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H.P. LoveStax

Commander / EDH Eldrazi Stax Theme/Gimmick

Supermensch_126

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Land (40)

Sorcery (18)

Creature (10)

Artifact (8)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Child of Alara

Enchantment (12)

Instant (10)

Planeswalker (1)

Sideboard

Creature (8)

Land (1)

Enchantment (1)

Welcome to my utmost favorite deck I've ever made! Down here in the description, I'll lay out the core philosophy of the deck, how I want the deck to feel, certain card choices, and all in all what's going on here. I did my best to lay out how I view the deck, as I would absolutely love suggestions - I'm currently looking for both red stuff and smaller, enjoyable interactions. Currently, I'm looking to bump up lands and smooth out the curve. So, to business!

The whole point of this deck is to pay respects to H.P. Lovecraft and to gaze upon his domion, ye mighty. When I very first constructed the deck, it was an odd little menagerie of wonky cards, and has since grown into something greater.

Essence and Philosophy

Lovecraft is an insanely influential author - the grandfather of horror. So it's no surprise that thematic cards pop up all throughout magic. From Eldrazi (with a very eldritch root) to Innistrad, and every kraken or ritual in between, there's a million cards that could fit into a five color Lovecraft deck. To truly shape this into something to covet and treasure, I had to find a solid game plan for the deck, (Sorry Doomsday and Grimoire of the Dead ) and so is born H.P. LoveStax. (Turns out Lab Man , Doomsday , and Whispering Madness just work too well together)

What better way to emulate the crushing dread, the impending doom, the Descent into Madness of a Lovecraft novella than with Stax? This deck will squeeze the life and will from its opponents, in time to bring a mad titan crashing down on their reality! It also makes a nice pun with the name, sooooo here we are.

The second cornerstone of figuring out how to build this deck is settling on a competitive level. When it was first made, it uh, wasn't the best deck - and if I'm going to put a few grand into my favorite deck in the world, I'd prefer to not cast doomsday just to cackle and die. The deck as is currently still faces an issue in this department. Laughing maniacally as you guide your Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to devour your friends is only fun until they get annoyed (again). I'm currently focusing on a tough but fun build, keeping the combos to a minimum but the resilience high - to maintain a deck that'll tell an interesting (and different) story each time.

The third crux of constructing the deck is how I choose to fancy it up. I've opted to go for Mixed Pimp, so there are OG foils alongside expeditions. There's a mix of languages (still working on that), and promo versions I didn't even know existed for the longest time. This is another commitment to theme, because a Shiny OG Brezal azotado por el viento ( Windswept Heath ) feels very familiar, yet alien and off-putting. Casting a champs promo Voidslime feels like tapping into forbidden knowledge. The mixed aspect keeps that variety running, too.

Now that we know (roughly) what guides the deck's construction, let's look at......the construction!

The Construction

First and foremost, we need to address the different boards. Why is there a sideboard in here? Why are all the titans in the side, and not the main?? Does this madman actually plan on buying The Abyss(lmao, yeah)??? Good questions, the lot of them.

One of the useful tools I found to cull the spikes in raw power of the deck is the inclusion of a ten card wishboard. OG Ulamog is just so strong, that occasionally casting him on turn four kinda just felt bad. So all of the legendary Eldrazi (and a few other Elder Gods (looking at you, Progenitus ) have all been locked away in a dimension utterly separate from the knowable realms of the maindeck. To access that knowledge, we must find a way to Coax from the Blind Eternities these secrets, and draw them into our feeble minds. This also gives coax and Spawnsire of Ulamog a purpose, so yeah. For those of you unfamiliar, a wishboard in casual edh typically follows the same rules as a sideboard in normal constructed, so no banned cards or extra copies, and only ten cards. Wishboard also lets me tuck away dead cards that are a part of a combo while making me less likely to hit the combo (I really hate combos), as well as stock your run-of-the-mill Cosmic Horror 's (which is literally unplayable, sadly).

The acquireboard is cards I have my sites set on. I am trying to foil out the deck, so it won't include foil copies of cards already in the main.

Card Choices

This area serves a culmination of purposes. Some inclusions will just be to show off flavor, even if it's pretty clear. Some of the weirder cards will carry their explanation, be it for the single card or for combos.

Child of Alara : Azathoth - massive chaos entity at the center of it all (may wipe out existence)

Jhoira of the Ghitu : She's a cultist. after learning forbidden knowledge of how to summon a god, she enacts a ritual that can't be stopped. I do want to get her altered to have cultist robes.

Sygg, River Cutthroat : He's a deep one!

Cultivate : It's listed as an alter, and I (decently) altered it myself. The "ivate" is blacked out, so it reads "Cult" and I've also drawn an elder sigil on the ground under the hand.

Port Town : Literally the first card I put in here, it's just Innsmouth

Tempt with Discovery + Thing in the Ice : These two in combo are At the Mountains of Madness

Dimensional Breach + Oblivion Sower + Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre : This is really Dimensional Breach and Sower or a titan with annihilation. Sower is the fun play magic wise, because you just float the mana for him before casting breach, then take all of someone's lands on cast. Flavor wise, the titans are a better play (preferably suspended off Jhoira). The gibbering old fool of a Walker teleports the whole fight to some alternate dimension, and you feel you've lost all power from the realms you once knew. There's nothing but blackness, and then you hear It - and It is hungry.

Doomsday + Laboratory Maniac + Whispering Madness : A classic style EDH wincon that's just like, all crazy in flavor. Lab Man is in the wishboard so I have to work for it, whispering madness is good at re-upping your hand/tossing dead cards, and doomsday can occasionally give function when your back's against the wall.

Grand Abolisher + Lethal Vapors + Teferi's Protection : If you don't know the combo, you pay into lethal vapors ability infinite times while it's on the stack, skipping the rest of your turns. You then cast teferi's protection to become mostly immune forever, effectively nopeing out of this realm of existance, but you do need abolisher out so other people can't respond by skipping turns too. This is the single most thematic way for the deck to win, as That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons, even death may die. Abolisher is currently in the acquireboard, and will go into the wish board when I get him.

Plans for What to Change Show

Let me know what you think, feel free to drop any comments or questions. I would super duper love some feedback, that's ultimately why I've posted this whole thing. I'll probably add a section of cards I've considered that just don't make the cut, we'll see though.

Thank you for reading my short novel on a silly little deck.

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Revision 5 See all

(2 years ago)

-1 Cinder Glade main
-1 Deathcap Cultivator main
+1 Deathrite Shaman main
-1 Distended Mindbender side
-1 Endbringer main
+1 Exploration main
+1 Field of the Dead main
+1 Flagstones of Trokair main
+1 Forbidden Orchard side
+1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity main
+1 Hour of Promise main
+1 Indatha Triome main
-1 Jungle Shrine main
+1 Ketria Triome main
-1 Kodama's Reach main
+1 Leyline of the Void main
-1 Mystic Retrieval main
-1 Nomad Outpost main
-1 Primal Amulet  Flip main
-1 Prince of Thralls main
and 30 other change(s)