Awful card for constructed, very boring gameplay-wise.
This is blatantly false. This is an easy two of in a standard red aggro to top the curve and act as a mana sink. Red aggro decks generally don't care about creature quality see Ironclaw Orcs or Firebrand Ranger for historical examples.
Am I saying red aggro is going to be good in standard next month? No, but given this is Chandra's home plane I'm guessing red gets a little love. Specifically it needs mana efficient, instant speed burn that hits both creatures and players.
Given a reasonable rate for a body and a cheap source of card advantage how is the only deck that regularly runs Dark Confidant jund? Even other black midrange decks rarely play him.
Permanents makes this a little harder I may end up stretching the 4 mana rule a little. Currently my only commander is The Gitrog Monster so this this list may be a little tainted by those thoughts.
Barren Moor, Tranquil Thicket, Polluted Mire, Slippery Karst: Not technically card advantage on their own, combined Life From the Loam will keep you in things to play with for some time. I never leave home without them even before the Gitrog took over my list, at worst they are a early game land drop, late game they aren't a dead draw.
Yavimaya Elder: The "Green Ancestral Recall" while obviously an exaggeration is still 3 cards for one, there are all kinds of ways to profit from his death rather than just paying retail at 3GG
Genesis I know, I know, ignore those mana symbols in the top corner of this card sure, some times this pretends to be a 5 mana 4/4 but it does its best work as a 2G per turn Oversold Cemetery
Anything with Dredge: Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, Stinkweed Imp, and Golgari Grave-Troll. Here comes the stretching of that 4 mana rule. I mentioned Life from the Loam in the cycling lands entry but once you start down the dark path there's no turning back, each dredge card gets better the more of them you have. Given the Abundance of of Regrowth and Reanimation effects in this color pair your graveyard might as well be your hand. These being creatures also pair with all kinds of fun effects from Attrition to Evolutionary Leap to Tortured Existence.
An additional note on Sylvan Library if you happen to use replacement effects on all your draws in a turn, Dredge is a replacement as is Abundance You don't have to pay life and you don't have to put anything back, because you never actually drew any cards.
Life has thrown me a curve ball and I'm going to be relocating soon. In the mean time I'm looking at taking the summer off and need something to occupy my time. Haven't quite determined where, be it a local shop with some extra space or the local library, but I'm looking at a weekly or twice weekly game night, contents will also contain RPGs. One of my ideas is to have a collection of 10 Commander decks each with a focus on a different mechanic or theme common to the format. These lists will be at a TIGHT ($20-25) budget and I'm going to attempt to balance the power levels. Here is my rough draft of concepts:
Cut off on first pass for commanders was less than $1 TCGplayer.com Mid.
Given budget restrictions and a desire to have a fairly solid theme for each deck, I'm wondering if there are any keys to the format I missed or commander options that would be better suited to show off such themes.
It takes the sacrifice for profit in a different direction but I recently transformed my Savra list to The Gitrog Monster the addional draw engine has proved insane even avoiding the more degenerate frog tricks.
I'm coming full circle here... after brief dalliances with new Golgari legends as they've been released, this general group of cards spent some time with both Meren of Clan Nel Toth and The Gitrog Monster at the helm.
Why didn't the new commanders stick around? That's a bit complicated...
Meren of Clan Nel Toth: Seemed like a natural fit. Profit from creatures dying, free recursion in theory a real Win/Win situation. In practice, I couldn't shake the habit of holding my commander back until I'd established board control and Meren wants to experience things. So it ended up being (at best) a 4 mana Raise Dead... back to the drawing board.
The Gitrog Monster: It is a fantastic card I loved playing it but after a relocating cross country a more competitive metagame has forced my hand. Focused combo lists put the fear of the frog into people and I've grown tired of playing archenemy despite not playing the combo list myself. A noted side effect, I was also able to cut fetchlands that had come with the frog with 7 fetches Birthing Pod and Survival of the Fittest I felt like I was shuffling the whole game.
Deck has several let's call them modes of operation.
Toolbox of Answers:
Golgari has a Diverse array of removal and can handle any permanent type. The creatures in this deck were chosen to have natural Birthing Pod chains where possible.
Example: Bone Shredder> Ravenous Chupacabra > Shriekmaw
Recursion:
The most common way this deck functions is out of its graveyard facilitated through dredge and similar effects. Two mass reanimation spells function as game enders, for the most part, but Living Death for Value can also be something worth doing.
Sacrifice Matters:
Having Grave Pact in the command zone telegraphs this as a primary strategy. Although there is a lack of traditional sacrifice outlets. Gravepact effects aren't something that I rush out early.
Lands Matter:
This section is why I was pulled into the direction of The Gitrog Monster. A ready built on-color commander for one of the themes to the deck but it wasn't meant to be. Being a two-color deck there is plenty of room available for utility lands and dredging fills the graveyard with lands as much as creatures. I spent some time with 7 cycling lands rather than 5 and found it was too many. I strongly prefer World Shaper to Splendid Reclamation due to the ease of recurring creatures vs spells.
Omenspeaker is the least of your problems. Not only is Pharika's Cure pretty narrow in general, you really don't have the mana base to support it or more importantly Anger of the Gods. Psychic Strike serms a strange inclusion when you actually can cast Dissolve.
@MrRotten
I'd stay away from Magma Jet right now, the card is a trap in non aggressive red strategies.
So rather than sequence land drops correctly to play the answers in place you want to further stretch the mana base to try and cast dissolve?
The problem I'm seeing most people have with omenspeaker is they are asking it to be augur of bolas, it will never be augur. As for their short life span they are here to die. They'll soak a few points of damage and force your oppoenent to put out a couple more creatures out, playing into the anger. If they eat a lightning strike even better saves it from finishing me off or one of the planeswalkers.
This where I last left off with grixis played it a fair amount early in the season with positive results. Only real weakness I found was gw aggro, their critters don't burn well. I've taken a bit of a break to start prepping a testing gauntlet for the Ptq season.
I'll admit to some odd choices, starting with only 2 Copies of Sphinx's Revelation I played more early on in testing and found myself unhappy drawing them early, between Elixir and Snapcaster Mage I still get more than two uses per game. Eight counterspells maindeck, outside of Naya humans the format seems slow enough to allow counters to be relevant ghost quarters solve the cavern of souls problem well enough for my liking and can also play wasteland against the greediest of mana bases.
This is blatantly false. This is an easy two of in a standard red aggro to top the curve and act as a mana sink. Red aggro decks generally don't care about creature quality see Ironclaw Orcs or Firebrand Ranger for historical examples.
Am I saying red aggro is going to be good in standard next month? No, but given this is Chandra's home plane I'm guessing red gets a little love. Specifically it needs mana efficient, instant speed burn that hits both creatures and players.
Barren Moor, Tranquil Thicket, Polluted Mire, Slippery Karst: Not technically card advantage on their own, combined Life From the Loam will keep you in things to play with for some time. I never leave home without them even before the Gitrog took over my list, at worst they are a early game land drop, late game they aren't a dead draw.
Oversold Cemetery: A down payment of 1B for a Raise Dead every turn.
Yavimaya Elder: The "Green Ancestral Recall" while obviously an exaggeration is still 3 cards for one, there are all kinds of ways to profit from his death rather than just paying retail at 3GG
Genesis I know, I know, ignore those mana symbols in the top corner of this card sure, some times this pretends to be a 5 mana 4/4 but it does its best work as a 2G per turn Oversold Cemetery
Anything with Dredge: Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, Stinkweed Imp, and Golgari Grave-Troll. Here comes the stretching of that 4 mana rule. I mentioned Life from the Loam in the cycling lands entry but once you start down the dark path there's no turning back, each dredge card gets better the more of them you have. Given the Abundance of of Regrowth and Reanimation effects in this color pair your graveyard might as well be your hand. These being creatures also pair with all kinds of fun effects from Attrition to Evolutionary Leap to Tortured Existence.
An additional note on Sylvan Library if you happen to use replacement effects on all your draws in a turn, Dredge is a replacement as is Abundance You don't have to pay life and you don't have to put anything back, because you never actually drew any cards.
Cut off on first pass for commanders was less than $1 TCGplayer.com Mid.
Shards
Bant: Roon of the Hidden Realm (Exile for Profit / Enters the Battlefield Triggers)
Esper: Sydri, Galvanic Genius (Artifacts Matter)
Grixis: Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge (Spells Matter)
Jund: Shattergang Brothers (Sacrifice for Profit)
Naya: Gahiji, Honored One (Tokens)
Wedges (Much harder fewer Budget Options)
Abzan: Daghatar, the Adamant (+1/+1 Counters)
Jeskai: Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest (Voltron?)
Sultai: Sidisi, Brood Tyrant (Self-Mill)
Mardu: Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Reanimation)
Temur: Yasova, Dragonclaw (Stole your stuff)
Given budget restrictions and a desire to have a fairly solid theme for each deck, I'm wondering if there are any keys to the format I missed or commander options that would be better suited to show off such themes.
Mundane play silly description....
Why didn't the new commanders stick around? That's a bit complicated...
Meren of Clan Nel Toth: Seemed like a natural fit. Profit from creatures dying, free recursion in theory a real Win/Win situation. In practice, I couldn't shake the habit of holding my commander back until I'd established board control and Meren wants to experience things. So it ended up being (at best) a 4 mana Raise Dead... back to the drawing board.
The Gitrog Monster: It is a fantastic card I loved playing it but after a relocating cross country a more competitive metagame has forced my hand. Focused combo lists put the fear of the frog into people and I've grown tired of playing archenemy despite not playing the combo list myself. A noted side effect, I was also able to cut fetchlands that had come with the frog with 7 fetches Birthing Pod and Survival of the Fittest I felt like I was shuffling the whole game.
1 Savra, Queen of the Golgari
Creatures:37
1 Caustic Caterpillar
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Elvish Reclaimer
1 Stitcher's Supplier
1 Blightbeetle
1 Bloodghast
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Golgari Thug
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Bone Shredder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Merciless Executioner
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Plaguecrafter
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Shambling Shell
1 Skullwinder
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
1 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Slum Reaper
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 World Shaper
1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
1 Acidic Slime
1 Genesis
1 Golgari Grave-Troll
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Shriekmaw
1 Underrealm Lich
1 Bane of Progress
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Thief of Blood
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Birthing Pod
Sorceries:8
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Life from the Loam
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Damnation
1 Living Death
1 Worm Harvest
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
Instants:3
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Hero's Downfall
Enchantments:11
1 Tortured Existence
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Attrition
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Abundance
1 Grave Pact
1 Greater Good
1 Dictate of Erebos
Lands:38
1 Barren Moor
1 Bayou
1 Blast Zone
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Command Tower
1 Dakmor Salvage
1 Dark Depths
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Dust Bowl
5 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Nurturing Peatland
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Polluted Mire
1 Slippery Karst
1 Strip Mine
6 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wasteland
1 Woodland Cemetery
Multiple personalities? What's going on here?
Deck has several let's call them modes of operation.
Toolbox of Answers:
Golgari has a Diverse array of removal and can handle any permanent type. The creatures in this deck were chosen to have natural Birthing Pod chains where possible.
Example: Bone Shredder> Ravenous Chupacabra > Shriekmaw
I'm still waiting for a 4 mana Naturalize creature to chain Reclamation Sage into Acidic Slime.
Key Cards:
Recursion:
The most common way this deck functions is out of its graveyard facilitated through dredge and similar effects. Two mass reanimation spells function as game enders, for the most part, but Living Death for Value can also be something worth doing.
Key Cards:
Sacrifice Matters:
Having Grave Pact in the command zone telegraphs this as a primary strategy. Although there is a lack of traditional sacrifice outlets. Gravepact effects aren't something that I rush out early.
Key cards:
Lands Matter:
This section is why I was pulled into the direction of The Gitrog Monster. A ready built on-color commander for one of the themes to the deck but it wasn't meant to be. Being a two-color deck there is plenty of room available for utility lands and dredging fills the graveyard with lands as much as creatures. I spent some time with 7 cycling lands rather than 5 and found it was too many. I strongly prefer World Shaper to Splendid Reclamation due to the ease of recurring creatures vs spells.
Key cards:
So rather than sequence land drops correctly to play the answers in place you want to further stretch the mana base to try and cast dissolve?
4 Omenspeaker
2 AEtherling
Spells:28
3 Syncopate
2 Doom Blade
4 Pharika's Cure
4 Anger of the Gods
4 Far // Away
3 Psychic Strike
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Ral Zarek
2 Opportunity
4 Blood Crypt
5 Island
2 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
3 Swamp
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Watery Grave
4 thoughtseize
3 ashiok
2 rakdos return
4 hero's downfall
2 negate
The host store has now posted the top8 decklists.
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Augur of Bolas
2 Aetherling
Spells: (25)
4 Syncopate
4 Think Twice
4 Azorius Charm
4 Dissipate
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Detention Sphere
2 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Elixir of Immortality
9 Island
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Plains
2 Azorius Guildgate
3 Purify the Grave
3 Negate
3 Renounce the Guilds
2 Pithing Needle
2 Terminus
2 Planar Cleansing
I'll admit to some odd choices, starting with only 2 Copies of Sphinx's Revelation I played more early on in testing and found myself unhappy drawing them early, between Elixir and Snapcaster Mage I still get more than two uses per game. Eight counterspells maindeck, outside of Naya humans the format seems slow enough to allow counters to be relevant ghost quarters solve the cavern of souls problem well enough for my liking and can also play wasteland against the greediest of mana bases.