Hello everyone. So I just recently made a primer-level post about a budget Saffi deck, but I decided to trade for a bunch of non-budget cards yesterday and revamped it with a lands theme. This is a bit similar on first glance but a COMPLETELY different deck in function. I am still working on getting these cards but I have most of them. I intend for this to be optimized but I'm not going to be competing with it anywhere, at least yet. This is just for me to play with my friends and with others at LGSs.
Though I've been playing for a while, I don't know everything about magic, so I'd love some advice on this deck if anyone has some. Two cards I'm considering are Riftstone Portal and Realms Uncharted. I'm also thinking about Horizon Canopy.
Ooh I had Rotation and Avenger originally but then somehow left them out of the list when I went to edit it again. Adding them. I'll add in Canopy and Arbor for sure, especially since I can get Arbor off Zenith and since I can just remove a Forest and a Plains for them. I'm not sure about Realms because I don't know if I have room. And even though this is landy graveyard, I don't actually have a huge number of ways to get Riftstone into my graveyard besides saccing it with Rotation since they won't put it into my yard with Realms and it's unlikely I'll dredge it out with Life from the Loam. Any idea on what to take out for Realms and possibly also the Treefolk?
Also, can anybody estimate a limit on how many lands that only produce colorless to run? Right now I have 8 and that might be too many, seeing as how I like to play Saffi turn 2 and she costs GW.
So I went to Magic Club at my college and got a Crucible of Worlds, an Evolving Wilds, a Ghost Quarter, a Maze of Ith, a Secluded Steppe, a Slippery Karst, and a Tranquil Thicket, so now I have everything in my deck but 2 cards and some lands.
I tested the deck with everything that's on the list but the starred stuff last night and had some other cards from the previous version to fill the rest of the slots. It did really, really well. I played four or five biggish (4+) multiplayer games and won two of them.
I need to add Tilling Treefolk to the list because I'd like one more way to get lands from my grave other than Loam and Crucible. I have no idea what to take out though, so I'd love some advice on that. Also, should I add Tooth and Nail? It's really good with Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Force but I just realized I can also get Reviellark and Karmic Guide. It's expensive mana-wise though, so should I still fit it in?
Awesome. I'm going to work on getting an Eladamri's Call so I can have both. When I first ordered this deck I couldn't find one on the site I used, so I just got Altar. I like it in that it lets me sac a creature to reuse its effect with Saffi, but you're right, I probably should be using both. Expedition Map could be awesome too. I'm having a lot of trouble finding slots for these cards though. The deck works like such a machine and I know these cards would make it better but I don't know what to take out that wouldn't mess it up.
Restore is the definition of your deck. Lands. Graveyard.
I considered that one but it just doesn't do enough for me to warrant a slot. In most cases it just grabs a fetch or Evolving Wilds, which basically makes it a sometimes better Rampant Growth. I'd rather have Cultivate or Kodama's Reach for that. Though it could be cool if I destroy a land with one of my Mine-type lands and steal that. Hmm... I'll re-consider it.
Personally I feel like every/most of the GW EDH-decks boil down to Lark/karmic guide combo's or tokens. So I'm not really sold on the originality on that part.
In terms of cards to cut, you seem to have an abundance of sac outlets. Some are great, like Ashnod's Altar and Martyr's Cause. Some are not so great, like the Rusalkas. I get that you're trying to recur stuff with Saffi, but if you use cards that sac themselves (like Burnished Hart) then you can still do that. Once you get a sac outlet in play, the value of all the others goes down significantly.
Another good land tutor is Sylvan Scrying. You can use it to find High Market which is a great sac outlet. Abrogated recommended Crop Rotation above, and I second that. If you do that, grab a Sejiri Steppe as well. You can use Crop Rotation or Knight of the Reliquary to get Sejiri Steppe in response to a removal spell and use your land as a counterspell. That's a pretty good blowout and most people will walk right into it unless they play Legacy.
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I'm always open to suggestions for my decks. Thanks in advance.
Personally I feel like every/most of the GW EDH-decks boil down to Lark/karmic guide combo's or tokens. So I'm not really sold on the originality on that part.
Is it Borby? He's a great "lands matter" general to have. And I haven't considered Naya honestly. Mostly because if I go three colors it doesn't open me up to many more good utility lands and Valakut would have too few Mountains to activate. And yeah, I wanted it to be a combo win con because I have enough aggro decks and Saffi is a combo piece with Reveillark so I really wanted to do it that way. I do find this deck original in that it uses the graveyard as a resource in GW not just for creatures but for lands too. I've also never seen a "lands matter" deck that was with this general or even in these specific colors. I don't know, I think it's original.
In terms of cards to cut, you seem to have an abundance of sac outlets. Some are great, like Ashnod's Altar and Martyr's Cause. Some are not so great, like the Rusalkas. I get that you're trying to recur stuff with Saffi, but if you use cards that sac themselves (like Burnished Hart) then you can still do that. Once you get a sac outlet in play, the value of all the others goes down significantly.
Another good land tutor is Sylvan Scrying. You can use it to find High Market which is a great sac outlet. Abrogated recommended Crop Rotation above, and I second that. If you do that, grab a Sejiri Steppe as well. You can use Crop Rotation or Knight of the Reliquary to get Sejiri Steppe in response to a removal spell and use your land as a counterspell. That's a pretty good blowout and most people will walk right into it unless they play Legacy.
Oops I have a Scrying in my current version but I guess I forgot to put it in the online one. I've been using it to find High Market and, more often than not, Maze of Ith. I'll consider the Steppe, though I am trying to cut down on CIPT lands and I can usually just sac creatures in response to exile or tuck. The reason I have so many sac outlets is because people love to remove them and my deck loves to have them out. But I'll probably remove Starved Rusalka to get Scrying to be on this list like it is in real life. Thanks.
Is it Borby? He's a great "lands matter" general to have. And I haven't considered Naya honestly. Mostly because if I go three colors it doesn't open me up to many more good utility lands and Valakut would have too few Mountains to activate. And yeah, I wanted it to be a combo win con because I have enough aggro decks and Saffi is a combo piece with Reveillark so I really wanted to do it that way. I do find this deck original in that it uses the graveyard as a resource in GW not just for creatures but for lands too. I've also never seen a "lands matter" deck that was with this general or even in these specific colors. I don't know, I think it's original.
Don't get me wrong, the lands matter is great! Definitely with Knight of the Reliquary and all the nice cards to compliment your theme.
It's just that Lark combo isn't, heh. And personally I find that the combo gets boring fast so I hope the land-tech keeps you interested.
oh and Edit: no it's not borby, he's a wreckage in mana cost, yuck! I prefer me some radha.
Don't get me wrong, the lands matter is great! Definitely with Knight of the Reliquary and all the nice cards to compliment your theme.
It's just that Lark combo isn't, heh. And personally I find that the combo gets boring fast so I hope the land-tech keeps you interested.
oh and Edit: no it's not borby, he's a wreckage in mana cost, yuck! I prefer me some radha.
Yeah lands are my favorite type of card in Magic. There are just so many awesome ones with cool abilities that you don't always see on creatures. My favorite play with Knight has to be where I'm tapped out and someone attacks me with something huge and I tap and sac a forest or plains to get a plains untapped and then I Path to Exile it. Maze of Ith works too but definitely gets fewer style points imo. Knight of the Reliquary, Sun Titan, and Sylvan Library are some of the cards I love to draw every time.
And Radha is actually really awesome. Borby seems like a more landy general but his mana cost does suck and he really only shines when you have Life from the Loam in your graveyard or hand. How many lands does the deck run?
Yeah lands are my favorite type of card in Magic. There are just so many awesome ones with cool abilities that you don't always see on creatures. My favorite play with Knight has to be where I'm tapped out and someone attacks me with something huge and I tap and sac a forest or plains to get a plains untapped and then I Path to Exile it. Maze of Ith works too but definitely gets fewer style points imo. Knight of the Reliquary, Sun Titan, and Sylvan Library are some of the cards I love to draw every time.
And Radha is actually really awesome. Borby seems like a more landy general but his mana cost does suck and he really only shines when you have Life from the Loam in your graveyard or hand. How many lands does the deck run?
Only 38. It's fast paced gruul using Natural Order on Radha to get things like Sylvan Primordial out fast to get high land counts quickly, to later get Valakut/ out due to land tutors into Scapeshift/Boundless Realms or MassLD in the form of Destructive Force to net me a mana advantage or to get a loam engine running or be able to really abuse cards like Sneak Attack and Birthing Pod while the rest is struggling.
Only 38. It's fast paced gruul using Natural Order on Radha to get things like Sylvan Primordial out fast to get high land counts quickly, to later get Valakut/ out due to land tutors into Scapeshift/Boundless Realms or MassLD in the form of Destructive Force to net me a mana advantage or to get a loam engine running or be able to really abuse cards like Sneak Attack and Birthing Pod while the rest is struggling.
Nice. You should post the list if you haven't already, it sound like a cool deck. Your Kozilek (Primer status) deck is one of the most interesting EDH decks I've seen, so I'm sure this Radha one is sicknasty too. You should ask every friend you have to pool together some cash for your next birthday to get you a Forcefield for it. That card is dirty.
Nice. You should post the list if you haven't already, it sound like a cool deck. Your Kozilek (Primer status) deck is one of the most interesting EDH decks I've seen, so I'm sure this Radha one is sicknasty too. You should ask every friend you have to pool together some cash for your next birthday to get you a Forcefield for it. That card is dirty.
About the Radha deck, I might put it online sooner or later, but I personally find play-testing and fully tweaking my list for months necessary before I do so. As such, I could explain everything with ease and be able to theory-craft about changes faster.
And at this moment I've only been playing the radha deck for about 6 months give or take. While still testing out various options like Scavenging Ooze's effectiveness.
About the Radha deck, I might put it online sooner or later, but I personally find play-testing and fully tweaking my list for months necessary before I do so. As such, I could explain everything with ease and be able to theory-craft about changes faster.
And at this moment I've only been playing the radha deck for about 6 months give or take. While still testing out various options like Scavenging Ooze's effectiveness.
True. Indeed, Workshop would be flipping bonkers in there, my god. And yeah, that makes sense. Do you think you'd try to make it [Primer] status if you did end up posting it?
On another note, based on the colored mana symbols in this deck, do you guys think it would benefit from a Sol Ring? It doesn't help me cast Saffi herself the first time, but might be good. I'm on the fence about it because I own one but it's in another deck.
True. Indeed, Workshop would be flipping bonkers in there, my god. And yeah, that makes sense. Do you think you'd try to make it [Primer] status if you did end up posting it?
On another note, based on the colored mana symbols in this deck, do you guys think it would benefit from a Sol Ring? It doesn't help me cast Saffi herself the first time, but might be good. I'm on the fence about it because I own one but it's in another deck.
If I post it I'd sure as hell go all the way
About the Sol Ring, it's a staple and everyone knows how bonkers it is, but in here I don't see it flying high as easily. I don't play it in Radha either (might be a mistake, might not).
The way I see it, Sylvan Primordial/Elephantodon or whatnot will easily blow it up, blue decks might Sculpting Steel/Copy Artifact it and this deck can't recurr artifacts as easily as it can recurr lands so you'd rather have those blown up instead. Your curve isn't too high and you already have a nice ramp package anyway so it's not like you'll ultimately need it. And the worst problem is your CA package which can't fully abuse Sol Ring's effectiveness.
IMO= not worth it, but if you do choose to include it, it won't be a bad card slot because face it, it's still Sol Ring.
So I traded for a Savannah and a bunch of cards I had on this list to be acquired. I traded my 3 Arid Mesas for the dual and the stuff I just added. Do you guys think that was a bad idea? I think it (the dual at least) was worth it because of the fetches, Krosan Verge and Wood Elves being able to grab it for me.
I also decided against Sol Ring for now with the helpful advice of Juwdah and that thread about whether you should feel stupid for it not making the cut. I also added Grand Abolisher in for Riftsweeper since Sweeper was often a dead card. I think they accomplish similar things (avoiding my combo being interrupted) but Abolisher does it better.
Oh and I don't have an Abolisher yet so I put in my Dosan, the Falling Leaf. But do you guys think Dosan might be better since I can fetch him with Green Sun's Zenith? I'd really like to know.
terravore needs to be in a lands in your yard matter decks. He's your second knight of the reliquary. Not to mention flavor wise of that's what's your going for you just have to.
That and he goes well with armageddon which should be on this list at least one copy of an MLD spell for those rough times.
Yavimaya Hollow is another utility land to consider. It's obviously great at keeping your stuff on the table when needed, but it can also play politics when needed.
Right now, this deck still very much looks like a Saffi deck first, with a secondary land theme. Depending how far you follow the land matters theme, Nomad Stadium can actually become decent too. I have a 5-color land deck that has abused this with GY recursion to stay in the game on multiple occasions. (Crucible + Exploration type effect)
Again, depending how far you follow the land matters theme, Chromatic Lantern and Prismatic Omen can help if you start bringing in too many colorless utility lands.
* Indicates a card I still need to get
Saffi Eriksdotter: The Landy McLandland Version
1x Acidic Slime
1x Archon of Justice
1x Avenger of Zendikar
1x Duplicant
1x Eternal Witness
1x Fauna Shaman
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Genesis
1x Grand Abolisher *
1x Harmonic Sliver
1x Karmic Guide
1x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Magus of the Tabernacle
1x Martyred Rusalka
1x Mirror Entity
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Peacekeeper
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Regal Force
1x Reveillark
1x Saffi Eriksdotter
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Spike Weaver
1x Sun Titan
1x Tilling Treefolk
1x Triskelion
1x Wood Elves
1x Yavimaya Elder
Artifact (9)
1x Ashnod's Altar
1x Birthing Pod
1x Blasting Station
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Howling Mine
1x Meekstone
1x Phyrexian Altar
1x Skullclamp
1x Spawning Pit
1x Aura Shards
1x Fecundity
1x Gift of Immortality
1x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Martyr's Cause
1x Pattern of Rebirth
1x Survival of the Fittest
1x Sylvan Library
Instant (6)
1x Beast Within
1x Crop Rotation
1x Oblation
1x Path to Exile
1x Return to Dust
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Worldly Tutor
Sorcery (10)
1x Altar of Bone
1x Austere Command
1x Cultivate
1x Day of Judgment
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Life from the Loam
1x Primal Growth
1x Regrowth
1x Sylvan Scrying
Land (37)
1x Arid Mesa
1x Brushland
1x Command Tower
1x Drifting Meadow
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Evolving Wilds
5x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Grasslands
1x High Market
1x Horizon Canopy *
1x Kor Haven
1x Krosan Verge
1x Marsh Flats
1x Maze of Ith
1x Mistveil Plains
1x Misty Rainforest *
5x Plains
1x Savannah
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Slippery Karst
1x Strip Mine
1x Sunpetal Grove
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Temple Garden
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Winding Canyons
Though I've been playing for a while, I don't know everything about magic, so I'd love some advice on this deck if anyone has some. Two cards I'm considering are Riftstone Portal and Realms Uncharted. I'm also thinking about Horizon Canopy.
You could consider Tilling Treefolk as some utility here.
Avenger of Zendikar just says "I win".
Riftstone Portal, and Horizon Canopy are great cards.
Dryad Arbor can be used to trigger Aura Shards at instant speed off of fetch's.
WGSaffi EriksdotterGW
UBGThe MimeoplasmGBU
Ooh I had Rotation and Avenger originally but then somehow left them out of the list when I went to edit it again. Adding them. I'll add in Canopy and Arbor for sure, especially since I can get Arbor off Zenith and since I can just remove a Forest and a Plains for them. I'm not sure about Realms because I don't know if I have room. And even though this is landy graveyard, I don't actually have a huge number of ways to get Riftstone into my graveyard besides saccing it with Rotation since they won't put it into my yard with Realms and it's unlikely I'll dredge it out with Life from the Loam. Any idea on what to take out for Realms and possibly also the Treefolk?
I tested the deck with everything that's on the list but the starred stuff last night and had some other cards from the previous version to fill the rest of the slots. It did really, really well. I played four or five biggish (4+) multiplayer games and won two of them.
I need to add Tilling Treefolk to the list because I'd like one more way to get lands from my grave other than Loam and Crucible. I have no idea what to take out though, so I'd love some advice on that. Also, should I add Tooth and Nail? It's really good with Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Force but I just realized I can also get Reviellark and Karmic Guide. It's expensive mana-wise though, so should I still fit it in?
Expedition Map
Burnished Hart
Kor Cartographer (gets Mistveil Plains)
The first two are great with your Sun Titan. That card is so good in your deck that you might want to play Fierce Empath just to find him.
Also, Eladamri's Call is just better than Altar of Bone, but you might want both.
Captain Sisay - Efficient Toolbox Control
Kemba, Kha Regent - Equipment & Mini-stax
Awesome. I'm going to work on getting an Eladamri's Call so I can have both. When I first ordered this deck I couldn't find one on the site I used, so I just got Altar. I like it in that it lets me sac a creature to reuse its effect with Saffi, but you're right, I probably should be using both. Expedition Map could be awesome too. I'm having a lot of trouble finding slots for these cards though. The deck works like such a machine and I know these cards would make it better but I don't know what to take out that wouldn't mess it up.
EDIT (didn't see you there):
I considered that one but it just doesn't do enough for me to warrant a slot. In most cases it just grabs a fetch or Evolving Wilds, which basically makes it a sometimes better Rampant Growth. I'd rather have Cultivate or Kodama's Reach for that. Though it could be cool if I destroy a land with one of my Mine-type lands and steal that. Hmm... I'll re-consider it.
Personally I feel like every/most of the GW EDH-decks boil down to Lark/karmic guide combo's or tokens. So I'm not really sold on the originality on that part.
[Primer] Kozilek, Butcher with Juice.
Another good land tutor is Sylvan Scrying. You can use it to find High Market which is a great sac outlet. Abrogated recommended Crop Rotation above, and I second that. If you do that, grab a Sejiri Steppe as well. You can use Crop Rotation or Knight of the Reliquary to get Sejiri Steppe in response to a removal spell and use your land as a counterspell. That's a pretty good blowout and most people will walk right into it unless they play Legacy.
Captain Sisay - Efficient Toolbox Control
Kemba, Kha Regent - Equipment & Mini-stax
Is it Borby? He's a great "lands matter" general to have. And I haven't considered Naya honestly. Mostly because if I go three colors it doesn't open me up to many more good utility lands and Valakut would have too few Mountains to activate. And yeah, I wanted it to be a combo win con because I have enough aggro decks and Saffi is a combo piece with Reveillark so I really wanted to do it that way. I do find this deck original in that it uses the graveyard as a resource in GW not just for creatures but for lands too. I've also never seen a "lands matter" deck that was with this general or even in these specific colors. I don't know, I think it's original.
Oops I have a Scrying in my current version but I guess I forgot to put it in the online one. I've been using it to find High Market and, more often than not, Maze of Ith. I'll consider the Steppe, though I am trying to cut down on CIPT lands and I can usually just sac creatures in response to exile or tuck. The reason I have so many sac outlets is because people love to remove them and my deck loves to have them out. But I'll probably remove Starved Rusalka to get Scrying to be on this list like it is in real life. Thanks.
Don't get me wrong, the lands matter is great! Definitely with Knight of the Reliquary and all the nice cards to compliment your theme.
It's just that Lark combo isn't, heh. And personally I find that the combo gets boring fast so I hope the land-tech keeps you interested.
oh and Edit: no it's not borby, he's a wreckage in mana cost, yuck! I prefer me some radha.
[Primer] Kozilek, Butcher with Juice.
Yeah lands are my favorite type of card in Magic. There are just so many awesome ones with cool abilities that you don't always see on creatures. My favorite play with Knight has to be where I'm tapped out and someone attacks me with something huge and I tap and sac a forest or plains to get a plains untapped and then I Path to Exile it. Maze of Ith works too but definitely gets fewer style points imo. Knight of the Reliquary, Sun Titan, and Sylvan Library are some of the cards I love to draw every time.
And Radha is actually really awesome. Borby seems like a more landy general but his mana cost does suck and he really only shines when you have Life from the Loam in your graveyard or hand. How many lands does the deck run?
Only 38. It's fast paced gruul using Natural Order on Radha to get things like Sylvan Primordial out fast to get high land counts quickly, to later get Valakut/ out due to land tutors into Scapeshift/Boundless Realms or MassLD in the form of Destructive Force to net me a mana advantage or to get a loam engine running or be able to really abuse cards like Sneak Attack and Birthing Pod while the rest is struggling.
It just sucks that I can't run Sun Titan or Knight of the Reliquary
[Primer] Kozilek, Butcher with Juice.
Nice. You should post the list if you haven't already, it sound like a cool deck. Your Kozilek (Primer status) deck is one of the most interesting EDH decks I've seen, so I'm sure this Radha one is sicknasty too. You should ask every friend you have to pool together some cash for your next birthday to get you a Forcefield for it. That card is dirty.
Thanks!
But if I were ever to go for an expensive card I'd need Mishra's Workshop or The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale first.
Even though they're 5 times the price of Forcefield hah'
About the Radha deck, I might put it online sooner or later, but I personally find play-testing and fully tweaking my list for months necessary before I do so. As such, I could explain everything with ease and be able to theory-craft about changes faster.
And at this moment I've only been playing the radha deck for about 6 months give or take. While still testing out various options like Scavenging Ooze's effectiveness.
[Primer] Kozilek, Butcher with Juice.
True. Indeed, Workshop would be flipping bonkers in there, my god. And yeah, that makes sense. Do you think you'd try to make it [Primer] status if you did end up posting it?
On another note, based on the colored mana symbols in this deck, do you guys think it would benefit from a Sol Ring? It doesn't help me cast Saffi herself the first time, but might be good. I'm on the fence about it because I own one but it's in another deck.
If I post it I'd sure as hell go all the way
About the Sol Ring, it's a staple and everyone knows how bonkers it is, but in here I don't see it flying high as easily. I don't play it in Radha either (might be a mistake, might not).
The way I see it, Sylvan Primordial/Elephantodon or whatnot will easily blow it up, blue decks might Sculpting Steel/Copy Artifact it and this deck can't recurr artifacts as easily as it can recurr lands so you'd rather have those blown up instead. Your curve isn't too high and you already have a nice ramp package anyway so it's not like you'll ultimately need it. And the worst problem is your CA package which can't fully abuse Sol Ring's effectiveness.
IMO= not worth it, but if you do choose to include it, it won't be a bad card slot because face it, it's still Sol Ring.
[Primer] Kozilek, Butcher with Juice.
I also decided against Sol Ring for now with the helpful advice of Juwdah and that thread about whether you should feel stupid for it not making the cut. I also added Grand Abolisher in for Riftsweeper since Sweeper was often a dead card. I think they accomplish similar things (avoiding my combo being interrupted) but Abolisher does it better.
Oh and I don't have an Abolisher yet so I put in my Dosan, the Falling Leaf. But do you guys think Dosan might be better since I can fetch him with Green Sun's Zenith? I'd really like to know.
I dunno, you don't have many "two card creature synergies"
I mean, Avenger of Zendikar + Mirror Entity could work.. But "meh"
Edit: Avenger + Regal Force could get you places though, Reliquary tower or just land dump into graveyard ain't too bad with the recurr engines.
[Primer] Kozilek, Butcher with Juice.
That and he goes well with armageddon which should be on this list at least one copy of an MLD spell for those rough times.
Current
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
GWUPheldagriff Group HugGWU
RGRRuric Thar, the UnbowedGRG
UXBOona ControlUXB
Retired
RGWMayael, the AnimaRGW
XGXGlissa Sunseeker ComboXGX
Right now, this deck still very much looks like a Saffi deck first, with a secondary land theme. Depending how far you follow the land matters theme, Nomad Stadium can actually become decent too. I have a 5-color land deck that has abused this with GY recursion to stay in the game on multiple occasions. (Crucible + Exploration type effect)
Again, depending how far you follow the land matters theme, Chromatic Lantern and Prismatic Omen can help if you start bringing in too many colorless utility lands.