SilentGodsRiot {"ops":[{"insert":"Hello,\n\nRecently I built an azorius grouphug deck with alot of sub-themes going on. My main goal with the deck was to build a deck that speeds up the game for everyone, while giving me the edge. The way I want the deck to win is by making human soldier tokens and swinging out. Some cards, like Captain of the Watch, have ETB triggers which create soldiers for me, so I added blink into the deck. There is also alot of upkeep triggers in the deck, so I added ways for me to get additional upkeeps. I honestly think I'm trying to do too many different things with the deck, and need to rein in the focus, but I'm very curious to see others opinions. \n\nhttps://archidekt.com/decks/18875293/azorius_grouphug_idea\n"}]}
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{"ops":[{"insert":"Well you already seem to realize that you went \"slightly\" overboard with building around different themes and mechanics - that´s good, because you definitely have gone off the deep end. Looking at your deck (and I am not trying to insult you), I get the image of someone who wanted to cook a delicious meal for theirfriends, started to add ever more ingredients and now looks at a giant pot of brown stew that will most likely give everyone food poisoning. \nSo I suggest that you start fresh and limit yourself to one main theme with one subtheme for garnish.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Faramir, Steward of Gondor"}},{"insert":" cares about monarchy and your endstep; you could easily build a deck around "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Y'shtola Rhul"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thassa, Deep-Dwelling"}},{"insert":" blinking legendary creatures to generate tokens (end other value) as a main theme with human or soldier kindred on the side. Not sure about the group hug with this one.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ephara, God of the Polis"}},{"insert":" wants you to either generate a creature token and/or cast a creature spell on your opponents turn, idealy letting you draw three cards per turn cycle. Using this as a base you could build the rest of the deck as a group hug.\nBy far the easiest way to build an azorius group hug deck would be with either "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Second Doctor"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Council of Four"}},{"insert":" at the helm. The main mechanic would be to let everyone draw extra cards while you reap additional benefits. As a wincon I would suggest "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Approach of the Second Sun"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Triskaidekaphile"}},{"insert":".\n\nOne last bit of advice concerning group hug: Never hand out free card draw + free spells or your chances of winning are next to zero. If you want to use cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Braids, Conjurer Adept"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gate to the Aether"}},{"insert":" the rest of your deck has to be build around them, either with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Treachery"}},{"insert":" type of effects or if you can be sure that you have the bigger threat to cheat into play.\n"}]}
1
{"ops":[{"insert":"Hello, thank you for your insight. To me, it definitely feels like there is 2 distinct decks trying to be compressed into 1, with neither reaching their full potential. This is the first time I've tried building grouphug, so I definitely was having trouble identifying the appropriate cards to use to make it feel fair but impactful. I 100% was cautious on using "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gate to the Aether"}},{"insert":" , since the way the deck is built currently, it will more often just benefit my opponents more. I do think it is an interesting card to play around with though. My ideal deck idea for grouphug would be to speed the game up in a meaningful way for all players, while being able to keep the most advantaged player in check. How I go about doing so is still a bit hazy for me. \n\nThen I look at cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Faramir, Steward of Gondor"}},{"insert":" which has a play pattern that I am more accustomed to. Amassing a large board state and turning sideways is always fun to me, and is something that my playgroup has a better understanding of. The first game I played with this deck as-is i didn't draw any grouphug cards, and used cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Knight-Captain of Eos"}},{"insert":" and"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Myrel, Shield of Argive"}},{"insert":" alongside "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Call the Coppercoats"}},{"insert":" for a very strong boardstate, which ultimately won me the game. \n\nThe 2nd time I played this deck as-is, the game extented far beyond what I and my playgroup would care to have (~2.5 hours). The grouphug cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gate to the Aether"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ghirapur Orrery"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scholarship Sponsor"}},{"insert":" alongside the card draw pieces like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Unagi of Kyoshi Island"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Struggle for Project Purity"}},{"insert":" (with extra upkeeps from "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Paradox Haze"}},{"insert":") really didnt make the game feel more fun overall, and while the game did speed up somewhat, all that happened was a stalemate of scary boards. I might have to just table the idea of grouphug until I can find a way to hit my ideal play pattern.. I do find cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Intellectual Offering"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Replication Technique"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Spurnmage Advocate"}},{"insert":" , and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dawnbreak Reclaimer"}},{"insert":" to be very good politic actions, so I do want to incorporate these in a grouphug deck one day. Maybe I'll expand the color identity to give me the freedom to explore other cards as well. \n\nAlso, the reason I haven't relied on using win-cons like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Approach of the Second Sun"}},{"insert":" is because I normally play a 5-6 player EDH variant called kingdoms, where you can't win through alternative win-conditions typically. So normally I have to rely on overrun, burn/drain or 1-sided boardwipes to win. To add to the issues this deck has, there also is no clear win-con. \n"}]}
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