I set out to make a hardcore lifegain deck, just to see how silly lifegain can get. I routinely gain upwards of 100 life each time I play the deck and originally, I had Karlov as the Commander. I found, however, that I was too often ending the game with 10/10+ Karlov swings way, way too fast. I wanted more of a grindy, Orzhov life-tax deck, so I switched it to Kambal and put Karlov into the 99. He's still utterly terrifying when he hits the board.
All that said, Soul Sisters, Authority of the Consul, Blind Obedience, cheap beaters with Lifelink...anything that gets you separate lifegain triggers on your turn, your opponent's turn, in combat, etc... Then just play things to make him unblockable, like Key to the City, Rogue's Passage and Whispersilk Cloak. You'll be surprised how little help he needs to be incredibly lethal incredibly fast.
Oh, yes. Grixis control is a deck. You have common 5/5 and 6/4 6-drops that cycle, tons of removal and good cycling interactions throughout all three colors. An 18-land 3-color deck with 8+ cycling cards is totally doable, even without fixing, if you cycle aggressively, have a good top-end and enough early speed bumps to keep you in decent shape until turn 7-8.
Poor sportsmanship is what makes me want to "flip a table." I'm more likely, however, to just scoop and walk out.
This actually happened awhile back, where a guy had been consistently salty when losing, while also trying to build decks to either be hyper-competitive combo or trollish level of stax control. The playgroup is generally pretty chill, but we definitely would give him grief when he would spend 20 minutes trying to combo out, only to fail. Well, after one of these particular games, a lengthy, angry rant ensued and yeah, I just scooped, packed up and bailed. This is a game, y'all. Play it to unwind and have fun.
Of all my decks, I think I've kept it together longest because it's so fun to play and the Seance gets me pretty absurd value once I get an engine online and isn't bad even if I just get one or two triggers out of it.
I made an Akiri, Line-Slinger/Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder artifact-centric aggressive commander damage deck that I would never even try to build without the Key. Whispersilk Cloak is in there, but Shroud makes Bruse less of a factor. I also have Rogue's Passage in there, but the up-front cost can be prohibitive. Plus, I run a ton of mana rocks, so the key lets me ditch unnecessary lands to try to get more artifact fuel.
There's a huge distinction I haven't seen mentioned here as well: playing at a LGS in a game store setting vs. playing at a buddy's house with friends. Our game store has pods with a $1 entry and you get like $1 per kill. So, there is an entry fee, but not much as far as prize support. SOME people see this as a cheap way to get some 4-player games in. They want to be able to play a more casual format and may not have a consistent playgroup. Meanwhile, SOME people see anything with an entry fee in a shop setting as a competitive environment. So those people bring decks ready to smash. They'll be happy with the wins and just as often happy losing a 3v1 archenemy game or if they happen to end up in a pod with one or more other tuned decks. The friction comes with the mixing of the groups. It's why I stopped playing shop edh.
The group I play with is pretty consistent in playstyle and deck construction. We have some house rules. The guy who played Derevi stax got bored with it pretty quickly when he either locked us all out or got spiked out of the game in 3v1 after 3v1 games. It self corrects, if you have a group of healthy-minded, rational people.
There has been one guy who was shunned from the group after too many butthurts and emotional outbursts. Ironically, he was the one trying to go cutthroat and build combo-heavy decks. He took losses too personally and couldn't adapt to the group's "social contract." So with that said, I would say yes, some people are just hardwired to be ultra-competitive. Depending on the philosophical gap and capabilities of the players, either the player adapts to the group, the group adapts to the players, or the misfit moves on.
Any way you slice it, I don't think you can say any philosophy is wrong and I don't believe in a "spirit of edh." Some people say tomayto and some people say tomahto.
I personally don't understand why anyone wouldn't try to hate out group hug from the start. In a 4-player game, you have 3 opponents. So anything group hug does that is symmetrical helps you, yes, but it also helps your 3 opponents equally. That's 3 times more resources than you're accumulating. Add to that the fact that the group hug player built the deck specifically to function against that resource glut and it just doesn't make sense to me why the other three players would try to attack each other instead of the guy helping three opponents.
That being said, yes, combo and big, splashy finishers are the best ways to go. Insurrection in a creature-heavy meta or some kind of Tooth and Nail shenanigans. And if someone like me is at the table and you don't have the Prison effects, you're going to wish you had.
Map is really, really good. It just does too many things for too little investment to ignore. Turn 2 Revolt is incredibly powerful in a number of decks. Also, I've found that relying on combat to enable Revolt is really difficult if you're playing against a competent player. Improvise is also a real mechanic. Fen Crawler, Hasty Giant and Hexproof dude are all very relevant and the map pushes them all out 1 turn earlier, before it thins your deck in the late game.
I just played against someone who kept a 2-lander with map and Renegade Rallier and some random 2 drop I don't remember. Map into bear into sac map for his third land into Rallier, bringing back map into sac map and harpooner my dude (I had removal) was just so brutal.
Also, the activated ability can only be Stifled and the like. Normal counterspells don't work. Since the rules committee decided to change how "tucking" works for commanders, Derevi is essentially unstoppable. You pretty much have to play things like Pithing Needle and have ample removal to keep Derevi from taking over a game.
Dunno about your meta, but mine has fetches, tutors, extra-turns shenanigans... stranglehold shuts all of that right down. If you're trying to beat down strategically, disabling tutors and things like Sunforger can really help. Also pretty much ruins ramp deck strategies.
Guys, guys. C'mon. It's Derevi. Once people adjust to you playing a Voltron deck, all of these suggestions are easily hated out, due to repeated commander death. The only guy who doesn't care how many times he dies is Derevi. Plus, he has pseudo-flash!
"Oh darn, you killed him again...
...end of turn, flash in Derevi. My turn? Re-equip and swing."
Plus, bant gives you Finest Hour, great acceleration and card draw to compensate for tempo loss and all the things that tutor for and cheat out equipment and auras. Oh, and the Exalted sub-theme plus the fact that Derevi flies can win you games without even really suiting up.
Let's not forget you can play little evasive dorks to accelerate with when Derevi is on board and suit up when he's not. Invisible Stalker-ish dudes.
Once again, a number of solid interactions in this deck.
In round 3, I had to play against Liliana all three games. I got rolled game 1 by turn 3 Lily. So I sided out the Howlers, Cathar and Gnarlwood Dryad for 2 Swift Spinners, Clip Wings and Loam Dryad (he was on U/B control/fliers). He couldn't kill anything with Lily anymore (though he did play t3 Oath of Lily into t4 Lily), so I was able to lay out dude after dude and overwhelm him.
4-0 in a 16-person pod at the LGS SCG Game Night. First pick was Cryptbreaker. Then I saw no relevant black cards, as the guy two to my right opened a Lily.
Jace's Scrutiny and Blessed Alliance were amazing with Ingenious Skaab. Blessed Alliance was a blowout with Stitcher's Graft. I did get to Startled Awake and immediately Not Forgotten for the old 26-mill in 2 turns. Also, Elder Deep-Fiend is really, really good.
All that said, Soul Sisters, Authority of the Consul, Blind Obedience, cheap beaters with Lifelink...anything that gets you separate lifegain triggers on your turn, your opponent's turn, in combat, etc... Then just play things to make him unblockable, like Key to the City, Rogue's Passage and Whispersilk Cloak. You'll be surprised how little help he needs to be incredibly lethal incredibly fast.
This actually happened awhile back, where a guy had been consistently salty when losing, while also trying to build decks to either be hyper-competitive combo or trollish level of stax control. The playgroup is generally pretty chill, but we definitely would give him grief when he would spend 20 minutes trying to combo out, only to fail. Well, after one of these particular games, a lengthy, angry rant ensued and yeah, I just scooped, packed up and bailed. This is a game, y'all. Play it to unwind and have fun.
Then there's the stuff that helps me abuse the ETBs:
Then the toolbox enablers:
Of all my decks, I think I've kept it together longest because it's so fun to play and the Seance gets me pretty absurd value once I get an engine online and isn't bad even if I just get one or two triggers out of it.
The group I play with is pretty consistent in playstyle and deck construction. We have some house rules. The guy who played Derevi stax got bored with it pretty quickly when he either locked us all out or got spiked out of the game in 3v1 after 3v1 games. It self corrects, if you have a group of healthy-minded, rational people.
There has been one guy who was shunned from the group after too many butthurts and emotional outbursts. Ironically, he was the one trying to go cutthroat and build combo-heavy decks. He took losses too personally and couldn't adapt to the group's "social contract." So with that said, I would say yes, some people are just hardwired to be ultra-competitive. Depending on the philosophical gap and capabilities of the players, either the player adapts to the group, the group adapts to the players, or the misfit moves on.
Any way you slice it, I don't think you can say any philosophy is wrong and I don't believe in a "spirit of edh." Some people say tomayto and some people say tomahto.
That being said, yes, combo and big, splashy finishers are the best ways to go. Insurrection in a creature-heavy meta or some kind of Tooth and Nail shenanigans. And if someone like me is at the table and you don't have the Prison effects, you're going to wish you had.
Only thing worse than jumping through hoops to kill hatebears is knowing that if you jump through the hoops, it's still not going to work.
I just played against someone who kept a 2-lander with map and Renegade Rallier and some random 2 drop I don't remember. Map into bear into sac map for his third land into Rallier, bringing back map into sac map and harpooner my dude (I had removal) was just so brutal.
"Oh darn, you killed him again...
...end of turn, flash in Derevi. My turn? Re-equip and swing."
Plus, bant gives you Finest Hour, great acceleration and card draw to compensate for tempo loss and all the things that tutor for and cheat out equipment and auras. Oh, and the Exalted sub-theme plus the fact that Derevi flies can win you games without even really suiting up.
Let's not forget you can play little evasive dorks to accelerate with when Derevi is on board and suit up when he's not. Invisible Stalker-ish dudes.
1 Gnarlwood Dryad
1 Sigardian Priest
1 Noose Constrictor
1 Hamlet Captain
1 Steadfast Cathar
2 Shrill Howler
3 Woodland Patrol
1 Byway Courier
2 Solitary Hunter
1 Intrepid Provisioner
1 Backwoods Survivalist
1 Faithbearer Paladin
1 Neglected Heirloom
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Grapple With the Past
1 Vessel of Ephemera
1 Woodcutter's Grit
1 Collective Effort
1 Clear Shot
1 Primal Druid
1 Crawling Sensation
1 Vessel of Nascency
1 Loam Dryad
2 Swift Spinner
1 Clip Wings
2 Confront the Unknown
1 Watcher in the Web
1 Inquisitor's Ox
1 Mournwillow
1 Boon of Emrakul
1 Wailing Ghoul
1 Graf Harvest
1 Weirded Vampire
Once again, a number of solid interactions in this deck.
In round 3, I had to play against Liliana all three games. I got rolled game 1 by turn 3 Lily. So I sided out the Howlers, Cathar and Gnarlwood Dryad for 2 Swift Spinners, Clip Wings and Loam Dryad (he was on U/B control/fliers). He couldn't kill anything with Lily anymore (though he did play t3 Oath of Lily into t4 Lily), so I was able to lay out dude after dude and overwhelm him.
1 Thraben Inspector
1 Lone Rider
1 Steadfast Cathar
1 Fogwalker
1 Tattered Haunter
1 Moorland Drifter
2 Ingenious Skaab
1 Niblis of Dusk
1 Bygone Bishop
1 Dawn Gryff
1 Advanced Stitchwing
1 Elder Deep-Fiend
1 Stitcher's Graft
2 Jace's Scrutiny
1 Not Forgotten
1 Puncturing Light
1 Convolute
1 Chilling Grasp
1 Spectral Reserves
1 Startled Awake
1 Blessed Alliance
Jace's Scrutiny and Blessed Alliance were amazing with Ingenious Skaab. Blessed Alliance was a blowout with Stitcher's Graft. I did get to Startled Awake and immediately Not Forgotten for the old 26-mill in 2 turns. Also, Elder Deep-Fiend is really, really good.