The Best Offence is a Good Defence

Commander / EDH Joedragon3

SCORE: 40 | 60 COMMENTS | 9586 VIEWS | IN 21 FOLDERS


Behappyorelse says... #1

Have you thought about adding Ancient Tomb and Auriok Champion ?

March 23, 2014 8:02 p.m.

Joedragon3 says... #2

Thanks Behappyorelse, I think I'll add both of them.

March 23, 2014 8:04 p.m.

NerdPounder says... #3

I feel obliged to mention that they are spelled offense and defense bro.

You shouldn't run any of the lands that produce multicolored mana, because of your color identity you can't produce any non white/grey mana, so all you're doing is opening yourself up to cards like Blood Moon and Wasteland or playing really bad Plains , like Grand Coliseum or City of Brass .

That being said, White is a really bad EDH color because the three things that actually matter in Commander are ramp, card draw, and the ability to control the board. White can only really do one of those. So, like most EDH decks that have a weakness because of color, you need to run artifacts to make up for it. Sol Ring , Worn Powerstone , Thran Dynamo , and Gilded Lotus will help you ramp, you could also use Marble Diamond and Mana Crypt if you want more fast mana (and you're rich) and Land Tax and Endless Horizons will help you hit your land drops. Once you cut a lot of the useless lands you can play cards like Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun .

As for things you could do to get some card draw, Mind's Eye makes it into decks that can't draw well, Slate of Ancestry would be pretty epic if this deck words the way it wants to. Staff of Nin provides you with a Phyrexian Arena type of effect, and Sensei's Divining Top gives you card selection. Skullclamp would also fit perfectly in this deck.

Every EDH deck needs removal, and specifically board wipes. Some mixture of Hallowed Burial , Akroma's Vengeance , Austere Command , Wrath of God , Phyrexian Rebirth and Terminus should do the trick. Now, you're pretty soft to board wipes yourself, so Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Eldrazi Monument would help out a lot, as well as be good quality magic cards. Sometimes though you just want to remove one dude or other permanent. Good job on the Oblivion Ring , you should also run the non-fair white kill spells like Swords to Plowshares , Path to Exile , and Condemn . Revoke Existence is a solid card to play as well.

Other cards that you should probably be playing because they're awesome:

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite because Glorious Anthem x4. In fact if it were my deck this would be the commander, you could just make bunches of dudes then blow them out of the water by making them disproportionately large.

Mirror Entity because Glorious Anthem x(X)

Coat of Arms because Glorious Anthem xHOLY CRAP

Elsepth, Sun's Champion, Elspeth Tirel , and Elspeth, Knight-Errant because soldiers.

Sun Titan because there aren't many graveyard recursion effects in white that don't suck, and this is one of them.

Enlightened Tutor , Academy Rector , and Citanul Flute because tutoring is really important in a 100 card deck.

Entreat the Angels because you want to make angels with which to kill people.

Sublime Archangel because it makes your army of tokens able to stay home on defense and lets you still put a lot of pressure on your opponent.

Serra Ascendant because 1 mana 6/6 flying lifelinkers are good in any format.

Oracle en-Vec works well with your general, in that they either attack you and you get soldiers, or they lose their dudes. Just one to think about.

Soooo yeah, have fun with all of those suggestions! Lol, as far as things to take out, take out anything that doesn't feel like it will do very much in a 40 life format, like Join the Ranks or things that naturally contradict with your deck like Timely Reinforcements , afterall the goal is to outnumber them with tokens. Pacifism isn't good in any format, so that and its counterpart Arrest are easy to take out. That's about all I've got, haha. Have fun!

March 23, 2014 9:10 p.m.

Joedragon3 says... #4

Holy carp that's a lot of suggestion, thanks corythackston! Pretty much everything you said is what I am now going to do with the deck but i just have one request - what do you think i should take out for all of these cards you have suggested? I am just a bit stuck and would appreciate some more help if it's no hassle, Thanks again!

March 24, 2014 3:05 p.m.

NerdPounder says... #5

I'll just list some of the cards I don't really like and you can go from there.

Archetype of Courage , because giving 1/1s first strike isn't that exciting

Cloudgoat Ranger

God-Favored General

The Sword/Crown/Throne artifact set, because they are only really cool if you have all three out, and how often will that realistically happen?

Pacifism /Arrest

Cenn's Tactician , because there are a lot of better things you could be doing with your mana.

All of the cards that make you gain life when creatures enter the battlefield. That would be cool if you had a card like Archangel of Thune out, but since this deck naturally wants to be aggressive, you shouldn't worry too much about your life total.

Obviously, you won't have room to take all of those cards that I suggested, but they should be a good starting point and reference point.

Lands that should probably be basics:

City of Brass

Daru Encampment because a +1/+1 pump is strictly worse than producing colored mana in EDH.

Grand Coliseum

A lot of the other lands I don't personally like, but I wouldn't argue that they aren't good.

March 25, 2014 12:08 a.m.

NyanFries says... #6

Increasing Devotion is pretty nice.

April 4, 2014 6:57 p.m.

dbregman8585 says... #7

I think Hour of Reckoning could be very good here!

April 9, 2014 10:28 p.m.

Joedragon3 says... #8

Great suggestion! Adding it now :)

April 10, 2014 7:44 a.m.

psychoza says... #9

There is a new Journey into Nyx card that would seem to fit with this deck's token generation / soldier sub theme.

April 11, 2014 9:48 a.m.

Joedragon3 says... #10

Oh my god i know psychoza when i saw it i almost cried with joy! If only i could run iroas :'(

April 11, 2014 9:52 a.m.

psychoza says... #11

I know :(. I've got a similar build with my Hear Me Roar (Brimaz EDH) deck and I'm excited for Launch the Fleet. I also like some of your cards that I never thought of like Goldnight Commander

April 11, 2014 9:55 a.m.

Joedragon3 says... #12

Woah +1 to your deck, i love Brimaz but i just can't afford him at the moment otherwise he is perfect for this deck. Goldnight Commander is almost like another Cathars' Crusade (which i need to add) but just not as good although he is a soldier and is cheaper.

April 11, 2014 10:03 a.m.

psychoza says... #13

Thanks! Keep up the good work on this deck. Like I said earlier, it is chock full of synergies and ideas for me :D.

April 11, 2014 10:41 a.m.

apt142 says... #14

Unfortunately, Konda's Banner says it can only equip legends. Double unfortunately, your commander isn't actually a soldier. And most of your tokens aren't human. :(

Might I suggest Beacon of Immortality ? It allows you to take a bit more punishment and get quite a bit more dudes out of your commander. Your soul sisters help a lot with that, but an alternate non-creature means of doing so is good to have on hand.

Boon Reflection would also be pretty sick with a soul sister and your commander.

Jar of Eyeballs might be really good here as well. It provides card advantage with some card filtering. You are likely to get a lot of eyeball counters on it so it's jankiness will be a non-issue for you.

April 11, 2014 11:37 a.m.

Joedragon3 says... #15

Hey apt142 i thought that at first but according to the oracle text there was a massive change to creature types which turned him into a Human Soldier instead of a Lord (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=122049).

Other than that those suggestions are great and i will look for something that can come out the deck for them.

April 11, 2014 12:30 p.m.

apt142 says... #16

Oh, Kudos on the Soldier Errata! Rock on!

April 11, 2014 12:39 p.m.

radway says... #17

Dolmen Gate so your vigilance creatures can attack without you being worried

Crackdown so your opponents fatties don't untap

April 12, 2014 8:25 a.m.

Necrotize says... #18

Maybe used Healer of the Pride . 2 life per token is insane and will be strictly better than the other lifegain creatures if your opponent isn't running a creature-heavy deck.

April 12, 2014 8:53 a.m.

Midwest says... #19

Commander Eesha is a consistently great blocker and can't be blocked.

Lieutenant Kirtar is a flying soldier and removal.

Major Teroh is another flying soldier with removal on him. All three of these allow for alternate creatures to wear Konda's Banner as well.

Serra Avatar isn't a soldier but is an amazing beater in lifegain decks/EDH in general. If you run this card be wary of red/black decks that may be running Backlash or Delirium .

These next two are also not soldiers but help mono-white with what is sometimes much needed ramp. Weathered Wayfarer and Burnished Hart .

April 12, 2014 11:13 a.m.

redawk says... #20

Blind Obedience might be worth it, especially in a multiplayer game the life gain can start to get insane.

(before someone points out the hybrid mana symbol, it is in the rules that mana symbols in reminder text do not count towards a cards color)

April 12, 2014 1:43 p.m.

Joedragon3 says... #21

Hey radway Great suggestions i will probably be adding both.

April 13, 2014 5:44 p.m.

Joedragon3 says... #22

Yo Necrotize Healer of the Pride is another Soul Sister, albeit not as good but the more the merrier!

April 13, 2014 5:45 p.m.

Joedragon3 says... #23

Hey Midwest thanks for all those suggestions, although i tend to like the more modern cards rather than the old style ones i will probably be adding those soldiers to the deck for some needed fliers and Serra Avatar seems very powerful for this deck so that may be going in too.

As you said, ramp is needed so i need to find room for it in the deck - what do you suggest removing?

April 13, 2014 5:49 p.m.

elik723 says... #24

Add Storm Herd ! It's an amazing card in any life gain deck, plus with your use of token-enhancing cards makes this card incredible!Felidar Sovereign easy win conditionCelestial Mantle beefs up key creatures, doubles life total

April 14, 2014 1 p.m.

psychoza says... #25

An alternative to Felidar Sovereign would be Test of Endurance . Slightly harder to remove.

April 14, 2014 1:18 p.m.

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