Obey My Command | Baral, Chief of Compliance | Combo-Control | Budget cEDH / High-Power Casual (EDH / Commander)

[PRIMER] Obey My Command | Baral, Chief of Compliance | Combo-Control | Budget cEDH / High-Power Casual
By Darvelus https://bit.ly/baralcedh

A Google Sheets indicating which cards to switch out to convert the deck and transition into either a Full-Build cEDH deck or a fun & casual EDH deck: https://bit.ly/baralmodular

HOW THIS DECK WINS

1. Assemble an infinite mana combo.
   Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal + 3 mana from rocks
   Palinchron + High Tide + 6 Islands
2. Deck out each of your opponents. (Force them to draw X=100+, note that this is different from mill)
   Blue Sun’s Zenith (self-recurring)
   Stroke of Genius (recur using Narset’s Reversal, Echo of Eons and Mission Briefing)

PRIMER/GUIDE

Baral has been known for dominating format variations such as Duel Commander (1v1) and Brawl (AER), since after only turn 2 he can exploit cheating out counterspells and cantrips, inevitably locking down the opponent while ensuring that he has gas via his loot ability. But can he hold up against a table with 3+ other opponents? Can his 1-for-1 counter strategy stand while taking aggression from the frustrated opponents whose spells have been countered? Is Baral cEDH-viable?

Baral is cEDH-viable when built and PILOTED efficiently. You want to get the most value out of your counterspells; therefore, as a general rule: counter only spells that directly disrupt your win conditions and your opponents’ win cons. Keep in mind that letting things resolve is part of control in cEDH, and that there will be times when you have to allow effects that slow you down, that affect your other opponents more if not the same. Again, this challenges you to subscribe to a disciplined mentality as a control player. In my opinion, there’s no other commander who can teach you close-to-perfect threat assessment, test your decision-making skills, and knowledge of cards/meta like Baral can.

This build’s primary combo is Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal combo. The list is also designed to adapt to the Paradox Engine ban by including a secondary, back-up combo: Palinchron + High Tide. The pilot must aim to assemble one of the combos and sink infinite mana into an outlet to draw/deck out your opponents, and win the game.

WHY BARAL? WHY THIS VERSION?
Baral is more challenging to build and play correctly, as being a very interaction-based commander urges you to know your opponents' decks perfectly so you can counter only what absolutely needs to be countered.
— quell11

Furthermore, you can build Baral in many different ways, including a more proactive Polymorph + Tyrant version. In theory it is more effective in terms of fetchability. Although this variant running Palinchron + High Tide (instead of Polymorph package) as a secondary combo is justified by the utility and effectiveness of Hullbreacher, Phyrexian Metamorph, GIlded Drake, and Tribute Mage in the 99.

Regarding other variants of Baral, there’s an Extra Turns variant which I would shy away from. The same way I don’t recommend a Baral Counterspell Tribal aka counterspell.dec. IsoRev/PalinTide are merciful in the sense that time is never wasted. When you win, just shuffle up and play another game. At least it has a clear win-con, and does not revolve around just taking extra turns, or countering anything that moves without moving towards a winning goal. This build, and the discipline of piloting that comes with it, as my playgroup describes it, is the way a Baral player wins like a “decent human being.”

Rather than a war of attrition, we simply need to counter and disrupt the most immediate threats and most problematic stax pieces, and find our “windows of opportunity to execute our combo. Remember that a good Baral deck and pilot understands that it is never a “counterspell.dec” and definitely not a game-dragger/time-waster.

COMBOS (INFINITE MANA)

Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal is a well-loved and well-hated combo. You need to control mana rocks that can produce a total of three (3) mana, one of which preferably Blue. Then, execute the combo as follows:

1. Cast Isochron Scepter
2. Declare ‘Imprint’ trigger
3. Imprint Dramatic Reversal
4. Activate Isochron Scepter ability
   And by doing so, you are activating the ability in a loop, while floating one mana (ideally Blue) with each iteration. Hence, infinite mana.

Palinchron + High Tide is the alternative combo in this build. It is most commonly featured in Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy as he is able to recur High Tide multiple times. However, what Jace lacks is the ability to protect his combo as efficiently as Baral. The general rule is to only go for this line of play and tutor for High Tide if, and ONLY IF, you draw Palinchron. Blue lacks the ability to tutor for creatures (and for good measure), hence, Palinchron is our fallback combo should our main combo be disrupted. You will need to have at least 6 Islands in play. Then, execute the combo as follows:

1. Cast High Tide. (tapping one island, but better if a mana rock)
2. Tap 5 (minimum) Islands to float 10 mana.
3. Use 7 mana to cast Palinchron. (floating 3)
4. Palinchron’s ETB triggers and you untap up to seven lands. (Still floating 3)
5. Tap 6 (minimum) Islands and float 12 mana. (Now floating a total of 15*)
6. Use 4 mana to activate Palinchron’s ability, returning it to your hand. (Floating 11).
7. Repeat steps 3-6, gaining and floating 1 blue mana each iteration. Hence, unlimited/infinite mana

WIN CONDITIONS (MANA OUTLETS)

After successfully executing one of the combos and generating infinite (Blue) mana, you will need to sink that mana into a win-con.

PLAN A
Blue Sun’s Zenith (USZ) is your main win condition.

1. With unlimited mana, cast USZ where X= cards in library, targeting yourself (Safety Tip: If you are able to be forced to draw a Y cards by an opponent, instead cast USZ for X where X is cards in your library minus Y, then cantrip to draw the rest with counterspells in hand as protection. Pro Tip: With deck in hand, cast a bounce spell on your Narset, Parter of Veils, as this card counters your win condition. Do the same with all other Narsets on the field.) Be careful as casting USZ as win con is the most vulnerable position you will be in, based on my experience.
2. You will end up with only USZ in your library, as it is “shuffled” back in after resolution. Cantrip for it using draw spells.
3. Cast USZ on opponent for X where X is cards in their library (Safety Tip: X must be at least 101 for good measure, if they still manage to shuffle 101 cards in their 100-card commander deck, I don’t even know anymore)
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for each opponent.

Additionally, to dig for USZ with an infinite mana via combo, you can Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal + 2 mana from rocks +Sensei's Divining Top = INFINITE DRAW by activating Sensei’s Divining Top, then activate Isochron Scepter’s ability to untap all nonland permanents. Rinse and repeat and you will end up drawing your entire deck, and therefore USZ.

PLAN B
Stroke of Genius is your back-up win condition. Cast x=100 to deck out your opponent, recur using the following to repeat to the rest of your opponents:

1. Narset’s Reversal
   2..Echo of Eons + a tutor
2. Mission Briefing

PLAN C
If both USZ and SoG aren’t an option anymore:
Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal + Phyrexian Metamorph + Swan Song = INFINITE 2/2 Birds with flying tokens. They don’t have haste, so you have to survive one turn rotation before you can finally kill the table.

NOTABLE EXCLUSIONS
Most of the highly effective and thus, expensive pieces that work well with Baral have been cut only for budget reasons. To see how the full build ($$$) looks like, refer to this list: https://deckstats.net/decks/128123/1390768-obey-my-command-baral-chief-of
The following exclusions are not primarily because of reasons regarding budget, but because of function:

Aetherflux Reservoir - this “out” or win condition, while an instant win once you’ve set up an infinite casting combo of either Dramatic Reversal or Palinchron, is a dead card if you draw it without your combo pieces. It is slow, and provides little to no benefits when you get it in the early game.

Laboratory Maniac & Jace, Wielder of Mysteries - the unnecessary Lab Mans/Jace are cut for the same reason: they are win-more cards; a dead one without the infinite mana combo.

Thassa's Oracle -

Snapcaster Mage - gives flashback, which is different. This prevents you from kicking things like cyclonic rift. You can kick them with Mission Briefing.

Extra Turns - irrelevant to the game plan. While they can be useful in other decks, in Baral, it poses a time-wasting/dragging threat and almost never a clear win condition much to the dismay of your opponents.

Polymorph + Jin Gitaxias/Tidespout Tyrant - the inclusion of Hullbreacher, Snapcaster Mage and Tribute Mage are worth the Palinchron + High Tide variant.

Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith - infinite colorless is neither useful nor effective unless you have Stroke of Genius.

COUNTERSPELLS

Of course, the aforementioned combos are naked combos stripped down to their core (and minimum activations), but in real games, you must always have ways to protect and fight for your win conditions and combos. Let’s talk counters.

TUTORS

To consistently gather combo pieces and execute combos, you will need help from your card tutors. They are essentially your same combo pieces with an additional 1 or 2 cost to cast, it’s just that they offer a replacement in your 99 to fetch your combo cards. (In retrospect, the chances of obtaining a combo piece in the 99 is increased if “multiple copies” of it are represented as tutors.

POLITICS

You will gather immediate hate. Your resources will be subsumed by the aggregate attempts of your opponents to combo out, and you will feel responsible. You, in most cases, are. Hence, Baral must continuously refuel his hand to defend only against DIRE threats, and defend only his own combos as much as possible.

The first turn is the set up and the second turn determines who the biggest threat is. The third turn decides who is set to win on turn 4. As a slow combo deck, Baral aims not to win on turn 3-4, but to stop someone from winning. Unlike a fast-combo deck, you run a control suite that lets you reliably prevent someone else from winning that early. Ideally, Baral can then goldfish a turn 7-8 win with much needed protection.

DECK/CARD UPGRADES
This deck can be described in several ways such as Budget cEDH, casual-competitive, semi-competitive, high-power EDH, 7.5/10 EDH, 6/10 cEDH, and more...
Checkout https://bit.ly/baralmodular for upgrades/swappables
Fetchlands
Flooded Strand
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Prismatic Vista
Scalding Tarn

Premium Counterspells
Fierce Guardianship
Force of Negation
Force of Will
Mana Drain

Premium Mana Rocks
Grim Monolith
Mana Crypt
Mox Diamond
Mox Opal

Premium Utility
Power Artifact
Gilded Drake
Timetwister
Transmute Artifact
Hullbreacher
Intuition
Copy Artifact

Disclaimer: This primer is written with a limited knowledge of metagames and current available card pool. Needless to say, there is an infinite number of situations not discussed in this primer, and for that, I implore you to play a lot more games with different opponents to gain more experience, and share them with us.

ANY SUGGESTIONS are welcome, as cEDH, in my experience, is 99% editing and fine-tuning the deck to achieve utmost efficiency and consistency in winning the game.

Thanks for reading my primer on Baral, Chief of Compliance cEDH build. Have fun controlling and combo-ing off!

• Darvelus

ARCHIVE
VIDEOS/GAMEPLAY EXAMPLES

https://youtu.be/Xkiem1930nY - EDH gameplay where Baral wins by IsoRev into USZ.

https://youtu.be/JL_op4_DqR0 - A prime example of how NOT to build and pilot a Baral deck. Delaying the game and simply disrupting without a clear desire and system to win the game. It’s both unenjoyable for everyone and time-wasting. When playing such an interaction-heavy deck, at least have a clear win-con and inform your playgroup of anything they might need to know beforehand.

Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveEDH/comments/larlj7/primer_obey_my_command_baral_chief_of_compliance/
Budget Decklist
deckstats.net: https://deckstats.net/decks/128123/1268381-obey-my-command-baral-chief-of
TappedOut.net: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/obey-my-command-baral-chief-of-compliance-com
ArchidektBETA: https://www.archidekt.com/decks/449981#Obey_My_Command_|_Baral,_Chief_of_Compliance_|_Combo_Control_|_Budget_cEDH
Moxfield: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/0ATP99whykOpik5loxAkpA

Full-Build Decklist
https://deckstats.net/decks/128123/1390768-obey-my-command-baral-chief-of