Are you looking for cards to dump the occasional excess point mana, or cards that let you make good use of tons of mana at once? If the latter, Torment of Hailfire is excellent disruption that becomes a wincon with enough mana. Dread Summons is less powerful, but can still be fun.
This is a deck that focuses primarily on Najeela's second ability and largely ignores the warrior tribal. Instead, it's saboteur tribal: Play awesome creatures like Maelstrom Archangel and Medomai, the Ageless, hit the enemy for a whole barrage of triggers, then untap them and do it all again!
Going infinite as fast as possible is not the core of the strategy, but it is possible with Bear Umbra, Sword of Feast and Famine and Nature's Will. We also have three tutors to get the sword so we have it reliable, as it's one of the most powerful cards in the deck. Should it be gone, no worries, we can grab other fun stuff like Helm of the Host instead.
Did I miss any of your favorite saboteurs? Any other cards you feel are a must-have for this type of strategy? Let me know!
There's a vast amount of excellent token cards in black, it's just that black plays with tokens very differently. You don't really attack with them, you sacrifice them to trigger Blood Artist, Grave Pact, Black Market, Smothering Abomination and the like. Incidentally, I think that's a much stronger strategy in commander because you can use your tokens right away and get mileage out of them even if the enemy wipes the board.
So Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage comes out of nowhere and actually looks like a much more interesting artificer commander than Jhoira to me! Less value, maybe, but more unique - and the first dual-colored Commander that grants Flash.
The question is, how do we build him? The first thing that comes to mind are cards like Scourglass and Nevinyrral's Disk, those become much more powerful when flashed in right before you use them. The same goes for artifact-centered legends with powerful tap abilities like Arcum Dagsson and Hanna, Ship's Navigator. He's also pretty mean with controlly artifacts like Torpor Orb, flashing them in response.
Of course, he can also flash sagas and legendary sorceries, which is cool, but we won't get enough of those to fill out a deck. Legendary creature tribal might be another possibility, but I like the artificer approach more.
Any other cool interactions you can think of? I'm still considering whether there are any unique win conditions for him besides simply artifact goodstuff.
The Command Zone Podcast actually did an episode about winning with Boros, maybe it will provide some inspiration? In fact, they used an Archangel Avacyn deck as an example.
I appreciate that she's very open-ended. Considering that the Izzet artificer commander has been requested for a long time, and she's the only one we have for now, it's nice to see that she can basically support any kind of artifact strategy. Eggs and Storm may be the most optimal, but drawing cards will never not be good.
However, I agree that this also makes her a bit boring. She's good if you already had an Izzet artifact deck idea in mind and were just waiting for a Commander that actually contributed, but not so good at inspiring new ideas. Personally, I was hoping for something more tricksy and unique along the lines of Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient.
I'm currently looking to build a deck around tapping and untapping creatures for repeatable powerful abilities. Of course, I first gravitated towards Samut, Voice of Dissent and Mairsil, the Pretender as the obvious choices - however, they're so obvious (and already exist in my playgroup) that I started looking further afield.
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls caught my eye. She's not widely played, but has pretty much what I'm looking for: A very powerful ability that requires only a tap. I'm wondering whether Mardu has enough support for such a strategy though. There's a couple famously great cards like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Mother of Runes and Avatar of Woe, but that's not a deck yet.
So I'd be really grateful for further recommendations! Do you know of any more creatures with great tap abilities in Mardu colors? They can also cost mana in addition, but ideally shouldn't be too expensive.
There's also a Sultai Karador for every permanent type. That's gonna be huge, particularly because he can get more than one card per turn from the grave.
Mudu, Corrupt Tower 3UGB
Legendary Creature - Elemental Avatar
You may cast permanent cards from your graveyard on your turn. You may only cast one card of each type this way per turn.
6/6
Thanks for your great suggestions! Even though it's not a podcast, Jumbo Commander seems to be right up my alley! Loved his video about Spellslinger Ramos, I'm building that deck right now... And I didn't even know Sheldon Menery was doing a podcast, I'll certainly have to listen to that!
So I'm currently getting back into Magic after taking a bit of a break for the last few months, and I'm hungry for some really cool EDH podcasts. However, I've started to notice a very annoying trend among the most popular ones: They all take ages to get to the freaking point. Under most Command Zone videos you now find top-rated posts like 'video begins at 09:43', and some of the other popular ones are even worse! I tuned into the Mairsil episode of Commander's Brew and the Scarab God episode of Commanderin', and both hadn't even talked about the titular commander after a full 15 minutes.
Now I realize you gotta get the sponsoring out of the way first and I'm not looking for robots reading me a script with no fun or banter allowed, but I do find these casts tiresome to listen to. I checked out this episode because I found the title topic interesting, not because I wanted to hear an in-depth discussion about whether the Locust God should be banned or how you could best insult Azor's Elocutors.
However, these three seem to be the ones most frequently recommended, so I'm wondering: Am I missing out on some less well-known podcasts I might enjoy more? Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Jhoira of the Ghitu was the first legend I ever built a deck around, way before Commander was even a thing. I'll be unfairly judging the entirety of Dominaria by the quality of the new Jhoira card
If they're going to insist on complete and utter chaff, couldn't they at least have given it the Judge Promo art? That's the only version of the card you can't get for less than a dollar right now...
This is a deck that focuses primarily on Najeela's second ability and largely ignores the warrior tribal. Instead, it's saboteur tribal: Play awesome creatures like Maelstrom Archangel and Medomai, the Ageless, hit the enemy for a whole barrage of triggers, then untap them and do it all again!
Going infinite as fast as possible is not the core of the strategy, but it is possible with Bear Umbra, Sword of Feast and Famine and Nature's Will. We also have three tutors to get the sword so we have it reliable, as it's one of the most powerful cards in the deck. Should it be gone, no worries, we can grab other fun stuff like Helm of the Host instead.
Did I miss any of your favorite saboteurs? Any other cards you feel are a must-have for this type of strategy? Let me know!
1 Daxos of Meletis
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Lord of the Void
1 Maelstrom Archangel
1 Medomai the Ageless
1 Necropolis Regent
1 Nightveil Specter
1 Silent-Blade Oni
1 Sphinx Ambassador
1 Stolen Identity
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep
1 Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
Haste
1 Fervor
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Temur Ascendancy
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
Draw
1 Bident of Thassa
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Hunter's Prowess
1 Rhystic Study
Tutor
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Trophy Mage
Control
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Beast Within
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Chandra's Ignition
1 Chaos Warp
1 Decimate
1 Decree of Pain
1 Hull Breach
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Tragic Arrogance
1 Trygon Predator
1 Bear Umbra
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Cultivate
1 Farseek
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Nature's Will
1 Rampant Growth
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Sol Ring
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of the Animist
Recursion
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
1 Marchesa, the Black Rose
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Sedris, the Traitor King
1 Whip of Erebos
Other Utility
1 Blade of Selves
1 Helm of the Host
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 True Conviction
1 Whispersilk Cloak
Lands
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Brushland
1 Cascading Cataracts
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Crystal Quarry
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Exotic Orchard
4 Forest
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Hinterland Harbor
2 Island
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
1 Opulent Palace
1 Path of Ancestry
2 Plains
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Savage Lands
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Sunpetal Grove
2 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Yavimaya Coast
The question is, how do we build him? The first thing that comes to mind are cards like Scourglass and Nevinyrral's Disk, those become much more powerful when flashed in right before you use them. The same goes for artifact-centered legends with powerful tap abilities like Arcum Dagsson and Hanna, Ship's Navigator. He's also pretty mean with controlly artifacts like Torpor Orb, flashing them in response.
Of course, he can also flash sagas and legendary sorceries, which is cool, but we won't get enough of those to fill out a deck. Legendary creature tribal might be another possibility, but I like the artificer approach more.
Any other cool interactions you can think of? I'm still considering whether there are any unique win conditions for him besides simply artifact goodstuff.
However, I agree that this also makes her a bit boring. She's good if you already had an Izzet artifact deck idea in mind and were just waiting for a Commander that actually contributed, but not so good at inspiring new ideas. Personally, I was hoping for something more tricksy and unique along the lines of Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient.
I'm currently looking to build a deck around tapping and untapping creatures for repeatable powerful abilities. Of course, I first gravitated towards Samut, Voice of Dissent and Mairsil, the Pretender as the obvious choices - however, they're so obvious (and already exist in my playgroup) that I started looking further afield.
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls caught my eye. She's not widely played, but has pretty much what I'm looking for: A very powerful ability that requires only a tap. I'm wondering whether Mardu has enough support for such a strategy though. There's a couple famously great cards like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Mother of Runes and Avatar of Woe, but that's not a deck yet.
So I'd be really grateful for further recommendations! Do you know of any more creatures with great tap abilities in Mardu colors? They can also cost mana in addition, but ideally shouldn't be too expensive.
Mudu, Corrupt Tower 3UGB
Legendary Creature - Elemental Avatar
You may cast permanent cards from your graveyard on your turn. You may only cast one card of each type this way per turn.
6/6
Now I realize you gotta get the sponsoring out of the way first and I'm not looking for robots reading me a script with no fun or banter allowed, but I do find these casts tiresome to listen to. I checked out this episode because I found the title topic interesting, not because I wanted to hear an in-depth discussion about whether the Locust God should be banned or how you could best insult Azor's Elocutors.
However, these three seem to be the ones most frequently recommended, so I'm wondering: Am I missing out on some less well-known podcasts I might enjoy more? Any suggestions would be appreciated!