I always offer a 1-time extension for these contests if someone needs it. Never though that I would be the person to use it. I’m glad that I was able to get this done, but I’ll be honest; this review process was a crapshoot. I’ve never spent this little time reviewing decks before, so the descriptions are lacking in the usual detail I provide. If you want to know a little bit more about a deck, I can give a more thorough description at a later date. You just gotta ask. Now that the lame stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the fusion decks we’ve created.
For the test trials, I started by randomly making 10 trial decks by smashing two decks together. That way each half-deck was featured with two other half-decks. I then tested each deck 5 times, to about turn 10, or until I got a feel for how the game was going to go. A quick description for these fused decks is given below, with the individual halves judged below that. Note that these are the only decks I actually tested, but I did do a brief look-over with other combinations as well.
Brief overview of each fused deckOloro + Kenrith (Mustakotka & WizardSpartan)Kenrith’s lifegain subtheme worked well with Oloro. Mostly with cards like
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and
Archangel of Thune. Oloro added all kinds of card advantage that allowed easy access to
Training Grounds and Seedbor Muse, turning Kenrith into the exact value engine he wants to be.
Yisan + Pia and Kiran (WizardSpartan & Mynus)The best move with this deck was to first get an untapper like
Quirion Ranger out, and then double-activate Yisan when he didn’t have any verse counters to get both
Reckless Fireweaver and
Dockside Extortionist for massive damage.
Dockside Extortionist also goes infinite with
Temur Sabertooth, so that was a really easy combo to assemble.
Azusa + Etrata (Mynus & robort)The lack of card draw from both decks meant that this deck was very dependent on being able to
exile and cast it’s opponents’ cards. Fortunately, the Azusa half of the deck helped with ramp, thanks to the high land count (43
lands). Winning the game was difficult as most of the creatures in the deck were physically weak, but at least they had good evasion.
Stonebrow + Omnath (robort & Firegriff)Omnath can get a high power/toughness relatively easily, but then gets chump-blocked. That no longer becomes a problem if you can give him trample. Omnath made up for the lack of mana ramp in the deck, which was fortunate considering how many high-cost creatures there are in this deck. This deck also has a decent amount of card draw, making it perform very well overall.
Barrin + Sakashima (Firegriff & MustaKotka)Reusing the
clone effects with all the bounce effects was certainly cool. Play a
clone as a copy of something, and then play Sakashima as a copy of Barrin, bouncing the
clone. Draw 2 cards. Then do it again at some other point. While the draw value was there, this deck had problems closing out the game, due to a lack of win-cons.
Stonebrow + Sakashima (robort & MustaKotka)Copy effects get weird with Stonebrow. Sakashima would be a copy of Stonebrow while the other
clone effects copy the first big creature that shows up. Even if it’s just a
Khenra Charioteer, that still means that all creatures are 7/7 on attack… with trample. It’s perfect for anyone that’s a fan of big aggro strategies.
Yisan + Etrata (WizardSpartan & robort)This was the first deck I tested where it felt like both halves were trying to do completely different things. With the exception of
Notion Thief and
Hostage Taker, there weren’t really any cards from the Etrata-half that Yisan would ever search for. At the same time, it was almost always better for mana to be spent on Yisan’s ability than it was to be used on casting exiled spells. No matter which half-deck’s strategy I chose to focus on playing, the other 50 cards would mostly just get in the way. Ah well, I didn’t expect all of these decks to work seamlessly together. 9 out of 10 ain’t bad.
Barrin + Kenrith (Firegriff & WizardSpartan)A deck with good mana ramp and card draw, but was severely lacking the need for a win-con. Because Kenrith is a commander that likes to leave a lot of mana open, it worked really well with all of the creatures with
flash. Unfortunately, it was usually a better idea to just spend that mana on one of Kenrith’s abilities.
Azusa + Omnath (Mynus & Firegriff)Massive mana ramp. Like… absurd. Early game not so much (due to a lack of mana dorks) but after about turn 3 it really kicked off. Omnath was able to act like a mana battery for all of that excess mana. Azusa herself didn’t see much use, but all of her ramp pieces in the deck did.
Oloro + Pia and Kiran (MustaKotka & Mynus)Smothering Tithe gave lots of artifact tokens for the Pia and Kiran half of the deck to work with. The tutor and draw power that Oloro provided was also really useful to find the
Fiery Emancipation that the deck so desperately wanted.
Fourth PlaceStonebrow (robort)Creativity: I like that you included a bunch of effects that grant trample, so that the creatures of whichever deck you pair up with also get Stonebrow’s buff.
Ubiquity: The large amount of high-cost spells in this deck left it dependent on it’s other half having some early-game ramp.
Synergy & Effectiveness: Stonebrow was unfortunately a very late-game deck. It was rather slow to set up the go-wide creature strategy. This was more so a problem when paired with Sakashima than it was with Omnath, as Omnath was able to act as a mana battery to help pay for a lot of the high-cost creatures. But when the late-game did come, Stonebrow could end the game with a giant attack.
Pathbreaker Ibex,
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, and
End-Raze Forerunners are excellent cards for finishing the game (although
Craterhoof Behemoth is MIA). I've seen a number of poor Stonebrow decks made in the past, but this is not one of them. The synthesis of granting trample and a significant buff to the creatures of the other half-deck was what really made this deck shine. Enjoy the shiny new 3
karma.
Third PlaceOloro (MustaKotka)Creativity: It was nice to see someone try to make a pure support deck; Oloro doesn’t have a win-condition of his own, but instead focuses on making sure that the other half deck has all the tools it will need for it’s win condition; tutors, card draw, mana ramp, and… lifegain. One of these things is not like the other.
Ubiquity: When combined with another deck, Oloro did exactly what you wanted it to. It provided the tutor power and card draw to help the deck it was paired up with to get those key cards they always want (Ex:
Fiery Emancipation,
Seedborn Muse).
Synergy & Effectiveness: Sadly,
Thassa’s Oracle didn’t get used as a win condition. By the time you would have drawn that many cards, there was just a different way to win.
Aetherflux Reservoir or
Felidar Sovereign might have worked as a way to weaponize lifegain. Apart from that this deck worked really well both times it was paired up. It would provide almost all of the necessary things that commander decks want (missing removal). For these reasons, you've earned 5
karma.
Second PlaceSakishima (MustaKotka)Creativity: Sakishima clones is something that has been done before, but you did use it to take advantage of the contest’s design. Props for that.
Ubiquity: Instead of this deck having a strategy of it’s own, it instead amplifies the strategy of whichever deck it’s paired with. Commanders with triggered abilities would love to have a second copy of themselves available, and that’s just what happened with Stonebrow and Barrin.
Synergy & Effectiveness: You did an excellent job including a removal and protection package; something that most other decks in this challenge lacked. Including the off-color fetchlands was also a good idea, as it helped with mana fixing. The only real problem with this deck is that it could have used a win-condition of it’s own so that it had something to fall onto if the other half-deck had nothing. Aside from that, you included a good amount of ramp and card draw to help fuel the other half of the deck. Not only did you get third place, you managed to copy yourself into second... I mean uh... you cloned your prize... you... um...
Damnit, I had a pun for this! Just take your 7
karma.
First PlaceYisan (WizardSpartan)Creativity: The tutor creature strategy is like… the only thing Yisan can do, but you chose a good commander for this contest. Being able to search for a key creature from the command zone is very useful, and a valuable asset for the other half-deck.
Ubiquity: The strong mana ramp package was very useful for the other half-deck. And being able to search out other creatures was very good. The only real problem (which isn’t really a problem) was deciding between getting a creature that’s good for Yisan’s strategy, or one that goes well for the other half of the deck.
Synergy & Effectiveness: With the tests decks I gave, Yisan was about 50% effective. He worked really well with Pia and Kiran, but not so well with Etrata. Fortunately, Yisan had no problem coming out on turn 2 most games, and was ready to start searching for stuff on turn 3. Despite being paired up with a deck with strategie that clashed, Yisan way still able to perform. I really like that you also included a compact win-con so that Yisan can close out the game if necessary. Left unchecked, this deck could easily
threaten a win by turn 5. The fact that this half deck could run well with basically anything that it got paired up with, and that it was able to provide useful tools for the other half, gives it the number 1 spot.
All other submissionsBarrin (Firegriff)Creativity: Using creatures with
flash is certainly unique.
Quickling was especially an all-star for this strategy, provided you would have enough mana. Some of the
jump effects you included don’t actually bounce your own creatures (
Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft,
Galecaster Colossus). This may have been intentional, but it did limit the amount of times you could actually bounce one of your own creatures.
Ubiquity: I’m pretty sure you meant to use
Seafloor Debris instead of
Abandoned Outpost. This was also a 51 card deck (so was Omnath). Small details. Other than that Barrin provided a small amount of card advantage and value ETB effects for the other half.
Synergy & Effectiveness: I can’t figure out why you chose to include so many untap effects. There’s
Empowered Autogenerator (and
Sol Ring to an extent), but without any tutors and only Barrin and Kefnet as draw sources, you would have to hope to get paired up with a deck that can provide those things. Otherwise, all of those untap effects are just dead cards. It’s what happened when Barrin got paired with Sakashima. When paired with Kenrith this wasn’t as much of a problem.
Omnath (Firegriff)Creativity: You did a good job at choosing something special for Omnath with the
flash theme, as well as ensuring there were enough trample effects and card draw to make Omnath work. Good call with including
Slippery Bogbonder as an on-theme protection piece.
Ubiquity: The mana ramp provided by Omnath is something all decks want. Well... most decks, as its only green mana that gets stored. Good enough. It still allows bigger spells to come out sooner, which is always
a good thing in commander.
Synergy & Effectiveness: If you have the choice of keeping a lot of green mana to either power up Omnath or to play
Skylasher, it’s not really a hard choice. There were generally just better things for that mana to be used on, a lot of the
flash creatures just wouldn’t be played. A 5-mana
fog effect in the form of
Haze Frog really isn’t that good. And wouldn’t spending 5 mana to bestow
Boon Satyr actually decrease Omnath’s power? Fortunately the mana could be spent on the cards from the other half-deck (at sorcery-speed), which begs the question, why wasn’t
Vedalken Orrery in this deck? Yeva is good and all, but adding in the orrery with it would allow all cards to be cast at instant-speed, which seems perfect for the theme that you were going for.
Azusa (Mynus)Creativity: Landfall is a pretty common strategy for Azusa. The high land count with extra land drops is something for Azusa to provide to this challenge, but without card advantage, Azusa quickly lost her use.
Ubiquity: The mana ramp cards that the deck provided were very useful. Even though Azusa is mono-colored, you chose to include a lot of things that can get any basic land. A nice bonus for whatever your other half happens to be.
Synergy & Effectiveness: When paired with
Crucible of Worlds/
Ramunap Excavator and a fetchland, Azusa worked amazing. Unfortunately, without something like that, Azusa was only really good the turn she came out. The lack of card draw (aside from
Mind's Eye) meant that most of the time, only one land was getting played per turn anyway.
Pia & Kiran (Mynus)Creativity: Trying to build a burn deck in commander is gutsy. It’s really hard to pull off unless you chose a commander designed to deal massive damage (
Purphoros, God of the Forge). Going with artifact synergies is good though, as nearly all commander decks have some artifacts.
Ubiquity: Having a high amount of artifacts meant that color was never a problem with casting cards. The issue was mana costs. There were a lot of high cost cards in this half of the deck, and even
Pia and Kiran Nalaar needed a lot of mana for their activated ability.
Synergy & Effectiveness: Using
Pia and Kiran Nalaar as a wincon just wasn’t feasible. Instead, they were good as removal pieces. Credit where it’s due, this half-deck had a decent amount of removal in it, although some of it was rather high cost (
Spine of Ish Sah,
Meteor Golem). The incremental damage from something like
Reckless Fireweaver was nice, but it would take a big creature (like Myr Batlesphere) to end games. This half of the deck really needed the tutor power of another deck to work well.
Etrata (robort)Creativity: Etrata is a hard build. Even when you’re allowed to use a full 100 cards she’s tough. Focusing on an
exile theme is something new, but I didn’t really see a lot of payoff cards for exiling things. A
Blight Herder or
Oracle of Dust could have gone a long way.
Ubiquity: The deck did get color screwed a couple times during testing. Some non-basic
lands would have helped in that regard.
Synergy & Effectiveness: This deck could have definitely used a
Chromatic Lantern or some
lands that tap for any color of mana. With cards like
Nightveil Specter, you may have some difficulty casting those cards. The unfortunate problem with having to rely on casting your opponent's stuff is needing to be able to do it in large numbers. A commander like
Sen Triplets or
Gonti, Lord of Luxury doesn't have an issue with it, but relying on creatures like
Fallen Shinobi causes problems.
Kenrith (WizardSpartan)Creativity: Most of the time when I see a Kenrith deck, he’s just a value engine for 5-color goodstuff. I like that you have chosen to instead focus on his +1/+1 counter and lifegain abilities.
Ubiquity: The land base would sometimes cause the deck to get colour-screwed. Some fetch
lands could have helped with this. Other than that, Kenrith can provide both card draw and buff effects for the other half of the deck, which is useful.
Synergy & Effectiveness: You managed to include a good bit of everything needed for a commander deck. A strong mana base, some interaction, and synergy with Kenrith. The +1/+1 counter theme is very unique. Using stuff like
Herald of Secret Streams and
Archangel of Thune could close out games, and I really liked the synergy with
Willbreaker. Give an opponent’s creature a +1/+1 counter -> gain control of that creature. Awesome. Unfortunately, powering up these creatures one counter at a time takes a lot of time, which decreases the effectiveness of this deck.
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