I have a knight tribal deck built around Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, but it has a few issues that I'm hoping to get help resolving. First, here's the decklist:
My main problem at the moment is that the deck's mana base isn't enough to reliably avoid color screw. To make things worse, the deck seems like it would really benefit from 2-3 Vault of the Archangel, but I can't see a way to add it without some major tweaks to the rest of my lands. I originally included Orzhov Basilica as an extra way to disard Haakon if needed, but I think it would be first on the chopping block. I opened the singleton Marsh Flats in a pack, but I can't really afford three more, as good as they might be.
Other than that, I've found a few cards to be underperforming, so I was looking for suggestions on replacements. Hero of Bladehold isn't nearly as good as I expected it to be, I originally ran four but now I could see myself dropping them entirely. Also, while Entomb is great for binning Haakon quickly, I rarely find myself wanting to cast him on turn 3 anyways, so a slower but more powerful option like Buried Alive might be better.
As for my local metagame, I'd like the deck to function reasonably well in both 1v1 and free-for-all multiplayer games. Most of my playgroup heavily discourages combo or resource denial strategies, so I don't really need to worry about those. There is also very little removal that bypasses indestructability or Haakon, and pretty much no graveyard hate at all.
Your mana base is probably a little too optimistic. Knights have very hard color requirements, and you never really need WB, you need WW or BB; and that makes Orzhov Basilica less than ideal. Typically decks that need double colors often run filter lands, like Fetid Heath. I'd replace the basilicas with some number of Fetid Heath and maybe even Scoured Barrens (budget friendly option). Maybe it's right to run more than 23 lands as well, in that case I'd cut some spot removal. You can recur your spot removal, you can tutor for them, and you play free-for-all games where spot removal is inherently weaker, so going down 1 removal spell for 1 more land should be safe.
Entomb can also tutor the tribal spells to your graveyard, Buried Alive can't. Maybe try a 2/2 split?
Fetid Heath is a bit pricey for me, but for now I'll try Scoured Barrens and upgrade if I can trade for something better. You have a good point about Entomb as well, it's never really a dead card since I almost always have B floating at some point. I think I'll try something like this for now:
I have a Haakan deck that focuses on Zombie Knights, with some Zombie interactions. I also find the slow early game to be an issue.
Some options... Noble Templar or Twisted Abomination: They won't actually ramp, but neither relies on your opponent's board and they will always find a B/W source. Stillmoon Cavalier: Essentially colorless, randomly acts as unstoppable defense. Knight-Captain of Eos: Good one-of tutor target to help stabilize after the slow early game.
Yeah, I would try to reduce your mana cost demands. A budget manabase can't afford to be as greedy with card choices as a deck with the most expensive fetchlands and duals and filters.
Since Haakon requires BB and the enablers (Entomb and Call the Bloodline) require early B, maybe you should be mainly black with a white splash instead. White is mostly lategame plays like Crib Swap, Mirror Entity and Kinsbaile Cavalier, which can all be cast off splash mana. Avoid needing WW on turn 2 and 1BB on turn 3.
In particular, what function does Knight of the White Orchid serve? It's good in a vaccuum. And sure, it fetches Godless Shrine or a Plains. But if you already have the WW to cast it, do you really need a 3rd white source? And if you tweak the manabase to be mainly black, you won't need to cast a WW spell to find black mana. So what value does it add? On the other hand, the split between WW and BB costs is really taxing your manabase. Why not just cut it for a black 2-drop (e.g. Stromgald Crusader, Black Knight, or Knight of Infamy)? Then run fewer Plains and more Swamps. That should help consistency.
Stillmoon Cavalier is a great knight, and it's also a lot easier for you to cast. Replace Hero of Bladehold, which you say isn't doing enough. Hero is better in a swarm deck than a knight deck.
Can you play a black mass removal like Damnation or Crux of Fate instead of the white Wrath of God? Again, it'll make for an easier manabase.
Here's a sample decklist that should have easier mana:
12 white sources should be enough to cast your white splash of spells (Knight Exemplar may be hard to cast early, that's it). This way you have very few ETB tapped lands and much more consistent mana overall.
Why fewer copies of Kinsbaile and Mirror Entity? Both are lategame win conditions, appropriate when you already have a small army but not amazing on their own. With both Buried Alive and Entomb, you can just search for them when you need them to close the game instead of running redundant copies.
Yeah, I would try to reduce your mana cost demands. A budget manabase can't afford to be as greedy with card choices as a deck with the most expensive fetchlands and duals and filters.
Since Haakon requires BB and the enablers (Entomb and Call the Bloodline) require early B, maybe you should be mainly black with a white splash instead. White is mostly lategame plays like Crib Swap, Mirror Entity and Kinsbaile Cavalier, which can all be cast off splash mana. Avoid needing WW on turn 2 and 1BB on turn 3.
In particular, what function does Knight of the White Orchid serve? It's good in a vaccuum. And sure, it fetches Godless Shrine or a Plains. But if you already have the WW to cast it, do you really need a 3rd white source? And if you tweak the manabase to be mainly black, you won't need to cast a WW spell to find black mana. So what value does it add? On the other hand, the split between WW and BB costs is really taxing your manabase. Why not just cut it for a black 2-drop (e.g. Stromgald Crusader, Black Knight, or Knight of Infamy)? Then run fewer Plains and more Swamps. That should help consistency.
I hadn't considered focusing the deck more on B instead of W, but you have a good point about Knight of the White Orchid.
That said, none of the black 2-drop Knights seem all that good, and I'm also not a fan of dropping Knight Exemplar down to 3, since it's frequently one of the best cards in the deck.
Stillmoon Cavalier is a great knight, and it's also a lot easier for you to cast. Replace Hero of Bladehold, which you say isn't doing enough. Hero is better in a swarm deck than a knight deck.
Agreed, Stillmoon Cavalier seems solid as a replacement for Hero of Bladehold.
Can you play a black mass removal like Damnation or Crux of Fate instead of the white Wrath of God? Again, it'll make for an easier manabase.
Unfortunately a playset of Damnation would cost more than improving the mana base, but Crux of Fate could be a decent alternative. Costing 5 instead of 4 without any upside hurts a bit, but Crux is cheap enough I don't mind getting some even if they don't work out.
Why fewer copies of Kinsbaile and Mirror Entity? Both are lategame win conditions, appropriate when you already have a small army but not amazing on their own. With both Buried Alive and Entomb, you can just search for them when you need them to close the game instead of running redundant copies.
Reducing my count of Kinsbaile Cavalier and Mirror Entity makes sense, since as you say they serve more as tutorable finishers than relevant on-curve plays. I do think I would keep Knight Exemplar at 4 though.
The other reason I like Haakon as a core-black deck is that recasting Nameless Inversion multiple times a turn is a REALLY GOOD late game play for this deck, and that's easier the more black sources you have. Can't abuse Crib Swap as easily.
Can you get your hands on Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth? If so, and you hate the black 2-drops, then maybe you can afford to be mainly white and use Urborg to help you get multiple black sources for Haakon and Nameless looping. Then you can still run Wrath of God instead of buying Crux of Fate.
The deck may seem low on land, but the filtering provided by Anvil is more than enough to compensate for this. Dumps knights in the 'yard to synergize with Haakon (or Haakon himself to cast him afterward).
Pentarch is silver bullet removal. I even considered removing O-Rings and deck-in a second one and an additioal land.
Wrth is better than Day, but I like Day better as it makes for cool deck name.
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4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Mirror Entity
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Kinsbaile Cavalier
4 Entomb
3 Call the Bloodline
3 Nameless Inversion
3 Crib Swap
4 Wrath of God
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Marsh Flats
4 Orzhov Basilica
6 Plains
4 Swamp
When the deck works, it usually wins through some combination of:
- Removing all my opponent's relevant creatures with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge + Crib Swap/Nameless Inversion
- Playing Wrath of God with one or more Knight Exemplar in play
- Old-fashioned beatdown with knights pumped by some combination of Knight Exemplar, Mirror Entity and Kinsbaile Cavalier
My main problem at the moment is that the deck's mana base isn't enough to reliably avoid color screw. To make things worse, the deck seems like it would really benefit from 2-3 Vault of the Archangel, but I can't see a way to add it without some major tweaks to the rest of my lands. I originally included Orzhov Basilica as an extra way to disard Haakon if needed, but I think it would be first on the chopping block. I opened the singleton Marsh Flats in a pack, but I can't really afford three more, as good as they might be.Other than that, I've found a few cards to be underperforming, so I was looking for suggestions on replacements. Hero of Bladehold isn't nearly as good as I expected it to be, I originally ran four but now I could see myself dropping them entirely. Also, while Entomb is great for binning Haakon quickly, I rarely find myself wanting to cast him on turn 3 anyways, so a slower but more powerful option like Buried Alive might be better.
As for my local metagame, I'd like the deck to function reasonably well in both 1v1 and free-for-all multiplayer games. Most of my playgroup heavily discourages combo or resource denial strategies, so I don't really need to worry about those. There is also very little removal that bypasses indestructability or Haakon, and pretty much no graveyard hate at all.
Entomb can also tutor the tribal spells to your graveyard, Buried Alive can't. Maybe try a 2/2 split?
4 Knight of the White Orchid
3 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Mirror Entity
1 Hero of Bladehold
2 Kinsbaile Cavalier
4 Entomb
3 Call the Bloodline
3 Nameless Inversion
2 Buried Alive
3 Crib Swap
4 Wrath of God
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Marsh Flats
4 Scoured Barrens
6 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Vault of the Archangel
Some options...
Noble Templar or Twisted Abomination: They won't actually ramp, but neither relies on your opponent's board and they will always find a B/W source.
Stillmoon Cavalier: Essentially colorless, randomly acts as unstoppable defense.
Knight-Captain of Eos: Good one-of tutor target to help stabilize after the slow early game.
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Since Haakon requires BB and the enablers (Entomb and Call the Bloodline) require early B, maybe you should be mainly black with a white splash instead. White is mostly lategame plays like Crib Swap, Mirror Entity and Kinsbaile Cavalier, which can all be cast off splash mana. Avoid needing WW on turn 2 and 1BB on turn 3.
In particular, what function does Knight of the White Orchid serve? It's good in a vaccuum. And sure, it fetches Godless Shrine or a Plains. But if you already have the WW to cast it, do you really need a 3rd white source? And if you tweak the manabase to be mainly black, you won't need to cast a WW spell to find black mana. So what value does it add? On the other hand, the split between WW and BB costs is really taxing your manabase. Why not just cut it for a black 2-drop (e.g. Stromgald Crusader, Black Knight, or Knight of Infamy)? Then run fewer Plains and more Swamps. That should help consistency.
Stillmoon Cavalier is a great knight, and it's also a lot easier for you to cast. Replace Hero of Bladehold, which you say isn't doing enough. Hero is better in a swarm deck than a knight deck.
Can you play a black mass removal like Damnation or Crux of Fate instead of the white Wrath of God? Again, it'll make for an easier manabase.
Here's a sample decklist that should have easier mana:
4 Stromgald Crusader
4 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
3 Knight Exemplar
2 Mirror Entity
1 Kinsbaile Cavalier
4 Nameless Inversion
3 Crib Swap
//Other Spells: 11
3 Entomb
3 Call the Bloodline
2 Buried Alive
3 Crux of Fate
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Scoured Barrens
1 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
12 Swamp
12 white sources should be enough to cast your white splash of spells (Knight Exemplar may be hard to cast early, that's it). This way you have very few ETB tapped lands and much more consistent mana overall.
Why fewer copies of Kinsbaile and Mirror Entity? Both are lategame win conditions, appropriate when you already have a small army but not amazing on their own. With both Buried Alive and Entomb, you can just search for them when you need them to close the game instead of running redundant copies.
I hadn't considered focusing the deck more on B instead of W, but you have a good point about Knight of the White Orchid.
That said, none of the black 2-drop Knights seem all that good, and I'm also not a fan of dropping Knight Exemplar down to 3, since it's frequently one of the best cards in the deck.
Agreed, Stillmoon Cavalier seems solid as a replacement for Hero of Bladehold.
Unfortunately a playset of Damnation would cost more than improving the mana base, but Crux of Fate could be a decent alternative. Costing 5 instead of 4 without any upside hurts a bit, but Crux is cheap enough I don't mind getting some even if they don't work out.
Reducing my count of Kinsbaile Cavalier and Mirror Entity makes sense, since as you say they serve more as tutorable finishers than relevant on-curve plays. I do think I would keep Knight Exemplar at 4 though.
I'll mock up a decklist once I get home and have access to a mana-base simulation (from http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells/). I'd still love to fit Vault of the Archangel in somewhere, but it will depend on the tradeoffs once I do the math.
Good idea. See what the simulation says.
The other reason I like Haakon as a core-black deck is that recasting Nameless Inversion multiple times a turn is a REALLY GOOD late game play for this deck, and that's easier the more black sources you have. Can't abuse Crib Swap as easily.
Can you get your hands on Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth? If so, and you hate the black 2-drops, then maybe you can afford to be mainly white and use Urborg to help you get multiple black sources for Haakon and Nameless looping. Then you can still run Wrath of God instead of buying Crux of Fate.
7 Swamp
10 Plains
3 Tainted Field
Creatures (24)
4 Student of Warfare
4 Knight of Glory
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Stillmoon Cavalier
2 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
1 Kinsbaile Cavalier
1 Pentarch Paladin
1 Entomb
3 Anvil of Bogardan
2 Nameless Inversion
4 Buried Alive
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Day of Judgment
The deck may seem low on land, but the filtering provided by Anvil is more than enough to compensate for this. Dumps knights in the 'yard to synergize with Haakon (or Haakon himself to cast him afterward).
Pentarch is silver bullet removal. I even considered removing O-Rings and deck-in a second one and an additioal land.
Wrth is better than Day, but I like Day better as it makes for cool deck name.