Hello all! I'm excited for many new cards already spoiled but Blim, Comedic Genius immediately caught my attention. I'm a rakdos fanboy with dedicated decks for each of the 6 legendary rakdos guild members, and while Blim doesn't have an actual watermark on his card, the art and flavor are kinda clear where it originates from.
I've seen some comments on spoiler sites & redit and whatnot where it is being compared to Zedruu the Greathearted but just a bit more naughty in effect. Other than the ability to donate although I think that Blim here is a completely different sort of commander. Zedruu's colors and full ability allow the pilot to draw deeper and aids in a bit of resilience, while Blim requires to connect in combat to donate once per hit, and will typically be card disadvantage (granted the idea is mutual disadvantage).
To me this makes Blim a very difficult commander to build a consistent engine out of. I've played many mass discard sort of decks before, and my main experience with those decks is that while it's easy to make everyone mutually hellbent, without a strong card advantage engine in place already then whomever has a better engine/recursive deck or commander will simply take over the game.
Soooo.. with that fault in mind, my idea with Blim is a little different. I think instead of trying to focus on a hand-dump or donating punishing effects, it would be best to spread the strategy over 3 donate options;
1 - auras that do not change effect depending on who "owns" them
2 - theft'd creatures via Act of Treason style effects (since combat is relevant for the deck)
3 - a handful of the best donatable punishing effects.
I'm a big fan of word of seizing/grab the reins/act of aggression due to instant speed antics. The main trick with these would be to be more aggressive in combat and then annoy someone by giving a theft'd creature to a different opponent. Blim is similar to bazaar trader in that his ability will override an end-of-turn act of treason effect (confirmed here), so it may be fun to use Blim to just take player A's commander and give it to Player B for whatever reason.
While I love act of treason effects although, this strategy crumbles when there simply isn't any creatures to theft.
So now I'm looking for what cards would work well with Blim in this regard. I've done a bit of research and will list below, but am looking for more options I've missed!
There are a bunch of auras that won't work with Blim (like Demonic Appetite) since they will fall off of Blim if I donate control of the aura to an opponent.
I'm thinking that about 10x theft effects, 10x aura effects, and 6x punishment effects would be a rough estimate to start building around, leaving 24x card slots for other generic deck stuff like draw/recursion/removal/etc. I do think some doublestrike effects like Temur Battle Rage may be good to double up on Blims trigger.
What cards have you all considered?
*Note - I do know how "fun" Blim would be with scrambleverse/thieves' auction stuff, but being that I play over spelltable/zoom currently this level of chaos isn't really something I can build towards
The rules for ownership of a token changed recently from the controller of the token to the controller of the source of the token, so I was looking into cards like Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor, that give your opponents tokens - usually en masse.
Phyrexian Etchings is a very evil card to donate. Use it several times and then give it someone else (in best case someone who can‘t pay black mana at all).
The rules for ownership of a token changed recently from the controller of the token to the controller of the source of the token, so I was looking into cards like Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor, that give your opponents tokens - usually en masse.
Maybe I am misunderstanding your comment, but if you use Varchild, the opponent owns them. Yes, the rules changed but they changed so the person creating the token owns them. Which changed years ago. It used to be the person controlling the effect that caused them to enter was the owner, but no longer. So Varchild isn't going to do anything with Blim
You know, you’re right. I looked up the rules for tokens just before posting, where it said the token’s creator is its owner, but I didn’t look up the wording on a card that gave tokens to others, and those cards have the opponents create their tokens. Not sure what I was thinking.
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I've seen some comments on spoiler sites & redit and whatnot where it is being compared to Zedruu the Greathearted but just a bit more naughty in effect. Other than the ability to donate although I think that Blim here is a completely different sort of commander. Zedruu's colors and full ability allow the pilot to draw deeper and aids in a bit of resilience, while Blim requires to connect in combat to donate once per hit, and will typically be card disadvantage (granted the idea is mutual disadvantage).
To me this makes Blim a very difficult commander to build a consistent engine out of. I've played many mass discard sort of decks before, and my main experience with those decks is that while it's easy to make everyone mutually hellbent, without a strong card advantage engine in place already then whomever has a better engine/recursive deck or commander will simply take over the game.
Soooo.. with that fault in mind, my idea with Blim is a little different. I think instead of trying to focus on a hand-dump or donating punishing effects, it would be best to spread the strategy over 3 donate options;
1 - auras that do not change effect depending on who "owns" them
2 - theft'd creatures via Act of Treason style effects (since combat is relevant for the deck)
3 - a handful of the best donatable punishing effects.
I'm a big fan of word of seizing/grab the reins/act of aggression due to instant speed antics. The main trick with these would be to be more aggressive in combat and then annoy someone by giving a theft'd creature to a different opponent. Blim is similar to bazaar trader in that his ability will override an end-of-turn act of treason effect (confirmed here), so it may be fun to use Blim to just take player A's commander and give it to Player B for whatever reason.
While I love act of treason effects although, this strategy crumbles when there simply isn't any creatures to theft.
So now I'm looking for what cards would work well with Blim in this regard. I've done a bit of research and will list below, but am looking for more options I've missed!
1x Oni Possession
1x Inner Demon
1x Gift of Doom
1x Fists of the Demigod
1x Demonic Embrace
"Bad" auras for opponents:
1x Melancholy
1x Fractured Loyalty
1x Curse of Shallow Graves
1x Curse of BLoodletting
1x Cruel Reality
Returning Auras: x
1x Fiery Mantle
1x Despondency
1x Fallen Ideal
1x Undying Rage
1x Sluggishness
1x Sleeper's Guile
1x Infectious Rage
Theft Permanents: x
1x Treasure Nabber
1x Zealous Conscripts
1x The Akroan War
1x Smelt-Ward Ignus
1x Puppeteer Clique
1x Opportunistic Dragon
1x Olivia Voldaren
1x Molten Primordial
1x Jeering Instigator
1x Frenzied Fugue
1x Conquering Manticore
1x Captivating Crew
1x Angrath, the Flame-Chained
1x Insurrection
1x Mob Rule
1x Mass Mutiny
1x Metallic Mastery
1x Word of Seizing
1x Grab the Reins
1x Act of Aggression
1x Besmirch
1x Harness by Force
1x Claim the Firstborn
1x Wrangle
1x Kari Zev's Expertise
1x Unwilling Recruit
1x Turn Against
1x Traitorous Blood
1x Song-Mad Treachery
1x Ritual of the Machine
1x Gruesome Encore
1x Treacherous Urge
1x Macabre Mockery
Punishment: x
1x Witch Hunt
1x Form of the Dragon
1x Avarice Totem
1x Torpor Orb
1x Crown of Doom
1x Forsaken Wastes
1x Custody Battle
1x Goldnight Castigator
1x Pyromancer's Swath
1x Jinxed Choker
1x Steel Golem
1x Aggressive Mining
1x Brand of Ill Omen
1x Bazaar Trader
1x Assault Suit
1x Brand
1x Homeward Path
1x Harmless Offering
1x Humble Defector
1x Lich
1x Nefarious Lich
1x Lich's Mastery
1x Wishclaw Talisman
1x Pendant of Prosperity
1x Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
1x Thieving Amalgam
There are a bunch of auras that won't work with Blim (like Demonic Appetite) since they will fall off of Blim if I donate control of the aura to an opponent.
I'm thinking that about 10x theft effects, 10x aura effects, and 6x punishment effects would be a rough estimate to start building around, leaving 24x card slots for other generic deck stuff like draw/recursion/removal/etc. I do think some doublestrike effects like Temur Battle Rage may be good to double up on Blims trigger.
What cards have you all considered?
*Note - I do know how "fun" Blim would be with scrambleverse/thieves' auction stuff, but being that I play over spelltable/zoom currently this level of chaos isn't really something I can build towards
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
Captive Audience is already donating itself.
Rain of Gore, Sulfuric Vortex and Havoc Festival don‘t care about the controller.