Topic: [EDH][Opinions] Borborygmos Enraged

Hey. "Deck discussion" was suggested to me constantly by DB, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

http://deckbox.org/sets/374450

This is my Borb 'Hulk' EDH deck. The whole point of the deck is to use "play an extra land" effects in combination with land tutors (which are useful early game for fixing/lands and late game for ammunition) and just throw land after casting Borb. Almost all the games I play net me 8 available mana by turn 6, which is why I use cards like Tower of Fortunes and Mind's Eye. The large quantity of non-basic lands is also one of the deck's gimmicks, and provides utility when Borb's ability activates.
It's not really meant for 1v1 EDH play, mostly for multiplayer (hence the board wipes). Due to playing multiplayer, I'm also not the prime target for removal (plus the threat of having a large quantity of Lightningbolts thrown at you puts people off).

I'm currently questioning the usefulness of Asceticism, Charmbreaker Devils and Groundskeeper. If anyone has any suggestions on what to remove/add, I'd love to discuss them. I look forward to hearing from you...

I hope I did this right...

Re: [EDH][Opinions] Borborygmos Enraged

Things look like they should be alright; although I must admit it looks like you're a bit light on defenses if someone has a more aggressive deck or is somewhat resistant to your couple of board wipes.  I'm admittedly not the most versed EDH player, but in my experience you need to have a solid defense or trick to stop someone from achieving an alpha strike that will just win the game for them.  Normally I like to toss in Fog or something comparable to achieve this goal, as they tap out thinking they've overrun you or otherwise have you dead to rights, only to see you tap one, cast the Fog, and the tables turn as they're totally exposed, having over-extended in an effort to win the game.

I would actually shift a bit of attention away from Borby as he's pretty easy to pick off with instant speed removal as soon as someone gets a sniff of what you're up to.  Just a few other creatures to perhaps make your plan a bit harder to spot.  Thankfully, green has some NICE options there, and, if they're big enough, they could win the game for you on their own.  For instance, Gruul Ragebeast has actually won me a game when I paired it with Giant Adephage.  Swing, make a 7/7, fight their biggest creature, thanks for playing.

Asceticism strikes me as a bit redundant given that you have both Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots.  I'm also not really sure I see the reason for Fireshrieker other than to put onto Borby, which is really just win-more at that point.  Charmbreaker Devils also don't strike me as being the ideal way to get things out of your yard... I'm thinking Regrowth, Revive, or something to that end would be more useful.  Groundskeeper COULD be useful, but given that you already have ways to get stuff out of the yard AND have Creeping Renaissance, you could likely clear that space for something else.

Lastly, only Chandra?  I could see where Garruk, Primal Hunter or Garruk Wildspeaker could prove useful.

Re: [EDH][Opinions] Borborygmos Enraged

In EDH, it's important to have redundancies. I may have 4 cards which give Borb protection, but the chances of me finding them are still very slim. Another thing which doesn't really work is a 2 card combo without tutors, i.e. the chances of me finding the Adephage and the Ragebeast are almost nonexistant, although Giant Adephage by itself seems like a fun and easy way of boosting my defenses, so I might give it a try (plus Borb can clear a path for it).
Also, the Fireshrieker is blocker deterrent, as by the time Borb comes out someone always manages to have a 6 power creature. Plus it doubles his combat damage effect, so win/win. I really like the look of Card-Draw Garruk, but like you said, I have no defenses, so he may die too easily.

Hm... perhaps if I was to use a Dragonlair Spider + Dragon Broodmother? Those create reusable defense.

Re: [EDH][Opinions] Borborygmos Enraged

I very much understand that two-card combos are incredibly unlikely, but I was just trying to offer an example of the sort of thing you can manage to do that doesn't require a ton of setup in your colors - that could both remove some attention from Borby while also being a viable way to win the game.

Let me put it another way, I can see where the deck could work as currently constructed, but if you were to play against someone with white, if they're competitive enough, they could easily put Nevermore in to name your general - or more commonly you could encounter things like Terminus or Banishing Stroke that put Borby out of reach on the bottom of your library.  As currently constructed, any of those plays and you might as well just scoop.

That being said, both the Dragonlair Spider and Dragon Broodmother are welcome cards that will offer some defenses while also providing the opportunity to have some offense separate from Borby.  Remember, that green and red offer a ton of options for offense too and it takes 14 of Borby's lightning bolts to actually kill the opponent.. that's a LOT of land to discard.

Re: [EDH][Opinions] Borborygmos Enraged

http://deckbox.org/sets/468095

Well, I took your advice. I got rid of some of the more specific, one use cards (like Tilling Treefolk) and added more creatures. Turns out, my biggest strength was being passive aggressive. As soon as people saw that I was playing big things, they turned on me and I didn't have enough creatures to handle them. I could just keep adding more creatures, but that would just change the deck too much (and I'm not a big fan of that style of play anyway).

So in the end, I kept the creatures more threatening as defenders (Stuffy Doll, Acidic Slime, the Spider). Stuffy Doll has the added bonus of 'combo's and is immune to all of my boardwipes'. I also added a bit of enchantment/artifact destruction while I was at it. And now I don't know which two cards to cut... perfect.

Last edited by Milun (2013-09-02 23:20:37)