Would a "group hug" Marisi deck have any potential?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Dec. 22, 2021, 10:55 a.m. by KBK7101
So, I've had a Marisi, Breaker of the Coil deck for about as long as I've been playing Commander/EDH (it's not a public deck because it's mainly an EDHREC cat tribal kind of thing). I've recently been wanting to redo it so it's less of an EDHREC copy/paste and I had a thought about running some group hug cards in it. Basically, the idea is that we want all out war between our opponents, but we want them to enjoying it at the same time. It's very much a "Fighting you now would be pointless. I want to fight you at your strongest." kind of trope that you see in anime and stuff like that.
Howling Mine, Heartbeat of Spring, Mana Flare, Evolutionary Escalation, maybe Primal Vigor and stuff like that alongside the token granting cards such as Hunted Dragon, Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor, Genesis Chamber etc. Some political cards would also be included. Maybe something like Promise of Loyalty, Secret Rendevous, etc.
At the height of the game, everyone would be at their very best, their gameplans running at (mostly) full speed with lots of cards in hand and lots of big creatures to swing at each other with like the big final battle at the end of a movie/show.
Would a deck like this have any potential? Or do the two styles clash too much?
Well if you do it include: Heartwood Storyteller, Combat Calligrapher, Generous Patron & Wishmonger.
December 22, 2021 12:31 p.m.
plakjekaas maybe Deafening Silence or Rule of Law or something as a spellsplinger defense kind of thing, then?
Gleeock Storyteller and Patron are both ones I have on my shortlist. Totally forgot about Calligrapher, though! Wishmonger seems interesting, too.
December 22, 2021 3:11 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #5
So, what every game comes down to is breaking parity. Doesn't matter what level you're playing at. When you play group hug you're essentially expediting the process of breaking parity and the person to your left will be the first to reap the benefits. Basically, you just need to build in a way in which you reap the most benefits and your politic game needs to be on point - you should be able to talk your way out of things even if you have no contingencies. So, yes it has potential but it's completely reliant on your ability to gauge boardstate and politic.
December 22, 2021 3:54 p.m.
This is honestly one of the playstyles I like the most. Forced combat is only viable if your opponents actually have a board to fight with, with group hug you help them build a board state and then with goad you force them to kill each other.
December 22, 2021 8:12 p.m.
ChaosJester says... #7
Imo yes and no. No because, Marisi's first ability can be very restrictive for others play style (depends on your meta). This in turn can force them to target you and your commander which is not in the sense of my definition of Group Hug. But also yes, because if you combine this with let's say Forcefeed cards like Varchild's War-Riders, it can be an effective political tool. So you should playtest this card.
In general, choose your cards so that you appear as harmless, defensive, and friendly as possible while making your enemies dependent on you by forcefeeding them slowly. To me, group hug always is controlling your opponents decisions and not their decks. So, personally, I would avoid stax-like cards that restrict others decks in a hard way and would focus more on the meta level, if you understand what I mean.
Sometimes it turns out, the winner of commander games is the guy who never really startet the game because he was very quiet and not really involved in the game due to bad cards or pillow fort strategy. This partly should be implemented into a group hug strategy.
December 23, 2021 2:09 p.m.
Last_Laugh says... #8
Rites of Flourishing and Selvala, Explorer Returned both fit the bill here.
December 23, 2021 4:13 p.m.
I don't know how "huggy" they are... but I enjoy Crescendo of War & Bedlam
December 23, 2021 5:50 p.m.
Crescendo of War is the exact kind of thing this deck is looking for! Something that just screams "FIGHT ME!!" at the top of it's lungs. Varchild's War Raiders is another fantastic recommendation.
plakjekaas says... #2
It sounds like it should work, at least if you're regularly playing against creature decks. If your opponents don't need any combat to win, the plan of making them turbo out huge creatures will backfire immensely, and you will do nothing more than assist them in their win.
If that's a risk you're willing to take for the sake of uniqueness, go for it! If it happens to do the wrong thing, you could always go back to cat tribal, make sure to save the list before dismantling. But the best way to find out if the idea is worth trying, is sleeving up and play with it until you're sure it's what you want from it or not.
December 22, 2021 11:52 a.m.