Austere Command
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Austere Command

Sorcery

Choose two &mdash

  • Destroy all artifacts.
  • Destroy all enchantments.
  • Destroy all creatures with converted mana cost/mana value 3 or less.
  • Destroy all creatures with converted mana cost/mana value 4 or greater.

Licecolony on Destruction

1 month ago

Wow. This is awful. Love it. Might I suggest Austere Command.

thefiresoflurve on WIP Control Deck

1 month ago

Hey, there!

First, what's your budget like? 'til I know that, I'll keep suggestions "standard".

Second: Cuts.

Sleep + River's Rebuke - not really an EDH card, since you usually have more than one opponent.

Martial Law - similarly, this is just one creature, and there are bound to be so many more problems than just one on the field at a time.

Invisibility - There are better sources of evasion (getting damage through to other players). Also, getting damage through is something Augustin isn't the best at, so that might not make for a strong win-con.

Robe of Mirrors isn't bad to protect your commander, but for 1 more mana you can use Curator's Ward (because Augustin reduces it) and then get 2 cards if someone uses a boardwipe later. I call that a deal. Diplomatic Immunity is another equally costed option as well, if you find your playgroup runs an obnoxious amount of enchantment removal, since it itself is also untargetable.

Consulate Crackdown - Kind of mediocre for what it does. For just one more mana, you can instead run Farewell or Austere Command, which both produce a much better effect.

Some things traditionally run in Augustin are used to basically slow the game to a crawl, and others are used to tax your opponents while this is going on to create advantages for you while you draw into your win conditions: Cursed Totem, Hushbringer, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Vryn Wingmare, Containment Priest, Reidane, God of the Worthy  Flip, Hushwing Gryff, Silent Arbiter, Ethersworn Canonist, Wandering Archaic  Flip, Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Sphere of Resistance, Torpor Orb, Damping Sphere, Static Orb, Karn's Sylex, Meekstone, Crawlspace... not quite an exhaustive list, but it's a really good start, and gets the point across.

There are some weird cards that you can use as win conditions to go with the "stax" style, like Azor's Elocutors.

If you're interested, https://edhrec.com/commanders/grand-arbiter-augustin-iv has some more suggestions as well - in my opinion, it's not a terrible place to start as a new player, although I'd encourage you to switch it up as you and your wallet like from what's listed there.

https://scryfall.com/ can also be a really good tool if you like to go full nerd and search for alternative cards with similar effects to really expensive cards - I've stumbled across a few hidden gems over time by using it.

Hope that helps, and Happy building!

Crow-Umbra on Michigone

1 month ago

Hi there! I thought I'd try my best to answer the questions you left for me on my wall. I mostly play the "typical" 4-person EDH pod, with the occasional 5 person game here or there. All of my decks are built with a multi-player setting in mind. To answer your other questions as best as possible:

  • 1 - What is my win rate with Isshin? - This is something I haven't kept close track of, unfortunately. In the past year, I've played at least 20 games with the deck, so I'd have a rough guess that it's won about 25% of the games it has played, and threatened wins another 15-20% of the time, but couldn't quite close it out for one reason or another. My primer has some game logs in the long list of updates if you want to try to read through those. I tried to capture the summary of some of my more memorable games, win or lose.

  • 2 - How do you win with Isshin in multiplayer? - Damage, whether combat or group slug/drain damage. Any aggro or damage based strategy has to find a way to pump out at least 120 damage over the course of a game, or capitalize on openings made by other decks in peoples' defenses. My Isshin deck wins by making swarms of tokens, and antheming them up with Battle Cry, Melee, or some other static power/toughness boost. The times I've won with combat damage, was typically off the back of Iroas, God of Victory because I had a board that could swing away and was hard to block. This is why I also have the damage effects of Purphoros, God of the Forge, Mishra, Claimed by Gix  Meld, Commissar Severina Raine, Impact Tremors, and Brutal Hordechief. The group damage and combat damage help each other out. They both soften up your opponents and help make each other more viable. These damage effects also help you get "around" blockers.

"So what do I do? Lean more into group slug, i.e. put in Impact Tremors? Lean away from wipes and focus on ramp and draw? More protection for my creatures?"

These are all generally good ideas. Adding in more ramp and draw can help your deck with consistency, especially for staying gassed up in the mid-late game. While board wipes are helpful, I've found that sometimes it can get annoying to reset the game too many times. At some point someone has to win, and wiping the board 3+ times in a single game can make it tedious instead.

  • 3 - "Is it mean/distasteful to eliminate the player that is the biggest threat, then finish off everyone else? Am I a bully?*" - Personally, I don't think so. I guess it depends on how well you know the people you are playing with. If the "threat" you eliminated has a deck that consistently pops off if it isn't dealt with, then I don't think it's wrong for them to sit one out. I've been a similar position numerous times with Isshin where I'll eliminate the player that might be the biggest threat to me specifically or could be the biggest threat to the table. If I become archenemy of that game, then so be it. Being archenemy can be fun, and it can be a compliment. Congrats, your deck is now the Big Bad Scary Thing. This is a game, and someone has to win each match up. Yes, EDH is supposed to be a "casual format", and that means a variety of different things to players, but after all is said and done, someone has to win. Ideally it can be you.

  • 4 - "As the only deck in the meta with a robust removal suite..." - I will address the rest of the statement you left, but woof, it sounds like the group you played with this time around was maybe very casual? I found that when some of my friends first started playing EDH, they didn't run a whole lot of removal, often to their own detriment. As one friend and I like to echo, "removal wins games". I think you were correct in removing the Ghired's Anointed Procession, but left their other enchantment alone so they could have fun. Ideally, you shouldn't have to be the "Removal Police" and manage every threat you have the capability to. I typically use my removal to A) Address threats most pressing to me B) Address threats that are most detrimental to the table, but will buy me some good will and time to build afterwards. You can utilize removal for achieving parity as you see fit. In terms of this being a good strategy, I think a better question is more about was a fun game environment created? Being "Removal Police" is fun for some and not as much for others. Eventually, everyone else around the table might have to reconsider running more removal to stay relevant and interactive in games, if that's the type of play they want.

  • 5 - "Board wipes made our games longer" - Going back to what I said a couple paragraphs up "While board wipes are helpful, I've found that sometimes it can get annoying to reset the game too many times" - I personally run 2 wipe effects in each deck. Most of my removal is single target, or can hit multiple things, but isn't quite a board wipe (Wear / Tear, Dismantling Wave, Grasp of Fate, Ashes to Ashes, or Druid of Purification). This is all personal choice though.

  • 5.1 "How do I recover more quickly after a board wipe than my opponents? Do I need more card draw? Do I need more protection to keep my creatures around? " - Card draw is always more helpful. Upping the amount of card draw is typically helpful. The tricky part is tuning the type of draw utilized and finding the balance that feels right for you. For me I have about 14 effects in my deck that can draw cards in either cantrip single instances, in multi-card bursts, or in consistent but slow manners. It takes plenty of playing to see what feels right for you. I also run about 11 different effects that protect my board. I've found that Flawless Maneuver and Teferi's Protection have saved my board and kept them in tact enough to maintain momentum the times I've successfully pulled them off. Clever Concealment is a new option that is especially good in token decks. Scapegoat is another cool and cheap option for token decks, and also lets you redeploy your board strategically. I also keep my overall average CMC of my deck as low as I can, so in the event that I don't have a protection effect, but have drawn into plenty of material, I can play cheaply costed creatures and removal/interaction/protection while everyone else is still rebuilding.

  • 5.2 "when is the right time in an aggro deck to play a board wipe?" - This requires more nuance and playing IRL to determine what feels right to you. I typically board wipe when someone else is building a bigger board than me, and is out-pacing me in that regard, but I have things in hand to quickly rebuild with afterwards, or have a protection effect to spare my board from my own wipe. It also depends on the types of wipes you are playing. White has a ton of options such as Promise of Loyalty, Slaughter the Strong, Retribution of the Meek, Vanquish the Horde, Farewell, Austere Command, and By Invitation Only to name a few. I've found it can be helpful to maybe have 1 wipe that is somewhat asymmetric, usually by presenting each player a choice on what they get to keep. This is a double edged sword since.... people get a choice on what they get to keep. While this may not solve the threat you were looking to eliminate, this may at least make things more manageable. I know Ruinous Ultimatum is a popular option because of how one-sided it is, but the restrictiveness of the mana cost can be annoying. Isshin doesn't necessarily win in 1 big flashy play that seemingly comes out of nowhere, like a combo deck might, but does build up a board presence and aggro momentum over a few turns. If you can continue to build and maintain a momentum, and add in more damage modifiers or Impact Tremors effects, it may then open up the opportunity for a big alpha strike turn, or a turn where you make a bunch of tokens with krenko tin street king pin because it stuck around long enough and you also have Impact Tremors and/or Hellrider and will either make a metric ton of goblins when Krenko swings, or you already have a metric ton of goblins to swing with for Hellrider.

Ultimately this is about finding what is most fun and engaging for you to play, and balancing that out with what is fun for your group. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same definition of fun. Some people will think its unfun or boring to get token swarmed or killed with Impact Tremors, and that's okay.

Takeaways:

  • Definitely add more draw and ramp. Cut down your mana curve and on splashy, but inconsistent effects where possible.

  • Running robust removal and interaction is helpful, but don't think you have to be "threat/parity police" because of it. Other people can choose to step up their removal/interaction suites too. Less board-wipes can be a good thing.

  • A variety of board protection effects will help you maintain the momentum you are building. A lower mana curve helps you go into aggro mode faster, and hopefully rebuild more quickly after wipes. Ideally, this also helps leave a little mana leftover for your Clever Concealments, Boros Charms, and other protection effects.

  • Group Slug and combat damage help each other out and make each other more viable. You are trying to land 120 damage around the table to take out 3 other players, so ideally you should maximize your damage output and find what works best for you, and what is most fun and dynamic for you.

Best of luck and hope you continue to have fun playing this awesome commander.

gzusvictory on Sigarda, best Voltron

1 month ago

My suggestions: Lion Sash Serra Ascendant Dragonlord Dromoka Teferi's Protection Nature's Lore Mirari's Wake Bear UmbraYavimaya, Cradle of Growth Sword of Forge and Frontier The Great Henge Austere Command Skyshroud Claim

Cut Tithe Land Tax Mangara, the Diplomat Bloodforged Battle-Axe Dowsing Dagger  FlipKnight of the White Orchid Do not succumb to white land-getters/card draw because green does that so much better

KarelAkker on Rhys, the Redeemed (first ground-up build)

2 months ago

It is a good list. I am especially scared for Austere Command, as it can slap my poor poor artifacts while killing my board. Cathars' Crusade is also very scary. You might need some protection against blue and red decks which can get to you out of combat, but head-on your deck looks strong. Beware of Lavinia of the Tenth players tho, they will detain you booty and make you unable to do anything with your tokens (God those Azorius players can be a pain to deal with). Maybe get Crush Contraband instead of Return to Dust (easier to cast but slightly more limited). I you want to smake child labor decks like the player above me, run Lashknife Barrier or Orbs of Warding.

multimedia on Urza, CEO of Machines

2 months ago

Hey, good upgrades to the precon, what you've done so far.

How do you want to win? Determining the main strategy you want to play can help to keep good cards for that strategy and cut unnecessary cards. If you're wanting to keep precon level budget then doing combat damage with Constructs and Commander damage with Urza are directions to consider. Research Thief and Bident of Thassa are excellent budget cards if you want to be attacking with Constructs. Making Urza an artifact makes him a reliable source of Commander damage, but this means including effects to make Urza an artifact.

You have Urza, Lord High Artificer, he's a combo wincon, but to use him as a wincon you'll want to add other cards and more ways to assemble the combo. Drawing cards from Constructs doing combat damage to opponents is a good alternative to playing expensive price tutors to get combo pieces in your hand.

You have Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge, you don't really need Mycosynth Golem especially not for it's price tag. You don't need this Tezzeret either, but if you have it might as well play it. The first cuts to consider are lands since 41 lands is a lot when the strategy here are artifacts. Consider cutting 6 lands? Lands that always ETB tapped and are worse then others that also do this. If you feel you need more mana then add mana sources (rocks, dorks) not lands.

The Bounce lands and Scry lands are worse always ETB tapped lands then Tri lands, Bridges, etc.

Some advice for more cuts is choose the top 20 creatures here, top 10 artifacts and top 10 other nonland cards. By choosing the best cards then you can cut a huge chunk away of lesser cards.

Creatures:

Artifacts:

Others:

For upgrading it's easier to get an established list that's not 99 cards then have a list that's way over 99 cards. Really any 0-3 drop artifact creature who can make some value to take advantage of Urza artifact creature affinity or any 0-2 drop mana rock for more ramp can fill unfilled deck spots.

Good luck with your deck.

loricatuslupus on Blessings of Blood and Feathers

2 months ago

Well first thing that stands out is that you need more mana, probably 35 lands plus a few more rocks - if there was any deck to use a Sol Ring in, it's one where your commander costs six! Given you're not running many tapped lands anyway some of the extras could be filled in by the ZNR DFCs like Hagra Mauling  Flip, giving you more lands if you need them without sacrificing spell slots. Once you're making sure that the deck is consistent in getting there you could also then add some bigger creatures or other finishers, safe in the knowledge that you should be able to hardcast cast them most games (and given how much life you can gain recurring 6/7 drops should be easy enough). Speaking of might be worth at least CONSIDERING other graveyard stockers/reanimator spells such as Unmarked Grave/Reanimate in case Rudolf is indesposed or you have to recover from a board wipe. Given how easy it is for you to make Rudolf indestructible board wipes are going to be a great friend - being in white you can take the slightly cheaper Wrath of God/Day of Judgment over Damnation, then get a bit more spenny with Toxic Deluge/The Meathook Massacre or pay a bit of extra mana to get flexibility in Merciless Eviction/Austere Command. Essence Pulse and Fumigate gain life as well. Similarly you're in the best colours for spot removal: ditch Disenchant and the cards which give -x/-x (they might not get the job done on a big boi) and get Vindicate/Mortify/Anguished Unmaking/Fateful Absence/Path to Exile. The deck is also quite commander-centred, meaning that lasting protection for the main man is more important than an instant which saves him once. Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots are the classics but I like Blessing of Leeches in commander as you can regenerate for free as many times as you need per turn while the life loss is meaningless to you. Otherwise you might want see if my Licia deck (Reign in Blood) has anything you like the look of.

legendofa on Kenrith,the returned king plus door …

2 months ago

Welcome to the club, Mattzr01!

The deck description says it came from the Commander's Quarters YouTube channel. Is it a direct copy, or did you use that deck as inspiration? What lines of play are used or recommended in the video?

If the intent is to win by using Door to Nothingness on each opponent, you want to focus heavily on generating mana and slowing the game down. Since you need two mana of each color and a specific card in play to knock out an opponent, your immediate concerns should be reaching those marks. Ramp, color fixing, and card draw and tutoring should make up most of your early game, using your control elements to protect your key cards and prevent an opponent from getting too far ahead.

On the subject of control, don't waste your control effects on trivial threats. Cast your Plaguecrafter or Foundation Breaker or Austere Command or whatever when you see a major threat or obstacle that must be removed for you to win. Knowing the difference between an annoyance that can played around and a kill-on-sight card/combo is critical for slower decks.

I understand and respect that you're not looking for card suggestions with this thread, but there are a few cards in there that I don't fully see the purpose for. They don't appear to help you win in any significant way, unless I'm missing a combo or something.

Above all, have fun with it!

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