SUCK SQUEEZE BANG BLOW
or recover, generate, swing and sac
This is my first 4 color commander deck. It has done extremely well in multiplayer setups but is very capable in 1v1 matchups as well.
The idea is to make yourself a hard target while you setup a board state to combo out for waves of tokens to chump bock, buff+swing, use as sac fodder, or deal direct damage with Purphorose, Hellrider, or Brutal Hordchief. Once the engine is established, the onslaught is relentless. The deck uses plenty of removal to keep enemies from overpowering with their boardstate as well as reanimation to make your boardstate stick and recycle etb effects. There are some very fast very unexpected combos that allow you to sit back in a multiplayer game without drawing too much attention before comboing out for a very difficult boardstate to deal with. The commanders themselves seem innocuous but they have incredible synergy when their powers are combined. The advantage of having two commanders in a 4 color deck is that it gives you a few more options given the cards in your hand or when you're lacking symbols. The deck's strategy is to not depend entirely on any one method. Counter/removal decks will have a hard time dealing with the aggro and reanimation. Graveyard hate will have trouble dealing with token generators and direct damage. Fatties decks will have trouble dealing with the copious single target removal. By spreading the strategy out with cards that synergize well together, the deck is more versatile and can function if any one leg is cut off.
I'm going to do my best to explain some of the combos I've gotten off and try to list some of the more untested cards that have been in more recently.
COMBOS:
Tana, the Bloodsower
Tana's trample ability seems trivial, but there are a lot of opportunities to buff her without necessarily being the focus of the deck. Ravos, Soultender buffs her to 3, Bastion Protector +2, Angel of Invention, Eldrazi Monument, Spear of Heliod all give her a little extra. Angelic Destiny was included specifically and exclusively for Tana. Get it on her early for possibly 6 weenies then bring out Ravos, Soultender on your next MP1 to buff them all to 2/2s and swing for 21, 7 creatures wide and get 7 more tokens. Having Purphoros, God of the Forge out for that last swing would do 14 direct damage to each opponent when the tokens drop. Having out Saskia the Unyielding will also double the tokens you get. There are a few nice "creatures entering" triggers in the deck to make the most use of weenies being pumped out, so it combo's well with Panharmonicon and Parallel Lives. Swinging wide with little guys also allows you to take full advantage of Brutal Hordechief or Hellrider. Lastly, the deck has sac mechanics built in to use tokens as a resource. Westvale Abbey
, Voldaren Pariah
, and Eldrazi Monument are all great cards, and thanks to Tana here, we'll have plenty of fodder.
Ravos, Soultender
I used to bitch about this guy's casting cost being too high for his value but after playing this deck against many other concepts he is absolutely invaluable. The buff ability is an obvious boon in a token deck, but the reanimation mechanic is what really makes this guy shine. Self-sacrificing abilities on creatures like Dauntless Escort, Sakura-Tribe Elder and Emrakul's Evangel just got a lot less cost-prohibitive. Having out Bastion Protector makes Ravos indestructible, so your opponents have to kill her before they can kill him. If they can't kill in two phases then you can just bring her out next turn. Cards that draw a lot of hate like Mycoloth, Royal Assassin, and Intrepid Hero get a second (3rd, 4rth) chance to be played. Particularly with Mycoloth, you can devour 3 weenies for 6 counters, get 6 tokens on your upkeep, sac (or swing and die), then cast him again next turn to devour the 6 tokens and get 12 counters.
Gift of Immortality
This card is a good way of keeping your commander out on the battlefield but it's also fantastic with sac abilities. Put it on Dauntless Escort to make your creatures indestructible every turn, get your commander back after using it to transform Westvale Abbey
, put it on Sakura-Tribe Elder to bring out a basic land on every players turn, or just swing with piece of mind using low-health high-value swingers like Hellrider or unbuffed Champion of Lambholt.
Royal Assassin
This card does it's job at preventing people from swinging on you, but pair it with Blind Obedience for a dirty combo that makes every creature entering the battlefield vulnerable, even those with vigilance or haste.
Skullclamp
Put it on a 1/1 weenie for this busted combo. Pay 1 mana, kill that weenie and draw 2 cards. Or just put it on an expendable creature you expect be blocked by a bigger creature when you swing, or a card you expect to get some hate by your next turn. Occasionally I'll put it on Tana, the Bloodsower before swinging, so if she gets blocked I get 2 cards and if she doesn't I get 3 tokens. This deck doesn't have a ton of card draw so abuse this 'fact if you gotta.
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Getting this guy in your hand is nearly a win con. He is so good that I'm ordering a Captain Sisay, maybe even a Strionic Resonator for this deck. He is so good that he's included even though he will never become a creature because there are barely enough red symbols in the deck. With the amount of tokens generated and creatures you reanimate, this guy will life rot each of your opponents. Having out a Mycoloth with only 2 counters on it (meaning you devoured only one creature) will ping each player for 4 health on your upkeep. Artifact Mutation your own Commander's Sphere to do 6 more. This is poor scenario but you can see its effectiveness even in that situation. You can use Emrakul's Evangel to turn himself and his five 1/1 saproling pals into 3/2's and trigger P-phreezy for 12 damage to each opponent. Panharmonicon doubles the damage, Parallel Lives doubles the tokens and the damage. Any player damage that you get off with Tana, the Bloodsower is effectively tripled, and if you happen to have Saskia the Unyielding out, it's doubled again. With Tana, Saskia and Purphorose alone, every 1 damage from Tana becomes 6, even more if there are more than 2 players. Good card. Good good card.
Whip of Erebos
The lifelink alone on this card makes it a competitive choice for the deck since you will be sending a lot of tokens to their grave, but the activated abilities has some serious clutch play potential. That said, use it with prudence. This is kind of a reanimator deck and exiling cards from your graveyard will limit your potential later on, so I only recommend using it in extreme circumstances to seal a kill or prevent a boardwipe. What would you use it for? You can whip out a Mirror Entity just before damage is assigned and boost all your 1/1 tokens to base X/X. Whip out a Dauntless Escort to sac immediately and make your creatures indestructible. Saskia the Unyielding before damage is assigned (but after blockers are declared) to double player damage. Whip out Royal Assassin or Intrepid Hero to get rid of an annoying creature a defending player controls. Whip out Sun Titan to then get Beastmaster Ascension out from your graveyard, swing with 7 creatures and give them all +5/+5. And remember, that's all lifelink damage thanks to our handy whip. Speaking of Sun Titan, tho..
Sun Titan
The mana curve in this deck is centered right around 3. There are a good amount of high value permanents that fall within Sun Titan's reanimation effect. Dauntless Escort and Bastion Protector are great cards to reanimate just before swinging, but Sun Titan is usable on all permanents! Sol Ring or Dolmen Gategot destroyed? Get 'em back with this dude. Swing with him and get a free Darksteel Mutation to put on an opponents commander. Bring out Dark Impostor and activate his ability to exile a pesky creature. Bring back your Mirror Entity after attackers are declared and wtfpwn when you pump all your tokens to +X/+X. Sun Titan pairs extremely well with Athreos, God of Passage. It forces opponents to allow you to pull lower casting cost creatures back into your hand when they die, otherwise they pay 3 life and Sun Titan just brings it out again next turn.
Cryptolith Rite
The utility of this 2 mana enchantment in a token deck is downright unwholesome, and it is even more invaluable in this 4 color deck as a mana smoother. It's not uncommon for this li'l guy to draw some immediate hate if opponents recognize its value. If they don't, they soon figure it out.
Untested Cards
Iroas, God of Victory
I've been running Dolmen Gate in this deck since the initial edits I ever made to the Open Hostility package. In a deck where you're going to be losing a lot of expendable tokens, Dolmen Gate will let you hold on to 'em after swinging. And it's hard to beat that price point of only 2 mana. I have included Iroas recently because the menace ability seems amazing for swinging wide, hopefully creating opportunities for damage to leak through and Tana to spawn more tokens. Unfortunately I have not been able to thoroughly playtest him. Anytime I get him in my hand I already have Dolmen Gate out or the menace ability is irrelevant. Still tho, there are definitely enough symbols in the deck to trigger his devotion, and an indestructible 7/4 swinger with menace for 4 mana is nice.
Bloodchief Ascension
This card was simply included in the last round of edits and I haven't been able to get it in my hand. I included it to punish spellslingers, cyclers, and dredgers. The CMC literally cannot be lower and if you're in a multiplayer game you can get all 3 counters required in just one round. Incidental life gain is always a plus, especially since this deck requires you to swing all-in a lot of times. This card seems like it will help you trade hits better, but it simply hasn't been tested.
Weaker Cards/Possible Edits
Intangible Virtue
This card combos great with Dolmen Gate, especially if you have Ravos, Soultender out. It's only 2 mana and lets you swing all in while keeping your unkilled tokens to use as chump blockers, too. If your token engine isn't in full gear, however, which does occasionally happen, this card is of little use, and you may find yourself praying for some removal or quality creatures instead.
Dark Impostor
I included this card when for its target exile that can be used the turn it comes out when I started facing decks with more and more Indestructible keywords. Acquiring the activated abilities and getting a counter are bonuses. I used him on a mana weenie once to set my opponent back a turn and me forward one >:D . As I pointed out above, you can use Sun Titan to pop this guy out and immediately remove almost any creature from the board without triggering any "When this creature dies.." effects. The only issue I have with it is that the cost for the removal is high, and if you don't have the mana available to use it he can be a disappointing draw.
Blind Obedience
This card does work in preventing commanders like Xenagos, God of Revels from going ham on you with hasted fatties, and it totally alley-oops with Royal Assassin to dunk any creature that gets dropped in-between your untap phases. I like it because it specifies artifacts as well, which might prevent an opponent dropping a Sol Ring and getting out his big-drop, but if that doesn't bother you then there are somewhat better choices. Authority of the Consuls does the same thing (without the extort) for 1 less mana and still gives you the life gain for free. Thalia, Heretic Cathar costs 1 more mana but doubles as a first strike swinger.
Hellrider
This card is amazing and synergizes incredibly with the deck. Swinging with 8 2/2 tokens? Opponent takes 8 damage before they even declare blockers. I'm not at all saying that this card doesn't pull its weight, but again, in the off chance you haven't gotten your token engine running or you're recovering from a boardwipe, this dude isn't going to help a whole lot. If you were looking to make an edit, this guy might be one worth considering.
