CJB: Four mo' BFZ decks.
What's good, readers?
Thanks for joining me again. This is my second article detailing decks that I plan to create once BFZ drops, which, when you read this, should be pretty darn nigh. My first article can be viewed here. I've done some set reviews in the past, before I got my "Commander Johnny-Boosh"-groove on, which focused on Johnny interactions. I've abstained from doing set reviews within the hallowed pages of my articles, but I'm never one to shy away from new Legends that would make excellent commanders, or when new sets unleash a boatload of cards suitable to heavily edit my decks.
Having said that, I will let you all know that BFZ has brought a vast amount of cards that I am absolutely pumped for. So many, in fact, that one BFZ Prep article was not nearly enough. Like I've said previously, Much like My Abzan-infused Ghave deck article, this article can't discuss play-testing, because I can actually build the decks yet. To mitigate that omission, I have decided to drop four decks into your laps for reading pleasure.
I'm gonna start us out with a deck that I cannot wait to build.
Say hello to my possible new favorite monored Commander deck. Let's check out Zada's ability: "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets only Zada, Hedron Grinder, copy that spell for each other creature you control that the spell could target. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures."
How flippin' Johnny-awesome is that? Let's start by talking about the stratagem. Target Zada with cheap, effective pump spells that pump you whole team of Red weenies. Add in cards like Crimson Wisps, that, while seemingly innocuous or foolish to include, give you a whole bunch of Cantrip copies as well netting you a lot more cards than you might be used to while rocking a monored build.
Let's start with those, shall we? I'm going to start with Stun, just so I can also explain Panic. Stun is great. It's an instant for two mana that says "target creature can't block this turn. Draw a card." While this may be useful on occasion for an opponent's creature when you want to attack, it's awesome when you cast it on your own Zada during your turn, because who cares if your creatures can't block during your turn? Then, if you have out 5 creatures and Zada, you net 6 cards for two mana. Panic is only one mana, but it has the tricky wording: "Cast Panic only during combat before blockers are declared." Now this can still be used during your turn, but you have to wait for the appropriate time to do it. Even so, it can net you some cards. There's more cards that net you card-draw, but scanning the list you should be able to figure them out.
Now we have cards like Brute Force and Titan's Strength, etc. These are our pump spells, to totally change the gamestate of our board by making all our weenies huge. Next up, Soul's Fire because man that is awesome. Then, we've got stuff like Traitorous Instinct. While these are great one-time-uses to steal a creature and then subsequently pump them with your Zada-Brute Force trickery, the whole (Untap that creature) jazz can be an awesome little tricky move if you attack with everything, and then choose to cast it on Zada, untapping all your stuff for defense. Finally, I cannot wait to have a field of creatures and cast Chaos Warp targeting Zada, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE TUCK RULE IS IN PLACE. I'll gain so much random stuff, all while probably having a small stroke from how freakin' Johnny that move is.
Let's talk creatures. Two of 'em have War Cry. A lot of them are straightforward, god ol' monored weenie inclusions, but a few stand out. Yay for finally getting to use cards with Heroic. I have wanted some red 1/1 hasty soldier tokens for a while now and I finally have an outlet. Young Pyromancer also stacks up the Elemental tokens, what with all these spells. Galvanoth may snag us a few spell to target Zada with, while Charmbreakers bring back fun spells to abuse again. Also, you should note that no creature breaks the CMC-6 mark, to keep this weenierific.
Casting a lot of spells, aren't we? Norin is gonna blip in and out a lot. Which is kinda awesome because Purphoros. Firecat Blitz also combos with Purphy, and it is nice to cast it for like 5, have one mana open, and then cast Panic or something, netting so many cards.
Possibility Storm because Random Awesomeness! If I cast Crimson Wisps but pull a Stun instead, I won't be complaining-- but it may be a bit annoying for opponents, hence the inclusion.
Finally, let's talk about Radiate. Cast Stun, targeting Zada. Then Cast Radiate. Step three is profit.
I am gonna grind the ever-loving crap outta some hedrons.
Quick Black Vamps! I've had numerous monoblack Vampire decks I've fiddled with over the years, including one helmed by Anowan. This deck is different in that I tried REALLY HARD to keep all the CMCs of the creatures at five or less. There are some exceptions to the rule, as I felt adding in a Necropolis Regent alongside the new Drana and Dauthi Embrace was too cherry to pass up. I also added in Nirkana Revenant, because C'mon.
The rest of these are all really kickbutt, mostly flying, Vampires who can pack a quick punch, especially if Drana is pumping them full of counters, if she is wearing some Trailblazer's Boots or a Whispersilk Cloak. This is a black aggro deck, that is also Tribal vamps.
All of the spells are actually pretty low on the CMC scale too, with only Scour from Existence, Ugin and Karn being the pricey ones.
I love being able to include both Nightmare Lash and Lashwrithe in the deck, because if you do put one on a creature with evasion, they become monstrously epic.
I really like the idea of the new Drana leading the charge into the fray, with vamps like Mirri or Sangromancer in tow.
This deck is pretty straightforward, so, enjoy.
Karona is my go to for all things tribal if I want to rock a five-color tribal commander iteration. In fact, some day, I'll have a whole article dedicated to the obscure tribal concoctions I make with her (five color Goblins, five color Cats, five color Elephants, five color Spirits... you get the idea).
Allies are coming back in a big way, specifically in that even if they enter the field, their trigger hits every creature, not just fellow allies. This deck doesn't give two figs about that, though (Even if my Flicker decks might) because this deck is alllllllllll Allies, both from the previous Zendy block and the upcoming one. It also features the most new cards of any of the deckbuilds.
This deck has two ways of going infinite-for-as-long-as-you-want. First, the tried and true method of Xenograft/Conspiracy and Turntimber Ranger. All your wolves are Allies, so they make more wolves, which are allies, which make more wolf-allies, etc, etc. If you have out the Milling Ally or the Lifegain Ally or the Ally that steals life you are in for some fun.
The second way requires three cards instead of two-- but each of these cards are just good by themselves for the deck anyway. Again, we need (Xeograft) or Conspiracy. If we have out that new Ally that makes plants for one mana whenever an Ally hits the 'field, and we have out Mana Echoes, then we can make infino Plant-Allies.
This deck also features Erratic Portal and Crystal Shard so we can return Allies to our hand, so as to drop them again and trigger everything. Since we are bouncing and re-casting, Door of Destinies seemed like a fine addition. Riptide Replicator has never found a better deck for a home, and Rite of Replication is epic when targeting a particularly awesome Ally.
(Whip of Erebos) and Mimic Vat can help the Ally trigger train keep-on-a'-rolling.
The rest of this deck is the best removal that the five colors can offer. Answers to questions, to allow maximum Ally shenanigans.
How could we have Allies without Eldrazi?
Behold my Eldrazi Tribal Commander deck. The new Ulamog is the Commander.
So this deck seeks to use artifact mana alongside other ways to cheat the price of Eldrazi. In fact, it also uses Cryptic Gateway, Belbe's Portal and Quicksilver Amulet to cheat this big horrid monsters into play.
Now imagine an Eldrazi holding a (Loxodon Hammer).
Annihilator upset a lot of folks, especially Casual ones, so this may not win you many friends. But, it is fun to have enough Eldrazi to really rock a tribal theme around them.
Even more so than the Allies, or Vamps, this deck is a straightforward Tribal Eldrazi deck, and it's easy to pilot and will net concedes.
Thanks for joining me again. Did I miss anything you would've included?
Lemme know in the comments below, or maybe shoot me a message in Twitter: @CmdrJohnnyBoosh.
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