#Help out a somewhat unusual Grixis EDH deck

85 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

alpine musk
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Hey y'all. As I mentioned in the title, it's a pretty odd deck that tries to convert one of my pet cards; Lantern of Insight into a commander playable theme. The deck I've got so far doesn't really have a supported theme as far as I know so instead here are some of the goals I want the deck to achieve:

  1. Pit my opponents against each other (and away from me).
    This will be done by:
    1.a. Revealing their hands/top of library so everyone becomes aware of threats in hand.
    1.b. Goading, unfavourable blocks, and a little bit of pillowforting.

  2. Have cards that allow me to "help" the other players in case someone pops off too hard and becomes the Archnemesis on the table.
    Done by:
    2.a. Tempt and Demonstrate cards.
    2.b. Cards that all players benefit from/can activate.
    2.c. Having them spent resources on each other.

  3. Benefit from it all while trying to stay under the radar.
    3.a. Mainly accomplished by being like the 3rd most threatening. player so everyone else will be too busy dealing with each other.

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Main things I'd like to avoid:

  1. Chaos effects.
  2. Singular cards that are too strong to the point of unwanted attracting attention to me (since I'll often be playing with a revealed hand too).
  3. Tutors (personal deckbuilding philosophy and also part of section 5)

This is essentially what I imagine a Grixis politician would act like.

Regardless, I'd like some help with cuts, suggestions on cards I might've missed, or maybe critique on the cards already there. It's a bit of an difficult deck to goldfish myself since a lot of the cards are heavily dependent on other players.

https://archidekt.com/decks/18398984/test_antigrouphugpolitics_deck

Lantern.jpg
Archidekt
*Test* Anti-grouphug/Politics? deck • (Grixis Commander deck) •...

Kefka, Court Mage // Kefka, Ruler of Ruin - Commander deck

(1) Commander • (12) Artifact • (22) Creature • (15) Enchantment • (8) Instant • (35) Land • (7) Sorcery
Bit of an unusual deck this time. It still is a W.I.P. but the main focus of the deck is to use politics to pit your opponents against each other by keeping a low prof...

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Addendum: Even though he's the commander, Kefka is only really here as a consistent way to refresh my hand. I'd say the real secret commander is actually [[Parnesse, the Subtle Brush]], but couldn't make her work without spending too much space on card draw.

lavish bisonBOT
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https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/8/parnesse-the-subtle-brush

Parnesse, the Subtle Brush <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manau:292901508754702338><:manab:292901508872273920><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Creature — Vampire Wizard
Whenever you or a permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless that player pays 4 life.
Whenever you copy a spell, up to one target opponent may also copy that spell. They may choose new targets for that copy.
4/4

alpine musk
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2nd addendum: Before turning to Grixis, I had a Temur built with [[Rashmi and Ragavan]] which plays more in line with how an actual Lantern deck works. I decided not to go through with that built mainly because I didn't vibe with it. But if you want to check it out here's the skeleton of that idea:

https://archidekt.com/decks/18796679/test_antigrouphugpolitics_deck_alt_version

Archidekt
*Test* Anti-grouphug/Politics deck Temur version • (Temur Command...

Rashmi and Ragavan - Commander deck

(1) Commander • (3) Artifact • (8) Creature • (11) Enchantment • (3) Instant • (3) Sorcery

lavish bisonBOT
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https://scryfall.com/card/moc/8/rashmi-and-ragavan

Rashmi and Ragavan <:mana1:292901508373282827><:manag:292901508654301185><:manau:292901508754702338><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Creature — Elf Monkey
Whenever you cast your first spell during each of your turns, exile the top card of target opponent's library and create a Treasure token. Then you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost if it's a spell with mana value less than the number of artifacts you control. If you don't cast it this way, you may cast it this turn.
2/4

junior walrus
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oh i see some long essay i will check this out

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how many decks are here

alpine musk
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Oh it's just 1 deck I'd like suggestions on + 1 as an example

sharp sluice
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[[vow of malice]]

lavish bisonBOT
sharp sluice
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[[scheming symmetry]]

lavish bisonBOT
sharp sluice
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[[wishclaw talisman]]

lavish bisonBOT
sharp sluice
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Oh just saw tutors comment. I still find scheming really fun at lower brackets

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[[desertion]]

lavish bisonBOT
sharp sluice
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Counterspells that give something in ng useful back and are nice for politicking

[[An offer you can't refuse]]
[[Arcane denial]]

lavish bisonBOT
sharp sluice
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[[maze of ith]]

You can save another player from combat damage. This comes up surprisingly often.

lavish bisonBOT
alpine musk
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Thanks a bunch, I'll see if and where I can fit them

alpine musk
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The higher the powerlevel, the less of a threat I'll accidentally become

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hopefully

heady laurel
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Ignite Memories
Kefka, Dancing Mad
The Lord of Pain
Kaervek the Merciless
Scythe Specter
Twilight Prophet

and, I know you don't want to tutor, but Since Urza's Saga is in there: Trinket Mage

alpine musk
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👍

junior walrus
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i would rather than trinket mage instead of more cards of the same effect as lantern but cannot be tutored

alpine musk
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You see, the problem is that I already have most effects that says 'play with top of library or hand revealed'

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I'm playing with commander all star [[Wandering Eye]]

lavish bisonBOT
junior walrus
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it is a lot of redundancy

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and not the good kind of "draw X card"

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each one would lead to the "oh no another same effect, guess i just skipped my draw this turn"

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for above reasons, i would especially like to have [[ash barren]] and [[seething landscape]]

lavish bisonBOT
junior walrus
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which allows to shuffle my library AFTER the top card has been revealed

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ontop of thinning out lands from my 99

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or reduce overall card budget etc

alpine musk
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yeah I was planning on putting some fetchlands in there for that purpose

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The landbase still needs some work

alpine musk
junior walrus
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you can do self wheel cards

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there is the red MDFC

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the battle/ etc

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i kinda like the memory game (no one can do it so its for trolling) where you only reveal topdeck but not hand

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so technically cards in hand are "revealed" but you dont know forsure what is there

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ofc playing online through the monitor is also different than irl in person

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for my own deck (around top deck manipulation) , i care alot more about knowing my own top card more than my opponents

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because i really dont want to sac my lantern just to take away my opponent's potential combo piece that I am FORCED to shuffle away

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its mentally straining

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that one game i lost with lantern out because i did not shuffle away the top deck [[burial alive]]

lavish bisonBOT
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No card found for “burial alive”

junior walrus
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[[buried alive]] and ofc 2 out of 3 cards is part of the infinite loop

lavish bisonBOT
junior walrus
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i think you can add [[xantcha, sleeper agent]]

lavish bisonBOT
junior walrus
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and ways that really cares about seeing/knowing cards in someone's hand

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both thematically and mechanically connected to the theme

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so instead of just having knowledge about cards in hand, it is a game of "changing that information" before someone else can react

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[[breathtaker crypt]]

lavish bisonBOT
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No card found for “breathtaker crypt”

junior walrus
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as i goldfish'ed, i see lot of mana rocks and perhaps not enough utility to make up for what the deck is trying to do?

alpine musk
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hmm I'll check it again next time I decktest

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thanks for the help

junior walrus
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[[mm'mmenon right hand]] may not be the card you want but it has topdeck and artifact synergy

lavish bisonBOT
native plank
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just a suggestion before you build this deck, i know from experience that when you give three players this info in a game of commander, it usually slows the game considerably. dont expect speedy turns

junior walrus
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^information overload

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i only ever use telepathy to troll the table for that reason, half the time lower brackets dont even have instant responds

knotty tangle
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Decision paralysis wincon?

alpine musk
alpine musk
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Ofc this is all based on presumption and I won't know how people will react to this sort of deck untill I actually go out and play with it.

junior walrus
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i think the follow up plan is more important, as knowing what will happen "impose" a certain level of responsibility to mitigate the outcome

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is there a card game in poker where most/all the information are revealed

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there may also be mind games if your hand is the only one that isnt revealed

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i think tutor is especially good for the reason (directly to hand) and also can cut redundancy

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but thats just the "ideal" version in my head so i am not trying to convince you to do it that way

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if someone else has a boardwipe in hand, it would be like having an [oblivion stone]]] or [[nev disk]] on the battlefield

lavish bisonBOT
junior walrus
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[[oblivion stone]]

lavish bisonBOT