DirkGently attempts to match his playgroup Episode VII: Attack of the Clones

[DirkGently]

War! It is a time of this joke being over.

I haven't really made a clone-focused list yet...I don't really consider it an archetype, insofar as there's nothing that makes it synergistic really. I guess it can be if your opponents are playing synergistic cards for you to copy. But more importantly, it seems like a good way to match the group's power.

However, I have played Geth, Lord of the Vault and I know from experience with that commander that it can be kinda easy to end up being "your deck...but way better" if you aren't careful in how you use enemy cards. Geth in particular makes it easy to functionally draw way more cards, and generate way more mana, than your opponents, and so use their cards far more effectively than they could ever hope to.

So there's a couple different similar strategies that use exclusively enemy cards to win, and I'm curious if people have insights on the variations and how they might play out in a low-powered group. By low-powered, I mean precons are probably the strongest decks at the table.

Each version will probably use creature and spell copying to some extent, but of course the commander has a big impact on where the focus goes. Blue is mandatory, other colors optional. So we've got:

Spell focus, using Errant, Street Artist/Rootha, Mercurial Artist/Uyo, Silent Prophet.

Creature focus, using Sakashima the Impostor/Volrath, the Shapestealer

Graveyard focus, using The Mimeoplasm/The Scarab God/Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

Spell focus I think seems a little shaky as there are lots of spells that just aren't going to do much to copy, but also some that, when multi-copied are going to be insane, especially with Uyo, Silent Prophet. I do want some spell copying, but I think focusing on it is likely to be very feast/famine, with a lot of blowout games that aren't very interesting.

Creature focus seems pretty safe. One interesting wrinkle of Volrath is that he requires the enemy creatures to live, whereas sakashima is happy for them to die once he's already copied them. Same is true for some other clones, though ofc most clones are permanently cloning one thing. But how interesting is an army of clones fighting their originals? Does it actually play out interestingly, or does it just become a bit of a stalemate? Or does copying the best onboard creature with every clone tend to become overpowering for a low-powered group?

Graveyard focus has more potential to spiral out of control since people usually aren't getting power from their graveyard, whereas copying something strong requires an opponent to have something strong. Scarab god is probably the most dangerous since he's such a strong card to begin with. Mimeo and Lazav seem pretty safe, though, and the upside is that it won't always be a mirror match on-board. Eventually this just sorta becomes enemy reanimator. But nothing says I couldn't run mimeo/lazav as my only grave "clone" and then focus on regular clones for the rest, if they're interesting enough.

As far as the rest of the deck, I think I'm going to focus on short-term removal - bounce effects, blink, Remand, that sort of thing. I think that'll keep enemies lightly in check while not feeling like a brutal control deck.

[Treamayne]

I prefer a mix of all three - but then you already know I'm weird.
I don't know if it will help, but here's my Halfdane decklist. Maybe you can mine some ideas from it (despite some MTGOisms like Timetwister).

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Halfdane

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

General

1 Halfdane

Creatures (30)

1 Nascent Metamorph

1 Shape Stealer

1 Shapesharer

1 Unsettled Mariner

1 Brightling

1 Cemetery Puca

1 Cryptoplasm

1 Dimir Doppelganger

1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore

1 Mirror Entity

1 Volrath's Shapeshifter

1 Clever Impersonator

1 Endling

1 Evil Twin

1 Gigantoplasm

1 Graveshifter

1 Identity Thief

1 Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

1 Phyrexian Metamorph

1 Wall of Stolen Identity

1 Body Double

1 Cairn Wanderer

1 Changeling Hero

1 Clone Shell

1 Morphling

1 Aetherling

1 Duplicant

1 Sakashima's Protege

1 Volrath the Fallen

1 Quicksilver Gargantuan

Artifacts (9)

1 Elixir of Immortality

1 Expedition Map

1 Masterwork of Ingenuity

1 Thaumatic Compass // Spires of Orazca

1 Manascape Refractor

1 Sculpting Steel

1 Spear of Heliod

1 The Immortal Sun

1 Akroma's Memorial

Enchantment (6)

1 Vampiric Rites

1 Copy Artifact

1 Trade Routes

1 Estrid's Invocation

1 Reconnaissance Mission

1 Reflections of Littjara

Instants (7)

1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire

1 Tithe

1 Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau

1 Lim-Dûl's Vault

1 Crib Swap

1 Rootborn Defenses

1 Mirror Match

Sorceries (9)

1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt

1 Timetwister

1 Rite of Replication

1 Tempt with Reflections

1 Fractured Identity

1 Zndrsplt's Judgment

1 Time Spiral

1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn

1 Clone Legion

Approximate Total Cost:

[TheGildedGoose]

Sakashima of a Thousand Faces/Tormod, the Desecrator with Gyruda, Doom of Depths companion combo, obviously.

[Ruiner]

I've played a Sakashima the Impostor clones deck for years now and thoroughly enjoy it. My list is in my signature if you want some inspiration, although I suspect you'd have to power it down a bit with regards to efficient counterspells for your particular playgroup, and probably remove the Dark Depths as well.

I really like the effects that temporarily change opposing creatures like Polymorphist's Jest, which is not overpowering at all but leads to some goofy unexpected situations for people. Redirect effects are another fun control aspect that doesn't feel so cutthroat.

It is definitely a good choice that scales with the power level of the game you are in, and you never know what your real gameplan will be, which I always find fun/interesting. Being mono-blue also gives you some definite limitations.

I have definitely had games where I end up doing what someone else's deck is doing but better, such as a game where there was a The Locust God player and I ended up with two copies of his commander in play, making all of his potential wheel effects more beneficial for me, slowing him down while any of my card draw like Brainstorm or Blue Sun's Zenith started to outrace him. Or a game where I was able to Rite of Replication kick out multiple Lyra Dawnbringer thanks to Mirror Gallery.

Other times though, you end up with a hodgepodge of random stuff with low synergy because your deck obviously is missing the "gas" that makes those creatures work in their own decks. Like, when there are more controlling decks with support creatures, or strategies like Aristocrats, you are going to have some poor clone choices. Big dumb stompy decks will give you more opportunity for just getting a bunch of their best creatures obviously.

I think when facing precon level decks, you are probably going to tend more towards just having a goofy mismatched board state that you will be trying to just cobble a victory from.

A friend of mine has been running a 5 color clones deck which has also been pretty interesting. It was led by Garth One-Eye but now he's switched to Esika, God of the Tree // The Prismatic Bridge so that he just randomly gets clones into play, possibly when he doesn't want to.

[Legend]

Does this mean you abandoned 99 lands?

[DirkGently]

I prefer a mix of all three - but then you already know I'm weird.
I don't know if it will help, but here's my Halfdane decklist. Maybe you can mine some ideas from it (despite some MTGOisms like Timetwister).

I was planning on some mix of all three most likely. Possibly not much grave copying if I'm going mono-blue, though. I like Halfdane, though, I kinda forgot about him but he'd be funny to run.

How is timetwister a MTGOism? You're telling me you don't have a timetwister kicking around?

In seriousness, I don't like the card very much but I might copy its inclusion just because I rarely play my copy (definitely contemplating selling it). It's super fun to be constantly anxious while handling my deck!

@Ruiner all great info, thanks a lot!

Does this mean you abandoned 99 lands?

No, I just build faster than I play. I'll be trying out both 99Garth and Clones next time I play (assuming I get clones finished before then, Garth is ready to go).

Didn't mean to thank your post but now I can't take it back xD

[Treamayne]

How is Timetwister a MTGOism? You're telling me you don't have a timetwister kicking around?

In seriousness, I don't like the card very much but I might copy its inclusion just because I rarely play my copy (definitely contemplating selling it). It's super fun to be constantly anxious while handling my deck!

Only on MODO; though I didn't even have one in my old collection either. I added it here because I wanted to test the effect without self-exile - not for any nefarious combo purposes.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Remember how in your Parnesse thread I talked about Shunt control? Why not add to your clones a bevy of redirects and twincasts? Then you can really only do something if something's already happening.

I think the only way you're gonna find yourself sufficiently challenged by this concept is if you truly make a deck incapable of proactivity. All clones, copy cards, and redirection, plus a splash of ramp. That way, you really are playing their game at their pace. Otherwise, you'll just copy the Greatest Hits of The Table and kill them anyway.

[Legend]

Didn't mean to thank your post but now I can't take it back xD

Been there.

[DirkGently]

Remember how in your Parnesse thread I talked about Shunt control? Why not add to your clones a bevy of redirects and twincasts? Then you can really only do something if something's already happening.

I think the only way you're gonna find yourself sufficiently challenged by this concept is if you truly make a deck incapable of proactivity. All clones, copy cards, and redirection, plus a splash of ramp. That way, you really are playing their game at their pace. Otherwise, you'll just copy the Greatest Hits of The Table and kill them anyway.

I like redirects but in this case I think I want to go with spell copying rather than redirection, for sake of not pissing people off. Redirection is basically the spell version of theft. Plus copying is more versatile.

I'm not sure how you mean about avoiding copying "the greatest hits of the table". Why wouldn't there be a risk of that with "all clones, copy cards" etc?

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Yeah you have a point, maybe there is no avoiding it. Are you sure you wanna do this? This is the same playgroup that apparently requires 99 lands. Playing their own things against them may still be too good.

[Sinis]

Oooo! I feel like I can contribute to this one. I once played Sakashima the Impostor as a general in a clone-focused deck. I even went out and obtained a Beta Clone|LEB for it (this was when they were not ridiculously priced).

It's actually way more powerful than you'd think. Part of the problem is that the things you clone are going to be worth more than the standard clone's 4-5 mv. So, someone plays a Tarrasque, and you're like "Don't mind if I do for " and realistically, that's going to get out of hand real fast.

As for wincons, I found Clone Legion and Rite of Replication to be pretty standard fare. I also had some of my own gross beaters in there, because sometimes other decks don't offer you much in short order. Scourge of Fleets was pretty oppressive (because the only thing worse than Scourge of Fleets is clone of it the next turn, and the turn after that, and the turn after that...), so you might want to avoid that one.

[DirkGently]

If anyone is wondering how this went - 2-0 so far. The second game ended with me having…I wanna say 7 stolen/copied Talrand, Sky Summoner, 2 copied enchantments buffing my legion of drakes to 4/4, control of every creature on the board thanks to a copied Willbreaker, and 44ing one opponent with a 4x copied fireball for 11 he tried to hit me with.

I think I'll need to think of a way to weaken this idea quite a bit before it's a good match for my group.