The Community Deck Build Project v3.0

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

What *IS* the community build-a-deck? Inspired by a subject on the MTG Nexus commander forums, ths project takes a randomly determined legend (and partner, or background, if the random button falls on an applicable legend) where we work together on the deckbuild process. For the sake of historical reference, each finished deck will be archived here on my Moxfield. Then There are some rules involved, though;

- I will start the deck with a randomly determined legendary creature or legendary planeswalker that can be a commander. In the event of pulling a partner, I will randomly determine what it's paired with from all the available partners pool. I may reroll the random commander in some cases, because no one wants to see a full build for such all-stars as Tobias Andrion or Lord Magnus, of course.
- We're gonna do things differently this time. Rather than everyone submitting their pet card and providing a direction that typically ends up pulling against itself, instead with the spirit of collaboration we're going to submit one card a day and everyone will weigh in, not unlike the RCotD, and at the end of the day I will count the yays ad nays and whatever tally that comes to is what stands. I reserve the right to settle any ties that arise by end of day, Pacific-Standard Time. After tallying those votes for the day, I will randomly determine the next person to suggest a card for us to converse about.
- Each poster after will vote yay or nay on the card suggested, preferably with some sort of write up defending their vote.
- This aim is about communication and cohesion, if you don't agree with a direction or card choices, SPEAK UP, and let's talk it over. Preferably with more than a one sentence quip. If we can't communicate effectively, this project will fail every time.
- Let's aim for a "75% mid to high" power level. We all know the upper ends of cDH are an incredibly small, "solved" card pool, and building to such a pinnacle will lead to some very same-ish decks. That flies directly in the face of this exercise we're doing, no?
- How cool would it be if some number of us actually took these decks and brought them into their paper world? Let's try to leave the Reserve List stuff out, as well as keep the spell selections to ~$30 and mana lands to ~$9. Occasionally you will see price "spike" cards break this for really synergistic interactions (such as Inkmoth Nexus in the first deck with Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat). These price numbers are not set in stone however, just a general guideline to stick close to.
- Each finished deck will go on to my Moxfield to live forever as "@mtgnexus Community Deck Project {deck number}" for reference point. - I reserve the right to amend these guidelines as we go, should questions arise.

Without further ado, the commander randomly determined for v2.0;
Community Deckc3.0
Approximate Total Cost:

Last edited by 3drinks 1 year ago, edited 35 times in total.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Since I believe this strategy worked well last time, I will present the three randomly determined commanders and/or partners and/or backgrounds that came up, and we will discuss the best and/or most interesting deck we want to build as a unit for. In no particular order, those are;




Do not suggest cards now. This is only the commander selection phase. And commander discussion starts...NOW.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

Henlock
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Post by Henlock » 1 year ago

I find Mageta the Lion the most intriguing option here. Vaevictis can be pretty fun, too, but I feel it builds itself way better than Mageta. Sarevok + Hunted one leans towards monoblack tribal, and I find it hard to exploit Sarevok's ability given the ammount of treasures, death and fetchlands involved in a commander game.

I'll.go with Mageta the Lion

kirkusjones
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Post by kirkusjones » 1 year ago

Sarevok feels like our deck would be jumping through a lot of hoops for not much payoff. I built a Vaevectis group slug deck a few years ago (it eventually became Grismold) and it was fun, but the commander tax added up quick on card you'd want to get a few smacks in with. Mageta seems interesting, but he's going to draw attention and then some serious hate if you can activate his ability more than once.

Mageta seems like white control/stax with a voltron package would make the most sense? Maybe mono-white enchantress-ish?

Let's go with Mageta, but mostly because of that sweet Brom art.

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Gentle Giant
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Post by Gentle Giant » 1 year ago

Hmm, seems like Magetha would just be a boardwipe.dec.. Not my cup of tea in terms of building stuff. Although you could also add a bit of white reanimator, given the discard outlet and cleanup Magetha brings to the table.

I'd prefer vaevictis, but as that one gives little direction we'd have to discuss that first.

Saervok+haunted one seems like a lot of fun from a janky build-perspective, but it's my understanding that we're aiming for something a bit stronger with these community projects, so that doesn't seem like the way to go (although I'd like to try :p).
Remember: not everyone is intent on 'growing as a player', analysing their meta and adapting to it, etc. For some people, Magic is just another board game.

Decklists:
A boy and his dog: an adventure (Rograkh & Yoshimaru) | Storytelling, Jank, Cute
Averna, Roulette Croupier: Cascade Chaos | Cascade, Chaos, Group Choices
The Ur-Dragon Tribal Tribal | Randomized Batches, Diverse, Quirky
Zirda, Patron Goddess of Trash Artisanry | Trash for Treasure, Artifact Aristocrats, low-powered

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

When I saw these (and I definitely groaned at them because man there's a lot different I'd wish for Saervok), I ran some cursory ideas on my head.

Saervok + Haunted One looks like tribal. Humans are good, knights are interesting. Looks like a natural Haakon, Stromgald Scourge deck. I don't see a lot of payoffs for Knight tribal here either, why couldn't the RNG have stopped on Flaming Fist or Inspiring Leader? Even Folk Hero would have been much more interesting.

Vaevictis Asmadi is clearly the most open ended of the three. Looks like a big pile of death triggers like Sprouting Thrinax, could maybe run a all permanents Warp World deck. But I really dislike six mv commanders because one removal spell puts you into 8mv territory. "Jund sacs" is an incredibly broad archetype though, we'd need to talk a lot about a direction.

And then we have Mageta the Lion. Clearly it is doing the most unique thing, and playing mono-w reanimator is a solid plan. But dang who is gonna let you untap with wrath on a stick, and you're shoe horned into mono-w. Can't imagine this makes you any friends.

I'm really torn on our direction here.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

kirkusjones
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Post by kirkusjones » 1 year ago

We could always roll again, I'm not married to Mageta.

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Dunharrow
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Post by Dunharrow » 1 year ago

I don't like Mageta - people will target you right off the bat. You are playing monowhite control, so you will have trouble keeping up with cards

I don't like Vaevictus. I have played against it a fair amount and it is slow, and makes you a target because people are afraid you will make them sac their best cards. And it backfires probably every 3-4 turns? Make a person sac their engine card and they randomly flip into a bomb. People can also set-up by playing certain highly played tutors to the top of your library. Also, I imagine you are doing some top-deck manipulation so people are targeting you to stop you from polymorphing into a Razaketh.

So, of the 3, I like the monoblack option the best. I think it is a human or knight tribal deck (I am no good at tribal so not sure what's best). The key seems to be finding ways to tap your general at instant-speed, and playing some sacrifice shenanigans with the undying. That would be convoke (I found two instant-speed convoke spells), a handful of creatures that have you tap multiple creatures to get an effect, and vehicles. I also think there are some equipment or auras that grant tap abilities.
I would see it as maybe 8-10 cards to give instant-speed tap shenanigans, about 8-10 sac outlets (hopefully some of them are humans), and about 8 cards to synergize with this set-up (grave pacts, panharmonicons, wraths, whatever).
Leaves 34-38 spots. I imagine we would want some 25 humans or knights, and 9-13 ramp/interaction spells
If we have a low curve, we don't need that much ramp.
Card draw should be coming from the humans or synergy cards or sac cards.
I realize this proposal does not benefit much from the commander, only really built around the background. I would be fine swapping the creature.
The New World fell not to a sword but to a meme

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Gentle Giant
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Post by Gentle Giant » 1 year ago

Yeah, it's the background that makes it interesting. Sarevok has such an interesting effect, but it's so hard to build around.

I'm fine with a re-roll or just a re-roll on a different background-commander.
Remember: not everyone is intent on 'growing as a player', analysing their meta and adapting to it, etc. For some people, Magic is just another board game.

Decklists:
A boy and his dog: an adventure (Rograkh & Yoshimaru) | Storytelling, Jank, Cute
Averna, Roulette Croupier: Cascade Chaos | Cascade, Chaos, Group Choices
The Ur-Dragon Tribal Tribal | Randomized Batches, Diverse, Quirky
Zirda, Patron Goddess of Trash Artisanry | Trash for Treasure, Artifact Aristocrats, low-powered

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duducrash
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Post by duducrash » 1 year ago

I'm not against a re-roll.

Sarevok, Deathbringer Low curve aggro build sounds okay I guess. Bloodsoaked Champion and so on

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 1 year ago

I dropped off the last thread due to some time limitations. I like the format change, it encourages collaborative effort nicely.

On the options put forward, I am pushed in two ways that are similar to other comments above. Sarevok, Deathbringer with a knight tribal subtheme and capitalizing on undying is an interesting deck to me. Convoke or other tap-as-cost to really make use of the background is rather novel. Sarevok himself kind of falls behind though, and I think we would end up playing a lot of "the best" black spells/strategies to push the deck up the the power level target.

Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire is an interesting commander, but I have played against it a lot and don't feel like he has a huge number of commander oriented styles. He basically pushes a deck towards ramping him out, then spinning the wheel for bombs or topdeck manipulation. We could take a different approach with some restriction, which starts to remind me of the disjointed start we had in a prior thread. He can definitely hit the power level target though.

Mageta the Lion is also a bit of a known quantity to me, where I remember a deck that dropped something indestructible then used magenta to force combat open. It's the type of deck than can reasonably include Armageddon at lower power levels. If we didn't go that route, I doubt Magenta hits the intended power level. Not leaning into heavy board control point towards a reanimator style, which could be interesting, if reminiscent of the previous deck.

I think that I would be most interested in Sarevok, Deathbringer + Haunted One, despite the power level concerns. My ranked choice second vote is for Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire and having a hearty discussion on guideposts/themes before we start. I don't really see a way to build monowhite board wipes in an interesting way.

If we reroll, honestly I find Haunted One more interesting, so I would propose we reroll sarevok.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

If rerolling but sticking with the odd combo of mono colour background, Burakos would provide a little more reach with Haunted One. Well, kinda, there's actually not that many mono B wizards, or warriors tbh. With Sarevok, I suspect this goes into a grave pact shell.

I wish there was a zombie with background, that'd be a cool build your own mikaeus.

edit: in the event of a reroll on Sarevok, the new commander is Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant. Which tbh I think does carry some synergy with the background. Shame Elephant Graveyard is so cost prohibitive.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

kirkusjones
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Post by kirkusjones » 1 year ago

I'm down with Lulu + Haunted One. Way more interesting than the other options.

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 1 year ago

If we commit to it, I also like Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant + Haunted One. +1/+1 counters, sacrifice and recursion of... angels(?), maybe trying to remove counters to retrigger undying, and the untap effect potentially lets haunted one trigger on other people's turns. It's a bit convoluted, but I think that it can play at the desired power while being very novel and having a lot of inbuilt guideposts.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos




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aliciaofthevast
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Post by aliciaofthevast » 1 year ago

Oh. I really like the dragon, but I bet that's fun to watch exactly one time before players catch on to your oops - eldrazi! strategy 😂.

I'd enjoy the haunted elephant though! That's fun and cute, plus we get to play angels!

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duducrash
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Post by duducrash » 1 year ago

It is quite funny to think about lulu being the haunted one. At least its not like she had a Criminal Past

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Dunharrow
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Post by Dunharrow » 1 year ago

BW angels can be fun. Lulu and undying are countersynergistic, but it does make for a big power boost if we want to win with combat. Blocked creatures come back bigger and grow the rest of the team.
White also has some additional convoke spells, ways to tap creatures, etc.

I think we need to decide if this will be a grave pact deck though.
And how hard do we go on tribal?
The New World fell not to a sword but to a meme

kirkusjones
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Post by kirkusjones » 1 year ago

I think we'd want to stick to the lower end of the scale, mana-value wise to enable a go-wide strategy over high mana value angels just for angels sake.

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Post by Henlock » 1 year ago

I like Lulu. I played it in CL prerelease and had a great time. with it. White brings more convoke and tapping creatures as a cost.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

It sounds like we're all in agreement then?
Dunharrow wrote:
1 year ago
BW angels can be fun. Lulu and undying are countersynergistic, but it does make for a big power boost if we want to win with combat. Blocked creatures come back bigger and grow the rest of the team.
White also has some additional convoke spells, ways to tap creatures, etc.

I think we need to decide if this will be a grave pact deck though.
And how hard do we go on tribal?
It is counter-synergistic, to a point. But we don't have to use only angels and Lulu does really well going wide, considering it's revolt has always been super easy to trigger. What I'd like is a way to move/kill +1/+1 counters and The Ozolith won't work.

Waitaminute, this is a great place for Inspired to happen as we get a trigger on each of our end steps. That suggests Vehicles is also a strat (but is there a car big enough for an elephant to drive?!)

I'm not sure Grave Pact is efficient with this tribe, but we might be able to sprinkle in some Maskwood Nexus to give that global undying while also making 4/2 angels.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

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duducrash
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Post by duducrash » 1 year ago

I think Lulu is often associated with blinking, but we in BW might want to do somo aristocratic stuff? Like that Eldrazi that leaves scions whenever another nontoken dies and pitiless plunderer. Or would this deviate from angels too much?

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

I'm not sure angels needs to be an all in theme given their general size of creatures. I think Sifter of Skulls and Pawn of Ulamog are fantastic since they ensure we can always proc the revolt trigger.

What payoffs are there for heavy angels, and/or why not just a few high priority targets like, say, Reya Dawnbringer|inv? Lulu then does a reasonable job keeping it in place on board.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

kirkusjones
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Post by kirkusjones » 1 year ago

Reya works. We could run some combination of Athreos, God of Passage, Ravos, Soultender and/or Liesa, Forgotten Archangel to have earlier versions of Reya's effect(ish) as well. Some ETB stuff like Flickerwisp and Shriekmaw to trigger Lulu. I like the vehicles/convoke idea, too. I think a recursive go-wide strategy is definitely worth pursuing. Looter Scooter would probably do good work for us and aristocrat critters would be great for convoke/crew purposes.

@3drinks Fain, the Broker and Hopeful Initiate and Retribution of the Ancients allow us to eat counters for profit.

EDIT - there's always Mirror Entity and Conspiracy to nab the creature type bonus.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Retribution of the Ancients is quite the strongest of those, super efficient. I like that.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

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