If you want to get cute/tricksy I've long had a fondness for cards like Illusionist's Gambit and Mirror Match, which I suppose work well when building up a table of beefed-up decks and encouraging them to fight each other, but not you. Lots of "rattlesnake" effects and fogs/combat tricks to make you an unappealing target.
I've been thinking about cards like this as well! Domineering Will and Master Warcraft also come to mind. Are there any other good ones likes this? I love the idea of manipulating and screwing with the combat step to keep yourself out of harm's way while the others duke it out.
I think I'll try a mix of politics (with cards like Edric, Spymaster of Trest and Gahiji, Honored One to encourage people to attack each other) and landfall for my own win condition with them. Classic group hug isn't really my thing, but turning it into something that actually is playing to win sounds interesting.
As I've pointed out in another thread, I'm upgrading my Judo-style Ruhan of the Fomori for the on-theme "Guardians of Meletis"... so that opens up a whole new color for the deck! I'm very excited for this card, and there are certainly possibilities outside of the obvious group-hug archetype.
The deck plays out rather unremarkably and doesn't build up a huge board state or amass a ton of defenses--it looks fairly weak. However, most of the fun of the deck is saving spells that catch your opponents by surprise (typically during combat) and make for some REALLY fun shenanigans they'll have a good time playing (and losing) against.
For instance, a storm player attempts to combo out so you cast Comeuppance to steal the game. A voltron player goes in for the kill, but instead you cast Mirror Strike to make them knock themselves out. A mono-green player tries to run away with the game early on only to be punished with Acidic Soil. Or, a token player gets a bit out of control... time to Incite Rebellion!
The archetype is not all that strong since it can be disrupted by a strong blue control deck or overrun by multiple enemies ganging up on you early on... but it's a blast to play unexpected spells like Illusionist's Gambit or Parallectric Feedback and watch your opponent's reactions. For my own deck lists, I try to play cards like Blasphemous Act over Wrath of God since they are conditional on your opponents actions coming back to haunt them rather than simply being powerful "good stuff" cards. Since most cards you play are conditional on your opponents getting a bit out of control and going in for the kill, the deck is usually only as powerful as your opponents decks are. It can't win on its own... it relies on your enemies.
The deck isn't group hug--it's judo--but it probably wouldn't care if the opponents had some help so as long as their attacks, drawing, and ramping get redirected right back at them to blow them out of the game. Think of Deflecting Palm, Comeuppance, Reflect Damage, and Cerebral Vortex!
WHAT THE FU-
Damn i don;t wnat my commanders foiled, i like them non-foiled (I try my best to get 0 foiled cards in my decks. Plus having a foil allows me to trade it away for a non foil and something else. I don't collect to make money i collect to play.
I would like foils of certain cards though as I saw something really interesting (A guy have a foil and non-foil of his general, and when it was in play he would flip it to the foiled side.
So if i could get a foil of Mizzix, tat would be nice but also want the non-foil.
Plus when tehy foil cards in certain sets (Like every single From the Vaults) it looks pretty bad.
It did say there would be a 100-card deck in addition to the foil cards. The way I interpret that is you'll get 100 non-foil cards to play, and then you can swap out four of those cards with the foil versions if you choose to.
Make sure you play chaotic cards that players have fun with, not the kind that prevent others from playing the game. In my experience, Teferi's Puzzle Box and Wild Evocation are more fun than Possibility Storm since the former still allows players to make choices.
Also, many players hate when their cards get scattered all over the table because they're playing very valuable decks and may just concede the game if you cast Scrambleverse instead of letting the chaos play out.
Cards that make attacking uncomfortable but necessary, like Angel's Trumpet could be fun and add a little tension and chaos to your games
The benefit of legendary creatures is your opponent can't attack into them and clear them from the board before you get to untapped with it. How does a LP format avoid getting overrun with token strategies? I can see how frustrating it would be to keep your LP in play when you're up against several opponents who all just want to attack into it...
Here's my "Ulamog, the Ceaseless Vorthos" for your consideration. Building it cheap is easy if you replace some of the pricier Eldrazi cards with the cheap common/uncommons from the original Zendikar block. I think it's a good starting point, and the deck is capable of winning games in this format. Ulamog himself, however, isn't especially cheap.
Sheldon Menery, who INVENTED the format, has said in an interview that EDH is different in one special way: The purpose of EDH is to NOT break the format, as opposed to every other format in Magic.
Just posting this for what it's worth. Play to have fun everyone, because the game isn't sufficiently prepared for competitive environments, and the spirit of the format is broken when you introduce broken cards into your decks.
Funny this comes up because I was just looking at Ruhan and wondering were the blue came from. A Naya Ruhan would've made much more sense to me, but he's still my new favorite general
This is my version of the "Guardians of Meletis." I call it Judo, but rattlesnake describes it well, as well. Have a look at this list: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/676484-ruhan-aikido-master
The deck plays out rather unremarkably and doesn't build up a huge board state or amass a ton of defenses--it looks fairly weak. However, most of the fun of the deck is saving spells that catch your opponents by surprise (typically during combat) and make for some REALLY fun shenanigans they'll have a good time playing (and losing) against.
For instance, a storm player attempts to combo out so you cast Comeuppance to steal the game. A voltron player goes in for the kill, but instead you cast Mirror Strike to make them knock themselves out. A mono-green player tries to run away with the game early on only to be punished with Acidic Soil. Or, a token player gets a bit out of control... time to Incite Rebellion!
The archetype is not all that strong since it can be disrupted by a strong blue control deck or overrun by multiple enemies ganging up on you early on... but it's a blast to play unexpected spells like Illusionist's Gambit or Parallectric Feedback and watch your opponent's reactions. For my own deck lists, I try to play cards like Blasphemous Act over Wrath of God since they are conditional on your opponents actions coming back to haunt them rather than simply being powerful "good stuff" cards. Since most cards you play are conditional on your opponents getting a bit out of control and going in for the kill, the deck is usually only as powerful as your opponents decks are. It can't win on its own... it relies on your enemies.
The deck isn't group hug--it's judo--but it probably wouldn't care if the opponents had some help so as long as their attacks, drawing, and ramping get redirected right back at them to blow them out of the game. Think of Deflecting Palm, Comeuppance, Reflect Damage, and Cerebral Vortex!
I'm looking at you, Burgeoning...
Let's hear some ideas!
It did say there would be a 100-card deck in addition to the foil cards. The way I interpret that is you'll get 100 non-foil cards to play, and then you can swap out four of those cards with the foil versions if you choose to.
Also, many players hate when their cards get scattered all over the table because they're playing very valuable decks and may just concede the game if you cast Scrambleverse instead of letting the chaos play out.
Cards that make attacking uncomfortable but necessary, like Angel's Trumpet could be fun and add a little tension and chaos to your games
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/665889-ulamog-the-ceaseless-vorthos
Cavern of Souls to cover your tribal decks, or even just your commander.
I would add Arcane Lighthouse to help ensure you can target anything you need to.
Good luck with the deck! I'm having fun so far
Just posting this for what it's worth. Play to have fun everyone, because the game isn't sufficiently prepared for competitive environments, and the spirit of the format is broken when you introduce broken cards into your decks.
Funny this comes up because I was just looking at Ruhan and wondering were the blue came from. A Naya Ruhan would've made much more sense to me, but he's still my new favorite general