Geth: suicide control

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 4 years ago

Geth is one of my two oldest decks, and among the two is the less common commander. Geth vs Kemba was a pair of decks built to play against each other for a while.

When I first started playing commander in 2009, I build a monoblack removal/discard heavy deck with Nezumi Graverobber // Nighteyes the Desecrator as the commander without realizing this wasn't a legal option. General plan was proactively get my opponent's creatures in their graveyards for me to use. Queue Mirroden Besieged and Geth, Lord of the Vault being printed. That swap brought my focus to be less on reanimating my own creatures, but Geth can feed his own ability by milling opponents. He is also a wincon with sufficient mana, and not even eldrazi titans reshuffling can prevent it if they're on my battlefield.

The general strategy and play pattern of the deck is fairly straightforward. Build a mana heavy board state while playing board control, and eventually land Geth to start transitioning mana production into value engines and winconditions. I call this suicide control because it's fairly open to attack in the early game, and when combined with using life as a resource, it is not uncommon to be down most of your starting life total with a Pestilence in play.
Decklist

Commander Support

Damage based Board Wipes

The demonic bargin

Approximate Total Cost:

Edited from here to add more detail on strategy and card choices.

Late game finishers include several combos: There are a couple uncommon cards/playstyle choices here that I should mention here:
  • Mind Slash, Infernal Tribute, and Phyrexian Arena are of specific note because they avoid a large number of my own board wipes by being enchantments, while also being extremely devotion heavy to help get Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx online. They are also targets for Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed for recursion. I can play these early without much worry and they set up well for mid/late game.
  • Mind Slash specifically, while sorcery speed only, is a repeatable method to get information from opponent's hand while placing targets that I want for Geth and removing counterspells or other stack control pieces.
  • Infernal Tribute is a sacrifice outlet for any card, which is relevant when Geth can target artifacts. Generally, this makes most mana rocks into Mind Stone at the worst. With Amulet of Vigor in play, an opponent's Sol Ring becomes b: draw a card.
  • Phyrexian Arena is emblematic of my card advantage in this deck. Frankly, I don't run much of it. This is primarily because I intend the largest source of cards and value to be from my opponents. What dedicated card advantage I run all performs a secondary role, often removal in some form.
  • Amulet of Vigor is entirely there to support Geth by untapping mana rocks or blockers when I steal them. This significantly helps when try not to die to attackers.
  • Nevinyrral's Disk can enter untapped with Amulet, which greatly improves it's value. If there were a comparable board wipe without the semi-random nature of Boompile, I'd swap it.
  • All my sacrifice outlets need to be both good for value over turns or multi-use in a single turn. If I have enough mana to mill somone out, but they are playing spellslinger with very few Geth targets, the sacrifice outlets are needed to close the game out.
  • NOT including Sanguine Bond or similar to pair with Exquisite Blood for both style reasons and because there is very little life gain.
Last edited by Crazy Monkey 2 years ago, edited 7 times in total.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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ISBPathfinder
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

Your sac outlets feel a bit odd to me. Is it so that you can sacrtifice the things you resurrect with geth? I don't really get a feel that many of your creatures in the list actually want to be sacrificed as it stands.

I have always had sort of a dislike for nevinyrral's disk too given the turn delay before it can go off. I have actually been sort of pleased with Boompile which is not a sure shot but people need to respect its potential to pop and the chance of it working by the turn after is fairly decent but I really find that the one turn for sure delay of Disk is sometimes just entirely too slow.

What do you think of swaping dismember for Defile? It seems like you have a favorable setup for Defile. The fact that it can scale to get creatures beyond 5 toughness seems appealing and in a lot of cases it still packs enough punch for early game utility creatures.

amulet of vigor - am I missing something here? This seems like a very odd inclusion.

Draw - it seems like your overall draw effects seem a bit low. You do have a lot of expensive mana dumps though so perhaps its fine. I was just thinking that maybe you could use a few more draw effects. Some cheap one shot draw could be fine but I also really like the looks of Dread Presence for mono black (I have not yet had the liberty to test him though).
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Post by OCPunisher » 4 years ago

Geth brings everything back tapped, so Amulet of Vigor helps with that.

Sac outlets are usually there to allow Geth to re-steal them if need be. I would recommend Altar of Dementia over any non-Altar sac outlet because the payoff for using it is exactly what Geth already wants to do and the free activation cost can't be beat. I would NOT recommend using any sac outlets that only work at sorcery speed (Mind Slash) because a lot of times you'll want to use them in response to a removal spell.

You might find that the Pestilence effects are a bit of a non-bo because Geth doesn't care about colored mana.
A deck for every color: Rakdos | Lord | Heliod | Yeva | Tetsuko | Scarab | Kykar | Kozz | Athreos | Haldan/Pako

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ISBPathfinder
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

If there is value in sac outlets then perhaps High Market and Phyrexian Tower are worth including? Its not all that likely that you should need to multi sac in a turn I wouldn't think and the amount of space utility lands take up isn't huge.
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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 4 years ago

The sacrifice outlets are primarily to reuse Geth. Infernal Tribute gives a sacrifice outlet for artifacts and card advantage. Mind slash is more often a method to remove answers proactively and clear the way for a win condition. Sorcery speed hurts, but the repeatable effect can lock down the game.

You're right about the disk, but amulet of vigor mitigates it. I like boompile, but dislike the chance portion of it.

Your recommendations for targeted removal make sense and should probably be tested. I tested dread presence, but it died before doing more than replace itself (it was often killed by me).

Altar of dementia was in the deck at one point, and I think it was lent to another deck but not returned. I should reconsider it.

Overall, the deck usually plays board control until it lands big mana, then uses Geth to gain card advantage from the graveyards of my opponents that were filled by the board control.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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benjameenbear
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Post by benjameenbear » 4 years ago

Mindcrank was one of the first cards I would tutor for when Geth helmed my mono-Black Commander deck. Why not here? It seems particularly powerful with Pestilence type of effects.

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 4 years ago

Mindcrank makes far too much sense, and needs to be tested.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 2 years ago

It's been a while since I updated this list. While I was at it, I added some more clarification on the deck strategy and card choices.

As a changelog compared to this thread, the card I didn't get around to fitting in was Mindcrank. I think I just didn't find my copy and had no opportunity to pick it up at LGS or trade. When acquired, I'll probably test it over Necromancy.

If I recall correctly, Altar of Dementia felt winmore with Geth already milling and the shear amount of mana at that stage. I remain impressed with Mind Slash feeding graveyards with the cards I want there, while specifically denying those cards to my opponents.

Recent print additions include the combination of Opposition Agent and Field of Ruin as a semi-fetch that keeps me hitting land drops (swamps) with Crucible of Worlds while giving me access to my opponent's swamps as well. More Theft.

I recall deciding to play Baleful Mastery over Deadly Rollick because often needed to cast it without Geth on the battlefield. On the topic of spot removal, Defile has done well.

Side bar, the game which reminded me to update this thread involved me casting Extraplanar Lens 6 times after each of 6 cyclonic rifts. I believe it was many turns of lens → Caged Sun, then a Volrath's Strongholded Burnished Hart after the lens, 3 swamps tapped to get 2 swamps, then Liliana of the Dark Realms for another swamp. Then the Ephara, God of the Polis player after me blinked recursion, picked up the rift, and recast it before my turn. First time I ran out of swamps in my deck in a long time. He was rifting me because I kept board wiping him; fun times. Eventually won off a third guy's Seedborn Muse.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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lyonhaert
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Post by lyonhaert » 2 years ago

Crazy Monkey wrote:
2 years ago
Side bar, the game which reminded me to update this thread involved me casting Extraplanar Lens 6 times after each of 6 cyclonic rifts. I believe it was many turns of lens → Caged Sun, then a Volrath's Strongholded Burnished Hart after the lens, 3 swamps tapped to get 2 swamps, then Liliana of the Dark Realms for another swamp. Then the Ephara, God of the Polis player after me blinked recursion, picked up the rift, and recast it before my turn. First time I ran out of swamps in my deck in a long time. He was rifting me because I kept board wiping him; fun times. Eventually won off a third guy's Seedborn Muse.
Oof.

I'm gonna have to study your list. I need to build a Geth deck, but it's for a "Geth Challenge" with some folks on discord. In it, four players each build a Geth deck and then play them against each other in a pod. And metagaming the build is fine within reason, knowing that all three opponents are also piloting Geth. It'll be hilarious, bad, or hilariously bad.
Chainer bbb
"Image"
(rebuild after Geth)
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bw Breena
To-Build Pool
rb Obosh Burn
gw Dromoka

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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 2 years ago

Somehow I anticipate those games to have either everyone playing the Caged Sun/Crypt Ghast effects or everyone trying to metagame it and nobody running those effects with intention to steal them.

It does seem like prime use for Field of Ruin and Opposition Agent.
Commander Decks


Kemba | Kytheon | Talrand | Unesh | Teferi | Geth | primer Zada | Krenko | Torbran | Patron Orochi | Ghalta | Gargos | Medomai | The Count | Xenagos | Nikya | Jaheira, Artisan | Trostani | Athreos | Jarad | Ivy | Nin | Krark & Sakashima | Feather | Osgir | Gisela | Roon | Chulane | Sydri | Ertai | Mairsil | Vial & Malcolm | Prossh | Marath | Marisi | Syr Gwyn | Riku | Riku | Animar | Ghave | Tasigur | Muldrotha | Rayami | Zedruu | Yidris | Kynaios & Tiro | Saskia | Tymna & Kydele | Atraxa | Akiri & Silas | Sisay | Ur Dragon | Bridge | Horde | Najeela | Genju | Traxos



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lyonhaert
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Post by lyonhaert » 2 years ago

Crazy Monkey wrote:
2 years ago
Somehow I anticipate those games to have either everyone playing the Caged Sun/Crypt Ghast effects or everyone trying to metagame it and nobody running those effects with intention to steal them.

It does seem like prime use for Field of Ruin and Opposition Agent.
Oh, definitely Field of Ruin and maybe some other things to blow up or neutralize Coffers, but I likely won't include Agent. We'll be playing over webcam and even though I could build for zero tutoring it's a risk if it gets stolen. So I probably just won't build it that mean.

I'm not trying to have zero things for anybody to steal, but I am doing some tricksy things like including Josu Vess, Lich Knight and Skyclave Relic - stuff that can be better cast from hand than stolen. Kickers and "if cast from hand" stuff. Also considering some stuff that has to be sacrificed to use, so that maybe they get passed around. Also some instant gy sculpting things like Misinformation, Death Rattle, Murderous Cut. Some spells with flashback and so on. It'll be interesting if we have some scuffles over targets in gy the way blue mages have over the stack.
Chainer bbb
"Image"
(rebuild after Geth)
Other
r Lathliss
bw Breena
To-Build Pool
rb Obosh Burn
gw Dromoka

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