So I've decided to post one of our own commander decks today. This would be the first one that Skylar built when we got into the commander format. I helped her with the card choices but in the end she built it the way she wanted to when it came down the the final 100. We originally had it as a vampire tribal deck and it has since changed quite a bit away from only vampires theme but it is still a vampire centric theme with majority of the creatures still being vampires.
Olivia herself is pretty self explanatory, eat things and steal them. We wanted to maintain the focus of this deck on the black vampires and therefore didn't add any of the mono-red ones. As a theme addition, to qualify as a card choice in this deck, the card has to be at least some part black unless the effect was something super needed for the health of the deck (Chaos Warp) or just so absurd in this deck that it warranted inclusion (Braid of Fire, Stranglehold).
Hope you enjoy our vampire commander deck as much as we do! As always feedback and card discussion is welcomed! Tell us what you think!
Commander Olivia Voldaren
Sorceries Demonic Tutor Curse of the Cabal Life's Finale Mutilate Temporal Extortion Mind Twist Beacon of Unrest Void Fumarole Damnation Increasing Ambition Ashes to Ashes Blood Tribute
Planeswalkers Liliana of the Dark Realms Liliana Vess Sorin Markov
Enchantments Black Market Leyline of the Void Stranglehold Braid of Fire
Auras Animate Dead
Artifacts Scroll Rack Thran Dynamo Sol Ring Caged Sun Rings of Brighthearth Altar of Shadows Expedition Map
Equipment Blade of the Bloodchief Basilisk Collar Lightning Greaves
Creatures Dark Impostor Stromkirk Captain Necropolis Regent Gatekeeper of Malakir Crypt Ghast Vampire Nighthawk Soul Collector Guul Draz Assassin Magus of the Coffers Deepfire Elemental Nirkana Revenant Captivating Vampire Vampire Nocturnus Avatar of Woe Mephidross Vampire Bloodline Keeper // Lord of Lineage Lord of the Void Deathbringer Thoctar Butcher of Malakir
Legendary Creatures Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief Shauku, Endbringer Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet Sheoldred, Whispering One Mikaeus, the Unhallowed Rakdos, Lord of Riots
Non-Basic Lands Lake of the Dead Spinerock Knoll Urborg Volcano Shadowblood Ridge Graven Cairns Akoum Refuge Command Tower Molten Slagheap Dragonskull Summit Cabal Coffers Vesuva Strip Mine Rakdos Carnarium Badlands Sulfurous Springs Bojuka Bog Blood Crypt Crypt of Agadeem Bloodstained Mire Thawing Glaciers Rocky Tar Pit Tainted Peak Lavaclaw Reaches Thespian's Stage Leechridden Swamp
I like it. It has a theme and sticks to it, and isn't just about adding all the massive dick cards that win games based on sheer power, or in other words, how I like to build. :P I might try building this one in OCTGN to see how it plays against a housemate's commander decks.
I've actually been kinda interested in the format as of late, and despite my general ineptitude when it comes to building effective decks, and knowing a lot of good cards to put in, I've been experimenting. My first attempt is something revolving around Ertai, the Corrupted, making craptons of Myr tokens, having ways to untap him, and so on. It needs some work, but I feel like it has some potential to be really fun.
I like it. It has a theme and sticks to it, and isn't just about adding all the massive dick cards t
I'm glad you like it. This is one of our weaker decks. Don't let that fool you though as when we say weak deck it means it's still disgusting as I'm sure you remember. If you remember we built our decks with power level in mind for the people we played with. As time went on and people started making their decks better though we started removing the "limiters" that we used to put on the power levels of our decks. We could potentially make it much stronger with card choices that we have but my main thing is synergy and themes. We could make something much stronger but there isn't as much fun to it as trying to win or play with certain handicaps. As a general rule I don't do tutors or wraths much in my decks with this being one of the exceptions to that more because it is one of Skylar's decks. The card choices aren't always the best of the best but they make the deck interesting and fun to play and that's the win in my eyes. How did your experience with it go? Got any questions about a particular combo in the deck or why we chose certain cards over others?
I'm glad you like it. This is one of our weaker decks. Don't let that fool you though as when we s
I played a couple rounds with it. One was a pretty easy victory, and the other gave it a lot of hell, being up against an Azorius lockdown deck, built around Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. Led with the Guul Draz Assassin, which earned an Arrest after killing his commander once. I managed to steal his Hussar Patrol with Righteous Authority attached to it and hit him once before the detaining started. He consistently kept Olivia detained with Archon of the Triumvirate, and a couple turns later, played Iona. Naturally the chosen color was black. This slowed things down a lot, though within a couple turns, I drew the Lightning Greaves. Thankfully he had no counter, so I was able to get the Hussar Patrol back to attacking, which with 9 cards in hand every turn, was hitting for 11 and reducing his creature count. Eventually he played a Supreme Verdict, as he was running quite low on blockers. Past that, he was on topdeck, whereas I had a loaded hand of creatures to pop out every turn, and within a few more turns got enough flying damage going to end the game.
I feel like the deck functions well. My only real complaint about it is Leyline of the Void. It doesn't seem to fit in very well, considering how many cards in this deck want both graveyards to have stuff in them. I opened with it in both games, and both times I found myself wishing I could cycle out creatures that were effectively nerfed by having it on the field.
I played a couple rounds with it. One was a pretty easy victory, and the other gave it a lot of hell
The deck has a lot of synergy with the cards that are in it. Part of playing it, and any deck for that matter, is knowing what to do in certain situations with your available cards. That's something that comes with time and experience playing the deck if you didn't build it yourself to figure out all the cute little interactions that were put in there.
Leyline of the Void is a key card against other decks that like to play out of their own graveyards. Keep in mind that the Leyline only exiles opponent's graveyards and not yours. There are a couple cards that could potentially be a little less effective because of it, but since it leaves your own graveyard alone none of those cards are ever truely useless as you can always delve into your own graveyard to bring back your own creatures.
Also keep in mind that exile is almost always better than destroying in commander. While some of the other cards may not have their full potential, it stops recursion shenanigans cold. Never having to worry about something coming back is better than worrying about it possibly coming back in the future. In commander the graveyard is almost a better resource than your library because you can sort of control what you "draw". Also in commander being able to consistently reuse things from the graveyard can get stupidly overwhelming ridiculously fast if you don't keep it in check. Just think if every creature had something like flashback or buyback. You basically draw two cards or more a turn if you can continually reuse the things that have been dealt with already. That Terminate becomes so much worse because it didn't just flat out exile the creature in the first place. In my honest opinion recursion in commander is a much bigger problem than it is in something like standard. Bringing back something devastating every turn is just backbreaking to you if you don't deal with it.
Now, is it unfortunate that you happened to draw the 1 Leyline out of the 99 cards both games against a deck that didn't use the graveyard? Absolutely. But commander has the variation of being a singleton format. You won't always draw the Leyline is my point. It also matters to have some way to deal with a variety of problems you may come into contact with since commander usually has no sideboard.
The fact that it could come back from something like Iona is pretty impressive. Seeing as how there are literally two cards that aren't artifacts or black or lands just goes to show how resilient the deck actually is. Normally something like Iona is just time to scoop up your cards and go to the next game against a pseudo mono colored deck.
The deck has a lot of synergy with the cards that are in it. Part of playing it, and any deck for t
One thing I see you should have done though with the Lightning Greaves is put them on Oliva and just steal the Archon. Detaining problem solved and then you'd be detaining his stuff instead. Olivia can steal as many creatures as you need at the same time. Not just one. Also you could have stolen the Archon before his attack phase since the detain effect wears off at the start of his turn. Remember that activated abilities can be used at any time unless they have a timing restriction and Olivia doesn't.
One thing I see you should have done though with the Lightning Greaves is put them on Oliva and just
Yeah, I got super ridiculously lucky with that draw on the Lightning Greaves. That pretty much saved the match. For some reason, it didn't occur to me to move them to Olivia, which comes from me just not being able to pay attention to everything sometimes. I got really focused on having this creature that would either kill him or Iona, and granted, that did open things up after a few turns. I just haven't really achieved that level of experience with the game as a whole, I suppose, and a deck of this caliber might be beyond my ability to fully appreciate. Even when having every single card at my disposal in OCTGN, it's still tough to know what to put in.
Yeah, I got super ridiculously lucky with that draw on the Lightning Greaves. That pretty much saved
Greaves helped yes. What I was trying to say though was that you could also have just stolen the Archon before his attack phase even if the greaves weren't on the field. It looks something like this when you do it.
He attacks with Archon. He detains two non-land permantents (Olivia and something else). He passes turn. Your turn your stuff is still detained. Don't do anything on your turn and make sure you have 7 mana (2 black, 1 red) available. You pass turn. As his turn starts, your stuff is no longer detained and he can't detain anything else unless he attacks. This is an assumption based on the cards you said he had out. During any of his phases before combat you just say: Pay 1R to bite the Archon and then pay 3BB to steal it with Olivia. He doesn't get to detain anything anymore and now you have the Archon to detain his stuff over and over.
It's all a matter of timing and experience with the deck which you'd pick up as you play it more. That goes for any deck even one you've built yourself. A couple times I've put things into decks not meaning to have them interact with stuff but rather because it's a good card for the deck and then I'll draw the two together and get an evil grin going on. I've always said in commander that it's not what you actually do that matters. It's what you can possibly do that matters. The more possibilities you have to screw with your opponent's plans the better off you'll be when it comes time to actually survive and counterattack their shenanigans. The catch is making that kind of stuff have synergy with the rest of the deck so it doesn't hinder you as well.
Greaves helped yes. What I was trying to say though was that you could also have just stolen the Ar
And with that nickname you already know how much of a bitch she is to deal with haha! Even when I lose to those kinds of decks I always had fun playing against you two :3
I need a day off to see you again!
And with that nickname you already know how much of a bitch she is to deal with haha! Even when I lo
I know, that's what makes me so sad that I can't make it each time. My ride there is usually too tired to take me over to your place in Mesa since he is the MAIN driver in the apartment right now. If I'm not working on a Sunday it'll be easier to try to go over there.
I know, that's what makes me so sad that I can't make it each time. My ride there is usually too tir
