Human Rights Violation

Commander / EDH gkilgore98

SCORE: 100 | 58 COMMENTS | 27061 VIEWS | IN 70 FOLDERS


More Ramp, Less Mediocre Planeswalkers —April 23, 2016

I've added:

Gilded Lotus Skyshroud Claim Farseek Darksteel Ingot Elixir of Immortality Vandalblast Call the Gatewatch

I have removed some marginal planeswalkers as well as Fist of Suns and Dream Halls Those two are out for now while I test how effective the extra ramp is to getting my PW army out. I may end up putting them back in if I feel like I need to rely more on my commander.

Zeke_0 says... #1

If you're going to be constantly wiping the board, you're probably going to get a pretty big target on you. Some things like Propaganda, Crawlspace, Norn's Annex, and Sphere of Safety could help with being attacked. True Believer, Witchbane Orb, and Ivory Mask could also be helpful.

If you want to let other people beat down your opponents, Vow of Duty, Vow of Flight, Vow of Lightning, Vow of Malice, and Vow of Wildness could be fun.

Rings of Brighthearth can be used to copy your planeswalkers' abilities and also to copy The Chain Veil's second ability.

Lastly, what about proliferate to add loyalty counters to your planeswalkers? Cards like Inexorable Tide, Contagion Clasp or Contagion Engine could be good. If you search proliferate under keywords you can see the rest.

Hope this helps =)

March 28, 2015 2:29 p.m.

gkilgore98 says... #2

Zeke_0 Thanks for the suggestions. The issue with the Vows is that I constantly want to wrath the board and the just don't stop enough creatures in between wraths.

Propaganda effects don't stop creatures from attacking my planeswalkers except for the Annex.

Also, having shroud doesn't seem useful enough to make any cuts for it.

Rings of Brighthearth is the closest thing to making a spot because you can double ultimate with that. Even then it might not happen enough to be worth it.

March 30, 2015 1:34 a.m.

Somnambulist says... #3

April 4, 2015 8:31 p.m.

Coinman1863 says... #4

One way to fix you mana is Prismatic Omen, it's cheap and it gives you all the colors for 2 mana.

April 4, 2015 9:44 p.m.

gkilgore98 says... #5

Somnambulist Savor the Moment is not as good in this deck as Time Warp is. That card isn't in here because each of my turns adds accumulative value by adding more planeswalkers until I reach the critical mass of value on board.

Coinman1863 That's a decent mana fix for sure, but my mana base is already so premium that I'm never at a loss for the right colors to play my cards. If that card also ramped it might be a different story.

April 6, 2015 12:19 p.m.

Quicksilver says... #6

Exploration makes for powerful mana ramp, because you can't guarantee Fist of Suns and Chromatic Lantern all the time.

April 14, 2015 1:13 p.m.

gkilgore98 says... #7

Quicksilver

Actually I need to update this list. I just put in an Exploration but I can't remember what I took out to fit it in.

I also feel like there is enough card draw with planeswalkers and enchantments that I should have decent extra ramp when I draw Exploration at any point in the game.

April 15, 2015 12:16 p.m.

Pardue says... #8

Chain Veil would this help?

December 22, 2015 10:44 p.m.

scooter36 says... #9

Have you thought about adding in the Oath legendary enchantments from Oath of the Gatewatch?

January 24, 2016 10:32 p.m.

gkilgore98 says... #10

I added Oaths of Nissa, Jace and Gideon. Nissa isn't good enough considering this manabase is as stable as it is. The others seem decent and are in the list. I'll need to update the list.

February 5, 2016 1:01 a.m.

Lethgorias says... #11

@gkilgore98 , Savor the Moment is far better than Time Warp in this deck, at least IMO. You usually aren't casting it before you get the walkers out, but after you have a few out. This way you can activate the PW abilities since they don't cost mana anyway. Not to mention a lot of PW abilities untap lands.

April 3, 2016 12:44 p.m.

gkilgore98 says... #12

Lethgorias That's not a bad idea perhaps for a second option, but for two more mana you can get all of your mana again the next turn.

You don't want to take an extra turn until you have enough walkers to make it worth it. That means you'll usually have more than enough mana for that extra 2 not to stop you from casting Time Warp

April 15, 2016 6:12 p.m.

-Logician says... #13

Hello gkilgore98.

Speaking as someone who has spent the last two years playing with a five-color superfriends deck and also uses Progenitus as his commander, I feel like I've got some nice insight for you.

For starters, you mention in your description that Progenitus is sort of a backup plan. I see that you have discovered Fist of Suns, which is great! The secret to Progenitus making him a much stronger win condition is Rafiq of the Many. He fits perfectly between the curve of playing 3-mana Fist of Suns, 4-mana Rafiq, and 5-mana Progenitus. 22 Commander Damage GG start shotgunning people off the table.

I see that you're not playing any creatures in this deck. Maybe it's because you've got a theme in mind and you're desperately trying not to run any creatures at all. I can tell you of a few that might change your mind.

Since I get the feeling that you are trying to steer clear of creatures entirely as one of the main focuses to the build, I'll leave the creature suggestions as short as that, but I have plenty more if you're interested.

Another thing I noticed your deck is lacking is two of the most powerful tools that superfriends decks can use: Extra turns and proliferate.

I'm sure, as a fellow superfriends player, you can agree that the most powerful thing you can be doing is sneaking in ultimate abilities without your opponents expecting it during their previous turns. These tools allow you to do that.

40 lands is pushing it. You should drop some of those for some mana ramp spells. I see you have Sol Ring, Chromatic Lantern, Mana Vault, Mirari's Wake, and Exploration. That's 5. You should be trying to pick up about 4 or 5 more of those kind of things. Look for some of these, knowing that I want to suggest Birds of Paradise and Sylvan Caryatid, but I'm holding my tongue because I don't think you like creatures... :P

Some of the cards in your deck that I feel should be replaced.

  • Batterskull: Not even playing Stoneforge Mystic. Not great with your End Hostilities. This could just be a ramp spell.
  • Bitterblossom: Cool with Skullclamp I guess. You have Demonic Tutor to help put these two together, but I don't imagine either of these is often your DT target, and you're not running Enlightened Tutor. Not bad for making blockers for your superfriends, but you already have so many walkers that produce blockers on their own. Outside of early game, it's not very threatening or impactful. You're probably not killing anyone with these 1/1 tokens. Flying isn't very impressive when 60% of the creatures used in this format have flying anyway.
  • Dream Halls: It can backfire with allowing your opponent to combo off without spending mana. Omniscience is safer and honestly not that difficult to resolve if you increase your mana ramp package. Also, Fist of Suns lets you play Omniscience for just 5 mana. Academy Rector if you're willing to do it. Academy Rector + Flash for the GG instant speed two-mana omniscience.
  • Akroma's Vengeance: Probably better served as Descend upon the Sinful. You don't wanna destroy your mana rocks in passing by accident. You can use Austere Command for that purpose, or a Fracturing Gust if you feel you need that function. Fracturing Gust being an instant is extremely relevant and has won me games.

In closing, I have to admit that our builds are a lot different. I use about 10 creature spells, and I have cut down to about 20 planeswalkers instead of 30. I picked the walkers that gave me card advantage and control over the ones that mainly just produced blockers for the most part. For example, I've cut the following walkers from my deck over time.

  • Xenagos, the Reveler: Never pivotal enough. Never made much of a difference with his mana ability because I would keep the board in check with wraths.
  • Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: Down to about 20 walkers, his planeswalker search ability wasn't as consistent as it might be in your build. I would often whiff, and his three +1/+1 counters ability is usually largely irrelevent.
  • Ajani Vengeant: When it comes to keeping something tapped, it was never quite as powerful as Tamiyo. When it comes to removal, it was okay, but never killed anything pivotal like Vraska could. Over time, I felt he was underwhelming.
  • Garruk, Apex Predator: I usually don't need to destroy a planeswalker. Making 3/3's with deathtouch would have been cool if this planeswalker didn't cost seven mana. Destroying a creature is nice and all, but creature removal is covered with my board wipes. I need my planeswalkers to be like Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury which destroys things that Wrath of God cannot. His ultimate only targets a single opponent.
  • Gideon Jura: "Hey you have to attack gideon!" ... "Okay gideon dies." Never lasted very long. Again, creature removal on my walkers is cool, but that's already covered by my sweepers.

There's a few on your list that I haven't yet tried. Some of which is because I've never owned one, and others of which are because I never felt they're worth the chance. It might surprise you that I still haven't cut Ajani Steadfast though. He turns Progenitus from a three turn clock to a two turn clock, and can sneak in planeswalker ultimates. I've found that he's actually pretty legit.

The best walker though, is Liliana Vess. MVP for sure. Tutor on a walker is overpowered.

Hope this has helped! Happy building!

April 17, 2016 11:34 p.m. Edited.

gkilgore98 says... #14

-Logician,

Thank you for the great feedback and insight. You're right that I'm aggressively avoiding creatures in this deck. At one point I had a single creature in my 99 and that was Maelstrom Wanderer. I have to admit that there is some appear with running Narset, Enlightened Master. I'm pretty sure I'll never build a Narset deck because I already have a premium Zur the Enchanter deck, so this is my best chance of finding a good reason to play it.

In terms of ramp, I think I probably should make some supplementation. Pretty much most of those, especially Skyshroud Claim and Gilded Lotus.

In terms of the greater scrutiny on the planeswalkers, I can agree with you to a point, but I've always felt like 30 planeswalkers was my bottom threshold. I still need to find two spots for the new Jace, Unraveler of Secrets and Sorin, Grim Nemesis, so making cuts on anything is going to be brutally hard for me.

Again, thank you for the feedback.

April 19, 2016 2:49 p.m.

-Logician says... #15

You're most welcome.

I honestly feel that the new Jace from SOI isn't worth running. Even with doubling season, he's very weak. He reminds me of Jace, the Living Guildpact. Yes, he can draw a card with his [+1] ability, but he's also five mana. Having his minus ability only able to return a creature is crappy. You'll rarely use it. You don't even play value creatures like Eternal Witness yourself to take advantage of being able to bounce him to your hand, and even if you did, JTMS covers it just fine. Instead of drawing into a shitty jace, wouldn't you rather draw into a Wargate and get whatever walker you want?

The new Sorin is awesome though. 10/10 would recommend. I kinda wish I had one, but as someone who strictly plays only EDH, I don't like investing into new cards whose price is mostly standard hype. There will be a time that I will be able to pick up the new Sorin for only $10 or less. The same goes for the most recent Chandra. Damn I want her! :(

Hmm. What could the weakest planeswalker be...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Hmm what could it be... cough Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath!!!!! cough

Excuse my cough.

Oh god, I must be getting sick. Here comes another...

cough Elspeth, Knight-Errant!!!!! cough

'Hew! I think I'm feeling better now.

Now where were we? Oh yeah. What are the weakest links? Hmm, IDK that's mostly up to you. Good luck making that choice! :D

April 19, 2016 5:51 p.m.

gkilgore98 says... #16

-Logician,

Those are on the bottom echelon along with Ajani Vengeant. I have had nothing but success using lots of PWs to make lots of blockers to keep the team from being wiped out. I know you felt like there are so many flying creatures in this format that it's not necessary to work on blocking on the ground. That pressure to protect from flyers is exactly why I run the guy who gives me a big flying blocker. Besides that he is weak, but as combat goes in EDH, I rarely see people making a trade with my tokens to get through to another PW. That means people would rather keep their creatures and just not attack me at all usually.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant is on the chopping block not just for being weak, but also for being one of 3 Elspeths. I'm going to have to get my new cards and then just sit down with a nice beer and mull over the decisions.

April 19, 2016 6:07 p.m.

-Logician says... #17

No comment regarding my clever Anne Robinson meme? I feel old now.

April 19, 2016 7:01 p.m.

gkilgore98 says... #18

Sorry -Logician, I didn't get the reference.

April 19, 2016 7:08 p.m.

-Logician says... #19

She was the host of a popular game show called "The Weakest Link" which aired from 2000-2012. It was a show about finding out which person among a group was the one holding the whole group back, which seemed to fit the situation perfectly.

PS: Would recommend the show.

April 19, 2016 8:54 p.m. Edited.