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Format | Legality |
1v1 Commander | Legal |
Archenemy | 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 |
Oathbreaker | Legal |
Planar Constructed | Legal |
Planechase | Legal |
Premodern | Legal |
Quest Magic | Legal |
Tiny Leaders | Legal |
Vanguard | Legal |
Vintage | Legal |
War Cadence
Enchantment
(X)(Red): Creatures can't block this turn unless their controller pays (X) for each blocking creature he or she controls.
DreadKhan on Painful chaos
1 month ago
I have a Rakdos deck that's trying to do some similar things, I leaned into creatures that could double as removal, some games you can eliminate a player by resolving an early Dwarven Miner/Dwarven Blastminer, Tsabo Tavoc is a hilarious card in a Commander game, Olivia Voldaren and Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief make very good use of late game mana and can create a whole mess of trouble, maybe War Cadence is a very political card I love to try to sneak into decks, the really sweet part is you can use it on an opponent's attack to help THEM get in, and an Archenemy is tapped out that means you only need to spend {1} to make everything unblockable... it's a real skill testing card IMHO. Rite of the Raging Storm can kill off any opponents that don't have blockers, and it survives most Wraths. It's also a sacrifice effect when it dies, so it works with Mayhem Devil without support. Even without it's combo I find Exquisite Blood can be an amazing card, it's hilarious with Protection Racket out! If you want things to get chaotic/people to have to make choices you might like some of the Dr. Who stuff, the only card I personally use is Ensnared by the Mara, which isn't too jarring IMHO, most people wouldn't realize it's Universes Beyond at a Glance IMHO. Humble Defector is a fun card even if you don't run ways to kill him off right after he changes hands, some players will agree to trade him back even! Din of the Fireherd and Fevered Suspicion are pretty chaotic effects, though some people will really get up in arms if you take away more than a couple lands! Speaking of taking a couple lands, Volcanic Offering is hilarious IMHO.
Rakdos isn't the ideal colours to make him pop but I still like Brash Taunter, he's also great with anything that gives him lifelink, but it's surprising value if you can resolve something like Scavenged Brawler on Taunter, it's worth noting that Brawler would also help turn Vial Smasher into a much better threat/life source.
Finally, have you thought about some auctions, maybe Thieves' Auction or Illicit Auction? 5 mana to maybe not get a creature isn't amazing, but in practice if you ever have the most life it's just 5 mana to steal whichever creature you want! Thieves' Auction is a good card if you have a lot of permanents that work just by being out (like symmetrical chaos effects), but it's also decent if you don't run an especially sturdy board (since you pick first!), I've had situations where nothing on my board was taken until everyone else's boards were taken, my cards were that bad! Such a great feeling to get value out of stuff like Thieves' Auction.
I like the idea of your list here, you might get a kick out of my Pavel the Mighty, Hero We Deserve list, it's a Chaos deck that overflows with pet cards!
Pheardemons on Mishra's Relentless Horde
7 months ago
Phyrexian Reclamation was there as a way to get the token generatros back like Krenko, Mob Boss. I do understand the potential of taking it out.
War Cadence has not been tested as it is the newest addition. I liked the idea of politicing. Plus, it was a win condition giving my creatures essentially unblockable. I'll think about it.
Vedalken Orrery is one of those cards I include in almost all of my decks. It is always a good choice. However, I do understand the fact that this deck usually wins on my turn in combat, so it may not be NEEDED here.
Because I have Wound Reflection and Archfiend of Despair I was debating on City on Fire. It rarely wins the turn it comes down and it tells the whole table what I'm about to do on my next turn. Granted, blocking creatures still triple damage.
Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin was another one that has been kind of subpar. If I can get it down turn two or three it is a powerhouse. Late game it's pretty bas as it has small attack and is required to attack.
DreadKhan on BBEG Deck Ideas
1 year ago
Yeah, I find decks that have too many different pots on the stove can be prone to drawing 'the wrong half of the deck', I'll keep an eye out for synergies where some of the pieces are useless without the other parts in my Kresh list! Interesting, to me running 3 colours is (at this point) mostly a disadvantage unless you're playing really strong decks, 3 colours is way harder to get the fixing right (or perhaps I should say more expensive), and 2 colours is already extremely versatile, but I could see wanting 3 or more for your 'archenemy' deck in particular. It's too bad they didn't give us any weird 2 colour Backgrounds, I don't think having 3 colours worth of Background/Commander is really game breaking.
I think if you're fine using those Assassins mostly as blockers then Marchesa is probably a good choice, there are plenty of Goad effects in Mardu to work with, as well as stuff like Brutal Hordechief and Master Warcraft, I think I've always wanted a deck that used stuff like that effectively. Oh, if you're using Goad, I'm not sure if you'd have enough mana to make it work in Mardu, but War Cadence might do some fun stuff with Goaded attackers.
DreadKhan on Gnoll Patrol
1 year ago
I also think Gnolls are cool and approve of this premise! Here are my thoughts about the deck, hope they're helpful.
If you ever want to raise your budget a bit, Pathbreaker Ibex has huge synergy with your deck.
When I was testing out your deck I found that you seemed to be short of creatures for a deck that runs lots of creature payoffs and generally can't win without them. In a deck that's very creature centric I like to run closer to 40, if not more, Gruul has really, really good creatures to choose from. For example, you can run Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf over artifact ramp, these give you a creature body while also permanently ramping you (land ramp is much more stable than artifact ramp anyways). Creature buffs can be stapled to a creature, there are options like Thunderfoot Baloth, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma or maybe Blossoming Bogbeast or Kamahl, Heart of Krosa. You can use creatures as a great source of removal with options like Thorn Mammoth, Ulvenwald Tracker, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Gruul Ragebeast, Steelbane Hydra, Viashino Heretic, and Outland Liberator Flip are all pretty decent at getting things off the table for you while also offering a physical presence. Not sure if they quite fit, but depending on your meta Silklash Spider and Squallmonger are pretty nasty surprises for decks that use Flying a lot, Squallmonger can even kill huge flyers with another player's help, or allow several players to quickly eliminate an archenemy that is lower in life.
There are a few good ways to double your power in Gruul, the new Two-Handed Axe is very interesting, the surprise Double Strike ability works well with your Commander, and the power doubling effect definitely does. Inquisitor's Flail is an incredible equipment if your Commander is either very big or has First Strike, yours can easily get big enough to justify the risk. Berserkers' Onslaught is really strong, even if it's 5 mana, Enchantments tend to stick around for awhile.
I think you should run more sources of Trample in here (there are some listed above as well), but with a budget restriction that does make it more of a challenge. Your Commander is really strong if he has Trample, but can be chumped by a 0/1 goat token without it (funny image, maybe he got hungry?). Garruk's Uprising is a really good card if you have enough creatures with power 4 and up, but the Trample is the real perk here arguably. Kessig Wolf Run might do the trick, and it's on a land. Brawn is pretty budget, but it can be hard to get it killed. War Cadence isn't exactly Trample, but it can easily let you swing with unblockable creatures if someone is tapped out, but remember this can also be used to create chaos on other people's attacks if you've got nothing better to do. It's also not Trample technically, but Siege Behemoth can bypass blockers for your attackers.
With a relatively low budget in Red, I feel like Rite of the Raging Storm is a very underrated card. Those 5/1s are never coming your way, but they will swarm anyone who can't deal with it on their opponent's turns, and yours gets the buff from your Commander fwiw. Breaker of Armies is a good way to clear out potentially a whole board worth of stuff of a vulnerable player, it can deter attacks vs you if their defenders are all going to be stomped by an Eldrazi.
If you can get your creature count high enough, you could sneak stuff like Lurking Predators in, which is pretty impressive card advantage over time in many metas. There is also Heartwood Storyteller, which is very good if you don't run many non-creatures.
DreadKhan on thantis and the boys
1 year ago
I don't think Thantis should leave home without Rite of the Raging Storm, this way everyone has stuff to swing as your opponents, but nobody has extra vs you, but it also should work with Garruk's Uprising. Akroan Horse is another so-so source of bodies that get better with supporting buffs. I am always surprised at how much work War Cadence can do in a meta with lots of attacking, it can even play like a Stax effect if the board is pretty big, because you can turn any swing into an unblockable one at instant speed. Mask of Griselbrand is a pretty impressive equipment in practice, Flying is great evasion, Lifelink is a great ability on a large creature and that much card draw can change a game's outcome very easily.
If you're looking seriously at cards like Assassinate, I feel I should point out that it's a Sorcery and has targeting limitations. If you want to run sorcery speed removal then I strongly recommend Make an Example and Phyrexian Purge, both of those are quite a bit better. I think you could also look at Beast Within and Road / Ruin, both are very useful spells, offering versatility of effect.
Have you drawn Nikya in many games yet? I feel like with only 31 creatures in the 99 that you'll not want to cast him very often, it'll interfere with your other spells.
I'm not sure that Dragon Whelp is a very reliable Commander card, it's not that much less mana than a Shivan Dragon, and it's a much worse card. I would note that most people who play Shivan Dragon in Commander are playing it as a pet card, there are other better cards you could play. I think you could just play something like Avatar of Fury even, it's janky but it's very easy for it to cost 2 mana later game, or maybe Cavalier of Flame if you want something pricier.
Since Thantis can get pretty big, I suspect anything like Return of the Wildspeaker or Rishkar's Expertise would be pretty solid in here.
I'm not sure how much of a target Thantis ends up being, but Angel's Trumpet is a nice back up option that does something similar.
DreadKhan on Pariah's Stompy Gruul Deck
1 year ago
I noticed a few things you might want to take a look at while testing your deck out, first you run several examples of artifacts that ramp you, this is usually a questionable choice in any Green deck, but Gruul is very good at ramping in particular, it has the least need for artifact mana. Some people run artifact wipes like Bane of Progress to punish people who are stuck with artifact ramp. There are always more creatures that can be tapped for mana, but there are also cards like Farhaven Elf and Wood Elves that find a land, there are quite a few of these out there. At your budget I think you should be running Myriad Landscape and Blighted Woodland, and I would consider Guildless Commons as a way to sneak an extra land drop out of your hand (you could also just run more lands).
Second, I think you might want to include more answers to artifacts and enchantments, if not creatures. Gruul decks that run big creatures can look to fight effects to help pressure opponent's boards/kill stuff like Magus of the Moat, Domri Rade and Domri, Anarch of Bolas are budget options that can help make fights happen, Ulvenwald Tracker, Thorn Mammoth, and Gruul Ragebeast are creatures that can generate repeated fights. Beast Within, Chaos Warp and Wild Magic Surge are all pretty interesting cards for a Gruul deck to look at, but there are also cards like Reclamation Sage or Caustic Caterpillar/Thrashing Brontodon, as well as Conclave Naturalists or Indrik Stomphowler that can help deal with artifacts/enchantments that interfere with attacking, and anything that can be used at instant speed has value in disrupting combos. At your budget Road / Ruin might be good, it offers ramp and removal in one card.
Third, you might want more card draw, there are a variety of ways to do that in Gruul, but many of the better options are Green spells. If you consistently have a big enough creature out Return of the Wildspeaker is good, as is Rishkar's Expertise, Momentous Fall and Greater Good. I like Bonders' Enclave if you think you can count on having 4 power out, and War Room is pretty handy in a pinch. Regal Force can draw a bunch of cards if you have green creatures. Garruk's Uprising might be budget enough, but Toski, Bearer of Secrets and Ohran Frostfang are cards to think about if you ever want to upgrade, both are very strong, Frostfang's deathtouch is superb synergy with Trample. If you do go with more Fight effects, Neyith of the Dire Hunt can draw a card for each fight and has other synergies with the deck. Dragonborn Champion is cheaper than Frostfang or Toski, but it requires your creatures to be big and probably have trample, so it might be worth a look.
Here are a few cards that might help that don't fit into the above categories/aren't necessarily solving a problem, but I think are worth thinking about. War Cadence is an all time favorite of mine, you can use it on anyone's turn if you have spare mana, very handy to make it impossible for an archenemy to block, also handy when you get down to 1v1. Have you thought about a Breaker of Armies? When it attacks, that player has to block it with everything, but you technically get to assign damage as you see fit unless they have Banding, so this tends to clear out an opponent's board while letting your other creatures get in unblocked vs that opponent. With your relatively low land count I feel like Abundance would be decent. With so many sources of Trample in your deck Bow of Nylea would be a sweet addition, Deathtouch and Trample are very good together.
Hope some of this is helpful, Gruul stompy decks are a lot of fun!
DreadKhan on
1 year ago
I have a Chaos deck, maybe a few of the cards would work here too? I'm a huge fan of Exquisite Blood, even if you play it without the combo, the effect has big synergy with your Commander's ability, and it helps keep you alive when you're ahead. Another enchantment that works with Esquisite Blood (and your Commander) is Rite of the Raging Storm, this is often good for damage and it makes everyone else play way more cautiously (because anyone but you can be stuck taking 15 damage in a cycle if they can't handle the tokens). Rite itself likes a number of other cards that might work here too, one really sneaky one is Mask of Griselbrand, Lifelink is useful (and stacks with Blood), Flying is useful, and the card draw can be very powerful, obviously this is hilarious with Rite since you can equip the token with the Mask, at which point it's probably getting in for damage and when it dies inevitably you can draw 5 cards. It seems like a good piece of gear for your Commander especially. Berserkers' Onslaught is a funny card sometimes, you do need some kind of board, but even your Commander is openly terrifying with Double Strike. Another card that Rite and your Commander both would love is Dauthi Embrace, Shadow is really good evasion (you might look into Dauthi Voidwalker as well, very useful dual purpose card). Scavenged Brawler is a creature I'm testing in that deck atm, it seems good, offering a useful body that can be 'scavenged' when a wipe happens. If your deck doesn't run combos and is in Black Protection Racket can be a source of life loss for your Commander, your average MV is probably high enough to matter, it can also give cards. It will never give you any lands or 0 MV cards, so it's not a perfect card. Make an Example is a generically good card in my experience, you always get (at minimum) each opponent's most problematic creature. Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep and Shizo, Death's Storehouse are two cards that might help your Commander out, and they're untapped lands, very few drawbacks to those!
Cultural Exchange is a Blue Chaos feeling card I love, I can't decide if you've got enough tokens/creatures you don't care about to make it work, but if you can trade off some small stuff for the best stuff on board then you're doing good I think. I guess it doesn't say anything about untapping, so you can use it to open someone up to attack by trading away all their blockers for already tapped creatures in a pinch. Mass Diminish seems worse than stuff like Sudden Spoiling and Polymorphist's Jest (both great cards though!), but the ability to cast it twice is big, and the effect weirdly lasts a turn cycle, this can help eliminate 2 players sometimes.
Since you probably want your Commander out most of the time, have you considered Stubborn Denial? It's not Fierce Guardianship, but I find Guardianship to be obnoxious.
My final ideas are War Tax and War Cadence, Cadence can easily make your stuff unblockable if people are tapped out, Tax can make it very hard for people to attack in draw out games, but Cadence is probably the better fit.
DreadKhan on Baeloth the Giant
1 year ago
Not sure if it's a strong enough card, but the glorious image of a gigantic Baeloth on a throne in my head forces me to suggest Dragon Throne of Tarkir, If Baeloth is a 10 power creatures he gives every other creature you control +10 and Trample when you activate the Throne, and his Goad will still work just fine, that seems way cooler than finishing off someone with a Craterhoof Behemoth swing, it's not like Baeloth loved to get his hands dirty! If you only have 4 or 5 creatures that can swing then this is much better than a Hoof would have been, and if you're desperate you can use before blocking to surprise attackers if they're not familiar with Throne, Hoof is hard to use defensively.
Have you ever thought about War Cadence? This seems like a bonkers card with your Commander, forcing people to swing is one thing, but Cadence and even a small amount of mana can be devastating when you know everyone is going to be Goaded every cycle.
I haven't played with the card very much yet (I just got ahold of it), but Eldrazi Conscription would be pretty hilarious with Baeloth, +8 Trample and Annihilator 2 can be very scary, to say nothing of the mental image of him going all Kaiju.
Greater Good seems decent, you can use it to prevent Exile based removal from exiling, or to generate some card draw from someone's board wipe.