This was my first foray into EDH. When the 2015 Commander decks came out, it gave me a good opportunity to get into it.
I decided to try Daxos the Returned for my first commander. I started building it just for fun, but quickly decided to try to get it as competitive as I thought it could. The deck out of the box is fun enough to play, and it doesn't take too much investment to have it hold its own in less competitive groups. Out of the box, the deck runs a little more on tokens. With Sigil of the Empty Throne, Ajani's chosen, and Daxos himself. I saw the potential with Skybind and decided on that direction.
Constellation creatures give you extra utility out of each enchantment you cast. They are especially useful with Daxos's and Heliod's token abilities. If you have multiple constellation creatures out, be sure to stack your abilities properly to get the most value; i.e. If you have Doomwake and Agent of Erebos on the battlefield, trigger the Agent first, then the Doomwake. This will ensure any creatures sent to the graveyard by Doomwake will be exiled by the Agent.
Agent of Erebos - Clears out those pesky graveyards. Important with all the graveyard shenanigans in Commander. Doomwake Giant - Repeatable, one-sided board wipe. Works great with Heliod/Daxos tokens, blinking enchantments, and Sun Titan + Angelic Renewal combo. Thoughtrender Lamia - With the insane card draw that is abundant in Commander, this card can have a huge affect. Grim Guardian - Useful in stalled board situations, or for large chunks of life if you have blinking auras or a good amount of mana for tokens.
Other considerations Underworld Coinsmith - Life gain isn't as great in Commander, but could be useful depending on your playgroup. Harvestguard Alseids - Offers protection for your Commander, but won't help against targeted removal.
Dreadbringer Lampads - Intimidate is the lowest form of evasion, and rather useless in this format.
Bestow Creatures
Bestow creatures can help by coming down early or pumping a creature late game. They are also very effective against wrath effects, as they stay on the board if they were enchanting a creature . Be aware when tutoring or recurring that bestow creatures are only auras when they are on the battlefield enchanting a creature or on the stack cast for their bestow cost. But they are always enchantments. Casting them as Auras will get you a draw off of Kor Spiritdancer as well as Mesa Enchantress.
Celestial Archon - The largest body bestow creature. The flying and first strike, along with the large power boost, can make Daxos threatening.
Ghostblade Eidolon - Double strike makes most of your big threats lethal, but the bestow cost is higher.
Nighthowler - Can get really big against creature heavy decks; but if you have Agent of Erebos out, he'll just really help your enchantment count.
None of the other available bestow creatures are worth the card slot, and even the ones listed are replaceable depending on your meta.
Utility Creatures
The remaining creature slots either synergize with enchantments or provide needed utility. These will depend on your meta and playgroups, but these are the choices that work for me. Aegis of the Gods -Cheap enough creature with a relevant ability for as long as he sticks around, which may not be very long with only 1 toughness. Redundant with Leyline of Sanctity, but I like redundancy.
Ajani's Chosen - If we're going to be putting enchantments into play, this guy's worth putting in. You can amass a pretty large board presence with him.
Celestial Ancient - Buffs your army with each enchantment cast, so no triggers off token generators or Sun Titan fun. But works great with our Flickering Ward type auras.
Heliod, God of the Sun - Indestructible token generator. Oh, and did I mention his tokens are enchantments, triggering contellation and Ajani's Chosen, as well as adding to your enchantment count for Serra's Sanctum.
Heliod's Pilgrim - Aura tutor. Remember that bestow creatures are not auras in your library or graveyard.
Kor Spiritdancer - Good card draw and you can voltron her with auras if you need to. If it were'nt for the blinking auras, I'm not sure she would be worth the slot.
Mesa Enchantress - Solid card draw in an enchantment deck, but a very weak body.
Monk Idealist - Enchantment recursion. He can be blinked with Skybind for good card advantage.
Sun Titan - Best recursion in the deck. I'm never not happy to draw him. Combos with either Angelic Renewal or Gift of Immortality and a sac outlet for constellation triggers.
Academy Rector - This one's simply not in my list because I haven't acquired it yet.
Athreos, God of Passage - An indestructible 5/4 with a recursion ability is nice, but I don't think I have the creature count to warrant his inclusion. If your running a more creature heavy build, he may be worth including.
Enchantments
Blinking Auras and Recursion
These auras can give you massive board and card advantage, depending on your board state. The downside of replayable auras is the sorcery speed nature of replaying them.
Angelic Renewal - Besides the combo with Sun Titan, this card can help keep other valuable creatures from the graveyard.
Angelic Destiny - A huge buff that returns to your hand if you lose the creature. Not as abusable as some of the flickering auras, but still useful.
Brilliant Halo - Small buff that returns to your hand. Probably easily replaced with a better enchantment, but a good budget option.
Conviction - A returnable buff with a minimal activation and casting cost.
Exsanguinate looks out of place. I suppose you've got Serra's Sanctum which can lead to some huge fireballs, but still. Speaking of which, Expedition Map is probably worth a slot because I'm guessing that Sanctum is huge in this deck.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Speaking of Pacifism variants, how about Forced Worship?
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Speaking of Pacifism variants, how about Forced Worship?
Cage of Hands is much better. Costs one more to cast, but it's cheaper to bounce so it kinda evens out. It also stops the creature from blocking. Although neither of them prevent activated abilities like Faith's Fetters (which also hits permanents in general, not just creatures), Prison Term (which can jump around if a more dangerous creature crops up), or Arrest. Forced Worship doesn't rank high on my list since all of those are better and pretty cheap to acquire.
Necrotic Plague might not be all that good, but it's a pet card of mine that I'll be running in my Daxos deck. It's funny and it actually kills the creature. Plus, sometimes I just enjoy creating a little chaos.
They do work against each other, but I think it's fine here. Nuking graveyards repeatedly is awesome so Agent of Erebos needs to stay. Since this deck only has 18 creatures, Nighthowler won't work very well without your opponents' help, but they're very likely to help out in a big way. If you've got the agent and the howler on board at the same time they do work against each other. However, at some point someone will remove the agent and start restocking yards again. Basically what I'm trying to say is that even though the cards do want different things, the conflict is not that bad.
On another note, if you feel that the deck can withstand more colorless-producing lands then Haunted Fengraf is a great piece of hidden value.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
The last thing that springs to mind is Land Tax, one of the better ramp options that white has access to.
Angelic Renewal can save a key creature, or combos with Sun Titan. I have given consideration to Debtors' Knell, and if I can pick up the card, it will probably make it's way in. Martyr's Cause I see more as a sacrifice outlet with exile effects being common. It also fuels the Sun Titan/Angelic Renewal combo.
I completely missed Extiguish All Hope. Auramancer will probably make it in after testing also. Opalescence and Starfield of Nyx kill Heliod's and Daxos' tokens. But if I feel I need more recursion, then I can put them in. If I can pick up Replenish and Academy Rector, they too will go in. Martyr's Bond is another I need to track down. It's like a Gravepact for everything. And again, testing will probably agree with you as far as spot removal goes. Oblivion Ring doesn't do enough for me, as it's only one permament, and they get it back if I lose the o-ring. Grasp of Fate hits every opponent. I've contemplated Darksteel Mutation to hit annoying commanders. And I'm trying to stay away from too much pillowfort. I feel like if I start adding too much, I might as well go pillowfort the whole way.
I was thinking about Greater Auramancy for enchantment protection.
Speaking of Pacifism variants, how about Forced Worship?
Cage of Hands is much better. Costs one more to cast, but it's cheaper to bounce so it kinda evens out. It also stops the creature from blocking. Although neither of them prevent activated abilities like Faith's Fetters (which also hits permanents in general, not just creatures), Prison Term (which can jump around if a more dangerous creature crops up), or Arrest. Forced Worship doesn't rank high on my list since all of those are better and pretty cheap to acquire.
Necrotic Plague might not be all that good, but it's a pet card of mine that I'll be running in my Daxos deck. It's funny and it actually kills the creature. Plus, sometimes I just enjoy creating a little chaos.
There are a couple bounce aura's that I've looked at, with Flickering Ward being the best. After testing I'll see how the ones I have fair. Necrotic Plague would work if I had some way to keep it off my creatures.
They do work against each other, but I think it's fine here. Nuking graveyards repeatedly is awesome so Agent of Erebos needs to stay. Since this deck only has 18 creatures, Nighthowler won't work very well without your opponents' help, but they're very likely to help out in a big way. If you've got the agent and the howler on board at the same time they do work against each other. However, at some point someone will remove the agent and start restocking yards again. Basically what I'm trying to say is that even though the cards do want different things, the conflict is not that bad.
On another note, if you feel that the deck can withstand more colorless-producing lands then Haunted Fengraf is a great piece of hidden value.
Finally got to play with this a little. Did pretty good and had fun. Four player game against Momir, Animar, and Surrak. The Momir player was having land troubles and the other guys were trying to make sure he couldn't get to much going (they're all friends and know how fast Momir can be). I started pretty slow, but got a Mesa Enchantress on board to get things moving along. My Serra's Sanctum was destroyed, but my hand of three cards was Sun Titan, Angelic Renewal, and Martyr's Cause. I had Doomwake down a turn or two before against a really clogged board, and one land shy of casting the three. Drew a Thespian's Stage off Angelic Renewal and showed the combo wiping the board. To actually pull off the only combo in the deck in my first multiplayer game was fun, but I think I'll be a target the next time we play.
Given the numbers of auras you have (as well as group buffs), I'd recommend additional token generator like Bitterblossom and Mobilization, that way you have creatures to enchant/bestow. That said, I agree with your initial assumption that Athreos, God of Passage can be less awesome because of the low creature count (another reason why I think additional tokens machine would be good.) Under the same subject, Evershrike is also a nice recurring beast with your auras.
Further, my Daxos deck utilizes some artifact mana and Contamination, allow me to continue generating tokens while locking everyone else's board. In your case, Sigil of the Empty Throne would probably be suffice to get more creatures out without mana requirement.
EDIT: Regarding Exsanguinate, personally I use Profane Command instead for its utilities: Damage, reanimate, removal, and can make your creatures unblockable (Daxos would have many).
Haven't had to much time for write-ups, but did a lot of changes on the decklist. After perusing some other Daxos lists, I picked up some good ideas on card inclusions. I bumped up the recursion and upgraded the draw. Still need to pick up an Anguished Unmaking. The deck seems to hold its own with some of the more powerful decks, especially if I have some handy removal early to hold off broken plays.
I'll eventually finish the intro post.
Your original concept, i.e. gumming up the board off things like Sigil of the Empty Throne and making them fatter, essentially a perfected version of the precon, is a perfectly valid approach by the way. That version tends to spiral out of control pretty quickly if left to its own devices and doesn't even rely on Daxos as heavily as expected. Just saying, in case the change was motivated by nobody else running those cards
One card that I'd definitely recommend is Sword of the Animist. "Aww, how cute, the cute enchantment deck is playing such a cute little artifact, I'll take the 3/3 swinger, sure. *some time later* Wait, how many lands do you have?!" Surprisingly effective in a durdly enchantment shell dedicated to amassing value over time.
you are running a lot of mass producing lands, like serra's sanctum, cabal coffers and nykthos. to take those a bit further you can add in a Deserted Temple and go crazy with mana generation
Your original concept, i.e. gumming up the board off things like Sigil of the Empty Throne and making them fatter, essentially a perfected version of the precon, is a perfectly valid approach by the way. That version tends to spiral out of control pretty quickly if left to its own devices and doesn't even rely on Daxos as heavily as expected. Just saying, in case the change was motivated by nobody else running those cards
One card that I'd definitely recommend is Sword of the Animist. "Aww, how cute, the cute enchantment deck is playing such a cute little artifact, I'll take the 3/3 swinger, sure. *some time later* Wait, how many lands do you have?!" Surprisingly effective in a durdly enchantment shell dedicated to amassing value over time.
I was definitely influenced from your decklist, but the cards that I removed just weren't preforming for me anyway. I can see how the token build could work, but didn't end up fitting my play style.
Bloodchief Ascension is an amazing card in Daxos. It does draw some hate, but it comes down so fast and hits so hard that opponents often won't be able to properly react to it. Of course you follow it up with a board sweeper for all the lulz.
Anguished Unmaking and Vindicate are close to strictly better than Mortify. Especially considering that you will often need to hit powerful lands like opposing Coffers or Gaea's Cradle, I would personally go with good ol' Vindy.
you are running a lot of mass producing lands, like serra's sanctum, cabal coffers and nykthos. to take those a bit further you can add in a Deserted Temple and go crazy with mana generation
I considered this in my list, but it seems to be a very color-hungry deck. Lots of WW and BB costs. (BBB even... Necropotence) If you have ALL the dual lands, I would consider it for inclusion.
Another problem is that token making, one of the most common ways of mana utilisation, uses 1WB. I often find myself with a sea of one-colour mana from Serra's Sanctum or something which I can't even fully utilise as I'm strapped for the second colour. Probably also extends to Coffers. As such, to get full mileage from Deserted Temple, you'd probably need fat white/black sources on the table, and by then isn't it kind of winmore?
you are running a lot of mass producing lands, like serra's sanctum, cabal coffers and nykthos. to take those a bit further you can add in a Deserted Temple and go crazy with mana generation
I considered this in my list, but it seems to be a very color-hungry deck. Lots of WW and BB costs. (BBB even... Necropotence) If you have ALL the dual lands, I would consider it for inclusion.
Another problem is that token making, one of the most common ways of mana utilisation, uses 1WB. I often find myself with a sea of one-colour mana from Serra's Sanctum or something which I can't even fully utilise as I'm strapped for the second colour. Probably also extends to Coffers. As such, to get full mileage from Deserted Temple, you'd probably need fat white/black sources on the table, and by then isn't it kind of winmore?
this is all true. It is a very divided deck in terms of color management, but it could be the difference between having 6 available mana and 8. The colorless hurts for sure, but there is a good chance for some value in some way. There are also other targets it can hit, like Kor Haven, Vault of the Archangel and Volrath's Stronghold.
1 Aegis of the Gods
1 Ajani's Chosen
1 Athreos, God of Passage
1 Celestial Ancient
1 Ghostblade Eidolon
1 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Kor Spiritdancer
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Monk Idealist
1 Nighthowler
1 Brave the Sands
1 Brilliant Halo
1 Celestial Mantle
1 Karmic Justice
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Stasis Snare
1 Underworld Connections
1 Plague Wind
1 Winds of Rath
1 Unmake
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Shambling Vent
1 Drifting Meadow
1 Polluted Mire
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Barren Moor
1 Academy Rector
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Emeria Shepard
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Mother of Runes
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Rule of Law
1 Seal of Doom
1 Soul Snare
1 Extinguish All Hope
1 In Garruk's Wake
1 Replenish
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Expedition Map
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Diamond
1 Skullclamp
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Argivian Find
1 Anguished Unmaking
First, while Angelic Renewal is a decent one-shot effect, Debtors' Knell provides crazy value turn after turn.
Unless your meta is full of massive damage sorceries or creatures one-shotting you to death, I think Martyr's Cause is a little weak.
Some enchantment-friendly things to consider: Extinguish All Hope, Auramancer, Opalescence, Starfield of Nyx, Academy Rector, Replenish
You could probably use a little more removal/control. For spot removal, you can't go wrong with Swords to Plowshares and Condemn. I also really like Martyr's Bond. You should also consider Oblivion Ring and some if it's cousins, namely Stasis Snare and Quarantine Field. There are also some Pacifism variants I like in EDH, such as Arrest, Prison Term, and Darksteel Mutation. There are also the pillowfort options, like Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety.
If you want to protect your enchantments, you can look to [card]Fountain Watch.
I actually think that Exsanguinate is a great finisher when coupled with Serra's Sanctum. For even more mana efficiency, or for redundancy, you could try Debt to the Deathless.
The last thing that springs to mind is Land Tax, one of the better ramp options that white has access to.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Cage of Hands is much better. Costs one more to cast, but it's cheaper to bounce so it kinda evens out. It also stops the creature from blocking. Although neither of them prevent activated abilities like Faith's Fetters (which also hits permanents in general, not just creatures), Prison Term (which can jump around if a more dangerous creature crops up), or Arrest. Forced Worship doesn't rank high on my list since all of those are better and pretty cheap to acquire.
Necrotic Plague might not be all that good, but it's a pet card of mine that I'll be running in my Daxos deck. It's funny and it actually kills the creature. Plus, sometimes I just enjoy creating a little chaos.
Whatever I build from my Box-o-EDH stuff
Legacy
Sneak and Show
UR Delver
Scapeshift Nic Fit
Modern
Merfolk
And Agent of Erebos kind of negates the Nighthowler
[EDH In Development] Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Queen Marchesa | Ruhan of the Fomori | Yahenni, Undying Partisan
[EDH Retired] Ertai, The Corrupted | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Tariel, Reckoner of Souls | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
[Modern] Stuffy Doll Combo Burn | Demigod of Revenge
They do work against each other, but I think it's fine here. Nuking graveyards repeatedly is awesome so Agent of Erebos needs to stay. Since this deck only has 18 creatures, Nighthowler won't work very well without your opponents' help, but they're very likely to help out in a big way. If you've got the agent and the howler on board at the same time they do work against each other. However, at some point someone will remove the agent and start restocking yards again. Basically what I'm trying to say is that even though the cards do want different things, the conflict is not that bad.
On another note, if you feel that the deck can withstand more colorless-producing lands then Haunted Fengraf is a great piece of hidden value.
Angelic Renewal can save a key creature, or combos with Sun Titan. I have given consideration to Debtors' Knell, and if I can pick up the card, it will probably make it's way in.
Martyr's Cause I see more as a sacrifice outlet with exile effects being common. It also fuels the Sun Titan/Angelic Renewal combo.
I completely missed Extiguish All Hope. Auramancer will probably make it in after testing also. Opalescence and Starfield of Nyx kill Heliod's and Daxos' tokens. But if I feel I need more recursion, then I can put them in. If I can pick up Replenish and Academy Rector, they too will go in.
Martyr's Bond is another I need to track down. It's like a Gravepact for everything. And again, testing will probably agree with you as far as spot removal goes. Oblivion Ring doesn't do enough for me, as it's only one permament, and they get it back if I lose the o-ring. Grasp of Fate hits every opponent. I've contemplated Darksteel Mutation to hit annoying commanders. And I'm trying to stay away from too much pillowfort. I feel like if I start adding too much, I might as well go pillowfort the whole way.
I was thinking about Greater Auramancy for enchantment protection.
There are a couple bounce aura's that I've looked at, with Flickering Ward being the best. After testing I'll see how the ones I have fair.
Necrotic Plague would work if I had some way to keep it off my creatures.
I was thinking the same thing with Nighthowler and Agent of Erebos. Sometimes Nighthowler will be more useful, sometimes Agent of Erebos will be. Haunted Fengraf looks nice. I'm all for utility lands.
Further, my Daxos deck utilizes some artifact mana and Contamination, allow me to continue generating tokens while locking everyone else's board. In your case, Sigil of the Empty Throne would probably be suffice to get more creatures out without mana requirement.
EDIT: Regarding Exsanguinate, personally I use Profane Command instead for its utilities: Damage, reanimate, removal, and can make your creatures unblockable (Daxos would have many).
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
I'll eventually finish the intro post.
Your original concept, i.e. gumming up the board off things like Sigil of the Empty Throne and making them fatter, essentially a perfected version of the precon, is a perfectly valid approach by the way. That version tends to spiral out of control pretty quickly if left to its own devices and doesn't even rely on Daxos as heavily as expected. Just saying, in case the change was motivated by nobody else running those cards
One card that I'd definitely recommend is Sword of the Animist. "Aww, how cute, the cute enchantment deck is playing such a cute little artifact, I'll take the 3/3 swinger, sure. *some time later* Wait, how many lands do you have?!" Surprisingly effective in a durdly enchantment shell dedicated to amassing value over time.
[EDH In Development] Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Queen Marchesa | Ruhan of the Fomori | Yahenni, Undying Partisan
[EDH Retired] Ertai, The Corrupted | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Tariel, Reckoner of Souls | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
[Modern] Stuffy Doll Combo Burn | Demigod of Revenge
I was definitely influenced from your decklist, but the cards that I removed just weren't preforming for me anyway. I can see how the token build could work, but didn't end up fitting my play style.
Cloudstone Curio is on my radar, just have to find one for trade somewhere. Same with Deserted Temple
Anguished Unmaking and Vindicate are close to strictly better than Mortify. Especially considering that you will often need to hit powerful lands like opposing Coffers or Gaea's Cradle, I would personally go with good ol' Vindy.
I considered this in my list, but it seems to be a very color-hungry deck. Lots of WW and BB costs. (BBB even... Necropotence) If you have ALL the dual lands, I would consider it for inclusion.
this is all true. It is a very divided deck in terms of color management, but it could be the difference between having 6 available mana and 8. The colorless hurts for sure, but there is a good chance for some value in some way. There are also other targets it can hit, like Kor Haven, Vault of the Archangel and Volrath's Stronghold.
[EDH In Development] Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Queen Marchesa | Ruhan of the Fomori | Yahenni, Undying Partisan
[EDH Retired] Ertai, The Corrupted | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Tariel, Reckoner of Souls | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
[Modern] Stuffy Doll Combo Burn | Demigod of Revenge