{"ops":[{"insert":"Overview"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This is my attempt at making an aggro deck for commander. We want to play creatures on our early turns and attack: almost all of our resource generation comes from the combat step, with many of our value creatures scaling with the number of opponents we attacked. Our commander goads (forces our opponents' creatures to attack, and they must attack one of our opponents if able) to generate offensive momentum, as well as making any creature that is double-blocked by our opponents gain deathtouch (including when they block eachother's creatures). The second effect empowers our main theme of menace, meaning we can get through for damage most of the time. We also have a discard/reanimator sub-theme, which can lead to some explosive early sequences with our discard outlets as well as giving us a chance to recover post-sweeper.\n\nOpening Hands & Sequencing"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Our primary consideration is our curve; if we're missing either a turn 2 or a turn 3 play it's probably a mulligan. In general, I don't think we can aggressively mulligan into a hand that's \"good\" against sweepers, if they have it they have it and you're only supposed to win 25% of commander games anyways. Our 1 drops exist just to fill gaps in our curve, they shouldn't factor into your decision to keep or mull too much.\n\nMindset & Strategy"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"We want to apply just enough pressure to be annoying without ever looking like the number one threat, chipping away until we can unleash a surprise burst with our extra combat spells. Our strategy demands we commit creatures to the board while other decks are usually powering up which can leave us very far behind after a sweeper. Try not to put your creature count more than 2 ahead of the other players, unless you're playing a spell you have temporary access to (eg from "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lightning, Security Sergeant"}},{"insert":"). If you're deciding between two plays try to think about whether one or the other is better pre- or post- "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wrath of God"}},{"insert":". The most commonly played sweepers in commander are usually 5+ mana some exceptions are: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Toxic Deluge"}},{"insert":" can be in any black deck, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Damn"}},{"insert":"and"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Culling Ritual"}},{"insert":" are 4-mana options for black-white and black-green, and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Blasphemous Act"}},{"insert":"'s cost changes based on the board. This can help answer which play is better, for example if you're trying to predict whether "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Glint-Sleeve Siphoner"}},{"insert":" will draw you a card before it dies. Usually cards that create a resource are good options pre-sweeper, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Professional Face-Breaker"}},{"insert":" is so powerful that we may want to save it to rebuild, especially if we have another creature making "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Treasure"}},{"insert":" for us. If we're still getting our damage in we don't need to commit more to the board; it can be a good idea to use our mana on reconfigure abilities to hedge against a sweeper or activate other abilities to generate value without committing more to the board. Our commander's role is to help us create good attacks by making our menace creatures less attractive to block and goading threatening creatures so we don't put ourselves into a losing race. If we don't need him for either of these purposes, don't run him out just to add power to the board.\n\nKey Cards & Interactions"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Flamewar, Brash Veteran // Flamewar, Streetwise Operative"}},{"insert":" should be always be played to the vehicle side (there's probably some weird edge case where you need a sac outlet but I can't think of it). Transforming it back after attacking is good practice because it dodges creature sweepers.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Reanimate"}},{"insert":" can be used with our discard outlets to get an early double-spell turn and potentially get a 3-trigger Seifer on turn 4. Don't be afraid to just use it on a 3- or even 2-drop if it looks like that would be strong.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Horned Stoneseeker"}},{"insert":" 's "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Powerstone"}},{"insert":" can be used to pay for abilities of non-artifacts (such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Interceptor, Shadow's Hound"}},{"insert":" ) but it's mostly there as sacrifice fodder.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Konda's Banner"}},{"insert":" doesn't need to be equipped to our commander (though that does work), try to put it on the lowest-value target that still hits most of your creatures ("},{"insert":{"card-link":"Setzer, Wandering Gambler"}},{"insert":"and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Locke, Treasure Hunter"}},{"insert":" are both legendary red-black humans).\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Setzer, Wandering Gambler"}},{"insert":" can set up a 3-trigger Seifer on turn 4 if you played another creature beforehand because Seifer can crew "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Blackjack"}},{"insert":" despite summoning sickness.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Professional Face-Breaker"}},{"insert":" and"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vincent, Vengeful Atoner"}},{"insert":" have abilities that trigger \"whenever one or more creatures deal combat damage to a player\", these abilities can trigger multiple times per turn if we attack multiple players. They also trigger separately for first strike (or double strike) damage.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kari Zev, Skyship Raider"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dalek Squadron"}},{"insert":" both create attacking creatures mid-combat, unfortunately this does not trigger \"whenever you attack...\" effects. You can still choose to have "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ragavan"}},{"insert":" attack a different player to help trigger the above cards or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Reaper's Scythe"}},{"insert":" . These tokens can be sacrificed to "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Reno and Rude"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Shadow, Mysterious Assassin"}},{"insert":" after damage, but not "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Flamewar, Brash Veteran // Flamewar, Streetwise Operative"}},{"insert":" because it needs to be sorcery-speed.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gogo, Mysterious Mime"}},{"insert":" keeps its own name to let it avoid breaking the \"legend rule\". Any time a card refers to itself by name that actually means \"myself\", so Gogo still copies the effect properly. Gogo can't transform.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Urborg Scavengers"}},{"insert":" don't *need* to plan their targets around "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rejoin the Fight"}},{"insert":" , but it's good to keep in mind if the target doesn't matter otherwise.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Locke, Treasure Hunter"}},{"insert":" lets you cast milled spells and make any choices you would normally make when casting them (such as alternate casting costs). If he mills a flashback card, you'll get priority first after the effect resolves since it's your turn. If you pass priority (generally we don't do this explicitly, but it's implied when you try to move to the next step in a turn or let an ability resolve) the opponent will then also be able to cast it.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Interceptor, Shadow's Hound"}},{"insert":" doesn't die if you sacrifice him to "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Shadow, Mysterious Assassin"}},{"insert":" , they're just playing fetch.\n"}]}