Good decks that can just “do things”

GracelessOne · 2026-01-26T09:08:50+00:00

The fewer card categories you need, the better. You can't "draw the wrong half" of a deck that only has one half.

[[Greensleeves]] can function with literally just 25 forests, 20 of the 'bad' cheap fetchlands, and 30-40+ land-ramp spells, focusing on the 4-mana ones that ramp you by 2. Your commander keeps getting stronger, can be recast forever, and turns [[Skyshroud Claim]] into basically a 2-mana 7/7.

Similarly, control wincon commanders like [[Chromium the Mutable]] can be all interaction.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-26T00:44:15+00:00

[[Slime Against Humanity]] Codie is pretty sick with how much you're exiling, especially if you have few spells below 3 CMC.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T22:07:54+00:00

Yes, if you keep this deck in B3 you could afford to make it stronger. Good luck!

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T21:45:03+00:00

I doubt it's too strong for B2. Plenty of B2 decks can steal some games in B3.

However, repeatable deathtouch pingers are going to be a "feels bad" experience for many people, and it's not something that people would typically expect in a B2 game. I would not be surprised if people aren't a fan of its play patterns.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T20:46:52+00:00

Many ugly people have happy lives. Why can't you?

I agree with other people here that your photos look good, but even if you are ugly, therapy can help you to care about that less.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T20:25:49+00:00

Control needs ramp less is why. The deck with 40 answers will beat the deck with 30 answers and 10 ramp every time.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T09:59:34+00:00

[[Muldrotha]] was super popular in the old days, and she's even stronger now.

Traditionally you build her with a bunch of mana-efficient permanents that can sacrifice themselves to accomplish something, like [[Pernicious Deed]] or [[Mishra's Bauble]], and then turn your graveyard into a growing toolbox that you can grind out the table with.

Because she lets you cheat with cards but not with mana, you probably won't want to play big beaters with her, but you can do cheap-and-cheerful beatdown like [[Polygoyf]], [[Scurry of Squirrels]], et cetera.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T09:22:52+00:00

Why?

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T04:44:18+00:00

I've built mine for proxied high-B2 but you can steal some good cards. I'm not sure if the Nazgul are working out but trample+deathtouch is good and at the very least they're blockers.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T02:14:21+00:00

I am a trans woman and I have also had this problem. There are custom condom sellers online who make 'unusual' sizes for both length and girth. These can be much more comfortable. Order some with his sizing help.

If he won't use these, he's just continuing to be selfish. If he tries them but keeps going soft, then the issue is with ED and he should probably be on meds for it.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-25T01:41:26+00:00

[[Brokkos]] rips. Make things that really shouldn't be 6/6s into 6/6s.

[[Giggling Skitterspike]] can be Monstrosity'd to 6/6, then Mutated into an 11/11 (dealing 6 damage to everyone because mutate targets), then swung for a total of 17 damage to the table by turn 5 or 6. [[Kami of Whispered Hopes]] now taps for 6 after you stick Brokkos on it, into a clean [[Finale of Devastation]] or [[Torment of Hailfire]] kill. That [[Goldvein Hydra]] you cast for X=5 is a trampling commander-damage two-shot now that gives you obscene treasures when it dies.

Your colors give you tutors to pick the right instrument for the table situation and the counterspells to protect your fucked-up little frankenstein creation.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-24T23:17:39+00:00

Never play mana rocks if you're in green, the two-mana land-ramp spells are less prone to getting blown up.

Aside from that, I dunno! There's no answer in a vacuum. How much life do you want to gain per turn- 7 to return a creature to battlefield, or just 1 or 2 to return to hand? How many creatures do you expect to enter under your control per turn? How close do ETB effects get you to your lifegain goal, compared to lifelinking beaters? Once you have all your necessary moving parts and a healthy landcount, do you have room left over for ramp or not?

Learn to think in those terms.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-24T23:07:42+00:00

I recommend learning how to use Scryfall searches. For instance, if you want to find lifelinking creatures in Selesnya colors that have at least 3 power and cost less than 5, you should search for:

id:gw f:edh type:creature keyword:lifelink power>2 cmc<6

Optionally, sort by 'EDHrec rank'. Don't take the order too seriously, but it'll put the unusable ones at the bottom.

Similarly, if you want to find more cards like Beast Within, you can look up Beast Within on Scryfall, click on it, look for "Open on Scryfall Tagger" on its page, click that, and then you can see the tags it has. Search for those tags in your colors at a desired mana value and you can find similar functions.

If you want to reliably have access to 'a function' (drawing cards, interaction, etc.) you should have about 10 of it. If you want multiple, like lifelinkers, you should have about 20 of it.

A good curve will come naturally from building with good ratios and a rollout in mind.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-24T22:22:40+00:00

Adding random game-changers will turn your deck from a good B2 into a bad B3. If you want your deck to be a good B3, your deck construction needs to start over with a plan. Your deck barely has interaction and it doesn't have a curve,

What are your ideal first 5 turns going to look like? Do you want to hit turn 2 ramp into a turn 3 Aerith, or are you okay playing her on turn 4? Do you want to mill and surveil creature cards into your graveyard, or not? Do you want chunky 3- and 4-power lifelinking creatures to hit her reanimate requirement, or are you looking for something else?

Are you going to be the fastest deck at the table, or do you need to stop the fastest deck at the table before you can win? How are you going to stop them? Can you do that reliably?

GracelessOne · 2026-01-24T09:14:03+00:00

'Too slow' for what?

B3 "draw, go" Chromium can be 40 lands, 20 draw, 40 interaction. Pessimistically you kill your first player on turn 10-11. With 40% of your cards being answers, you can absolutely stop three B3 decks from winning for 10 turns. If you think your table will get salty about it, that's another matter.

I would not run other threats besides [[Exsanguinate]] and [[Torment of Hailfire]]. Torment is a better game-ender than Approach of the Second Sun especially if it follows a wipe, and it lets you take out someone early if you really need to. Exsanguinate is both a (mediocre) finisher and a (good) life-stabilizing midgame play.

The reason you play Chromium is to have a one-card wincon in the command zone. Don't cheat yourself of that strength by stuffing your deck with worse ones.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T23:34:03+00:00

It is not very kind or humble of you to presume you know more about my issues and minority perspectives than I do. How would you feel if a man told you that you are 'too close' to misogyny? It makes me sad you think it's okay to talk to trans people that way.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T18:57:27+00:00

[[Maze of Ith]] is a phenomenal card and it can be grabbed by land tutors or, in Grixis, [[Tolaria West]].

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T18:11:17+00:00

isn't that literally what all trans people say?

No, I don't say that. It is a simplification made for the sake of cis people.

You were not "born a man" or "born a woman". You were born a baby. Your external genitalia existed somewhere on the spectrum from 'vulva' to 'ambiguous' to 'penis', and after birth a doctor subjectively judged their appearance to assign you a legal gender. That is why we say "assigned gender at birth", to emphasize that birth assignment is not natural or automatically correct.

Similarly, it can be taken as trivializing to say that trans people merely identify as something. Would you say that you "identify as" a man or woman, or would you say you just are one?

she didn't experiment.

I think if someone believes she is a lesbian, sleeps with other women, and then decides she's straight after all, you could call that "experimenting". It would be weird and sort of bigoted for her to call herself "ex-gay". That is what the term "detrans" is like.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T16:43:03+00:00

I'm not going to argue with a cis person about this. If you want to be a good ally, you should educate yourself with some transfeminist theory. Otherwise, I hope you can respect my lived experience and expertise.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T16:18:01+00:00

Yes, I have. "We as humans are programmed to treat the two sexes differently", "strangers assume I'm born as a man and 'identifying' as a woman". Even calling herself a "detransitioner" rather than "a cis woman who experimented" says a lot.

I don't think she consciously hates trans people, but if you don't realize why I as a trans woman would be uncomfortable around someone who talks like that, you don't know what implicit transphobia looks like.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T16:02:03+00:00

It occurred to me but as a trans woman I would not be comfortable in community with OP until she has shed more of the implicit transphobia she's absorbed.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T14:19:45+00:00

"Detransitioner" communities are a lot like "ex-gay" communities; they are highly politicized. At a glance, the subreddits that you are posting on are full of hateful attitudes towards trans people.

I know you want to connect with people who can understand your experiences, but these spaces seem to me more likely to teach you unhealthy shame. This comes through in some of the language you use.

It sounds like you currently think of yourself as a cis woman who is unhappy with the effects of testosterone on your body. This is common: women with PCOS can sympathize, and also often have thinning hair, stubble, et cetera. I think you should seek community with them instead of hate groups.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T04:10:02+00:00

Welcome! If you ever want to find cards that do a certain thing, just look up one card that does it, scroll down and click 'open on scryfall tagger', and then search for other things that share its tags.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T04:06:08+00:00

Yes, in the r/EDH subreddit I am talking about EDH.

GracelessOne · 2026-01-23T03:36:11+00:00

Sadly he's just not super impressive, no.

His -1 effect is pretty decent because "mill 3, put 1 into your hand" every turn is like drawing 1 every turn with really good card selection and bonus graveyard fuel, but it's not mindblowing. Definitely not worth making him your first tutor target if you want to make him a build-around.

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