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Commander Constructed League - decklists

Started by pyyhttu, 17-05-2017, 01:35:40 PM

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pyyhttu

While the official 1 vs. 1 commander may not resemble highlander much, Wizards has started to post daily league 5-0 lists, starting from this date onward:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/commander-constructed-league-2017-05-11

Why I bring this forth, is because it may give some brewers and idea what synergies there are and what to maybe experiment in this format.

Albeit they have more strict banlist and comparing Commander to Highlander is like apples vs. oranges debate, I hope results from mtgo hivemind may give someone a hint of cards that certain archetypes use, and you may have forgotten in your build process.

Vazdru

#1
I doubt that these decklists are of any help for highlander players, at least not much more than Modern or Legacy lists.

The formats are just too different which I've recognized while playing 9 leagues meanwhile, most of it with this decklist:

Abbot of Keral Keep
Ankh of Mishra
Arc Trail
Arid Mesa
Ash Zealot
Ball Lightning
Barbarian Ring
Black Vise
Blistering Firecat
Blood Moon
Bloodstained Mire
Brazen Scourge
Brimstone Volley
Burst Lightning
Chain Lightning
Chain of Plasma
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
Chandra, Pyromaster
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Chandra's Phoenix
Char
Collective Defiance
Cursed Scroll
Ember Hauler
Exquisite Firecraft
Fire Ambush
Fireblast
Firebolt
Flame Javelin
Flame Rift
Flames of the Blood Hand
Goblin Guide
Grim Lavamancer
Harsh Mentor
Hell's Thunder
Hellspark Elemental
Incendiary Flow
Incinerate
Kargan Dragonlord
Keldon Marauders
Koth of the Hammer
Lathnu Hellion
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Strike
Magma Jet
Mishra's Factory
Molten Rain
Monastery Swiftspear
26x Mountain
Mutavault
Price of Progress
Pulse of the Forge
Pyrostatic Pillar
Rift Bolt
Scab-Clan Berserker
Scalding Tarn
Searing Blaze
Searing Blood
Searing Spear
Shattering Spree
Shrine of Burning Rage
Skullcrack
Slith Firewalker
Smash to Smithereens
Staggershock
Stormblood Berserker
Strip Mine
Sulfuric Vortex
Tectonic Edge
Umezawa's Jitte
Volcanic Hammer
Young Pyromancer

Commander
Zurgo Bellstriker

Main differences are obvioulsy the Commander-Zone and that you play with 30 lp (which I've recognized shortly after I've built this RDW  :))
With Commander = CC1 creature you can mostly leave the CC1 slot out as you wanna have T1 Commander T2 best two drop T3 best three drop obviously.
Decks playing only Emrakul + Polymorph are crazy as you will always have an early recastable commander and then only need tutor on Polymorph and go off. Lost many games that way already (Jace, Vryn Prodigy or Baral as Commander).
30 lp gives you furthermore much more time to develop the board. You have no free mulligan which makes your avarage hand worse than playing highlander (if you exclude the fact you can have always T1 One-Drop if you like).
Your Commander strongly limits deck-buidling options, eg I can't play Boggart Ram-Gang (only playable with RG-Commander) and haven't seen any kitchen finks (only playable with WG-Commander) in all that game yet, which are both highlander staples.

With RDW I've had following results:

RDW (W/L)   
2   3
2   3
3   2
2   3
4   1
4   1
3   2
3   2

I wouldn't recommend this deck but you can easily go infinite as you only need a record of 3:2 which is obviously possible.
I still try to avoid to buy expensive Modern staples in MTGO (Wasteland, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Fiery Confluence...) which could make this deck better.

Although it is worse playing highlander playing this leagues can be funny sometimes.
But if you want to find some inspiration for new highlander decklists I would suggest checking Canadian Highlander Decklists, this is at least what I do :)
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

I expect Banned List of Duel Commander on Modo will develop fast as they have big data. Here are the first changes:

Next Announcement: June 14, 2017

The following cards are added to the Commander 1v1 Banned List:

Dig Through Time
Strip Mine
Treasure Cruise
Here is an explanation from Magic R&D's Bryan Hawley:

Strip Mine

In conjunction with Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds, Strip Mine recursion locks have proven to be an extremely powerful and resilient lock taking minimal investment from the decks playing them.

Dig Through Time

Treasure Cruise

Initial results have shown that blue midrange decks, either mono-blue or Sultai-colored, are rising to the top at a steady rate. Given the variety of Commanders being played in decks with similar strategies, this appears to be a color and strategic imbalance in the format more so than individual problem Commanders. While removing these cards is far from a crippling blow to these decks, it's a clear first step in lowering their power level.
The Commander league will be reset with today's downtime, and the new league will have the changes to the banned list in effect.

The seperation of banned lists for Commander 1v1 and Commander Multiiplayer on Magic Online will still occur on July 5, 2017.

While you're waiting for downtime to end, check out last night's Team Draft Super League! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/146749665

Have fun! :)

- Lee


Banned too:

FAST MANA
Black Lotus
Channel
Fastbond
Gaea's Cradle
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Mishra's Workshop
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Sol Ring
Tolarian Academy
While mana acceleration is integral to many Commander decks, these cards accelerate mana too quickly and too early in the game, leading to uninteresting and uninteractive gameplay. Especially without the social pressure and political nature of multiplayer, these types of cards create runaway games at too high a rate.

COMBO ENABLERS
Bazaar of Baghdad
Doomsday
Entomb
Food Chain
Gifts Ungiven
Hermit Druid
Protean Hulk
Survival of the Fittest
Time Vault
Tinker
Yawgmoth's Bargain
There are a myriad of powerful combinations available in the format, but these types of cards are either essentially single-card combos (Hermit Druid milling your entire deck) or extremely efficient at enabling other combinations (Gifts Ungiven finding four cards that combine to win the game).

OPPRESSIVE COMMANDERS
Arcum Dagsson
Braids, Cabal Minion
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Griselbrand
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Zur the Enchanter
Each of these commanders is essentially a story in its own right, but the common thread is that they are nearly impossible to beat once they resolve. There's a great deal of consistency in being able to play your commander every game and being able to cast them again should they die. In some cases, this means the deck itself becomes too consistent and too powerful, and these are commanders that have shown that to be the case.

OTHER
Ancestral Recall
Back to Basics
Balance
Humility
Karakas
Library of Alexandria
Mana Drain
Mind Twist
Moat
Natural Order
Necropotence
Oath of Druids
Serra Ascendant
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Time Walk
This is a catch-all category of cards that are either blatantly too strong (Ancestral Recall, Time Walk), or are very strong but extremely unenjoyable to play against (Karakas, Mind Twist). As mentioned above, the threshold for banning cards is lower when they're particularly frustrating to play against. All the cards in that category are very strong, but the way they warp the format is less about creating imbalance and more about making the format less enjoyable overall.
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

#3
I've built a typical 4c Blood for first Premier event with Saskia as Commander
We were 42 players and I've had to reach place 32 to get even (25 ticks)...easy thing...
in the end I've had a record of 1-5 with one bye included and became 41/42--only a r2 dropped player was worse  ::) ???
It isn't as easy to build a good Duel Commander Deck, Saskia isn't a good Commander as well obviously.

But finally I've found a deck which works better... next time I will reach place 32 ;)
At least I've won a 32-player-league rather had a record of 5-0 with this one: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/commander-constructed-league-2017-06-01
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

#5
Quote from: Vazdru on 02-06-2017, 01:22:50 AM
I've built a typical 4c Blood for first Premier event with Saskia as Commander
We were 42 players and I've had to reach place 32 to get even (25 ticks)...easy thing...
in the end I've had a record of 1-5 with one bye included and became 41/42--only a r2 dropped player was worse  ::) ???

ok, i learned my lesson (and had a lucky day)
in the end I won last Premier Event of duel Commander with this deck: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/commander-challenge-2017-07-02

only 40 players but price-support was even better than my money finish in GP Vienna  ???
maybe some more wanna join ?  ;)

prices: http://wizards.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/68/=1v1commanderchallenge

round one: 1:0 W/B Commander Karlov - Thopter Foundry won the game
round two 1:1 Grixis Vial Smasher / Kraum - he had better draws
round three: 2:1 Sultai Leovold - Polymorph into Emrakul
round four: 3:1 Sultai Leovold - played bad and haven't killed Leovold when I've had the chance to, he played Day's Undoing for 7:1 cardadvantage, but I've had two lucky draws from the top (Ancient Tomb, Tezzeret the Seeker into Winter Orb) for the win
round five: 4:1 WW Thalia - had Swords to Plowshares + Lightning Helix to keep his dudes in check
round six: 5:1 Sultai Leovold - he had to mulligan to 6, my draws were much better
quarter: 6:1 Golgari Meren of the Clan Nel Toth - I slowed him down and win with Staff of Progenitus into Emrakul
semi:  7:1 Grixis Vial Smasher / Kraum - hard fight, i needed Phyrexian Arena, Armageddon into Polymorph to bring him down
final: 8:1 Sultai Leovold - Epic last game, 3:50 on clock when Tezzeret the Seeker ultimated for leathal dam

funny sidenote: i bought a Volcanic Island for 21 tix but forgot to add it to deck before starting  ??? list is far away from being perfect
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.


Vazdru

...and Vial Smasher the Fierce  ;D

format dead...no, just different
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

#10
Current Mardu list:

Ajani Vengeant
Ancient Tomb
Arc Trail
Arid Mesa
Armageddon
Aven Mindcensor
Badlands
Batterskull
Battlefield Forge
Bitterblossom
Blackcleave Cliffs
Blood Crypt
Blood Moon
Bloodstained Mire
Cavern of Souls
Caves of Koilos
Chain Lightning
Chrome Mox
Command Tower
Concealed Courtyard
Crackling Doom
Dark Confidant
Demonic Tutor
Diabolic Edict
Dismember
Dragonskull Summit
Dreadbore
Duress
Dust Bowl
Enlightened Tutor
Falkenrath Aristocrat
Fatal Push
Fetid Heath
Fiery Confluence
Figure of Destiny
Fire Covenant
Flagstones of Trokair
Flametongue Kavu
Flooded Strand
Goblin Rabblemaster
Godless Shrine
Grim Lavamancer
Hide/Seek
Hymn to Tourach
Inquisition of Kozilek
Isolated Chapel
Journey to Nowhere
Kolaghan's Command
Land Tax
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Helix
Liliana of the Veil
Lingering Souls
Mana Tithe
Marsh Flats
Monastery Mentor
Mother of Runes
Mountain
Mox Diamond
Mutavault
Nahiri, the Harbinger
Night's Whisper
Nihil Spellbomb
Painful Truths
Palace Jailer
Phyrexian Arena
Plains
Plains
Plains
Plateau
Polluted Delta
Sacred Foundry
Scalding Tarn
Scrubland
Sign in Blood
Sinkhole
Skullclamp
Smuggler's Copter
Stoneforge Mystic
Swamp
Swamp
Swamp
Swamp
Swamp
Swords to Plowshares
Thoughtseize
Tithe
Toxic Deluge
Umezawa's Jitte
Vampiric Tutor
Verdant Catacombs
Vindicate
Wasteland
Wear/Tear
Weathered Wayfarer
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Young Pyromancer

Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder
Tymna the Weaver

Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

btw. www.mtgpulse.com has been recently redirected to https://mtgdecks.net/
Highlander isn't listed but Duel-Commander-Online-Listes
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

Duel Commander = good way to get your sets?  :D
in not even one year Duel Commander i won maybe more than in about 20 years of highlander ::)
after winning fullset of Amonkhet July (https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/commander-challenge-2017-07-02) together with ~ 200+ bucks I won fullset Ixalan last night + another 200+ bucks (https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/commander-1-v-1-challenge-2017-10-01)

Breya is still a beast

round 1: 1:0 Tymna/Kraum - mulligan to 6, Dark Confidant + Bitterblossom killed himself after Breya hit a few times
round 2: 2:0 Tymna/Kraum - Nahiri ultimates
round 3: 3:0 Trasios/Bruse Tarl - Staff of Progenitus
round 4: 4:0 Breya (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Z6aMIPS9Y), he time-outed in better board-position while I've had 2 min left on the clock
round 5: 5:0 Sidisi - he is able to assemble Painter + Grindstone-Combo which fizzeled thanks to my Emrakul
round 6: 5:1 Tymna/Kraum - Wasteland and Vindicate wrecked my manabase
quarterfinal: 6:1 Breya - Nahiri ultimates
semifinal: 7:1 Sidisi - staff of Progenitus
finale: 8:1 Breya - shattering Spree + Fiery Confluence

btw. I do not play Imperial Seal in my combo-deck although Seal is legal in Duel Commander
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

#13
my deck got crushed finally ::) :)
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/commander-challenge-2017-07-02

MTGO COMMANDER 1V1 BANNED ANNOUNCEMENT

Announcement Date: October 9, 2017

Effective Date: October 11, 2017 (with the downtime)

The current Commander 1v1 league will expire (as already scheduled) on October 11 during the downtime. A new equivalent league will be created after the downtime with the banned list in place.

Cards Added to Banned List:

Baral, Chief of Compliance
Demonic Tutor
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Enlightened Tutor
Imperial Seal
Mystical Tutor
Vampiric Tutor

Cards Removed from Banned List

Arcum Dagsson
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Below, Magic R&D's Brian Hawley explains the reasoning behind the changes.

Bans

Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Enlightened Tutor
Imperial Seal
Efficient tutors were one of the big question marks on the initial ban list. Over time, decks have gotten more and more consistent and brutal in a way that we've clearly heard players are not enjoying. Our hope is that by lowering the consistency with which the interactive decks can find the perfect answer to the situation, and the combo decks can kill, the format will open up more and decks will play out more differently from game to game.

Baral, Chief of Compliance
Baral is a Commander who comes down extremely early in the game and warps the game around him in a significant way. The cost reduction he offers covers one of the main drawbacks of counterspell-heavy decks because it cuts off the avenue of overloading the Baral deck with multiple spells in the same turn. He also covers one of the primary weaknesses of counterspells in 100-card singleton formats by filtering away the powerful but situational counterspells you're forced to play. The overall package has shown to be overly strong and not enjoyable.

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Emrakul has shown her influence in this format the same as she has in many formats over time. Primarily used in Polymorph combo decks, and also providing an "I win" option for heavy green ramp decks, Emrakul is too reliable an avenue to ending the game without recourse for the opponent. While the simultaneous removal of Baral removes the currently predominant use for the card, any cheap blue Commander would easily fill that role, and opening up more late-game interaction still means Emrakul warrants a ban.

Unban

Arcum Dagsson
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
We're still seeking to be somewhat conservative with unbanning cards and would like to see how the format adapts before adding a slew of cards to the format, but neither of these Commanders are obviously superior to existing options. Arcum in particular stood out as weak, and we hope that this unban may open up some additional space.
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.

Vazdru

new approach to "fix" duel commander"

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-online/magic-online-1v1-commander-update-2018-07-20

Since the inception of the Magic Online 1v1 Commander format, it has undergone a large number of changes relative to our usual banning cadence. While many of these actions had temporary positive impact as players explored new possibilities, it has become increasingly clear that there are fundamental problems with the way the format is currently constructed. At its current power level, the combination of high consistency from your commander and low consistency from your deck pushes the metagame toward finding a high density of cards with similar effects. Because many of the raw power outliers from Magic's history have been removed from the format as we've attempted to correct the format in our usual way by trimming the strongest decks, it's also challenging to make large strides in games that are not easily undone by your opponent.

It's clear by now that the partner mechanic is dominant; providing access to both four colors and an extra card in your starting hand is too powerful relative to the other options. However, it is also becoming clear that they are not the root of the format's current problems. Attritive mana-advantage strategies trying to interact on tight margins and pull ahead incrementally over the course of the game have been dominant in this format since its inception, and we don't believe that simply removing partners from the format will solve this.

So, we're trying something more radical. This update is essentially a reimagining of the format at a significantly higher power level. As it's become clear that our usual banning strategy of trimming powerful outliers until a diverse format emerges isn't working, we'll try a different vision for the format.

This update significantly raises the power level of the format. Our hope with this suite of changes is that access to additional artifact mana and lands may allow bigger mana strategies to function that can go over the top of these attritive tempo decks, or for more standard strategies to outpace getting incrementally chipped out. In conjunction with the extra mana, tutors have more options than simply finding the most efficient card to shut down the game. In allowing a stronger suite of interactions to occur sooner in the game, there's additional reward to finding very powerful things to do in line with Legacy or even Vintage interactions. We'll be keeping an eye on the consistency of decks in this new world, as core to this format is the idea that wild things can happen and neither player is sure what will come up next.

We've never undergone such a large-scale change to a format before, so it's somewhat unclear how the future will unfold, but I hope you're as excited as we are to find out!

The following changes take effect on Magic Online on July 25:

Rules change: You may only have one commander. Creatures with a partner ability function as if they did not have that ability.

The following cards are no longer banned in 1v1 Commander:

Ancient Tomb
Brainstorm
Chrome Mox
Demonic Tutor
Dig Through Time
Enlightened Tutor
Entomb
Gaea's Cradle
Imperial Seal
Mana Crypt
Mana Drain
Mana Vault
Mox Diamond
Mystical Tutor
Necropotence
Ponder
Preordain
Sol Ring
Sylvan Tutor
Treachery
Treasure Cruise
Vampiric Tutor
Vial Smasher the Fierce
Worldly Tutor
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Far below the earth
Where the demons hunt the souls of those that sleep
In the city of the Vazdru and the Drin
Where the black flame burns inside the palace fountain.