For more Equipment based builds you have Rafiq of the Many as a solid option in a good color combination that gives you ramp, permission, and removal along with your voltron package.
All three of those decks can run the card Dueling Grounds which actually makes the strategy not terrible in multiplayer. Silent Arbiter does the same thing but dies easier.
Along the same lines you have Smoke for Red and Stoic Angel for Bant.
That +2 is insane in my opinion. Put all the gas into your hand within the top three cards. The -2 protects himself like any good planeswalker should. And his ultimate is pretty good even if you just have dudes in play and no other walkers. 8/10 for the commander format from me
If the commander is now Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, then I don't think the pinger strategy is really worth it. Unless that was the core strategy you wanted all along then I would cut those first since you don't need them to get Rakdos, Lord of Riots onto the board anymore. Cards like Basilisk Collar are still good without them anyway
I agree with LouCypher's opinion that they should be counted as a legendary, but more from principle than mechanical reasons.
If a group is going to let you count your "non-legendary" creature as a legendary for the purposes of being your commander, then you should also get all the cons that go along with that as well. Just seems more fair that way to me I guess.
Its like my playgroup letting our friend play Elbrus, the Binding Blade as his commander. If the artifact or Withengar Unbound go back to the command zone then he has to pay commander tax just like everyone else. And that dagger gets pretty dang expensive
I agree on trying not to go too light on the top end. With Rakdos, however, its easier to have a very high top end with creatures like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Darksteel Colossus. Frostwielder is sort of week as a pinger and as graveyard hate since you're also playing black with access to many better options for that like Planar Void or Leyline of the Void.
I will say though I have also never played with Frostwielder before so it could be amazing and I just don't know haha
*Edit* Also, this thread might have been supposed to be posted in the "Multiplayer Decklist" sub-forum. Don't be alarmed if a Mod moves it
Since you have to cut down so many cards at the moment, you'll probably have to sacrifice certain themes or at least some cards in each theme. It's the hardest part when building with a lot of cards you like
I think at the very least the Deviant Glee is an easy cut since it's an aura that 2 for 1's you if/when they kill your creature and isn't giving too much of a benefit.
For the pinger theme, if I had to pick one, I would focus more on having cheap ways to put pingers into play to get Rakdos on the field. Pingers that cost more than 3 CMC conflict with being able to play your commander reliably on turn 4. If I were to cut things I would stick to regular pingers that I can suit up to give deathtouch rather than deathtouch creatures I need to make be able to ping since the pinging is far more important to playing your commander than having deathtouch creatures is.
It really is still a playstyle preference though so maybe the exact opposite would be more enjoyable for you, but cuts have to happen somewhere.
Once you get the deck down to 100 cards it will be a lot easier to refine it to the way you want to play.
If you're still trying to cut things, maybe Thrill-Kill Assassin? It can try and get in for damage early, but also seems like one of the weaker cards in the list to fight multiple opponents. Also Deviant Glee sort of stands out as well.
This is just a start, but I would begin cuts with low impact cards that aren't that efficient for what they're doing and don't swing the game for you.
Kill-Suit Cultist and Baleful Eidolon are two of the ones that first caught my eye. Yes the cultist is a 1 CMC creature that helps you get damage in for Rakdos, Lord of Riots, but at that point almost any other 1 drop creature could be better, even a Raging Goblin. The eidolon just appears to be a sort of weak card. It can give deathtouch to your pingers but things like Gorgon Flail can't be removed as easy and if the creature dies you get to keep it around not as a small, deathtouch body.
I don't know if you agree with that reasoning, but I hope it helped a little
I believe Skye629 is asking why someone would opt for say Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder over something like Cromat with access to all of the colors and, therefore, all of the cards.
In my opinion it comes down to two things - 1. Abilities 2. Flavor
I think the new commanders have many more interesting effects than the majority of five color commanders as well as having been worked on specifically by WotC design to try and represent a magic card devoid of one color. Some are better at it than others, but I think there was definitely an effort towards making the flavor of the cards matter in this edition of the Commander product.
idea of a deck that scales with opponents is a good one. Play lots of copy spells, so that your deck is always as strong/weak as your opponents.
I agree with this point. Spells like Clever Impersonator and Reverberate are a lot of fun without being oppressive, as long as you're copying your opponent's spells and not something like a Time Warp of yours Also there are the "gain control of" effects like Confiscate.
Blue is the color that gets most of these toys, but there are things like Mimic Vat that let you play with that sort of feel in any color combo.
I'll second a vote for Ephara. Holding up mana for answers or creatures during your opponents turns AND drawing cards because of it? Seems pretty great. But I am a sucker for drawing cards
I would probably also get one/two shot by Akuta because, honestly, who would have thought? 10/10 Super cool deck
For more Equipment based builds you have Rafiq of the Many as a solid option in a good color combination that gives you ramp, permission, and removal along with your voltron package.
All three of those decks can run the card Dueling Grounds which actually makes the strategy not terrible in multiplayer. Silent Arbiter does the same thing but dies easier.
Along the same lines you have Smoke for Red and Stoic Angel for Bant.
These are just the ideas that came to mind atm
If a group is going to let you count your "non-legendary" creature as a legendary for the purposes of being your commander, then you should also get all the cons that go along with that as well. Just seems more fair that way to me I guess.
Its like my playgroup letting our friend play Elbrus, the Binding Blade as his commander. If the artifact or Withengar Unbound go back to the command zone then he has to pay commander tax just like everyone else. And that dagger gets pretty dang expensive
I will say though I have also never played with Frostwielder before so it could be amazing and I just don't know haha
*Edit* Also, this thread might have been supposed to be posted in the "Multiplayer Decklist" sub-forum. Don't be alarmed if a Mod moves it
I think at the very least the Deviant Glee is an easy cut since it's an aura that 2 for 1's you if/when they kill your creature and isn't giving too much of a benefit.
For the pinger theme, if I had to pick one, I would focus more on having cheap ways to put pingers into play to get Rakdos on the field. Pingers that cost more than 3 CMC conflict with being able to play your commander reliably on turn 4. If I were to cut things I would stick to regular pingers that I can suit up to give deathtouch rather than deathtouch creatures I need to make be able to ping since the pinging is far more important to playing your commander than having deathtouch creatures is.
It really is still a playstyle preference though so maybe the exact opposite would be more enjoyable for you, but cuts have to happen somewhere.
Once you get the deck down to 100 cards it will be a lot easier to refine it to the way you want to play.
I guess it doesn't help with cuts when I suggest more cards to put back in though
Kill-Suit Cultist and Baleful Eidolon are two of the ones that first caught my eye. Yes the cultist is a 1 CMC creature that helps you get damage in for Rakdos, Lord of Riots, but at that point almost any other 1 drop creature could be better, even a Raging Goblin. The eidolon just appears to be a sort of weak card. It can give deathtouch to your pingers but things like Gorgon Flail can't be removed as easy and if the creature dies you get to keep it around not as a small, deathtouch body.
I don't know if you agree with that reasoning, but I hope it helped a little
In my opinion it comes down to two things - 1. Abilities 2. Flavor
I think the new commanders have many more interesting effects than the majority of five color commanders as well as having been worked on specifically by WotC design to try and represent a magic card devoid of one color. Some are better at it than others, but I think there was definitely an effort towards making the flavor of the cards matter in this edition of the Commander product.
I agree with this point. Spells like Clever Impersonator and Reverberate are a lot of fun without being oppressive, as long as you're copying your opponent's spells and not something like a Time Warp of yours Also there are the "gain control of" effects like Confiscate.
Blue is the color that gets most of these toys, but there are things like Mimic Vat that let you play with that sort of feel in any color combo.