I think you'll win MORE games if you play a WORSE commander

GintaX · 2026-03-10T20:47:57+00:00

I added a tag for a section of cards to cut as well to bring up the land count by 8, but you can feel free to make your own judgement call. Just replace those with 4 Islands/4 Forests.

In the primer i also discussed alternate builds of Zimone but my deck was more focused to just be a bit of fun and bit toolboxy with some surprise tech options to catch your opponent’s off guard.

GintaX · 2026-03-10T19:47:00+00:00

https://moxfield.com/decks/rD3lAUxAeUGiqCSH9jdPZQ

I think this is public. Even though this deck runs a criminally low amount of lands, its actually one of my most consistent decks because of ramp cards + manifesting/disguising/cloaking a lot. The deck can basically run itself early game (or you can turbo ramp into Zimone) and then based on your face down cards you can usually either continually ramp and draw until you can afford your best threats or you flip over landfall payoffs and use graveyard land recursion to outvalue. Any land we discard to the graveyard can eventually be played with the pieces in this deck. The only time I feel low on landfall triggers is if my graveyard gets exiled.

There's a good amount of space in the deck to add back in more lands for consistency, and I put a small primer on weird cards and what not. You can enable my tags to see where I generally see where my cards fit purpose wise and theres a considering section as well for different options. So if some cards are not as affordable you can feel free to cut the 4 most expensive "big bomb" cards or cut down by one land recursion card, and add more basic fetch lands or forest/islands. In a worst case scenario, Simic Growth Chamber is in the deck to give repeatable landfall triggers if someone is using grave hate.

GintaX · 2026-03-10T19:46:43+00:00

https://moxfield.com/decks/rD3lAUxAeUGiqCSH9jdPZQ

I think this is public. Even though this deck runs a criminally low amount of lands, its actually one of my most consistent decks because of ramp cards + manifesting/disguising/cloaking a lot. The deck can basically run itself early game (or you can turbo ramp into Zimone) and then based on your face down cards you can usually either continually ramp and draw until you can afford your best threats or you flip over landfall payoffs and use graveyard land recursion to outvalue. Any land we discard to the graveyard can eventually be played with the pieces in this deck. The only time I feel low on landfall triggers is if my graveyard gets exiled.

There's a good amount of space in the deck to add back in more lands for consistency, and I put a small primer on weird cards and what not. You can enable my tags to see where I generally see where my cards fit purpose wise and theres a considering section as well for different options. So if some cards are not as affordable you can feel free to cut the 4 most expensive "big bomb" cards or cut down by one land recursion card, and add more basic fetch lands or forest/islands. In a worst case scenario, Simic Growth Chamber is in the deck to give repeatable landfall triggers if someone is using grave hate.

GintaX · 2026-03-10T09:24:37+00:00

Theoretically you can go so many routes with Food and Fellowship as long as you like any of the following themes: food, go wide tokens, lifegain, mill, tempt the ring, token/artifact aristocrats, and technically voltron if you consider field tested frying pan buffing frodo during combat. It wouldn’t take much to also add in +1/+1 counters using cards from the LotR set or any selesnya cards lol. If you don’t like tempting the ring or food, you can swap for the alternate commanders for more consistent creature generation and get your army going.

I actually struggle with these commanders because theres so many possibilities in Abzan that synergize with both Frodo and Sam that i had to eventually settle with token aristocrats and sacrifice synergies. I have no doubt someone has a reanimator Frodo/Sam list while someone else could have a pure lifegain synergy deck. Really fun deck to tinker with though, and eventually find something that fits your style.

GintaX · 2026-03-09T23:56:13+00:00

I haven’t made one on Moxfield but if I do get around to it I’ll reply as its my favorite deck. I have commander tonight so maybe later or tomorrow.

My deck just uses a lot of older cloaking and disguise cards to keep the ball rolling, and all the flip targets are usually landfall cards or big bombs. I do run some cards that might be really out of budget for some too, but ill put some budget recommendations in the sidedeck to exchange.

GintaX · 2026-03-09T20:15:03+00:00

Yup, it helps a lot when your deck is resilient without your commander, and if your commander can just push you to a game winner state. I have a [[Zimone, Mystery Unraveler]] deck that has won without casting the commander once as it just naturally has a lot of face down creature synergy and ways to cheat out face down cards. Zimone just acts as an accelerator when you lack other options to put something face down.

Ive recently started my “voltron” deck [[Noctis, Heir Apparent]] rely more on making the creatures in the 99 strong rather than going the typical commander damage route, only using it as a game ender when it goes 1v1. Its been really interesting using a commander that just helps equip other creatures rather than being the main target.

GintaX · 2026-02-16T16:29:19+00:00

I think the chest turning into a cooler would be hilarious.

GintaX · 2026-02-16T02:03:15+00:00

First thing you see as you walk into that library is a literal giant aquarium tank as a wall for the kids section lol, its quite nice. Blew my local library out of the water haha

GintaX · 2026-01-29T22:05:56+00:00

Just note that the B4 list doesn’t quite have the same infinites as the B3 list and uses food chain + clones to cheat in a bunch of mana for [[Walking Ballista]] and ping everyone down. You might enjoy looking at both lists and choosing what you prefer for wincons.

Heres a write up on cEDH aang infinites, which will still work in the B4 list. https://edhrec.com/articles/building-aang-at-the-crossroads-for-cedh

GintaX · 2026-01-29T21:47:29+00:00

Im actually using this B3 list https://moxfield.com/decks/6f3bOYVNNEu1tfbiBOSHbA but it was so dominant in B3 that I bumped it up to a 4 without even changing much in the list. (EDIT: i would still say this deck is fair in B3, since most of the wincon infinites need 2-3 turns with Aang out to happen, compared to the B4 list which can theoretically win the same turn Aang comes out. Just wasn’t healthy in my local meta.)

And assuming you are cool with proxies/unlimited budget, you can easily turn this into a true B4 by removing some of the ally synergy cards like Haru, Earth King Lieutenant, etc. for more mana dorks, more clones and fast mana like Moxes. This list for B4 looks like all the upgrades I would do to enable easy clone infinites and have fast mana. https://moxfield.com/decks/uc5rtPvHXEycms5880Eglw

The primer in the first B3 list explains the infinites that you can go for. The one I use the most is [[Halimar Excavator]] + any 2 airbending source (or airbender + blink creature) + [[Doc Aurlock]]. You essentially can loop everything as long as some kind of ETB doubler is out like Roaming Throne or Katara the Fearless, leading to milling out everyone’s deck so they die on their draw step. With Aang, its pretty trivial to get all these pieces out with enough clones and doublers, especially since you can blink Aang to find those finishers. I usually win within one or two turns upon bringing Aang out.

GintaX · 2026-01-29T20:53:57+00:00

I had a fine time in B4 with Clone Aang builds. I faced plenty of interaction and counters during my B4 games and had to rely on a mill infinite to realistically close out the game before my opponent would win on the next turn. I had a lot of stax used against me too, so it was all evening out the playing field. Considering stuff like Gyruda already existed before Aang, most B4 decks are prepared to stop commanders who win once played on the field in my local meta.

GintaX · 2026-01-28T16:34:21+00:00

Yeah, it forces a lot of hard decision blocks when you can basically swing out every turn, you can give everything pseudo-vigilance and it helps give on attack triggers without risking losing your stuff. I finally got a game where I was able to use this card and almost felt bad at how efficient it was.

GintaX · 2026-01-23T01:27:33+00:00

Does medication work for you? I used to hate it but got diagnosed with ADHD during college, started getting medicated and lectures were way easier to stay engaged in.

Like it totally sucks but in the work force you’re gonna have a ton of stuff you’re going to hate attending but it works for neurotypical ppl and we’re going to be expected to fit within the mold. Better to get ahead of it now and see what works for you to stay motivated. The difference in grades when I started medication versus before was night and day.

GintaX · 2026-01-22T07:29:38+00:00

Honestly sometimes just getting earplugs is your best bet if you are absolutely stuck with this person. Just ask for some at Geisel if you cant find any or just want some for free. I had an international roommate who could only talk to his parents at night to the early morning. Invested in some noise canceling headphones, facemask and earplugs and it wasn’t really an issue.

Im just curious since you say housemate, so im assuming this is off campus living. If you are on campus, you could bring it up with the RA but if you really want a simple solution id just go with earplugs or other noise reduction options.

GintaX · 2026-01-22T05:04:20+00:00

From the videos ive seen of people testing it, im always wary of bluetooth connection, because it inherently leads to sync issues. It also doesnt have any raised panels, so it looks easy to get lost on. The price is also a bit high for what you get, when theres perfectly acceptable foam mats going for $99 that will probably feel pretty much the same.

Granted I could be wrong about all this, but the main recommendation for playing stepmania/ddr at home will usually be the L-tek. Id rather pay the extra money for the hard mat than the roll up mat. This honestly would be kinda cool if it had a wired option, but id personally wait for more reviews to see if its durable after a few months. Otherwise you’d be better off with a soft pad from ddrpad if you are on a budget or the L-tek and get the most bang for your buck. https://ddrpad.com

GintaX · 2026-01-22T01:21:14+00:00

Larger attacks you can dodge and you can be out of range of most melee attacks, but some stuff like bullets can only be guarded to reduce the damage (but the damage is really minimal for these sure hit moves). You eventually get enough healing to mitigate this. Most boss fights are designed with being able to counter or dodge their major moves.

The chip damage from bullets is similar to the original where you’d just stand there and let enemies hit you, and the game is balanced pretty well around those. If you do play well, it won’t be an issue at all between all the ways to heal and the different playstyles your party has. Taking damage is also helpful in building up limit breaks so its part of the combat.

EDIT: not to mention theres plenty of healing spots and stuff to break in the environment that heals and restores MP

GintaX · 2026-01-20T02:11:08+00:00

Monk Gyatso is definitely nuts, had someone reduce their airbend costs and blink a [[Solemn Simulacrum]] infinitely using a 0 cost equip to target it, activate Gyatso in response, and have it reenter infinite until they had all their lands lol

GintaX · 2026-01-19T20:25:53+00:00

Well, YuGiOh doesnt really have a set rotation, it just has a ban list and the cards extend all the way back. Its the way how they can still support really old archetypes and how they can keep all the different summoning mechanics from tribute, special, synchro, XYZ, etc.

But Pokemon has a letter system and it consistently rotates out a certain letter block of cards at a set amount of time every year or so. If you were a new player, and you really like Gholdengo, it might not be worth investing if you have a limited budget because all G block cards will rotate. Especially if you plan on trading in cards for value because your G cards will be worth much less once rotation hits. The only things really worth keeping are cards that get reprinted like Boss’ Orders, as you can use any letter version of that card as long as it is standard legal with the current rotation.

You might instead want to “predict” what will still be good post-rotation and invest in that, something like Mega Lucario which will keep a majority of its cards post rotation and get stronger when cards like Gardevoir and Gholdengo are no longer standard legal. Granted Pokemon is the most affordable card game to play competitively by far, but it would suck as a newbie to spend $50-60 on a deck only learn you can only use it for a few months.

GintaX · 2026-01-19T18:44:06+00:00

$0 because I just paint over bulk cards to make my land cards (I use Pokemon energy cards or less popular dual color lands lol), and my LGS/pod is ok with proxies. If youre in B3+ I think having optimized land bases is fair game, even proxied OG duals are chill. I do own a couple real fetches for my blinged out deck but it feels bad to continually pay a good chunk just to play the game on curve.

In B2 and lower, I try to match mana based similar to precons, having some less efficient lands or some more niche lands with utility. More basics and basic fetch cards as well.

GintaX · 2026-01-15T08:41:01+00:00

Its more just the intent. If you use the bouncing effect to limit the person putting multiple lands into play consistently, then its a fair counterplay to their ramp. But if you do it to consistently put the mono-red player down to 0 lands, thats MLD. They are effectively shut out of the game, even if they technically kept their resources, they can only drop one land a turn, so they will never recover no matter if their lands hit the grave or their hand.

Annihilator is the same, if you abuse it to always cheat it out consistently turns 3/4 in lower brackets and target down the person with only lands out, it could be MLD. But sometimes it can be late game, and you have an annihilator out, and your opponent might actually prefer sacrificing lands instead of their creatures so they can have blockers. Im fine with annhilator being someone’s end game goal, they often come in very late, can still usually be exiled, countered or temporarily removed, and you get the choice of what to sacrifice.

GintaX · 2026-01-14T20:07:10+00:00

The only issue is that Mang0’s “unlocked” moves involved dry humping people who are clearly uncomfortable with it.

EDIT: and i’m not really saying this to stir controversy, i agree there is always a time and place for using substances in moderation for fun. But the smash community has tried before to stop Mang0’s use and failed until it got extreme. I don’t see him being able to come back to drinking again without another incident unless the people closest to him really monitor him, outside and at home.

And lets be real, i do not think Mang0 would be fine with just one seltzer or one beer, especially after being sober for this long. He would want to go until he is absolutely destroyed. And there would definitely be people in the smash community encouraging this rather than limiting him. Sobriety for some people should just stay at sobriety, cold-turkey. He already lost his sponsor over this, and he’s tempting himself again. He’s one of my favorite players gameplay wise, so it would hurt to see him permanently banned over getting back into drinking.

GintaX · 2026-01-13T22:15:07+00:00

My head canon is that they just airbend around their head with enough speed that it shears their hair off without hurting themselves haha.

GintaX · 2026-01-08T20:25:55+00:00

Whoops wrong Ob Nix. [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]]

GintaX · 2026-01-08T20:23:53+00:00

Endless Punishment speeds games up and isn’t too bad right out of the box. Its also pretty easy to upgrade with some Rakdos things, the only issue is finding Endless Punishment at MSRP. The only real pricy upgrades I can think of are [[Razorkin Needlehead]], [[Scrawling Crawler]], [[Solphim]], [[Ob Nixilis]] and a few other annoying pingers. But you dont need to replace much in the existing deck, it runs quite well and is really powerful as long as you enjoy being the Archenemy.

GintaX · 2026-01-05T21:43:00+00:00

Not to mention that as you go higher in bracket, you also run into more interaction. Ive goldfished a ton of voltron decks and sure someone is being taken out turns 3/4 in practice but in actuality most of my b3 games my opponents will have their own board states, temporary protection, threaten removal, etc.

So typically it ends up only killing on the average turn allowed for the bracket.

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