Fatebears

Commander / EDH Group Slug Hatebears RG (Gruul)

spellshaper.quixote

Creature (32)

• 1x Apex Altisaur
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Bramble Sovereign
• 1x Burning-Tree Shaman
• 1x Chandra's Incinerator
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
• 1x Dragon Mage
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fiendish Duo
• 1x Harsh Mentor
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x Immolation Shaman
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Magus of the Moon
• 1x Magus of the Wheel
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal
• 1x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Springbloom Druid
• 1x Toralf, God of Fury  ^Flip
• 1x Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie
• 1x Wandering Archaic  ^Flip
• 1x Zhur-Taa Druid
• 1x Zo-Zu the Punisher

Enchantment (15)

• 1x Cindervines
• 1x Dictate of the Twin Gods
• 1x Fiery Emancipation
• 1x Furnace of Rath
• 1x Hall of Gemstone
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Manabarbs
• 1x Price of Glory
• 1x Primal Order
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Roiling Vortex
• 1x Snake Umbra
• 1x Song of the Dryads
• 1x Spellshock
• 1x Sylvan Library

Instant (8)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Impact Resonance
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Road / Ruin
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Artifact (4)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Commander (1)

Land (33)

• 1x Fabled Passage
• 12x Forest
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 12x Mountain
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Shivan Gorge
• 1x Witch's Clinic
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Escape to the Wilds
• 1x Fiery Confluence
• 1x Hurricane
• 1x Mizzium Mortars
• 1x Shatterskull Smashing  ^Flip
• 1x Turntimber Symbiosis  ^Flip

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Fatebears

Spinning

In the early turns, ramp and hate pieces are key. While it can be tempting to drop Klothys as soon as possible, she doesn't actually achieve much if nobody has any cards in their graveyards. While creature-based ramp is possibly the most fragile form there is, the list leans a bit more on mana dorks in order to dodge its own hate effects--Hall of Gemstone weakens land-based ramp by locking it to only one color per turn, while Collector Ouphe just flatly turns off mana rocks entirely. Cindervines, Harsh Mentor, and Immolation Shaman are some of the best hate pieces to be able to drop early, as they start the clock ticking against a wide variety of strategies. However, against certain decks, it can be more important to land Dosan the Falling Leaf to prevent instant-speed interactions and counterspells.

In addition to hate pieces, the deck also wants to establish at least some lines of incidental life gain. Klothys herself is the primary and most consistent source, especially when juiced up with Witch's Clinic, but Courser of Kruphix and other sources of lifelink also contribute to this goal. The basic idea behind the deck is to lean on these sources of lifegain to break parity on symmetrical damage effects. For a simplistic example, consider a situation in which Courser and Zo-Zu the Punisher are both on the battlefield: while each opponent takes 2 damage per land played, Klothys only takes 1.

As most players don't like having their artifacts and nonbasic lands turned off, much less having their graveyards emptied and their life totals chipped away, individual hate pieces are likely to draw hate of their own. While Heroic Intervention is usually best saved to protect a field of hatebears from an incoming boardwipe, there are times that it is worth using it to save a key individual permanent. On the other hand, sometimes allowing an opponent to remove a piece of hate can open up plays for Klothys as well, so such trades can prove more advantageous than the opponent might think.

Measuring

Being aware of opponents' decks and game states is critical to the deck's performance, as is keeping a close eye on current life totals. A significant life total lead on Klothys's part makes cards like Manabarbs and Spellshock safer to play, while opponents with greedier manabases might call for Magus of the Moon or Primal Order to be prioritized over other generalist pieces. Whenever possible, the goal should be to play cards asymmetrically--such as pretty much any situation that involves Torbran, Thane of Red Fell.

Passively hating out other strategies isn't always enough, however. Against decks that run their own forms of life gain, resolving Roiling Vortex should be a top priority, as should removing any cards that shut down Klothys's means of breaking parity. While the various damage multipliers such as Furnace of Rath and Fiendish Duo should do much to speed up the clock on opponents, liberal use of removal can be necessary against more aggressive decks. Knowing whether the deck is currently occupying the beatdown role or the control role is crucial, and pivoting between them is often necessary.

The deck features multiple wheels to refill its hand in the later stages of the game, with Dragon Mage allowing a wheel every turn. Wheels have been prioritized both for their disruptive effects on opponents and also for their tendency to fill graveyards to fuel Klothys's abilities. However, there are a handful of other ways to maintain a grip of cards, including the aforementioned Well of Lost Dreams or Beast Whisperer.

Cutting the Thread

While some decks rely on splashy plays that end the game in a single turn, Klothys generally relies more on incrementally wearing down opponents over the course of play. Even when Klothys herself has enough devotion to be animated as a creature, an indestructible blocker can sometimes be more useful than going on the offensive. However, sometimes, the offensive must be taken, which is when cards like Kessig Wolf Run and Ruric Thar, the Unbowed come into play. Similarly, though it sees most of its early play as a hate piece, Immolation Shaman can serve as an evasive mana sink to force the last few points of damage through.

Alternatively, a more direct route can be taken. With damage doublers on the field, burn pieces like Price of Progress, Fiery Confluence, or Hurricane can dome opponents directly out of the game, sometimes from life totals high enough that they had thought themselves safe. Heartless Hidetsugu with lifelink equipment and damage modifiers like Fiery Emancipation will either wipe out your opponents completely or leave them low enough that they can be easily picked off. Toralf, God of Fury   can turn board wipes like Blasphemous Act or Apex Altisaur into player removal, especially if Chandra's Incinerator is also on the board. However, some of these more burn-oriented strategies will require a close eye on Klothys's own life total to ensure that the game isn't simply a draw.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.40
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone