Also, here is the tappedout link, as it is formatted better there. Sorry about that.
Anyway, this is my Ghoulcaller Gisa deck, and she needs HELP. I started out by wanting two things: to make a Ghoulcaller Gisa deck and to include Sorin Markov. Those are pretty much the only requirements of the deck. I love mono-B, and I love Gisa. I love recursion, sacrifice, and so forth. (I have a Karador deck, for instance, that runs on that principle.) But this deck is just ... not working. It seems too slow, too unwieldy. Now, partially, I am sure that is because it was based on my old Gonti black devotion deck, but that was only because Gisa's zombie tribal build just rolled over to every deck in my meta.
My meta is not the most competitive, but it is not totally casual, either. For instance, we have a Zur deck. It runs Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond, yes, but only because Zur himself cannot tutor for them. We have one Stax deck (an Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder deck) that is not played often. We have a Sydri, Galvanic Genius deck that wins by the Great Machine, or Sword of the Meek/Thopter Foundry/Time Sieve, or Sydri and the Aetherflux Reservoir once her life is high enough, and turtles up with deathtouch lifelink mana rocks to get there. We have Mizzis Storm. We have Kynaios and Tiro Enchantress.
And we have poor Gisa, who just dies all the time. Looking over this list, I realize I could definitely use some more draw. Help is greatly appreciated. I won't say that money is no object, but I have a pretty solid collection, and Gisa is something of a pet card. I will take what I need to make her work!
Get rid of Bloodthrone Vampire and swap her out for Viscera Seer, particularly for the card draw you're planning/leaning for. Being able to set up your next draw is obviously more powerful than a temporary boost. Bloodgift Demon can be a solid backup/tag team to your Phyrexian Arena. Vengeful Dead could be good depending on how crazy you wish to go with zombies. Fleshbag Marauder...'nuff said. Using it with Mimic Vat; even nastier. Using them with Grave Pact; cruelty beyond words. Add in Grave Betrayal; they never should have let you get that far.
For your ramp effects -
Expedition Map to grab whatever land you currently need. Opal Palace can help if Gisa dies a lot to damage(burn or combat). Gilded Lotus isn't the worst thing to get for more ramp.
Beyond this, I would recommend cutting some of the higher-CMC spells you've got in your decklist. I suspect the reason your deck is slow and unwieldy is because you're holding the big bombs for so long while you build your mana base. Put in some cheaper things(admittedly, my suggestions probably haven't helped) so you can cast something just about every turn. I'm sure some people more learned than I will provide some black ramp options though, so stay tuned.
How well has Creature!Lili served you? I got to play her recently and was generally unenthused. I'd suggest replacing Hell's Caretaker, Falkenrath Noble, and Life's Finale at least. In general, lowering your curve is probably a good idea.
overall it looks like your list is kind of a reanimator deck with gisa at the helm. did you want to focus on reanimating big creatures? if so there might be better commanders for that, like sheoldred, whispering one. but if you're into creating armies of zombies, then there's a few changes i'd suggest. there's some cute stuff you can do with Gisa and pump spells like howl from beyond and hatred, those might be worth testing out. in general it Gisa's strength seems to be making a ton of creatures come into play, and so winning would most likely be through attacking with them or through death triggers of some sort.
I'd suggest some zombie lords - death baron, lord of the undead, undead warchief. you could even run bad moon and the like but it seems kind of underwhelming. but with the lords you could do something like eot activate gisa for 4-5 3/3 deathtouch zombies, which is nothing to sneeze at (and even more if you use hatred, haha). you can also play a few of the self-recurring creatures like reassembling skeleton and gravecrawler and relentless dead.
personally, i'd leave falkenrath noble in, just because it seems you're creating a lot of things that die, and he'll trigger a lot. for cuts i'd take out some of the random big creatures like abhorrent overlord, geth, lord of the vault and phyrexian obliterator. i think smaller recurrable creatures might be more reliable, especially with the lords to make them bigger, as gisa wants to be sacrificing every turn. also maybe drop altar of dementia as it doesn't seem like anything but a free sac outlet here, and viscera seer or even spawning pit might be better if that's what you want. feldon's cane seems cuttable, though if mill is a big deal in your meta maybe keep it. in general there just seems to be a lot of good stuff cards that are all strong but don't synergize particularly with the commander or the rest of the deck.
Sac Rune to Gisa, Thornbite trigger (Gisa, obviously), Tap 5 with Sovereign, recur Rune, sac tapped zombies for mana. Deck is in your hand.
If Zombie Tribal is something you'd like, you'll have to strip half the creatures you currently have to better accommodate the better zombie cards (Noxious Ghoul, awesome board wipe, for instance)
"Shade" creatures may be something you want to look at, Liliana's Shade especially, with the ETB land search.
How well has Creature!Lili served you? I got to play her recently and was generally unenthused. I'd suggest replacing Hell's Caretaker, Falkenrath Noble, and Life's Finale at least. In general, lowering your curve is probably a good idea.
Creature Lili was ... just all right. I liked her. She used to be in charge of my mono-B deck herself, but yes, she is an easy cut.
overall it looks like your list is kind of a reanimator deck with gisa at the helm. did you want to focus on reanimating big creatures? if so there might be better commanders for that, like sheoldred, whispering one. but if you're into creating armies of zombies, then there's a few changes i'd suggest. there's some cute stuff you can do with Gisa and pump spells like howl from beyond and hatred, those might be worth testing out. in general it Gisa's strength seems to be making a ton of creatures come into play, and so winning would most likely be through attacking with them or through death triggers of some sort.
I'd suggest some zombie lords - death baron, lord of the undead, undead warchief. you could even run bad moon and the like but it seems kind of underwhelming. but with the lords you could do something like eot activate gisa for 4-5 3/3 deathtouch zombies, which is nothing to sneeze at (and even more if you use hatred, haha). you can also play a few of the self-recurring creatures like reassembling skeleton and gravecrawler and relentless dead.
personally, i'd leave falkenrath noble in, just because it seems you're creating a lot of things that die, and he'll trigger a lot. for cuts i'd take out some of the random big creatures like abhorrent overlord, geth, lord of the vault and phyrexian obliterator. i think smaller recurrable creatures might be more reliable, especially with the lords to make them bigger, as gisa wants to be sacrificing every turn. also maybe drop altar of dementia as it doesn't seem like anything but a free sac outlet here, and viscera seer or even spawning pit might be better if that's what you want. feldon's cane seems cuttable, though if mill is a big deal in your meta maybe keep it. in general there just seems to be a lot of good stuff cards that are all strong but don't synergize particularly with the commander or the rest of the deck.
Well, yes, this is pretty much my reanimator Gonti, Lord of Luxury deck with Gisa at the helm. I know there are better generals for reanimator, but I want Gisa. However, she does not have to be reanimator, if I can make the Zombie Tribal route work. As for the omissions, I ... have no excuse, especially for the Skullclamp, which I was running in my earlier build of Gisa, the Zombie Tribal version, which also just died to everything.
Sac Rune to Gisa, Thornbite trigger (Gisa, obviously), Tap 5 with Sovereign, recur Rune, sac tapped zombies for mana. Deck is in your hand.
If Zombie Tribal is something you'd like, you'll have to strip half the creatures you currently have to better accommodate the better zombie cards (Noxious Ghoul, awesome board wipe, for instance)
"Shade" creatures may be something you want to look at, Liliana's Shade especially, with the ETB land search.
I may take another stab at the Zombie Tribal version. Especially if I can add in some sort of infinite combos to help take down the combo decks in my meta. They are not too numerous, but I'd like for Gisa to at least have a shot!
I would contest tossing out Geth, especially if you're going the zombie route in any fashion. Also, while the barons/lords are great additions, don't forget the original lord either; he goes BEAUTIFULLY with the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth you're running. Also, feel free to check out my Walking Dead deck...it may not be the most fine tuned, but I'm sure you can get an idea or two from it.
The biggest and most obvious one(when you know about the card, lol) that comes off the top of my head is Zombie Apocalypse. HOWEVER: be VERY wary of Angel of Glory's Rise, because that will HURT! You can, however, mitigate the damage with another zombie: Withered Wretch. Just before ETB, exile all his/her humans.
Consider Unholy Grotto for more recursion as well. Throwing in Nim Deathmantle can also work if you see something nice(Grave Titan, for instance) that isn't QUITE a zombie.
Zombie tribal means the addition of the number's game. Lashwrithe/Nightmare Lash/Strata Scythe will give you a perpetual army in a can. Coat of Arms can work as a "sorcery speed pump spell/closer", though dangerous if other tribal decks are a thing for your meta.
You can take a look at my Gisa deck linked in my sig. It's zombie tribal, but don't let that throw you off. It is a very competitive deck outside of a fast combo meta. It can win through aggro, token aggro, or several combo options. Take a look, and if you have any specific question, just let me know
How does your group feel about Necropotence? At worst its a hand refill. Also with a high cmc, Dark Confidant seems like a very bad idea. (Ugin, Sheoldred, rise of dark realms...ect)
One guy I really like is Dark Prophecy, your going to be making creatures...
Also Graveborn Muse but if your getting critical mass with zombies maybe pray for your Whip or it could be bad. Edit: but with a sacrifice outlet i.e. Gisa, you dont have to worry! Yeah run this for card draw at first and sac it when needed. Footsteps of the Goryo could be something more permanent, ie Necromancy, Animate Dead.
Other reccomended cuts: Feldon's Cane - if your worried about grave hate, Phyrexian Reclamation or Tortured Existence gets it back at instant speed. Ever After seems like an ExpensiveVictimize Bloodthrone Vampire seems underwhelming, a Carrion Feeder seems better and is a zombie. Hell's Caretaker is a pet card of mine from old days, but the situational sacrifice is not very good. Phyrexian Obliterator nobody is going to block it, damage is not that great, and will probably eat exile/removal before anyone has to sac anything to it. Smothering Abomination is good, but the other draw effects are better Abhorrent Overlord you have a cmdr that does this effect better Falkenrath Noble too high cmc for effect that blood artist or cuttthroat do better Palace Siege high cmc for effect, slow, situational; see Feldons Cane
1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
1x Blood Artist
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1x Zulaport Cutthroat
1x Duplicant
1x Noxious Gearhulk
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Hell's Caretaker
1x Chainer, Dementia Master
1x Bloodthrone Vampire
1x Phyrexian Obliterator
1x Crypht Ghast
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
1x Nirkana Revenant
1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Falkenrath Noble
1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1x Abhorrent Overlord
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
1x Dark Confidant
1x Smothering Abomination
1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
32x Snow-Covered Swamp
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x High Market
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Miren, the Moaning Well
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
// Removal
1x Scour from Existence
1x Mutilate
1x Life's Finale
1x Damnation
1x Hero's Downfall
1x Black Sun's Zenith
// Draw
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Damnable Pact
// Recursion
1x Whip of Erebos
1x Reanimate
1x Rise of the Dark Realms
1x Ever After
1x Beacon of Unrest
1x Footsteps of the Goryo
1x Palace Siege
1x Victimize
1x Sorin Markov
1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
1x Liliana Vess
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
// Other
1x Sol Ring
1x Jet Medallion
1x Black Market
1x Extraplanar Lens
1x Caged Sun
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Ashnod's Altar
1x Altar of Dementia
1x Feldon's Cane
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Thornbite Staff
1x Akroma's Memorial
Also, here is the tappedout link, as it is formatted better there. Sorry about that.
Anyway, this is my Ghoulcaller Gisa deck, and she needs HELP. I started out by wanting two things: to make a Ghoulcaller Gisa deck and to include Sorin Markov. Those are pretty much the only requirements of the deck. I love mono-B, and I love Gisa. I love recursion, sacrifice, and so forth. (I have a Karador deck, for instance, that runs on that principle.) But this deck is just ... not working. It seems too slow, too unwieldy. Now, partially, I am sure that is because it was based on my old Gonti black devotion deck, but that was only because Gisa's zombie tribal build just rolled over to every deck in my meta.
My meta is not the most competitive, but it is not totally casual, either. For instance, we have a Zur deck. It runs Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond, yes, but only because Zur himself cannot tutor for them. We have one Stax deck (an Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder deck) that is not played often. We have a Sydri, Galvanic Genius deck that wins by the Great Machine, or Sword of the Meek/Thopter Foundry/Time Sieve, or Sydri and the Aetherflux Reservoir once her life is high enough, and turtles up with deathtouch lifelink mana rocks to get there. We have Mizzis Storm. We have Kynaios and Tiro Enchantress.
And we have poor Gisa, who just dies all the time. Looking over this list, I realize I could definitely use some more draw. Help is greatly appreciated. I won't say that money is no object, but I have a pretty solid collection, and Gisa is something of a pet card. I will take what I need to make her work!
Also, she probably needs Phyrexian Altar, right?
Bloodgift Demon can be a solid backup/tag team to your Phyrexian Arena.
Vengeful Dead could be good depending on how crazy you wish to go with zombies.
Fleshbag Marauder...'nuff said. Using it with Mimic Vat; even nastier. Using them with Grave Pact; cruelty beyond words. Add in Grave Betrayal; they never should have let you get that far.
For your ramp effects -
Expedition Map to grab whatever land you currently need.
Opal Palace can help if Gisa dies a lot to damage(burn or combat).
Gilded Lotus isn't the worst thing to get for more ramp.
Beyond this, I would recommend cutting some of the higher-CMC spells you've got in your decklist. I suspect the reason your deck is slow and unwieldy is because you're holding the big bombs for so long while you build your mana base. Put in some cheaper things(admittedly, my suggestions probably haven't helped) so you can cast something just about every turn. I'm sure some people more learned than I will provide some black ramp options though, so stay tuned.
EDH decks: 1. RGWMayael's Big BeatsRETIRED!
2. BUWMerieke Ri Berit and the 40 Thieves
3. URNiv's Wheeling and Dealing!
4. BURThe Walking Dead
5. GWSisay's Legends of Tomorrow
6. RWBRise of Markov
7. GElvez and stuffz(W)
8. RCrush your enemies(W)
9. BSign right here...(W)
Any particular cuts to make?
I'd suggest some zombie lords - death baron, lord of the undead, undead warchief. you could even run bad moon and the like but it seems kind of underwhelming. but with the lords you could do something like eot activate gisa for 4-5 3/3 deathtouch zombies, which is nothing to sneeze at (and even more if you use hatred, haha). you can also play a few of the self-recurring creatures like reassembling skeleton and gravecrawler and relentless dead.
for card draw you can't go wrong with sign in blood or night's whisper or even ancient craving. also woefully absent is skullclamp. & you might like thought vessel as an extra mana rock (also i'm personally a fan of dark ritual for generating random explosive plays, but that's a bit of a weirder option).
personally, i'd leave falkenrath noble in, just because it seems you're creating a lot of things that die, and he'll trigger a lot. for cuts i'd take out some of the random big creatures like abhorrent overlord, geth, lord of the vault and phyrexian obliterator. i think smaller recurrable creatures might be more reliable, especially with the lords to make them bigger, as gisa wants to be sacrificing every turn. also maybe drop altar of dementia as it doesn't seem like anything but a free sac outlet here, and viscera seer or even spawning pit might be better if that's what you want. feldon's cane seems cuttable, though if mill is a big deal in your meta maybe keep it. in general there just seems to be a lot of good stuff cards that are all strong but don't synergize particularly with the commander or the rest of the deck.
anyway that's just my suggestions, hope they help
ps. where is lightning greaves/swiftfoot boots? if your commander has to tap to generate value these are all-stars
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash
Thornbite Staff + Phyrexian Altar + Gravespawn Sovereign + 6/greater power creature of choice (Rune-Scarred Demon)
Sac Rune to Gisa, Thornbite trigger (Gisa, obviously), Tap 5 with Sovereign, recur Rune, sac tapped zombies for mana. Deck is in your hand.
If Zombie Tribal is something you'd like, you'll have to strip half the creatures you currently have to better accommodate the better zombie cards (Noxious Ghoul, awesome board wipe, for instance)
"Shade" creatures may be something you want to look at, Liliana's Shade especially, with the ETB land search.
Creature Lili was ... just all right. I liked her. She used to be in charge of my mono-B deck herself, but yes, she is an easy cut.
Well, yes, this is pretty much my reanimator Gonti, Lord of Luxury deck with Gisa at the helm. I know there are better generals for reanimator, but I want Gisa. However, she does not have to be reanimator, if I can make the Zombie Tribal route work. As for the omissions, I ... have no excuse, especially for the Skullclamp, which I was running in my earlier build of Gisa, the Zombie Tribal version, which also just died to everything.
I may take another stab at the Zombie Tribal version. Especially if I can add in some sort of infinite combos to help take down the combo decks in my meta. They are not too numerous, but I'd like for Gisa to at least have a shot!
Thank you to all of you!
EDH decks: 1. RGWMayael's Big BeatsRETIRED!
2. BUWMerieke Ri Berit and the 40 Thieves
3. URNiv's Wheeling and Dealing!
4. BURThe Walking Dead
5. GWSisay's Legends of Tomorrow
6. RWBRise of Markov
7. GElvez and stuffz(W)
8. RCrush your enemies(W)
9. BSign right here...(W)
Any other cool combos in mono-B, preferably with a zombie theme?
Consider Unholy Grotto for more recursion as well. Throwing in Nim Deathmantle can also work if you see something nice(Grave Titan, for instance) that isn't QUITE a zombie.
EDH decks: 1. RGWMayael's Big BeatsRETIRED!
2. BUWMerieke Ri Berit and the 40 Thieves
3. URNiv's Wheeling and Dealing!
4. BURThe Walking Dead
5. GWSisay's Legends of Tomorrow
6. RWBRise of Markov
7. GElvez and stuffz(W)
8. RCrush your enemies(W)
9. BSign right here...(W)
for combos, gravecrawler + phyrexian altar is infinite storm count, toss in smothering abomination or grim haruspex and you draw your deck, toss in blood artist or vengeful dead (or tendrils of agony, if you're feeling spicy) and you'll win right there. and most of those cards are good on their own too. Shouldn't be too hard to make this also give infinite mana... endrek sahr, master breeder or carnival of souls would help maybe? though they seem less amazing on their own.
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash
EDH Decks:
GGG Omnath, the Sultan of Stomp GGG
BB Marrow-Gnawer... Or... Rats! Foiled again! BB
BB The Army of Evil (Necromancy for fun and profit) BB
RW Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, and her Samurai Army WR
UB Vela the Night-Clad... Ninjas be Sneaky and Stuff, Yo!!!1! BU
BGU Vorash, the Hunter... Voltron Vorash' Viciously Violent Victory UGB
BBB Ghoulcaller Gisa and the Return of the Night of Living Dead Part XIII BBB
WUBRG Sliver Overlord... Because Having Friends is Completely Overrated GRBUW
XXXXX Kozilek, Butcher of Youth or This is Vintage EDH... Get Off My Damn Lawn! XXXXX
You cannot make time, you can only take time. If you never take time, how can you ever have time?
I don't think I have Undead Warchief in this iteration, but I probably should...
One guy I really like is Dark Prophecy, your going to be making creatures...
Also Graveborn Muse but if your getting critical mass with zombies maybe pray for your Whip or it could be bad. Edit: but with a sacrifice outlet i.e. Gisa, you dont have to worry! Yeah run this for card draw at first and sac it when needed.
Footsteps of the Goryo could be something more permanent, ie Necromancy, Animate Dead.
Other reccomended cuts:
Feldon's Cane - if your worried about grave hate, Phyrexian Reclamation or Tortured Existence gets it back at instant speed.
Ever After seems like an ExpensiveVictimize
Bloodthrone Vampire seems underwhelming, a Carrion Feeder seems better and is a zombie.
Hell's Caretaker is a pet card of mine from old days, but the situational sacrifice is not very good.
Phyrexian Obliterator nobody is going to block it, damage is not that great, and will probably eat exile/removal before anyone has to sac anything to it.
Smothering Abomination is good, but the other draw effects are better
Abhorrent Overlord you have a cmdr that does this effect better
Falkenrath Noble too high cmc for effect that blood artist or cuttthroat do better
Palace Siege high cmc for effect, slow, situational; see Feldons Cane
Adds: Skullclamp, Undead Warchief, Sadistic Hypnotist, Cryptbreaker, Grave Pact for flavour/sighs