Brewing With Underwhelming Commanders | Episode 22

[@gilligan6868]

I really enjoy this series. I get bored of seeing the Kenrith, Godo, Gitrog, Yuriko, etc decks at my LGS' game night. So, at least once a month, I try to build a deck no one expects just to add some change. These vids always give me a good starting point!

[@SandOfToru]

We need more people with your mindset!

[@trenttrombley9414]

Long time Hua Tuo player, and absolutely ecstatic to see him getting some love! A great card with him (which I feel is a very Demo card) is Verdant Succession. With the Verdant trigger on the stack, you can respond to it with Hua Tuo to put that very creature back on top of your library which Succession will cheat back into play. It's a great way to get double ETB or Sac effects! He also is amazing with Deceiver of Form to set up your win conditions. Nothing like Blossoming Bogbeast, Thunderfoot Baloth, or Pathbreaker Ibex on top with Deceiver out to turn what looks like an innocent board into a complete blowout! Keep up the great work!

[@matthiasblum5772]

yo these are some neat tricks! make's me wanna build it

[@trenttrombley9414]

@@matthiasblum5772 do it!

[@charliemallonee2792]

17:45 No, no, no. You’re thinking too small. With any sac outlet, you can indefinitely sacrifice illusions to put a new land into play that you can immediately return for a new illusion and start looping. Granted, mono blue isn’t the best color for this, but you’ve still got colorless options like Blasting Station.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i just don't go the infinite combo route. not my style.

[@charliemallonee2792]

@@edhdeckbuilding Fair, I try not to either, just pointing it out. I run Miloku in my Minn deck, and even without going infinite they do make a great team.

[@patrickboswell4399]

HUa Tou is my oldest "still together" EDH deck. its changed and evolved over the 5+ years i've had it. I play it like a mono green tool box stompy deck. win a lot of games never casting him. he is my next turn play after a board wipe. you rebuild so much faster than mono green should be able too. plays like a mono green reanimator which you just can't get anywhere else. I play in the deck another card you should put on your sleeper cards lists. Llanowar Druid sooo overlooked get it back every turn and if you have a crossroads or a thousand year elixir you basically double your manan every turn. so many explosive turns and doesn't draw hate like the other mana doubler creatures

[@guyinthecorner0]

with a thousand year elixir, that'd be triple mana, even! Never seen this elf before, but I feel like I'm gonna throw it in my Lathril precon tune up now!

[@Marshtial]

Probably the most interesting episode of the series so far.

[@mrpinguimninja]

Me: "well, after another hard sunday updating my lists, I think I've finally rounded up my 'commanders to build' list Demo: "Hey, so I've heard you like monoblue and quirky commanders..."

[@gogaschnitzel3222]

Enjoyed the video :) Enjoying all of the underwhelming and weird builds commanders :)

[@returnoftheduelist9790]

Meloku goes infinite with a mystic sanctuary and an extra turn spell so thats not really underwhelming. Its not fun and its boring but definitely game winning in itself.

[@amamozart93]

It goes also infinte with walking atlas and retreat to coralhelm

[@hunt8722]

@@amamozart93 Sunscorched Desert ftw

[@SandOfToru]

Just because you could do that shouldn't mean you have to :)

[@nwind9594]

Meloku is a staple in my moonfolk tribal deck helmed by Cosima. The landfall triggers are insane but I didn't even realize the wording on Minn. With a sac outlet and Minn out that's infinite landfall triggers.

[@ilja615]

I feel it is needed to mention that with meloku you can also do fun stuff in the mana-base, such as including a lot of lands that have ETB effects! or lands with cycling or channel, to have the ability to pick them up then cycle/channel them. anyways nice video as always!

[@z-mashupz8069]

Love the series, one of the things I love about EDH is that you can take and underwhelming commander and make a viable (and somewhat janky) deck, I took Meloku into a janky mono-blue landfall build haven't ordered the deck yet but I can't wait to try it out.

[@jackhoeffel6830]

Love your consistency man

[@Trasgobardo]

My boy Meloku and The Patron of the Moon are star players in my Archelos deck. Walking Atlas and Scaretiller do some very good job too. When things like a Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse gets you a untaped lands without cost soon comes the time when you just don't know what to do with all that mana, so land bounce shenanigans come in to save the day~

[@Chapoopa]

These are my favorite videos you make!! Would love to see a janky Jarad, Golgari Lichlord someday!

[@calikillednoxgaming9606]

The Meloku deck is absolutely phenomenal. Gonna be my next creation!

[@schlaackmusic]

When I got Meloku from one of the precons and it made me very curious. Your deck looks fun as hell!

[@josephjelinski1489]

For Hua Tuo, have you thought about Bloodrush effects? For Meloku, I highly recommend Empyrial plate! Can easily manipulate the cards in your hand to make any creature absolutely deadly!

[@edhdeckbuilding]

yes channel would work as well

[@zjoaomx]

The Meloku deck is pretty neat!

[@WhiteTurtlez]

A great card with Hua Tuo that I used in my own build that I didn't see mentioned was Verdant Succession. It's a card that sees almost no play in commander but with the sub theme I had of sacrificing my large creatures for value I could respond to the verdant succession trigger looking for a creature in my library with the same name and put the creature that just died to top of library.

[@StahliCell]

There are loads of those "Ball lightning" effects in mono red (except lightning skelemental), I might actually build a deck around Gadrak with all of those, it sounds pretty fun! I need to figure out the recursion for them though :D

[@SuperTominou]

You really nailed it with Gadrak :D

[@Krunschy]

Another amazing fit for hua tuo would be Woodland Guidance. A 2GG Eternal Witness ETB that untaps all your forests if you win the clash, which your commander almost guarantees.

[@Fuzhelmet]

I made a Gadrak vehicle deck since it overrides his cannot attack ability if you don't have enough artifacts. His high power lets him crew pretty much anything. It makes Magda more relevant too!

[@phyrexian_dude4645]

Ah Meloku, i remember when i played against that deck with my Fungus tribal on an Extended match... Sudden Death became the MVP.

[@Kulreg777]

Let's go, Demo!!! Can't wait to try a Meloku deck!

[@edhdeckbuilding]

might try it out myself.

[@prob094]

@@edhdeckbuilding Hopefully all the infinite combos everyone is suggesting don't put you off! Meloku has sweet art too. Might also build my own : )

[@prob094]

Actually some of the Spellshapers are cool with Meloku as well seeing as he can so easily put cards in your hand. Cloudseeder, Waterfront bouncer, Stronghold Machinist etc

[@SeraphimKnight]

Meloku and Patron of the Moon go infinite with Amulet of Vigor. Add any sort of mana enhancer (high tide, caged sun, nykthos, etc) and you also get infinite mana while doing it. If you're thinking that's not fast enough you could also just use any X blue spell that draws (blue sun's zenith, braingeyser, stroke of genius, etc) to kill opponents with your infinite mana for style points. Or you know you could use gush and mystic sanctuary too I guess that's also fine.

[@jongailey85]

Vivien’s Arcbow seems sweet with Hua Tuo’s ability. There definitely appears to be a lot of stack interaction and ordering abilities just right to make it work. But it seems very effective if you know how to play the deck.

[@kovala]

So crazy, I was just starting to build Hua Tuo! And now of course I want to build Meloku :P

[@joshuaspector8182]

Also just like these decks. Nicely done “underwhelming” commanders this vid. 😂

[@Kryptnyt]

I used to have Huatuo in my Captain Sisay deck, and I've currently got Gadrak in a few red decks. Gadrak is really nice in Jeska/Dargo, and Zirilan is always looking for dragons that leave things behind. Another good include for Gadrak decks or other dies trigger decks are Evoke elementals like Ingot Chewer and Fury. I don't really like the Reckless Fireweaver kinds of cards, that just nickle and dime your opponents and annoy them for little value. They put up a red flag that says "Combo Piece" even if they aren't being used like one, it's like holding up a big sign that says "Kill me!" and being the most vulnerable kind of permanent doesn't really help.

[@joshuaspector8182]

So glad you caught patron of the moon. I’d consider …. Is it amulet of vitality? Let’s you I tap things when they enter battlefield

[@jacobstone4070]

For the green one, my first thought was manifest. I know green has a few cool manifest cards, though I guess opponents will all know what it is

[@Tom-bb3fm]

Thanks I was looking for a Mono Blue commander!!!

[@Malverde888]

Meloki is busted in a Minn deck too

[@Tom-bb3fm]

@@Malverde888 the melokku build presented and the general interest me more than Minn which is way to gimmicky for my tastes

[@mibbzx1493]

I like gadruk the crowned scourge inside of an a impulse draw deck but worst case senerio it can be use as a flying defender that make treasures

[@Joshua-ye2eo]

Your next 10 cards upload, which I watched b4 backtracking to catch up on this video, was the first time I heard, EVER, that portal cards are Commander legal! I was shocked. This video happened to be my 2nd time in a row. I saw one portal card when playing once, and because I knew the player well enough, I just assumed it was one of the portal versions of an older, core set card. I never had boosters from the 3rd release unfortunately, but I saved my few from the first 2 expansions, incase it ever helped me teach anyone. (Or my sons, later...) The wording is odd on them,, because (as I'm sure most know) they were for beginners only and were not "standard" legal with whatever block was out in those same years, respectively. I don't recall which one scrapped which, but I feel like it was Portal that was abandoned for 7th Ed. Core Set which tried to give Basic Sets a new face by comissioning lighter-hearted art to reprint mostly classic cards and, was presented in various choices of "Beginner Level" [out of 3 levels of expertise ,then grading expansion packs]box sets for starting as a new player, like a 1 on 1 walk-through "battle" mocked up for introducing 2 new players to the basics. After 7th, or shortly after, I don't recall seeing the beginner through expert level ratings on packs anymore OR Portal. The difference, of course, was the 7th Ed attempt at being new player friendly still left you with playable, standard or type 2 legal cards from the Basic Set most would be buying anyway. Where portal was a stand alone, for only the 2 portal expansions, very nerfed form of the game. I never even knew a 3rd Portal release happened until these "high price cards u missed" videos from a year ago. Portal reminded me of how Pokémon TCG was in its first stages after being popular. It has long since added various layers of complexity, but, for refference... Awesomely, to my own thinking at least, I know where I still have a Blue Sorcery, "Piracy", card that let's you tap your opponents mana on your turn to pay for your own spells! L O L. Idk if I missed a rule change or have just been assuming that portal didn't count from the start and been wrong all these years. I think I played my first commander game 10 or so years ago!

[@michaelcollins4534]

Just made a Bosh, iron golem deck and it's a lot of fun. Needs some tweaks but the base deck is working well

[@bamby3144]

Oh nice! I just made a hua tuo deck

[@DangerCloseMinis]

BEN-BEN! Get in the polls people. The best goblin 👹

[@TheUltimateRey]

I made a Gadrak deck and I made it treasure theme with cheap big artifact creatures as a pay off and and an all star in the deck is Sarkahn’s unsealing

[@TheUltimateRey]

Ps. The whole nontoken thing is usually not a problem but he would be way stronger if he triggered any turn rather than just your own turn

[@DangerCloseMinis]

So sad that I’m all caught up on these 😭 keep it up dude, loving the series. Definitely taken some inspiration from it.

[@laharlfan71]

Might do a Gadrak, Meloku is nice as well but i already have a Minn deck that uses it, gonna add a few of these cards (especially the Abjure) to tweak it though.

[@Woozychu]

Gadrak is awesome in Rakdos treasures like Mahadi

[@markbehiter523]

I belive Patron of the Moon would only cost {1}{u} to cast while sacrificing Meloku.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

correct.

[@markbehiter523]

@@edhdeckbuilding Love your channel BTW.

[@obadijahparks]

Gadrak is great. I used him briefly. And I don't typically enjoy mono red.

[@hrocxvid]

The Meloku deck tech actually got me hyped, kinda want to make the deck

[@Neuverfleischer]

So I've built Moraug, Fury of Akoum and am pretty happy with where it is at right now, but I'd love to see what you'd do ith him. Any plans on doing that deck anytime soon?

[@Hazaak.]

you should talk about Svella, ice shaper. It sounds so fun to me but very very underwhelming cause of the costs on the abilities

[@septred3]

For your next poll, do you think that you could add Oketra, the True to the list?

[@curtissmithgall8544]

A commander I would be very interested in seeing is vendilion clique, as there really isn’t much you can do with that commander.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i'll put it in the next poll. i got a few ideas.

[@mrpinguimninja]

I was working on a few adjustmentes to the Meloku deck and there's no reason not to play Contested War Zone, right? It's a land slot, it pumps our attacking creatures and whenever an opponent might damage us and gain control of it, we can just bounce it with Meloku

[@Okagesan]

I really like this Meloku deck

[@crawdaddy1234]

Miloku, Minn, any free sacrifice outlet and Mill-Crab infinitely mills.

[@captainhalfbeard3038]

Gamekeeper exiles itself upon death for the top of deck trigger so the commander can't bring him back, but still a great card for the deck.

[@astuteanansi4935]

I'm surprised you didn't include a Mystic Sanctuary with Meloku. Even if you don't go the cheesy extra turn route, it's still super value to repeatedly abuse pretty much any instant or sorcery

[@Krunschy]

I think Chain Lightning and Blasphemous Act might just be better than Sweltering Sun and Starstorm. All your treasure tokens should make it so that you should be able to afford Gadrak even if he just died from it, meaning you cash out big from a proper wipe.

[@rathlord]

Was there no mention of Landfall with Meloku or did I just miss it? That seems like an obvious and strong choice.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

been done to death though right? why not try something different?

[@rathlord]

@@edhdeckbuilding sorry- didn’t mean to imply other options weren’t interesting or worth doing, I was just surprised it didn’t get a mention. I also didn’t realize it was real common with Meloku

[@crawdaddy1234]

I have been trying to fit Vivien’s Arkbow in a deck. But alas, it always ends up being cut by the time the list is finalized.

[@SeraphimKnight]

I've never given signal pest's art a very close look and only now do I realize that it's not a screaming beak but its raised pincer and its head is way more disturbing than what I thought it was.

[@ZombieLoan27]

finally masako in the poll, really hope she will be in the top 3 :D

[@torymiddlebrooks]

Best intro in the game.

[@archstanton127]

Crystallise (feat. Tamar Osborn & Yugen Blakrok) [Edit]

[@torymiddlebrooks]

@@archstanton127 Doing the Lord's work. Gracias

[@OniTreefolk]

If Gadrak included token creatures too, imagine turning the treasures he creates into creatures then sacrificing them. You would have no net loss by turns end.

[@mathmagician5990]

I had a Gadrak deck for a while. Turned it into Slobad

[@vincent-antoinesoucy1872]

Weird wording in portal is because when you originally played portal you had less magic rules, I think there were no main phase 2, so to have reprint not be functional errata, they added the weird rules of the sets to the cards so they play exactly like originally printed in portal outside of portal.

[@kwakerjak]

The original version says pretty much the same thing as the reprint (“On your turn, before you attack”); the only difference is that it’s templated differently to account for the fact that turns can have multiple combat phases (which can’t happen if you only use cards from Portal sets).

[@edhdeckbuilding]

poratl sets were intended for newer players so that probably plays into it as well.

[@nickenicklp5953]

impulsive pilferer with gadrak

[@Bryan-T]

meloku seems sweet

[@tbonifiedable]

Doesn’t xorn only give you one extra treasure ?

[@MrEshed123]

Homie Tuo, Honored Commander.

[@alexhanser560]

Im building meloku, its so amazing

[@ewok007]

Minn and meloku goes infinite mana with asnod's altar.... Surprised you didn't mention it

[@edhdeckbuilding]

don't typically go the infinite combo route with my decks.

[@brendans1983]

I'm from Australia, so when u guys say a card makes you 'gush', I've always had a giggle cos I thought it was porn related and assumed you had used the expression for that long you had forgotten it origins! But I saw a documentary the other day about American oil drilling.... gushing is an oil reference hey? 🤣

[@mibbzx1493]

I think your underwhelming commanders series is good to know which cards aren’t good as commanders themselves but solid choices as cards to include inside the deck as a sub-strategy inside the deck to use in conjunction with your better commanders.

[@lordj5564]

I have a meloku deck but I built it so everyone is drawning cards. In my play group we call it group draw we regularly draw 7 cards in the draw step

[@batatac4mil86]

The last made me wish you made a "underrated commanders" series. So many commanders can do so much more than what they look at first glance

[@rathlord]

That's literally what this is...

[@elsanto2401]

What about weenie equipment? He's only 3 mana, so a critical mass of mana rocks and equipment like golem gauntlets and fireshrieker and you could get the commander to a critical mass for 2 turn commander damage kills? Eh, im just engaging the al gore rhythm here

[@obadijahparks]

Who can afford a survival of the fittest?

[@g4greed502]

eeeaarrrlyyyy

[@helgemeff5555]

[@dustinshinn218]

Any chance we could see Darigaaz Reincarnated? Trying to get a handle on what I should do with him an it's probably going to be what I've started calling Jund Hatred, just spot removal, board wipes, land destruction, an Indestructible things an what not.