u/2ndlifeinacrown

We all know and love banding. We've seen it on [[general marhault elsdragon]] for the buff, [[anzrag the quake mole]] for the protection during repeated attacns, [[virtus the veiled]]+[[gorm the great]] for the lure+deathtouch combo and [[elesh norn // the argent etchings]] for the drain if you spread the damage around.

In essence, we've seen it with commanders that synergize strongly with the banding effects of bandlands like [[adventurers guildhouse]] or banding creatures like [[camel]].

I tried to build a deck where the banding payoff isn't solely relying on its commander. I landed on [[thalia and the gitrog monster]] for a couple of reasons

1. deathtouch and first strike in a band means if the band is blocked, the first (in thalrogs case) 4 blockers will fall victim to the band before they can deal any damage. Combine this with big tramplers and you can punch face for quite some damage

2. green gives us lure effects to make the most of our attacking bands

3. a lot of the parts are interchangeable. You ideally always want deathtouch, first strike/indestructible and trample to be present in a given band

4. thalroggs 4 mana is a bit too expensive for what we're doing, especially since 4 mana is where most of our band land tutors sit BUT its stax effect will help us connect as well as slow down the game a bit

5. three colors gives us a variety of synergistic cards. I also considered [[wilson refined grizzly]] [[agent of the shadow thieves]] and [[glissa sunslayer]] but couldnt make it work/didnt find it interesting

6. Draw in the command zone. Great if you rely on fishing for combo pieces

7. Thalia and Gitrog already form a band on the card, which doesnt help us with anything, but I think its neat

So, the idea is to ramp early, play thalrogg, tutor for a bandland if necessary, play tramply beaters, play lures and attack for profit. Another great thing about banding is that you can get attack/tap triggers off of creatures without having them die in combat. Looking at you, [[kona rescue beastie]].

This is what I've built so far:

https://moxfield.com/decks/lqSfAS47sXiDvutJQJnQyg

My biggest problem with the deck is knowing I should make room for more t1/t2 ramp pieces to get thalrogg out t3. Also probably more impactful draw spells. I've just stared at this list too long and don't know what to take out anymore. Aside from [[mirri the cursed]] :D the lure synergy of spreading her damage around to get more counters isnt too strong, but she was my first magic card and I'd like to keep her as the one pet card in the deck.

Aside from that I would like this deck to be as strong as possible. So, if you have any pointers regarding cards, strategy, or anything else, I'd greatly appreciate your input.

The stuff that doesnt see play or get talked about. Your banding/flanking/kaldra secret commander deck. Whats the stuff you built that nobody talks about?

Personally I built a banding/theft deck where you take opponents commanders hostage to form a band with them

Edit: Decklist for anyone interested: https://moxfield.com/decks/tg2fAf6ZIXy9OHI_KHJbyw

Hello people, I have a new pet project. It's tutoring for [[mountain stronghold]] and the like to band my legends together while stealing commanders, putting them into the band and putting all the bands damage onto the borrowed commander. Not a strong idea but I like it.

I've built two decklists that I really like, with [[yasova dragonclaw]] and [[edea possessed sorceress]] as the commanders. And I can't decide which one to actually get.

Advantage of Yasova:

- biggest problem with attacking in a band is chump blocking. Green has a lot of cards that solve this problem ([[anzrag]]), give out trample ([[old one eye]]) or benefit from banding either way ([[captain marhault elsdragon]])

- land tutors for the band lands

Disadvantage:

- pay 3 every turn to steal is a lot to ask :(

Advantage of Edea:

- don't pay 3 to steal stuff

- copy Edea to steal even more stuff

- black tutors for the band lands

Disadvantage:

- has a harder time finding creatures that want to be in a band. Or bringing them out. [[Rona tolarian obliterator]] is amazing with banding though, especially with multiple blockers. [[Seifer balamb rival]] gives everything deathtouch if the band has more than ine blocker. [[Ozai the phienix king]] was made to tank damage and hit hard in a band.

- stolen stuff keeps coming back

I put a lot of love into both lists and simply can't decide on what to get. If you have an opinion on any of this at all, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for reading this far :)

Yasova decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/tg2fAf6ZIXy9OHI\_KHJbyw

Edea decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/cRSfAV7Jjn20Y9HamEZ5uQ

Hello, I really love [[Adventurers Guildhouse]] and the other "bands with legends" lands. I'm dreaming of an EDH deck that tutors for those, steals opponents commanders and bands away. Is it good? Stop asking so many questions. Better yet, answer this one for me, please. What commander can help achieve this goal the best?

I have some contenders (all within green for its land tutors), but I'm very open to any ideas you have

- [[Yasova Dragonclaw]] - can be buffed to function as a reliable theft engine and a strong legend to band and attack with the stolen stuff at the same time. Dislike: mana intensive strategy

- [[Sliver Overlord]] - tutors [[Amoeboid Changeling]], which turns opponents' creatures into Slivers which Overlord can then steal. Dislike: a lot of mana upfront, takes a lot of time to set up

- [[Mr. Foxglove]] triggers on attack, and can be protected by attacking in a band. Helps bring out big guys that want the band like [[Engulfing Slagwurm]]. Is also in white so we can play small banding creatures to gain access to nonlengend banding. Dislike: Stealing opponents legends doesnt come naturally for this one. The colors enable nonlegendary banding, but the commander has no way of protecting a Slagwurm + [[Benalish Hero]] type band

- [[Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa]] + [[Tana, the Bloodsower]]. Sidar gives the band pseudo-flying, Tana helps us maintaining blockers. Smaller card pool of legends with power<3 that benefit from being in a band. They're still there, though, from [[toski]] to [[Nelly Borca]]. Good colors for theft as well. Dislike: Perfect colors, but no real powerhouse engine in the command zone.

Thank you for reading this far :)

Finally finished the 32 challenge and the process was ... interesting. I learned that I really enjoy blue, black and red as complements in other deck but really loathe combining them :D I also find it interesting to see how my deckbuilding focus changed, going from the older "bear typal" deck to the latest "banding with opponents' commander".

Did you learn anything about yourself or the game in the process of deckbuilding/completing the challenge? How did you work with colors that didn't come to you naturally? Personally I found building an interesting Selesnya deck to be quite difficult, so I just left it alone for half a year, and with time I stumbled upon an idea I really liked.

The decks, in case anyone is interested:

White: [[Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile]]

Giving Brigid Deathtouch means having a repeatable board wipe for anything that's attacking in the command zone. Since she already has First Strike and wants Vigilance, this leans itself to a Voltron strategy.

https://moxfield.com/decks/QiEYAaWC40e2POlwZM6fnQ

Blue: [[Urza Lord High Artificer]]

Nothing you haven't seen before, just a place to put my cards with the most beautiful artworks :)

https://moxfield.com/decks/SpnXzCWJ-kWdvUPkGF3x5Q

Black: [[Gisa, the Hellraiser]]

Feels very fast and interactive since you're committing a lot of crime, thereby making a lot of Zombies. Always something to do :) aside from Zombies there are also some Rogue synergies since we're making Zombie Rogues.

https://moxfield.com/decks/FVyTECiYY0CJYaQs5czSxg

Green: [[Ayula, Queen among Bears]]

A lot of fun to play casually. It's just bears, but they fight a lot!

https://moxfield.com/decks/tRv_plfQY068P7MyMUvd2Q

Red: [[Herigast, the Nullkite]]

Theft deck. Steal opponents' creatures, emerge your own creatures in that steal more creatures on etb to emerge more to steal more to . . .

https://moxfield.com/decks/l4jYwZ6rS0SdmSpz5McapQ

White-Blue/Azorius: [[Urza, Lord Protector]]

Probably my strongest deck. Fine tuned for a long time to make the most of this commander. Making artifacts {1} cheaper means a lot of great combos just got a lot better.

https://moxfield.com/decks/zmVO2H05nU2WAuvh6zPljg

Black-Blue/Dimir: [[Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow]]

Focused more on Ninjas than on higher-bracket wins through topdeck manipulation/thoracle, because I don't need to win that fast and I really like the Ninjutsu mechanic.

https://moxfield.com/decks/oEl7ZlNgFEqWEJy3gnfh-Q

Black-Red/Rakdos: [[Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls]]

Remember when for a split second through leaks it looked like Valgavoth was going to cost 10 or 12 mana and everyone was excited to see what a creature like that would look like? Anyway, this Valgavoth is cool, too. It's an optimized Drain deck to shorten the game and tax opponents for breathing too loudly.

https://moxfield.com/decks/kYNkKQ2jQUi277LCfSK9hA

Red-Green/Gruul: [[Erinis, Gloom Stalker]]+[[Street Urchin]] / [[Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith]]+[[Kodama of the East Tree]] / [[Jaheira, Friend of the Forest]]+[[Guild Artisan]]

This is a Gruul Treasure deck with 3 interchangable commander pairs. Erinis, Street Urchin utilizes the Treasures to snipe creatures for 1 mana, turning the deck into a control strategy. Toggo+Kodama utilize the land tutor ramp spells to find a bounce land, which forms a combo to make infinite artifact tokens. You win from there with one of the payoff cards. Jaheira, Guild Artisan is a way to stupidly accelerate the game, generating a ton of mana to come out ahead in the decks standard midrange build.

https://moxfield.com/decks/X-3uMtFyjEydi4DBgKnU1Q

Green-White/Selesnya: [[Queen Allenal of Ruadach]]

Queen Allenal has a great interaction with Slime against Humanity. Since hers is a replacement effect, the Soldier token gets the same number of +1/+1 counters as the slime. Peppered with counter support, Ooze support, base power/toughness 0/0 support and some very light stax.

https://moxfield.com/decks/ujBachhiqkWq5cL6RYGFlA

White-Black/Orzhov: [[Shilgengar, Sire of Famine]]

Angel ranimation deck with very metal artworks to accompany the commander's crazy artwork. Try to fuse into Brisela if you can.

https://moxfield.com/decks/_4NDD9K-8kyuMkRqmt1zfg

Blue-Red/Izzet: [[Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator]] + [[Breeches, Brazen Plunderer]]

Pirate deck with some obvious and some very nonobvious combo win options.

https://moxfield.com/decks/ogNFfMVN5UCDDCxRZD0dmA

Black-Green/Golgari: [[Chatterfang, Squirrel General]]

An optimized Squirrel/Aristocrats list.

https://moxfield.com/decks/ca9TXrm5EkuW8aEQ8pKX4g

Red-White/Boros: [[Lorehold, the Historian]]

This is a mass reanimator deck. White has a lot of "return all artifacts to battlefield" effects which Lorehold can cheat out, while being a great engine to dump big artifact creatures to be reanimated later. This deck tries to do a lot of things at once and will either succeed or fail, which makes it very red-white to me :D

https://moxfield.com/decks/D1QlYMr8tEK0BMNHZqMcEA

Green-Blue/Simic: [[Fluros of Myra's Marvels]] + [[Hardy of Myra's Marvels]]

Nonlegal unfinity deck. You pick 1 for Fluros and 4 for Hardy, which means the following: All your 1 mana 1/1s come into play as 5/5s with "When this creature enters, turn target creature into a 1/1 until end of turn".

https://moxfield.com/decks/91v_sG9wN0u6Q2i-rw7QCQ

GWU/Bant: [[Questing Phelddagrif]]

Questing Phelddagrif should have been legendary! I built it anyway. A bit more Voltron than its nonquesting kin. Especially its first ability has a lot of synergistic potential with the 99.

https://moxfield.com/decks/DUP1rnbglUa_WupEXHjLUw

WUB/Esper: [[Hashaton, Scarab's Fist]]

A neat deck that allows you to sculpt your hand and cheat out big threats as early as turn 3.

https://moxfield.com/decks/aYeTr5F2S0i652MCJRvf3A

UBR/Grixis: [[Sauron, the Dark Lord]]

Very strong commander. This discard/reanimator deck tries to stay lore accurate by only using LOTR-cards.

https://moxfield.com/decks/7_MdqpqqsU6lFehhXLelnQ

BRG/Jund: [[Winter, Misanthropic Guide]]

Pet deck. Challnge is threading the needle between letting your opponents draw a lot more cards and profiting more than them off of that. Tries to force discards for the opponents and runs a reanimation package for their and your own big guys.

https://moxfield.com/decks/OWiaS9nPv0uMkRfpKSASvA

RGW/Naya: [[Akiri, Line Slinger]] + [[Ich-Tekik, Salvage Splicer]]

Artifact tokens/Golem deck. You make a lot of treasures - if you don't sac them, Akiri gets big. If you do sac them, Ich-Tekik and your Golems get big. This means you can attack, wait for blockers and then decide how to redistribute power. Also Golems have some really nice support pieces.

https://moxfield.com/decks/PyeWieLpBUea-ifnP-uwZA

WBG/Abzan: [[Betor, Ancestor's Voice]]

Try to gain and lose as much life as possible in one turn and get powerful reanimation/buff effects going.

https://moxfield.com/decks/P7adE1kci0KijDrbqxZuhA

URW/Jeskai: [[Sokka and Suki]]

Combines the amazing ally support pieces with an equipment strategy. Since the equipments come down already equipped, this feels really fast and is a lot of fun, way more than expected.

https://moxfield.com/decks/MdenOzkvBUepL65fciXthw

BGU/Sultai: [[Teval, the Balanced Scale]]

A lot of self-mill, a lot of payoff, usually in the form of Zombie Druids, with some really great support pieces for Zombies and Druids.

https://moxfield.com/decks/DO8LzPmO70SHCI0-SnyFFw

RWB/Mardu: [[Akiri, Line Slinger]] + [[Nadier, Agent of the Duskenel]]

Similar logic to Akiri+Ich-Tekik, but was built first :D make treasures and keep them to buff Akiri or sac them to buff Nadier so in combat you always come out on top. Works well in its colors and is really fun.

https://moxfield.com/decks/CUn5D5nHhEqwB6ftwLAFZA

GUR/Temur: [[Yasova Dragonclaw]]

A bit whacky. Tutor for one of the "legends band with legends" lands, buff Yasova, steal opponents' commanders, form a band and attack. If unblocked, great. If blocked, just put the damage onto the borrowed commander. Lots and lots of potential band members in the deck to discourage chump blocking the band, from trample and deathtouch to extra combat phases.

https://moxfield.com/decks/RLieARHJ1nSdugAnZTtcOw

WUBR/Yore-Tiller: [[Bjorna, Nightfall Alchemist]] + [[Wernog, Rider's Chaplain]]

Cast and flicker Wernog for more clues, use Bjorna to goad strategically. "Help" opponents fight each other. Win with mass artifact synergies.

https://moxfield.com/decks/-YmM4b4dKUajIC1-bfHVkA

UBRG/Glint-Eye: [[Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist]] + [[Ikra-Shidiqi, the Usurper]]

Not forced combat, but encouraged combat. Incentivize opponents to make the correct decision of attacking each other instead of you. Even give them the right creatures for it. We play a lot of small unblockable creatures ourselves to always cash in on the combat encouragement.

https://moxfield.com/decks/kFplIa71mUGR2-4Sb8M5yQ

BRGW/Dune-Brood: [[Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder]] + [[Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper]] (+ [[Umori, the Collector]]

Creatures only deck inspired by the show "It's always sunny in philadelphia". Don't tell me Bruse Tarl doesn't look like Mac and Ikra Shidiqi doesn't give off Dennis vibes. Umori is our wild card, [[Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles]] represents Dee and [[Grenzo, Dungeon Warden]] is our Frank. The deck combines creatures with strong triggers on dealing combat damage with ways to give them double strike to trigger those effects twice. Also plays some great lifegain payoffs.

https://moxfield.com/decks/hJqEye91BU2ParLMk1V8KQ

RGWU/Ink-Treader: [[Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist]] + [[Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa]]

"Morphbears". Morph/disguise/manifest deck with some additional strong creatures with power<3. Sidar Kondo gives them pseudo-flying to connect. White has great "power<3" support. Eater of days is in this deck for the slim chance of manifesting it, attacking and turning it around as a surprise, which would ignore the etb effect. Not the greatest strategy, but so worth it if I ever pull it off.

https://moxfield.com/decks/nYUAdFQjeEit7ryARJ5OZQ

GWUB/Witch-Maw: [[Silas Renn, Seeker Adept]] + [[Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa]]

Play small toxic creatures. Sidar Kondo gives them (and Silas Renn) pseudo-flying, Silas Renn recurs them - at least the artifact creatures - if necessary. Proliferate to taste.

https://moxfield.com/decks/2iPrQzG3zEKp4WbdWMZpvw

WUBRG: [[Rukarumel, Biologist]]

Play a bunch of slivers, play a bunch of the best typal payoffs for any old random type. Flicker Rukarumel at your convenience to change your attacking creatures from Minotaurs to Rats to have different payoffs active at different times. Very convoluted, but thats what makes it fun to me :D

https://moxfield.com/decks/jiaKMPtCnE-DVycDnbylQw

Colorless: [[Traxos, Scourge of Kroog]]

Vehicles/Voltron deck that utilizes Traxos' untap ability to crew more and more big vehicles for every cheap equipment you cast to help him hit hard alongside your animated vehicles.

https://moxfield.com/decks/vnJYi0myrU-d6RS6lOd3Tw

Hey people, I built a deck based on the idea of banding with your opponents commander. If they block the band, just put the damage on their commander. I chose [[yasova]] for colors and to outsource the theft ability. We gain banding by tutoring for [[adventurers guildhouse]] or [[mountain stronghold]] and then band the opponents commander together with lovable threats like [[anzrag]] [[general marhault elsdragon]] or [[sun quan lord of wu]]. Stuff like [[vigor]] [[ohran frostfang]] [[oviya automech artisan]] provide great support for the band.

So that's the deck. I dont know if it'll ever escape bracket 2 though. I would like to make it as strong as possible, in the hopes of making this wonky strategy an actual threat at noncompetitive tables. I want to band opponents own commanders and actually making them scared for it.

Sooo... this decklist is how far I've come. I welcome any and all opinions, including a sad reality check about power ceilings

The deck is fully tagged. If you have any questions at all, please tell me. Thank you for reading this far :) and for supporting me in trying to make banding more than a meme mechanic

https://moxfield.com/decks/RLieARHJ1nSdugAnZTtcOw

I really love him flavor-wise - he's so rich he just throws money at the problem. Also lets you work with artifact/token/outlaw/assassin support. So on paper there seem to be a lot of moving parts working towards a clear goal - smash face with treasures, maybe drain a little with [[reckless fireweaver]] and the like.

But I'm wondering if in actuality the gameplay is just "make treasures -> durdle until ready -> attack". What do you think about him as a commander? And if you have any experiences playing with or against the guy, would you share em? Trying to decide if I want to buy the deck. Built him lile this, if relevant: https://moxfield.com/decks/xBenb0ky7U-o5Im6Eacdcg

Same sword, same size on screen. This man can carry his nephew in his backpack

Are they stupid?

White has a lot of spells that mass reanimate artifacts/enchantments, and since we're discarding anyway we might as well fill our graveyard with targets like [[salvation colossus]]. Stuff like [[the warring triads]] and [[angel of the ruins]] are cool since they represent the draw/ramp veggies of the deck while being strong reanimation targets. Sagas and saga creatures are also great reanimation targets since they land in the graveyard sooner or later after casting anyway.

Would love to know your favourites for this kind of deck! This is what I have built, but a lot of the spots are flexible. https://moxfield.com/decks/D1QlYMr8tEK0BMNHZqMcEA

Also shoutout to [[mishra, excavation prodigy]] for doing everything we want and need.