Hanna is a Blue/White general who works very well with artifacts and enchantments that usually are only one time effects (they sac themselves). She can also be very condusive to combos (both fair and unfair) as many of the combo pieces that are most broken are in these colors and enchantments or artifacts.
Since I try to keep things low on the DB scale I have only included two real combos in the deck for when the games get stale.
Hanna might be the general for you if:
- You like using enchantments to do goofy or whacky things
- You like using enchantment and artifact "rattlesnakes" to deter attacks
- You like Enduring Ideal
- You enjoy flying under the radar politically until you see an opening
- You like utility lands
Some of the reasons to NOT choose Hanna:
- Absolutely no board presence (if I have three creatures someone used Terastodon or something wierd is goin' on)
- Very mana hungry
- Taps out almost every turn
- If you are known for comboing this will put up red flags
Now I want to go over some of the synergies within the deck.
Hive Mind + Enduring Ideal: If I want to end the game right away this is the combo I use. Effectively what this means is that the only things that matter for the rest of the game are the enchantments in everyones deck (you have a LOT more than most) and the cards on the field. To deal with the cards on the field I usually go grab...
Teferi's Care + Enchanted Evening: These cards must have been made for each other. This allows me to sac any permanent on the field to kill any of their permanents. That could be any of their lands, any of their creatures or any of their artifacts. The first time you trade a plains for Thraximundar you will know how good this feels. Be careful Enchanted Evening and Enduring Ideal do not always play well together if everyone is Hive Minded. I have found myself staring down Blightsteels and Eldrazi before because my opponents searched up "enchantments" and put them on the field. Which brings us to the next combo...
Enchanted Evening + Enduring Ideal: If your opponents are not doing anything relevant don't search up Hive Mind, search up Evening! This means every other Enduring Ideal will be able to tutor from your deck to play 89% of your deck!!! Unless they answer you, you will get out of hand quick.
Crucible of Worlds + Tectonic Edge/Wasteland: Now these next two combos are the most DB-esque so think before using these turn three. With this I can essentially lock my opponent at three lands or kill off all of their significant duals and utility lands until all they have are basics. I will however shoot Cabal Coffers, Gaea's Cradle, and Academy Ruins without remorse.
Mindslaver + Hanna, Ship's Navigator/Academy Ruins: I always want to take this out of the deck. Evertime I do however, I end up so underwhelmed by Soul Conduit my fun little replacement for it. The concept is simple aquire so much mana that you are able to Mindslaver the last one or two significant people in the game and then sabotage them turn, after turn, after turn. You will not make friends doing this.
Those are the basic combos in the deck you will find others as you play it but it lends itself well to multiplayer and I often find myself in a winning situation.
Now on to the process that I went through to make the deck.
Now I started out know which colors I wanted to build and the concept. I wanted a blue white enchantment deck. So I went to gatherer and typed in what I wanted. I saw Hanna and instantly knew who my general was (I LOVE the Weatherlight and all the cast associated with it saga). Another way to go about picking your general is to look through your collection for Legends and Legendary Creatures. You will be surprised sometimes at who is legendary (Experimental Kraj, Geist of Saint Traft, Spirit of the Night).
Once you have a legend you need a theme or concept for the deck. All of my most fun and rewarding decks are the ones I build with a theme in mind. I will list some of the most common themes and some suggested generals below:
Some definitions:
- Voltron: Like the robot you are attempting to assemble the pieces (either auras or equipment) and then hit for 21 general damage.
- Chaos: These decks revolve around randomness. This kind of deck can include Warp World, Confusion in the Ranks, Scrambleverse, other such tomfoolery
- Group Hug: Revolves around hurting the player in the lead and helping the players that are mana screwed or falling behind.
- Stax: Named after the infamous artifact Smokestack this strategy revolves around hurting everyone equally but still hurting everyone. These can become really unfun if not built right.
- Ramp: You "ramp" up your mana to play big things before everyone else.
- Tribal: Pretty self-explainitory, however these decks recieved a huge boon in the form of Cavern of Souls.
Now that you have a genral and a theme build from thereby ensuring you enclude some of these card types (I will also list colors that are best suited to each type. U=Blue every other one is self explainitory):
- Card Draw (B/U): Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, Rhystic Study, Consecrated Sphinx, Fact or Fiction, Harmonize
- Tutors (B, All have them): Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Green Sun's Zenith, Enlightened Tutor, Gamble
Commander is a casual format so there are no universal ratios everthing should be based on your own communities meta-game. I can't tell you what the right number of artifact hate cards is or how many board sweepers to include. Just look at the Hanna deck. I have 9 creatures (10 if you include Hanna) in the deck and 22 enchantments. In most other decks that sort of ratio would be rediculous but it works here. The only thing I can recommend for every deck is this: USE BASIC LANDS!
Mana bases are the easiest and hardest part of building a Commander deck. As a rule of thumb try to run anywhere from 40-36 lands that produce mana and a couple of mana producing artifacts. If there is one part of all of my decks that is constantly changing it is my mana base. Looking back on it RIGHT NOW I am thinking do I really need those vivid lands or would basics be better...
It is so easy for a deck to flounder and die because the mana base is subpar or above par but filled with too many colorless utility lands. Running too many non-basics also leaves you vulnerable to Ruination, Wasteland, and Blood Moon.
And remember even if your first deck sucks a little if you have a good community they will help you to make the best, most enjoyable deck possible. Every Commander deck is a project even to the day I still do not have a Flooded Strand and a Wasteland in my Hanna deck (Misty Rainforest and Ghost Quarter are filling in). Don't think because your deck is not 100% complete it is not playable.
One final note is that since Wizards has released their Commander product almost all of those decks are capable of being played with success right out of the box so if you don't have the time or money to build a Commander deck try shelling out the $25 or so so to get a deck full of fun powerful cards and some good staples for when you wanna improve on it or make your own.
I hope this has helped you in your first foray into one of the most fun formats in Magic.
enchanted evenings only turns permanents into enchantments, therefore cards in decks are not enchantments, this does not hurt against most decks but does not allow you to search up cards like aura thief......
ReplyDeleteon another noted, aura thief, enchanted evenings and teferi's care is a game win
another good card that should be included (assuming you are playing with a competitive group) is stasis.
ReplyDeleteEnchanted evening, stasis and teferi's care is a game win
If Teferi's Care is vital to your strategy you can have another copy of it in your deck: Arenson's Aura.
ReplyDeleteTeferi's Care was just a functional reprint of this old Ice Age card. :)