Welcome to the greatest Group Hug deck in Commander!
Featuring the one and only Rabbit Wizard, Kwain, Itinerant Meddler, affectionately known as Wizzardrix after one of the only other Rabbits in Magic, Vizzerdrix.
I mean just look at this cute little guy! He's just here to help! And if you don't need or want his help, you don't even have to accept it! He's just pure good will and that's what we're here about! Good, fun games of Commander!
Commander is a social game. We all play to win, but winning isn't the point. We play for the joy of playing the game, to brew up crazy decks and watch them go! Most people aren't a fan of getting mana-screwed, or getting STAXed, or Mass Land Desturction, or otherwise being hated out of actually getting to play the game.
That's why its our job to be the Fun Police! And I don't mean that in the sarcastic way! Our deck is full of counterspells and removal so that we always have an answer for when things start to get out of hand. Of course we want to let our opponents actually PLAY their decks, so we're not here to play hard-control over every single thing our opponents try to do, just anything that either threatens US, or threatens to win the game outright.
As the Group Hug player, we generate a lot of good will cuz we just want to be friends with everyone at the table so they leave us alone. Why bite the hand that feeds you? This is also why our deck list has a complete lack of threats. Cards like Consecrated Sphinx and Chasm Skulker are heckin' powerful, but that makes people scared of us. Its obvious we intend to try to win the game, so they become prime targets for removal. By playing big scary threats on the board we're essentially showing our hand. People can SEE that we're actually a threat, its right there in front of them, whether we claim to be a Group Hug deck or say that we won't use it against them or not.
So how DO we plan on winning? In the most Group Hug way possible of course! By drawing ALL the cards! No, we're not milling. Milling is mean, especially in a singleton format. We have a combo, but not a MEAN combo, a FUN combo! So here's how it works:
Smothering Tithe is obviously a powerhouse, especially in a deck like ours that wants to help everyone draw lots of cards, so that we can make tons of mana. So lets turn that mana directly into more card draw with cards like Prosperity, Minds Aglow, Fascination, Skyscribing, or Folio of Fancies. Pay X mana, Draw X cards, make X times the number of Opponents worth of Treasure Tokens. Profit. 10 mana turns into 10 cards and 30 Treasure tokens. Hopefully you drew another 'Draw X' spell. Now cast this one for 30. Keep going until you can draw everyone out simultaneously! This ends the game in a Draw for the ULTIMATE GROUP HUG WIN! You can also just mill everyone out with the secondary modes of Fascination or Folio of Fancies, or get everyone's hands sufficiently large enough that one big Windfall finishes everyone off. Hullbreacher is in the deck as a backup copy of Smothering Tithe which essentially functions the same except your opponents don't actually get to draw any cards. Obviously Hullbreacher has a bit of a bad reputation for being pretty feels-bad, so I don't recommend playing him, or Tithe either for that matter, until you plan on going for the win.
This is what the deck is all about: Having fun and drawing cards. Let people play out their decks, but keep everyone reasonably in check. Punish anyone who dares to attack you and your altruistic generosity. Play the political game and offer assistance and answers where needed. Stop the game winning combos or anyone trying to ruin everyone else's fun. Set up for the long game, and then when you're ready, end the game in a Draw, because the best victory is establishing your own win condition.
Alternatively, you COULD instead play other win conditions such as Thassa's Oracle, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, or the more traditional Laboratory Maniac and draw yourself out, but those are obvious and boring. Its more fun to be able to tell people they're not in your deck at all so they don't have to worry about it. Mind Over Matter is another option that goes infinite with Kwain or Temple Bell, but its also kind of boring and tedious to draw one card at a time until someone finds a removal spell.
Check out the comments below for some more thoughts and insights! The deck list might change here and there, so some comments may be a bit outdated, but there's a lot of good information to check out on how to play the deck and why I chose certain cards and not others! In general, I avoided included overly aggressive cards and threats, anything that would make people mad at us. Pillowfort cards like Ghostly Prison are way better options to dissuade attackers through inconvenience as oppose to cards like Blazing Archon or Solitary Confinement which instead paints us as a target. Most of our removal is cheap, fast, versatile, and targeted to handle specific threats, and our board wipes are mostly aimed at punishing big attacks that might kill us or someone else.
EDIT!
Well, Hullbreacher's been banned, but the game's better off without him, so we're back to the Smothering Tithe only plan! I'll figure out what to put in instead. The alternate win conditions like Thassa or the Mind Over Matter combo might be a more appealing Plan B, or we can still just build up a big hand and draw everyone out with a big Windfall. I'd also love to play an actual Divine Intervention as the "win" condition, but not for $300. (Update, I found one for 125... we're doing it!)
