MtG Monday: Away Decks Redux

A few weeks back, I wrote about the decks I plan to leave in Ohio and why.

Since then, I have settled on commanders and determined decklists.  The decks themselves are currently in a state of sleeved, cards in the mail, or a decklist scribbled on paper. The final cards will be ordered in March, as a birthday present of sorts for me.

As for the Commanders chosen, I went with a favorite, a classic, and a brand new (for me) options.

First up is an old favorite, Heartless Hidetsugu.  I've written about this Commander before, and this deck uses that decklist as a start point, but subbing in far cheaper cards than some of the Commander gems in the decklist at the link.  The deck's strategy is burn, supported by Dragons and Goblins.  It was tough to NOT add Goblin Welder and his favorite toys, Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring, to the deck.  Maybe I will include some possible 'sideboard' cards to the deckbox, after all, Welder can muck about in any graveyard, not just my own.

Second is the classic Brago, King Eternal.  The deck's focus is on flying, not blinking, although some of that is going on, as well.  What blinking there is shouldn't be too gross, and without lots of mass-blinking support, like Eerie Interlude or Ghostway, triggers shouldn't get too out of hand.  On the whole, I have played against tuned, efficient Brago decks, so know what degenerate tricks to avoid.  

Third is Chevill, Bane of Monsters.  Yes, Ikoria is several years old at this point, but is still new to me.  The deck is mostly goodstuff, but only affordable goodstuff (most cards under $1, some between $3 and $8), so no Exsanguinate, Torment of Hailfire, or Ohran Frostfang.  Of the three decks, this one contains the most new cards (for me), notably Harness Infinity.

Looking at all three decklists as a whole, there are similarities.  Each deck is designed to be played with the Commander shuffled into the deck, as the Ohio group may use Commander decks, but only rarely actually play Commander.  In addition, there are no planeswalkers in the three decks, although each deck has some means to get rid of them.  Also in each deck are Monarch and other cards/mechanics aimed at multiplayer games.  Lastly, there are few mana rocks among the decks - not even Sol Rings!  The Ohio group never focuses all their ramp into one deck, so I can build decks that move at normal speed.  

That said, the BG deck has land-fetching sorceries (I avoided Sylvan Primordial, despite its low cost - just in case a true Commander game breaks out), the R deck has some burst mana, and the UW deck can fetch Plains.  All three decks feature lots of draw power, and frankly, the Ohio group uses the 'mill for land' houserule - in lieu of a draw, you can announce you're milling for land and reveal cards from the library top until you get a land.  The revealed cards aren't even technically milled, just maybe shuffled and certainly put on the bottom of the library.  

Yes, a serious group could abuse this houserule in several ways (by stacking the bottom of the deck or running an otherwise inadequate amount of lands), but that isn't an issue with the Ohio group.

Lastly, I am aware that Star City Games has higher prices, but on the whole, they have ALL the cards I want - if not now, then they will later. The Dragonshield Matte Sleeves all came from the local game store, Gamers n Geeks.

With luck, I'll get to playtest these decks before taking them back to Ohio next winter.