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Mathas, Friend Seeker

Commander / EDH* Aristocrats Budget Control Group Hug Pillow Fort RBW (Mardu)

Futuremonk

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Land (38)

Instant (5)

Sorcery (4)

Creature (20)

Artifact (13)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Mathas, Fiend Seeker

Enchantment (19)

Maybeboard

Creature (7)

Enchantment (5)

Land (1)

Sorcery (3)

Artifact (2)

Mathas, Fiend Seeker is one of those super-interesting alternate commanders that seems to have been mostly forgotten.

My take on Mathas is that he's only good if your opponents have creatures to put bounty counters on. Then he has a weird group-hug-ish effect, where everyone but that creature's controller gains life and draws a card when that creature dies. So ideally he motivates your opponents to use their removal on each other's creatures, rather than your own. So first you can make friends by giving one player creatures, then you can make friends with everyone else by putting a bounty counter on the creature you gave to that player. Ideally, give the creature to someone who wants to sacrifice creatures anyway, then everyone is happy.

The other side of the deck is 1) removal so that you can collect the bounties yourself if you have to and 2) pillow fort effects to keep you safe from your opponents' creatures, especially since you will be intentionally giving them some. This also led to an enchantments theme that I might try to expand upon more. Maybe there's room for Sigil of the Empty Throne , for example.

But how do you win?

There is one long-shot win-con: Revel in Riches . It is mostly just in the deck for value. If it gets you a few treasures, it did its job. But if no one can deal with it, it can win you the game.

The sure-thing win-con is the two card combo of Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond . I may add Plea for Guidance and/or Enlightened Tutor to the list just to make this combo more consistent. Both cards are good in the deck on their own, however.

The last win-con is more of a lose-con for a single player: Captive Audience . It also happens to make creatures for you to put bounty counters on.

I guess I could also add, as a final win-con, just switching to jank beatdown mode. There are some decent creatures in the deck, though no big anthem or Overrun effects. Still, if you can get everyone to focus on each other, you might be able take a few down with old-fashioned combat as well.

Not sure if I will make this deck, but I did base some card choices on what I already own. So some could be cut for budget purposes. #1 on that list would be Exquisite Blood . The deck would be ~$25 cheaper, although it would be minus one wincon.... Still, it looks like a fun, political, and controlling deck.

Suggestions welcome!

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92% Casual

Competitive