Izzet Vs Golgari deckbuilding. Part 1 Golgari

Sept 7th Izzet Vs Golgari duel deck comes out. I personally feel this may be the best Commander product to ever hit the shelves for prospective commander players. This product comes with 2 decks, both with an included legendary creature (first time ever hope this is a trend). Add 16 more basic lands and you only need 24 (plus 4 or 5 from the 2 ofs) more cards to customize the deck yourself. This is my plan: I will build these 2 decks following similar rules/ card ratios that were made to make the 60 card decks. First up is the later listed golgari because the commander is new, and has caught my interest.

In a new league.

Last week I mentioned that I've just moved, and in my new location there was a league that I wanted to try out. The only problem: I have no cards with me, left them all back in Washington until further notice. That did not stop me however, and here is how my night went.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

So, I find myself in an interesting situation. I've just moved and wont have access to a majority of my magic collection for at least a few months. In the new area there is a magic commander league that looks promising. So, I've decided to take advantage of this situation and show how I would build some commander decks with little to no income. Also with this league, I should be able to play more opposed to just building and will be able to give play reports.

I'm going to start by purchasing the Izzet vs Golgari duel deck when it comes out next month. Jarad has just been spoiled on http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1033 and at this point, not knowing what else is in the deck, I'm just going to post my inital thoughts on the new legend.

Tribal wishlists:

So planechase come and gone, much of the M13 set has been spoiled. I keep saying that Wizards is dropping the ball on supporting Tribal Commander. I feel that if I'm going to keep accusing WoTC of dropping the ball I need to put my wish list out there for them to see. Maybe they are just unaware. While it is not an official format for sure, there is a following for it.

Commander Archtype- Voltron

The commander format and its unique rules have brought about some unique archetypes that can only be represented in this format. One of these archetypes is so unique to the format that it can't really be done in any other format. This is the "voltron" archetype. Voltron decks are decks that center on dealing 21 damage from your commander via creature pumping effects. Today we won't be building any 1 deck, but will go over the many options for Voltron decks.

Elemental Chaos!

While Maelstorm Wanderer makes for a great general, I find he fits much better into my 5 color elemental deck. This deck, led by Horde of Notions, takes tribal to the extreme. Let's take a look.

Planechase for Commander- Primordial Hunger

So my article on night of the ninja has recieved a lot of hits. I'm assuming that means I'm doing something right. So now I will continue this series with Primordial Hunger. I will follow the same rules as last time keeping the same count on rarity and keeping the land, creature, non creature/non land ratio the same as the origional deck. Let's get started:

Homura, Human Ascendant

Today I want to build a deck a little bit different. I've run into Homura, Human Ascendant a few times lately in my card searches and wondered how he would play out as a general. So, I will be building this mono red monstrosity and seeing how it goes. Being a mono color deck and that color being red there are some huge drawbacks that we will have to overcome.

Planechase/Commander Maelstrom Wanderer

for today's deck I will be building a planechase/commander deck using the origional planechase rules. Which means I will be building a planechase deck as well:

• Your planar deck must have at least 10 cards in it, including plane cards and phenomenon cards.
• No more than two cards in your planar deck can be phenomenon cards.
• No two cards in your planar deck can have the same name.

My commander for this deck will be the new Maelstrom Wanderer.

Planechase for Commander- Night of the Ninja

Planechase decklists are out and will be available Friday (June 1). I'm still very excited to play with these as I'm sure many of you are as well. But, what I'm more excited about is playing these new cards in commander and the new planes in planechase/commander.
For today's deck building exercise, I'm going to take one of the 4 decks lists, Night of the Ninja, and transform it into a commander deck with the same basic feel.

Reviewing lands: 5 color lands

Lands are quite possibly be the most under looked aspect of any commander deck that is built. There are 455 land according to a current gatherer search, and choosing from among them can be tricky. So, I'm going to go through each and every land and give it a review. This will be a series covering 5 color, dual cycles, colorless lands, and others. Today I will talk about the backbone of any 5 color deck: 5 color lands.

Karador brings it all back

Karador, Ghost Chieftain was the first new commander from the 2011 commander product to be spoiled. At first I was unimpressed, then I played with him. In this deck he is often a 3 mana general, even very late into the game. He can completely take over a game when left unchecked. He gives you a virtual hand size of everything that you've played so far. 

Werewolf Tribal Commander?

Unfortunately, I feel Wizards dropped the ball for commander tribal players by choosing not to print a legendary werewolf in Innistrad block. They bring in these creatures that are really flavorful and fun to play with in a casual setting and then fail to give us a commander to lead them? I'm hoping they rectify this when the commander product comes out next month, but I'm not holding my breath.

But hey, that's not going to get me down. I'm still going to build a Werewolf/wolf themed deck based around these guys. Now the questions start: Who will lead the pack?

Bosh, Golem Catalyst

If you haven't realized by now, I'm a fan of tribal commander. Today we are going to take a look at a tribal deck based around my favorite Legend from back when I fist started really playing Magic: Bosh, Iron Golem. I just always loved Bosh's flavor a giant golem that trampled over foes and when he didn't get his way he started throwing things around. I was very happy when they came out with the color identity rules, so that I can now play Bosh as my commander.

Legendary Review - Planechase 2012

Spoilers are starting to filter in for the new cards in the 2012 planechase product coming out soon. Here I will post my initial thoughts on the legends that appear in the set.

Spoiler warning:

The incredible Ruhan

Ruhan is easily the most underrated commander in the 2011 commander product. Opinions on him range from too vanilla to too random. Me, I think he is too kickass. Most people who build voltron decks run a lot of equipment or enchantments to get their general to pack enough of a punch, Ruhan does not need it. This isn't a voltron deck, it's the Incredible Hulk!

Not your normal tribal deck

Building the zombie tribal deck was a lot of fun. As I said tribal is one of my favorite themes. Today's deck is not a legal tribal deck, though it may be able to qualify with some tweaking. This deck is just tribal themed. You may be asking, "But Jake, what is the tribe for this deck?"

All of them.

Grimgrin, Corspe-Born

Now it's time to switch gears and build around my favorite Innistrad general, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born. "Many have tried to stop him. All have failed. His homicidal march toward the city of Thraben continues." Now he has an army of undead minions at his call.

Tribal is one of my favorite archetypes, not usually powerful but always flavorful. Armies of goblins, elves, humans, zombies, and dragons all going head to head. While this deck will be playable in any commander game, it will be the most fun in a tribal vs tribal vs tribal situation.

Sigarda, Host of Herons

Sigarda, Host of Herons will be the second of the Avacyn angels to command one of my decks. Sigarda, being a 5/5 flier for 5 that is hard for an opponent to remove, pushes us to make a voltron commander deck. While I will likely build one for this site at some point, I feel that they are a bit over done and want to go a different direction with her. I want to focus on the "Spells and abilities your opponents control can't cause you to sacrifice permanents." part of the card. That is one step in the direction of building the Indestructible Army.

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

A new idea just caught my eye. Skullbriar, while I origionally dismissed it, is the perfect general for this deck. The idea is a deck that just doesn't stop coming. Creatures can start out relitively small and just grow as the game goes on. Grow is probably the perfect term for this deck, so let's get to growing.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight

Avacyn has been fully previewed and the release is just around the corner. The card I am most looking forward to is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Between the amazing art and the colorful flavor this 7 mana legendary angel has caught my attention and I just have to build a deck around her. Now that the general is picked where do we go from here?

Theme

Every deck needs a theme. With Gisela at the head there are a few themes that spring to mind.

Angels: the first thing that a player sees when they see most generals is their creature type. Tribal decks are fun to play with and against and the angel tribe just received a lot of great additions. The largest weakness of a tribal deck is that you need to be able to recover from a board wipe while also being careful about overextending.

Damage manipulation: Gisela has two abilities that manipulate damage, and she is red/white both colors excel in this department. We could fill a deck with cards that redirect damage (captain's maneuver) and manipulate how much damage is being done (furnace of wrath).

Aggro: Boros is known to be an aggressive color match. With efficient creatures running around and following it up with burn to finish off an opponent. This strategy does not translate to multiplayer very well, but is sometimes fun to play a deck that has the goal of getting reactions out of players rather than sitting back. Gisela would be a great general for this deck as she can give you the late game power to break through once things have stabilized.

Control: Red and white can be used very effectively as control. Together they have no trouble taking care of any permanents and they work well together to stay alive by reacting to any threat. Control is typically the strongest archetype in commander and Gisela has the late game body/ability to back up a control plan.

The deck I'm envisioning has a subtheme of damage manipulation while playing a various assorted army. I will take a look at an angel subtheme as we go along.