Reddit reviews Magic the Gathering - Commander 2013 - Nature of the Beast Deck
We found 5 Reddit comments about Magic the Gathering - Commander 2013 - Nature of the Beast Deck. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Includes a 100-card deck and 3 oversize legend cards
I have found [[Mayael the Anima]] to be a commander that does very well on a budget and is also really easy to continue to revamp and upgrade as you please. My list is currently TCG price around $212, but by taking out the Eldrazi (Ulamog and It That Betrays) and replacing them with just about any 5/x creature you have laying around, you're down to ~$150. There are tons of lists and primers for her, and she can be really fun to pilot since you hardly ever get the same creature twice. If she's in the playstyle you like, I'd definitely have to recommend it.
You can get the basic shell in the Naya C13 precon, which is $16 from this seller on amazon.
Hey, keep in mind that old commander decks from 2013 and 2014 are super cheap right now. Last year's Commander had mono-colored planeswalker commanders, and the year before that had cool 3-color commanders. Linkage:
2013 Decks (3-color)
2014 Decks (Mono Color Walkers)
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OI1BX0I?keywords=commander%202014&qid=1449601024&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4)
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Here is a 9 Minute Video by The Professor exactly why should go back and check out the past two year's commander decks before you decide on the current year. He makes the point that modern staples are not in this year's decks, so they'll likely reduce in price by next year. Also, the beauty of doing it this way and getting 2 different decks is that if you have a doubly good chance of getting one he likes. That's just my opinion, but I think expanding your search to the other 10 would be a smart play!
Happy Holidays, and I hope your in-law loves whatever you choose for him.
$35 Talrand (U) Plays a bunch of cantrips and counters to get an army of 2/2 drakes and turns them sideways to win. Heavy counterspell may draw some hate at tables.
$50 Brion (UR) Casts fat creatures, and flings them with its commander. Has a few combo wincons.
$56 Isamaru, Hound of Konda (W) One drop commander, pumps him up with a ton of equipment to get 21 commander damage out fast.[Voltron]
I also found a blog with a bunch of budget decks, I'll dump links to all the lists for people searching this to get into the format for cheap.
$38 Niv-Mizzet (U) Draws a ton of cards to deal damage, subthemes are spell copying and spell recursion. Can go infinite with the addition of cards like [[Curiosity]] and [[Ophidian Eye]]
$27 Azami (U) Draw cards, counter spells, make flashy timmy plays. Has cool wincons including [[Diviner's Wand]].
$31 Bruna (UW) Another voltron deck, this one uses Auras to pump up the commander instead, and the commander's ability to cheat them on from the hand and graveyard.
$30 Pharika (BG) Reanimator with lots of ETB effects. Commander can create 1/1 deathtouch tokens for 2 mana at instant speed.
$36 Scion of the Ur-Dragon (Five-Color) Dragon tribal with some reanimator. Infinite combos off [[Hellkite Charger]] + [[Bear Umbra]] and[[Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind]] + [[Ophidian Eye]]
$36 Kamahl (G) Good old mono G battlecruiser. Contains tons of ramp, tokens, and Timmy spells. Commander has [[Overrun]] as an activated ability.
$38 Sharuum (BUW) Artifact reanimator with goodstuff from all three colours. Uses [[Shimmer Myr]] to play most of its deck at instant speed.
I'd also like to give an honorable mention to the Commander pre-constructed decks, which can be had for $20 online, and the newest ones are at a $35 MSRP. They're all legal and playable out of the box, but I hear that the power level on some of the older ones is lacking a bit. I'd recommend the 2014 Commander decks as I have experience with them being competitive at local tables outside of the box. I would have the warning that they're all split down the middle into multiple subthemes to allow the list to be re-focused using the alternate commanders provided, and so they end up playing fairly differently than a deck that was built from the top to be more focused.
Unfortunately those are two of the more expensive decks from the two sets, and would cost you around $65 for the both of them. Assuming that you have Amazon Prime (for the free shipping), these are the combinations I would recommend that are under $50, just based on giving him the most color variety.
Evasive Maneuvers and either Sworn To Darkness or Built From Scratch
Power Hungry and either Peer Through Time or Sworn To Darkness
Nature of the Beast and Peer Through Time
My personal choice of those would be Evasive Maneuvers and Sworn To Darkness, but if you include a gift receipt then he can always exchange them if he needs to.
If you're doing G/W tokens, I highly recommend Trostani over Tolsimir. Tolsimir is a built in anthem, but Trostani's populate on a stick is useful, and the life you'll be gaining is not negligible. You can even just throw in both so he can swap generals.
Another fun G/W deck is Karametra. Any creature is better when it comes with a free Rampant Growth, and the extra mana she brings allows you to curve a little higher so he can throw around all kinds of goofy things. Most landfall cards are cheap, and you can get away with making the deck be mostly creatures and run Primal Surge as a win condition. Cards like Lurking Predators and Abundance are ridiculous in this sort of deck. The only real issue is that Avenger of Zendikar is amazing in this, but a bit expensive. However, you can order [Nature of the Beast] (http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Gathering-Commander-Nature-Beast/dp/B00FUSBCCC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397739211&sr=8-1&keywords=nature+of+the+beast) for 20$ off Amazon and that gets you stuff like Avenger, Rampaging Baloths, Wrath of God, Tempt with Discovery, and some other useful stuff. Just cut the red stuff and use the rest of your budget to fill out the deck.
Or since the precon is all the colors he likes, just add cards to it with the rest of your budget, but I'd still say cut it down to two colors since decent three-color manabases are $$.