Post by JediCheese on Jul 5, 2013 2:19:11 GMT -5
So, here is my thoughts on Kaalia and how I feel it should be built. I’m primarily posting this for a friend but feel free to chime in. Warning, this is going to be extremely long and be fairly detailed.
I’m going to focus on the various areas of the preconstructed deck that can be improved. Some cards will be marked in red and then have a replacement card next to them. Card names marked in red are being removed from the pre-constructed deck. Cards being added are in green. The the card name is black, that means it’s in the deck and is staying put.
Prices on replacement cards will be accurate as of today and looked up at tcgplayer.com. I’ve only added cards that are reasonably cheap (under $5) or are vital at the price point (everything is under $10). Anything that is spendy, I’ve included in the comments but it isn’t placed in the main deck.
General (1):
Kaalia of the Vast
This goes without saying - She’s your general. Without her, you don’t have a deck
Lands(38/38):
The mana base needs to be improved. I would definitely go for the Shock lands (Godless Shrine, Blood Crypt and Sacred Foundry). While the shock lands are above the $5 soft limit, they are the basis of a solid mana base and the price is reasonable for them. If you don’t purchase them in the next few months, they will all be over $10 and will likely be at $15 by the end of the year.
I dislike the come into cycling lands (Secluded Steppe, Forgotten Cave, and Barren Moor) because you want mana early and while it’s not critical late game to get extra mana online quickly, you likely won’t be cycling them late game and thus basic lands are just as good.
The Ravnica Bounce (Rakdos Carnarium, Orzhov Basilica, and Boros Garrison) lands are slow, but they create more mana than a typical land and thus allow you to reach higher casting costs with fewer lands played.
The tap lands (Isolated Chapel, Dragonskull Summit and Clifftop Retreat) are really good because typically they will come into play untapped and be ready for use. Both Isolated Chapel and Clifftop Retreat are going to drop in price in about 4-5 months when they are no longer legal in standard and should become a $2 card (so if you can wait, hold off on them).
Rocky Tar Pit allows you to search for either a Mountain or Swamp and when combined with the shock lands gives you an element of mana fixing for cheap. It isn’t nearly as fast or neat as the other fetch lands, but is relevant. I wouldn’t run the rest of the Mirage fetch lands (Bad River, Mountain Valley, Grasslands, and Flood Plain) because they just aren’t good enough.
The City of Brass is ok because it gives you colors that you need but at an increased life cost.
The Hall of the Bandit Lord is a nice utility land that gives your creatures haste. This is especially important when casting Kaalia because with haste you get a free swing before anyone gets a chance to kill her.
Spinerock Knoll is a nice addition in that it allows you to play a card for free and will be able to be triggered by a successful attack.
Other upgrades would be dual lands (Badlands, Plateau, and Scrubland) and all relevant fetch lands (Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, Windswepth Heath, Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats, Arid mesa, and Scalding Tarn). I didn’t include them due to cost, but that would be the next logical step to upgrade the manabase. As dual and fetch lands get added in, you would start to remove the Ravnica bounce lands and then basic lands)
A final upgrade I would likely run that isn’t very budget is Volrath’s Stronghold. Sadly it’s a $17 card. Getting back your beaters late game is not to be undervalued.
After looking at the mana, I think the basic lands should be evenly distributed because the deck is evenly split between colors.
Creatures (28/34):
With the changes in the creature department, they all have a relevant ability by either blowing shit up, draw you cards, are huge threats that require answers, or defend your team from your enemies.
Avatar of Slaughter replaced by Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Gisela costs 1 less mana, she is an angel, and she prevents damage to you. You also get first strike as whipped cream and cherry on top of the above bonuses. Overall, a solid upgrade.
Boros Guildmage, Orzhov Guildmage, and Gwyllion Hedge-Mage are all chaff in the deck and they don’t even fit the theme. Their impact is low and their only value is as cheap creatures (which if we need cheap creatures we can do better than these). For Boros Guildmage, if we are dropping gigantic creatures you won’t have mana for haste (or you use Kaalia’s ability and they are already tapped and attacking) and first strike is likely irrelevant in most combat. Orzhov Guildmage’s abilities are overcosted and thus are irrelevant. The Gwyllion Hedge-Mage’s abilities are ok, but it’s not what the deck is looking for. Plus unless you purchase dual lands and fetch lands (which are expensive), it’s going to be hard to get two swamps and plains in play before his ability is irrelevant.
Dragon Whelp for Furnace Whelp are on less powerful side for being a dragon. You won’t have mana to pump them so you are stuck with a 2/2 or 2/3 which is too small for the monsters that are available to you. Might as well just get a 4/4 or larger dragon and beat the opponent down.
For Fallen Angel, your creatures are giants, why would you sacrifice one to give her a measly +2/+1?
Shattered Angel doesn’t gain enough life and is a small body. If you need more life, Baneslayer Angel will gain you more life and Gisela will stop damage being done to you and increase the damage done to others. The other issue with Shattered Angel is that if you need the life, your opponent is likely winning and they can choose not to play lands. If you don’t need the life, they are losing or even and a large body to attack is more likely to put pressure on them and eventually win the game.
Voice of All is actually a good creature and could be played in the deck. I just feel that a 2/2 isn’t enough despite the protection from a color of your choice.
Malfegor gets replaced with Reaper from the Abyss. Reaper from the Abyss allows targets removal The downside is it’s not a ‘may’ ability, thus you are required to destroy a creature (even if the only legal target is something you don’t want to die). Malfegor is problematic because of two reasons: he doesn’t target the creatures you get to kill and you have to discard your hand. You are going to need every card you can get to keep the gas flowing with this deck.
Mother of Runes is a solid card and is a possible include. I’ve cut it because I added Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Aegis Angel, and Deathless Angel as my anti-removal package. All three give indestructible. Indestructible allows my creature to get exiled, but that is much more rare than wrath of god type effects that only destroy.
Razorjaw Oni is a beater. It’s not all that large compared to other options and it’s ability doesn’t bring much additional value. Additionally, it shuts off part your team from defending which can be catastrophic at times.
Serra Angel is just not good enough to keep around. A 4/4 body for 5 and no usable abilities isn’t very interesting. I would replace her with Baneslayer Angel, but it seems that Baneslayer Angel is now a $12 card. Also, I ran out of space so she’s getting the cut.
For Reiver Demon, Lightkeeper of Emeria, and Dread Cacodemon the abilities are very relevant. The only downside is the ability is able to be triggered when you play it from hand. Your ability to cheat them into play using Kaalia turns off their abilities and they will end up being gigantic bodies without any useful abilities. We can do better.
Now onto the added creatures!
Flametongue Kavu (also known as FTK) is amazing. While it’s not a useful creature type, it does turn on Oni of Wild Places. Running out FTK every turn and melting an opposing creature is an awesome ability!
Bogardan hellkite is much the same as FTK, except it’s a useful creature type (Dragon) and has a larger body. While he’s more expensive, there are two extra bonuses to Bogardan Hellkite vs FTK. The first is he has flash so you can play him during opponents turns to destroy their combat math and you can split up the damage between multiple targets (including players).
Steel Hellkite is the ability to wipe out an opponents stuff. Destruction of your opponents stuff is always good. Also, there seems to be clusters of mana costs in most decks, typically around the 3-5 casting cost range which allows a single ability trigger to destroy a bunch of stuff at once.
Balefire Dragon is wanted for the hurt it can put on your opponent. If you swing with him and he’s unblocked, it’s likely you’re going to boardwipe their team. This is a backbreaking effect that wins games.
Hellkite Tyrant steals your opponents mana. Many decks play signets, artifact lands, and other mana artifacts and Hellkite Tyrant steals them all. It’s likely you put them a turn or two behind with this and mana ramp yourself at the same time. There are also some awesome artifact creatures that you can steal (Blightsteel Colossus, Darksteel Colossus, and Wurmcoil Engine come to mind). His insta-win ability isn’t likely to trigger, but you could acquire enough artifacts in a multiplayer game if you are left alone.
Rakdos the Defiler is likely an auto-win if he attacks an opponent. The part to remember about this creature is the sacrifice your stuff only triggers when he attacks. If you put him into play attacking with Kaalia, you aren’t sacrificing anything. The other broken combo with him is Oni of Wild Places can return him during your upkeep so you can keep abusing his sacrifice ability with Kaalia in play.
Hellkite Charger and Aurelia, the Warleader give you multiple attack phases. Kaalia triggers off each attack, so getting more attack phases results in more damage and in you dropping more of your fatties onto the board!
Deathless Angel, and Aegis Angel all give indestructability to a creature or creatures. Typically, you are going to want to defend Kaalia but late game you may want to defend one of the creatures that gives you multiple attack phases or a guy that is drawing you cards.
Rune-Scarred Demon allows you to get a card of your choice. While it doesn’t win games on it’s own, it does give you the ability to tutor up the silver bullet you need to win.
Bloodgift Demon keeps your hands filled with awesome. This deck is going to vomit out awesome onto the board, so you need to keep your hand filled. This is another creature that won’t win the game immediately, but if he sticks around 2-3 turns you are going to see some serious value out of him.
Harvester of Souls is another creature that can keep your hand filled with awesome cards. He is much more situational than Bloodgift Demon, but he also has the ability to do a massive refill if a bunch of stuff dies while Bloodgift Demon only nets you an extra card a turn.
Blood Speaker allows you to tutor up a Demon. We’re likely going for Rune-Scarred Demon and then tutor whatever card wins you the game. But really, any of the Demons you play have game winning effects so any will be amazing.
Lord of the Void allows you to hit an opponent and pick awesome stuff from their deck. This is likely best vs a Green or Black deck that play gigantic creatures and exiling cards prevents reanimation. But you can also hit random Eldrazi or Colossi off him that will win the game.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath is just a big beater with some relevant abilities. She attacks, she defends, she runs over chump blockers, she has evasion, and she has protection from two colors. She’s a solid clock on your opponent.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots allows you to cast creatures cheaply. With him, the extremely expensive Angels, Demons and Dragons are now much cheaper. It reduces your reliance on Kaalia once he’s in play.
Kokusho, the Evening Star is an excellent creature in multiplayer. It deals loss of life which can be better than damage and you gain the life. Also you can seriously gain a ton of life off him. I will say he gets right up to the top of the budget but he can be so crucial in multiplayer that I've added him anyway. If you don't plan on playing multipler, I wouldn't bother with him and go with something else.
Angelic Skirmisher is good for it’s utility. A forgotten part of this is it triggers every combat, including during your opponent's combat. The only downside is she doesn’t trigger if you Kaalia her into play, so you’ll have to forgo one trigger if you don’t have the mana to hardcast her.
Master of Cruelties is an insta-win card with Kaalia. You can put him into play with Kaalia when she attacks. If they don’t block Kaalia or Master of Cruelties, when they declare no blockers you can then trigger his ability and put them to one. Combat damage is then assigned and Kaalia does 2 points of damage finishing them off In the upgraded deck, it's possible to kill the opponent turn 2 with this guy!
Turn 1: Land > Sol Ring > Signet in opposite colors
Turn 2: Hall of the Bandit Lord > Kaalia with haste > attack with Kaalia and drop Master of Cruelties > win!
Now onto the dream cards! Luckily these aren’t so expensive as the dream lands
If she wasn’t so expensive and outside our budget, I would put Baneslayer Angel in the list. The lifelink is the crucial ability that Makes Baneslayer Angel playable because it’s great on offence or defence. You can swing and the use the lifegain to survive the counter attack or you can defend, kill a creature with first strike and still survive the damage from the other attacks due to the lifelink.
Also, Baneslayer Angel’s protection from Dragons and Demons very well could come in helpful. If an opponent steals one of your creatures or is running one of any number of playable demons or dragons, she makes very favorable attacks or blocks.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope is a card that the deck would love but she’s over the $10 limit. She should drop come October/November when she is no longer in standard.
The last potential include would be Iona, Shield of Emeria. She can shut out an enemies color and if you have an idea what removal they are running you can shut their removal down totally. She gets worse vs heavily multicolored decks but vs a 1-2 colored deck it’s game breaking. She’s used in older formats so don’t expect her price to go down.
Artifacts (7/17):
This is where you are going to be making most of the additions. You need mana, and the default options don’t cut it. Also, there are a few extra additions that help you accomplish your goals.
Whispersilk Cloak is an easy addition because you can turn your Kaalia unblockable and untargetable. This makes her very hard to kill.
Skullclamp allows you to have your creatures draw you cards when they die. It makes opposing wrath’s less painful.
Wayfarer’s Bauble, Talisman of Indulgence, Fellwar Stone, Coldsteel Heart, Coalition Relic, and Mindstone all help power out Kaalia out turn 3. The faster you get Kaalia out, the faster you can attack and the less likely your opponents will be able to effectively stop her.
Chromatic Lantern is good because it fixes your mana. This allows you to pump your mana into firebreathing dragons (creatures that get +1/+1 when you pay a mana) or play cards you normally would have the correct colored mana for. Also it ramps so you’ll be more likely to be able to cast your monsters from hand.
Gilded Lotus is a late game mana ramp. It gives you tons of mana but it doesn’t help early getting Kaalia out.
Two amazing artifacts that are out of the price range for this guide are Scroll Rack and Crucible of Worlds. Scroll Rack allows you to put lands back into the deck late game and draw relevant cards. Crucible of Worlds combos with the fetch lands and gives you the ability to hit a land drop every turn and thin out your deck.
Other additions would be Sensei’s Divining Top or Crystal Ball. If you are playing without the fetch lands, I would rather play Crystal Ball because the ability to throw away cards you don’t want from the top is crucial. I would likely play neither without testing the deck without to see if it needs more crafting of hands late game vs the draw and tutor ability we’ve already added.
Enchantments (7/4):
The included Enchantments are all going. The Vows are the best enchantments in the constructed deck and are simply ok, but we need the spots for better removal, mana ramp, and creatures. Your creatures are already amazing, there is no need to make them slightly bigger.
We are adding Phyrexian Arena and Underworld Connections because you want to draw more cards. I like Phyrexian Arena better because you don’t have to tap a mana for it, but both are solid card drawers.
Phyrexian Reclamation and Oversold Cemetery are amazing because you can get your creatures back for round 2.
Another awesome Enchantment is Debters’ Knell. The only issue is it’s slightly above the $5 per card soft limit I’ve set. I feel it isn’t quite awesome enough to make an exception and use the $10 limit due to it’s 7 mana casting cost. But if we set the limit to $6 or $7, I would totally put it in the list.
The final Enchantment I’ll mention is Land Tax. This card is broken when you have the Ravnica bounce lands, use as much artifact acceleration as we’ve put in this deck, or have Scroll Rack. With the Ravnica bounce lands, you are always behind someone in land count and thus you keep searching up lands. With artifact acceleration, you don’t need as many lands and thus you can keep triggering Land Tax and get ahead on mana. Scroll Rack and Land Tax ends up being a seriously broken combo because you get to draw 3 extra cards a turn for a colorless mana! The issue with Land Tax is it’s a $10+ card and I don’t feel it’s necessary to break the $10 rule for it (I would break the $5 rule for it). Something to keep in mind.
Instants/Sorceries (19/6):
We are removing most of the Instants and Sorceries from the list. The only ones that are worth keeping are Diabolic Tutor, Akroma’s Vengeance, Terminate, Wrecking Ball, Return to Dust, Path to Exile, and Mortify. Even the stars that are above didn’t all make the cut.
Mortify is awesome. It removes a very hard to destroy type of card: Enchantment. It also destroys creatures which is it’s typical use but Enchantments in EDH tend to be highly abusive. Typically I hate pinpoint removal but this definitely makes the cut. The only way to improve on this card is Vindicate which destroys anything, but it’s outside the budget we’ve set up.
Path to Exile is excellent creature removal. It’s very playable, but we have a ton of ways to kill creatures through our demons/dragons/angels. I have a feeling it will typically underperform in this deck so I’m cutting it.
Return to dust is much like Path to Exile. It is excellent Artifact removal. And while we don’t have as many creatures that kill artifacts, we should have enough and most non-creature artifacts aren’t of the ‘I win’ variety. Wasting this on a mana producing artifact is it’s typical use.
Wrecking Ball is much the same as Mortify/Return to Dust/Path to Exile. It’s just that lands aren’t a huge thing to destroy in EDH. Plus the 4 casting cost is awkward at times.
This brings me to Terminate. Terminate is what I would run over Wrecking Ball because it’s much cheaper and the ability to hit lands is typically not that important. Still, it’s getting cut because we have enough creature removal.
Akroma’s Vengeance is good, but I hate how it destroys artifacts. The modified deck runs a bunch of artifacts for extra mana, and thus I would hate to destroy them all. We’re putting in Austere Command instead as a replacement because it selectively targets what we want to destroy. Also, Asture Command can hit small creatures and keep your angels/demons/dragons alive to continue the beatdown.
Diabolic Tutor is definitely hot in the deck. You can find combo parts or silver bullets as needed.
The first addition is Increasing Ambition. It is a tutor like Diabolic Tutor, but has flashback which gives it more playability late game.
Merciless Eviction is a great card but I don’t know if it’s the card you want in the deck. Other potential slots here are Wrath of God (and it’s off color equivalent Damnation). You need mass removal, and Merciless Eviction definitely does that nicely but I don’t know if the extra 2 casting cost over Wrath of God is worth it. Another point of favor of Merciless Eviction vs Wrath of God is that Merciless Eviction hits several permanent types and exiles them which is sometimes relevant.
Armageddon is to lock in a win. You are running a bunch of artifact mana and Kaalia can allow you to drop your creatures for free. If Kaalia can swing once or twice (or is protected from removal) and you play Armageddon, you’ve won.
Two cards I would add if there wasn’t a budget are Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor. Both are cheap (casting cost) and efficient tutors that can help you find the stuff you need. Sadly, both are over our $10 budget per card.
Final Thoughts:
Total cost of the upgrades would comes to $115.68. Not an insignificant chunk of change. But at that price, you've got a deck that murders opponents and strikes fear into their hearts as you lay down the beats.
If I was to rank the importance of upgrades, I would purchase the shock lands (because they are relatively cheap right now). They are one of the more expensive pieces of the deck, but without a reliable mana base, the deck won't function. I would also pick up Rocky Tar Pit and City of Brass. Dragonskull Summit, Isolated Chapel and Clifftop Retreat all will drop in price here in the next few months so I would initially hold off on them.
The mana artifacts are reasonably cheap if you skip Coalition Relic, Chromatic Lantern and Gilded Lotus. This also shores up your manabase.
I would definitely buy as many of the creatures as you can afford because they are key to the winning of the deck. At least purchase enough of the creatures to remove the subpar creatures from the deck.
With the enchantments, they are less vital than the creatures and lands. I wouldn't bother until you start filling out the rest of the deck. Underworld Connections and Phyrexian Reclamation are both so cheap to purchase that I would add them into another order.
For instants/sorcieries, many of the removed ones are playable (see above comments). Leaving in Terminate, Wrecking Ball, Path to Exile, or Return to Dust isn't something that would worry me if I wanted to save some cash while I picked up other parts of the deck. I would definitely purchase Increasing Ambition and Merciless Eviction because both give you options and are really cheap.
I will also note that the deck after modifications only contains 48 original cards (of which 18 are basic lands). That means you are upgrading 52 slots with new cards. To put the price in perspective, you are paying slightly over $2 a card.
I’m going to focus on the various areas of the preconstructed deck that can be improved. Some cards will be marked in red and then have a replacement card next to them. Card names marked in red are being removed from the pre-constructed deck. Cards being added are in green. The the card name is black, that means it’s in the deck and is staying put.
Prices on replacement cards will be accurate as of today and looked up at tcgplayer.com. I’ve only added cards that are reasonably cheap (under $5) or are vital at the price point (everything is under $10). Anything that is spendy, I’ve included in the comments but it isn’t placed in the main deck.
General (1):
Kaalia of the Vast
This goes without saying - She’s your general. Without her, you don’t have a deck
Lands(38/38):
| Akoum Refuge | |
| Barren Moor | |
| Bojuka Bog | |
| Boros Garrison | |
| Command Tower | |
| Evolving Wilds | |
| Forgotten Cave | |
| Molten Slagheap | Blood Crypt - $7.35 |
| 8x Mountain | 6x Mountain |
| Orzhov Basilica | |
| 8x Plains | 6x Plains |
| Radkos Carnarium | |
| Rupture Spire | |
| Secluded Steppe | |
| 8x Swamp | 6x Swamp |
| Vivid Meadow | City of Brass - $3.90 |
| Zoetic Cavern | Hall of the Bandit Lord - $2.75 |
| Godless Shrine - $7.12 | |
| Sacred Foundry - $8.80 | |
| Isolated Chapel - $7.86 | |
| Dragonskull Summit - $2.72 | |
| Clifftop Retreat - $5.66 | |
| Rocky Tar Pit - $0.67 | |
| Spine Rock Knoll - $1.25 |
The mana base needs to be improved. I would definitely go for the Shock lands (Godless Shrine, Blood Crypt and Sacred Foundry). While the shock lands are above the $5 soft limit, they are the basis of a solid mana base and the price is reasonable for them. If you don’t purchase them in the next few months, they will all be over $10 and will likely be at $15 by the end of the year.
I dislike the come into cycling lands (Secluded Steppe, Forgotten Cave, and Barren Moor) because you want mana early and while it’s not critical late game to get extra mana online quickly, you likely won’t be cycling them late game and thus basic lands are just as good.
The Ravnica Bounce (Rakdos Carnarium, Orzhov Basilica, and Boros Garrison) lands are slow, but they create more mana than a typical land and thus allow you to reach higher casting costs with fewer lands played.
The tap lands (Isolated Chapel, Dragonskull Summit and Clifftop Retreat) are really good because typically they will come into play untapped and be ready for use. Both Isolated Chapel and Clifftop Retreat are going to drop in price in about 4-5 months when they are no longer legal in standard and should become a $2 card (so if you can wait, hold off on them).
Rocky Tar Pit allows you to search for either a Mountain or Swamp and when combined with the shock lands gives you an element of mana fixing for cheap. It isn’t nearly as fast or neat as the other fetch lands, but is relevant. I wouldn’t run the rest of the Mirage fetch lands (Bad River, Mountain Valley, Grasslands, and Flood Plain) because they just aren’t good enough.
The City of Brass is ok because it gives you colors that you need but at an increased life cost.
The Hall of the Bandit Lord is a nice utility land that gives your creatures haste. This is especially important when casting Kaalia because with haste you get a free swing before anyone gets a chance to kill her.
Spinerock Knoll is a nice addition in that it allows you to play a card for free and will be able to be triggered by a successful attack.
Other upgrades would be dual lands (Badlands, Plateau, and Scrubland) and all relevant fetch lands (Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, Windswepth Heath, Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats, Arid mesa, and Scalding Tarn). I didn’t include them due to cost, but that would be the next logical step to upgrade the manabase. As dual and fetch lands get added in, you would start to remove the Ravnica bounce lands and then basic lands)
A final upgrade I would likely run that isn’t very budget is Volrath’s Stronghold. Sadly it’s a $17 card. Getting back your beaters late game is not to be undervalued.
After looking at the mana, I think the basic lands should be evenly distributed because the deck is evenly split between colors.
Creatures (28/34):
| Akroma, Angel of Fury | |
| Angel of Despair | |
| Angelic Arbiter | |
| Anger | |
| Archangel of Strife | |
| Avatar of Slaughter | Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - $3.75 |
| Basandra, Battle Seraph | |
| Bladewing the Risen | |
| Boros Guildmage | |
| Dragon Whelp | |
| Dread Cacodemon | |
| Duegar Hedge-Mage | |
| Fallen Angel | |
| Furnace Whelp | |
| Gwyllion Hedge-Mage | |
| Lightkeeper of Emeria | |
| Malfegor | Reaper from the Abyss - $0.55 |
| Mana-Charged Dragon | |
| Mother of Runes | |
| Oni of Wild Places | |
| Oros, the Avenger | |
| Orzhov Guildmage | |
| Razorjaw Oni | |
| Reiver Demon | |
| Serra Angel | |
| Shattered Angel | |
| Tariel, Reckoner of Souls | |
| Voice of All | |
| Flametounge Kavu - $0.44 | |
| Bogardan hellkite - $1.23 | |
| Steel Hellkite - $0.80 | |
| Balefire Dragon - $1.38 | |
| Hellkite Tyrant - $0.70 | |
| Rakdos the Defiler - $1.33 | |
| Hellkite Charger - $0.26 | |
| Aurelia, the Warleader - $5.78 | |
| Deathless Angel - $0.72 | |
| Aegis Angel - $0.34 | |
| Rune-Scarred Demon - $1.19 | |
| Bloodgift Demon - $0.29 | |
| Harvester of Souls - $0.24 | |
| Blood Speaker - $0.20 | |
| Lord of the Void - $0.90 | |
| Akroma, Angel of Wrath - $5.69 | |
| Rakdos, Lord of Rios - $1.74 | |
| Kokusho, the Evening Star - $9.45 | |
| Angelic Skirmisher - $0.28 | |
| Master of Cruelties - $2.95 |
With the changes in the creature department, they all have a relevant ability by either blowing shit up, draw you cards, are huge threats that require answers, or defend your team from your enemies.
Avatar of Slaughter replaced by Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Gisela costs 1 less mana, she is an angel, and she prevents damage to you. You also get first strike as whipped cream and cherry on top of the above bonuses. Overall, a solid upgrade.
Boros Guildmage, Orzhov Guildmage, and Gwyllion Hedge-Mage are all chaff in the deck and they don’t even fit the theme. Their impact is low and their only value is as cheap creatures (which if we need cheap creatures we can do better than these). For Boros Guildmage, if we are dropping gigantic creatures you won’t have mana for haste (or you use Kaalia’s ability and they are already tapped and attacking) and first strike is likely irrelevant in most combat. Orzhov Guildmage’s abilities are overcosted and thus are irrelevant. The Gwyllion Hedge-Mage’s abilities are ok, but it’s not what the deck is looking for. Plus unless you purchase dual lands and fetch lands (which are expensive), it’s going to be hard to get two swamps and plains in play before his ability is irrelevant.
Dragon Whelp for Furnace Whelp are on less powerful side for being a dragon. You won’t have mana to pump them so you are stuck with a 2/2 or 2/3 which is too small for the monsters that are available to you. Might as well just get a 4/4 or larger dragon and beat the opponent down.
For Fallen Angel, your creatures are giants, why would you sacrifice one to give her a measly +2/+1?
Shattered Angel doesn’t gain enough life and is a small body. If you need more life, Baneslayer Angel will gain you more life and Gisela will stop damage being done to you and increase the damage done to others. The other issue with Shattered Angel is that if you need the life, your opponent is likely winning and they can choose not to play lands. If you don’t need the life, they are losing or even and a large body to attack is more likely to put pressure on them and eventually win the game.
Voice of All is actually a good creature and could be played in the deck. I just feel that a 2/2 isn’t enough despite the protection from a color of your choice.
Malfegor gets replaced with Reaper from the Abyss. Reaper from the Abyss allows targets removal The downside is it’s not a ‘may’ ability, thus you are required to destroy a creature (even if the only legal target is something you don’t want to die). Malfegor is problematic because of two reasons: he doesn’t target the creatures you get to kill and you have to discard your hand. You are going to need every card you can get to keep the gas flowing with this deck.
Mother of Runes is a solid card and is a possible include. I’ve cut it because I added Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Aegis Angel, and Deathless Angel as my anti-removal package. All three give indestructible. Indestructible allows my creature to get exiled, but that is much more rare than wrath of god type effects that only destroy.
Razorjaw Oni is a beater. It’s not all that large compared to other options and it’s ability doesn’t bring much additional value. Additionally, it shuts off part your team from defending which can be catastrophic at times.
Serra Angel is just not good enough to keep around. A 4/4 body for 5 and no usable abilities isn’t very interesting. I would replace her with Baneslayer Angel, but it seems that Baneslayer Angel is now a $12 card. Also, I ran out of space so she’s getting the cut.
For Reiver Demon, Lightkeeper of Emeria, and Dread Cacodemon the abilities are very relevant. The only downside is the ability is able to be triggered when you play it from hand. Your ability to cheat them into play using Kaalia turns off their abilities and they will end up being gigantic bodies without any useful abilities. We can do better.
Now onto the added creatures!
Flametongue Kavu (also known as FTK) is amazing. While it’s not a useful creature type, it does turn on Oni of Wild Places. Running out FTK every turn and melting an opposing creature is an awesome ability!
Bogardan hellkite is much the same as FTK, except it’s a useful creature type (Dragon) and has a larger body. While he’s more expensive, there are two extra bonuses to Bogardan Hellkite vs FTK. The first is he has flash so you can play him during opponents turns to destroy their combat math and you can split up the damage between multiple targets (including players).
Steel Hellkite is the ability to wipe out an opponents stuff. Destruction of your opponents stuff is always good. Also, there seems to be clusters of mana costs in most decks, typically around the 3-5 casting cost range which allows a single ability trigger to destroy a bunch of stuff at once.
Balefire Dragon is wanted for the hurt it can put on your opponent. If you swing with him and he’s unblocked, it’s likely you’re going to boardwipe their team. This is a backbreaking effect that wins games.
Hellkite Tyrant steals your opponents mana. Many decks play signets, artifact lands, and other mana artifacts and Hellkite Tyrant steals them all. It’s likely you put them a turn or two behind with this and mana ramp yourself at the same time. There are also some awesome artifact creatures that you can steal (Blightsteel Colossus, Darksteel Colossus, and Wurmcoil Engine come to mind). His insta-win ability isn’t likely to trigger, but you could acquire enough artifacts in a multiplayer game if you are left alone.
Rakdos the Defiler is likely an auto-win if he attacks an opponent. The part to remember about this creature is the sacrifice your stuff only triggers when he attacks. If you put him into play attacking with Kaalia, you aren’t sacrificing anything. The other broken combo with him is Oni of Wild Places can return him during your upkeep so you can keep abusing his sacrifice ability with Kaalia in play.
Hellkite Charger and Aurelia, the Warleader give you multiple attack phases. Kaalia triggers off each attack, so getting more attack phases results in more damage and in you dropping more of your fatties onto the board!
Deathless Angel, and Aegis Angel all give indestructability to a creature or creatures. Typically, you are going to want to defend Kaalia but late game you may want to defend one of the creatures that gives you multiple attack phases or a guy that is drawing you cards.
Rune-Scarred Demon allows you to get a card of your choice. While it doesn’t win games on it’s own, it does give you the ability to tutor up the silver bullet you need to win.
Bloodgift Demon keeps your hands filled with awesome. This deck is going to vomit out awesome onto the board, so you need to keep your hand filled. This is another creature that won’t win the game immediately, but if he sticks around 2-3 turns you are going to see some serious value out of him.
Harvester of Souls is another creature that can keep your hand filled with awesome cards. He is much more situational than Bloodgift Demon, but he also has the ability to do a massive refill if a bunch of stuff dies while Bloodgift Demon only nets you an extra card a turn.
Blood Speaker allows you to tutor up a Demon. We’re likely going for Rune-Scarred Demon and then tutor whatever card wins you the game. But really, any of the Demons you play have game winning effects so any will be amazing.
Lord of the Void allows you to hit an opponent and pick awesome stuff from their deck. This is likely best vs a Green or Black deck that play gigantic creatures and exiling cards prevents reanimation. But you can also hit random Eldrazi or Colossi off him that will win the game.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath is just a big beater with some relevant abilities. She attacks, she defends, she runs over chump blockers, she has evasion, and she has protection from two colors. She’s a solid clock on your opponent.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots allows you to cast creatures cheaply. With him, the extremely expensive Angels, Demons and Dragons are now much cheaper. It reduces your reliance on Kaalia once he’s in play.
Kokusho, the Evening Star is an excellent creature in multiplayer. It deals loss of life which can be better than damage and you gain the life. Also you can seriously gain a ton of life off him. I will say he gets right up to the top of the budget but he can be so crucial in multiplayer that I've added him anyway. If you don't plan on playing multipler, I wouldn't bother with him and go with something else.
Angelic Skirmisher is good for it’s utility. A forgotten part of this is it triggers every combat, including during your opponent's combat. The only downside is she doesn’t trigger if you Kaalia her into play, so you’ll have to forgo one trigger if you don’t have the mana to hardcast her.
Master of Cruelties is an insta-win card with Kaalia. You can put him into play with Kaalia when she attacks. If they don’t block Kaalia or Master of Cruelties, when they declare no blockers you can then trigger his ability and put them to one. Combat damage is then assigned and Kaalia does 2 points of damage finishing them off
In the upgraded deck, it's possible to kill the opponent turn 2 with this guy!Turn 1: Land > Sol Ring > Signet in opposite colors
Turn 2: Hall of the Bandit Lord > Kaalia with haste > attack with Kaalia and drop Master of Cruelties > win!
Now onto the dream cards! Luckily these aren’t so expensive as the dream lands
If she wasn’t so expensive and outside our budget, I would put Baneslayer Angel in the list. The lifelink is the crucial ability that Makes Baneslayer Angel playable because it’s great on offence or defence. You can swing and the use the lifegain to survive the counter attack or you can defend, kill a creature with first strike and still survive the damage from the other attacks due to the lifelink.
Also, Baneslayer Angel’s protection from Dragons and Demons very well could come in helpful. If an opponent steals one of your creatures or is running one of any number of playable demons or dragons, she makes very favorable attacks or blocks.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope is a card that the deck would love but she’s over the $10 limit. She should drop come October/November when she is no longer in standard.
The last potential include would be Iona, Shield of Emeria. She can shut out an enemies color and if you have an idea what removal they are running you can shut their removal down totally. She gets worse vs heavily multicolored decks but vs a 1-2 colored deck it’s game breaking. She’s used in older formats so don’t expect her price to go down.
Artifacts (7/17):
| Armillary Sphere | |
| Boros Signet | |
| Darksteel Ignot | |
| Lighting Greaves | |
| Orzhov Signet | |
| Rakdos Signet | |
| Sol Ring | |
| Whispersilk Cloak - $0.18 | |
| Skullclamp - $1.66 | |
| Wayfarer's Bauble - $0.09 | |
| Talisman of Indulgence - $0.05 | |
| Fellwar Stone - $0.13 | |
| Coldsteel Heart - $0.72 | |
| Coalition Relic - $5.79 | |
| Mind Stone - $0.21 | |
| Chromatic Lantern - $2.40 | |
| Gilded Lotus - $2.38 |
This is where you are going to be making most of the additions. You need mana, and the default options don’t cut it. Also, there are a few extra additions that help you accomplish your goals.
Whispersilk Cloak is an easy addition because you can turn your Kaalia unblockable and untargetable. This makes her very hard to kill.
Skullclamp allows you to have your creatures draw you cards when they die. It makes opposing wrath’s less painful.
Wayfarer’s Bauble, Talisman of Indulgence, Fellwar Stone, Coldsteel Heart, Coalition Relic, and Mindstone all help power out Kaalia out turn 3. The faster you get Kaalia out, the faster you can attack and the less likely your opponents will be able to effectively stop her.
Chromatic Lantern is good because it fixes your mana. This allows you to pump your mana into firebreathing dragons (creatures that get +1/+1 when you pay a mana) or play cards you normally would have the correct colored mana for. Also it ramps so you’ll be more likely to be able to cast your monsters from hand.
Gilded Lotus is a late game mana ramp. It gives you tons of mana but it doesn’t help early getting Kaalia out.
Two amazing artifacts that are out of the price range for this guide are Scroll Rack and Crucible of Worlds. Scroll Rack allows you to put lands back into the deck late game and draw relevant cards. Crucible of Worlds combos with the fetch lands and gives you the ability to hit a land drop every turn and thin out your deck.
Other additions would be Sensei’s Divining Top or Crystal Ball. If you are playing without the fetch lands, I would rather play Crystal Ball because the ability to throw away cards you don’t want from the top is crucial. I would likely play neither without testing the deck without to see if it needs more crafting of hands late game vs the draw and tutor ability we’ve already added.
Enchantments (7/4):
| Pyrohemia | |
| Righteous Cause | |
| Soul Snare | |
| Stranglehold | |
| Vow of Duty | |
| Vow of Lighting | |
| Vow of Malice | |
| Phyrexian Arena - $3.53 | |
| Underworld Connections - $0.10 | |
| Phyrexian Reclamation - $0.21 | |
| Oversold Cemetery - $4.08 |
The included Enchantments are all going. The Vows are the best enchantments in the constructed deck and are simply ok, but we need the spots for better removal, mana ramp, and creatures. Your creatures are already amazing, there is no need to make them slightly bigger.
We are adding Phyrexian Arena and Underworld Connections because you want to draw more cards. I like Phyrexian Arena better because you don’t have to tap a mana for it, but both are solid card drawers.
Phyrexian Reclamation and Oversold Cemetery are amazing because you can get your creatures back for round 2.
Another awesome Enchantment is Debters’ Knell. The only issue is it’s slightly above the $5 per card soft limit I’ve set. I feel it isn’t quite awesome enough to make an exception and use the $10 limit due to it’s 7 mana casting cost. But if we set the limit to $6 or $7, I would totally put it in the list.
The final Enchantment I’ll mention is Land Tax. This card is broken when you have the Ravnica bounce lands, use as much artifact acceleration as we’ve put in this deck, or have Scroll Rack. With the Ravnica bounce lands, you are always behind someone in land count and thus you keep searching up lands. With artifact acceleration, you don’t need as many lands and thus you can keep triggering Land Tax and get ahead on mana. Scroll Rack and Land Tax ends up being a seriously broken combo because you get to draw 3 extra cards a turn for a colorless mana! The issue with Land Tax is it’s a $10+ card and I don’t feel it’s necessary to break the $10 rule for it (I would break the $5 rule for it). Something to keep in mind.
Instants/Sorceries (19/6):
| Bathe in Light | |
| Cleansing Beam | |
| Comet Storm | |
| Congregate | |
| Master Warcraft | |
| Mortify | |
| Orim's Thunder | |
| Path to Exile | |
| Return to Dust | |
| Sulfurous Blast | |
| Terminate | |
| Wrecking Ball | |
| Akroma's Vengeance | Austere Command - $2.87 |
| Death By Dragons | |
| Diabolic Tutor | |
| Earthquake | |
| Evincar's Justice | |
| Syphon Flesh | |
| Syphon Mind | |
| Increasing Ambition - $0.43 | |
| Merciless Eviction - $0.26 | |
| Armageddon - $2.35 |
We are removing most of the Instants and Sorceries from the list. The only ones that are worth keeping are Diabolic Tutor, Akroma’s Vengeance, Terminate, Wrecking Ball, Return to Dust, Path to Exile, and Mortify. Even the stars that are above didn’t all make the cut.
Mortify is awesome. It removes a very hard to destroy type of card: Enchantment. It also destroys creatures which is it’s typical use but Enchantments in EDH tend to be highly abusive. Typically I hate pinpoint removal but this definitely makes the cut. The only way to improve on this card is Vindicate which destroys anything, but it’s outside the budget we’ve set up.
Path to Exile is excellent creature removal. It’s very playable, but we have a ton of ways to kill creatures through our demons/dragons/angels. I have a feeling it will typically underperform in this deck so I’m cutting it.
Return to dust is much like Path to Exile. It is excellent Artifact removal. And while we don’t have as many creatures that kill artifacts, we should have enough and most non-creature artifacts aren’t of the ‘I win’ variety. Wasting this on a mana producing artifact is it’s typical use.
Wrecking Ball is much the same as Mortify/Return to Dust/Path to Exile. It’s just that lands aren’t a huge thing to destroy in EDH. Plus the 4 casting cost is awkward at times.
This brings me to Terminate. Terminate is what I would run over Wrecking Ball because it’s much cheaper and the ability to hit lands is typically not that important. Still, it’s getting cut because we have enough creature removal.
Akroma’s Vengeance is good, but I hate how it destroys artifacts. The modified deck runs a bunch of artifacts for extra mana, and thus I would hate to destroy them all. We’re putting in Austere Command instead as a replacement because it selectively targets what we want to destroy. Also, Asture Command can hit small creatures and keep your angels/demons/dragons alive to continue the beatdown.
Diabolic Tutor is definitely hot in the deck. You can find combo parts or silver bullets as needed.
The first addition is Increasing Ambition. It is a tutor like Diabolic Tutor, but has flashback which gives it more playability late game.
Merciless Eviction is a great card but I don’t know if it’s the card you want in the deck. Other potential slots here are Wrath of God (and it’s off color equivalent Damnation). You need mass removal, and Merciless Eviction definitely does that nicely but I don’t know if the extra 2 casting cost over Wrath of God is worth it. Another point of favor of Merciless Eviction vs Wrath of God is that Merciless Eviction hits several permanent types and exiles them which is sometimes relevant.
Armageddon is to lock in a win. You are running a bunch of artifact mana and Kaalia can allow you to drop your creatures for free. If Kaalia can swing once or twice (or is protected from removal) and you play Armageddon, you’ve won.
Two cards I would add if there wasn’t a budget are Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor. Both are cheap (casting cost) and efficient tutors that can help you find the stuff you need. Sadly, both are over our $10 budget per card.
Final Thoughts:
Total cost of the upgrades would comes to $115.68. Not an insignificant chunk of change. But at that price, you've got a deck that murders opponents and strikes fear into their hearts as you lay down the beats.
If I was to rank the importance of upgrades, I would purchase the shock lands (because they are relatively cheap right now). They are one of the more expensive pieces of the deck, but without a reliable mana base, the deck won't function. I would also pick up Rocky Tar Pit and City of Brass. Dragonskull Summit, Isolated Chapel and Clifftop Retreat all will drop in price here in the next few months so I would initially hold off on them.
The mana artifacts are reasonably cheap if you skip Coalition Relic, Chromatic Lantern and Gilded Lotus. This also shores up your manabase.
I would definitely buy as many of the creatures as you can afford because they are key to the winning of the deck. At least purchase enough of the creatures to remove the subpar creatures from the deck.
With the enchantments, they are less vital than the creatures and lands. I wouldn't bother until you start filling out the rest of the deck. Underworld Connections and Phyrexian Reclamation are both so cheap to purchase that I would add them into another order.
For instants/sorcieries, many of the removed ones are playable (see above comments). Leaving in Terminate, Wrecking Ball, Path to Exile, or Return to Dust isn't something that would worry me if I wanted to save some cash while I picked up other parts of the deck. I would definitely purchase Increasing Ambition and Merciless Eviction because both give you options and are really cheap.
I will also note that the deck after modifications only contains 48 original cards (of which 18 are basic lands). That means you are upgrading 52 slots with new cards. To put the price in perspective, you are paying slightly over $2 a card.
I can see this being the most mana hungry deck that someone would play that doesn't have access to green mana ramp.