Hello there, I am trying to figure out what to play for Grand Prix Indianapolis, and in my quest to try and find the best commander deck to pilot there I made this prossh list, so enjoy, lemme know if I can improve it. If it play tests well enough I might play it at GP and maybe keep it as a side fun deck.
Oh freaking sweet! I am totally going to build big black mana Kokusho now!
Now that seems like a plan.
A bunch of sac outlets. A bunch of reanimation stuff (so you don't always have to cast out of the command zone). All the ramp/acceleration possible.
Heck yeah, Run like Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, Grim Tutor, Shred Memory to tutor up corpse dance.
Use Phyrexian Tower, High Market, Disciple of Griselbrand, Miren of the Moaning Well, Altar of Phyrexia, Altar of Dementia to sac the crap out of her.
Get there with dark ritual, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, Caged Sun, Crypt Ghast, Nirkhana Revenant, Cabal Coffers.
I could run stuff like, Entomb, Exhume, Reanimate, Corpse Connoisseur, Buried Alive, Dance of the Dead, Corpse Dance, Necromancy, Animate Dead
I really like Kokusho as a commander, because worst case scenario, I am going to hook a sword to her and hit someone for a lot, or they are going to spot remove her and give the advantage anyway.
This all sounds like really solid advice. I might have to give Teeg a try, I played Sigarda voltron for a while, and I found that I was killing one person, and then running out of gas and dying to everyone else, but I played Teeg in it, and was always glad to have it in play.
You can step up and play a higher tier commander but I would sort of not advise playing the arms race plan as it will either force your meta to do the same or alienate yourself from them where they might not want to play with you anymore.
I think I would like to play the arm's race. Our commander league places people in pods based on skill level, so its me, and the shop owner, and 2 other people who have clawed their way up usually. If they are good enough to be at the head table, they should have the drive and the motivation to strive to do better, and they usually do. I don't think I will be alienated, probably get focused more, but if I can handle everyone's aggro and still live, then it wont matter. Part of playing at the head table is education. If you've clawed your way up through everyone else's casual commander decks, then you get to learn how to play against real decks as well. I would like to think there is a certain point where combo caps keep the arms race from getting completely degenerate, and if it does, we can always add more caps.
It seems like humility nerfs everyone's deck in your meta. It also sounds like they all depend on recursion effects hence rest in peace. It sounds like you appreciate stax, and cards like Hokori, dust drinker would do well in your hands.
Play Worb effects. .
I really like these suggestions, I have been mulling a black/white staxx / control deck around in my head for a while, using Humility, Braids, Hokori, Elspeth, Skullclamp, Smokestack, stuff like that, and grinding the game out to hard cast a big exsanguinate or debt to the debtless off a late game coffers. I should play a worb b/w or esper deck maybe? or is green too good? I could play b/w/g or maybe go 5 color and just not play red? but I feel the land base for 5 color decks is too vulnerable to strip locks.
(quote) everyone else (/quote)
I apologize if I did not reply to your individual posts. They either pertained to some kind of infinite combo that I can not do, or bumped into one or another rule that prohibits me from using your advice. I appreciate your advice though, and there were a lot of good ideas in this thread.
I apologize for not keeping on top of this thread! I forgot to put all of the rules of my commander league and a lot of your suggestions were very helpful but I could not use most of them.
I will type out the full rules of my commander league. (I will type what combos this was designed for in parenthesis)
If a player would start a chain of events know as an "infinite combo" a player is subjected to a "Combo Cap", a combo is considered two cards that interact with each other to potentially produce a desired loop or chain of the same actions or effect. All of these caps are per round, so from the active player who is doing the combo until his next upkeep (extra turns do not count for this, every other player must have at least 1 turn)
You can not have more than 500 life. (Various)
You can not mill or exile more than 20 cards from someones library. (This Includes Gravestorm / Oona, etc / Helm Combo)
You can not draw more than 20 cards, or force someone to draw more than 20 cards. (Lab Maniac / Mind over Matter)
You can not take more than 3 turns (Including your first one). (General Blue Players)
You can not produce more than 20 tokens. (Ghave)
You can not produce more than 20 mana. (Any infinite mana combo)
If you would deal infinite damage, or infinite loss of life, instead you may kill the player of your choice, and reduce everyone else's life total to 1. (Tendrills / Kiki / Etc)
We also have a house ban list
------------------------------
Karn, Liberated
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Oloro, The Ageless Aesthetic
Demonic Consultation
Arcum Dagsson
Edit: I will update my origional post for everyone
I am having an extremely difficult time keeping up with my play group, we play in a 4 man pod for points for a ranked league. I am currently on top of the league but I am having trouble staying on top of the mountain. Everyone is focusing me because they know I am in first, and I can't get away with things that I normally could. I am beset with a strip or tech edge on turn 2-3, constant board wipes, board aggro, and counter spells. I need to play something that is resilient and fast enough to kill 3 people. The decks I usually have to play against are as followed
Karador (strip locks / recur cmc 2-5 utility creatures that pop artifacts/enchantments)
Rafiq (If he stays in play for longer than a turn, you get 1 shot / general voltron / counterspells)
Animar (Super dump your hand aggro, get hit for a large animar very early)
Drana (Super voltron, some staxx, get punched for 8 or 9 every turn)
I usually switch between a Staxx Xiahou Dun that usually lands a turn 2 braids or Smokestack, but when I don't land these, I tend to get focused before I can set anything up and lose, and Mayael the Anima, which hasn't been doing so well because I can't keep her in play, or keep lands in play long enough to use her ability. The few games that I do get to resolve a tooth'n'nail entwined, or use her ability, I usually win a turn or two later. I also have an Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck, but I have a very hard time winning with it because our play group uses combo caps.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Commander League Season 4 Rules
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
If a player would start a chain of events know as an "infinite combo" a player is subjected to a "Combo Cap", a combo is considered two cards that interact with each other to potentially produce a desired loop or chain of the same actions or effect. All of these caps are per round, so from the active player who is doing the combo until his next upkeep (extra turns do not count for this, every other player must have at least 1 turn)
You can not have more than 500 life. (Various)
You can not mill or exile more than 20 cards from someones library. (This Includes Gravestorm / Oona, etc / Helm Combo)
You can not draw more than 20 cards, or force someone to draw more than 20 cards. (Lab Maniac / Mind over Matter)
You can not take more than 3 turns (Including your first one). (General Blue Players)
You can not produce more than 20 tokens. (Ghave)
You can not produce more than 20 mana. (Any infinite mana combo)
If you would deal infinite damage, or infinite loss of life, instead you may kill the player of your choice, and reduce everyone else's life total to 1. (Tendrills / Kiki / Etc)
We also have a house ban list
------------------------------
Karn, Liberated
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Oloro, The Ageless Aesthetic
Demonic Consultation
Arcum Dagsson
Does anyone have any suggestions? I basically need a commander fast enough to be able to affect the board state on turn 3, resilient enough to not need the commander if it gets spot removed or tucked. And good enough to be able to 1v3.
Commanders I have tried
-------------------------
Xiahou Dun
Mayael The Anima
Azami Lady of Scrolls
Marath of the Wild
Damia
Sigarda
Omnath
Maelstrom Wanderer
Budget isn't a huge issue, my entire commander collection is probably worth like 10k, I own a Mana Crypt, and I have about 100$ to blow on a new idea.
For personal reasons, I do not want to play the following as commanders:
---------
Glissa
Animar
Karador
Rafiq
Edric
Derevi
Roon
Kozilek
Kaalia
Xiahou Dun
Mayael The Anima
Azami Lady of Scrolls
Marath of the Wild
Damia
Vorosh
Mimeoplasm
Sigarda
Omnath
Maelstrom Wanderer
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Although if someone presents me with a unique build I have not tried for the above, I would be willing to give it a shot!
So yeah! That's about it, any help or suggestions would be great, thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you guys get back to me! Sorry about some of the grammatical errors, I wrote this kind of fast on my way to work.
In all honesty, I was just scared to play anything big because I knew the second I did, the 4 other people sitting at the table would just kill me. People tend to get really scared when you play a huge fatty and they just instantly assume that you are going to swing it at them, and then I end up dying. I wanted to wait untill the coast was clear so I could wrestle board control and win without any incidents. However, that didn't really work either I managed to sneak in a quick kill with blightsteel lightning greaves, and I got another person dead because they were getting fireballed for lethal and they tapped out to counter it, and I just countered their counter. Then the remaining two just ganged up on me and I died.
Your suggestions have really helped me out quite a bit. Today was a great success and I came in third. Bouncing Venser with Crystal Shard is nuts! I also used it to evacuate braids over and over again, she only went back to the command zone 1 time. I had a difficult time ending the game though. The game ended up lasting 4 hours long! I ended up running out of flash enablers and sitting on a fat hand of sorceries that I couldn't use to save myself.
Thada was really good, I managed to steal 3 sol rings with her before she got blown up. I am leaning heavily towards her as my next commander if Braids starts to garner me more aggro than she is worth.
On the NBL thing... one of the strengths of single color decks is access to the mana-doublers. You are really shooting yourself in the foot by playing NBLs that are not extremely valuable to the deck.
I am not a fan of High Tide in EDH, outside of combo decks. If you are not trying to win that turn, you are losing a card to ramp into someone's board wipe.
I highly recommend Worn Powerstone. It is far better than the two mana rocks that tap for one, unless you are really trying to hit 4-drops on turn three. Even with Braids as a four mana commander, I don't think that is your goal. Powerstone shave two turns off of your high end spells at the cost of only one card. Also on the ramp note, do you have access to Grim Monolith? That is nuts good in blue decks, and I think with that and Crypt on board you will quickly forget you ever thought about cutting Tezz.
Cutting Arcanis for a flash-enabler in counterintuitive in my mind, unless the dude was just not panning out. Flashing in Arcanis is exactly what you want to do with him. The more flash you run, the better he gets.
Oh, probably play Thada Adel, Acquisitor. I use her as my commander in my blue deck. Just an insaaaane ability to have tacked onto islandwalk.
If you are running Sculpting Steel, probably consider Copy Artifact, as, while not as tutorable, is a bit better in mono blue.
Vedalken Shackles is another killer blue card that rewards a high basic count and works well with Tezz.
Braids doesn't let you drop Omniscience, which makes me sad-face, but it is still worth considering, especially since you aim to ramp high and drop high-payoff spells.
With Omniscience still on the mind, and you desire for more card advantage, consider looking into Future Sight and Magus of the Future. Both very strong and deserving of testing/inclusion on their own, but holy Jesus, break out the victory champagne with Omni. Regardless, but are excellent sources of card advantage.
As for straight draw, it looks like Rec Insight was already covered, so I'll pitch Stroke of Genius, Blue Sun's Zenith, and Braingeyser as X spells, along with Myojin of Seeing Winds (which sadly does not work with Braids). Now, all of these may work btter in a Thada deck, as it consistently ramps better, so you'll have to test to see if they are worth it here. However, if you are not sold on Braids, and are trying to simply make "mono blue, drop fat stuff", I would heavily recommend switching your general to Thada, as she is basically a one-sided Braids that feasts off of people playing Islands. To elaborate, she steals all fo the Sol Rings and Mana Crypts form the board, then the Gilded Lotuses and Thran Dynamos, then you have all of the mana and can play all of the cards. Plus she is card advantage by neeting you stuff from your opponents decks, allowing you to hold your cards to respond to their attempts to deal with her.
Another very good card for you is Amnesia, whose effect is clearly good, but even better when it makes your opponents not have cards to use off of Braids.
Potential cuts in my minds are (and some of these seem like very solid place holder/filler cards, just not 100% up to snuff IMO):
Mindslaver---> not as good as it should be; makes people hate you
Disk---> most decks worth their salt will just blow it up before it becomes active, also makes you the target of everyone with board presence
Hellkite---> Ok, just not quite strong enough IMO
Duplicant---> Very solid filler, but not top tier
Wurmcoil Engine---> Same as Duplicant. Very solid for now.
Treasure Mage---> Eh, underwhelming tutor. You play a wide enough variety of high cost threats that you don't need to waste a card to silver-bullet them
Chancellor---> So situational, not very tutorable in blue
Sphinx Ambassador----> I like it as a random beater in non-competitive decks (and some competitive decks, too), but not here
Chain of Vapor---> Losing all the benefits of Braids by filling your hand with low-quality cards to deal with her
High Tide---> Terrible card advantage, you aren't a combo deck
Peel---> Same as Chain. Capsize and Crystal Shard effects do this much better, and allow you to keep abusing ETB effects.
Time Stop---> Seems worse than running a Time Warp in its place
Evacuation---> Again, definitely not first on the chopping block, but tends to play its way out of tuned decks
Wash Out---> Same as Evacuation
Time Spiral---> I don't like cards that help my opponents. More opponents than there are us, so helping 3 players at the cost of helping you is bad.
I want to cover the counters in one section:
Arcane Denial---> GREAT counter in decks that run blue as an additional color. Mono blue simply has better options
Dream Fracture---> Ok, but subpar counter
Scattering Stroke---> If you don't have a Mana Drain, don't play a bad version out of envy ;P
Counters to consider (I'm assuming no access to Force of Will or Mana Drain given the other choices): Spell Burst this card absolutely locks out games Hinder you already play Crumple, this guy is better (I tend to find the GY easier to reuse than the library, and option to put on to can win games) Glen Elendra Archmage 100% business 100% of the time. One of the best blue cards in EDH, if pressed I would guess top-5. Spelljack just sooooo damn good. High CMC for a counter, but worth it, especially with the plethora of cheaper counters at your disposal. Commandeer two cards is a steep price to pay, but you can hardcast it, too. And it is one of the biggest blowout cards available. Snapcaster Mage may not technically be a counter, but he is if you want.
Sorry about how disorderly this is, I kinda stream-of-consciousnessed it
Yeah this new format is total butts.
I have a mana crypt, I just dont have a good proxy for it and I dislike playing with actual paper cards worth more than 100$, I can play with a crappy proxy until I pick one up though.
How many islands do you think I should run? and out of the NBL that I am running, which ones do you think I should cut?
You can be brutally honest about some of these, I think some of them are absolute garbage, but maybe you know something I don't ?
I like high tide because it lets me t4 drop a caged sun, or gauntlet of power, or all kinds of shenanigans, but it does feel like a dead draw and accelerating that fast that early for something that just gets blown up does seem bad, ill cut high tide.
I cut Arcanis the Omnipotent because he seemed a bit too expensive at 6 mana. No other real reason other than to try and get my curve down a little bit. I could put him back in there.
I had Thada Adel, Acquisitor in the deck at a very early stage of its development, but I cut her since she didn't really fit the theme of what I was doing. I really like her and haven't been able to use her, but stealing everyone elses oblivion stone and Sol Ring seems pretty good. I will have to find a spot for her.
I really like Karn Liberated, but nothing in my deck tutors for him, and I can't Braids trigger him out. I wish he was an artifact planeswalker....
I don't own Vedalken Shackles, but it seems really good, aren't they expensive? I like the idea of letting other people get Braids triggers just so I can steal the guy they play.
Omniscience is banned for this league. We have a community ban/vote list that everyone takes part in every week. Ulamog and Blightsteel Collosus are probably gonna hit that list next, but I will abuse them for as long as I can.
I may or may not switch from Braids to other generals, I just kind of want to play Braids because she seems like she could be abused very hard, or if I feel like screwing around I could let the triggers pass around the table. I like the idea of being political with Vanishing and not blinking it until I hit someones upkeep that I don't like. I was thinking of actually running more counter spells and making Venser or Teferi my commander, both seem very strong and let me play a super bunker down version of control. I didn't even think about using Thada in a braids like fashion, I might go in that direction if people start insta gibbing me just for playing Braids.
Amnesia is pretty cool, I am not sure if it would fit in here since it only hits one person. I play in 4-7 man pods usually.
Potential Cuts: Defended Mindslaver---> I like mindslaver locking other people, it makes it a bit more fair when the whole table is trying to kill you, atleast with this I can braids trigger in stuff for my new ally and 2vTable. Disk---> Fair Enough, on the cut list. Hellkite---> I agree, but if im cutting disk, O-stone will be my only board wipe effect. Duplicant---> Agreed, but what about removal? Wurmcoil Engine---> Agreed, is lifelink unnecessary then? Treasure Mage---> If Im cutting Hellkite, Duplicant and Wurmcoil, whats the point of treasure mage? Cut Chancellor---> point made, cut Sphinx Ambassador----> I just like the idea of stealing creatures with him, because no one is going to guess right ever. Chain of Vapor---> I was thinking about it in more of a, let everyone get braids triggers, bounce their neat *****, get them to sac a land getting rid of my thing, just to have it be braids back in again. High Tide---> Okay, cut Peel---> Already been cut. Time Stop---> It seemed clunky. Evacuation---> Wont cut it unless I have to then. Wash Out---> Same as Evacuation Time Spiral---> Time Spiral + mana doublers = essentially an extra turn, plus it refills my hand and disrupts others. Same reason I run Rewind too.
How do you think my counterspell spread should be? something like this?
Its okay that your post was disorganized, I need to update my deck list to better reflect what is actually in there and make a bunch of cuts based on yours and ISP's advice. Thank you very much, I will post next time I update my list.
Wincons
2 Blood Artist
2 Goblin Bombardment
2 Zulaport Cutthroat
3 Beastmaster Ascension
3 Food Chain
3 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Ogre Battledriver
4 Purphoros, God of the forge
4 Sarkhan Vol
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
7 Tooth and Nail
7 vicious shadows
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
Infinite mana
3 Phyrexian Altar
3 Ashnod's Altar
Token Makers
3 Awakening Zone
3 Ophiomancer
4 Xenagos, the Reveler
7 Avenger of Zendikar
0 Mana Crypt
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Sol Ring
2 Farseek
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Wood Elves
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Solemn Simulacrum
Dig/tutor/draw
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Skullclamp
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Survival of the Fittest
2 Sylvan Library
3 Catacomb Sifter
3 Chord of Calling
3 Fecundity
3 Phyrexian Arena
5 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
5 Skullmulcher
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
2 Terminate
3 Chaos Warp
3 Krosan Grip
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Putrefy
3 Reclamation Sage
3 Toxic Deluge
3 beast within
5 acidic slime
5 dictate of erebos
utility
2 regrowth
3 eternal witness
4 anger
38 lands
Changelog
7/12 -Stalking Vengeance // +Sarkhan Vol
Heck yeah, Run like Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, Grim Tutor, Shred Memory to tutor up corpse dance.
Use Phyrexian Tower, High Market, Disciple of Griselbrand, Miren of the Moaning Well, Altar of Phyrexia, Altar of Dementia to sac the crap out of her.
Get there with dark ritual, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, Caged Sun, Crypt Ghast, Nirkhana Revenant, Cabal Coffers.
I could run stuff like, Entomb, Exhume, Reanimate, Corpse Connoisseur, Buried Alive, Dance of the Dead, Corpse Dance, Necromancy, Animate Dead
I really like Kokusho as a commander, because worst case scenario, I am going to hook a sword to her and hit someone for a lot, or they are going to spot remove her and give the advantage anyway.
http://mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17093
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/203612-commander-rulings-faq
I don't see anything that says she is completely banned.
Could you link me to where it says its banned officially?
This all sounds like really solid advice. I might have to give Teeg a try, I played Sigarda voltron for a while, and I found that I was killing one person, and then running out of gas and dying to everyone else, but I played Teeg in it, and was always glad to have it in play.
I think I would like to play the arm's race. Our commander league places people in pods based on skill level, so its me, and the shop owner, and 2 other people who have clawed their way up usually. If they are good enough to be at the head table, they should have the drive and the motivation to strive to do better, and they usually do. I don't think I will be alienated, probably get focused more, but if I can handle everyone's aggro and still live, then it wont matter. Part of playing at the head table is education. If you've clawed your way up through everyone else's casual commander decks, then you get to learn how to play against real decks as well. I would like to think there is a certain point where combo caps keep the arms race from getting completely degenerate, and if it does, we can always add more caps.
I don't see anywhere that Braids is banned completely.
I really like these suggestions, I have been mulling a black/white staxx / control deck around in my head for a while, using Humility, Braids, Hokori, Elspeth, Skullclamp, Smokestack, stuff like that, and grinding the game out to hard cast a big exsanguinate or debt to the debtless off a late game coffers. I should play a worb b/w or esper deck maybe? or is green too good? I could play b/w/g or maybe go 5 color and just not play red? but I feel the land base for 5 color decks is too vulnerable to strip locks.
(quote) everyone else (/quote)
I apologize if I did not reply to your individual posts. They either pertained to some kind of infinite combo that I can not do, or bumped into one or another rule that prohibits me from using your advice. I appreciate your advice though, and there were a lot of good ideas in this thread.
I will type out the full rules of my commander league. (I will type what combos this was designed for in parenthesis)
If a player would start a chain of events know as an "infinite combo" a player is subjected to a "Combo Cap", a combo is considered two cards that interact with each other to potentially produce a desired loop or chain of the same actions or effect. All of these caps are per round, so from the active player who is doing the combo until his next upkeep (extra turns do not count for this, every other player must have at least 1 turn)
You can not have more than 500 life. (Various)
You can not mill or exile more than 20 cards from someones library. (This Includes Gravestorm / Oona, etc / Helm Combo)
You can not draw more than 20 cards, or force someone to draw more than 20 cards. (Lab Maniac / Mind over Matter)
You can not take more than 3 turns (Including your first one). (General Blue Players)
You can not produce more than 20 tokens. (Ghave)
You can not produce more than 20 mana. (Any infinite mana combo)
If you would deal infinite damage, or infinite loss of life, instead you may kill the player of your choice, and reduce everyone else's life total to 1. (Tendrills / Kiki / Etc)
We also have a house ban list
------------------------------
Karn, Liberated
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Oloro, The Ageless Aesthetic
Demonic Consultation
Arcum Dagsson
Edit: I will update my origional post for everyone
Karador (strip locks / recur cmc 2-5 utility creatures that pop artifacts/enchantments)
Rafiq (If he stays in play for longer than a turn, you get 1 shot / general voltron / counterspells)
Animar (Super dump your hand aggro, get hit for a large animar very early)
Drana (Super voltron, some staxx, get punched for 8 or 9 every turn)
I usually switch between a Staxx Xiahou Dun that usually lands a turn 2 braids or Smokestack, but when I don't land these, I tend to get focused before I can set anything up and lose, and Mayael the Anima, which hasn't been doing so well because I can't keep her in play, or keep lands in play long enough to use her ability. The few games that I do get to resolve a tooth'n'nail entwined, or use her ability, I usually win a turn or two later. I also have an Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck, but I have a very hard time winning with it because our play group uses combo caps.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Commander League Season 4 Rules
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
If a player would start a chain of events know as an "infinite combo" a player is subjected to a "Combo Cap", a combo is considered two cards that interact with each other to potentially produce a desired loop or chain of the same actions or effect. All of these caps are per round, so from the active player who is doing the combo until his next upkeep (extra turns do not count for this, every other player must have at least 1 turn)
You can not have more than 500 life. (Various)
You can not mill or exile more than 20 cards from someones library. (This Includes Gravestorm / Oona, etc / Helm Combo)
You can not draw more than 20 cards, or force someone to draw more than 20 cards. (Lab Maniac / Mind over Matter)
You can not take more than 3 turns (Including your first one). (General Blue Players)
You can not produce more than 20 tokens. (Ghave)
You can not produce more than 20 mana. (Any infinite mana combo)
If you would deal infinite damage, or infinite loss of life, instead you may kill the player of your choice, and reduce everyone else's life total to 1. (Tendrills / Kiki / Etc)
We also have a house ban list
------------------------------
Karn, Liberated
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Oloro, The Ageless Aesthetic
Demonic Consultation
Arcum Dagsson
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Does anyone have any suggestions? I basically need a commander fast enough to be able to affect the board state on turn 3, resilient enough to not need the commander if it gets spot removed or tucked. And good enough to be able to 1v3.
Commanders I have tried
-------------------------
Xiahou Dun
Mayael The Anima
Azami Lady of Scrolls
Marath of the Wild
Damia
Sigarda
Omnath
Maelstrom Wanderer
Budget isn't a huge issue, my entire commander collection is probably worth like 10k, I own a Mana Crypt, and I have about 100$ to blow on a new idea.
For personal reasons, I do not want to play the following as commanders:
---------
Glissa
Animar
Karador
Rafiq
Edric
Derevi
Roon
Kozilek
Kaalia
Xiahou Dun
Mayael The Anima
Azami Lady of Scrolls
Marath of the Wild
Damia
Vorosh
Mimeoplasm
Sigarda
Omnath
Maelstrom Wanderer
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Although if someone presents me with a unique build I have not tried for the above, I would be willing to give it a shot!
So yeah! That's about it, any help or suggestions would be great, thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you guys get back to me! Sorry about some of the grammatical errors, I wrote this kind of fast on my way to work.
Arcanis, The Omnipotent --> Fatespinner
Buried Ruin --> Island
Thespian's Stage --> Island
Your suggestions have really helped me out quite a bit. Today was a great success and I came in third. Bouncing Venser with Crystal Shard is nuts! I also used it to evacuate braids over and over again, she only went back to the command zone 1 time. I had a difficult time ending the game though. The game ended up lasting 4 hours long! I ended up running out of flash enablers and sitting on a fat hand of sorceries that I couldn't use to save myself.
Thada was really good, I managed to steal 3 sol rings with her before she got blown up. I am leaning heavily towards her as my next commander if Braids starts to garner me more aggro than she is worth.
Scattering Stroke --> Glen Elendra Archmage
Time Stop --> Time Warp
High Tide --> Arcanis The Omnipotent
Arcane Denial --> Spell Burst
Dream Fracture --> Hinder
Chancellor of the Spires --> Recurring Insight
Chain of Vapor --> Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Treasure Mage --> Blue Sun's Zenith
Mana Crypt --> Sphinx Ambassador
Duplicant --> Karn Liberated
Steel Hellkite --> Wayfarer's Bauble
Wurmcoil Enginge--> Everflowing Chalice
Yeah this new format is total butts.
I have a mana crypt, I just dont have a good proxy for it and I dislike playing with actual paper cards worth more than 100$, I can play with a crappy proxy until I pick one up though.
How many islands do you think I should run? and out of the NBL that I am running, which ones do you think I should cut?
0 Thespian's Stage
0 Maze of Ith
0 Strip Mine
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Academy Ruins
0 Tolaria West
0 Buried Ruin
0 Eye of Ugin
0 Winding Canyons
27 Island
What do you think of these lands?
0 Vesuva
0 Halimar Depths
0 Dark Depths
0 Mystifying Maze
0 Phyrexia's Core
0 High Market
0 Faerie Conclave
0 Lonely Sandbar
0 Cavern of Souls
0 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
0 Ghost Quarter
0 Crystal Vein
0 Temple of the False God
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Encroaching Wastes
0 Terramorphic Expanse
0 Evolving Wilds
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Glacial Chasm
0 Homeword Path
0 Rogue's Passage
0 Inkmoth Nexus
0 Darksteel Citadel
0 Haunted Fengraf
You can be brutally honest about some of these, I think some of them are absolute garbage, but maybe you know something I don't ?
I like high tide because it lets me t4 drop a caged sun, or gauntlet of power, or all kinds of shenanigans, but it does feel like a dead draw and accelerating that fast that early for something that just gets blown up does seem bad, ill cut high tide.
I don't own a worn powerstone or a Grim Monolith, what do you think of Basalt Monolith? I could probably pick up all three, I have about 50$ to blow on this deck.
I cut Arcanis the Omnipotent because he seemed a bit too expensive at 6 mana. No other real reason other than to try and get my curve down a little bit. I could put him back in there.
I had Thada Adel, Acquisitor in the deck at a very early stage of its development, but I cut her since she didn't really fit the theme of what I was doing. I really like her and haven't been able to use her, but stealing everyone elses oblivion stone and Sol Ring seems pretty good. I will have to find a spot for her.
I don't own scultping steel or copy artifact, do you think they both warrant being purchased?
I really like Karn Liberated, but nothing in my deck tutors for him, and I can't Braids trigger him out. I wish he was an artifact planeswalker....
I don't own Vedalken Shackles, but it seems really good, aren't they expensive? I like the idea of letting other people get Braids triggers just so I can steal the guy they play.
Omniscience is banned for this league. We have a community ban/vote list that everyone takes part in every week. Ulamog and Blightsteel Collosus are probably gonna hit that list next, but I will abuse them for as long as I can.
Do you think Magus of the Future, and Future Sight are really worth it without Omniscience? I can see Magus of the Future yeah, but maybe not so much Future Sight. Enchantments are kind of bad in this deck?
I may or may not switch from Braids to other generals, I just kind of want to play Braids because she seems like she could be abused very hard, or if I feel like screwing around I could let the triggers pass around the table. I like the idea of being political with Vanishing and not blinking it until I hit someones upkeep that I don't like. I was thinking of actually running more counter spells and making Venser or Teferi my commander, both seem very strong and let me play a super bunker down version of control. I didn't even think about using Thada in a braids like fashion, I might go in that direction if people start insta gibbing me just for playing Braids.
Amnesia is pretty cool, I am not sure if it would fit in here since it only hits one person. I play in 4-7 man pods usually.
Potential Cuts: Defended
Mindslaver---> I like mindslaver locking other people, it makes it a bit more fair when the whole table is trying to kill you, atleast with this I can braids trigger in stuff for my new ally and 2vTable.
Disk---> Fair Enough, on the cut list.
Hellkite---> I agree, but if im cutting disk, O-stone will be my only board wipe effect.
Duplicant---> Agreed, but what about removal?
Wurmcoil Engine---> Agreed, is lifelink unnecessary then?
Treasure Mage---> If Im cutting Hellkite, Duplicant and Wurmcoil, whats the point of treasure mage? Cut
Chancellor---> point made, cut
Sphinx Ambassador----> I just like the idea of stealing creatures with him, because no one is going to guess right ever.
Chain of Vapor---> I was thinking about it in more of a, let everyone get braids triggers, bounce their neat *****, get them to sac a land getting rid of my thing, just to have it be braids back in again.
High Tide---> Okay, cut
Peel---> Already been cut.
Time Stop---> It seemed clunky.
Evacuation---> Wont cut it unless I have to then.
Wash Out---> Same as Evacuation
Time Spiral---> Time Spiral + mana doublers = essentially an extra turn, plus it refills my hand and disrupts others. Same reason I run Rewind too.
How do you think my counterspell spread should be? something like this?
0 Pact of Negation
1 Spell Burst
2 Counterspell
3 Spell Crumple
3 Hinder
4 Rewind
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Memory Lapse
3 Forbid
5 Desertion
Should I just Treasure Mage --> Snapcaster?
What do you think of spells like: Brainstorm, Preordain, Ponder, Sleight of Hand, etc etc
Its okay that your post was disorganized, I need to update my deck list to better reflect what is actually in there and make a bunch of cuts based on yours and ISP's advice. Thank you very much, I will post next time I update my list.
My current ramp package looks something like this
1 High Tide
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
3 Extraplanar Lens
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
5 Gilded Lotus
5 Gauntlet of Power
6 Caged Sun
What cards do you think I should cut from my deck to accommodate more? I want to put Everflowing Chalice,Wayfarer's Bauble, Mindstone and maybe Sky Diamond in here. How much ramp do you think I need? Is caged sun too expensive? Should I run Mana Crypt?