After having just recently played a killer casual Demons and Dragons deck and falling in love with Kaalia I figured I would strike out and make a commander deck with her like so many before me have done. Only problem was I had never made a commander deck from scratch before. I just started out by doing some gatherer searches and pulled up all 250+ creatures ever printed that matched the colors and were either demons, dragons, or angels. I paired that list down to a manageable 100 or so, then them through TCG player for values and about anything over $5 a card was taken out unless it was really, really necessary. Now I know 37 creatures would usually be excessive, especially with a CMC of 4.77 and the worst mana curve you could ever imagine; but really the plan is never to pay for really any of the creatures in the deck. Ideally in the late game I would just be top decking each creature right onto the battlefield saving my mana for tutors or activating the ring of three wishes to really pull out the serious game enders like Utvara Hellkite with Scourge of Valkas, and obviously Aurelia, the Warleader. I feel like a serious problem with this deck is how slow it is to start up. There are so few one, two, or three drop creatures that I feel like usually I will just be waiting until turn 4 to drop Kaalia, although when she does drop she really will make up for lost time. Having not gotten a chance to really play test it with anyone though I have no idea how it will do, so that's why I'm here looking for you guys's suggestions. You always seem to help a ton whenever I post a deck up here, so please if you see anything or have any suggestions just let me know!
Master of Cruelties interacts very well with Kaalia. It interacts with her so well that you might want to think whether you want to play that combo or not, I could see some playgroups wanting to soft-ban that.
@Wildfire, Thanks for the artifact suggestions to help for the ramp up to 4. When I was building it I didn't really see the use of a sol ring in the is deck because once kaalia was out it wouldn't be necessary, and since she only has 1 colorless in her cost it wouldn't help all too much, then I thought about what would happen when she died, and as you can see it's right back in. I pretty much just removed the 4 pretty bad creatures I had in that costed 3 or less and replaced them with all of those artifacts instead. About the reanimation idea, do you think it wouldn't be too much of a distraction from the current strategy of constantly just keeping a hand of big creatures, ending up attacking with Kaalia without having another creature to play? If not then what should I remove to substitute in all those you listed more of the creatures, or more of the tutors?
@nightwyrm, Just put it in. Thanks!
Thanks to both of you guys though for such quick responses, it never ceases to amaze me how helpful you all are.
@Zaghrog, If Master of Cruelties can only attack alone how can he be played with Kaalia attacking too? Does her attack stop, or do they both go through and if unblocked result in an instant loss for that player? If so that would be pretty sweet, albeit not very fun for other people.
@Zaghrog, If Master of Cruelties can only attack alone how can he be played with Kaalia attacking too? Does her attack stop, or do they both go through and if unblocked result in an instant loss for that player? If so that would be pretty sweet, albeit not very fun for other people.
When MoC gets put into play by Kaalia, it gets around his "attack alone" clause. If both are unblocked, it's an instant kill. I only play MoC in 1v1. Playing it in multiplayer seems like a dick move and then you're left with a 1/4 wall.
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1x Kaalia of the Vast
1x Abhorrent Overlord
1x Aegis Angel
1x Angel of Salvation
1x Angel of Serenity
1x Angelic Arbiter
1x Angelic Page
1x Angelic Skirmisher
1x Archangel of Strife
1x Aurelia, the Warleader
1x Balefire Dragon
1x Bladewing the Risen
1x Chancellor of the Annex
1x Deathpact Angel
1x Emeria Angel
1x Flameblast Dragon
1x Forgestoker Dragon
1x Furyborn Hellkite
1x Guardian of the Gateless
1x Harvester of Souls
1x Hellkite Charger
1x Hollowborn Barghest
1x Kilnmouth Dragon
1x Lord of the Void
1x Mana-Charged Dragon
1x Moonveil Dragon
1x Mordant Dragon
1x Radiant, Archangel
1x Rakdos, Lord of Riots
1x Requiem Angel
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Ryusei, the Falling Star
1x Scourge of Valkas
1x Shattered Angel
1x Stronghold Overseer
1x Sunblast Angel
1x Thunder Dragon
1x Utvara Hellkite
1x Bonds of Faith
1x Gift of Immortality
Land (38)
1x Akoum Refuge
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Boros Garrison
1x Command Tower
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Molten Slagheap
8x Mountain
1x Orzhov Basilica
9x Plains
1x Rakdos Carnarium
1x Rupture Spire
7x Swamp
1x Temple of Silence
1x Temple of Triumph
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Vault of the Archangel
1x Vivid Meadow
Artifact (12)
1x Boros Signet
1x Coldsteel Heart
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Orzhov Signet
1x Quicksilver Amulet
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Ring of Three Wishes
1x Sol Ring
1x Sphere of the Suns
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Talisman of Indulgence
1x Condemn
1x Master Warcraft
1x Mortify
1x Reciprocate
1x Terminate
1x Wrecking Ball
Sorcery (4)
1x Akroma's Vengeance
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Earthquake
It's helpful to have a few alternative strategies in case Kaalia gets repeatedly killed/countered or otherwise kept from doing her thing. Sneak Attack is great for this, but its price tag makes it a bit hard to come by.
Another alternative is using Reanimation spells. You can use cheap discard outlets like Liliana of the Veil (again not cheap, sorry), Faithless Looting, Entomb, Buried Alive, Delerium Skeins, Rummaging Goblin, Wild Guess, Wheel of Fortune, etc to get your fatties into your yard, and then cheap spells like Reanimate, Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, Exhume, Necromancy, etc to return those cards to the battlefield at a major discount.
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@nightwyrm, Just put it in. Thanks!
Thanks to both of you guys though for such quick responses, it never ceases to amaze me how helpful you all are.
When MoC gets put into play by Kaalia, it gets around his "attack alone" clause. If both are unblocked, it's an instant kill. I only play MoC in 1v1. Playing it in multiplayer seems like a dick move and then you're left with a 1/4 wall.