In General: Out of Fashion

Hello, and welcome back to In General! On Sundays here at the General Zone I, Grandpa Growth, write about high-level, conceptual topics. Metagame strategy, player psychology, game theory, fundamental strategy, etc. Last month, I spent each Sunday discussing the metagame breakdown of Commander. I started with what a metagame composition is, how one gets created, what the driving force behind the Commander metagame is (it's Fashion in case you missed the series), and I spent the last two weeks discussing how to update your decks for the current trend in the format: Devotion. I received a lot of positive feedback on these articles and we saw a big rise in views here on the blog. However, I saw one question cropping up a lot and was even asked face-to-face in my personal life: If Commander is so heavily dominated by the decks that are 'in fashion', then what are we missing? What should we be playing instead?

This is an interesting question. Not often do I openly assume my analysis to be correct, but that is the default position I have to take in order to answer this query. If I am right and people are OVER-playing Devotion, what decks should they play instead to improve their percentages and playing ability? Well, not surprisingly, I have a couple of unsubstantiated ideas.

I am going to talk about the three Devotion decks that I have personally played against the most. I think personal experience is the best place for me to speak from when answering such a nebulous question. It would, of course, be preferable to fall back on the data proving which decks get played and what has the highest win percentage, but such documents simply don't exist. Instead we will have to settle for anecdotal evidence. Let's take a look.

Making Big Red sexy since 2013.

It is tough for me to think of Purphoros as over-played because I legitimately believe it to be the best Mono Red deck in the format AND the best choice for a Commander port of a pure 'Red Deck Wins' strategy. I like that it exists, I like that people play it. They are trying something old and new at the same time. Aggro needs to be good for Commander to be healthy. The ETB trigger on Purphoros just makes so many cards into must counter spells. Firecat Blitz. Goblin Offensive. Hostility + basically any burn spell. Purphoros has put Mono Red in the most competitive spot it has ever held in Commander, but this deck does have one glaring weakness that I can't stand. It lacks disruption. Zoners, you should know by now that Grandpa loves his disruption. So what do we do instead...?

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for your
friends hating you. 

I bet you weren't expecting that! "But Grandpa, you hate gimmick decks! You hate chaos decks! Why are you supporting the enemy?!" Simple. Norin is good. Much better than most players would give it credit for. The deck is just rock solid AND the internet community has pretty much nailed down an air-tight competitive version. This is a highly resilient, highly disruptive combo deck that attacks from a very unconventional angle. It has only gotten better since Theros block dropped. In fact, Nykthos and Purphoros are two of the best cards in Norin decks! Now, I am not ENCOURAGING you to play Norin, because that would mean a nonzero percentage of people would start doing it and then I might have to play against some of those people and that would lead to an immediate and measurable decline in my quality of life, BUT hell man...at least I am honest.

You wouldn't want to take him home to
Mom and Dad, but ladies love his whip.

Erebos is also very good, but unlike Mono Red, Mono Black has a wide variety of high quality generals to choose from. Mono Black also has a deep pool of cards that can act as Devotion enablers. Phyrexian Obliterator and Necropotence come to mind. There are plenty of other decks that can leverage the power of these cards, and Nykthos as well, while using a different captain for their ship. The generic strategy of getting ahead on cards and getting ahead on board works for Erebos, but in this case the simplicity makes it somewhat vulnerable. Sweepers and removal can represent a hurdle for decks trying to assemble a high Devotion count. That is the silver lining for people trying to stay off the Devotion band wagon.

Early in the game I'd rather have a Erebos,
but in the late stages I'd much rather have
an active Geth. 

Because people need to dedicate more slots in their decks for answering and managing the God cards, less space is available for niche hate cards and other semi-sideboard technology. In this case I am talking specifically about graveyard hate, but other examples can be shown. I recommend playing a graveyard-centric Black deck. Both strategies are powerful, both are vulnerable to specific hate cards, but I have learned an important lesson from playing competitive constructed events. The less popular combo decks are more successful. Take a look at Twin decks in Modern. The more popular the deck becomes, the worse it performs. As Twin's win percentage falls, people tend to become more concerned about beating Pod or Storm, which, in turn, leads to a rise in the success rate of Twin. The analogue for Commander is clear: both Black recursion and Black Devotion decks are powerful and popular, but the one you want to be playing at any given moment is the one that your opponent DOESN'T have the hate for.

Drawing 2-3 cards per turn is a great way
to overcome removal and take over the game.

Of all the Gods printed so far, Ephara's triggered ability is the most appealing to me. What can I say? I dig drawing extra cards. It is also easy to trigger. In fact, of all the replacements I am talking about today, this is the easiest to make. GoST and Ephara really want to be in the same deck, but the choice of which to play as a general is very dependent on the matchup. They are both resistant to certain kinds of removal, but not THE SAME kinds. They synergize incredibly well together. They both belong in a fast, disruptive, aggro-control brew. The kind of deck that I can really get behind.

This is turning into GG's list of the most
annoying cards to play against.

I feel a little dirty recommending that people play Geist. In fact, at the height of Hexproof's popularity in Standard, I was playing against more Geist decks than I could stand -  in every format. Geist is just good; not much else to say. A second alternative could be Bruna, Light of Alabaster, but I don't want to shamelessly recommend a deck that I, myself, play. That seems like a conflict of interest to me. That being said, if you want a more dedicated theme in your deck, or just don't want to play a lockout, Counterspell deck, then Bruna is a great place to start. It is strange to me though: for all the history and popularity Blue/White has in Magic, there are very few UW Legendary Creatures that are really playable in Commander. By contrast, Esper, which is historically a much less popular control deck, has many, many more appetizing Commander choices.

Thanks for reading guys! I promise: the five week rant about the Gods is finally over. Next week we will be back to more regular topics here on In General. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. What decks do you think are being underplayed because of new Theros block cards?
-GG