MTG Salvation

Hi, I've been lurking around these parts for over 10 years but never had anything to contribute, until today : here's the Saffi deck I've been working on and testing in the last few weeks. This is a combo deck that relies on Saffi Eriksdotter's interaction with Karmic Guide, Reveillark and/or Sun Titan, which creates a loop when used with a sacrifice outlet. The deck also sports some 2-card "insta-win" combos like Earthcraft/Squirrel Nest and Spike Feeder/Archangel of Thune for alternate wincons in case of matchups like Anafenza, the Foremost.



I'm looking for suggestions to possibly improve the deck. It's somewhat capable of competing with the best decks out there, but it's just a bit under the performance of the best ones, because comboing out needs a lot of good conditions to be right.

The deck goes off once you get Saffi, a resurrector and a sac outlet on board. When you do, you can abuse your sac outlet and very often win on the spot, depending on which sac outlet and which resurrector you happen to have. Altar of Dementia is complete deck mill, Blasting Station is infinite damage, and so on. Many less obvious ways to win on the spot are are available depending on your board state.

Some of those less obvious card choices include Carven Caryatid and the like; they give some cheap card draw, some protection against aggro heavy decks and a way to draw your entire deck when you have the reveillark/saffi/sac engine going. Mirror Entity can win pretty fast on beatdown alone, but has the possibility of placing unrestricted amounts of triggers for x=0 on the stack to kill your board multiple times and respond to them with saffi for an unorthodox way to start the Saffi Eriksdotter/Reveillark engine. It is legal to use Demonmail Hauberk to sac what you are targeting since costs are paid after targets are declared; this allows for Demonmail Hauberk to be used as a sac outlet, and is tutorable with Steelshaper's Gift/Stoneforge Mystic. Wall of Roots can be used for infinite green mana with the saffi/reveillark engine since each time it comes back, it counts as another instance of the card and the "once per turn" restriction doesn't apply.

If you have any questions and suggestions about card choices, ask away! I'll be glad to keep this post updated and answer any comment about the deck.

P.S. Thanks to Tiger Tanaka and his Asmira, Holy Avenger decklist, which served as the basis for this deck.

Archangel also likes kitchen finks and a sac outlet. Finks are pretty good on their own against aggro.

Quote from HansonWK »

Cool list, I've seen a couple similar lists in multiplayer. Have a look at spastika's [url=http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/forum-1-vs-1-commander-decklists/563354-selvala-combo-wombo]

I'd add acidic slime for the Mirror Entity/Revelark combo, its blows up all your opponents permanents. Eternal Witness is also definitely worth adding.

Fiend Hunter and Banisher Priest both can combo with a sac outlet and sun titan/saff/karmicguide. Both are pretty solid on their own. Angel of Glories Rise is another combo piece, though probably too expensive.

Birthpod probably deserve a spot in the list, it can provide some insane value and tutor for whichever creature you need.

You have way too many sac outlets. I would cut Demonmail, Spawning Pit and Mortarpod for sure. Probably cut one of the Alter's too.

And just a note, neither the Earthcraft nor Archangel combo's are 'Insta-Win' in this format. Earthcraft requires haste or to wait a turn, Archangle still loses to other combo's.

-i will consider acidic slime
-i cut witness because it wasn't helpful most of the time, but i'm on the fence about it
-fiend hunter is in, banisher priest doesn't work because it can only target opponent's creatures
-birthing pod IS in, it allows me usually to win on the spot when i pod academy rector
-if anything, i feel sometimes that i have too few sac outlets, but i have every possible free sac outlet. Sometimes i get stuck with mortarpod(which is sometimes useful, most often annoying). Thing is, i absolutely need to be able to hit sac outlets every game, otherwise the deck just does a whole lot of nothing. It's mandatory.

Quote from frasmage »

Archangel also likes kitchen finks and a sac outlet. Finks are pretty good on their own against aggro.

Kitchen finks annoys me a little because i can't bring it back with reveillark. Otherwise, archangel of thune is only there for spike feeder purposes in case of matchups where i can't use my graveyard. Kitchen finks wouldn't help there.


Thanks for the suggestions, keep'em coming!

Hmm.... Anyone know if it's possible to get the loop going with Grafted Wargear?

Deck update:

-Dosan, The Falling Leaf
-Grand Abolisher
-Mortarpod

+Acidic Slime
+Eternal Witness
+Grafted Wargear

Took out the anti-counter cards, might as well be playing more threats instead. Mortarpod was underperforming because it required mana, switched it out for Grafted Wargear instead because you can actually get the loops going with it by equipping it to a ressurector, switch it to saffi and sac saffi to resurrect the resurrector in response to the unattach trigger. I've been liking acidic slime and eternal witness so far, especially acidic slime with the reveillark loop.

Considering making space for Triskelion, as it could be a straight finisher with the Reveillark loop, and tutorable with Fierce Empath. It's really unfortunate that i can't kill itself AND Reveillark with its damage, because that would be creature-only loop in and of itself

This is a sweet deck, I'm glad you posted it. :]

I really think that you should consider Joraga Treespeaker; it can be a Worn Powerstone by turn 2 and is one of the more powerful dorks in the format.

Since you're playing all the tutors already (which is awesome), you could possibly cut some of the more expensive redundant effects (such as Caryatid or Yavimaya Dryad, since you already have two Walls and two Wood Elves) in order to smooth things out. Also, if you wanted you could increase focus on Survival of the Fittest and include something big and scary (like Elesh Norn, who also might not be bad on her own with all that ramp) which you can pitch to find Karmic Guide and have an easy target for her.

I wish there were more (and better) free sac outlets in these colors. :< Either way, super cool deck; excellent work. Hopefully I can see more of it in action on Cockatrice. Best of luck!

Cool deck. I also have a Saffi Combo deck. My deck is designed for multiplayer, so it has some cards that would be banned in french. I still have to update it as I've made some changes to make the deck faster. Feel free to look at it for ideas until I update it, which should be soon. I've noticed you have a lot of sac outlets. Most of them aren't good. In my deck every card is good on it's own and synergizes with something. My deck is very synergistic. I would take out any sac outlets that don't win you the game with the saffi combo. I'd take out greater good, as you don't have very many 4 power creatures. With all of your elves I'd suggest craterhoof. Your deck seems to have more combo pieces than my deck, but my deck has several different ways it can win. Also I know it's expensive, but getting Gaea's cradle will really help your deck. I would add Lotus cobra, with the fetches it's insane.

I guess I didn't explain it, but Greater Good is a wincon if you have either the Reveillark or Karmic Guide loop going. You sac Saffi Eriksdotter on the resurrector and sac it to greater good, rinse and repeat until you get Karmic Guide/Reveillark(whichever one you don't have on board), Sun Titan and Blasting Station in the graveyard. Get Reveillark in play, sac it to bring back Saffi Eriksdotter and Karmic Guide which brings back Sun Titan which brings back Blasting Station for infinite damage. This implies a risk though, because if you're really unlucky and one of those cards is in the last few cards of your library, you run the risk of decking yourself if you're trying to win on the spot. On that note, Academy Rector is an absolute powerhouse that makes Birthing Pod win on its own, as it pods into Karmic Guide/Reveillark AND fetches Greater Good at the same time.

As I've already said, this is a combo deck that relies exclusively on Saffi/resurrector/sac outlet loops. Removing any sac outlet means running the risk of not getting either a sac outlet or a tutor for one in a game. This can't happen otherwise the deck falls apart. The deck doesn't produce the mana necessary for craterhoof behemoth so there's no point in including it; games are usually over before I get above 7 mana. Cradle would probably be great though, I always have a ton of little critters on board. Although that probably implies that I need to run crop rotation/sylvan scrying/expedition map/Knight of the Reliquary for more consistency. At that point, might as well run Cavern of Souls too.

Also,

-Path to Exile
+Song of the Dryads

Hey, we had some good matches vs my grenzo deck. Very solid deck, some really creative interactions you have found. She was going to be a project I was going to start soon, but you are light years ahead of me and have found some things I probably would never have thought of.

Could due with a bit more removal though, like Council's Judgment, journey to nowhere, path to exile are some staples that come to mind. Removal is all ways good, and if you have a slow hand, or your against a faster deck it can buy you the time you need. And cavern is an absolute must have land tutors or not, without counters or hand destruction you are very very vulnerable to blue, on that note some tech like defense grid and city of solitude would also help. Your colors also has all of the grave hate enchantments you should at least run wheel of sun and moon as it is one that won't shut down your grave, it even shuts down grenzo(who can sneak stuff past rip and leyline), and of course Iname Combo which would be a nightmare match for you.

Note to self: need to include Pattern of Rebirth, I can't believe I didn't think of that before, just put it on saffi and sac it to fetch karmic guide which brings back saffi!

edit: Holy damn, Pattern of Rebirth is awesome! With Academy Rector it's even more retarded

-Acidic Slime (costs too much to cast, and unnecessary with the reveillark/saffi engine, really)
+Pattern of Rebirth

I've been toying with the idea of removing Spike Feeder/Archangel of Thune. That combo was in for dealing with matchups that neutered the graveyard, namely Anafenza, the Foremost, but it's not that powerful a combo as it takes two turns to set up and is easily disruptable. I also seem to have a lot more trouble with control matchups in general so I'm looking for answers to control. Stuff like Voice of Resurgence, perhaps? Cavern of Souls? Suggestions are very welcome.

little update, i've taken out spike feeder and archangel of thune for Boonweaver Giant and Auratouched Mage for some testing, both of which can fetch Pattern of Rebirth and allow me to win on the spot with a sac outlet. I've been satisfied so far. To cover more for bad matchups like Anafenza, The Foremost, I took out Fierce Empath, which is slow, for Banisher Priest.

Another card i've realized existed lately is Timely Hordemate, another one that can get the Saffi loop going. Need to make space for that. Sterling Grove, perhaps?

-Spike Feeder
-Archangel of Thune
-Fierce Empath
+Auratouched Mage
+Boonweaver Giant
+Banisher Priest