What are your thoughts on Chimney Imp? It's kind of a mean card, but has the capability to really screw over your opponent(s) as long has they don't happen to have extra card draw.
What are your thoughts on Chimney Imp? It's kind of a mean card, but has the capability to really screw over your opponent(s) as long has they don't happen to have extra card draw.
It's a mean card. That's exactly it. It falls into the same boat as Noxious Toad in that it will just make people loathe you (although it's not quite as evil), and I don't want anyone to feel like that - this deck should be almost as fun to play against as it is to play with, and the "Oh man, you're playing Chimney Imp?" factor will soon wear off. But in pure power level terms, it's not too shabby. If you were making the meaner version of the deck, with a Stax package and much more discard, I'd probably slip it in somewhere.
It can be a mean card. If it is in your deck it can be mean, or you can counter card draw with it. Depends on how you play it. Same as noxious toad. It can get really mean if that's the way you want to go.....
Absolutely. All four of mine are, unfortunately, otherwised engaged in UB poison (where they are nuts, by the way). I really should find a fifth somewhere.
I am working on getting my own Shirei deck built, based largely off this list (thank for the inspirado).
What do you think of Diamond Valley? Considering that i have all three lands, would you run it? Would you run it with Miren, The Moaning WellandHigh Market or not at all? It doesn't tap for mana, so it seems like at times it might be dead weight, but do you feel that might be outweighed by being a uncounterable and (as my playground tend to be light on land destruction) pretty resistant to removal. I notice you do not run it in either of your decks, i was not sure if this was due to not owning any, or because you found it unnecessary.
Thanks for any insight!
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"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I am working on getting my own Shirei deck built, based largely off this list (thank for the inspirado).
What do you think of Diamond Valley? Considering that i have all three lands, would you run it? Would you run it with Miren, The Moaning WellandHigh Market or not at all? It doesn't tap for mana, so it seems like at times it might be dead weight, but do you feel that might be outweighed by being a uncounterable and (as my playground tend to be light on land destruction) pretty resistant to removal. I notice you do not run it in either of your decks, i was not sure if this was due to not owning any, or because you found it unnecessary.
Thanks for any insight!
I generally hold a dim view of lands that don't tap for mana in Commander. That said, the particular problem with Diamond Valley is that if you aren't using it as a mana source as well, then there are much better cards you could be running just to sacrifice creatures (Carrion Feeder, for example). I don't think you can expect Urborg to be around enough for it to be worthwhile, especially given that I don't find myself having to resort to my land sac outlets all that often anyway (except in cases where I actually want to, like Phyrexian Tower).
Right. I've let this thread go a bit, so I rebuilt the list from my physical deck as it stands now. Furthermore, I've started the foiling process, so excuse the annotations.
I still feel like this deck could do with more mana generation, but I can't think of good ways to do so without including Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun, which create obvious problems. Extraplanar Lens is really bad with so many utility lands (as is Gauntlet, for that matter).
with you running the artifact recursion in retriever and diver you could try out armillory sphere. it's good land pull and gives you a fairly decent target for diver/retriever recursion.
there is also journeyer's kite. my brother has been experimenting with theese and walking atlas. im pretty sure i saw pilgrim's eye in your list. and there is always black market and altar of shadows allthough the altar is expensive and takes quite a while to get going.probably not worth the slot, but my brother has been eying it for a while.....the only other suggestion i have for your deck at this point is junktroller. it is very versatile for gy hating your opponents and shuffling your tutors, enchantments, and land back from the yard.
edit: see you are running black market and pilgrim's eye.
on a seperate note, shirei does tend to grind out games to win, but you can supplement this with a bit of combo, thornbite staff could really help this deck win. combo's silly with avatar, caretaker, queen, and triskellion. i would replace the triskelavus with triskelion. i'm not sure how big of a fan of combo you are, but adding a one card combo to the deck might help.
i dont know if this counts as a double post, as it's been 12 days since the last post but, what do you think about reaper from the abyss? seems busted with shirei.
i dont know if this counts as a double post, as it's been 12 days since the last post but, what do you think about reaper from the abyss? seems busted with shirei.
Reaper does seem like it would be very strong in Shirei, but usually (in my build at least), killing creatures is not that difficult at all, considering all the recurring Bone Shredder and Grave Pact effects. Actually, the Reaper (and other morbid cards) fits perfectly in another mono-black Commander deck - Lim-Dul the Necromancer. So much so, in fact, that I might just have to build that guy. What a synergistic boost!
When I look at the Innistrad list so far, I'm looking for 1-power guys, and so far we have 2 possible contenders for spots in the list: Skirsdag High Priest and Creepy Doll. Both have pretty strong effects, but I don't know who'd I remove to include either of these 2. The Priest does seem like he could really start cranking out 5/5's with the Shirei engine running. And Shirei could really use another win-con or 2. Hmmmm....
viperesque
I was looking through your deck and it inspired me to make one of my own design which I will post when I have time, but unfortunately I have very few of the cards, but I had some question about your card suggestions:
I don't know if anyone has said this and if they have I apologize, but have you considered Meekstone, and maybe Blasting Station. I'm thinking they aren't there because you can kill creatures very easily, and Blasting Station is very ineffective. What are your thoughts?
viperesque
I was looking through your deck and it inspired me to make one of my own design which I will post when I have time, but unfortunately I have very few of the cards, but I had some question about your card suggestions:
I don't know if anyone has said this and if they have I apologize, but have you considered Meekstone, and maybe Blasting Station. I'm thinking they aren't there because you can kill creatures very easily, and Blasting Station is very ineffective. What are your thoughts?
EDIT: Also Phyrexian Tribute?
Always good to see more people making this deck. As to the cards: Meekstone is a bit rude for what I'm trying to achieve with this deck - I play it in the more cutthroat version. Blasting Station and Tribute just don't seem powerful enough.
I have a question regarding the playstyle. Do you just build up your little dudes until Shirei comes out even if he doesn't have protection. Or do you start sacrificing little dudes right away? I mean I understand the need to not wait if there is a major obstacle early on in the game.
Also what do you think of Black Sun Zenith as a cheaper alternative to Damnation? I completely understand why you want Damnation if you have Darksteel Plate Out, but other than this what seems to me a rare occurrence does it really matter? Can you also exchange Gilded Lotus for Extraplanar Lens if you have a slightly concentration of swamps (say 23 out of 38)?
Can you post a more cutthroat version of this deck at some point xD? I looked at the other ones in the EDH database, but yours seems to be the most balanced and not too creature obsessed.
Sorry to bug with all the questions, but thanks for all the help. :<
I have a question regarding the playstyle. Do you just build up your little dudes until Shirei comes out even if he doesn't have protection. Or do you start sacrificing little dudes right away? I mean I understand the need to not wait if there is a major obstacle early on in the game.
I'll only sacrifice dudes without Shirei being around if there's a pressing need to or there is great advantage in doing so (say, so I can cast Diabolic Intent). But 'build up' is probably not the best way to put it. I rarely want to have more than two one-power creatures on the field at the same time, at least until the late game when everyone else has worn themselves out. It's vital not to overextend - much better to sit and bide your time, and make sure that you have plenty more to do once Shirei dies.
Also what do you think of Black Sun Zenith as a cheaper alternative to Damnation? I completely understand why you want Damnation if you have Darksteel Plate Out, but other than this what seems to me a rare occurrence does it really matter?
It's fine, but I prefer Damnation simply because it's less fussy. BSZ gets expensive fast against green fatty decks.
Can you also exchange Gilded Lotus for Extraplanar Lens if you have a slightly concentration of swamps (say 23 out of 38)?
I really hate running Extraplanar Lens with any significant concentration of nonbasics, but I don't see why not. I'm using this deck as an excuse to run all the utility lands I can pack in because it's a monocolour deck that can't run Gauntlet or Caged Sun, and thus is one of the very rare decks that doesn't mind too much about running so many.
Can you post a more cutthroat version of this deck at some point xD? I looked at the other ones in the EDH database, but yours seems to be the most balanced and not too creature obsessed.
I'm going to try and work my artifact list over into a non-artifact-focused, far more irritating list at some point. Keep an eye out.
I can't believe that no one has said anything about Lightning Coils. That card has won me so many games with my Shirei deck. I tutor for it all the time.
Triskelion is always a house in my deck as well as Soldevi Adnate and Priest of Yawgmoth (I have more artifacts though). Thronbite Staff on the Soldevi Adnate lets you sac all your guys for mana. Thornbite Staff on Hell's Caretaker = lots of fun on your upkeep because you sac untap and then can keep sacraficing the same guy over and over and bringing him back into play.
Any recent updates to this list, Viper? And how has your Disciple of the Vault experiment panned out? I've been somewhat interested in Shirei recently :).
Emmara is like the worst parts of Legends and Homelands got pregnant, aborted the fetus, tossed it in the trashcan, set it on fire and wrapped the corpse in a Dragon's Maze pack wrapper.
Any recent updates to this list, viper? And how has your Disciple of the Vault experiment panned out? I've been somewhat interested in Shirei recently :).
I don't think anything in Innistrad is worth including. That said, the Lightning Coils idea above is a really good one, and I think I'm going to have to give it a try. I'm probably going to go ahead and provisionally cut Malevolant Awakening for it.
The artifact version feels a bit wishy washy and diluted. I'm not a fan. Bear with me for a few weeks until real life gets less busy, though - I'm going to change it up some more by cutting the artifact focus and putting in more cutthroat cards. The focus of this build of the deck has always been to keep people sweet, so I'm curious as to what will happen when I abandon that and make an 'optimised' list.
The artifact version feels a bit wishy washy and diluted. I'm not a fan. Bear with me for a few weeks until real life gets less busy, though - I'm going to change it up some more by cutting the artifact focus and putting in more cutthroat cards. The focus of this build of the deck has always been to keep people sweet, so I'm curious as to what will happen when I abandon that and make an 'optimised' list.
You, sir, are correct.
Edit: Just found out I actually got one at pre-release. Lol. Totally did not realize that.
Pauper - 450
EDH
B Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
Pauper - 450
EDH
B Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
It's a mean card. That's exactly it. It falls into the same boat as Noxious Toad in that it will just make people loathe you (although it's not quite as evil), and I don't want anyone to feel like that - this deck should be almost as fun to play against as it is to play with, and the "Oh man, you're playing Chimney Imp?" factor will soon wear off. But in pure power level terms, it's not too shabby. If you were making the meaner version of the deck, with a Stax package and much more discard, I'd probably slip it in somewhere.
Pauper - 450
EDH
B Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
What do you think of Diamond Valley? Considering that i have all three lands, would you run it? Would you run it with Miren, The Moaning Well and High Market or not at all? It doesn't tap for mana, so it seems like at times it might be dead weight, but do you feel that might be outweighed by being a uncounterable and (as my playground tend to be light on land destruction) pretty resistant to removal. I notice you do not run it in either of your decks, i was not sure if this was due to not owning any, or because you found it unnecessary.
Thanks for any insight!
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I generally hold a dim view of lands that don't tap for mana in Commander. That said, the particular problem with Diamond Valley is that if you aren't using it as a mana source as well, then there are much better cards you could be running just to sacrifice creatures (Carrion Feeder, for example). I don't think you can expect Urborg to be around enough for it to be worthwhile, especially given that I don't find myself having to resort to my land sac outlets all that often anyway (except in cases where I actually want to, like Phyrexian Tower).
I still feel like this deck could do with more mana generation, but I can't think of good ways to do so without including Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun, which create obvious problems. Extraplanar Lens is really bad with so many utility lands (as is Gauntlet, for that matter).
there is also journeyer's kite. my brother has been experimenting with theese and walking atlas. im pretty sure i saw pilgrim's eye in your list. and there is always black market and altar of shadows allthough the altar is expensive and takes quite a while to get going.probably not worth the slot, but my brother has been eying it for a while.....the only other suggestion i have for your deck at this point is junktroller. it is very versatile for gy hating your opponents and shuffling your tutors, enchantments, and land back from the yard.
edit: see you are running black market and pilgrim's eye.
on a seperate note, shirei does tend to grind out games to win, but you can supplement this with a bit of combo, thornbite staff could really help this deck win. combo's silly with avatar, caretaker, queen, and triskellion. i would replace the triskelavus with triskelion. i'm not sure how big of a fan of combo you are, but adding a one card combo to the deck might help.
Reaper does seem like it would be very strong in Shirei, but usually (in my build at least), killing creatures is not that difficult at all, considering all the recurring Bone Shredder and Grave Pact effects. Actually, the Reaper (and other morbid cards) fits perfectly in another mono-black Commander deck - Lim-Dul the Necromancer. So much so, in fact, that I might just have to build that guy. What a synergistic boost!
When I look at the Innistrad list so far, I'm looking for 1-power guys, and so far we have 2 possible contenders for spots in the list: Skirsdag High Priest and Creepy Doll. Both have pretty strong effects, but I don't know who'd I remove to include either of these 2. The Priest does seem like he could really start cranking out 5/5's with the Shirei engine running. And Shirei could really use another win-con or 2. Hmmmm....
I was looking through your deck and it inspired me to make one of my own design which I will post when I have time, but unfortunately I have very few of the cards, but I had some question about your card suggestions:
I don't know if anyone has said this and if they have I apologize, but have you considered Meekstone, and maybe Blasting Station. I'm thinking they aren't there because you can kill creatures very easily, and Blasting Station is very ineffective. What are your thoughts?
EDIT: Also Phyrexian Tribute?
Always good to see more people making this deck. As to the cards: Meekstone is a bit rude for what I'm trying to achieve with this deck - I play it in the more cutthroat version. Blasting Station and Tribute just don't seem powerful enough.
Also what do you think of Black Sun Zenith as a cheaper alternative to Damnation? I completely understand why you want Damnation if you have Darksteel Plate Out, but other than this what seems to me a rare occurrence does it really matter? Can you also exchange Gilded Lotus for Extraplanar Lens if you have a slightly concentration of swamps (say 23 out of 38)?
Can you post a more cutthroat version of this deck at some point xD? I looked at the other ones in the EDH database, but yours seems to be the most balanced and not too creature obsessed.
Sorry to bug with all the questions, but thanks for all the help. :<
It's fine, but I prefer Damnation simply because it's less fussy. BSZ gets expensive fast against green fatty decks.
I really hate running Extraplanar Lens with any significant concentration of nonbasics, but I don't see why not. I'm using this deck as an excuse to run all the utility lands I can pack in because it's a monocolour deck that can't run Gauntlet or Caged Sun, and thus is one of the very rare decks that doesn't mind too much about running so many.
I'm going to try and work my artifact list over into a non-artifact-focused, far more irritating list at some point. Keep an eye out.
Triskelion is always a house in my deck as well as Soldevi Adnate and Priest of Yawgmoth (I have more artifacts though). Thronbite Staff on the Soldevi Adnate lets you sac all your guys for mana. Thornbite Staff on Hell's Caretaker = lots of fun on your upkeep because you sac untap and then can keep sacraficing the same guy over and over and bringing him back into play.
My removal package also includes the above mentioned Triskelion, Phyrexian Plaguelord, gravepact, Big Game Hunter,and Abyssal Gatekeeper in my deck.
Sorry if this has already been mentioned but Dust Bowl + Mana Land = you don't lose a land and get rid of a problem.
I love playing Shirei.
My Articles on CommanderCast
My Alters
Generals:
Arcum Dagsson, Asmira, Holy Avenger, Dakkon Blackblade, Doran, the Siege Tower, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Horobi, Death's Wail , Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Rhys, the Redeemed, Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, Vorosh, the Hunter, Zur the Enchanter (Geratric Themed)
My Sideboard Plans:
(I know some of the cards are mean, but this is just for mine.)
I was thinking for my deck:
Sheoldred, Whispering One + Grave Pact + Butcher of Malakir + Abyssal Gatekeeper = Sacrificing brokenness.
Bitterheart Witch
Brain Weevil
Creepy Doll
Disciple of Griselbrand
Skirsdag High Priest
Pauper - 450
EDH
B Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
I don't think anything in Innistrad is worth including. That said, the Lightning Coils idea above is a really good one, and I think I'm going to have to give it a try. I'm probably going to go ahead and provisionally cut Malevolant Awakening for it.
The artifact version feels a bit wishy washy and diluted. I'm not a fan. Bear with me for a few weeks until real life gets less busy, though - I'm going to change it up some more by cutting the artifact focus and putting in more cutthroat cards. The focus of this build of the deck has always been to keep people sweet, so I'm curious as to what will happen when I abandon that and make an 'optimised' list.
Aww, I liked the artifact version of Shirei.
Thinking I'd like to find room for Necroskitter & Plagued Rusalka which would then lead me to Mutilate & Black Sun's Zenith.
There's nothing I'd change, but depending on how competitive your meta is, Khabal Ghoul and Scavenger Drake might be good fatties.
You're missing Abyssal Gatekeeper.
Your decks are usually near perfect though D:
My Decks:
:symr::symr::symr: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker :symr::symr::symr:
:symb::symb::symb: Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker :symb::symb::symb: