Zedruu

[Milo109]

I will be modifying political puppets for some multiplayer fun. Suggestions?

[Gorzo]

In my opinion, there are 2 keys to political puppet decks.

1) discouraging attacks vs you. Cards like {propaganda} and {norn's annex} that add add a cost to attack you are super valuable to your deck. And there are a lot of them. You can easily have it cost 6 mana or more per creature just to attack you.

2) {insurrection} is probably your biggest win condition card. But sometimes it isn't enough to finish everyone off. So on top of suggesting ways to get insurrection out of your library (stuff like {mystical tutor} and {long-term plans} are perfect for that), I suggest ways to return it to your hand from the graveyard to cast it again, like {mnemonic wall}.

[Milo109]

Thank you

[BlackJester]

And article worth reading:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/sf/186

[JaxxLevia]

How cards that helps all? They aren't drawing hate from opponents and can win you some assistance and good-will at times. Cards like {Kami of the Crescent Moon}, perhaps. Or is that too "Group Hug"-like?

[Superkurd13]

I definitely like a fair amount of group hug in my deck. The more people you can help, the longer you may survive to play a winning card

[BlackJester]

For some reason I don't yet understand, I'm the first one people kill when I play Group Hug. 😞

[Milo109]

For some reason I don't yet understand, I'm the first one people kill when I play Group Hug. 😞

Same. They hate all my deck to much. My idea is to basically have a Carrot/Stick deck. Add incentives to help me, but also stick that pesky player with {illusions of grandeur}

[Gorzo]

For some reason I don't yet understand, I'm the first one people kill when I play Group Hug. 😞

Can't say for sure without knowing your deck, but generally speaking, when a player is helping 3 enemies, that tends to outweigh the fact that the player is helping you also, and makes that player a threat. And when every player at the table is posed with the same scenario by the same player at the same time, which group hug tends to do, that player is being targeted by everyone, and dies.

This is why I like the political puppets theme more than group hug. It's very similar, but instead of helping everyone, it tends to have cards that let you cpick and choose who to help, letting you ally stronger with a player or two, keeping them away, and helping 1 foe still tends to draw less hate than helping all of them, even if that help is much more intense. And that ally bond helps you, your friend will want you alive to reap more of your benefits.

[BlackJester]

Can't say for sure without knowing your deck, but generally speaking, when a player is helping 3 enemies, that tends to outweigh the fact that the player is helping you also, and makes that player a threat. And when every player at the table is posed with the same scenario by the same player at the same time, which group hug tends to do, that player is being targeted by everyone, and dies.

This is why I like the political puppets theme more than group hug. It's very similar, but instead of helping everyone, it tends to have cards that let you cpick and choose who to help, letting you ally stronger with a player or two, keeping them away, and helping 1 foe still tends to draw less hate than helping all of them, even if that help is much more intense. And that ally bond helps you, your friend will want you alive to reap more of your benefits.

The deck is posted as Sharing is Caring under Casual if you're interested.  At my time of death, I was behind with only three land in play and was keeping the "Big Bad" at the table in check with a {Steel Golem}.  Some other player decided to off me, and the "Big Bad" flooded the board with dudes and won.  In that case, it was to the advantage of everyone else NOT to kill me.  *shrug*  It's hard to play .politics. when players don't see what's going on.

/crying

[JoeHall]

So, I am kind of necro'ing this old thread. I have been playing around the kitchen table with my kids and somehow got stuck with the Zedruu pre-con. Out of the box, I think Political Puppets may be the worst deck of the five but Zedruu himself is kind of interesting.

This is the list I am working from now:

Commander - Zedruu 100 cards, 1 sideboard 1 {Sacred Foundry} 1 {Azorius Chancery} 1 {Adarkar Wastes} 1 {Glacial Chasm} 5 {Mountain} 1 {Minamo, School at Water's Edge} 1 {Vesuva} 1 {Command Tower} 1 {Steam Vents} 1 {Terramorphic Expanse} 1 {Boros Garrison} 1 {Reflecting Pool} 11 {Island} 6 {Plains} 1 {Mikokoro, Center of the Sea} 1 {Miren, the Moaning Well} 1 {Izzet Boilerworks} 1 {Evolving Wilds} 1 {Hallowed Fountain} 38 lands 1 {Archaeomancer} 1 {Desolation Giant} 1 {Mist Raven} 1 {Æther Adept} 1 {Stonehorn Dignitary} 1 {Fog Bank} 1 {Tradewind Rider} 1 {Keiga, the Tide Star} 1 {Vesuvan Shapeshifter} 1 {Drift of Phantasms} 1 {Sakashima the Impostor} 1 {Arbiter of Knollridge} 1 {Monk Idealist} 1 {Kami of the Crescent Moon} 1 {Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind} 1 {Seht's Tiger} 1 {Solemn Simulacrum} 1 {Flametongue Kavu} 1 {Court Hussar} 1 {Duplicant} 1 {Meloku the Clouded Mirror} 1 {Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir} 1 {Raven Familiar} 1 {Rhox Faithmender} 1 {Wall of Omens} 1 {Kira, Great Glass-Spinner} 1 {Kor Sanctifiers} 1 {Tidespout Tyrant} 1 {Stormtide Leviathan} 29 creatures 1 {Legerdemain} 1 {Reins of Power} 1 {Peel from Reality} 1 {Boros Signet} 1 {Crystal Shard} 1 {Temple Bell} 1 {Time Stop} 1 {Bribery} 1 {Thought Lash} 1 {Illusions of Grandeur} 1 {Izzet Signet} 1 {Austere Command} 1 {Peace of Mind} 1 {Hinder} 1 {Oblivion Ring} 1 {Meishin, the Mind Cage} 1 {Grab the Reins} 1 {Oblation} 1 {Capsize} 1 {Azorius Signet} 1 {Howling Mine} 1 {Venser, the Sojourner} 1 {Faith's Fetters} 1 {Treachery} 1 {Delusions of Mediocrity} 1 {Cloudstone Curio} 1 {Embargo} 1 {Spell Crumple} 1 {Wrath of God} 1 {Darksteel Ingot} 1 {Sol Ring} 1 {Meekstone} 32 other spells Sideboard 1 {Zedruu the Greathearted} 1 sideboard cards

As a testament to how bad the pre-con is, I think I am only running like 14 of the original non-land 66 and some of those are on the chopping block for the next iteration.

This deck falls somewhere between "Bear Hug" and just some weird sort of "Control". I am really just sharing it because I made some choices that are non-standard or haven't been mentioned in this thread.

No {Propaganda}/{Ghostly Prison}/etc - If someone is dead-set on killing you(my kids), they will just attack through it. It

does shut down swarms of tokens but it doesn't stop 2-3 largish creatures from ranching you. I have had a couple of games where I donated these to other players  I considered running {Static Orb}/{Winter Orb}/{Hokori, Dust Drinker} but those seemed like excellent ways to piss off a table.

• No {Bronze Bombshell}/{Grid Monitor}/{Rust Elemental}/{Loxodon Peacekeeper} - Those are all great cards for this deck but my table has too many "sacrifice a creature" effects right now. If Commander has a "metagame" then mine is just too un-hospitable to those creatures.
  
  {Illusions of Grandeur}/{Delusions of Mediocrity} - These really should have been in the Pre-Con. It was mentioned earlier in this thread and has been mentioned 100 times elsewhere. I only bring them up to point out a couple of the support cards: {Tidespout Tyrant}, {Tradewind Rider}, {Capsize} and {Monk Idealist}. Ideally, you should wait until you have Zedruu plus a couple of activations before running these out there so you don't get hit with "Life-gain on the stack..." shenannigans. The bonus life you get out of these is very helpful. Bonus points if you have a {Rhox Faithmender} in play (who is more in the deck due to the interaction with Zedruu)
  
  {Embargo} - It kind of feels like Winter Orb but it still allows people to cast spells so it doesn't seem to draw as much ire. It is a great target to donate with because it functions no matter who controls it and there is no reason you should take two damage a turn.
  
  {Meekstone} - I have only played this a couple of times and it has died pretty quickly each time but, in theory, it functions much the same as Embargo except small creature swarms can still attack.
  
  {Thought Lash} - I haven't actually killed anyone with this yet but it is pretty good in the early/mid game to soak some damage before you donate it.
  
  {Meishin, the Mind Cage} - Another donate-able defense mechanism. You need to be careful who you donate it to - don't give it to the guy that is dumping his hand onto the board - but it shuts down a lot of creatures until you get to the end game.

This deck is still very much a work-in-progress and I am open to suggestions. There is a long list of cards I want to try out (ex: {Enlightened Tutor}, {Island Sanctuary}, more Clones, etc). Do I have specific weakness that I need to shore up? Are there cards in my list that make your eyes bleed?