Last night I put together my Oros, the Avenger WBR EDH deck. I played some disheartening games against Oversoul of Dusk and Rafiq of the Many ("I swing with a 6/6 double strike and you can't block it with any of your creatures") via Skype. I stuck with my original idea of having all my non-white creatures have 4 toughness to maximize Oros' ability... except for two cases. Some notables from my deck construction:
Flash Conscription: I used this to steal my opponent's Rafiq in one game, to chump block with it.
O-Naginata: Always a favorite of mine, unfortunately I have yet to put the trampling sword on my Oros the Avenger.
Voidstone Gargoyle: In EDH, that's just mean. I may take this out for the unfun factor.
Chandra Nalaar and Ajani Goldmane: The two planeswalkers I own get to join forces in this deck!
Polluted Bonds: Yeah it will get me all the hate in multiplayer, but isn't it fun?
Taurean Mauler: (See Polluted Bonds.) Less than 4 toughness but not for long...
Breath of Malfegor: I can't wait to play this card in multiplayer.
Edge of the Divinity and Scourge of the Nobilis: Some fun enhancements for Oros.
Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran: I think he and Oros will get along just fine, as long as they are attacking together.
Soulblast (and Rite of Consumption): I enjoy these "Kaboom" win cards, to punch through that last bit of damage.
Torrent of Souls: I didn't get to play this card last night but I'm sure it will end up being good in this deck.
Mudbutton Torchrunner: I bumped into this card again while pulling pieces out of my RB goblins deck. I put it into the Oros pile, then remembered the Oros ability and thought of taking it out, but then realizing the interaction these two abilities could have, I put it back in. I imagine facing some big ground creatures, swinging with Oros, paying 2W, dealing 3 damage to everything, which may or may not faze my opponent's guys, then my own Torchrunner explodes, tacking on 3 more damage onto some poor sap. I doubt that all my opponent's creatures would have 7 or more toughness... in multiplayer it should be great fun.
When playing the games last night, I was able to get a turn 2 Greater Gargadon to come into play (eventually) by stalling instead of just sacrificing my own permanents. At one point I played Temporal Isolation on his Stoic Angel while I had Oros down and he had a mid-sized creature army. Unfortunately he ended up playing a big dragon of his own to match my one untapper. I like this idea of using one of the pacify enchantments to keep the general in play, unless it's a card like Rafiq which still keeps his functionality even when pacified.
Playing the EDH games with awards should be a good game, since some people didn't like it when we played star with regular decks. I think star with EDH should be great, but it may not happen. I think we could start with some simple awards and get some extra fun in the game:
5 for last man standing
2 for best single play of the game (voted)
2 for most sportsmanlike (voted)
1 for most damage dealt in one turn
1 for biggest creature in play (Power+Toughness)
This way, if a single player wins all the other awards without being the last man standing, they could conceivably earn the most points in that round. There are many complicated awards but I think these should serve our purposes. They will be easy to keep track of and won't distract people too much from actually playing the game to win.
We should do the votes in that order, best single play of the game, then most sportsmanlike because I think people will recall how the game was played and won, before they vote on most sportsmanlike. It will also be an incentive to not argue during the first vote! I think people will not be allowed to vote for themselves.
Scott mentioned Kaho, Minamo Historian could be his general. That will be a very frustrating game!
