I have decided my favorite color combinations for commander are Necra and Ana. I decided to make a Ghave deck, as he is cool and has synergy with a lot of other stuff, and doesn't draw hate like Karador seems to. The focus of this deck, however, will be making huge saproling armies and taking out people in one hit with Ghave.
So, if you haven't figured out what the main play of the deck is, it is a big plan involving (but not needing any) of like 20 cards. The rest are just goodstuff cards I put in to make it run.
Corpsejack Menace and Doubling Season will make all my creatures that get +1/+1 counters bigger much faster, and doubling season will make my saprolings show up quicker. Combined with my spells that give me +1/+1 counters, my evolve guys, my scavenge guys, and primordial hydra and other stuff, I will have tons of counters. Fungal behemoth will come down the size of a truck, and if I play him at the right time and boost him up, ghave, guru of spores won't be far behind.I have a bunch of spells that make saprolings and spells (collective blessing, overrun, garruk wildspeaker) that are expecially good when you have 40 1/1s on the battlefield.
So that isn't the whole deck or a complete explanation of that part, but hopefully you see it. And if for some reason it doesn't work these pieces are good enough to work on their own and the rest of the deck is decent too, I think.
Seems like a fun deck to play. Let me list of a bunch of cards that could be cool in case you overlooked them. First off, Eternal Witness, Genesis, and Karmic Guide are all great recursion options if you feel you could use some. Creatures with undying would be great sources of tokens in the deck, especially Mikaeus the Unhallowed which would let you get huge mileage out of enter the battlefield effects, generate a ton of tokens and counters, as well as pump your saprolings to boot (they're non-human!). Fertilid seems like another great card. You can sac creatures then remove counters to get more lands, or you can just remove the counters on fertilid to get more tokens. Spike Weaver is a nifty guy that's can be an absolute powerhouse, letting you alpha strike without fear of retaliation as well as being a good source of tokens. Woodfall Primus also seems like he'd get a lot of mileage in the deck. With your general out you can pay 2 to destroy any non-creature permanent and he also is a fattie to beat face with as well. Nemata, Grove Guardian could be a great finisher. She makes free tokens, but more than that she makes saproling hordes much, much scarier. If you have 20 saprolings, you can swing for 100+ damage with a nemata out by sacrificing saprolings properly. Regal Force could provide a ton of cards if you cast it with a bunch of saprolings out. Avenger of Zendikar could be fantastic as a beater. It gives you a bunch of tokens, +1/+1 counters, and also turns sideways for a decent amount. Also, I'm not sure if they're worth slots, but Jugen, the Rising Star and Symbiotic Wurm could potentially be solid beaters in the deck, and Mikaeus, the Lunarch would provide a lot of +1/+1 counters to fuel Ghave. Anyway, those are just some cards that sprung to mind, sorry if it's a bit long and poorly organized, I typed them out as I thought of them. Wish you luck with your new deck.
Edit: Mycoloth seems like it could be amazing. Use spare mana at end of turn you can use spare mana to sac saprolings to put counters on mycoloth, and then during your upkeep (and every upkeep thereafter) you get the saprolings back. You also get a huge mycoloth.
So changes to make over time and with some dragon's maze spoilers (I'm not putting in what the spoiler cards do but they are up under the spoiler here):
Varolz, the Scar Striped in, as he lets me scavenge for more and more +1/+1 counters, to make everything bigger and better.
Hydra Omnivore in - just a solid beater that eats everyone, and usually eats graveyard before long - so I can scavenge him.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Seems counter-intuitive as she has flying, but I've never gotten the chance to use her ultimate let alone us one of her abilites more then once while it was meaningless. She is too scary and always bites the dust.
Sun Titan out. Usually just recurs a ramp dude or so, as I like my guys in the GY more anyway. Other then then, just a guy with vigilance, which is awesome, but not amazing.
Demonic Tutor- I have only one copy of my beautiful demonic tutor and it is in the mimeoplasm deck now. So it goes out...
cathar's crusade is nuts in ghave it loops to make a 2/2 and give every creature a counter for 1 mana juniper order ranger is similar but less effective you get 2/2 for 1 mana apiece swords to plowshares is good sometimes you need something gone for cheap symbiotic wurm is value town
As far as general damage I feel like ghave has better options
To be honest this combo gives te table a turn to react so it shouldn't be viewed as super un-fair it also goes through the combat step which is another thing that makes it fair
Overrun out. A little repetitive and unnecessary - I can trample through sheer numbers.
Kitesail out - flying is pretty present where I am and it is a pretty dead draw if I don't have a critical ghave or a huge fattie without trample.
Day of Judgement out too. I don't really need 3 wraths and this is definitely the worst.
Yeah - cathars' crusade isn't an insta-win combo as it gives response time, and it plays into my counter idea. I ordered it this afternoon. I like it. Thanks for the idea.
While preventing all damage to creature tokens for 7 CMC (constantly) isn't gold in standard, it is when they are your wincon in standard. This card will piss people off a lot.
Commander - 1
Ghave, Guru of Spores
Ramp Creatures/Mana Dorks - 7
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Yavimaya Elder
Wood Elves
Walking Atlas
Llanowar Elves
Arbor Elf
Solemn Simulacrum
Ramp Spells - 5
Ranger's Path
Boundless Realms
Rampant Growth
Farseek
Explosive Vegetation
Big Beaters - 11
Grave Titan
Sylvan Primordial
Terastodon
Primordial Hydra
Pelakka Wurm
Fungal Behemoth
Novablast Wurm
Aegis Angel
Verdant Force
Mycoloth
Hydra Omnivore
Utility Creatures/Smaller Guys - 10
Experiment One
Champion of Lambholt
Sluiceway Scorpion
Corpsejack Menace
Slitherhead
Dreg Mangler
Acidic Slime
Quirion Dryad
Selesnya Evangel
Valroz, the Scar Striped
Spot Removal/Board Sweepers - 8
Wrath of God
Planar Cleansing
Putrefy
Doom Blade
Mortify
Terror
Death Mutation
Seed Spark
Enchantments/Lifegain/Saprolings - 11
Collective Blessing
Doubling Season
Heroes Remembered
Sorin's Vengeance
Blessings of Nature
Increasing Savagery
Fungal Sprouting
Golgari Germination
Pollenbright Wings
Rancor
Cathars' Crusade
Artifacts - 9
Sol Ring
Gilded Lotus
Lightning Greaves
Swiftfoot Boots
Pennon Blade
Behemoth Sledge
Whispersilk Cloak
Venser's Journal
Skullclamp
Tutors/Planeswalkers - 3
Garruk Wildspeaker
Liliana Vess
Diabolic Tutor
Lands - 35
Temple Garden
Overgrown Tomb
Godless Shrine
Sunpetal Grove
Isolated Chapel
Woodland Cemetary
Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
Graypelt Refuge
Llanowar Wastes
Stirring Wildwood
Razorverge Thicket
Cave of Koilos
Twilight Mire
Fetid Heath
Wooded Bastion
Selesnya Sanctuary
Orzhov Basilica
Golgari Rot Farm
7 Forest
6 Plains
4 Swamp
So, if you haven't figured out what the main play of the deck is, it is a big plan involving (but not needing any) of like 20 cards. The rest are just goodstuff cards I put in to make it run.
Corpsejack Menace and Doubling Season will make all my creatures that get +1/+1 counters bigger much faster, and doubling season will make my saprolings show up quicker. Combined with my spells that give me +1/+1 counters, my evolve guys, my scavenge guys, and primordial hydra and other stuff, I will have tons of counters. Fungal behemoth will come down the size of a truck, and if I play him at the right time and boost him up, ghave, guru of spores won't be far behind.I have a bunch of spells that make saprolings and spells (collective blessing, overrun, garruk wildspeaker) that are expecially good when you have 40 1/1s on the battlefield.
So that isn't the whole deck or a complete explanation of that part, but hopefully you see it. And if for some reason it doesn't work these pieces are good enough to work on their own and the rest of the deck is decent too, I think.
:symr::symu::symb:Nicol Bolas Control: symr::symu::symb:
:symr::symg:Ruric Thar, the Unbowed Beatdown :gruul::symgr:
:symg::symb::symw:Karador, Ghost Chieftain Recursion Control :symw::symb::symg:
Edit: Mycoloth seems like it could be amazing. Use spare mana at end of turn you can use spare mana to sac saprolings to put counters on mycoloth, and then during your upkeep (and every upkeep thereafter) you get the saprolings back. You also get a huge mycoloth.
:symr::symu::symb:Nicol Bolas Control: symr::symu::symb:
:symr::symg:Ruric Thar, the Unbowed Beatdown :gruul::symgr:
:symg::symb::symw:Karador, Ghost Chieftain Recursion Control :symw::symb::symg:
Varolz, the Scar Striped in, as he lets me scavenge for more and more +1/+1 counters, to make everything bigger and better.
Hydra Omnivore in - just a solid beater that eats everyone, and usually eats graveyard before long - so I can scavenge him.
Selesnya Evangel in - another way to make armies of saprolings.
Mycoloth in - another way to make huger armies. And a beater himself.
Explosive Vegetation in. Another nice ramp spell.
Putrefy in. Nice removal.
Mortify in. More nice removal.
And the 7 cards going out are:
Risen Sanctuary - a big beater, sure, but does nothing else for me.
Angelic arbiter draws me a lot of hate and then dies. Plus, I would rather advance my counter - tactic. Get it?
Deadbridge Goliath - I have more cost-effective scavenge guys and varloz is much better anyway. Not any good as a beater either.
Murder out. My other removal there is better.
Swords to Plowshares out. Luminate Primordial is better. And I don't really love him either, which is why...
Luminate Primordial out. Costed too low and only gets really ridiculous with blinking, which I don't have.
Venser's Journal out. I don't have enough card draw (I have none) to make either part of that card worth it.
To make general damage a better option, my general needs ways to get evasion. 4 I thought of, that are still good otherwise:
Behemoth Sledge in.
Kitesail in.
Rancor in.
Whispersilk Cloak in.
Dropping out:
1 Forest. I still have enough land with 35.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Seems counter-intuitive as she has flying, but I've never gotten the chance to use her ultimate let alone us one of her abilites more then once while it was meaningless. She is too scary and always bites the dust.
Sun Titan out. Usually just recurs a ramp dude or so, as I like my guys in the GY more anyway. Other then then, just a guy with vigilance, which is awesome, but not amazing.
Demonic Tutor- I have only one copy of my beautiful demonic tutor and it is in the mimeoplasm deck now. So it goes out...
So what do you think after those changes?
:symr::symu::symb:Nicol Bolas Control: symr::symu::symb:
:symr::symg:Ruric Thar, the Unbowed Beatdown :gruul::symgr:
:symg::symb::symw:Karador, Ghost Chieftain Recursion Control :symw::symb::symg:
juniper order ranger is similar but less effective you get 2/2 for 1 mana apiece
swords to plowshares is good sometimes you need something gone for cheap
symbiotic wurm is value town
As far as general damage I feel like ghave has better options
But for now, I suppose I can try it out.
Collective blessing out, cathars' crusade in.
:symr::symu::symb:Nicol Bolas Control: symr::symu::symb:
:symr::symg:Ruric Thar, the Unbowed Beatdown :gruul::symgr:
:symg::symb::symw:Karador, Ghost Chieftain Recursion Control :symw::symb::symg:
To be honest this combo gives te table a turn to react so it shouldn't be viewed as super un-fair it also goes through the combat step which is another thing that makes it fair
So, skullclamp and venser's journal in. Collective blessing goes back in as well.
Overrun out. A little repetitive and unnecessary - I can trample through sheer numbers.
Kitesail out - flying is pretty present where I am and it is a pretty dead draw if I don't have a critical ghave or a huge fattie without trample.
Day of Judgement out too. I don't really need 3 wraths and this is definitely the worst.
Yeah - cathars' crusade isn't an insta-win combo as it gives response time, and it plays into my counter idea. I ordered it this afternoon. I like it. Thanks for the idea.
:symr::symu::symb:Nicol Bolas Control: symr::symu::symb:
:symr::symg:Ruric Thar, the Unbowed Beatdown :gruul::symgr:
:symg::symb::symw:Karador, Ghost Chieftain Recursion Control :symw::symb::symg:
Renegade Crasis
This card is going to grow my creatures extremely fast, and..
Emmara Tandris
While preventing all damage to creature tokens for 7 CMC (constantly) isn't gold in standard, it is when they are your wincon in standard. This card will piss people off a lot.
Valroz, the Scar Striped
My favorite guild champion in general. More fun with +1/+1 counters. He is actually already in.
Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
More fun with tokens? I'm thinking she is going to make a great EDH card. Might as well get the 3rd necra champion too.
And I'm not putting in in but what the crap is up with gaze of granite? They just fraking reprinted Pernicious deed.
For more tokens, mitotic slime and symbyotic wurm. Good idea on the wurm, mic. Thanks.
So 5 cards will go out soon for the Dragon's Maze cards -
Pelakka Wurm out.
Arbor Elf and Llanowar Elves out. I perfer actual ramp.
Slitherhead isn't good enough anymore. Come to think of it, he was never good enough.
Heroes Remembered. While I love love love this card, it is getting a little meh.
Ok. So change log updated once again.
:symr::symu::symb:Nicol Bolas Control: symr::symu::symb:
:symr::symg:Ruric Thar, the Unbowed Beatdown :gruul::symgr:
:symg::symb::symw:Karador, Ghost Chieftain Recursion Control :symw::symb::symg: