Zugzwang

Commander / EDH Group Slug Mono-Red

MrAptronym

Creature (29)

• 1x Archetype of Aggression
• 1x Bloodmark Mentor
• 1x Dwarven Blastminer
• 1x Fanatic of Mogis
• 1x Flamerush Rider
• 1x Flametongue Kavu
• 1x Goblin Spymaster
• 1x Godo, Bandit Warlord
• 1x Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1x Hanweir Garrison  ^Meld
• 1x Hateflayer
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Knollspine Dragon
• 1x Legion Loyalist
• 1x Markov Blademaster
• 1x Molten Primordial
• 1x Prophetic Flamespeaker
• 1x Rakka Mar
• 1x Scab-Clan Berserker
• 1x Slumbering Dragon
• 1x Stromkirk Occultist
• 1x Taurean Mauler
• 1x Urabrask the Hidden
• 1x Viashino Heretic
• 1x Warmonger Hellkite
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Artifact (14)

• 1x Blade of Selves
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Fire Diamond
• 1x Haunted Cloak
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mask of Memory
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Oathkeeper, Takeno's Daisho
• 1x Ruby Medallion
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Sword of Vengeance
• 1x Tenza, Godo's Maul

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Blood Moon
• 1x Grand Melee
• 1x Gratuitous Violence
• 1x Outpost Siege
• 1x Price of Glory
• 1x Stranglehold
• 1x Sulfuric Vortex
• 1x Widespread Panic

Instant (1)

• 1x Chaos Warp

Commander (1)

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Indomitable Creativity
• 1x Mizzium Mortars
• 1x Mob Rule
• 1x Ruination
• 1x Seize the Day
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Wild Swing
• 1x World at War

Land (38)

• 1x Hanweir Battlements  ^Meld
• 35x Mountain
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

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Zugzwang (n): a situation in which the obligation to make a move in one's turn is a serious, often decisive, disadvantage.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. --George Bernard Shaw

I've been in too many games of Commander that have stalled out or dragged on with nothing happening. Often in Commander, the right move seems to be to sit back, wait and accumulate. This deck is designed to force my opponent's hand and keep the game moving. I suppose it's sort of the opposite of a chaos deck. This deck is built for a fairly casual setting, and though it contains a few hated cards (Ruination) the general idea is that the whole table should be having a bit more fun, even if it occassionally means ruining whatever one deck was doing at the time.

Goad effects like Fumiko, Goblin Spymaster and Grand Melee force players to advance the game by attacking. Hopefully my deck will have an advantage when everyone swings in every turn. This is also the reason I prioritrized a couple Vigilance granting equipment.

Red also provides potent hate against Artifacts (e.g. Viashino Heretic), Nonbasic Lands (Blood Moon) and tutoring ( Stranglehold ). This helps even out the color's own lack of staying power or ramp, but it also makes games move faster by cracking down on time spent searching libraries. (I've spent hours of my life watching people crack fetchlands and I am getting a bit sick of it. Lets not get started on Land Tax.) However, I don't plan on using the artifact/nonbasic hate to completely shut down manabases.

Beyond that, the deck has a small focus on making token copies of creatures. This is just my way of getting continuous value of out of creatures above attacking. (it helps attacking too)

Card advantage comes from 'impulsive draw' effects like Prophetic Flamespeaker, equipment like Sword of Fire and Ice and Mask of Memory as well as a few big sources in Knollspine Dragon and Mind's Eye. There is very little ramp, what is here is artifact based.

Card specific notes:Indomitable Creativity can capably eliminate particularly dangerous threats, but also doubles as a way to sneak in my own creatures by sacking tokens before they die.

Mindclaw Shaman is a card I rarely see in lists, but it is pretty effective against a wide swath of decks, especially those with blue. You can wiff with it, but there is real potential for massive value here. (Plus, token copies give more chances)

Edit: Breath of Fury and Aggrevated Assault were taen out, as the only times they were carrying weight were when they were being abused. I am working on a better formatted description and will update all this at that time.

Breath of Fury can pretty easily enable infinite combo wins, but it can be interrupted, requires actual attacking and is pretty useful besides. For those reasons I've included it, if it turns out to be oppressive or unfun, I'll remove it, but without tutoring I don't foresee a major issue.

Ruination is a hated card, I am including it for now, but we'll see what kind of reaction it gets. Players in my group run a fair number of nonbasics, but not exclusively so. I am hoping it can slow down some of the very ramp-heavy decks I play against without just shutting the game down, whcih would not be in the spirit of this deck. I could possibly downgrade to From the Ashes

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Exclude colors	WUBG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 2 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.61
Tokens	Copy Clone, Elemental 3/1 R, Goblin 1/1 R for Goblin Spymaster, Human 1/1 R, Morph 2/2 C, Ogre 3/3 R
Folders	commander