awesome design, awesome flavor, and perfect for multiplayer. I've tried my best to design this for a multiplayer game, so you might notice some unusual decisions. I'll do my best to explain the weird ones.
10/25
removed:
1 golgari thug
1 diabolic tutor
1 necrogen spellbomb
1 aeolipile
1 grasp of darkness
1 naturalize
1 insidious dreams
added:
1 genesis
1 buried alive
1 phyrexian arena
1 underworld connection
1 vraska the unseen
1 abrupt decay
1 Survival of the Fittest
The concept of the deck is to use glissa, removal, and the near constant death of creatures in a multiplayer game to get massive card advantage, without worrying anyone unduly, since it's mostly in the form of eggs (cheap, cantripping artifacts). this lets you dig deeper for more removal and hit your snazzy wincons. The low cost of most of your removal protects you from combos, and along with glissa and your low board presence is a great deterrent from attack.
As far as the wincons, there's a few ways to poison for the win, especially easy with the pike which can be a gigantic power boost and also works well with general damage. graverobber also works to steal all your opponents' big fatties you've diligently killed all game, totem works with big mana to steal them straight off the field, and sorin of course does nasty damage to make lethal easy.
I left out a few "auto-includes" for glissa, like viridian longbow, thornbite staff, executioner's capsule, disk, etc. My reasoning for this is that typically those cards in combo with glissa will turn the entire table against you, and the deck doesn't really have the wincons to win against an entire table most of the time. I left in o-stone since constant wipes can win some games, but it should still be recurred infrequently or not at all, or you'll probably send everyone into red alert and you'll get beat down. the deck works best when it's being mostly ignored.
things i need help with:
mostly the mana base. it's hideous beyond all reason. I'm terribly at cutting utility lands, though. any ideas for lands i should cut? i'd like more basics to avoid hate and synergize with fetches + lftl.
I see you have Oblivion Stone. One other "fair" option that you can be political with is Plague Boiler. I've had good success with the Boiler in my own deck to good success.
I see you have Oblivion Stone. One other "fair" option that you can be political with is Plague Boiler. I've had good success with the Boiler in my own deck to good success.
I considered it, and decided I'd probably only run one or the other. O-stone has the advantage of being cheaper to use most of the time, and being more reliable (plague boiler fails to artifact removal), and having the option to preserve permanents with counters. plague boiler has the advantage of being less likely to draw hate.
I guess I'll consider switching to plague boiler if o-stone draws too much hate, but I need to be able to use the effect repeatedly.
updated. managed to squeeze 10 basic lands up there.
-coffers because it was useless without urborg.
-removed urborg because it wasn't necessary without coffers.
-removed okina because i just never use the effect.
-removed tree of tales and vault of whispers because I think the tradeoffs favor basics.
-removed reliquary tower because i'll have most of my cheap artifacts on the field at eot.
-removed centaur garden because it doesn't seem worth it often enough.
-removed bojuka bog because I've got plenty of gy hate already.
still looking for extra slots, though. 2 color manabases are a B.
This is my mana base from my multiplayer glissa deck:
Fetches: I also run crucible of worlds in the deck so these help make sure i hit a land drop every turn
Non-Basic mana producer:
1x Bayou
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Twilight Mire
1x Command Tower
1x Bojuka Bog (graveyard hate)
1x Mosswort Bridge
1x Forbidden Orchard (helps with mindslaver lock with glissa out)
1x Gaea's Cradle
Basics:
5x Swamp
10x Forest
Utility:
1x Strip Mine (gotta have it for those pesky nonbasics)
1x Volrath's Stronghold (creature recursion is sweet)
1x Homeward Path (I hate when people steal my creatures)
1x Phyrexian Tower (nice sack outlet with mana production attached to it)
Coffers package: with primeval titan in the deck and the other tutors black offers getting coffer/urborg online isn't hard at all
1x Vesuva (also works as a legendary land killer)
1x Deserted Temple
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cabal Coffers
yeah, crucible probably makes sense in my deck too, I like lftl more (probably more on principle than anything else, but it's also cool to mill into artifacts) but if I free up some space I might give it a try.
stomping ground seems like an unusual choice. I hadn't considered splashing red since it's illegal, but maybe the advantages outweigh the downsides (psst, it's wooded foothills :P)
don't like woodland cemetary? seems like, especially with 15 basics + 7 fetches + 2 duals it's almost commander tower.
llanowar wastes i'll probably cut now that my basic count is climbing.
homeward path, cradle, and mosswort bridge don't make as much sense for my deck because of the low creature count.
i run the cycling lands because of their interaction with lftl. I can see cutting them if I feel like my mana is already too preoccupied with artifact shenans to use the lftl engine often, but then again they protect lftl, which in turn protects VS, tower, and strip mine which are all pretty important, and the engine generates graveyard love like crazy.
inkmoth i'm considering cutting, it's a potential surprise gg with the lance, though.
urborg (old one) is questionable but the downside is so small and I love that it means glissa wins against other first-strikers. If I was short on basics for fetches I'd maybe cut it, with since my basic numbers are decent now I'll probably leave it in since it's practically a swamp.
lodge is basically vigilance for glissa - maybe unnecessary? But it does make it easier to get some damage in earlier without opening myself up, which makes late-game easier and/or generates some creature death.
high market could conceivably be cut, I'm running it mostly to dodge exile effects on my wincons. the colorlessness does sort of suck about it, and i can kill my own critters in a pinch.
surprised you're not running yavimaya hollow, though, that seems like the best green utility land i can think of. protection from a lot of removal, and very nasty with o-stone or deed.
cabal pit i'll go ahead and cut. it seems really cool, but then I guess trading a land in play for an artifact in my grave is a pretty mediocre trade for 2 mana. it seemed cool with lftl but without any land ramp it's probably not worth trading the speed. and the pain seems annoying.
You should try Hermit Druid. It guarantees a land drop, and with Glissa you can draw the milled artifacts for maximum profit. Together with LftL you'll have a more than decent chance to have a land drop every turn. If you don't like Hermit Druid or are afraid it'll draw too much attention, you could do the same with dredge (but not nearly as effective). A deck like this is about steady card advantage.
You might want to bump the number of artifact creatures as well, as those can provide a steady stream of pressure. Wurmcoil Engine is good because it'll let you gain life and provides blockers after a sweep, Steel Hellkite is good because it can trigger Glissa. I like Duplicant because it can handle a lot of creatures. I like Hex Parasite because it can, well, prevent a lot of awkward situations (not to mention that it enables persist), but I think I like Sylvok Replica and Moriok Replica the most. These cards are inconspicuous and cheap. But if you're not running Executioner's Capsule because you're afraid you get piled on... you might want to stay away from those. Still, you need something to recur, and if it's not this goodness then perhaps try something like Memory Jar or Jester's Cap
A nice trick with artifact creatures is that you can fuel Survival of the Fittest with them (in the absence of Squee). I guess you don't have SotF or you'd run it. Tortured Existence is a card that does something similar, but it's a budget card. You can recur your non-artifact creatures with it, and when you return the artifact creatures you dumped in your yard with Glissa-triggers you'll gain massive card advantage. You could switch some of your targeted removal to Boneshredder and Shriekmaw to up your creature count. As a coincidence, both cards are great with Nim Deathmantle and can carry your pike.
About your mana base... well, your mana curve is low, but 36 lands is greedy. You're not running any mana ramp besides three rocks and Wayfarer's Bauble, although in your defense you are running quite some cantrips. The solution would be to run a little more mana ramp, something like Horizon Spellbomb (why aren't you running it anyway?), and if you're doing the Tortured Existence thing try Yavimaya Elder and Sakura-tribe Elder. Or you could just run two more lands. I don't think a land would be worse than your Mox Opal anyway (it's less likely to make you a target as well). If you're wondering what to cut... tutoring is nice, but EDH is about randomness. Do you really need all those tutors?
As a closing thought: do you feel your targeted removal is helping you more than some sweepers would? Powder Keg or Ratchet Bomb are pretty sweet, especially when there's a token deck around (read: always).
I realized something about how I want this deck (and a lot of my decks, really) to play. I want this deck to play like a fly on the wall - it's there, observing, but no one really notices it for the most part. It can sit back and enjoy watching things getting completely crazy, then once things have started to wind down, it swoops in and unleashes hot spicy death. that last part is probably stretching the fly metaphor a bit, but you get the idea. I want games to go long, I don't want to be the center of attention, and I want to win decisively but fairly.
So hopefully that will explain some of the seemingly bad decisions I'm about to try to justify.
How about replacing your nim deathmantle with a mimic vat You dont have that much creatures to recure and you are killing a lot.
they fill different roles; deathmantle is about protection, and also about evasion and pump for my general/skittles. none of my creatures except fleshbag have an etb effect, so it's not really about triggers, mostly it's a cheap way to protect my creatures immediately (greaves, for example, fails against instant-speed removal where deathmantle works fine, not to mention wipes) and the boost and evasion are significant too, and being an artifact is gravy.
mimic vat is a different role, a more aggressive one. My biggest concern with it is that it's a card that makes people notice you. If someone's holding back their titan because they don't want you abusing it, they're probably going to focus on either killing you, or at least killing your artifact, so they can proceed with their plans. and since glissa means the artifact keeps coming back, they'll probably opt to kill you. it's strong, but it draws attention.
Of course, if fatties are already on the field and you've got removal, it's great to beat some face with, but then again this deck is not stellar at finishing the game with constant pressure...it's more about control and being ignored until the end, then landing a killing blow with one of the wincons. For that reason I'm not thrilled about using bomby cards that won't simply win the game, because if I start drawing the ire of the table too soon, glissa's probably going to get killed, and then my CA will be crap and my removal will quickly run out against the entire table.
You should try Hermit Druid. It guarantees a land drop, and with Glissa you can draw the milled artifacts for maximum profit. Together with LftL you'll have a more than decent chance to have a land drop every turn. If you don't like Hermit Druid or are afraid it'll draw too much attention, you could do the same with dredge (but not nearly as effective). A deck like this is about steady card advantage.
You might want to bump the number of artifact creatures as well, as those can provide a steady stream of pressure. Wurmcoil Engine is good because it'll let you gain life and provides blockers after a sweep, Steel Hellkite is good because it can trigger Glissa. I like Duplicant because it can handle a lot of creatures. I like Hex Parasite because it can, well, prevent a lot of awkward situations (not to mention that it enables persist), but I think I like Sylvok Replica and Moriok Replica the most. These cards are inconspicuous and cheap. But if you're not running Executioner's Capsule because you're afraid you get piled on... you might want to stay away from those. Still, you need something to recur, and if it's not this goodness then perhaps try something like Memory Jar or Jester's Cap
A nice trick with artifact creatures is that you can fuel Survival of the Fittest with them (in the absence of Squee). I guess you don't have SotF or you'd run it. Tortured Existence is a card that does something similar, but it's a budget card. You can recur your non-artifact creatures with it, and when you return the artifact creatures you dumped in your yard with Glissa-triggers you'll gain massive card advantage. You could switch some of your targeted removal to Boneshredder and Shriekmaw to up your creature count. As a coincidence, both cards are great with Nim Deathmantle and can carry your pike.
About your mana base... well, your mana curve is low, but 36 lands is greedy. You're not running any mana ramp besides three rocks and Wayfarer's Bauble, although in your defense you are running quite some cantrips. The solution would be to run a little more mana ramp, something like Horizon Spellbomb (why aren't you running it anyway?), and if you're doing the Tortured Existence thing try Yavimaya Elder and Sakura-tribe Elder. Or you could just run two more lands. I don't think a land would be worse than your Mox Opal anyway (it's less likely to make you a target as well). If you're wondering what to cut... tutoring is nice, but EDH is about randomness. Do you really need all those tutors?
As a closing thought: do you feel your targeted removal is helping you more than some sweepers would? Powder Keg or Ratchet Bomb are pretty sweet, especially when there's a token deck around (read: always).
hermit druid is a good card for the deck, it's a little debatable whether it will draw ire...some people aren't aware of the combo, and those that are might be persuaded to ignore you if you assure them you've got plenty of basics in the deck. Although milling 15+ could definitely alert the hounds. Something in my gut doesn't love creatures that have no immediate board impact, but he's definitely worth considering.
see above comments on mimic vat for why I probably won't run wurmcoil, or other fat artifact creatures. i love sylvok replica since it solves a lot of problems without actually being terribly conspicuous imo, most people aren't nearly as freaked out about artifact/enchantment removal as creature removal. moriok doesn't seem as great to me, for less mana and no life there's horizon spellbomb (admittedly one card must be a basic, but on the other hand my ability to restore my life isn't huge, I removed most of my lifegain items.
memory jar is cool for more aggressive builds, for mine I feel like I'd be wasting most of the cards since I don't want to use the removal most of the time unless necessary. i have tried to keep costs very low, you'll notice, so that I can focus on recurring a lot of artifacts, not so much on powerful artifacts. keeping mana open at all times is really crucial, so I like to keep it modular, and also to avoid needing to spend much mana on my turn, which is sort of against the philosophy of memory jar.
Just because I don't currently own SotF doesn't matter, I don't currently own a bayou either but I'm looking for one on ebay. It's definitely a strong card, but I don't know that I'm running enough creatures to make it really worth it. It's also a bit of a warning card for most people. I guess I should probably give it a try before deciding against it, but on the other hand I tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to disliking cards that get used for combos. So even if my opinion isn't justified, at least it's predictable.
I guess my other objection, weirdly considering that you brought it up, is consistency, and too much of it. If I use sotf, I guarantee my first tutor will be for it, then discard whatever to get an artifact creature (probably the replica), then keep recycling the artifact creature to get all my bombs and utility creatures right away, and then I'm the target. If I decide to hold back, everyone's still aware that I can get my creatures whenever I want, so then I'm still the target. With tutors that don't reveal, or can be used the same turn I win more easily, it's easier to win a little more surprisingly.
anyway I do love creature recursion but I vastly prefer VS to tortured existence. And I do happen to have a VS.
boneshredder and shriekmaw are out for being sorcery speed. I really tried to keep sorcery speed removal to a minimum since instant-speed works as a deterrent much more effectively, and blocks combo a lot better. also, color restrictions piss me off.
36 (39 really, though since the rocks cost 0-1) is a bit tight, I agree, but considering at least 14 cards cantrip and lftl basically means unlimited land drops with fetches, and the CA glissa generates, I don't think it's that bad. Mostly I want to avoid filling my hand with too many lands when I'm drawing like crazy. 39 free (ok, sol ring is BASICALLY free, you're not keeping a hand without 2 land in it anyway, so replace one land with a sol ring and you're still fine) mana sources is equivalent to 23.4 in a 60-card deck, so it's still a bit more than you might use in a similarly curved standard deck. If you ignore skittles and sorin since I don't plan to cast them until very late in the game anyway, i've only got 1 at cmc 5 and 3 at cmc 4, and everything else is 3 or lower. Which is pretty ridiculously low for a multiplayer EDH deck. So I'll adjust if necessary but I don't think it'll be that dangerous.
might cut the opal, might also cut the crypt (insanity, I know, but I'd hate to die to my own stupid crypt since the deck is such a slower-roller, and the deck is pretty color intensive).
Horizon spellbomb was on the possibilities list, there are a ton of good recurring artifacts, though. I cut it initially because my basics could sucked so bad, it's pretty decent now, though, so maybe it can go back in.
You might be right about cutting tutors, probably diabolic? That or realms uncharted, realms can be such a blowout with lftl though. God I miss playing intuition. Also it's an instant, which is good for the deck, and also good for toshi who's unofficial second in command.
rachet bomb is actually a pretty cool idea - it can get around hexproof and shroud, and it's still pretty damn fair so it's not as likely to freak everyone out as o-stone. Bit slow to kill anything of importance, but then I guess that's what targeted removal is for. Can't say I've seen THAT many token decks, though. There's a lot more thanks to ghave, but still, not a ton. It's sort of a bad strategy in a format so rife with wipes imo. Actually wouldn't silly ol' necroplasm fulfill sort of the same purpose? and provide more DREDGE DRDGE DFERDFE DERGE.
eh, screw it, i'll cut increasing ambition for horizon spellbomb. actually check that, I'll say golgari thug, it sort of needs to be in here for a lot of reasons. I'd like to find room for spellbomb and one of the cmc-based wipes, though.
I can see how you can live with 36 lands, but since you were asking about your own mana base I figured you weren't happy with it. What works for me is to look at utility lands (Volrath's Stronghold for example) as another spell instead of a land, and don't count it towards your mana base. You won't be tapping it for mana most of the times anyway, so why not? Or count it as half a land. The best thing is to just play with the deck, if it works it works and if it doesn't...
If you don't like the sorcery speed of Boneshredder and Shriekmaw, try Winding Canyons. That card is worth running (even if you don't run those creatures). Shriekmaw is a really good card because it can double up as a finisher. But with Tortured Existence/SotF out you'd ideally want Big Game Hunter, that's instant speed removal. But it's no instant to recur with Toshi, I'll grant you that. By the way, I had a Toshi deck once (before they nerfed Brand), and I liked the interaction with Buyback. You could look at Slaughter. If you have a decent land recursion engine (Hermit/LftL ) then you might want to try Constant Mists. That will keep you in the game a bit longer. Or try Corpse Dance and Bottle Gnomes.
I wouldn't compare Volrath's Stronghold with Tortured Existence. Sure, it does recursion, but that's where the comparison ends. Tortured Existence gets you creatures in your yard (to dredge!), but it's also a card advantage engine. Besides that, all the gripes you have with SotF don't go for Tortured Existence. It's a fairly inconspicuous card that nobody objects to being on the table. But with Glissa you don't need another recursion engine, so I won't push you anymore If you want to rely on Volrath's Stronghold, perhaps Reap and Sow is the card you want. It can do double duty as mana ramp and spot removal. Again, no instant.
I can see how you can live with 36 lands, but since you were asking about your own mana base I figured you weren't happy with it. What works for me is to look at utility lands (Volrath's Stronghold for example) as another spell instead of a land, and don't count it towards your mana base. You won't be tapping it for mana most of the times anyway, so why not? Or count it as half a land. The best thing is to just play with the deck, if it works it works and if it doesn't...
If you don't like the sorcery speed of Boneshredder and Shriekmaw, try Winding Canyons. That card is worth running (even if you don't run those creatures). Shriekmaw is a really good card because it can double up as a finisher. But with Tortured Existence/SotF out you'd ideally want Big Game Hunter, that's instant speed removal. But it's no instant to recur with Toshi, I'll grant you that. By the way, I had a Toshi deck once (before they nerfed Brand), and I liked the interaction with Buyback. You could look at Slaughter. If you have a decent land recursion engine (Hermit/LftL ) then you might want to try Constant Mists. That will keep you in the game a bit longer. Or try Corpse Dance and Bottle Gnomes.
I wouldn't compare Volrath's Stronghold with Tortured Existence. Sure, it does recursion, but that's where the comparison ends. Tortured Existence gets you creatures in your yard (to dredge!), but it's also a card advantage engine. Besides that, all the gripes you have with SotF don't go for Tortured Existence. It's a fairly inconspicuous card that nobody objects to being on the table. But with Glissa you don't need another recursion engine, so I won't push you anymore If you want to rely on Volrath's Stronghold, perhaps Reap and Sow is the card you want. It can do double duty as mana ramp and spot removal. Again, no instant.
My concern with my mana was mostly that I thought I had too many non-basics. which is bad because of nonbasic hate, but also because other cards were depending on decent basic counts (notably fetches), and a lot of colorless lands makes it hard to reliably cast spells at the beginning. also it can just be hard to maneuver. Anyway I don't count most of my utility lands as a spells since they're still used for mana much of the time. for instance, shizo is going to be used for mana up until the last few turns.
winding canyons is sort of cool, but colorless lands are at sort of a premium since i want plenty of colored mana at the beginning of the game to knock down combo pieces. I've still got 7 colorless lands, which is a bit uncomfortable as it is.
corpse dance is a fav but I'm not sure it fits. it's good with fleshbag marauder and replica (ok, I won't mince words, it's awesome with fleshbag) but the rest don't really work that well with it. but...
another reason, and the reason I don't want to use slaughter is the same reason I don't want to use capsule. You're setting up a situation that usually must be dealt with for anyone else to win the game. So you're immediately the focal point of the game, which is not comfortable for a deck that wants people to be casually, constantly killing creatures to give it CA. it's like how a sygg, river cutthroat deck doesn't want to draw too much attention, since then people will stop punching each other for 3+ damage. imo a big strength of glissa is that she gets CA in a fairly inconspicuous way. who gives a crap if you recur a chromatic star, chromatic sphere, and barbed sextant? but then you can constantly turn those into real cards and gain steady incremental CA. whereas when someone drops a sphinx, they're target #1 immediately. That's another downside to bigger artifacts. no one's going to think twice about shanking that creature when it gives you a chromatic star, but if you're getting back a mindslaver, they're going to make sure glissa is dead first.
still not sold on tortured existence. sure, it lets me dredge but I also sort of want to cast those dredge spells. solemn is ok, it's probably worth it but I worry that he'll be hard to get in the grave. after all, glissa's presence alone makes a ground assault unlikely so you'd really need a sac outlet to reliably recycle him.
I kinda understand what you are trying to to (not be hated) but this is edh and you can draw hate for the stupidest of reasons so I really don't think it's worth it to gimp yourself this much. I couldn't imagine not running things like Executioner's Capsule in my Glissa deck.
Anyway, overall 1 for 1 removal like Gopher the Throat while still useable are less worth it overall unless it's stuff like Plowshares or Path. one thing you should drop is single creature Edict effects like Geth's Verdict, absolutely can be useless at leas 90% of the time since most people have a used utility guy or a token they can sac to it.
I kinda understand what you are trying to to (not be hated) but this is edh and you can draw hate for the stupidest of reasons so I really don't think it's worth it to gimp yourself this much. I couldn't imagine not running things like Executioner's Capsule in my Glissa deck.
Anyway, overall 1 for 1 removal like Gopher the Throat while still useable are less worth it overall unless it's stuff like Plowshares or Path. one thing you should drop is single creature Edict effects like Geth's Verdict, absolutely can be useless at leas 90% of the time since most people have a used utility guy or a token they can sac to it.
Well, of course people can have random vendettas but I usually try to play a pretty political game. Also it's sort of fun to play a deck that requires you to play politically. I don't think this deck REQUIRES you to, per se, but it definitely helps a lot.
I disagree that edicts are weak for EDH. lots of people consider fleshbag to be very strong, and that's basically just an edict that hits everyone (granted it's easier to recur). But more importantly, it's never a DEAD card with glissa since it recurs an artifact, and it can solve problems that targeted removal can't solve. The key to playing a removal-based control deck is to have a variety of removal spells. go for the throat is better for picking out kozilek amongst a bunch of tokens, but verdict is better for nailing a solo uril or thrun. No one kill spell can handle all situations, so diversity is the key. Even damnation won't handle a bsc, but an edict can (possibly preceeded by targeted or mass removal if there are other creatures). and notice that indestructibles and untargetables are sort of a big problem for most black removal, since -x/-x tends to be 5 or less outside of tragic slip.
As a closing thought: do you feel your targeted removal is helping you more than some sweepers would? Powder Keg or Ratchet Bomb are pretty sweet, especially when there's a token deck around (read: always).
I just wanted to add on this, Ratchet Bomb is so good with Glissa. And when you crack it, you always get it right back anyway if they had a critter at that cmc too. It's a very powerful interaction, to be sure.
I just wanted to add on this, Ratchet Bomb is so good with Glissa. And when you crack it, you always get it right back anyway if they had a critter at that cmc too. It's a very powerful interaction, to be sure.
I actually do like the idea of running this in a deck. it's sort of narrow since you probably won't live long enough to kill uril with it (or any other dangerous hexproof general) but vs tokens it seems amazing, and since it pretty much locks down tokens with just 1 tutorable recurrable card, it's probably not a bad idea.
question is, powder keg, ratchet bomb, or engineered explosives?
explosives has the perk of being able to kill 1 and 2 cmc stuff immediately, but can't get any higher and costs the mana on the back end (which I'd generally consider worse.
ratchet bomb can ramp up as quickly as explosives and kills enchantments and pws, but could get killed while it's tapped. on the other hand, if it's not to the right number of charge counters it probably doesn't matter if it gets killed as much.
corpse dance is a fav but I'm not sure it fits. it's good with fleshbag marauder and replica (ok, I won't mince words, it's awesome with fleshbag) but the rest don't really work that well with it. but...
Well, I'm not sure Toshi fits But if you run him, you should give him some good stuff. Besides that, dancing gnomes is hardly offensive (if you don't run Grave Pact...), though dancing Fleshbags might be. Dancing Sakura-tribe elders? I think your deck would be a lot better if you'd cut some of the one shot instants and gain a little more card advantage.
I understand and respect what you try to achieve, but it's hard to wrap my head around how you are going to win with this list. But feel free to ignore my suggestions. On the other hand, if you like Corpse Dance, just run it. You should love the cards in your deck. If it's simply your life's goal to build the most inoffensive, inocuous deck possible, then Glissa just isn't your general.
so you'd really need a sac outlet to reliably recycle him.
On second thought, you're low on sac outlets anyway. You don't like them? I hate getting my stuff stolen, tucked or exiled, so I might be overdoing it personally, but in an ideal situation I always have a sac outlet on the table. I won't bore you with all the options, but either Culling Dais or Carnage Altar is worth running. They don't draw much attention (unlike Helm of Possession, for instance), but they get the job done. I'd go with Culling Dais, as you can easily recur it with Glissa triggers.
question is, powder keg, ratchet bomb, or engineered explosives?
I only have 1 EE and it's in a deck with 4 Trinket Mages and a five color manabase), but that card seems the best. Of course you couldn't ever kill something with CMC>2, but I can't imagine waiting three turns just to kill something with CMC 3. I run Powder Keg because it doesn't have the ugly card frame, but that's just a preference. All I do with it is kill tokens; for the bigger stuff I have Grave Pact. Powder Keg seems to me like the most inoffensive of the three.
Not sure if toshi fits? I'm not sure why he wouldn't, him and glissa have the same goal, he basically doubles the CA for doing what you're already doing. I guess if you didn't like instant removal as a whole then he wouldn't be worth running, but i'd run the instant removal with or without him.
anyway corpse dance isn't really that great with toshi, you basically just get to use it a little bit more cheaply is all, with a greater risk of it getting exiled. I guess if you're comboing it with fleshbag then he gets triggered a lot, but since you'd mostly have removal to target in your grave it seems redundant with a recurring fleshy already killing everything.
bottle gnomes is certainly not offensive, it's just weak. Even if I'm using corpse dance instead of wasting glissa triggers, it's 5 mana for 3 life. I'd way rather have some CA generation like yavimaya elder.
corpse dance is a great card but it needs the right targets (figuratively). elder is solid but he's not a reason to run corpse dance, more of a nice interaction than a combo. fleshy is better but too threatening imo. If I had a target than more-or-less won the game with corpse dance, or 5-10 targets that were solid with him (i.e. elder) then I'd probably run it. But most of my current creatures don't get much benefit from being on the field for only a turn, so I'm preferable to slower, permanent recursion tools like VS and golgari thug.
Wincon-wise, it's pretty neatly outlined. with all the instants and soceries in the deck, runechanter's pike becomes lethal very quickly with inkmoth nexus, skittles, or even glissa herself. skittles on his own is a 2-3 turn clock with haste, protection, and evasion. tainted strike can be a surprise win on my creature or my opponents' creature (even better on someone else's, since if it gets killed in response i still get CA from glissa). nezumi graverobber, with a good pile of mana in the late-game can pull a liliana and grab everyone else's things and beat them to death with them (could consider replacing him with chainer, though, he also seems viable, but dangerous without sac outlets). avarice totem is sort of the same idea, massive mana + totem = massive theft. and finally, sorin can quickly put someone into lethal range for the finishing blow.
Not a ton of bombs, but they're all potent, and all very tutorable. and all of them are protected by glissa or one of my creature recursion engines. I didn't want to include run-of-the-mill bombs like grave titan, wurmcoil engine, or even ulamog because they take a number of turns to kill people. All of the wincons in my deck can put someone from perfect health to dead in a single turn, which is what you want when you're trying to avoid hate. slow bashing means people have too long to recover and respond.
so anyway, that's the basic idea on how the deck is supposed to perform.
i do like having sac outlets, but removal does a pretty good job at covering that weakness. stolen stuff can be retrieved with enchantment removal (usually to my CA with the right timing) or, if necessary, creature removal, and in a pinch tuck can be avoided by shooting down my own glissa in response (or i can tutor for her after the fact). Not ideal, definitely, but it means I'm not running potentially dead cards. phyrexian tower and high market are both sac outlets that also provide the necessary service of mana production, so they're fine, but sac-outlet-only cards i can do without in this deck. It's also worth pointing out that the deck makes an effort to be prickly but relatively inoffensive in multiplayer, thus generating the two-pronged psychological protection of being too inconspicuous to waste a tuck spell on, while also being poised to exact furious vengeance on whatever wanker goes out of his way to screw it over. So, erm, yeah. culling dias is ok if I'm beset by tuck spells, but then the deck probably isn't doing its job in the first place, and it's pretty terrible with my low creature count if I'm not, and same goes for most other sac outlets. also, carnage altar isn't that effective to begin with, since any sane person wanting to tuck glissa will wait until you have less than 3 mana untapped. At least by shanking your own glissa you'll always have the element of surprise.
i'll probably go for explosives after thinking about it.
EDIT: woohoo, got my bayou for $43. I am an ebay champion.
so I need to cut some stuff. Call me crazy (and maybe it's just because I haven't gotten one on ebay yet) but pernicious deed is looking sort of weak. Hear me out on this: I really can't take advantage of the "less than x cmc" thing because almost all of my permanents are cheap as dirt. I mean I guess I could hit cmc <=2. But for killing the field I'm always going to want to kill everything, which might not be TERRIBLE if the biggest thing is 6cmc, but if there are praetors or eldrazi or other expensive fatties this thing will cost a toooon to activate, which just isn't my favorite. And it's also one of those cards that can hold the table hostage if you don't activate it quickly, which pisses everyone off.
anyway those are just my thoughts. i do need to make some cuts.
On an unrelated note, thinking of having an alter done for glissa...any ideas? I like the promo art but I'm thinking foil won't turn out very well altered. So maybe the original art, borderless, with queen of blades-style wing thingies? Glissa did always remind me of kerrigan
Deck's been updated massively for RTR and M12, plus some other updates that probably needed to happen. Technically that's 3 updates in a row, but since it's been 8 months hopefully the mods can be cool about it.
-golgari thug
+genesis
thug looks good on paper for recursion, but it's slow as hell and the deck doesn't pack enough sac outlets to make it reliable. genesis is card advantage, plus it rocks hard with entomb.
-diabolic tutor
+buried alive
with genesis, this is a no brainer. genesis + kagemaro is a lockdown ready to go for a 3 mana tutor. plus replica is always great, and stinky isn't bad either.
-necrogen spelbomb
+phyrexian arena
spellbomb is too mana intensive and the secondary sorta sucks. arena is a staple for a reason.
-aeolipile
+underworld connection
aeolipile is pretty mana intensive too. replacing removal with utility is always sketchy, but underworld connection gives the CA to get lots of removal quickly.
-grasp of darkness
+vraska the unseen
vraska's got flexibility in removal and can be used multiple times, plus provides a potential wincon.
-naturalize
+abrupt decay
going for more generic removal. lots of the artifacts i need to kill are 3 cmc or less anyway.
-insidious dreams
+survival of the fittest
with genesis, survival gets amazing. it can get equally nuts with replica.
-tainted strike
+codex shredder
codex shredder is just awesome for this deck, and tainted strike is pretty lame.
-darkblast
+kagemaro, first to suffer
kagemaro is easy to recur for this deck, and darkblast has always been pretty meh.
-slaughter pact
+murder
never liked paying mana during my turn. murder is more my style.
Glissa, the Traitor
awesome design, awesome flavor, and perfect for multiplayer. I've tried my best to design this for a multiplayer game, so you might notice some unusual decisions. I'll do my best to explain the weird ones.
1 Glissa, the Traitor
Wincons (5)
1 Bonehoard
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Avarice Totem
1 Sorin Markov
Removal (26)
1 dismember
1 disfigure
1 tragic slip
1 abrupt decay
1 last gasp
1 diabolic edict
1 devour in shadow
1 geth's verdict
1 go for the throat
1 grasp of darkness
1 rend flesh
1 eyeblight's ending
1 sudden death
1 beast within
1 murder
1 putrefy
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 liliana of the veil
1 fleshbag marauder
1 maelstrom pulse
1 stinkweed imp
1 damnation
1 kagemaro, first to suffer
1 vraska the unseen
1 krosan grip
artifacts (17)
1 urza's bauble
1 mishra's bauble
1 barbed sextant
1 chromatic sphere
1 chromatic star
1 voyager staff
1 wayfarer's bauble
1 conjurer's bauble
1 expedition map
1 nihil spellbomb
1 scrabbling claws
1 phyrexian furnace
1 triangle of war
1 sylvok replica
1 oblivion stone
Recursion (5)
1 Codex Shredder
1 nim deathmantle
1 Life from the Loam
1 Toshiro Umezawa
1 Genesis
tutors (7)
1 vampiric tutor
1 entomb
1 demonic tutor
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 shred memory
1 buried alive
1 realms uncharted
Other (2)
1 Underworld Connection
1 Phyrexian Arena
rocks:
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
1 woodland cemetary
1 twilight mire
1 command tower
1 bayou
1 overgrown tomb
1 bloodstained mire
1 marsh flats
1 misty rainforest
1 polluted delta
1 verdant catacombs
1 windswept heath
1 wooded foothills
1 Cavern of Souls
8 swamp
4 forest
1 Barren moor
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Strip Mine
1 forbidden orchard
1 phyrexian tower
1 high market
1 inkmoth nexus
1 urborg
1 shizo, death's storehouse
1 volrath's stronghold
1 wirewood lodge
1 yavimaya hollow
removed:
1 cabal coffers
1 bojuka bog
1 centaur garden
1 reliquary tower
1 vault of whispers
1 tree of tales
1 okina, temple to the grandfathers
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 cabal pit
1 llanowar wastes
7 swamp
4/12
removed:
1 increasing ambition
1 golgari thug
5/3
removed:
1 runechanter's pike
1 Lifespark Spellbomb
1 Mox Opal
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Cavern of Souls
10/24
removed:
1 tainted strike
slaughter pact
added:
1 codex shredder
1 kagemaro, first to suffer
1 murder
10/25
removed:
1 golgari thug
1 diabolic tutor
1 necrogen spellbomb
1 aeolipile
1 grasp of darkness
1 naturalize
1 insidious dreams
added:
1 genesis
1 buried alive
1 phyrexian arena
1 underworld connection
1 vraska the unseen
1 abrupt decay
1 Survival of the Fittest
The concept of the deck is to use glissa, removal, and the near constant death of creatures in a multiplayer game to get massive card advantage, without worrying anyone unduly, since it's mostly in the form of eggs (cheap, cantripping artifacts). this lets you dig deeper for more removal and hit your snazzy wincons. The low cost of most of your removal protects you from combos, and along with glissa and your low board presence is a great deterrent from attack.
As far as the wincons, there's a few ways to poison for the win, especially easy with the pike which can be a gigantic power boost and also works well with general damage. graverobber also works to steal all your opponents' big fatties you've diligently killed all game, totem works with big mana to steal them straight off the field, and sorin of course does nasty damage to make lethal easy.
I left out a few "auto-includes" for glissa, like viridian longbow, thornbite staff, executioner's capsule, disk, etc. My reasoning for this is that typically those cards in combo with glissa will turn the entire table against you, and the deck doesn't really have the wincons to win against an entire table most of the time. I left in o-stone since constant wipes can win some games, but it should still be recurred infrequently or not at all, or you'll probably send everyone into red alert and you'll get beat down. the deck works best when it's being mostly ignored.
things i need help with:
mostly the mana base. it's hideous beyond all reason. I'm terribly at cutting utility lands, though. any ideas for lands i should cut? i'd like more basics to avoid hate and synergize with fetches + lftl.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I considered it, and decided I'd probably only run one or the other. O-stone has the advantage of being cheaper to use most of the time, and being more reliable (plague boiler fails to artifact removal), and having the option to preserve permanents with counters. plague boiler has the advantage of being less likely to draw hate.
I guess I'll consider switching to plague boiler if o-stone draws too much hate, but I need to be able to use the effect repeatedly.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
-coffers because it was useless without urborg.
-removed urborg because it wasn't necessary without coffers.
-removed okina because i just never use the effect.
-removed tree of tales and vault of whispers because I think the tradeoffs favor basics.
-removed reliquary tower because i'll have most of my cheap artifacts on the field at eot.
-removed centaur garden because it doesn't seem worth it often enough.
-removed bojuka bog because I've got plenty of gy hate already.
still looking for extra slots, though. 2 color manabases are a B.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Fetches: I also run crucible of worlds in the deck so these help make sure i hit a land drop every turn
1x Stomping Ground
1x Windswept Heath
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Polluted Delta
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Verdant Catacombs
Non-Basic mana producer:
1x Bayou
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Twilight Mire
1x Command Tower
1x Bojuka Bog (graveyard hate)
1x Mosswort Bridge
1x Forbidden Orchard (helps with mindslaver lock with glissa out)
1x Gaea's Cradle
Basics:
5x Swamp
10x Forest
Utility:
1x Strip Mine (gotta have it for those pesky nonbasics)
1x Volrath's Stronghold (creature recursion is sweet)
1x Homeward Path (I hate when people steal my creatures)
1x Phyrexian Tower (nice sack outlet with mana production attached to it)
Coffers package: with primeval titan in the deck and the other tutors black offers getting coffer/urborg online isn't hard at all
1x Vesuva (also works as a legendary land killer)
1x Deserted Temple
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cabal Coffers
stomping ground seems like an unusual choice. I hadn't considered splashing red since it's illegal, but maybe the advantages outweigh the downsides (psst, it's wooded foothills :P)
don't like woodland cemetary? seems like, especially with 15 basics + 7 fetches + 2 duals it's almost commander tower.
llanowar wastes i'll probably cut now that my basic count is climbing.
homeward path, cradle, and mosswort bridge don't make as much sense for my deck because of the low creature count.
i run the cycling lands because of their interaction with lftl. I can see cutting them if I feel like my mana is already too preoccupied with artifact shenans to use the lftl engine often, but then again they protect lftl, which in turn protects VS, tower, and strip mine which are all pretty important, and the engine generates graveyard love like crazy.
inkmoth i'm considering cutting, it's a potential surprise gg with the lance, though.
urborg (old one) is questionable but the downside is so small and I love that it means glissa wins against other first-strikers. If I was short on basics for fetches I'd maybe cut it, with since my basic numbers are decent now I'll probably leave it in since it's practically a swamp.
lodge is basically vigilance for glissa - maybe unnecessary? But it does make it easier to get some damage in earlier without opening myself up, which makes late-game easier and/or generates some creature death.
high market could conceivably be cut, I'm running it mostly to dodge exile effects on my wincons. the colorlessness does sort of suck about it, and i can kill my own critters in a pinch.
surprised you're not running yavimaya hollow, though, that seems like the best green utility land i can think of. protection from a lot of removal, and very nasty with o-stone or deed.
cabal pit i'll go ahead and cut. it seems really cool, but then I guess trading a land in play for an artifact in my grave is a pretty mediocre trade for 2 mana. it seemed cool with lftl but without any land ramp it's probably not worth trading the speed. and the pain seems annoying.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
You might want to bump the number of artifact creatures as well, as those can provide a steady stream of pressure. Wurmcoil Engine is good because it'll let you gain life and provides blockers after a sweep, Steel Hellkite is good because it can trigger Glissa. I like Duplicant because it can handle a lot of creatures. I like Hex Parasite because it can, well, prevent a lot of awkward situations (not to mention that it enables persist), but I think I like Sylvok Replica and Moriok Replica the most. These cards are inconspicuous and cheap. But if you're not running Executioner's Capsule because you're afraid you get piled on... you might want to stay away from those. Still, you need something to recur, and if it's not this goodness then perhaps try something like Memory Jar or Jester's Cap
A nice trick with artifact creatures is that you can fuel Survival of the Fittest with them (in the absence of Squee). I guess you don't have SotF or you'd run it. Tortured Existence is a card that does something similar, but it's a budget card. You can recur your non-artifact creatures with it, and when you return the artifact creatures you dumped in your yard with Glissa-triggers you'll gain massive card advantage. You could switch some of your targeted removal to Boneshredder and Shriekmaw to up your creature count. As a coincidence, both cards are great with Nim Deathmantle and can carry your pike.
About your mana base... well, your mana curve is low, but 36 lands is greedy. You're not running any mana ramp besides three rocks and Wayfarer's Bauble, although in your defense you are running quite some cantrips. The solution would be to run a little more mana ramp, something like Horizon Spellbomb (why aren't you running it anyway?), and if you're doing the Tortured Existence thing try Yavimaya Elder and Sakura-tribe Elder. Or you could just run two more lands. I don't think a land would be worse than your Mox Opal anyway (it's less likely to make you a target as well). If you're wondering what to cut... tutoring is nice, but EDH is about randomness. Do you really need all those tutors?
As a closing thought: do you feel your targeted removal is helping you more than some sweepers would? Powder Keg or Ratchet Bomb are pretty sweet, especially when there's a token deck around (read: always).
So hopefully that will explain some of the seemingly bad decisions I'm about to try to justify.
they fill different roles; deathmantle is about protection, and also about evasion and pump for my general/skittles. none of my creatures except fleshbag have an etb effect, so it's not really about triggers, mostly it's a cheap way to protect my creatures immediately (greaves, for example, fails against instant-speed removal where deathmantle works fine, not to mention wipes) and the boost and evasion are significant too, and being an artifact is gravy.
mimic vat is a different role, a more aggressive one. My biggest concern with it is that it's a card that makes people notice you. If someone's holding back their titan because they don't want you abusing it, they're probably going to focus on either killing you, or at least killing your artifact, so they can proceed with their plans. and since glissa means the artifact keeps coming back, they'll probably opt to kill you. it's strong, but it draws attention.
Of course, if fatties are already on the field and you've got removal, it's great to beat some face with, but then again this deck is not stellar at finishing the game with constant pressure...it's more about control and being ignored until the end, then landing a killing blow with one of the wincons. For that reason I'm not thrilled about using bomby cards that won't simply win the game, because if I start drawing the ire of the table too soon, glissa's probably going to get killed, and then my CA will be crap and my removal will quickly run out against the entire table.
hermit druid is a good card for the deck, it's a little debatable whether it will draw ire...some people aren't aware of the combo, and those that are might be persuaded to ignore you if you assure them you've got plenty of basics in the deck. Although milling 15+ could definitely alert the hounds. Something in my gut doesn't love creatures that have no immediate board impact, but he's definitely worth considering.
see above comments on mimic vat for why I probably won't run wurmcoil, or other fat artifact creatures. i love sylvok replica since it solves a lot of problems without actually being terribly conspicuous imo, most people aren't nearly as freaked out about artifact/enchantment removal as creature removal. moriok doesn't seem as great to me, for less mana and no life there's horizon spellbomb (admittedly one card must be a basic, but on the other hand my ability to restore my life isn't huge, I removed most of my lifegain items.
memory jar is cool for more aggressive builds, for mine I feel like I'd be wasting most of the cards since I don't want to use the removal most of the time unless necessary. i have tried to keep costs very low, you'll notice, so that I can focus on recurring a lot of artifacts, not so much on powerful artifacts. keeping mana open at all times is really crucial, so I like to keep it modular, and also to avoid needing to spend much mana on my turn, which is sort of against the philosophy of memory jar.
Just because I don't currently own SotF doesn't matter, I don't currently own a bayou either but I'm looking for one on ebay. It's definitely a strong card, but I don't know that I'm running enough creatures to make it really worth it. It's also a bit of a warning card for most people. I guess I should probably give it a try before deciding against it, but on the other hand I tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to disliking cards that get used for combos. So even if my opinion isn't justified, at least it's predictable.
I guess my other objection, weirdly considering that you brought it up, is consistency, and too much of it. If I use sotf, I guarantee my first tutor will be for it, then discard whatever to get an artifact creature (probably the replica), then keep recycling the artifact creature to get all my bombs and utility creatures right away, and then I'm the target. If I decide to hold back, everyone's still aware that I can get my creatures whenever I want, so then I'm still the target. With tutors that don't reveal, or can be used the same turn I win more easily, it's easier to win a little more surprisingly.
anyway I do love creature recursion but I vastly prefer VS to tortured existence. And I do happen to have a VS.
boneshredder and shriekmaw are out for being sorcery speed. I really tried to keep sorcery speed removal to a minimum since instant-speed works as a deterrent much more effectively, and blocks combo a lot better. also, color restrictions piss me off.
36 (39 really, though since the rocks cost 0-1) is a bit tight, I agree, but considering at least 14 cards cantrip and lftl basically means unlimited land drops with fetches, and the CA glissa generates, I don't think it's that bad. Mostly I want to avoid filling my hand with too many lands when I'm drawing like crazy. 39 free (ok, sol ring is BASICALLY free, you're not keeping a hand without 2 land in it anyway, so replace one land with a sol ring and you're still fine) mana sources is equivalent to 23.4 in a 60-card deck, so it's still a bit more than you might use in a similarly curved standard deck. If you ignore skittles and sorin since I don't plan to cast them until very late in the game anyway, i've only got 1 at cmc 5 and 3 at cmc 4, and everything else is 3 or lower. Which is pretty ridiculously low for a multiplayer EDH deck. So I'll adjust if necessary but I don't think it'll be that dangerous.
might cut the opal, might also cut the crypt (insanity, I know, but I'd hate to die to my own stupid crypt since the deck is such a slower-roller, and the deck is pretty color intensive).
Horizon spellbomb was on the possibilities list, there are a ton of good recurring artifacts, though. I cut it initially because my basics could sucked so bad, it's pretty decent now, though, so maybe it can go back in.
You might be right about cutting tutors, probably diabolic? That or realms uncharted, realms can be such a blowout with lftl though. God I miss playing intuition. Also it's an instant, which is good for the deck, and also good for toshi who's unofficial second in command.
rachet bomb is actually a pretty cool idea - it can get around hexproof and shroud, and it's still pretty damn fair so it's not as likely to freak everyone out as o-stone. Bit slow to kill anything of importance, but then I guess that's what targeted removal is for. Can't say I've seen THAT many token decks, though. There's a lot more thanks to ghave, but still, not a ton. It's sort of a bad strategy in a format so rife with wipes imo. Actually wouldn't silly ol' necroplasm fulfill sort of the same purpose? and provide more DREDGE DRDGE DFERDFE DERGE.
eh, screw it, i'll cut increasing ambition for horizon spellbomb. actually check that, I'll say golgari thug, it sort of needs to be in here for a lot of reasons. I'd like to find room for spellbomb and one of the cmc-based wipes, though.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
If you don't like the sorcery speed of Boneshredder and Shriekmaw, try Winding Canyons. That card is worth running (even if you don't run those creatures). Shriekmaw is a really good card because it can double up as a finisher. But with Tortured Existence/SotF out you'd ideally want Big Game Hunter, that's instant speed removal. But it's no instant to recur with Toshi, I'll grant you that. By the way, I had a Toshi deck once (before they nerfed Brand), and I liked the interaction with Buyback. You could look at Slaughter. If you have a decent land recursion engine (Hermit/LftL ) then you might want to try Constant Mists. That will keep you in the game a bit longer. Or try Corpse Dance and Bottle Gnomes.
I wouldn't compare Volrath's Stronghold with Tortured Existence. Sure, it does recursion, but that's where the comparison ends. Tortured Existence gets you creatures in your yard (to dredge!), but it's also a card advantage engine. Besides that, all the gripes you have with SotF don't go for Tortured Existence. It's a fairly inconspicuous card that nobody objects to being on the table. But with Glissa you don't need another recursion engine, so I won't push you anymore If you want to rely on Volrath's Stronghold, perhaps Reap and Sow is the card you want. It can do double duty as mana ramp and spot removal. Again, no instant.
EDIT: I forgot about Solemn Simulacrum, why aren't you running him?
My concern with my mana was mostly that I thought I had too many non-basics. which is bad because of nonbasic hate, but also because other cards were depending on decent basic counts (notably fetches), and a lot of colorless lands makes it hard to reliably cast spells at the beginning. also it can just be hard to maneuver. Anyway I don't count most of my utility lands as a spells since they're still used for mana much of the time. for instance, shizo is going to be used for mana up until the last few turns.
winding canyons is sort of cool, but colorless lands are at sort of a premium since i want plenty of colored mana at the beginning of the game to knock down combo pieces. I've still got 7 colorless lands, which is a bit uncomfortable as it is.
corpse dance is a fav but I'm not sure it fits. it's good with fleshbag marauder and replica (ok, I won't mince words, it's awesome with fleshbag) but the rest don't really work that well with it. but...
another reason, and the reason I don't want to use slaughter is the same reason I don't want to use capsule. You're setting up a situation that usually must be dealt with for anyone else to win the game. So you're immediately the focal point of the game, which is not comfortable for a deck that wants people to be casually, constantly killing creatures to give it CA. it's like how a sygg, river cutthroat deck doesn't want to draw too much attention, since then people will stop punching each other for 3+ damage. imo a big strength of glissa is that she gets CA in a fairly inconspicuous way. who gives a crap if you recur a chromatic star, chromatic sphere, and barbed sextant? but then you can constantly turn those into real cards and gain steady incremental CA. whereas when someone drops a sphinx, they're target #1 immediately. That's another downside to bigger artifacts. no one's going to think twice about shanking that creature when it gives you a chromatic star, but if you're getting back a mindslaver, they're going to make sure glissa is dead first.
still not sold on tortured existence. sure, it lets me dredge but I also sort of want to cast those dredge spells. solemn is ok, it's probably worth it but I worry that he'll be hard to get in the grave. after all, glissa's presence alone makes a ground assault unlikely so you'd really need a sac outlet to reliably recycle him.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Anyway, overall 1 for 1 removal like Gopher the Throat while still useable are less worth it overall unless it's stuff like Plowshares or Path. one thing you should drop is single creature Edict effects like Geth's Verdict, absolutely can be useless at leas 90% of the time since most people have a used utility guy or a token they can sac to it.
RGW Mayael the Anima fatties
Standard:
Building GU Simic beats
Well, of course people can have random vendettas but I usually try to play a pretty political game. Also it's sort of fun to play a deck that requires you to play politically. I don't think this deck REQUIRES you to, per se, but it definitely helps a lot.
I disagree that edicts are weak for EDH. lots of people consider fleshbag to be very strong, and that's basically just an edict that hits everyone (granted it's easier to recur). But more importantly, it's never a DEAD card with glissa since it recurs an artifact, and it can solve problems that targeted removal can't solve. The key to playing a removal-based control deck is to have a variety of removal spells. go for the throat is better for picking out kozilek amongst a bunch of tokens, but verdict is better for nailing a solo uril or thrun. No one kill spell can handle all situations, so diversity is the key. Even damnation won't handle a bsc, but an edict can (possibly preceeded by targeted or mass removal if there are other creatures). and notice that indestructibles and untargetables are sort of a big problem for most black removal, since -x/-x tends to be 5 or less outside of tragic slip.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I just wanted to add on this, Ratchet Bomb is so good with Glissa. And when you crack it, you always get it right back anyway if they had a critter at that cmc too. It's a very powerful interaction, to be sure.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I actually do like the idea of running this in a deck. it's sort of narrow since you probably won't live long enough to kill uril with it (or any other dangerous hexproof general) but vs tokens it seems amazing, and since it pretty much locks down tokens with just 1 tutorable recurrable card, it's probably not a bad idea.
question is, powder keg, ratchet bomb, or engineered explosives?
explosives has the perk of being able to kill 1 and 2 cmc stuff immediately, but can't get any higher and costs the mana on the back end (which I'd generally consider worse.
ratchet bomb can ramp up as quickly as explosives and kills enchantments and pws, but could get killed while it's tapped. on the other hand, if it's not to the right number of charge counters it probably doesn't matter if it gets killed as much.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Well, I'm not sure Toshi fits But if you run him, you should give him some good stuff. Besides that, dancing gnomes is hardly offensive (if you don't run Grave Pact...), though dancing Fleshbags might be. Dancing Sakura-tribe elders? I think your deck would be a lot better if you'd cut some of the one shot instants and gain a little more card advantage.
I understand and respect what you try to achieve, but it's hard to wrap my head around how you are going to win with this list. But feel free to ignore my suggestions. On the other hand, if you like Corpse Dance, just run it. You should love the cards in your deck. If it's simply your life's goal to build the most inoffensive, inocuous deck possible, then Glissa just isn't your general.
On second thought, you're low on sac outlets anyway. You don't like them? I hate getting my stuff stolen, tucked or exiled, so I might be overdoing it personally, but in an ideal situation I always have a sac outlet on the table. I won't bore you with all the options, but either Culling Dais or Carnage Altar is worth running. They don't draw much attention (unlike Helm of Possession, for instance), but they get the job done. I'd go with Culling Dais, as you can easily recur it with Glissa triggers.
I only have 1 EE and it's in a deck with 4 Trinket Mages and a five color manabase), but that card seems the best. Of course you couldn't ever kill something with CMC>2, but I can't imagine waiting three turns just to kill something with CMC 3. I run Powder Keg because it doesn't have the ugly card frame, but that's just a preference. All I do with it is kill tokens; for the bigger stuff I have Grave Pact. Powder Keg seems to me like the most inoffensive of the three.
anyway corpse dance isn't really that great with toshi, you basically just get to use it a little bit more cheaply is all, with a greater risk of it getting exiled. I guess if you're comboing it with fleshbag then he gets triggered a lot, but since you'd mostly have removal to target in your grave it seems redundant with a recurring fleshy already killing everything.
bottle gnomes is certainly not offensive, it's just weak. Even if I'm using corpse dance instead of wasting glissa triggers, it's 5 mana for 3 life. I'd way rather have some CA generation like yavimaya elder.
corpse dance is a great card but it needs the right targets (figuratively). elder is solid but he's not a reason to run corpse dance, more of a nice interaction than a combo. fleshy is better but too threatening imo. If I had a target than more-or-less won the game with corpse dance, or 5-10 targets that were solid with him (i.e. elder) then I'd probably run it. But most of my current creatures don't get much benefit from being on the field for only a turn, so I'm preferable to slower, permanent recursion tools like VS and golgari thug.
Wincon-wise, it's pretty neatly outlined. with all the instants and soceries in the deck, runechanter's pike becomes lethal very quickly with inkmoth nexus, skittles, or even glissa herself. skittles on his own is a 2-3 turn clock with haste, protection, and evasion. tainted strike can be a surprise win on my creature or my opponents' creature (even better on someone else's, since if it gets killed in response i still get CA from glissa). nezumi graverobber, with a good pile of mana in the late-game can pull a liliana and grab everyone else's things and beat them to death with them (could consider replacing him with chainer, though, he also seems viable, but dangerous without sac outlets). avarice totem is sort of the same idea, massive mana + totem = massive theft. and finally, sorin can quickly put someone into lethal range for the finishing blow.
Not a ton of bombs, but they're all potent, and all very tutorable. and all of them are protected by glissa or one of my creature recursion engines. I didn't want to include run-of-the-mill bombs like grave titan, wurmcoil engine, or even ulamog because they take a number of turns to kill people. All of the wincons in my deck can put someone from perfect health to dead in a single turn, which is what you want when you're trying to avoid hate. slow bashing means people have too long to recover and respond.
so anyway, that's the basic idea on how the deck is supposed to perform.
i do like having sac outlets, but removal does a pretty good job at covering that weakness. stolen stuff can be retrieved with enchantment removal (usually to my CA with the right timing) or, if necessary, creature removal, and in a pinch tuck can be avoided by shooting down my own glissa in response (or i can tutor for her after the fact). Not ideal, definitely, but it means I'm not running potentially dead cards. phyrexian tower and high market are both sac outlets that also provide the necessary service of mana production, so they're fine, but sac-outlet-only cards i can do without in this deck. It's also worth pointing out that the deck makes an effort to be prickly but relatively inoffensive in multiplayer, thus generating the two-pronged psychological protection of being too inconspicuous to waste a tuck spell on, while also being poised to exact furious vengeance on whatever wanker goes out of his way to screw it over. So, erm, yeah. culling dias is ok if I'm beset by tuck spells, but then the deck probably isn't doing its job in the first place, and it's pretty terrible with my low creature count if I'm not, and same goes for most other sac outlets. also, carnage altar isn't that effective to begin with, since any sane person wanting to tuck glissa will wait until you have less than 3 mana untapped. At least by shanking your own glissa you'll always have the element of surprise.
i'll probably go for explosives after thinking about it.
EDIT: woohoo, got my bayou for $43. I am an ebay champion.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
bonehoard
cranial plating
empyrial plate?
one of the destroy cmc = x artifacts.
posssibly kagemaro, first to suffer
so I need to cut some stuff. Call me crazy (and maybe it's just because I haven't gotten one on ebay yet) but pernicious deed is looking sort of weak. Hear me out on this: I really can't take advantage of the "less than x cmc" thing because almost all of my permanents are cheap as dirt. I mean I guess I could hit cmc <=2. But for killing the field I'm always going to want to kill everything, which might not be TERRIBLE if the biggest thing is 6cmc, but if there are praetors or eldrazi or other expensive fatties this thing will cost a toooon to activate, which just isn't my favorite. And it's also one of those cards that can hold the table hostage if you don't activate it quickly, which pisses everyone off.
anyway those are just my thoughts. i do need to make some cuts.
On an unrelated note, thinking of having an alter done for glissa...any ideas? I like the promo art but I'm thinking foil won't turn out very well altered. So maybe the original art, borderless, with queen of blades-style wing thingies? Glissa did always remind me of kerrigan
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
-golgari thug
+genesis
thug looks good on paper for recursion, but it's slow as hell and the deck doesn't pack enough sac outlets to make it reliable. genesis is card advantage, plus it rocks hard with entomb.
-diabolic tutor
+buried alive
with genesis, this is a no brainer. genesis + kagemaro is a lockdown ready to go for a 3 mana tutor. plus replica is always great, and stinky isn't bad either.
-necrogen spelbomb
+phyrexian arena
spellbomb is too mana intensive and the secondary sorta sucks. arena is a staple for a reason.
-aeolipile
+underworld connection
aeolipile is pretty mana intensive too. replacing removal with utility is always sketchy, but underworld connection gives the CA to get lots of removal quickly.
-grasp of darkness
+vraska the unseen
vraska's got flexibility in removal and can be used multiple times, plus provides a potential wincon.
-naturalize
+abrupt decay
going for more generic removal. lots of the artifacts i need to kill are 3 cmc or less anyway.
-insidious dreams
+survival of the fittest
with genesis, survival gets amazing. it can get equally nuts with replica.
-tainted strike
+codex shredder
codex shredder is just awesome for this deck, and tainted strike is pretty lame.
-darkblast
+kagemaro, first to suffer
kagemaro is easy to recur for this deck, and darkblast has always been pretty meh.
-slaughter pact
+murder
never liked paying mana during my turn. murder is more my style.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6