How about Pact of Negation and Force of Will as protection for the turn you go off. If you win on the spot, the cost of Pact doesn't matter anyway and you can just focus on what your deck wants to do and not care about keeping mana up.
I'm really not a fan of these sorts of cards in Commander. More importantly, though, I'm happy to give other players a chance to disrupt me when I'm going off, as more interactive magic is more fun for everyone. This is one place where I specifically choose to not optimize the deck to better serve my own philosophy of the format.
RULES
Added Rule 0: These are the official rules of Commander. Local groups are welcome to modify them as they see fit. If you’d like an exception to these rules, especially in an unfamiliar environment, please get the approval of the other players before the game begins.
Rule 13 reworded for clarification: Abilities which bring card(s) you own from outside the game into the game (such as Wishes; Spawnsire of Ulamog; Karn, the Great Creator) do not function in Commander.
This is the first update after the formation of the Commander Advisory Group, and the CAG really rose to the occasion.
“No changes” on cards doesn’t really reflect the amount of discussion that went into our decision this time. The CAG had submitted to the RC their thoughts on the Banned List and the individual cards on it, but we (meaning both the RC and CAG) agreed there is a strong reason to take no action at this time. One of the major (and unanimous) points that came out of the joint RC/CAG meeting was that we’d like to update the Commander Philosophy document before making any further Banned List changes. We’re not going to engage in any sweeping overhauls, just make the language crisper, cleaner, and more concise. We haven’t changed the core philosophy of Commander: it is and always will be primarily a social format. As we frequently say, we want it to be the best that it can be on its own terms, and one of those terms is to have it be an alternative to tournament Magic. We continue to recognize that many different play styles are valid. One of the messages that we’ll be reinforcing in the new philosophy document is that pre-game discussion to make sure everyone is on the same page is vital—which led to our adoption of Rule 0.
Rule 0 has been part of Commander philosophy for more than a decade. Urged by the CAG, we simply decided to formalize it. Making it the first rule does two things. First, it lays out the baseline rules for the format. If you want to play official Commander, the rules that follow are set in stone. This becomes important in unfamiliar environments. When you go to a large event or play with people you don’t know, we want everyone to have the same basic expectations and understanding of what they’re getting into. Second, it underscores that quality communication is one of the best ways to ensure the best possible experience.
We reworked Rule 13 due to some ongoing confusion over the “officialness” of sideboards and wish boards. While (here comes Rule 0 again) we support local groups deciding what’s best for themselves in this regard, we wanted to clarify for the broader audience that no one can force you into letting “outside the game” cards work in a different way.
The other major discussion, driven by War of the Spark, was regarding planeswalkers as commanders. We will not be changing the definition of what can be a commander to allow all planeswalkers into the command zone. The RC and CAG were also unanimous on this point.
Expect to see more from the excellent advice that the CAG is offering to the RC in the next update, coinciding with the M20 release. Until then, enjoy War of the Spark, a set chock full of Commander goodies.
Since no one has mentioned it yet, I'll put in a word for Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun. It's a cool, different sort of token deck that wants individual big tokens rather than token swarm.
On monday I was playing my Sheoldred, Whispering One deck and I had a reasonable hand, but then one of my opponents enabled me to do one of the craziest things I've ever done.
On turn 2, I played Apprentice Necromancer, and then the next player (on a Neheb 1.0 deck) played out Anvil of Bogardan.
On my next turn, I discarded Geode Golem to Anvil and then reanimated it with Apprentice Necromancer. This let me swing in and cast my 7-drop commander for free on turn 3 before anyone had a chance to set up any sort of board presence. It was hella sweet.
I like all of these, but DoDS is my least favourite of them. My personal favourite is Rakdos, the Showstopper, though. It has a much better of chance of wiping out important creatures no matter what part of the game you're in, even if the effect is unreliable.
I'm biased, though, since I've been really digging the deck I built around Rakdos in the past few weeks.
The deck looks really interesting.
I've been considering building a Yuriko deck, but I wouldn't make it quite as cut-throat. I do like the idea of topdeck manipulation with her though.
A question: How useful is Mothdust Changeling? Yes, it triggers Yuriko, but it seems otherwise unimpressive vs. another actual ninja.
Mogg Infestation is on the wish list, along with Moggcatcher. I just haven't gotten around to acquiring them. As for the other suggestions, did you read what I wrote about the rules for the deck?
Before you look at this deck, you must understand one thing and one thing only: Goblins are stupid.
I don't mean that they're worthless or incapable, I just mean that they were stuck holding the door on the day when brains were being handed out.
Because your average goblin is dumber than the bag of rocks that they haul around, they need to be told that they're a goblin pretty explicitly, and when we're talking about goblins on Magic cards, they're not even smart enough to look down at their type lines, just up at their card names.
This is a deck for those goblins.
Led by the illustrious Ib Halfheart, this ragtag group of goblin are joined together by the bond of being named exactly what they are. Even the spells they use have to explicitly call out that they're for goblins. This is no place for clever goblins like Krenko, Mob Boss or even the more keenly aware Dragon Fodder. No, this is a place for goblins that are exactly what it says on the tin, or in the card name in this case.
All joking aside, I had had the idea for this deck for several years, ever since I started to consider possibly making a proper goblin deck. But proper goblin decks are boring and samey and just end up as Krenko token piles with lots of lords and the like, and I didn't want that. Instead, I started to realize just how many goblin cards had "Goblin" in the name, or the regional variant, such as Mogg, Akki, Boggart, etc. on various planes. I figured that there had to be enough of these cards to throw together a deck that was at least not total trash and so I finally set out to do so a couple of months ago.
The rules for this deck are simple: If the card name doesn't include "Goblin" or a regional/planar variant (and isn't a basic mountain), then it can't go in the deck. It doesn't matter if the card is the best tribal goblin card ever printed, it needs to have it in the name or else it doesn't go in the deck. With that limitation in mind, I set out to make the best possible deck I could under this restriction.
Finding a commander was something of a challenge, as I wanted the commander to be a paragon of general goblin-ness and not have a regional variant in the name. This left me with three options: Squee, Goblin Nabob, Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician, and Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer. Slobad was immediately excluded from the running because he cared about artifacts, which didn't really mesh with what the deck wanted to do. Squee would have been a fine commander, but the card is rather plain and would be unlikely to be cast if there were any other option at that cost. Ib, on the other hand, is a crafty goblin, capable of leading his people to great triumph, or at least only moderate defeat, and thus he was chosen.
Is this deck any good? Heck no. But it's an awful lot of fun and a silly budget deck that's great to pull out between more serious games. It's almost killed one player, though, but it's much more likely to fold like a cheap lawn chair to the first board wipe that's cast in a game. Doesn't matter though, still gobbed.
My local playgroup is too wise to be tempted these days, and I finally got my hands on a Portal version of Nature's Lore, so yet another 2-CMC ramp spell joins the pile.
Freed from the Real can only be used to make infinite mana and doesn't have the protection/evasion/1-shot uses of Pemmin's Aura, so I cut it for a narrow but hilarious counterspell that can protect my commander.
Once I've read all the threads I want in a forum or subforum, I would like to be able to mark the rest as read, but I've only be able to get the "mark all as read" option to work on the main forum page, thus marking every thread in every forum as read, which isn't what I want. Is this a known issue or is there a way around it?
I don't want to sound rude but I looked through your lists and I think they are pretty boring. Your lists are basically just edhrec copypastas. Even your sphinx storm list is just a normal high tide list but instead of draw spells you have sphinxes. I just don't see much point in commenting on lists that are already well known on how they work and what are the best cards.
Well, you do sound rude, so maybe work on that.
I have never used EDHREC in my life, not that there's anything wrong with doing so. All of my lists have been built by hand over time. It's fine if they're not your cup of tea, but there's no need to go around calling people boring or accusing them of copying decklists. How I build decks isn't for everyone, but I like to think that I don't just follow the herd even if I do have access to more expensive cards thanks to my long history with the game.
With quite a bit of life loss it would be nice to have a more life gain. Disciple of Bolas would be great and you can even combine it with Rakdos, the Showstopper if you wanted to recast him. With Oversold Cemetery and Blood Speaker it's nice to have a way of killing your own creatures for value.
I don't find myself getting too short on life with this deck, so the life gain from Whip and value Exsanguinates is usually more than enough. Disciple of Bolas wouldn't work for the deck as it's not a demon, devil, or imp and doesn't interact with any of those types. I also don't really need sacrifice outlets as I don't want this deck to be a graveyard deck since I have two other graveyard decks already. I'm happy to get a bit of graveyard value but I'm happy to let my creatures die naturally.
Ob of the Black Oath isn't something I want either as only the -2 is something I'd be interested in, and I can get better value than a 5/5 flyer for 3BB.
I also started with 99 mountain Ashling and built from there. Never put it down. Still my favorite EDH deck. I'm currently at close to 60 lands. Ive ran more spells but took a lot back out. I like to dump as much mana into Ashling as possible and only use mana otherwise for essential spells that increase how threatening Ashling is. I put pressure on players early with commander/combat damage from a large Ashling but always have mana open to threaten blowing up the board and doing a lot of damage to players if me or any of my essential permanents are targeted. I play very political. My build is currently more of a rattlesnake / voltron build than a controlling one. I try to finish the game with a big burn spell via comet storm or chandra's ignition.
I like the inclusion of Walking Ballista. Going to pick one up for my deck now. I would highly recommend extraplanar lens & heartstone for your build.
Heartstone I might give a try, but I don't like the land disadvantage of Extraplanar Lens. I'm not really in the market for a 4th mana boosting effect anyway. Glad to meet another Ashling afficionado, though
I'm really not a fan of these sorts of cards in Commander. More importantly, though, I'm happy to give other players a chance to disrupt me when I'm going off, as more interactive magic is more fun for everyone. This is one place where I specifically choose to not optimize the deck to better serve my own philosophy of the format.
That was my first time getting it in a game, but I figure with a 7-cmc commander, I could use all the help i can get.
On turn 2, I played Apprentice Necromancer, and then the next player (on a Neheb 1.0 deck) played out Anvil of Bogardan.
On my next turn, I discarded Geode Golem to Anvil and then reanimated it with Apprentice Necromancer. This let me swing in and cast my 7-drop commander for free on turn 3 before anyone had a chance to set up any sort of board presence. It was hella sweet.
Fair enough. Thanks for the suggestions anyway.
I'm biased, though, since I've been really digging the deck I built around Rakdos in the past few weeks.
I've been considering building a Yuriko deck, but I wouldn't make it quite as cut-throat. I do like the idea of topdeck manipulation with her though.
A question: How useful is Mothdust Changeling? Yes, it triggers Yuriko, but it seems otherwise unimpressive vs. another actual ninja.
Yes, I should add it to the deck, I know.
I don't mean that they're worthless or incapable, I just mean that they were stuck holding the door on the day when brains were being handed out.
Because your average goblin is dumber than the bag of rocks that they haul around, they need to be told that they're a goblin pretty explicitly, and when we're talking about goblins on Magic cards, they're not even smart enough to look down at their type lines, just up at their card names.
This is a deck for those goblins.
Led by the illustrious Ib Halfheart, this ragtag group of goblin are joined together by the bond of being named exactly what they are. Even the spells they use have to explicitly call out that they're for goblins. This is no place for clever goblins like Krenko, Mob Boss or even the more keenly aware Dragon Fodder. No, this is a place for goblins that are exactly what it says on the tin, or in the card name in this case.
1x Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
Goblin _____ (47)
1x Goblin Artillery
1x Goblin Assassin
1x Goblin Assault
1x Goblin Assault Team
1x Goblin Bangchuckers
1x Goblin Banneret
1x Goblin Barrage
1x Goblin Bombardment
1x Goblin Burrows
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Goblin Caves
1x Goblin Chainwhirler
1x Goblin Charbelcher
1x Goblin Chieftain
1x Goblin Chirurgeon
1x Goblin Cratermaker
1x Goblin General
1x Goblin Goliath
1x Goblin Grenade
1x Goblin Grenadiers
1x Goblin Instigator
1x Goblin Kaboomist
1x Goblin King
1x Goblin Lookout
1x Goblin Lyre
1x Goblin Matron
1x Goblin Offensive
1x Goblin Piledriver
1x Goblin Pyromancer
1x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Goblin Rally
1x Goblin Razerunners
1x Goblin Recruiter
1x Goblin Ringleader
1x Goblin Ruinblaster
1x Goblin Scouts
1x Goblin Sharpshooter
1x Goblin Shrine
1x Goblin Soothsayer
1x Goblin Spymaster
1x Goblin Trashmaster
1x Goblin Tunneler
1x Goblin War Drums
1x Goblin War Strike
1x Goblin Warchief
1x Goblin Wardriver
1x Goblin Warrens
1x Frenzied Goblin
1x Quest for the Goblin Lord
1x Rummaging Goblin
1x Spikeshot Goblin
{Goblin} _____ (15)
1x Akki Lavarunner
1x Boggart Brute
1x Boggart Shenanigans
1x Kyren Negotiations
1x Mogg Assassin
1x Mogg Cannon
1x Mogg Infestation
1x Mogg Salvage
1x Mogg War Marshal
1x Moggcatcher
1x Skirk Commando
1x Skirk Drill Sergeant
1x Skirk Fire Marshal
1x Skirk Prospector
1x Skirk Shaman
_____ {Goblin} (1)
1x Horde of Boggarts
Where the Goblins Live (32)
32x Mountain
Oh, sorry, is that format not helpful for you? Ok, try this:
1x Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
Creature (46)
1x Frenzied Goblin
1x Goblin Banneret
1x Goblin Bushwhacker
1x Goblin Chirurgeon
1x Goblin Soothsayer
1x Skirk Prospector
1x Goblin Cratermaker
1x Goblin Instigator
1x Goblin Kaboomist
1x Goblin Lookout
1x Goblin Piledriver
1x Goblin Recruiter
1x Goblin Tunneler
1x Goblin Wardriver
1x Mogg War Marshal
1x Skirk Drill Sergeant
1x Boggart Brute
1x Goblin Artillery
1x Goblin Chainwhirler
1x Goblin Chieftain
1x Goblin General
1x Goblin King
1x Goblin Matron
1x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Goblin Ruinblaster
1x Goblin Sharpshooter
1x Goblin Spymaster
1x Goblin Warchief
1x Mogg Assassin
1x Rummaging Goblin
1x Skirk Commando
1x Skirk Shaman
1x Spikeshot Goblin
1x Akki Lavarunner
1x Goblin Assault Team
1x Goblin Bangchuckers
1x Goblin Grenadiers
1x Goblin Pyromancer
1x Goblin Razerunners
1x Goblin Ringleader
1x Goblin Trashmaster
1x Horde of Boggarts
1x Moggcatcher
1x Goblin Assassin
1x Skirk Fire Marshal
1x Goblin Goliath
1x Quest for the Goblin Lord
1x Goblin Bombardment
1x Boggart Shenanigans
1x Goblin Assault
1x Goblin Caves
1x Goblin Shrine
1x Goblin War Drums
1x Goblin Warrens
1x Kyren Negotiations
Artifact (3)
1x Mogg Cannon
1x Goblin Lyre
1x Goblin Charbelcher
Land (33)
1x Goblin Burrows
32x Mountain
Instant (1)
1x Mogg Salvage
Sorcery (7)
1x Goblin Grenade
1x Goblin War Strike
1x Goblin Offensive
1x Goblin Barrage
1x Goblin Rally
1x Goblin Scouts
1x Mogg Infestation
All joking aside, I had had the idea for this deck for several years, ever since I started to consider possibly making a proper goblin deck. But proper goblin decks are boring and samey and just end up as Krenko token piles with lots of lords and the like, and I didn't want that. Instead, I started to realize just how many goblin cards had "Goblin" in the name, or the regional variant, such as Mogg, Akki, Boggart, etc. on various planes. I figured that there had to be enough of these cards to throw together a deck that was at least not total trash and so I finally set out to do so a couple of months ago.
The rules for this deck are simple: If the card name doesn't include "Goblin" or a regional/planar variant (and isn't a basic mountain), then it can't go in the deck. It doesn't matter if the card is the best tribal goblin card ever printed, it needs to have it in the name or else it doesn't go in the deck. With that limitation in mind, I set out to make the best possible deck I could under this restriction.
Finding a commander was something of a challenge, as I wanted the commander to be a paragon of general goblin-ness and not have a regional variant in the name. This left me with three options: Squee, Goblin Nabob, Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician, and Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer. Slobad was immediately excluded from the running because he cared about artifacts, which didn't really mesh with what the deck wanted to do. Squee would have been a fine commander, but the card is rather plain and would be unlikely to be cast if there were any other option at that cost. Ib, on the other hand, is a crafty goblin, capable of leading his people to great triumph, or at least only moderate defeat, and thus he was chosen.
Is this deck any good? Heck no. But it's an awful lot of fun and a silly budget deck that's great to pull out between more serious games. It's almost killed one player, though, but it's much more likely to fold like a cheap lawn chair to the first board wipe that's cast in a game. Doesn't matter though, still gobbed.
1x Tempt with Discovery
1x Freed from the Real
1x Nature's Lore
1x Teferi's Response
My local playgroup is too wise to be tempted these days, and I finally got my hands on a Portal version of Nature's Lore, so yet another 2-CMC ramp spell joins the pile.
Freed from the Real can only be used to make infinite mana and doesn't have the protection/evasion/1-shot uses of Pemmin's Aura, so I cut it for a narrow but hilarious counterspell that can protect my commander.
Well, you do sound rude, so maybe work on that.
I have never used EDHREC in my life, not that there's anything wrong with doing so. All of my lists have been built by hand over time. It's fine if they're not your cup of tea, but there's no need to go around calling people boring or accusing them of copying decklists. How I build decks isn't for everyone, but I like to think that I don't just follow the herd even if I do have access to more expensive cards thanks to my long history with the game.
I don't find myself getting too short on life with this deck, so the life gain from Whip and value Exsanguinates is usually more than enough. Disciple of Bolas wouldn't work for the deck as it's not a demon, devil, or imp and doesn't interact with any of those types. I also don't really need sacrifice outlets as I don't want this deck to be a graveyard deck since I have two other graveyard decks already. I'm happy to get a bit of graveyard value but I'm happy to let my creatures die naturally.
Ob of the Black Oath isn't something I want either as only the -2 is something I'd be interested in, and I can get better value than a 5/5 flyer for 3BB.
Heartstone I might give a try, but I don't like the land disadvantage of Extraplanar Lens. I'm not really in the market for a 4th mana boosting effect anyway. Glad to meet another Ashling afficionado, though