Another day, another deck. In looking at my numbers, I've found black to be sadly under-represented, so I'm looking to rectify that. To that end, I've thrown together a build of Karador, Ghost Chieftain. I realize I'm behind the times, since he was spoiled so early in relation to the actual Commander decks release, but I was originally entertaining the concept of a Teneb deck, and didn't even notice how much better it could be with Karador at the helm. Now, however, I do.
The basic idea behind this deck (shamelessly stolen from a fewotherposters), is to run it as a Rock-style deck, winning through attrition and recursion-fueled card advantage. It also has a goodstuff bent to it, or a stuff-PS-likes bent anyway.
Also, I'm excited I get to use my all-time favorite interaction in these colors: Tooth and Nail for Elesh Norn and Massacre Wurm to 'wrath' everyone elses board and cause some huge swings. I have a good Rhys deck, a Wortspire deck, and a Darien deck in my playgroup, so that particular interaction is going to break some hearts (and faces) the first time it drops.
I'm not going to close with my standard boilerplate of not looking for suggesions on change, because the fact is I do need suggestions, or at least ideas of directions to look in once I get some testing done, since this style of deck is completely new and foreign to me. So, as always, any questions or comments are greatly appreciated.
In my first dozen or so games of testing, I found myself spending a lot of time simply twiddling my thumbs and waiting for something to happen. Occasionally I'd get lucky, with Wood Elves being sacrificed to Phyrexian Tower to cast Sun Titan, who brings them back to get another Forest, but those instances were rare to find between several games of drawing nothing but spot removal and utility creatures while getting beat upon by everyone else.
So, back to the drawing board. I ended up changing over 1/4th of the list, upping my creature count, lowering the number of "one and done" effects, cutting most of my spot removal, and increasing my recursion methods. All told, I'm happy with the way this list looks and anxious to put it to the test, but that was true previously as well, so my excitement is tempered.
A few new additions I'm really interested to see in action are Vampire Nighthawk, who can be recurred by everything in the deck and is a serious thorn in the side of anything that's not pro-black, first striking, or indestructible, Strands of Night which I didn't even know existed prior to a couple days ago and plays so nicely with my little life-gain subtheme, and Garruk 2.0 who may end up being a 5-drop Harmonize most of the time, but has the potential to do some crazy stuff.
I've got a few cards sitting on the sidelines for this next batch of testing, so expect more updates shortly.
As an aside: How many interactions do you look for before finding a spot for Rings of Brighthearth? I count 23 in my current list, but I don't know if that's enough to earn them a home.
Yes, I have considered the knell, but I currently have 13 ways to get a creature from my graveyard back to play or my hand, most of which are creatures themselves, and two of them work on my opponents yards as well. The enchantment has the benefit of not having an activation/upkeep cost once it's cast, but it is much harder to recur an enchantment than one of my creatures.
I haven't had as much time for testing in the last couple weeks as I might like, but I've got a vacation coming up and I plan to play every day for the better part of a week, which will give me a good image of what is and isn't working, and I'll add the Knell to my watch list to come in and replace an underperforming slot.
1 Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Creatures:
2 Academy Rector
3 Acidic Slime
4 Angel of Despair
5 Artisan of Kozilek
6 Avenger of Zendikar
7 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
8 Eternal Witness
9 Fleshbag Marauder
10 Garruk's Horde
11 Genesis
12 Karmic Guide
13 Knight of the Reliquary
14 Massacre Wurm
15 Nezumi Graverobber
16 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
17 Oracle of Mul Daya
18 Primeval Titan
19 Qasali Pridemage
20 Reveillark
21 Reya Dawnbringer
22 Riftsweeper
23 Rune-Scarred Demon
24 Sheoldred, Whispering One
25 Sun Titan
26 Teneb, the Harvester
27 Vampire Nighthawk
28 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
29 Wood Elves
30 Wurmcoil Engine
31 Yavimaya Elder
Artifacts/Enchantments
32 Altar of Dementia
33 Batterskull
34 Crucible of Worlds
35 Elixir of Immortality
36 Mimic Vat
37 Sensei's Divining Top
38 Sol Ring
39 Sword of Light and Shadow
40 Aura Shards
41 Black Market
42 Infernal Tribute
43 Mirari's Wake
44 Pernicious Deed
45 Phyrexian Arena
46 Strands of Night
47 Survival of the Fittest
48 Beast Within
49 Chord of Calling
50 Eladamri's Call
51 Enlightened Tutor
52 Vampiric Tutor
53 Austere Command
54 Black Sun's Zenith
55 Buried Alive
56 Damnation
57 Decree of Pain
58 Demonic Tutor
59 Exsanguinate
60 Genesis Wave
61 Tooth and Nail
62 Vindicate
63 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Lands:
64 Bayou
65 Bojuka Bog
66 Buried Ruin
67 Command Tower
68 Dust Bowl
69 Flagstones of Trokair
70 Gaea's Cradle
71 Godless Shrine
72 Krosan Verge
73 Marsh Flats
74 Mistveil Plains
75 Murmuring Bosk
76 Overgrown Tomb
77 Phyrexian Tower
78 Reflecting Pool
79 Riftstone Portal
80 Savannah
81 Scrubland
82 Strip Mine
83 Temple Garden
84 Verdant Catacombs
85 Vesuva
86 Vivid Marsh
87 Volrath's Stronghold
88 Windswept Heath
89 Forest
90 Forest
91 Forest
92 Forest
93 Plains
94 Plains
95 Swamp
96 Swamp
97 Swamp
98 Swamp
99 Swamp
100 Swamp
Another day, another deck. In looking at my numbers, I've found black to be sadly under-represented, so I'm looking to rectify that. To that end, I've thrown together a build of Karador, Ghost Chieftain. I realize I'm behind the times, since he was spoiled so early in relation to the actual Commander decks release, but I was originally entertaining the concept of a Teneb deck, and didn't even notice how much better it could be with Karador at the helm. Now, however, I do.
The basic idea behind this deck (shamelessly stolen from a few other posters), is to run it as a Rock-style deck, winning through attrition and recursion-fueled card advantage. It also has a goodstuff bent to it, or a stuff-PS-likes bent anyway.
My favorite thing about this deck, pre-testing, is the scads of little synergies in it. Things like Obby and Reliquary Knight/Primeval/Crucible, Academy Rector and Riftsweeper, Sun Titan and Qasali Pridemage/Wood Elves, Survival and Genesis, Genesis Wave and permanents (:p), etc.
Also, I'm excited I get to use my all-time favorite interaction in these colors: Tooth and Nail for Elesh Norn and Massacre Wurm to 'wrath' everyone elses board and cause some huge swings. I have a good Rhys deck, a Wortspire deck, and a Darien deck in my playgroup, so that particular interaction is going to break some hearts (and faces) the first time it drops.
I'm not going to close with my standard boilerplate of not looking for suggesions on change, because the fact is I do need suggestions, or at least ideas of directions to look in once I get some testing done, since this style of deck is completely new and foreign to me. So, as always, any questions or comments are greatly appreciated.
To Cut:
In my first dozen or so games of testing, I found myself spending a lot of time simply twiddling my thumbs and waiting for something to happen. Occasionally I'd get lucky, with Wood Elves being sacrificed to Phyrexian Tower to cast Sun Titan, who brings them back to get another Forest, but those instances were rare to find between several games of drawing nothing but spot removal and utility creatures while getting beat upon by everyone else.
So, back to the drawing board. I ended up changing over 1/4th of the list, upping my creature count, lowering the number of "one and done" effects, cutting most of my spot removal, and increasing my recursion methods. All told, I'm happy with the way this list looks and anxious to put it to the test, but that was true previously as well, so my excitement is tempered.
A few new additions I'm really interested to see in action are Vampire Nighthawk, who can be recurred by everything in the deck and is a serious thorn in the side of anything that's not pro-black, first striking, or indestructible, Strands of Night which I didn't even know existed prior to a couple days ago and plays so nicely with my little life-gain subtheme, and Garruk 2.0 who may end up being a 5-drop Harmonize most of the time, but has the potential to do some crazy stuff.
I've got a few cards sitting on the sidelines for this next batch of testing, so expect more updates shortly.
As an aside: How many interactions do you look for before finding a spot for Rings of Brighthearth? I count 23 in my current list, but I don't know if that's enough to earn them a home.
Yes, I have considered the knell, but I currently have 13 ways to get a creature from my graveyard back to play or my hand, most of which are creatures themselves, and two of them work on my opponents yards as well. The enchantment has the benefit of not having an activation/upkeep cost once it's cast, but it is much harder to recur an enchantment than one of my creatures.
I haven't had as much time for testing in the last couple weeks as I might like, but I've got a vacation coming up and I plan to play every day for the better part of a week, which will give me a good image of what is and isn't working, and I'll add the Knell to my watch list to come in and replace an underperforming slot.
Again, thank you for the reply, keep them coming.