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By: Leviathan, Mike Morales
Jan 25 2011 1:01am
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INTRODUCTION:  WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO PLAY?

I was playing a game the other day with Scartore, a frequent commenter here, using my Grixis junk deck (which I may end up writing about at some point in the future).  We got to talking during the game and he recommended that I should write up some stuff about the different archetypes that people expect to see when playing Commander.  I thought it was a good idea, so thanks to Scartore for the suggestion!

I am going to spend an article talking about each of three main archetypes:  Aggro, Control and Combo.  You know, the old rock/paper/scissors that people generally see.  The good thing about Commander is that there are plenty of different variations of each of these archetypes out there and hopefully I can give you a broad overview of the strengths and weaknesses of these decks. 

However something to keep in mind is that there are very few decks that actually stick to these sole designations.  In other words, whenever you play you are typically going to see combinations of these archetypes.  This is mainly for deck resiliency, as this is a multiplayer format where everyone starts at 40 life.  If you want to run the table you obviously need to kick in a total of 120 damage (or less, if you go the commander damage route) and that isn't easy.  As such I believe the majority of the decks you will face online are variations of mid-range decks that pack some good beaters along with control elements and a combo or 2.  But since seeing a bunch of mid-range decks isn't all that fun, I am going to try and stick to the big 3 previously mentioned.

First let's talk about aggro decks.  Now many of you may be shaking your heads at the fact that people would play aggro in a multiplayer environment.  As most of you know, it is tough to consistently put pressure on your opponents using an aggro deck.  Trying to take on 3 other opponents at once is a tough task especially if you come out guns blazing.  As a matter of fact, when I think of an aggro deck, I picture the Wild West, with a gunman kicking down the door of a bar and shooting the hell out of everyone in there without asking any questions.


Tombstone was the bomb diggity!

Basically, aggro decks let their intentions be known from the very beginning and aren't afraid to let you know just how they plan on killing you.  They also typically know that it is basically them against the world and as such have back up plans to help out.  But really an aggro deck has one goal in mind:  Stomping the opposition quickly and efficiently.

There are 3 main types of aggro decks that I see.  The first is a deck based around Commander damage, typically by pumping the Commander.  The second is a tribal based deck, hoping to spew out a ton of creatures with tribal synergies.  The third is just a general beatdown strategy, hoping that with big efficient creatures it can amass the damage needed to kill everyone.  Each of these has their positives and negatives, so let's look at some examples.

COMMANDER BASED AGGRO

The first type of aggro deck we are going to cover is the Commander based aggro deck.  This is probably the most common type of aggro deck you will see while playing online.  Essentially these decks aim to rush out their Commander and kill the opponents through Commander based damage.  The thought is that this will essentially halve the amount of damage necessary to take out the entire table, from 120 total points to 63.  Oftentimes these decks include equipment and other ways to boost the power of the Commander as well as provide evasion.

The main weakness of these types of decks is their reliance upon their Commander.  There are plenty of tuck effects out there, such as Condemn, Hinder and Hallowed Burial, that can make their Commander inaccessible for a long time.  A Runed Halo naming their Commander or a Story Circle set to their color will also ruin their day.  So these decks don't usually go "all in" with their Commanders as they realize one tuck effect will mean that they have lost the game.  However you will still occasionally see decks that put all of their eggs into one basket.

Let's take a look at a representative deck: 

Isamaru, Hound of Konda
A Commander deck by ooberutopia
Creatures
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
1 Karmic Guide
1 Magus of the Disk
1 Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
1 Platinum Angel
1 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
1 Sanctum Gargoyle
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Twilight Shepherd
11 cards

Other Spells
[Artifacts]
1 Bonesplitter
1 Cloak and Dagger
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Empyrial Plate
1 Fireshrieker
1 General's Kabuto
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Helm of Kaldra
1 Jester's Cap
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Mana Vault
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Mask of Memory
1 Mindslaver
1 Mox Diamond
1 O-Naginata
1 Quietus Spike
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Scythe of the Wretched
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Shield of Kaldra
1 Skullclamp
1 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Static Orb
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Kaldra
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Vulshok Battlegear
1 Vulshok Morningstar
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Winter Orb
[Enchantments]
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Parallax Wave
1 Story Circle
[Instants]
1 Condemn
1 Crib Swap
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
[Sorceries]
1 Armageddon
1 Austere Command
1 Breath of Life
1 Cataclysm
1 Catastrophe
1 False Defeat
1 Martial Coup
1 Resurrection
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Wrath of God
54 cards
 
Lands
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
1 Kor Haven
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
26 Plains
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
35 cards

 
isamaru, hound of konda

 

I found this deck HERE.  You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page but you will see it.  I have heard about Isamaru decks that have him as their only creature, but include a lot of ways to pump him.  Unfortunately I couldn't find a deck like that.  However I believe this is a fairly good representation of an Isamaru deck.  Just keep in mind that this deck would likely pack Kemba as well now due to the high amount of equipment it packs.

So what we have here is a Commander that you pretty much know can be played on turn 1 every time.  Most Commander decks aren't prepared for a threat that early, and Isamaru will likely be able to take out 1 opponent early with general damage.  This is especially true if you are able to equip him with 1 or 2 of the numerous pieces of equipment the deck packs.  Even something as innocuous as Bonesplitter will make Isamaru hit that much harder.  The good thing about using equipment is that it stays around even if the creature is destroyed.  So you should be able to replay Isamaru and equip him again pretty quickly.  And as Isamaru has such a low casting cost, you should be able to re-cast him pretty easily.

The deck includes some of the typical answers such as Austere Command and Story Circle.  But the main way to make sure that it stays in control is through various mana denial strategies, such as Armageddon, Winter Orb, Sphere of Resistance and Smokestack.  Mana denial is a good way to make sure that you keep a lead or stay ahead.  It is also a good way to tick off everyone at your table. 

However, this deck is essentially a one trick pony.  Sure, it has Akroma as a back up beater, but if you manage to take care of Isamaru the deck should fold fairly quickly.  With a low creature count it won't be able to consistently get another threat out there and has to play the attrition route, hoping to hold people off with mana denial until it can find another threat.  But as you can imagine, that isn't the best plan.

Let's take a look at another commander based aggro deck, built by yours truly.

Rafiq of the Many
A Commander deck by Leviathan
Creatures
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Eternal Witness
1 Genesis
1 Jenara, Asura of War
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rafiq of the Many
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
1 Stoic Angel
1 Stonecloaker
1 Sun Titan
1 Tajuru Preserver
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Vigor
1 Yavimaya Elder
20 cards

Other Spells
[Artifacts]
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Vengeance
[Planeswalker]
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
[Enchantments]
1 Armadillo Cloak
1 Bear Umbra
1 Celestial Mantle
1 City of Solitude
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Drake Umbra
1 Dueling Grounds
1 Eel Umbra
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Enchantress's Presence
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Finest Hour
1 Mammoth Umbra
1 Mystic Remora
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Rancor
1 Rhystic Study
1 Runed Halo
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Snake Umbra
1 Steel of the Godhead
1 Sterling Grove
[Instants]
1 Bant Charm
1 Condemn
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Hinder
1 Return to Dust
1 Swords to Plowshares
[Sorceries]
1 Austere Command
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Recurring Insight
1 Three Dreams
1 Wargate
1 Wrath of God
41 cards
 
Lands
1 Academy Ruins
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Breeding Pool
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Flooded Grove
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Krosan Verge
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Mystic Gate
1 Rupture Spire
1 Savannah
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Simic Growth Chamber
5 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Island
5 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Strip Mine
1 Temple Garden
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
39 cards

 
rafiq of the many

 

You may remember this deck from my article HERE.  Again, the idea is to get Rafiq out, put a bunch of enchantments on him and beat down.  Rafiq costs more than Isamaru, but in exchange you get a much more powerful commander.  You should be able to get Rafiq out fairly quickly and hopefully by turn 4 at the latest.  However he doesn't take as many hits to kill his opponents as Isamaru.

This deck uses enchantress based card draw as its back up, hopefully keeping the player's hand full.  In addition, with the large amount of umbras the player should hopefully be able to keep Rafiq from being destroyed by Wrath effects.  By using both of these methods I tried to make sure that I would still be able to be a threat in the late game after people have been ganging up on me.

So what happens if Rafiq gets tucked?  Well, fortunately the deck packs more than one extra threat.  Everything from Jenara, Asura of War to Linvala, Keeper of Silence to Sovereigns of Lost Alara can act as a pretty big threat, especially if they are loaded up with enchantments.  In addition, the card draw engines and tutors in here should help the deck find answers and help in the late game.  Of course, losing Rafiq hurts, but hopefully it won't hurt that bad.

However, the most common Commander beatdown deck you will face out there will be based around Uril, the Miststalker.

uril, the miststalker
He truly is a beast.

Uril has a lot going for him.  He has troll shroud, which makes him immune to Terminate and Condemn.  Plus he gets huge quickly.  Like, really huge.  If you throw an umbra or 2 on him, he dodges the typical Wrath spells.  Add all of these up and you have a Commander that is truly hard to deal with.

Novice Uril players will put all their eggs into 1 basket, basically hoping to load him up with enchantments and bash.  But more experienced players will have back up plans, usually using enchantress based draw or mana denial strategies to help them out.  They may also pack additional threats to stack enchantments on in case he gets tucked.  I'm not going to show you another Uril list, because if you have been playing online at all you will have seen plenty already.  But just know that he is out there.

So a successful Commander based aggro deck needs to have a plan in place in case their Commander gets tucked, and have a plan for the long game.  Let's move on to the next aggro based deck.

TRIBAL AGGRO

Some of the tribes have been around since the beginning of Magic, and as such, they have a lot of support.  The biggest tribes you will face will be goblins and elves, with zombies, slivers and dragons close behind.  These tribes typically have ways to pump their creatures and draw a mass of cards.  They also have Commanders that benefit their specific tribes.

The weakness of these types of deck is that they rely almost strictly on combat based damage.  This may not seem like a huge weakness, but if your deck folds to Moat, that's a big problem.  In addition, these decks can often dump their entire hand on the board and get hit with a Wrath of God, leaving them nothing to show for their efforts.  As they are typically fast decks, they try to play fast, and that can lead to them being burned.  Let's take a look at a representative deck.

Wort, Boggart Auntie
A Commander deck by sum1unopk
Creatures
1 Boggart Harbinger
1 Brass Herald
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Ember Hauler
1 Firefright Mage
1 Frogtosser Banneret
1 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Chirurgeon
1 Goblin King
1 Goblin Lackey
1 Goblin Matron
1 Goblin Piledriver
1 Goblin Recruiter
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Sledder
1 Goblin Tinkerer
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Goblin Wizard
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Lightning Crafter
1 Mad Auntie
1 Moggcatcher
1 Sensation Gorger
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Stingscourger
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Warren Instigator
1 Warren Pilferers
1 Wort, Boggart Auntie
33 cards

Other Spells
[Artifacts]
1 Aether Vial
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Skullclamp
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Thornbite Staff
[Planeswalker]
1 Liliana Vess
[Instants]
1 Doom Blade
1 Footbottom Feast
1 Imp's Mischief
1 Shred Memory
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Smother
1 Snuff Out
1 Sudden Death
1 Tarfire
1 Terminate
1 Terror
1 Vendetta
[Sorceries]
1 Boggart Birth Rite
1 Brainspoil
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Dimir Machinations
1 Living Death
1 Patriarch's Bidding
1 Warren Weirding
1 Wheel of Fate
28 cards
 
Lands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Auntie's Hovel
1 Barren Moor
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Graven Cairns
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Marsh Flats
11 Mountain
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Sulfurous Springs
11 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
39 cards

 
wort, boggart auntie

 

I found this deck HERE.  I assume this is the same sum1unopk that I have seen playing online and he is a pretty solid deckbuilder, so this is a pretty decent list to look at.  As you can tell the tribe is goblins.  Goblins have ways to pump their little critters, with cards like Goblin King and Goblin Warchief.  They also have multiple tutors and deck stackers, with Goblin Matron and Goblin Recruiter.  Card draw is provided by Goblin Ringleader and Wheel of Fortune.  But the best part is Wort herself, who brings constant recursion with her body.  The ability to constantly reuse Goblin Recruiter to stack your deck is nothing to sneeze at, and can be hard to deal with.  And if the graveyard if full of goblins, Patriarch's Bidding will be happy to bring them all back into play.

Unfortunately if the deck doesn't hit a tutor it can have a hard time getting going.  None of the creatures in this deck are particularly large or threatening and won't be able to win most battles.  Also, being a Red and Black deck, it has the traditional weakness to enchantments.  As such, one Moat makes it difficult for Wort to pull of the win.  Of course it can get around Moat with Thornbite Staff and Kiki-Jiki shenanigans, but that isn't always the easiest combo to pull off in a 100 card deck.  The deck mainly wins through swarming and recursion.  If an opponent is able to slow down either of these, the deck has a hard time.  With all that said there is something satisfying about getting out a whole mess of goblins and just swarming the crap out of opponents.

Let's look at another popular tribe.

 

I found this deck HERE.  Elves are obviously another tribe that have a long history in Magic and have a lot of support cards.  And with the recent printing of Ezuri, they have certainly become more popular in Commander.  Elves can pump each other with Imperious Perfect and Ezuri.  They can provide evasion and protection with Elvish Champion and Eladamri.  Card draw for elves typically comes from outside the tribe, with Slate of Ancestry and Regal Force filling in the biggest rolls.  There is some tutoring with Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman.  In addition, the deck can make larges amounts of mana with Priest of Titania, Gaea's Cradle and Rofellos.  This obviously helps out a Commander like Ezuri, who only needs 2 activations or so to take someone out.

However, this is another deck that can run out of steam by quickly dumping its hand and being left with not a lot to do after a Wrath.  Sure, there is some recursion in the form of Genesis and Regrowth, but that isn't always enough.  Lots of the card draw in the deck is based upon having a bunch of creatures out, such as Collective Unconscious and Slate of Ancestry.  Drawing these with an empty board isn't the most positive feeling.

That being said, the deck has a back up to its Commander in Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.  So as long as the deck is able to make mana, it should be able to make any of its small creatures turn into big threats.  Giving the little guys shroud or evasion just makes it worse for opponents.

The funny thing is that tribal based decks aren't very common online.  Sure, you run into them occasionally, but not often enough that you have to specifically metagame for them.  As such, they don't have to worry about Extinction or Engineered Plague.

The other tribes I see are dragons, using Scion of the ur-Dragon or Bladewing the Risen, or zombies, using a variety of different legends.  Interestingly both of these tribes seem to have a focus on the graveyard and are susceptible to being hit by Relic of Progenitus to mess up their tactics.  As they are bigger and slower, they don't usually go the swarm route either.  Zombies can run into some of the same issues as goblins and elves though.  I've also heard of merfolk decks using Sygg, River Guide as the Commander.  However, I have never seen one of these in action.  I assume based upon their colors that it is a slightly more controlling deck that probably doesn't try to swarm opponents.  But like I said, I have yet to see one in action.

The final big tribal deck that I run into uses slivers.  Most of the time they run Sliver Queen, but it can be Sliver Overlord or even Sliver Legion.  As they are a 5 color deck, there can be a lot of variation among them.  Some try to be more controlling while others are just every sliver you can think of.  But the synergy that slivers have is pretty good, and with multiples they are really hard to deal with sometimes.  Again, Wrath effects can be an issue for them.

Let's move on to the final category we are going to talk about today.

BEATDOWN

I'm guessing that most of us, when we made our first Commander decks before knowing too much about the format, built pure beatdown decks.  These are decks that just had some of the biggest, baddest creatures you could shove into a deck, with some mana acceleration if you were thinking about it to help you cast these large beasts.  How could a deck lose that was packing Hypnox and Darksteel Colossus?  Of course, if you were anything like me you quickly realized that you couldn't just throw a bunch of dragons together and call it a deck.  However, that didn't mean you had to get away from your beatdown stylings.

Competitive beatdown decks try to take into consideration the fact that they are playing a game against active opponents while trying to smash them into tiny little bits.  They still like playing their large critters, but they have to clear the way and get rid of annoying stuff as well.  But they are always happy to have creatures with power over 10.  Let's take a look at a decklist.

Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
A Commander deck by Dr.Awesome
Creatures
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Anger
1 Apocalypse Hydra
1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
1 Boartusk Liege
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Borborygmos
1 Brawn
1 Deus of Calamity
1 Eternal Witness
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Genesis
1 Hostility
1 Hystrodon
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Kodama of the North Tree 1 Krosan Tusker
1 Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Ohran Viper
1 Paleoloth
1 Rumbling Slum
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Shivan Wurm
1 Silvos, Rogue Elemental
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Vigor
1 Weatherseed Treefolk
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Yavimaya Elder
30 cards

Other Spells
[Artifacts]
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Mind's Eye
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Skullclamp
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
[Planeswalker]
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
[Enchantments]
1 Fires of Yavimaya
1 Rancor
1 Where Ancients Tread
[Instants]
1 Fault Line
1 Harrow
1 Inferno
1 Krosan Grip
1 Reiterate
1 Squall Line
1 Starstorm
[Sorceries]
1 Banefire
1 Earthquake
1 Far Wanderings
1 Ghitu Fire
1 Harmonize
1 Hull Breach
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Life from the Loam
1 Molten Disaster
1 Overrun
1 Regrowth
1 Restock
1 Rolling Thunder
1 Savage Twister
1 Soul's Majesty
33 cards
 
Lands
9 Forest
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Gruul Turf
1 High Market
1 Highland Weald
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Mishra's Factory
7 Mountain
1 Mountain Valley
1 Naya Panorama
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Shivan Oasis
1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
1 Slippery Karst
1 Smoldering Crater
1 Strip Mine 
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Zoetic Cavern
37 cards

 
Stonebrow, Krosan Hero

 

I found this decklist HERE.  It is Red/Green, and just by looking at the Commander you know that he is going to try and smash your face in.  He packs more than a few large creatures, everything from Red Akroma to Paleoloth.  The thing that made this deck catch my eye though was the high amount of sweepers the deck packs.  It has Rolling Thunder, Molten DisasterSavage Twister, Earthquake, Squall Line and Inferno.  Not only do these clear the way for his large creatures to come in and stomp on stuff, most of these reduce opponents' life totals as well.  Of course, they reduce the life total of the player running them, and there is a noticeable lack of life gain effects in the deck.  But this is sort of an "all in" deck where you live by the sword and die by the sword.

For another look at a Stonebrow deck you can look at one of my old articles HERE.  It had a similar focus on large creatures but tried to be a little more controlling.  In addition, it had a minor focus on extra attack steps, which work well with Stonebrow's ability.  Finally, it had a small disruption suite to try and knock opponents off their game plan.

Unfortunately beatdown is often the weakest archetype to play, at least in my experience.  These decks aren't as fast as the tribal decks, or as focused as those that rely upon their Commander.  Beatdown has a hard time dealing with the many answers that control decks run, and usually isn't fast enough to race the combo decks.  If you want, you can make flying beatdown decks using a Commander like Isperia or Akroma, but those are often more controlling than beatdown.  But they are usually more resilient.

CONCLUSION

So that's my brief rundown on aggro decks.  I admit, I have a soft spot in my heart for aggro and it is probably my favorite type of deck to play in Commander.  You don't need to wait for someone to become the aggressor, you are the aggressor.  In addition, aggro decks lead to fast games, so if you want to get a game done in a hurry go with aggro.  You may die quickly but you may win quickly as well.  However I think everyone out there knows that aggro decks are viable in Commander and should be taken seriously.

So basically the aggro deck needs to have the ability to take on multiple opponents, and as such, requires some sort of back up plan.  Whether it is consistent card draw, mana denial, or multiple sweepers to clear the way, there needs to be something to support its plan.  If not, it is going to have a hard time becoming a winning aggro deck.  In addition, it can't be too single minded.  It needs to be able to be competitive even if it does not have the most important piece in its deck.

There is one type of aggro deck that you should be aware of that will become more popular once Mirrodin Besieged comes out:  Poison.  With all the new poison and proliferate cards coming out in the new set I'm sure people are going to be updating their Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon decks.  Up until now Skittles decks have essentially been control decks with poison crammed into them.  I'm guessing that's going to change soon just by looking at the visual spoiler.  There are plenty of new creatures with poison and I think that a bunch will be included in these decks.  That will probably make Skittles even more aggressive and popular than before, so be prepared.

I'm sure there are plenty of other aggro decks out there that don't fall under these categories.  Feel free to mention them in the comments.  Until next time, when I cover control!

Leviathan, aka Tarasco on MTGO
mrmorale32 at yahoo dot com
 

CONQUEROR AND COMMANDER ARCHIVE

5 Comments

Cool article yet again :) My by Paul Leicht at Tue, 01/25/2011 - 02:05
Paul Leicht's picture
5

Cool article yet again :) My typical aggro deck uses Horde of Notions and Elemental recursion/fetch/tricks. Lots of interesting ways to stomp face, or defend if need be. Though as I tend to like some elements of control I don't go all in the way Elves and Goblins tend to.

Double post. by Paul Leicht at Tue, 01/25/2011 - 02:08
Paul Leicht's picture
5

Boo for extreme server delay making a double post.

^^ by Elbinac at Tue, 01/25/2011 - 15:23
Elbinac's picture
5

I approve of this message.

Great article. Reading it by themonkey at Tue, 01/25/2011 - 19:51
themonkey's picture

Great article. Reading it made me wish I had more time to play. And to write for that matter.

I have a 5 color Sliver Aggro deck that I love. It's actually all Slivers and land. It's a blast to play because you never know what you will wind up with. It could be giant slivers, or shadow slivers, or mana generating slivers, it's a blast. There's nothing like having 8 or so slivers out and then brining out Commander Sliver Legion and hitting somebody for a lot of damage. You are right that almost every game with this deck is me vs everyone and wrath effects are just about impossible to bounce back from.

I must have missed this when by Scartore at Thu, 02/03/2011 - 19:05
Scartore's picture
4

I must have missed this when it was first published, glad you liked the idea.
A lot of my decks are in the beatdown area. I think one of the things a beatdown player needs to do is remember the political nature of commander. The guy with the Uril deck needs to do 63 damage because he's gonna have a huge target on his head as soon as he drops his commander. A less threatening commander can often hang back and let some of the other players do the heavy work.