The problem with Invigorate is that this deck is tagged as modern legal, which Invigorate isn't. Infect decks normally try to be as fast as possible because their creatures are rather weak. If you favour a slower aproch then i can recommend Wild Defiance, tough you might want to take out some creatures and add some more instant/ sorcery spells. The most cost-effective pump spells would be Giant Growth, Groundswell and Mutagenic Growth, Titanic Growth if you want a cc2 spell. Evolution Charm is a great way to bypass your opponents defense while Ranger's Guile or Blossoming Defense offers some good protection against removal. On the removal side Doom Blade or Go for the Throat are good and cost efficient cards, if you favour a -x/-x version take a look at Tragic Slip. GreetingsMuktol
Permalink
+1I'm not a real big fan of Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage, at least not 4 copies of the card. His abilitys puts him more into the cc4 or even cc6 slot, depending on what you want to use, so having two of them on the field won't help you much. Maul Splicer and golem tokens could also be an option, tough maybe more a separate deck-idea. Geist-Honored Monk or Wayfaring Temple would be strong finishers tough they require more of a mass of creatures than the class you're trying to achieve here. If you want to swing into that direction then Evangel of Heliod could be worth a look, tough it would also introduce a new mechanic to the deck: Devotion. Feral Incarnation would also be an option for a mass-token deck , but you would have to explain convoke as new mechanic. Honourable mention: Timely Reinforcements. Most of the time it should provide you with both, tokens an life, as other decks will be faster and thus have more creatures and life. GreetingsMuktol
I gave one player a gruul stompy deck (https://www.mtgvault.com/muktol/decks/rg-gruul-beginners-deck/) and the other got a simic evolve deck (https://www.mtgvault.com/muktol/decks/ug-simic-beginners-deck/). The learned the basics fast enough, the only issue being the manabase, learning that they untap at the beginning of a new term and can be re-used every turn. The problem I/ they ran into was in the last turn: Simic hasd some creatures with +1/+1 counters on them out and played an Overrun, which was too much and too complicated for the other player to calculate. The simic-deck was played by someone who plays a lot on the computer and is a technician, tough I thought that he might have more problems with this as he never had played anything like magic before. But the problem occurred with the player that already had played Yu-Gi-O...but only on the computer where the machine did all the calculations for her. I try to limit the number of different mechanics I use in a beginners deck to a certain amount and use only cards that have one use/ ability. As I'm printing the cards it's no big deal to have two decks, or some replacement-cards, if the player learns faster than I thought and is ready for some advanced cards. I also don't include sideboards because for that you need to play at least 2 games against the same player and the same deck, and you need to know your deck and you opponents to decide what to remove and what to add.
+1Goblin Electromancer could be an option instead of e.g. Mercurial Chemister and Flame Slash instead of Fiery Impulse. I would also use a 4th copy of Curiosity to make sure you have enough carddraw. Also Unsummon or Echoing Truth could be an idea. If you want to make use of Mercurial Chemister's red ability then Lava Axe would be worth a look. Last year I had 2 new players that wanted to try magic and see if they would like it. I had a good feeling as one already had been playing Yu-Gi-O (on the computer) and the other was a clever chap. After explaining the magic-colours, their strategy's and so on they each decided on a colour-combination and I threw together 2 decks that I thought where simple enough (Basically Gruul Stompy and Simic Evolve). Well sadly it wasn't simple enough (for the one that already had played Yu-Gi !, the other one hadn't any problems with the decks). I'm still waiting for a second chance to try to explain it again, this time with more simple decks. So you should either have some cards that you're able to switch out things like Izzet Charm or Mercurial Chemister for or have some real simple decks if you find someone like those two.
Imperious Perfect is a cc3 card but it might be worth a look instead of Dwynen's Elite. It's slower but more steady in it's token production and is a lord itself.
I'm always forgetting these "new" dual-lands. Still automatically going for Guildgates&Co. even if there are better cards.
Thank you for your suggestions. I added 4 Doom Blade instead of Go for the Throat which also enabled me to add a 3rd Isolated Chapel. Even if Anointed Procession is the cheapest of all token-doublers it still rather expensive. Also I would need 2-3 of them in the deck to (more or less) constantly draw one. At the moment I see no chance to sueeze ithat in, perhaps when Isolated Chapel, or any other card, becomes cheaper. Lets see what Domria and the new Core Set will do to the prices.
I would throw in some protection for Wort, Boggart Auntie so that she doesn't die on every single removal spell. Champion's Helm, Mask of Avacyn or Swiftfoot Boots are some good artifacts that do this job. Strionic Resonator would allow you to copy Wort, Boggart Auntie's ability to get 2 creatures per turn, usful when combined with Daretti, Scrap Savant or after a mass-removal. Then there is Konda's Banner and Dragon Throne of Tarkir, two additional cards to mass-strengthen your creatures. The big question is how you want to create your tokens when you don't have Krenko, Mob Boss or Boggart Mob on the battlefield? You need one of 2 cards out of 100, and have only 4 cards to search for them. Also ther are some cards that are highly effective in normal decks but loose it's effectiveness in commander-games. Lightning Bolt/ Bolt/ Tarfire is a good example for that. normally you will never want to get Tarfire back from your graveyard with Auntie's ability because you will have better things to get from there. The creatures in commander often get very big or are enormous masses so removing a single, small, one often nearly does nothing to your opponent. Then there are more than one opponent, so that when removing a single creature you still have the others against you. I would take a look at some of the mass-removals available, maybe you even find a one-sided so that your opponents loose all their creatures and you keep yours. GreetingsMuktol
That would be good news. I was thinking of adding simple search-lands like Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds tough that would slow the deck down a ?little? bit.
Thanks for the answer. Sorry for my late reaction, somehow I didn't get/see/realize the notification message. I didn't include Spectral Procession because I'm not sure if I can get the required {W}{W}{W} on the table fast enough..and you don't want to cast this with anything else I think. Beckon Apparition can be a good card, tough it adds "only" one flying token. I can't estimate how important the removal of a card from the graveyard will/can be for a beginner-deck. Harsh Sustenance is definitely a card I will add, maybe instead of Timely Reinforcements. The problem I run into with most of the budget decks is that the dual-lands are rather expensive. So either keep it mono-coloured or near that or reduce the power of the rest of the deck to make it more stable to play in therm of the mana-base.
I finally had the time to check some cards, and here are the suggestions:Gone Missing ...expensive to play but can put an expensive permanent your opponent controls on top of his library or let you re-use one of your ETB-triggers. Also gives you an clue artifact token that lets you draw a card.Jace's Scrutiny ...questionable if this will be strong enough for commander. Gives a creature -4/-0 and you receive a clue artifact token. Contract Killing ...basically a Murder for 5 instead of 3 mana but also gives you 2 artifact treasure tokens that can be sacrificed for 1 mana each. Depths of Desire ...cheaper but less potent version of Gone Missing as you can only target creatures whith this. Gives you an artifact treasure token to sacrifice for mana. Pirate's Prize ...draw two cards for 4 mana and you get an artifact treasure token. Filigree Crawler ...a 2/2 artifact creature for 4 mana that replaces itself with a 1/1 flying artifact token. Gleaming Barrier ...0/4 defender artifact creature that gives you an artifact treasure token when it dies. Myr Sire ...1/1 artifact creature for 2 mana that replaces itself with a 1/1 artifact creature when it dies. Prying Blade ...an equipment that can continuosly profide you with treasure tokens to sacrifice for mana. Disciple of the Vault ...1/1 creature for 1 mana that lets target opponent loos 1 life whenever one of your artifacts is pu into your graveyard
Thank you for the clarification.
Something that just came to my mind (without the time to look at the details at the moment): What about treasure/clue tokens? So creatures like Gleaming Barrier become very effective.
+1If you want to use Rude Awakening then Sylvan Advocate could be a neat idea. Elvish Harbinger can be used to search for Gilt-Leaf Archdruid while Heritage Druid could speed up your play a little bit more. If you run into a deck that you find it difficult to deal damage, eve with all those land creatures, Helix Pinnacle could also be worth a look.
Cards in a pauper deck may only contain uncommons so thins like Hordeling Outburst or Beetleback Chief are not allowed. Also your commander has to be either a common or uncommon card so Zada, Hedron Grinder is also not allowed.If you're using special house-rules please state such things in the deck description.
+1At last a deck with a description!Geralf's Messenger is a great card for zombie sacrifice decks. He can be sacrificed twice thanks to his undying and has a solid ETB effect. Drawback is that it's an expensive card in relation to the rest of your deck. Fleshbag Marauder is a removal on legs but has the same cost drawback as the Messenger. Smallpox can a very interesting tough sometimes dangerous cards. The advantage is that it attacks ALL ressources: Life, handcards, creatures and manabase. The drawback is that it does this to your opponentn and to you. If you want some additional removal for the sideboard Bone Splinters could be of interest. I'm also using Sylvok Lifestaff there to gain some life against aggressive decks. The only thing I don't like about this deck, and thats more a personal thing, is Carrion Feeder. Not because he's not effective but because it's the only card that messes up a modern legality. Someday you might want to take this deck to a modern tournament and cant because of a single card. If you want to replace it then you might want to take a look at the following cards: Plagued Rusalka, Viscera Seer, Bloodthrone Vampire or Disciple of Griselbrand.
+1The big question in decks with such a low number of creatures is...what do you do it your only cretaure get's shot away? So cards like Apostle's Blessing, Emerge Unscathed or Gods Willing could be an idea, at least for the sideboard. Titan's Strength could be worth a look as the scry might prevent you from drawing unwanted lands/ cards. Maybe instead of 1-2 Furious Resistance. GreetingsMuktol
+1Ethereal Armor could be an option if you want to get more aggressive while Hyena Umbra could be at least an sideboard option in case you run into another removal-heavy deck. GreetingsMuktol
The question here is in which direction you want this deck to evolve. At the moment the deck looks more like a lifeleech/ sacrifice deck to me than an actual metalcraft deck. If you want to go that way then there's no way around Blood Artist no. 5-8: Zulaport Cutthroat. You could also use something that lets you sacrifice creatures when needed like Viscera Seer, Kalastria Highborn or Bloodflow Connoisseur instead of Illness in the Ranks (sideboard). As Blade of the Bloodchief is your only vampire-specific card here I wouldn't fixate too much on the tribal theme. Gray Merchant of Asphodel could be a great replacement for your army, and can (normally) become only more efficient the later he is played.
I'm missing a deck- and how to play description as well as some metal in this craft. GreetingsMuktol
661-680 of 1,760 items