So a quick explanation, my brother, three friends and myself are all making a deck based on the flip walkers, specifically what their cards have done previously and things related to their travels. For example Chandra has never been to Theros that we know of so it doesn't make sense to call on the help of Purphoros, God of the Forge. I've just had the chance to test the deck and I've noticed some trouble with Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh because she needs to deal at least two damage then tap for the third damage in order to transform her I only really play her once a game, usually when I have three mana and then in the next two or three turns cause her to flip and try to reach ultimate; I have yet to successfully ultimate her.
I'm looking for some suggestions on ways to make it easier to flip/ultimate Chandra. I can't run a number of the more effective or efficient burn spells because they usually depict lightning in some variant and Chandra is a pyromancer, she specialises in fire. Other cards I can't run are things like the proliferate cards or The Chain Veil, Chandra's never been to Mirrodin/New Phyrexia and The Chain Veil is a Liliana card. Also I don't want to run Dragons/Goblins out of both personal choice and Chandra historically has had more to do with elementals and phoenixes than other creature types. Mass land destruction and infinite combos are also not allowed at all in my group.
Oh and we're only allowed to use the full name version of the commander and the flip walker, so Chandra Nalaar in my case.
With that out of the way here's what I'm currently working with:
Obviously there are some cards that don't fit the flavour like Charmbreaker Devils but there's a limit to how far I'm willing to compromise a deck for a one off game. I still intend to take the win after all and as one of my tests today against Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Nissa, Vastwood Seer proved if given the chance I can annihilate my opponents with little warning.
I'm not sure if you can fit it into the flavor, but chaos warp is absolutely nessisary so you can have an answer that gets rid of an opponent's enchantments.
Other cards that come to mind are:
- Blood Moon, it's as good as land destruction in EDH without actually being it.
- Stranglehold if you can swing it with your flavor restrictions
- Mana Flare to help you to ramp into casting your big x spells.
- Leyline of Punishment to prevent life gain shenanigans as well as Sulfuric Vortex.
I also think you can get away with using a lot of artifacts since Chandra is from Kaladesh, an almost steampunk like plane. So as long as you can find good artifacts that don't specifically reference Mirrodin/New Phyrexia/Esper you should be able to swing it.
Chaos Warp unfortunately cannot fit the flavour of Chandra but as it's a Pentagram game I only have to be concerned about beating two players, it's less of an issue.
Blood Moon, good as it is, has the same problem as land destruction, whilst it might not be removing the land it still constitutes attacking the other players mana so that's a no go.
Stranglehold is unnecessary for the same reason as Chaos Warp, doesn't really fit flavour wise and isn't that necessary.
The Leyline of Punishment is good but at least for this game I don't need it, the white deck has one prevent damage spell and one protection card. Sulfuric Vortex will get me killed just as, if not faster than, my opponents, unfortunately. Otherwise I would run that for sure and probably will after this game.
Chandra can do her first two damage from combat, then cast any spell then tap to flip her. Equipment helps with this.
Or Chandra's Ignition has the CREATURE do the damage not the spell, so that will trigger her damage then just tap and flip her. I haven't found her that hard to flip in my experience. I have another thread I posted 2 days ago on a Chandra vorthos style EDH deck in here if you want to check it out.
I'm looking for some suggestions on ways to make it easier to flip/ultimate Chandra. I can't run a number of the more effective or efficient burn spells because they usually depict lightning in some variant and Chandra is a pyromancer, she specialises in fire. Other cards I can't run are things like the proliferate cards or The Chain Veil, Chandra's never been to Mirrodin/New Phyrexia and The Chain Veil is a Liliana card. Also I don't want to run Dragons/Goblins out of both personal choice and Chandra historically has had more to do with elementals and phoenixes than other creature types. Mass land destruction and infinite combos are also not allowed at all in my group.
Oh and we're only allowed to use the full name version of the commander and the flip walker, so Chandra Nalaar in my case.
With that out of the way here's what I'm currently working with:
1x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
Artifact (17)
1x Caged Sun
1x Catalyst Stone
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Expedition Map
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Loreseeker's Stone
1x Mind's Eye
1x Pyromancer's Gauntlet
1x Pyromancer's Goggles
1x Ruby Medallion
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Shrine of Burning Rage
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Sphinx-Bone Wand
1x Staff of Nin
1x Trading Post
Instant (12)
1x Comet Storm
1x Fiery Impulse
1x Flame Javelin
1x Incinerate
1x Increasing Vengeance
1x Magma Jet
1x Pulse of the Forge
1x Ravaging Blaze
1x Reiterate
1x Reverberate
1x Searing Spear
1x Shattering Pulse
1x Outpost Siege
1x Vicious Shadows
Planeswalker (1)
1x Chandra Nalaar
Creature (16)
1x Ashcloud Phoenix
1x Chandra's Phoenix
1x Charmbreaker Devils
1x Embermaw Hellion
1x Fire Servant
1x Firewing Phoenix
1x Guttersnipe
1x Inferno Titan
1x Magma Phoenix
1x Magmatic Force
1x Obsidian Fireheart
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Scab-Clan Berserker
1x Skarrgan Firebird
1x Thopter Assembly
1x Young Pyromancer
Sorcery (15)
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Breaking Point
1x Browbeat
1x Chandra's Ignition
1x Devil's Play
1x Faithless Looting
1x Flames of the Firebrand
1x Mana Geyser
1x Past in Flames
1x Recoup
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Shattering Spree
1x Tormenting Voice
1x Volley of Boulders
1x Wild Guess
1x Buried Ruin
1x Dwarven Hold
1x Foundry of the Consuls
1x Kher Keep
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
25x Mountain
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Shivan Gorge
1x Temple of the False God
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Maybeboard (2)
1x Circle of Flame
1x Surreal Memoir
Obviously there are some cards that don't fit the flavour like Charmbreaker Devils but there's a limit to how far I'm willing to compromise a deck for a one off game. I still intend to take the win after all and as one of my tests today against Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Nissa, Vastwood Seer proved if given the chance I can annihilate my opponents with little warning.
I'm a little unsure on Circle of Flame, it might be good against the elf-tribal Nissa, Vastwood Seer soldier tribal Kytheon, Hero of Akros and zombie tribal Liliana, Heretical Healer decks and Surreal Memoir just seems like a good card in a deck that uses so many spells.
Other cards that come to mind are:
- Blood Moon, it's as good as land destruction in EDH without actually being it.
- Stranglehold if you can swing it with your flavor restrictions
- Mana Flare to help you to ramp into casting your big x spells.
- Leyline of Punishment to prevent life gain shenanigans as well as Sulfuric Vortex.
I also think you can get away with using a lot of artifacts since Chandra is from Kaladesh, an almost steampunk like plane. So as long as you can find good artifacts that don't specifically reference Mirrodin/New Phyrexia/Esper you should be able to swing it.
Blood Moon, good as it is, has the same problem as land destruction, whilst it might not be removing the land it still constitutes attacking the other players mana so that's a no go.
Stranglehold is unnecessary for the same reason as Chaos Warp, doesn't really fit flavour wise and isn't that necessary.
I only run three X spells and am already running Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power and Sculpting Steel to copy one of them. So Mana Flare would cause more problems by giving others mana.
The Leyline of Punishment is good but at least for this game I don't need it, the white deck has one prevent damage spell and one protection card. Sulfuric Vortex will get me killed just as, if not faster than, my opponents, unfortunately. Otherwise I would run that for sure and probably will after this game.
Or Chandra's Ignition has the CREATURE do the damage not the spell, so that will trigger her damage then just tap and flip her. I haven't found her that hard to flip in my experience. I have another thread I posted 2 days ago on a Chandra vorthos style EDH deck in here if you want to check it out.
Custom Set
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hu9uNBSUt92PwGhvexYlwFvsh6_SJBlEEIUV3H9_XyU/edit?usp=sharing