Commander Mondays (10/28/2013): Geist of Saint Traft

NOTE: I'm finally catching up. Only two weeks behind, but I think I'll come out of this with everything caught up in the next couple of weeks, but ideally I'll be caught up by next week. I just have a Kaalia of the Vast deck and an Edric, Spymaster of Trest deck to get to. Shouldn't be long. I had  a couple free hours to get this one done.



There are quite a few Commander/EDH decks that I want to build, and I've wanted to do something with Geist for a little while now. He's hexproof, he creates Angels that attack and disappear every turn, and he's all around quite an interesting commander, so let's see what awesome things we can do with this guy...

First and foremost, this deck will not focus on having cards solely from the past three years, so we have a much broader range with which to play with a deck. Additionally, this will not focus on any particular guild element like Detain or Forecast from Azorius. This will be a build open to using just about anything...

Legendary Creatures x1 Geist of Saint Traft (Commander) x1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV x1 Medomai the Ageless x1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Creatures x1 Aegis Angel x1 Aetherling x1 Aetherplasm x1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath x1 Angel of Jubilation x1 Angel of Serenity x1 Archangel of Thune x1 Archon of Redemption x1 Ascended Lawmage x1 Augur of Bolas x1 Banisher Priest x1 Blind Phantasm x1 Drogskol Captain x1 Elgaud Shieldmate x1 Hero of Bladehold x1 Invisible Stalker x1 Latch Seeker x1 Lord of the Unreal x1 Luminous Angel x1 Phantasmal Bear x1 Phantasmal Dragon x1 Phantasmal Image x1 Phantom General x1 Phantom Warrior x1 Sky Spirit x1 Spectral Rider x1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle x1 Spirit of the Hearth x1 Thistledown Liege x1 True Believer x1 Twilight Drover x1 Wall of Denial

Instants x1 Midnight Haunting x1 Overrule x1 Path to Exile x1 Vanish into Memory Sorceries x1 Preordain x1 Spectral Procession Enchantments x1 Angelic Shield x1 Aqueous Form x1 Intangible Virtue x1 Leyline of the Meek x1 Leyline of Sanctity x1 Oblivion Ring x1 Promise of Bunrei x1 Steel of the Godhead x1 True Conviction

Artifacts x1 Azorius Keyrune x1 Azorius Signet x1 Inquisitor's Flail x1 Lightning Greaves x1 Moonsilver Spear x1 Sol Ring x1 Umezawa's Jitte Planeswalkers x1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride x1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage x1 Venser, the Sojourner Lands x1 Adakar Wastes x1 Azorius Chancery x1 Azorius Guildgate x1 Calciform Pools x1 Celestial Colonade x1 Command Tower x1 Cloudcrest Lake x1 Evolving Wilds x1 Flood Plain x1 Glacial Fortress x1 Hallowed Fountain x1 Kabira Crossroads x1 Mistveil Plains x1 Moonring Island x1 Moorland Haunt x1 Mystic Gate x1 Nimbus Maze x1 Opal Palace x1 Prahv, Spires of Order x1 Sejiri Refuge x1 Soaring Seacliff x1 Vivid Creek x1 Vivid Meadow x9 Plains x6 Island

Unlike the Standard format EDH decks I built previously, this one is definitely going to cost more.

Geist of Saint Traft (at the time of this writing) is already around $16 because he's good. He can't be touched unless he's blocked, 3 mana for a commander is relatively cheap to pay out of the gate, and there is so much that can be done!

Let's start out taking a look at the other legendary creatures:

    

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is already pretty cool. He makes the things your opponents cast one more, and anything white for you costs one less, blue one less, and of course, hybrids or multicolored spells you cast would be two less. With him on the field, you could make Geist two less to cast each time you play him from the Command Zone (but hopefully you won't have to). Thalia is about the same purpose, making your opponents pay more for spells, and if she makes all noncreature spells cost more, Augustin IV will even it out. Medomai the Ageless allows extra turns, which means more damage directed at your opponents. Isn't that great?

Now let's look at the themes...

Unblockable

    

So the unblockable suite (of which only a three cards are representing above) was initially started because I wanted things with hexproof, and Invisible Stalker fit the bill, but why have just one unblockable creature? Why not add more?

Illusions

    

Illusions that get +1/+1 and hexproof? This keeps your Illusion creatures from vanishing because of their abilities. So you can copy some really sweet thing your opponent has with Phantasma Image, or you can start beating them with a 6/6 hexproof flying dragon. This is just pure awesome!

Tokens

    

I like decks with tokens. You get to have so much fun with it. For instance, you have this pretty sweet combo in Geist of Saint Traft and Twilight Drover. No matter what happens, the 4/4 Angel token created by Geist is going to go away, so you get a counter on Twilight Drover. Granted you then need mana to take a counter off and put tokens on the field, but it works well. Add Intangible Virtue to the mix, and all 1/1 tokens are 2/2 tokens (there are more things like Intangible Virtue in the deck) and you then attack with 5/5 Angels whenever Geist attacks. Hero of Bladehold has a similar effect of attacking and putting 1/1 tokens on the field (which she already makes 2/1 and mix it with any of the creatures or enchantments that pump tokens, you're doing pretty well).

Lifegain

    

I mean, why not? Archangel is a great creature, and you can then make it so even when blocked, Geist of Saint Traft still won't die because he is too powerful. Or, well, make him unblockable after lots of lifegain to deal all the commander damage to an opponent. Why did you think Umezawa's Jitte was in here? Oh, right, because it's so much better than just lifegain, but works great just with lifegain and Archangel of Thune.

Everything else, for the most part,works with all of these, whether it be illusions, lifegain, tokens, and also a spirit theme that pumps up spirit creatures (which works well with those spirit tokens). While a pretty expensive deck, it looks like it will work pretty well. If I can get all the cards for this, I may actually build it for play.