Wednesday, March 4, 2015

One of my premier decks, this was one of the first decks I put together back when I started playing EDH, and is one of the few that stays generally updated.  It's Rasputin Dreamweaver!

1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Azorius Signet
1 Bant Panorama
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Capsize
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Coalition Relic
1 Condemn
1 Conjurer's Closet
1 Crystal Ball
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Decree of Justice
1 Dissipate
1 Draining Whelk
1 Duplicant
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Erratic Portal
1 Esper Panorama
1 Flickerform
1 Flood Plain
1 Flooded Strand
1 Galepowder Mage
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Gideon Jura
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Hallowed Burial
10 Island
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Karmic Guide
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Kor Haven
1 Land Tax
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Mirrorweave
1 Mistmeadow Witch
1 Momentary Blink
1 Mulldrifter
1 Mystic Gate
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Oblation
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
13 Plains
1 Rasputin Dreamweaver
1 Recurring Insight
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Restoration Angel
1 Riptide Shapeshifter
1 Rite of Replication
1 Rout
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sol Ring
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Soothsaying
1 Spell Burst
1 Stonecloaker
1 Storm Herd
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Strip Mine
1 Sun Titan
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Time Spiral
1 Time Stop
1 Time Stretch
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Tundra
1 Vanish into Memory
1 Venser, the Sojourner


Rasputin is tons of fun to play.  He concentrates on producing big effects (as if you're playing a guy that is a 6 drop and is about mana generation, the stuff you ramp to had better be worth it).  There is a flickering sub-theme mostly because you can generate even more ridiculous mana with Rasputin, and it branched further out from there.

This is a place to point out that this deck, while strong, is not entirely optimized.  If I weren't saving my single copies for their own commander decks, this deck would definitely be playing a legendary Eldrazi or two.  One of the sacrifices as I've done this project has had to be to give up on ideas of optimization.  It has made decks worse, of course, but it has also overall widened my perception of "playable".  A lot more cards are playable in Commander than most people would want to admit to.  Some day I may write more on that.

Friday, February 27, 2015

For one of my more competitive decks, to pull out when I want to out-@$$hole the @$$holes, here is Kaalia of the Vast, as completed several years ago:

1 Aegis Angel
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Ambition's Cost
1 Angelic Arbiter
1 Anger
1 Arid Mesa
1 Armageddon
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Austere Command
1 Avatar of Slaughter
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Bathe in Light
1 Bladewing the Risen
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boom // Bust
1 Boros Garrison
1 Boros Signet
1 Chancellor of the Annex
1 Command Tower
1 Congregate
1 Culling Sun
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Dragon Mage
1 Dread Cacodemon
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Fault Line
1 Flameblast Dragon
1 Godless Shrine
1 Graven Cairns
1 Heart of Ramos
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Hellkite Igniter
1 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
1 Into the Core
1 Kaalia of the Vast
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Malfegor
1 Marsh Flats
1 Master Warcraft
1 Molten Slagheap
1 Mortify
1 Mother of Runes
7 Mountain
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Orim's Thunder
1 Oros, the Avenger
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Path to Exile
1 Phyrexian Arena
7 Plains
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Rakdos the Defiler
1 Reiver Demon
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Rocky Tar Pit
1 Ruination
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Rupture Spire
1 Scrubland
1 Shattered Angel
1 Skull of Ramos
1 Soul Snare
1 Stranglehold
1 Sulfurous Springs
8 Swamp
1 Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
1 Tectonic Break
1 Tooth of Ramos
1 Unburial Rites
1 Victimize
1 Victory's Herald
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Voice of All

Goal: Accelerate out Kaalia, then Armageddon effect to be able to drop huge dragons, demons, and angels into play with no one else having land.

The deck is fun to use once, but it exemplifies the kind of over-competitive EDH style that I find generally repulsive.  It shuts down any fun for anyone else, ends games fairly quickly, and generally just gets people mad at you.  I tend to only pull out this deck when playing people I don't know too well but who I do know (from observation or previous games) are all-in on combo-ing off or just being jerks to other players.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Decklist: Xira Arien

A deck designed to abuse most "points" lists that have specific, shifting needs:
1 Acid Web Spider
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Axebane Guardian
1 Bloodshot Cyclops
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Borderland Ranger
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Broodmate Dragon
1 Cuombajj Witches
1 Darigaaz's Caldera
1 Darigaaz's Charm
1 Dawntreader Elk
1 Devoted Druid
1 Diabolic Servitude
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Enemy of the Guildpact
1 Expedition Map
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Flametongue Kavu
8 Forest
1 Game-Trail Changeling
1 Gatecreeper Vine
1 Geothermal Crevice
1 Golgari Charm
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Gruul Charm
1 Gruul Guildgate
1 Gruul Turf
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Hissing Iguanar
1 Hit // Run
1 Honden of Life's Web
1 Honden of Night's Reach
1 Hull Breach
1 Igneous Pouncer
1 Insurrection
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Jund Charm
1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Khalni Gem
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Kor Dirge
1 Korozda Guildmage
1 Koskun Keep
1 Lim-Dûl's Paladin
1 Mage Slayer
4 Mountain
1 Night Dealings
1 Obelisk of Jund
1 Pinecrest Ridge
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Quillspike
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Rampant Growth
1 Reclaim
1 Respite
1 Runes of the Deus
1 Savage Lands
1 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Shivan Oasis
1 Skyshroud Cutter
1 Sprouting Thrinax
6 Swamp
1 Sword of the Chosen
1 Terminal Moraine
1 Terminate
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Torrent of Souls
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Tresserhorn Sinks
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Unstable Frontier
1 Urborg Volcano
1 Urza's Blueprints
1 Vithian Renegades
1 Vulshok Battlemaster
1 Weed Strangle
1 Wreak Havoc
1 Xira Arien
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Zoetic Cavern
1 Zombie Infestation