Introduction:
You read it. Thrun is a uncounterable, regenerable, hexproofable, sword equipable 4/4 Troll. There is no other creature in the game that has that kind of resiliency. Setting up Thrun the Great Voltron is rather easy. Many decks have very few options to interact with our trolling allows us to win many games. DC however is a rather diverse format. There are many decks that simply don't care about our troll if you do not interact with them. Our great troll voltron needs help! Therefore you will also need to add in our very own mono green very fair and cool land/mana disruption package. Combining Thrun the Great Voltron with an effective resource denial results in the most awesome package of trolling. Sometimes you will even feel guilty you do the things you do as while opponents try to somehow interact with Thrun with a diminishing mana supply. It's okay boys, this isn't stax, it's more tempo if anything.
Reasons to play Thrun
- You enjoy saying no to control players and beating them down with a growing troll.
- You enjoy playing Ice Storm into Thrun into Plow Under and squealing inside like a little girl while feeling guilty.
- You enjoy a deck that can be competitive in the right meta.
Reasons not to play Thrun
- You enjoy directly controlling your opponent by saying no and actually interacting with them.
- You enjoy swarming your opponent with small pathetic creatures.
- You enjoy playing intricate strategies that take time and thought to execute.
- You enjoy playing stupid combos that should not exist.
Win Cons
-Play Thrun and give him steroids
-Play fair land destruction
-Play both
Shout outs to Minsarker's list for inspiring me to play Thrun EDH.
and masd for helping me tune the list a bit.
Card Options and Strategies:
The list above still needs work currently. However here are some card options and analyses on why or why not I chose to play the cards I play.
Steroids, Swords, and a Horse:
You should look for 2-3 things when deciding on what to play for Thrun.
1. Evasion
2. Muscle Building
3. Side Effects
4. Money(Cost Efficiency)
Evasion helps you avoid pesky chump blockers and helps the Troll on his way to victory.
Muscle Building is for when you finally get to punch your opponent and need more juice.
Side Effects are things like card advantage or neat effects that help you win the game or not lose the game.
Money refers to the effective cost of the respective card. Good steroids should always come at a fine price.
These factors should be what you also look for your troll kit. Try to consider these choices as well when you want to pump your troll. I personally value cards that provide at least 2 of the Evasion, Muscle Building, or Side Effects at a good price. I believe each card should be evaluated as if it's the only steroid you have for Thrun. Some cards are really good if you have additional steroids but you can't always trust your dealer will have a variety of goods. You need to know the steroids you get will be enough and costs a good price.
Sword of Feast and Famine
Umm yea. Protection from green (Marath, Prossh, Ezuri, Derevi, Jenura, Animar) and Black (Griselbrand, Zur, Skullbriar, Varolz) and +2/2. Untap lands and makes opponent discard. Yea auto include. So what if we can't give him more steroids when he's equipped with it. You get evasion, Muscle Building, Good blocks, and bad side effects for your opponent. A Feast for me and A Famine for you. Approved for trolling.
Sword of Fire and Ice
Protection from blue and red and +2/2. Last time I checked blue is overpowered. Red is getting stronger imo. It's great against Radha. Plus shock to kill things like Talrand, Krenko and Ezuri. Good stuff. Great Evasion, Muscle Building, Card Advantage, and it shocks. A song of Ice and Fire. Approved for trolling.
Sword of War and Peace
Protection from White? That's Geist, Thalia, Marath, Derevi) and Red (Animar- It's won me an Animar match up) Deals damage equal to amount of cards in opponents hand - eh not totally irrelevant. Gains life equal to cards in hand - helps against Aggro. This card is mainly for evasion and life gain. It's okay. So yea. Decent Evasion Tales of War and Peace. It doesn't always happen. Approved for trolling.
Sword of Body and Mind
Protection from Green and Blue -Both very relevant colors. However the Mill is meh and actually helps some decks and the Spirit Wolf is just very uninspiring. We also can't give more steroids on Thrun if he holds this so thats a bummer you know. I still want to test this out. It helps against Derevi, Marath, Prossh, Zur, Geist, Animar, etc etc. Except I think the fact that only holding this sword without more steroids is just very underwhelming and doesn't pack enough trolling. So yea. Great evasion and muscle building. However its side effects aren't very useful and it's limits the amount of steroids you can use. So yea. Master the Body and Mind. Testing needed for trolling.
Sword of Light and Shadow
White has relevant stuff and so does black but in the end it's so just so underwhelming. You don't run too many creatures and 3 life is ehhhh.Decent evasion and muscle building and not bad side effects but it still doesn't seem like it's enough. There cannot be Light without a Shadow. . Not troll enough brah.
Umezawa's Jitte
Yea... This card is overpowered. Won't even explain. If you haven't played with it yet. Don't read about how good it is and play it. TL;DR: Umezawa's Jitte is OP. No evasion but who cares. Approved for trolling.
Riding the Dilu Horse
Ultimate Troll Horsey. Horsemanship. Ultimate Trolling. The Horsemanship stays on. Yes. So does the +2/2. I put the annotation "Horsey" every time and my opponents don't realize they are dead the next turn until it's too late. Oh Time to Ride the Horse to Victory! Approved for trolling.
Increasing Savagery
Add 5 +1/1 counters for 4 and 10 when flashbacked for 7. This + any evasion = nasty. Also you can add the counters then slap onSword of Feast and Famine without Thrun losing all his juicy goodness. Great pump and resilience. Worth the decent cost even though it doesn't give evasion. Savagery increased. Approved for trolling.
Bear Umbra
Totem Armor - +2/2 Untaps all lands when attacking. Kinda OP. Approved for trolling.
Snake Umbra
Totem Armor - +1/1 Gives you much needed CA for more trolling. Approved for trolling.
Spider Umbra
Totem Armor - +1/1 Reach to block stuff like ugly man Zur and fliers. Approved for trolling.
Side note for Totem Armor:
Defense against wrath effects - one of the few ways stop the troll.
Control player - "I finally get my pleeb 4 mana and cast Wrath of God. I survive the trolling!! Praizzzzz mah Lorde!"
Troll - tap :symg::symg:
Control player - "You can't regen mah gud sir."
Troll - Puts Umbra into the graveyard. "Replacement effect mah gud bro."
Control player - "Wut....."
Troll - "GG"
Loxodon Warhammer
Lifegain, Trample, and +3/0. Decent evasion and boost. LIFELINK!!!!!!! Worth the cost imo. Approved for trolling.
Kitesail
Flying and +1/0 - Very relevant. Blocking Derevi, Zur, and Angels from Geist is very important. Gives your evasion, a little boost and helps you against very difficult match ups. Approved for trolling.
Rancor
Trample and +2/0 and recursion. Cheap evasion and pump. Gotta love it. Approved for trolling.
O-Naginata
Trample and +3/0 for 3 if you want to equip on same turn. You can also play it turn 1 since we don't have much turn 1 ramp. Evasion.. check. Muscle Building... check. Cheap.... check. Approved for trolling.
Keen Sense
cheap much needed CA. Approved for trolling.
Sword of Vengeance
Haste, Trample, First Strike, Vigilance and wait... +2/0? Dang man this is legit... But its 6 mana if you want to equip it on 1 turn. It gives a little bit of everything but nothing significant enough. The price is also too damn high. 6 mana means it comes 2 turns after Thrun usually. This is too late if it's your only Sword/Pump. This sword will not cut it if it's your only means of victory. It needs another card to excel and is too expensive for what it gives. Sorry you have been cut. Sorry Vengeance is meant for another day. Not troll enough brah.
Ring of Kalonia
Trample and a +1/1 Counter every upkeep. It's not too pricey but I don't like it. It doesn't do enough when it hits the field and needs time to be worth it. Not troll enough brah.
Mask of Memory
Generates CA and discards. It's more pricey than Keen Sense which I don't like but I do like the extra card. But the reason I play Keen Sense is because you can easier slap on more steroids on the same turn. Testing needed for trolling.
Fireshrieker
Double Strike. It needs evasion from another card to work out. It can be great but it can also do nothing when you can get chump blocked. Not troll enough brah.
I will separate the resource denial section into two parts; Land Denial and Other Denial. Land Denial is anything that destroys or tucks lands. My favorite kind of removal. It's straight forward and not nice. Other Denial can be an array of cards and effects that slow down or deny resources to your opponent.
Best Match Ups - Control decks waiting to get trolled
Decks that do not do anything like Wydwen, the Biting Gale-They will have a lot of control but in the end of the day, Thrun should consistently troll over. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV- Yea... Not much to see here. GAAIV is slow and grindy but in the end, we have a 4/4 Hexproof Thrun that can carry swords. Vendilion Clique - A lot of counters and a lot of bounce. Thrun laughs. Geist of Saint Traft-Surprisingly easy. Geist can't effectively attack into Thrun and runs into trouble trying to race if Thrun is juiced up.
Thanks to new M14 rules, Phantasmal Image and Metamorph no longer screw us over.
Better Match Ups - Most aggro decks without interaction or decks with greedy mana bases.
With the new commander rules from M14, Thrun gained a slight to significant power boost. Prior to this era, an aggro deck's real solution to Thrun was playing a Thrun of their own. Not anymore suckersssss. Radha, Heir to Keld can be pretty fast but if you get the troll out early, he can block and slow her down quite a bit. Nut draws will be nut draws but other than that. A pretty good match up. Kaalia of the Vast Destroy some lands reject some hoes.
Decent-Meh Match Ups - Aggro with interaction or Aggro Control - It's basically who stabilizes first or slower combo decks.
Matches almost determined by going first or who has T1 Mana dork Gaddock TeegThe aggro version is much easier to handle. However I have been seeing more of the good stuff/ramp version lately and it is causing some trouble Doran the Siege Tower A decent match up if you go first with a mana dork. Doran just has so many tools, it can be difficult. Prossh Skyraider of Kher- Still trying to figure out this match up. Always one attack from winning before he goes nuts. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic- Tutor into Doomsday early on? I guess I need a nut draw.
Slightly Harder-Noppeeee - Combo or Ramp Strategies
Decks to hate:
Marath- This swiss army knife of an elemental beast can do so many things. Wait that's what a swiss army knife does. DUH. You got your tutor, your ramp, your aggro, your combo, your removal, your win, and probably more. Winnable but a pain if piloted by skilled players.
Reanimator- Our only effective solution to this is probably Scavenging Ooze and he is not effective in consistently coming out. Hope for a fast hand and a slow one from your opponent. Not how you want to play Magic but it happens.
Jenura- He flies, gets out a turn earlier, can grow bigger than Thrun, and plays counters, removal, and good stuff. This match is very hard. Not impossible but definitely an uphill battle. Not played as much lately but the match up has gotten easier.
Derevi- Applies a lot of pressure and has so many angles to beat Thrun. It's not a terrible match up but definitely need to work on it. Banned hahaha.
Krenko or Ezuri- these guys lose to removal. Good thing Mono Green has tons- Oh wait. Yea. They can usually go unchecked and nuts if you don't have Prey Upon, Ulvenwald Tracker, or Tower Above. Need removal or fast hand.
Ramp- Decks like Azusa, MW, and Prime Speaker Zegana simply ramp so hard, we can't come back sometimes.
Zur- Ugly man not a troll. Banned!
Part 1 Discovering and loving the format
-81-55 in testing
Part 2: Trying to make sense of the troll
-Top 4 in January Cockatrice Tournament
-3-0 in February Cockatrice Tournament
-64-33 in testing
Part 3: Hiatus into oblivion
The Story of a Troll:
Thrun has come a long way since I first tried him out for Duel Commander. Let's take a look back at the defining moments and metas that the good ol' troll has been through.
Sylvan Library, Berserk, and Wasteland are all good cards you should try to get your hands on if you're looking to make Thrun as competitive as possible.
I'd recommend taking out the expensive ramp spells like Caged Sun and Boundless Realms, and replacing them with Rampant Growth and Into the North (and change your forests to snow-covered), so that you'll have a better chance of getting T3 Thrun.
How has infiltration lens worked out for you? I'm curios how many times thrun actually gets chumped. If your looking for another equipment that gives you cards, mask of memory is pretty sweet.
Also Hall of Gemstone is really cool tech, I had no idea that card existed.
I'm still working on the list. I really need to take out some of the expensive stuff and make the list lower and more efficient. I have a lot of school work right now so yea..
As for Infiltration lens. I really like it. You put a sword and lens on Thrun and you will force to either chump or let sword trigger. It's more cute than effective but it's fun. Sometimes when Thrun has trample and significantly buffed, they will need to chump with more than one creature and it's just value from there.
I am thinking of using Winter Orb and Tangle Wire and make good use of Seedborn Muse/Bear Umbra. Stuff like that. Not sure on it yet.
You might want a Natural Order in there to cheat a vorinclex or terastadon out.
I feel like there might be too many equipment type spells, you only really need 1 that lets you punch through with thrun per game. I've never played a voltron deck, so maybe that's the right number.
I would choose which type of early ramp you want, mana dorks or ramp spells. Both get you to your goal of playing thrun a turn early, but mana dorks can also hold a sword, with the downside being that they can be wrathed away. Off the top of my head, 2 others you could add are fyndhorn elves and arbor elf. Looking at the list again, maybe you do want both, you have lots of things that are good to ramp into like plow under. Its just mana dorks open up plays such as swinging with a sworded elf on turn 3, and they also protect thrun from edict effects likediabolic edict.
Also I don't think chrome mox really fits here, you only want it if you need to play something turn 1 that gives you a massive advantage, but I'm not seeing much that you want on the first turn.
Krosan grip is a little expensive for what it does. Cool, its an uncounterable answer, but seal of primordium generally does the same thing, and you can have it sit out there while using your mana for other things, like regen thrun or when winter orb is out.
Other than that, playtest a few times against some of the popular decks, that will tell you a lot more about what you want and what you need to cut. This looks pretty cool so far, and I'm excited to see where you take it!
I don't think I will be going into too heavily into the taxing route but rather keeping things tapped will be my priority.
I want to run both Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond for that explosive turn 2 Thrun but top decking either of them is just terrible.
More dudes to carry a sword seems good. I also really like Natural Order now as my dorks can now become Vorinclex, Prime Time, Terastodon, or SP.
Dorks look really good right now but I also really like Three Visits, Kodama's Reach, Nature's Lore, and Skyshroud Claim. Partially because I shelled out approximately 40 dollars worth of cards/money to acquire foil/pimped versions of them.
I also agree with lowering the cost of some of my artifact removal.
I think I am going to make a lot of changes. Infiltration Lens is cute like I mentioned before and I will definitely cut it. I also might cut Blanchwood Armor indefinitely if I can get my hands on a Riding the Dilu Horse. They are both on the list because I want the horse but only have armor so I'm not ready to cut Armor yet.
Major Updates! I finally got into the spirit of testing this deck online on cockatrice! I don't play this deck much on paper since I don't have a few pieces and I don't like to proxy.. Riding the Dilu Horse... = = Yea not going to buy one anytime soon. For all the people that had to put up with me learning the interface and playing- Thanks for teaching me!
I got to play a lot of great people today. It was simply fun. This deck needs a lot of reworking. I definitely don't have enough dorks for the consistent opening hand land-elf-go plays. Here are the match ups!
Pregames (I had to learn how to reuse cockatrice again and french on it. I played absolutely terribly. It's a good thing people are nice and taught me how to correctly use the program and play )
Griselbrand
0-1
Game 1: I was mana screwed. I didn't know how to mulligan correctly and he ramped into Griselbrand and that's gg.
Horde of Notions (aggro)
0-1
Game 2: I don't know what I was thinking. I let him beat me down with SoFaF and there was nothing I could do about it.
Merieke ri Bert
2-1
He had a variety of counters, bounces, and removal. It's nothing Thrun cannot handle. The game I lost was when he Mana Tithed my turn 1 elf and I got mana screwed. I eventually misclicked and skip my own turn and I felt I was too behind at that point.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
2-0
Game 1- He spent a lot of time trying to control my board. Eventually Thrun came out with a sword or something and he couldn't handle it.
Game 2- Similar game but he tapped out to play GAA for some reason and it allowed me to pump Thrun easier.
Wyden, the Biting Gale
2-1
Game 1- Very hard fought. I don't like to play against black. Diabolic Edict and nasty amount of counters kept it close but Thrun proved to be too resilent.
Game 2- I tried to take advantage of a T3 Thrun into T4 Tangle Wire. Unfortunately the Tangle Wire met Memory Lapse and then it met Snappy+ Memory Lapse again. I tried to cast it yet again on T6 and it finally resolved. Unfortunately for me he already had taken care of Thrun and had tons of cards in hand vs my terrible hand.
Game 3- Very hard fought. It was one sided but he made me work for it. Far//Away is very nasty. I played around his Damnation and counters very carefully. I might have been able to finish it a bit sooner but I didn't want to overextend too much.
Horde of Notions (Dredge/Oath of Druids?)
2-1
Game 1: I could have won. I hated this. I had Thrun out with SoFaF against his Horde of Nations. We were racing. I could have played both Tangle Wire and Static Orb on my turn with SoFaF. This would have caused him to tap out completely, leaving no mana for any answers. Unfortunately I didn't and he dredged into Ancient Grudge. I scooped. Possibly too early since I had outs.
Game 2: I beat down with Thrun while he tried to search for answers with Oath. Found none.
Game 3: Read Game 2 except it was Terastodon beats instead of Thrun. He oathed into Elesh Norn but it was not sufficient.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1-0
Game 1: Pretty similar to the other match with the other GAA player. I however slow rolled a bit because I was playing League of Legends and then he left. I hope it wasn't because of my play speed.
Varolz, the Scared-Striped
4-2
Very close games. I am not too familiar with how his decks work but every turn was a nail biter because I was wondering if he could scavenge for a bajillion (10-13)
Great scary stuff that happened
-14/14 inkmoths
-whenver Varolz is over 10/10 (This happens wayyyyy too often)
-I ulted Garruk 2.0
-19/19 Thrun
I really like Natural Order in this deck. It seals the deal pretty often. I also really wish that I had drawn more mana dorks opening hand. I think I will probably increase the amount of dorks soon.
Good job on the report. It seems you're doing ok with most meta. Keep testing your deck against different players so that we could assess on its weakness... For example, decks against Zur, Animar (combo and creatures), 5cc combo, Maelstrom (creatures and combo, Jenara (good stuff AND enchantment version), more on GAA4, and many more.
Good job on the report. It seems you're doing ok with most meta. Keep testing your deck against different players so that we could assess on its weakness... For example, decks against Zur, Animar (combo and creatures), 5cc combo, Maelstrom (creatures and combo, Jenara (good stuff AND enchantment version), more on GAA4, and many more.
Hoped that you'll record them.
Edicts are pretty ridiculous against me. I actually will update my post to include my first two games which I lost terribly because I didn't know how to properly use cockatrice (still not entirely familiar). I am definitely making a lot of changes to the deck while keeping what I really liked.
I am really thinking about cutting Karn and Vorinclex. I cannot consistently get them out. Even when I have Natural Order, I almost never want to cheat in Vorinclex over Terastodon or Sylvan Primordial.
Also Dosan has been proven to be a bit slow for me. I want Dosan to protect my swords from being countered but I can't find it in my draws to play both Thrun, Dosan, and a sword effectively.
Also another point I would like to make is that I have yet to use Berserk effectively. I don't think its what this deck wants. We want to make a resilient threat in Thrun and deny them resources. Quick kills are nice but I don't think Berserk is what we want. I will play a bit more to know for sure though.
I am thinking of it. You can't use it well when you are behind but I think it's better than Soul's Majesty. It's pretty much a timewalk if it gets countered. I will try Hunter's insight in place of it.
I am also taking out Berserk. Thrun is not explosive but resilient.
I am also taking out Troll Ascetic for Great Sable Stag. Troll is very weak. It's counterable and only has 2 toughness. I wouldn't invest 2 mana to regen him.
I need more artifact removal so I will add in Viridian corrupter. This allows me to race with other people with a creature with infect blocking or joining the attack.
I am really thinking about cutting Karn and Vorinclex. I cannot consistently get them out. Even when I have Natural Order, I almost never want to cheat in Vorinclex over Terastodon or Sylvan Primordial.
No I love using Natural Order but I never want to get Vorinclex from it. Terastodon, Prime Time, and Sylvan Primordial are all better options. Man this day has been intense. I played a bunch of games against Jenura, Maelstrom Wanderer, and Teysa.. I got beat pretty badly today. There was one game where I had made 3 mistakes that cost me the game. If I hadn't of made any 1 of those mistakes I would have won. What's worse is I could have won on board but forgot my Thrun had Horsemenship and scooped. zzz I need to improve
It's ok. One of the factor is that each deck no matter how similar each generals are, their gameplays are completely different. It takes a while to get use to it. You might want to have a score sheets to keep track... That way you'll see which decks is really a good/bad match ups against Thrun.
You might want to add a sweeper or two in there. When things drags on, green doesn't have much on the sweeper department.
More Merieke ri Bert
2-0
Game 1: Rofellos into Thrun into Prime time
Game 2: He mulled to 5 but still managed to play Liliana, an edict, and stuff. Still won in the end since he had no threats.
Jenura, Asura of War (good stuffs?)
0-4
Game 1: He had 4 counters and left me only Thrun racing Jenura... Yea... not happening.
Game 2: I almost won but misplayed. It was very hard fought. He was at 2 life at one point but I chose to kill his Sylvan Library instead of his detention sphere which had my Loxodon Warhammer which would have won me the game.
Game 3: He got SoFaF and Jenura. What can I say?
Game 4: Another race. He had Jenura with mana and I had Riding the Dilu Horse with Thrun that arrived one turn later. GG.
Maelstrom Wanderer
2-6
There were some close games but I really needed to deal good dmg with THrun before MW came out. Also Oath wrecks me. T2 oath into T3 Prime Time. FML
Nin, the Pain Artist
2-0
Game 1: He countered a lot of things but Thrun got through. He tried to draw answers with Nin but no dice
Game 2: Much more hard fought. He bolted my mana dork and fought much harder this time but I eventually edged out even though I played safe.
Swgg, River Cutthroat
2-0
Game 1: No relevant threats. Thrun beats.
Game 2: He got mana screwed and I had LD. GG
Doran, the Siege Tower
1-1
Game 1: I beat down with Thrun which got bigger than his Doran
Game 2: He got Doran T2 and I had Thrun T4. We raced and he edged out.
Wyden, the Biting Gale
2-0
This match up isn't good for them. Wyden is not a huge threat. Control decks with weaker threats cannot beat Thrun.
Jhoira of the Ghitu
1-2
Game 1: I raced he chumped with Jhoira while counter and then Emrakul came out.
Game 2: I played Thrun then Rancor which he countered then I played Bear Umbra. GG
Game 3: Similar to game one except he was at 2 life and finally got out Koziliek with 7 cards in hand against my 2. I actually did something really stupid and my first 10 cards were 8 lands mana dork and Terastodon. I mulligan 5 lands and Terastodon into 4 lands and Elf and procede to draw forest and Terastodon and I realized I never shuffled my cards on top. my bad.
Teysa, Orzhou Scion
1-2
Game 1: He weathered the storm and got out Iona with Unburial Rites
Game 2: I beat him down with Thrun.
Game 3: T1 entomb, T2 animate dead- Iona.
Horde of Notions (aggro)
2-1
Game 1: Thrun with keen sence, SoFaF, and rancor. GG
Game 2: Goyf + Jitte vs 1 land I lose.
Game 3: Thrun into Stunted Growth and Sword of Vengeance.
Jenura, Asura of War (Enchantress
1-4
Major punts on part. This match up is actually not that bad. This was the game that I made 3 total mistakes. If I didn't make any of the 3. I would have won. One of them was I didn't attack with Thrun one turn and I was sitting on 17 commander dmg at the end. The other was scooping when I had the win. and I also didn't kill Serra Sanctum because I was stupid. Sigh I need to improve.
So the record now is- 14-5 + 18-20 = 32-25
I really need to stop punting. The Jenura match up is terrible for me. I suspect the same for Zur. MW also is not in my favor but decks that focus mostly on control with not so big threats are easier.
Doran, the Siege Tower
1-2
I made terrible misplays because I didn't particularly like my opponent. He kept not discarding cards when he had more than 7 cards in hand or when I attacked in with SoFaF. People make mistakes all the time like not playing a land on accident- myself in particular. I usually let people take it back but this guy didn't listen at all. It irritated me and when I made misplays it bred more misplays. Meh it happens.
Looks like you need another card or 2 of artifact/enchantment removal to deal with jitte/soFaF/oath of druids. They can also hit wanderer's mana rocks to slow him down some.
Other than that, thanks for sharing your results!
Game 1: I played carefully because I was wary of cheap removal and edict. In the end I had 3 creatures (Thrun + co.) and Jitte against his nonexistent board.
Game 2: He got land screwed.
Game 3: I got the nuts. T1 Forest, GSZ - Dyrad Arbor, T2 - Forest, Three Visits / Rofellos - T3 Forest, Thrun / Plow Under.
Godo, Bandit Warlord
2-0
Game 1: T1 BoP into T2 Fallow Earth then I had Thrun with Jitte and Tower Above to get rid of Godo.
Game 2: T1 BoP into T2 Winter's Grasp I also played Plow Under and Sword of Fire and Ice this game and had Nature's Claim/Beast Within/Mouth of Rotom to stop anything he played.
Updated record 38-27
Dat Plow Under. I am keeping it even in my more voltron list.
The list is very dated. I am still working with a lot of cards to find out what I like. Thanks for the suggestions though, I'll respond to them later when I have more time.
I agree but my list is very clunky right now and needs to be changed. Yesterday there would be so many times when I wouldn't get any ramp in my opening hand with stuff like Primal Command, Garruk 2.0, and Terastodon. I pitch them back indefinitely to get forests and no ramp. It happened way too often. I definitely got to try to lower the CMC among other things.
A bit late but here is my tournament report from GP Oakland
Round 1 - Imperial Animar
I get a decent start. Turn 1 Elf is always what I want to see with a Winter's Grasp in hand. Decent is kind of not what you want against the start he had.
I decide to deny him his red source with Winter's Grasp and feel a sign of relief. It was a mistake. He pitches Simian Spirit Guide and plays Animar. Following it up with Coiling Oracle, Shardless Agent, Wall of Blossoms, Gaea's Cradle, Cloud of Faeries, Shrieking Drake etc. etc. etc. Animar gets really big. I take a hit but was able to equip my Thrun with a SoWaP and stall it out. While he attacks for 2 every turn with Drake and Faeries. I survive with a bit of life to Increasing Savagery once. He then plays a Survival of the Fittest to which I Increasing Savagery once again the next turn. If he draws a creature, I believe I lose. However he doesn't and I have Rogue's Passage. GG.
Turn 3 Prime Time with Gaea's Cradle. I stablize a bit with Uvenwald Tracker and Thrun but he takes advantage of it by drawing Summoner's Pact and getting Slyvan Safekeeper.He then gets to play Ezuri and GG.
He slows me down and bit and gets a scary Angelic Destiny on Geist turn 4, I handle it with Bramblecrush. He misplays a bit by Cyclonic Rifting my Snake Umbra instead of Thrun himself and wastes Supreme Verdict when I have regen mana up. GG.
He ramps and stalls with Venser. I'm one attack away from winning but he gets mindslaver and then he goes infinite. I didn't draw anything to slow him down.
Final record 3-3 and I place in 12th since 2 of the people I beat dropped and had bad win %.
Like I said my list had too high cmc cost. I need to lower it and tune somethings out.
Would you mind shedding some insight on how this list plays? My buddy just built a Thrun Duel Commander deck and when it explodes, it EXPLODES (Fastbond, Forest, Forest, Forest, Forest, Thrun, the Last Troll go? Turn 2 Swing, Hunter's Insight draw 4 go?) but when he dumps his hand aggressively and has no steroids (either didn't draw or they get removed/countered) he tends to grind to a halt and either gets through on virtue of Thrun being ridiculously hard to trade with or dies slowly.
What kind of hands do you keep and which are throwaways? Besides things like Harmonize, Hunter's Insight and the like, what can he do to draw more cards so that he doesn't run out of gas? Would running some other threats alongside Thrun work well? He has a Baloth Woodcrasher now as an example and... well Turn 6 taking a equipped thrun and a 8/8 trampler was not fun
Thanks!
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Ramp, Troll, and Control.
Da Troll himself:
Introduction:
You read it. Thrun is a uncounterable, regenerable, hexproofable, sword equipable 4/4 Troll. There is no other creature in the game that has that kind of resiliency. Setting up Thrun the Great Voltron is rather easy. Many decks have very few options to interact with our trolling allows us to win many games. DC however is a rather diverse format. There are many decks that simply don't care about our troll if you do not interact with them. Our great troll voltron needs help! Therefore you will also need to add in our very own mono green very fair and cool land/mana disruption package. Combining Thrun the Great Voltron with an effective resource denial results in the most awesome package of trolling. Sometimes you will even feel guilty you do the things you do as while opponents try to somehow interact with Thrun with a diminishing mana supply. It's okay boys, this isn't stax, it's more tempo if anything.
Reasons to play Thrun
- You enjoy saying no to control players and beating them down with a growing troll.
- You enjoy playing Ice Storm into Thrun into Plow Under and squealing inside like a little girl while feeling guilty.
- You enjoy a deck that can be competitive in the right meta.
Reasons not to play Thrun
- You enjoy directly controlling your opponent by saying no and actually interacting with them.
- You enjoy swarming your opponent with small pathetic creatures.
- You enjoy playing intricate strategies that take time and thought to execute.
- You enjoy playing stupid combos that should not exist.
Win Cons
-Play Thrun and give him steroids
-Play fair land destruction
-Play both
Commander:
4 Thrun, the Last Troll
Dorks & Co.
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Boreal Druid
1 Fynhorn Elves
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Arbor Elf
1 Joraga Treespeaker
2 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Viridian Shaman
3 Eternal Witness
5 Wolfir Silverheart
5 Acidic Slime
6 Primeval Titan
Troll Steroids:
1 O-Naginata
1 Rancor
1 Keen Sense
1 Spider Umbra
2 Kitesail
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Snake Umbra
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Sword of War and Peace
3 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Riding the Dilu Horse
4 Bear Umbra
4 Increasing Savagery
1 Utopia Sprawl
1 Wild Growth
2 Three Visits
2 Nature's Lore
Card Draw and Tutors (list is small :():
0 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Worldly Tutor
4 Harmonize
Control/Utility:
1 Oxidize
1 Nature's Claim
1 Prey Upon
1 Mirri's Guile
2 Provoke
2 Seal of Primordium
2 Sylvan Library
2 Lignify
3 Tangle Wire
3 Tower Above
3 Beast Within
3 Winter's Grasp
3 Ice Storm
3 Thermokast
4 Bramblecrush
4 Creeping Mold
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
5 Plow Under
5 Stunted Growth
5 Primal Command
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
7 Karn Liberated
Real Estate:
29 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Mouth of Rotom
1 Dyrad Arbor
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Rishardan Port
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Wasteland
1 Dust Bowl
Shout outs to Minsarker's list for inspiring me to play Thrun EDH.
and masd for helping me tune the list a bit.
Card Options and Strategies:
The list above still needs work currently. However here are some card options and analyses on why or why not I chose to play the cards I play.
Steroids, Swords, and a Horse:
You should look for 2-3 things when deciding on what to play for Thrun.
1. Evasion
2. Muscle Building
3. Side Effects
4. Money(Cost Efficiency)
Evasion helps you avoid pesky chump blockers and helps the Troll on his way to victory.
Muscle Building is for when you finally get to punch your opponent and need more juice.
Side Effects are things like card advantage or neat effects that help you win the game or not lose the game.
Money refers to the effective cost of the respective card. Good steroids should always come at a fine price.
These factors should be what you also look for your troll kit. Try to consider these choices as well when you want to pump your troll. I personally value cards that provide at least 2 of the Evasion, Muscle Building, or Side Effects at a good price. I believe each card should be evaluated as if it's the only steroid you have for Thrun. Some cards are really good if you have additional steroids but you can't always trust your dealer will have a variety of goods. You need to know the steroids you get will be enough and costs a good price.
Umm yea. Protection from green (Marath, Prossh, Ezuri, Derevi, Jenura, Animar) and Black (Griselbrand, Zur, Skullbriar, Varolz) and +2/2. Untap lands and makes opponent discard. Yea auto include. So what if we can't give him more steroids when he's equipped with it. You get evasion, Muscle Building, Good blocks, and bad side effects for your opponent. A Feast for me and A Famine for you.
Approved for trolling.
Sword of Fire and Ice
Protection from blue and red and +2/2. Last time I checked blue is overpowered. Red is getting stronger imo. It's great against Radha. Plus shock to kill things like Talrand, Krenko and Ezuri. Good stuff. Great Evasion, Muscle Building, Card Advantage, and it shocks. A song of Ice and Fire.
Approved for trolling.
Sword of War and Peace
Protection from White? That's Geist, Thalia, Marath, Derevi) and Red (Animar- It's won me an Animar match up) Deals damage equal to amount of cards in opponents hand - eh not totally irrelevant. Gains life equal to cards in hand - helps against Aggro. This card is mainly for evasion and life gain. It's okay. So yea. Decent Evasion Tales of War and Peace. It doesn't always happen.
Approved for trolling.
Sword of Body and Mind
Protection from Green and Blue -Both very relevant colors. However the Mill is meh and actually helps some decks and the Spirit Wolf is just very uninspiring. We also can't give more steroids on Thrun if he holds this so thats a bummer you know. I still want to test this out. It helps against Derevi, Marath, Prossh, Zur, Geist, Animar, etc etc. Except I think the fact that only holding this sword without more steroids is just very underwhelming and doesn't pack enough trolling. So yea. Great evasion and muscle building. However its side effects aren't very useful and it's limits the amount of steroids you can use. So yea. Master the Body and Mind.
Testing needed for trolling.
Sword of Light and Shadow
White has relevant stuff and so does black but in the end it's so just so underwhelming. You don't run too many creatures and 3 life is ehhhh.Decent evasion and muscle building and not bad side effects but it still doesn't seem like it's enough. There cannot be Light without a Shadow. .
Not troll enough brah.
Umezawa's Jitte
Yea... This card is overpowered. Won't even explain. If you haven't played with it yet. Don't read about how good it is and play it. TL;DR: Umezawa's Jitte is OP. No evasion but who cares.
Approved for trolling.
Riding the Dilu Horse
Ultimate Troll Horsey. Horsemanship. Ultimate Trolling. The Horsemanship stays on. Yes. So does the +2/2. I put the annotation "Horsey" every time and my opponents don't realize they are dead the next turn until it's too late. Oh Time to Ride the Horse to Victory!
Approved for trolling.
Increasing Savagery
Add 5 +1/1 counters for 4 and 10 when flashbacked for 7. This + any evasion = nasty. Also you can add the counters then slap onSword of Feast and Famine without Thrun losing all his juicy goodness. Great pump and resilience. Worth the decent cost even though it doesn't give evasion. Savagery increased.
Approved for trolling.
Bear Umbra
Totem Armor - +2/2 Untaps all lands when attacking. Kinda OP.
Approved for trolling.
Snake Umbra
Totem Armor - +1/1 Gives you much needed CA for more trolling.
Approved for trolling.
Spider Umbra
Totem Armor - +1/1 Reach to block stuff like ugly man Zur and fliers.
Approved for trolling.
Side note for Totem Armor:
Defense against wrath effects - one of the few ways stop the troll.
Control player - "I finally get my pleeb 4 mana and cast Wrath of God. I survive the trolling!! Praizzzzz mah Lorde!"
Troll - tap :symg::symg:
Control player - "You can't regen mah gud sir."
Troll - Puts Umbra into the graveyard. "Replacement effect mah gud bro."
Control player - "Wut....."
Troll - "GG"
Loxodon Warhammer
Lifegain, Trample, and +3/0. Decent evasion and boost. LIFELINK!!!!!!! Worth the cost imo.
Approved for trolling.
Kitesail
Flying and +1/0 - Very relevant. Blocking Derevi, Zur, and Angels from Geist is very important. Gives your evasion, a little boost and helps you against very difficult match ups.
Approved for trolling.
Rancor
Trample and +2/0 and recursion. Cheap evasion and pump. Gotta love it.
Approved for trolling.
O-Naginata
Trample and +3/0 for 3 if you want to equip on same turn. You can also play it turn 1 since we don't have much turn 1 ramp. Evasion.. check. Muscle Building... check. Cheap.... check.
Approved for trolling.
Keen Sense
cheap much needed CA.
Approved for trolling.
Sword of Vengeance
Haste, Trample, First Strike, Vigilance and wait... +2/0? Dang man this is legit... But its 6 mana if you want to equip it on 1 turn. It gives a little bit of everything but nothing significant enough. The price is also too damn high. 6 mana means it comes 2 turns after Thrun usually. This is too late if it's your only Sword/Pump. This sword will not cut it if it's your only means of victory. It needs another card to excel and is too expensive for what it gives. Sorry you have been cut. Sorry Vengeance is meant for another day.
Not troll enough brah.
Ring of Kalonia
Trample and a +1/1 Counter every upkeep. It's not too pricey but I don't like it. It doesn't do enough when it hits the field and needs time to be worth it.
Not troll enough brah.
Mask of Memory
Generates CA and discards. It's more pricey than Keen Sense which I don't like but I do like the extra card. But the reason I play Keen Sense is because you can easier slap on more steroids on the same turn.
Testing needed for trolling.
Fireshrieker
Double Strike. It needs evasion from another card to work out. It can be great but it can also do nothing when you can get chump blocked.
Not troll enough brah.
Inquisitor's Flail
Bad Double Strike. Yea. Nope.
Not troll enough brah.
Denied!:
I will separate the resource denial section into two parts; Land Denial and Other Denial.
Land Denial is anything that destroys or tucks lands. My favorite kind of removal. It's straight forward and not nice.
Other Denial can be an array of cards and effects that slow down or deny resources to your opponent.
Land Denial
Green Stone Rains. Run them all.
Winter's Grasp
Ice Storm
Thermokarst
Honorary Fallow Earth
Fits the curve. Destroys all hope. Have fun.
Approved for trolling.
Match Ups
Best Match Ups - Control decks waiting to get trolled
Wydwen, the Biting Gale-They will have a lot of control but in the end of the day, Thrun should consistently troll over.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV- Yea... Not much to see here. GAAIV is slow and grindy but in the end, we have a 4/4 Hexproof Thrun that can carry swords.
Vendilion Clique - A lot of counters and a lot of bounce. Thrun laughs.
Geist of Saint Traft-Surprisingly easy. Geist can't effectively attack into Thrun and runs into trouble trying to race if Thrun is juiced up.
Thanks to new M14 rules, Phantasmal Image and Metamorph no longer screw us over.
With the new commander rules from M14, Thrun gained a slight to significant power boost. Prior to this era, an aggro deck's real solution to Thrun was playing a Thrun of their own. Not anymore suckersssss.
Radha, Heir to Keld can be pretty fast but if you get the troll out early, he can block and slow her down quite a bit. Nut draws will be nut draws but other than that. A pretty good match up.
Kaalia of the Vast Destroy some lands reject some hoes.
Matches almost determined by going first or who has T1 Mana dork
Gaddock TeegThe aggro version is much easier to handle. However I have been seeing more of the good stuff/ramp version lately and it is causing some trouble
Doran the Siege Tower A decent match up if you go first with a mana dork. Doran just has so many tools, it can be difficult.
Prossh Skyraider of Kher- Still trying to figure out this match up. Always one attack from winning before he goes nuts.
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic- Tutor into Doomsday early on? I guess I need a nut draw.
Decks to hate:
Marath- This swiss army knife of an elemental beast can do so many things. Wait that's what a swiss army knife does. DUH. You got your tutor, your ramp, your aggro, your combo, your removal, your win, and probably more. Winnable but a pain if piloted by skilled players.
Reanimator- Our only effective solution to this is probably Scavenging Ooze and he is not effective in consistently coming out. Hope for a fast hand and a slow one from your opponent. Not how you want to play Magic but it happens.
Jenura- He flies, gets out a turn earlier, can grow bigger than Thrun, and plays counters, removal, and good stuff. This match is very hard. Not impossible but definitely an uphill battle. Not played as much lately but the match up has gotten easier.
Derevi- Applies a lot of pressure and has so many angles to beat Thrun. It's not a terrible match up but definitely need to work on it. Banned hahaha.
Krenko or Ezuri- these guys lose to removal. Good thing Mono Green has tons- Oh wait. Yea. They can usually go unchecked and nuts if you don't have Prey Upon, Ulvenwald Tracker, or Tower Above. Need removal or fast hand.
Ramp- Decks like Azusa, MW, and Prime Speaker Zegana simply ramp so hard, we can't come back sometimes.
Zur- Ugly man not a troll. Banned!
Part 1 Discovering and loving the format
-81-55 in testing
Part 2: Trying to make sense of the troll
-Top 4 in January Cockatrice Tournament
-3-0 in February Cockatrice Tournament
-64-33 in testing
Part 3: Hiatus into oblivion
The Story of a Troll:
Thrun has come a long way since I first tried him out for Duel Commander. Let's take a look back at the defining moments and metas that the good ol' troll has been through.
Post Edric
Currently working on this...
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
I'd recommend taking out the expensive ramp spells like Caged Sun and Boundless Realms, and replacing them with Rampant Growth and Into the North (and change your forests to snow-covered), so that you'll have a better chance of getting T3 Thrun.
I also recommend replacing Tooth and Nail with Summoner's Pact.
You also may want to consider Seal of Primordium and Nature's Claim (artifact/enchantment destruction is really good in today's meta).
I hope this helped.
I was thinking about Bonesplitter or Grafted Wargear as other means of buffing up thrun. what do you guys think?
Some changes after testing:
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Also Hall of Gemstone is really cool tech, I had no idea that card existed.
As for Infiltration lens. I really like it. You put a sword and lens on Thrun and you will force to either chump or let sword trigger. It's more cute than effective but it's fun. Sometimes when Thrun has trample and significantly buffed, they will need to chump with more than one creature and it's just value from there.
I am thinking of using Winter Orb and Tangle Wire and make good use of Seedborn Muse/Bear Umbra. Stuff like that. Not sure on it yet.
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
I feel like there might be too many equipment type spells, you only really need 1 that lets you punch through with thrun per game. I've never played a voltron deck, so maybe that's the right number.
I like the mana denial strategy in there, thorn of amethyst and lodestone golem might have a place in here.
I would choose which type of early ramp you want, mana dorks or ramp spells. Both get you to your goal of playing thrun a turn early, but mana dorks can also hold a sword, with the downside being that they can be wrathed away. Off the top of my head, 2 others you could add are fyndhorn elves and arbor elf. Looking at the list again, maybe you do want both, you have lots of things that are good to ramp into like plow under. Its just mana dorks open up plays such as swinging with a sworded elf on turn 3, and they also protect thrun from edict effects likediabolic edict.
Also I don't think chrome mox really fits here, you only want it if you need to play something turn 1 that gives you a massive advantage, but I'm not seeing much that you want on the first turn.
Krosan grip is a little expensive for what it does. Cool, its an uncounterable answer, but seal of primordium generally does the same thing, and you can have it sit out there while using your mana for other things, like regen thrun or when winter orb is out.
Other than that, playtest a few times against some of the popular decks, that will tell you a lot more about what you want and what you need to cut. This looks pretty cool so far, and I'm excited to see where you take it!
I don't think I will be going into too heavily into the taxing route but rather keeping things tapped will be my priority.
I want to run both Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond for that explosive turn 2 Thrun but top decking either of them is just terrible.
More dudes to carry a sword seems good. I also really like Natural Order now as my dorks can now become Vorinclex, Prime Time, Terastodon, or SP.
Dorks look really good right now but I also really like Three Visits, Kodama's Reach, Nature's Lore, and Skyshroud Claim. Partially because I shelled out approximately 40 dollars worth of cards/money to acquire foil/pimped versions of them.
I also agree with lowering the cost of some of my artifact removal.
I think I am going to make a lot of changes. Infiltration Lens is cute like I mentioned before and I will definitely cut it. I also might cut Blanchwood Armor indefinitely if I can get my hands on a Riding the Dilu Horse. They are both on the list because I want the horse but only have armor so I'm not ready to cut Armor yet.
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
I got to play a lot of great people today. It was simply fun. This deck needs a lot of reworking. I definitely don't have enough dorks for the consistent opening hand land-elf-go plays. Here are the match ups!
Pregames (I had to learn how to reuse cockatrice again and french on it. I played absolutely terribly. It's a good thing people are nice and taught me how to correctly use the program and play )
Griselbrand
0-1
Game 1: I was mana screwed. I didn't know how to mulligan correctly and he ramped into Griselbrand and that's gg.
Horde of Notions (aggro)
0-1
Game 2: I don't know what I was thinking. I let him beat me down with SoFaF and there was nothing I could do about it.
Merieke ri Bert
2-1
He had a variety of counters, bounces, and removal. It's nothing Thrun cannot handle. The game I lost was when he Mana Tithed my turn 1 elf and I got mana screwed. I eventually misclicked and skip my own turn and I felt I was too behind at that point.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
2-0
Game 1- He spent a lot of time trying to control my board. Eventually Thrun came out with a sword or something and he couldn't handle it.
Game 2- Similar game but he tapped out to play GAA for some reason and it allowed me to pump Thrun easier.
Wyden, the Biting Gale
2-1
Game 1- Very hard fought. I don't like to play against black. Diabolic Edict and nasty amount of counters kept it close but Thrun proved to be too resilent.
Game 2- I tried to take advantage of a T3 Thrun into T4 Tangle Wire. Unfortunately the Tangle Wire met Memory Lapse and then it met Snappy+ Memory Lapse again. I tried to cast it yet again on T6 and it finally resolved. Unfortunately for me he already had taken care of Thrun and had tons of cards in hand vs my terrible hand.
Game 3- Very hard fought. It was one sided but he made me work for it. Far//Away is very nasty. I played around his Damnation and counters very carefully. I might have been able to finish it a bit sooner but I didn't want to overextend too much.
Horde of Notions (Dredge/Oath of Druids?)
2-1
Game 1: I could have won. I hated this. I had Thrun out with SoFaF against his Horde of Nations. We were racing. I could have played both Tangle Wire and Static Orb on my turn with SoFaF. This would have caused him to tap out completely, leaving no mana for any answers. Unfortunately I didn't and he dredged into Ancient Grudge. I scooped. Possibly too early since I had outs.
Game 2: I beat down with Thrun while he tried to search for answers with Oath. Found none.
Game 3: Read Game 2 except it was Terastodon beats instead of Thrun. He oathed into Elesh Norn but it was not sufficient.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1-0
Game 1: Pretty similar to the other match with the other GAA player. I however slow rolled a bit because I was playing League of Legends and then he left. I hope it wasn't because of my play speed.
Varolz, the Scared-Striped
4-2
Very close games. I am not too familiar with how his decks work but every turn was a nail biter because I was wondering if he could scavenge for a bajillion (10-13)
Great scary stuff that happened
-14/14 inkmoths
-whenver Varolz is over 10/10 (This happens wayyyyy too often)
-I ulted Garruk 2.0
-19/19 Thrun
Radha, Heir to Keld
2-0
Game 1: T2 Fallow Earth followed by Thrun, Bramblecrush, sealed the game.
Game 2: Prime Time, Primal Command, Natural Order did work.
14-5 Overall Record so far.
I really like Natural Order in this deck. It seals the deal pretty often. I also really wish that I had drawn more mana dorks opening hand. I think I will probably increase the amount of dorks soon.
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Hoped that you'll record them.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Edicts are pretty ridiculous against me. I actually will update my post to include my first two games which I lost terribly because I didn't know how to properly use cockatrice (still not entirely familiar). I am definitely making a lot of changes to the deck while keeping what I really liked.
I am really thinking about cutting Karn and Vorinclex. I cannot consistently get them out. Even when I have Natural Order, I almost never want to cheat in Vorinclex over Terastodon or Sylvan Primordial.
Also Dosan has been proven to be a bit slow for me. I want Dosan to protect my swords from being countered but I can't find it in my draws to play both Thrun, Dosan, and a sword effectively.
Also another point I would like to make is that I have yet to use Berserk effectively. I don't think its what this deck wants. We want to make a resilient threat in Thrun and deny them resources. Quick kills are nice but I don't think Berserk is what we want. I will play a bit more to know for sure though.
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
I am thinking of it. You can't use it well when you are behind but I think it's better than Soul's Majesty. It's pretty much a timewalk if it gets countered. I will try Hunter's insight in place of it.
I am also taking out Berserk. Thrun is not explosive but resilient.
I am also taking out Troll Ascetic for Great Sable Stag. Troll is very weak. It's counterable and only has 2 toughness. I wouldn't invest 2 mana to regen him.
I need more artifact removal so I will add in Viridian corrupter. This allows me to race with other people with a creature with infect blocking or joining the attack.
Changes:
- Soul's Majesty
+ Hunter's Insight
- Troll Ascetic
+ Great Sable Stag
- Berserk
+ Viridian Corrupter
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
So you never want to use Natural Order?
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
No I love using Natural Order but I never want to get Vorinclex from it. Terastodon, Prime Time, and Sylvan Primordial are all better options. Man this day has been intense. I played a bunch of games against Jenura, Maelstrom Wanderer, and Teysa.. I got beat pretty badly today. There was one game where I had made 3 mistakes that cost me the game. If I hadn't of made any 1 of those mistakes I would have won. What's worse is I could have won on board but forgot my Thrun had Horsemenship and scooped. zzz I need to improve
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
You might want to add a sweeper or two in there. When things drags on, green doesn't have much on the sweeper department.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
More Merieke ri Bert
2-0
Game 1: Rofellos into Thrun into Prime time
Game 2: He mulled to 5 but still managed to play Liliana, an edict, and stuff. Still won in the end since he had no threats.
Jenura, Asura of War (good stuffs?)
0-4
Game 1: He had 4 counters and left me only Thrun racing Jenura... Yea... not happening.
Game 2: I almost won but misplayed. It was very hard fought. He was at 2 life at one point but I chose to kill his Sylvan Library instead of his detention sphere which had my Loxodon Warhammer which would have won me the game.
Game 3: He got SoFaF and Jenura. What can I say?
Game 4: Another race. He had Jenura with mana and I had Riding the Dilu Horse with Thrun that arrived one turn later. GG.
Maelstrom Wanderer
2-6
There were some close games but I really needed to deal good dmg with THrun before MW came out. Also Oath wrecks me. T2 oath into T3 Prime Time. FML
Nin, the Pain Artist
2-0
Game 1: He countered a lot of things but Thrun got through. He tried to draw answers with Nin but no dice
Game 2: Much more hard fought. He bolted my mana dork and fought much harder this time but I eventually edged out even though I played safe.
Swgg, River Cutthroat
2-0
Game 1: No relevant threats. Thrun beats.
Game 2: He got mana screwed and I had LD. GG
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1-2
Game 1: I had an answer for his Jitte and Thrun beat through easily.
Game 2: I was land screwed and he got jitte again and took out my mana dork
Game 3: He had T3 Mirran Crusader and T4Hero of Bladehold.
Doran, the Siege Tower
1-1
Game 1: I beat down with Thrun which got bigger than his Doran
Game 2: He got Doran T2 and I had Thrun T4. We raced and he edged out.
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
3-0
I don't think this deck was competitive. It was fairly easy
Damia, Sage of Stone
1-0
I don't think this was competitive either. GG
Wyden, the Biting Gale
2-0
This match up isn't good for them. Wyden is not a huge threat. Control decks with weaker threats cannot beat Thrun.
Jhoira of the Ghitu
1-2
Game 1: I raced he chumped with Jhoira while counter and then Emrakul came out.
Game 2: I played Thrun then Rancor which he countered then I played Bear Umbra. GG
Game 3: Similar to game one except he was at 2 life and finally got out Koziliek with 7 cards in hand against my 2. I actually did something really stupid and my first 10 cards were 8 lands mana dork and Terastodon. I mulligan 5 lands and Terastodon into 4 lands and Elf and procede to draw forest and Terastodon and I realized I never shuffled my cards on top. my bad.
Teysa, Orzhou Scion
1-2
Game 1: He weathered the storm and got out Iona with Unburial Rites
Game 2: I beat him down with Thrun.
Game 3: T1 entomb, T2 animate dead- Iona.
Horde of Notions (aggro)
2-1
Game 1: Thrun with keen sence, SoFaF, and rancor. GG
Game 2: Goyf + Jitte vs 1 land I lose.
Game 3: Thrun into Stunted Growth and Sword of Vengeance.
Jenura, Asura of War (Enchantress
1-4
Major punts on part. This match up is actually not that bad. This was the game that I made 3 total mistakes. If I didn't make any of the 3. I would have won. One of them was I didn't attack with Thrun one turn and I was sitting on 17 commander dmg at the end. The other was scooping when I had the win. and I also didn't kill Serra Sanctum because I was stupid. Sigh I need to improve.
So the record now is- 14-5 + 18-20 = 32-25
I really need to stop punting. The Jenura match up is terrible for me. I suspect the same for Zur. MW also is not in my favor but decks that focus mostly on control with not so big threats are easier.
Doran, the Siege Tower
1-2
I made terrible misplays because I didn't particularly like my opponent. He kept not discarding cards when he had more than 7 cards in hand or when I attacked in with SoFaF. People make mistakes all the time like not playing a land on accident- myself in particular. I usually let people take it back but this guy didn't listen at all. It irritated me and when I made misplays it bred more misplays. Meh it happens.
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Other than that, thanks for sharing your results!
More results:
Glissa, the Traitor
3-0
Game 1: I played carefully because I was wary of cheap removal and edict. In the end I had 3 creatures (Thrun + co.) and Jitte against his nonexistent board.
Game 2: He got land screwed.
Game 3: I got the nuts. T1 Forest, GSZ - Dyrad Arbor, T2 - Forest, Three Visits / Rofellos - T3 Forest, Thrun / Plow Under.
Godo, Bandit Warlord
2-0
Game 1: T1 BoP into T2 Fallow Earth then I had Thrun with Jitte and Tower Above to get rid of Godo.
Game 2: T1 BoP into T2 Winter's Grasp I also played Plow Under and Sword of Fire and Ice this game and had Nature's Claim/Beast Within/Mouth of Rotom to stop anything he played.
Updated record 38-27
Dat Plow Under. I am keeping it even in my more voltron list.
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Round 1 - Imperial Animar
I get a decent start. Turn 1 Elf is always what I want to see with a Winter's Grasp in hand. Decent is kind of not what you want against the start he had.
I decide to deny him his red source with Winter's Grasp and feel a sign of relief. It was a mistake. He pitches Simian Spirit Guide and plays Animar. Following it up with Coiling Oracle, Shardless Agent, Wall of Blossoms, Gaea's Cradle, Cloud of Faeries, Shrieking Drake etc. etc. etc. Animar gets really big. I take a hit but was able to equip my Thrun with a SoWaP and stall it out. While he attacks for 2 every turn with Drake and Faeries. I survive with a bit of life to Increasing Savagery once. He then plays a Survival of the Fittest to which I Increasing Savagery once again the next turn. If he draws a creature, I believe I lose. However he doesn't and I have Rogue's Passage. GG.
Round 2 - Child of Alara
I destroy 2 lands and he is mana screwed with Thrun out with SoFaF. He scoops.
Round 3- Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
He gets a pretty fast start and I misplay a bit. Wasting a tutor and playing Hall of Gemstone when he has Elves of Deep Shadow out.
Round 4- Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Turn 3 Prime Time with Gaea's Cradle. I stablize a bit with Uvenwald Tracker and Thrun but he takes advantage of it by drawing Summoner's Pact and getting Slyvan Safekeeper.He then gets to play Ezuri and GG.
Round 5- Geist of Saint Traft
He slows me down and bit and gets a scary Angelic Destiny on Geist turn 4, I handle it with Bramblecrush. He misplays a bit by Cyclonic Rifting my Snake Umbra instead of Thrun himself and wastes Supreme Verdict when I have regen mana up. GG.
Round 6- Azami, Lady of Scrolls
He ramps and stalls with Venser. I'm one attack away from winning but he gets mindslaver and then he goes infinite. I didn't draw anything to slow him down.
Final record 3-3 and I place in 12th since 2 of the people I beat dropped and had bad win %.
Like I said my list had too high cmc cost. I need to lower it and tune somethings out.
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Sexy Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios
EDH
G Isao
Would you mind shedding some insight on how this list plays? My buddy just built a Thrun Duel Commander deck and when it explodes, it EXPLODES (Fastbond, Forest, Forest, Forest, Forest, Thrun, the Last Troll go? Turn 2 Swing, Hunter's Insight draw 4 go?) but when he dumps his hand aggressively and has no steroids (either didn't draw or they get removed/countered) he tends to grind to a halt and either gets through on virtue of Thrun being ridiculously hard to trade with or dies slowly.
What kind of hands do you keep and which are throwaways? Besides things like Harmonize, Hunter's Insight and the like, what can he do to draw more cards so that he doesn't run out of gas? Would running some other threats alongside Thrun work well? He has a Baloth Woodcrasher now as an example and... well Turn 6 taking a equipped thrun and a 8/8 trampler was not fun
Thanks!