Monday, November 18, 2013

Commander Mondays (11/18/2013): Progenitus

Well, here we go with yet another deck. This time, we have Progenitus Super Friends! This could be fun!

Progenitus

Legendary Creatures (3)

x1 Progenitus (Commander)
x1 Child of Alara
x1 Ulasht, the Hate Seed

Creatures (14)

x1 Apocalypse Hydra
x1 Clockwork Hydra
x1 Feral Hydra
x1 Hydra Omnivore
x1 Kalonian Hydra
x1 Khalni Hydra
x1 Mistcutter Hydra
x1 Molten Hydra
x1 Phyrexian Hydra
x1 Phytohydra
x1 Primordial Hydra
x1 Protean Hydra
x1 Savageborn Hydra
x1 Vastwood Hydra

Instants (3)

x1 Bioshift
x1 Far//Away
x1 Ready//Willing

Sorceries (1)

x1 Armed//Dangerous

Enchantments (4)

x1 Aqueous Form
x1 Genju of the Realm
x1 Indestructibility
x1 Intangible Virtue

Planeswalkers (26)

x1 Ajani Goldmane
x1 Ajani Vengeant
x1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
x1 Chandra Nalaar
x1 Domri Rade
x1 Elspeth Tirel
x1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
x1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
x1 Garruk Relentless
x1 Garruk Wildspeaker
x1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
x1 Gideon Jura
x1 Jace Beleren
x1 Jace, Architect of Thought
x1 Jace, Memory Adept
x1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
x1 Koth of the Hammer
x1 Liliana Vess
x1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
x1 Ral Zarek
x1 Sarkhan Vol
x1 Sorin Markov
x1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
x1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
x1 Vraska the Unseen
x1 Xenagos, the Reveler

Artifacts (11)

x1 Batterskull
x1 Chromatic Lantern
x1 Crawlspace
x1 Defense Grid
x1 Elixir of Immortality
x1 Gilded Lotus
x1 Lightning Greaves
x1 Ring of Three Wishes
x1 Sol Ring
x1 Sensei's Divining Top
x1 Umezawa's Jitte

Lands (38)

x1 Blood Crypt
x1 Breeding Pool
x1 Cascade Bluffs
x1 Cavern of Souls
x1 Command Tower
x1 Evolving Wilds
x1 Exotic Orchard
x1 Fetid Heath
x1 Fire-Lit Thicket
x1 Flooded Grove
x1 Godless Shrine
x1 Graven Cairns
x1 Hallowed Fountain
x1 Mystic Gate
x1 Opal Palace
x1 Overgrown Tomb
x1 Rugged Prairie
x1 Sacred Foundry
x1 Steam Vents
x1 Stomping Ground
x1 Sunken Ruins
x1 Temple Garden
x1 Terramorphic Expanse
x1 Twilight Mire
x1 Watery Grave
x1 Wooded Bastion
x2 Plains
x1 Island
x1 Swamp
x1 Mountain
x7 Forest

So, in case you didn't know, a "Super Friends" deck is a deck that puts a lot of planeswalkers together.

I've put together a five color deck to maximize the number of planeswalkers available, and for that, I figured Progenitus would be a good commander, with Child of Alara as a secondary commander, and as another legendary creature, it's not a bad idea to drop in a legendary hydra that isn't Progenitus.

Child of Alara  Ulasht, the Hate Seed

So for starters, all the creature cards in this deck are hydras, which is why Cavern of Souls is included. Now, hydras seem to only come in two main colors: red and green. There is Phytohydra which has white, but otherwise, just red and green, so the mana base reflects this (and there is really more green than red...)

Hydra Omnivore  Phytohydra  Apocalypse Hydra  Clockwork Hydra  Feral Hydra  Phyrexian Hydra

Anyway, I'd like to say that the hydra bases are covered. We have dealing damage to multiple opponents with one strike, adding counters instead of damage, removing counters to deal damage, an artifact creature in the event of opponents having creatures with Intimidate, anyone able to put counters on a creature, all the way to Infect. The bases are mostly covered. But with all these creatures that have counters, Bioshift sounds great, so it's in here. Someone is about to destroy an attacking hydra with 8 counters? BOOM! Drop those counters onto another attacking hydra. Of course, Progenitus can't be touched and neither can Mistcutter, but with all these counters floating around, there HAS to be some way to use Bioshift.

Now, let's look at the Planeswalkers! These categories apply to why they were added, so their ultimate abilities typically don't count ultimate abilities, but I looked at what I could do the most with.

Tokens & Creatures

Tokens and creatures are a major thing that planeswalkers seem to dish out. You see them in White, Black, Red, and Green. So, Elspeth is great for tokens. All three versions give us tokens. Garruk Relentless/Garruk the Veil-Cursed, Garruk Wildspeaker, and Garruk, Primal Hunter produce tokens, and that's great. Gideon is a creature, essentially. Koth turns your lands into creatures. Sorin makes tokens and pumps creatures/tokens. Vraska, maybe we'll get to those assassins... and Xenagos gives Satyr tokens. All these tokens is why Intangible Virtue was added to the deck.

Mana Ramp

Mana ramp is any ability that allows you to obtain more mana in some way. Mana ramp comes in only three planeswalkers, and sure two of them deal with red, but it goes to the X cost... And Xenagos also does green. Garruk let's you untap two lands, which you could untap filter lands and tap them again producing 8 total mana from 4, which allows for a bigger creature being dropped.

Card Draw/Draw Control

This category applies to manipulating your top card (looking and moving, or searching, shuffling, and putting on top) or just plain drawing. Or both in one case... So, Domri shows you what your next card is if you don't get to grab a creature out of it, all of the Jaces involve either drawing cards, getting cards from piles created by opponents, or manipulating the card that's on the top of a library, Liliana has a second ability allowing you to search for a card and place it on top of your library, and Tamiyo lets you draw cards based on opponent's tapped creatures, (and can also allows you all the cards you want in your hand).

Creature Control & Creature/Permanent Manipulation

This is the category for tapping down creatures, untapping creatures. Manipulation involves counters or global effects for all your creatures, or just flat out controlling an opponent's creature. Ajani Goldmane puts counters on all creatures and gives them vigilance. Ajani Vengeant locks down permanents. Ajani, Caller of the Pride puts counters on creatures. Domri forces two creatures to fight. Elspeth, Knight-Errant gives creatures +3/+3 and flying. Garruk Relentless fights creatures while Garruk, the Veil-Cursed gives creatures a boost and trample. Gideon forces creatures to attack him. Jace, Architect of Thought gives opponent's creatures -1/-0. Nicol Bolas flat out steals creatures. Ral Zarek taps or untaps permanents. Sarkhan Vol gives creatures +1/+1 and haste for a turn or steals a creature for a turn. Tamiyo locks down permanents. Vraska destroys any creature that deals combat damage to her.

Destruction

And, our final category, anything that just flat out destroys stuff... We have Ajani Vengeant for his Lightning Helix ability. Chandra Nalaar for destroying creatures or dealing one damage to small creatures. Elspeth, Sun's Champion destroys all creatures with power 4 or greater, which will suck for our hydras, but that's not the main reason she's here; that's just in case. Gideon destroys tapped creatures, Nicol Bolas destorys non-creatures, Ral Zarek deals three damage which can destroy some creatures. Sorin Markov deals damage to creatures or players. Vraska destroys anything that attacks her or can destroy nonland permanents.


So, there you have it, a wide array of planeswalker abilities (some not mentioned), but the deck seems well rounded enough with abilities, and the mana exists that can produce all these colors. I even did math on how many mana symbols involved planeswalkers and creatures and worked accordingly with percentages, which is why there is one more Plains than Mountains.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.