Monday, January 7, 2013

My Decks - Introduction and Overview

Now that I've gone through and looked at every commander option available, its time to start looking at which decks I want to build.  My initial intent was to pick one in each color combination, but there are some themes that I want to hit and some colors with too many options to limit myself.  As of right now, these are the ones I am considering, with a brief explanation of what I want to do with them.

Mikaeus, the Lunarch:  I dislike most of the mono-white options, but I think I can get behind a Mikaeus decks that features some of the color's token making and Crusade effects.

Arcum Dagsson:  Arcum is one of the more powerful options in the game, but I like the challenge of building both a fun version and a 'broken' version of such a deck.

Azami, Lady of Scrolls:  This is basically going to be Wizard tribal, and although Azami can be totally busted I think that I can also find a fun middle ground.

Marrow-Gnawer:  I want to build at least one deck that can run lots of Stax effects, and I think a Marrow-Gnawer deck is a fun way to try and do it.

Bosh, Iron Golem:  Most mono-Red options bore me.  Bosh at least provides some cool theme to build around, even though it is really fragile.

Ezuri, Renegade Leader:  Elf tribal shenanigans.

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV:  This is going to be a place to put all the various taxing and disruptive permanents to good use.

Oona, Queen of the Fae:  I want to try and build a 'milling' deck, and as difficult as that is going to be I think Oona has the best chance of pulling it off.  Szadek, Lord of Secrets is also a possibility.

Wort, Boggart Auntie:  Goblin tribal shenanigans.

Wort, the Raidmother:  This is going to be a deck that runs as many instants and sorceries as possible and attempts to copy them as much as possible.  It should also feature as many token making spells as I can find to make sure every spell gets Conspired as much as possible.

Rosheen Meanderer:  Anything with the letter X on it...

Captain Sisay:  Legends and Legendary permanents.

Rhys the Redeemed:  Token madness!  I may end up making 2 or 3 different versions for stuff like "Saproling Tribal" or whatnot.  There are just so many cards that can fit into a deck like this that I can't see just making one.

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice:  Lifegain matters.  Protection matters.  There are lots of ways that we can abuse Trostani's lifegain, perhaps even Populating for profite once and a while.

Brion Stoutarm:  A bit like Bosh, but focused on doing it much differently.  Lots of Threaten effects.

Experiment Kraj:  This is probably going to end up as some broken combo deck, but like some of the other combo options I look forward to breaking it then unbreaking it with two different versions of the deck.

Ghost Council of Orzhova:  Black/White control with some token making, plenty of Wrath effects and removal, and plenty of other Drain Life effects.

Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind:  The combo versions are well explored, but we will go through the exercise of building one anyway.  I look forward to building a non-combo version as well.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord:  Living out of the graveyard for fun and profit.

Glissa, the Traitor:  Recurring some artifacts will only be a part of what the deck will do, as I see this as a chance to build a poison-themed deck.

Sharuum the Hegemon:  I know that Sharuum combo has been done to death, but I think some sort of fun artifact creature reanimator deck might be fun to do instead.

Zur the Enchanter:  We can have a bit of fun with an enchantments matters theme, perhaps incorporating cards like Bruna, Opalesence, and Replenish.

Sedris, the Traitor King:  Zombies, with Wheel and Buried Alive effects to keep the graveyard full of cool creatures to reanimate.

Kresh, the Bloodbraided:  Sacrifice effects and creatuer recursion. The challenge will be to make sure there is a real difference between this and Jarad.

Uril, the Miststalker:  Plenty of Auras to pump Uril, plus an Enchantress theme.

Rafiq of the Many:  Plenty of Equipment to pump Rafiq, plus an 'equipment matters' theme.

Doran, the Siege Tower:  A 'toughness matters' theme, with some Treefolk tribal thrown in.

Ghave, Guru of Spores:  This is another deck that I can see getting out of hand, but playing around with a deck that basically wants/needs Doubling Season in play all the time should be fun.

Karador, Ghost Chieftain:  Reanimator themed.

Riku of Two Reflections:  I think I want to focus more on the copying of creatures, where Wort focuses more on copying instant/sorcery spells.  Of course, there are still going to be some instant/sorcery spells that I really want to copy as well.

Maelstrom Wanderer:  Along with Intet, this will be a 'Top of the Library matters' kind of deck.

Kaalia of the Vast:  I'm decided that this is going to be an Angels and Demons themed deck, with my Dragons going into Scion of Ur-Dragon below.

Damia, Sage of Stone:  Maro type cards and cards that trigger of of drawing cards.

Zedruu the Greathearted:  Giving my opponents what they don't want and chaos themed cards.

Horde of Notions:  Elemental tribal.

Scion of the Ur-Dragon:  Dragon tribal.

Sliver Overlord:  Sliver Tribal

Progenitus:  5-color 'good stuff', with a focus on cards that can only be played or are maximized in 5-color decks.  Cards like the Bringers, Domain cards, Sunburst cards, etc.

That's 38 decks... which should cover most of the themes that I would like to incorporate.  A lot of them will basically have two forms at the end of the day; a cut-throat "best" version that optimizes combos and synergies whenever possible, and a more "social" version that will still look to take advantage of synergies but not so much as to run insta-win combos.

Soon, I will start up writing the "Alpha to Zendikar" set reviews with a running list of possible inclusions for each deck above as we go.  At the end, we'll take a look at each card we've noted as a possibility an whittle the lists down to a formal decklist (or two).  2013 is going to be a busy year, but I'm looking forward to tackling the task of sorting through the14,000+ cards that Magic has to offer and finding the true cream of the crop.

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