Not all that much of a great story, but it was a 4-way game of Tariel, Norin(enchantment based chaos), Kira, and Kaervek(me). I'd been working on getting Kira under control that game for a while and Norin was doing as that deck does, annoying the everloving bejeesus out of everyone. Tariel was being quiet, but he brings out a Debtors' Knell after letting his general go to the graveyard the previous turn. For some reason, he forgot to notice my suspended Curse of the Cabal with one time counter left. I ended up targeting him, then Reiterated it with buyback. He ended up going down to 4 permanents, and for some reason decided NOT to keep the knell. The game was actually decided by Norin's Pyrohemia, however. Being the highest life total that game despite dual manabarbs, I ended up winning.
Brion Stoutarm : First deck I built, actually, and it's gone through very few changes over the years. It is kind of hard to top being able to throw a Phyrexian Dreadnought 4 times in a turn, and being able to do it again next turn for at least as many times.
Norin the Wary : I don't know if this deck was built before Gaka's list, but it started, and pretty much stayed, as an enchantment based mono red deck. It causes enough headaches that a few people at my LGS refuse to play against it, even though it very rarely wins.
Thada Adel, Acquisitor : Blue version of my Norin deck, but a HEAVY emphasis on stealing anything and everything not nailed down. And if it is, i steal the floor, too.
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls ; Yet more red love. Heavy on ld(target and mass), lots of reanimation/graveyard stealing effects. A pretty mean decklist, whose ld often comes in relatively odd forms.
Kaervek the Merciless : My newest deck, and already making "enemies" by using it. A bit of ld, but mainly lots of punishing spells and cards to make people REALLY reconsider if that TnN or other big mana spell is worth it. Especially that Genesis Wave for 20+.
I do have a few other decks, but I rarely pull them out due to being woefully underpowered/unimpressive/ineffective in general.
Okay, yeah, I tend to be one of "those" guys when I play, but who else is going to deal with the mono green ramp decks and combo decks in my meta?
Another card to consider is isochron scepter since you can imprint the final fortune on it as well, as another way to do it if you don't find the anarchist. Been running it in a mono red deck myself, even though I have yet to pull it out in a game. Most people I play against don't realize I have it in there. Yet.
I tried out Gisela in my Tariel deck tonight, actually. She warped a 4 player game a bit. She was constantly being stolen, bounced and killed. Not to mention she stemmed an assault first from Omnath, then from a horde of 1/1 swamps. I'll admit that none of the decks were tuned all too much, except for the Omnath and Xiahou decks(the latter got hurt bad by a Kormus bell). But she was stolen 3 times, killed twice, and bounced 2 times as well.
I haven't played against the others yet, but I don't see any over-all issues with them. They are powerful, but they are pretty easily dealt with being creatures and all. Only Griselbrand, of the four, gives an immediate bonus (SigArda can be dealt with easily enough) that would have to be worried about.
I've had nothing but good experiences with Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder while playing my Grim build. He kickstarts the deck when he's out before you play Grim and keeps a good amount of "parts" available to beef up Grim when new zombies/creatures hit the board.
With Grim eating his thrulls, a hexproof Endrek may stick around long enough to help Grim get there.
Edit: Also combos well with Rooftop and Curio.
I was thinking the same thing along with Grimgrin. Just add in some sort of way to abuse the untap effect and there you go!
Just because you have access to the colors doesn't mean you HAVE to use them, though. Also, a deck full of clerics, worshiping a false god and going to war over it is rather amusing to me. Possibly run mana rocks as "holy relics" to summon their god.
Also, I'd certainly hope Patriarch's Bidding would end up in the deck, just to be a mass re-animate for you, even if other players may get back a few things as well.
Well, as for a general, you could run Karona, False God. Could give you a finishing alpha strike, and does also fit the theme of the deck a bit. Also, Door of Destinies and Coat of Arms would make your clerics into beaters/finishers in their own right.
I agree, cards like Warp World, Teferi's Puzzlebox, Confusion in the Ranks, Knowledge Pool, etc are GOOD chaos cards. They can and will change the way people play, but don't stop people from outright playing or make plays backfire on the player(not intentionally, anyway). Ones like Grip of Chaos and Planar Chaos are ones I avoid, simply because they straight up slow down games to a crawl and make things unfun, all around.
Although, I'm curious how many people would actually consider Wheel of Fortune and similar cards to be chaos effects.
Stealing everyone's cards. Nothing better than that feelings when you have 6 or 7 control magic effects out, and none of the cards have the same owner. Gets even better if you combo out using only stolen cards.
Nothing else gets you killed and hated upon quite as quickly though either.
Oh...definitely. Or even resolving several instant speed ones to steal one person's creature just to block an attack and have both die.
EotS + Spellshift is just downright mean at times. Tog o with Turnabout, though, I recommend going R/U and using Mindmoil Gives a fresh hand for every spell into and out of the storm
Gaea's Touch helps ramp lands out in mono green(or anything that decides to run more basic sources of green), and can turn into a little extra mana if need be. Not half bad for a common from The Dark.
Second is Trailblazer. Instant speed combat shenanigans in green that aren't pump? Yes please! Also can be useful to try and get that last bit of general damage through if trample just isn't cutting it Then again, Predatory Focus lets you do that, too.
Another card that I've played with a bit and confounds people is Barl's Cage Highly mana intensive, but it definitely can lock down a single creature near indefinitely to multiple creatures for a shorter amount of time.
Very simple design, a simple effect, and amusing to lock up multiple creatures in one cage.
Brion Stoutarm : First deck I built, actually, and it's gone through very few changes over the years. It is kind of hard to top being able to throw a Phyrexian Dreadnought 4 times in a turn, and being able to do it again next turn for at least as many times.
Norin the Wary : I don't know if this deck was built before Gaka's list, but it started, and pretty much stayed, as an enchantment based mono red deck. It causes enough headaches that a few people at my LGS refuse to play against it, even though it very rarely wins.
Thada Adel, Acquisitor : Blue version of my Norin deck, but a HEAVY emphasis on stealing anything and everything not nailed down. And if it is, i steal the floor, too.
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls ; Yet more red love. Heavy on ld(target and mass), lots of reanimation/graveyard stealing effects. A pretty mean decklist, whose ld often comes in relatively odd forms.
Kaervek the Merciless : My newest deck, and already making "enemies" by using it. A bit of ld, but mainly lots of punishing spells and cards to make people REALLY reconsider if that TnN or other big mana spell is worth it. Especially that Genesis Wave for 20+.
I do have a few other decks, but I rarely pull them out due to being woefully underpowered/unimpressive/ineffective in general.
Okay, yeah, I tend to be one of "those" guys when I play, but who else is going to deal with the mono green ramp decks and combo decks in my meta?
I haven't played against the others yet, but I don't see any over-all issues with them. They are powerful, but they are pretty easily dealt with being creatures and all. Only Griselbrand, of the four, gives an immediate bonus (SigArda can be dealt with easily enough) that would have to be worried about.
I was thinking the same thing along with Grimgrin. Just add in some sort of way to abuse the untap effect and there you go!
Also, I'd certainly hope Patriarch's Bidding would end up in the deck, just to be a mass re-animate for you, even if other players may get back a few things as well.
Possibly run a bit of a sacrificial/tithing theme via Grave Pact, Ghostly Prison and Norn's Annex style cards?
Or with +1/+1 counters ala Aku Djinn
Omnath in R could be downright hilarious.
a 5c Yomiji, Who Bars the Way could be a fun legendary swarm.
Although, I'm curious how many people would actually consider Wheel of Fortune and similar cards to be chaos effects.
Oh...definitely. Or even resolving several instant speed ones to steal one person's creature just to block an attack and have both die.
Also, I definitely loved throwing a Phyrexian Dreadnought 4 times in one turn using my Brion Stoutarm deck.
EotS + Spellshift is just downright mean at times. Tog o with Turnabout, though, I recommend going R/U and using Mindmoil Gives a fresh hand for every spell into and out of the storm
Gaea's Touch helps ramp lands out in mono green(or anything that decides to run more basic sources of green), and can turn into a little extra mana if need be. Not half bad for a common from The Dark.
Second is Trailblazer. Instant speed combat shenanigans in green that aren't pump? Yes please! Also can be useful to try and get that last bit of general damage through if trample just isn't cutting it Then again, Predatory Focus lets you do that, too.
Very simple design, a simple effect, and amusing to lock up multiple creatures in one cage.