I once played a 3 player commander game vs two 3 color decks with blue (I think Sultai vs Grixis) with me on mono red goblin tribal.The other two players were constantly countering each others' spells and removing each others' permanents, but not so much mine. Pretty much the only interaction they had with me was taking damage from my Impact Tremors. Can't remember if I won or not, but I really felt the roleplay of being an annoying little goblin while two _actual_ wizards were trying to have a duel. 😆👺😆
I’ve built one deck with theme and story in mind. Jinnie Fay. It’s all built to lean into the Cabaretti (and Art Deco) style of parties, stardom, and old Hollywood. Even specific card art, if possible, was chosen to support the theme.
Finally glad I’m not alone here with decks that tell a story and I love when the cards do tell the story rather then a card that does good stuff I also enjoy adding an extra challenge with my genku deck which needs all his kids on field and winning with all 4 and my Mabel deck I’m building which will be themed either by knights of the round or the paladins of Charlemagne each with an equipment
Story Time: I wanted to make an Explore themed deck for a long time, since Ixalan/RivalsofIxalan. It wasn’t until [Xavier Sal, Infested Captain] along with Lost Caverns of Ixalan. With it, I could build up a theme around this wayward Captain, one that involved one Phyrexian Dominus, and all factions of Ixalan exploring for land and trying to find (top deck) a power to rival the invaders: [The Grim Captain]! It works well with Merfolk, Pirates, and Vampires that ETB and like to be reanimated, as BUG tends to give you. It also has some added support for Dinosaurs on this color scheme as well, thanks to the Jurassic World collab (Compy Swarm is effectively my favorite addition cause I love that part of the movie, and it fits amazingly with Xavier’s “sac a token, proliferate” ability). This is certainly not a very powerful deck by any means, even with the Life from the Loam or the Whir of Invention that it has it is fairly slow to reach its end goal… but it is by far the most requested deck to play against just because of how it play both mechanically and story wise.
I have a friend with a norin the wary deck themed around the concept of Plato’s cave. It’s mono red chaos/prison, putting its opponents into situations where their decks don’t function and then just messing around with chaos pieces. Chaining you in the cave, and doing shadow puppets on the wall till you eventually break free
I've been in the process of making a Yawgmoth deck where the story is him doing some light politics while having artifacts and amassing resources as he also spreads his diseases, then I start playing Phyrexian or artifact supporting cards. Then more and more Phyrexians and artifact creatures will start coming down and reanimating until its a nigh unstoppable invasion of giant war machines that come back every turn. It feels so rewarding to have cracked a way to make a Yawgmoth deck that plays Priest of Yawgmoth
For my first commander deck, I took an old 60-card "Vintage" deck that used "Rakdos" colors to combo Sneak Attack, and Recurring Nightmare to bring massive creatures from a more "WUBRG" color scheme onto the battlefield, and tried to see about recreating that in Commander, so I ended up working on a "Kenrith, the Returned King" commander deck, but I ended up with something that feels quite a bit different from that first deck, I have been trying to create something that feels like "connect 4", where it should be possible for opponents to knockout a number of different pieces, but still have a few different situations that will lead to a sudden win condition..
My current fave decks a gates deck, it features bits and pieces of cards from around the multiverse as well as a bunch of lands that are city themed, or map themed(LOTR) The idea being she picks up friends from each place that help her visit every place around the multiverse till she becomes a true god of peace and music The commander: Miku child of song
I also built an eriette deck that just had a bunch of the storybook cards to add to the theme but it did lead up to eriette throwing guys at their friends until she can aquire enough power to finish the job herself
Hey Suris! Love your videos, your deck techs inspire me to build a lot even though I fail over half the time 😂 But I’m trying to make a story with a rule 0 deck, Yoshimaru + The Wandering Rescuer, where they both decided to go together because, “They would never again be parted”. I’m just struggling figuring out how to build the deck if I’m honest, thinking legendary equipment but not sure atm. Once again, love the video!
My most narratively cohesive deck is my Ojer Taq commander deck, because even though he’s the commander he’s not the spirit of the deck. I built it with all human soldiers in mind, even though there are plenty of other white token makers that I reasonably or even smartly could have used. I wanted to build a deck that felt like a rising army, the marshaled forces of man with literally a god on their side. My friend who I play with the most got me some custom sleeves made for the deck that were an emblem of my old military unit.
I love coming up with decks that have stories. It's the best part My Don Andres pirate deck makes treasure tokens, steals opponentes stuff, then sacrifices them (using those 3 costed red cards that bring opposing creatures over for a turn). They are an evil pirate crew of that lure in unsuspecting adventures for their dark rituals All the creatures are pirates except for Viscera Seer, Dockside Chef, and Skullport merchant (the common people a ship of profane pirates would deal with when they make for land) Then for the flavor we have culling dias, high market, and vampiric rites I always seem to go all in for flavor and themes even if I'm foregoing power. I love a good story.
This is exactly why I choose to play the decks i make as opposed to full on efficiency and raw power,I find it way more fun to play decks based on a theme since i find telling a story with the table through a game of commander far more fun,almost like a mini dnd campaign even
Funnily enough, I have a Wubrg Sliver deck like this. It uses cards like Nature's Revolt, Ashaya, Prismatic Omen, Mycosynth Lattice, March of the Machines, Enchanted Evening, Starfield of Nyx, Hivestone, and Arcane Adaptation to turn everything into Artifact Enchantment Land Creatures with all basic land types that are also Slivers as the hive assimilates the planes. Definitely overkill, definitely makes my deck weaker and less consistent, but it's fun when it works.
I built a Vren, the Relentless deck and the story is essentially that she not only has found a way to rip all these rats that exist across all planes into her battlefield but that she is consuming the corpses of her enemies to set forth a plague of rats as well. and I included Jin-gitatus and Sheoldred because they followed Kuramonix when he was ripped from his plane
I build every deck with flavor as an equal priority to playability regardless of format. Having a good theme/story is just more fun IMO, "Heartless act" has many comparable cards for effect, but few that are equal in flavor.
My pet project mono-white deck centers around building an army of automated gnomes and golems. The narrative of the deck involves the slow ramp up getting the infrastructure of war going, then pumping out uncountable numbers of war machines. There is no humanity in war God I love my Ojer taq deck
There are two decks I've thought of the flavor that deeply. 1: My Quintorius, Loremaster deck is about a scholar digging deeper and deeper into the past. Sometimes setting wards against major problems (o-ring effects), but eventually... Whoops. Kicks off a world-consuming flame or another kind of apocalypse. And in the wake, what was learned? 2: My Rona, Disciple of Gix deck is all about Tezzeret, and things I think he'd use given the chance. He schemes and plots, using artifice to do horrible things if those things will benefit him. Leaving him alone will see you stripped of your ability to fight back... Also, mechanically, I want to win _using_ Tezzeret cards, so an Ensnaring Bridge is a great way to protect him.
My merfolk simic deck is smuggler themed, it's all about producing +1+1 counters and smuggling them past blockers with flying, unblock, island walk etc. My Cobra kai boros deck is a first and double strike deck that never wins but always makes it to the final round, it decides when the game ends, just like cobra kai.
I made a bounce deck where it bounce all my stuff, and my opponent's stuff and then play my stuff again. I specifically looked for all of the islands that had oceans that were stormy for some reason
I play a Nashi, Moon scion deck and the story i think it weaves is a disruptive underdog fight. Using disruptions and underhanded tactics to bring a slow but hard fought fight to win.
I tend to come up with stories for my decks after the fact. But I did have a Noble/Tellar Knights deck which lent to the idea the Noble Knights were actually praying to the stars for divine aid
I have an Gregor advisor deck that people sometimes hate on because they think it is mill due to Persistent Petitioners, and then they die due to a bunch of advisors suited up with nanomachines (anthems) bash their face in as they give a speech about their plans for change
I built a Eivor Battle Ready deck full of For Mirodin! cards an other little cards here an there that are overly specific to be put in there that didn't seem to fit the theme. I was playing magic with my Dungeon Master yesterday an she almost flipped the table when she realized I built deck around her PC that has become a beloved NPC. She almost started crying when she learned I went out of my way to add as many references to the NPC Amelia an her story.
I made a casual ¨modern¨ deck, 4 demigods of revenge, and several vampires discard outlets and madness cards, Concept: vampires partying so hard they awaken the elder gods. results a grindy deck for casual kitchen tables where vampires sacrifice people drink and get strong, and as finisher 2 to 3 demigods at the face
My sauron, the dark lord deck, very much feels like a story of you've got a villain in front of you, but he's not doing much to oh my god, the boards burning, and why am i dying
Grixis rules for being archenemy, my Davros always plays out that way. But my favorite tale is Henzie. Local drug dealer drives the masses into a frenzy.
Look down at your hands. You should be creating something. You should be seizing the joy that is life and the freedom of your existence and will. Instead you're giving away your essence and life force, your time on this earth, to some digital vulture. A paper thin veneer of cyber greed designed to exploit you and the base weaknesses of your evolutionary history. Wake up from this technological curse and start living as a human being once again. Arise
I once played a 3 player commander game vs two 3 color decks with blue (I think Sultai vs Grixis) with me on mono red goblin tribal.The other two players were constantly countering each others' spells and removing each others' permanents, but not so much mine. Pretty much the only interaction they had with me was taking damage from my Impact Tremors. Can't remember if I won or not, but I really felt the roleplay of being an annoying little goblin while two _actual_ wizards were trying to have a duel. 😆👺😆
I’ve built one deck with theme and story in mind. Jinnie Fay. It’s all built to lean into the Cabaretti (and Art Deco) style of parties, stardom, and old Hollywood. Even specific card art, if possible, was chosen to support the theme.
Finally glad I’m not alone here with decks that tell a story and I love when the cards do tell the story rather then a card that does good stuff I also enjoy adding an extra challenge with my genku deck which needs all his kids on field and winning with all 4 and my Mabel deck I’m building which will be themed either by knights of the round or the paladins of Charlemagne each with an equipment
Story Time:
I wanted to make an Explore themed deck for a long time, since Ixalan/RivalsofIxalan. It wasn’t until [Xavier Sal, Infested Captain] along with Lost Caverns of Ixalan. With it, I could build up a theme around this wayward Captain, one that involved one Phyrexian Dominus, and all factions of Ixalan exploring for land and trying to find (top deck) a power to rival the invaders: [The Grim Captain]!
It works well with Merfolk, Pirates, and Vampires that ETB and like to be reanimated, as BUG tends to give you. It also has some added support for Dinosaurs on this color scheme as well, thanks to the Jurassic World collab (Compy Swarm is effectively my favorite addition cause I love that part of the movie, and it fits amazingly with Xavier’s “sac a token, proliferate” ability).
This is certainly not a very powerful deck by any means, even with the Life from the Loam or the Whir of Invention that it has it is fairly slow to reach its end goal… but it is by far the most requested deck to play against just because of how it play both mechanically and story wise.
I have a friend with a norin the wary deck themed around the concept of Plato’s cave. It’s mono red chaos/prison, putting its opponents into situations where their decks don’t function and then just messing around with chaos pieces. Chaining you in the cave, and doing shadow puppets on the wall till you eventually break free
I've been in the process of making a Yawgmoth deck where the story is him doing some light politics while having artifacts and amassing resources as he also spreads his diseases, then I start playing Phyrexian or artifact supporting cards. Then more and more Phyrexians and artifact creatures will start coming down and reanimating until its a nigh unstoppable invasion of giant war machines that come back every turn.
It feels so rewarding to have cracked a way to make a Yawgmoth deck that plays Priest of Yawgmoth
really good video, i love conceptualizing decks and games like this
For my first commander deck, I took an old 60-card "Vintage" deck that used "Rakdos" colors to combo Sneak Attack, and Recurring Nightmare to bring massive creatures from a more "WUBRG" color scheme onto the battlefield, and tried to see about recreating that in Commander, so I ended up working on a "Kenrith, the Returned King" commander deck, but I ended up with something that feels quite a bit different from that first deck, I have been trying to create something that feels like "connect 4", where it should be possible for opponents to knockout a number of different pieces, but still have a few different situations that will lead to a sudden win condition..
My current fave decks a gates deck, it features bits and pieces of cards from around the multiverse as well as a bunch of lands that are city themed, or map themed(LOTR)
The idea being she picks up friends from each place that help her visit every place around the multiverse till she becomes a true god of peace and music
The commander: Miku child of song
I also built an eriette deck that just had a bunch of the storybook cards to add to the theme but it did lead up to eriette throwing guys at their friends until she can aquire enough power to finish the job herself
Hey Suris! Love your videos, your deck techs inspire me to build a lot even though I fail over half the time 😂
But I’m trying to make a story with a rule 0 deck, Yoshimaru + The Wandering Rescuer, where they both decided to go together because, “They would never again be parted”. I’m just struggling figuring out how to build the deck if I’m honest, thinking legendary equipment but not sure atm. Once again, love the video!
My most narratively cohesive deck is my Ojer Taq commander deck, because even though he’s the commander he’s not the spirit of the deck. I built it with all human soldiers in mind, even though there are plenty of other white token makers that I reasonably or even smartly could have used. I wanted to build a deck that felt like a rising army, the marshaled forces of man with literally a god on their side. My friend who I play with the most got me some custom sleeves made for the deck that were an emblem of my old military unit.
I love coming up with decks that have stories. It's the best part
My Don Andres pirate deck makes treasure tokens, steals opponentes stuff, then sacrifices them (using those 3 costed red cards that bring opposing creatures over for a turn). They are an evil pirate crew of that lure in unsuspecting adventures for their dark rituals
All the creatures are pirates except for Viscera Seer, Dockside Chef, and Skullport merchant (the common people a ship of profane pirates would deal with when they make for land)
Then for the flavor we have culling dias, high market, and vampiric rites
I always seem to go all in for flavor and themes even if I'm foregoing power. I love a good story.
This is exactly why I choose to play the decks i make as opposed to full on efficiency and raw power,I find it way more fun to play decks based on a theme since i find telling a story with the table through a game of commander far more fun,almost like a mini dnd campaign even
Funnily enough, I have a Wubrg Sliver deck like this. It uses cards like Nature's Revolt, Ashaya, Prismatic Omen, Mycosynth Lattice, March of the Machines, Enchanted Evening, Starfield of Nyx, Hivestone, and Arcane Adaptation to turn everything into Artifact Enchantment Land Creatures with all basic land types that are also Slivers as the hive assimilates the planes. Definitely overkill, definitely makes my deck weaker and less consistent, but it's fun when it works.
I built a Vren, the Relentless deck and the story is essentially that she not only has found a way to rip all these rats that exist across all planes into her battlefield but that she is consuming the corpses of her enemies to set forth a plague of rats as well. and I included Jin-gitatus and Sheoldred because they followed Kuramonix when he was ripped from his plane
I build every deck with flavor as an equal priority to playability regardless of format. Having a good theme/story is just more fun IMO, "Heartless act" has many comparable cards for effect, but few that are equal in flavor.
My pet project mono-white deck centers around building an army of automated gnomes and golems. The narrative of the deck involves the slow ramp up getting the infrastructure of war going, then pumping out uncountable numbers of war machines. There is no humanity in war
God I love my Ojer taq deck
Been building like this for a while, definitely got me so much more excited to play those decks than the ones which are simply optimised.
There are two decks I've thought of the flavor that deeply.
1: My Quintorius, Loremaster deck is about a scholar digging deeper and deeper into the past. Sometimes setting wards against major problems (o-ring effects), but eventually... Whoops. Kicks off a world-consuming flame or another kind of apocalypse. And in the wake, what was learned?
2: My Rona, Disciple of Gix deck is all about Tezzeret, and things I think he'd use given the chance. He schemes and plots, using artifice to do horrible things if those things will benefit him. Leaving him alone will see you stripped of your ability to fight back... Also, mechanically, I want to win _using_ Tezzeret cards, so an Ensnaring Bridge is a great way to protect him.
My merfolk simic deck is smuggler themed, it's all about producing +1+1 counters and smuggling them past blockers with flying, unblock, island walk etc. My Cobra kai boros deck is a first and double strike deck that never wins but always makes it to the final round, it decides when the game ends, just like cobra kai.
I made a bounce deck where it bounce all my stuff, and my opponent's stuff and then play my stuff again.
I specifically looked for all of the islands that had oceans that were stormy for some reason
I actually enjoy making decks with stories in mind, my knight deck is based around the commander, a king Oloro
I play a Nashi, Moon scion deck and the story i think it weaves is a disruptive underdog fight. Using disruptions and underhanded tactics to bring a slow but hard fought fight to win.
I tend to come up with stories for my decks after the fact. But I did have a Noble/Tellar Knights deck which lent to the idea the Noble Knights were actually praying to the stars for divine aid
I have an Gregor advisor deck that people sometimes hate on because they think it is mill due to Persistent Petitioners, and then they die due to a bunch of advisors suited up with nanomachines (anthems) bash their face in as they give a speech about their plans for change
My main deck, the green atompy, twlls the story that Nature Is Big, and it Will Step On You.
I built a Eivor Battle Ready deck full of For Mirodin! cards an other little cards here an there that are overly specific to be put in there that didn't seem to fit the theme. I was playing magic with my Dungeon Master yesterday an she almost flipped the table when she realized I built deck around her PC that has become a beloved NPC. She almost started crying when she learned I went out of my way to add as many references to the NPC Amelia an her story.
I made a casual ¨modern¨ deck, 4 demigods of revenge, and several vampires discard outlets and madness cards, Concept: vampires partying so hard they awaken the elder gods. results a grindy deck for casual kitchen tables where vampires sacrifice people drink and get strong, and as finisher 2 to 3 demigods at the face
My sauron, the dark lord deck, very much feels like a story of you've got a villain in front of you, but he's not doing much to oh my god, the boards burning, and why am i dying
Grixis rules for being archenemy, my Davros always plays out that way.
But my favorite tale is Henzie. Local drug dealer drives the masses into a frenzy.
i would love to play a dnd theme deck with nadaar, varis, hama and gretchen with chulane as commander and dm
That snow is cold.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots is here for a good time not a long one.
This is tempting me to make a Queen Marchesa deck all about amassing an army
Queen Marchesa using the monarch and goad abilities. Play the game of thrones and make your enemies fight amongst themselves.
I play tom bombadil...so all of them.
So I play Valgavoth as group hug, not as group slug. I'm weird, but its a fun deck.
👀 respectfully
Look down at your hands. You should be creating something. You should be seizing the joy that is life and the freedom of your existence and will. Instead you're giving away your essence and life force, your time on this earth, to some digital vulture. A paper thin veneer of cyber greed designed to exploit you and the base weaknesses of your evolutionary history. Wake up from this technological curse and start living as a human being once again. Arise
That skin is sus