For the longest time I've wanted to try out the red and white color combination, as well as get to play with Sunforger. When Tajic, Blade of the Legion was spoiled, I saw the chance was now! A 4 to cast, indestructible human soldier that gets a big boost to power and toughness when two more friends swing along with him. I also thought that it would be cool to make a deck focused on soldiers as a theme, and Tajic fit into that perfectly, being a soldier, as well as encouraging people to swing along with him. Take note that this guide is made for multiplayer EDH in mind.
Why Tajic, Blade of the Legion?
If you like:
Winning through damage or commander damage
Building up an army (of soldiers and tokens!)
Having combat tricks up your sleeve
Playing politics at the table!
Using and abusing equipment *Ahem!*
Having an indestructible commander that comes down early
Then Tajic's for you!
If you like:
Having access to blue mana
Comboing out
Having infinite whatever it may be in an instant
Not attacking
Then I recommend you look somewhere else. Tajic beats hard and stays around, but the colors he is in will not give you a lot of tricks and spells to mess around with your opponent, notably counterspells and spells that steal opponent's stuff.
Deck History
The deck has been around since the release of Dragon's Maze. I actually combined the red and white cards that I have with an existing Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier deck that I had already. Darien was a more controllish deck, while Tajic encourages you for beating hard, beating fast, and beating often!
Utility
Here are some cards that are not particularly soldiers and equipment, but will help the battalion in its plan of swinging to the face!
Intrepid Hero – Another value weenie that blows up big creatures. Reusable too! Balefire Liege – Pumps our soldiers and creatures, gains us life and deals damage to our opponent. He eats up removal too but hey that's one less spell aimed at our commander. Boros Battleshaper – 7 mana is a lot, I know, but lately I've been enjoying the mini-Master Warcraft that the guy provides. That and it has a sizable 5/5 body. Odric, Master Tactician – This guy along with 3 other friends means no one's blocking on the opponent's side. Or you get to kill whatever annoying creature there is. Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer – With our artifact ramp and equipments, his metalcraft gets activated pretty often, giving our team a big boost in power. Aurelia, the Warleader - More combat steps = more fun for Tajic and the team! Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - I feel the mana cost is a little prohibitive, but with the damage halving and damage doubling effect, this card is worth a shot.
Soldiers and Recruiters
These cards bring along more soldiers on to the board, so that Tajic has some friends to swing with and get that juicy battalion trigger!
Captain of the Watch – 6 mana for 10 power and gives soldiers vigilance and a +1/+1 boost? Sign me up! Cloudgoat Ranger – 5 mana for 4 creatures is great value! Not to mention those are 3 soldier tokens too. Hero of Bladehold – Sadly, just attacking with Hero and Tajic does not trigger battalion, but she creates more soldier tokens and gives our team a power boost when attacking. Conqueror's Pledge – Soldier token maker. Relevant mid or late game. 5 mana for 6 soldiers, or 11 mana for twelve soldiers. Great value too! Martial Coup – When cast for X = 5, clears the board, leaves Tajic intact, and gives him 5 soldiers to swing with. Knight-Captain of Eos – The Fog Machine! This card will allow you to save your hide in archenemy situations, as well as give you some political muscle at the table. “Do you want me to fog...?” Assemble the Legion – This card and Tajic were made for each other. The second turn after you cast this you will have the ability to trigger battalion every time you swing, and the longer it stays on the table the bigger your legion will grow. Take note that this will transform you into a threat, and that people will be watching out for this card. Rise of the Hobgoblins – Cast for two mana, and WHEN IT RESOLVES AND ENTERS THE BATTLEFIELD, then pay X. great for somewhat baiting countermagic, in my playgroup experience. Goblin Trenches – Lategame provider of instant speed tokens. For the late game because you have to sacrifice a land, but it conveniently gives us 2 tokens for Tajic.
Haste Enablers
These cards grant haste, which is very very important for a red and white aggro deck such as ours. You can catch opponents unaware and mess up supposed combat math for your turn, as well as having other players to play around what you might have in your hand. Makes Tajic very very dangerous.
In the Web of War – 5 mana to give my team haste and new creatures +2/+0. It's great with token makers, and backbreaking with Martial Coup. Anger – Pure value. You lose nothing getting it wrathed away. Just make sure you have a mountain in play, ok? Urabrask the Hidden – This praetor gives your whole team haste, but more than that, this guy makes all the creatures of your opponents come into play TAPPED. Perfect for our beatdown strategy. Akroma's Memorial - I feel it is better than Homura, Human Ascendant. For one more mana it grants abilities all around. Too bad its not a body though.
Military Backup
The Big Guns. These cards are either haymakers or they pump your creatures to a point that they can't be ignored. Also messes up conventional combat math and makes other people work extra hard to beat you in the red zone.
Insurrection – Need I say more? Feels great resolving this on a full table! Glory of Warfare – My turn, +2/+0, everybody else's, +0/+2. Helps on both offense and defense. Luminarch Ascension – Who says all we do is swing? With this on the table, you can go turtle defense mode and wait for the ascension to go online, then go and beat face. Reforge the Soul - Can't believe I missed this one. Card draw in red is card draw much needed. Goes without saying I'm also on the lookout for a Wheel of Fortune.
Sweepers
These cards clear the board of other creatures (and sometimes enchantments and artifacts), all the while leaving Tajic on the board to keep swinging again.
Blasphemous Act – damage based sweeper that gets easier to cast with a full board. Rout - The possibility of instant speed wrath is a little too good to be ignored. Wrath of God – the simple, clean, no regeneration wrath of god. Austere Command – 4 modes allow for flexibility depending on the situation. Most commonly used to get rid of pesky enchantments and 4 casting cost and up creatures, leaving Tajic, equipment, and tokens to swing.
Equipment Tutors
I am running an equipment suite in this deck, and I think it goes well with the plan of swinging with Tajic and his soldiers. I also run these tutors so that I can somewhat consistently grab the equipment that I need for the specific situation.
Steelshaper's Gift – one mana to tutor for the equipment of your choice. Yey. Stonehewer Giant – This dude can swing, and then fetch something and then put it into the battlefield attached to a creature. Instant speed weapons! Godo, Bandit Warlord – Godo comes down and cheats an equipemt into play, as well as granting himself an extra attack step. Stoneforge Mystic - Another one of the better equipment Tutors.
Equipment
Toys for Tajic to swing with!
Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak – Tajic may be indestructible, but that doesn't mean he can't be dealt with. These equipment make sure he can't be targeted by opponents, with the cloak making him unblockable. Loxodon Warhammer – gives a power boost, trample, and gain life. Umezawa's Jitte – This card allows for flexibility. Can act as removal, pump, or lifegain in a pinch. Equip on Tajic and swing away, or block away. Sword of Feast and Famine – This card gets you ahead in the aggro race. Makes the opponent discard a card is great, but you getting to untap all your lands is even greater. Skullclamp – This and tokens is card draw. Sorely needed in red and white. Worldslayer – Our combo piece in the deck. Tajic, Blade of the Legion + Stonehewer Giant + Worldslayer = Good Game Sunforger – Our toolbox, utility machine, as well as scary ass hammer when equipped on our commander. +4/+0 is nothing to scoff at, especially when it's attached to an indestructible commander.
Sunforger Package
Can't run Sunforger without its toolbox, and the tricks are fine wether they are in hand or being fetched up with ”Thor's Hammer”
Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile – Instant speed exile removal. Can deal with fellow indestructible creatures too. Oblation – Can be used as removal or card draw in a pinch. Chaos Warp – Used as removal mostly. More effective against spell-heavy decks. Return to Dust – Exile target artifact or enchantment. Two if used in the main phase. Boros Charm - Flexibility all in one! Gives indestructibility, and the 4 to the face is a good option too. Master Warcraft – Grants you control over the red zone. Dawn Charm – Flexibility! Fog, Counterspell(for a spell that targets you) all in one. Wild Ricochet – For the times when you want to redirect removal, or just cause plain EDH goodness! Wear and Tear – More targeted enchantment and artifact removal. Recurrable for Sunforger! Enlightened Tutor – tutor for enchantment or equipment. Tithe – instant white land search. Can either search for dual land or Mistveil Plains, for Sunforger spell recursion.
Mana Ramp
In our colors, we don't have a lot of good ramp, but we do have good options for ramp and land searching, as well as reliance on mana rocks and artifacts for acceleration.
Land Tax – This card gets us the basics we need, as well as thins the deck for the late game. Boros Signet – simple mana rock acceleration, and in theme! Boros Cluestone - the Boros Mind stone. Trying it out Solemn Simulacrum – Sad robot gets us a land and draws us a card when he dies. Weathered Wayfarer – Land Tax 2 searches us any land we want provided someone's ahead on the land count. Go green players! Mana Vault – one to cast mana rock for 3 mana. Sure there is a downside, but the explosiveness this gives us is great. Turn 2 Assemble the Legion? Sol Ring – Commander staple. Big boost in mana for us. Chromatic Lantern – ramps us by one and removes color screw. Darksteel Ingot – Indestrctible ramp!
Lands
I am running 37 lands because I feel in this deck we don't want to miss land drops, and getting to 6 mana is really crucial, along with the utility that some of the lands provide.
Tajic requires you to swing and to swing in order to win. The deck's main avenue of victory is through dealing combat damage and commander damage. This won't be too hard due to the commander's indestructibility and the deck's capability to produce tokens to swing with.
In the early game, you want to be able to put down some ramp, whether it be mana rocks, Weathered Wayfarer or Land Tax. When the coast is clear, resolve Tajic.
In the middle game, focus on leaving just enough threats on the table. Tajic only needs a few equipemtn, and or at least two other guys to swing with to activate battalion, so you don't want to just dump all your hand if possible. Leave some threats for when they answer what's on your board. All the while keeping mana up if possible for tricks from the Sunforger package.
In the late game, you will want to finish off opponents with a swarm of tokens, or Tajic being equipped with a lot of equipment.
Another basic rule is if Tajic is on the table, make sure he stays there! Fetch boots or greaves if you have too. The deck is not over dependent on Tajic, but it makes the deck play so much easier to have him around.
Another note, for the aggro deck to succeed in a table full of cutthroat EDH players you will need to start making friends and playing politics. Figure out who is the threat at the table and rally others to go for him too. Each and every person is unique in their approach on this aspect of the game. I, for one, enjoy this aspect, and have built this deck with the politics of multiplayer in mind.
Other Card Options
Cards I'm looking for:
These are cards that I feel will make a big positive impact on the deck and its strategy. I just haven't got one or am still looking for one.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope – Who doesn't want indestructible permanents? Frontline Medic - Again, who doesn't want indestructible permanents(creatures!)? Will save Tajic and the team from dying in the combat step. Sword of Fire and Ice,Sword of Light and Shadow - Value swords are great swords are value swords! The reason why I haven't got these are the price tag and the relative difficulty of looking for them where I'm from.
Other Cards I'm Considering: Expedition Map - Search for any land artifact. Quite handy given the variety of lands this deck can have. Lapse of Certainty - White counterspell! I need to test if it's worth a slot or just too cute for its own good in this deck. Faithless Looting - Card draw in Red, and as suggested, can be an Anger discard outlet. Trailblazer's Boots - Nonbasic Landwalk in EDH? nigh unblockable! Juicy with a very fat Tajic. Order and Chaos - I like the Chaos part, but the Order part is kinda meh
Other Card Options
These are cards that I've tried and took out, although they could make the cut in your decks and in other playgroups. There are also cards that I took out or did not make the cut in the deck.
Armaggedon,Boom and Bust,Decree of Annihilation,Jokulhaups,Obliterate,Catastrophe - Out of all of these, I feel Catastrophe is the best and most flexible card, but since my playgroup (and I personally) tend to shy away from mass land destruction, I don't run these cards. Me and my playgroup consider them quite unfun actually, and run targeted land removal instead.
What these cards do give the deck is a strong finisher and a countdown clock to the game. Can the opponent rebuild lands and find removal soon enough before Tajic pummels them to submission? For some decks, this kind of punch will render them unable to crawl back into the game.
Mobilization - I felt the card too slow for this kind of deck. It does give you the ability to pump out soldier tokens and gives them vigilance, but I find I rather want mana open for tricks or casting big impact spells than keeping mana open to either can an instant or create a soldier EOT. Fight to the Death - Too cute. I got to use this card just twice and I wished I was holding either Boros Charm or removal instead. Duergar Hedge-Mage - Value weenie that blows up an artifact and/or enchantment when it enters the battlefield Angelic Overseer – Beats in the air, and she and Tajic are the indestructible combo!, other than that, she just sits on the table Angelic Skirmisher – grants vigilance, first strike, or lifelink to my team for every combat. dies easily and needs a team to be effective. meh late game topdeck usually. Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs – Deters others from attacking us en masse, and can give us friends to swing with! Set aside to make way for Goblin Trenches, who will surely give us soldiers. Akroma, Angel of Fury – big beater in the air, and can even come down early as a morph creature Ajani Vengeant – Detains pesky permanents, deals damage, gains life, armageddons one player, and is a difficult permanent to remove because he's a planewalker. I removed him because in my experience he draws too much hate and just taps one permanent. Testing something out instead of Ajani now. Akroma's Vengeance – destroy artifacts and enchantments along with creatures. In the late game this has the potential to hurt us more than others. Ran more targeted enchantment and artifact removal instead. Taj-Nar Swordsmith – comes down and you have to pay X, which is the casting cost of the equipment of your choice, but the equipment gets put into the battlefield directly. Too slow, and Stoneforge Mystic is a better card Aether Shockwave – Tap all non spirits or spirits. Can either be used as a Fog or Falter. Rebuff the Wicked – People don't see it coming the first time, and they will play around it the next time. Bluffing you have this in hand is gold. Too situational I found, and once people know it's coming, it loses a lot of its effect on the table. Homura, Human Ascendant - changed with Akroma's Memorial. Running not enough sweepers and sacrifice effects to consistently put Homura in the graveyard Gratuitous Violence - Too often this gets stuck in my hand while i cast either more creatures or more immediate effects. Changed out for more ramp, but this might make a reappearance in the future Sword of Vengeance - I've been having difficulties using the sword, and I'd rather use the mana to activate battalion than equip this sword.
Other Ways to Build the Deck
I am sticking to a Tajic and soldiers theme with my deck. Here are several possible other ways to build the deck.
Goblins are more explosive and swarm faster than Soldiers at the cost of resiliency and lords. Although there are goblin lords like Goblin Chieftain, and Goblin King, Soldiers I feel have more tricksy token creating creatures, such as Knight-Captain of Eos. Goblins and Tajic aim to enable battalion as quickly and as often as possible using at least two goblin tokens/creatures. Rather than use a lot of equipment like my build, this build uses and abuses tokens to pump up our commander.
Tajic and Red White Control
This build focuses also on resource denial, while controlling opponents and the combat step, such as tappers, and cards that don't let opponents either attack you or untap their creatures.
This build uses cards like Aether Flash, Powerstone Minefield, and Pyrohemia to control small creatures, and Meekstone, Smoke, and Crackdown, and similar cards, to control larger creatures. Basically make it so only your creatures, or only Tajic, can profitably swing into the red zone. This build can also use a good helping of Static Orb, Winter Orb, War's Toll, Kismet, Loxodon Gatekeeper, Price of Glory, and other similar punisher type cards. In my mind this can actually be an effective build of the deck, but to me it's just sooooo un-fun. If I brought this our in my playgroup, we wouldn't be playing EDH, it would be archenemy.
Change Log
06/03/2013
+ Wear and Tear, - Duergar Hedge-Mage
+ Stoneforge Mystic, - Taj-Nar Swordsmith
+ Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, - Akroma, Angel of Fury
+ Aurelia, the Warleader, - Angelic Skirmisher
+ Rout, - Akroma's Vengeance
+ Dawn Charm, - Aether Shockwave
+ Boros Charm, - Rebuff the Wicked
+ Reforge the Soul, - Angelic Overseer
+ Goblin Trenches, - Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
+ Homura, Human Ascendant, -Ajani Vengeant
+ Sword of Vengeance, - Worldslayer
Here's an article where the deck was featured by Carlos Gutierrez on his "5 Decks You Can't Miss This Week" column. He has some great insights about the deck as well good card suggestions.:
Thanks for the Suggestion! And though I appreciate the land coming into play tapped, I feel that Expedition Map could be a stronger card in this deck. Search for any land is a must given the situation.
Goblin Assault provides half of the batallion requirement.
Goblin Assault I feel would work better in a goblin themed or all in token build of Tajic. Sometimes, I also want to block with the tokens I found out. I did put in Goblin Trenches in my latest update.
Put in an eleven card update for the deck. Mostly just cards that I have been looking for since I came up with the draft of the deck. I only just got these cards now haha. Looking forward to testing them out.
Have you thought about maybe throwing in something like soltari visionary? It's unblockable most of the time and has an awesome ability to boot. I dunno if it'd be that worthwhile but it can help enable tajic's battalion ability.
Thanks again for linking me to your list. It's not doing the same thing as mine, but it's been a great place for ideas.
Have you considered Faithless Looting? I know it doesn't net cards, but it does help you find what you need which is hard to do in Red. It also gives you an Anger outlet (c wut i did thar?).
Also, as soon as M14 launches, there's an Ogre or something that's basically In the Web of War on legs and is 1 cheaper.
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"[Screw] you and the green you ramped in on." - My EDH battle cry. If I had one. Which I don't.
Have you considered Faithless Looting? I know it doesn't net cards, but it does help you find what you need which is hard to do in Red. It also gives you an Anger outlet (c wut i did thar?).
I am going to be looking for time to sneak this in and test this card. Thanks for the suggestion!
Have you thought about maybe throwing in something like soltari visionary? It's unblockable most of the time and has an awesome ability to boot. I dunno if it'd be that worthwhile but it can help enable tajic's battalion ability.
I will admit I did think about the Soltari creatures while building the deck, but I found out that in my playgroup they are fragile and just get either swept away or become dead draws in the late game. I prioritize and favor creatures or cards that net me more than one body, so it can more reliably trigger battalion.
Now if there was some way to give shadow to my whole team hehehe...
I'm still looking for a Frontline Medic to put in the deck, and I took out Worldslayer to test something else. I'm done with that and haha no surprise Worldslayer is coming back in.
Yep! still saving up for those two. and Worldslayer is going back in. It helps to have a card that allows you to win out of nowhere. What do you think of Trailblazer's boots?
Have you considered testing Thalia, Guardian of Thraben? Her utility cannot be underestimated in decks like this.
Thanks for the suggestion! I have tested with the card, but not extensively. Great for one on one, but the tax just gets hated on in a group. at the very least she was a lightning rod for removal that would otherwise hit Tajic. How has you experience been with the card?
I'm playing a similar version of the deck: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11548236&posted=1#post11548236
And am thinking of adding the Sunforger package but am worried that if Sunforger gets destroyed I'm in for a hurtin! How much does it set you back? My deck is for MTGO and I KNOW they will not let Sunforger just sit around.
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For the longest time I've wanted to try out the red and white color combination, as well as get to play with Sunforger. When Tajic, Blade of the Legion was spoiled, I saw the chance was now! A 4 to cast, indestructible human soldier that gets a big boost to power and toughness when two more friends swing along with him. I also thought that it would be cool to make a deck focused on soldiers as a theme, and Tajic fit into that perfectly, being a soldier, as well as encouraging people to swing along with him. Take note that this guide is made for multiplayer EDH in mind.
Winning through damage or commander damage
Building up an army (of soldiers and tokens!)
Having combat tricks up your sleeve
Playing politics at the table!
Using and abusing equipment *Ahem!*
Having an indestructible commander that comes down early
Then Tajic's for you!
If you like:
Having access to blue mana
Comboing out
Having infinite whatever it may be in an instant
Not attacking
Then I recommend you look somewhere else. Tajic beats hard and stays around, but the colors he is in will not give you a lot of tricks and spells to mess around with your opponent, notably counterspells and spells that steal opponent's stuff.
Deck History
The deck has been around since the release of Dragon's Maze. I actually combined the red and white cards that I have with an existing Darien, King of Kjeldor Soldier deck that I had already. Darien was a more controllish deck, while Tajic encourages you for beating hard, beating fast, and beating often!
Here's the decklist!
1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
Utility
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Balefire Liege
1 Boros Battleshaper
1 Odric, Master Tactician
1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
Soldiers and Recruiters
1 Captain of the Watch
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Conqueror's Pledge
1 Martial Coup
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Rise of the Hobgoblins
1 Goblin Trenches
Haste Enablers
1 In the Web of War
1 Anger
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Akroma's Memorial
Military Backup
1 Insurrection
1 Glory of Warfare
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Reforge the Soul
Sweepers
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Wrath of God
1 Austere Command
1 Rout
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Stoneforge Mystic
Equipment
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Skullclamp
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Sunforger
Sunforger Package
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Oblation
1 Chaos Warp
1 Return to Dust
1 Dawn Charm
1 Master Warcraft
1 Boros Charm
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Wear and Tear
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Tithe
Mana Ramp
1 Land Tax
1 Boros Signet
1 Boros Cluestone
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Command Tower
1 Boros Garrison
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Arid Mesa
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Temple of the False God
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Strip Mine
1 Slayer's Stronghold
1 Kor Haven
9 Plains
7 Mountain
Utility
Here are some cards that are not particularly soldiers and equipment, but will help the battalion in its plan of swinging to the face!
Intrepid Hero – Another value weenie that blows up big creatures. Reusable too!
Balefire Liege – Pumps our soldiers and creatures, gains us life and deals damage to our opponent. He eats up removal too but hey that's one less spell aimed at our commander.
Boros Battleshaper – 7 mana is a lot, I know, but lately I've been enjoying the mini-Master Warcraft that the guy provides. That and it has a sizable 5/5 body.
Odric, Master Tactician – This guy along with 3 other friends means no one's blocking on the opponent's side. Or you get to kill whatever annoying creature there is.
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer – With our artifact ramp and equipments, his metalcraft gets activated pretty often, giving our team a big boost in power.
Aurelia, the Warleader - More combat steps = more fun for Tajic and the team!
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - I feel the mana cost is a little prohibitive, but with the damage halving and damage doubling effect, this card is worth a shot.
Soldiers and Recruiters
These cards bring along more soldiers on to the board, so that Tajic has some friends to swing with and get that juicy battalion trigger!
Captain of the Watch – 6 mana for 10 power and gives soldiers vigilance and a +1/+1 boost? Sign me up!
Cloudgoat Ranger – 5 mana for 4 creatures is great value! Not to mention those are 3 soldier tokens too.
Hero of Bladehold – Sadly, just attacking with Hero and Tajic does not trigger battalion, but she creates more soldier tokens and gives our team a power boost when attacking.
Conqueror's Pledge – Soldier token maker. Relevant mid or late game. 5 mana for 6 soldiers, or 11 mana for twelve soldiers. Great value too!
Martial Coup – When cast for X = 5, clears the board, leaves Tajic intact, and gives him 5 soldiers to swing with.
Knight-Captain of Eos – The Fog Machine! This card will allow you to save your hide in archenemy situations, as well as give you some political muscle at the table. “Do you want me to fog...?”
Assemble the Legion – This card and Tajic were made for each other. The second turn after you cast this you will have the ability to trigger battalion every time you swing, and the longer it stays on the table the bigger your legion will grow. Take note that this will transform you into a threat, and that people will be watching out for this card.
Rise of the Hobgoblins – Cast for two mana, and WHEN IT RESOLVES AND ENTERS THE BATTLEFIELD, then pay X. great for somewhat baiting countermagic, in my playgroup experience.
Goblin Trenches – Lategame provider of instant speed tokens. For the late game because you have to sacrifice a land, but it conveniently gives us 2 tokens for Tajic.
Haste Enablers
These cards grant haste, which is very very important for a red and white aggro deck such as ours. You can catch opponents unaware and mess up supposed combat math for your turn, as well as having other players to play around what you might have in your hand. Makes Tajic very very dangerous.
In the Web of War – 5 mana to give my team haste and new creatures +2/+0. It's great with token makers, and backbreaking with Martial Coup.
Anger – Pure value. You lose nothing getting it wrathed away. Just make sure you have a mountain in play, ok?
Urabrask the Hidden – This praetor gives your whole team haste, but more than that, this guy makes all the creatures of your opponents come into play TAPPED. Perfect for our beatdown strategy.
Akroma's Memorial - I feel it is better than Homura, Human Ascendant. For one more mana it grants abilities all around. Too bad its not a body though.
Military Backup
The Big Guns. These cards are either haymakers or they pump your creatures to a point that they can't be ignored. Also messes up conventional combat math and makes other people work extra hard to beat you in the red zone.
Insurrection – Need I say more? Feels great resolving this on a full table!
Glory of Warfare – My turn, +2/+0, everybody else's, +0/+2. Helps on both offense and defense.
Luminarch Ascension – Who says all we do is swing? With this on the table, you can go turtle defense mode and wait for the ascension to go online, then go and beat face.
Reforge the Soul - Can't believe I missed this one. Card draw in red is card draw much needed. Goes without saying I'm also on the lookout for a Wheel of Fortune.
Sweepers
These cards clear the board of other creatures (and sometimes enchantments and artifacts), all the while leaving Tajic on the board to keep swinging again.
Blasphemous Act – damage based sweeper that gets easier to cast with a full board.
Rout - The possibility of instant speed wrath is a little too good to be ignored.
Wrath of God – the simple, clean, no regeneration wrath of god.
Austere Command – 4 modes allow for flexibility depending on the situation. Most commonly used to get rid of pesky enchantments and 4 casting cost and up creatures, leaving Tajic, equipment, and tokens to swing.
Equipment Tutors
I am running an equipment suite in this deck, and I think it goes well with the plan of swinging with Tajic and his soldiers. I also run these tutors so that I can somewhat consistently grab the equipment that I need for the specific situation.
Steelshaper's Gift – one mana to tutor for the equipment of your choice. Yey.
Stonehewer Giant – This dude can swing, and then fetch something and then put it into the battlefield attached to a creature. Instant speed weapons!
Godo, Bandit Warlord – Godo comes down and cheats an equipemt into play, as well as granting himself an extra attack step.
Stoneforge Mystic - Another one of the better equipment Tutors.
Equipment
Toys for Tajic to swing with!
Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak – Tajic may be indestructible, but that doesn't mean he can't be dealt with. These equipment make sure he can't be targeted by opponents, with the cloak making him unblockable.
Loxodon Warhammer – gives a power boost, trample, and gain life.
Umezawa's Jitte – This card allows for flexibility. Can act as removal, pump, or lifegain in a pinch. Equip on Tajic and swing away, or block away.
Sword of Feast and Famine – This card gets you ahead in the aggro race. Makes the opponent discard a card is great, but you getting to untap all your lands is even greater.
Skullclamp – This and tokens is card draw. Sorely needed in red and white.
Worldslayer – Our combo piece in the deck. Tajic, Blade of the Legion + Stonehewer Giant + Worldslayer = Good Game
Sunforger – Our toolbox, utility machine, as well as scary ass hammer when equipped on our commander. +4/+0 is nothing to scoff at, especially when it's attached to an indestructible commander.
Sunforger Package
Can't run Sunforger without its toolbox, and the tricks are fine wether they are in hand or being fetched up with ”Thor's Hammer”
Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile – Instant speed exile removal. Can deal with fellow indestructible creatures too.
Oblation – Can be used as removal or card draw in a pinch.
Chaos Warp – Used as removal mostly. More effective against spell-heavy decks.
Return to Dust – Exile target artifact or enchantment. Two if used in the main phase.
Boros Charm - Flexibility all in one! Gives indestructibility, and the 4 to the face is a good option too.
Master Warcraft – Grants you control over the red zone.
Dawn Charm – Flexibility! Fog, Counterspell(for a spell that targets you) all in one.
Wild Ricochet – For the times when you want to redirect removal, or just cause plain EDH goodness!
Wear and Tear – More targeted enchantment and artifact removal. Recurrable for Sunforger!
Enlightened Tutor – tutor for enchantment or equipment.
Tithe – instant white land search. Can either search for dual land or Mistveil Plains, for Sunforger spell recursion.
Mana Ramp
In our colors, we don't have a lot of good ramp, but we do have good options for ramp and land searching, as well as reliance on mana rocks and artifacts for acceleration.
Land Tax – This card gets us the basics we need, as well as thins the deck for the late game.
Boros Signet – simple mana rock acceleration, and in theme!
Boros Cluestone - the Boros Mind stone. Trying it out
Solemn Simulacrum – Sad robot gets us a land and draws us a card when he dies.
Weathered Wayfarer – Land Tax 2 searches us any land we want provided someone's ahead on the land count. Go green players!
Mana Vault – one to cast mana rock for 3 mana. Sure there is a downside, but the explosiveness this gives us is great. Turn 2 Assemble the Legion?
Sol Ring – Commander staple. Big boost in mana for us.
Chromatic Lantern – ramps us by one and removes color screw.
Darksteel Ingot – Indestrctible ramp!
Lands
I am running 37 lands because I feel in this deck we don't want to miss land drops, and getting to 6 mana is really crucial, along with the utility that some of the lands provide.
Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep – Giving first strike can be a good combat trick at times.
Eiganjo Castle – Can be used to save a legendary creature
Mistveil Plains – For Sunforger spell recursion.
Spinerock Knoll – With the damage we're dealing, this allows us to cheat goodies into play.
Secluded Steppe,Forgotten Cave – cycling land for late game draw.
Command Tower – Don't leave home without it!
Emeria, the Sky Ruin – Provides recursion for late game situations.
Clifftop Retreat, Sacred Foundry, Boros Garrison, Rugged Prairie, Arid Mesa – provides Red and/or White Mana. Or searches us the relevant land.
Ancient Tomb, Temple of the False God – Land acceleration.
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion – Boros Headquarters! In theme, as well as giving a creature double strike.
Hall of the Bandit Lord – grants haste at the cost of 3 life.
Thespian's Stage – copy copy! Better with the new legendary rules.
Strip Mine – Sometimes, we need an answer to annoying opposing lands *cough cough*
Slayer's Stronghold – grants a power boost, vigilance and haste.
Kor Haven –This card can save us from lethal damage!
Tajic requires you to swing and to swing in order to win. The deck's main avenue of victory is through dealing combat damage and commander damage. This won't be too hard due to the commander's indestructibility and the deck's capability to produce tokens to swing with.
In the early game, you want to be able to put down some ramp, whether it be mana rocks, Weathered Wayfarer or Land Tax. When the coast is clear, resolve Tajic.
In the middle game, focus on leaving just enough threats on the table. Tajic only needs a few equipemtn, and or at least two other guys to swing with to activate battalion, so you don't want to just dump all your hand if possible. Leave some threats for when they answer what's on your board. All the while keeping mana up if possible for tricks from the Sunforger package.
In the late game, you will want to finish off opponents with a swarm of tokens, or Tajic being equipped with a lot of equipment.
Another basic rule is if Tajic is on the table, make sure he stays there! Fetch boots or greaves if you have too. The deck is not over dependent on Tajic, but it makes the deck play so much easier to have him around.
Another note, for the aggro deck to succeed in a table full of cutthroat EDH players you will need to start making friends and playing politics. Figure out who is the threat at the table and rally others to go for him too. Each and every person is unique in their approach on this aspect of the game. I, for one, enjoy this aspect, and have built this deck with the politics of multiplayer in mind.
Cards I'm looking for:
These are cards that I feel will make a big positive impact on the deck and its strategy. I just haven't got one or am still looking for one.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope – Who doesn't want indestructible permanents?
Frontline Medic - Again, who doesn't want indestructible permanents(creatures!)? Will save Tajic and the team from dying in the combat step.
Sword of Fire and Ice,Sword of Light and Shadow - Value swords are great swords are value swords! The reason why I haven't got these are the price tag and the relative difficulty of looking for them where I'm from.
Other Cards I'm Considering:
Expedition Map - Search for any land artifact. Quite handy given the variety of lands this deck can have.
Lapse of Certainty - White counterspell! I need to test if it's worth a slot or just too cute for its own good in this deck.
Faithless Looting - Card draw in Red, and as suggested, can be an Anger discard outlet.
Trailblazer's Boots - Nonbasic Landwalk in EDH? nigh unblockable! Juicy with a very fat Tajic.
Order and Chaos - I like the Chaos part, but the Order part is kinda meh
Other Card Options
These are cards that I've tried and took out, although they could make the cut in your decks and in other playgroups. There are also cards that I took out or did not make the cut in the deck.
Armaggedon,Boom and Bust,Decree of Annihilation,Jokulhaups,Obliterate,Catastrophe - Out of all of these, I feel Catastrophe is the best and most flexible card, but since my playgroup (and I personally) tend to shy away from mass land destruction, I don't run these cards. Me and my playgroup consider them quite unfun actually, and run targeted land removal instead.
What these cards do give the deck is a strong finisher and a countdown clock to the game. Can the opponent rebuild lands and find removal soon enough before Tajic pummels them to submission? For some decks, this kind of punch will render them unable to crawl back into the game.
Mobilization - I felt the card too slow for this kind of deck. It does give you the ability to pump out soldier tokens and gives them vigilance, but I find I rather want mana open for tricks or casting big impact spells than keeping mana open to either can an instant or create a soldier EOT.
Fight to the Death - Too cute. I got to use this card just twice and I wished I was holding either Boros Charm or removal instead.
Duergar Hedge-Mage - Value weenie that blows up an artifact and/or enchantment when it enters the battlefield
Angelic Overseer – Beats in the air, and she and Tajic are the indestructible combo!, other than that, she just sits on the table
Angelic Skirmisher – grants vigilance, first strike, or lifelink to my team for every combat. dies easily and needs a team to be effective. meh late game topdeck usually.
Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs – Deters others from attacking us en masse, and can give us friends to swing with! Set aside to make way for Goblin Trenches, who will surely give us soldiers.
Akroma, Angel of Fury – big beater in the air, and can even come down early as a morph creature
Ajani Vengeant – Detains pesky permanents, deals damage, gains life, armageddons one player, and is a difficult permanent to remove because he's a planewalker. I removed him because in my experience he draws too much hate and just taps one permanent. Testing something out instead of Ajani now.
Akroma's Vengeance – destroy artifacts and enchantments along with creatures. In the late game this has the potential to hurt us more than others. Ran more targeted enchantment and artifact removal instead.
Taj-Nar Swordsmith – comes down and you have to pay X, which is the casting cost of the equipment of your choice, but the equipment gets put into the battlefield directly. Too slow, and Stoneforge Mystic is a better card
Aether Shockwave – Tap all non spirits or spirits. Can either be used as a Fog or Falter.
Rebuff the Wicked – People don't see it coming the first time, and they will play around it the next time. Bluffing you have this in hand is gold. Too situational I found, and once people know it's coming, it loses a lot of its effect on the table.
Homura, Human Ascendant - changed with Akroma's Memorial. Running not enough sweepers and sacrifice effects to consistently put Homura in the graveyard
Gratuitous Violence - Too often this gets stuck in my hand while i cast either more creatures or more immediate effects. Changed out for more ramp, but this might make a reappearance in the future
Sword of Vengeance - I've been having difficulties using the sword, and I'd rather use the mana to activate battalion than equip this sword.
I am sticking to a Tajic and soldiers theme with my deck. Here are several possible other ways to build the deck.
Tajic and Goblins/Tokens
This build features either Goblins instead of soldiers, or a mass of token producers, going for a dedicated swarm deck approach.
Goblin builds can/will usually include the following cards: Krenko, Mob Boss,Goblin Assault,Siege-Gang Commander,Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker,Rise of the Hobgoblins, Goblin Trenches, Beetleback Chief, Goblin Marshal, Goblin Assault, and maybe Goblin Offensive
Goblins are more explosive and swarm faster than Soldiers at the cost of resiliency and lords. Although there are goblin lords like Goblin Chieftain, and Goblin King, Soldiers I feel have more tricksy token creating creatures, such as Knight-Captain of Eos. Goblins and Tajic aim to enable battalion as quickly and as often as possible using at least two goblin tokens/creatures. Rather than use a lot of equipment like my build, this build uses and abuses tokens to pump up our commander.
A full on token build might also aim to just throw away theme and consistency just to create tokens to swing with and enable battalion with Tajic. Cards that can be included can be the following: Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, Geist-Honored Monk, Belfry Spirit, Decree of Justice, Midnight Haunting, Cenn's Enlistment, Raise the Alarm, Gather the Townsfolk, Increasing Devotion, and the like.
Tajic and Indestructible Friends
This build focuses on mana/resource denial and a ton of sweepers making full use of Tajic's indestructibility.
This uses cards like Obliterate,Comet Storm,Starstorm,Armageddon,Decree of Annihilation,Boom and Bust, and other cards of the same ilk. Get Tajic pumped up with equipment or enchantments and sweep and wrath and destroy everything else standing in your way. Indestructible equipment is a bonus too *Darksteel Axe anyone? hahaha *
Here is a sample on the kind of build I'm talking about. Tajic and a ton of sweepers and some indestructible guys.
Dechs Kaison's Tajic Blow up all teh things
Tajic and Red White Control
This build focuses also on resource denial, while controlling opponents and the combat step, such as tappers, and cards that don't let opponents either attack you or untap their creatures.
This build uses cards like Aether Flash, Powerstone Minefield, and Pyrohemia to control small creatures, and Meekstone, Smoke, and Crackdown, and similar cards, to control larger creatures. Basically make it so only your creatures, or only Tajic, can profitably swing into the red zone. This build can also use a good helping of Static Orb, Winter Orb, War's Toll, Kismet, Loxodon Gatekeeper, Price of Glory, and other similar punisher type cards. In my mind this can actually be an effective build of the deck, but to me it's just sooooo un-fun. If I brought this our in my playgroup, we wouldn't be playing EDH, it would be archenemy.
06/03/2013
+ Wear and Tear, - Duergar Hedge-Mage
+ Stoneforge Mystic, - Taj-Nar Swordsmith
+ Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, - Akroma, Angel of Fury
+ Aurelia, the Warleader, - Angelic Skirmisher
+ Rout, - Akroma's Vengeance
+ Dawn Charm, - Aether Shockwave
+ Boros Charm, - Rebuff the Wicked
+ Reforge the Soul, - Angelic Overseer
+ Goblin Trenches, - Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
+ Homura, Human Ascendant, -Ajani Vengeant
+ Sword of Vengeance, - Worldslayer
06/13/2013
+ Akroma's Memorial, - Homura, Human Ascendant
+ Boros Cluestone, - Gratuitous Violence
06/22/2013
+ Forgotten Cave, - Mountain
06/25/2013
+ Worldslayer, - Sword of Vengeance
I Look forward to hearing your comments! Thanks and much appreciated!
Here's a great article by Devon Rule on Sunforging for fun and profit:
Single-Card Strategy: Sunforging in Commander
Here's an article where the deck was featured by Carlos Gutierrez on his "5 Decks You Can't Miss This Week" column. He has some great insights about the deck as well good card suggestions.:
Carlos Gutierrez - 5 Decks You Can't Miss This Week
Neheb
Marath
Yidris
Sharuum
Yidris
Thanks for the Suggestion! And though I appreciate the land coming into play tapped, I feel that Expedition Map could be a stronger card in this deck. Search for any land is a must given the situation.
Goblin Assault I feel would work better in a goblin themed or all in token build of Tajic. Sometimes, I also want to block with the tokens I found out. I did put in Goblin Trenches in my latest update.
Have you considered Faithless Looting? I know it doesn't net cards, but it does help you find what you need which is hard to do in Red. It also gives you an Anger outlet (c wut i did thar?).
Also, as soon as M14 launches, there's an Ogre or something that's basically In the Web of War on legs and is 1 cheaper.
Pristaxcontrombmodruu!
Thanks too for the ideas and suggestions Dechs!
I am going to be looking for time to sneak this in and test this card. Thanks for the suggestion!
Yup! I'm looking forward to this card also! I'm already looking for candidates for which card to cut for this.
I will admit I did think about the Soltari creatures while building the deck, but I found out that in my playgroup they are fragile and just get either swept away or become dead draws in the late game. I prioritize and favor creatures or cards that net me more than one body, so it can more reliably trigger battalion.
Now if there was some way to give shadow to my whole team hehehe...
And I'm thinking of modifying the deck to try out an all voltron/equipment build, what equipment should I be running? any suggestions?
Did I miss it on the list?
I think you've got most of the important ones. Sword of Fire and Ice and possibly Sword of Light and Shadow would be next two I'd include, and maybe the aforementioned Worldslayer as a finisher.
stuff
I'm still looking for a Frontline Medic to put in the deck, and I took out Worldslayer to test something else. I'm done with that and haha no surprise Worldslayer is coming back in.
Yep! still saving up for those two. and Worldslayer is going back in. It helps to have a card that allows you to win out of nowhere. What do you think of Trailblazer's boots?
Thanks for the suggestion! I have tested with the card, but not extensively. Great for one on one, but the tax just gets hated on in a group. at the very least she was a lightning rod for removal that would otherwise hit Tajic. How has you experience been with the card?
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11548236&posted=1#post11548236
And am thinking of adding the Sunforger package but am worried that if Sunforger gets destroyed I'm in for a hurtin! How much does it set you back? My deck is for MTGO and I KNOW they will not let Sunforger just sit around.