Shop debate: why not play Prossh?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Sept. 23, 2016, 12:14 a.m. by Deckologist
So some guys from my shop were all going to build Jund decks because I told them that learning all color combinations will help them become proficient players and help them learn new strategies and blah blah blah card guru blah blah blah. While looking at commanders they noticed that most legendary creatures from jund play very similar and pretty much any deck we looked up on here (just to prove a point) contained about 80% of the same nonland cards. On top of that we couldn't really see a reason not to play Prossh.
My view: Just because Prossh is probably the strongest doesn't mean he's the best for you.
Their view: Prossh does everything you could want in Jund. No reason to play anything else.
So with that what is your opinion?
TL;DR why Prossh so good at stuff and things vs. Prossh being the best at stuff and things doesn't mean he's right for you.
SamCre1993 says... #3
Well Jund loves sac'ing and Prossh is a repeatable source of sac fodder that only gets stronger as the game progresses. I think there are really only two variants of a Prossh build. Sac with Food Chain, and sac without Food Chain. I would challenge people to either try a Prossh deck not focused on sacrificing, or a different Jund commander. Most of the Prossh decks I see, you could almost predict card for card just by looking at EDHrec.
September 23, 2016 12:30 a.m.
Sim_Will_CMcantfindmehopefully says... #4
In my dragon sacrifice deck Prossh, Skyraider of Kher is good but sometimes Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund is more fun so I play it.
Shattergang Brothers is really good at depriving opponent's of resources.
The others are just different types of tokens or a different death deck.
I like to build for flavour and fun but the limited selection Jund has is a shame. It's my favourite colour combination too!
September 23, 2016 12:32 a.m.
Depends on what you want to do. You want to play dragons? Karrthus is fine. Scion of the Ur-Dragon is better, but maybe you don't want to play 5 color.
But if your goal is to win, you play Prossh. All the Jund commanders play differently, but Prossh is just the strongest, far and away.
September 23, 2016 12:47 a.m.
Deckologist says... #6
What we came to discover was the Prossh simply does everything the other jund commanders do except better and faster. It just purely outshines any other commander in those colors.
September 23, 2016 2:02 a.m.
Prossh is similar to other aggressive commanders but if you want to play a slow and grindy game then Shattergang Brothers and Xira Arien are very different and arguably more relevant.
Im unsure how this argument couldnt be resolved easily. Prossh is definitely the clear winner if you want to win with commander damage but for strategies that dont include that, there are other options.
September 23, 2016 7:03 a.m.
EpicFreddi says... #8
"Just because Prossh is probably the strongest doesn't mean he's the best for you. "
That is correct in my eyes as long as you guys play in a casual environment. I would always pick Karrthus over Prosh because Dragons. I would never pick him in a 1v1 tournament though.
September 23, 2016 7:20 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #9
I've considered Prosh, but prefer Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund because Dragons. Kresh the Bloodbraided is my other Jund commander because I like stealing stuff and blowing it up.
Prosh does lean more to a combo build for Jund, which some people dig.
September 23, 2016 9:14 a.m.
Why not play Prossh? Because people will target the shit out of you haha
Xira Arien is a lot less scary when sitting across the table from people
September 23, 2016 10:41 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #11
The nicest thing about Prossh for me is he's a free sac outlet that's also a legitimate threat. It makes it easy to build around lots of stuff entering the battlefield and/or dying.
That being said, if I wanted to play a more stax-like deck, I'd consider Shattergang Brothers
September 23, 2016 11:47 a.m. Edited.
Deckologist - The reason you don't play Proshh is because vs a hard control deck (or even or mono ) the casting cost is too dang high!
This might not matter as much in multiplayer but in 1v1 it's absolutely essential that you beat control through several smaller victories and that you can maintain this. Basically, (IMO) Shattergang Brothers is superior to Prosh. Those 0/1 kobolds don't matter very much when your Food Chain is countered (or exiled!) and they also can stop Prossh a few times. Then you're going to be sucking in water while trying to breathe air.
Do note that we need something more efficient than S-Bros to beat a completely optomized mono list not using Azami but the gobo bros are the best we got. (This comes from 3 years of play testing against a guy with a mono blue deck and a blue/green simic combo deck both with maximum $$$ put into them.)
EmblemMan says... #2
The reason you dont play prossh is because you dont want what he is doing. Jund doesnt really make tokens so its not that flavorful on top of that there are other jund commanders that just do different things.
September 23, 2016 12:30 a.m.