Chiberia (retired)
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 51 | 61 COMMENTS | 5653 VIEWS | IN 17 FOLDERS
Win Con and Starting Primer —Feb. 24, 2018
In playtesting I noticed this deck doesn't have a wincon to just stop the game and win, so as I paid for a Land Equilibrium I'm gonna use it. So you need to have either that, or Ward of Bones (preferably that) and play Armageddon (once you have Ojutai out) and boom
Secondly, I'm gonna make a Primer for the deck, because it has 43 upvotes, why not make a Primer?
Edit: Found a better win cond Enchanted Evening+Cleansing Meditation
Egads I don't even know where to start. Two words I guess: Haunted Cloak. I'm somewhat taken aback as to how that equipment isn't in here or hasn't been suggested before. It's my bread and butter tech for my ojutai deck.
I'm just going to link my deck and we'll compare some notes. I need a little bit to wrap my head around this, there is a lot going on here. +1 of course, some super swanky and flavorful cards in here.
Untapped Potential - Dragonlord Ojutai Cheers fellow UW controller.
February 13, 2018 6:16 p.m.
Trust me there are a lot of equipments and auras Im baffled I couldnt fit in here:(
Balancing both the control and Voltron elements is really hard! I have been trying to group up with my friends to play test this (I have been blue balled for 2 months because of conflicting schedules lol), I don't know if Haunted Cloak has a place, but it might! This deck is not done yet:)
Thank you for the upvote, I'll take a peek at yours right now (Might not comment and give feedback until tomorrow because I have irl stuff)
February 13, 2018 6:28 p.m.
Okay Chiberia, I've looked over this deck and have gathered my thoughts. Firstly, this is a very strong deck, congrats on some well deserved recognition. I see some room for improvement but, this looks very hard to stop.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge is one. Shouldn't need to explain that one.
Duelist's Heritage is another very powerful card. I seriously love it, double strike is so good with Ojutai. Fits under Sun Titan, and can even be used as a political tool. It and fireshrieker lead me to run Medomai the Ageless, as he too loves double strike. You know how I feel about Angelic Destiny, this card is why, it is a clear upgrade ... I'll discuss possible cuts later anyway.
You run so little recursion, is that by design? If so I would definitely like Rest in Peace in here to shut down graveyard decks and deprive your opponents of a potential resource.
If you're just looking for ideas for recursion, I have a few. Torrential Gearhulk is one, I really like that it can be tutored out and itself reanimated fairly easily because it is an artifact. Snapcaster Mage is of course costly, but a great way to get extra use out of already cast counters. Academy Ruins or the more budget friendly Buried Ruin are excellent utility lands for getting artifacts back.
Tatsumasa: Big power boost, but wow is it expensive. It's ability is of only questionable value in my opinion. I imagine you use this in conjunction with stoneforge mystic, I have to wonder why batterskull isn't utilized instead. Lifelink, almost as a big a power boost, and ever important vigilance.
Fact or Fiction: Impulse is better. Half the cost, digs almost as deep, and your opponents don't know what you're getting. Also fits under Isochron. I would make that swap.
Hero's Blade: If haunted cloak could go in over something, its this. Do you know you have zero cards in your deck that grant haste? Leyline does grant psuedo-haste but thats it. I hope you're not underappreciating how special that cloak is to Ojutai. I know you don't run swiftfoot boots, but the cloak is that card on steroids, like uber sterioids.
Ponder: If you're struggling to find a card to cut make room for something to playtest, this would be it. Ojutai digs all on his own, and you've read my thoughts on cantrips. It totally does have value, but if some other card out there could present more value (Conqueror's Flail? Grand Abolisher maybe?), then swap it for this and see how it goes in my opinion.
February 14, 2018 9:22 p.m.
Suns_Champion says... #5
Very nice! And nice background work too :)
You seem to have most of what you need. Tight list. Most of the stuff I initially thought of are already here.
One thought I have for you though would be some untap instants. Djeru's Resolve, Act of Heroism, Refocus, and Tidal Bore. These will basically serve as counters spells and combat tricks with some added utility, like buffing and drawing a card. Something to test perhaps.
Otherwise, very nice look. Reminds me of my friend's first commander deck :)
+1
February 14, 2018 9:25 p.m. Edited.
I think I made my description too detailed because it wont show anymore accordion blocks of stuff (I have a list of cards Im working on getting), but Im working on getting a Minamo, School at Water's Edge. I have wanted one for a while but I've never had the chance to trade for one! I like Duelist's Heritage, Im legitimately surprised I hadn't seen it before I saw your deck!
I am also working on getting Torrential Gearhulk and Snapcaster Mage, as well as Academy Ruins. I am working on getting a job (recently came of age to get one here) but the reason this deck has a lot of value is years of buying cards and trading! Not because I have money (So acquiring some pricier cards is a bit of a slow process) I wish I could get some expensive cards easier.
Rest in Peace is definitely a good idea, one of my friends runs an Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder EDH Sacrifice deck. You gave good suggestions to be sure, but the hardest part of this deck is keeping the correct balance of control, and hitting hard!
Detention Sphere is in here as an answer to my friends Sacrifice deck (I hate having 30 Thrulls on the board) but I understand why Cast Out could be taken out.
Thank you for the feedback!
February 14, 2018 9:33 p.m. Edited.
I have been toying around with the idea of untap spells, I may go ahead and do it since my friends all run black for removal, and a friend with Grixis Control
February 14, 2018 9:35 p.m.
Suns_Champion says... #8
Yeah it'd probably be worth it in that case. They're just thirsting to use their loads of removal on something and Ojutai is a nice target when untapped, so it'd provide some gotcha! moments and a nice tempo swing. You just need to play your cards right as it were, get political.
February 14, 2018 9:46 p.m.
Piloting this deck is taking some getting used to, but its well worth it;)
Politics in my friend group usually goes my way because, as one of my friends once said, "You're a silver tongued bastard you know that" after I convinced everyone to gang up and kill him in game
February 14, 2018 9:51 p.m.
Ah, I apologize I looked at your description and didn't read pretty much any of the comments, sorry bout that. Comment could have been shorter, least it didn't fill up much space haha :)
I didn't mention, how do you find this deck fairs against gravepact type effects? I see two token generators, has Heliod, God of the Sun ever been a consideration? I adore him a lot, as he's tutorable, very hard to remove, gives vigilance and spawns an army as a mana sink or in response to sacrifice effects. scrolls up Nope don't see it mentioned.
February 14, 2018 9:59 p.m.
redace10 that is a damn good point my friend, my friend runs both grave pact and dictate in his sacrifice deck, but Im not sure how much it would actually do (since he commonly has 20 or so Thrulls on the board), but it is something to think about!
I will release an update when some revisions have been made, Im still thinking about how I wanna change it
February 15, 2018 11:12 a.m.
Updated as far as the next update to cards I could possibly get:)
February 15, 2018 12:01 p.m.
Also I kept Tatsuma because I like the card itself, no other reason:)
February 15, 2018 12:02 p.m.
Mindbreak Trap: I suppose you have to just cross your fingers on the first two spells not being too important, otherwise I like Summary Dismissal more or just something else that's cheaper.
Desertion: has it ever happened that this turned into a five mana cancel? I can imagine it could. This is also the only card in your deck that takes things from opponents, so its not neccesarily on theme either.
Djeru's Resolve/Tidal Bore: I debated Untap spells with my Ojutai deck as well, ultimately I decided against it. It runs counter intuitive to a vigilance themed deck in my mind, and I can picture quite a many scenario where a counter would do the job more cleanly. You are not wrong saying they are like counters, but I think they are deceptively narrow counters that at times will not help at all because Ojutai will not need to tap.
Ghostly Prison- I've generally only see this paired with propaganda, it's odd to run one and not the other. I'd say that if you only want one you're probably better not running either. It's a both or neither kind of card pairing in my view.
Settle the Wreckage: This card I am very on the fence about. 4 mana gets into AEtherspouts territory, and one can argue the latter has less downside, but isn't exactly a great card either. Exiling creatures without targeting them is sweet. However, the stipulation that they must be attacking is irksome, and won't help at all against decks that don't win through combat. Not to mention the cases where you could end up ramping out all the basic lands an opponent has. That all being said, if its good removal for your meta then keep it in. Just another card that could prove of less value when other options are considered. Like Austere Command for instance.
On a sidenote, I am somewhat amazed at how few lands you run with a 5 CMC commander. Our respective decks have a close average Cmc, should I be running fewer lands? Do you just always hit ramp? You don't run a particularly large amount of ramp cards, though you do have some powerful ones. Feel like I am missing something.
February 15, 2018 6:25 p.m.
I agree with most of what you said (excluding Mindbreak Trap, my friends love comboing off), I am stubborn with some cards because I like them but when someone says something obvious (like Settle the Wreckage being mediocre) I do have to agree.
As for lands... well there are many scenarios, but luck comes down to it sometimes (when it comes to lands and ramp I think I just get lucky):
1.: I just pull enough lands
I pull three lands and some ramp comes by turn three then I get either more ramp or lands
I pull a few lands and a tutor, and I tend to go get Land Tax
Worst case scenario: I get mana screwed and pull either a tutor or Land Equilibrium to bring the game to a halt until I get mah mana or ramp.
I might end up running more lands, but Im hesitant too because snow lands are expensive and I want my basic lands to synergize with Scrying Sheets
February 15, 2018 6:36 p.m.
I made some reverses and added some cards in,
I took out the untap spells, Settle the Wreckage , and Desertion
I added in Austere Command which I conveniently already have, Spell Crumple as a counter that completely destroys decks that are reliant on there commander, and an Ojutai's Command because it is versatile and I do not have money for a Mystic Confluence yet, but it is a placeholder for it for now and I also conveniently already have and added a land back
February 15, 2018 6:53 p.m.
P.S. Im going to cycle the comments soon since there is a good number of them
February 15, 2018 6:55 p.m.
Chiberia: Spell Crumple doesn't really work anymore. The rules were updated a little while ago regarding repalcement effects for commadners. Now if a commadner would be killed, exiled, shuffled/placed into a library or returned to hand, the owner of the card can instead place it in the command zone.
You have to use effects like Mindslaver to actually make commanders go away now.
February 15, 2018 7:01 p.m.
Oh and enpc upvote the deck if you like it;)
Ima votewhore my way to 50 upvotes if I have to lol
February 15, 2018 9:12 p.m.
Adding in some more lands because I think it needs it
February 15, 2018 9:45 p.m.
I wanted to add a bit of an addendum to enpcs post. Darksteel Mutation and Imprisoned in the Moon are both effective at removing a commander semi-permanently (also Song of the Dryads, but thats the wrong colour). The enemy commander is not changing zone, so its controller is not afforded the option of returning it to the command zone.
Also, +1 for being shameless in your quest to reach 50 upvotes.
February 15, 2018 10:08 p.m.
I forgot he suggested those, hmmm maybe, my friends do rely on there commanders a lot
February 16, 2018 9:10 a.m.
elgosu1337 says... #25
Since Ojutai is blessed with innate hexproof, you can drop a lot of the shroud and hexproof effects and focus on vigilance and untapping. Minamo, School at Water's Edge is amazing for this and only takes up a land slot.
Ring of Thune is amazing since it keeps Ojutai hexproof and grows him every turn.
In a control voltron shell, Runechanter's Pike provides a lot of power very cheaply.
Auramancer's Guise also works well if you want to play more auras.
Chiberia says... #1
Suns_Champion
I got around to putting a background in! Thank you for your help, I love it:)
February 13, 2018 6:02 p.m.