{"ops":[{"insert":"PLAY GUIDE!"},{"attributes":{"header":1},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nThe idea is to play the cards of our opponents! \nWe start out by doing a little bit of Ramp and Carddraw to have enough Mana but also find our much needed Card-Combo-Pieces to make sure that we can get get through to our opponent with an attack from Kotis, the Fangkeeper! \nAs mentioned this deck is kinda a combo deck. We need the following card pieces to pull of a Kotis Trigger:\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"1x \"Make unblockable\""},{"insert":" or alternative (Flying / Trample+Deathtouch) to pass by or get through the opponents blockers"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"1+ \"Give hexproof\""},{"insert":" to be protected from targeted exile-, prison- and bounce-effects. Kotis is like a on-sight-kill commander and therefore we should have protection for him. The best would be to have permanent hexproof for example with swiftboots and/or snakeskin veil to shed of a removal that will be used against Kotis f.e. when we are about to equip the boots. "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"1x \"Give haste\""},{"insert":". Unlike other Kotis Decks I have seen from other players I want to attack right after I summon Kotis. The difficulty for my opponents is that they will never know when I will play him out which will therefore have them often either be tapped out, have no removal, have the improper removal or have them not have enough removal (see Point 2) to deal with him. In either case it is obviously generally speaking a lot safer to not have to wait a full turn cycle before we may attack! "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"2+"},{"insert":" "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Pump Spells / Equipment"},{"insert":"s (Power-Buffing is essential for Kotis!!! We want to hit an opponent with a big damage swing and we will put in every single resource to accomplish that. The more power we have the better! 8 Power is descent and 10-15 is what we are aiming for. Remember, the amount of damage determines the number of cards we will see AND what the cap on the CMC of the spells is that we are allowed to cast!"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nA good example of a Kotis Combo could look like this. We first spend half of our mana to cast Kotis, then we spend 1 to equip him with a haste-equipment like Haunted Cloak, 1 for an evasion spell and 1 to pump him with scale up. We still have 1 mana open for an embiggen pump or a tyvar stand protection. Bracket 3 opponents have no poker faces. As soon as they see the unblockable spell and the scale up they usually give off exactly the impression if they have something to stop the attack or not. So what you will do is, leave the 1 mana open, go to combat and attack and then wait what opponent does. If they look defeated and reach for their life point dice you can bet that they don't have interaction. Good for us! Before the damage resolves we can throw in our second pump spell embiggen with our last mana and push the damage from 6 to 10. That's how you squeeze the value! Use advice at own risk! \n\nWhat makes this deck so interesting? What incentives are there to go about your game? And how do we play the game?\nPolitics?"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Since you control stuff from an opponent you would lose everything if that player suddenly dies. Therefore you do not want to kill or have them killed by someone else! Wow! Big argument to appease given player or get them to team up with you even if you have stolen their stuff. Ok just kidding, actually quite the opposite is most often the case in my experience. People do not really comprehend the fact, that they are safe from you if you have there stuff but get very emotional and angry towards you hahaha I was never able to convince someone to team up with me but rather as soon as people realize how much more value I can generate with Kotis I have everybody against me. Be prepared my fellow Kotis player! ;) "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Variance and surprises in every game!"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Every game is different because essentially you have a buffet of three different decks with unknown cards in front of you. It can't be more random what you will end up playing with. Flipping over 12 unknown cards and casting everything for free is a hell'a fun!!! :D"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Strategy Part 1. Who to attack (first)?"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Make sure to attack the player who gives you the best cards for your given situation. You solely rely on what the others are playing. Most often there is at least one player who players a creature deck. This is the player that you usually want to feast off of first. Hit him for 8, 11, 17 ... damage, summon his creatures and use those to foremost protect yourself against everyone else. The value you got out of Kotis will make you no friends, that is for sure! The following turn, you might want to hit another player to get even more stuff. If that's not enough or if everything gets wiped, go hit the third player and take his stuff. At some point you should have accumulated a lot of value and find the win in a free-style way! "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Strategy Part 2. What else should I keep in mind when attacking? "},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This is probably the most important tip of all!"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The actual power (power-stat) that you can get on Kotis first attack will vary. Sometimes you draw perfectly, hit an opponent for freaking 15 damage and are therefore able to cast literally any exiled spell you wish to cast. On other occasions you find yourself with only 1 pump spell but also in that case you might just want to get an attack in. Let's say you have Kotis with 7 Power. If thats the case you really want to think through what the opponents are actually running in their decks! This is key! Maybe at the start of the game you had planned to go for the player with \"the big guys\" in the deck. Well with Kotis at 7 Power you should reconsider that. The creatures they run are maybe bigger than CMC 7 and then you won't be able to cast those and instead only get some worthless ramp spells. On the other hand let's say if somebody plays \"Aang at the crossroads\" you will probably not only find about 3 to 4 creatures on average but also you will most likely be able to cast all of them which would be excellent value for a 7 Power swing! So keep in mind what decks and cards people are actually playing to estimate which decks will give you not only valuable BUT ALSO castable cards. Alright? :)"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Attention. Keep track of your commander damage! "},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Important! You want to leech off of your opponents but often you do not want to have them dead! You can only hit a player for a maximum of 20 commander damage to not have them die. So if you plan to steal or wish to keep a players stuff make sure to not go above a total of 20 commander damage! However of course if a player is no longer of any use for your evil plans then feel free to go for the final blow out attack. *evil laughter* >:D If you want to be really nasty use his own stuff against them!"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Running out of material"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Continuing on the point above often you are only able to hit each opponent once or twice with Kotis in the entire match! If you already have enough value on the board you sometimes might not even want to hit a player because of that and might want to wait until you really need more creatures because someone wiped the board. Only then you want to attack (again) with a two-digit power hit to get fresh cards on your side without killing that particular player! "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Indestructible. A given safety net. "},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Even if an opponent decides to play a board wipe because we have accumulated too many creatures then that will in fact leave our Kotis alive because of his indestructible Keyword! Oh hell yeah! That is so good because it inherently protects us from everything that says destroy and we save a lot of our precious protection spells for targeted exile and bounce effects! So if someone \"has to\" play a board wipe then we can thank that opponent for emptying the board and clearing the way for us to be able to go for the next big swing which will immediately build a new big board for us! "},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nFinal Words about my Commander Journey:\nSo that's basically it! This is one of my first commander decks that I've ever built. I always enjoyed doing the odd and rare theft thing in my draft games but in Commander I can do that on steroids! Muhahah\nIt is just so fun and exciting. Usually people build their \"lottery-decks\" by flipping their own deck with commanders like Niv-Mizzet Reborn but that for me personally feels too predictable. I like to go into the complete unknown and cast the cards from a card pile which I don't know about. Hell, sometimes I even get to play cards that I haven't even known about before. It is really wild and again, I can't highlight enough that in my opinion every game is different because you will most of the time have a different setup of three different decks that you will play cards from.. You go into the games without an actual win-con and have to make everything on the fly with what cards you will be given. The excitement is beyond your usual commander games. It doesn't and can not get any more variant then that! My personal opinion! :) \n\nFinal Note: \nI think I am a very good Magic Player and am quite good at evaluating cards / decks and how they play out by seeing them. \nThat doesn't mean that I run the perfect deck list myself. In fact I have added cards only because they are in my \"little\" collection and I try to \"fit them in\". Then I added some cards that are good or reasonable enough to be played which I stumbled upon through research but which are not expensive and lastly I avoided cards that would be good for the deck but are just too pricey for my taste or what I personally want to achieve for this deck. Overall I dont care too much about the strongest pieces but I just want to be on average be able to pull of my combo more often than not. Thats it! \nSo keep in mind if you go through my list that there are some odd or power crept cards and exchange them for something better! :)\n"}]}