For the EDH veteran only. Basically, you must use all of your considerable political clout to control the course of the game. Kazuul, not too mention most of your creature lineup, strongly encourages people to go elsewhere, either through sheer bulk or abilities which will knock out their entire team. Some of your creatures are considerably more risky to play, such as Heartless Hidetsugu. In general, wait until you can give it haste to play, as an active Hidetsugu becomes an enormous bargaining tool. The rest of your creatures deal with problems as they come up, repeatedly destroying creatures, lands, and artifacts, or simply annhilating opponents.
Your spells include some EDH staples for their sheer power, and a few variable burn spells that deal a lot more damage then their mana costs have any right to deal. You also have some mass land kill. While Decree of Annhilation and Ruination are expected, Boil and Omen of Fire seem a bit off. Well, they are mostly to deal mortal blows to U/x and 5CC decks, which could otherwise foil your plans in the endgame. Adding on to the blue hate we have Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast (And Jaya). Besides the multitude of blue permanents that see play in nearly every EDH game (People's generals, Planeswalkers of multiple varieties, Control Magic effects) you will come out looking like a true blue (red) hero when you save someone else's key spell by Pyroblasting the response...or when you pyroblast their Time Stretch.
The artifacts are mostly split between ramp and draw, with a few equipment thrown in. Battleaxe has an often overlooked synergy with your general, Staff is a fine mana sink, Angelheart Vial is a fine card in a deck with so many earthquakes, and Illuminated Folio both draws cards on the cheap and lets you show off that Inferno that your saving for when Rofellos gets nasty.
Anyways, that's the deck. It's a thing of beauty. It's not perfect (Mana Crypt, Imperial Recruiter, Snow lands + Extraplanar lenses) but it's very nicely tuned. Anyways, let me know what you think!
If you're running land destruction to kill control decks, why aren't you running Chandra Ablaze?
She.
Is
Amazing.
Nothing says "Control-hoser" better than "Discard your hand, draw 3." and she's useful elsewhere too. Be careful with land destruction though, people hate that stuff. Also, Molten Disaster.
Split-second field wipes are important in multiplayer. This has been my Ashling decks' wincon too many times. Just make sure the control player gets poked a few times, then finish them.
Nice setup. Going with the synergy of the deck I would highly recommend Keldon Champion. He hits the board and dishes 3 damage then he is a 3/2 hasty with echo. 6 damage for 4 mana? 9 damage for 8? sounds like an alright deal to me. He is even better with recursion but still a rock solid beatstick early on.
Yeah, Chandra Ablaze is probably better then Illuminated Folio, so I can see making the switch. Still, the deck tends to hoard it's hand, unlike some red decks, so unfortunately Chandra is nearly always disadvantage for me...Though I might want to think about putting her in just for her ultimate. Meh, I'll think about it.
Keldon Champion is definately good, though it's a bit aggressive for the deck. I had Kahmal, Pit Fighter in the deck (Swapped it for an Eldrazi) which serves much the same purpose. If I decide to make this a strict 1v1 deck, the champion definately has a part.
Blastminer is an old-standin for when the deck had Akroma, Angel of Fury (Also swapped for an Eldrazi), so he was legitamitely better then the regular miner. I was pretty notorious for leaving the morphed Angel back to surprise incoming flyers, so I'll keep the Blastminer in for a bit so I can play my playgroup until I think they catch on (Or they play a bribery on me. Then I'll switch to the Miner.
Have you been having much success with the red "Deal damage equal to mountains" cards? I'm talking about Jaws of Stone and Spire Barrage? To me, they are mostly wastes of deck space and typically only work well if you are beating your opponents soundly anyways. Have they been performing well? I'm directing it more towards Spire Barrage since Jaws has some useful creature-killing potential.
I'd like to recommend, on reviewing the list a second time, adding a copy of Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Shattering Pulse over Gorilla Shaman. Shaman is only going to kill signets and sol rings and make you some early enemies. You have life recursion so you *should* be able to bypass Boseiju's cost and it would make sure all your win-spells are going to land well. It also sounds like you face heavy blue in your area, so that's another reason to try it. I never understand why monored decks run Vesuva.
Winding Canyons is another card you should consider. I use it with Braid of Fire, but it works well regardless. For a little extra mana, it can be really really effective at dropping creatures at EoT.
I assume you cut Anger because of graveyard disruption, and that's not a bad idea, I actually think I might cut In the Web of War for that Fervor myself.
You play this in multiplayer and you don't use Spinerock Knoll? It does trigger off enemies hurting enemies, you know. It's good.
And lastly, again. Molten Disaster. I think you skipped it last time, and I want you to reconsider. It has been my win-con twice recently, sneaking a kill under the blue player's radar. Instant speed. INSTANT SPEED.
Have you been having much success with the red "Deal damage equal to mountains" cards? I'm talking about Jaws of Stone and Spire Barrage? To me, they are mostly wastes of deck space and typically only work well if you are beating your opponents soundly anyways. Have they been performing well? I'm directing it more towards Spire Barrage since Jaws has some useful creature-killing potential.
The beauty of Spire Barrage is the synergy it has with Fork effects. Thanks to the low non-basic land count in the deck, A Spire Barrage will nearly always deal a decent chunk of damage, usually about 10+, for 5. After that, If I have, say, 5-7 extra mana from lands and 2-3 more from artifacts (Usually it's a lot more on either counts) I can often just Reiterate the spell 2-3 times and kill everyone in one swoop, something that is more or less impossible to do with, say, banefire. It also gives me the ability to dome someone for 10-12, maybe killing them, and still have mana up for Fault Line or Inferno. Honestly, it's been fantastic, and I rate it above Banefire and Demonfire because of this.
I'd like to recommend, on reviewing the list a second time, adding a copy of Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Shattering Pulse over Gorilla Shaman. Shaman is only going to kill signets and sol rings and make you some early enemies. You have life recursion so you *should* be able to bypass Boseiju's cost and it would make sure all your win-spells are going to land well. It also sounds like you face heavy blue in your area, so that's another reason to try it. I never understand why monored decks run Vesuva.
Boseiju would be fine, for sure. I should probably pick one up.
As for Gorrilla Shaman, he's been excellent for me. The deck generates tons of colorless mana, so late game I can just drop him, end the turn, and then before my turn destroy someone's Lightning Greaves, Jitte or Sword (Sometimes multiples of each). The fact of the matter is you have to be political about the card. More importantly, however, Gorilla Shaman is part of a VERY exclusive list of cards that can kill Sensei's Divining Top and without burning a spell, and I'm willing to risk animosity to deal with THAT. Generally, I deal with Top first, Scroll Rack and Sun Droplets second, and equipment and Sol Rings third.
As for Vesuva, it primarily copies Valukut. That's why you run the card. It just makes Expedition Map that much better.
Winding Canyons is another card you should consider. I use it with Braid of Fire, but it works well regardless. For a little extra mana, it can be really really effective at dropping creatures at EoT.
Could be good. I'd have to test it. Canyons is insane in my Rofelloes deck (Alongside Seedborn Muse). I'm wary of putting too many non-basics in the deck, though.
I assume you cut Anger because of graveyard disruption, and that's not a bad idea, I actually think I might cut In the Web of War for that Fervor myself.
I like both of the cards. My general rule is that, if I can't fit in both, if my general costs more then In the Web of War, I play that. Otherwise, I play Fervor.
As for Anger, besides graveyard hate, it's also just difficult to get into the graveyard in my metagame, which has a lot of Bant Charm and RFG effects. The only really safe way is to discard it when I have 8 cards (Which is annoying).
And lastly, again. Molten Disaster. I think you skipped it last time, and I want you to reconsider. It has been my win-con twice recently, sneaking a kill under the blue player's radar. Instant speed. INSTANT SPEED.
The way I read Molten Disaster is that it only gains Split Second, which does not mean the card can be cast at instant speed. If it did, I'd play it in a heartbeat.
The way I read Molten Disaster is that it only gains Split Second, which does not mean the card can be cast at instant speed. If it did, I'd play it in a heartbeat.
Molten Disaster requires Vedalken Orrery to be used at instant speed but it is still a solid card. Your list looks pretty tight but I have to question Mordant Dragon over Flameblast Dragon. While Flameblast is more mana intensive he isn't limited to killing creatures of the defending player, in fact, he isn't limited to creatures at all and has a much higher damage threshold. I'm assuming your metagame doesn't have enough nonbasics for Price of Progress? Obviously pretty similar to Acidic Soil but redundancy is important, especially in a red deck without tutors. Lavaball Trap seems questionable to me but maybe it has been working well for you, IDK.
The problem with defining [EDH] by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
The way I read Molten Disaster is that it only gains Split Second, which does not mean the card can be cast at instant speed. If it did, I'd play it in a heartbeat.
You're right, I was confusing it with Comet Storm for a second there. Either way, it's worth testing at least.
Well, for Gorilla Shaman, it still dies to removal, and Shattering Pulse, unless countered, comes back to your hand. I guess it just comes down to preference. Shattering is better against red, black, white, or green players generally, but anyone with blue could make it obsolete. And judging by your main-deck island hate, I think you'll be sticking with the Gorilla.
Oh, and why would you throw mana at their Tops? Skullclamp, sure, Sol Ring, sure, but that just seems like a waste of mana (unless you have no other targets).
Molten Disaster requires Vedalken Orrery to be used at instant speed but it is still a solid card. Your list looks pretty tight but I have to question Mordant Dragon over Flameblast Dragon. While Flameblast is more mana intensive he isn't limited to killing creatures of the defending player, in fact, he isn't limited to creatures at all and has a much higher damage threshold. I'm assuming your metagame doesn't have enough nonbasics for Price of Progress? Obviously pretty similar to Acidic Soil but redundancy is important, especially in a red deck without tutors. Lavaball Trap seems questionable to me but maybe it has been working well for you, IDK.
That's why. I run the Orrery so I can get it instant speed sometimes.
I think he runs the Mordant Dragon because he likes to save mana for other things. If I ran either in my Ashling deck, I would rather run Mordant because he's less of a commitment.
I'm not sure about your meta, but 16 creatures seems WAY LOW. I would get creamed if I tried that. That's less than 1/5 of a 100 card deck. While its true your general gives you creatures when your opponents attack, they have to not pay the mana and not destroy your general.
I play kazuul in my mono red edh, and he's extremely defensive. Then again, he always has a lot of support. I run all the creatures that you do plus some, about double actually.
And more I can't think of off the top of my head. Generals regalia is great with him as well just dump damage onto a token. I also run skullclamp as my creatures tend to be a target. Plus it works so well with kher keep. Also, with all that mana, where is your planar portal? With no real tutors, seems like a must have.
A guantlet of might probably wouldn't hurt either, but those are hard to find, ad really expensive. Not everyone's lucky enough to have one.
I'm not sure about your meta, but 16 creatures seems WAY LOW. I would get creamed if I tried that. That's less than 1/5 of a 100 card deck. While its true your general gives you creatures when your opponents attack, they have to not pay the mana and not destroy your general.
I play kazuul in my mono red edh, and he's extremely defensive. Then again, he always has a lot of support. I run all the creatures that you do plus some, about double actually.
And more I can't think of off the top of my head. Generals regalia is great with him as well just dump damage onto a token. I also run skullclamp as my creatures tend to be a target. Plus it works so well with kher keep. Also, with all that mana, where is your planar portal? With no real tutors, seems like a must have.
A guantlet of might probably wouldn't hurt either, but those are hard to find, ad really expensive. Not everyone's lucky enough to have one.
My meta is really wrath-ey. Creatures don't stay on the board much, and other then Rofellos decks people don't play a lot of creatures, because they just get wrathed. This is a state that I contribute too, with Fault Line, Inferno, Lavaball trap, Starstorm, Comet Storm, Jaya, and Scourge.
I play 16 creatures, 10 of which are decent at keeping off swarms. I'm going to draw one of them pretty much in every game, in addition to My general, and my wraths, it's enough to keep people off me.
As for Kazuul, you are right he only gives me extra blockers if they don't kill him and they don't pay. That's kinda not the point, though. What Kazuul does is make people ask the question - Do I want to even think about making all those decisions or commitments, or should I attack someone else who is an easier target? 75% of the time, they'll choose to attack someone else. It's just natural. Add in all of my instant speed board wipes only adds to the mental struggle.
The creatures are all well and good, and Akroma, Tahngarth and Kumano are all strong considerations for the deck. I didn't want to run to many creatures though.
As for Planar Portal, it's excellent, but it costs a lot. I mean, it's okay. I don't really like it outside of Green, though. And yes, Gauntlet of Might would be fantastic.
I understand how defensive kazuul is. That's why he is my general. And as for portal, I have to tell you from experience, if it hits the board I win. Period. Being able to pull what I need to win is the bomb-diggidy here. I think that's also why red has no real tutors of its own. Being able to pull a win card like insurrection, or ruination, or wake of destruction, seems good.....
Also you might want to take a look at repurcussion as an I win type card. Fantastic with phoenix, inferno and such. Especially after a board wipe. Combos well with furnace of rath and gratuitous violence.
I understand how defensive kazuul is. That's why he is my general. And as for portal, I have to tell you from experience, if it hits the board I win. Period. Being able to pull what I need to win is the bomb-diggidy here. I think that's also why red has no real tutors of its own. Being able to pull a win card like insurrection, or ruination, or wake of destruction, seems good.....
Also you might want to take a look at repurcussion as an I win type card. Fantastic with phoenix, inferno and such. Especially after a board wipe. Combos well with furnace of rath and gratuitous violence.
My expierience with Portal is a bit different. I've found that I need to activate it twice in order to win, and unfortunately nothing says "I'm a threat, kill me now" then a Portal with 12 mana in play. Basically, I've only found it more then a political deathstrike when I can play it, activate it, and play Inferno off of it in the same turn. Which happens, but is something I can't rely on. I'd rather play something like Illuminated Folio which only costs 1 to activate, or even Urza's Blueprints, if I had a spare, and those cards thend to win the game on their own just fine.
And yeah, Repercussion is crazy good, and would fit the deck kinda, but I don't know if I can find the space.
I ran with a proxy copy of Gauntlet of Might for a while, because I was in playtesting mode, but my playgroup hated it. If you can spend the 50 bucks for the card, have a blast, but it can be a little too strong.
I ran with a proxy copy of Gauntlet of Might for a while, because I was in playtesting mode, but my playgroup hated it. If you can spend the 50 bucks for the card, have a blast, but it can be a little too strong.
Well, my playgroup plays with Jace a lot...so...
I'd play it if I owned one.
And yeah, Violence is a cool card. I didn't want to run any Hidetsugu comboes in the deck, though. Otherwise, I'd play Overblaze and Form of the Dragon
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
[Creatures]
1 Anarchist
1 Dwarven Blastminer
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Mordant Dragon
1 Obsidian Fireheart
1 Hostility
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Magma Phoenix
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Heartless Hidetsugu
1 Ashling the Pilgrim
[Sorceries]
1 Banefire
1 Boom/Bust
1 Demonfire
1 Decree of Annhililation
1 Insurrection
1 Recoup
1 Ruination
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Acidic Soil
1 Jaws of Stone
1 Spire Barrage
1 Fault Line
1 Fork
1 Reiterate
1 Boil
1 Omen of Fire
1 Starstorm
1 Inferno
1 Wild Riccochet
1 Word of Siezing
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Lavaball Trap
1 Comet Storm
[Enchantments]
1 Fervor
[Artifacts]
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Obsidian Battleaxe
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Coalition Relic
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Sol Ring
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mind's Eye
1 Mirari
1 Angelheart Vial
1 Sun Droplet
1 Staff of Domination
1 Illuminated Folio
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Temple of the False Gods
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Vesuva
34 Mountains
For the EDH veteran only. Basically, you must use all of your considerable political clout to control the course of the game. Kazuul, not too mention most of your creature lineup, strongly encourages people to go elsewhere, either through sheer bulk or abilities which will knock out their entire team. Some of your creatures are considerably more risky to play, such as Heartless Hidetsugu. In general, wait until you can give it haste to play, as an active Hidetsugu becomes an enormous bargaining tool. The rest of your creatures deal with problems as they come up, repeatedly destroying creatures, lands, and artifacts, or simply annhilating opponents.
Your spells include some EDH staples for their sheer power, and a few variable burn spells that deal a lot more damage then their mana costs have any right to deal. You also have some mass land kill. While Decree of Annhilation and Ruination are expected, Boil and Omen of Fire seem a bit off. Well, they are mostly to deal mortal blows to U/x and 5CC decks, which could otherwise foil your plans in the endgame. Adding on to the blue hate we have Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast (And Jaya). Besides the multitude of blue permanents that see play in nearly every EDH game (People's generals, Planeswalkers of multiple varieties, Control Magic effects) you will come out looking like a true blue (red) hero when you save someone else's key spell by Pyroblasting the response...or when you pyroblast their Time Stretch.
The artifacts are mostly split between ramp and draw, with a few equipment thrown in. Battleaxe has an often overlooked synergy with your general, Staff is a fine mana sink, Angelheart Vial is a fine card in a deck with so many earthquakes, and Illuminated Folio both draws cards on the cheap and lets you show off that Inferno that your saving for when Rofellos gets nasty.
Anyways, that's the deck. It's a thing of beauty. It's not perfect (Mana Crypt, Imperial Recruiter, Snow lands + Extraplanar lenses) but it's very nicely tuned. Anyways, let me know what you think!
Currently 62/265 cards.
She.
Is
Amazing.
Nothing says "Control-hoser" better than "Discard your hand, draw 3." and she's useful elsewhere too. Be careful with land destruction though, people hate that stuff. Also, Molten Disaster.
Split-second field wipes are important in multiplayer. This has been my Ashling decks' wincon too many times. Just make sure the control player gets poked a few times, then finish them.
Yeah, Chandra Ablaze is probably better then Illuminated Folio, so I can see making the switch. Still, the deck tends to hoard it's hand, unlike some red decks, so unfortunately Chandra is nearly always disadvantage for me...Though I might want to think about putting her in just for her ultimate. Meh, I'll think about it.
Keldon Champion is definately good, though it's a bit aggressive for the deck. I had Kahmal, Pit Fighter in the deck (Swapped it for an Eldrazi) which serves much the same purpose. If I decide to make this a strict 1v1 deck, the champion definately has a part.
Blastminer is an old-standin for when the deck had Akroma, Angel of Fury (Also swapped for an Eldrazi), so he was legitamitely better then the regular miner. I was pretty notorious for leaving the morphed Angel back to surprise incoming flyers, so I'll keep the Blastminer in for a bit so I can play my playgroup until I think they catch on (Or they play a bribery on me. Then I'll switch to the Miner.
Currently 62/265 cards.
I'd like to recommend, on reviewing the list a second time, adding a copy of Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Shattering Pulse over Gorilla Shaman. Shaman is only going to kill signets and sol rings and make you some early enemies. You have life recursion so you *should* be able to bypass Boseiju's cost and it would make sure all your win-spells are going to land well. It also sounds like you face heavy blue in your area, so that's another reason to try it. I never understand why monored decks run Vesuva.
Winding Canyons is another card you should consider. I use it with Braid of Fire, but it works well regardless. For a little extra mana, it can be really really effective at dropping creatures at EoT.
I assume you cut Anger because of graveyard disruption, and that's not a bad idea, I actually think I might cut In the Web of War for that Fervor myself.
You play this in multiplayer and you don't use Spinerock Knoll? It does trigger off enemies hurting enemies, you know. It's good.
And lastly, again. Molten Disaster. I think you skipped it last time, and I want you to reconsider. It has been my win-con twice recently, sneaking a kill under the blue player's radar. Instant speed. INSTANT SPEED.
The beauty of Spire Barrage is the synergy it has with Fork effects. Thanks to the low non-basic land count in the deck, A Spire Barrage will nearly always deal a decent chunk of damage, usually about 10+, for 5. After that, If I have, say, 5-7 extra mana from lands and 2-3 more from artifacts (Usually it's a lot more on either counts) I can often just Reiterate the spell 2-3 times and kill everyone in one swoop, something that is more or less impossible to do with, say, banefire. It also gives me the ability to dome someone for 10-12, maybe killing them, and still have mana up for Fault Line or Inferno. Honestly, it's been fantastic, and I rate it above Banefire and Demonfire because of this.
Boseiju would be fine, for sure. I should probably pick one up.
As for Gorrilla Shaman, he's been excellent for me. The deck generates tons of colorless mana, so late game I can just drop him, end the turn, and then before my turn destroy someone's Lightning Greaves, Jitte or Sword (Sometimes multiples of each). The fact of the matter is you have to be political about the card. More importantly, however, Gorilla Shaman is part of a VERY exclusive list of cards that can kill Sensei's Divining Top and without burning a spell, and I'm willing to risk animosity to deal with THAT. Generally, I deal with Top first, Scroll Rack and Sun Droplets second, and equipment and Sol Rings third.
As for Vesuva, it primarily copies Valukut. That's why you run the card. It just makes Expedition Map that much better.
Could be good. I'd have to test it. Canyons is insane in my Rofelloes deck (Alongside Seedborn Muse). I'm wary of putting too many non-basics in the deck, though.
I like both of the cards. My general rule is that, if I can't fit in both, if my general costs more then In the Web of War, I play that. Otherwise, I play Fervor.
As for Anger, besides graveyard hate, it's also just difficult to get into the graveyard in my metagame, which has a lot of Bant Charm and RFG effects. The only really safe way is to discard it when I have 8 cards (Which is annoying).
Yeah, it needs to find a place. It's a pretty sweet card.
The way I read Molten Disaster is that it only gains Split Second, which does not mean the card can be cast at instant speed. If it did, I'd play it in a heartbeat.
Currently 62/265 cards.
Molten Disaster requires Vedalken Orrery to be used at instant speed but it is still a solid card. Your list looks pretty tight but I have to question Mordant Dragon over Flameblast Dragon. While Flameblast is more mana intensive he isn't limited to killing creatures of the defending player, in fact, he isn't limited to creatures at all and has a much higher damage threshold. I'm assuming your metagame doesn't have enough nonbasics for Price of Progress? Obviously pretty similar to Acidic Soil but redundancy is important, especially in a red deck without tutors. Lavaball Trap seems questionable to me but maybe it has been working well for you, IDK.
You're right, I was confusing it with Comet Storm for a second there. Either way, it's worth testing at least.
Well, for Gorilla Shaman, it still dies to removal, and Shattering Pulse, unless countered, comes back to your hand. I guess it just comes down to preference. Shattering is better against red, black, white, or green players generally, but anyone with blue could make it obsolete. And judging by your main-deck island hate, I think you'll be sticking with the Gorilla.
Oh, and why would you throw mana at their Tops? Skullclamp, sure, Sol Ring, sure, but that just seems like a waste of mana (unless you have no other targets).
That's why. I run the Orrery so I can get it instant speed sometimes.
I think he runs the Mordant Dragon because he likes to save mana for other things. If I ran either in my Ashling deck, I would rather run Mordant because he's less of a commitment.
I play kazuul in my mono red edh, and he's extremely defensive. Then again, he always has a lot of support. I run all the creatures that you do plus some, about double actually.
And more I can't think of off the top of my head. Generals regalia is great with him as well just dump damage onto a token. I also run skullclamp as my creatures tend to be a target. Plus it works so well with kher keep. Also, with all that mana, where is your planar portal? With no real tutors, seems like a must have.
A guantlet of might probably wouldn't hurt either, but those are hard to find, ad really expensive. Not everyone's lucky enough to have one.
My meta is really wrath-ey. Creatures don't stay on the board much, and other then Rofellos decks people don't play a lot of creatures, because they just get wrathed. This is a state that I contribute too, with Fault Line, Inferno, Lavaball trap, Starstorm, Comet Storm, Jaya, and Scourge.
I play 16 creatures, 10 of which are decent at keeping off swarms. I'm going to draw one of them pretty much in every game, in addition to My general, and my wraths, it's enough to keep people off me.
As for Kazuul, you are right he only gives me extra blockers if they don't kill him and they don't pay. That's kinda not the point, though. What Kazuul does is make people ask the question - Do I want to even think about making all those decisions or commitments, or should I attack someone else who is an easier target? 75% of the time, they'll choose to attack someone else. It's just natural. Add in all of my instant speed board wipes only adds to the mental struggle.
The creatures are all well and good, and Akroma, Tahngarth and Kumano are all strong considerations for the deck. I didn't want to run to many creatures though.
As for Planar Portal, it's excellent, but it costs a lot. I mean, it's okay. I don't really like it outside of Green, though. And yes, Gauntlet of Might would be fantastic.
Currently 62/265 cards.
Also you might want to take a look at repurcussion as an I win type card. Fantastic with phoenix, inferno and such. Especially after a board wipe. Combos well with furnace of rath and gratuitous violence.
My expierience with Portal is a bit different. I've found that I need to activate it twice in order to win, and unfortunately nothing says "I'm a threat, kill me now" then a Portal with 12 mana in play. Basically, I've only found it more then a political deathstrike when I can play it, activate it, and play Inferno off of it in the same turn. Which happens, but is something I can't rely on. I'd rather play something like Illuminated Folio which only costs 1 to activate, or even Urza's Blueprints, if I had a spare, and those cards thend to win the game on their own just fine.
And yeah, Repercussion is crazy good, and would fit the deck kinda, but I don't know if I can find the space.
Currently 62/265 cards.
Repercussion in Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs? Not so much. Gratuitous Violence is amaaaaaazing even in low-creature decks, but Repercussion could be very very costly. Gratutious Violence may or may not be awesome with Heartless Hidetsugu... if you can get yourself to odd life, you're fine.
I ran with a proxy copy of Gauntlet of Might for a while, because I was in playtesting mode, but my playgroup hated it. If you can spend the 50 bucks for the card, have a blast, but it can be a little too strong.
Well, my playgroup plays with Jace a lot...so...
I'd play it if I owned one.
And yeah, Violence is a cool card. I didn't want to run any Hidetsugu comboes in the deck, though. Otherwise, I'd play Overblaze and Form of the Dragon
Currently 62/265 cards.