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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Modern Beyond Horizons | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Grid Monitor
Artifact Creature — Construct
You can't play creature spells.
Licecolony on
Goaded With The Sauce
1 year ago
I really like your manifest take on Jon. Consider Dulcet Sirens. It's a clever way to mitigate risk of having those horrible creatures for yourself. I'll definitely be adding Crawlspace and Endless Whispers to my list.
Suggested removals from deck Plague Reaver. While it's a nice card to give away, the turn you play it you'll have to sacrifice Jon Irenicus to Plague Reaver's trigger regardless of which order you put the abilities onto the stack. You'd rather not lose Jon.
Gisa, Glorious Resurrector. It's something you can't give away, which means it's good when you're ahead, but not great when you're behind,. Your mileage may vary, but I think getting something more immediately impactful on the board tends to be best.
Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker. You're not running a mill strategy, you'll only be filling the graveyard of dedicate graveyard decks.
Taniwha. I love this creature and totally understand running it for the memes, but phasing triggers before your upkeep, which means that when you give it away, it'll be phased out for the first turn under your opponent, so they'll keep their lands and you won't draw a card from Jon's ability. The turn cycle has to make two full rounds before Taniwha does anything.
Tergrid, God of Fright Flip. Unlike Sheoldred, Tergrid doesn't make the opponent do either of its effects. It's another creature you don't want to give away, and Jon makes cards unsacrificeable. It just won't trigger much unless you're against a sacrifice deck.
Ensnaring Bridge. The creatures you donate will often be quite big. Ensnaring bridge will prevent them from attacking your opponents and deny you card draw.
Chromatic Lantern. It's only good if you need the mana fixing. You don't need the mana fixing. Try something like Thought Vessel or Decanter of Endless Water or Midnight Clock instead.
Assault Suit doesn't goad the creatures itself. Often they'll swing at you if possible.
Dissipation Field. Not as good as it looks. Doubles ETB triggers. Anti synergy with cards like Endless Whispers.
No Mercy Jon just has better options for this slot. If you can replace a non-creature with a creature in this deck, you usually want to.
Grave Betrayal. That's 7 mana for a card that could ruin your game by forcing you to revive bad cards you do not want.
Diplomatic Immunity. You want instant speed protection and protection from board wipes. Something like March of Swirling Mist is more versatile offensively and defensively.
Dark Ritual. I'm uncertain what you're trying to ramp into so quickly that you would need this. Maybe I'm wrong.
Countersquall. You may as well play the one mana version in An Offer You Can't Refuse.
Redirect may be bested by Narset's Reversal? That's a matter of opinion.
AEtherize risks bouncing creatures attacking other opponents such as those you've goaded but want them to keep. Try replacing this with a more versatile effect like Reins of Power or a more aggressive effect in Illusionist's Gambit.
Damnation. Jon prefers sacrifice board wipes so that your opponents keep their shit creatures.
Overall I think you could run less counter-magic in favor of more proactive effects.
Cards to Consider Creatures Generally I want to focus on adding creatures that you can give away and then steal back later to win the game.
With Jon, you often want cheap evasive creatures to give out for early card draw with his ability. Right now you have 1 two-drop creature. Throwing in a Changeling Outcast or a Slither Blade can mean you can give a creature away for cheap and still hold up mana for other things. Slither blade wouldn't die to Heartless Summoning too.
In the two-drop slot, you can run creatures that are more defensive like Baleful Strix, or give you card draw like Sygg, River Cutthroat or just more powerful creatures like Flesh Reaver which is a goaded 6/6 that can deal 12 damage a turn or Wretched Anurid. Heck, you can even add a versatile two-drop in Dimir Infiltrator which can be given away in the early game or used as a tutor in the late-game.
In the three drop slot, I think your idea of adding Steel Golem is a great one to make sure the only creatures your opponent has are the ones you're giving them. It's a brutal card. Rotting Regisaur is a card you don't mind giving away early, and can take back later to win. Phyrexian Soulgorger can be donated to an opponent as a goaded 10/10. They won't have to pay the upkeep, but that's a great body to give someone as a political tool. Cephalid Facetaker is also worth consideration though I personally don't run it.
In the four-drop slot, like you mentioned, Grid Monitor is a proactive creature counter. Abyssal Persecutor can save you from death. Archfiend of the Dross is risky but fun (it comes back to your control after the opponent dies).
In the 5-drop slot, both of the evil-eye cards are absolute ALL STARS. They work so well every game I've drawn them. They can also replace some of your weaker defenses like No Mercy and Dissipation Field
As a sidenote, I also like Deep-Sea Kraken as an unblockable 8/8 that can win you the game with homeward path.
Removal I recommend running more sacrifice-based removal since it'll mean your opponents keep the crap you give them. Things like Tergrid's Shadow or Vona's Hunger or All is Dust (one of my favorites) or Killing Wave. I also prefer Toxic Deluge to some of your other removal since it goes through hexproof. Curse of the Swine is also an exile effect that can be selective and works really well. You can also run single-target removal like Reality Shift or Pongify if you'd rather instant speed interaction. Feed the Swarm is quality. If you really don't care about cruelty, you can run Torment of Hailfire, but that card is honestly always too boring for me to want in my decks.
Card Draw Jon has access to some great card draw that most decks can't take advantage of. Fateful Handoff is a card draw spell that also donates (though does not goad). Sygg, River Cutthroat works well with evasive threats you give away (though should not be donated). Verity Circle works great with Jon's ability since it donates the creature first, and then taps it down. Teferi's Ageless Insight allows you to double your draw triggers from Jon.
Equipment Remember that you can donate creatures while they're equipped and you still control the equipment so they can't re-equip it. Pact Weapon makes the attacking creature bigger, while ensuring you can't die, and will draw you another card whenever the donated creature attacks. Dowsing Dagger Flip works effectively on evasive creature to get you ramped. Vorpal Sword is a win condition on your unblockable evasive creatures.
Goad Dulcet Sirens, Bloodthirsty Blade.
Misc Graveyard removal is king. Throw in a Scavenger Grounds. My favorite card to run is Reality Shift. Make an Avenger of Zendikar spawn a dozen Wretched Anurids. It's not GREAT, but it is always funny. Cultural Exchange is a fun time too with all your manifest and shitty creatures.
That is all. Hope it was helpful.
Licecolony on
Dimir Donation
2 years ago
ClockworkSwordfish on Creature Donation Ideas
2 years ago
If you want to think outside the box, try Phyrexian Negator. Every time it's blocked, its controller is losing a bushel of hard-earned permanents. Of course, you can always help the process along by pointing a Consume Spirit or Essence Extraction at the Negator!
Other good options include Gutwrencher Oni, Grinning Demon, Scourge of Numai, Pitiless Horde, Steel Golem, Grid Monitor, Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore, Evil Eye of Urborg, Archdemon of Greed Flip, Abyssal Persecutor, Ebonblade Reaper, Thrashing Mudspawn, Wretched Anurid, Ebon Drake, Moroii, Rotting Regisaur, Flesh Reaver, Asmodeus the Archfiend and the truly deplorable Infernal Denizen.
NV_1980 on
To My Grateful Patrons.
3 years ago
Hi m8,
Please help me out, I am trying to figure out the worth of cards like Grid Monitor and Steel Golem. The only situation in which I can see them work really well are in 1-on-1 games or games in which you're trying to disable a (or multiple) creature-heavy deck(s), and all other opponents want the same thing. If this is not the case, whomever you give these critters to will just use em to attack someone (and hopefully for them, get these things killed off). What am I not seeing here?
As for useful additions, Oath of Lim-Dul seems an excellent addition (especially against players who cannot generate black mana). Form of the Dragon also seems like fun, though its expensive to cast.
Kind regards,
NV_1980
Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 8: Rakdos …
3 years ago
Brothers, sisters, and assorted non-binary siblings, welcome to the riot! You like throwing waves of frothing, hasty lunatics at your opponent AND profiting when said lunatics die? We got you! You like watching the world burn and don’t mind getting caught in the flames? We got you! You like anarchy? The purge movies? Gender reveal parties? We got you! Rakdos is the proud home of those who take pleasure at the expense of others, the sort of people who like to mix Skittles and M&Ms in the same party bowl. If that sounds fun, then just you wait: in the house of red and black, that sort of misbehavior is only the appetizer.
Haste and sacrifice. Vampirism and burn. Discard in both barrels. This is a beautifully synergistic color pairing that belongs in the same league as peanut butter and chocolate. Heath Ledger’s joker undoutably played a rakdos deck: things like Havoc Festival, Last One Standing, and Sire Of Insanity are all up the clown’s alley. There are a number of themes we can cover here, but as usual we’re settling for three: Discard, WAAAAGH, and Pain. As always, please bear in mind that the point isn’t a discussion of the competitive but rather as a celebration of the thematic.
Discard
This is both red’s primary draw resource and a uniquely black removal technique. Combining those aspects makes for a deck that both ruins opponent’s hands and digs through your own cards at shocking speed. Granted, you won’t have a big hand, but who cares? Suddenly you've got an overpacked graveyard at your black-hearted beck and call. Red self-mill and black reanimation, people, with just a naughty touch of haste. Discard a pile of hate and then pitch said pile straight into combat. You won’t be sorry.
A regular teddy bear, Chainer’s second coming is a real treat for anyone who left their graveyard hate at home. Haste on a stick is only a perk: suddenly your graveyard is only as full as you want it to be, and probably full of friendly, group-huggy things like Ravenous Chupacabra or Combustible Gearhulk. Yes, the table will certainly love you and your unending, undying deck of unbearable hellbeasts. Undoubtably.
Ok, this guy is horrifying, as you would expect of the king of Grixis. Anyone not running tokens is going to be mighty twitchy about seeing this guy hit the field, and who needs a hand anyway? Rakdos evidently loves empty hands, and rewards you for ensuring that particular misery has company. Consider, if you will, the fulsome, vicious suite of cards tied to poking those who discard. Consider Experimental Frenzy. Consider all the madness cards you could play (or, you know, just play Anje Falkenrath instead). And, if you get tired of the simple gains synergy can win you, you can always Demonfire someone.
THIS. This is neat. Leave aside the look on the face of that certain someone who steals everything on the board. Pay no mind that Seize the Day and all it’s red cousins can make Blim an unholy terror. Forget that you can pass off Demonic Pact, Grid Monitor, and whatever other obnoxiousness you can think of. None of that matters, no. This, for all you glorious nutters out there, is an excuse to finally play Nuisance Engine. That’s the takeaway here.
WAAAGH
Anyone can run tokens or big creatures, but only in Rakdos do you find the conjunction of boardwide haste and sacrifice. Harnessing right, proper WAAGH energy means not just drowning opponents in a tide of zippy little shits but also capitalizing on all that death to cause even more mayhem. Did you ever want to hold a bundle of fireworks, light them all at once, and watch whatever you point them at turn into a smoking, shredded pile of giblets? Here’s the lighter, fellas.
Treasure tokens. Nuff said.
There are a number of nasty combos here that I’d rather not spread. I’ll just say that long ago, I played many, many depressing games against a Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund deck. There was self-milling involved, and Living Death. Evidently, someone decided what the deck needed, rather than burning, was fewer moving parts. That someone deserves a long, interesting life in all the worst ways.
This guy makes me laugh. The idea of ruining the table’s carefully laid plans to off you and instead throwing them into combat with each other is absolutely hilarious. It’s like a Fog designed by someone with pyromania-by-proxy syndrome, and that second block of text the equivalent of throwing gasoline on an already burning house. Get a Conjurer's Closet in there and watch the fun.
Pain
Forget destroy effects. Those are too easy. Direct damage. -X/-X. -1/-1 counters. Life loss. All of the nastiness you can fling at opponents and creatures is under the umbrella of this color pairing. If you like blasting the unholy hell out of your opponents and their minions, this is the arsenal you’re looking to plunder. Stuff like Blasphemous Act, Toxic Deluge, or Orcus, Prince of Undeath will leave a smoldering crater of a battlefield, across which you’ll doubtless be stepping with appropriate gribbliness. Or launching that demonfire we talked about. Whatever works.
Ah, the original Mr. Stop-Hitting-Yourself. I’ve had my eye on this guy for over a decade. Do I own the deck? No. Do I intend to? Again, no. But the prospect here is so, soooo satisfying to think about. To hell with infinite combo fruitwaffles. Damned be those green jackasses ramming X cost spells down the table’s collective throat. Kaervek’s mean, but keeps it clean. Like, nuclear fire sterile clean, and the best part? It’s all self-inflicted!
We really can’t talk red-black without discussing demon himself (hehehe). This guy’s been piloting one of my decks for years, and for good reason. The lord of riots likes to pass out rewards for smacking people. Do you like to be rewarded for smacking people? I do. Rewarded with free things... Eldrazi things. Eldrazi things that tutor more things (Conduit of Ruin), reanimate more things (Artisan of Kozilek), or… well, you can always go for broke and just ruin someone else's things (Void Winnower). Run artifacts, like Hangarback Walker. Run X drops, like Maga, Traitor to Mortals. Run anything you like. Run everything you like. Just have fun running them for next to nothing.
-1/-1 counters, magic’s analogue for injury and agony. We really shouldn’t talk red-black without talking about Wither, the Everlasting Torment of a keyword that was a precursor to the dark days of Infect. It’s safe to say we all have opinions, for good or ill, about Infect’s place in commander. That said, if you want to play with -1/-1 counters and aren’t fond of green or dealing with those opinions, Scorpy’s first line of text makes this guy an overwhelmingly safe bet. Rocking crap like Black Sun's Zenith is the easy answer: let’s make this fun, discard a crapload of cards, and watch your opponent’s boards melt into obscene card advantage while your Archfiend of Ifnir giggles in the corner.
And for my personal favorite...
There is an unfortunate element of “screw you in particular” to Xantcha: declaring open season on somebody’s life total sends a particularly unpleasant message. This is another commander that, laying aside the card advantage, doesn’t bolster your deck, which makes for an interesting challenge. I’ve said it before, one hallmark of a good deck is the capability of functioning without its commander… though if you build this hateful beast, I suggest you pack lots and lots of ramp. Just ‘cause.
That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for Gruul!
Prior Articles:
Reliquarian on
Share the Pain
3 years ago
Love it. +1 upvote from me.
As for card suggestions, have you considered Grid Monitor ? It's a similar effect to Steel Golem which I see you have included. Pyromancer's Swath is another great one and can just end the game for whichever poor soul you drop it on since they have to top deck a way to remove it and enchantments can be especially hard to remove. Mindmoil can be similarly difficult to deal with and can disrupt a lot of people's strategies. Additionally, as a piece of red ramp, Alpine Guide can be great because you get the land and your opponent gets nothing (and if they have mountains it gets really good).
Finally I just have to mention a pet card of mine, Mages' Contest . It's a red counterspell that no one sees coming and can lead to some fun games of chicken with your opponents (and gets really good in a deck like this where your opponents will likely have already lost a lot of life to your Blim, Comedic Genius , so even if they bid more life than you it can still leave them dangerously low if they play it wrong).
Hopefully those suggestions are helpful!
TortillaConfetti on
Zedruu Plays Nice, Then Kills You
5 years ago
1) Paradox Haze
2) Grid Monitor
4) Steel Golem
5) Pentad Prism
Exchange troll gifts to your opponents! Also, here is my list if you want to check it out: Gift Dealer Supreme
Hybrow on
Giver of Bad Gifts - Zedruu EDH
5 years ago
Thanks Masyeldarb,
I looked at Grid Monitor , the problem I have is its a 4/6.. thats a bit of a beast to be giving away. I guess if I had some Propaganda or Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs out it might not be that bad. I know I originally discarded it because of the high P/T and because there is almost always a bigger creature on the board so it is easy enough for someone to attack with it just so it will die.
Psychic Possession however is really nice, might have to find a spot for it in here. I have recently been thinking about getting rid of Assault Suit as I dont have good enough creatures to give away. And this might make a nice replacement.
Thanks for the view and thoughts
