You're Doing That in WHAT Colour?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 24, 2023, 3:17 a.m. by 77hi77
Here's some background on how my mind works: I grew up playing Warhammer (Middle Earth SBG, specifically) and continue to play it nearly 2 decades later. One idea I've always been drawn to is: making close-combat armies out of factions that primarily excel at shooting, and making ranged armies out of factions that primarily want to swarm and get in combat.
Why do I give you this background? Because I learned of Evra, Halcyon Witness and her effect is, in some ways, basically a restricted version of Hatred. The first time you use it, if you have your starting life total, that effect is: pay 36 life, Evra gets +36/+0. If that effect doesn't scream mono-black to you, well it does to me.
That same part of my brain that gets excited about those Warhammer armies got really excited about building a mono-white deck that plays like a mono-black deck. Life is a resource, your creatures are a resource, get Evra out at all costs and swing. Easier said than done, white doesn't have many cards that treat your life like a resource, but it's added to the list of decks I'm working on. That then gets me thinking about mono-blue aggro, etc etc.
So the discussion I'm looking to start here is, what are some ways that you've seen colour tropes be bucked?
FormOverFunction says... #3
You might benefit from looking at the older white stuff; Eye for an Eye comes to mind. I’m trying to remember how Reverse Damage works, too. But there’s a bunch of old stuff that could be super fun. It gets weird sometimes, though, especially after the game has evolved the way it has. Check out Guardian Angel as an example. Read that last part again. Looooool
April 24, 2023 9:57 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #4
You're not paying life, your exchanging it. This matters for cards such as Angel of Jubilation, who fetch lands. Shock lands are safe as those are triggered abilities not activated ones.
But assuming you have 40 life, she would have a statline of 40/4 and your life total would become 4.
Do you really want 4 life the turn she enters? Because sure maybe you get her Swiftfoot Boots and send her in, but now you're wide open against two other opponents... with 4 life.
You'd want to exchange her life total again. So better hope you have the mana.
Not to mention her ability goes on the stack. So what happened when she is removed from play in response. It goes to resolve, and she isn't there. Oops gg.
Just saying there is a LOT to consider here.
You need tons of protection to make her viable. Good luck.
April 24, 2023 10:44 a.m. Edited.
I'm pretty sure the current best possible classic Reanimator deck in Pauper is . There's no Exhume, but after that the next good options, as least as far as I've found, are Late to Dinner and Breath of Life. Dark Ritual into Summon Undead is about as good as it gets in black.
April 24, 2023 11:45 a.m.
Daveslab2022 says... #6
2 things,
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Evra has lifelink. So if you can exchange your life, you are effectively just gaining 4 life and a massive creature.
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If your opponent kills Evra with the ability on the stack, the ability fizzles. You don’t lose the game.
April 24, 2023 12:08 p.m.
TypicalTimmy see, that all sounds very fun to me! My favourite games to play when I run mono-black are the ones where I end up winning with like 3 life left, because I cast several CMC 5+ spells with Bolas's Citadel or something on the last turn. Then, as Daveslab2022 said, Evra has lifelink to bring my life back up to safe levels if an attack resolves.
legendofa that's so cool! Exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. Busting out an azorius reanimator opens up so many new options that aren't available for a mono-black reanimator.
Ultimately I think that's what all of this is about, I won't delude myself into thinking that two colours with different specialties can approach the exact same style of play in the exact same way, but what does the colour that doesn't specialize in it have to offer? How will that mono-blue aggro look compared to a typical mono-red? That's always been fascinating to me, in a world where so many people are looking for the most optimal way to do things, lots of decks start to look the same.
April 24, 2023 3:25 p.m.
77hi77 This is my current working Pauper Reanimator deck. It still needs some tweaking for speed, but the core is there.
April 24, 2023 3:32 p.m.
nammertime says... #9
It's always fun to try new things and combinations in any format, especially EDH, where you're almost allowed that freedom.
I've always liked making a Wall beatdown deck every once in a while. There's no bigger slap in the face than unstoppable attrition from creatures meant to block. Bonus points for playing them in the 'aggressive' colors.
April 24, 2023 11:31 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #10
Mono- or Esper lands strategies are very cool. Dakkon Blackblade comes to mind, and I personally love my Moraug, Fury of Akoum landfall voltron.
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma is basically a mono- storm deck, which is lots of fun.
Golgari- or Gruul spellslinger is still something I kind of want to do. For Golgari, Willowdusk, Essence Seer seems a viable commander. For Gruul, there doesn't really seem to be one, yet.
A great card for unusual strategies is Guided Passage. You need to build your deck in a very specific way for it to work, but when it does, it's a blast to play. It's mostly a control deck in Temur colours.
Snake Opposition is another very cool strategy as a stall deck in traditional "Go big or go home" colours. You play Opposition and swarm the field using snakes + Sosuke's Summons to tap down your opponent.
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid is an insane druid lord, and another very cruel card if you can assemble the whole circle of druids.
Quick edit: There's also the sun of a lich deck, which is a control/ spellslinger deck in Mardu colours. It uses Lich's Mastery and Approach of the Second Sun to play a spellslinger/lifegain/combo strategy.
April 25, 2023 12:14 a.m. Edited.
Crackbubba says... #11
Evra is a cool concept. It is not cEDH so don't get your jimmies rustled. But in a midpower level deck she is a 1 hit KO for anyone. Play an instant lifegain subtheme to give a little protection when people try to kill you after you switch, and she is solid. Then just protect her and stack her with evasion.
April 25, 2023 5:39 p.m.
If you're willing to live dangerously, you could use Evra's ability early, so that you can use the trigger from Axis of Mortality to switch your very low life total with someone's really high one, then you can still kill a player with Evra, very possible to eliminate 2 players and have a sky-high life total (and a gargantuan creature).
April 26, 2023 9:37 a.m.
MattMan1982 says... #14
First thing that comes to my mind is red elemental blast. Who doesn't love countering a blue counter spell in mono red.
April 26, 2023 7:18 p.m.
gavriel1136 says... #15
I have a Boros Reanimator commander deck that does really well! I've even gone head to head against other reanimator decks in more "traditional" colors, like Red/Black or Black/Green, and beaten them.
April 30, 2023 3:50 p.m.
GrimlockVIII says... #16
If you're looking for a Gruul spellslinger commander, then Wort, the Raidmother is your lady.
griffstick says... #2
We recently got this card
White has has only a few counter spells. But none quite as clear cut as this one.
April 24, 2023 8:38 a.m.