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!

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.

  

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...)

          

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.