Deckbuilding Contest - January 2025 (Locked)

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Taniwha magic lands tricks"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10709865/taniwha_magic_lands_tricks"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10709865/taniwha_magic_lands_tricks"},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Taniwha Magic Lands Tricks"},{"insert":" is a deck centered around Taniwha. Its unique ability to phase out our lands allows us to rely on a stax strategy, targeting opponents' lands without affecting our own. The win condition is attacking with Taniwha to deal 21 damage to our opponents.\nThe deck focuses on bouncing opponents' lands and creatures, buying us time to accumulate advantage and attack with Taniwha. Since it phases out during alternate turns, it is immune to board wipes when phased out. This strategy alternates between pressuring creatures and lands on alternating turns.\nThe deck includes many cards with no mana cost, and it relies heavily on artifacts for mana generation.\n\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":{"card-link":"Cait, Cage Brawler"}},{"insert":" helms this deck, I have named REANI-CAIT-OR. "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10713011/reanicaitor"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10713011/reanicaitor"},{"insert":"\n\nRather than going for a typical +1/+1 counters style build with Cait, I wanted to try to accrue value off the cards we pitch to the bin with Cait's attack trigger. This led to the inclusion of plenty of high CMC spells with flashback like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Prisoner's Dilemma"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Isengard Unleashed"}},{"insert":" , as well as a hand full of cards with madness costs to offer surprise pump or spot removal. Then, of course there's a healthy suite of recursion including "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Feldon of the Third Path"}},{"insert":" to bring back some of our other high value pieces to cast, or pitch them all over again.\n\nThis game plan should hopefully guarantee Cait is growing steadily each combat. To deal with the growing ire of an indestructible attacking commander, I wanted to lean on some more protection spells like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Snakeskin Veil"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Silver Shroud Costume"}},{"insert":" to ensure Cait sticks around and keeps hitting and growing in power each turn.\n\nI'll be the first to admit, it's probably not the most powerful build for Cait. But the mini game of attacking and choosing which card to pitch seems super enjoyable to me in a low-mid power pod. Plus, playing with the graveyard in gruul is not something I'd ever personally done! \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10689882/ob_nixilis_captive_kingpin_path_to_exile_via_pings"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10689882/ob_nixilis_captive_kingpin_path_to_exile_via_pings"},{"insert":"\n\nI'd never make the claim that Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin in any sense of the word would be a mediocre commander, instead it is very good, but it still has a big downside, which is its tendency to leave many of your own cards to exile. With flying and trample it packs a bunch and with bunch of janky double strike cards it can deal lethal out of nowhere hopefully. I tried to keep the budget under 200 dollars since my commander group is pretty casual and I'm excited to try this deck this coming weekend, so decided to submit it here. Added the Lilianas I own, and kept the ramp minimal to not have as many dead cards to \"pingpulse\" into.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10708282/charitable_chaos_the_gift_that_keeps_on_giving"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10708282/charitable_chaos_the_gift_that_keeps_on_giving"},{"insert":"\n\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Zedruu the Greathearted"}},{"insert":" is a unique and interactive Commander who thrives on generosity. Her ability allows me to draw cards and gain life for each permanent I own that an opponent controls, making the deck all about giving away the right permanents to gain maximum value. Many of the cards in the deck are cheap or otherwise annoying for opponents, like "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Crown of Doom"}},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":" "},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Humble Defector"}},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":" "},{"insert":", or "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Howling Mine"}},{"insert":", creating situations where opponents are either inconvenienced or forced to play into your strategy. Zedruu's colors also provide excellent defensive tools, such as"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ghostly Prison"}},{"insert":" , "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Propaganda"}},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":" "},{"insert":", and "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Sphere of Safety"}},{"insert":", to keep me safe while your strategy develops.\nThe deck’s goal is to generate card advantage and life gain while disrupting my opponents with chaos-inducing cards like "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Grip of Chaos"}},{"insert":" or"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Possibility Storm"}},{"insert":". Over time, i,ll accumulate a massive resource advantage, letting me close out the game with alternative win conditions such as "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Approach of the Second Sun"}},{"insert":" or damage from "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Psychosis Crawler"}},{"insert":". Zedruu is a deck that thrives on creativity and political play, allowing me to influence the table while keeping myself in the best position to win. \n\nHave fun embracing the chaos and generosity as you masterfully navigate the game!\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Hazezon Tamar - the OG Avenger of Zendikar\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10704835/jan_2025_deck_building_contest_wholesome_fun_with_hazezon_tamar"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10704835/jan_2025_deck_building_contest_wholesome_fun_with_hazezon_tamar"},{"insert":"\n\nMechanics used:\n\nCycling\nMass land reanimation\nJank\n\nMVP Card - Nahiri's Lithoforming , gamble your lands away, you feel like a winner every time. \n\nThis is not a high powered deck, this is a fairly mid powered deck designed for casual tables with a lot of synergy and fun.\n\nHazezon Drawbacks\n\n1 - High Cost\n2 - Delayed Trigger\n3 - Exile all sand warriors if he leaves play\n\nThis deck has some incidental synergies that address these drawbacks. The biggest focus is on the delayed trigger, turning that into an upside to combat the leave play exile effect.\n\n1 - Dealing with high cost\nMost Hazezon decks ramp ramp ramp ramp ramp. Boring! We'll use mass land reanimation to get back a lot of lands in the graveyard with one shot. How do we accomplish getting lots of lands in our graveyard?\na - cycling lands\nb - drawing a lot of cards and then pitching a lot of lands\nc - incidental milling/dredge\nd* - * means the most fun way. Gamble with Nahiri's Lithoforming.\nAnother way to deal with the high cost and the added commander tax is to bypass it altogether via Hellkite Courser, this plays into the second drawback\n\n2 - Delayed trigger\nWe have to wait one round before the Sand Warriors spawn. That means we can blink him multiple times to stack those triggers. We do this by:\na - Blink Hazezon multiple times, or blink Hellkite Courser during opponents turns. There's a cycling package with astral drift and astral slide and cycling lands to fuel the engine. Life from the loam can\nhelp us get those lands back to sustain the engine.\n\n3 - Exile all sand warriors if he leaves play\nWe have one round before our tokens spawn, which means we have one round to get rid of Hazezon before the tokens spawn so we can keep them. We get around this drawback by:\na - sac outlets, high market is the most reliable since it's a land\nb - shields of velis el cheese: If you can Shields of Velis El your opponent when you sac/blink Hazezon then that's the ultimate \"mission accomplished\" for this deck.\n\nOther elements of the deck:\nWincon - I had other iterations of this deck that has a combat damage angle with tokens but for this contest those have been stripped away. The only wincon is impact tremor like effects.\n\nCard draw - This deck can draw a LOT of cards. There are games where you will see wild swings of pitching your hand of 10+ cards into the graveyard, reanimating 10+ lands and then blowing all of them up with Nahiri's Lithoforming and then getting all of them back! Watching that wild ride is fun for the whole table, I promise!\n\nGame plan - The idea is to get Hazezon out once early game, make some tokens, then use token based card draw to start filling the graveyard for mass land reanimation. It's slow to get going though, make sure you politics game is sharp.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10699300/noobtoss_deckbuilding_contest_january_2025_counterremoval\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Shisato ssstaxxx \n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10711598/ssstaxxx"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10711598/ssstaxxx"},{"insert":"\n\nShisato, whispering hunger\nAt the helm of a snake tribal deck designed to make contact every turn and keep every opponent locked down for as long as possible, it uses cards like spinner of souls, foster, deaths presence and fecundity to make sure there are always more snakes to cast. As well as ways to stack the field with some extra snake tokens such as snake pit, seed the land, orochi hatchery as well as maskwood Nexus to make sure everything is a snake.\n\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Malfegor: "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/3130554/malfegor_from_the_ashes"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/3130554/malfegor_from_the_ashes"},{"insert":"\n\nMalfegor is a creature that I've been trying to make work for a while as a commander. It's a popular school of thought that one-sided boardwipes are premium cards that help lead to victory in a game, especially if you've already established a strong board presence. But is a one-sided boardwipe still good if the downside is discarding your whole hand. My final conclusion... yes, yes it is. Here is why:\n-Black has several permanents that are great card advantage sources, particularly the ones that draw a card every time a creature dies. That means discarding your hand to kill most if not everything and then drawing at least a new seven if not more.\n-In recent years there have been more reanimation sources attached to permanents. This allows you to prepare to reanimate a creature that you'll have to discard to feed Malfegor's ETB.\n-The boardwipe Malfegor provides is extra good because it's sacrifice rather than destroy. This gets around indestructible and there are a lot of effects in red/black that care about when players sacrifice.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"I love my "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/5962767/chisei_tries_edh"},"insert":"Chisei"},{"insert":" deck! I saw that someone else also submitted a deck with this commander, but I felt like mine deserved a chance, too. Since the theme is counter-heavy, there are a bunch of proliferate cards, so this deck tries to win with poisen by casting "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Prologue to Phyresis"}},{"insert":" . Also there is a decent ramp package in mono blue, which I just love. \n\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Hello everyone, I invite you all to experience the guilds with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Niv-Mizzet Reborn"}},{"insert":" with companion "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Jegantha, the Wellspring"}},{"insert":" : https://www.archidekt.com/decks/10710438/experience_the_guilds\n\nIn this budget conscious deck(sub $100 as of writing this), niv mizzet is the card advantage engine as it typically draws 5+ cards when you have a pretty balanced guild distribution of cards. And since you have the \"draw\" spell in your command zone, board wipes don't typically affect this deck heavily and that is why the deck invests into mass removal and interactions to clear the way after the initial turns. The early game uses mana dorks (which produce mana of any colour) to get the deck started in interacting, and then drop experience counters creatures to start \"leveling up\" after cleaning the board. \n\nThis deck's main condition is to win using "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Otharri, Suns' Glory"}},{"insert":" to run over opponents. But should the opportunity arise, alternate methods of winning via experience counter shenanigans could also be possible such as putting a lot of +1/+1 counters on creatures via "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ezuri, Claw of Progress"}},{"insert":". "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Meren of Clan Nel Toth"}},{"insert":" would also be able to grind out value against opponents when the deck has a few graveyard recursion effects. With many avenues of victory, the deck will give your opponents a thorough tour of ravnica's offerings.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Phasing fun with "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":{"card-link":"Taniwha"}},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":" "},{"insert":"\n\nBudget deck (only 10 plus 1 Euro cards) with focus on a few phasing chreatures and returning opponent creatures back to hand. To give it a litte extra i included the Bobbleheads and some other surprising attacks. I did not include counterspells or creature swaps. I think opponents will be salty enough.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10708691/comp"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10708691/comp"},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10708621/chisei_heart_of_oceans_heartbeat_of_the_deep_sea"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10708621/chisei_heart_of_oceans_heartbeat_of_the_deep_sea"},{"insert":"\n\nChisei, Heart Of Oceans is one of those obscure Kamigawa block legends I like. \nBasically this deck is about manipulating counters and getting some value out of it.\nWith Chisei's downside you can remove counters from sagas, -1/-1 counters to enable mutiple persists or of course the classic Dark Depths.\nAlso just having a 4/4 flyer in the command zone might be something as well :) \n\nI just realized that \""},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/u/swerthei"},"insert":"swerthei"},{"insert":"\" posted a Chisei list as well. As they were first I understand that they get priority of course.\nWould just be nice to see Chisei get some love & recognition :) \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Greven Ultra Aggro"},{"attributes":{"link":" https://archidekt.com/decks/7115368/greven_ultra_aggro"},"insert":" https://archidekt.com/decks/7115368/greven_ultra_aggro"},{"insert":"\n\nHey! this deck is one of my personal decks that I built a while ago to really have fun with. its built around using Greven as a hard hitting machine that hurts you whilst hurting your enemies harder.\n\nwe have overstated minions such as"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/d/e/deaa0b9b-258e-4daf-8fec-ce64864d6bbf.jpg?1562880234"},"insert":" cosmic larva"},{"insert":","},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/c/b/cbe3a68e-c29e-48a8-a2d7-49c8bff3dd8a.jpg?1562836028"},"insert":" deep-slumber titan"},{"insert":" and "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/c/a/ca9df3da-8b66-4726-a133-6047ed9fc3d1.jpg?1573516232"},"insert":"consulate dreadnought"},{"insert":" etc. or take a load of damage on attack with Greven and draw us a lot of cards in the process. We have cards that let us take advantage of life loss such as"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/4/e/4ee179ab-a15b-4bd6-b7f8-1e1abeeb31b7.jpg?1692939409"},"insert":" rowan, scion of war"},{"insert":" for ramping hard, and we also have ramp focused on damaging ourselves with "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/8/2/823f356c-0ca9-4880-9f84-b22e2891948b.jpg?1583453689"},"insert":"treasonous ogre"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/d/2/d2934af5-aa4f-4c88-adbd-dcd847ef43a2.jpg?1675957252"},"insert":"staff of compleation"},{"insert":", and"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/0/2/024ab7f9-1891-4c71-9fcf-cf124b1c6d10.jpg?1625191770"},"insert":" marshland broadcaster"},{"insert":". remembering that the more damage we take, the more we can deal,\n\nI have included ways to really make greven hard to block such as "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/c/6/c608543d-cb60-44c3-a437-e4a18c311420.jpg?1591605409"},"insert":"labyrinth raptor"},{"insert":","},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/5/9/595f0b25-6e6e-43c4-a4a0-903920067df1.jpg?1591228476"},"insert":" sonorous howlbonder,"},{"insert":" and "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/0/8/0885acdc-9b4c-4e28-8785-9e721a27e81e.jpg?1604197242"},"insert":"Kargan intimidator"},{"insert":". we also have ways to take that life loss and heal ourselves with it to keep losing even more life! (this is referencing cards like "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/8/2/829786e2-260b-4bc6-935b-1868b37e2d33.jpg?1634349988"},"insert":"mask of Grisel brand"},{"insert":" and"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/7/2/728952a5-5f50-4ee6-a1ce-38d7e97023cb.jpg?1675905786"},"insert":" loxodon Warhammer"},{"insert":" for their life link and evasion provided).\n\nwe also have some cool extra pieces that help us lose more life at instant speed with things like"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/a/b/abbaf916-067d-4834-a55c-b400fe0d8c1f.jpg?1562880643"},"insert":" immolating souleater"},{"insert":" and "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/c/d/cd4c5c2f-0c1e-44e8-a7f8-2dc2954eacd8.jpg?1562936256"},"insert":"deepwood ghoul"},{"insert":", and a fun bonus ramp tool that I think fits greven perfectly is "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/5/e/5ea15262-c00f-4865-bb6a-37ccb2ef62bd.jpg?1547517270"},"insert":"generator servant"},{"insert":", which if played on turn two can get greven out with haste on turn 3, allowing us to immediately start the pain train. \n\nsome other cards that give us plenty of cards and life loss for cheap are creatures such as "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/3/4/342fd427-baec-435f-9dc7-339c93f43f89.jpg?1562235482"},"insert":"Okk"},{"insert":","},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/e/e/ee4d3acb-68be-409d-beb7-92a7cbc0402f.jpg?1562939721"},"insert":" veteran brawlers"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/7/6/76f69b92-7435-4aa8-9d90-89ea078befb1.jpg?1562647854"},"insert":"wall of torches "},{"insert":"and "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/3/e/3effbf84-4a33-4587-bb11-2e931809a9f0.jpg?1573515276"},"insert":"goblin deathraiders"},{"insert":", for their overstated stature despite their downsides, as greven's attack triggers lets us chuck them away for damage and draw. \n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/d/b/dbe1bfe0-0be7-496d-94db-e8028d4d9493.jpg?1674142183"},"insert":"warstorm surge"},{"insert":" is an expensive mana card, but for this deck as we have so many cheap overstated creatures, it makes sense as another way to deal damage. \n\nand lastly we get to protection for greven, I decided as this deck is aggressive, I needed fast ways of keeping him alive, so "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/7/3/732779aa-3000-4a7b-a155-dbddc7de8d03.jpg?1726284523"},"insert":"lightning greaves"},{"insert":" seemed like a perfect fit, and I also included a few instants that let me get him straight back in the fray with cards such as"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/b/4/b4e117a8-3291-4f9a-ab00-c820c8e2aa00.jpg?1664410943"},"insert":" fake your own death"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/c/e/ce15ab0b-c70d-4ac0-a6ee-dbd31736ce1f.jpg?1608909963"},"insert":"supernatural stamina"},{"insert":" and my personal favorite,"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/3/4/342ec072-e581-490c-b5ae-a625bd35a153.jpg?1654567391"},"insert":" return to action"},{"insert":" that also is an instant speed way of giving life link. \n\nSo in conclusion, play big boys, draw loads of cards and take a load damage to turn that damage into commander damage that can potentially one shot your opponents, its that simple! thank you so much for tanking the time to look at my deck, and regardless of the competition outcome I just love building decks so thank you so much!!!!\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Sac for me but more for thee is a deck I built helmed by "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Anowon, the Ruin Sage"}},{"insert":".\n\nHis drawback is that at your upkeep, everyone (including you) must sacrifice a non-vampire creature. It is commonly built around by running all vampires, however, that is not how this deck is built. My deck runs with the the strategy of purposefully sacrificing your own creatures in order to punish your opponents more.\n\nThe obvious cards for this strategy include "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Grave Pact"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Butcher of Malakir"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dictate of Erebos"}},{"insert":". However, there are additional payoffs that include "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Smothering Abomination"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Black Market"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bastion of Remembrance"}},{"insert":". \n\nThis deck also includes a lot of token generators to create fodder for sacrificing, including some weird ones such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sorcerer's Broom"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Liliana's Devotee"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Uchuulon"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Myr Propagator"}},{"insert":". \n\nAs for winning the game, it is done though eliminating your opponent's blockers and attacking in for lethal, which is expedited by things such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cordial Vampire"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Eternal Thirst"}},{"insert":". Please take a look at it and thank you for your consideration!\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10709130/sac_for_me_but_more_for_thee_january_2025_deckbuilding_competition"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10709130/sac_for_me_but_more_for_thee_january_2025_deckbuilding_competition"},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10707133/dimir_aristocrat"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/10707133/dimir_aristocrat"},{"insert":"\n\nDralnu, lich lord is a sacrifice outlet in the command zone, who causes sacrifice based on damage dealt to him. My deck focuses on pinging my commander with black and blue burn spells that cause me to sacrifice tokens and recursive creatures, while I have aristocrat features on the battlefield. Dralnu's activated ability allows me to tap him and flashback my burn spells to double these effects. \n"}]}