Puppets and Strawmen - a Mardu Group Shrug Deck

Commander / EDH Control Counterspell Goad Monarch Multiplayer Pillow Fort RBW (Mardu) Toolbox

MahBoi100

Land (34)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Kor Haven
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Mistveil Plains
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 5x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Sanctum of Eternity
• 1x Savai Triome
• 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 2x Swamp

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Approach of the Second Sun
• 1x Chronomantic Escape
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Illicit Auction
• 1x Mythos of Snapdax
• 1x Promise of Loyalty
• 1x Scheming Symmetry
• 1x Secret Rendezvous

Instant (20)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Comeuppance
• 1x Deflecting Palm
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Delirium
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Hide / Seek
• 1x Immortal Obligation
• 1x Inkshield
• 1x Lapse of Certainty
• 1x Mandate of Peace
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Reprieve
• 1x Reverberate
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Tibalt's Trickery

Artifact (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bloodthirsty Blade
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Crown of Doom
• 1x Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sunforger
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Cunning Rhetoric
• 1x Curse of Opulence
• 1x Duelist's Heritage
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Soul Snare

Commander (1)

Creature (20)

• 1x Agitator Ant
• 1x Brash Taunter
• 1x Breena, the Demagogue
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Dream Devourer
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant
• 1x Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1x Life of the Party
• 1x Loran of the Third Path
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Nils, Discipline Enforcer
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Orzhov Advokist
• 1x Selfless Squire
• 1x Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

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Sideboard

Creature (10)

• 1x Bladegriff Prototype
• 1x Boldwyr Heavyweights
• 1x Bothersome Quasit
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Diaochan, Artful Beauty
• 1x Drana and Linvala
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Windborn Muse

Land (1)

• 1x Axgard Armory

Instant (6)

• 1x Backlash
• 1x Dawn Charm
• 1x Excise the Imperfect
• 1x Mana Tithe
• 1x Oblation
• 1x Surge of Salvation

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Ghoulish Impetus
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Noble Heritage

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Council's Judgment
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Wheel of Misfortune

Artifact (2)

• 1x Archaeomancer's Map
• 1x Coveted Jewel

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Maybeboard

Instant (22)

• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Arcbond
• 1x Awe Strike
• 1x Batwing Brume
• 1x Boros Fury-Shield
• 1x Dazzling Reflection
• 1x Despark
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Fury Storm
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Intervention Pact
• 1x Mana Tithe
• 1x Master Warcraft
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Retaliate
• 1x Shunt
• 1x Thrilling Encore
• 1x Treacherous Urge
• 1x Turn the Tables
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Wild Ricochet

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Island Sanctuary
• 1x Karmic Justice
• 1x Martial Impetus
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Parasitic Impetus
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Revenge of Ravens
• 1x Righteous Aura
• 1x Rite of the Raging Storm
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Sphere of Safety
• 1x Stolen Strategy
• 1x Underworld Connections

Creature (10)

• 1x Dread
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Frontier Warmonger
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1x Mathas, Fiend Seeker
• 1x Serene Master
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
• 1x Verge Rangers

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Besmirch
• 1x Cruel Entertainment
• 1x Disrupt Decorum
• 1x Divine Gambit
• 1x Gruesome Encore
• 1x Head Games
• 1x Insurrection
• 1x Ruinous Ultimatum
• 1x Shrouded Lore
• 1x Tariff
• 1x Winds of Abandon
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Artifact (4)

• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Norn's Annex
• 1x Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip

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Control the board and use visible and unseen threats alike to direct your opponents' aggression elsewhere. The deck features a rich aikido suite which is mostly fit within a Sunforger package. What's aikido? Simply put you aim to use the opponent's strength against themselves. This includes cards like Deflecting Palm, Comeuppance and Bloodthirsty Blade.

Throughout the game you constantly force creatures and spells away from you. You punish any attempt at disrupting your plans. The crescendo accumulates with forcing attacks with goad cards or highjacking a powerful spell with Reverberate. To alter the motivations of your opponents to your benefit, the deck also has cards that allow it to operate on a "carrot and stick"-policy.

Carrots

The carrots are cards that incentivise our opponents to attack elsewhere and reward them for doing so, such as Orzhov Advokist, Duelist's Heritage and Crown of Doom. Cards like Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor and Rite of the Raging Storm give your opponents creatures that neither can block or attack you and thus make for exellent creatures to toss at each other's faces. But beware the aristocrats player who would love to get more creatures to sacrifice for their own gain!

Sticks

The sticks, also called rattlesnakes, directly punish opponents that dare to come our way and/or deter aggression by flaunting the punishment prematurely. Examples of these include Soul Snare, Karmic Justice or Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker.

Pillows

Your kingdom is one made of pillows, and cards such as Teferi's Protection, Mandate of Peace and Chronomantic Escape, as well as a plethora of nonblue counterspells, will keep you safe while you're plotting for victory. The deck's pillowfort cards make attacking us mundane and thus an opportunity cost. This usually comes through taxing effects or outright negating all combat damage, such as Ghostly Prison, Kor Haven and Master Warcraft

How do we win?

In general, we try to dissuade attacks against us and redirect them elsewhere. We also have two backup win conditions in Approach of the Second Sun and Revel in Riches, which can be useful after bolstering our defenses in the midgame.

Minding your own business gets you far in life.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 1 Mythic Rares 55 - 23 Rares 22 - 4 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.95
Tokens	Assassin 1/1 B w/ Haste, Elephant 3-3 G, Gold, Incubator, Inkling 2/1 WB, Phyrexian 0/0 C, Snake 1/1 B, Survivor 1/1 R, Monarch Emblem, Treasure