MTG Salvation

This is my spin on the God of Apostles deck. I'm tuning this version to focus on an aggro-combo strategy. Amass a ton of Shadowborn Apostles and throw them at people via combat or abusing their ability to sacrifice themselves.

tappedout.net/mtg-decks/atheros-god-of-wifi/



Some things of note:
-35 Apostles seems like the right number. It gives me the best balance of Thrumming Stone fodder and Remembrance triggers. 36 is ideal, I've since cut it to 32.
-Coat of Arms has been chosen over Door of Destinies because the first few turns are almost always spent casting Apostles. I think the slight chance of it being a boon to an Elf deck is worth the ability to immediately impact the game state.
-Elspeth and Sorin help with the aggro part of the deck. Elspeth turns Athreos into a 3 turn clock on its own and Sorin allows me to consistently apply pressure on the whole table by forcing an opponent to always let me have my Apostles back.

I think this deck has a ton of potential to be very powerful and fun to play with and against (a stark departure from my usual hateful decks). I need about 4cuts before it's ready to be sleeved and I could use some help determining which 4. Two to get down to 100 cards and 2 more to get Bloodgift Demon and Necropotence involved.

10 huh well how about
Cover of darkness conspiracy memorial for first 3?

33 land seems very low I would never play a deck with less than 37 mana producing lands. Also technically only 22 of your lands produce colored mana the others are dependent on having colored mana or some other requirement.

As for cuts I would remove sorin markov, remembrance, cover of darkness, conspiracy, Kokusho just doesn't belong in this theme, academy rector since we cut the majority of the enchantments, akroma's memorial since it is really expensive and not in your gameplan, mimic vat is alright but it can be cut, and finally you may need to cut down on the shadowborn apostles. I all that is 8 cuts + some shadowborn apostles.

Depending if this is a 1v1 or multiplayer deck you can cut strip mine, wasteland, and kor haven for extra colored sources. I would think about adding sol ring, w/b signet, and coalition relic to the deck which helps get to your game plan faster but doesn't hinder too much from destruction.
maybe go up to 36 lands with 3 artifact mana which would mean 6 extra cuts.

Seems like Athreos begs for exquisite blood.

Conspiracy allows this deck to function as a pretty reliable tool box. Being able to grab Elesh Norn with a No Rest for the Wicked on board is pretty powerful. It gets less good if I cut some of my bombs.

Cover of Darkness and Akroma's Memorial are this deck's plan B. Non-evasive 1/1s don't normally get there. Akroma's Memorial could be Eldrazi Monument, but I'm using Memorial because it's the only thing in these colors that grants haste. These allow me to alpha strike without fear and keep a fizzled combo from costing me the game.

33 Lands is generally enough. I agree there are too many colorless sources. I'm cutting Kor Haven for another dual land, and High Market for a Basic. This deck rarely needs more than 4 mana to actually win. I agree some acceleration would be nice, but more colorless sources are not really worth it since the deck is so colored mana hungry and it doesn't really allow me to cast my commander more advantageously. 36 lands and artifact acceleration is way too many mana sources for a deck that just loops 1-drops the whole game.

Sorin Markov is excellent in this deck. He allows you to always get your Apostles back when you need them. His cost is almost moot since he is meant to be a late game bomb. He allows you to ensure the combo finish and secures victory for the aggro route. It's very common for a deck like this to putter and die after killing two players, Sorin keeps that from happening.

Remembrance is one of the best cards in this deck. It is what makes the deck tick. Not sure why you would ever consider cutting it when it just refills your hand every time you activate the Apostles. This deck is just the worst Second Sunrise deck ever built without it.

Kokusho absolutely belongs in a deck that seeks to abuse entering and leaving the battlefield triggers, but he's definitely just "good stuff." He's cut.

Academy Rector doesn't get cut even if we do cut Remembrance (which I absolutely am not) because it's Mortal Combat #3. Being able to grab a Black Market or Grave Pact at instant speed is also worthwhile.

Mimic Vat functions as Apostle #36. It provides that extra cleric when I need it and has plenty of extra utility. It does get worse if I cut Kokusho though.

Including Strip Mine and Wasteland is just good deck building 101. Nearly every EDH deck has some super powered land that you're going to want dead. Many times you'll just Waste their Wasteland so you can stick Cabal Coffers. I play in a meta that encourages the use of more busted cards like Bazaar of Baghdad and Mishra's Workshop so they become doubly important. The focus of this deck is absolutely multiplayer, but these are still worth their weight. I could maybe cut Wasteland, but Strip Mine stays.

I could maybe cut a few Apostles, but the ideal number for this deck is 36. That allows you to get an optimal number of Athreos triggers out of a Remembrance, a large enough army out of a Coat of Arms, and consistent Thrummingstone chains. The ideal Thrummingstone scenario is stick the 'Stone, cast 1 Apostle, Ripple into 5 more, tutor Rune-Scarred Demon, and win with Mortal Combat.

Exquisite Blood costs far too much mana to do next to nothing. I'd be better off with Falkenrath Noble (which I originally had, but cut).

Diabolic intent may be a good tutor worth investing in. maximizing tutors to get pieces of your combo out would be helpful. I personally prefer tutors which go to your hand or in play.

I cut Diabolic Intent. I still need to get it down to 100, I'm not concerned with tutor density yet.

Finally have this sleeved up. Very excited to get some real testing in. A card I'm interested in getting involved is Kuro, Pitlord, but testing is required to see if he is necessary or if I can even fit it; he's a pretty huge outlier on my mana curve.

Preliminary cuts to get to 100 cards are Academy Rector and Cabal Archon. On watch for the Maybeboard are Shirei and Elspeth. Rector is redundant (though excellent), Archon is too mana intensive, Shirei is too slow, and Elspeth is a Plan B card; I feel like I have too many of those and she seems worse than Coat of Arms and Cover of Darkness in spite of her card advantage.

Would a Mirror Entity fit in? Seems like a good way to pump your apostles and you can fetch it with their ability. Among new cards Ob-Nixilis, Unshackled Seems to be a nice toolbox-esque card. flash it in through the apostles when an opponent tries to search.