I've been playing my Etali, Primal Storm deck to fantastic effect since I picked it up. For a mono red gimmick deck, it has a surprisingly high win rate in a mostly 75% meta and I find the chaos of it amusing to say the least. With the reveal of Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion, however, my resolve is a little shaken. I think he might be able to do some real work, more so than my current Etali deck and I am looking to get some opinions on the matter. All in all, if I decided to try out Neheb in place of Etali, it wouldn't be a very expensive change to the current deck. Ok, now for pros and cons I can conceive.
Neheb, Dreadhorde General
-----------------------------
+ Drops dead cards quickly
+ Ramps us (which is incredibly good in red)
+ Relies on HIS deck and is therefore more likely to be consistent
- Does not guarantee casts
- On hit trigger is much worse than on attack
- Is not an elder dinosaur
Etali, Primal Rage
---------------------
+ On attack trigger means we don't need to worry about connecting
+ Takes from everyone, potentially high power cards
- Higher CMC means harder to recast late game
- Incredibly "RNG"
- Is not a zombie minotaur warrior
I'll address the obvious real quick and point out that either of these cards can go into the other deck (though I feel Etali would be better off in Neheb than the other way around) but what I'm worried about is who I want in the command zone. I know it's early into spoilers and we haven't really seen much of our favorite undead minotaur but what do you guys think? Is Etali's brute force enough to make due without Neheb's card selection and ramp? I would love to hear your opinions more than you know! Thank you for any and all comments!
I love my Etali deck (so maybe I'm slightly biased), but if I was going to build a deck with one of those options as a commander and put the other one in the 99, I'd rather have Neheb as the commander.
Card filtering and mana ramp accessible at all times? Sign me up.
My Etali is so focused on additional combat steps and value that I don't know if I could simply switch out for Neheb and have it run similarly. Yeah, Neheb wants additional combat steps as well, but nothing feels as good as flipping an Eldrazi off the top of the deck.
Neheb kinda does better with the extra combat steps right. Like if Etali hits most of those cards they just whiff because they don't do anything in combat.
I would probably put both of them in a Neheb Eternal deck with Sneak Attack and some fun ways to use them that way.
Etali tends to be insta-killed in my group due to a hyper aggressive list I ran a few months ago. Ritualing and hastings him out asap has made a bit of a lasting impression on my friends to the point that, even when he whiffs horribly, he still gets excessive hate.
Neheb seems more tame and less explosive than etali. The mana can be scary, but multiple free cards seems to be scarier.
Using him as a commander means there will be little consistancy to really utilize him to his fullest potential. He probably fits best in a multicolored casual reanimator deck so they can have a mid-to-early game play that still helps the deck function.
I will although still test him in my Chandra storm deck. The deck is fun and chaotic, but hardly consistent. Having a pseudo frantic search variant in the command zone can help the deck fill the 'yard for mizzix's mastery and past in flames lines.
I've been playing my Etali, Primal Storm deck to fantastic effect since I picked it up. For a mono red gimmick deck, it has a surprisingly high win rate in a mostly 75% meta and I find the chaos of it amusing to say the least. With the reveal of Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion, however, my resolve is a little shaken. I think he might be able to do some real work, more so than my current Etali deck and I am looking to get some opinions on the matter. All in all, if I decided to try out Neheb in place of Etali, it wouldn't be a very expensive change to the current deck. Ok, now for pros and cons I can conceive.
Neheb, Dreadhorde General
-----------------------------
+ Drops dead cards quickly
+ Ramps us (which is incredibly good in red)
+ Relies on HIS deck and is therefore more likely to be consistent
- Does not guarantee casts
- On hit trigger is much worse than on attack
- Is not an elder dinosaur
Etali, Primal Rage
---------------------
+ On attack trigger means we don't need to worry about connecting
+ Takes from everyone, potentially high power cards
- Higher CMC means harder to recast late game
- Incredibly "RNG"
- Is not a zombie minotaur warrior
I'll address the obvious real quick and point out that either of these cards can go into the other deck (though I feel Etali would be better off in Neheb than the other way around) but what I'm worried about is who I want in the command zone. I know it's early into spoilers and we haven't really seen much of our favorite undead minotaur but what do you guys think? Is Etali's brute force enough to make due without Neheb's card selection and ramp? I would love to hear your opinions more than you know! Thank you for any and all comments!
by the way, library of leng allows you to pitch your hand of say 7 mana, then aggravated assault and continue to sculpt your hand until you find that combo-kill, while gaining mana, and dealing damage to the table. that dinosaur doesn't let you do that.
Neheb, Dreadhorde General
-----------------------------
+ Drops dead cards quickly
+ Ramps us (which is incredibly good in red)
+ Relies on HIS deck and is therefore more likely to be consistent
- Does not guarantee casts
- On hit trigger is much worse than on attack
- Is not an elder dinosaur
Etali, Primal Rage
---------------------
+ On attack trigger means we don't need to worry about connecting
+ Takes from everyone, potentially high power cards
- Higher CMC means harder to recast late game
- Incredibly "RNG"
- Is not a zombie minotaur warrior
I'll address the obvious real quick and point out that either of these cards can go into the other deck (though I feel Etali would be better off in Neheb than the other way around) but what I'm worried about is who I want in the command zone. I know it's early into spoilers and we haven't really seen much of our favorite undead minotaur but what do you guys think? Is Etali's brute force enough to make due without Neheb's card selection and ramp? I would love to hear your opinions more than you know! Thank you for any and all comments!
Card filtering and mana ramp accessible at all times? Sign me up.
My Etali is so focused on additional combat steps and value that I don't know if I could simply switch out for Neheb and have it run similarly. Yeah, Neheb wants additional combat steps as well, but nothing feels as good as flipping an Eldrazi off the top of the deck.
I would probably put both of them in a Neheb Eternal deck with Sneak Attack and some fun ways to use them that way.
Neheb seems more tame and less explosive than etali. The mana can be scary, but multiple free cards seems to be scarier.
Using him as a commander means there will be little consistancy to really utilize him to his fullest potential. He probably fits best in a multicolored casual reanimator deck so they can have a mid-to-early game play that still helps the deck function.
I will although still test him in my Chandra storm deck. The deck is fun and chaotic, but hardly consistent. Having a pseudo frantic search variant in the command zone can help the deck fill the 'yard for mizzix's mastery and past in flames lines.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
by the way, library of leng allows you to pitch your hand of say 7 mana, then aggravated assault and continue to sculpt your hand until you find that combo-kill, while gaining mana, and dealing damage to the table. that dinosaur doesn't let you do that.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom