This next deck was birthed in stages and out of dislike. I was compiling a list of themes and assigning them common colors so I can disregard the conventional wisdom and make some weird riffs on decks and strategies. There were a couple themes I disregarded out of hand. Things that don't really have a way to win or fit into a larger theme. As much as I like a weird game I want to try and win eventually. Let me tell you, people do some durdely stuff with no end in sight. Spare yourself and everyone else. I sat on that smugness for a while. Eventually that feeling wore off and I thought back to Dominaria United prerelease. That night I opened a couple of cards with defender that had scaleable effects based on the number of creatures with defender I controlled. I immediately dismissed them that night because they weren't proactive enough. I mean they have defender, they just sit there and I need to be dealing damage. I only went 2-2 that night but I'm convinced it didn't have anything to do with not playing glorified walls. These 2 ideas marinated together and I felt I had a challenge on my hands.
I immediately rejected it. The only commander I could think of for walls was Arcades, The Strategist. Once he's off the board the strategy falls apart because without him the walls can't attack. There are a couple permanents that mobilize walls in those colors but by and large the deck can't fight in to win without those 3 or 4 cards. Its just an extra step to an deck built on go wide combat. I didn't want to do something so pedestrian as to make a defender deck with the top defender commander. I did a quick search and the first thing that popped for me was a Naya build with Atla Palani, Nest Tender. She naturally makes tokens with defender and the imagery of cracking an egg and a wall spilling out was more comical to me than it should have been. I would get to play weird cards like Aurification to gild opposing creatures into defenders and be left with attackers and the funky Faithbound Judge from Inistrad starts as a defender, becomes an attacker if it sticks around long enough then becomes a game ending curse I can play from my graveyard to end an opponent. It's not a win condition, which a wall deck can tend to lack, but its a third of the way there. Even a wall deck that was 2 of the 3 colors the leading defender commander provides didn't seem as challenging as I wanted it to be. White can already lean to a pillow fort sub strategy and I don't need that with walls protecting me. Plus, I've featured white in a couple recent decks and wanted to get away from it this week. So what color is usually more aggressive and not synonymous with defender? I removed white and another Arcades color, in this case Blue from my consideration. The combination has natural defender payoff/enablers like High Alert. The only thing left for me to do was steer right to the land of Jund.
I chose Jund because its a traditionally aggressive color combo. This idea is quite the juxtaposition. So lets start with the walls. Walls that attack for that Jund feel. Gargoyle Sentinel lets me pay a little and it can fly over blockers. Colossus of Akros lets me pay a lot to attack, but an indestructible 20/20 is one hell of a threat. Dragon Egg can't attack but once it dies I'm left with a fire breathing flying dragon token. Concealing Curtain can't attack but once I transform it to Revealing Eye I'm no longer held back. I also get the added benefit of removing a problematic card from an opponent's hand. Walking Bulwark, Warmonger's Chariot, and Assault Formation will mobilize any other defenders I have on board and in some cases turn their toughness into a damaging stat.
I needed a little more versatility than just being able to attack. That can be a rough strategy even in a non defender deck in some games and the reason I moved away from Arcades. With red I have access to all stars like Electrostatic Field, Thermo Alchemist, Lobber Crew, Spear Spewer, and Brimstone Trebuchet to throw damage around. Untapping some of those multiple times may be a challenge but it happens here and there. Vent Sentinel on the other hand can push through a ton of damage at once and can prove to be a win condition with the right board state. The same is true for Blight Pile, one of those prerelease cards I scoffed at. Tree of Perdition can wipe someone out then maintain a much higher toughness. I'm not saving anyone switching life totals with the tree. Green gets in on bringing the pain with Archer's Parapet, with a little help from black.
I've got all these dreams of paying to attack or deal direct damage. That adds up. So I needed to put some mana on the board to pay for all this. This is not a bad color combo for ramp options but I wanted to let the defender plan feed it too. In doing so the defenders feed avenues for victory like that Vent Sentinel and Blight Pile. Luckily green gives me Axebane Guardian, Sylvan Caryatid, Vine Trellis, and Wall of Roots. Mana dorks aren't usually my thing but here they make a little more sense. Ulvenwald Captive isn't threatening but once I transform it to Ulvenwald Abomination I have the option of making more mana or going after the board with a more substantial threat.
This could have easily been a passive strategy but it feels more proactive when I'm tapping and dealing damage/causing life loss and am able to drop a big turn occasionally. I even made sure to add haste enablers like Crashing Drawbridge to ensure I can use my abilities right away. Battle Rampart can even give my opponents creatures haste. That can force my opponents into some tough situations if they're not careful. More on that later. But the truth of the matter is there are plenty of turns that feel like draw-go and I use my abilities on the end step before my turn.
So, who heads such an aggressive defensive deck? Jund has a fair number of powerful options but most didn't support this kind of build. Shattergang Brothers are good removal but if I start sacrificing defenders who will do my blocking? Or the occasional attacking? Mr Orfeo is a no since I don't care about doubling power when so many creatures have 0 anyway. Rather than go through all the misses I'll just tell you who was in contention. Of the top 3 Bhaal, Lord of Murder was at the bottom. Occasional Indestructible is occasionally good. It was the goading that really caught my eye and fed an idea for a sub theme for the deck. One of my things gets killed I just goad what killed it so I stay safe next turn or goad someone else's creature to punish that opponent. Without a reliable way to ensure my creatures die I can't guarantee that trigger. Why would I want my defenders to die anyway? I certainly don't have enough recursion to keep triggering it anyway.
Number 2 was Gyrus, Waker of Corpses. Even if I play him for 3 mana I can reanimate most of my creatures because they have a lower power. The downside of forcing them to come out swinging is I need something like assault Formation to make sure they do damage based on their toughness. I get past the defender limitation because the token comes out tapped and attacking. Not great. I also lose the ability to use tap abilities of my creatures since the tokens come in tapped.
The number one contender and my choice is Thantis, The Warweaver. This spider has it. Vigilance means I can still use the commander to block even after a forced attack. Not exactly defender but still a useful blocker so it feels tonally close. Forced combat is interesting though. Disrupt Decorum and an overloaded Spectacular Showdown are pure bedlam if you get to play them on a full board. This ability is like that every turn. I'm not as insulated as I would be with goad but I've got blockers. Me on the other hand, I'm safe. I can't be forced to attack with a creature that's unable to attack so I'm safe until I choose to enable my creatures to be able to attack. That Battle Rampart can even grant an opponent's creature haste to force them to attack if an opponent forgets and plays it on his first main phase. People won't keep attacking into me with my shields up bouncing creatures back and with an opponent wide open for someone to swing in. The counters Thantis gets are nice but really just a nice bonus and not necessary.
Thinking about commanders generated another set of enablers in my mind. How do I encourage players to attack each other but not make it too profitable. I brainstormed 4 ways but I couldn't justify including all four as it would dilute reliability. Those four in no particular order are curses, monarch, initiative, and goad. Monarch is very familiar at this point. It's passed around through combat damage so people are attacking more. A card at the end step isn't great but its a delayed problem if an opponent retains the monarch. Initiative gets passed around similarly. It seems to build around the board so much faster though, like it has more momentum. It's also poor form to not bring 4 copies of the Undercity to pass around the table if you're forcing people to keep track of it. Curses have a robust pool in these colors. Some force combat like Curse of the Nightly Hunt while things like Curse of Opulence or Curse of Bounty encourage people to attack the cursed player with tangiable rewards. Goad forces attacks but points them away from me if there are other options. When I get to a 1v1scenario though goad can backfire. Based on my number of available cards and considerations for repeatability and to retain advantage I went with goad and monarch. My blockers keep me safe from combat damage so I can retain monarch a little easier. Goad keeps the monarch with me and keeps my opponents from building a reliable presence on the board. I'll just stop goading when its no longer in my interest or deal with the attacker. Thantis, The Warweaver forces conbat anyway so those creatures are coming my way regardless at the end.
How did the deck turnout? Take a look.
Thantis, The Warweaver
Overgrown Battlement Assault Formation Archer's Parapet
Spear Spewer Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast Axebane Guardian
Sylvan Caryatid Warmonger's Chariot Colosus of Akros
Thermo Alchemist Meekstone Bamboo Grove Archer
Tree of Perdition Colfenor's Urn Blight Pile
Tuktuk Rubblefort Assassin's Trophy Brimstone Trebuchet
Vent Sentinel Tempt With Discovery Cemetery Wall
Vine Trellis Circuitous Route Cavern Caryatid
Walking Bullwark Casualties of War Concealing Curtain//Revealing Eye Ulvenwald Captive//Ulvenwald Abomination
Heroic Intervention Crashing Drawbridge Wall of Blossoms
Spectacular Showdown Battle Rampart Wall of Mulch
Winds of Qal Sisma Dragon Egg Wall of Roots
Rackdos Charm Gargoyle Sentinel Weathered Sentinels
Golgari Charm Gatekeeper Vine Wall of Souls
Blessed Respite Hired Torturer Electrostatic Field
Moment's Peace Hornet's nest Lobber Crew
Blood Thirsty Blade Infested Roothold Court of Ambition
Coronation Chaos Shield-Wall Sentinel Court of Bounty
Rishkar's Expertise Read The Bones Court of Ire
Deathreap Ritual Rhythm of The Wild Marchesa's Decree
Guardian Project Helix Pinnacle
Dragon's Maze Throne of The High City Swampyard
Forbidden Orchard Baldur's Gate Basilisk Gate
Black Dragon Gate Cliffgate Gateway Plaza
Golgari Guildgate Gond Gate Gruul Guildgate
Heap Gate Manor Gate Rackdos Guildgate
Thran Portal Forest x 7 Mountain x 7
Swamp x6
A couple odds and ends for cleanup. I have some cards to bolster protecting myself and my board like Heroic Intervention. Swarmyard keeps Thantis safe from tricks and removal. Colfenor's Urn is good recursion with high defense creatures. Meekstone keeps powerful creatures tapped which I get around by focusing on toughness instead. Green has good draw options based on the number of creatures I control and with so many walls I wasn't afraid to lean into those. I need a little more removal. I'm a little adverse to boardwipes when my deck is based on board presence. I don't want to reset myself unnecessarily. I added a Forbidden Orchard in after some testing. If I want to encourage opponents to attack giving them the resources to do so is an important component. Just be careful who you give the token to.
Green means ramp options and I'm not necessarily limited to basic lands. After the first iteration I wanted a little more threat on the board but in a surprising way. The last Dungeons and Dragons set dropped a ton of gates into the game. Enough that any 3 color deck has enough to trigger Maze's End. I haven't gotten to test it too much since adding this package in but it tends to sneak up on opponents. I think this will be the last time I add it into a deck for a while.
The last bit of tech worth mentioning is Helix Pinnacle. The deck is pretty good at keeping shields up. I can weather the storm or multiple rounds of attackers. I can also feed a lot of mana into it with Axebane Guardian and Overgrown Battlement. I haven't won this way yet but its fun to see games warp around it in my experience.
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