Something original with Hazezon Tamar?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Sept. 23, 2015, 10:58 p.m. by jandrobard
Due to my bad impulse control, I recently ended up with a copy of Hazezon Tamar, and he seems like such a fun commander to build around. The thing is, I'd like to have the deck be something other than "generic Naya tokens with a side of ramp." Does anyone have ideas about how to make more interesting? I've experimented with using a bunch of ramp spells and playing pseudo-spellslinger with his token creation instead of a storm spell, but it was a dead end without blue.
KillDatBUG says... #3
That's pretty much what Hazezon Tamar is... generic Naya tokens with a side of ramp. Like, what else can you really do with him specifically?
September 24, 2015 2:55 a.m.
Also.. since his triggers are offset (like Oblivion Ring), you can do silly things like Cloudshift him with his first trigger on the stack to get double the number of Sand Warrior tokens. Conjurer's Closet also seems like a good way to reset him at the end of your turn, if you attacked with your token army, etc. Other than that, find ways to protect him (hexproof, shroud, indestructible, etc). Heh, and there's always Doubling Season and Parallel Lives for obscene numbers of tokens.
September 24, 2015 3:06 a.m.
Be sure to add Skullclamp for drawsies and Beastmaster Ascension/Craterhoof Behemoth to end the game
You could flash him in with Vedalken Orrery/Yeva, Nature's Herald at the end of your opponent's turn to keep people guessing.
Plus with all the warriors running around after KTK-FRF-DTK there should be some sort of synergy to be found
September 24, 2015 6:44 a.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #6
What about ETB effects like Altar of the Brood or even Coat of Arms effects for your Sand Warriors. You could even make it a Voltron or warrior Tribal deck.
September 24, 2015 9:35 a.m.
Coinman1863 says... #7
I wouldn't do Coat of Arms Tribal runs around EDH like mad and it buffs everyone. But Caged Sun Would buff only your stuff and ramp you as well. .
September 24, 2015 9:58 a.m.
Somehing I've had fun with is old frame tribal. Try to make a deck with Hazezon that uses only cards with the older frames. It makes deckbuilding more challenging, and makes the deck more stylish.
September 24, 2015 12:24 p.m.
I'd put a lot of token effects that scale off of the number of creatures you have, like Chancellor of the Forge, Nomads' Assembly, Saproling Symbiosis, Deploy to the Front, Descent of the Dragons, Devout Invocation, Mogg Infestation, Rhys the Redeemed, Collective Unconscious, Shamanic Revelation, and Slate of Ancestry.
That way:
- Someone can't wipe your field simply by taking out Hazezon, and
- If someone does wipe your field, the army you just lost was only created by Hazezon and one other card, so you haven't gone down that much in card advantage.
Basically, this is an unusual approach to Naya tokens, where instead of trying to get your body count as high as possible for as little mana as possible, you're focusing on ramp and large cards that are canned armies in and of themselves. Avenger of Zendikar is another good example.
And, of course, buffs are important too. I suggest going big just like the token spells, and only put in cards that buff for 2 or more, preferably 3: Beastmaster Ascension, Collective Blessing, Crescendo of War, Archangel of Strife, Coat of Arms, Dictate of Heliod, Glory of Warfare, Gratuitous Violence, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, True Conviction, and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer (if you think you have enough artifacts to support him); unless they have special dispensations for tokens, like Intangible Virtue.
September 28, 2015 11:26 a.m.
jandrobard says... #10
So so far in addition to some excellent suggestions for staples, a reminder that you can only do so much, (KillDatBUG what else can I do? that's what I'm trying to find out) and a recommendation for old frame tribal which I may try with a different commander, we have:
1: Sunforger package. That could be fun, though sadly there aren't any ramp spells I can fetch. Using anyway.
2: ETB abuse. this can't be too difficult to fit in, plus I can Cloudshift out of Sunforger!
3: Protecting him. This seems pretty simple.
4: Flash. Again, pretty self explanatory.
5: Warriors. Lovisa Coldeyes and Bramblewood Paragon seem like the best choices here.
6: The mass ETB of the tokens. There are a lot of powerful cards in this category (Aura Shards, Ogre Battledriver, Cathars' Crusade, Mentor of the Meek, Purphoros, God of the Forge, etc) so this seems like a safe avenue.
7: Voltron. Karns_Pyromancer with Alpha Status, Bravado, Coat of Arms, Eidolon of Countless Battles, Pennon Blade, Shared Animosity, Sigil of Valor, and/or Veteran's Armaments that could be fun, but it doesn't go with the rest of the deck and there isn't so much to go on in the first place. I'll probably make a decklist for jank's sake though.
7: "armies in a can" (sonnet666's words) this works fine with the other things mentioned, so I'll definitely use a few of those.
Overall a lot of solid ideas. Anything else?
September 28, 2015 6:24 p.m.
jandrobard says... #11
Sunforger, tutors for Sunforger, Coat of Arms, Skullclamp, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer... an artifact subtheme could work. Molten Psyche is a meta decision, Dispatch is removal from Sunforger, Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots protect, Konda's Banner is a respectable pump, Sword of the Animist and/or Explorer's Scope ramp, Daretti draws, etc. Some help separating the trash from the good stuff would be nice.
September 28, 2015 7:54 p.m.
Everything you need to know about Sunforger you can find Here.
Must includes (imo): Return to Dust, Chaos Warp, Hull Breach, Congregation at Dawn/Eladamri's Call/Enlightened Tutor, Wild Ricochet/Reverberate/Reiterate/Fork, and Mistveil Plains to recycle spells. Oblation and Ghostway can be nice too.
Also I'd recommend not trying to split yourself between voltron and tokens. Focusing on one or the other will make the deck much stronger than trying to include both.
September 28, 2015 8:15 p.m.
jandrobard says... #13
If I made it voltron, I'd build a separate deck. Thanks for the link!
September 28, 2015 8:22 p.m.
jandrobard says... #14
After some testing, I've determined that an artifact/equips subtheme is pretty counterproductive. Did I miss any cards?
klone13 says... #2
Sunforger package could be cool.
September 23, 2015 11:06 p.m.