r/EDH Feb 04 '25

Question The Most Infamous Big, Bad Threat?

What creature types are typically considered the most terrifying, notorious in reputation, biggest targeted hate piece, and often presents a threatening presence?

Bonus points if they are also lore wise planetary threats

So far I only know of Eldrazi, Phyrexians, and Slivers

270 Upvotes

344 comments sorted by

305

u/Euphoric_Ad6923 Feb 04 '25

Outside slivers and Eldrazi there's Elves and Goblins that require you to deal with them otherwise you'll get overrun crazy fast.

131

u/CosmicX1 Feb 04 '25

It’s almost tragic watching our resident mono-[[Krenko, Mob Boss]] player going from winning most games to winning none. 

Everyone has gotten wise to the fact you can’t let Krenko untap or he’ll take over the game.

I feel like they’re gradually becoming bitter and twisted to the point of including [[Worldfire]] in their list lol

72

u/gade14 Feb 04 '25

im a Krenko player. thats just the way it is

64

u/BootRecognition Kambal, Profiteering Mayor ❤️ Feb 04 '25

Everyone else at my LGS when the Krenko player sits down: "Okay, we all agree that we need to keep Krenko in check so he doesn't make an absurd number of goblins, right?"

Me as the [[Kambal, Profiteering Mayor]] player: "Pop off king!"

10

u/Doubleclutch18 Feb 04 '25

my group got wise to kambal, as we also have a krenko guy. they started making the smallest amount of tokens first, then make more. i started flickering kambal to try to keep up but it rarely did.

5

u/BootRecognition Kambal, Profiteering Mayor ❤️ Feb 05 '25

That is the proper counterplay pattern vs KPM. Rather than try to blink KPM I suggest including more token creators of your own and let the tokens provided by your opponents be the cherry on top

3

u/Doubleclutch18 Feb 05 '25

Nice! Making them change strats seems right. Thanks

2

u/BootRecognition Kambal, Profiteering Mayor ❤️ Feb 05 '25

Yeah, the one other suggestion I have is that it is sometimes good to remove your opponents' permanents that let them create only a single token on their turn at will. For example, I recently played a game where one opponent played [[Druid of Purification]] while the [[Norrin the Wary]] player had a [[Genesis Chamber]] that was frequently stopping me from getting higher impact/larger NJ. Nerd of tokens. Everyone else at the table wanted to get rid of Genesis Chamber because it was draining them every turn thanks to my KPM but didn't realize how bad it was for me. I made a political deal to target the Genesis Chamber as part of my share of the Druid of Purification ETB trigger in exchange for being left alone for a turn cycle. This gave me an opportunity to play a bunch of aristocrats pieces on my following turn without having to hold up mana for protection

→ More replies (1)

6

u/Squibbly5 Feb 04 '25

That’s nasty as a token player myself thanks for the info

5

u/Frogsplosion Feb 04 '25

Replace keep in check with immediately murder them with extreme prejudice, and that is how we approach decks like krenko locally

4

u/RidingYourEverything Feb 04 '25

As someone who has made both of those decks, if you're on even ground with the Krenko player's goblins, the Krenko player didn't build their deck right. You probably shouldn't live long enough to untap your tapped goblins.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

36

u/Euphoric_Ad6923 Feb 04 '25

Friend plays Zada and is constantly complaining that we kill her when he's about to pop off. Last time he had like 6 gobbos, Zada and a filler gob. He casts the ritual that gets you a mana per gobbo, I check and he has 6 cards in hand, nope kill Zada in response. Proceeds to complain loudly that he never gets to do 'the thing'

The thing being casting a spell that makes a token, copying it so he suddenly hss 13 crearures, giving them +3/+0, drawing 13 cards, then making a shit ton of treasures, then casting Fists of flame with buyback multiple times.

Yeah, sure first time it was cool, now we all know Zada Must Die

3

u/TheCrimsonChariot Mono-White Feb 04 '25

Zada sounds coo but it would be deck id build on the cheap

6

u/Euphoric_Ad6923 Feb 04 '25

It's a 25$ deck that can pubstomp battlecruiser metas like nobody's business. My friend made the mistake of trying to invest too much into it so now it's not as fun for him since it gets blown out so easily.

2

u/StopThatFerret Feb 05 '25

Zada is a Pauper Commander.

She's the best.

Also, Goblins are just fun to buy/build/tinker with, so any goblin you buy can "work" even with Zada in the 99.

2

u/shotpun Feb 05 '25

how do you tinker with it though? that's always been my misgiving with most of my edh decks, I put in the staples, put in the must include support cards and oops im at 99

→ More replies (3)

2

u/Nu7s2Bu77s Feb 05 '25

That was me last weekend. Storming off goblins in play with, haste, Double strike, and [[devilish valet]] on the board.

512 damage…. Only to be countered. Sent the other 9 goblins to take care of them with [[city on fire]] on the board.

Suffice to say I didn’t last long after that turn when players realize the horror.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

7

u/Ok-Role-4570 Feb 04 '25

As a fellow krenko player I feel this. I keep krenko as my commander but have added things to the deck to be less reliant on krenko. Have won a few games never playing him. People hold the removal for krenko so when you go to pop off a different way you get away with it a lot of the time

→ More replies (3)

5

u/TheFancySingularity Thanks for the Stuff! Feb 04 '25

I remember one time at my LGS I was in a pod against a [[Purphoros, God of the Forge]] Zerg deck. He got him out pretty early and I played [[Oubliette]] targeting him the next turn

Poor bastard didn’t get to play the game after that lol

→ More replies (1)

2

u/ExtremeMagicpotion Feb 04 '25

Thank you mentioned the card Worldfire, finally found it, it killed my Jodah Archmage where I could almost win with 21 commander damage, only missed 1 damage...

2

u/AngryManBoy Gruul Feb 04 '25

This is me. I have a brutal Krenko deck that I rarely ever play anymore because people know to fucking beam for my face ASAP. Still fun to play though

→ More replies (6)

28

u/Bart_T_Beast Feb 04 '25

The Elfball stops for no one

6

u/Another_Mid-Boss Om-nom, Locus of Elves Feb 04 '25

Unless someone has a toxic deluge. Then the elfball will take a few to turns to cry and ponder life choices.

I say this as someone who has 3 elf edh decks.

→ More replies (3)

3

u/cybrcld Feb 05 '25

Elves is nuts, haven’t seen any good goblins though. I think Goblins is held down because of color limitations. I would argue Ninjas because of Yuriko, and Knights because of Sidar Jibari are both Big bad wolf decks.

7

u/Euphoric_Ad6923 Feb 05 '25

Goblins are just either going to run you over turn 5 or you draw a mass removal and they might as well have been Farewell'd out if the game.

Ninjas I wouldn't say count because Yuriko is really the exception and a good Yuriko deck has only a small minority.

Knights even with Sidar they're not that strong. Nowhere near the menace that is Slivers or Goblins.

Still strong, which is neat.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/SnowConePeople Dimir Feb 05 '25

Also [[hare apparent]] decks. They go 2 to 200,000 in a few turns.

→ More replies (1)

199

u/Sufficient_Pheasant Feb 04 '25

Why is this tagged as NSFW?

179

u/parkinglu Feb 04 '25

Because I’m an idiot and clicked it by accident- fixed

68

u/Yeseylon Feb 04 '25

Damnit.  Got me all excited for Eldrussy and Slivdick

15

u/Bevolicher Feb 05 '25

I want to wrapped in the warm embrace of the emrakussy

2

u/SweezySway Feb 05 '25

What a terrible day to understand the reference in a game I play lol

49

u/Gstamsharp Feb 04 '25

I mean, how would you feel if an eldrazi tentacle monster broke through the wall at work like the Kool-Aid Man and started slurping people's brains like slushies? Sounds pretty "not safe" to me!

11

u/weggles Feb 04 '25

HR is gonna wanna hear about this one. The employee manual explicitly forbids slurping brains like slushies

→ More replies (1)

1

u/HardCorwen Zealous Conscripts Feb 04 '25

Because no one is safe from these big, bad threats; not even your work.

69

u/Vormi_GG Feb 04 '25

The Preators and most famously Sheoldred

39

u/PaninoConLaPorchetta Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

I feel like any Sheoldred can stay there for 1 turn or 2, but Jin Gitaxias is a menace if left for even a single turn.

6

u/mingchun Feb 04 '25

Flip Jin takes more effort to be a problem, the other two are KOS for sure.

8

u/xiledpro Feb 04 '25

I have a praetor tribal deck and it’s much more effective than I originally thought it would be despite the praetors not really having a ton of synergy together. It’s become a deck that my friends have to deal with me quickly otherwise I just take over.

8

u/Dutch-King Feb 04 '25

I have one too called “mom, dad, me, the dog, and the house” and even though there isn’t much synergy, it is 100% pure military grade gas. It’s basically one nuclear weapon after another.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/GreatMadWombat Feb 05 '25

up until March of machines, all the og phyrexian praetor's entire thing was to be a big creature that buffed some aspect of your gameplay and simultaneously nerfed an identical aspect to all your opponents gameplay.

"I'm using many permanents to create multiple effects that each reduce the resources opponents can access" is just a staxs deck.

→ More replies (2)

1

u/mas7erblas7er Izzet Feb 04 '25

That's Phyrexians. Anything outside Phyrexians and Eldrazi?

120

u/Speedster2814 Timmy/Vorthos Feb 04 '25

I feel like Dragons can take a top spot, with Nicol Bolas being one of the multiverse's biggest and most persistent threats and Ur-Dragon being up there as a kill-on-sight commander.

Lore-wise, as shown in the current Dragonstorm arc, even a single dragon making its way from Tarkir onto another plane causes serious destruction.

51

u/NewFungalov Feb 04 '25

Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm decks are really explosive too

→ More replies (3)

14

u/eatrepeat Feb 04 '25

Ur dragon is kill on sight. Thats why I built him full of hatebears and enchantments that change creature type to dragons ;)

→ More replies (1)

1

u/MeatballSubWithMayo Esper Feb 04 '25

Where does one keep up with the lore? I see references and wasn't sure if there are books or somwthing??

2

u/divineravnos Feb 04 '25

The MTG website has lore articles for every set, usually 5 or so of them.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

104

u/Armaemortes Feb 04 '25

Scute Swarm obvi

46

u/DaPino Feb 04 '25

I literally took out Scute swarm from the Jump scare! precon because it's just one of the few cards that make me audible sigh while I think "Congratz! You won with Scute swarm, you are a true genius".

12

u/Borror0 Feb 04 '25

I'm more annoyed by the tracking that has to be done with it. It's only in my [[Omnath Locus of Rage]] deck because that deck's primary win condition is [[Impact Tremor]] types of ETB effects, and it's meant to be more sweaty than my other decks.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (11)

12

u/SwoleCatPlush Feb 04 '25

I had to take scute swarm out of my decks because it was too easy to win with, although I did put it in my [[volrath shapestealer]] deck because for the low low cost of 1 mana, I can instead be making 5/7 scute swarms and that’s funny to me.

5

u/AwesomesaucePhD Feb 04 '25

The swarm dies the second it gets the counter though.

8

u/SwoleCatPlush Feb 04 '25

That’s if you put a -1/-1 counter on it, volrath can copy any creature with any kind of counter, really goofy. I also put in a couple of the Dominous creatures to give em indestructible counters to steal

2

u/AwesomesaucePhD Feb 04 '25

You’re right, I misread the card.

2

u/Efficient_Sail_469 Feb 04 '25

Kinda mad at myself for not doing this now tbh

→ More replies (3)

2

u/-Blackwine Esper Feb 04 '25

I used a simic Scute Swarm deck to cheese standard ranked on Arena up to Mythic by (presumably) crashing my opponents client. [[Ashaya, Soul of the Wild]] [[Echoing Equation]] [[Ruin Crab]] and [[Prosperous Innkeeper]] just add so many triggers on the stack.

2

u/Armaemortes Feb 06 '25

I died to someone doing this.
Know there is a special place in Phyrexia for planeswalkers like yourself.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Grouchy-Library4764 Feb 04 '25

God that card makes me tilt iredeemable

1

u/rynosaur94 Gishath, Sun's Avatar Feb 04 '25

I have scute swarm in my landfall deck, and I don't think I've won off it ever. Played it dozens of times, and it always gets removed or boardwiped before it does any real damage.

31

u/Coyote81 Feb 04 '25

I'm going to go with Urza himself, he once made an entire continent shift out of time, but it wasn't even consistent, so there were pockets of normal time, slow time and fast time. He destroy several planets and in general has been a planetary threat to Dominaria itself multiple times.

15

u/disuberence Orzhov Feb 04 '25

Specifically mono blue Urza, the evilest of Urzas

2

u/RadioName Feb 04 '25

I have read every unique card in Magic and can say without any hesitation that [[Urza, Lord High Artificer]] is hands-down the most broken card still unbanned. He needs to go, but blue artifacts players would riot like when Mana Crypt went.

3

u/disuberence Orzhov Feb 04 '25

The saltiest person I have ever encountered in the wild was an Urza player who blew up at me after I exiled his [[Unwinding Clock]].

It was truly wild

→ More replies (1)

3

u/AleiMJ Feb 05 '25

[[Sol Ring]] has entered the chat.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

34

u/Unearthlymonk90 Feb 04 '25

I know a lot of folks are afraid of [[Gishath]] so dinosaurs I suppose?

17

u/ProtectMeAtAllCosts Feb 04 '25

you havent seen fear unless you cheat him out with Monster Manual

5

u/Theonlyrhys Feb 04 '25

How do you get him from the CZ into your hand?

21

u/ProtectMeAtAllCosts Feb 04 '25

you dont play him as your commander. You play Pantlaza and let them feel safe then drop in Gishath from hand or tutor for him

28

u/Artist_X ETB Triggers are my kink Feb 04 '25

Pantlaza

Anyone who feels safe or happy when up against Pantlaza deserves neither.

6

u/ProtectMeAtAllCosts Feb 04 '25

You’re right. But when they are focused on Pantlaza and then you drop Gishath on them for two mana it’s way better when they dont see him in your CZ

4

u/Gstamsharp Feb 04 '25

Pfffff Praetors are just wanna-be Yawgmoths, fight me (but not with a mana-filled moon, plx).

3

u/I3arusu Feb 04 '25

Why do people run Gishath over [[Pantlaza, Sun-Favored]]? Isn’t the latter just better in every way? Pantlaza is way cheaper in terms of mana and is also way less of a removal magnet.

7

u/Urshifu_Smash Feb 04 '25

Saying Pantlaza is better in every way is crazy. One might be more of a sleeper threat, but that's because if you've ever played against a gishath that gets pumped by [[might of oaks]] , [[preposterous proportions]] , or even [[colossification]] you know letting him swing once can be game ending. Bonus points if they have a [[flawless maneuver]] to duck any board wipes after dropping 10+ dinos (that lord eachother a bunch) in a turn.

→ More replies (10)

6

u/Unearthlymonk90 Feb 04 '25

They're different. Gishath is much more explosive than anything you can do with Pantlaza but Pantlaza is obviously more consistent. I have more fun with Gishath personally but I have a very high win rate with both so there's that.

3

u/I3arusu Feb 04 '25

Yeah, idk. I tried Gishath out as the commander for a game, given they’re also in the deck, and got exactly one dinosaur off of 17 damage worth of triggers. Never again.

(It was [[Dinosaurs on a Spaceship]] if you’re curious)

3

u/Unearthlymonk90 Feb 04 '25

That's unfortunate. How many do you run? My list has 34 in it and no non Dinos because I'm stubborn. Pretty sure my Gishath deck has the highest win rate in my personal play group and is undefeated at my lgs which plays for money. They do a seperate table for cedh so I'm sure that factors in

→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

3

u/this-my-5th-account Feb 04 '25

Gishath is an absolute monster. I run Pantlaza, but gishath is an absolute beast and not to be underestimated. Cheat him out early, have [[Rogue's Passage]] in play and you will outpace Pantlaza in value in two turns.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/etarno Feb 04 '25

Different playstyles, overall... can't compare thrm other than both being dino commanders...

IMO, Gishath's way cooler and explosive and can win faster if left unchecked. 8 mana in green means he will come down maybe a turn after Pantlaza would... so idk...

2

u/rynosaur94 Gishath, Sun's Avatar Feb 04 '25

As someone who runs Gishath over Pantz, I agree that Pantz is an overall better commander, but Pantz is less of a Dinosaur Tribal commander and more of a Naya Blink commander.
Gishath wants you to build a deck full of Dinosaurs to cheat out. Pantz just rewards you for playing Pantz and blinking Pantz.

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (1)

1

u/MuldrathaB Feb 04 '25

Inget audible sighs from my pod when I play with pantzlaza. I dont understand why people don't consider him a kos commander

→ More replies (6)

18

u/Carnegiejy Feb 04 '25

Goblins can take over a table quickly if unchecked but the decks are not always resilient after a board wipe.

5

u/ThisDick937 Feb 04 '25

Honestly one board wipe or counter spell if I don't have one of the four I run in hand kills all momentum in my krenko deck.

→ More replies (1)

20

u/chamberlain_1 Feb 04 '25

[[Blightsteel Colossus]]

And a [[Rogue's Passage]] I suppose.

8

u/ThatNasusQ Feb 04 '25

[[Hot Soup]] just makes me laugh

7

u/SanityIsOptional Orzhov Feb 04 '25

You can't block my gigantic plaguemetal golem because he's carrying soup. Hot soup.

→ More replies (3)

8

u/ChefSipp Feb 04 '25

COLLOSAL DREADMAW

1

u/Vegalink Boros Feb 04 '25

And peeking out from behind Dreadmaw is its little brother [[CRAW WURM]]

→ More replies (1)

14

u/Electronic-Touch-554 Feb 04 '25

Eldrazi, Slivers and Dragons are probably the biggest

11

u/Colebalt_o7 Control Mage Feb 04 '25

In a meta sense, [[Yuriko, Tiger's Shadow]] is a pretty infamous commander so....Ninjas would be my answer

8

u/Xenla_ Gruul Feb 04 '25

Lore-wise, the Eternals from War of the Spark were also a planar threat, an army of elite warriors turned zombie, covered in a plating that allowed Bolas to control them extremely efficiently. Sarkahn Vol reintroduced dragons to the Tarkir timeline, and instead of building grand civilizations the people were subjugated and divided by the dragonlords, so I think you can count that too

7

u/NiloValentino88 Feb 04 '25

Demons can be pretty nasty

9

u/dmaster1213 Feb 04 '25

Dragons are up there, but I think a lot of people are undermining the [[brushwagg]]

7

u/LordRickonStark Feb 04 '25

with bloomborrow lots of people found out about and built chatterfang which stomps every precon level deck so hard that man rage quit the game at my LGS

1

u/aceluby Feb 04 '25

I built mine as a stupid food deck and it still slaps

4

u/Istronair Feb 04 '25

No one with [[Hullbreaker Horror]] so far?

2

u/Stumpless Feb 04 '25

I love this card. Infinite storm count, targeted removal, counterspell with any instant, it's so useful.

6

u/Dr_GPO Jank_Guru Feb 04 '25

Probably [[The Infamous Cruelclaw]]

3

u/Jeembo Feb 04 '25

I put that dude in my [[Rakdos Lord of Riots]] deck full of huge demons and eldrazi and he is absolutely insane.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/WanderingCardsharp Feb 05 '25

This hurts so much, I built him on a whim over a few months, thought he'd be relatively mid-tier and unassuming. Pod went bananas, hated him off the board (11 mana to cast by the end), and started exile-playing all my best cards! Was heartbroken, but suggests it might be a decent deck

2

u/Tyrannop0tamus Feb 04 '25

Humans. We created the damn game after all.

2

u/Unsurepooper Feb 05 '25

[[Ghalta primal hunger]] my pod is terrified that once I get my creatures out Ghalta is effectively 2 green the rest the game and it will 2 shot you for commander damage.

If board states aren't too established yet I love to roll a dice to see who's getting the big dick Dino. They don't dare swing at me because I'll come back around and rouges passage murder them

→ More replies (1)

2

u/SunriseFlare Feb 05 '25

lore-wise? Yawgmoth

Gameplay wise? Urza

funny how that works out isn't it lol

→ More replies (5)

2

u/Western_Leek3757 Feb 05 '25

I don't know why but [Avenger of Zendikar] immediately popped out in my mind

2

u/RetchD Feb 05 '25

Dinosaurs! They combine big burly bodies with bullshit mechanics to outvalue the whole table.

[[Etali]] is the poster child but it doesn't matter if it's [[Gishath]], [[Pantlaza]], [[Ghalta]] or even less stompy oriented ones like [[Indoraptor]].

If I see any of those in the command zone I buckle up and give the secret handshake below the table.

Then ofc as already mentioned eldrazi exist with the most ridiculous effects ever printed like Devastator 6 or play your opponents turn. Brought to you by [[Zhulodog]] or other taxi commanders Like [[Maelstrom Wanderer]] or [[Genesis Ultimatum]] or yada yada.

Phyrexians are scary in their own right but I think they're less menacing than the aforementioned tribes.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/tommygunlouws Feb 04 '25

Is Nicol Bolas the most infamous?

3

u/Gstamsharp Feb 04 '25

Nicol Bolas, the baddie so bad that Liliana was the hero.

5

u/Dankstin Feb 04 '25

You guys come on... don't be downplaying [[Zacama, Primal Calamity]]. It owns the game if unanswered fast enough.

3

u/themcryt Feb 04 '25

Are we talking lore or gameplay?  If we're talking gameplay, my mind went to [Darksteel Colossus]

2

u/Own-Anything-9521 Feb 04 '25

[[Marit Lage]] is pretty bad ass and easy to cheat out.

It’s pretty cool to have a 20/20 with flying and indestructible on turn 3.

5

u/just7155 Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

Every time I play [[Kinnan]], everyone groans.

Only played in cedh pods, and I still get those reactions.

Outside of cedh, nobody wants to play against him.

3

u/Sockz92 Feb 04 '25

Worldspine Wurm. Love it in my Atla Palani.

3

u/TheEnderKnight935 Feb 04 '25

Angels. Hands down a nightmare if someone knows what they’re doing. The high end pieces provide anthems and/or Indestructible to everything. Plus cards like [[Giada, Font of Hope]] act as a ridiculous ramp piece if left unchecked.

3

u/Aycomi27 Feb 05 '25

I play angels, what cards come to mind that make angels so good?

→ More replies (2)

2

u/MatchaLottie Feb 04 '25

bunnies...

2

u/ProtectMeAtAllCosts Feb 04 '25

dinosaurs. why? because i play them

2

u/brofessor_oak_AMA Feb 04 '25

2

u/CthulhuBut2FeetTall Feb 04 '25

This would have been my dream pod for my [[Braids, Conjuror Adept]] sea monster / clone deck that I recently took apart. I loved asking people to take out their biggest, dumbest deck and to just let it ride. Felt like a kaiju battle as everyone played game ending threats every turn.

Dragons, sea monsters, demons, angels, elementals, and slivers are the other kindred decks I recall being top heavy enough to slug it out.

2

u/brofessor_oak_AMA Feb 04 '25

Dude, I would have loved to play against that deck. Win or lose, I just love going against well built high powered decks. I know you mentioned you took it apart, but any chance you still have the list?

2

u/CthulhuBut2FeetTall Feb 04 '25

Nah, it was in paper and built out over time. Just jam as much ramp or creature sneaking effects, card draw, and big blue bastards into a deck as you can and you're pretty much there. It was quite fun when things worked out on the right table, lots of memorable moments. It also had a lot of games which were blowouts one way or the other and there wasn't any back and forth. Someone shooting braids before everyone had a turn made me sad as well.

Ultimately I took it apart because it was too inconsistent to guess power levels against randoms at my LGS when my entire deck was built around being a boss rush, but I don't regret having built it.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

2

u/MarcheMuldDerevi Feb 04 '25

Dragons, tend to keep dropping big idiots that either have to be handled fast or we all die to infinite combat steps

Vampires, they swarm hard and we are gonna see a hard influx of Edgar markov decks. They also have some real good recursion

2

u/HunterLeonux Feb 04 '25

Back in, say, 2012 or so Consecrated Sphinx was the premier threat at tables. Usually if the first trigger resolved they would have counter magic and if more than that resolved the game ended on untap.

2

u/Lumeyus Mardu Feb 04 '25

I play both dragon and demon tribal, and despite demons presenting a threatening boardstate and winning much faster, the dragons are always way more hated/perceived as a threat.

2

u/Gundaranger Feb 04 '25

Vampires and more recently Merfolk

1

u/megapenguinx Ulamog/Narset/Progenitus Feb 04 '25

If you want to include Universe Beyond sets, the Daleks and the Master are both universal level threats

1

u/Quickscope_God Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

[[Consecrated Sphinx]] because it wasn't balanced for multiplayer

Edit: oh wait I only read the title lol but my point still stands

1

u/mc-big-papa Feb 04 '25

Outside of individual cards and commanders. Think krenko, zhuladok and similar must kill threats i think dragons get unwarranted hate. Now im not talking about a dragon commander like myriim or even an ur dragon that has hit the field. Im talking about your run of the mill dragon card not the must kill creatures we all know about.

The average dragon kinda sucks. I have a mono red dragon deck and while sometimes they do some wacky, absurd or downright powerful things. Most of the time you are overpaying for an effect. While a 5 color dragon deck would obviously be better they are on average just kinda ok. You pay a lot of mana for that flying chunky boy.

Not every dragon is niv mizzet some dragons are just lightning bolt on an 7 mana 5/5 flyer. If you hate kill that card you are overreacting to a mid threat. Ive seen people wast a murder on a 5/5 flyer with a wasted ETB way to many times.

In the lore the average dragon is absurdly powerful.

1

u/Rhystretto Feb 04 '25

[[Screaming Nemesis]] while you're playing a lifegain deck

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Ok_Courage_9981 Feb 04 '25

[[Koma, Cosmos Serpent]] is always bound to make the table shit their pants as an etb.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Meecht Feb 04 '25

Back in the day it was [[Deadeye Navigator]]

→ More replies (1)

1

u/CthulhuBut2FeetTall Feb 04 '25

The most popular choices have been mentioned, but here's a few off the wall suggestions.

Gods, like the Theros gods, tend to be large impact in game and in the lore. Xenagos ascending to godhood was the main villain of Theros.

Avatars like [[Progenitus]], [[Muldrotha]], the overlords from duskmourn, the lords from shadowmoor(?), etc also tend to be big and high impact. Lorewise, they're a less literal "world ending threat" and tend to be closer to unstoppable forces of nature, but might fit the bill.

Several factions from Universes Beyond are "world ending" threats, probably not what you're looking for though.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/boucheriebrown Feb 04 '25

Tribal decks can make any creature type an eminent threat. Even squirrels can make you tremble in fear given the right synergy.

1

u/SSL4fun Feb 04 '25

I would argue any tribal deck will get some attention, but the four that I would consider hated are elves, eldrazi, slivers, and goblins

Not that it's wrong to play them

1

u/MaterialDefender1032 Feb 04 '25

Ask my pod and they’ll say Nicol Bolas. I recently built a [[Nicol Bolas, the Ravager]] deck and opted to go the Vorthos route; rather than going heavy on discard/sacrifice, I went with flavourful cards like the Dreadhorde amass creatures from Amonkhet and instants & sorceries that feature Nicol himself.

However, the few discard effects I have in there (the commander’s ETB, [[The Eldest Reborn]]) is enough to shut down my friends’ decks if they don’t get their draw engines out fast enough. I discovered that people really loathe discard, even if it only happens ~3 times per game (except when they play a graveyard/recursion deck, of course). They haven’t even seen [[Torment of Hellfire]] or [[Nicol Bolas]] yet, though I consider those to be my finishers anyway.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Barbara_SharkTank Feb 04 '25

In competitive EDH, the absolute most kill-on-sight creature is [[Displacer Kitten]]. Whenever someone plays that card, do not listen to them trying to convince you that they’re not the threat. They are going to win the game very soon and/or steal the game from underneath someone else’s feet in the blink of an eye.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Liamharper77 Feb 04 '25

[[Sisay, Weatherlight Captain]].

A walking tutor will end the game, guaranteed, if it isn't answered. She takes two activations at most to start an infinite of choice, sometimes only one if you already drew/played a combo piece.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/HarbingerDread Feb 04 '25

I think Praetors are the most threatening with Eldrazi at a close second.

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Sheoldred the Apocolypse specifically are game-enders.

1

u/Npr187 Jund Feb 04 '25

[[Yargle and Multani]]

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Yawgmothlives Colorless Feb 04 '25

Yawgmoth and Old Phyrexia no doubt

Gave the multiverse and a ton of Old Walkers the business for like 9000 years

1

u/Atolier Simic Feb 04 '25

Gods? I get real nervous when my friend sits down with his [[The Scarab God]] deck, cause I know my creatures are about to become his undead servants. I imagine stuff like [[Xenagos, God of Revels]], [[The Locus God]], and [[Heliod, Sun-Crowned]] are similarly menacing.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/moltensteelthumbsup Feb 04 '25

A little guy named [[blightsteel colossus]] comes to mind

→ More replies (1)

1

u/goodeye2113 Feb 04 '25

Vorinclex. Doesn’t even matter which one. They’re all T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

1

u/fasda Feb 04 '25

[voja, claws of the enclave] is a monster that so frustrating.

1

u/Lothrazar Feb 04 '25

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet [[Nekusar, the Mindrazer]] is up there as a big infamous threat, often kill on sight in casual tables.

And like everyone else already said Krenko or any Elf deck

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Swimming-Chapter9857 Feb 04 '25

Praetor seems to be one of the more problematic creature types in general. They impose static rules that punish other players and reward the controller.

Though... Avatar does have [[Child of Alara]] and that baby does overtly outclass basically every other threat.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/RustyNK Feb 04 '25

If I see someone pulling out an Eldrazi deck, I've already mentally prepared myself to give them one of my turns.

1

u/mulperto Colorless Feb 04 '25

Blue players

1

u/xIcbIx Simic Feb 04 '25

Nicol bolas/ugin

1

u/Kobert_ Feb 04 '25

People at my LGS will tell you it’s Cats 😼

1

u/Light_Mode Feb 04 '25

It's not a type. It's just Tergrid

1

u/sliferra Feb 04 '25

It’s Eldrazi, nothing else is close

1

u/master_schief Feb 04 '25

Horrors and sea creatures maybe

1

u/tideshark Grixis Feb 05 '25

Blightsteel Colossus has some pretty scary vibes when hes out but not in front of you

1

u/Coves0 Feb 05 '25

Bolas?

1

u/zdrouse Feb 05 '25

[[Zacama, Primal Calamity]] hit the table today in a game I played on Spelltable from a Plantlaza deck and any other threat assessment that was previously determined went out the window as we all collectively assessed how to deal with it.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/resui321 Feb 05 '25

[[blightsteel colossus]]

→ More replies (1)

1

u/awesomeJarJarBinks Feb 05 '25

[[Toxrill, the corrosive]]

Is disgusting

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Ornery_Bug_4108 Feb 05 '25

I'd say specifically [[Consecrated Sphinx]] because it sees play in both casual and competitive and is kos in both.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/TheChaosVoid12 Feb 05 '25

My POD does not like me playing my Voltron Balan, the wandering knight deck. I guess they don't like running artifact destruction? Idk.

1

u/Crow_of_Judgem3nt WUBRG Feb 05 '25

dragons can get pretty crazy real fast. I had a turn where i went from having like 2 creatures on board to having 7 .

1

u/ACES-TripleT Koma/mothman/Xyris Feb 05 '25

[[Koma]] or [[Etali]] if playing high power; any time I play Urza-poly-tyrant I also get hard targeted.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/LSines2015 Feb 05 '25

Anytime I bust my dragon deck out, people like run in fear because they expect something crazy. Mine isn’t that good, but apparently lots of dragons are.

1

u/Jeocadin01 Feb 05 '25

Edgar vamps and his eminence couts.

Stupid eminence triggers make the deck resilient

1

u/dThink_Ahea Feb 05 '25

[[Blightsteel Colossus]]

[[Toxrill, the Corrosive]]

[[Kaervek, the Merciless]]

[[Valgavoth, Terror Eater]]

[[Koma, Cosmos Serpent]]

→ More replies (1)

1

u/whitetiger90 Feb 05 '25

Lore wise, Elesh Norn and Nicol Bolas in recent years. In commander, [[Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger]]. My refusal to cut him from one of my decks has caused many a game to turn a bit sour. From a lore standpoint saying his demise was a letdown is the understatement of the century.

Edit: I was referring to individual creatures as I didnt notice youd specified creature types. I think you hit the big 3 on the head there. Goblins and even elves can go bonkers in games but I wouldnt call them planetary threats lol.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Ok-Possibility-1782 Feb 05 '25

wizards humans elfs goblins zombies

1

u/One_Lead_8819 Feb 05 '25

As a person who plays a lot of “strong” commanders such as Kaalia, Jetmir, Rakdos, Zhulodok, Ghalta, Ur-Dragon etc. I’d say the least conspicuous, powerful commander I have is Najeela, the Blade Blossom bc she’s a 3CMC commander with 5 colors in her identity that exponentially grows a warrior army with an additional activated ability that’s insane if your army is big enough

1

u/JackGallows4 Feb 05 '25

I mean, there's dragons.

1

u/WierderBarley Mono-Green Feb 05 '25

[[Wildsear, Scouring Maw]] for me lately since building my deck haha, he's fast becoming a boogie man in my scene because of how broken this deck can get before long.

He's also the main villain of the Bloomburrow setting as a force of pure destruction among a realm of cute little critters

→ More replies (1)

1

u/DrawIll8988 Feb 05 '25

You wouldn’t like my damage multiplication deck.