 3rd in a tournament at the LGS(we go round robin, then check the highest scores, then if we're tied, we just make a custom tournament for placement:D).I decided that because Reanimator is really fun in general and it can either be casual or competitive, I decided to make Mimeoplasm So that's the story, on to the Primer
Analysis of the Commander
[LEFT]The art: It's Awesome, the Commander has a T-rex for an arm and it looks like an ooze. Next![/left]
the Mana cost: it's 2UBG. Not too high, it's fair costed for reanimating the target and pumping it. the ability: This ability, unlike other commanders, is not always needed to win the game. But in dire situations, we can cast it to turn the tables around and try to win if you ever lack reanimate type cards. The colors: Mimeoplasm is in an ana (BUG) wedge. These colors are best fit for combo(suprise suprise ;)) or midrange, as green and black can fend off big creatures with creatures of their own, while blue and black keep card draw/wheel into your combo or strong synergies. This deck leans a bit more towards a combo/aggro build, as this deck runs little to no control of the board(I find that it doesn't need it that much, but we'll still need some enchantment removal just in case Graveyard hate comes along). other commanders:Damia, sage of stone fits more into a Control combo build. She's popular because she controls the board while drawing into more control and eventually into a combo. Of course,this is just what I have seen when facing her, but some people play her like malestrom wanderer, where you ramp into Damia, sage of stone, play her, cast your hand, draw it again, rinse and repeat. vorosh the hunter is more voltron and sort of plays like zur the enchanter, but instead of white exile effects, it runs green as ramp or control cards like beast within. I've seen it once, and it sort of played like Zur without white removal and uses green ramp instead.[/LEFT]
You would enjoy Mimeoplasm if
you like reanimator
you like BUG wedge
you like risky and possibly fast strategies
you like Oozes with a T-Rex for their arm
you like to gamble(yes, a big part of this deck is luck sometimes)
You would not enjoy Mimeoplasm if
you prefer instant win combos(Ex. Kikki-jikki+zealous conscripts)
you don't like fragile strategies
you don't like creatures
you like to rely on your commander to win the game
T-Rex and/or Oozes are the bane of your existence
Mimeoplasm's 1000 year old history
Like a lot of people, I started off with a slow mill/dredge strategy. It worked okay till a lot of people started running GraveYard hate. This was a pain to go through as they would always draw into it in mid game thanks to the massive card draw they all had. To fight against this, the only way to go for me was to go faster or go control. Preferring aggro, I lean more towards aggro and go for sac outlets, dredgers, slightly less draw, little answers against noncreature spells, etc.
The worst color that the mimeoplasm can face is probably white. White has all these cheap tuck and exile effects that exile your targets. If white EVER has a path to exile(for example, there are other cards), it'll be useless to reanimate. Why not blue? Blue can counter the reanimate spells for sure, but in the early game, unless they have a force of will or go first playing UU and having counterspell in hand, they don't have much chance if we get a T2-3 vorinclex. Not only that, we can recur the reanimate spells thanks to eternal witness or we can just recur the reanimate type creatures by other means. The best color the mimeoplasm can face is probably green or red. Red and green are most likely aggro, so if we can try overwhelm them with our huge fatties, we can win.
Why I chose Mimeoplasm over other generals
Well first of all, UB is my favorite combo combination, and I've liked G thanks to all the gigantic fatties it gives. G can also serve as Ramp and has a lot of discard outles and dredge in this deck, so it's not all that useless. U serves as card draw and also helps with THEIR fatties. Sadly, there aren't too many counterspells in this deck, as they don't serve as a discard outlet nor are they useful in the yard. B is pretty obvious. It's the color of reanimation and sacrificing. Reanimating big fatties is the key to winning. For the actual general and not the colors, I love the art; how awesome is it to have a T-Rex for an arm? It's pretty cool. I also love the fact that it's a general with an ETB that lets me reanimate a creature and give it more Power and Toughness. How cool is it to have a 10/9 jin gitaxis, core augur? How great is it to have a 21/21 stormtide leviathan? It's very good to me The Decklist
jarad, golgari lich lord: This card is very underrated as if any creature is targeted, I can fling it at instant speed constantly. He also gets better as the game moves on, as he can turn into a 7/7 for BBGG with a tacked on fling. He's also recurrable in desperate situations Thorn elemental: It's an unblockable beater that can take down creatures if we want, it's also a target for the mimeoplasm if we really need it Mindshrieker: a 1/1 bird that may as well be a 5/5, 6/6, 3/3 or 14/14 at times It also has a cheap casting cost and is a decent ability to tack on the Mimeoplasm. It's also a card to sac atworst mind slash: This is one of the most powerful sac outlets as it can make thoughtseizes with a bonus, we can make them discard land stormtide leviathan: a Moat on a beatstick. Reanimatable, Mimeoplamable, Saccable, and of course, HUGE defense as a moat on a creature is really strong. Phyrexian plaguelord:This guy gets around indestructibility and he can help kill other creatures and help defend. For example, I have golgari grave-troll as a 3/3 and phyrexian plaguelord. Opponent plays Geist of saint traft. Despite the fact I am at 4, he may not want to swing because Grave troll kills geist and plaguelord kills the token by saccing himself. This also has other uses as when I lack mana(grand arbiter Augustin IV), I can still kill something. Crypt of Agadeem: a Rampasaur in dredge. enough said :cool:. kessig cagebreakers: Also known as herp derp wolves all day, he's one of the win conditions of the deck :D. Even making 3 wolves is pretty strong, as I can sac them to phyrexian plaguelord and eliminate multiple utility creatures. undertaker:This guy is one of the core pieces of the deck. If I ever need a creature back, I can either toss a useless in this situation card or a reanimator target, unliketortured existence, which only lets me toss creatures. glacial chasm: This card saves you if you're ever lacking reanimator targets. Thanks to this card, I was able to stall a good 6 turns into a reanimate and almost winning. It costs a lot of life, but it doesn't really matter; it's still awesome :D. altar of dementia: This looks like a mill card at first sight, but it can also be used for dredge(which is what we want :)). But why sac your creatures to dredge? It's generally a good move on our part to chump block and sac, or sac everything in response to a wrath in this deck so that you can have more options on what to recur.
Why I don't play 'insert card here lion's eye diamond: This card(sadly) rarely came in handy as whenever I would try and crack it, there was always an answer(krosan grip, counterspell, etc). This situation made it only good early game, as a lot of our meta is blue, and this card only made it waker against it, which we don't really want, otherwise, Green and red are the only colors we are strong against. I've also tried it out. Tortured existence:this only lets me toss creatures, unlike undertaker, who tosses ANY card and is easier to recur. raven's crime: It's VERY strong, but I can rarely use it for full potential as I end up using my extra land for discarding it to wheels or other discard outlets, so it's out. I also lack lands, if we had more land, this would be and auto include, but 36 land, even with life from the loam, is too little land for us to use it to full potential.
If you have ideas, feel free to list them, I will try them out :)( while it is true that I am on a budget, I can always try them out casually after the tournament)
If you have any questions about a card in the deck, feel free to ask
What's your deck's weakness? It's decent list but it feels like it would be easily countered with the likes of 2cmc shenanigans. And it'll be safer if you add the usual discards like Liliana of the Veil.
What's your deck's weakness? It's decent list but it feels like it would be easily countered with the likes of 2cmc shenanigans. And it'll be safer if you add the usual discards like Liliana of the Veil.
fixed
I am sadly a bit short on time right now, but the general weaknesses are Graveyard hate and exile effects. it is very easily countered if it's slow and I will be trying Lilliana of the Veil:)
Thanks for the info and suggestion, I will be trying them out
Got the tryout list updated
Still don't know what to sub out though...It'll probably be phyrexian plaguelord, notion thief and a land.
I assume LED might not stay because it's really risky; if my opponent has a counterspell, it will be really hard to get back up and win. Still worth a shot
Fastbond and Lilliana will most likely stay, as Fastbond speeds me up and Lilliana is a sac AND discard outlet.
but gotta wait till she rotates to get a REAL copy of her(she's a proxy right now, so I will take her out at LGS events) and buy her after she drops(she most likely will though, not sure)
Updated some stuff.
Gonna keep Lilliana, Fastbond, entomb, and go for the throat(raven's crime isn't too recurrable as I keep using my extra land(which rarely comes) for other discard outlets.:-/)
Analysis of the Commander
[LEFT]The art: It's Awesome, the Commander has a T-rex for an arm and it looks like an ooze. Next![/left] the Mana cost: it's 2UBG. Not too high, it's fair costed for reanimating the target and pumping it.
the ability: This ability, unlike other commanders, is not always needed to win the game. But in dire situations, we can cast it to turn the tables around and try to win if you ever lack reanimate type cards.
The colors: Mimeoplasm is in an ana (BUG) wedge. These colors are best fit for combo(suprise suprise ;)) or midrange, as green and black can fend off big creatures with creatures of their own, while blue and black keep card draw/wheel into your combo or strong synergies. This deck leans a bit more towards a combo/aggro build, as this deck runs little to no control of the board(I find that it doesn't need it that much, but we'll still need some enchantment removal just in case Graveyard hate comes along).
other commanders:Damia, sage of stone fits more into a Control combo build. She's popular because she controls the board while drawing into more control and eventually into a combo. Of course,this is just what I have seen when facing her, but some people play her like malestrom wanderer, where you ramp into Damia, sage of stone, play her, cast your hand, draw it again, rinse and repeat.
vorosh the hunter is more voltron and sort of plays like zur the enchanter, but instead of white exile effects, it runs green as ramp or control cards like beast within. I've seen it once, and it sort of played like Zur without white removal and uses green ramp instead.[/LEFT]
You would enjoy Mimeoplasm if
Like a lot of people, I started off with a slow mill/dredge strategy. It worked okay till a lot of people started running GraveYard hate. This was a pain to go through as they would always draw into it in mid game thanks to the massive card draw they all had. To fight against this, the only way to go for me was to go faster or go control. Preferring aggro, I lean more towards aggro and go for sac outlets, dredgers, slightly less draw, little answers against noncreature spells, etc.
The worst color that the mimeoplasm can face is probably white. White has all these cheap tuck and exile effects that exile your targets. If white EVER has a path to exile(for example, there are other cards), it'll be useless to reanimate. Why not blue? Blue can counter the reanimate spells for sure, but in the early game, unless they have a force of will or go first playing UU and having counterspell in hand, they don't have much chance if we get a T2-3 vorinclex. Not only that, we can recur the reanimate spells thanks to eternal witness or we can just recur the reanimate type creatures by other means. The best color the mimeoplasm can face is probably green or red. Red and green are most likely aggro, so if we can try overwhelm them with our huge fatties, we can win.
Why I chose Mimeoplasm over other generals
Well first of all, UB is my favorite combo combination, and I've liked G thanks to all the gigantic fatties it gives. G can also serve as Ramp and has a lot of discard outles and dredge in this deck, so it's not all that useless. U serves as card draw and also helps with THEIR fatties. Sadly, there aren't too many counterspells in this deck, as they don't serve as a discard outlet nor are they useful in the yard. B is pretty obvious. It's the color of reanimation and sacrificing. Reanimating big fatties is the key to winning. For the actual general and not the colors, I love the art; how awesome is it to have a T-Rex for an arm? It's pretty cool. I also love the fact that it's a general with an ETB that lets me reanimate a creature and give it more Power and Toughness. How cool is it to have a 10/9 jin gitaxis, core augur? How great is it to have a 21/21 stormtide leviathan? It's very good to me
The Decklist
1 Death's shadow
1 Llanowar mentor
2 Bloodghast
2 Dawnstrider
2 Dreamscape artist
2 Fauna shaman
2 Golgari thug
2 Magus of the bazaar
2 Mindshrieker
2 Nether traitor
2 Silverglade pathfinder
2 Undertaker
3 Bog witch
3 Doomed necromancer
3 Eternal witness
3 Jace's archivist
3 Stinkweed imp
4 Body snatcher
4 Hell's caretaker
4 Jarad, golgari lich lord
4 Notion thief
5 Golgari grave-troll
5 Grimgrin, corpse-born
5 Kessig cagebreakers
5 Lord of extinction
5 Mirror-mad phantasm
5 Phyrexian plaguelord
5 Sphinx of lost truths
5 Vengeful pharaoh
6 Consecrated sphinx
6 Harvester of souls
6 Mikaeus, the unhallowd
6 Triskelion
6 Wrexial, the risen deep
7 Sheoldred, whispering one
7 Thorn elemental
8 Griselbrand
8 Stormtide leviathan
8 Vorinclex, voice of hunger
8 Jin-gitaxis core augur
2 Mesmeric orb
3 Bloodletter quill
5 Cauldron of souls
1 Manabond
3 Attrition
3 Mind slash
3 Recurring nightmare
1 Breakthrough
1 Reanimate
2 Exhume
2 Life//death
2 Life from the loam
2 Stitch together
3 Bitter ordeal
3 Buried alive
4 Dread return
4 Jarad's orders
5 Demonic collusion
1 Breakthrough
2 Naturalize
3 Beat within
3 Forbid
0 Command tower
0 Evolving wilds
0 Terramorphic expanse
0 Llanowar wastes
0 Underground river
0 Yavimaya coast
0 Breeding pool
0 Overgrown tomb
0 Watery grave
0 Cephalid coliseum
0 Crypt of Agadeem
0 Grim backwoods
0 Glacial chasm
0 Hall of the bandit lord
0 High market
0 Nephalia drownyard
0 Phyrexian tower
0 Thespian stage
6 Forest
6 Island
6 Swamp
0 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Breakthrough
1 Llanowar Mentor
1 Manabond
1 Read the Runes
2 Dawnstrider
2 Dreamscape Artist
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Magus of the Bazaar
2 Silverglade pathfinder
2 Undertaker
3 Bog witch
3 Forbid
3 Jace's archivist
5 Demonic collusion
5 Sphinx of lost truths
6 Consecrated sphinx
8 Griselbrand
10 Jin-gitaxis, core augur
6 Mikaeus the unhallowed
7 Sheoldred, Whispering one
8 Stormtide leviathan
7 Thorn elemental
6 Triskelion
8 Vorinclex, voice of hunger
6 Wrexial, the risen deep
3 Buried Alive
5 Golgari Grave-troll
2 Golgari thug
4 Jarad's orders
3 Stinkweed imp
2 Life from the loam
2 Mesmeric orb
2 Mindshrieker
5 Mirror-mad phanthasm
0 Nephalia Drownyard
3 Attrition
0 Grim backwoods
5 Grimgrim, Corpse-born
0 High market
4 Jarad, Golgari Lich-lord
3 Mind slash
5 Phyrexian plaguelord
0 Phyrexian tower
4 Body snatcher
3 Doomed necromancer
4 Dread return
2 Exhume
4 Hell's caretaker
2 Life//Death
1 Reanimate
3 Recurring nightmare
2 Stitch together
2 Bloodghast
0 Crypt of Agadeem
3 Eternal witness
6 Harvester of souls
5 Kessig cagebreakers
5 Lord of extinction
2 Nether traitor
5 Vengeful pharaoh
3 Beat within
3 Bitter ordeal
3 Bloodletter quill
5 Cauldron of souls
1 Death's shadow
0 Glacial chasm
0 Hall of the bandit lord
2 Naturalize
2 Notion thief
0 Overgrown tomb
0 Watery grave
0 Terramorphic expance
0 Command tower
0 Llanowar wastes
0 Underground river
0 Yavimaya coast
0 Thespian stage
6 Forest
6 Island
6 Swamp
jarad, golgari lich lord: This card is very underrated as if any creature is targeted, I can fling it at instant speed constantly. He also gets better as the game moves on, as he can turn into a 7/7 for BBGG with a tacked on fling. He's also recurrable in desperate situations
Thorn elemental: It's an unblockable beater that can take down creatures if we want, it's also a target for the mimeoplasm if we really need it
Mindshrieker: a 1/1 bird that may as well be a 5/5, 6/6, 3/3 or 14/14 at times It also has a cheap casting cost and is a decent ability to tack on the Mimeoplasm. It's also a card to sac atworst
mind slash: This is one of the most powerful sac outlets as it can make thoughtseizes with a bonus, we can make them discard land
stormtide leviathan: a Moat on a beatstick. Reanimatable, Mimeoplamable, Saccable, and of course, HUGE defense as a moat on a creature is really strong.
Phyrexian plaguelord:This guy gets around indestructibility and he can help kill other creatures and help defend. For example, I have golgari grave-troll as a 3/3 and phyrexian plaguelord. Opponent plays Geist of saint traft. Despite the fact I am at 4, he may not want to swing because Grave troll kills geist and plaguelord kills the token by saccing himself. This also has other uses as when I lack mana(grand arbiter Augustin IV), I can still kill something.
Crypt of Agadeem: a Rampasaur in dredge. enough said :cool:.
kessig cagebreakers: Also known as herp derp wolves all day, he's one of the win conditions of the deck :D. Even making 3 wolves is pretty strong, as I can sac them to phyrexian plaguelord and eliminate multiple utility creatures.
undertaker:This guy is one of the core pieces of the deck. If I ever need a creature back, I can either toss a useless in this situation card or a reanimator target, unliketortured existence, which only lets me toss creatures.
glacial chasm: This card saves you if you're ever lacking reanimator targets. Thanks to this card, I was able to stall a good 6 turns into a reanimate and almost winning. It costs a lot of life, but it doesn't really matter; it's still awesome :D.
altar of dementia: This looks like a mill card at first sight, but it can also be used for dredge(which is what we want :)). But why sac your creatures to dredge? It's generally a good move on our part to chump block and sac, or sac everything in response to a wrath in this deck so that you can have more options on what to recur.
lion's eye diamond: This card(sadly) rarely came in handy as whenever I would try and crack it, there was always an answer(krosan grip, counterspell, etc). This situation made it only good early game, as a lot of our meta is blue, and this card only made it waker against it, which we don't really want, otherwise, Green and red are the only colors we are strong against. I've also tried it out.
Tortured existence:this only lets me toss creatures, unlike undertaker, who tosses ANY card and is easier to recur.
raven's crime: It's VERY strong, but I can rarely use it for full potential as I end up using my extra land for discarding it to wheels or other discard outlets, so it's out. I also lack lands, if we had more land, this would be and auto include, but 36 land, even with life from the loam, is too little land for us to use it to full potential.
1 Fastbond->notion thief
1 go for the throat->demon collusion
1 entomb-> Bloodletter quill
If you have ideas, feel free to list them, I will try them out :)( while it is true that I am on a budget, I can always try them out casually after the tournament)
If you have any questions about a card in the deck, feel free to ask
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)
What's your deck's weakness? It's decent list but it feels like it would be easily countered with the likes of 2cmc shenanigans. And it'll be safer if you add the usual discards like Liliana of the Veil.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
fixed
I am sadly a bit short on time right now, but the general weaknesses are Graveyard hate and exile effects. it is very easily countered if it's slow and I will be trying Lilliana of the Veil:)
Thanks for the info and suggestion, I will be trying them out
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Fastbond (2% chance of drawing that or Manabond)
1x Entomb (usually dropping Life from the Loam on 1st turn)
And suggesting a constant 20/20 if you have those 2 combo lands.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Still don't know what to sub out though...It'll probably be phyrexian plaguelord, notion thief and a land.
I assume LED might not stay because it's really risky; if my opponent has a counterspell, it will be really hard to get back up and win. Still worth a shot
Fastbond and Lilliana will most likely stay, as Fastbond speeds me up and Lilliana is a sac AND discard outlet.
but gotta wait till she rotates to get a REAL copy of her(she's a proxy right now, so I will take her out at LGS events) and buy her after she drops(she most likely will though, not sure)
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)
However, you need some disruption from your side to disrupt your opponents left and right before casting your Ooze.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Sure
but where's you're list though, I don't see it, is it all right if you post a link?
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)
gonna steal some disruption from your side and try it out :D.
for
Tried LED, it's too risky, considering I can't always get myself back up afterwards..
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)
Gonna keep Lilliana, Fastbond, entomb, and go for the throat(raven's crime isn't too recurrable as I keep using my extra land(which rarely comes) for other discard outlets.:-/)
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)