MTG Salvation

So I have a good base so far (i think), so I'll post it below here. Please note that the deck list is my current deck list, and below it are the cards I've been trying to acquire and what I will take out of the deck. I'm open to suggestions, and the EDH play groups right now, will accept every thing, except Shahrazad.
Also I'm probably not going to buy any cards, but if I were, $20 would be the cap.



Sorted by card effect:

Stats about Deck:

Changes (Cards I'm looking to add but haven't yet):

Change Log:

Keep Aegis Angel in, she can protect Kaalia from a board wipe.

You should check out my deck, King Shane's decks, Blackjack68's deck, and maybe Gaka's deck for ideas. I link to them all in my sig :).

Try to find a Maze of Ith. It's over your $20 cap, but it's worth trying to trade for in here.

Reason - Ever wanted to swing into someone with Kaalia to drop a fat follower but didn't want Kaalia to die to the opps blocker? Declare attack, drop fat, remove Kaalia from combat.

Quicksilver Amulet is a backup plan for dropping fat without Kaalia.

For a completely different take on Kaalia (in case you get bored with the standard Kaalia strategy) you might check out her punisher build in my sig. Since your group is ok with mass LD, she is extremely potent with some of it in there, especially Obliterate. ** edit - 'nathd on that one by Sanity's Eclipse

This may be for when you do make a swap, but Shinka and Eiganjo aren't the best in your deck. Eiganjo has especially little relevance when the creatures die due to removal or wrath.

Consider replacing Darksteel Ingot with Coalition Relic, for same cost you have all upside.

I would strike Spirit of the Night from desired changes and replace it with Dragon Mage, you have no doubt found Kaalia struggles for card drawing.

Two commonly used cards for the common Kaalia archetypes that you lack are also Lilliana Vess and Sunforger. Both would work very well for you and I would suggest removing O-Ring and Syphon Flesh.

@Blackjack68
I have wanted to get a maze, but it's way out of my budget. And in all the trade binders I've looked through, I have never once seen it. Not to mention I don't really have stuff in that price range.

@MiffedMoogle
A Coalition Relic is a great idea, I just have never seen one for trade ever, so I might have to buy that one. As for Dragon Mage, I guess it could work once I get some more of my recursion cards for the deck. So I'll keep an eye out for it. As for Liliana would she be used just for a vampiric tutor type effect then? Or would you want to try to build up to the Ultimate? As for Sunforger, what would I tutor for? All I really see in my current deck are creature removal spells.

Quote from Aviator13

@MiffedMoogle
A Coalition Relic is a great idea, I just have never seen one for trade ever, so I might have to buy that one. As for Dragon Mage, I guess it could work once I get some more of my recursion cards for the deck. So I'll keep an eye out for it. As for Liliana would she be used just for a vampiric tutor type effect then? Or would you want to try to build up to the Ultimate? As for Sunforger, what would I tutor for? All I really see in my current deck are creature removal spells.

Even running Volrath's Stronghold alongside Bladwing the Risen and Debtor's Knell, which you have would be enough for Dragon Mage to have value. It also will draw you alot more cards than your opponents. Liliana is more a tutor than anything, if she goes ulti that's just a bonus, as planeswalkers die quite often, so not worth trying. Removal spells are enough to include SF, it lets you cast them on demand really.

Quote from Blackjack68

Try to find a Maze of Ith. It's over your $20 cap, but it's worth trying to trade for in here.

Reason - Ever wanted to swing into someone with Kaalia to drop a fat follower but didn't want Kaalia to die to the opps blocker? Declare attack, drop fat, remove Kaalia from combat.

Quicksilver Amulet is a backup plan for dropping fat without Kaalia.

For a completely different take on Kaalia (in case you get bored with the standard Kaalia strategy) you might check out her punisher build in my sig. Since your group is ok with mass LD, she is extremely potent with some of it in there, especially Obliterate. ** edit - 'nathd on that one by Sanity's Eclipse

Even if you can't get the maze I would go so far as to run Mystifying Maze, it's the same thing (kinda) albiet far worse. Besides that I agree completely.

I would also consider adding Sword of Feast and Famine if you can find one, it's bause with Hellkite Charger for infinite attack phases. On top of that I feel like Savage Beating is good with Kalia, dropping and reattacking with multiple fatties in a turn could very much be gg for at least one person.

Edit: Also, a personal preference perhaps, but I would cut O-ring for Oblation... it's just so much better.

Quote from Bulbasaurus Rex

Even if you can't get the maze I would go so far as to run Mystifying Maze, it's the same thing (kinda) albiet far worse. Besides that I agree completely.

Actually not the same but worse. Mystifying is only attacking creatures your "opponent" controls. Bummed me out too.

bump

I really dont like rakdos in kaalia decks. sure it seems awesome. but if you dont have kaalia, it sucks. when you do have kaalia you get in once and then its on defense. and even then, its really super douchy if you do it really often. i dont feel like the inconsistency and hate is really worth the "awesome" factor.
if you want a good way to close out the game i would recommend jokulhoups. its the cheapest of the red armageddon effects and it also clears the creatures. the downside is you have to have the mana to float to cast kaalia.

instead of earthquake you might consider running molten disaster. the split second is really nice in making it uncounterable and turning off tricks. its especially nice to have a blue deck stabilize at 10 life with counter backup and you just slam this thing.

i would consider taking out beseech the queen and putting in night dealings.

some dudes to consider cutting would be
thunder dragon(i dont see him doing much unless you have alot of token decks in your meta)
aegis angel
basandra
angelic arbiter
platinum angel(there is just too much removal in this format that this card most likely will not be doing anything)

consider putting in
bloodgift demon
flameblast dragon
baneslayer angel
yosei
ryusei

in general i would consider lowering your costs so you dont have to rely on kaalia being out.

other cuts
boros guildmage(really fragile and takes alot of mana to activate
cycling lands(you really dont want too many CIPT lands. and with the high color contraints that your general gives you and the lack of color fixing in these colors you should make these into CIPT dual lands.)


other adds
graveborn muse
ambitions cost
true conviction
coldsteel heart
loxodon warhammer(i really like lifegain in this type of deck because it lets you keep swinging and not worry about blocking)

^As far as Rakdos goes, do you even need him to swing more than once? One shot should cripple someone enough to swoop in on them. If you're really worried about not being able to attack with him again, bounce him with Erratic Portal? Let him die as collateral damage in a sweep and stack him with Volrath's Stronghold. Let him hang back and deter attacks against you. A 7/6 flier at the very least isn't something they can tip-toe around. If you're playing Kaalia though, they should be on defense, not offense, because you're the one in the driver's seat.

Feel free to check the list in my sig, while I play more 1v1, I'm sure it can help you nonetheless.

@Orpheos I run Rakdos because of the reasons that 3drinks stated. I think even getting him in once can wreck a player. But I have a couple ways to repeat the effect. If you think that I won't be able to find the pieces, this is what I do. I tutor for rune-scarred dragon. Then I cheat him in tutoring for erractic portal. I then bounce him back to my hand right before my next turn and then cheat him in again. This time tutoring for Rakdos, and there we go, I now have both pieces.

I will swap out the earthquake when I get molten disaster, I didn't even know that card existed. I agree with the platinum, thunder, and angelic arbiter cuts. Basandra I just need to play her more, since I've only had her in for one game. But that one game I did have her, there were dead cards in everyone's hands, not to mention I made one opponent attack with his 4/6 reach guy, so I could swing kaalia on my turn. And aegis I'll have to see as well, to see how good the indestrucable aspect is.

What do you see in Ryusei, cuz I was thinking about putting him in there. But most times that he will die is due to a board wipe, so there are no creatures to hit with him. Yosei and Bloodgift are already on my want list. Baneslayer is nice cuz of lifelink, but what do you see in flameblast?

For the cycle lands aren't they good in the aspect that they thin your deck out? That is why I have them in there, so i will have a 96 card deck. Or is that not worth it? Boros I'm starting to not want, I just had him there since he gives haste.

I'll look into the card drawing and life link cards you stated. But why coldsteel? It only gives you one color, and it CIPT, so in essence you are using 3 mana on it. But I guess you can drop it on turn 2, to do a turn 3 kaalia, is taht what you see in it?

Quote from Aviator13

@Orpheos I run Rakdos because of the reasons that 3drinks stated. I think even getting him in once can wreck a player. But I have a couple ways to repeat the effect. If you think that I won't be able to find the pieces, this is what I do. I tutor for rune-scarred dragon. Then I cheat him in tutoring for erractic portal. I then bounce him back to my hand right before my next turn and then cheat him in again. This time tutoring for Rakdos, and there we go, I now have both pieces.

I will swap out the earthquake when I get molten disaster, I didn't even know that card existed. I agree with the platinum, thunder, and angelic arbiter cuts. Basandra I just need to play her more, since I've only had her in for one game. But that one game I did have her, there were dead cards in everyone's hands, not to mention I made one opponent attack with his 4/6 reach guy, so I could swing kaalia on my turn. And aegis I'll have to see as well, to see how good the indestrucable aspect is.

What do you see in Ryusei, cuz I was thinking about putting him in there. But most times that he will die is due to a board wipe, so there are no creatures to hit with him. Yosei and Bloodgift are already on my want list. Baneslayer is nice cuz of lifelink, but what do you see in flameblast?

For the cycle lands aren't they good in the aspect that they thin your deck out? That is why I have them in there, so i will have a 96 card deck. Or is that not worth it? Boros I'm starting to not want, I just had him there since he gives haste.

I'll look into the card drawing and life link cards you stated. But why coldsteel? It only gives you one color, and it CIPT, so in essence you are using 3 mana on it. But I guess you can drop it on turn 2, to do a turn 3 kaalia, is taht what you see in it?

I'm looking to pick up a Rakdos+Portal to try him out, so I can't chime in on that yet.

Molten Disaster - (assuming it's the one with split second) I don't like it over Earthquake, or even the really old RR version that's an instant. My Kaalia build looks to have everything pretty cheap so that Armageddon effects don't affect me as much.

Platinum and Thunder should be dropped, but Arbiter I think stops Insurrection kinda plays, so that should be considered. Agree on Basandra needing more testing.

Ryusei I'm iffy on for that same reason, I'm not sure how often he'll actually burn things, and even then, those things may not die. Yosei, Bloodgift and Baneslayer should be solid enough to at least try in every build. But on Flameblast, you can't use his ability when you drop him with Kaalia because of the wording. Ancient Hellkite works like that though (but I'm not advising running AH).

I'm not sure I've seen them in games yet, but I like the cycling lands in these colors because all of our best draw is pretty much Black only, and furthermore, pretty heavily Black only (Promise of Power's BBB anyone?)

it may be pricey, but this deck could really use a Sneak Attack and Wheel of Fortune to blow people out and restock your empty hand. Boros Guildmage isn't a good man when you have ways to creatures in and I think Tariel is a poor card when it depends on your opponents.

so has any1 figured out if tariel or basandra work? Also wondering about keeper of the abyss. I don't get to play EDH to often, so I don't get to test out the cards in action.

Quote from MiffedMoogle

it may be pricey, but this deck could really use a Sneak Attack and Wheel of Fortune to blow people out and restock your empty hand. Boros Guildmage isn't a good man when you have ways to creatures in and I think Tariel is a poor card when it depends on your opponents.

so the wheel of fortune seems like a good card, since it allows for cards to actually go into my graveyard so I can reanimate them. Also the same thing for sneak attack.

I dont like the cycling lands because its hard to support so many CIPT lands in 3 color. but if you think its fine then go ahead. I just dont think its worth it. I rarely run out of cards in EDH, its more about tempo so CIPT is big for me.

flame blast is nice because sometimes people turtle up and fireballing is really good reach. especially since you dont have to fireball the person you hit.

as for rakdos i see what you guys are saying, but answer me this. are people in your group really fine with getting annihilated that often? if so im not sure I want to play with you guys.

coldsteel is good because of curving into kaalia. dropping darksteel ingot on turn 3 then not actually using it on turn 4 is kinda miserable.

honestly the groups I currently play with have all sorts of shenanigan decks. Like one guy is mono red, with tons of land hate, and Armageddon effects. I see what you mean about the coldsteel heart. And I guess I'll have to give flameblast dragon a try to see how good he really is. Also I have included almost every dual land that doesn't CIPT. I'm only missing the actual dual lands (which I'm trying to get), scars dual lands, which aren't that great for EDH IMO, and pain lands (which I might consider adding, just that I have so many non basic lands already)

Orpheos:

Quote from Sanity"s_Eclipse

But on Flameblast, you can't use his ability when you drop him with Kaalia because of the wording. Ancient Hellkite works like that though (but I'm not advising running AH).

Just wanna make sure this wasn't overlooked. Because in my mind, Kaalia wants creatures that immediately affect the battlefield, through ETB effects or simple static abilities.

i think the reason why flameblast was brought up is because he is good if your opponent is holding onto a 4/6 reach for example that will kill kaalia. While ancient hellkite could kill it, you would need 6 red mana. Also flameblast allows you to put in extra damage if you have mana open, sure you can firebreath, but maybe you ran out of red mana.

I understand that, but when you play it off Kaalia, all you're doing is plopping down a simple 5/5 flyer. What if your opponent wraths? You didn't do much of anything by dropping Flameblast.

i realize what you are saying. I'm just thinking back to the times when I didn't want to attack with kaalia for various reasons, and having a flameblast would have made the difference

Quote from Sanity"s_Eclipse

Orpheos:

Just wanna make sure this wasn't overlooked. Because in my mind, Kaalia wants creatures that immediately affect the battlefield, through ETB effects or simple static abilities.

okay then you should also stop playing mana charged dragon, tariel, reya and hellkite charger...

idk about you but when I play kaalia people remove her and remove her often. thats why I build my deck with things like baneslayer angel and flameblast dragon so that its still easy to cast things without kaalia.

I also run alot more card draw than the OP. so "losing" value on plopping down a hasty 5/5 flier with kaalia is not a big worry for me.

*edit
also ryusei is kinda mediocre but hes still a fine 5/5 dragon for 6. and if your opponent just pooped out a bunch of elves or goblins you will be glad you had a built in wrath.

another card i forgot to mention is Blinding Angel

also has any1 tried out an angelic overseer in this deck? Kind of curious how good it is, since Kaalia is a Human. So you have a 5/3 indestructable hexproof as long as you ahve kaalia

Orpheos: Let me amend my statement with "...the battlefield, through ETB effects, simple static abilities, or that dominate the board". There's nothing wrong with Mana Charge Dragon, Hellkite Charger, or Reya. You may say cop out, I say, we're arguing over semantics on a game forum, let's get back to the game.

+1 for mature discussion about a card game.
Has anyone tried Sword of Feast and Famine in here? Maybe I just love it too much in this format, but it seems to have amazing synergy, allowing you to play with double your mana essentially. Imma post this over at King Shane's thread too, which is a well-built thread.