u/Plus1Oresan

I recently threw together a [[Jandor, Fortuned Traveller]] list intended for bracket 2, but got excited about [[Aggravated Assault]] shenanigans and ended up making something closer to a low/mid tier bracket 3.

I got a couple games in with some friends online and turns out the deck is pretty fun. I was concerned about the balance of non-mount Camels/Horses/Elephants/Beasts/Wolves to Mounts/Riders, but it worked out pretty well. I leaned more into the commander to get saddle-able creatures and tried to include numerous generically strong creatures with a solid supporting cast.

The strategy is pretty vulnerable, so I may add some extra protection to the B3 list. However, the card advantage can get pretty staggering even with just a handful of saddled attackers.

VIPs so far have been Academy Rector (edit: meant Academy Manufactor...) / [[Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator]] creating treasure tokens, [[Kolodin, Triumph Caster]] giving your team haste/saddled and [[Guardian Sunmare]] hitting pretty much every major permanent in your deck, like the aforementioned Aggravated Assault/Rector/Bilbo as well as cards like [[Mirror Entity]], [[Adept Watershaper]] and [[Nuka-Cola Vending Machine]].

Overall the deck was fun to brew and play BUT I really wanted a more Bracket 2 friendly version of the deck to play with newer players/precon pods, so I made a version with a lot of swaps on the expensive lands and heavy hitters, like [[Craterhoof Behemoth]].

Here are the lists.

Bracket 3:

https://archidekt.com/decks/25528545/jandors_menagerie_and_illustrious_saddlebags_v2

Bracket 2:

https://archidekt.com/decks/25526758/jandors_menagerie_and_illustrious_saddlebags_budget

Let me know what you think.

With The Hobbit coming soon I'm working on a [[Giott, King of the Dwarves]] list. I'm trying to keep cards as thematic as possible, choosing to run cards like [[Bearded Axe]] and [[Goldvein Pick]] over better equipment, for example.

What I'm looking for are thematic cards that recur creatures and/or equipment.

So far I have [[Recommission]], [[One Last Job]] (this one is debatable, but I interpret it as a physical job like mining?) and [[Return to the ranks]] (it hits a decent number of creatures in my deck, but is limited) because they feel generally dwarvish to me.

Any suggestions? Any general dwarf themed suggestions? Thanks.

Very early WIP list with far too many cards: https://archidekt.com/decks/24544769/wip_giott_king_fo_the_dwarfs

[[Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer]]

https://archidekt.com/decks/24213680/kadenas_mighty_morphing_power_rangers

I've been fiddling with this deck today because the idea of a "You've activated my trap card" deck seems fun. Does anyone have any suggestions for the deck? Noticeable exclusions? I'm currently sitting at 103 cards, so suggestions for a handful of cuts would be nice too.

What I'm pretty confident on:

[[Abhorrent Oculus]] seems like a must include even with the need to exile cards to cast it. Ripping free manifest dreads every opponents upkeep seems like crazy card advantage.

I want a pretty high concentration of [[Willbender]] style interaction. Instant speed counters, redirects, and bounces.

Flash is fantastic and helps utilize Kadena's discount as much as possible.

+1/+1 counters are really good.

Things I'm not so sure about:

[[Yedora, Grave Gardener]] seems really solid but it could lock us out of some creature recursion because our [[Seedborn Muse]] got turned into a Forest, for example.

How does the deck finish the game? What are the best strategies to do so? I'm running the likes of [[Germination Practicum]] and [[Railway Brawler]] to power up my dudes, but is there something I'm missing? It seems like I really want to play control that wins through combat, which is great, but if there's something I'm missing I'd love to hear it.

Is [[Kozilek, the Broken Reality]] good? +1/+1 counters seem like the best way to power up my creatures, so maybe the anthem for colorless creatures just isn't good enough? It seems like it could be really good with [[Ghastly Conscription]], but that's a huge mana investment over likely 2 turns.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Every year my group of friends, all dads, get together for a semi-rustic camping trip. This year we decided we'd play commander...

One of the other Dads is bringing Giada, Atla Pilani, Gisa the Hellraiser and Zimone Infinite Analyst.

I was recently inspired to throw together an [[Imskir, Iron-Eater]] deck because a. I like Artifact b. I like smashing artifacts and c. I like drawing cards.

I wasn't going for Storm Imskir, rather Mid-Range value Imskir (daring, aren't I?). I just really like the idea sacrificing Imskir to [[Illuminor Szeras]] to cast him again for 2 mana and being able to use the remaining mana to help cast whatever I've drawn. Then untap Szeras with [[Clock of Omens]] to do it all over again. Same with [[Witch's Oven]] + Clock.

Let me know what you think of my first draft before I proxy it up:

https://archidekt.com/decks/22899371/imskir_smash_or_pass

Seems like a good time.

I was recently (a day ago) in a post about budget kykar spellslinger vs polymorph and suggested that you could make a really solid Polymorph version of the deck... So I made one.

It's sits at about $85 on ManaPool lowest price ($106 total with shipping, including basic lands. $135 with shipping from card kingdom for people that like to spend more money for the peace of mind) and seems like a fun mix of polymorph staples and budget inclusions.

I can't add the likes of [[Avacyn, Angel of Hope]] but I can still run [[Hullbreaker Horror]] and [[Gisela, Blade of Goldnight]]. I focus heavily on flyers, so I also include [[Sephara, Sky's Blade]] too. Plus a full suite of Talismans and Signets for ramp and non-creature spell triggers, and the usual suspects like Sol Ring and Skullclamp.

Protection is a bit harder to make budget, though running a card like [[Swerve]] with Kykar out makes it essentially cost 1 blue to cast and understanding that [[An Offer you can't Refuse]] and [[Stubborn Denial]] are absolutely worth the price, makes it a bit better.

Pretty fun brew for me. I'll be trying it out this weekend at my LGS. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Here's the deck for anyone interested:

https://archidekt.com/decks/22747289/100_budget_kykar_popymorph

https://archidekt.com/decks/22451236/marvin_9000_gets_stationed_v2

The idea is a [[Marvin, Murderous Mimic]] deck that tries to leverage the station ability provided by cards like [[The Eternity Elevator]] to accumulate a bunch of Charge Counters to use in cards like [[Golem Foundry]] to create infinite tapped Golems (OR maybe infinite untapped as well if you have an [[Illusionist's Bracers]] attached to Marvin) or go for the kill shot with [[Shrine of Burning Rage]].

Obviously you can't copy those abilities with Marvin UNLESS you make them creatures. Luckily some Spacecraft become Creatures, like [[Pinnacle Kill-Ship]]. I also run a handful of ways to animate artifacts. [[Living Brain, Mechanical Marvel]] does just that while also allowing us to untap those artifacts, namely [[Thran Dynamo]] and the like. [[Karn, Silver Golem]] and [[Karn, the Great Creator]] animate as well.

The deck can't rely exclusively on this station effect (not enough sources) so I also run a bunch of 3+ card infinite combos (25+). Some create infinite mana, some create infinite hasted artifact tokens, some create infinite artifact untaps. You can also wipe the table with Marvin + [[Phyrexian Devourer]] + [[Walking Ballista]] / [[Triskelion]].

I wanted this to be a janky Bracket 3, knowing it'll be decidedly inconsistent while still being capable of absolutely wild infinites and combos. It doesn't run game changers because I'm keeping the price of the deck down as part of a self imposed deck building restriction... Though I may just throw that out the door and add [[Mana Vault]], [[The One Ring]] and maybe [[Grim Monolith]], as well as the likes of non-gamechanger [[Metalworker]].

What do you all think? My list is very much a work in progress and needs to make a few cuts. Finding early card advantage in colorless is hard BUT mid to late game seems to be just fine with [[Mind's Desire]] and the like.

I just saw this and figured I'd post it in case people are interested. I don't think we see a lot of this type of thing here...

If anyone has any more information, feel free to share.