Hello, I am a Kaalia player and I am looking to build a decklist that can play as fair as Kaalia can but able to battle in any field.
So I want to make a decklist with a wide srategy that can adapt to the opponents I have to face, sometimes Ill will want to go full IN (against non-blue combo players or just non blue strats) other times Ill go Reanimator.
The worst scenario for Kaalia is against blue, not worst in terms or winning or loosing but in terms of fun, I can win against a blue player (and I will tell you how in this post) but normally the game is just not fun.
I will add some 'protection' but I wont be tearing apart a fun beatdown game.
I will play with sideboard but the idea is making a normal 100 deck than can be able to fight everything from combo to mono-blue
And remember that when I say 'be able to fight' I am pointing at fun and not necessarily winning, Imagine this two scenarios:
a) All the game the blue players just counter you every single thing you want to cast, by turn 10-12 you are still a 30-40 life and somehow manage to combo or just Kaalia and Master of cruelties win.
b) All the game you are able to cast things, somethings died to removal, somethings gets blocked, someones gets controlled, your opponents has advantage but you are not doomed and play an overall fun game, somehow you loose.
I rather have option B all the time (in a casual-competitive) game and I say casual-competitive because is what this deck is all about (my deck).
Casual is because in my playgroup winning is not the 'main reason to play' but competitive because everyone in my playgroup are competitive people that just want to win.
We will separate cards by function and comment just a few:
**Single target Removal spells:**
Swords to plowshares and Path to exile : this two are possible the best removal options we have for single target, there is not much to discuss, exiling a creature at instant speed is way better than destroying and the drawbacks are fair.
Anguished unmaking : For 2cmc we get another exile nonland permanent, so we can get rid of annoying PWs, enchants, artifacts, creatures, you name it.
Vindicate: for the same cmc as anguished we got a destroy something (even a land) at sorcery speed, is not that good but is versatile and that is what we are looking for in this deck.
Mortify: This is here for versatility options too, he can get rid of enchants or creatures and that is why is here but I know it can be cut in case of need
Wear/tear : This card provides us a HUGE value, again is a versatile tool we need for a really cheap mana cost and an instant speed.
**Single target Removal creatures**
Angel of despair She is a 5/5 flier that can vindicate something when ETB, her 7cmc makes a challenge to hardcast (we normally won't be doing that but is something to consider)
Admonition angel: This and a fetchland makes ppl cry, the 'drawback' is that the exiled cards gets back to the battlefield under their owners control and because we cannot drop lands at instant speed we cant use the ability to protect our stuff. But none less is a removal spell almost non counter-able and off course she is an angel, 6/6 beater for 6cmc which is a sweet cmc for our deck.
Angel of serenity: removes 3 creatures from play or graveyards giving us a GREAT value, we can exile some creatures annoying us in the battlefield, or have recursion for our own graveyard exiling our creatures from there hoping that if our angel dies at least we will have a good card advantage.
The other good stuff is that the creatures, no mater where they were exiled from came back to their owners HAND so is a great deal for us.
**Mass removal and Land Destroy**
Wrath of god and Damnation : Not very much to say about this picks, If we have Avacyn, angel of hope in the table is a one sided board wipe and if we don't sometimes we need to push the panic button if we got overwhelmed, normally we will loose 1-2 creatures and kill 7-8 or more of our opponents and that is also translated to card advantage.
Armageddon: Is almost a signature card for Kaalia, if we have our commander on the table (with some protection preferable) we don't need more lands and our opponents neither so is the best to destroy them all and off course if we have avacyn is a one sided effect.
Cataclysm: One artifact (mana rock or boots) , one land one enchant and one creature (Kaalia) is all we need. Is very hard to make the most of Cataclysm because is a 2 edged sword, but when one or two opponents has just ramped as crazy, assembled their combo pieces or just went out of control.
Also, mono blue mages needs a lot of blue sources to make our life miserable, and if we can resolve a cataclysm taking all his islands and artifacts, then we can switch the game in our favor.
Merciless eviction: No much to say, versatility 100% , there is no game when I draw this card that I am not happy about it.
**Enablers**
Enablers are cards that works trying to help us develop our plan, the best case scenario is Kaalia turn 3-4 attacking but normally in a multi player table that is unlikely to happen, people will know you have the mana and wait with a counter or removal in hand.
So, what do we do about it? well, we use enablers cards
Price of glory: This card punishes all players (we too) for tapping their lands in everyone else's turn, it is a double edged sword.
But, people only will counterspell normally in other people's turn, if they want to counter our moves they will cost them hard, because mana rocks exist this won't entirely shut down a mono-blue player but will definitively tear down the quantity of spells he can cast without consequences.
War's toll: We want people casting stuff in their turn and not ours, this card is giving us an asymmetrical effect, our opponents will have the chance spending the mana advancing in their gameplan or interfere with other people holding their mana but not both.
Grand abolisher: When this dude is in play we can resolve whatever we can cast, we can attack and do our stuff without any worries. He is also a Human cleric like our commander so is a valid target for Cavern of souls
Dragon tempest: This is an awesome card in our deck, for a 2cmc we have haste for every creature in our deck, and the second ability is not to be dismissed, one dragon ETB means 1dmg each so we can shot some mana dorks or utility dudes.
**Stax seccion**
The stax section is in the enablers, because this cards also enables our overall strategy of casting safely our general and rest of cards and protect our gameplan.
Winter orb and Static orb Both cards slows the game down, makes people think more about their gameplan (and how to remove the orb) rather than disrupting other's people gameplans.
Control players tends to use a lot of mana to counter things and with this in the table every mana counts.
Stranglehold It shuts infinite turn combos and prevent people for tutoring (only opponents), his 4cmc cost is annoying for an enchant but is worth it.
Aven mindcensor This one of my favorites cards, he acts as almost a counter for fetchs and any other tutor, he is also a 2/1 flier with flash so he mst not be underestimated, he can do serious damage.
Sire of insanity I count this demon as a stax card because despite his 6/4 body and low cmc 4BR, his ability is like stax.
Being able to force our opponents to discard every turn the entire hand, makes them have to play in their turn whatever they topdeck or loose it. against control players this dude is game and because he cost 6 he is easy hardcastable.
**Protect the queen**
Because our strategy relies in a few BIG creatures and our commander, we need to be able to protect them and this are my choices in this deck.
Faith's shield and Apostle's blessing I run both, for 1cmc both gives protection to a PERMANENT we control, creature, artifact, land, whatever and apostle's also can protect from artifacts and be payed for a phyrexian mana and a colorless.
Lightning greaves and Swiftfoot boots: they gave our creatures hexproof or shroud and haste for a low cmc and a low equipment cost
Earnest fellowship or Mother of runes: I run only Earnest but some people run both or just mother, the enchant is harder to remove in normal situations and protects kaalia for a lot of the most usual sources. I also shuts any strategy of 'buff the dude' because normally the creature will share color with the buffs so they wont be able to cast them.
**Utility dorks and early beaters**
I call utility dorks to those creatures that has some ability I may want to use in a very specific situation, and I call early beaters to those creatures I will be hardcasting when able even before trying to resolve Kaalia.
Angel of finality He is a Bojuka bog on a flying stick with the right creature type and only a 4cmc, she wont draw much attention and is a reasonable 3/4.
Other people also play Linvala, keeper of silence and Archangel of tithes, both are awesome dudes to add and when I am able to cut something in my deck they will be there because they deserve the spot.
Now our early beaters.
We may have not the open field we want to cast kaalia or other threats, but we as the aggressor of the game wont just sit and do nothing, this dudes are early beaters we can try to hardcast.
Baneslayer angel for 5cmc we have a 5/5 flier with lifelink and first strike!!! the protection from dragons and demons is rarely relevant but is there.
Bloodgift demon this is a 5/4 flier with phyrexian arena attached to it but... the card reads target player loses 1 life and draw a card so we can literally kill a player if needed.
Thundermaw hellkite for 5cmc 5/5 flier with haste and a very relevant ability to deal 1dmg to every flying creature your opponent control and tap them, pure value.
**The army of high beaters**
We already talk about admonition and despair so they wont be listed here but they are also beaters.
Avacyn, angel of hope She is the queen of angels, if we can drop her and then an Armageddon or wrath we have such a stupid great deal from it.
As she hits the ground every other player will be thinking how to remove her, so if you can spare some protection on her use it (if boots) or save it (if shields faith).
Iona, shield of emeria If she hits the ground, you can take out any mono-colored deck or hose the best color of the opponents. She will be a target so protect her if you can
Gisela, blade of goldnight she is 7cmc so not that bad to hardcast (not like Iona or Avacyn), and her ability is great, she 'is' (I know she is not really) a 10/10 first strike flying that makes all your dudes do hit double and take half damage (you included).
Rakdos the defiler in a multi player table he is not that good, but we can abuse one time the skipping effect of kaalia so he can attack at least once without burning our own table, and if we got to be one on one with the last player, we can also go all IN and have profit.
If we only get him once, then is a 7/6 flier to block for 6 mana
Steel hellkite This dude can wipe armies of tokens for zero mana, hit for larges ammounts of damage and be tutoring with enlightened tutor , dropped by kaalia or being hardcasted becuase his cmc is just 6.
Master of cruelties: He is a 'combo' able to kill one player, attack with kaalia, drop this dude and if unblocked, the opponent is dead.
He is also a 1/4 first strike, death touch demon for 5cmc so we can hardcast him and give him boots and get one opponent in 1 life or force every opponent to get one creature to block.
Rune-scarred demon A 6/6 flier for 7 that tutors us any card we need, not much to say about it
Balefire dragon he is a 6/6 flier for 7 that can wrath the board of an opponent.
I know we usualy don't hardcast our dudes but I think is useful to notice that if kaalia is killed twice (or countered) we can safely say is more worth it to hardcast our 6cmc to 8cmc rather than trying kaalia for 8cmc
Dragon mage, a 5/5 flier that wheels people, is a very nice dragon but a double edged sword, against combo players is awesome because you tear apart the combo pieces they drew or tutor, against control players with 7+ cards in hand is a disrupting dude but against people that works from the graveyard is a blessing so use it carefuly.
Harvester of souls or Kotophed, soul hoarder Both serves the same goal, making card draw out of destruction. I run harvester but sometimes I wonder if Koto is not the best choice.
And I left for the last my favourite dragon
Utvara Hellkite He is nuts, NUTS..., If he can survive one or 2 turns your board will look ridiculous , his cmc is high if not putting with kaalia but is totally worth it.
**Our graveyard shenanigans**
Lets be realistic, people will kill our stuff or counter our stuff, we need some graveyard recursion and this is what I run and why
Buried alive this cards puts UP TO 3 creatures, we don't really need to drop 3 dudes and normally I just wont drop more than 2 unless I have reason for it or know no one in the table runs graveyard hate.
Entomb this card fetches ANY card and put it in the gy, we can search for a dude or for other stuff we can cast from the GY like Unburial rites (is usually what I do unless I have a better plan in my hand like reanimate or something).
Unburial rites This sorcery is awesome, and whats awesome is that even if countered we can flashback it, or directly tutor it with entomb.
Reanimate Turn 1 entomb for Iona or avacyn, turn 2 reanimate, and everything will start looking awesome in your side of the table the odds of getting the pieces in our first 7 are low but they are there and sometimes happens (I know for sure)
Exhume Just like reanimate, in T2 we can recurse a big dude, this has the disadvantage of letting our opponents to do the same but.. normally is worth it
Necromancy and Animate dead, both are enchants we can tutor with our enlightened tutor and are pieces of the worldgorger combo if you play it.
Necromancy has the advantage of having the possibility of being casted at instant speed but forcing us to sacrifice the enchant and creature at EOT.
Both cards allow us to enchant any creature in any graveyard
Some people also play Dance of the dead and some people has Miraculous recovery in their graveyard pack. I would advice to add those two if you wanna go full reanimator, if don't them just don't.
**Non creature shenanigans**
Reverberate or Fork For some people this 2 are sideboard cards, for me are main, I run only Reverberate because is what I have but if you have both run both. We can counter our opponents counters, we can copy Harmonize or any sweet spell we desire for just RR.
When I face blue mages I save this card for counters, when I am not I save it for some broken thing.
The reason I run this artifact is because I have only Enlightened tutor to tutor things (not counting the demon) and against some decks I need to be able to find certain lands.
Against marchesa or other decks that just steal my dudes I may want to fetch Homeward path.
And even if I don't need such lands I can fix colors or secure a land drop.
** Sideboard? Why sideboard? are sideboard legal? **
Well, some time ago the Rules committee has a policy that said the sideboard was optional, a 10 card size sideboard that we can switch in 3 minutes after the commanders are declared.
Sometime later they removed the rule, so sideboards are not 'legal' in standard rules.
But EDH is a a social game, so unless you are playing in a tournament with certain specific rules everything else is negotiable among players, normally we will want to follow the rules as they make sense, like the banning list but in my personal view removing the sideboard rule was a huge mistake.
Let me give you two life examples why I think sideboarding is necessary
I was in the LGS with 2 friends and a random guy playing EDH, the random guy was in a mono-blue, we didn't got to play magic, everything was controlled, and after more than an hour of playing, we were all at 30-40 life, the blue player was taking turns after turns without winning and just not allowing us to play. We ended surrendering because really It was just too boring.
Other time, I play 1v1 against a friend running a mono-blue, the game was like this, I cast something, gets countered, cast another thing.. gets countered.. cast other thing... counter... cast other.. resolves wow!!! and then exiled.... cast other thing... countered... cast other things .. resolved.. but stolen.
Again I was not able to play magic, but then I sideboard some blue hate and the game was quite different, I won next one and loose the 3rd, but both games were playable, difficult to kaalia but at least I was able to play things.
I refuse to loose another hour or two of my life in a game of magic that consists in one person (or two) whose strategy is not letting play the opponents at all.
Because if you play whatever control or stax you want but you win in 4-5 turns is ok by me, as long as the game didn't pass 15 min, but.. 1 hour and a half doing nothing but get countered? no way and that is why I think sideboards are necessary in EDH and while standard rules don't say nothing about it, we as players can agree upon the rules we use and I personally don't play in a table that don't allow sideboarding unless is a 'fair' table where fair means no mono blue
**Sideboard**
Boil This is a sideboard card , Ill side this in only if there are a monoblue mage in the table.
Mono blue decks are the 'worst' enemy of Kaalia because their strategy is to counter everything and controlling our stuff, they normally play 16-20 counterspells so they normally do their job. Against non mono-blue mages I wont side this in because they are likely to use non basic lands, fewer island count and because they normally plays 6-8 counterspells and I think that is a reasonable count for fun EDH.
Boil is not a 'fair' card to play against monoblue but in my opinion 20 counters are neither and off course, we need to be able to resolve it, so if you spent all your counters in our creatures or reanimation spells.. well sorry for you.
Red elemental blast and Pyroblast both are red counterspells that can only target blue spells or destroy blue permanents, when there are blue players in the table we should add this two to our arsenal and rejoice in their faces when we counter they cryptic command on our kaalia.
Akroma, angel of fury Lets not be fooled, this is a BAD card overall, she is good only against a mono blue, if you are nor facing a mono blue she is worthless even if you have other blue players in the table. But against a mono blue that relies on controlling your stuff and counters she is game, she has no haste despite of being red, but she is a 6/6 and for each extra R we add in our combat she gets +1+0 so can beat the face pretty hard.
I say she is bad because really, we don't want to be casting NEVER 8 mana for creatures that has no immediate impact on the board and she has NONE whatsoever unless we are facing a mono blue or mono white
Blind obedience This card is here to shut combos that requires creatures or artifacts that needs to be tapped to work, It wont stop the combo next turn but at least the table will be able to do something about it.
**Combos in the sideboard **
As I said, my playgroup dislikes the 'I WIN' combo so my main deck has none, but the sideboard is different, if I am going to play against other combo decks knowingly or I know that 2 players always works together in the table, or there are just too many control in the table (try 3 people running blue) then.. I seek another table or.. Ill put some combos myself
This combo works like this, we need to have in the table something rude, like the piranha marsh, angel of despair or shivan gorge.
The dragon should be in the graveyard or we have to get some creature reanimated with animate dead or any enchant creature of our reanimation package.
If the dragon in in the GY we cast the enchant targeting it, and the loop begins, the dragon enters and exile everything including the enchant, then because the enchant is gone, he dies and everything goes in again triggering ETB effects, the enchant enter the battlefield, you point dragon etc.
Is a risky move, it is not the very best combo out there but the good things are that you can put it in your deck without breaking the deck, I mean, each piece of the combo will serve you well even if you never get the combo done.
** Insidious dreams combos **
There are a lot of good combos with Insidious dreams and Hellcarver demon, but most of them requires a heavy commitment of the deck to it, if I can find a combo that can auto-Win but not requires me to commit 5-7 slots of dead draws if not combo Ill put it here.
Don't get me wrong, these combos are the best, and the decks that are built to abuse them certainly will win more often than mine, I just don't want to put 7 cards in a sideboard that cant work alone
So I want to make a decklist with a wide srategy that can adapt to the opponents I have to face, sometimes Ill will want to go full IN (against non-blue combo players or just non blue strats) other times Ill go Reanimator.
The worst scenario for Kaalia is against blue, not worst in terms or winning or loosing but in terms of fun, I can win against a blue player (and I will tell you how in this post) but normally the game is just not fun.
I will add some 'protection' but I wont be tearing apart a fun beatdown game.
I will play with sideboard but the idea is making a normal 100 deck than can be able to fight everything from combo to mono-blue
And remember that when I say 'be able to fight' I am pointing at fun and not necessarily winning, Imagine this two scenarios:
a) All the game the blue players just counter you every single thing you want to cast, by turn 10-12 you are still a 30-40 life and somehow manage to combo or just Kaalia and Master of cruelties win.
b) All the game you are able to cast things, somethings died to removal, somethings gets blocked, someones gets controlled, your opponents has advantage but you are not doomed and play an overall fun game, somehow you loose.
I rather have option B all the time (in a casual-competitive) game and I say casual-competitive because is what this deck is all about (my deck).
Casual is because in my playgroup winning is not the 'main reason to play' but competitive because everyone in my playgroup are competitive people that just want to win.
We will separate cards by function and comment just a few:
**Single target Removal spells:**
Swords to plowshares and Path to exile : this two are possible the best removal options we have for single target, there is not much to discuss, exiling a creature at instant speed is way better than destroying and the drawbacks are fair.
Anguished unmaking : For 2cmc we get another exile nonland permanent, so we can get rid of annoying PWs, enchants, artifacts, creatures, you name it.
Vindicate: for the same cmc as anguished we got a destroy something (even a land) at sorcery speed, is not that good but is versatile and that is what we are looking for in this deck.
Mortify: This is here for versatility options too, he can get rid of enchants or creatures and that is why is here but I know it can be cut in case of need
Wear/tear : This card provides us a HUGE value, again is a versatile tool we need for a really cheap mana cost and an instant speed.
**Single target Removal creatures**
Angel of despair She is a 5/5 flier that can vindicate something when ETB, her 7cmc makes a challenge to hardcast (we normally won't be doing that but is something to consider)
Admonition angel: This and a fetchland makes ppl cry, the 'drawback' is that the exiled cards gets back to the battlefield under their owners control and because we cannot drop lands at instant speed we cant use the ability to protect our stuff. But none less is a removal spell almost non counter-able and off course she is an angel, 6/6 beater for 6cmc which is a sweet cmc for our deck.
Angel of serenity: removes 3 creatures from play or graveyards giving us a GREAT value, we can exile some creatures annoying us in the battlefield, or have recursion for our own graveyard exiling our creatures from there hoping that if our angel dies at least we will have a good card advantage.
The other good stuff is that the creatures, no mater where they were exiled from came back to their owners HAND so is a great deal for us.
**Mass removal and Land Destroy**
Wrath of god and Damnation : Not very much to say about this picks, If we have Avacyn, angel of hope in the table is a one sided board wipe and if we don't sometimes we need to push the panic button if we got overwhelmed, normally we will loose 1-2 creatures and kill 7-8 or more of our opponents and that is also translated to card advantage.
Armageddon: Is almost a signature card for Kaalia, if we have our commander on the table (with some protection preferable) we don't need more lands and our opponents neither so is the best to destroy them all and off course if we have avacyn is a one sided effect.
Cataclysm: One artifact (mana rock or boots) , one land one enchant and one creature (Kaalia) is all we need. Is very hard to make the most of Cataclysm because is a 2 edged sword, but when one or two opponents has just ramped as crazy, assembled their combo pieces or just went out of control.
Also, mono blue mages needs a lot of blue sources to make our life miserable, and if we can resolve a cataclysm taking all his islands and artifacts, then we can switch the game in our favor.
Merciless eviction: No much to say, versatility 100% , there is no game when I draw this card that I am not happy about it.
**Enablers**
Enablers are cards that works trying to help us develop our plan, the best case scenario is Kaalia turn 3-4 attacking but normally in a multi player table that is unlikely to happen, people will know you have the mana and wait with a counter or removal in hand.
So, what do we do about it? well, we use enablers cards
Price of glory: This card punishes all players (we too) for tapping their lands in everyone else's turn, it is a double edged sword.
But, people only will counterspell normally in other people's turn, if they want to counter our moves they will cost them hard, because mana rocks exist this won't entirely shut down a mono-blue player but will definitively tear down the quantity of spells he can cast without consequences.
War's toll: We want people casting stuff in their turn and not ours, this card is giving us an asymmetrical effect, our opponents will have the chance spending the mana advancing in their gameplan or interfere with other people holding their mana but not both.
Grand abolisher: When this dude is in play we can resolve whatever we can cast, we can attack and do our stuff without any worries. He is also a Human cleric like our commander so is a valid target for Cavern of souls
Dragon tempest: This is an awesome card in our deck, for a 2cmc we have haste for every creature in our deck, and the second ability is not to be dismissed, one dragon ETB means 1dmg each so we can shot some mana dorks or utility dudes.
**Stax seccion**
The stax section is in the enablers, because this cards also enables our overall strategy of casting safely our general and rest of cards and protect our gameplan.
Winter orb and Static orb Both cards slows the game down, makes people think more about their gameplan (and how to remove the orb) rather than disrupting other's people gameplans.
Control players tends to use a lot of mana to counter things and with this in the table every mana counts.
Stranglehold It shuts infinite turn combos and prevent people for tutoring (only opponents), his 4cmc cost is annoying for an enchant but is worth it.
Aven mindcensor This one of my favorites cards, he acts as almost a counter for fetchs and any other tutor, he is also a 2/1 flier with flash so he mst not be underestimated, he can do serious damage.
Hushwing Gryff Great card, also 2/1 flier for 3cmc and stops OP stuff like Acidic slime and friends
Sire of insanity I count this demon as a stax card because despite his 6/4 body and low cmc 4BR, his ability is like stax.
Being able to force our opponents to discard every turn the entire hand, makes them have to play in their turn whatever they topdeck or loose it. against control players this dude is game and because he cost 6 he is easy hardcastable.
**Protect the queen**
Because our strategy relies in a few BIG creatures and our commander, we need to be able to protect them and this are my choices in this deck.
Faith's shield and Apostle's blessing I run both, for 1cmc both gives protection to a PERMANENT we control, creature, artifact, land, whatever and apostle's also can protect from artifacts and be payed for a phyrexian mana and a colorless.
Lightning greaves and Swiftfoot boots: they gave our creatures hexproof or shroud and haste for a low cmc and a low equipment cost
Earnest fellowship or Mother of runes: I run only Earnest but some people run both or just mother, the enchant is harder to remove in normal situations and protects kaalia for a lot of the most usual sources. I also shuts any strategy of 'buff the dude' because normally the creature will share color with the buffs so they wont be able to cast them.
**Utility dorks and early beaters**
I call utility dorks to those creatures that has some ability I may want to use in a very specific situation, and I call early beaters to those creatures I will be hardcasting when able even before trying to resolve Kaalia.
Angel of finality He is a Bojuka bog on a flying stick with the right creature type and only a 4cmc, she wont draw much attention and is a reasonable 3/4.
Other people also play Linvala, keeper of silence and Archangel of tithes, both are awesome dudes to add and when I am able to cut something in my deck they will be there because they deserve the spot.
Now our early beaters.
We may have not the open field we want to cast kaalia or other threats, but we as the aggressor of the game wont just sit and do nothing, this dudes are early beaters we can try to hardcast.
Baneslayer angel for 5cmc we have a 5/5 flier with lifelink and first strike!!! the protection from dragons and demons is rarely relevant but is there.
Bloodgift demon this is a 5/4 flier with phyrexian arena attached to it but... the card reads target player loses 1 life and draw a card so we can literally kill a player if needed.
Thundermaw hellkite for 5cmc 5/5 flier with haste and a very relevant ability to deal 1dmg to every flying creature your opponent control and tap them, pure value.
**The army of high beaters**
We already talk about admonition and despair so they wont be listed here but they are also beaters.
Avacyn, angel of hope She is the queen of angels, if we can drop her and then an Armageddon or wrath we have such a stupid great deal from it.
As she hits the ground every other player will be thinking how to remove her, so if you can spare some protection on her use it (if boots) or save it (if shields faith).
Iona, shield of emeria If she hits the ground, you can take out any mono-colored deck or hose the best color of the opponents. She will be a target so protect her if you can
Gisela, blade of goldnight she is 7cmc so not that bad to hardcast (not like Iona or Avacyn), and her ability is great, she 'is' (I know she is not really) a 10/10 first strike flying that makes all your dudes do hit double and take half damage (you included).
Rakdos the defiler in a multi player table he is not that good, but we can abuse one time the skipping effect of kaalia so he can attack at least once without burning our own table, and if we got to be one on one with the last player, we can also go all IN and have profit.
If we only get him once, then is a 7/6 flier to block for 6 mana
Steel hellkite This dude can wipe armies of tokens for zero mana, hit for larges ammounts of damage and be tutoring with enlightened tutor , dropped by kaalia or being hardcasted becuase his cmc is just 6.
Master of cruelties: He is a 'combo' able to kill one player, attack with kaalia, drop this dude and if unblocked, the opponent is dead.
He is also a 1/4 first strike, death touch demon for 5cmc so we can hardcast him and give him boots and get one opponent in 1 life or force every opponent to get one creature to block.
Rune-scarred demon A 6/6 flier for 7 that tutors us any card we need, not much to say about it
Balefire dragon he is a 6/6 flier for 7 that can wrath the board of an opponent.
I know we usualy don't hardcast our dudes but I think is useful to notice that if kaalia is killed twice (or countered) we can safely say is more worth it to hardcast our 6cmc to 8cmc rather than trying kaalia for 8cmc
Dragon mage, a 5/5 flier that wheels people, is a very nice dragon but a double edged sword, against combo players is awesome because you tear apart the combo pieces they drew or tutor, against control players with 7+ cards in hand is a disrupting dude but against people that works from the graveyard is a blessing so use it carefuly.
Harvester of souls or Kotophed, soul hoarder Both serves the same goal, making card draw out of destruction. I run harvester but sometimes I wonder if Koto is not the best choice.
And I left for the last my favourite dragon
Utvara Hellkite He is nuts, NUTS..., If he can survive one or 2 turns your board will look ridiculous , his cmc is high if not putting with kaalia but is totally worth it.
**Our graveyard shenanigans**
Lets be realistic, people will kill our stuff or counter our stuff, we need some graveyard recursion and this is what I run and why
Buried alive this cards puts UP TO 3 creatures, we don't really need to drop 3 dudes and normally I just wont drop more than 2 unless I have reason for it or know no one in the table runs graveyard hate.
Entomb this card fetches ANY card and put it in the gy, we can search for a dude or for other stuff we can cast from the GY like Unburial rites (is usually what I do unless I have a better plan in my hand like reanimate or something).
Unburial rites This sorcery is awesome, and whats awesome is that even if countered we can flashback it, or directly tutor it with entomb.
Reanimate Turn 1 entomb for Iona or avacyn, turn 2 reanimate, and everything will start looking awesome in your side of the table the odds of getting the pieces in our first 7 are low but they are there and sometimes happens (I know for sure)
Exhume Just like reanimate, in T2 we can recurse a big dude, this has the disadvantage of letting our opponents to do the same but.. normally is worth it
Necromancy and Animate dead, both are enchants we can tutor with our enlightened tutor and are pieces of the worldgorger combo if you play it.
Necromancy has the advantage of having the possibility of being casted at instant speed but forcing us to sacrifice the enchant and creature at EOT.
Both cards allow us to enchant any creature in any graveyard
Some people also play Dance of the dead and some people has Miraculous recovery in their graveyard pack. I would advice to add those two if you wanna go full reanimator, if don't them just don't.
**Non creature shenanigans**
Reverberate or Fork For some people this 2 are sideboard cards, for me are main, I run only Reverberate because is what I have but if you have both run both. We can counter our opponents counters, we can copy Harmonize or any sweet spell we desire for just RR.
When I face blue mages I save this card for counters, when I am not I save it for some broken thing.
Expedition map Yes, this artifact is a must in our deck, but if you have demonic tutor or diabolic tutor can skip it.
The reason I run this artifact is because I have only Enlightened tutor to tutor things (not counting the demon) and against some decks I need to be able to find certain lands.
If I am against a blue mage I want Cavern of souls or maybe even Boseiju, who shelters all
Against marchesa or other decks that just steal my dudes I may want to fetch Homeward path.
And even if I don't need such lands I can fix colors or secure a land drop.
** Sideboard? Why sideboard? are sideboard legal? **
Well, some time ago the Rules committee has a policy that said the sideboard was optional, a 10 card size sideboard that we can switch in 3 minutes after the commanders are declared.
Sometime later they removed the rule, so sideboards are not 'legal' in standard rules.
But EDH is a a social game, so unless you are playing in a tournament with certain specific rules everything else is negotiable among players, normally we will want to follow the rules as they make sense, like the banning list but in my personal view removing the sideboard rule was a huge mistake.
Let me give you two life examples why I think sideboarding is necessary
I was in the LGS with 2 friends and a random guy playing EDH, the random guy was in a mono-blue, we didn't got to play magic, everything was controlled, and after more than an hour of playing, we were all at 30-40 life, the blue player was taking turns after turns without winning and just not allowing us to play. We ended surrendering because really It was just too boring.
Other time, I play 1v1 against a friend running a mono-blue, the game was like this, I cast something, gets countered, cast another thing.. gets countered.. cast other thing... counter... cast other.. resolves wow!!! and then exiled.... cast other thing... countered... cast other things .. resolved.. but stolen.
Again I was not able to play magic, but then I sideboard some blue hate and the game was quite different, I won next one and loose the 3rd, but both games were playable, difficult to kaalia but at least I was able to play things.
I refuse to loose another hour or two of my life in a game of magic that consists in one person (or two) whose strategy is not letting play the opponents at all.
Because if you play whatever control or stax you want but you win in 4-5 turns is ok by me, as long as the game didn't pass 15 min, but.. 1 hour and a half doing nothing but get countered? no way and that is why I think sideboards are necessary in EDH and while standard rules don't say nothing about it, we as players can agree upon the rules we use and I personally don't play in a table that don't allow sideboarding unless is a 'fair' table where fair means no mono blue
**Sideboard**
Boil This is a sideboard card , Ill side this in only if there are a monoblue mage in the table.
Mono blue decks are the 'worst' enemy of Kaalia because their strategy is to counter everything and controlling our stuff, they normally play 16-20 counterspells so they normally do their job. Against non mono-blue mages I wont side this in because they are likely to use non basic lands, fewer island count and because they normally plays 6-8 counterspells and I think that is a reasonable count for fun EDH.
Boil is not a 'fair' card to play against monoblue but in my opinion 20 counters are neither and off course, we need to be able to resolve it, so if you spent all your counters in our creatures or reanimation spells.. well sorry for you.
Red elemental blast and Pyroblast both are red counterspells that can only target blue spells or destroy blue permanents, when there are blue players in the table we should add this two to our arsenal and rejoice in their faces when we counter they cryptic command on our kaalia.
Akroma, angel of fury Lets not be fooled, this is a BAD card overall, she is good only against a mono blue, if you are nor facing a mono blue she is worthless even if you have other blue players in the table. But against a mono blue that relies on controlling your stuff and counters she is game, she has no haste despite of being red, but she is a 6/6 and for each extra R we add in our combat she gets +1+0 so can beat the face pretty hard.
I say she is bad because really, we don't want to be casting NEVER 8 mana for creatures that has no immediate impact on the board and she has NONE whatsoever unless we are facing a mono blue or mono white
Blind obedience This card is here to shut combos that requires creatures or artifacts that needs to be tapped to work, It wont stop the combo next turn but at least the table will be able to do something about it.
**Combos in the sideboard **
As I said, my playgroup dislikes the 'I WIN' combo so my main deck has none, but the sideboard is different, if I am going to play against other combo decks knowingly or I know that 2 players always works together in the table, or there are just too many control in the table (try 3 people running blue) then.. I seek another table or.. Ill put some combos myself
** Kiki combo **
:Kiki-Jiki, the Mirror breaker + Restoration angel : Infinite 3/4 tokens, The fastest turn I got this up was 3, at EOT I casted the angel, in my main kiki and win.
Is not very fun for the table but I only use it when other people plays combos.
** Worldgorger Combos **
Worldgorger dragon + Animate dead + Piranha marsh
This combo works like this, we need to have in the table something rude, like the piranha marsh, angel of despair or shivan gorge.
The dragon should be in the graveyard or we have to get some creature reanimated with animate dead or any enchant creature of our reanimation package.
If the dragon in in the GY we cast the enchant targeting it, and the loop begins, the dragon enters and exile everything including the enchant, then because the enchant is gone, he dies and everything goes in again triggering ETB effects, the enchant enter the battlefield, you point dragon etc.
Is a risky move, it is not the very best combo out there but the good things are that you can put it in your deck without breaking the deck, I mean, each piece of the combo will serve you well even if you never get the combo done.
** Insidious dreams combos **
There are a lot of good combos with Insidious dreams and Hellcarver demon, but most of them requires a heavy commitment of the deck to it, if I can find a combo that can auto-Win but not requires me to commit 5-7 slots of dead draws if not combo Ill put it here.
Don't get me wrong, these combos are the best, and the decks that are built to abuse them certainly will win more often than mine, I just don't want to put 7 cards in a sideboard that cant work alone
The decklist
1x Angel of Despair
1x Angel of Finality
1x Angel of Serenity
1x Anguished Unmaking
1x Animate Dead
1x Apostle's Blessing
1x Arid Mesa
1x Armageddon
1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Balefire Dragon
1x Baneslayer Angel
1x Battlefield Forge
1x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
1x Blood Moon
1x Bloodgift Demon
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Boros Signet
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Buried Alive
1x Cataclysm
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Caves of Koilos
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x City of Brass
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Command Tower
1x Dragon Tempest
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Dreadbore
1x Earnest Fellowship
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Entomb
1x Exhume
1x Expedition Map
1x Faith's Shield
1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1x Godless Shrine
1x Grand Abolisher
1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
1x Harvester of Souls
1x Homeward Path
1x Hushwing Gryff
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Kaalia of the Vast
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Lord of the Void
1x Marsh Flats
1x Master of Cruelties
1x Maze of Ith
1x Merciless Eviction
1x Mountain
1x Necromancy
1x Necropotence
1x Orzhov Signet
1x Path to Exile
4x Plains
1x Price of Glory
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Rakdos the Defiler
1x Read the Bones
1x Reanimate
1x Reverberate
1x Rugged Prairie
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Shivan Gorge
1x Sire Of Insanity
1x Sol Ring
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Stranglehold
1x Sulfurous Springs
4x Swamp
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Tainted Field
1x Tainted Peak
1x Talisman of Indulgence
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Thundermaw Hellkite
1x Tithe
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Unburial Rites
1x Utvara Hellkite
1x Vedalken Orrery
1x Vindicate
1x Wear / Tear
1x Wrath of God
1x Akroma, Angel of Fury
1x Blind Obedience
1x Boil
1x Dragon Mage
1x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
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