Maze Abomination

Creature — Elemental

Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)

Multicolored creatures you control have deathtouch.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Dandan	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Judge's Tower	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (9)

ShiningEyes on juggling the health

1 year ago

Hiya! So a couple things One, enjoy playing casual. There's no need to actively push to change your deck if you don't want to. Two, welcome! Mtg is a blast, and I've been playing over 20 years now.

Now into actual feedback.

In Mtg, there are a couple of balancing acts a deck needs to perform. One of the most challenging ones for a new player to embrace is the idea of a Mana Curve. This is a much-praised concept that effectively says you want to be doing something on most turns of the game, and that generally you want to be doing the best stuff you can in a turn. This deck is missing 1-mana cards, and is running a lot of 5-6 mana cards for a deck that isn't trying to stop your opponent along the way. Here's some budget, casual low drops that I think you might really enjoy! Lightning Bolt is a classic card, and due to some recent reprints is currently a bargain at about $.50 per copy. On the creature side, you might consider Vampire Lacerator, since you've listed your goal as making bigger creatures than your opponents. Or, if raw damage potential is of more interest, you might consider Night Market Lookout.

Your removal cards, currently mostly sorceries, have solid upsides and also cost a lot of mana. You might find more success looking for a nimbler option. To keep things casual and also really high-quality, consider Terminate. Or, if planeswalkers are a problem for you, consider the similarly inexpensive and quality card Hero's Downfall.

Another balancing act that decks perform is consistency vs. utility. The fewer cards that are the same or have the same effect your deck is running, the less likely your deck is to play the same way from one game to the next. That said, if you play a bunch of copies of the same card (4 is the limit in a typical casual 60-card format), your deck will get to do the same game plan each game, but is likelier to run into a wall if your opponent is doing something particularly good against your strategy. Currently, your deck is really high variability, which is generally considered frustrating in a 60-card format. If you love that concept, look into the Rules of Commander. It's a popular casual format that encourages variability by saying anything other than a basic land, you may only have one copy in your deck.

There's also the challenge of balancing a theme, sometimes also called a tribe. Some decks run the best cards they have available. Others try to build around a particular theme, and make that theme run as smoothly as possible. The up and downsides here are much like with consistency, where the harder you commit to your theme the more likely it is to work, but also the more likely you are to run into problems you can't solve with the tools available to you. Right now, the deck is a little scattered. For example, Maze Abomination is particularly good when a creature is two or more colors. But you don't appear to be running any creatures that are two or more colors, so its upside isn't very helpful. What you do seem to have is a budding Sacrifice theme, often known as Aristocrats, a nickname derived from the card Falkenrath Aristocrat. To lean a little harder into that theme, I might recommend looking at Body Dropper, a recent common to get some more reward for your sacrificing. Blood Aspirant is very similar. Butcher Ghoul is a great low-drop creature that can be sacrificed multiple times. Rekindling Phoenix Does a similar thing, but on a bigger, flying creature. Blazing Hellhound is a solid mid-sized creature with a pretty good upside. If you're looking for a big beater that can win games, consider something like Demonlord of Ashmouth or Titan Hunter. What's the downside to running a lot of sacrifice effects? Well, cards like Yasharn, Implacable Earth can really slow down your whole deck until you find that Terminate or similar. As a new player, I wouldn't worry too much about this. Play your theme, play it to your heart's content, and worry about how your opponent is going to stop you once you have some more games under your belt.

Welcome to the game! There's a lot you can learn. Try to have patience with yourself as you discover your own favorite way to build decks and play. Feel free to ask any questions you have.

TypicalTimmy on What makes a deck-worthy commander?

1 year ago

I tend to look for a Commander who does one thing extremely well that I can build off of. While multi-faceted Commanders such as Kenrith, the Returned King are really nice in their flexibility, for me personally, I struggle to draw their potential in. Some of the Commanders I have built in the past are:

• Karametra, God of Harvests as an ETB Matters theme. Because she brings out lands, Landfall was a strong subtheme of the deck, since Landfall itself is limited. And yes this includes cards with "Landfall" not under such a name, such as Tireless Tracker and Zendikar's Roil. However, because I am also casting creatures, creature ETB is important, too. So Hornet Queen and Soul Sisters had their stay. Some cards, such as Avenger of Zendikar really exploded as they drew these two elements together. Lastly, because I wanted continuous use of my ETB effects, return-to-hand was also important. So Jeskai Barricade and similar effects were in play. What resulted was a, slow, well-oiled machine that could cast multiple ETB creatures per turn and explode a boardstate from nothing.

• Oros, the Avenger was built as a Wrath's Matters build. This is because if you put deathtouch on Oros, his activation wrath's the board of all non-white creatures. To protect myself, every single creature in my deck had to have {W}, in part or in whole. Then, the deck used every single card available in the game to permanently give Oros his deathtouch. In this way, I never had to hold back because I didn't have an instant or sorcery to cast. Or perhaps I did, but not enough mana to cast it and activate Oros in the same turn. So auras, equipment and permanent effects such as Deadly Wanderings. While cards such as Maze Abomination might sound good, being non-white meant it died the moment Oros resolved. So it becomes a one-time deal. Now, because of the sheer volume of mana required, the deck ran an absolute absurd amount of mana sources. I think I had like 17 mana rocks alone. For filler cards, any other wrath was used. This way, against {W} decks, I could still hit the board hard.

Sidenote: If there are 7 creatures on the battlefield that Oros can hit, and he has lifelink, you just gained 3(7), or 21, life. That's how the deck stayed ahead. After I gained +200 life and nobody has any creatures left, I essentially could not be stopped.

• Radha, Heart of Keld was a Voltron-esque build who focused on as many land tutors as I could possibly get out, focusing on all basic lands so nothing ETB tapped. She was given ample protection. And then I topped it off with giant doublers, such as Xenagos, God of Revels and Unleash Fury. What resulted from here was a deck whose goal was to TKO any opponent in a single shot. Yes, infect was used as well. The deck name was Thick Thighs Save Lives. Lol.

So, as you can see, what I look for is a Commander who focuses on ONE mechanic or ability, and I tie in two or three supporting elements to ensure it runs smoothly. By implementing the deck construction in this way, I absolutely ensure I never draw into duds. It's either a useful land, ramp, or synergy support. No card every becomes wasted in my hand.

^-^

king-saproling on

3 years ago

These might interest you: Zirda, the Dawnwaker (could make a good companion), Thornbite Staff, Goblin Sharpshooter, Gorgon's Head, Gorgon Flail, Void Beckoner, Quietus Spike, Blade of the Bloodchief, Eternal Thirst, Steelshaper's Gift, Goblin Engineer, Cauldron of Souls, Thousand-Year Elixir, Daxos the Returned, Maze Abomination, Archetype of Finality

Andrew30001 on Elemental Commander (Horde of Notions)

4 years ago

CUTS:

Inferno Elemental - This is just, meh. It's an ok creature but isn't too useful compared to your other cards. Master of Waves - Great card, wrong deck. This card is great for a mono-blue deck, this is terrible for a multicolored deck. Maze Sentinel, Maze Rusher, Maze Glider, Maze Behemoth, Maze Abomination - Even though this is a multicolored deck, not enough of your creatures are multicolored for these to work well. Orchard Elemental - This will always be a six mana four four. The lifegain is not enough to make up for this small size. Primal Plasma - All three of these forms are way too small for four mana. Sunflare Shaman - This is a slow way to deal 4ish damage to a creature or player. Not too good. Yarok, the Desecrated - I don't think you have enough ETB effects for this to work good enough. Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi - This is a mediocre sized creature for the mana cost even with convoke and paying WUBRG to reanimate it is also a pretty bad cost. Cosi's Ravager - This card just does too little, especially for four mana. Ceaseless Searblades - Same as above, there aren't too many activated abilities so best case you'll get a four four for four that you need to activate two abilities for. Not too good.

king-saproling on Olivia Voldaren - Voltron/Control

4 years ago

You might like these: Gorgon Flail , Maze Abomination , Deathbringer Thoctar , Scythe of the Wretched , Goblin Sharpshooter , Black Market , Revel in Riches , Braid of Fire , Eternal Thirst , Mana Geyser

Alkadron on

4 years ago

Hello! I'm a huge fan of Mayhem Devil.

Some thoughts:

1) I feel like cards that only generate bursts of mana will typically disappoint you. The Devil generally ends up in more of a control position than aggro, so spending entire cards on a burst of mana typically won't put you far ahead.

2) Giving the Devil Deathtouch is absurd. Consider Bladebrand and Touch of Moonglove to give yourself blowout turns, or Maze Abomination and Aspect of Gorgon if you want something more permanent.

3) Sacrificing your own creatures for value is good... but have you considered sacrificing other people's stuff? Crack the Earth and Tremble are insane with the devil. Act of Treason effects like Wrangle and Traitorous Blood are also great: steal a creature, beat someone with it, then sacrifice it instead of giving it back. Fun for the whole family.

Dete on Gabe's Crypt Rats

5 years ago

for starters you could cut down on creatures like: Aether Poisoner, Child of Night, Daggerdrome Imp, Deathgaze Cockatrice, Farbog Revenant, Feral Abomination, Fetid Imp, Flensermite, Giant Scorpion, Hand of Silumgar, Hired Poisoner, Markov Patrician, Maze Abomination, Moonglove Changeling, Moonglove Winnower, Nirkana Assassin, Queen's Agent, Rancid Rats, Ruin Rat, Scrounger of Souls, Sidisi's Pet, Skittering Heartstopper Vampire Champion and replace others for: Black Cat, Burglar Rat, Cadaver Imp, Liliana's Specter, Ravenous Rats, Twisted Abomination, Gurmag Angler but would compite with Shambling Attendants for the gy. some usefuls spells you might replace or add cound be: Blessing of Leeches, Sadistic Glee, Soul Channeling, Ashes to Ashes, Evincar's Justice, Shred Memory, Dark Bargain, maybe Crypt Incursion. im out of ideas for cards, for now, and you could add more artifact ramp or artifact that can be creatures like Guardian Idol, Wayfarer's Bauble is in every deck i play, Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb are always good gy hate.

vbfabled on Child of alara

7 years ago

Alright, let's see here...

You have a lot of good cards in here, but it all seems a little unfocused. You have parts of several strategies in here, but you don't seem to have a full one. A good thing to ask yourself is "How is my deck meant to win?" and build it from there.

See, that's a bit tricky with Child of Alara, because technically almost any strategy is playable with it. A popular strategy for Child of Alara decks is Super Friends, as in a planeswalker-centered strategy, however that strategy does not take long to get expensive.

If you wanted to swap Child of Alara out for Progenitus as your commander you could run a voltron build, as in a strategy of killing off your opponents with commander damage(A player loses when they have taken 21 damage from a commander). For that you's just need to run pump spells, auras, equipments and things that work well with those types of spells.

You could just run a straight up 5-color good-stuff deck. All the best pure value cards in every color, which looks like the strategy you've started going with, so that's what I'll try to give you advice towards.

Now, first things first, you have a few cards that don't offer much synergy with the rest of your deck. I would recommend taking out Seraph of the Masses, Veteran Warleader, and Blighted Steppe, as they are primarily used for creature token-based strategy and you only run 29 creatures. Prism Ring, Fanatic of Mogis, Skyreaping and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are all cards best run in mono-colored decks, so I might take them out, as well. Maze Glider and Maze Abomination have effects that could work really well for you here, but their steep mana costs are not forgivable.

Don't be discouraged, though, you have a lot of good stuff to work with here! Mystical Tutor, for example,is a commander staple with counterparts in green and white that you may want to run all of. The others are Enlightened Tutor and Worldly Tutor.

Combustible Gearhulk is another fine choice, and I'd even recommend running the other 4 gearhulks alongside it. Verdurous Gearhulk is an 8/8 trample for 5, or makes something else bigger, Torrential Gearhulk is a bigger Snapcaster Mage, Noxious Gearhulk is targeted removal for your opponents big threats, and Cataclysmic Gearhulk is a controlled board wipe that lets you keep your most important cards in play. The best part about all of them is that even after their abilities go off, you still have a massive creature with a keyword ability.

A cycle of creatures very similar to the gearhulks that go into a lot of good-stuff decks are the titans, Sun Titan, Grave Titan, Frost Titan, Inferno Titan, and Primeval Titan.

You also have access to all of the god cards from the Theros block. A few of the more powerful ones being Kruphix, God of Horizons, Keranos, God of Storms, and Athreos, God of Passage.

A 5-color good-stuff strategy can get expensive fast, too, so I understand if you decide against it.

Also, if you're new to Commander as a format, you may consider running a commander with fewer colors and a clearer strategy. For example, if you like the idea of a creature token strategy, Rhys the Redeemed, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Krenko, Mob Boss are all great for that. If you haven't been, I'd go to edhrec.com as a starting point.

Good luck with your deck building, I hope you stick around!