My name is Donald, I am 26 years old, I live in South Dakota as a Computer Engineer. I started playing Magic when I was 15, but was addicted to World of Warcraft and didn't really start until College in 2011. I never got into Standard due to money and didn't get into Modern due to proximity to a store. When I found a group in college playing Commander however, it clicked. My current play group is roughly 8 players, who get together once a week and play for 4+ hours.
Early Game
You want to deflect attention from youself as much as possible while guranteeing your land drops.
Mid Game
Wrath the board when it becomes unmanage-able or it is is laden with value. This deck doesn't require you to play to the board so wraths are going to hurt us very little, keep deflecting and generating as much card advantage as possible.
Late Game
Play Akroma. She is your deflection, threat, value generator now. Throw her where she can connect. Block what you can kill. Don't be afraid to Wrath.
Citadel Siege -> True Conviction: Citadel Siege would be a lot better if Akroma was 3 mana, or at 5. Otherwise, I don't want to play this before her, and the tap ability is less good. True Conviction gives a great damage spike, and life gain is looking like a big deal. Icy Manipulator -> Otherworldly Journey : Protection and helps kill clones or make Akroma not a clone target.
Kor Cartographer -> Akroma's Vengeance: Premise was good, but I have had this in my multiple times late game and haven't felt like it was the 'right' play. More Wraths for the Angel of Wrath.
Plains -> Eiganjo Castle: Makes Akroma win against clones, also doesn't cause mana issues. Plains -> Karoo: Additional steps to make sure land drops are not missed. Thalia's Lancers -> Crucible of Worlds: Gives card advantage with fetch lands, and helps recovery strip mines and Emeria. Emeria will/should be a big target for removal. There are also not a lot of great Legendary targets for Thalia's Lancers
Divine Reckoning -> Profound Journey: I don't want a creature only wrath currently, even if it's two in one. There have been strong permanent inclusions recently, so Profound Journey could bring back Mind's Eye, Staff of Nin, etc. Loyal Retainers -> Grim Monolith: I don't have a lot of repeated creature abuse effects that would make Loyal Retainers better. If I had access to stuff like Corpse Dance it would be better, otherwise not so much. As such I find myself with excess mana often, meaning Grim Monolith should generate good value. Plains -> Thespian's Stage
11/27/2017 Crucible of Worlds -> Protector of the Crown: Crucible hasn't been really that amazing. Protector gives card draw and adds protection, both of which are great. Arid Mesa -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored. Flooded Strand -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored. Marsh Flats -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored. Windswept Heath -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored.
4/29/2017 Ranger of Eos -> Lyra Dawnbringer: Ranger is just really clunky, Lyra is a threat and synergizes with Akroma.
6/19/2017 Rout -> Cleansing Nova: Rout is a lot of mana so I usually play it on my turn. This card looks great though.
4/20/2019 Staff of Nin -> Endless Atlas: Staff of Nin is a lot later, and a lot more painful to lose. Endless Atlas looks amazing. Angel of the Dire Hour -> Crush Contraband: Friend of mine mentioned that he didn't even know I ran this card after I had played against him a lot. I think that says a lot. This removal looks great so adding it in. Tithe -> Tithe: Late game, it pulls out a plains and turns into a maze. Tithe ends up feeling clunky early, and compass should fill it's spot.
Glacial Chasm may be another good stall tactic to keep others from messing you while you work towards getting akroma out.
I didn't think of that, but I am not quite sure it would fit (as it would likely only buy a couple of turns), not to mention it would set me back two land drops and get harder to sustain over time. Overall, it would take 3 turns with land drops to make up for playing Glacial Chasm, which is 12 health. Glacial Chasm is usually better for when you have combos, or to counter heavy aggro until you can get an answer.
Edit: Re-read Glacial Chasm, had to explain further why there were issues.
You're in mono white with an 8 cost general. I would think gauntlet of power and caged sun would almost be required just to keep you in enough mana to keep recasting her as she gets removed (she will...she's quite good and that invites kill spells).
You are a mono color deck, I see no reason to include arid mesa and friends. Most of the time, those would be better off as basic plains. I could see it if you were running mistveil plains with intent to recur, but you don't seem to be and there are other plains fetch in the deck.
You have an ungodly amount of low end utility stuff. Why no sun titan to recur them? It should be much stronger than sunscorch regent, I think.
Most people would play akroma's memorial. However, you are playing Akroma, angel of wrath as your general. Run concerted effort instead? That list of stats is impressive on a single creature. It's a heck of a lot more impressive when your entire army has them.
Scrabbling Claws may be better off as a Tormod's Crypt, particularly if you're not running Sun Titan to get more use out of it. Alternatively, Angel of Finality exiles a full graveyard, or Stonecloaker who exiles a single target card, but can bounce itself to do it again.
I'm not really worried about hitting entire graveyards currently. The claws are in here because they give a bit of grave hate, value, and cycle into a new card for 2 mana. These are all valid points though, and if your meta has more graveyard abuse I recommend considering these changes.
You're in mono white with an 8 cost general. I would think gauntlet of power and caged sun would almost be required just to keep you in enough mana to keep recasting her as she gets removed (she will...she's quite good and that invites kill spells).
You are a mono color deck, I see no reason to include arid mesa and friends. Most of the time, those would be better off as basic plains. I could see it if you were running mistveil plains with intent to recur, but you don't seem to be and there are other plains fetch in the deck.
You have an ungodly amount of low end utility stuff. Why no sun titan to recur them? It should be much stronger than sunscorch regent, I think.
Most people would play akroma's memorial. However, you are playing Akroma, angel of wrath as your general. Run concerted effort instead? That list of stats is impressive on a single creature. It's a heck of a lot more impressive when your entire army has them.
I run, a lot of graveyard recursion. That is how I can avoid running gauntlet of power and caged sun. These cards also require a full turn rotation before they can be utilized for the purpose of replaying Akroma. I have also found that people don't just exile remove Akroma 24/7, especially since she is a 4 turn clock, who doesn't generate perceived value off her existence. As such, I am not worried about having enough mana to play her at all times, because the only removal I care about is exile removal.
Arid Mesa and friends are better than Plains because they remove potential lands draws and make top deck draws better. It is minor of course, but saying that Plains would be better seems a little far. In the event you are running a budget list though, replacing these with Plains would not be an issue.
Sunscorch Regent is a threat that can get out of hand quickly. I do think that there can be room for Sun Titan. I will be cutting Kozilek, Butcher of Truth because of the threat of Bribery and the fact that he doesn't synergize well with my graveyard recursion.
My army tends to be Akroma, plus one or two creatures, as such I am not sure the inclusion (Memorial/Concerted Effort) would be enough to be validated.
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Game Update (06/07/2017):
I lost and won one game.
Lost Game:
Winner: Gisa and Geralf
Participants: Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Gisa and Geralf, Zedruu the Greathearted
The game I lost was against a Nahiri, the Lithomancer and Gisa and Geralf deck. The Nahiri deck exploded early and was setting up to violently murder us. The G/G deck played a Boompile to try and stop the Nahiri player, to which the Nahiri played a Karmic Justice to force a potential pop (which worked, lucky for us). The game came to a stand still afterwards with slow chipping on all sides until the Nahiri deck got a Worldslayer out and was able to proc it the same turn. Unfortunately the G/G deck had two undying creatures resulting in myself and the Nahiri conceding due to inability to rebuild quickly enough. Overall, I don't want to count this game as loss because it was the equivalent to a table flip by the Nahiri player and handing the game to G/G. The game went well for us this game though. I just played lands and played Ghostly Prison to shunt opponents away until I could play Akroma. Overall, pretty solid.
Please note: I did not mention Zedru at all because he did mostly nothing the entire game, aside from a couple of attempts at winning the game with Felidar Sovereign which Akroma stopped with punching.
This game was mostly just early game plays to beat the Hazezon player who was playing token swarm, into a large wave of damage. All of us chip damaged the Hazezon player to low health by the time he was able to get a swarm of tokens, with a buff. The Nekusar finished him off with his commander and forcing him to wheel, killing him. From here the Nekusar player was messing with the G/G deck with wheels (not the good ones, just the cycle to hand count) hitting the G/G's value spells, but missing Zombies.
The game resolved with the G/G deck counterspelling my Koziliek, resulting in me getting a full hand. After which, I played Loyal Retainers and ressed Koziliek. The G/G deck tried to play his commander, which I counterspelled with Koziliek due to him having juicy targets for Zombie reanimation.
In The Immortal Sun: Curves into Akroma, Draws cards, and makes Akroma win against clones. Sounds PEACHY. Golden Guardian: Defensive for the early game, and turns into mana/dudes in the late game. Arch of Orazca: CARD DRAW IN A LAND.
Out Plains: Needed space Seer's Sundial: Immortal sun should do what this does, for less mana. Pilgrim's Eye: Pilgrim's Eye I have enough land guarantee.
In Lyra Dawnbriger: Baneslayer Angel (minus the protection) that helps deal with clones. Sounds solid.
Out Ranger of Eos: The 1 drops in the current build are strong enough on their own without the tool box. Ranger ends up feeling really clunky most of the time and doesn't threaten the board at all.
Thoughts on Blackblade Reforged? It probably at least doubles your power and it seems like it could bring you to the point of 2 shotting people fairly easily.
Helm of the Host could potentially curve with your commander and it would be hilarious to see an army of Akroma running about.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Thoughts on Blackblade Reforged? It probably at least doubles your power and it seems like it could bring you to the point of 2 shotting people fairly easily.
Helm of the Host could potentially curve with your commander and it would be hilarious to see an army of Akroma running about.
So I really like Blackblade Reforged, the main issue I have with it is it only works with my commander. If I was running more legendaries, I would consider it more, especially if I had more 4 mana legends. Otherwise, it seems like a spot that True Conviction does better. I will keep an eye on it, but I feel like Blackblade is better for mid range evasive voltron. I will keep an eye out for scenarios where it would be good however.
Helm of the Host just looks funny. Akroma party just sounds horrifying. That one is farther up on my list of I should try this. Its just pretty expensive. It would be amusing to me, to jam it on a Protector of the crown though.
Introduction
About the Author
My name is Donald, I am 26 years old, I live in South Dakota as a Computer Engineer. I started playing Magic when I was 15, but was addicted to World of Warcraft and didn't really start until College in 2011. I never got into Standard due to money and didn't get into Modern due to proximity to a store. When I found a group in college playing Commander however, it clicked. My current play group is roughly 8 players, who get together once a week and play for 4+ hours.
Why play Akroma
Pros:
Deck List
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Creature (18)
1x Planar Guide
1x Serra Ascendant
1x Weathered Wayfarer
1x Bastion Protector
1x Burnished Hart
1x Golden Guardian
1x Magus of the Moat
1x Magus of the Tabernacle
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Windborn Muse
1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
1x Sunscorch Regent
1x Protector of the Crown
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Bruna, the Fading Light
1x Emeria Shepherd
1x Artisan of Kozilek
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Artifact (15)
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Scrabbling Claws
1x Sol Ring
1x Wayfarer's Bauble
1x Endless Atlas
1x Expedition Map
1x Grim Monolith
1x Mind Stone
1x Thaumatic Compass
1x Champion's Helm
1x Darksteel Plate
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Mind's Eye
1x The Immortal Sun
1x Land Tax
1x Ghostly Prison
1x Sacred Mesa
1x Endless Horizons
1x Marshal's Anthem
1x True Conviction
Instant (8)
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Otherworldly Journey
1x Unexpectedly Absent
1x Forsake the Worldly
1x Crush Contraband
1x Comeuppance
1x Miraculous Recovery
Sorcery (11)
1x Gift of Estates
1x Survival Cache
1x Breath of Life
1x False Defeat
1x Resurrection
1x Defy Death
1x Cleansing Nova
1x Tragic Arrogance
1x Akroma's Vengeance
1x Austere Command
1x Hour of Revelation
1x Profound Journey
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Land (38)
1x Arch of Orazca
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Dust Bowl
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1x Homeward Path
1x Karoo
1x Kor Haven
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Strip Mine
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Temple of the False God
1x Thawing Glaciers
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Wasteland
22x Plains
Strategy
Opening Hands:
Piloting
Game Reports
TODO
Changelog
Scroll Rack -> Seer's Sundial
Sensei's Divining Top -> Endbringer
Everflowing Chalice -> Silent Arbiter
Aura of Silence -> Champion's Helm
Knight of the White Orchid -> Bastion Protector
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth -> Staff of Nin
Endbringer -> Angel of the Dire Hour: Comeuppance has been really good.
Silent Arbiter -> Ranger of Eos: Card advantage
Wall of Omens -> Planar Guide: Package for Ranger of Eos. Deals with tokens well.
Darksteel Ingot -> Serra Ascendant: Package for Ranger of Eos. Just good.
Akroma's Vengeance -> Hour of Revelation: Straight Upgrade.
Citadel Siege -> True Conviction: Citadel Siege would be a lot better if Akroma was 3 mana, or at 5. Otherwise, I don't want to play this before her, and the tap ability is less good. True Conviction gives a great damage spike, and life gain is looking like a big deal.
Icy Manipulator -> Otherworldly Journey : Protection and helps kill clones or make Akroma not a clone target.
Kor Cartographer -> Akroma's Vengeance: Premise was good, but I have had this in my multiple times late game and haven't felt like it was the 'right' play. More Wraths for the Angel of Wrath.
Plains -> Eiganjo Castle: Makes Akroma win against clones, also doesn't cause mana issues.
Plains -> Karoo: Additional steps to make sure land drops are not missed.
Thalia's Lancers -> Crucible of Worlds: Gives card advantage with fetch lands, and helps recovery strip mines and Emeria. Emeria will/should be a big target for removal. There are also not a lot of great Legendary targets for Thalia's Lancers
Divine Reckoning -> Profound Journey: I don't want a creature only wrath currently, even if it's two in one. There have been strong permanent inclusions recently, so Profound Journey could bring back Mind's Eye, Staff of Nin, etc.
Loyal Retainers -> Grim Monolith: I don't have a lot of repeated creature abuse effects that would make Loyal Retainers better. If I had access to stuff like Corpse Dance it would be better, otherwise not so much. As such I find myself with excess mana often, meaning Grim Monolith should generate good value.
Plains -> Thespian's Stage
11/27/2017
Crucible of Worlds -> Protector of the Crown: Crucible hasn't been really that amazing. Protector gives card draw and adds protection, both of which are great.
Arid Mesa -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored.
Flooded Strand -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored.
Marsh Flats -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored.
Windswept Heath -> Plains: With the removal of Crucible, this has become less favored.
1/24/2017
Plains -> Arch of Orazca
Seer's Sundial -> The Immortal Sun
Pilgrim's Eye -> Golden Guardian
4/29/2017
Ranger of Eos -> Lyra Dawnbringer: Ranger is just really clunky, Lyra is a threat and synergizes with Akroma.
6/19/2017
Rout -> Cleansing Nova: Rout is a lot of mana so I usually play it on my turn. This card looks great though.
4/20/2019
Staff of Nin -> Endless Atlas: Staff of Nin is a lot later, and a lot more painful to lose. Endless Atlas looks amazing.
Angel of the Dire Hour -> Crush Contraband: Friend of mine mentioned that he didn't even know I ran this card after I had played against him a lot. I think that says a lot. This removal looks great so adding it in.
Tithe -> Tithe: Late game, it pulls out a plains and turns into a maze. Tithe ends up feeling clunky early, and compass should fill it's spot.
Card Explanations
TODO
Considerations
Moat
Thanks!
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
I didn't think of that, but I am not quite sure it would fit (as it would likely only buy a couple of turns), not to mention it would set me back two land drops and get harder to sustain over time. Overall, it would take 3 turns with land drops to make up for playing Glacial Chasm, which is 12 health. Glacial Chasm is usually better for when you have combos, or to counter heavy aggro until you can get an answer.
Edit: Re-read Glacial Chasm, had to explain further why there were issues.
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
You are a mono color deck, I see no reason to include arid mesa and friends. Most of the time, those would be better off as basic plains. I could see it if you were running mistveil plains with intent to recur, but you don't seem to be and there are other plains fetch in the deck.
You have an ungodly amount of low end utility stuff. Why no sun titan to recur them? It should be much stronger than sunscorch regent, I think.
Most people would play akroma's memorial. However, you are playing Akroma, angel of wrath as your general. Run concerted effort instead? That list of stats is impressive on a single creature. It's a heck of a lot more impressive when your entire army has them.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I'm not really worried about hitting entire graveyards currently. The claws are in here because they give a bit of grave hate, value, and cycle into a new card for 2 mana. These are all valid points though, and if your meta has more graveyard abuse I recommend considering these changes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I run, a lot of graveyard recursion. That is how I can avoid running gauntlet of power and caged sun. These cards also require a full turn rotation before they can be utilized for the purpose of replaying Akroma. I have also found that people don't just exile remove Akroma 24/7, especially since she is a 4 turn clock, who doesn't generate perceived value off her existence. As such, I am not worried about having enough mana to play her at all times, because the only removal I care about is exile removal.
Arid Mesa and friends are better than Plains because they remove potential lands draws and make top deck draws better. It is minor of course, but saying that Plains would be better seems a little far. In the event you are running a budget list though, replacing these with Plains would not be an issue.
Sunscorch Regent is a threat that can get out of hand quickly. I do think that there can be room for Sun Titan. I will be cutting Kozilek, Butcher of Truth because of the threat of Bribery and the fact that he doesn't synergize well with my graveyard recursion.
My army tends to be Akroma, plus one or two creatures, as such I am not sure the inclusion (Memorial/Concerted Effort) would be enough to be validated.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Update (06/07/2017):
I lost and won one game.
Lost Game:
Winner: Gisa and Geralf
Participants: Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Gisa and Geralf, Zedruu the Greathearted
The game I lost was against a Nahiri, the Lithomancer and Gisa and Geralf deck. The Nahiri deck exploded early and was setting up to violently murder us. The G/G deck played a Boompile to try and stop the Nahiri player, to which the Nahiri played a Karmic Justice to force a potential pop (which worked, lucky for us). The game came to a stand still afterwards with slow chipping on all sides until the Nahiri deck got a Worldslayer out and was able to proc it the same turn. Unfortunately the G/G deck had two undying creatures resulting in myself and the Nahiri conceding due to inability to rebuild quickly enough. Overall, I don't want to count this game as loss because it was the equivalent to a table flip by the Nahiri player and handing the game to G/G. The game went well for us this game though. I just played lands and played Ghostly Prison to shunt opponents away until I could play Akroma. Overall, pretty solid.
Please note: I did not mention Zedru at all because he did mostly nothing the entire game, aside from a couple of attempts at winning the game with Felidar Sovereign which Akroma stopped with punching.
Won Game:
Winner: Myself
Participants: Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Gisa and Geralf, Hazezon Tamar
This game was mostly just early game plays to beat the Hazezon player who was playing token swarm, into a large wave of damage. All of us chip damaged the Hazezon player to low health by the time he was able to get a swarm of tokens, with a buff. The Nekusar finished him off with his commander and forcing him to wheel, killing him. From here the Nekusar player was messing with the G/G deck with wheels (not the good ones, just the cycle to hand count) hitting the G/G's value spells, but missing Zombies.
The game resolved with the G/G deck counterspelling my Koziliek, resulting in me getting a full hand. After which, I played Loyal Retainers and ressed Koziliek. The G/G deck tried to play his commander, which I counterspelled with Koziliek due to him having juicy targets for Zombie reanimation.
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
The Immortal Sun: Curves into Akroma, Draws cards, and makes Akroma win against clones. Sounds PEACHY.
Golden Guardian: Defensive for the early game, and turns into mana/dudes in the late game.
Arch of Orazca: CARD DRAW IN A LAND.
Out
Plains: Needed space
Seer's Sundial: Immortal sun should do what this does, for less mana.
Pilgrim's Eye: Pilgrim's Eye I have enough land guarantee.
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
Lyra Dawnbriger: Baneslayer Angel (minus the protection) that helps deal with clones. Sounds solid.
Out
Ranger of Eos: The 1 drops in the current build are strong enough on their own without the tool box. Ranger ends up feeling really clunky most of the time and doesn't threaten the board at all.
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
Helm of the Host could potentially curve with your commander and it would be hilarious to see an army of Akroma running about.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
So I really like Blackblade Reforged, the main issue I have with it is it only works with my commander. If I was running more legendaries, I would consider it more, especially if I had more 4 mana legends. Otherwise, it seems like a spot that True Conviction does better. I will keep an eye on it, but I feel like Blackblade is better for mid range evasive voltron. I will keep an eye out for scenarios where it would be good however.
Helm of the Host just looks funny. Akroma party just sounds horrifying. That one is farther up on my list of I should try this. Its just pretty expensive. It would be amusing to me, to jam it on a Protector of the crown though.
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW