Help me punish mean players!
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on May 9, 2017, 9:57 a.m. by MagicalHacker
How many cards can you think of that are mean to "mean" players? I want to build a deck that forces opponents to win in "fair ways", and I'd love help finding cards for a deck like this!
Using MagicalHacker - List of All Anti-Tutor Cards, MagicalHacker - List of All Gold-Hate Cards, MagicalHacker - List of All Anti-Infinite Cards, and MagicalHacker - List of All Anti-Control Cards, I found these cards (organized by color):
White (5):
Humility
Hushwing Gryff
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Aven Mindcensor
Spirit of the Labyrinth
Blue (2):
Mindlock Orb
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Black (2):
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
Chains of Mephistopheles
Red (10):
Harsh Mentor
Stranglehold
Blood Moon
Burning Earth
From the Ashes
Ruination
Possibility Storm
Price of Glory
Stoneshaker Shaman
War's Toll
Green (7):
Titania's Song
Wave of Vitriol
City of Solitude
Dosan the Falling Leaf
Hall of Gemstone
Heartwood Storyteller
Seedtime
Colorless (7):
Cursed Totem
Damping Matrix
Knowledge Pool
Null Rod
Torpor Orb
Omen Machine
Uba Mask
Multicolored (5):
Gaddock Teeg
Kambal, Consul of Allocation
Burning-Tree Shaman
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Vexing Shusher
Based on those cards, I think I'm going to build a gruul deck using Ruric Thar, the Unbowed as the commander or a cheap commander that can help ramp me into my cards (Radha, Heir to Keld). Some questions:
- Are there any other cards for gruul that you think would fit this theme?
- Are there any reasons to choose something other than gruul?
- If gruul is the best for this, what gruul commander should I use, and why?
Thanks!
hecklefeckle says... #3
I know you're not playing white, but Stony Silence should be here.
May 9, 2017 10:11 a.m.
Thalia, eidolon of rhetoric, caustic caterpillar and reclamation sage, aven mindcensor, hushwing griff, kataki war's sage, gaedock teeg, peacekeeper to name a few. The goat that was printed with Meren, that creature that gives all your creatures a +1+1 counter when a player sacs a permanent the black and white titan and some overrun like effects can do the job absolutely amazing. If some of the creatures tax you too you can just sac them to cards like jarad. This is a super fun way to punish Combo decks and still be able to win via turning creatures sideways. (basically how I played the deck before going Combo). Sorry for not linking the cards but I am on my cell phone
May 9, 2017 10:12 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #5
AlexoBn, that idea could definitely work, but the inspiration for this deck is that I want to play Blood Moon, but have no deck for it. :( and hey no worries about not linking, I knew all the cards you were talking about except the goat lol
superman101, ah I missed that in my OP! If I change from gruul to something white, I'll be sure to add it in.
May 9, 2017 11:04 a.m.
Got the name Pathbreaker Ibex. If you want to play blood moon you could go full blue moon with keranos and stax pieces (but that would be a combo deck )
May 9, 2017 11:16 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #7
AlexoBn, that's an idea. What would blue offer me in the theme? Green seems really helpful, but if blue has a lot of cards for the theme, then sure!
May 9, 2017 11:26 a.m.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/keranos-blood-moon/ This is the deck that was featured in one of the Lab maniacs youtube series (cEDH super fun to watch). You basically get cards like Back to Basics, Mana Maze, Winter Orb and co so that you can slow down the game and then win via Isochron Scepter, Lightning Bolt and Paradox Engine
May 9, 2017 11:59 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #9
Huh, interesting! I'll keep that as an option, but for now, I'm going to try to build gruul deck around the theme. Any gruul cards you can suggest?
May 9, 2017 12:07 p.m.
My NOOOPPPEEE card is Helm of ObedienceUsed with Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void or anything else that uses "Exile instead" replacement effects, it is a doomsday trigger for anyone being a dick.
You playing a deck that comboes out? exile your library. You trying to combo out? in response, exile your library. Being an unfun dick at the table? Exile your library.
Unfortunately in EDH you are forced to run cards like Iona and such in your deck, even if you never play them, just a a hedge.
For infinite life gain decks Rain of Gore is good.
For Gruul. I guess you have Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and if you really want to go all in Mana ramp Worldgorger Dragon leaving enough mana in your mana pool to cast Apocalypse
Running Black and Worldgorger gives you the oh so hilarious Animate Dead combo. for infinite mana, and if you have ETB Trigger Cards you can infinite cycle your ETB Triggers until you get bored and target something else.
How it worksPlay Animate Dead Necromancy Dance of the Dead targeting Worldgorger Dragon dragon enters which makes these leave play, which causes you to sac the dragon, which makes your field come back.
Cycle for infinite mana. infinite ETBs for anything you have. infinite artifact uses (if they return untapped)
EDH almost ALWAYS becomes an arms race, then you have to have cold war strategy to keep playing with people.
May 9, 2017 12:33 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #11
Thanks for the ideas! You mentioned Vorinclex, but do you think Choke could be good? From what I can tell, blue is the most played color I see.
May 9, 2017 12:38 p.m.
Choke is amazing in a meta full of blue. Its mostly dead to everything else, but when its good its great.
Privileged Position is great if you can afford some white in your deck. Makes it real tough to deal with all of your lockout artifacts/enchantments/creatures and such without sweepers.
May 9, 2017 1:01 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #13
How to Kill a Mockingdude -- what do you guys think?
May 9, 2017 2:06 p.m.
Uba Mask is super dangerous against yourself. not sure it fits, but if you can play around it yourself go for it. I would almost run a PW in that slot.
Very heavy anti blue, which means you hate your blue meta. if you are out to put the screw to blue... mission success. LOL.
Other than that, what is your big win con for yourself? Grind out?Kessig Wolf Run possible idea for pumping your commander... maybe a sword or two to tron up and try to win that way?
I see lots of fun police, but not much you win action.
May 9, 2017 2:26 p.m.
Make a 5 coloured deck and include those cards in it :p
The deck should be called "The Policing Academy"
May 9, 2017 2:32 p.m. Edited.
ComradeJim270 says... #16
Speaking as a fan of "mean decks", I think your best option are hatebears as suggested by AlexoBn. A lot of those would make me very sad, but they also develop your board state.
May 9, 2017 4:14 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #17
Zaraeleus, I agree. I'm definitely lacking on the win-con cards, but I don't exactly know which direction to go, as Blood Moon effects make Kessig Wolf Run effects bad and Null Rod effects make equipments bad.
Should I change the commander? Should I find room for more win cons? If so, what would your suggestions be?
CChaos, if I did that, I wouldn't be able to run Blood Moon as smoothly, which is the card I want to play the most of all of these cards!
May 9, 2017 4:15 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #18
@MagicalHacker: I really think you want white for this deck. A lot of the best effects for this strategy are in that color.
May 9, 2017 4:21 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #19
Hatebears could be just what I want. Is there a way I can play Blood Moon effects effectively in that kind of build?
Also, how many white cards are there for the theme? Are there more white cards than green/gruul cards for the idea?
May 9, 2017 4:36 p.m.
more meanness against blue, Boil, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast. But do you really want to have a bunch of mean decks, and then be the one player just trying to stop them? seems like a good way to put a target on yourself.
May 9, 2017 4:40 p.m.
I would run either Dragonlord Atarka or Omnath, Locus of Rage as the commander.
Or Just run Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
May 9, 2017 4:48 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #22
@MagicalHacker: Some of the white cards have already been suggested. White is the uncontested champion of making people play fair. There's also stuff like Rest in Peace and Rule of Law. You can still use Blood Moon because you're in green; you can easily search up basics and use mana dorks so even though you're a three-color deck you don't care if some of your non-basics become mountains.
Have a look at Gaddock Teeg decklists if you want to see some of the cards white gives you access to.
May 9, 2017 7:45 p.m.
I'm completely at a loss here. What do you define as mean?
My definition of mean is the kind of deck you are planning on building. Stax with the effects you want to include makes it to where you will have the meanest deck around.
You just won't let anybody do anything?
If your problem is cEDH, then making a cEDH deck is the best option. You deck will most likely harm Casual players more than cEDH.
Oh and I forgot to ask, what is a "fair" way of winning?
May 9, 2017 10:37 p.m. Edited.
Winterblast says... #24
It's quite amusing to end up with a Stax deck to make the other player's "play fair"...as a passionate Stax player I can tell you that you can limit the options of everyone so much that your opponents will play next to nothing. Don't get me wrong, stax is a great archetype to play, but your argumentation is weird: becoming the biggest jerk on the table in order to prevent other players from playing "unfair"?
I can see one problem though: if you play hatebears that are not also aggro stoppers or the most agressive critters on the table, you might end up getting trampled by a primitive and straightforward aggro deck. In green and red you don't have too many options to shut down aggro, other than having the strongest creatures yourself.
May 10, 2017 4:37 a.m.
RainbowDevil says... #25
I can understand you trying to create a deck to defeat an opponent. Naturally, if we're often up against a certain opponent, we're going to want to find ways to defeat them. But to want to defeat them due to "not playing fair" is placing your judgement upon them. The same cards are available to you as to them. Therefore, it is fair. Perhaps they have devised tactics or combos that you haven't, but that's their own quick-thinking, not due to "playing fair". Don't get me wrong, I don't think that every deck is for every opponent or that everyone should enjoy playing against every deck. Personally, I don't much enjoy the concept of mill decks. Losing simply because all my cards have been discarded, to me, feels like a cheap way of losing. But that's because I have my own personal preferences for play. It doesn't mean my opponent's not playing fair, just that their style of play doesn't mesh with mine. You're trying to create the most constrictive deck to force others to accept your definition of fair. Is that a fair thing to do?
Rainbow Devil
May 10, 2017 6:41 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #26
First of all, I don't think any strategy is unfair. Period. I just figured the idea for this deck would be best described as "punishing decks for playing 'unfair' decks" (notice how I too put quotations in my OP, implying that it's not truly what I believe).
May 10, 2017 6:59 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #27
What you're describing really is a hatebear strategy. Force people to play fair, then smack them in the face.
May 10, 2017 7:16 a.m.
Winterblast says... #28
What you're doing with your approach is basically punish the use of: artifacts, nonbasic lands, tutors, activated abilities, counterspells or reactive control in general
This leaves very little room for anything to happen at all, except for simple aggro. Now, if you consider aggro to be the fairest strategy because it's the most predictable (and also the weakest with 40 life, unless you add a good amount of control - which you disable, lol) you have achieved your goal. Global disruption of pretty much everything other than attacking with creatures is surely considered "unfair" by more people though...nevertheless, if you manage to shut down the creatures too, it's quite a lot of fun AND it's successful as well!
AlexoBn says... #2
You should play karador, get superior green Ramp, white hatebears and black tutor, card draw... Although you seem to dislike cEDH you can really check the karador combo primer and just take the Stax creatures and win with creatures like grave titan. Karador is super fun and has a lot of recursion
May 9, 2017 10:04 a.m.