+1/+1 Counter Decks Suggestions Wanted (EDH)

[WizardSpartan]

https://deckstats.net/decks/120669/1432088-anafenza-counters
I need better card draw/overall better strategy. I like Anafenza as my cmdr because she provides good colors for +1/+1 counters and she's cheap both mana and money wise (unlike Atraxa which is bleh anyway).

https://deckstats.net/decks/120669/1431009-grumgully-counters/en
This is more of a pet deck for me. He seems really fun as a +1/+1 counters/tokens build (like Ghave, Guru of Spores), so any other synergistic cards I missed would be greatly appreciated.
Note: I don't want to include Persist combos. I'm aware of them, but I'm not interested.

If anybody has ideas for other +1/+1 counter commanders that are ≤4 CMC and ≤$5 please tell me. Bonus points for having a cool subtheme and/or being underplayed.

Budget for both: Max ~$5 a card.

Thanks for suggestions!

[Loggiu]

drana and rishkar.....

[entropize]

Well I don't know if these suggestions will help but there are a few colorless cards that gain +1/+1 counters such as Ugin's conjurant, walking balista, hangarback walker, iron bully,  power conduit, and animation module spring to mind.  My favorite counter card is biogenic  ooze simply because he can win games on his own. I have two decks that try to accomplish the same idea, one modern and one standard under names of underworld vampires and a clone of my own. Maybe these decks would help with some ideas.

[thelxinoe]

mikaeus the lunarch

[Slyvester12]

"Unlike Atraxa which is bleh anyway."

Bite your tongue, heathen. Throwing a Sword of Truth and Justice on Atraxa is always satisfying.

That being said, Galloping Lizrog coming down after you've stacked a few silly cards like Master Biomancer and Scute Mob sky high is the best way to win games.

[MonoColorMonster]

Daghatar the Adamant seems like a possibly good include since he would make combat math a bit difficult with his ability to move counters around.

[Judaspriester]

What about Reyhan, Last of the Abzan + Silas Renn, Seeker Adept? Modular as core mechanic and then fill up with graft, evolve etc.

Otherwise, Reyhan, Last of the Abzan + Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker would be even better (at least in the command zone) but 4c is more difficult if you want to have a consistent manabase than 3c.

/edit: hmm.. at second reading I noticed that I've missed the topic.
Well, still I think the ideas for +1/+1 commanders aren't that bad, so I don't delete them.

[lue_dongbin]

How about Goblin Bombardment and Lesser Masticore?

[WizardSpartan]

Wow dats a lot of comments.

@Loggiu: I assume you're speaking of Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Drana, Liberator of Malakir. I have Rishkar in both decks and love him, so yeah. I would play Drana because she's so good, but she is ~$5 and has a restrictive mana cost for my poor 3-color budget mana base. I'll consider it, but I dunno if she's good enough.

@entropize: Hol up Ugin's Conjurant is fantastic in Anafenza. Every combat, I can give it a counter and, if the combat doesn't go well, just remove the counter I placed to save it. Nice. Animation Module is already in Grumgully for obvious reasons, but it felt eh when I considered it for Anafenza. Walking Ballista and Hangarback Walker are already in both cuz they're fantastic, and Iron Bully and Power Conduit are subpar. Biogenic Ooze just isn't for a 3 color deck of my budget. Getting 2 2/2 oozes that grow by 1 by themselves for 5 mana is eh. The ability requires 3 G mana, which isn't likely to consistently happen, not to mention I don't want to burn all my green mana on a small token. In Grumgully, though, hmmmmmm. I like it.

@thelxinoe: Mikaeus, the Lunarch is fantastic. Missed it. Thanks.

@Slyvester: Look, it is satisfying, but expensive. Atraxa is $15 by herself and the sword is like $10. Whenever I build decks, it feels boring. Basically search for the best cards with counters, play Atraxa, and proliferate. Whoo. Unfortunately, both Galloping Lizrog and Master Biomancer don't fit in the color identity of my current commanders. Scute Mob is ok, but I would like some more lands/land ramp before I would include it and I'm not really interested in adding more lands that I don't need.

@MonoColorMonster: Yeah, I like Daghatar. I don't know how useful moving counters around is in Anafenza, so I'll need to look into it.

@lue_dongbin: You must have missed my note on not wanting Persist combos because, unfortunately, that is a Persist combo.

@Judaspriester: Reyhan, Last of the Abzan + Silas Renn, Seeker Adept. I've been interested in Reyhan for a while (and I've been considering building a deck around him alone for fun) and I love your idea. Imma do it. I just wish there was more decent Modular cards. Reyhan + Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker might be a bit too much, but I'll try it. Seems like it could be really cool. I also want to try Reyhan with Ravos (despite Ravos being $10) and build sort of a +1/+1 counters/Aristocrats deck.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll post the edits I made for yall's review.

[Judaspriester]

The idea at reyhan + silas with modular as core mechanic is, that the modular cards share their counters twice with reyhan out.
Silas offers you access to blue (important for some more counter cards), recursion, a target for modular and some evasion (who want's to block a creature with deathtouch?).

you may want to add some indestructible (artifact) creatures then, in order to punish enemies that play boardwipes. My idea behind this was "if they don't remove all my creatures, they don't solve problems because the remaining just becomes stronger and stronger". maybe also add some more recursion and sac outlets. Attacking with a 2/2 silas which doesn't get blocked and then pump it up by sac and counter distribution could be fun.

[WizardSpartan]

Yeah, I'm working on a Reyhan deck and will be making several versions, one with Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, one with Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, and one with Ravos, Soultender. I agree that I will need indestructible stuff, so what are some suggestions? Obviously Heroic Intervention and Inspiring Call, but what else? (keeping budget in mind)

[Judaspriester]

I agree that I will need indestructible stuff, so what are some suggestions? Obviously Heroic Intervention and Inspiring Call, but what else? (keeping budget in mind)

Darksteel Myr and Darksteel Juggernaut would be the obvious candidates. Depending on how you want to build the deck, the Amonket gods, Darksteel Plate and Darksteel Forge might also be interesting. For everything else, I would have to do some research myself.

[lue_dongbin]

@lue_dongbin: You must have missed my note on not wanting Persist combos because, unfortunately, that is a Persist combo.

  ...yeah, clearly missed that part...

The idea at reyhan + silas with modular as core mechanic is, that the modular cards share their counters twice with reyhan out.

I just made a budget list with these two for a friend. Indestructible creatures is something I overlooked building it. I really like the idea  of flashing in a Darksteel Sentinel in response to a board wipe...

https://deckstats.net/decks/110475/1426133-silas-reyhan-sacafact/de

[WizardSpartan]

Ok, made a couple changes from what was suggested.

Revision 2

Added/removed cards:
-1 Ajani, the Greathearted
-1 Dragonscale General
+1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
+1 Ugin's Conjurant

[Slyvester12]

If you're really against Atraxa but are considering running blue, I would suggest looking at Vorel of the Hull Clade. Vorel is really fun as a commander, and a few cards like Darksteel Reactor or Simic Ascendancy combo really nicely. He also lets you run stuff like biomancer and lizrog, not to mention Roalesk, Apex Hybrid. Also, Scute Mob is just solid. It can chump early, but it becomes a monster as soon as you have the lands, and it stays good even later in the game.