Unconventional War Tactics

Commander / EDH Battlecruiser BGW (Abzan, Junk) Midrange Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick

Pheardemons

Land (36)

• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Forbidding Watchtower
• 6x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Murmuring Bosk
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Plains
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Artifact (7)

• 1x Conqueror's Galleon  ^Flip
• 1x Ensnaring Bridge
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Vedalken Orrery

Creature (30)

• 1x Abzan Beastmaster
• 1x Deadwood Treefolk
• 1x Fendeep Summoner
• 1x Gaddock Teeg
• 1x Guiltfeeder
• 1x Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper
• 1x Indomitable Ancients
• 1x Jareth, Leonine Titan
• 1x Karn, Silver Golem
• 1x Masako the Humorless
• 1x Nylea, God of the Hunt
• 1x Nyx-Fleece Ram
• 1x Oathsworn Giant
• 1x Perimeter Captain
• 1x Sapling of Colfenor
• 1x Silklash Spider
• 1x Skinshifter
• 1x Souls of the Faultless
• 1x Sprouting Phytohydra
• 1x Thornling
• 1x Traproot Kami
• 1x Tree of Perdition
• 1x Tree of Redemption
• 1x Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
• 1x Unstoppable Ash
• 1x Wall of Blood
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Limbs
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Wave of Reckoning

Commander (1)

Instant (13)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Bar the Door
• 1x Congregation at Dawn
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Reach of Branches
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tower Defense
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Assault Formation
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Behind the Scenes
• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Spidersilk Armor
• 1x Sylvan Library

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Maybeboard

Creature (12)

• 1x Crenellated Wall
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Marble Titan
• 1x Overgrown Battlement
• 1x Permeating Mass
• 1x Reaper of Sheoldred
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Tangle Angler
• 1x Wall of Nets
• 1x Wall of Resistance

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Pestilence
• 1x Sterling Grove
• 1x Testament of Faith

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Kin-Tree Invocation
• 1x Vindicate

Artifact (3)

• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x MImic Vat
• 1x Slagwurm Armor

Instant (1)

• 1x Tainted Strike

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Welcome! Show

Hello and welcome to my Unconventional War Tactics deck! This deck is used to abuse creature's toughness rather than power. In Magic, having creatures on or ahead of the curve with higher power is the norm. Doran runs that concept into the ground. Almost all, if not all, of our creatures have a higher toughness than power so that when Doran is on the battlefield all of sudden everything gets flipped. I'll have so many creatures ahead of the mana curve, or an entire battlefield full of threats even though their powers are all at zero. It is definitely a deck that can come out of nowhere!

Defense becomes a full frontal assault

Without Doran, the Siege Tower and Assault Formation this deck would be a bunch of big butts defending me. I'd have to try and power through and attack with a whole lot of low powered creatures to try and kill anyone, which would take too long. In EDH, anyone can come back at the flip of a coin, so you never want to allow them time to recover. These two cards put my defensive deck on a full frontal assault, that will hopefully never end.

Lifegain

So this deck has a subtheme of lifegain in the forms of Angelic Chorus, Vault of the Archangel, Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper, Souls of the Faultless, Sapling of Colfenor, Perimeter Captain, and let's even throw in Nyx-Fleece Ram because that one life could absolutely be relevant at times. This subtheme interacts with three main cards: Wall of Blood, Wall of Limbs, and Tree of Redemption.

With Wall of Blood, I can simply pay a bunch of life if he isn't blocked to get rid of whatever pesky player isn't paying attention (assuming Assault Formation or Rolling Stones is out). Not to mention, amazing blocker. With this card out, I can potentially block anything as long as my life total holds up.

Wall of Limbs can just sit back and be something that everyone will become afraid of. I can activate his ability at instant speed if they try to destroy it, or just let him build up to become a powerhouse to continually attack with.

Tree of Redemption can potentially save me in situations if my life total drops below 13, but it also has a similar use to Wall of Limbs. I simply exchange my lifetotal with its toughness and swing in for a huge amount of damage. Being that my life total greatly drops, I'd probably only do this for lethal.

Protection

Good god all of the cards that go here. Let's get started then

Spot removal

Anguished Unmaking, Aura Shards, and Krosan Grip. I should probably find some more creature specific spot removal, but for now this will do. Allows me to get rid of anything pesky that I'm tired of having to deal with in the game.

Creature Protection

Yavimaya Hollow, Asceticism, and Heroic Intervention. Great set of cards that will allow me to continuously build my forces. Regenerate is 100% relevant in commander, and the widespread hexproof offered by the latter two means that my opponents will be scrambling to get rid of my stuff the old fashioned way.

Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots are obviously staples in EDH. One will immediately go onto my commander whenever possible, and if I draw both then it'll protect the next best thing on the board.

Board Wipes

Retribution of the Meek and Wave of Reckoning are insanely amazing cards here. Together they don't hit more than 9 creatures in the deck, but will most likely hit 90-99% of creatures in everyone else's that will allow me to swing for lethal.

Flying

so as one can imagine, big butts don't do well against flyers. That is where Spidersilk Armor, Gravity Well, Silklash Spider, and Wall of Tanglecord come in. All of these bring those annoying flyers to our level of which we should win 99% of the time.

Other

Gaddock Teeg doesn't exactly fit in the same protections above, but he is definitely apart of it. Even though he can hit a decent size of my noncreature spells, I am okay with that if he stays on the board and holds back my opponents. I feel that my creatures will beat theirs a majority of the time.

Masako the Humorless is a card I've been trying to fit into any deck with white, and finally we have one. Not only can I swing in for lethal against player A, but player B will think they have an opening. I can't wait to get this in and see the face of my playgroup when they realize there's no hope.

Any cards not mentioned above I feel are fairly straightforward in why it is in the deck. Honestly, even the ones above are pretty straightforward. I hope you +1 if you like, and as always I am open to any and all criticisms and feedback to make this deck better. Thanks for looking!

Date added	6 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 0 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.38
Tokens	Copy Clone, Treefolk Shaman 2/5 G
Folders	Deck Ideas, Tree