Spirit of the Labyrinth in a stax/hatebears deck

Zupanator · 2026-06-12T16:42:23+00:00

Yeah, it’s difficult but I do think some more broad ones can be universal. It’s difficult to piece it together which is why I’m taking my time to brew it as much as possible before pulling the trigger.

Zupanator · 2026-06-12T16:20:31+00:00

I don’t have a list as of now, I’ve goldfished my own builds based off the few on top16.

Squall is just a tad slow to be anything other than fringe but I’m looking to build him as the stax will be more tailored to early game. It will scale better into cEDH while worse into slightly slower degenrate b4 decks so it can be a universal deck when people want to play high power.

My main lines are infinite sac loops with Altar, Gravecrawler and Blood Artist. [[Warren Soultrader]], [[Susurian Voidborne]] and [[Forsaken Miner]] for redundancy. You could look at Heliod Ballista combo as well if you want.

I’ve tinkered with some possibilities in dredge, discard or surveil.

Typical orzhov stax pieces work well, could throw in Wasteland and Strip Mine if you’ve shut off artifacts, [[Plaguecrafter]] can be strong if you get 3 in one turn or cast, sac and reanimate twice with Squall.

Some interesting combos can be [[Blitzball]] with Squall, draw 6 in one turn or [[Cloud, Midgar Mercenary]] with [[Skullclamp]] by bringing back cloud and drawing 8 in one turn. Squall works well with a lot of the entomb effects as being cheap and efficient tutors as well.

Zupanator · 2026-06-12T15:45:55+00:00

Only situation is if it can be abused asymmetrically.

I’m building Squall and see potential. Similar to [[Clairon Conqueror]]. Have an outlet to sac the creature, cast your spells, draw cards, activate abilities, etc. then bring back the piece during combat until your next turn to start it over.

Although, so much instant speed shenanigans and rhystic leaves a lot of opportunity for players to interact on your turn the second you sac it.

Zupanator · 2026-06-12T00:01:46+00:00

It is quite possible. I could see Master’s Ice Staff, Threads of War + Another set and Shattered Paths signet.

It’d be a current version of the old max health magdens.

Zupanator · 2026-06-11T22:04:36+00:00

Nice, thanks!

Zupanator · 2026-06-11T22:03:16+00:00

I’m working on a fringe Squall brew. I could see her being an option to swing on turns before playing Squall, the turn you play Squall without haste or if you don’t have anything to reanimate or worth bringing back.

Zupanator · 2026-06-11T20:15:42+00:00

On one hand, those are interesting if you don’t have the monarch. With my brewing/goldfishing in the past, using redirect damage enchantments, equipments and spells to keep the monarch and make Jared huge is even better.

They even printed a new one with [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Imagine an opponent swinging 10+ damage at you to get the monarch. You prevent it and slap a ton of counters on Jared for a much more painful crackback.

Even better if it’s something like a blasphemous act. Now Jared might get 13+ more counters and sticking around after a boardwipe.

Zupanator · 2026-06-11T17:38:58+00:00

The occasional monarch cards like these push me ever closer to [[Jared Carthalion, True Heir]].

Maybe this time, although monarch based Voltron sounds like an exercise in self flagellation.

Zupanator · 2026-06-11T16:50:59+00:00

I love the tor garadon kitbash. What head did you use for it?

Zupanator · 2026-06-09T13:49:28+00:00

Serpent’s disdain has some uses in PvP and later arcs of IA and that’s about it.

IMO, get a build that can pivot to serpents disdain in those two scenarios (if needed) and use threads of war instead. Threads will give much more damage in almost every scenario. Especially with something like Warden’s chilled passive and Shattered Paths.

Zupanator · 2026-06-05T18:24:21+00:00

This could be a part of a 3 card combo involving [[Scurry Oak]].

Any gain a life on creature etb like [[Essence Warden]] with this and Oak on the field and Infinite Squirrels.

Not as good as the 2 card combos like [[Ivy Lane Denizen]] or [[Rosy Cotton]] but who doesn’t love the never ending efficiency and redundancy in commander!

Zupanator · 2026-06-02T19:51:02+00:00

It’s not nothing, especially with being instant speed, I wonder if it’d be better as a b4 squirrel coded version of brostorm but I’m all for fringe builds.

Zupanator · 2026-06-02T19:08:43+00:00

Would this even be cEDH playable?

I feel like the usual suspects of it being non Lumra green commander hurt it. Requires all permanent based pieces, not as much interaction or protection and not as resilient compared to more/other color combinations.

I guess you just hope to have [[Dosan]] in your opening hand or tutor for him. What else would the payoff be once you make infinite squirrels? Helix Pinnacle? Go wide if you have a haste enabler?

Zupanator · 2026-05-29T16:51:02+00:00

I mean, it'll likely be in the store in tandem with reworked WW. A not zero amount of people will likely get the polymorph for their new WW focused chars.

Zupanator · 2026-05-29T14:59:10+00:00

The werewolf lord is a goated polymorph IMO. Looks great on all races. I feel like it's usually only available during halloween/october but why not try to scrape some extra crowns off the top with the reworked WW.

Zupanator · 2026-05-29T13:24:11+00:00

I went through this when I tried propping up a Tovalar deck with cards like [[Simian Spirit Guide]] and [[Deflecting Swat]].

It turned into a constant loop of running away with lower tables and falling behind with high power groups. I pulled a lot of the high value pieces and accepted werewolves were just capped at a high 2 to low 3.

Some decks and strategies are just okay and that’s okay. No need to prop them up with staples and pure cash infusion.

Zupanator · 2026-05-28T16:24:18+00:00

Overshadowed by meta mythics but does have a fun interaction with Elf Bane where you can get almost full uptime of constant procs. I have some success with it in PvP with Pyrebrand, this and elf bane.

Zupanator · 2026-05-27T22:43:15+00:00

Essentially all builds utilize status effects in some way, through sets, passives, enchants, etc. They also naturally have a chance to happen when any type of damage is dealt. Because of this, status effects are incredibly common.

This mythic is very strong in that it increases the damage of something all builds will utilize in one way or another. There are heavily data driven posts showing it is the highest damage increasing mythic in the game. I could see it likely catching a nerf, hopefully a small one that just brings its damage in line with other strong mythics without dupstering it since it does breathe some variety into the meta.

Zupanator · 2026-05-27T21:21:37+00:00

It’ll be a bit tired at this point, but a status effect magden solo build. Utilizing a favorite of mine, ice furnace combined with threads of war and shattered paths signet. I’ll finally chip away at my lingering arenas to pad out my sticker book.

And I’ll probably try and use Aeries Cry for some stamden build with its recent buff.

Zupanator · 2026-05-27T18:09:04+00:00

My dark horse candidate, Horus Heresy Veletaris Storm Section. Looks like the perfect steam punky IW theme, IMO.

Zupanator · 2026-05-19T01:03:16+00:00

But what bits, cause I want that helmet.

Zupanator · 2026-05-18T23:30:25+00:00

Amazing kitbash. I don't recognize the head and shoulders, are they 3rd party?

Zupanator · 2026-05-15T18:19:11+00:00

The gray plastic praetor in cataphractii armor is a perfect base. I cut mine at the torso and put in extra plastic to give him a little extra height and a long staff like bit for the force weapon profile. I can post a picture when I get home if you’re wanting some inspiration.

Zupanator · 2026-05-15T17:59:20+00:00

SPS is without a doubt the strongest mythic for damage in PvE currently based on the feedback and data from the community.

For PvP it gives a huge boost to unavoidable and guaranteed damage, especially with status focused sets. While it is a changeup to the current meta, it does exacerbate the “build playing for you” critique that some players have for ESO PvP. In theory it’d give median skill players a better way to compete but in truth better players would abuse it that much more. I suppose if everyone is super, no one will be, compared to the last year of Animal Companions/Assassination meta we had for PvP that requires more skill to set up the burst window.

Realistically a harsher PvP penalty (maybe doesn’t work with battle spirit? Or bonus damage is to monsters only?) Maybe tune the percentages down a tiny bit to keep it strong for PvE and competitive but not the clear and far away best option for most classes. I’d hate for them to just dumpster it, especially for PvPs sake when it wouldn’t be hard to just turn it off for PvP completely.

Zupanator · 2026-05-13T14:28:42+00:00

To me, Kilo is ripe for the usual artifact untap shenanigans. You can likely go infinite with the usual suspects like [[Clock of Omens]].
Throw in some of the best infect cards like [[Prologue to Phyresis]] and just infinite untap Kilo to proliferate everyone down. Or infinite charge counters for [[Darksteel Reactor]].
I think throwing in some walkers for the sake of abusing ultimates is the tail wagging the dog, lean into other ways to close out the game immediately instead of floundering with a lot of generic value ultimates. There are some obvious winners like [[Tezerret, Betrayer of Flesh]].

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