EDH/Commander General /edhg/

Life Is Pain Edition

Previous: >Official Site: Contains deck building rules and the current ban list.
mtgcommander.net

>Deck List Site: You can search for decks that other people have made. Authors often have comments that explain their deck’s strategy and card choices.
tappedout.net

>Statistically see what everyone else puts in their commander decks based on what is posted to the the internet.
edhrec.com/

>Find out what lands you can add to your deck, sorted by category, based on a chosen Commander’s color identity.
manabasecrafter.com/

CARD SEARCH

>Official search site. Current for all sets.
gatherer.wizards.com/

>Unofficial, but has GOAT search interface.
magiccards.info/

Thread question: What is your weirdest pet card, /edhg/? Don't have one? who's your waifu?

Other urls found in this thread:

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/27-09-17-oloro-combo/
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

ETB machine. Always gets a glance when I play it. People who have played with me plenty know to Vindicate it on sight.

I love that card

I love you, Trostani Wurm user. I'm glad your first deck was such a janky success.

My pet card is probably Master the Way, but I only run it in one deck.

>I only run it in one deck.
Locust God? Because he seems hilarious in Locust God.

I love you too, anonymous poster. My deck has come a long way, thanks to the help of the people here!

Holy shit, I have never seen this card and now I must build a deck around it. I want to kill somebody with it for at least 20 damage.

Friend is running Reaper King and I'm using Neheb, Minotaur tribal. How the fuck do I deal with that bullshit?

So close to being good. If only it was an instant then you could deck yourself with necropotence and smash someone for 90 ought damage.

>What is your weirdest pet card, /edhg/?
My real 'pet' cards are probably Sundial and Smokestack but there's nothing weird about them

Pic related, though... I'm not sure exactly how it ended up in two of my decks (OK, maybe it's because I like trolling) but it's never coming out of Titania and probably won't leave Gitrog either. Not because there isn't a strictly better option, but because Wood Elemental is so infamous that people lose their freeking minds when it hits the table... and no one has ever countered the damn thing despite the obvious threat of a sudden bum rush of 5/3 elementals.

>Forget the goddamn pic

I'm as bad as this card.

>Neheb Minotaur Tribal
You've already won. Not the game of Magic, but the game of life.

I'm not following on yoru wood elemental.

Just looks like a garbage card from the olden days when wizards didn't know what balance was

It's one of the commonly cited cards in "Worst card ever" discussions. Generally, a Zuran Orb would be better for just blowing up my own lands. However, when people have been playing long enough to know about it, it seems to trip a short circuit in their brains where they'll just groan at it rather than realizing that maybe I'm shooting myself in the face to do something horribly untoward like make a million tokens or start a dredge chain.

A million tokens does sound pretty rude, I"m inclined to agree

I cast Cauldron Dance and choose Razaketh from my hand with another creature from the yard. If I use Razaketh's ability to sacrifice the other creature, do I still add it to my hand at end of combat?

No

End of turn, not end of combat, my bad.

Does this card work in practice in a Shadowborn Apostle deck? The mana potential is obviously massive, but I fear it will attract too much attention to survive for it to be utilized

I wish angel of condemnation was a legendary. Would love to use it as a commander

I have this card in all of my decks

Yeah, im going to pick up that version soon. That flavor is great

heres my pet card, this right after a rift can cause so much salt
Spectra ward is my waifu

Pet card. Look at this mana advantage/pseudovigilance.

Pet card for Azusa

That card has saved my ass so many times I've lost count. It's a thing of beauty combined with Smoke.

Fucking Godo Voltron, baby

My personal favorite is Silent Arbiter/Dueling Grounds.

Fuck off and let me sit in my corner being everyone's pal

Right?

Alright, I'm having some trouble with my control deck. It used to work fine, close to 10 board wipes, 10 counters, a lot of removal, etc. But my playgroup is getting better, abusing the GY, and I don't see my deck working as well as it used to.

Do control decks usually just pack a ton of instants and sorceries or do they usually have static effects that give long term advantage? I mean things like Propaganda and Stranglehold. If so, how does one strike the proper balance as this is now very different than having a hell of a lot of board wipes and spot removal. I assume there's less of each component and just a lot more draw to be able to get at them and end the game with your own wincon earlier than before.

I just say fuck permanents and try to squeeze in every "destroy all non-land permanents" effects as I can into my deck

I think finding a balance of counterspells, draw spells, removal, and your win-cons is probably what you should be looking at, if you do a good job killing everything but lose to a combo like storm or something you might need more counters, or if you lose gas and cant keep up with killing what everyone else is putting out there then you might need more draw spells

or a faster win-con, or perhaps your win-con is getting in the way
if your deck use to work well but somehow you start losing its cause your opponents have adapted to your deck and know where its not doing well, that or theyve become better players and youve gotta step it up

but its pretty hard to say without seeing your actual deck, I could probably win a few games with any control deck as long as I know the win-con, usually (UWx) control is about delaying the game till you can just flat out win with a combo, or send out damage with cards like colonade/gideons
personally I prefer counterspells to removal tho since I like play the draw-go type of control

Jori En with Eye of the Storm. I did once Knowledge Exploitation a Enter the Inf from a Locust God player and use it (shuffled my yard in to stop myself from decking).

Because it is draft chaff, but it is adorable and fun.

Got it here if you wouldn't mind taking a look.

I try to win with Debt to the Deathless/Exsanguinate but I have some backups. Maybe too many.

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/27-09-17-oloro-combo/

Reactive control is a losing strategy if you don't play combos.
Proactive control is the way to go if you want to be a Gulag administrator. Discard, stax, land destruction, etc.

The latter isn't an option in my playgroup.

I'm playing combos but not particularly powerful ones.

Welcome to the final stage of everyone playing control in casual EDH.

Which is what? Annoyance? Pain?

It never works in any deck unless its craw wurm meta

Yup. Suffering. Three other are running degenerate value/engines that are impossible to babysit, but aren't combos so everyone thinks of them as Timmy even though they win the game that turn nonetheless.

And Stax isn't fun for anyone including you who just wanted to kill people with Eternal Witness swings.

Black Market is a stupidly powerful card that's why it always get RedSaged immediately.

You just hit the fucking nail on the head and now I'm mad.

Is there a card like wheel of fortune that doesn't cost 80~ dollars?
Looks like a good meme for the Locust God

Reforge the Soul.

Reforge the Soul
Wheel of Fate
Dangerous Wager
All the red looting like Tormenting Voice
Windfall

the easiest way to make a deck better is by fixing the mana base, I know lands can be expensive but just remember if you ever find yourself in a situation where the colors just arent working its the money aspect of the game kicking in, especially in a 3 color deck, id look into fetches and at LEAST the dual color cycle lands + shocks

sorcery speed draw spells are bad (for control at least), just flat out ima tell you this unless theyre cheap spells like ponder/preordain, id toss ambitions cost, ancient craving, bloodgift demon, brilliant plan, divination, graveborn muse, nights whisper, read the bones, sign in blood, skeletal scrying, well of lost dreams

you see when you have access to blue; black draw spells become garbage, look into sphinx rev, fact or fiction, pull from tomorrow, blue suns zenith, dig through time, stroke of genius, treasure cruise, for big draws, cards that double up on their slot like cryptic command (again too much money), mystic confluence, dismiss, supreme will, cantrips like serum visions, impulse, telling time

having your draw spells at instant speed lets you keep your mana up to deal with threats on the enemys turn and if they dont put out anything worth a counter or kill spell you can just use a draw spell instead, tho even with that jaces injenuity isnt very good
I also see a lot of "goodstuff" like sphinx, erebos, mindslaver, and blightsteel that dont really fit in with control but I understand why players love having those cards in their decks cause theyre pretty fun

another thing to consider is the amount of gravehate you have in here, unless the entire table is running that shit its kinda meh to have so many dead draws, it feels like your deck is trying to do TOO much and ends up being weak on the real control aspect, look into better removal spells as well like anguished unmaking and utter end, hero's downfall, never // return, even some o-ring type effects could help
it feels like your deck just needs more focus

Good in a mogis/self destruct deck? Or are there better demons

That's awful

Use this

Yup. EDH will always be about big plays. Just the nature of the format. But there's no good answer, no easy fix to the situation.

Don't get mad though. Even if your playgroup was down for two card combos in your control deck, you still wouldn't have fun.

not just better demons there are better cards out there that just do more
the only demons I run are bloodgift, indulgent tormentor, and sire of insanity
hell id run master of cruelties over it

What others have suggested as well as for maximum memes (insects)

I really used to enjoy control but now it's just tedious. Having a lot more fun with my token and voltron decks

Appreciate the help man, thanks.

I usually don't have trouble with my mana base. It'd definitely help to have better lands but I'm usually ok.

I'd love to use blue instant draw on opponent turns. I think that would really ratchet up my power level here. Got lazy with having a lot of black draw and it's not a big deal considering Oloro's life gain ability. Still, I find myself often choosing between having instant answers and drawing more cards. Although I do like cards like Well of Lost Dreams and Bloodgift Demon as they've given me a lot of value over time.

I use those as wincons as I can't use real combos to win. Too much whining, especially from people who don't use combos but netdeck expensive as hell decks that go nuts early on.

As the only guy playing control (or any grave hate at all), it's my solemn duty to keep the GY abuse guy in check lest he rape us all. I fucking hate having to keep all that in there. Bog should be enough.

It absolutely is trying to do too much which is why I'm so annoyed. You should see the original iteration. It's also why I made this new one to just ramp quickly and kill the table with some backup to make sure it goes off.

I removed my o-ring things as they were very slow but I definitely need more cards that handle multiple threats.

More focus on what though? I'm trying to keep the place in check. If I focus on creature removal, I run the risk of big spells going off. If I dump GY hate, one guy will take over.

I REALLY like Licia.

She's cute.

This made me sad because my playgroup is reaching that point

Announcement, if you are the kind of scrub who runs vivids, grand colosseum or heaven forbird, rupture spire like me, try Path of Ancestry!

You may say, "but I'm not a tribal deck!". Good news, fucko, you don't have to be. It is a command tower that ETBs tapped and you will be casting your general, right?

Offer is not valid for actual good players, but scrubs running taplands, take heed.

Does it work with clones? Im pretty sure it doesnt but i want to make sure

She seems cool but I hear she sucks

Uh, if your commander is a Shapeshifter, you will get to scry with most clones. Not the point of my spiel, but yeah.

what more focus means is that your deck WANTS to be prepared for ANY situation but fails at it because its so cluttered

so its got a respectable wincon in the lifedrain which I dont see getting much play over infinites (me being someone who refuses to win with infinites I feel for you in your meta) and the control cards to try and back it up BUT then it fucks that up by going of the rails with blightsteel, mindslaver recursion, tutors, pillow fort, gravehate, and ramp

your best way to go about it is to focus on what you want more, if you want to defend yourself with wraths then cut the pillowfort, if you want to keep the pillowfort to turn your table against eachother then go all in on that plan and get more cards like sphere of safety, collective restraint, no mercy, and O-rings
choose a safe win-con you feel wont be getting dealt with easily and go with that not 3 different sets you HOPE are just going to be ignored by the table
and learn what WILL kill you and what LOOKS like it will kill you, locust god getting a million little insects while you have a fucking ghostly prison out is scary but stil winnable which is why I pay no mind to graveyard effects since I can deal with whatevery they try to abuse it with

basically think like in modern a gurmag angler getting btfo by remand
more cards to consider are: oblivion stone, nev disk, hour of revelation
every single blue deck out there needs a cyclonic rift
also a big part you might wanna look into is more counterspells, so counterspell, rewind, disallow, insidious will, countersquall, cards that ACT like counterspells but get around "this card cant be countered" effects so summary dismissal, time stop, mindbreak trap, sometimes angels grace and teferis protection can do the trick if youve got a combo-fucker jacking off on the other side of the table
capsize is good, evacuation is also neato, aetherize is a GODSEND just to keep up some tempo, sulimgars command, snuff out, malicious affliction

WE

ARE THE CRYSTAL

WUZ VAMPIRES

Her clothing and the buildings are clearly inspired by rome, so it's WE WUZ ROMAN VAMPIRES

WE WUZ CAESARS!

WE WAZ SALADS

what are some good 75% decks that are strong, but don't use infinite combos? preferably in grixis/esper colours

Are there any good EDH podcasts or gameplay videos that aren't cancer like game knights? I used to watch clonehead a bit but they don't really put much out anymore.

>tfw put together Sasaya deck out of random draw spells and ramp spells in collection yesterday
>get to LGS, pick up some nice stuff I was missing for $10
>go to friends house for some beer and EDH
>Sasaya flips turn 4, ramp into +200 mana and draw entire deck
>next game, Sasaya gets shut down by Grafdigger Cage, Aven Mindcensor, Aura Shards, Linvala and Scavenging Ooze
>just been adding basics to my hand all game since I can still reliably hit it even with aven mindcensor in play
>finally manage to draw into something that can clear up the board
>instantly +400 mana, draw entire deck, win off massive Hydra Broodmaster activation with Akroma's Memorial

Also had a hillarious moment where my buddy tried to counter my Animist's Awakening for 60 when I had Hall of Gemstone in play. Hard to do when all your lands produce green, sucker.

Considering how cheap the deck is, the power and consistency is fucking insane.

Carl or Ayli?

I want to gain tons of life, remove things and blow shit up with an Aetherflux Reservoir

Karlov

This is my favorite magic the gathering card.
Say something nice about it.

>discards anger

mogis is a fun commander

that's an interesting caricature of Obama

It's goddamn hilarious. I try to slot it in any black deck I can if I have the room.

>pet card

Weirdest pet card?

I guess it would be Thermopod.

I was making a creature only RUG deck and wanted a free sac outlet to reuse ETB's with stuff like Eternal Witness and get death triggers for stuff like Stalking Vengeance for non-combat win conditions, then I stumbled over Thermopod, not only does it sac stuff for free, but it GIVES you mana for it!

Particularely effective when paired with Vizier of the Menagerie. It's been so effective that people in my meta have started adding it to their token decks etc as well.

Either way, this janky little card has somehow become one of the most important enablers in my Animar deck.

Depending on how the game's going, I either just pick apart all the wincons from the control player or remove all lands of any one color from someone's 3 color deck

>snow slug
>produces mana for sacrificed creatures
>in red
I've been playing the game on-and-off since before Coldsnap and I've never seen this card before. It's so bizarre. Thanks for sharing it, it's lovely.

I think I still prefer Treasonous Ogre for a similar slot, but there are plenty of decks that would appreciate the sac outlet or could simply run both

Also it can give itself haste since it is a snow permanent, it makes snow mana.

It didn't really run it for the mana, but the free sacrifice. The added mana just makes it really good instead of just a means to an end.

First time I've seen that bad boy. Will have to add it to my deck, I'm familiar enough with most of my opponents to know what to search for. Best part is it doesn't even exile so maybe I can cast it again from the graveyard.

HOLY SHIT

I thought only snow basics made snow mana. I am actually impressed.

>mfw mom confiscating my xbox

Licia a cutie but mardu cannot into ramp. How are you going to play an 8 cmc commander before the spike combos out?

Gain 5 life?

And then she dies to removal before you get to combat. Voltron is suffering.

Gain 7 life next time then.

read that as temple ogre and thought i somehow ended up on the wrong board

Brilliant. Just keep gaining life. Truely she is the soul of mardu jank.

My weirdest pet card is maybe Aurification.
Commanderfu is pic related

She's always been the middle sister for me. Not pure trash like Sigarda, but not standing in a league of her own as Gisela. (She's STILL one of the better Boros commanders, which is kind of sad but also kind of awesome). That said I'm happy to hear that someone is giving her the credit she's due, it was kinda sad to think of her as being forgotten by players the way their Orzhov sister was lost and forgotten by the world.

Suffice to say, there's no justice in SOI.

I regularely run $1000 mana bases and I still run Path of Ancestry in my 5 color non tribal decks.

You still get to scry when you cast your commander, as well as any coincidental overlaps. Path of Ancestry is great.
I wouldn't play it in a non tribal deck with less than 4 colors though.

I ran sporefrog and Aboshan before they were cool.

But current pet cards? I just LOVE Seize the Day. Mass Polymorph is a other that I build around, but Mindleech Mass is probably my single favorite card ever. It has never let me down, particularly when reanimated or cast with haste, or throwing down in Mimeoplasm.

>Sigarda
>pure trash

Well, I see someone has never met the pure hell that is sigarda hatebears & voltron.

Oh, she's a killer commander, but her design is elemental cancer and her character and flight had the least interesting design.

>Sigarda
>trash
She was the best sister, not only in commander, but also in almost every other format they were in. Bruna was actually always the shittiest of the three.

Uncle Karl

There's just something cathartic about bitch slapping people with an hexproof unblockable 17/17 double striking infect annihilator 2 angel.