Need Recommendations for Mono/Duo Color Decks

[Cyberium]

I grew a sudden fatigue for 3+ colors. One can only appreciate so much utilities/answers before wanting decks with inherent blindspots.

Can someone indulge me with fabulous mono/duo color decks ideas?

[lyonhaert]

Just throwing some different stuff out.

Mono:
God-Eternal Oketra
Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
Chainer, Dementia Master
Syr Carah, the Bold
Grothama, All-Devouring

And some 2C:
Vela the Night-Clad
Chainer, Nightmare Adept
Arjun, the Shifting Flame
Storrev, Devkarin Lich
Tiana, Ship's Caretaker
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I've found that monogreen is basically everything you need to properly enjoy EDH. Literally pick a general, slam together a pile of ramp, draw, staples, and fatties and you're there. It's never been easier or more satisfying.

[darrenhabib]

If you want blind spots, then Rakdos is the colors of choice.

[Treamayne]

Here are some ideas:

General Ideas

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Hide

• C
  • Karn, Silver Golem - When (non-creature) artifacts attack
    Traxos, Scourge of Kroog - Untap Shenanigans galore
  W
  • Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit - Fun with recastable self-bouncing
    Cho-Manno, Revolutionary - Leverage the plethora of W damage protection/prevention/redirection
  U
  • Sakashima the Imposter - Copy, Clone, Repeat
    Slinn Voda, the Risen Deep - All the sea monsters
  B
  • Ayara, First of Lochthwain - B tokens are meant for sacrifice
    Torgaar, Famine Incarnate - Mono-B Control, FTW
  R
  • Ilharg, the Raze-Boar - All the Ball Lightning, none of the sacrifice
    Homura, Human Ascendant - Everybody wants to be a dragon - weenies get tough
  G
  • Grunn, the Lonely King - G creatureless? Voltron!
    Verdeloth the Ancient - Saprolings!
  WU
  • Shabraz, the Skyshark - Skyshark, 'nuff said
    Isperia, Supreme Judge - Pillowfort, but for flying fatties rather than combo
  WB
  • Teysa Karlov - All the death triggers
    Ravos, Soultender - Make tokens, go wide, repeat
  UB
  • Wrexial, the Risen Deep - You did this to yourself
    Vela the Night-Clad - Fun with bounce and reanimator
  UR
  • Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer - All the artifact tokens (and all the nifty new - make anything a token copy)
    • Niv-Mizzet, Parun - A different kind of UR Spells deck
    BR
    • Xantcha, Sleeper Agent - Build as voltron that lets your opponents do the work
      The Scorpion God - -1/-1 counters for all my friends
    BG
    • Grismold, the Dreadsower - Tokens killing tokens
      Savra, Queen of the Golgari - Sac for profit
    RG
    • Stonebrow, Krosan Hero - Stompier stompy
      Thromok the Insatiable - Feed Me Seymore
    RW
    • Firesong and Sunspeaker - Spells theme, lifegain subtheme
      Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - Creatureless (or near) Direct Damage Doubling doom
    GW
    • Captain Sisay - Legendary Toolbox (pun intended)
      Krond of the Dawn-Clad - Enchantress with bite
    GU
    • Tishana, Voice of Thunder - Go wide
      Momir Vig, Simic Visionary - Sneaky creature toolbox

And here are my obligatory Tribal ideas too

Tribal Ideas

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• C Karn, Silver Golem - Golems
  W Darien, King of Kjeldor - Soldiers
  U Kopala, Warden of Waves - Merfolk
  B Marrow-Gnawer - Rats
  R Grenzo, Havoc Raiser - Goblins or Rogues
  G Arasta of the Endless Web - Spiders
  WU Kangee, Aerie Keeper - Birds
  WB Aryel, Knight of Windgrace - Knights
  UB Sygg, River Cutthroat - Rogues
  UR Nin, the Pain Artist - Wizards "Tim Tribal"
  BR Olivia Voldaren - Vampires
  BG Sapling of Colfenor - Treefolk
  RG Omnath, Locus of Rage - Elementals
  RW Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas - Giants
  GW Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist - Cats
  GU Kaseto, Orochi Archmage - Snakes

I hope there is something in there intriguing for you.

[Cyberium]

Thx for all the suggestions!

If you want blind spots, then Rakdos is the colors of choice.

Quite true, they lack glaring enchantment removal.

What do you guys think of a Chainer, Nightmare Adept sac/discard deck combine with other Rakdos legends, such as Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, Greven, Predator Captain, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, Judith, the Scourge Diva[card], [card]Garna, the Bloodflame, Olivia, Mobilized for War, Tymaret, the Murder King, and Lyzolda, the Blood Witch? There seems to be a synergy to build around.

[Sinis]

Can someone indulge me with fabulous mono/duo color decks ideas?

Anything but Simic, really.

[ISBPathfinder]

Hummmmmm I could throw out a LOT of mono color suggestions as its primarily what I play. Could you narrow to a color or a type of strategy you would like to play?

I guess otherwise I will leave a few general suggestions that I have found fun of late:

• Bruna, the Fading Light - A great battlecruiser style of deck. It trades punches really well and plays a nice mono white control to late game strategy. The commander puts a massive board swing post wraths and makes a lot of the annoying human / angels very very sticky.
• Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero - I normally have an issue with toolbox commanders that they play out the same way. If you look at rebels though, they tend to be very defensive / responsive meaning that this deck tends to respond to opponents gameplans rather than curve out its own proactive gameplan. It makes for an interesting draw / go style of white deck which I like. I did find that Mirror Entity FTW was kind of my dedicated wincon though a bit unfortunately.
• Sai, Master Thopterist - I built a version that was low curve high in draw and its kind of nuts. My own version doesn't have a lot of interaction but I fairly regularly kill tables of four on like turns 5-7 using combat and not infinites.
• Squee the Immortal - Ok, yes this commander is a little harder to make work. But I think that the play patterns and design of the deck is just so cool that I am going to throw him in. This will not be an easy commander to pilot / win with but dang he is fun. I get heavily targeted kind of no matter what I play so I might have had a little more trouble with him due to that but I would definitely give Squee some props for being amazing and cool.
• Toshiro Umezawa - mono black control is just so fun and this commander gives you incentive to build it very reactively which is honestly a fun way to play mono black if you ask me. Its been quite some time since I really played him but I used to have a primer on salvation years ago. I only really retired him because I got tired of winning via Gray Merchant of Asphodel loops.

[Dragonlover]

Mono-colour Legendary tribal with a random general every game. I've now seen it done with all five colours, and it's pretty workable in all five although the curve in mono-black can get a bit wonky.

Dragonlover

[Guardman]

My favorite commander deck is a Chaos deck running Etali, Primal Storm as the commander. Thanks to the Chaos elements every game plays differently, while being surprisingly competitive since it scales in power-level depending on how strong or weak your opponents decks are.

[BeneTleilax]

olivia mobilized for war

[Cyberium]

Hummmmmm I could throw out a LOT of mono color suggestions as its primarily what I play. Could you narrow to a color or a type of strategy you would like to play?

Looking to be inspired, so it would defeat the purpose if I specify a perimeter, though Sinis made a point about it not being Simic. ^_^

[ISBPathfinder]

Hummmmmm I could throw out a LOT of mono color suggestions as its primarily what I play. Could you narrow to a color or a type of strategy you would like to play?

Looking to be inspired, so it would defeat the purpose if I specify a perimeter, though Sinis made a point about it not being Simic. ^_^

Are you looking for lots of power, flavor, tech cards? Even without delving into a strategy knowing what angle you are interested in hitting this from could help. It can be hard to check every box with any one suggestion.

[Sinis]

Looking to be inspired, so it would defeat the purpose if I specify a perimeter, though Sinis made a point about it not being Simic. ^_^

As others have said, Rakdos is known for having blind spots.

However, the elephant in the room is Boros. Build a Boros deck, and play all the high-risk mediocre-reward cards available! (I'm talking Chance for Glory, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Final Fortune|MIR)

[Cyberium]

Are you looking for lots of power, flavor, tech cards? Even without delving into a strategy knowing what angle you are interested in hitting this from could help. It can be hard to check every box with any one suggestion.

True. I enjoy several types of deck:

1) One that utilizes resources besides mana. This could mean aristocrat, reanimation, energy counters, or even just tapping a creature to crew a vehicle. I like each card to potentially serve as a "resource".
2) Decks that could shift strategy each time you face a different opponent. Examples would be theft cards like Grenzo/Etali/Wrexial/Brudiclad.
3) Something that could throw a wrench onto the table and change its dynamic, like Varchild/Xantcha/Grismold.
4) The gambler in me enjoys a little test of luck. An example would be like Winota, Arjun, Rakdos 3, or Okaun/Zndrsplt where you don't know what result you might get.
5) I like spreading counters, as with Chevill/Scorpion God. This probably goes back to #3 as well.

However, the elephant in the room is Boros. Build a Boros deck, and play all the high-risk mediocre-reward cards available! (I'm talking Chance for Glory, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Final Fortune|MIR)

I was wondering why Boros rarely got mentioned. While most are combat oriented, many aren't. I thought about Depala who combines point 1 & 5 from the list above.

[Sinis]

I was wondering why Boros rarely got mentioned. While most are combat oriented, many aren't. I thought about Depala who combines point 1 & 5 from the list above.

I think it's because Boros is (usually rightly) seen as 'bad'. It's a mock suggestion in some circles.

Depala is definitely one of the 'good' Boros generals; vehicles typically dodge board wipes (unless it's Austere Command or something similar) so your board remains relatively intact on wipe giving you card advantage, Depala provides card advantage, and a few of the vehicles do as well (like Weatherlight or Skysovereign, Consul Flagship).

My only problem with Depala is that she doesn't leave much room for innovation or creativity. All the secret dwarf and vehicle tech has already been mined because those pools are so shallow. Which are the best vehicles is pretty cut and dried, because it's either something with decent abilities like Weatherlight/Skysovereign/Smugglers Copter, or it's unremarkable rubbish like Sky Skiff/Sleek Schooner.

The same with Okaun and Zndrsplt, where there are only a handful of coinflip cards, and it's pretty clear which are the best ones.

1) One that utilizes resources besides mana. This could mean aristocrat, reanimation, energy counters, or even just tapping a creature to crew a vehicle. I like each card to potentially serve as a "resource".
2) Decks that could shift strategy each time you face a different opponent. Examples would be theft cards like Grenzo/Etali/Wrexial/Brudiclad.
3) Something that could throw a wrench onto the table and change its dynamic, like Varchild/Xantcha/Grismold.
4) The gambler in me enjoys a little test of luck. An example would be like Winota, Arjun, Rakdos 3, or Okaun/Zndrsplt where you don't know what result you might get.
5) I like spreading counters, as with Chevill/Scorpion God. This probably goes back to #3 as well.

Something that might appeal to most or all of these is a clone-oriented deck. I once played Sakashima the Impostor with almost every mono-blue clone ever printed (this played between Khans and Amonkhet). I had a few creatures of my own in case my opponents just didn't have anything to supply, notably Scourge of Fleets and Stormsurge Kraken (so Sakashima could be her own lieutenant).

It was a heap of clones, and it was fun for a few reasons:
1) The game was different almost every time. It all depended what my opponents played.
2) It scaled with the table regardless of what I was playing against. If the only thing to clone was a War Mammoth, I got a War Mammoth. If you played Vorinclex, I would definitely clone your Vorinclex.
3) It still had an edge over the competition; it's not a perfect mirror when I pay 4 or 5 for a bomb creature, or if I get a bomb creature two or three times (or two-mana Twincast a bomb spell).
4) The deck still had its own bombs. Clone Legion was wild. Cloning Scourge of Fleets was punishing and brutal for people who couldn't hold removal for it.

How clones might appeal to your list:
1) Whether you answer a creature or clone it is an open question. Do you counter an Ulamog, or do you make copies? Everything becomes a question of how you spend your cards. (You probably clone the Ulamog.)
2) Clones definitely have shifting strategies.
3) Clones are pretty wrench-y; if your plan is Elesh Norn, my plan might be two Elesh Norns.
4) It's not really all that random within a game, but it's very random between games.
5) I got nothing, here. Unless you clone a counter-oriented creature.

If you play clones, you need not be in mono-blue, either. Simic has clones that could add to this strategy (like Altered Ego or Spitting Image) -- "ew simic" notwithstanding -- or you could go a more sinister route with Dimir (perhaps Lazav, the Multifarious and Evil Twin?). Maybe even Izzet Okaun/Zndrsplt clones with Dack's Duplicate?

[Dragonlover]

In my Golos wincons thread you mentioned you were going to take it for a spin, did you ever do so? Cause it definitely hits 2, 3 and 4 out of your list of criteria.

Dragonlover

[Cyberium]

In my Golos wincons thread you mentioned you were going to take it for a spin, did you ever do so? Cause it definitely hits 2, 3 and 4 out of your list of criteria.

Dragonlover

I did, and it was hella fun, then people in the stores started to have PTSD due to "other" Golos decks; the combo kinds, they refuse to believe that I wouldn't win on the next turn. Well, it happens sometimes, but I began to have difficulty surviving with it.

Besides, I'm suffering a little fatigue on 3+ color decks.

I think it's because Boros is (usually rightly) seen as 'bad'. It's a mock suggestion in some circles.

Depala is definitely one of the 'good' Boros generals; vehicles typically dodge board wipes (unless it's Austere Command or something similar) so your board remains relatively intact on wipe giving you card advantage, Depala provides card advantage, and a few of the vehicles do as well (like Weatherlight or Skysovereign, Consul Flagship).

My only problem with Depala is that she doesn't leave much room for innovation or creativity. All the secret dwarf and vehicle tech has already been mined because those pools are so shallow. Which are the best vehicles is pretty cut and dried, because it's either something with decent abilities like Weatherlight/Skysovereign/Smugglers Copter, or it's unremarkable rubbish like Sky Skiff/Sleek Schooner.

The same with Okaun and Zndrsplt, where there are only a handful of coinflip cards, and it's pretty clear which are the best ones.

I agree, the card pool is small and became repetitive. At one point I was hoping to create a Depala deck similar to Benjameenbear's
Kaalia's Stax, grabbing vehicle and dwarves for discard/cycle purposes, I've yet to come up with a cohesive deck list yet.

Something that might appeal to most or all of these is a clone-oriented deck. I once played Sakashima the Impostor with almost every mono-blue clone ever printed (this played between Khans and Amonkhet). I had a few creatures of my own in case my opponents just didn't have anything to supply, notably Scourge of Fleets and Stormsurge Kraken (so Sakashima could be her own lieutenant).

It was a heap of clones, and it was fun for a few reasons:
1) The game was different almost every time. It all depended what my opponents played.
2) It scaled with the table regardless of what I was playing against. If the only thing to clone was a War Mammoth, I got a War Mammoth. If you played Vorinclex, I would definitely clone your Vorinclex.
3) It still had an edge over the competition; it's not a perfect mirror when I pay 4 or 5 for a bomb creature, or if I get a bomb creature two or three times (or two-mana Twincast a bomb spell).
4) The deck still had its own bombs. Clone Legion was wild. Cloning Scourge of Fleets was punishing and brutal for people who couldn't hold removal for it.

How clones might appeal to your list:
1) Whether you answer a creature or clone it is an open question. Do you counter an Ulamog, or do you make copies? Everything becomes a question of how you spend your cards. (You probably clone the Ulamog.)
2) Clones definitely have shifting strategies.
3) Clones are pretty wrench-y; if your plan is Elesh Norn, my plan might be two Elesh Norns.
4) It's not really all that random within a game, but it's very random between games.
5) I got nothing, here. Unless you clone a counter-oriented creature.

If you play clones, you need not be in mono-blue, either. Simic has clones that could add to this strategy (like Altered Ego or Spitting Image) -- "ew simic" notwithstanding -- or you could go a more sinister route with Dimir (perhaps Lazav, the Multifarious and Evil Twin?). Maybe even Izzet Okaun/Zndrsplt clones with Dack's Duplicate?

Curious, after reading your comment the first card that comes to mind is Endless Whispers. Clones and reanimation does have some similarity where you want to use what opponents have. ^_^

[Sinis]

Curious, after reading your comment the first card that comes to mind is Endless Whispers. Clones and reanimation does have some similarity where you want to use what opponents have. ^_^

I would say Clone, Reanimation and Flicker effects all have the some similarity in wanting to generate value out of a juicy target.

[Cyberium]

Curious, after reading your comment the first card that comes to mind is Endless Whispers. Clones and reanimation does have some similarity where you want to use what opponents have. ^_^

I would say Clone, Reanimation and Flicker effects all have the some similarity in wanting to generate value out of a juicy target.

And mostly creature base, too, and Dimir accomplish all three. Scarab God, Lazav, Atris... I've seen a Taigam Draw-Deny deck that could use this concept as well.

[Treamayne]

Here are some ideas:
<snip>
U
Sakashima the Impostor - Copy, Clone, Repeat
...

<snip>
Something that might appeal to most or all of these is a clone-oriented deck. I once played Sakashima the Impostor with almost every mono-blue clone ever printed ...

Jinx - copycat

More seriously though, on MTGO I run a Halfdane Shapeshifter Tribal that is mostly clone effects, and I agree with Sinis. It's a fun, scaling deck.
In mono/dual color, Generals that match or could be similar themes include:

• Sakashima the Impostor
• Feldon of the Third Path
• Lazav, the Multifarious
• Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
• The Scarab God

[Sinis]

Here are some ideas:
<snip>
U
Sakashima the Impostor - Copy, Clone, Repeat
...

<snip>
Something that might appeal to most or all of these is a clone-oriented deck. I once played Sakashima the Impostor with almost every mono-blue clone ever printed ...

Jinx - copycat

More seriously though, on MTGO I run a Halfdane Shapeshifter Tribal that is mostly clone effects, and I agree with Sinis. It's a fun, scaling deck.
In mono/dual color, Generals that match or could be similar themes include:

• Sakashima the Impostor
• Feldon of the Third Path
• Lazav, the Multifarious
• Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
• The Scarab God

Hehehe, I didn't see it behind the cut.

[Treamayne]

Hehehe, I didn't see it behind the cut.

That's what I get for trying to be organized.

Spoilers; For The ... Win?

[Dunharrow]

I absolutely get this sentiment. Because of that, I have decided my next few decks will be 2 colors.

I have trouble with monocolor. I have monoblack and monoblue. I tore up my only monowhite deck ever. I just can't think of generals I really like enough and that tingle my johnny deckbuilding urge.