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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Zealous Conscripts
Creature — Human Warrior
Haste
When this enters the battlefield, gain control of target permanent until end of turn. Untap that permanent. It gains haste until end of turn.
rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with Me …
9 hours ago
First a quick introduction. I've been playing magic off and on for years. When this site first started out, I was super active and then I stopped playing. I recently got back into it and plunged deep into the Commander format. I love building decks around interesting concepts and often trying to break cards.
My slightly ambitious goal is to create a series of threads that show my thought process as I build a commander deck. I figure it will serve two purposes: First, it will aid newer players who have some precon decks and perhaps are looking to upgrade them or they see a commander and want to build it, but aren't sure how. The second is purely self-motivated in that more experienced players can fine tune my own logic and make suggestions for my own improvement.
So with that, the first commander deck I'm going to build here is Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds. This is a card that begs to be broken and creates for interesting and powerful decks. There are also several different lines you can choose to go with. You can make it go infinite if you like degeneracy or don't like the people in your playgroup, or you can decide to go the way of building lots of tokens quickly and then turning them sideways and swinging. (Spoiler alert we are going infinite)
So first things first, we need to think about what the commander actually does and what it is going to need to do that effectively. First, it allows all nontoken creatures to tap and create tokens that I control that entered the battlefield this turn. So a couple things to point out: First is that it is tokens not creature tokens specifically, so treasures, clues, food, etc. are fair game. Secondly, it doesn't have to be my turn that the tokens came in, you can activate the ability at instant speed if you create a token on your opponent's turn. Now Ghired also is only 3 mana in Naya colors with Haste which means he's going to come down early in the game, so we'll want some other creatures out there when he comes down to start building up tokens right away.
With his abilities in mind, there are a couple things that we want to think about: Cards that create tokens, cards that double tokens, cards that untap things, and cards that do interesting things when they're tapped, example Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero, who comes down early as well, and when she is tapped I gain life and draw a card. We will obviously need to consider interaction, ramp, and card draw, but those are secondary in my thoughts. Every deck needs those, but what items you add often depends on what your deck is trying to do. In this case, we want to make tokens, tap creatures, make more tokens.
Token Generators
So a couple really good token generators here to start would be things that keep making them rather than one offs. In my playtesting Oltec Matterweaver is hard to beat. It comes in early (turn 2 if you can get a sol ring). When you cast a creature spell you can copy a target artifact or bring out a 1/1 gnome. Turn 1 you play a plains and a sol ring. Turn 2 you bring this out, turn 3 you bring out Ghired, creating a copy of sol ring, tap your Oltec Matterweaver and create another sol ring. You now have 3 sol rings on the field on turn 3... You are now the archenemy, congrats?
Some other standouts are Emmara, Soul of the Accord who when tapped creates a 1/1 soldier with lifelink. So tapping will actually create two tokens. Thousand Moons Smithy  Flip is another beast of a card. It comes down turn 4, Ghired is already out along with any other low cost creatures. Let's say you have a Birds of Paradise and Ghired when this comes down and maybe a mana rock. You create a 5/5 Gnome (2 creatures, 2 artifacts, and the gnome itself). Now you tap the bird and Ghired and create two more Gnomes. You now have 3 7/7s, on turn 4...
Honorable mentions here are things like Smothering Tithe who will create treasures each opponent's turn, tap a creature and create another. Rain of Riches, create some treasures, copy them cast something and get cascade.
Also, populate is a thing, I like Growing Ranks and Nesting Dovehawk for that.
Doublers
Ok, so doublers is a pretty easy topic, there are quite a few out there, they are expensive and honestly for this deck you don't need much. I chose a couple that I particularly like for this and by like I mean I own them and didn't have to go out and spend $50-60. Examples are Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation  Flip, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Primal Vigor (careful as this one applies to everyone not just you).
Untapping Abilities
Untapping abilites can make it even worse as time goes on. If you have a Seedborn Muse you untap each upkeep so they draw a card, Smothering Tithe creates a treasure, during their end step you tap your creatures creating more treasures. Untap on the next opponent's untap step, rinse and repeat.
This is also where infinite combos begin to happen. Sunstrike Legionnaire untaps everytime a creature enters the battlefield. Make a creature token, tap sunstrike legionnaire, create another creature token, sunstrike legionnaire untaps, rinse and repeat, gg. Midnight Guard works too for one more mana. Other options include making copies of your own creatures that untap creatures when they enter the battlefield like Hyrax Tower Scout, Zealous Conscripts, Sparring Mummy. Mix that with notable salty cards like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Molten Duplication, Splinter Twin, Jaxis, the Troublemaker and you're off to infinite again. (Jaxis uses his ability targeting sparring mummy, sparring mummy comes in untaps him, now Jaxis just taps to make a copy of the sparring mummy token (from Ghired) which has haste, it comes in untaps Jaxis, rinse and repeat, swing with a legion of sparring mummies)
Cards that do cool things when tapped aren't super plentiful, but the two I've mentioned already are great for this deck. (Wylie and Emmara).
Interaction, ramp, card draw
Now for the ramp, interaction, and card draw. Ramp is fairly straightforward, since we have the Oltec Matterweaver, I opted to put in some signets, but left some other stones out. Normally when I'm in green I go heavy on green ramp. I opted for cheap ramp spells like Rampant Growth, Farseek, Three Visits and Birds of Paradise (could maybe use more mana dorks since having a body later will help in producing larger tokens).
Interaction is super important in this one. Board wipes are coming, targeted removal is coming, so need to prepare, but we also need to be flexible in taking out our opponents. So to save us from board wipes, we have Heroic Intervention, the ubiquitous and hopefully soon to be reprinted (one can dream) Teferi's Protection, Boros Charm, and Smuggler's Surprise (which is heroic intervention in disguise).
Getting rid of threats is crucial, so Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares are useful, but not as useful as Beast Within, Generous Gift, and Stroke of Midnight. These obviously target more than just creatures, but also produce tokens. There are situations where a well-timed beast within on your own treasure token to create a 3/3 beast that you can copy a bunch of times is the right play. That make it not just removal, but also a token generator.
Finally, we come to card draw. Since we are producing tokens (hopefully most turns) we can include things like Bennie Bracks, Zoologist and Idol of Oblivion. I also like Welcoming Vampire for this deck. It is creature heavy so Guardian Project is great, so is Beast Whisperer and Garruk's Uprising. Esper Sentinel is always good. We already have Wylie from earlier. Getting card draw is vital to the survival of any deck and particularly this one as we need to be producing tokens regularly and you need cards to produce them. I chose to run about 11 card draw engines in the deck to ensure I'm drawing regularly.
Lands... I mean... make sure you have dual lands in the deck and triomes if you can. One noteworthy utility land is Grove of the Guardian which can have a nice payoff when you create an 8/8 with a few creatures out along with Ghired.
I'll post the deck that I built from this thought process on my page in case you want to see the final product. And if you made it this far thanks for joining me on this, I hope it was helpful. Feel free to comment on how you would do it differently or cards that should have been mentioned. Also feel free to mention commanders you want to see built. I have a couple in mind to start but want to see suggestions as well.
scotchtapedsleeves on
Marchy March and the Funky Bunch
9 months ago
Hey! Coming over from Reddit to give some advice.
First off, some overarching themes that I notice:
-
Draw vs Card Advantage - A lot of the cards in your "Draw" category don't actually provide any impactful draw, only scrying and cantrips. I'm an enormous fan of Fell Stinger and Thought Sponge. Easily repeatable draw effects that dump cards in your hand. Scry isn't useful unless you're drawing a ton of cards or are doing some topdeck manipulation.
-
Your creatures are too big - Marchesa appreciates small bodies with big effects rather than big bodies with meh effects. For this reason, I would take out Combustible Gearhulk, Vindictive Lich, Vengeful Ancestor, and Gyruda, Doom of Depths. Playing lots of small, cheaper bodies lets your deck fly under the radar until it pops off. It will also give you more targets for Imperial Recruiter.
-
Aristocrats style - Marchesa doesn't play like your typical aristocrats deck, Blood Artist isn't very effective when you're only sacrificing 2-3 creatures a turn. It's also counterintuitive to Dethrone. Abusing ETB and LTB effects is more important than slowly draining opponents
-
Not enough counter distribution - You only have 5 cards under counters and they're all either situational or restrictive. Drop some Thran Vigil type cards in there and you'll go far
Overall, you're too reliant on creatures for draw, removal, etc. Run some efficient draw and removal spells
Next up, cards I recommend removing. I've playtested most of these and they're not nearly as impactful as they seem.
- Blood Artist - Covered this above, you don't want to gain life
- Combustible Gearhulk - Opponents will often just take the damage early game and late game you do NOT want to be spending 6 mana on a 6/6 with no impactful ETB.
- Vindictive Lich - An alright card, not fantastic though. I'm very pressed for 4 drops in my deck so it didn't make the cut.
- Vengeful Ancestor - Not a very impactful card. You're running Kardur, Doomscourge so this card is just overshadowed.
- Gyruda, Doom of Depths - 6 mana to maybe cheat in one creature? Not a huge fan. If you want to replace it with a grave robber effect Puppeteer Clique is better. Still not fantastic, it didn't make the cut in my deck
- Aether Channeler - A fine card, the mode selection is okay. I'm not in love with the effects it gives though
- Morbid Opportunist - Only one draw a turn? Blasphemy
- Woe Strider Free sac outlets are nice, but I find I get overrun with them when I have more than 5 in a deck. Also more expensive just to scry? Not a fan
- Dauthi Voidwalker Will generate so much hate. Unless you can fend off your opponents don't run it
- Faerie Artisans Not the kind of stealing Marchesa likes, tokens aren't the name of the game here. Something like Zealous Conscripts will take you much further
- Phantom Steed Same as above, tokens are nice but this isn't a great card
- Ravenous Chupacabra Too much mana for removal. Black and blue have much cheaper options
There are more that I personally wouldn't run, but that's up to how you like to play your deck.
Now for some cards I would include in every Marchesa deck
- Thran Vigil - Allows you to immediately sac creatures that come back + an extra layer of protection
- Uncivil Unrest - Same as above but you can also give haste to fresh casts. Double damage doesn't hurt
- Fell Stinger - Repeatable, powerful draw on a deathtouch body
- Thought Sponge - Incredible draw engine. Sac it on opponents turns every time it enters and you'll draw AT LEAST 6 cards a turn cycle.
- Iron Apprentice - Great 1 drop, can distribute counters if you're having trouble and is sacrifice fodder
- Rakdos Cackler - sacrifice fodder
- Flayer of the Hatebound - This card gets a bad rap but it's great in Marchesa
- Herald of Secret Streams - Wincon alert! This card sneaks under the radar until you hit someone with 25 unblockable damage
- The Ozolith - Expensive, but who doesn't want to keep their counters for 1 mana!
Of course, please take a look at my deck if you need inspiration. It's pretty casual, but the synergies can be backbreaking if your opponents don't keep you in check. I also have a ton of cards in my maybeboard that I'm considering or have saved for later.
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/guess-whos-back-back-again-and-again/?cat=custom&sort=&cb=1689648313
DadHumanPraetor on
Iroas, Menace to society
1 year ago
I run Fighter Class to grab Hexplate Wallbreaker and also Glimmer Lens and Mask of Memory and some other equipments. I also run Sigarda's Aid because I run Splinter Twin to combo with Combat Celebrant and Zealous Conscripts I love Iroas, I equipped a helm on him in a game last night and had 4 of him on the board lol.
zretrareo27 on
RW EDH Brion 2022
1 year ago
My 2016 EDH deck - revamped for 2022! use commander Brion Stoutarm to Fling your opponents creatures with cards like Act of Treason, and if you're lucky - use Bazaar Trader to keep them!
I've tried to keep this deck nearly 50% White and 50% Red.
I've narrowed the premise of this deck down to the following categories, 50 Cards to the first, and 10 cards to each other category, give or take.
50% of the Deck is the Commander, Land, Mana rocks, and Draw.
10% is Steal/Keep
10% is Removal/Wipe
10% is Bringing Cards Back
10% is Brion Fodder and Fetch cards
10% is Double Damage and Powerful Flyers
Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. That being said, I will probably not be able to afford the more expensive cards Land Tax, Smothering Tithe, Lifeline, Smuggler's Share etc. that are not already in this deck. However - It's still fun to check them out! If you like it, up vote!
With this revision, I've cut many of the fancier, slower dual lands to opt for faster basic lands. I've also added Weathered Wayfarer.
I've removed cards that target artifacts and enchantments like Kami of Ancient Law, instead opting for better utility cards like Quarantine Field that target "nonland permanent".
I've made some recent changes to this deck, hopefully to address that mid game I am struggling with tempo, as well as running out of mana to cast the creature or steal spell and have enough to activate Brion's ability. Some cards like Deathrender and Thornbite Staff have been removed (even though they were good in concept) to add more playability.
I also found that after all the sacrificing, mid game I was running out of defense, so some additional creatures have been added with dual purpose, such as Angel of Sanctions and Emeria Shepherd.
Decksplanation:
Double Damage:
Fiery Emancipation gives me triple damage.
Calamity Bearer works specifically to Brion's sac ability.
Angrath's Marauders, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Gratuitous Violence all make the damage I do twice as effective.
When creatures I steal die, Stalking Vengeance beefs them. When I summon large creatures
into play Warstorm Surge deals damage to my opponent, and when I sac those, Stalking Vengeance hits them on the way out.
Fodder:
Malignus, Serra Avatar, and Soul of Eternity all act as giant bombs to throw at the opponent.
Hofri Ghostforge allows for me to steal an opponents creature, fling it at them with brion, and then keep a spirit copy of that creature.
Draw:
Magus of the Wheel and Reforge the Soul provide the opportunity to get a fresh hand at my whim.
Humble Defector is an easy and fun, card that helps me forge alliances with other players in multiplayer while getting me TWO extra cards per turn.
Skullclamp works perfect with the sacrifice ability and is easy to cast.
Well of Lost Dreams is insane when played late game for Brion's lifelink ability and can be fetched with Hoarding Dragon or Open the Armory
Sin Prodder gives me a potential extra card per turn, or the chance for an opponent to take damage to the face... and then I can pull it out of my graveyard later with my other cards! Basically a win/win.
Mangara, the Diplomat and Mila, Crafty Companion
 Flip serve to deter attacks and draw.
Fetch:
Hoarding Dragon serves as a flyer, a sacrifice, and can grab any rocks, Skullclamp, or
Well of Lost Dreams.
Open the Armory helps grab Skullclamp, Well of Lost Dreams, or Gift of Immortality.
Recruiter of the Guard is specifically to get Bazaar Trader for the huge advantage of keeping my opponents things, but can also grab Duergar Hedge-Mage for removal or Sin Prodder (amongst a few others).
Weathered Wayfarer can grab any land, such as Buried Ruin or Arcane Lighthouse.
Mana Rocks:
Boros Cluestone, Commander's Sphere, and Mind Stone are all serving as early ramp and later card draw.
Sol Ring because Sol Ring.
Removal:
Archon of Justice is quite powerful in this deck, as it allows for a flying creature, then a source to sac, and remove a card permanently.
Angel of Serenity gives me the option of 3 recursion or 3 removal.
Duergar Hedge-Mage can be played and replayed in this deck for knocking off annoying enchantments or mana rocks.
Magus of the Disk is one of the board wipes.
Grasp of Fate, Oblivion Ring, and Banishing Light all allow for really flexible removal. Same for Quarantine Field except allows for extra targets for more mana. Chained to the Rocks works the same, but only for creatures. Angel of Sanctions works similarly, but is a creature.
Ryusei, the Falling Star really just acts as weenie removal and a sac source from a flyer.
Bringing them Back (and sometimes keep it!):
Adarkar Valkyrie Sac an opponents creature, then get it permanently!
Bazaar Trader Take it with a steal and keep it!
Angelic Renewal Sac my own creature, get it back!
Gift of Immortality Sac my own creature, get it back... again, and again!
Emeria Shepherd play a land, get a card! Play a Plains, get a creature to sac!
Mistmoon Griffin Flys, defends, and sac-able, then get back a creature from the graveyard!
Squee's Embrace fun and easy to play, and retrievable with Tragic Poet.
Tragic Poet, a low mana cost creature to get any enchantment in my deck back for any reason. Fun with Squee's Embrace, Angelic Renewal, etc.
Returned Pastcaller a flyer that lets me grab a Threaten or Breath of Life.
Angel of Serenity gives me the option of 3 recursion or 3 removal.
Stealing their Creatures:
Captivating Crew steals every turn! No wasted card space here, just a reusable sorcery.
Conquering Manticore powerful flyer, that steals!
Zealous Conscripts You can steal anything! Anything! Lands? Mine. Artifacts? Mine. Works great with Bazaar Trader.
Act of Treason, Portent of Betrayal, and Threaten are all basic steal spells.
Malevolent Whispers, Mark of Mutiny, and Traitorous Instinct all give me steal with buffs for Flinging.
Harness by Force allows for more than one thing to be taken if the extra cost is paid!
Powerful Creatures:
I'll be the first to admit, these don't reallllly fit in with the deck. But they're so awesome it's hard to remove.
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Aurelia, the Warleader
LeonSpires on
1 year ago
@ GrimlockVIII thank you for the Upvote and suggestions for my deck!
The deck tries to make a win attempt around turns 5 to 7 and Avenger of Zendikar is a bit slow for that without dedicated landfall. Don't get me wrong I like Avenger of Zendikar and it is an all star in my Kruphix Lands Matter *Primer* list.
Further more Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts is the easiest way this deck has to win. Gruul is good at tutoring for creatures but not instants and sorceries. The other combo lines rely on using at least one instant or sorcery and thus must be found using card draw. Consequently I have found it is almost always wrong to cast Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Zealous Conscripts for value. If one of them is in hand the goal is card draw to find a tutor to fetch the other.
Curious Herd looks like it would be a lot of fun in a more chill wort list. My strategy during the early game is ramp and token creation (to use to conspire spells latter). Once I cast Wort the strategy becomes card draw by conspiring draw spells. This means I try and keep most of the token creation at 2 CMC. The exceptions are of course:
Hordeling Outburst (3 CMC) It creates red tokens. This can matter as most of the ritual effects and card draw are red and need red creatures to conspire. If we get another Dragon Fodder / Krenko's Command functional reprint Hordeling Outburst will be replaced.
Goblin War Party (4 CMC) It also creates red tokens and can be used as a haste enabler for the Reiterate infinite combo.
Dogmagic on
Malcolm in the Middle (of the combo)
1 year ago
Updated the description to add more combos to the list that I've been coming across as I play the deck more. Most of these can be chalked up to Coercive Recruiter and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker being absolute workhorses together. Technically you can directly upgrade the deck by swapping Coercive Recruiter for Zealous Conscripts, since you lose the Pirate restriction on the recruiter and can make infinite copies of non-pirate creatures, since the only couple non-pirates in the deck all have strong roles.
| Have (3) | QuestionMarc , JordanSanFran , metalmagic |
| Want (1) | seizan8 |