Group Hug is a deck strategy based on giving other players resources. In many cases, the decks stop there, content in bringing goodwill to the table. This very goodwill is what leads to some players immediately targeting Group Hug decks - because Group Hug enables other players to win faster, and some players just cannot stand that idea.
The more evolved Group Hug decks focus their hugs on individual players, taking a political route towards victory. The best Group Hug decks contain their own win-cons. This isn't exactly one of those decks.
Luckily, K&T are in the best colors for protection; Teferi's Protection, Heroic Intervention, and your favorite countermagic all fit in the deck (so does Possibility Storm - but calling it defense is dubious).
Which is good, because you'll need them all, once folks realize what you're up to.
Of course, a 4-color deck's biggest problem is being 4 colors. Ensuring the correct mana at the correct time requires a dedicated chunk of the deck beyond the 36ish lands. Relying on artifacts is almost a must - Prismatic Geoscope, Chromatic Lantern, Lantern of Revealing, Skyclave Relic, Commander's Sphere, and Arcane Signet immediately spring to mind, but there are assuredly other options. Green helps immensely, both through landfetching and cards like Birds of Paradise, Paradise Druid, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Prismatic Omen, and others.
On top of all these assists are the nonbasic lands: Command Tower, Reflecting Pool, the triomes, and anything else you have. Normally I preach against relying on too many such lands, but at 4 colors it is almost mandatory. So save your countermagic for the guy running nonbasic land destruction!
The Large Print Giveth...
The most common form of group hug involves providing players extra mana, chiefly through additional lands. Common examples are Tempt with Discovery, Oath of Lieges, Old-Growth Dryads, Veteran Explorer, Rootweaver Dryad, and Scholarship Sponsor. Note that some folks will tell you to never take the Tempting Offer, but they are wrong - always take it and fetch up Strip Mine or its ilk with it.
Avatar of Growth. From Game Night.
Note that mana-doubling is also doable, with Mana Flare, Heartbeat of Spring, Upwelling (so pretty), and Keeper of Progenitus. I prefer the last to the others, as sometimes, my opponents don't benefit.
Drawing cards, or overdrawing cards, technically, is another simple and easy form of hug, and arguably the most dangerous. Forced Fruition, Rites of Flourishing, Well of Ideas, Horn of Greed, Howling Mine and its variations, Heartwood Storyteller, and maybe Glademuse.
Other cards let opponents just straight up play spells or put permanents into play: Blue Braids, Tempting Wurm, Wild Evocation, Eye of the Storm (more chaos than hug, perhaps) all being common considerations.
... and the Small Print Taketh Away
The goal with Group Hug is to break the symmetry of your cards. Here are a few methods.
Insurrection, Psychosis Crawler, Gilt-Leaf Archdruid (albeit tricky to pull off without changelings or Maskwood Nexus), Treacherous Terrain, Disrupt Decorum, Cataclysm, and Expropriate all provide a means to make folks regret letting you live.
Shenanigans
The beauty of the Commander format is that with 100 cards, you can jam all sorts of shenanigans in a deck; sometimes these shenanigans overlap. Following are four sets of possible shenanigans in these colors.
Mycosynth Lattice, Consulate Crackdown, Kill Switch, Hellkite Tyrant, Energy Flux, Hurkyl's Recall, and Kataki, War's Wage.
Rampage of the Clans plays nice with Evening and Lattice; presuming you survive it yourself.
There are also surprise shenanigans with Radiate and Radiant Performer; yes, holding up 5cmc can be rough, but oh, my, can it be fun! Especially when you are radiating your own spells, such as these.
Hive Mind is a card that folks should rightfully despise, as it plunges games into chaos. It can also lead to sudden victories via Pact of the Titan, Pact of Negation, Intervention Pact, and Summoner's Pact. The goal being to force your opponents into upkeeps they lack the mana to play. I suppose a card like Warrior's Oath could function as a kingmaker alongside Hive Mind, but it's a bit much, even for me.
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Story time! I was in Ohio, running a variation of K&T, and the game was large with 7 players. Being an Ohio game, I was able to cast Expropriate (go look it up) and copy it with Riku, resulting in my having 14 extra turns. As the other players got up to get food, go pee, have a smoke, and leave in a huff, I played out my turns.
Being a proper group hug deck, there were lots of permanents in play, and even more when my turns were through. So with my final turn, I cast Enchanted Evening, followed by an Aura Barbs, deciding we should all go together when we go. As I cackled with victory via draw, G held up his hand and pointed out the Elderscale Wurm that had been out for several turns. The game was still over, but I had inadvertently handed the game to G, but wow, what a play!
And that is how a person (this person) can lose despite taking many turns.
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