Hidetsugu is actually a pretty cool legendary. If you're playing a proper red burn deck, chances are your opponent has less life than you. A smack with the ogre club might put the opponent within a Lava Axe of death. A fair card in the right deck. And from what I've read, he's pretty cool in the books.
It's just that a Hidetsugu Commander deck will inevitably have combos like Furnace of Rath and Loxodon Hammer that'll just ruin everyone's day.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
If we ever have a Heapers' EDH Night, I'll let you borrow a deck or find you one on the internet (yes, the article said not to do that either, but I can surely find you one that isn't terrible)
And yeah, it is moot. In fact, the bit about common staples also has to be ignored in part because every possible card's available to every player, and people will be jerks. For example, it's a good idea to slip in a Strip Mine to deal with the inevitable Maze of Ith that at least one player's running (as long as you don't play it with Crucible of Worlds or something). Sol Ring (and similar super-fast mana rocks like Mana Crypt) are often a necessity because literally everyone else is running them and you'll need to keep up. (Oddly enough, I don't think I've actually seen Duplicant before. Like, ever. And Sylvan Primordial is actually banned in EDH now, so good call on that)
If you want to do a limited format, we could play sealed deck using this site. Modern Masters is the closest to cube, though it wouldn't quite be the same in sealed.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
I just want to make sure I'm not horribly misunderstanding here.
So I watched the YouTube LPer I like play more of 2011 DotP. He's playing against an Ajani deck. At one point, he has him down to 5 life. Ajani has a 2/2, a 1/1, and a 5/4, all capable of blocking, but no cards in his hand. Stephen has, in total, four 1/1s, three two 2/3s (two of them with deathtouch), and two 3/3s (one of which is pacified and the other of which has Pariah).
Now, in this situation, I would have just swung wildly, being confident that even if he blocked and Pariah took out my 3/3, I'd still win. Stephen chose to agonize over the situation for a good two minutes before deciding not to do anything and taking another 10 minutes to take Ajani out. My question is: am I right in being frustrated that it took longer than it seemed to need to?
Haven't played with/against Pariah, but I'm pretty sure that the proper course of action for the Ajani player would be to let the Pariah'd creature suck up all of the damage that turn. Damage is dealt simultaneously during the combat damage stage, so you wouldn't deal any damage that turn. So, your course of action would get rid of Pariah, but it wouldn't kill the opponent. And Ajani would be free to swing for 8 next turn.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Stephen had 12.
And that does change things. I wouldn't have thought that Pariah killing off a creature would cancel out the damage they do. Then again, I also wouldn't have thought that you could sacrifice a creature right as they got killed off from a block, which had happened earlier in the match.
I spent about half an hour today getting my butt kicked by an Erebos, God of Necropotence deck. The game consisted of him nuking everyone else's creatures, mana ramping with Cabal Coffers, and using Exsanguiate to nullify the lifeloss from Erebos. It was...unpleasant, to say the least.
So now I'm thinking about Necropotence and it's spawn. You've got Phyrexian Arena, the least broken in terms of effect. Then you have Erebos of the Dead. Then Greed. Then Necropotence. And then Yawgmoth's Bargian and Griselbrand, the only two actually banned in EDH. And now I'm wondering about what the guidelines are for banning a card in EDH. I think every black deck's packing at least one of these, along with Exsanguate and Nirkava Revenant/Crypt Ghast. Or maybe I'm just experiencing it differently because of Cockatrice's whole 'rarity and price is meaningless here' thing.
They don't like to do it unless it's a card that's incredibly broken in the context of EDH for whatever reason. Griselbrand and Bargain are nuts with EDH's 40-life starter. Necropotence is okay because you don't get the cards immediately, I think. Greed and Erebos are balanced out by having a mana cost in addition to the life.
I will say that I don't really like how the Theros gods turned out, especially with the 'consider the commander format' thing that MTG design has going on right now (a philosophy that would indirectly lead to Emmara Tandris).
The gods I see most often on Cockatrice (Erebos, Purphoros, Xen, Kruphix) don't encourage interesting EDH decks. Erebos encourages Necropotence-abuse decks, Xen encourages throwing all of your biggest creatures into a deck and calling it a day, and Kruphix is the same thing but with spells included. Purphoros actually has particularly nice synergy with token-heavy decks, but that's about it.
^ Yeah, that makes sense. I think Greed and Erebos are still a bit OP with the whole Cabal's Coffers/Nirkana Revenant/Crypt Ghast thing going on, but I haven't seen decks like that in bulk on Cockatrice, so it's probably not as bad as I'm imagining it to be.
I like my Heliod deck because it just does silly things with enchantments and then kills you with a bunch of little dudes. I kind of want to make an Athreos deck because he's my favorite, but I don't think he's that great in EDH for several reasons. Would definitely be a nice addition to Vish Kal, though.
Athreos does work pretty well with Vish Kal, I'll say that. Honestly, I don't mind most of the gods as long as they're not commanders. Except Phenax. Nobody was asking for yet another mill engine.
With Heliod, the Vorthos in me doesn't like him as a character. But 4 CMC vigilance with tokens isn't a bad thing to make a deck around him. And I do like silly things.
Keranos just strikes me as kind of boring. Not as bad as Pharika, whose abilities just seem a little bit underpowered, and definitely good for the average 60-card deck, but I can't help but feel that he could have been made with a bit more flavor.
You know what I want to see in a Cockatrice match but haven't yet? King Macar (and most of the Ravnica legends, but that's neither here not there)
The only thing I don't like about him is the fact that he should be Orzhov rather than pure black, because exiling's more W/B's schtick than B's and because gold card. Besides that, how can you not like King Macar?
I think a lot about that "may" clause, though. "I am cursed to turn into gold whatever I want. It is a devastating curse with no drawbacks whatsoever."
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
I decided to try and make an EDH deck. It is cool and awesome and I like it. Of course, since this is a game of intrigue and strategery, it will probably fall flat on its face. :P
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Intet. As Haven said in #trashheap last night: "Intet has the perfect combination of having an awesome ability and being a dragon, which is just about everything you could want in an EDH general."
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
And now I made a Vorosh EDH deck. I've also realized that the fun thing about building EDH decks is the fact that being restricted to one copy of each card and having a 99-card deck allows you to include a lot of cool things at once, albeit at the cost of being less likely to draw one in particular. But hey, that's an acceptable price.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
But first I have to make decks of every tri-color combination possible. I only have... 8 more to go.
This is vitally important to my life and existence :P
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Ooh, tough choice. Both are nice. I'll go with Kaalia though. Now to pick a theme.
No, wait, did it wrong. You started out with enemy-blue, and then went to enemy-green. So, the next would be...enemy red, I think. Which gives you Numot, Zedruu and Ruhan.
Numot's the obvious choice, but he does land destruction, which gets you bad looks in EDH, so maybe Ruhan?
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Kinda leaning more towards Zedruu, to be perfectly honest.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Okay, Zedruu and Kaalia decks complete.
I kinda want to make decks themed around gargoyles and whales for some reason. That would be hilariously impractical considering how few of each there are, but I'll be damned if I don't give it a good shot. I am aware that the former requires white and possibly red and the latter requires blue.
With Gargoyles, the main difficulty's getting a good mana curve. All Gargoyles cost at least 3 mana, so you'll want to find some thematically appropriate creatures to fill the early spots, or a bunch of 'prevent damage' instants. White's going to be your dominant color, but I'd suggest splashing a bit of black and maybe some blue.
Whales is more of a 'number of creatures' and 'ludicrous mana costs' issue. You could always cheat by using some Leviathans and Quicksilver Amulet/Show and Tell.
And, of course, when making tribal decks, one should always consider Adaptive Automaton and Coat of Arms.
Allow me to demonstrate [Chameleon Colossus]’s true potential. Turn 1: Forest, Exploration, Mountain, Mass Hysteria (4 Cards in Hand) Turn 2: Forest, Glimpse of Nature (3 Cards in Hand) Crimson Kobolds, Crimson Kobolds, Crimson Kobolds, Crimson Kobolds, Crookshank Kobolds, Crookshank Kobolds, Crookshank Kobolds, Crookshank Kobolds, Kobolds of Ker Keep, Kobolds of Ker Keep, Kobolds of Ker Keep, Kobolds of Ker Keep, Memnite, Memnite, Memnite, Memnite, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Phyrexian Walker, Phyrexian Walker, Phyrexian Walker, Phyrexian Walker Battle Hymn (all lands tapped now) for 24 {R} Dragon Storm Dragon Storm copies itself 26 times, search for: 4x Draco 4x Hellkite Overlord 4x Zodiac Dragon 4x Broodmate Dragon 3x Balefire Dragon 1 Moonveil Dragon Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund Nicol Bolas Arcades Sabbath Chromium Palladia-Mors Vaevictis Asmadi And Chameleon Colossus. (1 Card in hand) Dangerous Wager, Gaea’s Cradle, tap the cradle. Mana pool is now 55{G} and 17{R}. Harmonize 3 times (7 cards in hand). Craterhoof Behemoth, all creatures get +56/+56 Craterhoof Behemoth, all creatures gain +57/+57 Craterhoof Behemoth, all creatures gain +58/+58 (4 cards in hand) Mana Pool is now 27{G} and 13{R}. Use Chameleon Colossus’s ability 8 times, bringing his power to 45,824. Fungal Sprouting. Mana pool is now 5{G} 2{R} Drop a Candelabra of Tawnos, and untap Gaea’s Cradle for 45883{G}. Use Chameleon Colossus’s ability a further 11463 times, bringing his power to approximately 2.333x10^3455. Mana pool is now 38{G}, 2{R}. 2 Cards in hand. Overwhelming Stampede. All creatures, including the colossus, get +2.333x10^3455/+2.333x10^3455. 1 card left in hand. Pay 2 life for Gitaxian probe. Cast Reforge the Soul for its miracle cost. Draw 7 Cards. Mana Pool is currently 37{G} and 1{R}. Overwhelming stampede, all creatures get +4.666x10^3455/+4.666x10^3455 Overwhelming stampede, all creatures get +9.332x10^3455/+9.332x10^3455 Overwhelming stampede, all creatures get +1.866x10^3456/+1.866x10^34556. Chameleon Colossus’s power is now 3.732x10^3456. Fungal Sprouting. Play the final Craterhoof Behemoth, giving each creature (slightly more than) +3.732x10^3456/+3.732x10^3456. With the final 1{G} and 1{R}, cast Battle Hymn, and activate Moonveil Dragon’s ability (slightly more than) 3732x10^3456 times. Swing for 8.295 270 849 113 420 273 720 667 025 234 984 257 159 156 113 271 842 594 461 996 862 572 769 257 648 541 961 573 186 664 679 441 999 460 783 502 898 959 791 785 350 263 879 433 632 403 964 500 129 588 905 389 901 376 324 306 368 576 206 467 714 367 467 778 722 014 113 867 519 691 364 100 468 757 326 181 593 517 217 419 212 480 450 639 167 366 726 962 908 182 661 292 517 623 377 276 260 414 669 413 227 927 931 065 056 807 306 370 559 795 636 870 649 862 330 863 918 875 028 678 544 937 050 429 853 227 438 555 263 284 954 564 955 380 849 276 163 609 467 136 049 945 102 733 898 782 964 222 348 553 201 142 226 528 995 183 891 344 583 561 820 800 934 701 188 865 6e+6902 damage. (830 Quintillion Nonagintillion Ducentillion Billinillion, a number 6902 digits long) This is approximately equal to the number of particles in the universe, to the power of 79.
And you still have another card in hand so you can Mental Misstep them if they play a fog. If they play another, beat them to death with their own chair.
First test run was promising. The game ended pretty quickly because the Grenzo player went ham (as Grenzo players are wont to do; he may be a bit overpowered, but we'll see before making a huge fuss about it), but the mana curve wasn't bad and I was never unable to play a creature because of mana concerns.
Managed to play the Krenko deck so well today that I made the other guy kick me from the game.
I was mad at first, mainly because I bled tears and cried blood to get that victory (For reference, he wiped my board and killed Krenko, twice, on separate occasions. Usually it takes one board wipe for me to concede defeat). But you know what? I can now say that I played Commander so well that the other guy effectively flipped the table. And I didn't even need to use a combo.
That story's going to get me all the non-alcoholic drinks at all the Magic-themed bars that I'll be going to one day.
I went to try and rate it but there seems to be literally no login on gatherer right now. It's not thrown to a random corner of the page like most of the elements, it's just gone.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Two more EDH decks completed, bringing me up to 6 out of 10 tricolor combos. The whale themed one unfortunately had to be general sea creatures that are cool because there are exactly 4 whales in the entire game, and not too many other cetacean-esque creatures.
Don't you just hate it when you have a deck idea and it just kind of falls apart?
That's essentially what happened with my legendary deck. Using rainbow colors was too inefficient (there were, like, 4 black cards and 2 blue cards in the whole thing), so I tried to pare it down to three colors and find an appropriate commander. I thought I had it when I remembered Gahiji the Honored One, but then I realized I'd have to kick out Tamiyo the Moon Sage and I just gave up.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Here's my plan for my last 4 tricolor EDH decks:
1. Green/Red/Black - lizards and maybe hydras
2. Green/White/Black - wolves, foxes, and hounds
3. Blue/Red/Black - black dragons (as opposed to Intet deck's red dragons)
4. Green/White/Red - white dragons (see above)
What other thematically appropriate things should I add to those last two?
Hmm. Dragons are red's trademark late-game creature type (Black's is demons, white's angels, blue's leviathans, and green's hydras), so you're not going to find a lot of them outside of red. There are about five or so pure-white dragons, and three or so pure black. Of those three, one's illegal in EDH because of combos and the other's infect. There are a good couple of B/R dragons, so it's not impossible. You'd just have to flesh it out a bit.
As for what to add...hmm. Grixis (B/U/R) is traditionally zombies and necromancers, so not much to pick from, but Nicol Bolas is Grixis so you should definitely consider throwing him in. I mean, I hate playing against him, but he's so thematically appropriate that I can't tell you to not throw him in there.
I'm not really familiar with Naya (G/W/R), but it's a very creature-heavy combination. I'm sure you'll find something.
I'm actually surprised that you're not going with dragons for Green/Red/Black. Jund's practically dragon city.
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
Maybe I should make another deck that has Karrthus as the general. I just picked lizards because I'm pretty sure there are more black lizards than white ones. Though red and green are still the prominent colors regardless. Hmm...
Remember back in the 50s when they'd record like Elvis singing YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A HOUND DOG and then they'd turn the record over and reverse it and it was all NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP NYERP and people were all like, "That is actually the voice of Satan coming from that song."
So double-checking, my suspicion that there are no white lizards is correct. So I might just make two GRB decks: a lizard-themed one for Darigaaz and a dragon-themed one for Karrthus.
Also, I like how 70% of this page is me liveblogging my EDH deckbuilding ideas :P
Comments
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What's your commander?
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