Jestersmind

Ha, no bigs man. I was in the same boat with the mosquito. I was looking at building a xira insect deck, and the card has been buzzing around in my head since then.

I avoided bloghtsteel as a courtesy to the table. The guy is just a jerk. Fire shrieker is a good add, and heck it even fits in with the name and theme. Flame slash and tragic slip are good removal spells to get my guys through, and I may need to consider adding some more of that. And double cleave is a great one shot to tack onto a pumped creature.

I considered wither creatures, but they really didn't fit with the theme. The phyrexians were infect and poison counters. I stuck with stuff that specifically addressed that.

I'm assuming the surgical extraction comment was meant to be facetious, since it is a horrible commander card. If that is the case, that is not helpful if someone does not actually know that. So assuming it was not intended to be an insulting comment, and only a jest, toss a "j/k" or something on there so people know. And as to why I put it in at all, just wanted another phyrexian mana symbol for an early version that had rage extractor. Didn't work so well, the card got left in the list when I was putting stuff in.

Gathas Raider is a good creature for this deck.! And null brooch is flipping perfect! That reminds me of scroll rack from back in the day as well! And library of leng. I was thinking of pulling the deck in a more control direction. Bloodgift demon and leyline are solid additions..

Right now the deck is pretty much based around the idea that everyone is going to discard, I just plan on being able to use it to my advantage. As the deck is built now I am intending to empty my hand, but I'm trying to be sure to be able to draw when I need to.

I considered exquisite blood, but dropped it because of all the life gain prevention in the deck. Made room for other things.

I really like the idea of this deck, but it's rough. I am going to update tomorrow using some ideas you gave me. The story of this deck is based on true events (I really did just stumble on this card in a bargain bin, and had a strong desire to see her reap havoc I on a commander board for the disgrace), and as such I do plan on giving it some attention. Thanks for the input!

Thanks for the praise. And absolutely I had originally put in "return card to play" effects in the deck, and had the same realization - "what good is it there?"

And glistening oil, grafted exoskeleton, and phyresis are good infect adding cards. that would make it much easier to make Volrath a one shot killing machine.

I had not even really considered the fact that a lot of these guys were demons. I may take a peak at the tribal implications.

I only returned to the game about a year ago and my first commander deck was a glissa deck. It was crazy fun.

I really like the creature selection in the deck. I think I would have gone for many of the same ones. Skullbriar, thun, and jarad are awesome in this deck. I almost get a legendary subtheme as well. But then you would need to get a Vhati!

Lumberknot might be a good fit. Lots of stuff is going to be flying into the graveyard, and he has hexproof. Plated Slagwurm is another hexproof beasty. I tend to like the hexproof, because there is a lot of spot removal at my table. And after investing scavenge resources on my creatures, I want to be sure my investment is protected.

Along those lines, spearbreaker behemoth is a great add. Your beasties will have access to indestructibility.

Also maybe some cheap constant token production, (trading post, myr turbine, squirrel nest off the top of my head) to always have a creature to sac to Varolz. Got to keep the boss from getting too hungry.

Also Rush Of Blood and Impelled Giant

a few goodies that could make a home in here. Buried Alive, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Phyrexian Soul Gorger, Force of Savagery.

Personally I would add more protection for your creatures (lightning greaves, whispersilk cloak, mask of avacyn, darksteel plate, etc...) If something happens to your little troll this deck is going to be in trouble since you can't scavenge at instant speed.

I think you would be fine, but if someone bounces Varolz in response to you scavenging a creature, would the scavenge then fizzle? The creature would still be exiled since that is part of the activation of the ability. If this is the case then the shrouding/hexproofing would be extra important. But like I said, I think the rules say that the scavenge ability would still happen.

2 cents for you.

Ok, so seriously, I just spent thirty minutes typing a bunch of great advice, looked up some old cards and was really jamming with this deck, and then accidentally closed the browser. It was frustrating, but I was really getting into it, so I am going to try and sum it up and get a some specifics back in here.

~ lots of fire breathing effects (Blessing, scourge of the nobilis, crown of flames, fiery mantle, shitu firebreathing, shiv's embrace, stone hands)

~ more fling effects (bloodfire infusion, grab the reins, soulblast, rupture (love this one), consuming ferocity)

~ Some non-sac flinging (Brawl, Cragganwick Cremator, crush underfoot, deadshot, Electropotence, Stalking Vengance (this one doubles the fling-ability of your creatures)

furnace celebration and quest for pure flame also were on my list. As were a number of white spells that bring your creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield.

I have always loved this guy and thought about making a deck with him a while ago. I love the giant theme. This makes Coat of Arms viscous awesome. Door of Destinies and Cryptic Gateway are other tribal staples that could find a great home here. And Phyrexian Processor could also be amazing in a deck like this.

Is there a card that reflects damage you deal to one opponent to all opponents? That would be win.

I am not a fan of Cloudgoat, I would switch him with Borderland Behemoth. Lowland Oaf for Bloodfray Giant.

Ok I guess that is a bunch, love the deck, and hope some of this is good for some tinkering!

promptness is not my best quality

Bronzebombshell Is A Great Suggestion. that One Is A Definite add.

The Puzzle Box Is One Of My Favorite Cards, But I Am With You, I Would Rather Not Risk Losing The Cards I Have. Besides By The Time I Cast The Box, If I Am Not In A Solid Position, I Am Probably Getting Wiped Pretty Quick. Even If The Deck Is Being Played In A New Group, It Wont Take A Veteran Group To Realize What I Am Doing.

Also Updated On Phone, Sorry Again For The Formatting.

To start, Thragtusk is all but banned at my group's table, not because he is too powerful, but he is just incredibly overplayed.

As far as in my version of this deck, his abilities make tokens and gain life, both of which don't really win me the game I want to. In the old version where board dominance was the goal he would rock it out.

I actually gave this a chance early on. One of the players in my playgroup loves this card. I find on turn 4 (or 3 if I got some artifact mana early) I am casting creatures to get Animar pumped and make other creatures cheaper. I definitely could see it working in the deck though. I have been on the fence with it. I am going to go back to it and see how it does in testing.

I don't know about SotH being better, he only triggers when a creature hits the battlefield. Primordial triggers before the spell resolves and even if a creature is countered. The extra P/T does not affect the deck other than a possible burn spell, and I am trying to get the spell to trigger before that would be too much of a concern.

However that is all moot since both Primordial and SotH have been eliminated and I put in a merchant of secrets and maelstrom wanderer instead. Maelstrom was an awesome addition. It doesn't always blast off, but it adds an awesome element to the deck and has the potential to completely bust the game open.

Champion would rock if I ever planned on attacking, he woulddefinitely be a beast, especially if he attacked and the you aluren'd in a creature into an infinite to surprise your opponent with a million damage. But the way I'm working the deck now he would just be one more card taking advantage of the infinite combo, not causing it.

I understand your feelings about the drawing a card biggies. I actually took out soul of the harvest when I put in maelstrom. I'm thinking primordial is going to come out for another visionary / wall of blossoms card. I wish sawtooth loon was RUG colors

Ok I'm thinking about reworking this deck.instead of a spider snacks deck, I make it a tree folk deck, where each tree folk gets a pet. Lots of spider pets, some kavu pets..... Yes. I think this deck may come down to make way for Pets for Trees deck.

I think Maelstrom wanderer is actually a really neat idea. even if it grabs small things it still will trigger any of the bounce permanents like curio and could potentially set of an ininite on its own. because you could just bounce him to your hand. absolutely genius idea I'm going to tinker with it.

I am back on the webs! I am posting a couple decks today. But I updated Doggy Door again. I may be falling in love with an edh deck. still waiting on a couple cards to come in to finish it off for group play. but it's test runs have gone very well.

The biggest change has been dropping board control. no opposition or onslaught, no aluren because i won't need to cast creatures on opponent's turns and it's cost makes it a little slow for my turn. and I added some zero cost artifact creatures to get Animar going a little faster and they work with equilibrium and tidespout, just not the curio.

I like the addition of Grinning Ignus. Winding Canyons was a great addition as well for the Aluren effect. And I am going to go back and take a look to see if I can fit Manamorphose in, that's a great mana fix to help make sure Animar is out on turn two or three.

So I think I am done fiddling with this deck. I eliminated a lot of things that helped secure board position. Honestly, when playing this deck I am going for the throat as quickly as possible, so I built thinking along the lines of building a modern or legacy deck.

22 cards got dropped, I forgot to write them down. But the things that went in on this go through:

Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, Lotus Bloom*, Chrome Mox, Memnite, Ornithopter, Phyrexian Walker, Shield Sphere, Wall of Blossoms, Fauna Shaman, Daze, Muddle the Mixture, Signal the Clans, Gamble, Command Tower (How did I miss this before?!), Forbidden Orchard, Darksteel Citadel, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales

Lotus Bloom is not set in stone as they have yet to really make the difference I was hoping for, but I feel that in the right spot itmay be the card i need to win.

I have been dinkering around on a couple other decks while putting a lot of attention on this one. I will try and post some today.

Going back to an old deck discussion we had, this guy was made to take full advantage of multiple attacks in a single turn. Devastating with the overrun effects in this deck. Seriously, game over.

Spawnwrithe is an awesome creatures for this deck, another giant adephage. Akroma's memorial gives everyone trample and everything else. Primal rage and roughshod mentor also distribute some trampled goodness. Man another color combination I haven't done and now I'm jealous I did not think about it first. Good deck.