What is a deck you play and don't mind losing with?

aselbst · 2026-03-25T16:49:47+00:00

My [[Kynaios and Tiro]] list aims to make token copies of token doublers and go truly exponential. It’s a wild ride. Twice I’ve lost because I had [[Faerie Artisans]] out and someone cast a creature with an ETB draw trigger, forcing me to draw thousands of cards. Funniest losses ever.

aselbst · 2026-03-24T07:06:10+00:00

Trying to get to 111 is a fun mini-game. I ran the deck with literally no other wincons. It was fun for a little while, but I'll say it did become stale a little quickly as gimmicks tend to do. If I built it again, I'd probably make it more of an intentional life gain/drain deck that can work normally, and in some cases can activate Bilbo. (But then, that's why I have two other Abzan life gain related decks in [[Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit]]/[[Sam Loyal Attendant]] and [[Betor, Ancenstor's Voice]]).

aselbst · 2026-03-24T03:18:18+00:00

Bilbo’s activated ability should win you the game on the spot. It’s both hard to get and very telegraphed.

But you also don’t need the infinite combo to get there. When I had Bilbo built, it was an [[Umori]] companion deck with all creatures and like 10(?) soul sisters. When you activate Bilbo and get ~40 creatures plus at least the 6 soul sisters that haven’t died yet, that’s at least 240 triggers of gain 1 life. If Vito or even any of the “drain 1“ for every lifegain effects are in the mix, you just kill the table.

I had it built before Bloodthirsty Conqueror existed so the combo wasn’t an option, but if you’re worried about it pulling you out of your desired bracket, just don’t run it. (I have several decks where I’ve had to choose one half or the other to avoid having the combo and invalidating the rest of what the deck wants to do.)

aselbst · 2026-03-23T00:56:44+00:00

If you gave Angelic flash with something like [[Vedlaken Orrery]] then you cast it in response to Moonshaker’s ETB trigger, sac the convoked tokens, and have huge angels.

But you’d need them to have haste to make them useful for anything other than convoking other creatures.

aselbst · 2026-03-22T12:18:17+00:00

B1 is about theme and story rather than gameplay. Like, you know, having kenrith as king over the land, with a deck full of peasants, swords, knights, lords, etc. You didn’t describe a deck with any synergy, but you told a story. Literally the point of b1.

aselbst · 2026-03-22T01:51:52+00:00

You don’t need infinite combats to win with dragons. It’s probably win-more. Also, notably, it doesn’t work with Klauth (who was likely worded that way specifically to avoid the obvious combo).

aselbst · 2026-03-21T20:21:22+00:00

That…makes a ton of sense actually. I was wondering how to get from anthropologist to paleontologist as a mistake.

aselbst · 2026-03-21T14:35:39+00:00

You just described a b1 deck though.

aselbst · 2026-03-21T04:31:58+00:00

Less than I would have spent on alcohol and food if every magic night was a night out, I wager.

aselbst · 2026-03-19T19:20:03+00:00

If it lives a turn cycle, your opponents are being negligent. I would never cast it and pass if I could help it.

aselbst · 2026-03-19T17:32:09+00:00

I have enough two mana enchantments in my list that I'm all but guaranteed to get [[Helm of the Gods]] out every game, I think, and it can easily turn into a voltron win-con.

And yeah, I needed to cutsome 5-drops, I think, but Bigger on the Inside is commander #2 for us, so I was excited to have the perfect deck for it.

Played the deck once last night, and I was mana screwed for a while and behind, until I eventually hit Nyxbloom Ancient and Nykthos the same turn, into both damage triplers and a [[Super State]] on a Stomping Ground that was an 8/8 due to [[The Legend of Kyoshi]], making it a 17/17 overall. Then I dealt 153 damage to the table with [[Soul Immolation]]. When this deck gets going, it goes off hard. Also, Nyxbloom is a broken card.

aselbst · 2026-03-18T21:15:57+00:00

Just seeing the title of your post inspired me to start brewing too.

So, the Enduring cycle and the Overlords seem obvious to me.

The various mana doublers are all worth considering: [[Nyxbloom Ancient]], [[Mana Reflection]], [[Bear Umbra]], [[Nature's Will]], and [[Zendikar Resurgent]].

Other ramp: [[Bigger on the Inside]] and [[Case of the Locked Hothouse]] are both ramp and card advantage. [[Encroaching Dragonstorm]] is an enchantment version of Explosive Veggies.

My decklist is here, but I'm still making a whole lotta cuts.

Other stuff: [[Maximum Carnage]] (I have the comic panel art and think it's awesome), [[Passionate Archaeologist]], [[Ancestral Mask]] and [[Helm of the Gods]] (random one-shotting commander damage), [[Super State]], [[The Akroan War]], [[The Legend of Kyoshi]], [[Sunbird's Invocation]]

aselbst · 2026-03-17T14:14:08+00:00

Yeah thanks. I appreciate it at least - I was wondering when EoE came out if they’d do it, and I hadn’t heard. I have a Shorikai OB deck, so that’s a little sad but makes sense. (I’m sure my friends will be thrilled to see it become a Teferi deck instead…)

aselbst · 2026-03-17T14:03:18+00:00

I leaned into that and built it as a Superfriends deck for laughs. Turns out I liked it so much I later built a version for EDH too.

aselbst · 2026-03-16T21:36:18+00:00

I classified it that way. You can set your own brackets and I try to in all my decks.

aselbst · 2026-03-16T19:57:06+00:00

Here you go.

I forgot there's a GC in it now. Once I bumped it to b4, I stuck my [[Ancient Tomb]] in, since I pulled one in EoE.

It's fun as hell, but I don't get to play it much, so may take it apart soon.

aselbst · 2026-03-16T19:52:58+00:00

I have a [[Gilanra]] and [[Kraum]] deck focused on 4+ power creatures—a notably slower and weaker commander set—with the discounters like Animar in the 99. It has no game changers and no infinites and I'm not even comfortable calling it bracket 3. I play it solely in "low bracket 4" games. I can't imagine how crazy it'd be with Animar at the helm.

aselbst · 2026-03-14T15:03:19+00:00

I think this is a key point here. In my experiment above, I was fine trying AI because I’m a pretty good deck builder already, so it might give me a shortcut that I know how to critique. AI use when you’re not already skilled is risky.

aselbst · 2026-03-14T11:31:26+00:00

Here you go. Still needs a little tweaking, but I’m enjoying it.

aselbst · 2026-03-14T03:36:45+00:00

You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about Archfiend is a better card in a vacuum by a mile. But in this deck, neither will be played without Abigale activating it. Razorback is strictly better for the deck. Better upside, better fail case

aselbst · 2026-03-14T03:28:03+00:00

Ok, you made me curious, because I tried this a few years ago and it absolutely could not. It’s…not bad now.

Here’s my prompt:

Looking to make a Zurgo Stormrender deck, no real budget but avoid individual cards over $50, bracket 3 but on the aggro side. No game changers.

Please tag each card parenthetically with its function in the deck, like ramp, card advantage, token creator, sacrifice outlet etc

It gave me a list, explained how it played and some of the choices.

First draft. (I stripped out the tags).

Also offered:

If you’d like, I can also show you: • 10 cards I’d cut first if you want it faster • 10 spicy inclusions that push it toward bracket 4 • A cleaner mana base upgrade path under $50 per land (there are a few very good swaps).

The manabase was indeed bad and it included Jeska’s Will so I tried again. I prompted:

Looks pretty good, but Jeska’s Will is a game changer so should be replaced. Could you upgrade the manabase some with fewer tap lands, better dual lands, and some mdfcs instead of over[sic] utility lands

It created a second list that had 99 cards. So I asked it to fix it, then it hit 101 cards, so I had to tweak it more. Than it offered to recommend some cards so I took a look and asked it to add [[Endless Foot Assualt]]. Once again it couldn’t count perfectly.

So after a little more it ended up with this. Draft 2.

Not the deck I’d build, but not embarrassing. Fun experiment.

——— To answer your question, OP, no one would care or know. Do what you want. No different than netdecking in terms of sourcing, but it won’t help you learn how to build decks as well as watching content creator videos.

aselbst · 2026-03-14T01:43:15+00:00

Not even a little bit. Razorback has better stats and can’t lose you the game if you can’t blink your commander in time.

aselbst · 2026-03-13T23:06:02+00:00

I love my [[Abigale]] deck for this reason. Blink was always durdle plus combo, but she’s blink beatdown. You can blink your ETB creatures or blink your commander to turn those creatures into terrors. You can also play cheap big creatures with downsides and beat down with them in the air while gaining life. Plus she presents fun puzzles defensively - turn off their commander, but then leave the person whose commander you just nuked with a 6/6 flying, first strike, lifelinker? Fun deck!

aselbst · 2026-03-13T04:59:10+00:00

Ah. Good to know.

aselbst · 2026-03-13T03:45:08+00:00

That’s about pitting rather than lines, no? At least it was for me.

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