Mono Coloured Deck Choices
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on April 7, 2017, 5:20 p.m. by MoonTurtle7
I currently have a mono black Korlash, Heir to Blackblade deck that I enjoyed for a longtime. I still like it, But my LGS has stopped disregarding him. I've also gotten tired of going voltron. I would like instead to make some other kind of mono-colored deck. The color doesn't really matter to me, but I have the Caged Sun and Nyxthos so I can go pretty much any direction colour-wise. v
These are just things I've been spit-balling, My LGS is very competitive, but I care more for it to be fun.
Any insights or suggestions would be very welcome. I'm pretty indecisive so this really helps.
Well, if your LGS is competitive then they'll never allow Jalira to last long enough to make use of her. Geralf comes off as less threatening but quickly becomes a powerhouse, and there's no need to build around him. I doubt Surrak will not get much notice from the group and his ability is a bit benign which is great for a surprise blitz on someone. Yeva seems unassuming but is very useful. Balthor....I don't know what to say but I'd be hitting the "removal" button quickly if I'm not running black or red. Drana can give you some political pull with her ability.
For fun, I'd say take Yeva and throw in a bunch of creatures with ETB's and triggered abilities. So much surprise to be had.
April 7, 2017 6:05 p.m.
MoonTurtle7 says... #4
Well chaosumbreon87 I really enjoy green toolbox and stomp. Black reanimate and stealing is what I was looking at. Puppeteer Clique kind of stuff. Blue is interesting to me in how it can both steal, and mess with tempo.
Calliber yeah my choices here are kinda meant to be less obvious so I can go under the radar. Though I do agree, Jalira to some is kinda screaming "HIT ME! I could suddenly have a magical Blightsteel Colossus" not much I can do in terms of politics there.
April 7, 2017 6:36 p.m.
PookandPie says... #5
If you're looking for reanimation, Chainer, Dementia Master is pretty great at it and does surprisingly well at 'competitive' tables. This is, of course, using the understanding that you mean competitive to be, "Players run the best casual cards they can" and not, "The meta is Food Chain Tazri, Doomsday/Ad Nauseam Zur/Leovold/Jeleva Storm, Arcum Dagsson, and Teferi, Temporal Archmage." If that's the case and your games have the capability to end on turn 3-4, don't play a mono color Commander that isn't Teferi Planeswalker, Arcum Dagsson, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, or black Sidisi. Other ones like Azami, baby Jace, Baral Storm might be able to steal wins if you keep other players from going off so that you have ample time to win, yourself.
Anyway, if the meta is just good players running good cards, then Chainer, Dementia Master is a lot of fun. I run him a lot against things like either Selvala, Yisan, Animar, Breya (non Doomsday, non-Bomberman/Worldgorger), both Sidisi, Skithyrx, Edric, Brago, Gitrog, etc., and it does quite reasonably against them (with Daretti and Breya being the most difficult since they care little about creatures). Lots of people just don't know how to deal with the stupid amounts of creature hate Chainer enables, and I primarily win by looping Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
My deck is here, though it's probably not the most optimized Chainer deck: The Chainer That Binds.
It's important to note that when someone pulls out their Thrasios, Zur, Tazri, etc., basically anything that can win before turn 5, I put away Chainer and grab my own Zur, Breya, or Arcum decks (or maybe see if I can get lucky with Ghave). So, if your meta truly is competitive players and decks, don't seek out reanimate shenanigans in mono color because there's a lot you won't be able to stop, and you'd be better off looking to Meren or Karador since you have some big combo leans there.
April 8, 2017 4:26 p.m.
MoonTurtle7 says... #6
thank you PookandPie I'm not gonna lie and say the decks I deal with aren't the "legitimate competitive" with Zur,leovold, Animar, Tazri, etc. There are some people there that do have optimized tier 2 things and so on. Honestly I play with those people, (Mostly cause they set you up in randomized cubes, not separating the "try-hards" from the people that realize it's a more casual format) My pair of friends that I play with tend to be on the more "casual" spectrum (we hate 1v1's, and 3v3's always ends up being 2v1). So I want a deck that can kinda do both, or at least have fun. Cause I know I can't afford a 300$+ mana base, which is why I hesitate making a 3-5 color mana base.
April 8, 2017 6:09 p.m.
PookandPie says... #7
Ah, okay. In that case, you should be able to try out something like Chainer pretty easily, assuming you have some of the mono black staples.
A lot of non-combo mono black decks wind up being Big Mana Black, and I don't play Chainer any differently. Cabal Coffers, Vesuva, and Thespian's Stage are great, though you could abstain from Vesuva if you don't want to drop the cash on it. Bloodghast could be swapped for Nether Traitor to save some cash, Oblivion Stone could be Nevinyrral's Disk, some of the tutors could be swapped for their more inexpensive versions, etc..
Up to you. If they mostly run creature decks you should be set with something like Chainer.
April 8, 2017 6:46 p.m.
MoonTurtle7 says... #8
I Don't mean to be rude PookandPie, I know I asked for help. But I'm not really feeling Chainer, Dementia Master he's cool and all. Though I don't feel a Fizz as it were. I'm really sorry.
April 8, 2017 8:04 p.m.
PookandPie says... #9
That's not a problem, lol.
If you're wanting to do reanimation in mono color, Geth, Lord of the Vault, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Balthor the Defiled, and Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker are your options.
Geth is great at using opponents creatures against them, if you're looking into abilities like Puppeteer Clique. Again, though, hopefully you have a lot of the big mana black staples like Cabal Coffers and the like, because Geth is crazily mana hungry.
Though, if you're not against doing a two color deck versus a mono color (three colors is where things begin to get really expensive), Meren of Clan Nel Toth is great at reanimation strategies. Karador, Ghost Chieftain is most likely the strongest, but his deck would cost much more than Geth or Meren.
That's about all I have to suggest in the realm of reanimation strategies though. Hopefully that helped.
April 8, 2017 9:48 p.m.
MoonTurtle7 says... #10
Yeah, Reanimation is a cool mechanic. Kinda would like to know more about peoples opinions on the other colors. I mean green toolbox sounds kinda neat (Not really sure how that works outside of etb things like reclamaton sage/ acidic slime), or just ramp/stomp. Blue gives me some fun cheesy cards, or lets me steal big stuff. So I mean my options are open cause I'm willing to trade x black staple for y other color staple from my LGS.
April 8, 2017 10:40 p.m.
PookandPie says... #11
I mean, if you're just wanting a strong mono color deck, you've got Arcum Dagsson and Teferi, Temporal Archmage as combo options. Paradox Engine Selvala is really fun, as well. Yisan is probably the only other one cheaper than these, but his deck gets noticeably worse in non-combo metas (because there tends to be a higher amount of creature interaction in those meta games. Arcum now needs 1 turn, while Yisan generally needs to be uninterrupted for several which really only happens when everyone is set on combo plans, otherwise the Yisan player tends to Strip Mine himself in order to keep the guy safe as everyone flings their removal at him, one after another).
Arcum and Teferi both are relatively cheap to build and absurdly easy to highly tune. Teferi can do stax quite easily, and then combo out and win via The Chain Veil. Dagsson, on the other hand, just needs to be cast and then you win the turn you play him if he has haste, or you win the following turn.
Both require expensive mana rocks to be fully optimized (IE, Tazri/Animar/Prossh metas), though you can forego those if your meta isn't that hot and heavy.
Best options for creature toolbox is clearly Yisan. For combo, you've got Arcum and green Selvala with Paradox Engine. For reanimation you have Chainer, Geth, etc.. For stax, you have Teferi Planeswalker. Though, these are what I'd consider to be the good options, so if you're wanting something that's different for the sake of being different that's a whole different matter entirely, lol.
It really depends on what is fun for you. I, quite obviously, prefer combo or control style decks and I've made both Arcum, Teferi, and Yisan. Hell, I still play my Arcum list at my LGS.
April 9, 2017 12:24 a.m.
MoonTurtle7 says... #12
What bout Gonti, Lord of Luxury? He seems really fun.
April 9, 2017 1:17 p.m.
MoonTurtle7 says... #13
Also personally I don't think stax is fun, it's challenging (Sometimes) but I don't think it's fun. If I play blue it's gonna be for it's interesting and FUN traits. Not just locking down the board and making everyone miserable.
April 9, 2017 2:45 p.m.
SteelSentry says... #14
I have been working on a Yeva deck, and while she isn't the most competitive commander, the green "Draw-Go" deck is still pretty fun to play. She's also pretty open ended, although Toolbox and Big Mana are the most common. Rishkar, Peema Renegade can get out of hand in the right deck, especially with a Paradox Engine or Panharmonicon
May 10, 2017 7:17 p.m.
SteelSentry says... #15
(Whoops, forgot the decklist)
I build a budget Yeva deck here, I don't know your budget but this can be easily upgraded: FLASH! AHHHHH
chaosumbreon87 says... #2
Ok lets go off of what the typical colors then we can fit you to a strategy (the reverse can work as well)
Blue- control. heavy control. Many of the decks attempt to draw, counter, and disrupt until a win could be found
Green- Stompy. big creatures. toolbox? Enough said
White- removal. sure.
black- kill and reanimate
red- smack face
which do you like. I can spitball ideas from there.
April 7, 2017 6:05 p.m.