A month or so ago I promised you the results of several different Commanders that I'd been re-invigorated to try with new lists- Sygg, River Cutthroat, Momir Vig, and my favorite Happy Tree Friend, Doran, the Siege Tower, which I'm excited to share with you here on TGZ.
LAST TIME WE SAW DORAN...
A while back I was rocking a list I called "Doran the Explorer," which was an extensive low-CMC Enchantment Voltron deck mostly for use in 1v1.
After a while, the deck got pretty boring, and I was forced once again to ask the beloved Siege Tower for his Matrix of Leadership. Reluctant, but not discouraged, the big Treefolk receded into my binder, waiting for his chance again.
Because if you're a unique Legend in sweet colors with a fun and exciting ability, you're never out of the game for too long.
SO WHY DORAN AGAIN?
Earlier this year I was re-examining the various hilarious Doran Defender lists and made an interesting discovery- there wasn't a single list wholly committed to the Wall strategy.
Naturally, this gave me a challenge, and a chance for me to get Doran out of the binder once more.
That, and I'm a sucker for the flavor text.
THE RESTRICTIONS
Obviously, there's no creature in the main deck without Defender. But there are a few other nice subthemes included in the deck to help support our lack of consistent attacking "threats."
The next is a looser definition of Life Gain. Most people think of Life Gain decks and their minds jump to Test of Endurance, Celestial Mantle, Beacon of Immortality, Storm Herd, etc.- big, "beat-me-over-the-head" obvious cards that make your plan very obvious, and cost you a card slot in doing so.
Instead, what we're talking about here is the inherent value lost when you cast a creature and decide not to attack, for fear of dedicating resources to a futile cause, or fear of losing the creature in combat for an uneven trade. In either case, forcing your opponents not to attack you, but to go after someone more open at the table not only nets you life, but also influences them to pick off the easier targets. So playing defenders, in this case, is kind of like politics- except you don't have to say anything. By giving up your ability to attack, your defense is secure, and the more impatient Aggro-players at the table looking to get in the red zone have to find relevant removal or evasion.
However, backed up with an adequate amount of Wrath effects, we create another significant value bump. Since our opponents can only really hope to get quality evasion, or waste removal spells on Doran or one of his silly walls, we can actually force our opponent(s) to over-extend, creating quite a bit of card advantage via attrition. We can also play Planeswalkers, which, when protected by our walls, can further create value and keep combat damage away from us, thereby "gaining" more life.
The third theme is "tutorless." Now, some people might define that as zero cards containing "search your library." Here, I do have the Kodama's Reach suite of ramp, but nothing else. So I still have to draw into answers and game enders.
SO HOW DOES THIS DECK WIN?
We've got several ways to win once we're able to get a few Walls online and protect our board state. Some are obvious cards that are powered-up by the lack of real threats in this deck. Some are just purely janky plans that should never happen if the game is going well. It is these two polarizing qualities that make this Doran list a pretty interesting little deck.
THE JANK
Obviously, this kind of card has to be played with a lot of planning. Between Mick Jagger and Co. and Wakestone Gargoyle, there's really no way to get damage in. Even with this card out, we still have to have Doran in play to deal maximum damage.
Truly, it is a silly combo. However, if we're steadily eating our opponent's removal and they can't keep a consistent stream of cards in hand in the late game, there's a chance we can win.
The scalp count is up to two already at this point with Wall of Blood, and I've already been told that this dumb little card will never be underestimated again. It was not expected that I would pump Wall's power to lethal. Though the first was a very silly play early on in a 5-man pod that caused me to go to 5 life, it's worth the sacrifice to tell the story and call your opponent's bluff. Keeping your habits unpredictable amongst your play group is a formidable trait, and it can even make a difference in the game. Lesson learned.
THE BOOM BOOMS
Normally, I find these cards pretty boring. In decks where there's already decent, established power amongst most of the cards, this is just a boring end to a boring game.
However, what I've found is that by making this and Exsanguinate the best of a handful of ways for me to win, I'm more satisfied with casting them, and my opponents suffer less dissatisfaction with a loss.
The deck is designed to support using these cards in the mid-to-late parts of the game, with a few ways to dig them back out of the graveyard in case of emergency.
Here they serve the same purpose, even though their intentions have been altered from being "just another card" in a GoodStuff deck to being a card with a need, a healthy purpose, and a piece of the design that fills a need. These three share many similar qualities, but mainly they help to move the game along from a gridlocked state. Karn can re-start the game if I get a nice threat or two from my opponent(s). Sorin's second ability becomes significantly less "cheap" in a game where it's still hard to do 10 damage, and Vraska, well- I'm not sure I'm ever going to kill someone with assassins, but I have that flexibility too.
The wrath-proof-iest Defender turned threat the world has ever seen is arguably our least resource-intensive way of getting the "W," and with this healthy stream of Wrath effects, it's one of our best ways to end the game in a few turns.
THE TECH
So we've talked about the ways Doran wins, and some of the ways we compensate for the challenges of the Defender design. However, we still have a few unique cards I found to help further the design.
It's true that Wave of Reckoning is not a Wrath of God, and it could end up putting us in a bad spot against Commanders with big butts. However, when you consider that most of the threats people want to play are Titans with equal Power and Toughness, Wave of Reckoning is a nice way to drown our opponents while not drowning us.
It's a small price to pay for an edge in board position, and we have access to a couple more in Solar Tide and Retribution of the Meek, the latter of which I also play in Lin Sivvi.
In the original deck I was slightly more conservative with the amount of cards I drew, as I was looking more for ways to get general damage in than an actual spell. So I was most paying 15-20 life to draw 6 or 7 cards.
In this deck, I'm much more aggressive, willing to pay 25-30 life to dig as far down as I can to find both threats and answers. Since I don't have any tutors for spells or permanents, this is another reason I have to be aggressive with Ad Nauseam, but that's cool. It keeps the game interesting, and again, powers up the value of this card. I also play Necrologia, Phyrexian Arena, and Dark Tutelage, which are "like" effects that truly pale in comparison to the power of Ad Nauseam.
However, I got a chance to get it out, and boy did it do work. In conjunction with Blind Obedience, I was basically netting life in the process of making sure my key spells couldn't be stopped.
Getting off Debt to the Deathless for X=11 with little to no response is exactly what this deck needs, and I'm glad this last minute inclusion paid off, even if it's a widely known as a strong card. I don't play against a heavy counterspell metagame, but it's still useful to be able to stick my Wraths and game enders when necessary.
This is still a deck I'm working on, so here's my list if you want to take a peek. Feel free to comment and +1 it if you're part of the TappedOut Community.
UL's Doran Siege Tower Defense Squad
Pass Turn.
-UL
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