So at my LGS we run a commander league that is centered around a points system that heavily punishes things like mass LD, infinite combos and instant win abilities such as Laboratory Maniac and tries to push games into a more "friendly" direction, but there is just one problem, this league has an entrance fee of 5$ each time and at the end of the month the top four points leaders win store credit. This is kind of counter intuitive in regards to the more "friendly" direction it intendeds to promote and pushes it back in a competitive direction.
This brings up the idea that it does make sense to try to break the meta but there are heavy restrictions on how that can be done as you can see from the points sheet here:
From the points sheet you can see that the meta heavily favors green ramp like Omnath, locus of rage, heavy draw like Nekusar, the Mindrazer and graveyard value/reanimator such as Kess, Dissident Mage. One of the main points leaders and usual pod winners is a guy playing Omnath, locus of rage for huge ramp with very little interaction, he obviously doesn't have to worry about Mass LD which limits the options to combat the strategy which brings me to my point, I want to find something that can break the meta in such a way that maybe even warps it.
I have been trying to brainstorm ideas which have brought me around to the idea of possibly a prison style deck that would put a wrench in everyone's plans and to this end I started designing a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV deck with an Extreme Tax/prison theme but I was having a very hard time coming up with win conditions that can close out games in a timely matter as things like infinite mana, triggers, or instant wins aren't a viable answer and really hinders the decks long game plan as even winter orb and friends can be overcome given enough turns and multiple players gunning for you, the deck itself would also be Very limited on the types of points it could earn based on the points sheet which makes it a much less desirable option in the end which brings me back around to brainstorming ideas and hoped I that maybe I could find some advice here.
With the rest being basically guidelines or budget points. Most tricky part is the +3 point value of "Finish a game (win or lose) without searching your library for a card".
Thanks for replying i like some of the ideas but i need to point out a few reminders, all of these "you win" cards fall under the -3 points for instant win if the pod is still 3-4 people remaining, our pods are usually 3-4 people so one to two players would already need to be eliminated before this combo could be used without penalty and thus make it not a reasonable and timely win condition, not to mention that Worldpurge itself would net somewhere in the range of 10, 15 or even more Negative points because all of the mass land bounce.
I hadn't considered the Hive Mind route which could be very devious indeed.
But just to take this discussion further I'm not locked into playing Grand Arbiter Augustin IV so any other Commander/Deck ideas are definitely encouraged and welcome for discussion.
With the rest being basically guidelines or budget points. Most tricky part is the +3 point value of "Finish a game (win or lose) without searching your library for a card".
This is also a very big point gain bracket which makes having hyper tutor decks seem less appealing but still viable as in the case of the green hyper ramp and playing Field of Ruin on players to make sure they don't get the points either (Field Of Ruin isn't a May search, its a Must search.). Having a deck that doesn't tutor but draws insane amounts of cards like Azami, Lady of Scrolls would work and covers a few of the point spreads without even trying but lacks win conditions without things like Mind Over Matter+Temple Bell(infinite combo)+Laboratory Maniac(instant win) or Enter the Infinite+Laboratory Maniac(instant win) style win conditions.
All of this open for discussion and brainstorming!
This brings up the idea that it does make sense to try to break the meta but there are heavy restrictions on how that can be done as you can see from the points sheet here:
From the points sheet you can see that the meta heavily favors green ramp like Omnath, locus of rage, heavy draw like Nekusar, the Mindrazer and graveyard value/reanimator such as Kess, Dissident Mage. One of the main points leaders and usual pod winners is a guy playing Omnath, locus of rage for huge ramp with very little interaction, he obviously doesn't have to worry about Mass LD which limits the options to combat the strategy which brings me to my point, I want to find something that can break the meta in such a way that maybe even warps it.
I have been trying to brainstorm ideas which have brought me around to the idea of possibly a prison style deck that would put a wrench in everyone's plans and to this end I started designing a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV deck with an Extreme Tax/prison theme but I was having a very hard time coming up with win conditions that can close out games in a timely matter as things like infinite mana, triggers, or instant wins aren't a viable answer and really hinders the decks long game plan as even winter orb and friends can be overcome given enough turns and multiple players gunning for you, the deck itself would also be Very limited on the types of points it could earn based on the points sheet which makes it a much less desirable option in the end which brings me back around to brainstorming ideas and hoped I that maybe I could find some advice here.
I have access to a deep card pool with many reserve list cards such as dual lands, Candelabra of Tawnos, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale etc, so cost generally isn't an issue, within reason.
Can you help me break my meta?
Worldpurge + Barren Glory + Oblivion Ring. Pull off the combo when one player conceeds / is knocked to avoid -3 points.
Approach of the Second Sun. See previous example.
Near Death Experience. See previous example, also it is a +1 value.
Enter the Infinite. Hits both the "draw 10 cards" and "have 20 cards in hand". Also allows you to assemble combo pieces.
With the rest being basically guidelines or budget points. Most tricky part is the +3 point value of "Finish a game (win or lose) without searching your library for a card".
Thanks for replying i like some of the ideas but i need to point out a few reminders, all of these "you win" cards fall under the -3 points for instant win if the pod is still 3-4 people remaining, our pods are usually 3-4 people so one to two players would already need to be eliminated before this combo could be used without penalty and thus make it not a reasonable and timely win condition, not to mention that Worldpurge itself would net somewhere in the range of 10, 15 or even more Negative points because all of the mass land bounce.
I hadn't considered the Hive Mind route which could be very devious indeed.
But just to take this discussion further I'm not locked into playing Grand Arbiter Augustin IV so any other Commander/Deck ideas are definitely encouraged and welcome for discussion.
This is also a very big point gain bracket which makes having hyper tutor decks seem less appealing but still viable as in the case of the green hyper ramp and playing Field of Ruin on players to make sure they don't get the points either (Field Of Ruin isn't a May search, its a Must search.). Having a deck that doesn't tutor but draws insane amounts of cards like Azami, Lady of Scrolls would work and covers a few of the point spreads without even trying but lacks win conditions without things like Mind Over Matter+Temple Bell(infinite combo)+Laboratory Maniac(instant win) or Enter the Infinite+Laboratory Maniac(instant win) style win conditions.
All of this open for discussion and brainstorming!