Hi all! I finally decided to work on a list for a commander that has always interested me: Darien, King of Kjeldor. I've enjoyed token strategies in the past but I've never played mono-W before, so I thought I'd branch out. The problem is, I just can't get my list down to 100 cards. Hopefully the unbiased eyes of strangers on the internet can do a better job cutting cards. At this point, I'm not looking for suggestions for cards to add, just things to cut. Note that I haven't actually added lands to the list yet, but I'm thinking of running 37, meaning I need to cut 6 cards at this point.
You need to dramatically lower your CMC, the average is 3.7 (and that's not counting all your equip costs (11 equip costs, averaging 2.3 per equip)and counting your X cost spells as X=1, which you'd almost never want to do), and White has little in the area of card draw and ramp (although I do see you added frequently used cards to help in this regard). Your sorceries alone cost nearly 6 mana on average, with only ONE of them costing less than 5. Your creatures cost 4.1 mana on average. And, you've only got Sol Ring, Marble Diamond, and Mind Stone as mana rocks, in addition to Caged Sun and Pearl Medallion (which is useless for 65 cards in your deck, as they are not white or have no colorless in their cost).
Unless you're playing in an extremely casual meta or against newbies or low budget decks, expect to never do anything but play one spell per turn while your opponents run roughshod, unless you're fortunate enough to get Caged Sun out and on the board without quickly being blown up. I run a Darien deck and he's a lot of fun, and I don't say this to be insulting, but I think you'll be miserable playing this deck, doing very little on each of your turns because of the double whammy of no mana/high cost cards clogging your hand.
Benalish Commander always ends up being too slow for my liking. I either draw him early and can;t suspend him for a good value, or draw him too late when his suspend is a lot less useful. He does benefit from being cast if you already have a bunch of creatures, but in my better decks he never makes the final cut.
Militia's Pride only activates when non-tokens attack, and a lot of your creature cards aren't that aggressive. Don't think you'll be getting the best value.
Hmm, I've liked Benalish Commander in the little bit of testing I've done but it's been very minimal (the testing), so I'm not totally sure. I actually had that realization about Militia's Pride already and cut it from my list, I just hadn't updated the main post yet
You need to dramatically lower your CMC, the average is 3.7 (and that's not counting all your equip costs (11 equip costs, averaging 2.3 per equip)and counting your X cost spells as X=1, which you'd almost never want to do), and White has little in the area of card draw and ramp (although I do see you added frequently used cards to help in this regard). Your sorceries alone cost nearly 6 mana on average, with only ONE of them costing less than 5. Your creatures cost 4.1 mana on average. And, you've only got Sol Ring, Marble Diamond, and Mind Stone as mana rocks, in addition to Caged Sun and Pearl Medallion (which is useless for 65 cards in your deck, as they are not white or have no colorless in their cost).
Unless you're playing in an extremely casual meta or against newbies or low budget decks, expect to never do anything but play one spell per turn while your opponents run roughshod, unless you're fortunate enough to get Caged Sun out and on the board without quickly being blown up. I run a Darien deck and he's a lot of fun, and I don't say this to be insulting, but I think you'll be miserable playing this deck, doing very little on each of your turns because of the double whammy of no mana/high cost cards clogging your hand.
I think you make some good points and you don't come off as insulting at all. My meta is very variable but I think you're right that this deck is quite slow as is. For one, I think I can cut down on my big sorceries, either by replacing them with cheaper board wipes, or getting rid of them altogether. Do you have your Darien list online anywhere?
You aren't imagining things. Final Judgment was on the list, but I cut it and some other high cost cards in response to SonofaBith's suggestion about mana curve.
1 Angel of Jubilation
1 Angelic Skirmisher
1 Burnished Hart
1 Captain of the Watch
1 Catapult Master
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Healer of the Pride
1 Jazal Goldmane
1 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Loxodon Gatekeeper
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Mirror Entity
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Soul Warden
1 Sun Titan
1 Suture Priest
Artifact
1 Aetherflux Reservoi
1 Angel's Trumpet
1 Ankh of Mishra
1 Caged Sun
1 Crystal Ball
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 General's Kabuto
1 Jade Monolith
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Marble Diamond
1 Mind Stone
1 Pearl Medallion
1 Shield of Kaldra
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Spear of Heliod
1 Staff of Nin
1 Stoneforge Masterwork
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Kaldra
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Veteran's Armaments
1 Angelic Chorus
1 Blind Obedience
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Crackdown
1 Grasp of Fate
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Land Tax
1 Marshal's Anthem
1 Oblivion Ring
Sorcery
1 Day of Judgment
1 Decree of Justice
1 Fell the Mighty
1 Hour of Reckoning
1 Martial Coup
1 Nomads' Assembly
Instant
1 Comeuppance
1 Entrapment Maneuver
1 Oblation
1 Return to Dust
1 Rootborn Defenses
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
37 Lands
[Primer] Dralnu Control/Reanimator BU
[Primer] Jolrael, Empress of Beasts GG
Nath Stax BG | Borborygmos Enraged RG | Ladies of Magic UGW | Aminatou Control UWB | Enduring Ideal Zedruu UWR | Momir Vig Combo UG
Modern
Restore Balance RWUG
Kiki Chord RWG
Unless you're playing in an extremely casual meta or against newbies or low budget decks, expect to never do anything but play one spell per turn while your opponents run roughshod, unless you're fortunate enough to get Caged Sun out and on the board without quickly being blown up. I run a Darien deck and he's a lot of fun, and I don't say this to be insulting, but I think you'll be miserable playing this deck, doing very little on each of your turns because of the double whammy of no mana/high cost cards clogging your hand.
Hmm, I've liked Benalish Commander in the little bit of testing I've done but it's been very minimal (the testing), so I'm not totally sure. I actually had that realization about Militia's Pride already and cut it from my list, I just hadn't updated the main post yet
I think you make some good points and you don't come off as insulting at all. My meta is very variable but I think you're right that this deck is quite slow as is. For one, I think I can cut down on my big sorceries, either by replacing them with cheaper board wipes, or getting rid of them altogether. Do you have your Darien list online anywhere?
[Primer] Dralnu Control/Reanimator BU
[Primer] Jolrael, Empress of Beasts GG
Nath Stax BG | Borborygmos Enraged RG | Ladies of Magic UGW | Aminatou Control UWB | Enduring Ideal Zedruu UWR | Momir Vig Combo UG
Modern
Restore Balance RWUG
Kiki Chord RWG
[Primer] Dralnu Control/Reanimator BU
[Primer] Jolrael, Empress of Beasts GG
Nath Stax BG | Borborygmos Enraged RG | Ladies of Magic UGW | Aminatou Control UWB | Enduring Ideal Zedruu UWR | Momir Vig Combo UG
Modern
Restore Balance RWUG
Kiki Chord RWG