Hello everybody and welcome to my thread for my newest deck based around Anafenza, the Foremost! I have been playing Magic for about 2 years now and have only gotten into EDH around 6 months ago. I started with a brutal Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir deck, but it was much too strong for my friendly play group. I have built several decks which are of a more reasonable power level, but they are not budget or completely casual decks.
My play-style is mostly control with a heavy preference for combo finishes. I know it's not the most popular strategy in EDH circles, but I always try to be very friendly and help other players out, so my personality makes up for enough that my play group tolerates my decks. After several of weeks consistent winning, I have begun to realize that my skill and deck strength combined may simply be too powerful for the current group of players at my LGS. Rather than water down my other decks, I have decided to challenge myself with building a more fair, creature-based beat-down deck, while I help the other players out with suggestions and card gifts.
My goals for this deck are as follows:
1) Avoid filling the deck with too many "good-stuff" cards which lack synergy with the rest of the deck.
2) Where possible, utilize newer versions of cards and/or copies of cards I own which can fill a specific role, even if they are less efficient than older staple cards.
3) Keep the power level of the deck low enough that it will be a legitimate challenge to win 1/n games, where n is the # of players in the pod.
My other decks, which win significantly more than 1/n games:
Without further ado, here is my first attempt to achieve the goals listed above. I would greatly appreciate feedback and suggestions for how to make this deck better or more synergistic without raising the power level too much. That is to say, cards like Doubling Season and Asceticism are out of the question. Please make suggestions with this in mind.
My play-style is mostly control with a heavy preference for combo finishes. I know it's not the most popular strategy in EDH circles, but I always try to be very friendly and help other players out, so my personality makes up for enough that my play group tolerates my decks. After several of weeks consistent winning, I have begun to realize that my skill and deck strength combined may simply be too powerful for the current group of players at my LGS. Rather than water down my other decks, I have decided to challenge myself with building a more fair, creature-based beat-down deck, while I help the other players out with suggestions and card gifts.
My goals for this deck are as follows:
1) Avoid filling the deck with too many "good-stuff" cards which lack synergy with the rest of the deck.
2) Where possible, utilize newer versions of cards and/or copies of cards I own which can fill a specific role, even if they are less efficient than older staple cards.
3) Keep the power level of the deck low enough that it will be a legitimate challenge to win 1/n games, where n is the # of players in the pod.
My other decks, which win significantly more than 1/n games:
Daretti, Scrap Savant (My favorite, working on foiling this out)
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV (My newest deck, for when I want to play really heavy control)
Child of Alara (Based on the Legacy deck Lands.dec)
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (My deck for those pods vs. Azami, Edric, Teferi)
Aurelia, the Warleader (My girlfriend's Angel/Voltron/Beatdown deck)
Without further ado, here is my first attempt to achieve the goals listed above. I would greatly appreciate feedback and suggestions for how to make this deck better or more synergistic without raising the power level too much. That is to say, cards like Doubling Season and Asceticism are out of the question. Please make suggestions with this in mind.
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
Creature
1 Abzan Battle Priest
1 Abzan Falconer
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Containment Priest
1 Corpsejack Menace
1 Crowned Ceratok
1 Cytoplast Root-Kin
1 Dragonscale General
1 Elite Scaleguard
1 Grim Haruspex
1 Gyre Sage
1 High Sentinels of Arashin
1 Imposing Sovereign
1 Ivorytusk Fortress
1 Meadowboon
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Mer-Ek Nightblade
1 Mirror Entity
1 Patron of the Valiant
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Somberwald Sage
1 Sun Titan
1 Temur Sabertooth
1 Tuskguard Captain
1 Weathered Wayfarer
Instant
1 Abzan Charm
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Inspiring Call
1 Oblation
1 Ready // Willing
1 Return to Dust
1 Tithe
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Unmake
1 Armageddon
1 Duneblast
1 Gift of Estates
1 Overwhelming Stampede
1 Rout
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Tragic Arrogance
Artifact
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Golgari Signet
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Selesnya Signet
1 Sol Ring
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Swiftfoot Boots
Enchantment
1 Abzan Ascendancy
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Citadel Siege
1 Elemental Bond
1 Hardened Scales
1 Palace Siege
1 Retribution of the Ancients
Planeswalker
1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Land
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Marsh Flats
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Overgrown Tomb
6 Plains
1 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Scrubland
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Strip Mine
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
1 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Plenty
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Woodland Cemetery