Yeah, if you don't have active or passive countermeasures ready by turn 5-6, you're taking a stupid amount of damage. Monogreen especially has it bad because of how the threat is in creatures and how much blocking power Xenagod creatures can typically punch through.
I've had moments where my opponent was forced to double chump with eldrazi titans and still die. The power of multiplication cannot be understated.
Also, I have played Wild Growth at one time and it was decent. The ONLY reason I run birds over it is to have a GSZ target for 1.
That's cool and makes sense. I saw somewhere that you can run Dryad Arbor, choose x as 0 and get out an extra land turn one. Downside is it has summon sickness so it's basically a tapped land. Another plus side is that it can be found with a fetchland. That could save our life for an extra turn if we have that extra, instant speed chump blocker on the table.
Despite there being artifact/enchantment board wipes being out there, it would be a very strange meta indeed where they are more common than creature wipes. Artifacts actually help against All is dust where creatures don't. Sure I've seen Merciless eviction, however creature is the most often mode used. Same for Austere command. Planar cleansing effects are a wash because they kill off creatures anyway.
Also, I have played Wild Growth at one time and it was decent. The ONLY reason I run birds over it is to have a GSZ target for 1.
That's cool and makes sense. I saw somewhere that you can run Dryad Arbor, choose x as 0 and get out an extra land turn one. Downside is it has summon sickness so it's basically a tapped land. Another plus side is that it can be found with a fetchland. That could save our life for an extra turn if we have that extra, instant speed chump blocker on the table.
Despite there being artifact/enchantment board wipes being out there, it would be a very strange meta indeed where they are more common than creature wipes. Artifacts actually help against All is dust where creatures don't. Sure I've seen Merciless eviction, however creature is the most often mode used. Same for Austere command. Planar cleansing effects are a wash because they kill off creatures anyway.
Pure artifact and enchantment wipes are still less common for me than creature wipes because creature wipes are always valid in the context of players having their commanders out.
In any case, even without a wipe of that sort, my artifacts and enchantments do get blown up quite frequently. I think I remember once dying with a board of xenagod, frontier siege, sylvan library, blood mist and a greater good that someone blew up. As it turns out, it was completely the right decision as I had a very difficult to stop chain kill going on my next turn.
So, thinking a little more. I think for budget minded individuals, while speed is important, it is also something that is easier to get with a better budget. It is a lot easier to go crazy when you can Ancient Tomb on turn 2 for Somberwald Sage.
However, if you make your deck stable and try not to miss land drops or creature throwdowns as often as possible, your decks can still be in pretty good shape. I'd prioritize deck stability over speed if anything, but try and cut down on the mana curve if you can. I've seen lists that try to get out Blightsteel and Worldspine Wurm and I think that you will regret the moments that these are rotting in your hand because you had no way to cheat it out. I'm already usually unhappy with hands that have 3+ fatties because while having the backup threats is nice I usually won't have the time to take advantage of all 3 of them. I'd much rather take 1 unkillable one and some snowball effects.
Today, I basically just let other people play this deck.. and sometimes I get nuked by a big creature with a Combat Celebrant. Serves me right. People have fun with it though.
Lastly, Carnage Tyrant is a friggen 10/10 card. When you start piling in the damage amp to go with it, people just can't stop you short of countering the damage amp or being lucky enough to wipe the board just to get rid of one important creature. As far as creature tutoring goes, I basically only get this, Savage Ventmaw, and Emrakul, the Promised End these days.
I've been tweaking my deck and have had really good results with Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon. A lot of decks just crumple to it and it becomes very easy to run them over. Also planning on finding room for Etali, Primal Storm as he looks so fun. Wish he had trample though.
I'm surprised I don't see Asceticism in more of the deck lists here. It is slow and off curve at 5 mana but makes every creature very hard to remove. I've been debating slotting Heroic Intervention in as well for another wrath / targeted removal answer.
Asceticism definitely looks good. That's a very low number of lands! How do you manage it?
I'm curious as to why people like Sneak Attack. About the only time it seems good is when you're able to pop off a good draw spell. Otherwise, why not play an extra combat spell or another big creature?
Sneak Attack is good because if you are diligent and gassing up, or even if you've merely managed to scrounge up a good hand, it has the potential to easily wipe players or even tables from nothing if your opponents aren't careful. Yes, there will be times where you would much rather hard cast a threat or where this card isn't optimal. However, that usually is only when you have a single threat and nothing to use to amp it. It also helps with those hands where you end up with an abundance of big creatures. Lastly, there is extra synergy with Scourge of the Throne, Pathbreaker Ibex, and Combat Celebrant.
Also, being able to cheat six mana things for one mana is quite good.
Hey Patryn have you considered Ghalta, Primal Hunger and/or Stonehoof Chieftain? I used to run Worldspine wurm myself. He's certainly nice, but that mana cost though! I took him out and kept stonehoof chieftain in. He's cheaper to play and survives most boardwipes. He can also help in the "extra damage department" by letting other giant creatures trample through as well. Also, it's only 1 devotion!
I guess I try and reconcile the power difference between the creatures because stonehoof can come down much earlier than Worldspine wurm. Meaning if you have stonehoof in hand, he'll be able to attack in 2 times at least before you could cast/attack with worldspine wurm.
wurm can be totally removed by one person playing a kill spell, then a board wipe. Stonehoof keeps trucking through all of these. The both receive no benefit if path to exile is used on them. Given the cheaper mana cost, and a bit more durability, stonehoof has been my choice over wurm the past couple of months with no regrets.
I suppose I'll need to find room for Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon for metas where either they are okay with it or they deserve it. Although personally I'm less than willing to cut a land from a deck that really wants to hit all of its land drops.
So far, I feel like my own list is as consistent as it gets for this archetype while trying not to sacrifice speed to get there.
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Gruul Turf
1 Sheltered Thicket
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Command Tower
1 Game Trail
1 Stomping Ground
1 Cinder Glade
1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
6 Mountain
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Reliquary Tower
14 Forest
1 Spellbreaker Behemoth
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Somberwald Sage
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Malignus
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Fierce Empath
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Pathbreaker Ibex
1 Plated Crusher
1 Bane of Progress
1 Combat Celebrant
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Archetype of Aggression
1 Wood Elves
1 Terastodon
1 Deus of Calamity
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Atarka, World Render
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 Siege Behemoth
1 Hydra Omnivore
1 Savage Ventmaw
1 Etali, Primal Storm
1 Giant Adephage
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Domri Rade
1 Burgeoning
1 Aggravated Assault
1 Blood Mist
1 Greater Good
1 Zendikar Resurgent
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Rites of Flourishing
1 Sol Ring
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1 Gruul Signet
1 Signal the Clans
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Krosan Grip
1 Chaos Warp
1 Hunter's Insight
1 Beast Within
1 Momentous Fall
1 Decimate
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Chandra's Ignition
1 Hull Breach
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Cultivate
1 Genesis Wave
1 Farseek
1 Traverse the Outlands
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Rishkar's Expertise
1 Rampant Growth
1 Nature's Lore
1 Harmonize
Hey guys here is my list, haven't actually bought it yet I just love Xenagos and wanted to make one so I've been designing it around a lot of the content of this thread, any changes/reccomendations? Unsure what to cut/chop, also please no ancient tomb pride cards, thanks guys!
If you hit the small icon at the top of the thread you're creating that looks like a deck and is labeled "deck" when you hover over it a bit of text will appear in brackets with the cursor on the inside of it. Copy and paste the deck list and you can make this:
Personally, I find it helpful to group cards by categories like ramp, card draw. Here's my latest list. I put all the creatures into one category. The number in parenthesis by each category includes the creatures that would also fall into that category. I organized the categories by cmc with lowest at the top. You don't have to be this extensive, but a little more organization makes it easier to help give advice.
I'd get more low cmc ramp that ramps for two in your deck. Worn Powerstone and Overgrowth are good options that don't cost much. I'd replace high cost ramp like zendikar resurgent with these cards. You'll also need to cut some creatures to make room for a couple more ramp cards. Also more card draw is in order.
I'd cut Steelhellkite, archetype of aggression, Terastadon, and perhaps deus of calamity. I'd work on removing one or two of the highest cost creatures for more of the 6 cost stompers. Remove mina and denn wild born, probably for a better ramp card or card draw.
The reason plushpenguin's list is so tuned is the consistency of the curve. What I learned coming here is that ramping into xenagos on turn 3 or 4, followed up by 6 or 7 cost evasive fatty will set us on the path to winning. We want to work with 1 or 2 big creatures plus xenagos on the board, plus more in hand. Playing too many 4 and 5 cost creatures that don't have giant power and/or evasion slows the deck down.
Another thing to consider is that it can be helpful to keep xenagos from becoming a creature, as he can't be targeted as a creature. (Path to exile, et.)
That's about all I've got for now, good luck!
**Edit** Remove traverse the outlands. Dosan the fallen leaf could be a pair of swiftfoot boots, heroic intervention, or other creature protection. I'd say you have a bit too many artifact/enchantment removal. Cut one or two of those. If you keep reclamation sage, woodland bellower can be good to add. Then bellower can fetch the sage into play giving you a 6/5 and the ability to destroy and artifact or enchantment. Keep beast within and Chaos warp as they can deal with other permanents too.
Blasphemous act is too good to pass up. Decimate can be worth keeping, if you have room and have need to deal with problematic artifacts/enchantments often. I'd get rid of krosan grip and hull breach. Another kind of extra combat phase or extra damage spell couldn't hurt. Hellkite Charger definitely goes in.I'd invest in Sensei's diving top asap. That card was recently reprinted and will go up until the next reprint.
You may actually already have enough ramp if you replace the 2 high cost ramp spells I recommended with worn powerstone and overgrowth or frontier siege.
There is a serious downside to these kind of cards where you can get completely blown out through removal with these kinds of cards. Your midgame turns are valuable, and so essentially losing two cards (not too bad), two midgame turns (This is big), and 11 mana worth of investment (also a big deal) to anyone with a Pongify is likely to flat out cause you to lose the game. Additionally, if you stuff your deck with cards like Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Savage Ventmaw, and Rapacious One, all of which also give you access to gobs of big mana, those cards are not only safer (because the benefit is contained in one card) but it also allows us to better spend the resource that we really want: cards. And for the big creatures, we basically get the benefit immediately as long as the creature is allowed to attack.
Rishkar's Expertise is an exception because 1) it doesn't target, and 2) if they do kill your biggest guy, you still get the free cast meaning that you didn't lose that much tempo off of a spot removal spell. Also, sometimes you'll have a utility creature lying around that can at least refund you a couple cards. An Expertise that draws even 3 cards is pretty reasonable although not busted.
Lastly, I would like to point out that this is different than say, a boardwipe nuking one of your creatures plus a good utility creature or mana dork because in those cases whoever played the wipe probably used a good portion of the turn, lost some resources in turn, and everyone else also probably lost some number of resources, placing the board at some semblance of parity. This is different from a Swords to Plowshares blowout, where no one really needed to hold back mana and the only other cost was whoever threw out the removal spell. They lost no progress in the race to develop a good board state, and you lost a lot of time in that plan being foiled.
Speaking of busted cards, Sneak Attack and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds I HEAVILY encourage everyone to put into their decks. I know that a lot of you are on a budget, but they are so powerful here. You can probably make room if you decide to skip out on buying cards like Domri Rade or Nylea, God of the Hunt just to save up for one of these cards.
And another good one for this deck in the upcoming Dominaria set:
Grunn, the Lonely King 4GG
Legendary Creature — Ape Warrior
Kicker 3 (You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
If Grunn, the Lonely King was kicked, it enters the battlefield with five +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever Grunn attacks alone, double its power and toughness until end of turn.
5/5
Play it for 9, attack for 40
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I unashamedly copied each of your three decks, as I enjoy your style of power without infinite combos or cheese. Are you working on anything new, by the way? Xenagos has been my go to deck when I really wanna thrash someone, as not many people are prepared for the speed and the carnage. Only time I lose is when I can't keep Xenagos out, which isn't common. I haven't come into contact with many scary blue players yet, which I'm thankful for.
Have you ever pitted the three against each other for funsies? I had a game the other day with xenagod, gitrog, and marchesa, plus a the scarab god deck. Marchesa took the early lead with a ravager and some modular creatures comboing out pretty hard and gitrog slowly and steadily ramping away. There was a bit of back and forth, but the big play was xenagos hard casting emrakul, the promised end and stealing marchesa's turn, Blitzkrieg attacking scarab god into single digits, then saccing everything marchesa had, leaving her doomed with only a copied burgeoning on the board. Then Xenagos got a sneak attack and it was game over, dealing well over 300 damage with emrakul, etali, hellkite tyrant, atarka, scourge of the throne, etc. A pretty surprising turn of events.
The newly spoiled Grand Warlord Radha seems like it could be good in this deck, too. A new Savage Ventmaw of sorts.
I unashamedly copied each of your three decks, as I enjoy your style of power without infinite combos or cheese. Are you working on anything new, by the way? Xenagos has been my go to deck when I really wanna thrash someone, as not many people are prepared for the speed and the carnage. Only time I lose is when I can't keep Xenagos out, which isn't common. I haven't come into contact with many scary blue players yet, which I'm thankful for.
Have you ever pitted the three against each other for funsies? I had a game the other day with xenagod, gitrog, and marchesa, plus a the scarab god deck. Marchesa took the early lead with a ravager and some modular creatures comboing out pretty hard and gitrog slowly and steadily ramping away. There was a bit of back and forth, but the big play was xenagos hard casting emrakul, the promised end and stealing marchesa's turn, Blitzkrieg attacking scarab god into single digits, then saccing everything marchesa had, leaving her doomed with only a copied burgeoning on the board. Then Xenagos got a sneak attack and it was game over, dealing well over 300 damage with emrakul, etali, hellkite tyrant, atarka, scourge of the throne, etc. A pretty surprising turn of events.
The newly spoiled Grand Warlord Radha seems like it could be good in this deck, too. A new Savage Ventmaw of sorts.
Uh.. Wow. I've actually encountered once someone who copied my list card for card, but never have I found someone who copied ALL THREE of my posted lists. This is quite a surprise.
Anyway, I've been working on lower-powered decks because I need to make sure that my lineup is balanced for weaker metas. Interesting enough one of those deck is The Scarab God. The deck itself is designed as a lesson to the newer players in how "winning the war of having more stuff or resources will win you more games". As such, it is not really a zombie tribal deck but instead a deck designed to win attrition. We are talking about a deck that holds up mana for answers, then decides to activate Burnished Hart three times over a game if no one does anything threatening. I have enough card draw in it now that I can play the deck into a game full of graveyard nukes and still be relatively okay. I don't mean to tune it too much or else it defeats the point of having the deck. Lastly, it is my designated "good stuff" deck as I didn't own one before. I am unsure if I want to post it at the present moment, but it is my strongest of my "B-list and below decks".
I also have a monogreen deck that is basically really an Emrakul, the Promised End deck and a Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper list for when I want to get really janky and hit people with a gigantic land. None of my B-tier lists really have too much creativity to them, unless you count running Teferi's Response as one of them.
When it comes to the overall power level of the decks I have, it goes The Gitrog Monster > Xenagos, God of Revels > Marchesa, the Black Rose. All of these decks carry at least some level of resiliency and basically don't lose to creature wipes. Gitrog has the best lategame and Xenagod has the best clock.
Oh yeah, The Scarab God has succeeded in teaching that lesson to an extent. Today, one of the new players got much much better results upon upgrading his ramp and card draw package for essentially less than what a fat pack would cost.
If you noticed something, I have a serious aversion to the color white
@ Wrinklykiller I'm not sure Grand warlord Radha is all that good. We will only be getting 1 to 2 mana from it in most cases. Seems like we have better ramp in general. One card I though could be kind of fun and probably more useful is Treasonous Ogre. The ability to create a bunch of extra mana for life could help us close the game out earlier. For example, those instances when we just need 1-3 more mana to get a Hellkite Charger or Aggravated Assault activation. If we were feeling really ballsy, and the time was right, we could pay 30 life to get two additional activations off aggravated assault. The card is risky, but I think there's plenty of situations where we might just need one or two mana on that turn to really get things going. If you've already got the more expensive cards like Ancient Tomb that are more mana efficient, this card is a lot less appealing. I haven't tried to find room for it yet, but I might try it out someday.
Well, I have about 15 decks in various stages of completion and your three commanders were all ones I've had interest in, especially after reading your primers. I liked your take on xenagos from the get go, so then I made gitrog, loved it, and made marchesa. Alternate takes on powerful commanders are what I enjoy I suppose.
My favorite new list has been The locust god actually. It's so explosive and can easily take on a table with various different kills. Coming out of my comfort zone to play blue is surprisingly fun, too. Also, I haven't been able to have much fun with white decks either. I have a few, but they need something done to them to make them fun again.
@ Wrinklykiller I'm not sure Grand warlord Radha is all that good. We will only be getting 1 to 2 mana from it in most cases. Seems like we have better ramp in general.
Ack! I totally misread her card. I thought you got mana for the attacking power. Oh well, no wonder.
You were asking how the decks were doing earlier Penguin, and I got in a few games. First game a ran over two people who aren't the best players. I had rapacious one and Thunderfoot Baloth in my opening hand. I eventually was attacking in with a pumped baloth plus about 14 2/3 trample eldrazi spawn.
Second game was with 2 of my most feared opponents in the play group, and I still pulled it off! I took a bunch of early damage from my friend's Gishath, Sun's Avatar. I was at 16 commander damage, plus gishath had whispersilk cloak and gift of immortality on it. The solution was obvious, kill him on my next turn. I did so with the hellkite charger I already had out, plus a Siege behemoth I played out that turn. My ramp was on point early game, so I had the mana to play Relentless assault that same turn. I killed him, plus got in a bunch of damage on my other opponent on that turn.
I was only at 16 life at this point, and my remaining opponents board had brago equiped with something, plus a reflector mage that had been giving me trouble all game. I pulled out the win in the end using a Blasphemous act I had stuffed under spinerock knoll in the early turns for safe keeping.
That was an epic game that required a lot of thinking to pull off properly. I had a blast and felt the deck was spot on in it's plan. I also played a life's legacy to draw 10 cards after I'd played reliquary tower out. That was also pretty cool!
I've been placing focus away from the deck for a bit, but I pull it out when people are playing decks like Jhoira where they clearly are only interested in racing.
Also, I've been experiencing the feel bad moments when your turn 1 Gamble fails. However, unless you kept a risky hand a failure on even a turn 1 gamble is unlikely to be the direct cause of a game loss.
Got some decent testing in. Nothing to report except that the consistency tools are overperforming because I simply do not want to be in a situation where I am drawing too many lands, big creatures, or ramp spells.
I have also found the spaces where I would throw in Moons if I need to play this against people good with mana denial. My initial cuts for moons would be Dense Foliage and Elvish Piper. This keeps the ratios the same.
(Also, to the person I played against yesterday who is undoubtedly reading this thread, you dropped a card in a gray sleeve. However, it is a proxy Vampiric Tutor just so you know you didn't lose anything valuable)
Dominaria has not actually brought this deck too many new tools.
However, Broken Bond is a card that I would like to slot in. Sorcery speed does suck, but being able to nuke a Sol Ring on turn 2 and get an extra land play (ie not lose tempo) sounds like a pretty good deal to me. When we draw it late, it also performs its preferred function primarily when the land play becomes less important. Lastly, I'm looking for more ways to easily dump Reliquary Tower if we end up drawing it after hitting 12+ cards.
I've had moments where my opponent was forced to double chump with eldrazi titans and still die. The power of multiplication cannot be understated.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
That's cool and makes sense. I saw somewhere that you can run Dryad Arbor, choose x as 0 and get out an extra land turn one. Downside is it has summon sickness so it's basically a tapped land. Another plus side is that it can be found with a fetchland. That could save our life for an extra turn if we have that extra, instant speed chump blocker on the table.
Despite there being artifact/enchantment board wipes being out there, it would be a very strange meta indeed where they are more common than creature wipes. Artifacts actually help against All is dust where creatures don't. Sure I've seen Merciless eviction, however creature is the most often mode used. Same for Austere command. Planar cleansing effects are a wash because they kill off creatures anyway.
Pure artifact and enchantment wipes are still less common for me than creature wipes because creature wipes are always valid in the context of players having their commanders out.
In any case, even without a wipe of that sort, my artifacts and enchantments do get blown up quite frequently. I think I remember once dying with a board of xenagod, frontier siege, sylvan library, blood mist and a greater good that someone blew up. As it turns out, it was completely the right decision as I had a very difficult to stop chain kill going on my next turn.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
However, if you make your deck stable and try not to miss land drops or creature throwdowns as often as possible, your decks can still be in pretty good shape. I'd prioritize deck stability over speed if anything, but try and cut down on the mana curve if you can. I've seen lists that try to get out Blightsteel and Worldspine Wurm and I think that you will regret the moments that these are rotting in your hand because you had no way to cheat it out. I'm already usually unhappy with hands that have 3+ fatties because while having the backup threats is nice I usually won't have the time to take advantage of all 3 of them. I'd much rather take 1 unkillable one and some snowball effects.
Today, I basically just let other people play this deck.. and sometimes I get nuked by a big creature with a Combat Celebrant. Serves me right. People have fun with it though.
Lastly, Carnage Tyrant is a friggen 10/10 card. When you start piling in the damage amp to go with it, people just can't stop you short of countering the damage amp or being lucky enough to wipe the board just to get rid of one important creature. As far as creature tutoring goes, I basically only get this, Savage Ventmaw, and Emrakul, the Promised End these days.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
I'm surprised I don't see Asceticism in more of the deck lists here. It is slow and off curve at 5 mana but makes every creature very hard to remove. I've been debating slotting Heroic Intervention in as well for another wrath / targeted removal answer.
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
Creatures (25)
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Joraga Treespeaker
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Vexing Shusher
3 Combat Celebrant
3 Eternal Witness
3 Magus of the Moon
3 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
3 Somberwald Sage
4 Elvish Piper
5 Kalonian Hydra
5 Malignus
5 Verdurous Gearhulk
6 Carnage Tyrant
6 Hellkite Tyrant
6 Pathbreaker Ibex
6 Rapacious One
6 Scourge of the Throne
7 Atarka, World Render
7 Balefire Dragon
7 Giant Adephage
7 Plated Crusher
7 Siege Behemoth
11 Worldspine Wurm
13 Emrakul, the Promised End
Instants (7)
1 Crop Rotation
1 Nature's Claim
1 Worldly Tutor
3 Beast Within
3 Chaos Warp
3 Hunter's Insight
4 Momentous Fall
1 Gamble
1 Sylvan Tutor
2 Farseek
2 Life's Legacy
2 Nature's Lore
2 Sylvan Scrying
2 Three Visits
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Nissa's Pilgrimage
4 Harmonize
4 Natural Order
4 Relentless Assault
4 Seize the Day
5 Chandra's Ignition
5 World at War
6 Rishkar's Expertise
9 Blasphemous Act
1x Green Sun's Zenith
Artifacts (4)
0 Mana Crypt
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Sol Ring
3 Mimic Vat
Enchantments (10)
2 Survival of the Fittest
2 Sylvan Library
3 Aggravated Assault
3 Blood Moon
3 Dense Foliage
4 Blood Mist
4 Nature's Will
4 Greater Good
4 Sneak Attack
5 Asceticism
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cinder Glade
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
9 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Misty Rainforest
5 Mountain
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Ground
1 Strip Mine
1 Taiga
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
I'm curious as to why people like Sneak Attack. About the only time it seems good is when you're able to pop off a good draw spell. Otherwise, why not play an extra combat spell or another big creature?
Also, being able to cheat six mana things for one mana is quite good.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
I guess I try and reconcile the power difference between the creatures because stonehoof can come down much earlier than Worldspine wurm. Meaning if you have stonehoof in hand, he'll be able to attack in 2 times at least before you could cast/attack with worldspine wurm.
wurm can be totally removed by one person playing a kill spell, then a board wipe. Stonehoof keeps trucking through all of these. The both receive no benefit if path to exile is used on them. Given the cheaper mana cost, and a bit more durability, stonehoof has been my choice over wurm the past couple of months with no regrets.
I suppose I'll need to find room for Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon for metas where either they are okay with it or they deserve it. Although personally I'm less than willing to cut a land from a deck that really wants to hit all of its land drops.
So far, I feel like my own list is as consistent as it gets for this archetype while trying not to sacrifice speed to get there.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
1 Gruul Turf
1 Sheltered Thicket
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Command Tower
1 Game Trail
1 Stomping Ground
1 Cinder Glade
1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
6 Mountain
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Reliquary Tower
14 Forest
1 Spellbreaker Behemoth
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Somberwald Sage
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Malignus
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Fierce Empath
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Pathbreaker Ibex
1 Plated Crusher
1 Bane of Progress
1 Combat Celebrant
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Archetype of Aggression
1 Wood Elves
1 Terastodon
1 Deus of Calamity
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Atarka, World Render
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 Siege Behemoth
1 Hydra Omnivore
1 Savage Ventmaw
1 Etali, Primal Storm
1 Giant Adephage
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Domri Rade
1 Burgeoning
1 Aggravated Assault
1 Blood Mist
1 Greater Good
1 Zendikar Resurgent
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Rites of Flourishing
1 Sol Ring
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1 Gruul Signet
1 Signal the Clans
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Krosan Grip
1 Chaos Warp
1 Hunter's Insight
1 Beast Within
1 Momentous Fall
1 Decimate
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Chandra's Ignition
1 Hull Breach
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Cultivate
1 Genesis Wave
1 Farseek
1 Traverse the Outlands
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Rishkar's Expertise
1 Rampant Growth
1 Nature's Lore
1 Harmonize
Hey guys here is my list, haven't actually bought it yet I just love Xenagos and wanted to make one so I've been designing it around a lot of the content of this thread, any changes/reccomendations? Unsure what to cut/chop, also please no ancient tomb pride cards, thanks guys!
1 Gruul Turf
1 Sheltered Thicket
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Command Tower
1 Game Trail
1 Stomping Ground
1 Cinder Glade
1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
6 Mountain
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Reliquary Tower
14 Forest
1 Spellbreaker Behemoth
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Somberwald Sage
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Malignus
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Fierce Empath
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Pathbreaker Ibex
1 Plated Crusher
1 Bane of Progress
1 Combat Celebrant
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Archetype of Aggression
1 Wood Elves
1 Terastodon
1 Deus of Calamity
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Atarka, World Render
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 Siege Behemoth
1 Hydra Omnivore
1 Savage Ventmaw
1 Etali, Primal Storm
1 Giant Adephage
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Burgeoning
1 Aggravated Assault
1 Blood Mist
1 Greater Good
1 Zendikar Resurgent
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Rites of Flourishing
1 Sol Ring
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1 Gruul Signet
1 Signal the Clans
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Krosan Grip
1 Chaos Warp
1 Hunter's Insight
1 Beast Within
1 Momentous Fall
1 Decimate
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Chandra's Ignition
1 Hull Breach
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Cultivate
1 Genesis Wave
1 Farseek
1 Traverse the Outlands
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Rishkar's Expertise
1 Rampant Growth
1 Nature's Lore
1 Harmonize
Personally, I find it helpful to group cards by categories like ramp, card draw. Here's my latest list. I put all the creatures into one category. The number in parenthesis by each category includes the creatures that would also fall into that category. I organized the categories by cmc with lowest at the top. You don't have to be this extensive, but a little more organization makes it easier to help give advice.
1 sakura-tribe elder
1 Elvish visionary
1 Fierce empath
1 yavimaya elder
1 Tireless Tracker
1 combat celebrant
1 shaman of forgotten ways
1 Rhonas the indomitable
1 Territorial hellkite
1 rapacious one
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 carnage tyrant
1 hellkite tyrant
1 soul of the harvest
1 Savage ventmaw
1 woodland bellower
1 Hellkite charger
1 pathbreaker ibex
1 plated crusher
1 Atarka, World Render
1 Tyrant's Familiar
1 siege behemoth
1 Stonehoof chieftain
1 Ghalta, Primal hunger
1 Emrakul, the promised end
Ramp 13 (16)
1 sol ring
1 Sylvan scrying
1 Mind stone
1 thought vessel
1 farseek
1 Nature's Lore
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Nissa's Pilgrimage
1 Worn powerstone
1 overgrowth
1 frontier siege
1 Hedron Archive
1 Green sun's zenith
Card advantage 13 (18)
1 skullclamp
1 sensei's divining top
1 Mask of memory
1 wheel of fate
1 cream of the crop
1 life's legacy
1 hunter's insight
1 lifecrafter's bestiary
1 momentous fall
1 greater good
1 harmonize
1 reforge the soul
1 rishkar's expertise
Extra damage/combat 4 (7)
1 aggravated assault
1 Relentless assault
1 chandra's ignition
1 blood mist
Answers 6
1 swiftfoot boots
1 beast within
1 Chaos warp
1 decimate
1 Blasphemous act
1 heroic intervention
Land 37
9 forest
3 mountain
1 spinerock knoll
1 mosswort bridge
1 copperline gorge
1 arid mesa
1 bloodstained mire
1 windswept heath
1 wooded foothills
1 cinder glade
1 stomping ground
1 sheltered thicket
1 mossfire valley
1 game trail
1 fire-lit thicket
1 karplusan forest
1 command tower
1 rootbound crag
1 grove of the burnwillows
1 kazandu refuge
1 gruul turf
1 Myriad Landscape
1 temple of the false god
1 reliquary tower
1 kessig wolf run
1 strip mine
1 rogue's passage
I'd get more low cmc ramp that ramps for two in your deck. Worn Powerstone and Overgrowth are good options that don't cost much. I'd replace high cost ramp like zendikar resurgent with these cards. You'll also need to cut some creatures to make room for a couple more ramp cards. Also more card draw is in order.
I'd cut Steelhellkite, archetype of aggression, Terastadon, and perhaps deus of calamity. I'd work on removing one or two of the highest cost creatures for more of the 6 cost stompers. Remove mina and denn wild born, probably for a better ramp card or card draw.
The reason plushpenguin's list is so tuned is the consistency of the curve. What I learned coming here is that ramping into xenagos on turn 3 or 4, followed up by 6 or 7 cost evasive fatty will set us on the path to winning. We want to work with 1 or 2 big creatures plus xenagos on the board, plus more in hand. Playing too many 4 and 5 cost creatures that don't have giant power and/or evasion slows the deck down.
Another thing to consider is that it can be helpful to keep xenagos from becoming a creature, as he can't be targeted as a creature. (Path to exile, et.)
That's about all I've got for now, good luck!
**Edit** Remove traverse the outlands. Dosan the fallen leaf could be a pair of swiftfoot boots, heroic intervention, or other creature protection. I'd say you have a bit too many artifact/enchantment removal. Cut one or two of those. If you keep reclamation sage, woodland bellower can be good to add. Then bellower can fetch the sage into play giving you a 6/5 and the ability to destroy and artifact or enchantment. Keep beast within and Chaos warp as they can deal with other permanents too.
Blasphemous act is too good to pass up. Decimate can be worth keeping, if you have room and have need to deal with problematic artifacts/enchantments often. I'd get rid of krosan grip and hull breach. Another kind of extra combat phase or extra damage spell couldn't hurt. Hellkite Charger definitely goes in.I'd invest in Sensei's diving top asap. That card was recently reprinted and will go up until the next reprint.
You may actually already have enough ramp if you replace the 2 high cost ramp spells I recommended with worn powerstone and overgrowth or frontier siege.
There is a serious downside to these kind of cards where you can get completely blown out through removal with these kinds of cards. Your midgame turns are valuable, and so essentially losing two cards (not too bad), two midgame turns (This is big), and 11 mana worth of investment (also a big deal) to anyone with a Pongify is likely to flat out cause you to lose the game. Additionally, if you stuff your deck with cards like Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Savage Ventmaw, and Rapacious One, all of which also give you access to gobs of big mana, those cards are not only safer (because the benefit is contained in one card) but it also allows us to better spend the resource that we really want: cards. And for the big creatures, we basically get the benefit immediately as long as the creature is allowed to attack.
Rishkar's Expertise is an exception because 1) it doesn't target, and 2) if they do kill your biggest guy, you still get the free cast meaning that you didn't lose that much tempo off of a spot removal spell. Also, sometimes you'll have a utility creature lying around that can at least refund you a couple cards. An Expertise that draws even 3 cards is pretty reasonable although not busted.
Lastly, I would like to point out that this is different than say, a boardwipe nuking one of your creatures plus a good utility creature or mana dork because in those cases whoever played the wipe probably used a good portion of the turn, lost some resources in turn, and everyone else also probably lost some number of resources, placing the board at some semblance of parity. This is different from a Swords to Plowshares blowout, where no one really needed to hold back mana and the only other cost was whoever threw out the removal spell. They lost no progress in the race to develop a good board state, and you lost a lot of time in that plan being foiled.
Speaking of busted cards, Sneak Attack and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds I HEAVILY encourage everyone to put into their decks. I know that a lot of you are on a budget, but they are so powerful here. You can probably make room if you decide to skip out on buying cards like Domri Rade or Nylea, God of the Hunt just to save up for one of these cards.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Legendary Creature — Ape Warrior
Kicker 3 (You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
If Grunn, the Lonely King was kicked, it enters the battlefield with five +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever Grunn attacks alone, double its power and toughness until end of turn.
5/5
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I unashamedly copied each of your three decks, as I enjoy your style of power without infinite combos or cheese. Are you working on anything new, by the way? Xenagos has been my go to deck when I really wanna thrash someone, as not many people are prepared for the speed and the carnage. Only time I lose is when I can't keep Xenagos out, which isn't common. I haven't come into contact with many scary blue players yet, which I'm thankful for.
Have you ever pitted the three against each other for funsies? I had a game the other day with xenagod, gitrog, and marchesa, plus a the scarab god deck. Marchesa took the early lead with a ravager and some modular creatures comboing out pretty hard and gitrog slowly and steadily ramping away. There was a bit of back and forth, but the big play was xenagos hard casting emrakul, the promised end and stealing marchesa's turn, Blitzkrieg attacking scarab god into single digits, then saccing everything marchesa had, leaving her doomed with only a copied burgeoning on the board. Then Xenagos got a sneak attack and it was game over, dealing well over 300 damage with emrakul, etali, hellkite tyrant, atarka, scourge of the throne, etc. A pretty surprising turn of events.
The newly spoiled Grand Warlord Radha seems like it could be good in this deck, too. A new Savage Ventmaw of sorts.
Uh.. Wow. I've actually encountered once someone who copied my list card for card, but never have I found someone who copied ALL THREE of my posted lists. This is quite a surprise.
Anyway, I've been working on lower-powered decks because I need to make sure that my lineup is balanced for weaker metas. Interesting enough one of those deck is The Scarab God. The deck itself is designed as a lesson to the newer players in how "winning the war of having more stuff or resources will win you more games". As such, it is not really a zombie tribal deck but instead a deck designed to win attrition. We are talking about a deck that holds up mana for answers, then decides to activate Burnished Hart three times over a game if no one does anything threatening. I have enough card draw in it now that I can play the deck into a game full of graveyard nukes and still be relatively okay. I don't mean to tune it too much or else it defeats the point of having the deck. Lastly, it is my designated "good stuff" deck as I didn't own one before. I am unsure if I want to post it at the present moment, but it is my strongest of my "B-list and below decks".
I also have a monogreen deck that is basically really an Emrakul, the Promised End deck and a Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper list for when I want to get really janky and hit people with a gigantic land. None of my B-tier lists really have too much creativity to them, unless you count running Teferi's Response as one of them.
When it comes to the overall power level of the decks I have, it goes The Gitrog Monster > Xenagos, God of Revels > Marchesa, the Black Rose. All of these decks carry at least some level of resiliency and basically don't lose to creature wipes. Gitrog has the best lategame and Xenagod has the best clock.
Oh yeah, The Scarab God has succeeded in teaching that lesson to an extent. Today, one of the new players got much much better results upon upgrading his ramp and card draw package for essentially less than what a fat pack would cost.
If you noticed something, I have a serious aversion to the color white
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
If you are looking to build a fun new deck, I've been building Yasova Dragonclaw and I'm making good progress. The deck isn't extremely powerful, but it is a TON of fun to build and play. It can also be a good tool to pull out against problematic commanders in your group. For example, Yasova be helpful to shut down Zur the Enchanter and Sen Triplets decks.
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/790260-yasova-dragonclaw-the-controlling-creature-thief
My favorite new list has been The locust god actually. It's so explosive and can easily take on a table with various different kills. Coming out of my comfort zone to play blue is surprisingly fun, too. Also, I haven't been able to have much fun with white decks either. I have a few, but they need something done to them to make them fun again.
Ack! I totally misread her card. I thought you got mana for the attacking power. Oh well, no wonder.
Second game was with 2 of my most feared opponents in the play group, and I still pulled it off! I took a bunch of early damage from my friend's Gishath, Sun's Avatar. I was at 16 commander damage, plus gishath had whispersilk cloak and gift of immortality on it. The solution was obvious, kill him on my next turn. I did so with the hellkite charger I already had out, plus a Siege behemoth I played out that turn. My ramp was on point early game, so I had the mana to play Relentless assault that same turn. I killed him, plus got in a bunch of damage on my other opponent on that turn.
I was only at 16 life at this point, and my remaining opponents board had brago equiped with something, plus a reflector mage that had been giving me trouble all game. I pulled out the win in the end using a Blasphemous act I had stuffed under spinerock knoll in the early turns for safe keeping.
That was an epic game that required a lot of thinking to pull off properly. I had a blast and felt the deck was spot on in it's plan. I also played a life's legacy to draw 10 cards after I'd played reliquary tower out. That was also pretty cool!
*clasps hands together*
I've been placing focus away from the deck for a bit, but I pull it out when people are playing decks like Jhoira where they clearly are only interested in racing.
Also, I've been experiencing the feel bad moments when your turn 1 Gamble fails. However, unless you kept a risky hand a failure on even a turn 1 gamble is unlikely to be the direct cause of a game loss.
Lastly, **** Uba Mask.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
I have also found the spaces where I would throw in Moons if I need to play this against people good with mana denial. My initial cuts for moons would be Dense Foliage and Elvish Piper. This keeps the ratios the same.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
(Also, to the person I played against yesterday who is undoubtedly reading this thread, you dropped a card in a gray sleeve. However, it is a proxy Vampiric Tutor just so you know you didn't lose anything valuable)
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
However, Broken Bond is a card that I would like to slot in. Sorcery speed does suck, but being able to nuke a Sol Ring on turn 2 and get an extra land play (ie not lose tempo) sounds like a pretty good deal to me. When we draw it late, it also performs its preferred function primarily when the land play becomes less important. Lastly, I'm looking for more ways to easily dump Reliquary Tower if we end up drawing it after hitting 12+ cards.
+ Broken Bond
- Deglamer
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.