Create a fun multiplayer deck, that can become a decent duel deck with only a few minor substitutions.
Aside: My Definition of a Fun Deck:
A deck that I enjoy playing, that others enjoy playing against (So keep the Stax under control, and focus more on creatures that are impossible to kill). I like synergies and combos, but not infinite combos. More cool little interactions and rules quirks than omfgmindlslaverlockrrr.
I enjoy decks with: Big Creatures and massive Token Swarms, fortunately, Green and Black both deliver.
I want to explore a deck with lots of Sac and Recur effects. Re-using my creatures as many times as needed to thwart the many board wipes prevalent in Commander games.
Lots of ETB and LTB effects, Sacrifice outlets, recursion, Reanimator effects to sneak fatties out early, etc.
Gameplan: Lock the board down with multiple grave pact effects, and other removal. Dump large creatures into the GY and reanimate to start chipping away at opponents health, or build up a large token army and overrun for the win. Overwhelming Stampede is rather nasty with a single Doomgape and a swarm of 1/1's.
So:
Others:
Or you could play Doom Blades and Divinations.
Should probably mention Chandra Pyromaster aka the best mono-red planeswalker ever printed. The other's aren't even close to as good as she is.
Red gets lots of good cards, red is competitive in almost every 60 card format that ever existed. The problem is that EDH is specifically designed to make Lightning Bolt and Red in general bad.
Don't complain to Wizards (they've actually been doing a very good job printing more controlling and midrange red cards), complain to the Rules Committee.
Edit: and Genesis Hydra is pretty good too.
Planeswalker — Arbrus {M}
+1: Reveal the top 5 cards of your library. You may put a creature or land card from among them into your hand. Put the rest into your graveyard.
-3: Put a 1/1 black and green Worm creature token onto to the battlefield for each land card in your graveyard.
-8: You get an emblem with "Cards in your graveyard can't be exiled" and "You may play cards from your graveyard."
{4}
Lots of knobs and dials on a 'walker but I think this is about where I want him. +1 is very powerful, card advantage and filtering plus GY interaction but doesn't protect him and the Ult is a long ways off. -3 is highly variable, has self-synergy and can be powered up considerably in the right deck. Can't - two turns in a row by design, though. Possible he should cost 5 or have a higher colour commitment since he is good on his own (but potentially fragile depending on how many tokens you can get from the -3). I like the ult as a mega regrowth. Was thinking of Preator's Council but this is cooler and more powerful. The "Can't exile" part might be too weird but I think it works within the rules.
Thoughts on power level or overall design?
Mood: Quiet, contemplative.
Artist: http://nasuradin.deviantart.com/art/Druid-5378523
Yep. Standard will never see enough rituals for a card like this to be effective, and a modern deck has access to at least a dozen better ways of drawing cards. Compare this to Desperate Ravings or even Ideas Unbound. Hell, even Divination is better than this.
You've never played Storm, have you?
You assume Ms Vess isn't standard playable.