Help Me Pick A Commander
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Oct. 30, 2022, 8:52 p.m. by ImNora
Hi,
Anyone know of cool legendary creatures that can deal damage to all opponents. Like Nekusar, the Mindrazer or Heartless Hidetsugu? I love weird commanders like these and I wanna try building one around the use of infect (basically, I want to do this weird nonsense instead of a standard atraxa infect).
Thanks for reading.
TypicalTimmy says... #3
Oops, I missed your infect stipulation. Thankfully there are ways to give her Infect. For example, Phyresis, Grafted Exoskeleton and Tainted Strike all do it. Though to be fair, I believe these are the only ones that work in this way. Still, that's not too bad.
October 30, 2022 9:40 p.m.
Lol what is with that commander? She makes an army and then kills it herself. Dude, that's a pretty cool recommendation. Definitely adding that to the list of possible commanders.
October 30, 2022 9:49 p.m.
Probably worth noting that Nekusar is a fairly solved Commander and not all that weird, so if you are looking for the originality factor, he would not be it.
Slimefoot, the Stowaway is another sacrifice Commander that can deal Infect damage if granted Infect. I think Garna’s ability is generally better, but Green is a better secondary colour than Red which is certainly a factor to consider.
October 30, 2022 10:54 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #7
Yes, I agree. Green is easier to find ways to make tokens with and there is plenty of Saproling staples out there. Plus, in a vacuum, he works off of himself with his activated ability. When considering the aspect of ramp, such as with Cryptolith Rite and Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, or even Gaea's Cradle if budget / proxies aren't an issue, you can suddenly take over the game very quickly. Not to mention you now also have further access to infect a la Triumph of the Hordes.
Though, perhaps the "weirdest" one would be Yurlok of Scorch Thrash as he brings back manaburn. I'm not too sure how prominent he is within the community, but given that there aren't too many cards out there that force opponents to have extra mana, I would assume what little does exist means he's already been "solved", to a degree.
October 30, 2022 11:01 p.m.
Yurlok of Scorch Thrash looks super fun but I don't know if infect works with him since the card says that players lose life, rather than "Yurlok deals damage". The rules for infect refer specifically to damage.
"702.90b Damage dealt to a player by a source with infect doesn’t cause that player to lose life. Rather, it causes that source’s controller to give the player that many poison counters. See rule 120.3."
I could be totally wrong though.
October 30, 2022 11:37 p.m.
Tor Wauki the Younger would be an oddball with an infect sub-package... Though that is not damaging all opponents
October 30, 2022 11:45 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #10
Ooh yeah I forgot about him. He partners well with Obosh, the Preypiercer. If my math is correct, Lightning Bolt would be doubled to 6, with Tor dealing an additional 1. Since he is also odd, that 1 is doubled to 2. So now you are at 8 total damage.
But, Tor also deals 2 for the instant, which is doubled to 4.
So resolving a Lightning Bolt is going to cause a total of 12 damage, all in when the dust settles.
(As for Yarlok, that was never meant to be involved with infect; Just a "weird" one to add to the list.)
October 30, 2022 11:53 p.m. Edited.
You are correct - because Yurlok causes loss of life rather than damage, infect will not work with it - infect requires the source deal damage.
October 30, 2022 11:55 p.m. Edited.
TypicalTimmy I love the new Garna, Bloodfist of Keld -- Her stainglass foily majesty lights up my Rakdos or Jund pretties. I would say is better many ways... though, for just straight up enhancing dmg to make an infect blowout more worthwhile has its' advantages (dmg doublers.. Fiendish Duo, Fiery Emancipation probably more budget options too.
One that is a solid consideration for you would be Extus, Oriq Overlord Flip - you have the double striker in a pinch... but boy, that blood avatar token on the flip side is vicious with infect.. I usually give him lifelink
October 30, 2022 11:56 p.m.
gavriel1136 says... #13
Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar can turn any commander into hitting everyone, especially if you run him as a partner. Also, Kosei, Penitent Warlord can hit everyone, and has a fun minigame with a big reward.
October 31, 2022 10:32 a.m.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is fun but suffers from poor synnergy with the infect stipulation since it is life loss & not damage again.
October 31, 2022 9:20 p.m.
SteelSentry says... #16
Vial Smasher the Fierce targets randomly but if you can suit her up with infect and a partner to get access to lots of good instants and proliferate you'll take everyone out with you in no time.
November 1, 2022 2:21 a.m.
OMG. A weird control deck that gives people poison counters when counter spelling them? That sounds interesting. It says "each turn" not "on your turn", so it should trigger off of instants like you said. That's super cool. Since he has black in his mana colors, he has access to a lot of tutors to get a Phyresis or Grafted Exoskeleton. With Braid of Fire and x cost cards like Fireball, you could possibly just dump a lethal amount of counters on an opponent.
November 1, 2022 4:16 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #18
Don’t fall for the trick that most or all players haven have fallen for (at least once) and forget the second ability on Fireball. With a couple extra mana you can target everyone. ;p
November 1, 2022 5:46 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #19
Might I suggest Syrix, Carrier of the Flame? It's a super-weird commander that simply durdles turns away, but neatly combines aristocrat-, discard- and die/leave grave strategies. And nobody sees coming how ridonkulous Skyfire Phoenix is in there. Oh, and infect is totally doable. Just put Glistening Oil or anyof the other infect-granting effects on Sy or one of yourpingers. In case you're interested, there's a Syrix list on my profile. The list hasb't been updated for a little while, but you get the basic ideas.
November 2, 2022 2:47 p.m.
Max_Hammer says... #20
Okay, hear me out, but what if you could steal someone's big, bad creature, forever, for just three mana*?
Say you could build a deck around just Goatnapper-ing someone else's commander and now swinging back at them?
What if someone else Goatnappers someone else's stuff, and you politic your way into a deal; "Hey, bud, you have a cool creature. If you swing at who I want, I'll let you keep it for a while. Go ahead and say nuh-uh to whatever shit is flying in your face.
Obeka, Brute Chronologist's entire textbox simply says "Consequences are stupid."
Basically, it exiles anything on the stack, you can end your turn and ignore whatever it is, usually just saying no to poopy effects. Commander protection is major in this deck, as are ways to untap your commander (because Blue says sleepy sleepy). Steal shit, don't give it back. Ignore EoT black discard/life loss effects. Take extra turns with blue/red for three and just say no after that.
It's fun, it's a little weird, it's a cool card. Good job, WotC.
November 4, 2022 8:56 a.m.
TheOfficialCreator says... #21
Max_Hammer Obeka doesn't work with Goatnapper/Act of Treason effects, since they end at the end of the turn. The end of the turn still happens with Obeka.
The best cards to use with Obeka are the ones that mess you up on your end step. Alchemist's Gambit, Angel's Trumpet errata, Avaricious Dragon, etc.
November 4, 2022 9:05 a.m.
Max_Hammer says... #22
Ah, damn, you're right! Now how am I supposed to nap goats!?
That said, she's still a cool commander.
TypicalTimmy says... #2
Build Garna, Bloodfist of Keld with an incredibly dense package of Goblin tokens and Zombie tokens. Use sac outlets to kill your own creatures.
Notice Garna says "Whenever another creature you control dies (...)" and not "non-token creature"? So yes, your 1/1 red Goblins and 2/2 black Zombies trigger her.
Swing with the might of the masses and two things happen. Your opponent takes a ton of damage, or they block your little 1/1s and 2/2s and you draw tons of cards.
Or.
You sacrifice them without attacking, and everyone loses a bunch of life.
October 30, 2022 9:33 p.m. Edited.