Dominus - Dreamcrusher Edition

Commander / EDH Epochalyptik

SCORE: 1278 | 2951 COMMENTS | 351277 VIEWS | IN 573 FOLDERS


There are 2 things that i feel you are missing in this deck and I'm not sure if its by design or unintentionally that they have been ignored, and perhaps even if its totally unnecessary to consider and they are a sac outlet and a graveyard removal card. Many decks have graveyard strategies, including yours have you considered the possibility of mirror match up?

March 10, 2013 7:13 p.m.

I know Deathrite Shaman is in the deck and for that reason i question its reliability for graveyard removal. It gives the added bonus of giving mana and life however it is easily dealt with by any deck you might play against

March 10, 2013 7:29 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #3

I don't think the deck needs a sac outlet; I don't have any reason to include one.

Graveyard hate isn't really relevant. Often, cards good at graveyard hate are only good at graveyard hate, and that means I would need to give up utility in other areas just to run them.

I wouldn't say this deck has a graveyard-based strategy. There are only a few cards in the deck that even interact with my graveyard, and none of them are critical unless a combo has failed.

This deck is most often played in the mirror match, and it does very well in that setting. Part of that is possibly player skill, and another part is luck. Mirror matches with combo-control decks often come down to who has the best opener.

Deathrite Shaman was included not for its graveyard hate abilities but for its ramp abilities. It's more important that I'm getting mana of any color than it is that I'm exiling cards from graveyards, although disabling other players' Crucible of Worlds+fetch recursion is a nice touch. If an opponent wants to kill my mana dork, then he or she is welcome to. They'll just have one less removal spell that can interrupt my combo.

March 10, 2013 8:35 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #4

Dropped Maelstrom Pulse for Burgeoning.

I'm considering dropping Beast Within for Pongify.

March 10, 2013 9:33 p.m.

SaberTech says... #5

You may want to keep Beast Within. You don't have many answers for permanents that have managed to make it onto the battlefield and Beast Within is both an instant and versatile, even if it does cost three mana. If you are going to limit the ways you have to interact with an opponent's board then the more versatile your options are the better.

March 10, 2013 10:12 p.m.

sylvannos says... #6

I definitely agree with SaberTech. Pongify is great creature removal, but Beast Within deals with all nasty permanents, especially enchantments and planeswalkers.

March 11, 2013 2:28 a.m.

SaberTech says... #7

I'm curious, do you still use this deck in group matches or is it primarily used 1v1?

March 11, 2013 2:43 a.m.

Epochalyptik says... #8

The deck is meant to be played in tournament pods (4-player games), but most of my playtesting has been the 1v1 mirror and 1v1 against Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. I probably wouldn't fare well against 1v1 generals like Zur.

I really don't like the CMC of Beast Within, but I do acknowledge the need for more rounded removal. It'll stay in until a better option surfaces.

March 11, 2013 3:49 a.m.

SaberTech says... #9

I've been play testing this deck and I don't particularly care for Burgeoning.

Sometimes I luck out and, assuming I'm running the deck in a pod, I drop it first turn and get to drop three more land. Unfortunately the deck doesn't run many proactive cards that can take advantage of the accelerated land drops and doesn't have lots of strong draw power before the third turn to resupply my hand with more land to drop. After dropping those four land I often spend the next couple of turns not drawing more land or aggressive plays, so by the time the third turn comes around I'm not in a much better position than if I was just dropping a land per turn. Cards like Nature's Lore and the mana artifacts often feel like the higher quality plays. Burgeoning does have the potential to make for some amazing first few turns, but I think that with this deck's current build those sorts of amazing plays will be an infrequent occurrence.

I also haven't been getting counters and other control cards at a rate that would make me feel comfortable in a pod match.

Take my feedback with a grain of salt though, I'm notorious for having abysmal luck with the Tapped Out playtest program.

March 11, 2013 4:34 a.m.

Burgeoning is hit or miss. It's great in pod environments, but it isn't always consistent.

I'm thinking about adding Delay to this deck. It isn't amazing in the first few turns, but it's effectively a hard counter if I start nearing my combo. The game will be over before the card is cast from suspend.

March 11, 2013 5:54 a.m.

SaberTech says... #11

Delay isn't a horrible option. Holding off an opponent's early game mana ramp or forcing a commander centered deck to decide if they want to wait three turns or let Delay be a hard counter are viable options too.

The issue I have with playing counters in a group game is that if I am the only one running counters as my main answer to problems, then I am the one who is frequently going to have to be the first to decide if I want to deal with a particularly threatening spell. If that's the case, then I'll be using up my defensive spells to save not only myself but everyone else from those spells while the other players can sit on their own answers that may be turned towards my own stuff later.

If you are only looking to stop an opponent's game enders and ensure that your own combos get through then you don't need a lot of counters in the deck, just enough that you are likely to have one or two in hand by the time you have set up your board that way you want. If you focus your defense more on instant speed kill and destroy spells then you give the other players a chance to decide if it is worth it to them to destroy a particular threat and you can hold on to your own answers until the last minute.

Of course, that philosophy doesn't hold up if opponents are relying on instants and sorceries as their game enders so that will have to be a meta call on your part.

March 11, 2013 7:14 a.m.

Pods at major events tend to see a lot of combo-control because it's the most consistent and powerful option available in multiplayer. Counterspells are a necessity if you intend to survive in these environments, and it's highly likely that other players will also be using countermagic. The trick is to have enough counterspells and also to have a resilient deck; if you can deflect most hate and survive the disruption that does hit you, you stand a good chance of winning.

March 11, 2013 1:59 p.m.

Added Delay over Fact or Fiction because the latter was too slow.

I've decided this is the month I'm buying an Imperial Seal. I dropped Fabricate for it.

March 11, 2013 5:13 p.m.

You have a lot of life loss cards.. is that ever a problem?

March 11, 2013 7:10 p.m.

Nope. Life is a resource, and you can harness a lot of power if you are willing to spend life. I have never killed myself due to my own life loss effects, although I have won many games with less than 5 life (several of these games were won at exactly 1 life).

The number of effects certainly has the potential to present problems, but those problems are often mitigated by player skill and discretion.

March 11, 2013 8:33 p.m.

Whats your opinion on Mana Bloom.

March 12, 2013 1:16 a.m.

It doesn't seem worthwhile. Mana dorks are more consistent and don't get returned to your hand.

March 12, 2013 1:50 a.m.

An additional problem with Mana Bloom is the cost. To get any kind of longevity out of it, you need to pay a considerable amount for X. Then, you have a vulnerable enchantment that can only produce one mana per turn despite a large initial payment.

March 12, 2013 4:25 p.m.

Falco1663 says... #19

I'd just like to say, good job on this deck. I love the instant feedback you give the people asking questions, and wish you the best of luck in your Magic career. +1 from me for sure.

March 13, 2013 2:36 a.m.

Canarus33 says... #20

why Carpet of Flowers? how many Islands come up?

March 13, 2013 4:06 p.m.

Playing in a competitive pod almost guarantees that you'll go up against blue decks of some kind or another. Carpet of Flowers gives me an edge in those matchups and helps me ramp out of the range of their control.

March 13, 2013 4:45 p.m.

miracleHat says... #22

would you be adding that instead of Burgeoning?

March 13, 2013 8 p.m.

I'm not quite sure. It will probably be tested at some point, but Carpet of Flowers is comparatively meta-dependent and slower.

March 13, 2013 8:07 p.m.

What might I drop to add Mana Vault?

March 16, 2013 8:40 p.m.

SaberTech says... #25

Do you need Mana Vault? You've reduced your mana curve to the point that you don't benefit much from a large boost of colorless mana. You do have a handful of spells expensive enough that Mana Vault would help speed them out or let you leave colored mana up for counterspells, but you would not be able to reset the vault without infringing on mana for counters. You have lots of efficient mana acceleration in the deck already, so the boost that you get from Mana Vault will only be useful from time to time. Is the possible boost worth the risk of drawing a dead card?

March 16, 2013 9:14 p.m.

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