Not Creature? THEN DIE!

Commander / EDH gildan_bladeborn

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Stuff I've changed since Dragons came out. —Aug. 31, 2015

As the last update indicated, there were some cards in Dragons of Tarkir that I was looking forward to adding to my deck, which I did add to it but then didn't post about it (silly me).

  • Dragonlord Atarka - it's a Gruul-colored Elder Dragon, of course it was going in the deck. The fact that it's also just a fantastic creature is almost besides the point.

  • Savage Ventmaw - people who don't really follow Standard/Spoiler Season much are frequently astonished that this sexy thing is an uncommon when they see it in play for the first time. When the stars align and I get to have this and Hellkite Charger in play simultaneously... well it's a hell of a thing.

  • Shaman of Forgotten Ways - I would run this even if that second ability wasn't there, but it is, and as infrequently as having 11 mana and the appropriate board-state comes up, I can't say that I've never had reason or the opportunity to use that Biorhythm on a stick to absolutely wreck someone before. At least with this version, you kind of see it coming.

OMFG! DESCRIPTION FOR DAYS!!!

March 13, 2015 7:20 p.m.

MattDovah says... #2

First of all... +1, great deck!!!

Secondly, i ran a similar kind of deck, but it was a RUG one with Animar, Soul of Elements.

A few suggestions..

What do you think? ;)

April 4, 2015 3:46 p.m.

MrHyde94 says... #3

Might I suggest a Possibility Storm? What's worst than paying 6 life for casting a non-creature spell? Pay 12 life and not knowing what the hell you're going to actually get. Does Gruul care? Nope, Gruul smash! Gruul not get creature it want? Gruul get different creature. Gruul still happy. You're friends... eh not so much.

April 4, 2015 4:54 p.m.

Kre says... #4

@MrHyde94: Possibility Storm + Ruric is a match made in heaven, to be certain, and I'm always stoked to see somebody else play that when I'm running this deck (it has happened a surprisingly large amount of times), but I get enough hate for my choice of general as it is without actively trying to make it even worse; knowing that the storm is in my deck would probably make people even more eager to attack me than they already are because they hate Ruric so much. If I was going to put in more non-creature spells though that would certainly be one of them.

@MattDovah: I generally like the Tracker (repeatable removal is always nice), I just don't think I really need more creature removal in so fragile a package - he's really a card that's much better when you can go looking for it (this deck will never ever play the same way twice in a row and that's 100% on purpose).

Bloodbraid Elf is a card I think doesn't do enough in a singleton format to warrant inclusion without considering the rest of the deck; it shines in decks like Animar because you get to potentially increment your general twice with one spell, so the fact that it's a 3/2 with haste for 4 is whatever, you're casting it because of the value it generates; my best case scenario is that I also get a mana-dork to accompany my almost entirely irrelevant body with no relevant abilities (or Bow of Nylea), which is significantly less exciting, so I don't see this one ever making the list.

Domri Rade isn't in this deck on purpose - I love the card mind you, and I run it in other decks, and I can see why you would suggest it because it seems like a perfect fit for a deck that's otherwise almost all creatures anyways... and that's actually the reason I'm not running him. The decks that I do run him in don't have quite so perfect synergy with him, which brings down the power level a bit; putting him into this deck is basically Domri's "best case scenario dream build" and I have a general that nobody else likes - they don't need even more reasons to swing at me than they already have.

Garruk, Caller of Beasts - not running him for pretty much the same reasons I'm not running Domri Rade, but with the additional reason of "I don't actually own one" added to the list. It would certainly work well in the deck, probably too well for how competitive I want it to be (which is not particularly).

Bane of Progress is a great card that I should be running but pretty much everyone in my meta expect me to run something like that and I like defying expectations, and so I do not.

Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger... is an excellent card that I will never ever run because I hate it. I despise that card so much that anyone else who resolves it, irrespective of whatever else is going on in any given game, automatically becomes my #1 target and I will spend the entire rest of the game attempting to kill them as hard as I possibly can, even if it's not necessarily advantageous for me to do so. People sometimes question this stance (generally the people who would put Vorinclex in their decks), but then I explain that I don't just want the card gone (because everyone who isn't you immediately wants Vorinclex gone), I want all possibility of it ever coming back in any way removed. Vorinclex is a fun-sucking vampire who ruins games until removed.

Soul of New Phyrexia would probably be quite useful, but the "weakness to board wipes" aspect of this deck is one I'm intentionally not playing around because I've seen just what happens when you let me play my deck out and don't wipe the board (generally very very bad things for the people who aren't me), so I'm fine with not addressing that scenario.

Stalking Vengeance is a fine card, but in a deck without any sacrifice outlets or recursion, it winds up being a very expensive rattlesnake that would mostly just be dissuading people from wrath effects, and I kind of want wrath effects to be a viable answer to this deck, albeit one that opponents are probably still taking 6 to the face for casting. I have a feeling it's a lot better in an Animar deck where it could relatively easily come down for than it would be here.

April 5, 2015 12:57 a.m.

(The above post was me, Tapped Out threw up an error when I went to submit it but apparently posted it anyways, just without any attribution).

April 5, 2015 1:02 a.m.

Madcoonz says... #6

You should add aggravated assault and Savage ventmaw (infinite combo)

May 19, 2015 7:50 p.m.

Yeah, I have Hellkite Charger and Savage Ventmaw in there now because they're not infinite, I try to avoid 2 card infinite combos when building decks (or infinite combos at all generally). Also, one of those is not a creature!

May 20, 2015 7:03 p.m.

Solid Deck, +1!

June 22, 2015 11:28 p.m.