MTG Salvation

I have had fun playing my Xira Arien and my Karador, Ghost Chieftain but I just felt they played too much the same. The goal of each is different but the creatures and other spells in each deck overlapped to such a degree that they just felt too similar.

So, instead of dismantling one I decided to just build a 4 color deck and combine the two. This gives me all the good creatures and spells from both so I no longer have two decks that are too similar. This does get rid of the ida of cheating creatures into play with my Xira deck, but I am fine with shelving that deck for a while. If I ever decide to go back to it, I still have the deck list.

I decided on Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder and Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper as my generals. I really wanted to use the 4 color general, but it is (in my opinion) the worst of the 5. I don't like cards that paint a target on an opponent like Saskia the Unyielding does. I get it is a political card but it basically just says "I am going after you" to an opponent and it is not an effect I want to play.

Bruse Tarl and Ikra Shidiqi have some synergy together and I think they will be a fun pair to play with. I am interested to see how the "Partner" mechanic plays out in a game.

Here is my new deck list:

I really like the idea! Have you considered Doran, the Siege Tower and/or Trostani, Selesnya's Voice? You can get a lot of antics by adding Wakestone Gargoyle and defenders that back that ass up.

Quote from DementedKirby »

I really like the idea! Have you considered Doran, the Siege Tower and/or Trostani, Selesnya's Voice? You can get a lot of antics by adding Wakestone Gargoyle and defenders that back that ass up.

Wen I first saw Ikra Shidiqi, I immediately thought of Doran. However, the deck isn't really built to take advantage of the "toughness matters" aspect of Doran and there aren't many creatures beyond Ikra that have a significantly higher toughness than power.

I think that would be a fine deck but I don't plan on really utilizing Doran.

Trostani was one that I had not thought of and I think she actually could work. Since I don't have a lot of differences between Power and Toughness, she still works well to gain me a bunch of life. However, it was hard enough to get the deck down the 98 cards its at now I don't think there is anything in the deck I would want to cut for Trostani since she "only" gains me life and I have my general and Diamond Valley for that.

The card you are missing from this list is Hatred. It's even on theme, since this list should get a metric tonne of life.

Quote from GoodbyeWorld »

The card you are missing from this list is Hatred. It's even on theme, since this list should get a metric tonne of life.

I am hoping to try this deck out this Wednesday (if the other players are fine with me proxying the generals for now) and I will see how much life the deck realistically gains. I have been meaning to pick up a Hatred anyway (just to have) but I never did as I never had a deck I really wanted to put it in. Maybe this is the deck. I will see what happens with the first couple play-throughs.

Hey! Nice deck, I'm trying to do the same thing with my Kresh and Karador lists. What do you think of Feldon of the Third Path?

Quote from WizardMN »

Quote from GoodbyeWorld »

The card you are missing from this list is Hatred. It's even on theme, since this list should get a metric tonne of life.

I am hoping to try this deck out this Wednesday (if the other players are fine with me proxying the generals for now) and I will see how much life the deck realistically gains. I have been meaning to pick up a Hatred anyway (just to have) but I never did as I never had a deck I really wanted to put it in. Maybe this is the deck. I will see what happens with the first couple play-throughs.

You only need to pay 8 life with Hatred to one shot people, provided Bruse uses his ability on himself or Ikra. If you connect, you gain back 22 life with Bruse and 36 life with Ikra.

Trust me, you run enough life gain.

Quote from axotlotls revenge »

Hey! Nice deck, I'm trying to do the same thing with my Kresh and Karador lists. What do you think of Feldon of the Third Path?

I think he is great and I had him in my Xira Arien deck. I really wanted to keep him for this deck too, but I just couldn't find the room for him. I also wanted to keep Demon of Dark Schemes but, again, I ran out of space.

Looking through my list I think these are the cards that I can see maybe cutting:

Academy Rector - I don't really want to cut this as it gives me a way to get to my Goblin Bombardment (if I need it to survive Massacre Wurm with a bunch of plants) and Pernicious Deed. I know I only have 6 enchantments, but they are all good and I think I would like to find a spot for Greater Good at some point too.

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - Kiki is good, but RRR might be too hard to consistently get to.

Mina and Denn, Wildborn - I like that they can give a creature trample and can "reset" a Gaea's Cradle or Bojuka Bog, but it might not be good enough.

Selvala's Stampede - I am testing this out and I like it for the most part. However, if I ever cast it with few cards in hand, I probably won't get full value out of it. I haven't actually had a chance to cast it in a real game, so if it doesn't perform, it will be an easy cut for something (probably Feldon).

So, I would say that if you have the room for it, Feldon is a great inclusion into a deck with a bunch of utility creatures.

Quote from GoodbyeWorld »

Quote from WizardMN »

Quote from GoodbyeWorld »

The card you are missing from this list is Hatred. It's even on theme, since this list should get a metric tonne of life.

I am hoping to try this deck out this Wednesday (if the other players are fine with me proxying the generals for now) and I will see how much life the deck realistically gains. I have been meaning to pick up a Hatred anyway (just to have) but I never did as I never had a deck I really wanted to put it in. Maybe this is the deck. I will see what happens with the first couple play-throughs.

You only need to pay 8 life with Hatred to one shot people, provided Bruse uses his ability on himself or Ikra. If you connect, you gain back 22 life with Bruse and 36 life with Ikra.

Trust me, you run enough life gain.

If I give Bruse Tarl Doublestrike and Lifelink and pay 8 into Hatred, he will be an 11/3 so I will deal 22 damage and gain 22 life. Ikra then lets me gain 6 life so I am actually gaining 28 life with Bruse attacking. So, Bruse is even better

If I do that same thing with Ikra, I see where you get 36 life (11 + 11 + 7 + 7). In either case, that is a lot of life so I agree that I probably don't have an issue with life gain.

In my post above, I went through a couple cards I could see realistically cutting. At least, they have the highest chance (no matter how slim) among the cards in the deck to cut. If I can figure out what I want to take out for it, I will find a spot for Hatred. I am going to try to pick one up on Wednesday and then I will try to fit it into the deck somewhere.

Here's my current list (excluding the 2 commanders and land)


I thought you might have some suggestions about what to add/cut?

It looks like you are kind of going for a reanimator package with stuff like Buried Alive, Living Death, Twilight's Call, and Necromancy. However, these are all one-shot effects so if they don't do a lot at the time or your board gets wiped, they are hard to get back again outside of Eternal Witness.

I am personally not a fan of Buried Alive since it is a Sorcery and it doesn't give a lot of ways to set up your game plan. You basically need to have 3 mana for that and 5 or 6 mana for either of the mass reanimator spells on one turn to make it work. Entomb on the other hand can set you up the turn before and it is only 1 mana.

I also don't think Necromancy is good enough, even allowing for it to be cast as an instant.

I would say that if you want to go the route of a reanimator strategy, Chainer, Dementia Master (and add Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to your lands to help with it) should find a spot in the deck. I also like the idea of using Nim Deathmantle to keep getting your creatures (and their EtB effects) when sacrificing them.

Speaking of sacrificing, do you plan to win with much milling? Altar of Dementia seems out of place. If you just want a free Sac Outlet, Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar both give you mana and can be used with the aforementioned Nim Deathmantle. Goblin Bombardment deals damage. I would say you should run at least 1-2 of these 3 to help save your guys from being exiled and they are lower in the curve than Greater Good so it is easier to get them on board before your creatures. Greater Good is a fantastic card so this would give you 3-4 ways (along with Evolutionary Leap) to save your creatures from being exiled and to set up another mass reanimation.

I would also say you should find room for at least 1 of the original Eldrazi Titans. I run both because of how important my graveyard is and it feels bad to lose out on your graveyard after setting it up to Bojuka Bog or Agent of Erebos. And, Entomb or Sac Outlets let you get the Eldrazi into your Graveyard in response to a graveyard removal spell.

I also recommend running both Agent of Erebos and Bojuka Bog to stop other graveyard shenanigans from other players.

I am not sold on Gaddock Teeg as it stops your wraths and mass reaimation spells. It actually stops quite a bit of what you are trying to do outside of creatures.

The last thing I would say is to replace Austere Command with Akroma's Vengeance. Choosing what dies is nice, but sometimes you want to blow up the whole board. On that vein, Oblivion Stone might be a good idea to include as well.

So, to summarize, here is what I could see being cut:

• Buried Alive
  
• Necromancy
  
• Altar of Dementia
  
• Gaddock Teeg
  
• Austere Command
  

And here are possible inclusions:

• Chainer, Dementia Master
  
• Ashnod's Altar
  
• Phyrexian Altar
  
• Goblin Bombardment
  
• Nim Deathmantle
  
• Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
  
• Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
  
• Akroma's Vengeance
  
• Oblivion Stone
  
• Agent of Erebos

Remember, Agent of Erebos can be fetched off Academy Rector if you need an instant speed way to remove a graveyard.

My reasons for cutting these may not fit entirely within what you are trying to do with the deck, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. However, I think at least a couple of these changes could make the deck a little more consistent.

Thanks! Consistency was indeed the main problem I have with my deck right now.

I followed up on GoodbyeWorld's suggestion and added Hatred to the list. Based on our conversation above, it seems really good in a build like this and is a good finisher. I decided to cut Homura for the time being. Realistically, I should cut Kiki Jiki but I just didn't want to. If I find another card to add to the list, Kiki is next on the chopping block (unfortunately).

Updates:
-Homura, Human Ascendant
+Hatred

What do you think of Assault Formation here? It works like Doran, also buffs your damage.

I don't think it is worth it. It effectively works with only 3 creatures: Ikra Shidiqi, World Breaker, and Sidisi. That isn't nearly enough to make a slot for Assault Formation.