I'm working on a dragonless concept for Warp World. I really like the idea of Woodfall Primus and Acidic Slime taking away mana advantage (and they're solid creatures in their own right,) with a little backup from Siege-Gang. I know Hellkite is probably the better option, but I still want to experiment.
Cloudthresher also puts a solid hurting on Baneslayer Angel and opposing dragons and fliers.
I've been a fan of the mono green version recently. I like being able to out-aggro with Perfect and Wren's Run, and at the same time combo out nearly as easily as the white version.
The best way to build a card pool is to spend money and get 4x Uncommon/Common playsets of Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn, and M10. Then look up all the relevant rares for some of the decks you might want to play, and buy playsets of those too.
Expensive? Maybe, but that's the best way. Certainly more efficient than drafting or buying packs.
Thanks to the help I got in the Black Mana Accelerator thread, I am starting to plan my Maga deck. Any help is appreciated!
EDIT: Changed a few things around after doing some more research.
I'm building a mono black Maga, Traitor to Mortals deck, with a lot of stuff like Drain Life and Soul Burn, and hard hitting creatures. However, many of the cards I'm playing have BBB+ in the cost or can only be played with black mana. So standard artifact acceleration like Sol Ring and Thran Dynamo might not cut it.
I know about Gilded Lotus, that's definitely going in the deck. Lake of the Dead seems pretty good. Aside from Dark Ritual, what other black mana producers can I use?
The thing about the wolf deck is that its key cards produce 2/2s all by themselves. All you need out is a Wolf-Skull Shaman and a Master and you've got enough threat to force most opponents to fallout (which doesn't kill Master, Banneret, Packmaster, or Archdruid.) Just don't over-extend and you're fine.
Token decks currently are not running 4x Mark of Asylum main, so I'm not sure why this deck would need it, considering its creatures are even more resilient to burn than most token strategies. If you're worried about board wipe that much, why not just run Dauntless Escort? Mark of Asylum is a sideboard card.
Chameleon Colossus if you've got it. It's a wolf, a shaman, and an elf, and it's green. 'Nuff said. In fact I'd say Colossus is essential here.
Howl of the Night Pack is ok and goes with the wolf theme, but honestly I think Primal Command is just better in this slot.
The deck doesn't have Spectral Procession so Ajani Goldmane is about half as effective. Wren's Run Packmaster already gives all your 2/2s Deathtouch, which for the 4-cost slot seems just as effective as Ajani if not moreso. Bumping the Garruk up to 3 seems good. And what about Mirror Entity? It's a proven finisher in Elves and I could see it being pretty godly in this deck as a 1-of. Especially if you can tutor it up with Primal.
The people I know that do it have some ridiculous stuff in their lists, aswell as foil sets of shocks, black bordered duals, etc. I don't know anyone who plays an EDH deck made entirely of standard cards :).
It seems to be a pretty common thing when a relatively new FNM player decides to get into EDH, and just builds a deck with the cards he has access to.
That's understandable I guess, but with a majority of decent EDH cards costing $1 or less, it also seems reasonable to do some research if they really want to make a pimp deck.
I've been playing the Jund Aggro deck, maybe one of the top 3 decks in the format (Gabriel Nassif's design,) and what do I do when someone plays a turn 3 Shield of the Oversoul on a turn 2 Woolly Thoctar? I cry. If I don't have the Pulse to deal with it, I'm on a 3-turn clock. Naya can drop a turn 4 Ajani and pop my Ram-Gang, and I've lost all momentum at that point.
To me, a pimp EDH deck is one with powerful cards from throughout Magic's history. I'm impressed whenever I see stuff like dual lands and obscure bombs from Antiquities and Legends, but I'm not impressed whatsoever with decks made up entirely of Standard sets. Foil or not doesn't matter that much to me unless it's a godly test foil or something.
Cloudthresher also puts a solid hurting on Baneslayer Angel and opposing dragons and fliers.
4 Woodfall Primus
4 Acidic Slime
4 Murderous Redcap
4 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Keeper of Progenitus
3 Cloudthresher
2 Farhaven Elf
4 Trace of Abundance
4 Warp World
10 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
3 Regal Force
3 Elvish Promenade
2 Overrun
20 Forest
Expensive? Maybe, but that's the best way. Certainly more efficient than drafting or buying packs.
EDIT: Changed a few things around after doing some more research.
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Bane of the Living
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Havoc Demon
1 Helldozer
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Magus of the Coffers
1 Midnight Banshee
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Reiver Demon
1 Scion of Darkness
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Stronghold Overseer
1 Thrashing Wumpus
1 Tombstalker
1 Withered Wretch
1 Visara the Dreadful
Spells
1 Absorb Vis
1 Ambition's Cost
1 Ancient Craving
1 Barter In Blood
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Bond of Agony
1 Brainspoil
1 Cabal Ritual
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Choice of Damnations
1 Consume Spirit
1 Corrupt
1 Damnation
1 Dark Ritual
1 Dash Hopes
1 Decree of Pain
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Drain Life
1 Grave Consequences
1 Innocent Blood
1 Pestilence
1 Phthisis
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Plague Wind
1 Profane Command
1 Promise of Power
1 Rite of Consumption
1 Small Pox
1 Soul Burn
1 Spoils of Evil
1 Sudden Death
1 Swallowing Plague
1 Syphon Life
1 Temporal Extortion
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
Lands
1 Barren Moor
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Lake of the Dead
1 Leechridden Swamp
1 Polluted Mire
1 Subterranean Hangar
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
34 Swamp
I know about Gilded Lotus, that's definitely going in the deck. Lake of the Dead seems pretty good. Aside from Dark Ritual, what other black mana producers can I use?
Try Masked Admirers in the deck while you're at it. It generates card advantage beyond Mulldrifter through recursion.
Here's the original list:
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Graveborn Muse
2 Shriekmaw
4 Corrupt
4 Infest
4 Bitterblossom
3 Consume Spirit
3 Unmake
2 Terror
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Liliana Vess
4 Mutavault
17 Swamp
Yes, Howl is in M10.
Token decks currently are not running 4x Mark of Asylum main, so I'm not sure why this deck would need it, considering its creatures are even more resilient to burn than most token strategies. If you're worried about board wipe that much, why not just run Dauntless Escort? Mark of Asylum is a sideboard card.
Chameleon Colossus if you've got it. It's a wolf, a shaman, and an elf, and it's green. 'Nuff said. In fact I'd say Colossus is essential here.
Howl of the Night Pack is ok and goes with the wolf theme, but honestly I think Primal Command is just better in this slot.
The deck doesn't have Spectral Procession so Ajani Goldmane is about half as effective. Wren's Run Packmaster already gives all your 2/2s Deathtouch, which for the 4-cost slot seems just as effective as Ajani if not moreso. Bumping the Garruk up to 3 seems good. And what about Mirror Entity? It's a proven finisher in Elves and I could see it being pretty godly in this deck as a 1-of. Especially if you can tutor it up with Primal.
Of course, there's nothing really godlike about a 3/3 with no evasion. Even though he is Mythic. This guy definitely should have been a 3/4.
It seems to be a pretty common thing when a relatively new FNM player decides to get into EDH, and just builds a deck with the cards he has access to.
That's understandable I guess, but with a majority of decent EDH cards costing $1 or less, it also seems reasonable to do some research if they really want to make a pimp deck.
Auras have their purpose.