LF: Help w/ cuts down to 100
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Dec. 2, 2021, 2:22 p.m. by JANKYARD_DOG
Here's something I've been working on for awhile now. I'm struggling a bit to remove 8 cards because everything seems to be a key part in the bigger machine. More in the deck Descriptions but I'll not a few quick points.
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Focus on extra combats & attack triggers.
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Dragon theme turned kinda subtheme in the process.
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Blue has become a splash mostly but I like the Commander's 'can't be countered' ability.
Here's the deck: Surrak's Extra Combat Sauce
T.I.A. any and all help is appreciated so I can make this into a RL deck. My Goodstuff Surrak and Urdragon precon have been deconstructed for this project... kind of an effort to reduce and have something new come out of it too.
Seedborn Muse is a wasted slot here. You run minimal counterspells and you don't run any flash effects (please note, this is NOT an endorsement to add flash effects) and additiionally you don't really have any mana sink abilities (either on your commander or across the rest of the deck), so you're bearely gaining an advantage from it.
I also don't hitnk you need ot run Dolmen Gate - most of your beaters A) already have some form of natural evasion (i.e. flying) and B) are dragon sized creatures. Their stats are already big enough that you should be winning most attak/block scenarios already, so Dolmen Gate doesn't really add a huge amount of value.
December 2, 2021 6:34 p.m.
DeadHeadLion says... #4
I would agree with Xenaphix02. It seems like you are only splashing blue. Unless you are tied to using Sarruk, I would suggest switching to a gruul commander. You have a perfect option in your 99, Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient. Klauth fits the dragon theme, the mana produced through the attack trigger will fuel your extra combat spells, and cutting the temur/blue spells will get you below 100.
December 2, 2021 10:40 p.m.
December 3, 2021 10 a.m.
I prefer the 2cmc (MV) land ramp now a days if I am ramping land and I would recommended less bounce lands and tapped lands. You have a very high cmc deck and lots of expensive creatures Three Visits and Nature's Lore grabs your triomes, cinder gale etc. they don't come in tapped unless the lands says they come in tapped. I would also run Rampant Growth this will help lower your mana curve and still ramp. I moved away from cultivate and Kodama in a lot of my decks
December 3, 2021 11:16 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #7
Yea I'll admit I'm a bit attached to Surrak. been with me a long while. Suppose change is good though. Of the choices I think Wulfgar of Icewind Dale is the way to go to double up on attack triggers. Almost sounds like I should get my hands on the AFR precon and use it as a base instead XD.
Alright, so:
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Cut Blue, Make Gruul
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Artifacts bad, land ramp better
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Wulfgar is new Command in Chief.
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Got anymore ideas?
December 4, 2021 8:44 p.m.
I disagree
surrak is one of the best commanders for dragon tribal
1st the only thing better then a 5/5 flying dragon is a 5/5 flying dragon with trample!
2nd flash speed middle finger to blue (you cant counter my dragons)
although the deck will mostly be gruul colors dabing into blue gives access to massive card advantage like Shaman of the Great Hunt, Temur Ascendancy, Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
and last but not least there is Surrak Dragonclaw+Ohran Frostfang wich results in one of the most terrifying board states a dragon tribal deck can have.
EDIT: If you dont know why that board state is terrifying Click Here, the only thing that can block that board state is banding creatures with flying
December 7, 2021 1:28 p.m. Edited.
Xenaphix02 says... #9
Ramble Having a big counter to blue stuff isn't that important since it's unlikely that a blue player with ample counterspells will be playing in every game. For reference, I only run about 5-6 counterspells in my blue decks, and some of them like Negate can't even hit creatures. It's normal to have your creatures eat removal, so going so hard in the counter angle is really odd to me. OP has written that they are dedicated to Surrak as a commander, which is totally up to them, but I just don't see the appeal. Surrak is a cool guy but I'll usually end up with a gruul or jund list when considering dragons.
I also don't think the draw point is that relevant. Kiora is basically just Elemental Bond with a health bar, and green has stuff like Rishkar's Expertise, Soul's Majesty, The Great Henge, Beast Whisperer, Soul of the Harvest, and on and on...
All this is to say that I respect OP's decision to play Surrak, whatever the reason may be, as well as yours, I just don't see why, in an optimized dragon tribal build, you ought to run him over any good ole gruul commander.
December 7, 2021 3:29 p.m.
The reason the anti counter in the zone is so valuable is because in dragon tribal the right dragon simply entering the battle field will win on the spot with a chain reaction of direct damage. when this happens every opponent will do everything they can to stop it.
card draw is always relevant my friend and agreed green has plenty of it but the best card draw is found in & out all all the cards we both linked none out perform the value of Shaman of the Great Hunt. another useful point to consider is surrak being a 6/6 creature is able to met the requirements to trigger most the card draws at flash speed
at the end of the day all of our points are valid. Its just a matter of opinion & you gota play what you love. im just saying at 5cmc for access to a 6/6 flash speed, control & anthem card in the zone makes surrak a major contender and one of the best commanders you can choose for dragon tribal. The only weakness to temur is finding the balance between Timmy & johnny.
Xenaphix02 says... #2
I'd get real critical of those artifacts if I were you. Signets are pretty bad in green since of course you have access to land ramp, which is way more durable than artifacts, which you might accidentally blow up sometimes.
Arcane Adaptation is at best a win-more card and at worst a d0-nothing card, you're either going to draw into it at a point where dragons already dominate your board, or it's going to clog up your opening hand and do nothing until you cast your first big threat.
Void Shatter is pretty bad. In a deck where you are constantly either ramping or putting out big creatures, a three mana counterspell (let alone a counterspell) is only gonna get cast if your deck isn't doing what it wants.
Blighted Woodland is pretty bad, it only ramps you by 1 land. I'd just cut that and move down to 35 lands.
You might also want to swap your 2 drop mana dorks for more land ramp, or nothing at all.
You probably also want to be running Dragonborn Champion for a cheap dragon related draw source.
In my honest opinion, I would just ditch blue and move back to a gruul commander, like the new options from AFR commander or even Atarka, World Render. The 'Can't be countered' clause on Surrak is sweet but there are plenty of similar effects in those colors, such as Vexing Shusher and Prowling Serpopard and a few others. If you want to stay with the extra-combats / combat triggers effects, you should def move to Xenagos, God of Revels or Wulfgar of Icewind Dale. There are just so many options that it feels like Blue is actively wasting slots in the deck, no offense of course. And as always, it's your decision.
December 2, 2021 2:52 p.m.