Bosh Commander Deck - Assistance?

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WickedBoy6

Guest
I'm a big fan of mono-artifact for casual play, as you're usually doing something EVERY turn. If you're not casting stuff, you're tapping artifacts, or using creatures to boost other creatures, or just causing chaos. So, I decided to take this to another extreme and make a Commander Deck. Only six Commanders fit the bill, however. I didn't feel like playing Esper, and Reaper King's abilities are way too limiting. Everyone plays Karn, so it was down to Bosh and Memnarch. While Mem has insane disruption possibility, I can never say no to red, so Bosh...is my number one...guy.

So far, this is how the deck is shaping up:

COMMANDER (1)
Bosh, Iron Golem

CREATURES (5)
Arcbound Ravager
Darksteel Colossus
Duplicant
Guardian of the Ages
Myr Retriever

ARTIFACTS (7)
Darksteel Forge
Hammer of Purphoros
Howling Mine
Quicksilver Amulet
Ring of Three Wishes
Sol Ring
Serrated Arows

Not a bad start, but I think I need to get a good base of land first. And this is where I would lik the input of my fellow Casual Players. I have a pair of lists, a list that numerous decks said to have, and another list of cards I thought would work as I searched through Gatherer. I ranked them with Stars, * being limiting, ** being useful, but marginally so, and *** being need-to-add. If anyone can give me opinions, I would really appreciate it.

Blasted Landscape ***
Blinkmoth Nexus ***
Crystal Vein **
Darksteel Citadel ***
Desert **
Deserted Temple **
Dread Statuary ***
Dust Bowl **
Gargoyle Castle ***
Ghost Town **
Glimmerpost ***
Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai ***
Maze of Ith ***
Mishra's Factory ***
Mystifying Maze **
Petrified Field ***
Quicksand **
Rath's Edge **
Reliquary Tower ***
Sheltered Valley ***
Stalking Stones ***
Strip Mine ***
Tectonic Edge **
Temple of the False God ***
Urza's Factory ***
Urza's Mine ***
Urza's Power Plant ***
Urza's Tower ***
Vesuva ***
Wasteland ***
Winding Canyons **
Zoetic Cavern ***

Arena ***
Balduvian Trading Post **
Buried Ruin **
Cathedral of War ***
City of Shadows **
City of Traitors *
Cloudpost ***
Contested War Zone *
Dormant Volcano **
Dwarven Hold ***
Dwarven Ruins *
Eldrazi Temple *
Encroaching Wastes *
Eye of Ugin *
Githu Encampment ***
Ghost Quarter **
Great Furnace ***
Hall of the Bandit Lord *
Hammerheim **
Haunted Fengraf **
Hellion Crucible **
High Market *
Homeward Path **
Inkmoth Nexus ***
Island of Wak-Wak ***
Keldon Megaliths ***
Keldon Necropolis **
Kher Keep ***
Library of Alexandria ***
Madblind Mountain *
Mercadian Bazaar **
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea **
Miren, the Moaning Well *
Mishra's Workshop ***
Mutavault ***
Oasis *
Phyrexia's Core *
Rishadan Port *
Rogue's Passage ***
Safe Haven **
Sandstorm Needle **
Scorched Ruins **
Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep *
Shivan Gorge **
Smoldering Spires ***
Sorow's Path *
Spinerock Knoll **
Teetering Peaks ***
Terrain Generator **
Thawing Glaciers **
Thespian's Stage ***
Tower of the Magistrate *
Unstable Frontier *
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle **
Wintermoon Mesa *
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I don't get it. You've listed way more land than you'd come close to needing, and some of these lands are terrible. Your system of marking them with asterisks is just distracting. It seems like you're doing a lot of work, listing every possible land you could use instead of just trying to build a base. I mean, you're not really planning to use Wintermoon Mesa, are you?

I note that you're listing Library of Alexandria, Mishra's Workshop, and some other ridiculously priced cards (Rishadan Port and Wasteland have become annoyingly pricey). Is it your plan to actually use those cards? Nothing wrong with it if you are (I'm considering building a Commander deck and putting my Bazaar of Baghdad in it). I'm just trying to get a better idea of what the plan is here. Someone who is putting Library of Alexandria into a Commander deck probably isn't going to also put Sorrow's Path into that same deck. I mean, Spiderman would probably do that, but no one else would.

Since Bosh has a red mana symbol, things like Great Furnace are pretty obvious inclusions. As for the colorless-producing lands, I've used some successfully in monobrown highlander decks in the past. Here are the ones I'd consider...

Scorched Ruins
Mishra's Factory
Mutavault
Darksteel Citadel
Ancient Tomb
City of Traitors
Crystal Vein
Buried Ruin
Stalking Stones
Dread Statuary
Quicksand
Rogue's Passage
Temple of the False God
Ghost Town
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Blinkmoth Nexus
Inkmoth Nexus
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Reliquary Tower
Thespian's Stage
Zoetic Cavern
Petrified Field
Deserted Temple
Mystifying Maze

And you're going to want some red-producing lands too, including some mountains. Throw in Great Furnace, Shivan Gorge, and a few more lands I forgot about or some that you really want to use, and you don't even have any room for those mountains. At that point, I'd worry more about the rest of the deck. Once you work that out, you'll probably have better information to help you decide which lands to cut, if that makes any sense...
 
W

WickedBoy6

Guest
Yeah, I tend to WAY over-extend myself in things like that, I know it's a bit of a mess. I probably could've just done the *** cards and leave it at that. As far as red-producers, Teetering Peaks, Smoldering Spires, Dwarven Hold, Great Furnace, stuff that also gives advantage, versus simple Mountains. I know going all-non-basic is extremely risky, but it might be fun. I have a good grasp on the lands I might want, but opinions are always welcomed.

As far as the rest of the deck, I was thinking of a lot of mana producers - Sol Ring, Myrs, Thran Dynamo, etc. - to build up to the big-time Colossi creatures, and then Bosh the field with the unneeded mana artifacts once I get a good land hold. Some artifact recursion couldn't hurt, either. I'll research the cards further.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Yeah, I tend to WAY over-extend myself in things like that, I know it's a bit of a mess. I probably could've just done the *** cards and leave it at that. As far as red-producers, Teetering Peaks, Smoldering Spires, Dwarven Hold, Great Furnace, stuff that also gives advantage, versus simple Mountains. I know going all-non-basic is extremely risky, but it might be fun. I have a good grasp on the lands I might want, but opinions are always welcomed.
It's certainly possible to go all nonbasics. I guess the main thing I'm getting at with regard to the mana base is that you know you'll have your commander's ability requiring red mana, so you'll want red mana to be available by the time it's desirable to start activating Bosh. How many other cards will you have that use red mana? That's what determines how much red you want in your manabase. If Bosh is the only thing using red, you probably want very few mountains, if any, and to focus your lands on colorless mana production. If you have some red artifacts or artifact-friendly red cards (Goblin Welder comes to mind) then some more red mana from your lands is in order.

As far as the rest of the deck, I was thinking of a lot of mana producers - Sol Ring, Myrs, Thran Dynamo, etc. - to build up to the big-time Colossi creatures, and then Bosh the field with the unneeded mana artifacts once I get a good land hold. Some artifact recursion couldn't hurt, either. I'll research the cards further.
Yeah, I get that part. It's very powerful. Actually, my friend (who went by Al0ysiusHWW here for time) had a monobrown deck for Seattle's 150-card highlander format that used to be a thing long before Commander existed, and it was impressive even back then. This was back in 2005 or something, so the pool of available artifacts (creatures in particular) wasn't as deep. Yeah, he used Metalworker, which is banned in Commander, but the other artifact mana producers are totally legal: Mana Vault, Grim Monolith, etc. Yeah, even the humble Thran Dynamo ends up being pretty strong in an artifact-based deck. I'll have to see if I can remember what else he used in his deck. I remember that he was fond of the Ensnaring Bridge + Null Brooch combo, which was probably in there somewhere...
 
W

WickedBoy6

Guest
Oversoul said:
It's certainly possible to go all nonbasics. I guess the main thing I'm getting at with regard to the mana base is that you know you'll have your commander's ability requiring red mana, so you'll want red mana to be available by the time it's desirable to start activating Bosh. How many other cards will you have that use red mana? That's what determines how much red you want in your manabase. If Bosh is the only thing using red, you probably want very few mountains, if any, and to focus your lands on colorless mana production. If you have some red artifacts or artifact-friendly red cards (Goblin Welder comes to mind) then some more red mana from your lands is in order.
Very few red cards. I'm going pure artifact, with maybe two exceptions: Hammer of Purphoros, which IS an artifact, but needs red, and MAYBE Hellkite Tyrant as an alt win-condition. Other than that, artifacts, artifacts, artifacts.
Someone who is putting Library of Alexandria into a Commander deck probably isn't going to also put Sorrow's Path into that same deck.
Didn't realize it, but the Library is also banned in Commander, so that's out. Not to worry, though, there's so many artifact draw cards - Mine, Mythos, Jalum, Jayemdae, Urza's Blueprints - I doubt I'll miss the Library.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Didn't realize it, but the Library is also banned in Commander, so that's out. Not to worry, though, there's so many artifact draw cards - Mine, Mythos, Jalum, Jayemdae, Urza's Blueprints - I doubt I'll miss the Library.
I forgot about that too. It's not really a big deal. Some other cards could give you way more of an advantage. Oh, and Memory Jar is not banned in Commander, so I'd use that.
 
W

WickedBoy6

Guest
Yeah, the amount of artifacts that this game has is miles deep, it's so had to really look for the right ones. I remember my pure-artifact deck from back in Urza's days. Blueprints, Icys, Colossus of Sardia, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Masticore, Bottle Gnomes, Energizer...God, the possibilities. I think my brain might implooooooooooooooooooooooooooookoijnhb gvbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
 
W

WickedBoy6

Guest
Alright, after some looking through things, I have narrowed down a lot of not only the mana possibilities, but also the Creatures and Artifcts, as well. I still have WAY too much - 166 cards total - but its a preliminary list of what I might like. Prices and availability will whittle the list down, but so far...

WHAT I ALREADY HAVE
COMMANDER (1)
Bosh, Iron Golem

CREATURES (5)
Arcbound Ravager
Darksteel Colossus
Duplicant
Guardian of the Ages
Myr Retriever

ARTIFACTS (7)
Darksteel Forge
Hammer of Purphoros
Howling Mine
Quicksilver Amulet
Ring of Three Wishes
Sol Ring
Serrated Arows

POSSIBLE INCLUSIONS
LANDS (55)
Blasted Landscape
Blinkmoth Nexus
Buried Ruin
Cathedral of War
City of Shadows
Cloudpost
Crystal Vein
Darksteel Citadel
Desert
Deserted Temple
Dormant Volcano
Dread Statuary
Dwarven Hold
Eldrazi Temple
Gargoyle Castle
Ghost Quarter
Ghost Town
Githu Encampment
Glimmerpost
Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
Great Furnace
Haunted Fengraf
Hellion Crucible
Inkmoth Nexus
Keldon Megaliths
Keldon Necropolis
Mercadian Bazaar
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Mishra's Factory
Mishra's Workshop
Mutavault
Mystifying Maze
Petrified Field
Quicksand
Reliquary Tower
Rogue's Passage
Smoldering Spires
Teetering Peaks
Scorched Ruins
Sheltered Valley
Shivan Gorge
Spinerock Gnoll
Stalking Stones
Strip Mine
Temple of the False God
Thespian's Stage
Urza's Factory
Urza's Mine
Urza's Power Plant
Urza's Tower
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Vesuva
Wasteland
Winding Canyons
Zoetic Cavern

CREATURES (37)
Alloy Myr
Arcbound Crusher
Arcbound Overseer
Arcbound Reclaimer
Beast of Burden
Blightsteel Colossus
Cathodion
Colossus of Sardia
Copper Gnomes
Darksteel Juggernaut
Darksteel Sentinel
Epochrasite
Etched Champion
Gemini Engine
Golem Artisan
Iron Myr
Junk Diver
Karn, Silver Golem
Lodestone Golem
Manakin
Mycosynth Golem
Myr Battlesphere
Myr Moonvessel
Myr Welder
Ornithopter
Palladium Myr
Plague Myr
Platinum Angel
Precursor Golem
Scarecrone
Shimmer Myr
Steel Hellkite
Steel Overseer
Su-Chi
Thopter Assembly
Workhorse
Wurmcoil Engine

ARTIFACTS (61)
All Is Dust
Basalt Monolith
Basilisk Collar
Blinkmoth Urn
Candles of Leng
Chimeric Mass
Chimeric Staff
Clock of Omens
Cloud Key
Coldsteel Heart
Contagion Clasp
Contagion Engine
Darksteel Axe
Darksteel Reactor
Dreamstone Hedron
Energy Chamber
Everflowing Chalice
Expedition Map
Fire Diamond
Font of Mythos
Foriysian Totem
Gilded Lotus
Grim Monolith
Guardian Idol
Icy Manipulator
Illusionist's Bracers
Lightning Greaves
Loxodon Warhammer
Magewright's Stone
Mimic Vat
Mind's Eye
Mind Stone
Minion Reflector
Mirrorworks
Mox Opal
Pristine Talisman
Quietus Spike
Ring of Gix
Scourglass
Sculpting Steel
Semblance Anvil
Sisay's Ring
Staff of Domination
Staff of Nin
Summoning Station
Sword of Body and Mind
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of Fire and Ice
Temporal Aperture
Thousand-Year Elixer
Thran Dynamo
Thran Turbine
Titan Forge
Tower of Calamities
Umezawa's Jitte
Unwinding Clock
Ur-Golem's Eye
Vedalken Orrery
Voltaic Key
Warden of the Wall
Worn Powerstone

Remember, the deck is going to be super-mana ramp to play out the massive beatdown, then use Bosh to clear out the unneeded ramp once it gets going.
 
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