No [Propaganda] or [Ghostly prison]? In a pillow fort deck!??!?

Thanks for the suggestions, BlueRingedSnail.

Although I have some pillow fort cards in this deck (probably too many), it's not strictly speaking a pillow fort deck. It is, first and foremost, a group hug deck. If someone really wants to knock me out of the game, so be it, but usually by the time their attention turns to me, I'm the only one left to deal with, and since I have no way of winning anyway, everything turns out the way it should.

That being said, both Propaganda and Ghostly Prison don't work in this deck as well as in other types of decks. I'm giving everyone so much mana, that paying mana to attack me wouldn't be much of a hardship. I did add Crawlspace to the deck though, which slams the door after two attackers. Thanks to user MsSysbit for reminding me to add that one.

This deck is going to be one of my favorites for EDH. I absolutely love group hug, as well as the Phelddagrif and her more chivalrous cousin.

What I like most is your philosophy going into this deck, about sincerely enabling everyone to have the most active game they can. No one being cut out from participating or being cornered. I wish there were more people in my play groups with this sort of mentality. Not necessarily everyone running group hug decks, but people interested in seeing everyone get to do whatever they built their decks to do.

Either way, wonderful deck RamaLama

Yeah, how could you not love a purple flying hippo!?! Especially one who gives out free goodies.

Thanks for the kind words, MrDoctorDo.

You should look at HUGS 1001 - Selvala EDH. I think you guys will be besties. Taking some inspiration from that, I think you should look at:

Archangel of Strife
Veteran Explorer
Peace Talks
Sylvan Offering
Vernal Equinox

Oh and I totally disagree with metalevolence. If I saw you at my table, just sitting there helping everyone, I would give you all of my friendliness pellets the very second I could! ;P

Thanks for the upvote and suggestions, Cyberninja16.

There are lots of cards that would fit into certain kinds of group hug decks, and people should customize their decks to suit them. I decided fairly early on that I would avoid using any negative effects on fellow players unless that player took an aggressive action toward me. Passive/aggressive, I guess you could say. Therefore, you see a card like Aurification in the deck, just as a gentle nudge to remind players that they might want to move along, nothing to see here. Peace Talks sort of crosses the line from protecting myself, to controlling what others can do.

Sylvan Offering is a controlling card too, in a different way. Forcing me to choose certain players to help and not others. Again, something I try to avoid doing.

Another decision I made, not too long after I started playing this deck, was to not include cards which have to die in order to give other players goodies. That includes cards like Veteran Explorer or Noble Benefactor. Great cards, but enticing people to attack me is not really in the game plan.

Archangel of Strife is a monster of a card. At 7 mana, you're mostly paying for the 6/6 body, which seems pretty aggressive, and I don't really want anyway. That leaves the text effects, which aren't really worth the cost. I could use that 7 mana to better effect elsewhere.

Vernal Equinox eh? Hmm, now there's a card I could get behind, thanks for that suggestion. I think I may make a slot for that one, although it is getting harder and harder to take anything out.

All time favorite card Hunted Wumpus would go great in this deck

Thanks for the suggestion, Holtzman.

You could be right about Hunted Wumpus fitting well in this deck. I actually acquired the Mercadian Masques version of this card with the intent of including it. I think it was the scary 6/6 body that dissuaded me. I may reconsider that decision though. Let me think about it.

Pretty cool deck. How about a Jace Beleren? He is really cool in group hug decks. Everybody loves him.

And maybe Hunted Troll just for the defense that can regenerate.

And Hunted Lammasu to push a player with a 4/4 that's being threatened so he has something else to defend with and you have a flying blocker.

I hope this helped. I like this deck a lot: +1

Greets MA

A 6/6 without trample is just a good blocker imo, Tempting Wurm is similar but I think it gives too much advantage

Thanks for the suggestions, MartialArt.

I'm pretty sure I'll be adding Jace Beleren. I actually got one for this deck from a Puca member, but it was so heavily played, I ended up giving it away, and haven't gotten another yet. I think I'll replace Well of Knowledge, which has never worked as well as I envisioned. I'm giving out so much card-draw for free, that people balk at having to pay 2 mana for it.

Hunted Troll and Hunted Lammasu are cards that give a one time benefit to only one other player. As I mentioned before, I don't want to control the game in that kind of way. I try to get cards that benefit everyone evenly, or at at the very least are reusable like Wall of Shards or Sheltering Ancient, so I can spread the love around over several turns.

I want to take a second to say that all of the suggestions, from all you guys, are excellent. To anyone contemplating putting one of these group-hug decks together, consider incorporating any number of these suggestions in your deck to fit your personality and play style.

Fun thing at the side:

I have a group hug deck that aims to win: Braids' Bestiarium

Just if you want to compare those totally different approaches.

Looking at it I would suggest Homeward Path to protect your friends against overly done control. Show and Tell might be good too.

Cool, nice Braids deck, MartialArt. Very control oriented, as Blue is want to do. I have a Blue control deck too, but there is nothing group-hug about it, and who knows what the win condition is. It depends on what I can steal or copy. Mostly it's just a "No" deck to play against the asshats who sometimes turn up for EDH night at the card shop with their super competitive decks and attitudes.

Funny you should mention Homeward Path, as I've got one on the way for my Sliver deck. I've been wary of including Sliver Overlord in that deck for fear of its second ability, but am now considering adding it, but not without a Homeward Path. I don't want to include it in this deck though, as again, it adds a control element that I try to avoid.

I would love to have a Show and Tell in this deck, but at 60 bucks, and me with 11 EDH decks taking up funds, I don't see it happening any time soon.

Great deck.

Why not Wall of Roots too? And Wall of Omens? Wall of Blossoms?

Thanks for the suggestions, Nightdragon779.

Sure, Wall of Roots could go in the deck, but I already have Vine Trellis filling that slot. Not sure I need a disappearing mana-dork wall too, especially since green mana is being given out so freely anyway.

Wall of Omens and Wall of Blossoms are both great cards, but if there is such a thing as too much card draw, this deck has it. There are around 20 cards in this deck which allow everyone to draw one or more cards, most of them are recurring, so while the replacement effect on these two walls is awesome in most decks, not so much in this one. I'm more needing walls bigger than 0/4, or that have some kind of special defensive effect.

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions. I'm still waiting for Collective Voyage to arrive (it's coming from Canada). Still thinking about Dream Halls, Vernal Equinox, Hunted Wumpus and ordering another Jace Beleren. Stay tuned, changes may still be made.

FEED ME FEED THEM ALL

A Few Cards To Consider:

• Vision Skeins

• Kavu Lair

• Open the Vaults

• Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer

• Hive Mind

• Weird Harvest

• Edric, Spymaster of Trest

• Alliance of Arms

One more thing, I know that Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer may anger your opponents slightly, but you gotta stay alive to come second, right? And he helps with hugging the group :P

+1 From Me For Group Hugs Being Made Awesome Again!

Thanks for the suggestions, K00lDudE1, some good cards there.

Yeah, Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer, and Hive Mind both fit into the "controlling the game" category, something I try to avoid with this deck.

Open the Vaults is a 6 drop. Yikes!!

The other cards you suggested would fit nicely, but after I pulled Alliance of Arms out of my binder and failed to find a slot for it in the deck, I just gave up. It's getting harder and harder to replace anything.

Thanks for giving me more options though. If I find any cards currently in the deck that are under-performing, there are some really great ideas in this thread to fall back on.

Silent Arbiter? Why don't we SLOW the game down a bit

Thanks for the suggestion, EnderPlaysCompetitiveMTG.

Great card, but unfortunately it too falls under the "controlling the game" category. Although it would be great in certain group-hug decks, mine is only set up to help, not control.

The only time negative effects happen is when someone tries to attack me.

This deck totally needs Statecraft and/or Bubble Matrix.

Thanks for the suggestions, Groovelord.

Bubble Matrix is not right for this deck because, again, it adds a controlling factor. It's all damage done to ALL creatures, so not only is is a control card, but it would also be a big target.

Thank you for the Statecraft suggestion though. If I ever knew about this card, I'd forgotten. You're right, it needs to be in this deck and will be after I order one up. If fact I'm going to order two. My Oloro, Ageless Ascetic deck already has a Bubble Matrix in it, because most every card in that deck is a target anyway. I could use a Statecraft there too.

I love helping out EVERYONE else as well. I have one big issue with the idea of letting them all do WHATEVER they want. Someone is going to ramp really fast into a table kill in my experience. I have moved more to a Group Hug meets police style. By this I mean you can all have EVERYTHING from your deck, but with the threat of if someone gets out of control I will politely F them UP! Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Torpor Orb, Maze of Ith, Time Stop (a must have against the combo player) and more. Notice I have tried to keep all of my removal tied to giving some form of a gift in place of having to deny their plans. Currently my deck is missing some of my cards on loan to another few decks, but my list is updated to what is in it over all the cards I personally have in it when they aren't on loan. PS don't overlook cards like Arbiter of Knollridge.

Christmas Hippo is here if you want to take a look. My goal is the same with no real attempt to win. If I do it is because they all ran out of cards. My only true wincon is Sphinx's Tutelage. Easily replaceable to have no win con.

Yeah, Stonewaul, your deck is a control group-hug. Most group-hugs I've seen tend to end up policing the table. I've avoided that completely. I haven't run into the problem of one player taking over and winning quickly, especially in my playgroup where a lot of game winning or infinite combos are frowned upon, but I've also not had that issue when I've played this deck at the card shops. I'm not only giving people ammo to win with, but also to stop threats with, so the games seem to last a normal amount of time.

If I feel like policing the table and pissing everyone off, I've always got my Blue control deck to fall back on. It's not nearly as much fun as this one though.