MW gives itself and all your other creatures haste, including anything it cascaded into. You want to sit on top of that much value through all of your opponent’s turns because it came down after the golem connected?
See above. Pretty narrow-minded, don’t you think?
If ruling out inefficient plays makes me narrow-minded, sure. EDH is about having fun, so don’t let me take that away from you. Just don’t pretend like golem into MW is an amazing play because you get on-cast triggers, especially since you’re potentially setting yourself back by losing all that value.
Not trying to argue, but that’s pretty much EDH in a nutshell, s*** gets blown up. It’s free. You didn’t tap out for 8 to whiff/get stone walled. And any competent MW pilot encourages players to blow up their stuff, that’s what the decks all about. I play it, that’s what I want. I’ll just bury the opponents in CA. Having a way to cheat out MW besides the hoops involved with Command Beacon is good. Let’s me keep mana up to protect what I cascade into.
There is literally nothing about his that is “ineffiecnt”. If you’re ramping, you’re just playing this sooner. No need for the hate-train to make a stop here.
Call the golem ramp if you want, you’re still missing the point. You want MW to come down before combat, not after. That’s textbook inefficient.
Yeah, but this Golem gives you a free MW on turn 3/4 instead of hardcasting turn 5/6... You're still missing the point too, free early casts are good always, even if they aren't in the optimal main phase. You still have your mana up to activate Aggravated Assault if you really want to get the instant value, but the cascade cascade so early in the game is worth it anyway.
Atraxa has gained an unfortunate reputation as an annoyingly good super friends commander. After spending the time (and money) building Atraxa as a comparatively tame +1/+1 counter deck, that stigma still remains. Atraxa often becomes archenemy.
The Mimeoplasm and Muldrotha, the Gravetide are both excellent choices. Muldrotha has variety, with decks including different ratios of combo, graveyard interaction, card advantage, sacrifice. Mimeoplasm is more linear, usually voltron combined with some kind of self-mill/dredge/discard.
Given the option, I would definitely recommend Muldrotha for the freedom in deck design. Muldrotha can be very, very powerful, replaying sac creatures/sac lands/sac artifacts over and over. Lots of card advantage, its interesting to build and play; however, it is prone to long, complex turns. It's not for a beginner or newer player.
If you're stuck on deciding between Atraxa and The Mimeoplasm, go with The Mimeoplasm. I've built my Mimeoplasm deck as a mill deck in an attempt to make it a bit less linear, and it does fairly well (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mimeo-mill-4/). It's frequently overlooked that The Mimeoplasm can target creatures in your opponents graveyards.
I just wanted to add to what others have mentioned, if you are starting out in the format you don't need to buy more than one of each staple card. Set yourself up with a staples folder, and use proxies in the decks. You won't risk damaging your expensive cards, but you still get to play with your expensive card on the field.
Wish that I had thought of this when I started out a decade or so ago. "Wasted" a lot of $ on multiples of cards between my EDH decks. Not actually "wasted", those cards have increased in value, but I bought those cards instead of others that are now well out of my price range (e.g. Gaea's Cradle). Overall, I have a narrower card base because of it.
Tested Brawl with friends. The gameplay feels like commander, but deckbuilding from the standard list/ban list is frustrating.
Also concerned as others have mentioned about the prices of cards in Standard. Interestingly, if it proves popular enough to increase pack opening, it may result in even more of a drop in price following rotation. Good news for EDH players, if they can patiently wait for rotation.
The few times I've played against someone with an infect deck, they ended up as archenemy, and were killed off very early on. The remaining players then played the rest of the game normally, while the infect player waited hours for the next game. Didn't seem worth it to me.
Moral of the story, play infect if that's really what you want to play; however, don't expect to have fun, or make any friends.
Uril is a hate magnet. As others have mentioned, when his voltron strategy works he is a beast (hehe, literally). But when it doesn't work, a deck focused around him will flop. He's vulnerable to sweepers (particularly mass exile), counter spells, and sacrifice.
A more competitive deck would incorporate ways to lock out these weaknesses, and would ramp up Uril with a voltron suite asap. A casual deck is probably better off building in redundancy for Uril IMO, but including some protection (e.g. Tajuru Preserver, Flickerform). Include some cheap creatures that support voltron, like Kor Spiritdancer or Hero of Iroas, so you can put out some aura pumped threats before Uril, making your deck actually do something during that build up.
Cards like Nomad Mythmaker and Retether allow you to reuse any "wasted" auras for when Uril comes out. Tiana from the new Dominaria set is going to be amazing for this! For some higher CMC options, I would recommend indestructible creatures such as Rhonas the Indomitable or Tajic, Blade of the Legion, as indestructibility is one of the best (and more difficult) to consistently obtain voltron keywords IMO. Could make the same argument with hexproof, so Sigarda, Host of Herons or Carnage Tyrant would be good.
You've described pretty much what I went with for my Ramos deck. It's one of my favourite decks to play! It doesn't depend on Ramos to work, he just makes it work a lot better, and every game plays out differently. There are multiple potential wincons, and no single specific way to play the deck. I've added several cards that synergise really well with Ramos, missed the potential of Animar for free-casts though, should look into that.
Unconventional suggestion, Reaper King. With Arcane Adaptation and Xenograft etc, making a bunch of tokens gives a lot of triggers. Access to 5C is nice too.
Is CASUAL Commander/EDH a Battlecruiser format? Most of the time, but it depends on the playgroup/commanders in play.
Is COMPETITIVE Commander/EDH a Battlecruiser format? Rarely, if ever. From the games I've played/watched Battlecruiser cards rarely resolve. If they do, they rarely last long enough to have any meaningful impact. There are of course exceptions, again depending on playgroup/commanders in play.
Grimgrin, Corpse-born - Zombie tribal. Collected the zombie lords a long time ago for a dimir zombie tribal, but never got around to building the deck.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - Elf tribal. I wanted to build this, but everyone has an elf tribal. I dunno, it's lost its appeal over time.
Narset, Enlightened Master - Started collecting cards to build this deck back when Narset was released, still haven't finished it.
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis - Probably the next deck that I'll finish. It's not a classical group hug, it's a political deck that accelerates the game by providing some limited group benefit, but then uses cards like Control Magic etc. to steal the most powerful permanents. I use a similar strategy with Braids, Conjurer Adept, and it works well.
Yeah, but this Golem gives you a free MW on turn 3/4 instead of hardcasting turn 5/6... You're still missing the point too, free early casts are good always, even if they aren't in the optimal main phase. You still have your mana up to activate Aggravated Assault if you really want to get the instant value, but the cascade cascade so early in the game is worth it anyway.
The Mimeoplasm and Muldrotha, the Gravetide are both excellent choices. Muldrotha has variety, with decks including different ratios of combo, graveyard interaction, card advantage, sacrifice. Mimeoplasm is more linear, usually voltron combined with some kind of self-mill/dredge/discard.
Given the option, I would definitely recommend Muldrotha for the freedom in deck design. Muldrotha can be very, very powerful, replaying sac creatures/sac lands/sac artifacts over and over. Lots of card advantage, its interesting to build and play; however, it is prone to long, complex turns. It's not for a beginner or newer player.
If you're stuck on deciding between Atraxa and The Mimeoplasm, go with The Mimeoplasm. I've built my Mimeoplasm deck as a mill deck in an attempt to make it a bit less linear, and it does fairly well (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mimeo-mill-4/). It's frequently overlooked that The Mimeoplasm can target creatures in your opponents graveyards.
Ramos, Dragon Engine - 9 mana to get this into play and online? Nothing to Ramos. There's also plenty of amazing targets to make lots of tokens of (e.g. Ramos, Dragon Engine itself, Captain Sisay, Maelstrom Archangel, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Zacama, Primal Calamity, Prime Speaker Zegana). Yeah it's winmore when you're already playing these value cards, but it is a goodstuff deck.
Reaper King - There's a reason why Rite of Replication is an auto-include with Reaper King. Make copies, trigger abilities of copies, shenanigans. And Helm of the Host makes the Reaper King copies non-legendary? Yes please. This deck also has Strionic Resonator in it, so... more shenanigans.
Riku of Two Reflections - This deck is all about copies, utilising engines such as Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Progenitor Mimic and token doublers. So... Helm of the Host on Kiki-Jiki seems like a thing, right? And there are other potential targets in this deck (e.g. Utvara Hellkite, Avenger of Zendikar, Craterhoof Behemoth). With Parallel Lives or Doubling Season? Valuetown.
Zur the Enchanter - The benefits of copying Zur should be obvious, and this deck has room for a high cost "fun" card.
Braids, Conjurer Adept - Helm of the Host is definitely NOT for Braids. Strategic phasing of ONE Braids is challenging enough. But this deck also includes a lot of high value creatures that Braids can cheat into play (e.g. It That Betrays, Pathrazer of Ulamog), creatures used to steal others (e.g. Empress Galina, Beguiler of Wills), or the actual creatures stolen from other players. Lots of potential value.
Wish that I had thought of this when I started out a decade or so ago. "Wasted" a lot of $ on multiples of cards between my EDH decks. Not actually "wasted", those cards have increased in value, but I bought those cards instead of others that are now well out of my price range (e.g. Gaea's Cradle). Overall, I have a narrower card base because of it.
Wish I didn't buy like 8x Chromatic Lanterns, or like 5x Seedborn Muse, or all the legendary lands (e.g. Minamo, School at Water's Edge) for each deck, and instead bought a single Gaea's Cradle back when they were less than $100. Hindsight.
Also concerned as others have mentioned about the prices of cards in Standard. Interestingly, if it proves popular enough to increase pack opening, it may result in even more of a drop in price following rotation. Good news for EDH players, if they can patiently wait for rotation.
This. Mirage Mirror is stupid powerful in EDH.
I'll also add Faerie Artisans, laughed at it until I watched it running in an artifact sac deck. Insane.
I've never been in a playgroup that routinely allows infect, even an out of nowhere Blightsteel Colossus or Triumph of the Hordes kill is heavily frowned upon.
The few times I've played against someone with an infect deck, they ended up as archenemy, and were killed off very early on. The remaining players then played the rest of the game normally, while the infect player waited hours for the next game. Didn't seem worth it to me.
Moral of the story, play infect if that's really what you want to play; however, don't expect to have fun, or make any friends.
Braids, Conjurer Adept: In Bolas's Clutches replacing Control Magic
Captain Sisay: Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, Baird, Steward of Argive, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Helm of the Host, Thran Temporal Gateway, Kamahl's Druidic Vow
Zur the Enchanter: Deep Freeze
Licia, Sanguine Tribune: Evra, Halcyon Witness, Chainer's Torment
Uril, the Miststalker: Danitha Capashen, Paragon, Tiana, Ship's Caretaker
Nekusar, the Mindrazer: None
Rikus of Two Reflections: Helm of the Host
The Mimeoplasm: Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice: Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Whisper, Blood Liturgist
Reaper King: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, Karn, Scion of Urza, Helm of the Host
Ramos, Dragon Engine: Jodah, Archmage Eternal, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Helm of the Host, Thran Temporal Gateway
A more competitive deck would incorporate ways to lock out these weaknesses, and would ramp up Uril with a voltron suite asap. A casual deck is probably better off building in redundancy for Uril IMO, but including some protection (e.g. Tajuru Preserver, Flickerform). Include some cheap creatures that support voltron, like Kor Spiritdancer or Hero of Iroas, so you can put out some aura pumped threats before Uril, making your deck actually do something during that build up.
Cards like Nomad Mythmaker and Retether allow you to reuse any "wasted" auras for when Uril comes out. Tiana from the new Dominaria set is going to be amazing for this! For some higher CMC options, I would recommend indestructible creatures such as Rhonas the Indomitable or Tajic, Blade of the Legion, as indestructibility is one of the best (and more difficult) to consistently obtain voltron keywords IMO. Could make the same argument with hexproof, so Sigarda, Host of Herons or Carnage Tyrant would be good.
Here is my casual Uril decklist if you want some ideas:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/voltron-the-miststalker-1/
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/dawn-of-the-suns/
My Reaper King deck, has a partial token theme (thopters, myrs, some treasure).
Is COMPETITIVE Commander/EDH a Battlecruiser format? Rarely, if ever. From the games I've played/watched Battlecruiser cards rarely resolve. If they do, they rarely last long enough to have any meaningful impact. There are of course exceptions, again depending on playgroup/commanders in play.
In general I don't mind this change, but superfriends did not need the buff.
Omnath, Locus of Mana - Big mana, big Omnath. Om nom nom!
Grimgrin, Corpse-born - Zombie tribal. Collected the zombie lords a long time ago for a dimir zombie tribal, but never got around to building the deck.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - Elf tribal. I wanted to build this, but everyone has an elf tribal. I dunno, it's lost its appeal over time.
Doran, the Siege Tower - I've wanted to build this ever since Tree of Perdition was released. Never got around to it though.
Narset, Enlightened Master - Started collecting cards to build this deck back when Narset was released, still haven't finished it.
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis - Probably the next deck that I'll finish. It's not a classical group hug, it's a political deck that accelerates the game by providing some limited group benefit, but then uses cards like Control Magic etc. to steal the most powerful permanents. I use a similar strategy with Braids, Conjurer Adept, and it works well.