The best group-hug decks I've seen typically acknowledged that they need some way to cultivate an advantage and not just be the Kingmaker benefactor. The weaker group-hug decks often give resources and only pillow without gaining any quantitative advantage or seemingly having no endgame. A result, group hug decks often are given a bad name when they are seen floundering around and helping opponents win. However, with the release of Stalwart Unity, group-hug's existence seemed affirmed by Wizards of the Coast.
THEME for me, is a very important factor in deck creation. I have found that adding some level of limitations or restrictions to deckbuilding actually encourages a stronger creative flow. However I only impose this on myself for my own creativity and stimulation. I'm not against expensive and goodstuff cards, but theme is a factor that I always value. For example, Force of Will is a strong counterspell, but Arcane Denial fits better with the deck's theme of Group-Hug and is less politically crude.
POLITICS are a must with this type of deck as the deck needs to stay alive until late game to strike. Become the early target and your growth will be terribly stunted, or you might just lose the game, however the deck's cards do empower political plays and help keep off the heat.
Some MANA RAMP, but not as many as one might expect because the majority of land dropping is perpetuated by the resource boosting nature of the deck and the commander, as a result, a higher land count is useful.
CARD DRAW is natural to the deck, but it enables it for opponents as well. Because opponents will have their own draw systems as well, they are very likely to be holding more cards than you throughout the game. Endgame hand size punishing works well in the deck. I have stayed away from personal card draw because of the insulated lack of interaction which I felt took away from the theme.
REMOVAL and COUNTERS are available but not on the high end. The deck tries to hold them to defend when targeted. Aggressing with removal needs to always be done with some political tact or plan. I've been considering adding a second board-wipe because they are always useful, however I'd often rather preserve the growth of the entire board state and have other people use their removal(which they have since you're feeding them removal) on each other and then reach the explosive late game where this deck thrives.
ADVANTAGE is slowly cultivated with the commander and political cards such as Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Tempt with Discovery. Advantage happens when opponents grow and create threats against each other which you have perpetuated. A huge factor of this deck is its perseverance. Faith's Reward or even Elixir of Immortality keep this deck up while the high level of enchantments make this deck's permanents hard to mass remove. Giving the deck the ability to play all cards at instant speed gives political and responsive control throughout midgame.
The ENDGAME stage in lategame is so much fun with this deck. It relies on the mass level of resources it has and punishes the amount of opponents' resources. Forced Fruition is iconic in this deck, Keening Stone helps finish off players with mill, or Blatant Thievery takes all of those enemy endgames to your side! All this is done while having grown solid and stable defenses to strike from.
I have made note that the typical tax pillow cards like Propaganda are abundant and almost redundant in this deck as this deck has become hardy enough to survive without them. Until now, they have remained in the deck as a very possible crutch. They are the most recent cards I have been considering for replacement.
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COMMANDER:
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis-- Solid commander. The ability is resource value for everyone, but more for you. Rarely a removal target and they seem to only die from Wrath effects. Also makes for a fantastic blocker on turn four. A constant reminder of your benign state and altruism.
CREATURES:
-Consecrated Sphinx--The political heat is well worth the advantage you'll get by already being in the position of netting the opponents cards.
-Gisela, Blade of Goldnight-- Very good lategame. Helps lock your boardstate and backs up the acceleration for your endgame.
-Humble Defector-- Pulls a lot of weight, but only if used politically.
-Omnath, Locus of Rage-- The landfall triggers with the commander, Collective Voyage, Tempt with Discovery and all the extra land drops this deck can produce.
-Perplexing Chimera-- Very useful for midgame and engame advantage and political play.
-Progenitor Mimic-- By advancing opponents, they will get very good permanents into play. This is to copy the better creatures to create advantage.
-Selvala, Explorer Returned-- Very good early and midgame card. Generates bucket loads of value while keeping a target off her head.
SORCERIES:
-Blasphemous Act-- Biggest benefit is the discount on the casting cost. This deck wants to save mana to play permanents. The deck could use more wipes.
-Blatant Thievery-- This is meant to be used during endgame to change the boardstate more in your favor.
-Council's Judgement-- This is very strong removal that can sometimes remove two targets. It can bypass shroud and hexproof and is very politically interactive.
-Genesis Wave-- With the amount of mana that will be everywhere lategame, this is a great mana dump that will bring many permanents to your aid in locking the board.
-Praetor's Concil-- The deck has very little recursion, but this card and Elixir of Immortality allow for some recycling.
-Minds Aglow-- At sorcery speed, this card works best if you pay less mana and get opponents to pay the bulk of it.
INSTANTS:
A note on much of my removal and counters; they usually offer an appeasement reward to the target opponent to try to reduce the political impact of the violence (Probably from the base Stalwart Unity precon deck).
-Cyclonic Rift-- Such a powerful card that can win games on its own, I did think this popular card would help elevate the deck.
-Faith's Reward-- There will be boardwipes and removal. The well timed recovery from this card can tip all the advantage to your side.
--Heroic Intervention-- Very good protection for your board state. Especially for its mana cost. Timed correctly can put you in a very advantageous state.
--Reins of Power-- Very versatile card. At instant speed can work as a simple Fog or can give you the ammo you need to win.
ARTIFACTS:
Note on boots. Kynaios and Tiro have little need for the protection and the low quantity of creature spells also kept boots out of this deck.
--Elixir of Immortality-- This is a pet card of mine. Can possibly work with Oath of Druids plus this deck has practically no recursion.
--Keening Stone-- Definitely endgame. Can kill off an opponent especially with Oath of Druids, Forced Fruition or the basic deck thinning nature of this deck in play.
--Mirage Mirror-- The card is extremely versatile. With opponents pumping out their value, Mirage Mirror has many targets.
--Vedalken Orrery-- The ability to play all of this deck's permanents and sorceries at instant speed elevates the ability of this deck to a higher octave when it's in play. The gameplay was impressive enough to warrant adding the Orrery after seeing Leyline of Anticipation perform.
ENCHANTMENTS:
--Wheel of Sun and Moon-- This replaced Burgeoning which adds a very strong a pretty graveyard hate.
--Forced Fruition-- This is my favorite win condition! It works very well in the lategame when opponents decks have been thinned out. Once in play, it's hilarious to see opponents count their libraries to see how many spells they have left to cast all while you remind them of their greed and gluttony. Save a counter to protect this.
--Leyline of Anticipation-- This allows the deck to over perform in a whole other dimension.
--Oath of Druids-- This accelerates the game in the direction the deck wants. It puts out threats that make enemies focus on each other instead of you. The deck thinning is wanted for lategame finishers on opponents. The low creature count in this deck made me want cards like Elixir of Immortality and Praetor's Council to supplement it.
--Song of the Dryads--Removal like Lignify and Imprisoned in the Moon have become more popular because how how effectively they work on enemy commanders. Works with the deck's giving theme. Careful not to make an enemy though.
--Vicious Shadows-- This ends games. If your opponents do not have an answer for this, it will do mass damage considering how many cards you've fed opponents.
LANDS:
The lands listed here are almost exactly the same base lands that were put together for the Stalwart Unity, Commander 2016, preconstructed deck. I am aware of the speed and colorfixing available for me with upgraded lands and for me it's a very exciting prospect. What is currently listed above has worked well and with the resources growth of the deck it is pretty stable. I do look forward to someday fleshing out the landbase with Fetch Lands, Shock Lands, and possibly Battle Lands and will enjoy seeing that growth for the deck. I also plan on some utility land destruction lands to get rid of pesky opponents' Reliquary Towers.
-- Homeward Path-- This is a good back up, just-in-case type of card. Works well with Humble Defector and Perplexing Chimera.
--Reliquary Tower-- A must for a deck with this much card drawing.
--Maze of Ith-- This does not count for mana for this deck. It is a semi-soft removal and a political motivator.
SIDEBOARD (Maybeboard):
--Acidic Slime-- Looking for options to remove an opponent's pesky Reliquary Tower.
--Raff Capashen-- A third Leyline of Anticipation or Vedalken Orrery? Why not?
--Hypergenesis-- This is better for a Jodah or Mayael deck honestly. Meh
--Recurring Insight-- Amazing draw, but could make you a hated target.
--Supreme Verdict-- More board wipes won't hurt this deck.
--Path to Exile-- Good and cheap.
--Storm Seeker-- An obscure card that could actually pull weight at instant speed.
--Teferi's Protection-- Amazing protection. Would be a good card, but $$...
--Font of Mythos-- When is too much too much?
--Helm of the Hosts-- LoL this card.
--Axis of Mortality-- A possible replacement for Reverse the Sands.
--Divine Intervention-- My Ideal win condition for this deck! But $$
--Imprisoned in the Moon-- Very strong commander removal. Thematic.
--Tectonic Edge-- Because Reliquary Towers.
NOTE ON TUTORS:
My decision to not add tutors from the deck stemmed from seeing the deck grow organically with its resources. It often wasn't the early or mid game where specific cards were ever needed. Late game, the win conditions have usually been drawn. Also, I noticed that when every opponent was tutoring and I wasn't, it pulled a large amount of political spotlight off of me. Opponents would then save their removals for everyone else's tutored, important cards. If I were to consider one, an Enlightened tutor would help get my Leyline of Anticipation into play.
Another thing I must note is that this deck is a deck for casual multiplayer EDH. It can win against stronger combo decks out there and despite its mana base, I've seen it do well against high tier decks, but just to be clear this deck is meant to have fun, be interactive and win, not win on turn four.
*Special thanks to Nathan, Phil and Billy-Bob. All the playtesting of this deck made it the version it is now and represents all those games and time spent.