“All that I’ve sown came rattling down.“
Art:Host of the Hereafter
by Annie Stegg
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
This set is truly packed to the brim with amazing commanders focusing on +1/+1 counters, and Host of the Hereafter is no exception to that rule! This card is essentially an The Ozolith
in the command zone, which is a crazy effect for Pauper EDH, being able to transfer counters of any type, like the ones we are able to generate off of cards like Boot Nipper
is really cool. Host of the Hereafter sadly does draw a lot of heat from opponents because after reading it or playing against it, most players know that we can move counters at will, and it can be a big problem if they let it stay on the board, It’s the main reason we are running cards like Gaea's Gift
and Tamiyo's Safekeeping
. This deck packs some classic +1/+1 counter fun and is an absolute blast to pilot! Without further ado, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Host of the Hereafter Counters!
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Why Host of the Hereafter?
Host of the Hereafter is one of the best cards in our deck and is a card that we want on the field as much as we possibly can. Sadly, our opponents will certainly try to make that not happen, but with a few protection spells in the deck, we can protect them pretty easily, at least for a couple of removal spells. Host is just amazing card for the deck whether we move the counters when our creatures die or with a sac outlet like Carrion Feeder
is truly up to us and the state of the game, one of my favorite plays in this deck is using Wedding Invitation
and our commander and a sac outlet like Carrion Feeder to be able to buff up our commander to the commander damage threshold and swing unblockable. Host of the Hereafter is a huge part of our deck and I try to cast them as early as we can and keep them on the field as much as we can.
Deck Matchups:
Since this is Pauper EDH, there are an absolute ton of things that can tip a game in your favor or out of it. While an archetype may seem favorable, there are absolutely good and bad commanders for our deck to go up against; I have included both these, which were all played among my testing groups using various decks, and I have included the sample size for clarity purposes. This is just meant to be a guide after testing a bunch of games with this deck!
The information below is notes about specific decks that were featured in our testing pods and how we fared against them. Naturally, Pauper EDH is a multiplayer game, so these are just a summary of my notes against different commanders and strategies. When we test these decks we try to test to its strengths and weaknesses to give a full spectrum of what the deck has to offer. Various commanders and archetypes/strategies are used to get the most accurate information.
Commanders, we have a good matchup against:
Viashino Slaughtermaster
Record against Viashino Slaughtermaster 3-1
Overall, I think this is a very good matchup for their deck. For the most part, this is a pretty easy matchup for us. Sure, they can have the high-roll game where they kill us on turn three, but overall, if we keep a heavy removal hand and kill their commander early, there really isn’t much they can do. Try to keep a heavy removal hand and kill their commander when they drop it, and you should be all good.
Indulging Patrician
Record against Indulging Patrician 4-0
I had no trouble with this matchup, the drain and gain can be annoying, but once we are typically quicker and can build up a bigger and better board quicker than they can drain and gain us out. In my testing, I just didn’t pay attention or really care what the Patrician player was doing, I stuck true to my game plan and hit them hard.
Defiant Survivor
Record against Defiant Survivor 3-0
Defiant Survivor is just not on the same level as we are, mono-green is a very tough place to be within the format, we can typically just keep killing their commander of whatever they manifest dread and almost always have no issues, while they do have a decent amount of fogs and stuff they have almost no way to deal with our board so even with their fogs we will beat them down eventually.
Commanders, we have a tough matchup against:
Syr Konrad, the Grim
Record against Syr Konrad, the Grim 0-3
Syr Konrad is an extremely removal- and sacrifice-effect-heavy deck. This is a very tough matchup for our deck. While we do have some resistance to removal, we have almost no resistance against the sacrifice effects, and they can really tear up our board in the early game. This is a pretty rough matchup for us.
Khenra Spellspear // Gitaxian Spellstalker
Record against Khenra Spellspear 0-4
Early removal is our only possible hope here and since they have so much protection it truthfully feels like a lost cause a lot of the time, this is an extremely tough matchup for our deck and their one-shot potential combined with so many ways to make their creatures unblockable make this matchup an absolute nightmare, I had no success in this matchup.
Displaced Dinosaurs
Record against Displaced Dinosaurs 2-3
Even though we did have some success in a couple games I would still say that this matchup is not favorable, the dinos can ramp an absolute ton and even though we have a big board it can be quite tough to defend against a legion of 7/7’s this is a very rough matchup for the deck and I struggled a lot, killing their commander and keeping them off of the board or having a fast start can be very good but is not super consistent, this is a rough one.
Strategy Overview:
Move those counters:
We need to take full advantage of our commander and move those counters as much as we can, moving them to our commander and using something like Wedding Invitation to commander damage kill an opponent is a great aspect of our game plan, and something we can always try for.
Go Wide and Swing Big:
We are a +1/+1 counter-focused deck, so being able to get big is really easy in this deck, especially with cards like Master Chef
and Ivy Lane Denizen
, allowing us to buff up a large part of our deck. We are also playing thirty-five creatures in the deck, so going wide is always easy for us to do, and we can easily swing out and just kill people.
Play to our controlling elements:
Being in Golgari allows us to run quite a bit of removal, and while we aren’t a true control deck by any means, we do have some controlling elements, and playing to those strengths against decks that care a ton about their commander is very strong. While we certainly aren’t a control deck, being aware that we have quite a bit of removal and are able to take out the best of the best our opponents have to offer, while we are mostly focused on our +1/+1 counter strategy, not forgetting about our controlling elements is key to winning the matchup.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We have so many awesome creatures in this deck, it’s just insane! I love Carrion Feeder, which is one of the premier ways that we are able to put counters onto our other creatures, which is really strong, especially against control or removal-heavy decks. Carrion Feeder is also able to get super big pretty quickly, which can be very good for attacking and blocking before our opponents have their boards fully set up. Since we can transfer any kind of counters, we are running cards like Boot Nipper, which can transfer either deathtouch or lifelink. It’s, of course, game and situation dependent, but overall, it’s extremely good for our deck and a great early game creature for us to have. We, of course, are packing some of the classic +1/+1 counter cards like Bloom Hulk
and Urban Daggertooth
, which are both very strong ways for us to buff up our board and continuously get bigger. Daggertooth can trigger so many times throughout the game and really cause a true disaster for our opponents. Evolution Witness
is one of my favorite cards in the deck since it provides some pretty consistent recursion for our deck, and that can be good if we are going against decks that are heavy on removal. Fetid Gargantua
is not only a great attacker/blocker for the deck, but can provide some pretty consistent card draw, which is something we will never say no to, just a great asset for the deck to have. If we get to the late-game and we have a lot of mana, one of my favorite creatures to utilize it on is Nyxborn Hydra
, whether we bestow it or use it as a creature, it is an amazing card that works very well with our commander, just a true late-game bomb for our deck.
Instants:
Removal is the name of the game here with cards like Breathe Your Last
, Cast Down
, and Doom Blade
and Go for the Throat
all being great examples of some of our more controlling elements and our best ways to deal with opponents’ threats. Even though we have controlling elements, we need to be wary of our opponents as well, which is why we are packing Gaea's Gift and Tamiyo's Safekeeping as cheap pieces of protection that can catch our opponents off guard. If we are playing against a control deck or a deck that can beat us in combat, I really like having Wrap in Vigor
as a great way to recover after a very bad combat, a great reset button for the deck, which can be key against control matchups.
Sorceries:
In almost all of my decks that focus on +1/+1 coutners i am a huge fan of Smell Fear
a removal spell that also allows us to proliferate is truly the best of both worlds for our deck and can allow us to remove even the biggest and best blockers that our opponents have. We have a ton of card draw at sorcery speed like Night's Whisper
, Read the Bones
, and Sign in Blood
, which are all cheap and efficient ways to refill our hand. In the mid-late game, it is pretty easy for us to dump our hand and need a refill. In the mid-late game, I love taking advantage of a lot of mana and our bigger creatures with cards like Thrive
and Soul's Might
allow us to make our creatures absolutely huge and hit like an absolute truck.
Artifacts:
We have a really small artifact package in this deck but they are all pretty helpful, we of course have to have Arcane Signet
which is a nice piece of mana fixing for the deck, we arent very heavy on mana fixing because we are only a two color deck and its not super important. I love Armory of Iroas
. No matter what creature we have this on, it’s just very strong, and perfect if we have our commander out, even if the creature dies, it gives us more counters to move, which is perfect for our overall strategy. Wedding Invitation is one of my favorite cards in this deck and very easily allows us to go for a Commander damage kill by moving the counters to our commander, it also provides card advantage which we don’t need a ton of but it is still always nice to have.
Enchantments:
Starting off our enchantment package, we have Lignify
, which is one of my favorite cards in the deck and can really shut down decks that care about their commander or any specific card. Also, super effective against combo decks, with so many Kheru Goldkeeper
floating around the format, this is a great card to have in our deck. Since we are a +1/+1 counter deck it may actually be considered criminal if we didn’t include Master Chef getting counters on all of our creatures and our commander is very good for the deck, we have quite a few proliferation effects and being able to have baseline counters on pretty much all of our creatures is great for the deck. We round out our enchantment package with Oubliette
, one of the best pieces of removal we have, cheap, efficient, and just a great card for the deck.
Strengths of the Deck:
- As long as we control our commander counters on creatures that die never really go away.
- We have quite a lot of removal in the deck, allowing us to be pretty effective against other creature-heavy decks.
- We are really good in combat and can be very tough to deal with. Not only are our creatures pretty big, but we have a ton of creatures in the deck and can go pretty wide as well.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Our commander is targeted quite a bit in my experience, which can be really rough, especially against removal-heavy or control strategies, since it can be hard to keep our commander on the board.
- We don’t have a lot of ramp in the deck even though we are in Golgari, we sacrificed that for a very high creature count and the ability to go wide.
- Control decks are tough matchups for us.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Conclusion:
Thanks so much for reading to the end! As someone who considers themselves a +1/+1 counters aficionado within the format, I had so much fun with this one, being able to move our counters after removal or a bad combat, or being able to move our own creatures with effects like Carrion Feeder can allow us to be really strong, this commander was an absolute blast to build around and truly feels like a Golgari deck. Stay tuned and tap in!