Commanders that are tough to deal with
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Nov. 2, 2015, 8:22 p.m. by griffstick
Your friends play magic but they play with some of the hardest to deal with commanders and one shot commander kills. Certain commanders I have a hard time to deal with are Omnath, Locus of Mana cause if you get this guy out and just keep pumping him its gonna be hard to deal with if your not getting the mana or correct removal. One of the other commanders I have a hard time dealing with is Thraximundar. He makes you sac creatures and then hits you hard if not blocked having to sac creatures on attack is worse then annihilator 1 he is also in the colors to cheat zombies into play like Rooftop Storm. So things to kill it usually don't work. Things to stop it like Arrest usually don't work via board wipes and sac outlets. Only thing I found to effectively stop him is Song of the Dryads.
I'm wondering what we can do to stop these hard to deal with and fast commanders like the ones I mentioned. And I want to know what other commanders are giving you a problem. Let's get some anwsers to your opponents commanders
Ohthenoises says... #3
Before I start listing what colors are you in?
Commanders that give me a hard time are Uril, the Miststalker and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic.
My friends have a hard time dealing with my Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and Feldon of the Third Path decks.
November 2, 2015 8:39 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #4
I'd suggest you start playing white//black if you'd REALLY like to deal with things effectively.
Spectra Ward you Divinity of Pride and keep an Ashen Rider with a sac outlet and a Mimic Vat out and people leave you alone.
November 2, 2015 8:44 p.m.
Ohthenoises ive had the Uril player in our group play turn 1 Burgeoning then Uril T2 way too many times
November 2, 2015 8:50 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #6
There's also Merciless Eviction lol
swkelly89 so don't play lands? Lol
November 2, 2015 8:52 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #8
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is basically impossible to deal with. Ignores commander tax, doesn't need to ne cast. Annoying af.
What to do about it? Combo. Win via infinite combo asap lol
November 2, 2015 9:05 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #9
VampireArmy I built a Derevi deck with artifact voltron in mind. I will tell you things aren't retarded until you hit someone with three creatures and direct all three untap triggers to Stonehewer Giant.
Combine that with the fact that she ignores commander tax and is uncounterable and it makes for a pretty nasty deck.
November 2, 2015 9:21 p.m.
griffstick says... #10
This is why I like Song of the Dryads its the best.
November 2, 2015 9:31 p.m.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician and Zur the Enchanter. Oh, and for good measure, let's remove tuck effects from the format.
November 2, 2015 10:26 p.m.
griffstick says... #13
My deck I us are on my profile page. If I'm in my mono green deck I have a hard time with removal against omnath cause he is to big for fight cards. Mono white. Mono black. Temur. G/W. W/R.
November 2, 2015 11:18 p.m.
griffstick says... #14
Yea Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is nasty. My group tries not to use commander precon made commanders
November 2, 2015 11:23 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #15
So all colors. Alright I'm going to work up a list but it's late here and I feel like I got hit with a truck so I'll post tomorrow.
In the meantime Darksteel Mutation should get the ball rolling in white. More to follow.
November 2, 2015 11:27 p.m.
griffstick says... #16
Make a list that would be great but the problem with cards like that against a mono green deck is they have multiple ways of destroying the enchantment but its still a good one
November 2, 2015 11:32 p.m.
SimicPower says... #17
November 3, 2015 12:02 a.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #18
@SimicPower the tuck rule isnt in effect anymore.
good try though.
November 3, 2015 12:08 a.m.
SimicPower says... #19
DERPLINGSUPREME: The list is actually of spells that effectively tuck a commander. (Nevermore effects, Mind Control effects, Song of the Dryads effects, etc.)
November 3, 2015 12:44 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #20
SimicPower, thanks for the tag, I'm glad my lists can actually be somewhat helpful xD stay awesome, friend
DERPLINGSUPREME, once again, you live up to your name. The quotation marks around "tuck" was supposed to infer that the list is comprised of effects that resemble tucking without actually tucking.
November 3, 2015 2:04 p.m.
griffstick says... #21
swkelly89 have you tried to use AEther Snap on Skullbriar, the Walking Grave?
November 3, 2015 3:29 p.m.
griffstick thats actually a really good idea. maybe ill throw that in and Hex Parasite
November 3, 2015 4:27 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #23
@ M a g i c a l H a c k e r I understood that, I'm not stupid.
I said that because he pulled up a list which is now null and useless to the situation, aside from perhaps allowing for removal which is still handy but not AS so when being referred to with commanders.
I'm not stupid.
November 3, 2015 6:50 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #24
Most commanders/generals are hard to deal with, that's why they make the cut to be a general. You have to first see what style of deck you are playing: Combo, Midrange-fatty build, Control, or Aggressive.
If you are playing Combo, you basically don't worry about your opponent's board and protect your combo, then combo off and kill everyone.
If you are playing a Midrange-fatty build, just play bigger, better threats than everyone else and ramp into them faster. Use a little bit of board-state removal such as Krosan Grip for example.
If you are playing a Control build, you should have all the answers you need in your deck, or at least a lot of draw power to get to them.
If you are playing an Aggressive strategy, then just race to kill your opponent(s) before they can even do anything.
These are the basics of deck building and how to go about making your deck. If you are having issues with other people's commanders/generals, your deck is probably muddled up and lost sight of what you are trying to do yourself.
November 3, 2015 7:50 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #25
DERPLINGSUPREME, but I'd argue that they're actually more useful than tuck was. Tuck could be fixed via a tutor, but what do you do to stop Ixidron? or Song of the Dryads? or Humility? etc.
November 3, 2015 8:11 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #26
.....
omfg dude...
I WAS SAYINGtuck is STILL USEFUL, just not AS useful as it WOULD HAVE BEEN.
November 3, 2015 8:19 p.m.
Only commander I have ever really had trouble with, ever, was Sigarda, Host of Herons and Saffi Eriksdotter.
Sigada because she was hard to remove and/or didn't stay dead very long. (Ramp and reanimate, or just ... not going anywhere.)
And Saffi because of infinite recursion of Glacial Chasm. No matter how many times I blew it up... or even exiled it. ELEVEN TIMES IN ONE GAME!
So... G/W apparently... at least that was then, now the only deck in our meta that is "troublesome" is a Reaper King "5 Color Mono Blue" deck that does whatever it wants whenever it wants.
November 3, 2015 8:39 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #28
@DudelRok are you sure you mean glacial chasm? b/c saffi only hits creatures.
you got played.
November 3, 2015 8:42 p.m.
Oh... my own solutions to above problems.
Omnath? Drain his mana pool or punish him for running giant dudes that don't have hexproof with something like Backlash. Alpha Brawl in red (is also a targeted board wipe), Arena or Magus of the Arena, or any spell in black that straight kill him. Murder. White with exile...
Thrax? That's pretty easy, actually. If it's zombie "free thrax" then, well, you have until the slow awkward manabase of grixis gets to Thrax/Rooftop Storm mana, to basically out do him (mono-green especially). Either make a lot of dudes (tokens or a bunch of consistant building up to dudes) or play gravepact like effects to punish Thrax for hitting you.
Skullbriar? Anything that removes counters. Vampire Hexmage or Hex Parasite. Works for Thrax, too. Any cheap removal works here, too.
That said if something like Arrest doesn't do it 100%, that's okay, just make sure you take advantage of what you can while you can. If you know you are going to get it for hitting that guy's commander with an arrest, you might as well slap him around a bit too.
One more thing: A real good way to "deal with" problem commanders is to make sure you play the politics of the game. Remember that you are playing against people and in a multiplayer format, so try and get the Omnath/Skullbriar/Thrax to hit someone else for a bit, giving you time to deal with him. (Just don't make yourself look like a liar or you can't do it again.)
November 3, 2015 8:57 p.m.
Saffi + Sac outlet + Sun Titan
I know what Saffi does. :p
November 3, 2015 8:58 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #31
you still have to pay additional costs on cards even if they can be cast for 0. all taxes still apply.
@DudelRok then he'd keep having to sacrifice lands. and if you argue that he sacs the chasm, it still doesnt work b/c of it having to stay around long enough.
still got played, a little bit.
November 3, 2015 8:59 p.m. Edited.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #33
how does blowing it up do anything?
then the chasm just back in the grave and you have to sac another land and titan to get it back, it doesnt keep it around
I think we're both misunderstanding each other...
go through the actions of how he kept getting that chasm very slowly.
howd it come back from exile, for that matter?
November 3, 2015 9:06 p.m.
Pull from Eternity works really quickly when ya need to do that, then it's in the yard and easy from there.
Riftsweeper was the problem card here, though.
Knight of the Reliquary was also a part of the problem.
There was also a Karmic Guide and a Reveillark
This was a year ago, but I've seen these pieces do their own annoyances since then without the addition of a Saffi or a Chasm. I don't let them stick if I can avoid it.
Karmic Guide + Reveillark + Saffi Eriksdotter basically lets you do anything in W/G you want when there is a Sun Titan in play.
That whole deck was the worst thing to play against, ever.
November 3, 2015 9:30 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #35
okay.
all of tha tmakes sense. I've had that done to me before.
except I managed to win, but still hell
how did Glacial Chasm play into this?
November 3, 2015 9:36 p.m.
I play a mostly aggressive deck so turning my combat off turns me off.
November 3, 2015 9:37 p.m.
griffstick says... #37
I have bigger problems with Gaddock Teeg then saffi.
November 4, 2015 2:35 a.m.
Mono-black Sidisi is my brother's main EDH deck and it's beginning to be a pain. Unless I grab the right tempo cards (tempo in EDH? More like 99 singleton legacy), he can either combo out to finish the game or Contamination lock people right out of the game just a few turns into the game. I've built most of my decks to compensate but when I go to different venues to play, I have to rebuild my decks.
November 4, 2015 4:05 a.m.
griffstick says... #39
Black has a big problem with artifacts and enchantment so you could build an artifact or colorless deck or mostly colorless deck to combat Contamination. As for Sidisi cards like Nevermore, Hushwing Gryff, Torpor Orb ext ext can deal with him.
November 4, 2015 3:38 p.m.
I would respond to the Contamination by floating some green and then hitting it with a Krosan Grip.
November 4, 2015 7:14 p.m.
Krosan Grip and any other specific answer is fine and all but by the nature of his deck, his getting Contamination is far more consistent than my getting an answer.
November 5, 2015 5:47 a.m.
griffstick says... #42
Angel of Jubilation would stop sidisi or Stranglehold or Mindlock Orb stop his searching. Iona, Shield of Emeria choosing black would be funny
November 5, 2015 12:17 p.m. Edited.
I've used Iona. She's a straight up political threat.
November 6, 2015 12:42 a.m.
griffstick says... #44
If you can figure out how to give that guy this card Celestial Dawn it would be a nice way to make him know how it feels. Or just having that will override his Contamination spell. Or a Chromatic Lantern would work.
November 6, 2015 2:11 a.m.
discipleoftalrand says... #46
A hard commander to deal with is Ghave, Guru of Spores. Having personal experience playing against Ghave, I know how fearsome he can be. PriestOfVorinclex, who has a Ghave deck list on here, has played against me with this deck, and I have seen him EASILY produce about 100 Saprolings within a few turns. Ghave can wreak havoc on any deck if he is played correctly.
November 6, 2015 10:41 p.m.
Boardwipe, any boardwipe. Or huge unblockable dudes!
Or one of my favorite anti-token cards is actually a 1/1 goblin.
November 7, 2015 12:43 a.m.
The commander that comes to mind most is Memnarch. Though I suppose I shouldn't be talking since I do run him in my Cards and Jin deck...
November 8, 2015 9:52 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #49
discipleoftalrand, would you be interested in cards like Rakdos Charm?
November 8, 2015 10:45 p.m.
griffstick says... #50
@zeloskun. Memnarch single handedly wins games. Card is sick. Homeward Path is a good card.
swkelly89 says... #2
any spot removal or boardwipe. the only commander i have a problem with in my play group is Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, which can get annoying bc of all the ramp he plays and Maelstrom Wanderer, who everyone gangs up and pretty much turns it into a 4 on 1 game and he still wins
November 2, 2015 8:36 p.m.