Is my deck off putting to people? Xavier Sal, Infested Captain
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 1, 2024, 4:16 p.m. by Baron777
So I recently modified a content creator's older deck. An Xavier Sal, Infested Captain Saga deck.
Deck here: Xavier Sal, Infested Captain (Sagas)
It's pretty slow due to requiring specific pips for my drawing/searching, so I rarely have more then my commander, a creature, and maybe a saga by turn 4-5 (and that's if I am lucky).
I don't think most random people know this deck, but do seem to target me when I play stuff. They typically target Gadwick's First Duel, Song of Earendil, est. Mostly my, very limited, resource cards.
Some I understand, yeah Bitterblossom, Eidolon of Blossoms, Quest for Renewal. Big value engine pieces, they probably would be targeted in any deck.
But meanwhile cards like The Phasing of Zhalfir, Death in Heaven, Genesis of the Daleks, Kiora Bests the Sea God, One Ring to Rule Them All, the big bombs haven't even seen the light of day cause I'm normally either so far behind in mana compared to everyone else or am already dead before I could even play them.
Have I misread the room here about this commander and it's an Sen Triplets level of scorn people have for the card where I becoming the archenemy at my 6-7 power tables for just having the commander, do I need to dial back the power (even though I've always gotten last place in every game I've played with it), or am I missing something else entirely?
I think that the only must kill saga that I see is Genesis of the Daleks. I think that the commander as an infect commander might be a cause of the targeting, given the mites you can sacrifice away and the huge incubator tokens you can copy. Also, it’s one of the billion cards that can go infinite with Intruder Alarm.
November 1, 2024 10:01 p.m.
" I becoming the archenemy at my 6-7 power tables for just having the commander"
Hol' up, lemme stop you right there homie. When facing opponents for the first time, you must do better than "My deck is a 7" - What's your manabase compared to theirs? Do you/they have a focused strategy with only the most efficient cards? What's your budget compared to theirs? These are the questions you should be asking when trying to assess if the game you're going to have will be one where everyone gets a chance to be scary at least once.
"Have I misread the room here about this commander and it's an Sen Triplets level of scorn people have"
I can say that from my perspective that Xavier Sal does not attract the ire or wrath that Sen Triplets does. In fact, Xavier seems somewhat innocuous on it own. Triplets is a problem as it just controls an opponent without any set up - your commander requires some permanents to interact with to be deemed an immediate threat. Someone else correct me if i'm wrong here but I believe Xavier Sal, Infested Captain is not a kill on sight commander.
If I sat down across the table from you during a game, I wouldn't consider your deck a threat until your commander was on the field with at least 3 or 4 sagas or with some of the more problematic ones like Binding the Old Gods. To ramp, and then tap your commander to remove a counter from the 2nd chapter and snipe a permanent each turn is pretty intimidating.
November 1, 2024 11:49 p.m. Edited.
Mortlocke I will agree, that yes I can do a better job describing it. I typically run a lot of my decks I want to build IRL in Tabletop Simulator to see if I like it before I go out and spend around a 100 bucks to get the pieces I don't own. Sadly not many randos will do a rule 0 talk outside of some pretty universal, "no mass land destruction", "no oppressive stax", stuff. But if I go to a table running the 6-8 PL range, and no one is describing their decks, then unless it's a common commander, everyone should be relatively in the dark on everyone. That's why I was confused on why it seemed like my deck was being singled out in a lot of games.
I'll see about trying to initiate more conversation to see if that helps.
November 2, 2024 11:56 a.m.
I run a wide array of decks at varying levels of strength or competitiveness. Every game I start I ask these 3 questions:
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What's your mana base? I only care if my opponent has Fetchlands or ABUR Duals or something like that. That will inform me of their budget at least
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What're your strongest/most expensive cards? I'm looking for any of the usual suspects of expensive staples like Sylvan Library, Exquisite Blood, Smothering Tithe, Deflecting Swat or Rhystic Study. The inclusion of any tutors and of course land destruction will definitely inform me of the strength of the opponent's deck.
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What are your deck's themes? I proudly run an Infect deck, as well as Slivers. There are many players I've encountered who absolutely do not want to see the wonders those decks have to offer. Simply knowing that a player's deck is Mono-blue control, or Stax is enough.
Magic and especially Commander is a social game. Interaction isn't just in the form of an Instant or Sorcery - agreeing on an expected experience together at the table is always the first step.
November 2, 2024 12:18 p.m.
To me it looks like it combines a general lack of acceleration with lots of 'just wait a few turns! Mwuahaha!' type effects that attract a lot of negative attention by telegraphing what you're on while not strengthening your position very much. The thing about not using ramp is that many games it won't seem to matter (provided you keep hitting drops), but many of your better Sagas require a fair bit to cast, and then they need to stick around to really cause an impact. If you don't cast a 6 drop Saga until turn 6 you've given your opponents more opportunities to have draw into interaction, with ramp you can potentially get a 6 drop out turn 4. Increasing how much quality land ramp your deck includes will make your good cards better. Also, if you're already on Enchantress you should at least take a look at stuff like Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl, the only good reason to not use these is if people run a lot of targeted land hate.
Do you find that having multiple Enchantress cards in play results in you getting targeted, or is it just the token generation that gets people's ire up?
November 3, 2024 2:01 p.m.
Doombeard1984 says... #8
Just had a quick look through the deck, and whilst there is some cool synergistic stuff, and as stated before, being able to constantly remove a counter and recur nasty effects like Binding the Old Gods removal etc is nasty, its nothing crazy out of control. You are also not running a huge amount of untap effects to abuse your commander, and its ability is only at sorcery speed anyway. Please don't take offence to this, but I would probably not be targeting you out of the game. And to be fair, people should be running interaction to deal with things they do not like. Thats the way of Magic in general lol.
Conversely, if you are having your game-plan interrupted/disrupted... you are in . There is a whole suite of cards out their to help you "Counter" those situations. Just a basic suite of Counterspell's would probably allow you to better sustain a barrage of interaction from your opponents.
Would say, ramp is a major issue in your deck. Appreciate wanting to stay on them with enchantments/sagas, but sometimes you just need a rock or dork. Birds of Paradise, the Talismans, Sanctum Weaver, Wild Growth... even just a Sol Ring will help speed you out a little bit, and with more consistency I feel.
November 4, 2024 6:34 a.m.
Doombeard1984 says... #9
could also use Painful Quandary, Memory Erosion, Mind's Dilation etc as possible deterents for your opponents even casting spells, but again, would say if you are struggling getting your larger costed spells out, might make this a little tricky.
Just some food for thought :)
November 4, 2024 6:41 a.m.
I definitely agree about adding the Sol Ring. Another card I think would be useful is Curse of Opulence. It fits with your enchantments theme, it gives you some mana to get out your stronger sagas, and it encourages your opponents to attack another player instead of you.
shadow63 says... #2
It seems good. But not oppressive
November 1, 2024 6:18 p.m.