MTG Salvation

Well, I just got back from my local game store, and I won my first game of Commander, with the deck listed a few posts up on page 2. The bad thing though is one player was seriously dumped on during that game. He was playing Meren of Clan Nel Toth, one person was playing a Phelddagrif deck with a lot of control and pillow fort stuff, and the last player was playing The Scarab God. Phelddagrif player spent most of the game stopping the Meren player from doing anything, helping the Scarab God player, bouncing things back to everyone's hands, and getting rid of my biggest threats. The Phelddagrif player, once I had cleared the way for the Meren player to actually do something, cast a spell that instantly ended the Meren player's turn. Meren player scooped and said that he didn't like playing against a bunch of control decks, and now that he finally thought he was going to be able to play Magic, he got his turn ended. I let the P player know that what he had done was a dick move, and that I wasn't going to let it slide. Two turns after that, I cast a huge Earthquake that was lethal to everyone but me because I couldn't attack anyone because of pillow fort cards. The P player was all grins and giggles until I did that. I'm hoping he learned a lesson. I'm very happy to finally win a game, I just wish that the game had ended in a way that was fun for everyone.

I have some cards to add to this deck, so I will be doing that very soon. I'll post in a day or two when I make the changes.

Edit: I have to note here that the Meren player was very grateful to me, and asked what my name was. I told him and he looked at the other people at the table, then looked at me and said, "Gabrielle (not my real name, I told him my real name), I'd love to play with you if you're going to be here next week." Then he told me his name, and left.

On another note, what does everyone think of me eventually replacing The Immortal Sun with Chandra, Torch of Defiance once she rotates out of Standard and the price on her drops significantly? She seems to show a lot of promise, replaces all of the effects of The Immortal Sun other than stopping planeswalkers, which seem to see less play in my local meta, and might even drop down to a point where she's very affordable. Also, Earthquake performed so well last night when my creatures were locked out of attacking that I might just replace Wrath of God with it.

Thanks Toc. Again, it will be a while, likely a couple months, before I can actually get more cards for this deck, as I want to finish my Church of Avacyn control deck first. I just thought I'd post the deck now to show folks what I was playing with, and as it turns out, I think my deck might have been part of why I'm losing a lot. I'm torn though, because I also will be getting a Firesong and Sunspeaker when Dominaria comes out and want to try building a budget version of the mid-range control deck that was posted here in the forums. There's also that Maelstrom Wanderer deck I've been kicking around. Which deck do you think has the most potential to be fun/interesting/competitive? I have a budget list on the FS & SS thread that I can build, and likely will be improving the mana base of it. I've also been thinking about a more straightforward burn strategy, but I'll try what was presented first. So many decks, so little money! I'll be likely building them all eventually as funds allow. Am I absolutely insane for wanting to have TWO Boros decks, which is a rather weak color combination?

Based on the above suggestions I have modified the deck in the original post as follows:



I took out expensive equipment, added some from the suggestions that I liked, added ramp and cost reduction for equipping, and improved the mana base. There are only 14 basic lands, but that is because I have three artifact lands, two of them in colors I need. Hopefully this will be a better deck. Any further advice is welcome.

This deck looks like it will be really fun to play. One problem, I can't afford a lot of the cards in it. Is there any way to build a deck like this on a budget, or should I be looking at more of a straightforward burn/lifegain type strategy?

Yeah, I smiled when I saw a Phage build, and I almost didn't want to kill him, just to see how he got around Phage's downside (though I saw he had discarded a Platinum Angel, so that was one way). He later showed me all of his ways of getting her into play and it was really a neat deck. He's a Johnny for sure. Like I said, I almost feel bad for killing him, but after he got a Whispersilk Cloak out I started to get antsy, and I'd shown so much self control and only attacked once, just to flip my Dowsing Dagger, my inner Timmy was SCREAMING at me and I had to smash face with my angels at least once and his low life total combined with all my angels having vigilance meant I could alpha strike with no consequences. I also wanted to guarantee that I wasn't the first to die. Maybe I should have kept him in the game, but I honored the deal we had made and didn't go back on my word. My Timmy side occasionally gets in the way of rational self-control, but it was a lot of fun to declare my attack and take SOMEONE out, instead of it being me taken out quickly. We were about an hour into the game, anyway, so it's not like I stopped him from playing. I'm sure it will only get better as I finish my deck and it's more able to keep up with everyone else's.

Yes, the deck is fun, and I imagine it will be more fun when I actually have more of the control elements in place. This was at the same store, but only one of the other regulars was there last night, and he's not a bad guy. I guess the bad news is that the guy with the Phage deck also plays Mairsil, that makes two Mairsil decks in the meta... I've come to hate Mairsil, because he makes the game a lot less casual.

Like I said, I'll keep experimenting with the deck. I've only played one game with it so far, so it's hard to tell much. I just like the fact that I didn't get instantly targeted and people were complimenting me on creativity, which is in large part due to the feedback I've gotten here. I'll look for Tiana, but I think I'd have to put more equipment and auras in the deck for her to really be worth a slot. We'll see. I'll also think about Lyra, but I don't want to water down the deck any. For now I'll see how the deck shapes up and if I continue to have good experiences. I've come down with something, so I won't be going to the other store today, but I do plan on going soon. Also, I'll be picking up a few cheaper cards online that the game store didn't have.

Thanks. I also didn't think I was throwing off my curve too much with these changes either. Sword of the Animist is becoming somewhat of a pet card of mine. As I am making decklists, I find myself including it when I'm not sure what other ramp to put into a creature-based deck. It's not too hard to attack to get the ramp. I found it was no problem getting my Dowsing Dagger to flip either, with all my flying creatures. I just made sure to tell the guy I attacked, "I'm just doing this to get my ramp, then I'll leave you alone." He still targeted me anyway once he also got a big flying threat on the table, so it seems I should have chosen someone else, or else making an enemy was necessary in that situation. Also, it was just me and a group hug deck that was left, so I get why I was attacked first. The group hug deck even put a Vow of Duty on the large flyer after it had already hit me twice, and took out most of my defenses. The guy was also playing as I said a very competitive deck, it seemed, and had an enchantment out that would have destroyed attacking creatures. It paid off for group hug player, he ended up winning with Felidar Sovereign a few turns after I died. It felt so nice to not be the target from the start. It seems me changing decks made a huge difference, I'll have to see if playing this deck I get targeted less often from the start than I did with Kaalia of the Vast, or than I do with Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith. I honestly don't understand why Nazahn gets me so much more hate than Archangel Avacyn seems to. Oh well. I think I've found a deck I'm going to be playing quite often, in any event. Thanks for the advice.

I have to say I had a very enjoyable evening playing EDH. I've started to build this deck, and I'm liking it so far. I'm liking being able to flash in Archangel Avacyn to protect me from wipes, and I'm liking not being instantly targeted. I'm also liking that I'm getting compliments like, "You're brave for playing Boros because it's usually so terrible in EDH, but your deck isn't." and "I've never seen red/white played that way before." I like being the person at the table who gets complimented for having a creative deck, and not instantly swarmed. Also, the players who were there today were nice. Actually, I thought all of the decks were interesting. Only one was seriously competitive. I was playing against a funky Phage the Untouchable deck, a Phelddagrif group hug/ lifegain deck with some lifegain related win cons, and the competitive one was an Orzhov deck with big black flying creatures and equipment in it, I forget the commander, but the guy was swinging with a HUGE Bloodgift Demon with a pile of equipment and double strike. He had some mass land destruction in the deck, he discarded a Desolation Angel. I let him know that mass land destruction isn't really played in our meta and people generally didn't like it. I think the game would have been less fun if he'd played a kicked Desolation Angel, so thank goodness he didn't. He's someone I'd never played with before. Anyhow, I'll post what I was playing with, because I only have the deck partially assembled at this point:



I enjoyed playing the deck, but I could tell it wasn't tuned quite right. I decided to make a couple substitutions to the main deck list that really don't make much difference, just replacing cards I couldn't find with cards I could with the same function. I replaced Burnished Hart with Kor Cartographer, Thran Dynamo with Sword of the Animist, replaced Capashen Unicorn with Kami of Ancient Law, and I replaced Wear // Tear with Orim's Thunder. The main list will be changed to reflect that. If anyone objects strongly to Kor Cartographer, Sword of the Animist, Kami of Ancient Law or Orim's Thunder, please let me know. For all I know, I might be replacing a card with one that is far inferior. I will be updating when I replace fill-in cards with cards from the actual list with changelogs, and I'll be continuing to keep people who are interested updated on my continued experiences with this deck. It seems to fit my creature-heavy meta well so far.

I also in game found myself wanting some cards that I didn't have, and I've talked with someone with in private messages about some of these cards. This deck is a work in progress still, so I'll be adding a maybeboard and might after I get a feel for the deck and have all the pieces experiment with adding some of these cards:



What do people think of me adding Lyra Dawnbringer from Dominaria? She doesn't have vigilance, but could give my attackers a big boost and give me some life. I don't want to make any changes for a while yet, until I know more what I need and what I can do without, and seeing what the meta at the other store is like, which I'm visiting tomorrow, but are there any other cards from Dominaria I'm missing that fit into my general strategy, which is slowing down my opponents and swinging in with big creatures with vigilance (the vast majority of them being angels), with one surprise "Oops, I win" combo (Aurelia, the Warleader + Adarkar Valkyrie + Goblin Bombardment)? Big thanks to everyone, especially those who have been very kind to me in private messages. I love this community.

I've seen that one. I was sure to do lots of research before I tried to put together a Boros deck, because I had heard that they can be hard, and underpowered, and people generally just advise you not to play one. It seems to me Selesnya would make a better color combo to make a deck with... maybe with GW angels in a support role for humans.

If any card in standard other than a basic land was as popular as Sol Ring is in multiplayer Commander, it would be banned, no question. It's in 78% of the decks on edhrec. Wizards tends to ban a card in any competitive format if that card becomes an auto-include in most decks. That's why Smuggler's Copter was banned in Standard. You started to see it in everything. Sol Ring is banned in French Duel Commander. I'm not even sure why Sol Ring is legal in multiplayer Commander. I guess because the rationale for the ban list is based on what is and isn't fun for everyone at the table?

I've been thinking about Boros burn... but how about Mardu burn? That way I can use the draw spells and such that black gives me access to. Queen Marchesa seems good enough for a Sunforger/burn commander because I can use burn to get monarch back when I lose it. Firesong and Sunspeaker would be fun to build around as well. Would they work as one of the 99 too? I'm going to have a REALLY hard time deciding if I want to do Maelstrom Wanderer, Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist tokens, Queen Marchesa, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim lifegain or Firesong and Sunspeaker after I get my Boros control deck in working order. I already have some of the good cards for Mardu mana base and black card draw cards. My cat equipment deck needs attention too. Help! I'm drowning in deck ideas and don't have a ton of money.

I've personally decided to go with a comes into play tapped/Smoke strategy with angels with vigilance and a Sun Titan. I'll see how it works. I'll consider Tragic Arrogance.

I haven't been able to get out and play recently, and still waiting for next month to have the money I need to get an at least semi-working deck together. I'll likely post more at the beginning of April on how things are going.

I don't have any long time close friends in my area at all. I'm disabled and using EDH as a way to get out of my apartment and meeting people. So far it's not been that great of an experience.

I see. The problem with that is that there is another new person, he uses a Mairsil, the Pretender combo deck. In my mind, his deck and another deck from a relative newcomer uses a Voltron strategy with Dragonlord Ojutai that can take a few turns in a row and finish someone before they can fight back. Both decks are FAR more dangerous than mine, but nobody goes for either of them first. Mairsil player can combo off suddenly as early as turn 5, but somehow my cats with swords deck is seen as more threatening, when it clearly isn't, which leads me to believe they are targeting me for some irrational reason, or a prejudicial one. I haven't bothered to learn the Mairsil player's name, because he's not a nice person and really turns me off.

I think it may just be in my best interests, as another has said to me in private messages, that I should just keep quiet most of the time at the table in terms of politics, because people don't like to be told what to do. I do get upset, I do take things personally, and I have shown it. That target is already on my head if they think that way. *sigh*