Many of you know it by now: I really LOVE multiplayer-centric decks! They're just what EDH is all about for me. No wonder that I chose Stitcher Geralf as my mono-blue Commander then, is it?!
And the fact that he plays a lot more like a green or black commander adds even more enjoyment! The deck just never ceases to amaze me with its very own flavor and uniqueness.
Intro - The non-blue beneath the blue
What do I mean by "he plays a lot more like a green commander"? Well, for starters it's the fact that he puts giant tokens into play that will then go smash some face. What is blue about that?! Additionally they are Zombies! I guess Innistrad had blue Zombies and that's where Geralf comes from, but still Zombies are the incarnation of a black tribe.
So there I was, building my very first draft of this deck... and then it hit me! There's yet another level of "non-blue-ness" in the deck. Because in order to ensure a consistently big Zombie-token I'd have to play big creatures to hit in my own deck... So we're talking "Mono-Blue Battlecruiser".dec!
Chapter 1 - The Fatties
The first thing I obviously added to the deck were a bunch of ridiculously expensive, fat creatures. Because 6/6 tokens wouldn't be enough to satisfy me!
Isn't that a thing of beatuy?! Experience has shown that I'll hit at least a 3 power creature out of an opponents deck and the 28 creatures in my deck have an average of 4,75 power making the tokens consitently 7/7 or 8/8.
Chapter 2 - Plan B
Of course, Plan A is getting huge tokens with Geralf into play and let them do the work, but every deck needs a Plan B. Since I now had all these Fatties in the deck I might aswell tune the deck to actually cast them when I occasionally draw them...
Since the deck only has one color I can ramp as hard as I want using colorless mana and I won't ever get color-screwed in the process. Whenever I play with mana-artifacts I use a mix of rocks that produce more than one (Worn Powerstone, Caged Sun, ...) and rocks that have additional use when the game goes longer, e.g. I can sacrifice them to draw a card, etc. (Commander's Sphere, Seer's Lantern). The idea behind that is: I can accept the trade-off of having a burst of mana in the early game vs. a dead draw lategame, but if the rock doesn't accelerate me all that much he has to offer something else - something "useful" in later stages - to mitigate for that.
Chapter 3 - Smoothing out the draws
My Stitcher Geralf deck was probably the one deck out of all my decks, that (ab)used the old mulligan rule the most. You simply got rid of all fatties you had in your opening seven, kept lands and rocks, and hoped you'd redraw as little fatties as possible. Back in the day I even shiped back a single fatty just so I didn't have it in my hand, voluntarily decreasing my starthand size by one. I've yet to play the deck after the rule changes but I can imagine it mulligans way more awkward these days...
That said I made sure to include at least a few ways in the deck that will let me return my fatties to where they belong: My library! Between See Beyond, Brainstorm and the few other ways to manipulate the top of my library (Seer's Lantern, etc.) there's a good chance I can maneuver through the game without drawing many of my "mill-targets".
Speaking of mill...
Chapter 4 - Synergies
If you've played your fair share of EDH games you'll know that the so-called "Synergies" are the glue that hold a deck together. Without them a deck is just a pile of cards, but with them a deck becomes this well-oiled machine that is awesome to pilot.
Untapping him allows me to make multiple tokens in one turn if I can afford the activation cost. Additionally each of the cards that let me untap him also do something else for the activations. Thousand-Year Elixir gives him pseudo-haste, Tidewater Minion is a creature to also mill and exile and Retreat to Coralhelm let's me manipulate the top of my library to increase the chance of getting a good activation off.
Misthollow Griffin is a somewhat random interaction with Geralf since I simply get to cast it once I've exiled it with him... nothing insane but neat nonetheless.
While these cards don't affect Geralf's activations directly, they also have a lot of synergy with the deck:
- Timesifter: Since the decks average manacosts are a lot higher than most decks I have a good chance of getting a lot more turns than others, hopefully allowing me to lock up the game.
- Bonehoard: It's true that each activation also exiles the two biggest/best creatures but there will still land a lot of creatures in the yard... and Bonehoard is there to, well hoard them I guess.
- Counterlash: I actually found that card while doing research for another deck, immediately realized that I had to put a copy into my Geralf deck and never regreted it. It basically reads: "Counter target creature spell. Put that one fatty that is stuck in your hand into play."
- Totally Lost: Not the only card with that effect in the deck. That's my form of removal since blue doesn't offer too much there. Simply "End of Turn put your X on top. Untap. Mill with Geralf."... even sweeter if you get to exile a big creature that way. But also works as non-creature permanent removal.
Chapter 5 - Gameplay
That's what's in the deck. But how do I pilot it? Nothing too hard on that department...
Starting Hands: 3-4 Lands, some ramp, as little fatties as possible... 'nough said!
Early-game: Play lands, play some ramp, basically setting up for when I'm able to play Stitcher Geralf. I usually try to evaluate wether or not the match is (mass)removal-heavy, because if it is I won't cast Geralf as early as possible. But if there isn't much going on, noone will bother "wasting" anything on a Geralf.
Mid-game: I consider this the time when I get my first token or could have gotten it. Now it is very important to keep my ressources in mind. When I have a drawspell like Treasure Cruise in hand I can commit more to the board in form of actual cards, be it more ramp or a creature. If I don't, I try to rely on Geralf to create a board presence for me in order to preserve cards.
Also it is important that I choose my "beatdown targets" carefully since I'm now starting to actively reduce the lifetotals of my opponents - the game has to end sometime doesn't it?! Decks that are lacking (mass)removal are a good choice, as are decks that are slower out of the gates but have a crazy lategame. Choosing the first is to "prevent" the decks that DO have (mass)removal from casting it against me and weakening the later is to be able to stop them once lategame comes around.
Late-game: Even though I'm now able to cast all my fatties, mid-game probably is the best phase of the game for the deck. Once you're going into late-game other decks probably do more unfair stuff with their mana. That said, I try to keep a low profile and play more like a "killer to hire", helping in finishing people off - collectively - that get too strong while maintaining a rather defensive position. If I feel like I'll be one of the last ones to stand, I try to get one or two more activations with Geralf in so that once the player count decreases I still have some nice Zombies to work with... Because having a 8/8 token in play can win you the game very fast once ressources start to dwindle.
Outro
So if you're looking for a mono-blue deck that plays unlike any other while still having a solid plan, Stitcher Geralf should be way up there in your list of choices. He's awesome to play, has a somewhat funny flavor (just imagine the two creatures you're exiling getting stitched together... Hilarious sometimes!) and can definitely hold his own in competual (competitive+casual = play to win with fun but rather well-built decks) matches.
Aaaand ... Here's the decklist I usually provide in the outro!
As always I hope you enjoyed the read, and even if you didn't - especially then - please leave some feedback. I want to learn and improve and make this blog readworthy for everyone. Until next time...
See y'all 'round!
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