Blockers and defences that don't make you a target
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 28, 2016, 3:55 p.m. by Draw_Wurm
Interested in people's experience/wisdom. I'm trying to work on the creature mix in my Adamaro deck. The aim of the deck is to durdle and play group hug draw and balance that with cards that slow our opponents' ability to take advantage such as War's Toll. We try not to make ourselves conspicuous and then launch a big threat late on (Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Blightsteel Colossus, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth) or bleed our opponents out using Repercussion\Vicious Shadows and small ping damage.
Shoot that Adamaro through my deck
Commander / EDH*
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Cards like Meekstone feel like they draw a lot of immediate hate and attention. Ditto Winter Orb and Torpor Orb and other cards that shut things down. Silent Arbiter and Smoke also feel like they may draw some hate.
Teferi's Puzzle Box has worked well because it disrupts strategies but doesn't cut access to cards.
At the minute I'm using Adamaro, First to Desire itself as a cheap cmc chump blocker that tends to fluctuate between being a 4/4 and a 7/7. Early game we use cards like Soldevi Sentry because it boosts Adamaro and is a regenerating shield to subtly discourage people, which seems to work.
I've just recently swapped in Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs as a ghostly prison effect. I'm also trying Masticore, again for the regeneration, it's inbuilt Pyrohemia and the fact we don't care too much about discard.
Other blockers I looked at include Jhoira's Toolbox and Living Wall as other regenerating blockers, and alternatively Sentinel as something that scales with the threat.
Mogg Maniac offers something a bit different.
Thanks Calliber hadn't come across AEther Membrane before.
November 28, 2016 5:28 p.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #4
AEther Membrane is great, I've used it a fair bit in the past, just because most of my red decks suffer from being too aggressive and burning out (kind of Red's thing, but yeah).
I think the biggest thing in multiplayer in regards to defenses that don't make you a target, is to not interrupt other players' ability to aggress on one another. Cards like Silent Arbiter, Meekstone, etc. all lock your opponents out of more than just attacking you, but attacking anybody.
It is for precisely this reason that I think Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs is a good choice on your part. He only prevents and/or dissuades attacking you.
That being said, I do see a lot of hate when Propaganda/Ghostly Prison hit the table, but I think that owes more to the sheer efficiency of those cards. They tend to put this idea into everybody else's minds that "if we don't get rid of him/her now, we'll have lost our only chance to", and I find that assumption to be rarely wrong. Most of the decks I've built and/or faced that utilize those snowball to the point that they become excessively difficult to deal with in the late game without a complete boardwipe, courtesy of something like Obliterate or Apocalypse.
But enough rambling, my first thought when it comes to Mono-Red defense is good old Slumbering Dragon. Circle of Flame may be worth considering as well.
November 28, 2016 6:07 p.m. Edited.
Crawlspace is good against token decks and unlike Silent Arbiter, there's no downside to opponents attacking other opponents.
You could add a few "1 token a turn" generation effects that just give you a chump blocker to throw under the bus, Kher Keep and Springjack Pasture are both pretty good.
November 28, 2016 7:36 p.m.
I second Crawlspace and would add possibly Portcullis (Good with Kher Keep and likewise) and Ensnaring Bridge (second one is a little pricey). I think some hate cards for the whole table are worth it, because why would you waste your Anguished Unmaking on a Smoke when there's an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or whatever on the other side of the field? The strongest two from what you said, that I would keep in, are Silent Arbiter and Torpor Orb because they don't affect all decks. So the Rafiq player certainly won't try to get rid of either.
November 28, 2016 11:13 p.m.
Thanks Tyrant-Thanatos for the detailed response. Agree with you on the Propaganda/Ghostly Prison front. There's definitely certain cards that when they hit the table people take notice, probably as you said because they've experienced being locked out by them before.
I like AEther Membrane. At the minute I'm torn between Masticore and bringing back in Soul of New Phyrexia for the combo with Nevinyrral's Disk. At the minute I've got Pyrohemia in as an enchantment, but I could drop that to run Masticore instead.
enpc, OpenFire. Yeah, Crawlspace is a favourite and in. Ditto Torpor Orb. On the token generation front, I'm also running a Trading Post for utility.
What do people think of things like Blood Clock, Umbilicus, Isolation Cell and the like?
Calliber says... #2
For blockers, try AEther Membrane for an early game strong defender with bounce deterrent. Darksteel Gargoyle if you have the mana, or Darksteel Myr for a good 3-drop non-threat.
November 28, 2016 4:10 p.m.