The entire reason i built this was my dislike of infinite combo decks, and I do not want to be the guy who wrecks my groups fun by just going "oops i win" for a more competitive build, yea its great. I have pact, palinchron, fow, and a few other things for when i play with more competive people
Intro
When EDH first became endorsed by our wizard pals, I would frequent at a local card shop. The Commander decks where almost instantly bought out, possibly due to
The Pod Tournaments that had been announced. First I thought to myself, humph, People are just going to bring Crazy combo decks to win, and this Will not be any fun.
I myself had bought the "kalia the Vast" commander deck, and loaded it up with my favorite angels and demons, and was ready for what was thrown at me, or so I thought.
Now I left this shop for a reason, but, I can put it this way. Exactly what you would expect happened, when you have a large prize pool, in a "casual" format with a bunch
of greedy card sharks. The funny thing I noticed was, If some one attempted a combo, and was stopped, people did not magically forget. Guess who became the target for the
rest of the game, if not life of the deck? This gave me an Idea. What if the card I always had access to, could potentially stop these combos, and make everyone turn on
the player attempting to cast them. I talked to the shop owner for a bit, and wouldn't you know it? He knew of the perfect guy for me.
Why SHOULD I play Venser?
Why should I not play Venser?
You HATE combo players.
You dislike Blue
You like politics
You want to Turn creatures sideways to win (Winning venser games would be from damage, if your opponents did not scoop when they figure out what happened.)
You like a very synergistic, commander based deck
You do not like a deck that winds up denying resources in one way or another
You want to secretly control the game, and lead
You want to combo off. (My list does not, but I am sure some do)
your aggro opponents into thinking they are winning.
Credit to ISBpathfinder for sitting on skype with me and helping me build this.
A quick note, If in a more casual meta, Remove the cards in Douchery, for more family friendly options.
Card reasoning:
One of the most important tools.
Nim Deathmantle is the single most ab-usable card in a deck with so many sac outlets and ETB creatures. With Ashnod's Altar, and venser,
it may as well read, pay 2 blue mana, return anything to its owner's hand. If you can not find ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar works as well, and with Sapphire Medallion It is pretty much the same thing.
Mind if I barrow that?
I love Stealing my opponent's stuff. It makes every game just a bit more different.
This guy is a mean one. What you can do is put all but 1 of the fading counters on the stack to remove lands, then bounce it to permanently exile them.
This is a sac outlet, and can get you a little life while doing it.
How do we win?
There is not one specific way to win in this deck, but the most common way I win, is letting my opponents bash into each other and punish the ones
who attack me by bouncing their creatures. Then when there is one or two people left, And I have enough mana/a bounce loop with venser, (like Nim Deathmantle
and Ashnod's Altar and maybe a Caged sunI start to end of turn return all of their creatures, and artifacts, and lands to their hands.
Most of my winning games get to the point where They have some life, but Zero permanents left on the field, and I have some abuse mechanic set up. Pretty much
Every card in the deck is for that purpose, or to get to that point, with the exception of the "borrowing" cards. One thing I have learned is appearing flashy is bad.
Let the big aggro guys scare everyone with the huge 10/10 tramples, You know if it is turned at you, you can just bounce it. One important thing to keep in mind,
people who think they are blue proof for having "cant be countered" cards do not bother venser. He can still target them on the stack and return them to hand.
My absolute favorite thing about venser and this deck.
Something Funny and more important than anything I have said so far, is how the politics of this deck work. Your combo Opponents KNOW if they try and combo,
You will stop them. They KNOW it will get them targeted. One of the most fun parts about this deck, is that occasionally, you let the RIGHT guy win. Sometimes that
is a 10 year old kid just getting into the game. Sometimes you Just want anyone but that one guy who always brings the hyper competitive decks to win. You can pretty
Heavily influence who you let win, If you know it can not be you. Winning every time in EDH is bad, and for the games I know I do not want to win, I can consider it
A personal Victory to Indirectly choose who gets to win, and who does not deserve it.
Changelog-
4/10/2015
-1 spell crumple
-1 hinder
+1 Ponder
+1 sensei's Divining Top
Reasoning: I was against the ponder/top because it was boring, but the two counters were only in it to tuck commanders, and the consistency is nice.
4/12/2015
-1 Vedalken Orrery
+1 Leyline of Anticipation
Reasoning: More personal preference, but I tend to see more, "Destroy all Artifacts" than "destroy all Enchantments"
I forget the card name but there is a card that says play with the top card of your library reveled and if it is a creature you may cast it. maybe something with garruk in the name? i also think thier is a similar enchantment
both are fine choices. I doubt melira is going to be banned. The reason its results are so good is that the most played decks, (b/gX midranged) beat the decks that hold melira down (u/w/r control), Tron, etc. Although with tron's rising popularity, i would say Stick far away from melira, they main 4 relic of progenitus... its rough.
Sorry to post again, but on the otherhand simakover, I just read back to your original post and if your meta is as you say it is, you could easily dominate with something like twin or kikipod.. If I could convince you to turn to the darkside and play combo, i would.
Well, 500 bucks, you don't like combo, you don't like soul sisters. Have you considered burn? it could be around 200-300 bucks, and takes a lot of meta's by storm. I remember when a kid played burn in our locals and we had not been used to fighting it. He wrecked us and we all had to devote some sideboard space to the new regular. Burn is overlooked all the time but it is actually very good. It is strong against jund, as they hurt themselfs a lot, it can usually beat america before what they do is relevant. On the other hand, you could for sure make affinity on 500 bucks. I would not want affinity to be my only modern deck tho, because if your meta starts bringing in more artifact hate, you are in a poor spot. Have you considered tron? its cheap, fairly resilient, wins game 1 a fair amount, and beats the control and jund decks fairly easily.
"I offered you eternal life; I just didn't say where - infernal harvest
"If they move, kill them. In fact, kill one now to make sure the other understands." -- Intimidation
"Destiny, chance, fate, fortune--they're all just ways of claiming your success without claiming your failures." -- Gerrard of the Weatherlight, Hero's Resolve
"A lie always returns; be careful how you catch it." -- Boomerang
"I've got everything you'd ever need right here. Just give me time to find it." -- Rummaging Wizard
Hi! I am currently in a very diverse meta, their is a jund deck, an american deck, a twin deck, a pod or 2, living end, u/r storm, 2 rakdos burns, ajani jund, and american midrange. also a few others i might have forgotten. So basically the meta is super diverse. What deck should i play? i have u/w/r built already, but if a rock deck shows up will it push me out? should i make the b/g rock myself? is america still one of the best?
Should i also consider a junk deck? (black green white)
Is shardless i viable deck to bring into a combo meta? id say its 50 percent combo but a lot is Creature Based combo, like reanimator, dredge, show and sneak, and metalworker. then theirs storm too. i felt deathrite would help me against the graveyard stuff.
Intro
When EDH first became endorsed by our wizard pals, I would frequent at a local card shop. The Commander decks where almost instantly bought out, possibly due to
The Pod Tournaments that had been announced. First I thought to myself, humph, People are just going to bring Crazy combo decks to win, and this Will not be any fun.
I myself had bought the "kalia the Vast" commander deck, and loaded it up with my favorite angels and demons, and was ready for what was thrown at me, or so I thought.
Now I left this shop for a reason, but, I can put it this way. Exactly what you would expect happened, when you have a large prize pool, in a "casual" format with a bunch
of greedy card sharks. The funny thing I noticed was, If some one attempted a combo, and was stopped, people did not magically forget. Guess who became the target for the
rest of the game, if not life of the deck? This gave me an Idea. What if the card I always had access to, could potentially stop these combos, and make everyone turn on
the player attempting to cast them. I talked to the shop owner for a bit, and wouldn't you know it? He knew of the perfect guy for me.
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
The Resource,
In which we draw Life.
30 Island
1 maze of Ith
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Academy Ruins
1 Strip Mine
1 Mystifying Maze
1 High Market
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Burried Ruin
A man with connections.
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
A quirk in the system.
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Mystic Remora
1 Treachery
Those, who are to be used.
1 Gilded Drake
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vedaklen Æthermage
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Body Double
1 Duplicant
1 Ixidron
1 Archaeomancer
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Sakashima's Student
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Azami, Lady of scrolls
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Mind Stone
1 Crystal Shard
1 Erratic Portal
1 Conjurer's Closet
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Helm of Possession
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Sol Ring
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Caged sun
The power He possesses
1 Bribery
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Rite of Replication
1 Recurring Insight
1 Fabricate
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Twincast
1 Ponder
1 Cryptic Command
1 Arcane Denial
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Capsize
1 Acquire
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Knowledge Exploitation
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Mana Drain
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Parallax Tide
1 Back to Basics
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Sunder
Credit to ISBpathfinder for sitting on skype with me and helping me build this.
A quick note, If in a more casual meta, Remove the cards in Douchery, for more family friendly options.
it may as well read, pay 2 blue mana, return anything to its owner's hand. If you can not find ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar works as well, and with
Sapphire Medallion It is pretty much the same thing.
who attack me by bouncing their creatures. Then when there is one or two people left, And I have enough mana/a bounce loop with venser, (like Nim Deathmantle
and Ashnod's Altar and maybe a Caged sunI start to end of turn return all of their creatures, and artifacts, and lands to their hands.
Most of my winning games get to the point where They have some life, but Zero permanents left on the field, and I have some abuse mechanic set up. Pretty much
Every card in the deck is for that purpose, or to get to that point, with the exception of the "borrowing" cards. One thing I have learned is appearing flashy is bad.
Let the big aggro guys scare everyone with the huge 10/10 tramples, You know if it is turned at you, you can just bounce it. One important thing to keep in mind,
people who think they are blue proof for having "cant be countered" cards do not bother venser. He can still target them on the stack and return them to hand.
You will stop them. They KNOW it will get them targeted. One of the most fun parts about this deck, is that occasionally, you let the RIGHT guy win. Sometimes that
is a 10 year old kid just getting into the game. Sometimes you Just want anyone but that one guy who always brings the hyper competitive decks to win. You can pretty
Heavily influence who you let win, If you know it can not be you. Winning every time in EDH is bad, and for the games I know I do not want to win, I can consider it
A personal Victory to Indirectly choose who gets to win, and who does not deserve it.
Changelog-
4/10/2015
-1 spell crumple
-1 hinder
+1 Ponder
+1 sensei's Divining Top
Reasoning: I was against the ponder/top because it was boring, but the two counters were only in it to tuck commanders, and the consistency is nice.
4/12/2015
-1 Vedalken Orrery
+1 Leyline of Anticipation
Reasoning: More personal preference, but I tend to see more, "Destroy all Artifacts" than "destroy all Enchantments"
"If they move, kill them. In fact, kill one now to make sure the other understands." -- Intimidation
"Destiny, chance, fate, fortune--they're all just ways of claiming your success without claiming your failures." -- Gerrard of the Weatherlight, Hero's Resolve
"A lie always returns; be careful how you catch it." -- Boomerang
"I've got everything you'd ever need right here. Just give me time to find it." -- Rummaging Wizard
Should i also consider a junk deck? (black green white)