Spikey: Spikey's Kresh has a HEAVY Tutor package and reanimation. You name it he has it. Birthing Pod, [s]Survival of the Fittest[/c], Vampiric tutor etc. He loves blowing up lands. Not MLD type of thing but it might as well be. Once he ramps above all of us, he will start blowing up stuff using a combination of reviving Acidic Slime or Crucible of the Worlds with additional "may play more" land effects with Strip Mine type lands. Purphoros, is your typical good red stuff "drop dudes and let Purphoros do the heavy lifting" type of deck. Surrak has a simliar land destruction theme once he gets ahead but now... with counterspell backup. Weaker than his Kresh deck but annoying none the less. Loves reanimating/cheating Terastadon to blow up my stuff.
Salty: Salty... as his name implies plays very spiteful. You blow up something that ruins his fun, he will blatantly kill you and ignore your stuff. His decks are catered tohis style. Usually get my lands blown up by Spikey, I would get milled to hell and lose any chance of getting my lands back. Then with Little man Teeg, it becomes annoying to not be able to cast stuff over 4, as I try to desperately hold on while I try to find a 3 mana or less answer. Of course makes it hard when Spikey screws my manabase or counters my stuff. With his Sidisi deck, he would reanimate Terastadon and join on Spikey's land destruction fun on me.
Randy: The "Rando" / random element, aka perhaps the only one that can get pressure off me but doesn't help me directly. He mostly runs slow convoluted combos which would then proceed to kill the table. I don't know why he doesn't get picked on more but I suppose since I play more immediate threats and he needs time to build his board I get hit first. Randy also sometimes gets Salty pissed off so I get a break from Salty. Probably because he also misplays a lot but sometimes he randomly (literally) runs into one of his game winning combos and takes it. Rarely would he mess with me since he is more focused on collecting all the pieces of Exodia but time to time he would blow up my stuff, but at least not so passionately as the other two players.
Politics: Usually depends on if I can get Salty... get salty to the other players aside from me. But Salty is really volatile. A simple removal on his Commander or anything can set him off and put you back on the menu. Spikey is harder to negotiate to near impossible unless he gets set REALLY behind in his ramp/tutoring.
Solutions?: To be honest, I'm looking for a Commander that can handle all of this or least keep Spikey/Salty at bay while Randy is playing Magic solitaire. Apparently Ayli "getting to 50 and start exiling stuff" is a big target on my head so I never get the chance to use her ability unless Spikey draws bad and Salty doesn't have his eyes on me yet. Sliver Overlord I tend to avoid if there is Krenko or Purphous out since they both got Ruination and [c]Blood Moon[/] in their 99 and quite frankly has been the weakest since they are land destruction happy. Sigarda usually helps against Phenax and other oppressive spells that target me. It's what I been leaning on lately. But Purphous doesn't care at all about me having hexproof. And with Teferi... it is AUTOMATIC 3v1 because I play the Stax version of Teferi. But with Teferi I know I'm going to get picked on no matter what so I have no problem with hate since it is understandable.
TLDR: My playgroup mostly 3v1's me. I need a new commander or solutions (Politics are out of the question) that can stop at least two of them so that I can... play the game!
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
Not a new commander. However have you tried Propaganda yet for deference?
Well as weird as it sounds, Spikey is my best friend and my best rival when it comes to competitive stuff. I don't mind it when we go head on 1v1, but when I get other people dog-piling on me it becomes a bit too much. Salty... is just a consistent player in our playgroup. Due to my schedule, this is really the only playgroup I can be with. They are close friends but their EDH decision making is... suspect lol.
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Oh one other note... Derevi is kinda out of the table. My playgroup went to Starcity and played in a couple of pods with Derevi stax and it was a miserable experience for all 3 of them. I want to make them pay... but that make them that miserable like that and want to quit Magic all together lol.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
Sounds like a Grixis toolbox deck is what you need. Thraximundar is a good choice.
Put every stinking black and blue tutor you can find in the deck. Run a solid manabase with moderate ramp (8-10 mana rocks, mostly 2-drop). Lots of cheap draw like Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study. Make sure you can get, or get to, whatever you need in the deck in a hurry.
Then add a wincon or two to taste. Whatever threat they play, or you know they want to play, you go tutor up an answer and lay it down. When they can't sneeze without something of yours getting in the way, kill them.
Sounds like a Grixis toolbox deck is what you need. Thraximundar is a good choice.
Put every stinking black and blue tutor you can find in the deck. Run a solid manabase with moderate ramp (8-10 mana rocks, mostly 2-drop). Lots of cheap draw like Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study. Make sure you can get, or get to, whatever you need in the deck in a hurry.
Then add a wincon or two to taste. Whatever threat they play, or you know they want to play, you go tutor up an answer and lay it down. When they can't sneeze without something of yours getting in the way, kill them.
DSDX: Grixis toolbox sounds pretty bad ass. The only thing I'm afraid of is a resolved Blood Moon. But I really like all those cards. I really need to put Torpor orb in my decks again. They hardly run non etb answers to noncreature stuff. I may change the general to something else though. I had a thrax zombie tribal and he died way too often than I liked.
Godoma: I don't know if group hug would be enough. Probably use my gifts as added ammo. But that is a good angle however about I can use their threat assement choices to my advantage. Zedruu is another option I was thinking too to give deck breaking stuff to my opponents or at least decrease Salty chance of hitting me by giving him ammo to use against other players.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
Play a vanilla preconstructed commander deck? You will most certainly lose, but once you accept that, you can see how they behave now that you begin the game as a complete non-threat. It's like going group-hug but you're not so obviously there to mess up everybody's game. Plus you could possibly win one or two simply because you are low on the radar.
In short, it could shed some more light on the kind of issues you have with the group. Plus it can be quite enjoyable to play a losing game here and there.
I think a special kind of Tariel deck might be the solution. Check it out here:
Basically, the idea is that you make it slightly less interesting to attack or harm you than it is to harm or attack anyone else. No straight up can't effects since that makes you a target, but give your opponents the idea that they make the right decision to look elsewhere. It's very reactive though, and that has to be your thing. Your only chance to win is to make sure you end up being on of the last two players with a full hand of answers. On the other hand, the beauty of this deck is that it will work better and better the more you play it. If you consequently make it cost something to attack you, either through costs or nasty surprises at instant speed, you will slowly be educating your group to go pick on someone else.
I build something along those lines some time ago and I plan to redesign it and add blue once the 4 color commander set comes out. Add some stealing and mass combat tricks to be able to be more proactive while staying true to the deck's theme.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Mardu colors have always interested me. Tariel however not so much but I liked that primers way of thinking a lot. The way he describes players is sorta what I'm dealing with. However the "player that doesn't do anything" is the one people should fear is true yet I still keep getting hit.
With today's spoilers, I may have taken a new direction. Leovold may be just want i need! Touch my stuff? Let me get cards. And you can't draw a million cards no more. It doesn't stop tutoring though which is what my play group loves to do, and BUG colors dosent let me get Stranglehold and other library tutor hate cards in red and white. But having the access to green. Elf mana and making wheel effects totally one sided is rather juicy.
Still indecisive however... I like the pillow fort idea/group slug mentality. Can BUG be done that way as well?
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
Your opponent's can't hurt you if they can't cast spells. Grand Arbiter Stax is spikey, good at suppressing multiple different strategies, and really makes combo life difficult. See link in sig to my build; but it's held its own against every decktype that can get thrown at it, with only a small handful being able to claim a victory here or there. It is extremely effective in 1v1, competitive in 2v1, and as fair as anything else in 3v1. At 5 players you're outgunned no matter what against a determined table.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
You could also call them out on their bullsh*t, tell them to grow some balls and stop being such spiteful little c**ksuckers. Then build a deck around Animar, Soul of Elements that ramps up into creatures which cost less from Animar's main ability, is naturally pro-white and pro-black and works really well as the vanguard of a combo deck. Things like tidespout tyrant and cloudstone curio paired with numerous enter the battlefield effects (that you can abuse by bouncing creatures back to hand and replaying for cheaper than normal from animar's primary ability), cheap or even zero cost eldrazi and artifact creatures backed up by generous enchantment and artifact mana ramp (keyrunes, signets, Zendikar Resurgent, etc). Blink things with deadeye, reset mana with palinchron/peregrine drake, then garnish with a little primal surge and watch how salty they become then. Worth every penny, in my opinion. I'd show you a link to my Animar deck on tappedout but I don't know if these forums allow us to copy and paste links. I've already been told I can't troll (which really, what's the point, then?) so who knows what I might do that's against the rules at this point.
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Not sure about that commander though... While he could handle it pretty easily your basically begging to play archenemy for the rest of your games with that group.
While he' powerful to say the least, he basically screams kill me. Being able to soft lock opponents as early as turn 3 by a 2 card combo, where one is the commander (the other: teferi's puzzle box). And no quick way to finish off players would probably cause both salty and spikey to target you and only you no matter what.
In my playgroup, you wouldn't be able to politics your way out of a 3v1 situation no matter how underpowered your deck was if you're playing that commander somewhat competitively.
it depends on what you want:
Do you want to build a deck able to win 3v1's somewhat consistently?, if so i guess new elf guy is great.
Or do you want to build a deck able to compete with your group without making them 3v1 you?
ps: while its frustrating, your not really meant to win more than 25% of your games in a 4-player-free-for-all, no one is going to act as your team mate, whenever you get ahead expect it to be a 3v1. If your decks are hard to interact with, counters the others or very explosive, i think that to systematically ruin your manabase is a perfectly legit answer to the threat you're presenting, although not a fun one. (if not anything else, expect to be picked on if you brought the most powerful deck to the table!)
Failing to notice the other players board presence is either bad threat assessment or respect for what your deck is capable off. While your rival friend may target you over the other players because of the rivalry, i'm betting that salty's tendency to target you is justified from his point of view.
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EDH decks:
RWUNarset, jeskai burn RUB Marchesa the black rose R Daretti, reanimator goodstuff BU Vela, ninja assasin UG Ezuri, woodland critters.
Also make sure you run graveyard hate if you don't already, at the very least bojuka bog and nihil spellbomb have almost zero cost and are very effective
Not sure about that commander though... While he could handle it pretty easily your basically begging to play archenemy for the rest of your games with that group.
While he' powerful to say the least, he basically screams kill me. Being able to soft lock opponents as early as turn 3 by a 2 card combo, where one is the commander (the other: teferi's puzzle box). And no quick way to finish off players would probably cause both salty and spikey to target you and only you no matter what.
In my playgroup, you wouldn't be able to politics your way out of a 3v1 situation no matter how underpowered your deck was if you're playing that commander somewhat competitively.
it depends on what you want:
Do you want to build a deck able to win 3v1's somewhat consistently?, if so i guess new elf guy is great.
Or do you want to build a deck able to compete with your group without making them 3v1 you?
ps: while its frustrating, your not really meant to win more than 25% of your games in a 4-player-free-for-all, no one is going to act as your team mate, whenever you get ahead expect it to be a 3v1. If your decks are hard to interact with, counters the others or very explosive, i think that to systematically ruin your manabase is a perfectly legit answer to the threat you're presenting, although not a fun one. (if not anything else, expect to be picked on if you brought the most powerful deck to the table!)
Failing to notice the other players board presence is either bad threat assessment or respect for what your deck is capable off. While your rival friend may target you over the other players because of the rivalry, i'm betting that salty's tendency to target you is justified from his point of view.
Damn I had a long post and it got deleted. But thank you for you post! You bring up a lot of good points and I am at a dilemma in just as you said it.
Sometimes I want to run some Janky win combo that takes weird cards for to work, yet I still get smashed in. Oh... he is slowly going for his infinite comvon! Blow up his lands so he can't cast it!
So I sorta do want a deck that is awesome in 3v1. Or at least 2v1 since Randy kinda leaves me alone while he does his thing. Hell sometimes when Randy wins and kills the table I'm happy. I get to rub it in Spikey and Salty's face. Or even better that I hang out to a sliver of life but Randy somehow killed the other two in some wombo combo, then I kill Randy is also glorious. Randy isn't even in on being my ally! Total random monkey wrench lol.
But yes usually I get targeted by Spikey is due to the respect of our decks. Him and I kinda go a little crazy with our decks in terms of spending compared to the other two. When high price cards come into play, Salty just comes in with Gaddock teeg to make sure NO ONE plays crap lol.
Yeah Land destruction is a big thing in my playgroup. Not mass land destruction but they have no problem with recursive land single destruction.
Yes you are right... Salty is kinda a follower. Or blinded by emotion. You blow up some fun thing like rooftop storm and you are public enemy number 1 till the end of the game. Even taking damage or getting other stuff blown up by other players.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
Also make sure you run graveyard hate if you don't already, at the very least bojuka bog and nihil spellbomb have almost zero cost and are very effective
Most definetly. I get groans from them when are like "oh... wow answering the meta huh?" I'm like yeah... I would shove Terra Eternal in my decks too if I could break the symmetry too! Lol or that other enchantment that returns to play if my lands get blown up by an opponent's source. Sucks that it turns off my stuff but hey... trying to play an honest game of magic lok
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
I think you should play the Leovold/Puzzle Box deck. Stuff it full of control, card draw and tutors. Lock them out then slow draw into a LabMan win. Don't even combo into the LabMan win. Punish them for what sounds like very poor threat assessment for a little while.
Also make sure you run graveyard hate if you don't already, at the very least bojuka bog and nihil spellbomb have almost zero cost and are very effective
Most definetly. I get groans from them when are like "oh... wow answering the meta huh?" I'm like yeah... I would shove Terra Eternal in my decks too if I could break the symmetry too! Lol or that other enchantment that returns to play if my lands get blown up by an opponent's source. Sucks that it turns off my stuff but hey... trying to play an honest game of magic lok
Torpor orb isn't answering YOUR meta. That effect is always awesome in EDH.
Same goes for graveyard hate. Containment priest is a little more niche, but not really.
Also make sure you run graveyard hate if you don't already, at the very least bojuka bog and nihil spellbomb have almost zero cost and are very effective
Most definetly. I get groans from them when are like "oh... wow answering the meta huh?" I'm like yeah... I would shove Terra Eternal in my decks too if I could break the symmetry too! Lol or that other enchantment that returns to play if my lands get blown up by an opponent's source. Sucks that it turns off my stuff but hey... trying to play an honest game of magic lok
Torpor orb isn't answering YOUR meta. That effect is always awesome in EDH.
Same goes for graveyard hate. Containment priest is a little more niche, but not really.
You are definetly right. I have at least 3 cards dedicated to graveyard hate. These clowns abuse that crap either by renaimating or using it as an extension of their hand with Regrowth like cards. Some big wins that get me blown out is a resolved Living Death. So yeah Containment Priest will be a real sweet heart if I have white in my colors.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
I don't know if it has been suggested since the last time I read this page but the new Queen Marchesa might be a good way for forcing players to spread there hate around as once the monarch mechanic is introduced every player will be itching to punch the current monarch in the face if only to draw an extra card during their endstep. I believe in once you are removed from the game the monarch mechanic would remain in play so they would not have any intensive to only gang up on you.
I don't know if it has been suggested since the last time I read this page but the new Queen Marchesa might be a good way for forcing players to spread there hate around as once the monarch mechanic is introduced every player will be itching to punch the current monarch in the face if only to draw an extra card during their endstep. I believe in once you are removed from the game the monarch mechanic would remain in play so they would not have any intensive to only gang up on you.
Agreed. You get punched one time then the other can fight over who is monarch while you assemble a deathtouching token army for defense. She is ideal for this deck.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I don't know if it has been suggested since the last time I read this page but the new Queen Marchesa might be a good way for forcing players to spread there hate around as once the monarch mechanic is introduced every player will be itching to punch the current monarch in the face if only to draw an extra card during their endstep. I believe in once you are removed from the game the monarch mechanic would remain in play so they would not have any intensive to only gang up on you.
Agreed. You get punched one time then the other can fight over who is monarch while you assemble a deathtouching token army for defense. She is ideal for this deck.
I don't know if it has been suggested since the last time I read this page but the new Queen Marchesa might be a good way for forcing players to spread there hate around as once the monarch mechanic is introduced every player will be itching to punch the current monarch in the face if only to draw an extra card during their endstep. I believe in once you are removed from the game the monarch mechanic would remain in play so they would not have any intensive to only gang up on you.
I would like to see more Monarch cards if I hand the reigns to Marchesa. I was kinda assessing with Leopold, that may playgroup can sorta go around his ability with Necropotence and tutoring. It does put a damper on Niv and Surrak (dropping Primespeaker Zegana on a big dude or surrak himself) to draw a bunch of cards however, which is nice. Marchesa does provide me with lots of library search like Aven Mindcensor, Stranglehold and maybe Leonin Arbiter if I'm truly feeling hateful which is nice. Leo gives me... him and even super draw hate in Notion Thief.
How about Anafenza, the Foremost hatebears? She puts in a lot of work herself and she's in good colors.
As much as I would do that... I think it might be a bit too targeted. My playgroup had a "let's all have reanimate battle!". So it was Karador Me, Sidisi Sultai (Salty), Varolz, the Scar-Striped (Randy), and Kresh (Spikey). I resolved an Anafenza and I just kept bringing her back over and over. It was quite hilarious because they devoted MAD resources to try to get rid of her but kept bringing her back. They were like "That was freaking miserable...". So I could only imagine if I actually had Anafenza as a general lol. I do like the Abazan color combination but if I go to that, I might wait to see if the 4 color general that I am looking forward too (Dark Bant, Sultai White, Esper Green, WBUG), will be good. Leopold (can't make them draw and I draw if they touch my stuff) and right now Marchesa (due to her colors being strong to hate Tutoring) are the contenders for what I want to build next.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
You can also just go with a full new approach to the game and not look forward to becoming the overall winner. My gf and I worked on this logic and it helps out alot. She had a Chaos deck that has a win con in it but in most cases if a player scoops the match is considered a win in her book. It's quite funny to see it go down. But I was working on the same thing. And my win con is if I kill someone with thier own generals. I want to taste that salt. And I have a "Why so salty" playmat. It actually turned out as a kill list. So with my friends I will cross people out per kill. So even if I kill someone once with thier own generals I won't target them again.
Besides we also play a lot of kingdoms and willing to try out other edh variances.
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Player 1 / Spikey:Kresh the Bloodbraided, Surrak, Dragonclaw, Purphoros, God of the Forge.
Player 2 / Salty: Phenax, God of Deception, Gisa and Geralf Gaddock Teeg, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant.
Player 3 / Rando:Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Krenko, Mob Boss, Sharuum the Hegemon, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Decks that I play: Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Sigarda, Heron's Grace, Sliver Overlord, Teferi, Temporal Archmage.
Spikey: Spikey's Kresh has a HEAVY Tutor package and reanimation. You name it he has it. Birthing Pod, [s]Survival of the Fittest[/c], Vampiric tutor etc. He loves blowing up lands. Not MLD type of thing but it might as well be. Once he ramps above all of us, he will start blowing up stuff using a combination of reviving Acidic Slime or Crucible of the Worlds with additional "may play more" land effects with Strip Mine type lands. Purphoros, is your typical good red stuff "drop dudes and let Purphoros do the heavy lifting" type of deck. Surrak has a simliar land destruction theme once he gets ahead but now... with counterspell backup. Weaker than his Kresh deck but annoying none the less. Loves reanimating/cheating Terastadon to blow up my stuff.
Salty: Salty... as his name implies plays very spiteful. You blow up something that ruins his fun, he will blatantly kill you and ignore your stuff. His decks are catered tohis style. Usually get my lands blown up by Spikey, I would get milled to hell and lose any chance of getting my lands back. Then with Little man Teeg, it becomes annoying to not be able to cast stuff over 4, as I try to desperately hold on while I try to find a 3 mana or less answer. Of course makes it hard when Spikey screws my manabase or counters my stuff. With his Sidisi deck, he would reanimate Terastadon and join on Spikey's land destruction fun on me.
Randy: The "Rando" / random element, aka perhaps the only one that can get pressure off me but doesn't help me directly. He mostly runs slow convoluted combos which would then proceed to kill the table. I don't know why he doesn't get picked on more but I suppose since I play more immediate threats and he needs time to build his board I get hit first. Randy also sometimes gets Salty pissed off so I get a break from Salty. Probably because he also misplays a lot but sometimes he randomly (literally) runs into one of his game winning combos and takes it. Rarely would he mess with me since he is more focused on collecting all the pieces of Exodia but time to time he would blow up my stuff, but at least not so passionately as the other two players.
Politics: Usually depends on if I can get Salty... get salty to the other players aside from me. But Salty is really volatile. A simple removal on his Commander or anything can set him off and put you back on the menu. Spikey is harder to negotiate to near impossible unless he gets set REALLY behind in his ramp/tutoring.
Solutions?: To be honest, I'm looking for a Commander that can handle all of this or least keep Spikey/Salty at bay while Randy is playing Magic solitaire. Apparently Ayli "getting to 50 and start exiling stuff" is a big target on my head so I never get the chance to use her ability unless Spikey draws bad and Salty doesn't have his eyes on me yet. Sliver Overlord I tend to avoid if there is Krenko or Purphous out since they both got Ruination and [c]Blood Moon[/] in their 99 and quite frankly has been the weakest since they are land destruction happy. Sigarda usually helps against Phenax and other oppressive spells that target me. It's what I been leaning on lately. But Purphous doesn't care at all about me having hexproof. And with Teferi... it is AUTOMATIC 3v1 because I play the Stax version of Teferi. But with Teferi I know I'm going to get picked on no matter what so I have no problem with hate since it is understandable.
TLDR: My playgroup mostly 3v1's me. I need a new commander or solutions (Politics are out of the question) that can stop at least two of them so that I can... play the game!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
I haven't really tried it out in my Teferi deck since it doesn't protect him so I opted out.
Well as weird as it sounds, Spikey is my best friend and my best rival when it comes to competitive stuff. I don't mind it when we go head on 1v1, but when I get other people dog-piling on me it becomes a bit too much. Salty... is just a consistent player in our playgroup. Due to my schedule, this is really the only playgroup I can be with. They are close friends but their EDH decision making is... suspect lol.
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Oh one other note... Derevi is kinda out of the table. My playgroup went to Starcity and played in a couple of pods with Derevi stax and it was a miserable experience for all 3 of them. I want to make them pay... but that make them that miserable like that and want to quit Magic all together lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
Put every stinking black and blue tutor you can find in the deck. Run a solid manabase with moderate ramp (8-10 mana rocks, mostly 2-drop). Lots of cheap draw like Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study. Make sure you can get, or get to, whatever you need in the deck in a hurry.
Then bring the hate.
Aggro:
Graveyard Hate:
Shut off those godforsaken ETBs from Acidic Slime, Purphuros and the like:
Torpor Orb
Even out the heavy green ramp:
Draw pain and discard:
Lots of spot removal for problem permanents:
Counterspells:
Then add a wincon or two to taste. Whatever threat they play, or you know they want to play, you go tutor up an answer and lay it down. When they can't sneeze without something of yours getting in the way, kill them.
Nicol Bolas Dragon Dick
Hanna, Ship's Navigator Heart-attack Stax
Oona, Queen of the Fae Fairy Dance
Vhati Il-Dal Tree of Woe
Scion of the Ur-Dragon Durgensturm
Jolrael, Empress of Beasts Jamuraa's Army
Liliana, Heretical Healer Rise from your Graves and Proliferate
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls Angelic Judgment [
DSDX: Grixis toolbox sounds pretty bad ass. The only thing I'm afraid of is a resolved Blood Moon. But I really like all those cards. I really need to put Torpor orb in my decks again. They hardly run non etb answers to noncreature stuff. I may change the general to something else though. I had a thrax zombie tribal and he died way too often than I liked.
Godoma: I don't know if group hug would be enough. Probably use my gifts as added ammo. But that is a good angle however about I can use their threat assement choices to my advantage. Zedruu is another option I was thinking too to give deck breaking stuff to my opponents or at least decrease Salty chance of hitting me by giving him ammo to use against other players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
G R O U P S L U G is the name of the game.
Here's a pretty intense list: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/magicalhacker-zedruu-the-greathearted/
I play a list similar to this but added more mana rocks to balance all the winter orb effects.
In short, it could shed some more light on the kind of issues you have with the group. Plus it can be quite enjoyable to play a losing game here and there.
Basically, the idea is that you make it slightly less interesting to attack or harm you than it is to harm or attack anyone else. No straight up can't effects since that makes you a target, but give your opponents the idea that they make the right decision to look elsewhere. It's very reactive though, and that has to be your thing. Your only chance to win is to make sure you end up being on of the last two players with a full hand of answers. On the other hand, the beauty of this deck is that it will work better and better the more you play it. If you consequently make it cost something to attack you, either through costs or nasty surprises at instant speed, you will slowly be educating your group to go pick on someone else.
I build something along those lines some time ago and I plan to redesign it and add blue once the 4 color commander set comes out. Add some stealing and mass combat tricks to be able to be more proactive while staying true to the deck's theme.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
With today's spoilers, I may have taken a new direction. Leovold may be just want i need! Touch my stuff? Let me get cards. And you can't draw a million cards no more. It doesn't stop tutoring though which is what my play group loves to do, and BUG colors dosent let me get Stranglehold and other library tutor hate cards in red and white. But having the access to green. Elf mana and making wheel effects totally one sided is rather juicy.
Still indecisive however... I like the pillow fort idea/group slug mentality. Can BUG be done that way as well?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
While he' powerful to say the least, he basically screams kill me. Being able to soft lock opponents as early as turn 3 by a 2 card combo, where one is the commander (the other: teferi's puzzle box). And no quick way to finish off players would probably cause both salty and spikey to target you and only you no matter what.
In my playgroup, you wouldn't be able to politics your way out of a 3v1 situation no matter how underpowered your deck was if you're playing that commander somewhat competitively.
it depends on what you want:
Do you want to build a deck able to win 3v1's somewhat consistently?, if so i guess new elf guy is great.
Or do you want to build a deck able to compete with your group without making them 3v1 you?
ps: while its frustrating, your not really meant to win more than 25% of your games in a 4-player-free-for-all, no one is going to act as your team mate, whenever you get ahead expect it to be a 3v1. If your decks are hard to interact with, counters the others or very explosive, i think that to systematically ruin your manabase is a perfectly legit answer to the threat you're presenting, although not a fun one. (if not anything else, expect to be picked on if you brought the most powerful deck to the table!)
Failing to notice the other players board presence is either bad threat assessment or respect for what your deck is capable off. While your rival friend may target you over the other players because of the rivalry, i'm betting that salty's tendency to target you is justified from his point of view.
RWU Narset, jeskai burn
RUB Marchesa the black rose
R Daretti, reanimator goodstuff
BU Vela, ninja assasin
UG Ezuri, woodland critters.
Also make sure you run graveyard hate if you don't already, at the very least bojuka bog and nihil spellbomb have almost zero cost and are very effective
Damn I had a long post and it got deleted. But thank you for you post! You bring up a lot of good points and I am at a dilemma in just as you said it.
Sometimes I want to run some Janky win combo that takes weird cards for to work, yet I still get smashed in. Oh... he is slowly going for his infinite comvon! Blow up his lands so he can't cast it!
So I sorta do want a deck that is awesome in 3v1. Or at least 2v1 since Randy kinda leaves me alone while he does his thing. Hell sometimes when Randy wins and kills the table I'm happy. I get to rub it in Spikey and Salty's face. Or even better that I hang out to a sliver of life but Randy somehow killed the other two in some wombo combo, then I kill Randy is also glorious. Randy isn't even in on being my ally! Total random monkey wrench lol.
But yes usually I get targeted by Spikey is due to the respect of our decks. Him and I kinda go a little crazy with our decks in terms of spending compared to the other two. When high price cards come into play, Salty just comes in with Gaddock teeg to make sure NO ONE plays crap lol.
Yeah Land destruction is a big thing in my playgroup. Not mass land destruction but they have no problem with recursive land single destruction.
Yes you are right... Salty is kinda a follower. Or blinded by emotion. You blow up some fun thing like rooftop storm and you are public enemy number 1 till the end of the game. Even taking damage or getting other stuff blown up by other players.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
Most definetly. I get groans from them when are like "oh... wow answering the meta huh?" I'm like yeah... I would shove Terra Eternal in my decks too if I could break the symmetry too! Lol or that other enchantment that returns to play if my lands get blown up by an opponent's source. Sucks that it turns off my stuff but hey... trying to play an honest game of magic lok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
Then move to something a little more friendly.
EDH Decks:
WUBOloro, Combo ControlWUB
UBOona Reanimator ComboUB
BRGProssh, Eater of the Blue MageBRG
UBRGrixis StormUBR
Rebuilding Jenara (stealyourstuff.dec)
Pauper Deck:
UBInspired SirenUB
Torpor orb isn't answering YOUR meta. That effect is always awesome in EDH.
Same goes for graveyard hate. Containment priest is a little more niche, but not really.
You are definetly right. I have at least 3 cards dedicated to graveyard hate. These clowns abuse that crap either by renaimating or using it as an extension of their hand with Regrowth like cards. Some big wins that get me blown out is a resolved Living Death. So yeah Containment Priest will be a real sweet heart if I have white in my colors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
UBRNicol Bolas, the RavagerUBR
R Jaya Ballard, Task Mage R
2DH / Budget Commanders:
WMangara of Corondor 2DHW
BRXantcha, Sleeper Agent 2DHBR
Agreed. You get punched one time then the other can fight over who is monarch while you assemble a deathtouching token army for defense. She is ideal for this deck.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I would like to see more Monarch cards if I hand the reigns to Marchesa. I was kinda assessing with Leopold, that may playgroup can sorta go around his ability with Necropotence and tutoring. It does put a damper on Niv and Surrak (dropping Primespeaker Zegana on a big dude or surrak himself) to draw a bunch of cards however, which is nice. Marchesa does provide me with lots of library search like Aven Mindcensor, Stranglehold and maybe Leonin Arbiter if I'm truly feeling hateful which is nice. Leo gives me... him and even super draw hate in Notion Thief.
As much as I would do that... I think it might be a bit too targeted. My playgroup had a "let's all have reanimate battle!". So it was Karador Me, Sidisi Sultai (Salty), Varolz, the Scar-Striped (Randy), and Kresh (Spikey). I resolved an Anafenza and I just kept bringing her back over and over. It was quite hilarious because they devoted MAD resources to try to get rid of her but kept bringing her back. They were like "That was freaking miserable...". So I could only imagine if I actually had Anafenza as a general lol. I do like the Abazan color combination but if I go to that, I might wait to see if the 4 color general that I am looking forward too (Dark Bant, Sultai White, Esper Green, WBUG), will be good. Leopold (can't make them draw and I draw if they touch my stuff) and right now Marchesa (due to her colors being strong to hate Tutoring) are the contenders for what I want to build next.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
Besides we also play a lot of kingdoms and willing to try out other edh variances.