Help with my first competitive EDH deck!!
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on May 23, 2016, 3:55 a.m. by ShadowFlameBankai
Hey guys! I'm new on tappedout and I'm in need of assistance. You see I am a tried and true commander player, however, my group has always been very casual. Due to a mass of new members to the original group our commander play has gotten extremely competitive. While I had no trouble making casual decks that were fun to play against, every time I try to make a competitive EDH deck I get stomped out. So I am in need of assistance. I am in love with Enchantments as I enjoy getting to have a strong constant state of board control. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic is my choice for the commander and I plan to run strong enchantment control in the 
color scheme. Any assistance in making a nasty deck would be appreciated. If it helps I'd like to point out that my play group is mostly aggro players with fast paced attacking decks. We only have about two or three control players and our politics are unpredictable as the aggro players decide between taking out either the other aggro players or they all team up on the controls. It varies every get together. I appreciate any help in this endeavor.
Doomsday Zur is probably an overreaction given OP says the biggest threats are aggro combat decks. I mean, sure, it would work, but that's a few steps beyond the current state of their arms race.
OP, I'm guessing your group recently graduated from slow but entertaining battle cruiser decks to ones that ramp quickly into threats with a higher level of synergy, and maybe a combo game-winning combos? I'm not an Oloro player but I do pilot Derevi Stax and Meren Creature Control/Stax, both of which can stop that kind of strategy cold. Here's some cards that might help support whatever strategy you find most appealing for Oloro:
No Mercy -- The Black mana counterpart to Propaganda, and a great deterrent if they don't have a lot of recursion. See also Tainted AEther.
Toxic Deluge will stop any weenie rush cold. See also Black Sun's Zenith and maybe Mutilate.
Increase the amount of spot removal you run. People tend to run too light on removal in casual decks, or only run wraths. Depending on what you're facing, consider: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Dismember, Snuff Out, and Reality Shift among others.
Increase your card draw options if you haven't already. Rhystic Study, Necropotence, Mystic Remora, Phyrexian Arena.
Quick ramp and mana rocks. Check out the two Talisman in your colors (UB and UW), and guild signets. Consider Gilded Lotus though that can be build and meta-dependent since it's a larger mana investment.
May 23, 2016 8:21 a.m.
Coinman1863 says... #4
Well, I guess, I should have started with these questions, how competitive do you want to be, and what is your budget? That should dictate what you can play and where you want to be.
After I know this I can either affirm or change what I suggested.
May 23, 2016 9:46 a.m.
Deckologist says... #5
Agreed. More information is needed. As stated above we need to know how competitive you wish to be and what your budget is.
If you would like to play at the highest level possible Oloro isn't going to get you there unfortunately. You're better off running Zur the Enchanter as he can grab Necropotence to fill your hand or you could run Sharuum the Hegemon who is part of an infinite loop combo that while many will see coming is often obtainable during the early turns where countermagic spells that would stop it are limited.
May 23, 2016 10:26 p.m.
captainawesome3 says... #6
For stopping weenie rushes, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Crawlspace, and others like them. I'm guessing board wipes like Languish, Mutilate will do well. Also, if the decks you play against run tokens and REALLY small weenies, I think that Massacre Wurm would be insane, even if you didn't destroy all of their weenies, because it would give you a big 6/5 AND drain your opponents.
May 24, 2016 9:04 a.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #7
I apologize for the extended delay on my reply, but my internet crashed as I was posting my response. In response to all of your questions I do wish to be competitive as possible and money isn't really a problem as I budget to make my cards more affordable. Will post more when I have a better internet connection. However, I do appreciate the advice from everyone.
May 24, 2016 9:15 a.m.
Could you describe your meta in a bit more detail? What generals are used? How much fast artifact mana is present? And so on.
And then - what do you enjoy? Even within competitive or at least highly tuned decks there's a lot of room for personal style. Some strategies don't translate to competitive because they're too slow while others almost don't work in a non-competitive meta because they make the wrong assumptions about what needs to be hated out.
May 24, 2016 9:26 a.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #9
As far as fast artifact mana its not uncommon for people to turn 1 sol ring into thought vessel for infinite hand first turn. As far as generals we have Nicol Bolas, Xenagos, God of Revels, Sen Triplets, Mayael the Anima, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, and several other decks that just use their commander for color identity such as Bant flicker control. There's also a Riku deck and a Jhoira deck both of which go infinite. My preferred playstyle is to control the board with enchantments and to win without attacking. Basically I enjoy get a strong field and killing people off with drain abilities or through politics.
May 24, 2016 7:13 p.m.
Coinman1863 says... #10
So how about this list, cEDH Brew 5: Dankchantress? This is a list the cEDH subreddit came up on one of their brewsdays, it isn't Esper, but it gets the job done. It's currently undefeated in all the games in which I have seen it tested.
May 24, 2016 7:24 p.m.
Zur and Derevi both have good enchantress builds but both can also scare a table (read: politics becomes difficult). But the brew above is worth at least giving a close read to see if you like it.
And if you don't, let us know what you don't like about it.
May 24, 2016 8:03 p.m.
Deckologist says... #12
That brew looks silly but hardly what I would consider super competitive. It is however a good place to start.
May 24, 2016 8:23 p.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #13
The Derevi build does look like fun and I do have a copy of her but black is my favorite color so I would prefer to have it. thus the reason I chose esper.
May 24, 2016 8:44 p.m.
What about Tasigur, the Golden Fang then? He's amazing if you like playing politics and can also go infinite to finish out a game.
May 24, 2016 8:46 p.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #15
He does seem fun and I had him at one point in time but the delve mechanic goes against my playstyle. The only delve card I consider using is Treasure Cruise due to it's late game save advantages.
May 24, 2016 8:53 p.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #16
However, I am considering Zur since you mentioned him.
May 24, 2016 8:54 p.m.
Coinman1863 should get credit for mentioning Zur. I discounted it earlier because I didn't think your group was that competitive. But once you mentioned there was a Prossh deck that changed my mind. If they don't have a Food Chain in their 99 and they complain about you playing Zur, just suggest they pick up that card. It'll change everything.
May 24, 2016 8:57 p.m.
Coinman1863 says... #18
Well, since you want it, here is a whole primer on Zur with one of the best lists currently available which was made by the deck maker himself..
May 24, 2016 9:04 p.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #19
They have food chain and use it often and thanks for the decklist Coinman1863 I'll take a look at it shortly
May 24, 2016 9:17 p.m.
Deckologist says... #20
i think zur may be an overshot. I mean...its just prossh. I haven't been to a tournament in a few month but I don't ever really remember anyone losing their shit over a prossh deck.
May 24, 2016 9:19 p.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #21
That Zur is deadly not gonna lie. However, I'm not sure it's my playstyle. Although I will be looking into it more to see if I can find something more fitting of me.
May 24, 2016 9:34 p.m.
Deckologist says... #23
Not to sound like a casual but in reality it doesn't matter what you play or how competitive it is if you don't have fun with it you're not going to play it. I built a dinky little mono blue deck that is stupidly predictable but its so damn fun to play that I don't care. I've even taken it to a tournament or two and won (long stories) but it was never about the winning, it was just fun to play. The decklist is:
His Name Is Mochi - Kami of the Crescent Moon
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 7 | 9 COMMENTS | 506 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS
by building something that you enjoy playing you'll win even if you get the crap kicked out of you.
This is also my Oloro deck in case you're really dead set on ruining people's lives.
Not Your Daddy's Oloro
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 1 | 1 COMMENT | 233 VIEWS
May 24, 2016 9:42 p.m. Edited.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #24
Basically, I like being that guy. I like being the guy that just comes in and ruins everyone's day. I feel like I would enjoy a black red blue deck but I don't know how I would go about it and as far as Oloro as I said in the opening I really want to make my Oloro the monster I feel he can be maybe a mid range enchantment control but I will certainly look at your decklist.
May 24, 2016 9:56 p.m.
Coinman1863 says... #25
How about a stax deck? Here is my personal best list, Nath Stax. This list has done really well in the league I am currently, and is still currently nearly almost completely done with testing only a few cards. Another good choice is Alesha Stax, it is one of the other really good stax lists running about which might fit the bill.
But to be honest with you, enchantress really doesn't exist in cEDH. The closest thing you got is the list I posted above. Unless you play stax which runs some enchantments, you really aren't going to see any besides Necropotence and maybe Grasp of Fate. Just that enchantress/enchantment strategies are too slow without stax support, or they win the game on their own like necro.
Hope this gives you insight into the cEDH meta.
May 24, 2016 10:02 p.m.
ShadowFlameBankai says... #26
How does Nekusar, the Mind Razer work in cEDH.
May 24, 2016 10:10 p.m.
Deckologist says... #27
It's meh. It usually gets our dream halls and then goes crazy on wheels or storms out. Easily disrupted and usually gets hate instantly. Its almost as bad as sitting down with a Sharuum player. They know what they're gonna do. You know what they're gonna do. And the world keeps spinning. .
May 24, 2016 11:17 p.m.
Deckologist says... #29
its competitive...everyone is "that guy". I think maybe your expectations of competitive and our expectations of competitive are off. Most of the time when people say competitive they mean a deck thats going to win on turns 1-4, consistently, with 0 interaction to the game being played. You barely care about what your opponent does as long as he doesn't win or prevent you from winning.
With that being said you can also play semi-competitively aka what most players see as "competitive". This is normally geared toward your local meta and your deck is tuned enough to win most games it plays but still has interactivity with the game however small that may be.
Playing a hyper competitive deck in a semi competitive meta makes you "that guy". Unfortunately most competitive "tournaments" are filled with semi competitive players and then like 2 hyper competitive players that just roll everyone, jerk each other off, and brag about how awesome their deck is on reddit. This was one of my main reasons for leaving the competitive scene.
Now...If you want to make your deck tough to beat but still somewhat fair in your meta then shoot me a message on my wall and I will take the time to help you out with an aggressive but not extreme deck that should play how you want it to. If you want to play competitively at tournament level (which is a joke now) do the same and shoot me a message on my wall.
May 25, 2016 12:33 a.m.
Waste Not is an even better enabler for Nekusar than Dream Halls if you build it for storm simply because of its CMC. Most of the deck isn't even that expensive to acquire if you avoid a couple cards like Mana Crypt and Lion's Eye Diamond.
Coinman1863 says... #2
Being the local guru on this sort of thing, I would suggest looking at an Ad Nauseam Doomsday List. Currently the best version out there is Zur the Enchanter, (primer here) and you prolly could adapt it to Oloro, however you loose some consistency because you can't fetch enchantments which help you win the game.
Hope this helps!
May 23, 2016 7:21 a.m.