MTG Salvation

Welcome to my Sigarda, Host of Herons deck. The goal is to win by General Damage. Sigarda needs +2 or more power to be a three-turn clock on General Damage, so this deck contains a bunch of efficient Equipment and Auras that give just the boost needed.

Sigarda is a very resilient Commander, weak only to mass destruction (and other sweeper spells like Hallowed Burial). Thus, this deck contains some efficient ways to keep Sigarda alive.

The rest of the deck is built around accelerating into Sigarda and her armory and staving off threats until you win. In tentative testing, the deck has been pretty effective, but I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement.

Without further ado:

Quote from RWF_Less

First off, I really like this list. There are a few choices we might disagree on, but overall, I like it. One idea, with all the low powered utility creatures you run, is it possible Reveillark deserves a spot here? It's a strong enough creature to carry a sword if you need it to, and when it's good, it's really good. Just something to ponder...

Hmmm... I hadn't though about Reveillark, but it definitely has potential. I will try to fit it in somewhere.

I'm curious, what choices would you disagree on? I don't mind hearing others' opinions on even niggling choices about utility cards.

I'd agree with RWF_less on the inclusion of more fetchlands, and also, where is Wooded Bastion?

Not sure how Wooded Bastion got left out. It's in, as is Horizon Canopy, which I also seem to have forgotten about. Also put in Nature's Lore over Farseek.

As for fetch lands, they're tempting, although I'm not a huge fan of off-color fetch lands in what is essentially a control/stall-ish deck. I'll test a few random ones over basic lands.

I'm not a fan of Worldly Tutor unless I'm using a creature in a combo. It doesn't get me the utility creature immediately, so it's not a strong answer to threats. Otherwise, it's a weak card since there aren't any particular creatures I would want to search for unless there's already a threat out I need to deal with.

Well, the way I see them, is every fetchland you run, is an extra copy of a Savannah or Temple Garden. So the more you have, the more duals you get to play.

Quote from 3drinks

Well, the way I see them, is every fetchland you run, is an extra copy of a Savannah or Temple Garden. So the more you have, the more duals you get to play.

This. There are absolutely no valid reasons to not include as many fetches as possible.

I suppose I will try them for now. Also put Krosan Verge in over Vesuva, although I'm unsure whether that's a good idea (been forever since I played with Krosan Verge, not since it was in Standard).

Vesuva will prove to be more useful in the ability to copy other lands... At the very least it will be another Temple of False Gods or Maze of Ith.

I would play both Vesuva and Krosan Verge, personally.

Quote from Prophet_DNA

Vesuva will prove to be more useful in the ability to copy other lands... At the very least it will be another Temple of False Gods or Maze of Ith.

True. Put it back in as well over a Plains. Krosan Verge is nice because it's another way to accelerate into Sigarda.

Now, comments other than on the landbase? (Not that I mind, but the landbase is sort of a side discussion.)

Couple of artifact equipments I enjoy in my Sigarda deck... People are going to do two things against your general... either throw chump blockers in front of it or wipe the board. Blockers are more easier for them...

Infiltration Lens - Draw cards is nice.

Trailblazer's Boots - Everyone runs non basic lands. Even the mono color decks.

Whispersilk Cloak - Be careful with this one. It annoys me when I have to equip and then unequip to equip another artifact. Some times it is useful sometimes it becomes a mana sink and more trouble then what it is worth.

Quote from dr. Jizabel

I suggest you put in Congregation at Dawn, in your color combination it's allways better than Wordly tutor.
Also, Enlisted Wurm has a great synergy with Congregation.

I'm not running either, precisely because they don't answer threats, and I don't win the game with the creatures that are in my deck. Enlisted Wurm is a neat card and a good combo with Congregation at Dawn, but it's also beyond the theme of this deck.

Regrowth is better than Revive

Oversight. Forgot Regrowth existed. It's in now over Revive. Thank you.

and I would also include Chord of Calling.

Not enough creatures to make it usable, IMO.

Green Sun's Zenith is in here because it can fetch Dryad Arbor on turn one, which is one of the ways I can get Sigarda out on turn three (turn one, GSZ for Dryad Arbor or play one of the four mana dorks, turn two some other ramp like Coalition Relic, Nature's Lore or Cultivate, turn three Sigarda).

Chord of Calling doesn't do that. Might be usable over Eladamri's Call anyway, but for now I'm sticking with the Call.

When I see a deck play Saffi Eriksdotter I allways try to find a spot for Karmic Guide and Reveillark

Considering these (particularly Reveillark for the utility creatures, as above), but I'm not feeling it yet. I don't have any sac outlets, and they're pretty mana intensive and late-game. By the time I have five mana, I should be spending my mana playing Sigarda and enchanting/equipping her, not durdling around with infinite loops that don't win the game.

And i would also replace some of the spells with creatures that have similar effect, like remove Cultivate for Yavimaya Elder etc...
(so all that tutor for creatures i suggested becomes even more better).

Had Yavimaya Elder in here earlier. Cut it. It's a very good card, but the deck is streamlined towards that crucial five mana. There's no need for further acceleration/lands once Sigarda is out. Yavimaya Elder comes too late to support the rush to five mana. Cultivate, on the other hand, is amazing for reaching five mana--play it on turn three for guaranteed Sigarda on turn four (or on turn two for guaranteed Sigarda on turn three if I played a mana dork or GSZ for Dryad Arbor on turn one).

Quote from Prophet_DNA

Couple of artifact equipments I enjoy in my Sigarda deck... People are going to do two things against your general... either throw chump blockers in front of it or wipe the board. Blockers are more easier for them...

Infiltration Lens - Draw cards is nice.

Trailblazer's Boots - Everyone runs non basic lands. Even the mono color decks.

Whispersilk Cloak - Be careful with this one. It annoys me when I have to equip and then unequip to equip another artifact. Some times it is useful sometimes it becomes a mana sink and more trouble then what it is worth.

So far, I've not had immense problems with getting Sigarda through. There aren't a whole lot of decks running enough fliers to block her more than once or twice, and many don't ever get a flier on the board.

I also have a few cards that grant Trample (Rancor, Loxodon Warhammer and O-Naginata) plus the protections from SOIAF and SOFAF and Fear from Nim Deathmantle. Parallax Wave can also be used to get rid of blockers, as can targeted removal and sweepers if I play them before Sigarda or when she has some sort of protection against them.

The equipment you mentioned are still worth considering, but I'm unsure how to make room for them. If I were to run this suite, I would probably also make room for Vorrac Battlehorns and Executioner's Hood, which might be a sign that more unblockability is not necessary.

One small change: Took out Acidic Slime, put in Benevolent Bodyguard. Acidic Slime is great but doesn't have enough impact early. The Bodyguard is obvious.

Another small change. Dropped Aven Mindcensor for Kitchen Finks to help deal with aggro decks, which were proving a bigger threat (though Edric is still annoying, not sure what to do about him).

Edric is annoying because there are no tuck rules. Otherwise I'd say a well-timed Hallowed Burial/Terminus would do the trick.

As for what to do about him, just try and get an early Jitte to keep him rattlesnake'd out? IDK, it's like the best, most dominating deck of the metagame for a reason. :/

Quote from 3drinks

Edric is annoying because there are no tuck rules. Otherwise I'd say a well-timed Hallowed Burial/Terminus would do the trick.

As for what to do about him, just try and get an early Jitte to keep him rattlesnake'd out? IDK, it's like the best, most dominating deck of the metagame for a reason. :/

I know :/ Guess the best I can is be fast enough to race Edric while removing him whenever I can. There's not much good removal I'm not running, though. Maybe Crib Swap or Journey to Nowhere?

Took out Stonehewer Giant for Elvish Pioneer to try to add a little more certainty to that turn three Sigarda. There are now six ways to get three mana on turn two, and six more ways from there [plus the original six] to accelerate to five mana on turn three.

Also considering Boreal Druid and Arbor Elf. The latter is not that great because there aren't a ton of Forests in the deck (13, counting all of the fetchlands, Temple Garden and Savannah), so I fairly frequently have access to green without a Forest. The former is probably better because it's really not much different from Llanowar Elves in this deck, where the two white mana for Sigarda can on rare occasions be trouble, but green mana is almost never hard to come by.

After looking over the list a few thoughts:
1) Why play Elvish Pioneer when you could play Skyshroud Ranger, Sakura-Tribe Scout and/or Exploration. These all enable 3 mana on turn 2 just as easily, and potentially get you to 5 mana on turn 3 all by themselves.

2) I don't see why you are running Darksteel Plate. I know you want to further protect Sagarda, but you run her because she is already a rough cookie. Also, how often is it that she actually dies as supposed to being exiled or unsummoned. "Destroy" effects are not terribly common in EDH these days. Lastly, you want almost all of your pumps to give at least +2, and this doesn't give anything. Another Sword of __ and ___ probably is better just for the +2 and the protections than the plate is going to do regardless of the actual effects.

3) Similarly, what is Bind for? counter target fetchland?? while I can see it in some settings, this kinda goes against your entire get Segarda out on turn 3 or else mentality.

Quote from shadows23

3) Similarly, what is Bind for? counter target fetchland?? while I can see it in some settings, this kinda goes against your entire get Segarda out on turn 3 or else mentality.

There's a lot of activated abilities I'd want to counter, like the equip cost on SoFaF, Jitte, even a fetchland makes it a Sinkhole, which is respectable. And it cantrips, so in GW it's like a cantriping Stifle(closest thing we'll ever see to that anyway) which is solid just because it replaces itself.

So I'd say it's a valid enough inclusion. IMHO

Quote from shadows23

After looking over the list a few thoughts:
1) Why play Elvish Pioneer when you could play Skyshroud Ranger, Sakura-Tribe Scout and/or Exploration. These all enable 3 mana on turn 2 just as easily, and potentially get you to 5 mana on turn 3 all by themselves.

To be honest, I forgot the previous two cards existed. I wanted a creature as a potential blocker over Exploration, but Exploration is probably the better choice ultimately. I will switch for now.

2) I don't see why you are running Darksteel Plate. I know you want to further protect Sagarda, but you run her because she is already a rough cookie. Also, how often is it that she actually dies as supposed to being exiled or unsummoned. "Destroy" effects are not terribly common in EDH these days. Lastly, you want almost all of your pumps to give at least +2, and this doesn't give anything. Another Sword of __ and ___ probably is better just for the +2 and the protections than the plate is going to do regardless of the actual effects.

It is true that Darksteel Plate can be a bit less effective than I would hope. I've considered Mammoth Umbra instead. The other swords are not great choices: War and Peace is useless when winning by general damage, Body and Mind is both useless AND actively dangerous, and the pro-white from Light and Shadow can be more trouble than it's worth (feel the same way about Feast and Famine's pro-green, but its effects are much more useful in this deck than Light and Shadow's).

It's worth pointing out that protection from a color is actually not much help to Sigarda at all, except maybe pro-red (but good luck finding a red non-targeting spell that will deal 5+ damage), since she can't be targeted by your opponent anyway, and protection doesn't stop sweeper effects.

3) Similarly, what is Bind for? counter target fetchland?? while I can see it in some settings, this kinda goes against your entire get Segarda out on turn 3 or else mentality.

Bind is amazing. IMO, almost all green decks can make use of it. Most often, it is "counter target fetchland, draw a card", but, hey, that's a two-mana LD cantrip! That's better than Sinkhole! On occasion it can buy you an extra turn to deal with major threats, as when it counters a Hermit Druid or Arcum Dagsson activation. Fauna Shaman, Survival of the Fittest, Nin, the Pain Artist, any planeswalker ultimate... the list of dangerous abilities to counter is pretty long. Even when it is left to counter a less problematic activated ability, it's still a tempo gain without any card disadvantage.

Also, the point of the deck isn't solely to rush to a turn-three Sigarda. If it were, the deck would run a ton more ramp spells and not much else. The point is to get Sigarda out quickly (with turn three be an optimal scenario) while offering substantial support and keeping the opponent at bay. Bind is great for the last purpose since it can destroy an opposing deck's tempo completely when it counters a fetchland or otherwise mess with an opponent's tempo at little cost.

Fair enough on Bind.

As far as replacements for Darksteel Plate have you considered Bonesplitter or Armadillo Cloak? Both are pretty fast and serve your purposes.

While it changes you deck some, Grafted Exoskeleton works pretty good too, especially if Sigarda already has +3.

Quote from shadows23

Fair enough on Bind.

As far as replacements for Darksteel Plate have you considered Bonesplitter or Armadillo Cloak? Both are pretty fast and serve your purposes.

While it changes you deck some, Grafted Exoskeleton works pretty good too, especially if Sigarda already has +3.

I never liked Infect Rafiq, and I don't think Infect Sigarda would be any better.

I'd like to keep the same number of extra protections, although Armadillo Cloak is definitely good. (Bonesplitter, while it gets Sigarda in the right range, doesn't give either additional evasion or any kind of protection.) For now, I think I'll try interchanging Mammoth Umbra and Armadillo Cloak to test them both.

Armadillo Cloak has, IMO, proven better than Mammoth Umbra, so I'll continue with the Cloak. Also switched out Aura Shards, which too often has done nothing, for more early acceleration in the form of Burgeoning.