It’s quite easy to fall into the trap of putting every combo imaginable into a Birthing Pod deck. The amount of Splinter Twin situations are far and plenty, but I’m really not trying to become a Twitter topic when I turn four a table.
In my previous piece, I talked about what I was considering for a commander. While I haven’t come to a sure conclusion yet, and it’ll likely take some time before I do, I’m not particularly attached to my commander needing to synergize with whatever archetype I decide to go. If I can get value out of my command zone incidentally, then I’m okay with that. If it ends up being a centerpiece for my deck to function at all…I probably would prefer something away from that.
After looking at the amount of choices people have made with their Pod decks, both in cEDH and in casual, the two strategies whicstand out to me the most are midrange and aggro. I enjoy midrange for the same reasons anyone does: You can value the hell out of things and do a whole lot of nothing, then complain when you lose! But really, midrange gives you the decent slice of most worlds; Good creatures that probably do things efficiently, a nice toolbox of silver bullets for those annoying angles some opposing decks have, and a top end that’s fully customizable. Aggro might not have the most expansive tools in the box, but it makes up for it with a much more impactful and hard-hitting clock. In Commander, if you’re going to be an aggressive deck, you need to make sure you hit hard, and without frills. This is where I want to be, and being able to Birthing Pod your way into huge damage is a strategy I can get behind.
The other strategies I saw were control and combo, both of which I wasn’t a real fan of. I already talked about combo, but another issue I have with it is how janky some of your cards can be without the corresponding pieces that go with them. There’s also the issue of tables not being the most happy when you two-card combo them, and things being too vague and arbitrary with said tables with three-card combos. Hell, four-card combos might not be worth it either, regardless of how I feel about it. Going on a tangent, I find it funny how pieced together combos are frowned upon, but assembling an arbitrary, but low-ish number of creatures along with a giant pump spell (Craterhoof Behemoth, for example) is probably okay.
Anyways.
A control shell was actually interesting, something like a hatebears-style deck with ways to get value out of the taxes effects you no longer need. I genuinely wouldn’t know how to put this kind of deck together. However, it feels like a lot more trouble than it’s worth, especially when I’m trying to aim for a higher powered build, which could make it prone to falling apart to stronger, more dense decks.
Birthing Pod is an extremely versatile card, and building around it is very very challenging. It’s very easy to get lost in the sauce, but the pieces are definitely coming together, and I can’t wait to share the solidified ideas with you next week!
Anthony Lowry (they/he) is a seasoned TCG, MMORPG, and FPS veteran. They are extensively knowledgeable on the intricacies of many competitive outlets, and are always looking for a new challenge in the gaming sphere.