Advices for Grixis and Bant combinations

[knight_seb]

Hello everyone,

Long time ago, I decided to build a EDH deck for each tricolor combinations. So far, I have built :
: Dakkon blackblade (combat/attack trigger : decklist here
: Numot, the devastator who changed to Kykar, Wind's Fury : pillowfort deck. And a spellslinger version fo Kykar largely inspired by the primers here
: Kaalia of the vast : typical angel/demon/dragon deck with a Sunforger package
: Karador, ghost chieftain : my oldest deck, graveyard recursion, ETB value
: Mayael the Anima : 5+ strenght creature
: The Mimeoplasm : using opponent graveyard to my advantage, no self milling
: Riku of two reflections : ETB triggers, copying effects
: Prossh, skyraider of Kher : tokens, sacrifice, death triggers, definitely my strongest deck with a lot of redundancy and combo potential

As you see, all of my decks are based on different themes. I'm missing Bant and Grixis combination. What could you suggest ? For Grixis, I tried a tribal zombie helmed by Thraximundar but it didn't work well, I need to work on the decklist and I'm opened to suggestions.

[Dragoon]

Bant could typically lead you towards enchantress with Estrid, the Masked or Tuvasa the Sunlit, or towards blink with Roon of the Hidden Realm. You could also try voltron with good ol' Rafiq of the Many.

For Grixis, you could try some kind of cruel control maybe with Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen or wizards tribal with Inalla, Archmage Ritualist? There is also shenanigans.dec with Obeka, Brute Chronologist.

[Cyberium]

Grixis Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen with all five Egyptian gods is one of my pet decks, mixing tokens and infect/wither alongside noncreature spells for control.

[Dunharrow]

I adore my Marchesa, the Black Rose deck. A lot of ways to differentiate from Karador too.
My deck has bit of wizard tribal, and a bit of rogue tribal.
You can do the Modular thing.
You can do a theft theme - when you use a threaten effect you can put a counter on the opponent's creature and sac it to get it back permanently.

I play with a lot of manifest to set-up manifesting big things, putting counters on them, then sacrificing to get a free Grave Betrayal or Thieving Amalgam or whatever.

There are really a lot of ways to build Marchesa, and it is one of my favourite decks.


For Bant, I am still trying to find a good option!

[MeowZeDung]

May I recommend Mairsil, the Pretender if you want to really go down a rabbit trail? Lots of avenues to build. @Crazy Monkey has a good mairsil thread in the decklists subforum.

Bant is weird because it ends up leaning more Simic than white IMO. Roon of the Hidden Realm is fun, and I've had one in my meta for ages that still plays good. I personally would look at enchantress options.

[onering]

Grixis Group Hug. There's actually a lot of group hug effects in Grixis, which can be supplemented with group slug effects (hug effects with drawbacks for your opponents). It's also easier to both break the symmetry with Grixis and to answer anything that must be answered. Grixis hug effects are mostly in the form of handing out creatures and drawing people cards, which are much safer hug effects than giving out Mana and Grixis is well positioned to take advantage of both. Many of the effects also give out rewards for opponents attacking each other or otherwise hurting each other. I use Vial Smasher and Ludevic, with Ludevic being the main commander who serves to give out extra cards in exchange for my opponents hurting each other (or just losing life to fetches or other sources on their own turns), with Vial Smasher coming in late to get in extra chunks of damage.

[knight_seb]

First, I would like to thank you all for your advices and ideas.

Grixis Group Hug. There's actually a lot of group hug effects in Grixis, which can be supplemented with group slug effects (hug effects with drawbacks for your opponents). It's also easier to both break the symmetry with Grixis and to answer anything that must be answered. Grixis hug effects are mostly in the form of handing out creatures and drawing people cards, which are much safer hug effects than giving out Mana and Grixis is well positioned to take advantage of both. Many of the effects also give out rewards for opponents attacking each other or otherwise hurting each other. I use Vial Smasher and Ludevic, with Ludevic being the main commander who serves to give out extra cards in exchange for my opponents hurting each other (or just losing life to fetches or other sources on their own turns), with Vial Smasher coming in late to get in extra chunks of damage.

That's a good idea ... I was always willing to make a group hug deck but I don't know yet how to "control" the bonus given to my opponents : incitating each other to forget about me and to fight between them isn't enough. Here, your proposal is like "No pain, no gain". Now, I have to figure how to make it work without forgetting to get a plan to win in parallel. I thought putting Nekusar, the Mindrazer at the helm but without the wheel effect to keep it "fair" but I'm afraid it could attract more hate than requested ...

[knight_seb]

Any other ideas for ?
At first, I thought making a +1/+1 counters theme deck with Jenara, Asura of War at the helm but it sounds too "classic" ...

[Dragoon]

Any other ideas for ?
At first, I thought making a +1/+1 counters theme deck with Jenara, Asura of War at the helm but it sounds too "classic" ...

There is also defender tribal with Arcades, the Strategist or turbofog with Angus Mackenzie.

I've also always wanted to try "Colour Control" in either Bant or Esper, with Treva, the Renewer or Dromar, the Banisher as the commander, respectively. This is a deck that would use cards like Glamerdye or Shifting Sky to abuse colour hosers like Northern Paladin or Devout Lightcaster.

[PrimevalCommander]

Sedris, the Traitor King is an old throwback who may be worth a look. A bit underpowered by today's standards. You could put Obeka in the 99 for synergy .
Someone mentioned Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Vial Smasher the Fierce junkyard reanimator in another thread that sounded fun.

I never found a Bant commander that I really connected with. So I really can't give you one that looks overly interesting as a matter of opinion.

[FenrirRex]

Someone mentioned Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Vial Smasher the Fierce junkyard reanimator in another thread that sounded fun.

That'd be me, hopped into this thread to make the suggestion again. It's one of my favorite decks without question, artifact and graveyard shenanigans just play together wonderfully.

As for Bant, if you are not just looking for generic goodstuff (I.E. Chulane, Teller of Tales), I like how well the color combination can play with an evasive "weenie" strategy helmed by Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa and your choice of blue partner. Thrasios, Triton Hero is the strongest, though I really like how Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator plays with him and lets you run a pirate sub-theme. It's a weird strategy in commander, but I enjoy my Sidar x Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist, so just removing a color from that seems feasible.

[Treamayne]

For Grixis, you could try Lord of Tresserhorn for a Zombie Tribal, but I really prefer my Garza Zol, Plague Queen Vampire tribal with Proliferate theme. Nothing like putting Dizzying Gaze on Baron Sengir and pinging a flier that's about to die anyway for 1 damage.

Bant could typically lead you towards enchantress with Estrid, the Masked or Tuvasa the Sunlit, or towards blink with Roon of the Hidden Realm. You could also try voltron with good ol' Rafiq of the Many.

My favorite Bant decks have been Estrid, the Masked and Rafiq of the Many, but I tried to use them in a way I hadn't seen others play them:

Rafiq, instead of Voltron is full-on Exalted Themed. All the "when a creature attacks alone" effects (e.g. Angelic Exaltation), banding for defense and a sprinkle of effects that tap creatures as a cost (e.g. Glare of Subdual) and weird synergies like Gemini Engine (stack it so the token triggers last and it will have all of the P/T exalted boosts, even if it doesn't get the keyword boosts)

Estrid I went with Man Lands, including Zendikons (e.g. Vastwood Zendikon), Genju (e.g. Genju of the Fields) and Magemarks (e.g. Infiltrator's Magemark). A smattering of enchantresses and things like Terra Eternal, Embodiment of Insight, and Planar Cleansing.

[LightningHelix]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Kess, Dissident Mage for Grixis.

If you like slinging Instants and sorceries, its one of the best.