Which Budget Deck should I make; Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter or Gonti, Lord of Luxury?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Dec. 22, 2016, 6:57 p.m. by Kaneki___Ken
I was inspired by Wedge and the Manasource's video about possible commanders from Kaladesh and these two really stuck out. I plan to make a budget deck of one of the two, the question is which one? I would like to keep it to under 75$ and see how I can do.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlHzqBVYLK0
Thanks a bunch!
Kaneki
Of the two, I'm more partial to Oviya simply because Gonti costs more and to really abuse him you need him to either be blinked or recurred numerous times. Whereas Oviya is an army in a can and green can make tons of little dudes quite easily to make big stompy constructs. Elfball certainly can be used with her. (Note: did not watch the video yet).
December 22, 2016 7:30 p.m.
Kaneki___Ken says... #4
Do you think I could do it well if I combine it with alot of parts with precon mono green? Or atleast some? And could I keep it budget?
December 22, 2016 7:42 p.m.
If you mean the Commander 14 precon "Guided by Nature" precon, it contains all the elves you'd need. So if you already own the precon you have the staples and that would cut out a large portion of the budget.
To make the most of your tokens, you can use something like Cryptolith Rite to cast more little dudes. Beastmaster Ascension will be essential. Bow of Nylea will make your army scary to block against.
December 22, 2016 8:06 p.m.
Overrun, Overwhelming Stampede, Triumph of the Hordes, Primal Rage can be finishers too. Remember that if you have creatures with deathtouch and trample (Bow of Nylea/Primal Rage), you need only assign 1 damage to any blocker for lethal, rest is assigned to the player.
December 22, 2016 8:14 p.m.
MoonTurtle7 says... #8
I mean Ultimately It's your choice. I agree with Flagellum that Gonti would need either flicker effects (something black isn't too adept with) or recursion. Essentially turning him into something like, Yasova Dragonclaw which can be fun (but could be harder to pull off). Oviya Imo has a clear objective, little dudes using and abusing tokens and numbers. Cards like Might of the Masses Archetype of Endurance and of course the things Flagellum mentioned (Bow of Nylea is a personal fav).
BTW For the sake of your budget Decimator of the Provinces is essentially a budget Craterhoof Behemoth it's not as strong, but still horribly underrated.
December 23, 2016 3:42 a.m.
Gonti is incredibly versatile commander. A deathtouch commander is dies really easily while blocking and for black, it is easy to reanimate him, much easier than flickering him. His ability is far better too and a lot more fun to use.
December 23, 2016 4:35 a.m.
I'm more partial towards gonti correct me if I'm wrong but you could just create tokens of him and sac the token but still get the enter the battle field ability I already have a gonti Edh but it's not budget so I won't bother linking it but you are welcome to look at it.
December 23, 2016 11:09 a.m.
landofMordor says... #11
I agree that Gonti could be made pretty good with cards like Conjurer's Closet and Tempt with Immortality and the like, with the rest of the deck consisting of mana production and control to fuel the Gonti combo.
I also think Oyiva could be a sweet commander for a token theme, but I suggest that a way to make that deck more unique could be to theme it around the artifacts Oyiva produces. Cards like Chief of the Foundry, Myr Battlesphere, Darksteel Forge, Ezuri's Brigade, Toil to Renown, and Lodestone Myr help make this happen, but there are lots of uses for the other green cards suggested above. It's just that running a heavy artifact subtheme gives you a little more synergy than "annihilate opponent with buku tokens", and synergy is key to making a budget EDH deck that's fun to pilot.
Lastly, kudos to you on your deck ideas! Building decks on a budget really takes your deckbuilding skill to the next level, so I'm impressed that you're challenging yourself like that. Keep up the good work and mention me if I can be of any more help.
December 23, 2016 11:37 a.m.
chaosumbreon87 says... #12
I cannot say which you should build. What I can say is that Gonti typically can end games through mana based reanimator combos ( gaary and I drink people) while oviya is the typical green go wide, slam opponents faces in. Go with whichever you like better.
December 23, 2016 1:02 p.m.
It is ultimately your choice, I just think that Oviya is more budget friendly and straight forward. Cards like Reanimate, Necromancy, and other recursion spells like Oversold Cemetery really start to eat away at the budget. There are a few budget recursion spells like Phyrexian Reclamation, Animate Dead, Dread Return, and Grim Return which are perfectly fine. So Gonti is still an option. But if you already own the C14 Guided by Nature precon I would definitely go Oviya.
Should mention that almost all my decks start out ~$50 and I improve them over time. I (finally) own most the staples now so my decks tend to be $100-$200 by the time im done with them. I proxy the expensive ones I own but are used by other decks to keep it cheap. That way it still allows me to raise the power level of new decks. No sense in buying 4x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre when you can just own 1 and proxy it. No one has ever given me issues with that. Just something to keep in mind. You shouldn't have to put a mortgage on your house just so you can play EDH lol.
December 23, 2016 3:56 p.m.
Isn't the ultimate solution to the budget problem cast your opponents non-budget spells?
I say play Gonti. There are plenty of cheap artifacts that let you blink or return him to hand.
December 23, 2016 5:22 p.m.
That assumes his/her meta isn't also playing budget. Still if the op owns the C14 deck then it's already almost made for Oviya opening up the budget for more expensive cards like Parallel Lives and co.
December 23, 2016 6:03 p.m.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury. Steal the expensive cards. Live the dream.
December 23, 2016 6:10 p.m.
Kaneki___Ken says... #17
The thing is I decided to make both today actually, only actually make one of them. I'm doing on an app called MTG Amino a series where I take all the legendaries in each new set (starting now) and making a budget commander deck. I think Ill keep doing that series for awhile and itll really help me understand how to make good commander decks and how to budget well.
December 23, 2016 6:15 p.m.
Kaneki___Ken says... #18
I even have the green deck laid out on my profile if you wanna check it out and see if i understood what you said lol.
Flagellum says... #2
Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
For the lazy.
December 22, 2016 7:23 p.m.