MTG Salvation

It was inevitable that I would eventually build a group hug deck. I love the politics of multiplayer, manipulating opponents, and just plain having fun without caring about winning more than everyone else. In theory, the deck plays the table, providing its opponents incentive to keep me alive while milling them. They'll know they need to get rid of me, but they'll have to balance their sense of inevitable death with their greed for free cards and mana. So here's my first attempt at a group hug deck, where every card benefits my opponents one way or another.



There are definitely some cards missing that I wish I had to put in (looking at you, Show and Tell). I also have a bunch of cards set aside that I may try rotating in eventually. Some of my choices are arguable as true group hug cards (mostly the removal), but I feel that accelerating someone into their infinite combo isn't all that fun for everyone else, so I packed a bit of removal that at least hands the player a cookie after slapping their wrist.

Cards I wish I had: Divine Intervention, Show and Tell

Feel free to leave suggestions.

Cumulative Changelog:

One of my friends recently made a deck with Phelddagrif. Cards I recommend:

Eye of the Storm and Hive Mind: Do not play these at the same time. Rules headaches ensue.
Vision Skeins: Becomes X times as fun with hive mind out, where X is the number of players.
Loaming Shaman can either be "here, restock your library however you like" or it can hurt a player who's playing graveyard shenanigans. If your deck sometimes acts as the moderator in multiplayer games then you should consider this.

My friend says Iwamori of the Open Fist is terrible because your opponents never have the legends. I'd test him out a bit, it seems like he's a bit narrow.

Quote from penguinofhonor

Eye of the Storm and Hive Mind: Do not play these at the same time. Rules headaches ensue.
Vision Skeins: Becomes X times as fun with hive mind out, where X is the number of players.
Loaming Shaman can either be "here, restock your library however you like" or it can hurt a player who's playing graveyard shenanigans. If your deck sometimes acts as the moderator in multiplayer games then you should consider this.

My friend says Iwamori of the Open Fist is terrible because your opponents never have the legends. I'd test him out a bit, it seems like he's a bit narrow.

Personally, not a fan of Hive Mind because I've played with it on the table. I can see where it would fit the deck, but I think I might rather give Knowledge Pool a try. And no, I don't ever want to see both of those on the table at the same time.

Loaming Shaman is a great suggestion. I should get another copy and put it in here.

I can see what you mean about Iwamori. I made a list of my four weakest/least favorite cards in the deck, and he was one of them (the list is Iwamori of the Open Fist, Saproling Cluster, Vernal Equinox, and Kamahl's Summons). I actually cut Saproling Cluster for a copy of Prosperity that I wanted to add.

Finally got a Beacon of Immortality. Also added a Loaming Shaman. Now I just need to find someone willing to trade Collective Journey.

Forced Fruition can win you games, and my playgroup asked me to take it out of my deck after awhile. Not saying it's a bad card, but it can be ridiculous.

Forced Fruition actually did win me a game. My main reasoning in keeping it is that I want to play politics and keep the game interesting. It helps them a ton but it's a two-edged sword. They have to be smart enough to know when to overcome their greed. I can see the reasoning behind removing it from other builds, but I want to be able to hug them to death.

Fair enough^^ Some cards I use that I haven't seen on your list (you may already considered them): Eladamri's Vineyard, Well of Knowledge and Flux.

After a game where everyone got mad at Clear the Land, it became clear that that card sucks for group hug (everyone had good stuff exiled). I also cut Cauldron of Souls, Iwamori of the Open Fist, and Wheel and Deal. In place of those I now have Alliance of Arms, Aluren, Collective Voyage, and Dream Halls. Good times

Needs more angel's grace. Let this simmer. play prosperity to where everyone draws there decks and resp to it with angel's grace. Also a neat lil combo i have in my hugs deck is Enchanted Evening + Cleansing meditation. This combo is real fun with a hive mind on the table. Float all your mana in resp then you are left with phelddagrif being the only permanent on the table.

Have you tried Defense of the Heart? It's really easy to get online since you can just give people tokens. My friend has also had some good success with the Hunted creatures like Hunted Phantasm, Hunted Troll and Hunted Lammasu. The tokens will rarely attack you and you get some nice sized blockers.

I finally got an Oath of Druids! I took out Forced Fruition because I've decided to make the deck even nicer to compensate for the other donate deck I'm making.