Self-Destruct
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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
Freeform Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Standard Brawl Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Self-Destruct

Instant

Target creature you control deals X damage to any other target and X damage to itself, where X is its power.

Crow_Umbra on End_Of_The_Line

3 months ago

It's all good. That experience was one of the odder interactions I've had in my time here.

Cool, glad you have proxies available to you. I try to hone in any recs based on potential budget.

Even personal play groups develop their own little meta over time. To that end, besides the commanders listed in your primer, are there any others that you regularly encounter?

Here are some ideas I have, I'll put them in accordions so I don't blow up your wall:

Since you have proxies at your disposal, I think you can swap in some more utility lands to get even more value out of some of those basic land slots:

I totally agree that swinging in with a huge Kratos is a fun way to pilot this deck, but I think you can lean more into the forced combat element of it. Since you play against things like Ur-Dragon, Eldrazi, & Sheoldred, forcing them into combat could be super beneficial:

  • Ur-Dragon and (maybe) the Eldrazi, need to get their color fixing right in order to start taking off (assuming this is a five color Drazi), which means they may rely on mana dorks and other smaller utility creatures to help get them running.

  • Sheoldred may be in a similar position, if it isn't a creature or token heavy deck, may have a smaller board that also relies on squishier utility creatures

  • Kratos' damage effect "encourages" opponents to not leave their creatures untapped. Kratos is one big Punisher effect, so your opponents will have to weigh cost benefit of not attacking or tapping their creatures somehow.

  • Red has plenty of access to Goad effects, giving you another means of forcing attacks.

  • All of this is to say that I think the Kratos damage should take a more secondary priority to forced combat control.

I think you've received some solid recommendations from the other comments already on your deck. I'll try not to suggest anything that's already there.

Generally speaking, I think cutting back on red Auras that mostly focus on Kratos could be helpful. Some other standouts that I think can be swapped:

  • Icy Manipulator - Seems kinda slow for a single target effect.

  • Liquimetal Coating - I can see the cheeky line of play with turning something into an artifact in response to a Vandal Blast, but I think this could be another spot for something more consistently beneficial.

One of my homies runs a Deimos deck that's pretty fun, but he doesn't have a list online yet. He does have a Kardur deck that could be another source for forced combat ideas.

Hope this all helped

Crow_Umbra on Is Anyone Else Concerned with …

1 year ago

I agree to an extent that power creep exists and is an unavoidable facet of this game; boundaries in design space will be pushed and broken interactions with various mechanics from the game's 30+ year history may not always be evident at first glance. I think that the various cards you listed in your example are more gimmicky than examples of being broken or power crept.

  • Overkill - This is a flavorful uncommon, but it still costs 3 mana. Since 3 toughness is considered a benchmark by many players due to Lightning Bolt, then something like Nightmarish End, Ob Nixilis's Cruelty, or Sudden Death achieve a similar effect for a similar cmc. Here's a more extensive list of Black instants that give some -x/-x effect as removal for comparison.

  • Jumbo Cactuar - Again, this is a flavor gimmick given the Jumbo Cactuar's infamous attack. While 10k damage is a lot, the Cactuar costs 7 mana, needs to be cast, and lacks Haste or Trample. Yes, you could Fling or Self-Destruct the Cactuar, but that's now 9 total mana across 2 colors to send 10k damage directly at someone's face.

  • The Station Artifacts you mentioned are both 5 cmc and each require 20+ Stationing power from other creatures on your board to achieve their fullest potential. Some strategies will have an easier time accomplishing this, but that's still a very steep investment of resources towards a single artifact/creature. I'd recommend checking out any gameplay videos of any of the Station commanders to see direct examples of the resource commitment needed, especially once they get into mid-late game where boards suffer more removal, and Stationing is harder to do.

In regards to more blatant power creep, I think cards that start seeing a lot of saturation in tournament top 8s should be examined. Take all of the cards recently banned from Standard as examples of power creep that have more direct effects on tournament metas. Vivi Ornitier is now getting similar complaints from different outlets.