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Zaren, Silverback Ironfist (Custom Commander)

Commander: Rule 0* RG (Gruul)

TypicalTimmy


This was a custom Commander I built around the Fight mechanic. Always wanted a Fight deck, so I finally decided to make one myself.

Zaren is the only custom card. Everything else is WOTC / Hasbro approved and printed.

In order to keep the mana value and color pips accurate, The Lady of the Mountain is being used as the template for the alter that Zaren sits atop of.

  • NOTE: When you playtest, because The Lady of the Mountain is a 5/5, Zaren, Silverback Ironfist enters the battlefield as a 5/5. You'll need to manually adjust his power and toughness to 4/6.

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04/30/2022 - This deck is in the very first rough draft. Basic lands are being used just to test the waters. I feel like there could be more draw.

Protection is needed. Going to add cards such as Heroic Intervention and Inspiring Call which would help when you fight multiple times per turn after they have the +1/+1 counters on them. Mortal's Resolve also helps. Withstand Death is cheap enough it should be automatically included.

April 30, 2022 2:26 p.m.

Is there room for any counter synergy? I'm thinking about stuff like Hardened Scales, Hydra's Growth, The Ozolith, etc. Maybe even Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig or Avatar of the Resolute. I know, it's another theme to try to balance, but if you could make it fit I think it would be an awesome addition.

Also, I think that The Great Henge would work well here.

That's all I got for now. Looks good!

April 30, 2022 6:36 p.m.

Yeah I could likely find room for a few, especially The Great Henge as it's another source of continuous draw.

What I'm doing now I testing to see which creatures are the most impactful when they fight, so I know who to cut. For example, Akroma, Angel of Fury would be spectacular against a blue deck who may be trying to counter my things, but having merely one creature like that doesn't really help. What's nice is her protection, so she can fight whomever I want, but if that creature in identity, they can not fight her back. At least I don't believe so.

Either way, some cuts need to be made. I'd also like to add in some land tutors, since my MV is so high.

April 30, 2022 6:44 p.m.

There are 28 creatures in Gruul that can not be countered so taking some less impactful ones and replacing them with, for example, Carnage Tyrant would be immense.

April 30, 2022 6:49 p.m.

I think Goreclaw would have fun in here as well.

April 30, 2022 7:23 p.m.

During playtesting, I keep messing up and adding only a single +1/+1 counter and not two. But honestly, even just the single one really drive this deck forward so I'm going to edit Zaren appropriately.

I'm torn on Zaren's P/T. The thoughts were that a 4/6 is more than capable of fighting and surviving, and that a higher toughness was better than a higher power. However, there are numerous occasions where a 4/6 didn't quite cut it, and a 5/5 may have been a better choice. So I kind of think maybe Zaren should be a 5/5?

Not sure on that, either. I think he would need to be tested maybe a few dozen times to collect enough data to truly find out.

I played him against The Ur-Dragon, Tiamat and my $1,200 Lathliss, Dragon Queen deck to really push his limits as the only non-flyer in all combat-focused decks.

...and he won. Making the maximum plays each round, Zaren won.

May 10, 2022 2:42 a.m.

I kept hitting Lathliss until that deck ran out of mana to keep casting her. No Lathliss meant no massive chain reaction.

Tiamat was a combo deck with an assortment of Dragons you bring out for massive ramp such as Goldspan, Witherbloom and Klauth. Hit the focus pieces and that deck collapsed.

As for Ur-Dragon, the issue was that deck struggled to get more than one Dragon out per turn. Without haste, it was dead before rotation.

So Zaren just dominated, killing on sight constantly.

May 10, 2022 2:45 a.m.

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98% Casual

Competitive

Revision 2 See all

(3 years ago)

+1 Arcane Signet main
+1 Arena main
+1 Arni Slays the Troll main
+1 Blizzard Brawl main
+1 Boxing Ring main
+1 Chrome Mox main
+1 Domri Rade main
+1 Domri, Anarch of Bolas main
+1 Elemental Bond main
+1 Ezuri's Predation main
+1 Fellwar Stone main
+17 Forest main
+1 Frontier Siege main
+1 Furious Rise main
+1 Garruk's Uprising main
+1 Go for Blood main
+1 Gruul Signet main
+1 Guild Feud main
+1 Hunt the Hunter main
+1 Mana Crypt main
and 28 other change(s)