Chainer's Minions

Commander / EDH* joekeny

SCORE: 5 | 41 COMMENTS | 1436 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS


skolden says... #1

April 28, 2014 3:37 p.m.

joekeny says... #2

skolden ...... Why did I not think of that?

April 28, 2014 4:48 p.m.

GamersGearInc says... #3

I like it. Massacre Wurm seems like it should have a home here. Just a thought. Keep up the cool deck building.

Talk with you later!

April 30, 2014 5:24 a.m.

joekeny says... #4

GamersGearInc I have a Massacre Wurm any other suggestions? Also upvote if you like the deck!

April 30, 2014 1:10 p.m.

GamersGearInc says... #5

I just upvoted! Since you're a Mono Black player you might like this. It's something that I'm working on. Please let me know your thoughts as well. Also, please upvote if you like what you see Joekeny.

My Mono Black build: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-golden-touch/

Talk with you soon!

April 30, 2014 4:27 p.m.

GhostChieftain says... #6

Before I give any feedback on this, could you tell me what you would like this deck to do and how much of a price range you want on your cards

April 30, 2014 9:12 p.m.

joekeny says... #7

luther I'm hoping to use removal to control my opponents board and give my commander plenty of cards to reanimate, tutor/card draw, life gain to offset the damage I take from my commander and other cards, and cards that trigger when creatures die.

May 1, 2014 2:23 a.m.

joekeny says... #8

Oh and I don't want to spend more than 15 ish bucks per card

May 1, 2014 2:23 a.m.

joekeny says... #9

Some of the cards I think I was thinking of putting in were things that would trigger Agent of the Fates heroic ability but im thinking of dropping those cards like Virulent Swipe Boon of Erebos Necrobite etc

May 1, 2014 2:26 a.m.

Hey, I think Chainer is a great choice as a commander. I used to run a Chainer deck myself. My deck was focused more on stax, comboing off, and abusing ETB effects. I think you need a lot more sac outlets though. I recommend Phyrexian Altar , Spawning Pit , and Trading Post at least. Needs Kokusho, the Evening Star . For lands I recommend picking up Cabal Coffers and Deserted Temple ASAP; when combined with Rings of Brighthearth they produce infinite black mana which allows you to loop Kokusho or hit for infinite with Exsanguinate . For removal I recommend Duplicant since it is colorless and it exiles. What are you going to do when you run into Iona, Shield of Emeria ? Duplicant deals with her. I also recommend Fleshbag Marauder and Rune-Scarred Demon . If you would like any more suggestions just let me know! I'm happy to help. I have a lot of experience with using Chainer.

May 1, 2014 4:56 a.m.

joekeny says... #11

XXXSALVATI0NXXX thank you for your suggestions! I'll definitely look into getting those. In the maybe board I have some other cards im thinking to use in the deck, what do you think of those?

May 1, 2014 9:41 a.m.

Token Generators:Grave Titan Tokens and a 6/6 deathtouchEndrek Sahr, Master Breeder lots of tokens to sac for mean thingsCemetery Reaper If you want something exiled from a yard but don't pat to pay lifeLord of Lineage  Flip Flying tokens!!

Sac outlets:Viscera Seer Free Sacs!Sadistic Hypnotist Free Sacs!Dimir House Guard Free Sacs + Transmute for a grave pact or something!

THE MEAN-NESS!:It That Betrays Can clear opponents boards with butcher/grave pact/dictate and a free sacPlague Wind Also clears your opponents for all of the nightmare fodder

May 2, 2014 12:16 a.m.

Hope that helps! If I happen to think of something else, I'll be sure to let you know.

May 2, 2014 12:19 a.m.

I'm currently on my phone so I'll take a look at it when I get home. You really don't need token generators unless you decide to run more stax cards. Are you familiar with the stax archetype?

May 2, 2014 1:19 a.m.

joekeny says... #15

No im not.

May 2, 2014 1:22 a.m.

Well, basically the focus of the stax archetype is to deny resources, tax, and more or less make the game unplayable for your opponents. Normally this means games are very long and drawn out and you slowly win. A deck like this requires a lot of skill in threat assessment and resource management. And it will make you hated in your playgroup unless your opponents are piloting decks of the same power level. A more in-depth explanation can be found here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/204260-the-stax-primer . I also recommend Dimir House Guard because he has some added utility being that he can be transmutted or used as a sac outlet. Viscera Seer is great because it is a free sac outlet and is a good one drop. I would also recommend Solemn Simulacrum and Wurmcoil Engine because they both are colorless and have LTB abilities (Solemn also having a relevant ETB ability when you are running Coffers). Contamination is good in any mono-black deck.

May 2, 2014 1:59 a.m.

Dont forget about Oblivion Stone ! Most of our black boardwipes are high in mana cost. I ran Oblivion Stone and Damnation in mine. I did not run too many removal cards like you do in your deck. I just abused cards like Fleshbag Marauder and Duplicant to deal with problem creatures. If you are certain you want to run spot removal I would probably run some of these: Tragic Slip , Dismember , Hero's Downfall . Go for the Throat and Doom Blade are good, but I personally dislike running situational cards; they're more of a meta call. It would suck topdecking into a Doom Blade when facing another mono-black deck. Mindslicer is a great guy to piss off your opponents, especially the combo or control players. Buried Alive is a good tutor for this deck since it relies so heavily on the yard. Braids, Cabal Minion is good if you have a sac outlet and can recur her. Let her effect go off on your opponents and then sac her before her trigger on your turn then bring her back to screw the opponents again. Lol, I'm probably overloading you with info by this point.

May 2, 2014 2:36 a.m.

joekeny says... #18

No way man, this is awesome, with the few cards left in the maybeboard what would you suggest dropping to fit those in? Also what do you guys think of the cards in the mainboard?

May 2, 2014 2:44 a.m.

I'd take out all the cards that require you to attack to be able to be useful. Anything that exiles your own cards like the Whip of Erebos . I'd cut anything that requires devotion. Underworld Connections could be replaced with Phyrexian Arena . Definitely grab a Phyrexian Altar . How did the star idea sound to you? Appealing or not your style? Again, not at the computer at the moment but I'll take a better look asap. I'd drop any of the one time draw or discard effects. Maybe add in more ramp. The biggest issue I had with my Chainer deck was the early game. Definitely get a Expedition Map to fetch Coffers or Temple.

May 2, 2014 4:05 a.m.

Stax idea* not star idea. Auto correct lol.

May 2, 2014 4:06 a.m.

With a little bit of practice though, running stax can be brutally efficient and the games only go as drawn out as you let them. I have a prossh deck that does it to an extent and all I do most games is shut them down a few turns and get warp world. But even if you dont want to do that, i would still recommend Cemetery Reaper

May 2, 2014 7:58 a.m.

joekeny says... #22

The stax idea seems like a lot of fun, just figuring out exactly how to make it work, thank you everyone for your feed back and comments!

May 2, 2014 11:44 a.m.

If you want to run stax you'll need Smokestack , Braids, Cabal Minion , Contamination , Sheoldred, Whispering One , Desolation (this one is really up to you, you wont really be needed too many lands due to coffers), Magus of the Abyss is good too. There are a plethora of artifacts that you could run like Winter Orb and Static Orb . If you plan on going for a "tap down" playstyle you'd likely want to run Sword of Feast and Famine . In order to minimize the effect of the stax cards on you I'd recommend a lot of token generators like Bitterblossom , Ogre Slumlord , Lord of Lineage  Flip , and Pawn of Ulamog . You might also want to consider Reassembling Skeleton because it is easily recurrable by it's self and it good fodder for stax cards. I'd drop some of the win-more stuff like Dictate of Erebos and either Butcher of Malakir or Grave Pact . Butcher has the benefit of being recurrable with our commander, but Pact is a little more resilient being an artifact. I'd run one or the other. Cemetery Reaper is alright, but I feel that it is a bit mana intensive for what it does. If you want token generators there are better things you can run, if you want graveyard pruning there are things like Withered Wretch . I'd be careful running exile graveyard stuff because your opponents could steal your stuff. Oh. I forgot about Pristine Talisman ! It's a mana rock that gives you life every time you tap it. While 1 life may not sound like a lot it does end up being relevant as you progress through the game. And you arent running Nirkana Revenant or Magus of the Coffers .

Possible Cuts:Butcher of Malakir - Seen as a win-more card.Cemetery Reaper - Mana intensive for what it does. Chancellor of the Dross - High cost and just beats. Could be replaced with Sangromancer if you are using it for life gain.Demon At Death's Gate - High cost and needs to turn sideways to be useful. Just beats.It That Betrays - This is more debatable. Yes, it steals things. Yes, it has annihilator. But it does cost a lot and if you have no way of getting it into the graveyard it will most likely sit in your hand for most of the game. Disappointing topdeck.Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis - Has a relevant ability, but again it needs to swing to be of use, which makes it less useful in my eyes. If sac effects are what you are looking at this guy for there are other cards that are more abuseable with Chainer like Slum Reaper and Bone Shredder , both of which are much cheaper mana-wise.Shadowborn Demon - I think there are cheaper creatures that do the same thing as this guy.Skirsdag High Priest - A guy that makes huge tokens, which is good. He seems way too dependent on having a board position though. He needs something to have died AND for you to have 2 other untapped creatures. Essence Harvest - This is a good 3-drop that gains you life, but if you take out the big beaters then it doesnt do a whole lot.All of the discard sorceries - They are relevant, but they are a one-time effect. I'd recommend abusing Mindslicer for discard effects. I know in 60 card formats these are great types of cards, but in EDH these are much lower in power level.Plague Wind - Too mana intensive in my opinion. Could be Killing Wave or Kagemaro, First to Suffer for boardwipes.Read the Bones - This is decent, but if you want draw and draw fixers you could run Harvester of Souls and Sensei's Divining Top . Good inclusion of Bloodgift Demon and Phyrexian Arena :)The Devour instants - Odd choices in spot removal. One gains life for the removed creature and one makes you lose life. I think they clash too much with the deck.Hero's Demise - Too situational.Bad Moon - Should be Caged Sun .

Hope I'm doing a decent job at helping you with your first EDH deck. EDH is the only format I play now and I'd like to think I'm a good deck deckbuilder lol. I focus on competitive playing though and that might not be your thing.

May 2, 2014 3:08 p.m.

davdiaz1 says... #24

Sundering Titan is banned in EDH.

June 10, 2014 1:42 p.m.

joekeny says... #25

davdiaz1 yeah I know, but my group isn't to concerned with the ban list, but just in case do you have any idea of cards that would be good to replace him with?

June 10, 2014 9:31 p.m.

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