Old Commanders Die Hard

It's a new year, which usually means I'm trying new Commanders I haven't played yet- but not so far.

Currently, my deck portfolio has seen the return of some faces that I thought I might never play again, and today feels like as good a time as any to talk about some lists I'm looking forward to sharing with you when they're done.

MOMIR VIG, SIMIC VISIONARY

The first one on the list is my favorite Ravnica baddie, and perhaps one of the most anticipated. Cause I knew it wouldn't be long before Momir Vig was back leading another deck for me.

On the first go-around, my original Vig design was one of the first decks I was ever proud of. It's the deck that's launched not only my quest to replicate its strength and power and ingenuity into other color pies, but also the motivation to log my quest and its findings here on The General Zone.

However, unlike his last go-around, Momir Vig makes his comeback to my little collection with more tech and more fun.

One of the current themes I have along this deck and the rest of these re-instated veterans is the idea of reactive/interactive win conditions.

So instead of running a multinational ramp/control conglomerate, Momir Vig is now opening the doors to a brand new copy shop, filled with as many fun tricks as my opponents can play.

DORAN, THE SIEGE TOWER

My favorite treefolk is back again from his previous exploration into Aura magic to do exactly what Under Armour does: Protect my house.

I'm not gonna lie to you guys. I'm moderately-to-severely obsessed with the concept of the Doran Defender deck, but I haven't seen anyone with the guts to play nothing but defenders in the main deck- something that I believe is totally plausible in this color combo.

Again, this is another reactive deck predicated on playing prevent/control with only a handful of notable win conditions, but I think it'll be fun. It justifies the playing of several cards I don't like in already powerful decks (cough Sorin Markov cough), and I'm looking forward to it.

At worst, this deck will be hilarious. At best, it'll be hilarious, and even though I can still lose, at least I'll get to laugh.

SYGG, RIVER CUTTHROAT

After several failed attempts to build Wydwen, and in a desperate attempt to stay away from building an abusive Oona deck, I ended up settling on trying to make something that was less serious than most of my other decks. Enter the meaner Sygg.

In learning from the short-lived failures I made in my previous version, this attempt with Sygg is to create a tribal deck that's wholly thematic without having to sacrifice effectiveness to the point where the deck is horrible.

Still, we're going rogue- Rogue tribal, and because the rogue creatures are so bad in this deck, I pretty much have no choice but to steal other people's tech in order to win. Pure theme amirite?

What excites me is that like Doran, I feel much more comfortable playing some of my least favorite cards in Magic- Bribery, Desertion and other Control Magic effects. Also like Doran- we're fully committed to not breaking our design rules. All Rogues for creatures, and all manner of hood rat style spells will help to shape and define this hopefully good-but-probably-silly little brew I'm working on.

I hope to have these lists up in the near future when they're ready. Also, for you Stack lovers, we'll be returning to our regularly scheduled programming next week, and Grandpa Growth is back tomorrow, so be sure to check that out.

Pass Turn.
-UL