What game elements does a Gaddock Teeg deck struggle with?

Commander Deck Help forum

Posted on Feb. 27, 2018, 10:54 a.m. by Pocketmouse

I have a friend who plays this really nasty Gaddock Teeg deck. The idea behind the deck is "No you can't." (I'm sure that's how about every Gaddock Teeg deck goes). I want to build a deck that shuts teeg down. I was thinking building a lock down deck, but was wondering if you guys had any other ideas on what type of deck might work well against Teeg?

We mostly play in a pod of 4 or 5 people, just regular commander- not tiny leaders.

DrukenReaps says... #2

I've had a lot of success with aggro against teeg. He doesn't do anything to creatures so something like Cry Havoc, Ooo Shiny isn't slowed down in the slightest. Other heavy creature strategies work too. That may just be my experience perhaps other teeg decks play stuff to slow or stop creatures. I would recommend running 3 cmc board wipes or wipes attached to creatures, those will be important. There is a black board wipe that you can't untap lands after using that costs 3 I don't remember the name... But that is a good example.

February 27, 2018 11:12 a.m.

DatBolas says... #3

Bontu's Last Reckoning is what DrunkenReaps was referring to. Great card, and definitely value against a Teeg deck. I haven't played against one, so I can only theory-craft, but I would guess lowering your curve in general would help. Isochron Scepter can potentially give you repeatable answers via Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Fatal Push, Doom Blade, Lightning Bolt, and many others. I guess Green and Blue decks would suffer, but Reality Shift is a good one-time answer in Blue.

February 27, 2018 11:37 a.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #4

Black is probably your best bet as most hate bears are just that... 2/2 bears. Bontu's Last Reckoning, Toxic Deluge, Drown in Sorrow, Biting Rain (madness cost), Flaying Tendrils, Infest, and Golden Demise are all under 4cmc. May not hit them all but it'd surely get a lot of them

February 27, 2018 12:17 p.m.

griffstick says... #5

Concede on turn 1 that's what I do. If I can't have fun neither can Gaddock Teeg. But I have a Yasova Dragonclaw deck that might beat Gaddock Teeg may I suggest building a 100 card tiny leaders deck. Maybe that will get around his deck.

February 27, 2018 2:06 p.m.

griffstick says... #6

Maybe its enchantments and artifacts that's the problem. Good cards for this are Trygon Predator and Soltari Visionary

February 27, 2018 2:11 p.m.

Check out my Toshiro Umezawa-helmed deck here. It's mono-black control, and Gaddock Teeg does almost nothing to it, since the majority of it's spells are cheap targeted removal that axe Teeg the moment he gets in our way.

February 27, 2018 3:12 p.m.

Pocketmouse says... #8

Maybe it's not a very common deck. The basic idea is Teeg comes into play early- turn 1 or turn 2. Then he ramps up into cards like Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Brisela, Voice of Nightmares, Void Winnower, Blazing Archon, Containment Priest, and generally locks you out of the game until no one can do anything but play land. Then, he swings at you with those creatures. It is a well put together deck and draws the most groans when he hits the table.

The only way I've ever won against him was with my Mayael the Anima deck and ramping up faster than he could and punching him out before he could get his lockdown cards in place. I'm thinking so I can play cards that will prevent him from locking the board down. Cards like Meddling Mage, Declaration of Naught, and Nevermore come to mind, but maybe a super fast agro deck would be better? Krenko, Mob Boss, Iroas, God of Victory, Xenagos, God of Revels are all decks I could build really quick.

February 27, 2018 3:39 p.m.

DrukenReaps says... #9

DatBolas yes that one. Thank you, it was starting to bug me that I couldn't think of it...

Pocketmouse Seems like a rather mean deck. The teeg I've gone against is good but not to that degree. Meddling Mage for teeg is pretty good. The only issue then would be needing to run enough of those effects that you could always get it. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is probably who you should run if you wanna go the lock out route. Although people might be more mad at you then at the teeg player.

I'm more of a fan of bringing a really fast aggro to the table. If there are two or more lockout decks then you are going to be looking at really long games where as that deck I linked is designed to end games as fast as possible by not only having lots of low cmc stuff but also by goading everyone into attacking. It is really effective at being anti-control.

Any of the ones you listed would serve a similar purpose. Perhaps I should mention I don't like lockout decks so I'm a bit biased...

February 27, 2018 4:06 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #10

is a solid option, for the reasons you listed. Additionally, you have access to two of the best removal spells in Commander--Darksteel Mutation and Imprisoned in the Moon. Unlike other removal spells, which merely bounce the enemy's commander back to the command zone (hardly an issue when your commander's CMC is 2), these two enchantments do not force a zone change.

Personally, I would recommend running Zur the Enchanter. Zur can shut down your opponent by bypassing the need to cast your removal. Then you happily make your Zur unkillable (Shielded by Faith; Whispersilk Cloak) and fetch and play the myriad enchantment-based removal provides: Darksteel Mutation, Imprisoned in the Moon, Oblivion Ring, Copy Enchantment, Detention Sphere, etc.

February 27, 2018 4:20 p.m.

Pocketmouse: What you describe as his deck just loses to removal. Seriously, play Toshiro, you will ruin his day. The deck costs almost nothing to build because there's a boatload of cheap removal spells to throw in. Kill his Brisela pieces before they flip, snipe Teeg when you want to cast an X-spell for the win. Winnower's a problem, but there's still plenty of odd-costed kills for it, and most of the good ones are even three mana to get around Winnower+Teeg. The other creatures you mention, Linvala, Archon, Priest... they just don't matter to the deck's strategy. Kill them if they swing at you, or ignore them if they don't.

is overrated. Mono-black is where control really lives.

February 27, 2018 6:01 p.m.

rockleemyhero says... #12

Cyclonic Rift wrecks teeg pretty bad. The overload cost gets around his ability because the cmc is still 2. Toxic Deluge is also a very good answer. Green and black dont have issues with teeg; a good blue deck shouldnt either.

To find your answer, most good tutors get around teeg fairly easily (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Muddle the Mixture, etc. The best time to cast your answers is EOT before your untap step and then proceed to go off on your turn. If you dont proceed to win that turn, you can at least set your board in a very favorable position against his weenies. This is because that although teeg is a strong general (in some metas at least), his weakness is twofold:

1) he lacks the 2 most powerful colors in edh (black and blue)

2) his own ability really restricts the own cards he can run in his deck. You wont see too many board wipes or x spells, and the list should be fairly predictable (taxers, staxers, prison pieces, etc)

GW is also going to have a hard time finding answers and gaining card advantage, especially without a general like Captain Sisay. Stax decks typically gain card advantage is by something in magic theory known as virtual card advantage. VCA essentially means they gain cards by neutralizing your cards and not allowing them to come down. The Genesis Wave in your hand is essentially useless if teeg is down. However, they lack proactive control and cannot create solid card advantage this way without having an overwhelming board state of stax pieces.

To reiterate my point further, 2 and 3 mana wraths are teegs worst nightmare (deluge, rift, pyroclasm, etc)

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions, Im happy to help or look at competitive edh lists :)

February 27, 2018 8:21 p.m.

Gleeock says... #13

  • Those are some good suggestions & yes, as mentioned above, Gaddock Teeg is just a drop in the bucket compared to Captain Sisay.

  • Gaddock Teeg has never been a problem for me running big, goofy, green beaters - especially w/ shroud/hexproof considering most spells going against you will be targeted removal <4 cmc. Multani, Maro-Sorcerer, Ghalta, Primal Hunger - cards in that vein. If he is ramping out too much stax for those you can run Omnath, Locus of Mana.

  • The Zur the Enchanter suggestion is good. He can eat teeg for breakfast (and many other decks)

  • If you are having a pace, removal, tempo issue you could go down a different vein and play another 2 cmc commander and play Sram, Senior Edificer with a majority of your equip/aura <4 cmc... This may be a surprisingly effective option....And if you hate teeg that much you can still play long-term removal auras on him AND draw a card.

February 27, 2018 11:53 p.m.

Pocketmouse says... #14

Thanks! You've all given me a lot of options to consider. I'll have to see what I can build to go against his deck.

March 1, 2018 1:35 p.m.

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