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Vial smasher + Kraum. Grixis control

Commander / EDH* Control UBR (Grixis)

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New partner commanders! Vial Smasher the Fierce + Kraum, Ludevic's Opus *f-etch*. They are great complements and so far the deck works very well even in a competitive meta where anyone can win in first 3 turns.

This deck utilizes alternative costs to be mana efficient, such as traps, delves, phyrexian mana, miracle, and obviously free cast spells!! Best way to maximize Vial Smasher the Fierce's ability is to play reactively on everyone's turn (control style, which is my favorite). Main strategy is to control the game with Vial Smasher the Fierce on the board. People tend to ignore my commander for several reasons:

  1. Only first spell each turn deals damage so it takes a long time to see the effect.

  2. People don't care about their lives as much in multiplayer EDH.

  3. It's mutual risk sharing because only one random opponent takes the damage.

  4. There is no "hate" draw from a particular opponent since the damage is dealt at random.

  5. People have lower incentive to spend resources to kill the commander in a control deck or a deck that doesn't win immediately with commander on the battlefield.

Vial Smasher the Fierce usually stick around until someone is near single digit life and starts to kill her, this is when off-commander Kraum, Ludevic's Opus *f-etch* comes handy. He can refill gas or push the very last damage; he is also an option to have a chance to fight back life gain decks with commander damage (6 solid hits on a haste flyer in a control deck isn't that hard).

General play style and strategy: This is not an easy deck to play, you need to be aware of the deck's potential and capabilities as well as have very good treat assessment. Board present means nothing to a deck that is able to win after resolving a spell or combo out with very few cards. Therefore, knowing when to counter and what to destroy is very important. Ideally I want Vial Smasher the Fierce in play while I play reactively to control the game, but it is sometimes not possible in a competitive meta where someone wins on turn 3 if there is no disruptions. You also don't want to draw hate from a particular opponent; instead, you want to be the one who solves the problem and save the table so only the leading player would want to deal with you. This deck wins at late game where everyone gets low or runs out of steam, then you can control with Vial Smasher the Fierce in play or alternatively win with x burn/drain spells.

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When I built the deck I aimed at being able to control against competitive decks (95% of the decks are considered competitive are combo with fast ramps). However, recently I have discovered that the deck is very weak and inefficient against casual or mid-range decks, where nothing in their decks is really game changing and worth of spot removal or counter spell, but they add up value over time and I cannot control the board nor produce more value to drag to the end game.

Now I am trying to test out the deck to take out some late game value cards for more efficient board control, but still struggling because grixis doesn't have cards like Austere Command

Comments

Revision 68 See all

(2 months ago)

+1 Daze main
-1 Island main
Date added 8 years
Last updated 2 months
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

16 - 0 Mythic Rares

56 - 0 Rares

20 - 0 Uncommons

7 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.22
Tokens Bird 2/2 U, Orc Army, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Treasure
Folders Liked Decks, commander, Grixis commander ideas, Fun decks, edh
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