Pir & Toothy, Imagine a Bigger Friend!

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Gamazson
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Post by Gamazson » 2 years ago

Pir & Toothy, Imagine a Bigger Friend!


Glossary

Beater - A creature with high power / toughness used exclusively for attacking.

Flick / Flicker - A spell or effect that causes a permanent to leave the battlefield in exile then immediately return.

Hate - A card or player that has the undivided attention of their opponents, who will then frequently target removal or attacks in that direction.

Ramp - A spell that adds a mana producing permanent to a player's battlefield above the normal one land per turn.

Wheel - Refers to a card with an effect that requires a player(s) to discard or shuffle their hand and draw all new cards.


"Image"


Do you like to draw cards? Do you like to punch your opponents with really big creatures? Of course you do! This is the commander format isn't it? Let me introduce you to Pir, Imaginative Rascal and his fast growing partner, Toothy, Imaginary Friend!

Introduction

I am a bit of a Magic the Gathering hipster. Although I started out playing during high school lunch breaks during the Onslaught era, I got into Commander early during the original Zendikar era. Back then it was called Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), and it was little more than a fan format. I have taken a few breaks over the years for personal or financial reasons but this format keeps calling me back.

Though I have learned the art of removal and interacting with my opponents board state over the years, I am still an unashamed Battlecruiser pilot. My favourite commanders have always been big beaters. Kresh the Bloodbraided, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Ezuri, Claw of Progress are the spiritual predecessors of this deck.

Over the past couple of years Pir & Toothy has surprised me with it's stability. When a deck gets this old, I inevitably make changes that cause it to become inconsistent. Periodically I'll take such decks apart to rebuild them. Not all decks survive this process as their constituent parts become more interesting in decks commanded by newer cards. This deck has been the exception. Despite being unrecognizable from it's first iterations, it has done nothing but get better over time.

You will like this deck if...
You like lots of card draw.
Controlling the biggest creature makes you smile.
You are looking for a consistent strategy.
You want to win with a Laboratory Maniac without using a combo.
You may not like this deck if...
You don't like voltron strategies.
You prefer to control the game.
You want a deck that explodes in the first 3 turns.



Alternate Commanders


Alternate Commanders
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I consider this deck to be built around a card draw theme. For players interested in +1/+1 counter theme, this is not the primer for you. I don't even think Pir & Toothy are the best commanders for it. Instead I would like to point you towards a typical Ezuri Claw of Progress or Atraxa Praetor's Voice decklist. Though there are many Legendary creatures that care about hand size and card draw, I feel that there are only 2 comparable in the context of this deck.

The Locust God
If I had to make a comparison, The Locust God is Pir & Toothy's closest cousin in terms of gameplay despite the color difference. Both decks utilize a growth through card draw strategy, packing in as much mass card draw as possible. Where they start to differ is in how they benefit from that card draw. Pir & Toothy gain counters to win via commander damage while The Locust God makes an army of tokens to trigger Purphoros, God of the Forge style effects. Another big difference is that The Locust God lacks green's creature based card draw. That makes this old god dependent on wheel effects which do not have the same ceiling.

Prime Speaker Zegana
Using the inverse strategy is Prime Speaker Zegana. She wants you to have the biggest possible creature and uses card draw as the incentive. These decklists typically use a mix of simic good stuff such as Master Biomancer and Forgotten Ancient to build a beater, then it abuses Clone style effects once Zegana is on the battlefield. Prime Speaker Zegana went out of vogue as a commander a few years ago but continues to appear in the 99 of many other decks, including this one.

Decklist by Function
Pir & Toothy: Imagine a Better Friend

Card Selection

Secondary Beaters

Approximate Total Cost:


How to play

This deck build is very straight forward. You want to put both commanders in play, then draw as many cards as possible. This will rapidly increase Toothy's power and toughness, allowing a kill via commander damage in as little 1-2 turns after he was cast. There are also other alternative win conditions available to close out longer games, but first let's understand our partners.

Commander Overview


Pir Imaginative Rascal

Partner with Toothy, Imaginary Friend (When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put Toothy into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)

Our second commander Toothy has the mirrored version of this ability. Unlike the traditional partner ability, Pir & Toothy can only be partnered with each other, but they can search for each other if they are located in the main deck. Partner commanders can both start in the command zone, and the colour identity of your deck is based on both cards. Deck size is reduced to 98 instead of 99. When you cast either partner from the command zone, you can search your library for the other card and fail to find it. It does not come up often in this deck, but this is a handy rule loophole if you need a shuffle.

"If one or more counters would be put on a permanent your team controls, that many plus one of each of those kinds of counters are put on that permanent instead."

This card is a Winding Constrictor on steroids. He offers many practical benefits. Permanents such as Replicating Ring will grow more quickly. Planeswalkers will enter the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter, as well as receiving a boost to their positive loyalty abilities. He is a common addition to any deck that cares to proliferate permanents. However that will not be the focal point of this deck. Now let's have a look at his best friend.




Toothy, Imaginary Friend

"Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on Toothy, Imaginary Friend."

This is ability is the focus of the deck. Drawing cards is one of the most powerful things you can do in Magic. Each card you draw is treated by the game rules as a separate trigger. That means if a spell like Brainstorm tells you to draw 3, this ability will trigger 3 times. If Pir is on the battlefield, that would net a total of 6 +1/+1 counters as he is adding an extra counter to each trigger. Combined with more explosive card draw spells, Toothy will swell in size.

"When Toothy leaves the battlefield, draw a card for each +1/+1 counter on it."

This ability is interesting. There are builds that will purposefully abuse it. When Toothy is flickered by a spell like Essence Flux, his second ability to draw cards resolves after he has been returned to the battlefield, which will trigger his first ability. I prefer one sided wheel effects like Tolarian Winds, Whirlpool Rider and Whirlpool Drake. I find them to be more reliable since they don't depend on Toothy alone but these cards can easily be replaced by Siren's Ruse, Displace and Illusionist's Stratagem if you are looking for a more explosive play.

Just keep in mind, this ability is a double edged sword. The bigger Toothy gets, the higher the risk becomes that a removal spell might cause 'deck death'.



Getting Started


Your first priority is to get Pir & Toothy on the battlefield. Excluding an opening hand with Sol Ring, assume that it will take you until turn 4 to have both partners on the battlefield. A solid opening hand will have 3 lands and a single ramp spell. That will let you put Toothy on the battlefield by turn 3, and Pir on the field by turn 4 with a 1 or 2 cmc spell. An opening hand with at least 2 lands and 2 ramp spells or 3 lands with either Sylvan Library or Anvil of Bogardan are also playable.

On turn 5 you want to cast a mass draw spell, or a late ramp spell. I define the former as any spell that gives you at least 3 draw triggers upon resolution. The latter leverages Pir & Toothy's abilities to grow your mana quickly so that you can cast more of the cards you draw. Casting Soul's Majesty to draw 3 cards or Traverse the Outlands to ramp 3 land might seem like a poor payout compared to the high ceiling these cards have, but a delay to cast until turn 6 for a higher return might cost momentum.

I am using a value of 3 here as the worst case scenario. Depending on your opening hand, Toothy's power can be much higher. If you have cast a mass draw spell, Toothy will be at minimum a 9/9. At this point you want to assess the battlefield, then if you see a safe attack, move to combat. From here on out, your goal is to make Toothy as big as possible, and attack as often as possible.
Example Hands
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Keep

This is ideal. Garunteed to cast both commanders by turn 4, with mass ramp and draw spells to follow up.

Keep

This hand could be a turn slower, but it has everything you need after Pir & Toothy are on the battlefield.

Keep

No ramp, but with the Anvil you can be confidant that you will make every landdrop you need.

Risky

No ramp and your only draw is a wheel. Success will depend on the top deck.

Risky

This hand has the potential to be a very explosive start, but only if you draw another land before Ancestral Vision resolves.

Mulligan

No turn 1 coloured mana and a mass draw with a high cost best used latter in the game.

Mulligan

Lots of mana but nowhere to go with it.
Opposition Interference


No good plan survives first contact with the enemy, and this is around the point that players will begin to disrupt each other. You can join in the fun with a counterspell, Echoing Truth or Cyclonic Rift, but this isn't a control deck. Try to save those spells for later if at all possible. You may need them to protect yourself.

A Toothy with counters on it presents a conundrum for your opponents. On the one hand you have a very scary creature with a high power and toughness that can kill a player quickly. On the other hand, most forms of targeted removal against Toothy will cost your opponent a card, but will give you many more in return. You should assume that your opponents will try to hate Toothy out as early as possible.

Since the most powerful mass draw spells depend on you having a large creature, the deck includes backup beaters. Chasm Skulker & Lorescale Coatl both provide redundancy by mimicking Toothy's main ability. Ominous Seas will need other draw spells that are not creature dependent to get off the ground, but once it does, it will release an army of Kraken fairly quickly.

Pir is the least likely to draw hate, but if he does don't worry. By design the deck can work without his effect, albeit at half the usual pace. Hardened Scales can either be used in conjunction with Pir or in lieu of him. Resist the urge to add cards like Doubling Season or Branching Evolution. These cards come with high mana and financial costs that do not improve the playability of the deck.

You can also avoid targeted removal with Essence Flux or any other flicker effect to protect your creatures. When a creature flickers, it returns to the battlefield as a new permanent, breaking the target condition of your opponent's spell or ability, which will cause that spell or ability to fail to resolve. You can also use Essence Flux to flick Toothy during an opponent's combat step, bringing him back as an untapped blocker.

One of the downsides to having a small number of large creatures in any deck is that you will be exposed to counter attack. Propaganda can be used to mitigate this. For token armies, you can use Echoing Truth to bounce them back to your opponents hand. This deck also runs snow-covered basics to enable Ice-Fang Coatl, an excellent response to an opportunistic opponent's commander.
Dealing with Deck Death


The finesse of this deck comes from micromanaging Toothy. He is your best bud, but he will kill you. You must pay attention to how many cards are left in your library. More than once an opponent has eliminated me without even planning to do so. All it takes is one board wipe to resolve at the wrong time. There are a few strategies for avoiding this:
DECK DEATH
"Image"

104.3c If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in their library, they draw the remaining cards and then lose the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action.)




Plan A
Move the counters from Toothy to another creature with Bioshift. The deck has also used Ooze Flux in the past, but I found that card to be mana intensive.

Plan B
Counter Toothy's triggered ability when he leaves the battlefield. This deck includes Stifle, Disallow and Voidslime just for this reason. They also come in handy against a planeswalker ultimate ability or a Maze of Ith.

Plan C

Remove Toothy from the battlefield before he outgrows your library. He can be sacrificed to Miren, the Moaning Well or High Market. If you are truly desperate, you can target him with your own Echoing Truth or Cryptic Command. A Psychosis Crawler or Chasm Skulker on your battlefield may even thank you.

In past builds I attempted to use cards such as Commit // Memory or Day's Undoing to reshuffle my hand and graveyard into my library, but as the tempo of the deck improved they became less necessary, and bit too slow. Memory has a high mana cost, and Day's Undoing can only be cast after combat, which delays card tiggers that can be a combat useful buff.

My last tip is that you want to have an additional pair of 10 sided dice to track your library. Count them down when you draw cards as if it is an additional life total. At least until you have become more experienced with the deck. Though a cumbersome extra step, it will avoid holding up the game since you won't need to stop and count your library as often.

Closing the Game


By this point you will either have one massive creature, or a hand size larger than the remaining cards in your library. If things are going very well, you will have both. There are two options for finishing your opponents. The first option is to use evasion to kill them off during combat. The second is to assemble an alternative win based on your draw triggers.

Evasion

The package of evasion cards in this deck is simple enough. Rancor and Berserk provide trample at a low CMC, while the higher mana costed Herald of Secret Streams & Rogue's Passage offer unblockable. Cryptic Command, despite being a well known counterspell, I have classified as evasion because option 3, taping all creatures an opponent controls, is used the most often.

One of the few 'combos' in this deck is a combat trick involving Bioshift & Berserk. With Pir & Toothy on the battlefield, I will declare combat and attack with both creatures. They can attack different opponents or the same. After blockers have been declared I will use Bioshift on Toothy to alter Pir's power level. Note that you don't have to remove all counters from Toothy. How exactly this plays out will depend on the board state. Context will determine which partner should be targeted with Berserk and in what order both spells should be played. The final result is an opponent surprised with 21 commander damage from Pir.

Alternate Win Conditions

Since deck death is a looming spectre over the game, we may as well make it a win condition with Laboratory Maniac and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. Once either is on the battlefield, drawing your library is as simple as casting a mass draw spell or removing Toothy from the battlefield.

Psychosis Crawler is our back up plan among back up plans. A hand size of 20 - 30 cards is not uncommon. At that point, any wheel effect that does not empty your library will be enough to end the game in your favor most of the time.



Notable Cards

This list includes both cards that have been included in the deck and those that have been excluded from the deck and what my thoughts are on each of them. All of the listed cards have been playtested in the deck.

Give // Take
One of the great joys of the commander format is finding an utterly unremarkable card that turns powerhouse in a specific deck. Give // Take is one of the most powerful mass draw spells available to this deck. Usually I cast for the fuse cost, but I have cast Take on its own as well. The final result is drawing cards equal to the number of counters on Toothy, then doubling them if Pir is on the board.
Flux
For most players, this slot would be occupied by Windfall. Due to personal taste I prefer Flux as a wheel effect. Its advantages include replacing itself and the ability to only discard the cards you don't want. Its disadvantage is that your opponents get this same level of card selection. For competitive minded players that is unacceptable. Unless my deck has hand disruption as a goal, I'd prefer my opponents to have playable hands.


Plea for Power
If this deck had a pet card, this would be it. Each vote option is a Conelian Dilemma for your opponents. Unlike Expropriate, Plea for Power will spark a genuine debate among your opponents. One the one hand you get 3 cards, which often means +6 power for Toothy, on the other you could get an extra turn. Right now Fade Away occupies this slot, but that does not mean Plea won't make a return.
Nadir Kraken
This card falls just shy of greatness. It works as a very potent card in this deck, but having to pay for each draw trigger slows things down considerably. If you pay 6 mana to cast Prime Speaker Zegana and draw 9 cards, do you really want to keep an additional 9 mana open for the draw triggers? I ended up going back to my Lorescale Coatl.



The Ozolith
A build that leans heavily into flicker effects such as Essence Flux could abuse this card. Personally, I see it as a 1 mana insurance policy since it is also great for recovering from removal. If you lose Toothy, the next turn you can cast Chasm Skulker and transfer the counters to be back in business.


Arcum's Astrolabe
It does not do anything profound for the deck, but it fixes mana and gives you an easy card draw trigger. On it's own I wouldn't race out to put a copy in the deck, but I was already running snow-covered land to support the Ice-Fang Coatl.




Oversimplify
As of writing this card hasn't been released yet, but it was a no brainer to include. This deck struggles to defend itself when my opponents have large quantities of creatures on the battlefield. The deck is also mechanically dependent on having a large creature under your control. This is as synergistic as a board wipe can get.

Alchemist's Refuge
Leaving and one land untapped is a tall requirement on top a spell's existing mana cost. Most of the time it isn't worth keeping that kind of mana open. The exception is if you are expecting an opponent to cast a board wipe. This card will allow you to cast a powerful spell at the end of turn when things are safe or drop a surprise Laboratory Maniac for an unexpected win.



As Foretold
I didn't choose this card because it utilizes counters, that is a bonus. Leaving mana open for your counterspell's and other instant effects is a challenge. When you have a large hand size you will want to cast as many cards as possible on your turn. As Foretold will allow you to cast your instants on your opponents turns without paying the mana cost as long as there are enough counters.
Ancestral Vision
I included this card as a lark when I put As Foretold in the deck, because it allows you to cast suspend cards without a CMC value as though they cost 0. It is one of those rule loopholes that is fun to show off, but not practical. Ancestral Vision has proved itself independently useful. Although slow, it is a welcome sight in any opening hand. By the time it resolves, Pir and Toothy will already be on the battlefield waiting to benefit from the draw triggers.




Simic Ascendancy
This card was cut from the deck some ago. In my experience it would either be removed before the win clause triggered or other methods of winning were often faster to achieve. Lastly, the rule interaction between our Commanders and this card can be very difficult to explain to a new player.

Most players assume on first reading that one card draw trigger with Pir & Toothy on the battlefield would net 4 counters on Simic Ascendancy. The logic is that when Toothy gets two counters, that is two triggers on ascendency where Pir will add an additional counter to each trigger, totaling 4. What actually happens is that when two counters are added to Toothy, that is one trigger for ascendency. Pir's ability then adds an additional counter for a total of 3 counters per card drawn.

I have kept this card off the 'Cards to Avoid' list because it will not work against the deck, but running it is a very strong meta or preference decision.




Cards to Avoid

There are 3 types of card I would encourage a Pir & Toothy deck builder to avoid. Those are cards with frustrating to resolve effects, simic good stuff, and cards that have you sacrifice a creature as an additional cost.

An example of a frustrating card would be Sphinx's Tutelage. This deck can easily produce 10+ draw triggers per turn that your opponent would have to independently resolve each time, adding unnecessary run time to a game. Another example would be Teferi's Puzzle Box. It is undeniably powerful in this build, but putting your hand in order every turn, then drawing 20 more cards will make each draw step take ages. Depending on the patience level of your opponents, this can get you hated out faster than being an actual threat.

Simic good stuff is any Green &/or Blue card that is focused on creating / utilizing +1/+1 counters. Master Biomancer, Forgotten Ancient, Fathom Mage, and Plaxcaster Frogling have all been in this deck at one time or another. Each has been replaced by a faster card. This also includes Doubling Season or Branching Evolution that I mentioned early. You will not get a return on investment including these effects in this deck.

Lastly stay away from Eldritch Evolution, Life's Legacy and Momentous Fall. They are tempting. Momentous Fall in particular, it is an easy means to remove Toothy when needed and provide a high payout. It is also a magnet for a counterspell because you sacrifice the creature as an additional cost. Few blue players can resist a 2 for 1 when decided whether or not to cast a counterspell. Removing Toothy yourself won't come up more than once a game, and when it does you are already ahead, firmly making these cards a win more situation.



Budget Substitutions

Coming Soon(ish)
Pir & Toothy: $150 Budget
Approximate Total Cost:









Last edited by Gamazson 1 year ago, edited 12 times in total.

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Gamazson
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Post by Gamazson » 2 years ago

Decisive Denial has been removed in favor of the card it originally replaced, Inscription of Abundance. I found myself missing the option of life gain during a recent game.

Fade Away is an old card that is new to me. It has the potential to be a very one sided board wipe since this deck has so few creatures on the field at one time. At the very least it can mop up tokens. It replaces Teferi, Master of Time which has been a bit underwhelming. This deck does not do much with the graveyard so the looting effect has been somewhat detrimental. My other mass draw spells are more efficient, and his CMC is too high for the card advantage role I had slotted him into.

Also, I swapped out Explore for Charge Through. Both are cantrip's and I can see the advantage of instant speed trample when you are certain your opponent will chump block.

My last note is that I have temporarily removed the budget section. I feel like what I did write was half hearted and not as helpful as it could have been. As time permits I will be exploring that section again.

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Post by Gamazson » 2 years ago

Quick Update: I have been having problems recovering from board wipes lateley. Downside of a signature deck with a lot of play, your opponents learn the best times to mess with your tempo. I have replaced Kalonian Hydra with Elder Gargaroth because the latter is better defensive choice that can recover your board state. I'm sad to loose some +1/+1 synergy, but in reality Toothy and the Hydra rarely shared the board at the same time, and when they did, it was overkill.

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Post by Gamazson » 1 year ago

It has been a while since my last update, but this build has been pretty stable. Just some minor changes.
  • Arcum's Astrolabe was swapped out for my copy of Exploration after I tore down a lands matter deck.
  • I also be testing out Slip Out the Back. As is always the case with a battlecruiser deck, you need options for dealing with removal.

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Post by Gamazson » 1 year ago

It has been a while since I have made major edits to this deck. Many of my choices this time are based on "feedback" from a post by @pokken. He ran a fantastic thread where you could submit your deck to be roasted. It was obviously all in good fun but in all satire are hints of truth which I have sought to address.

You can read his roast here: http://nxs.wf/np230119

Time for my edits!
  • Arcane Signet & Simic Signet have been swapped for Index & Ponder. The goal is to have more first turn plays.
  • Continuing with ramp changes, Traverse the Outlands gets booted out by Astral Cornucopia. Growth Spiral is also out in favour of Search for Tomorrow. In both cases it is all about reducing the over CMC of my ramp.
  • Teferi's Ageless Insight is card that I had always considered to be a win more option, but Pokken believes that it will be good, so I'm giving it a shot. It replaces Rhystic Study which has proven too slow for the deck. Mass draw spells have always had a much better return on mana spent. Insight will double their effectiveness.
  • Mystical Tutor has been removed because I have searched for a card, then triggered a shuffle of my library more than once. Always makes me feel like a dumbass. I am, but I don't want to feel that way. I found Credit Voucher in a penny bin. Functionally it is a Whirlpool Drake which is great to have more of.
  • Also, per Pokken's feed back, I am going to run more blink effects. He suggested Ghostly Flicker but I am going to go with Blur instead. It's newer, it's shinier, and it says, "Draw a Card". I don't think the need to blink two targets simultaneously will be common. With the amount of non-creature cards in the deck, Displacer Kitten also feels like a solid choice. These cards replace Inscription of Abundance & Lorescale Coatl.
  • The last change worth writing about is Cultivator Colossus replacing Elder Gargaroth. This is not because Gargaroth preformed poorly in the deck, far from it, but the deck only has so much room for a back up beater. The excessively large hand sizes this deck creates benefits Colossus greatly. If cast late in the game, you can put 3-4 land into play without needing to resort to Abundance combo.

Theoric
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Post by Theoric » 1 year ago

I don't play my Pir and Toothy deck anymore but here's some cards I found to be very efficient:

slip through space and shadow rift are 1cmc cards that replace themselves and make Toothy unblockable.
siren's ruse is another decent blinker.
Kenrith's Transformation is card draw and removal in one.

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Post by Gamazson » 1 year ago

I'll keep an eye out for Slip Through Space & Shadow Rift. I'd probably cut Rancor for at least one. Might cut a counter spell for the other.

Kenrith's Transformation would be a solid addition. It hurts my soul a little to admit this, because it is a pet card, but Ice-Fang Coatl is the most logical card to remove. From the perspective of writing this thread as a primer to be used by others, the snow cards are under utilized. It would be optimal to cut them overall.

For now I am comfortable with the mount of blink in the deck. I still prefer whirlpool-esk draw spells since they offer card selection and are not dependent on Toothy. For example, blinking Psychosis Crawler on it's own wouldn't achieve anything, but drawing a bunch of cards, especial late game could end the whole thing.

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Post by Gamazson » 1 year ago

Based @Theoric's feedback I have made some changes.

First off I have dropped Displacer Kitten. Lots of non-creature spells to cast and trigger it. Most of them I want to cast before combat damage is dealt. If I trigger the kitten and target Toothy, I prevent him from entering combat or from dealing damage.

The res are straight forward swaps.
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