Hey! I used to have a fairly successful Scion deck, but took it apart for another 5color. I think that you have a great start here; taking a look at what you have, here's my quick input...
I don't think that you really need any of the cards in your 'on the fence' section.
A few cards that I might consider adding are: Quicksilver Amulet - More cheats Mana Reflection - Expensive and can eat removal fairly often but it/when it sticks, your possibilities are near endless Door to Nothingness - Janky, but there's not much more satisfying than dropping mana reflection, this and kicking someone through the door Bladewing the Risen - Scion decks tend to not want etb dragons, but I think that this one warrants the slot Hellkite Overlord - Often the first card I transform Scion into so you can cast him and attack in the same turn with the haste Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund - A big ol beater with haste, and you can cold cast it if your opponents have dragons to steal them Kilnmouth Dragon - Situational, and has to be cast from your hand to work but this card can allow you to fireball pesky creatures that are standing in your way Yosei, the Morning Star - SO much utility here. He's a big flier and you don't care if he dies as it just lets you wreck someone else's next turn! Dragonspeaker Shaman - Dragons are expensive and this helps mitigate that if you're casting them from your hand and makes that first Scion recast not cost any additional Rafiq of the Many - Not a dragon, but if he's out when you cast Scion then you turn Scion into a fatty swinging for potentially game winning general damage Animate Dead - You already have Necromancy, why not add some redundancy? Demonic Tutor - Best tutor in the game, but can be $$ Patriarch's Bidding - Super effective in a tribal deck, especially late game; might also consider Living Death Reanimate - The life cost almost always outweighs the value; especially since you can pillage other people's GY Tooth and Nail - Because it's T&N Vindicate - Kill anything without shroud; sometimes stuff just has to go! Crystal Quarry - You rarely see this card but I think that it's outstanding in 5color decks Regrowth - For when someone kills that utility (mana reflection) that you really wanted! Eternal Witness - same as above, but gives you a little ground blocker
Here's my cut suggestions: Dragon Broodmother - I've had mixed results with dragon mom. If left alone for a few rounds, she can be really spectacular but more often than not she just gets popped Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury - eh... +1 on dragons seems kinda meh to me Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - Virtually never going to be a Scion target, you don't really have much other card draw in your deck at all and you will rarely be able to use the tap ability when you cast it Prophet of Kruphix - is banned in Commander, so unless your playgroup has house-ruled it then this is an easy cut Scourge of Valkas - Dragons are expensive... how many are you really going to have out most of the time? Silumgar, the Drifting Death - Same as Kolaghan; -1 isn't that impactful when you're swinging with a dragon (normally) Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - Your only source of poison and he's a 4/4. You're not going to be killing anyone quickly with skittles normally Stormbreath Dragon - This guy isn't that bad actually, but he's not that amazing either. His Monstrous cost is 7. I'm on the fence about this one Sylvan Caryatid - eh; he's OK. I'd almost rather a Cultivate Xenagos, God of Revels - Haste enabler and can enable you to flat out win with general dmg if you have Rafiq
Well that's all I've got at the moment. Hope some of it helps!
I like to think we've all had one of these. You built a deck that wasn't designed to be competitive: Maybe it was a theme deck, or a janky tribal deck, or wanted to explore some obscure mechanic (5color Banding tribal?) or it was made to play around some suboptimal "pet" card or cards you happened to own.
And the darned thing wound up just winning a whole lot of games, contrary to your expectations. What was your deck and its mechanics?
In my case, I had an opportunity to trade a Past in Flames a few months ago straight across for the then-new Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant Necromancer flippy planeswalker. I got her because I thought she was neat and I'd never used a Lili before (I don't have many Planeswalkers in my collection, and my local meta has an absolute "kill on sight" programming for walkers so they die instantly). So she sat in my box for a month or two until I realized that she was going to waste. I didn't have any decks that would like her as one of the 99 because I tend to run few creatures and no sac effects.
So I got it into my head to make my first mono-B deck using her as the commander. I gutted a retired Esper deck of its good black cards, pulled some good cards out of my Grixis sideboard, and then packed the deck with lots of random black stuff and sac outlets (Carnage Altar, etc.) I had laying around. Also jammed in pieces from a Bant proliferate/token deck that I retired like a year ago, like a Contagion Clasp. I basically built it to make use of odd cards I never run like The Chain Veil, Darkness, Undead Gladiator, Crypt of Agadeem, and Spread the Sickness. Its very creature heavy for me, with 28 critters in it.
The deck could best be described as:
Mono-B
Theme (all the Liliana-themed cards of value are in there, like her namesake creatures and the new Liliana's Indignation from SOI)
Skeleton and Zombie tribal with a splash of Demons.
Sac and Draw powered.
With Proliferate and Reanimate subthemes.
And the damned thing just wins games. The most expensive card in it is Cabal Coffers and it doesn't even use the good tutors. I land her Ultimate more often than not, then reanimate things like Magus of the Abyss, eat everyone's board, steal everything, and gank graveyards with Grimoire of the Dead and Rise of the Dark Realms. I built it to be a casual, fun deck without OP cards and people will scoop to it now. I'm baffled.
What was your big shock of a winner deck and how did it work?
Do you have your decklist uploaded somewhere? that sounds hella fun!
I haven't updated my list in a while, and honestly I haven't needed to. I play in a semi-competitive meta (mostly multi-player) and this deck has an 80% win rate. I think that the only illegal card in the list is Prophet of Kruphix, and I replaced it with Seedborn Muse (surprise surprise). I don't run counters because I take a more aggro approach, but I'm sure that you could find a few quick cuts to tailor the list to your own meta if you like it...
I run an Azusa deck that is pretty much 100% ramp/aggro and have a BLAST every time I play it. I don't even mind losing with it, as if I don't get targeted as the Archenemy right away, there's no way for me to be stopped. That being said, when I play 1v1 vs Omnath, he wrecks me lol.
I'm wanting to build a new deck for my dad. He's not the best magic player, and prefers being a total Timmy. I've already built him a Kaalia.dec and he likes playing with my Azusa.dec a lot. He has a very bad Teneb deck as well... I'm trying to decide if I want to just fix/evolve his Teneb deck or scrap it and put something new together for him. Any suggestions?
Some considerations:
Fairly competitive meta (Sharuum, Azami, Rafiq, Nath, Nekusar, Jeleva, (the aforementioned Azusa and Kaalia), etc...
No real $$ limit as we allow unbridled proxys
Would prefer non-combo or limited/simple combos
I was thinking something like Doran (especially since he's already got a Necra deck (Teneb) that I could cannibalize, some sort of Elf-ball or Rhys the Redeemed
Hey y'all! First off, I play in a fairly competitive meta... we also play with no-limit proxys so $$ really isn't an issue. All that being said, I'm wondering if I could put together a fairly cheap at least semi-competitive deck with mostly commons and uncommons? I want to put something together that my playgroup just won't see coming and when I play "x" cards, they just scratch their heads and say why the hell would you play THAT?! lol, not sure if it's possible or not, but wanted to get your opinions. Thanks in advance if you have any ideas!
I built a 5c Tazri deck and I have been pretty unimpressed with it. Sadly, my meta is fairly competitive and tribal decks tend to get stomped all over :'(
I like this idea. And if you don't like prison, I'm a fan of Azami wizard decks. Pack it full of wizards and counterspells. They can't do anything while you draw away into more wizards and more counters.
Does anyone have a 5 color Ally deck that either includes the most recently released cards or a theoretical deck with the newly spoiled cards? I've been collecting random allies over the last year or so and now that General Tazri has been spoiled, I am super excited to build one.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions and input! I'll be reading up on some lists I like the idea of Derevi, but feel like I might be missing out on some real power from Black...
I don't think that you really need any of the cards in your 'on the fence' section.
A few cards that I might consider adding are:
Quicksilver Amulet - More cheats
Mana Reflection - Expensive and can eat removal fairly often but it/when it sticks, your possibilities are near endless
Door to Nothingness - Janky, but there's not much more satisfying than dropping mana reflection, this and kicking someone through the door
Bladewing the Risen - Scion decks tend to not want etb dragons, but I think that this one warrants the slot
Hellkite Overlord - Often the first card I transform Scion into so you can cast him and attack in the same turn with the haste
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund - A big ol beater with haste, and you can cold cast it if your opponents have dragons to steal them
Kilnmouth Dragon - Situational, and has to be cast from your hand to work but this card can allow you to fireball pesky creatures that are standing in your way
Yosei, the Morning Star - SO much utility here. He's a big flier and you don't care if he dies as it just lets you wreck someone else's next turn!
Dragonspeaker Shaman - Dragons are expensive and this helps mitigate that if you're casting them from your hand and makes that first Scion recast not cost any additional
Rafiq of the Many - Not a dragon, but if he's out when you cast Scion then you turn Scion into a fatty swinging for potentially game winning general damage
Animate Dead - You already have Necromancy, why not add some redundancy?
Demonic Tutor - Best tutor in the game, but can be $$
Patriarch's Bidding - Super effective in a tribal deck, especially late game; might also consider Living Death
Reanimate - The life cost almost always outweighs the value; especially since you can pillage other people's GY
Tooth and Nail - Because it's T&N
Vindicate - Kill anything without shroud; sometimes stuff just has to go!
Crystal Quarry - You rarely see this card but I think that it's outstanding in 5color decks
Regrowth - For when someone kills that utility (mana reflection) that you really wanted!
Eternal Witness - same as above, but gives you a little ground blocker
Here's my cut suggestions:
Dragon Broodmother - I've had mixed results with dragon mom. If left alone for a few rounds, she can be really spectacular but more often than not she just gets popped
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury - eh... +1 on dragons seems kinda meh to me
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - Virtually never going to be a Scion target, you don't really have much other card draw in your deck at all and you will rarely be able to use the tap ability when you cast it
Prophet of Kruphix - is banned in Commander, so unless your playgroup has house-ruled it then this is an easy cut
Scourge of Valkas - Dragons are expensive... how many are you really going to have out most of the time?
Silumgar, the Drifting Death - Same as Kolaghan; -1 isn't that impactful when you're swinging with a dragon (normally)
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - Your only source of poison and he's a 4/4. You're not going to be killing anyone quickly with skittles normally
Stormbreath Dragon - This guy isn't that bad actually, but he's not that amazing either. His Monstrous cost is 7. I'm on the fence about this one
Sylvan Caryatid - eh; he's OK. I'd almost rather a Cultivate
Xenagos, God of Revels - Haste enabler and can enable you to flat out win with general dmg if you have Rafiq
Well that's all I've got at the moment. Hope some of it helps!
Do you have your decklist uploaded somewhere? that sounds hella fun!
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/215891-refiq-the-exalted
Some considerations:
I was thinking something like Doran (especially since he's already got a Necra deck (Teneb) that I could cannibalize, some sort of Elf-ball or Rhys the Redeemed
I like this idea. And if you don't like prison, I'm a fan of Azami wizard decks. Pack it full of wizards and counterspells. They can't do anything while you draw away into more wizards and more counters.
Lord of Extinction is one of my favorite targets for the p/t of Mimeo
Traumatize and Tunnel Vision give you a huge gy to play with
Playing with self mill can be dangerous, you may wanna put in some cards that will allow you to re-shuffle your gy into your library like Feldon's Cane, Time Spiral, Time Reversal and Elixir of Immortality.