MTG Salvation

I got pretty frustrated with Akiri and Silas, thought of breaking up the deck, because of how linear its progression is makes it easy for my opponents to counter it. Any mass artifact destruction ends my day, same with repeatedly killing Akiri where I couldn't get her Equipped and Swinging again. Having a few friends take a look at the deck, they suggested I'm trying to speed up my clock too much which leads to me running headlong into these haymaker knock outs. They suggested to slow my clock but protect it. So I cut a bunch of the Artifacts that just give damage bonuses and I'm using a lot more Counterspells to stop the problem bombs that would blow me out. I also never really needed to cast Day of Judgment for its 4 cost and Indestructible Creatures were a problem for Akiri, so Hallowed Burial goes in. I also added a single Plains because I noticed that I would too often be short on Lands during games. I don't expect to hit my 5th or 6th land drop, but continually missing my 3rd was getting ridiculous. With the amount of rocks, it didn't hurt me too bad but slowed my progression noticeably.

If you want to build in some more resilience, I would suggest Open the Vaults. I know it's 6 mana but it will give you all your equipment back.

You can kind of guarantee this backup plan by also adding Hammer of Nazahn to the deck and, if neccesary, replace one or more of your artifact/equipment tutors with generic black tutors so you can more reliably find Open the Vaults as well. (Or Mystical tutor and/or Personal Tutor if you do end up cutting black) After a wipe, play Akiri, then follow up with Open the Vaults. All your equipments will come back and immediately attach themselves to Akiri again.

Now all you need is to find a way to also recur the Open the Vaults on a regular basis and you got a solid recursion loop right there

Open the Vaults might not be a bad idea. Other decks I have that might use it don't because they don't want all of their opponents stuff to come back, but when Akiri gets blown out it's usually due to an early Bane of Progress. I've lost the majority of my Equipment and they've just lost mana rocks, that's worth casting and getting back into play.

The only problem is being at 6 mana without any of my mana rocks.

But perhaps I should trade Fabricate out for Diabolic Tutor. Costs one more but can grab me anything, including a Counterspell if I need to protect Akiri.

I've been less than impressed by Crackling Doom despite everyone clamouring over how good it is. When I want a kill spell, I want to it to hit the target I want. It doesn't do that and the damage isn't a great feature. Teferi's Protection, in the few games I had when my Edgar Markov was altered resulted in some amazing blowouts. This is even better in this deck, as it requires ways to stop mass artifact destruction but also stop crackbacks from decks that go wide.

The new spoiled Settle the Wreckage is also Sunforgeable and I think you should definitly include it.

Definitely. That as well as Revel in Riches are cards I'm considering. Revel increases my Commander's Power, gives me extra mana in a pinch and Creatures that chump my Commander provide me one step closer to winning via alternative means.

The Lantern doesn't do that much, I only really need a little bit of mana so this is just an Artifact to pump Akiri. One of the problems with the decks is if Akiri gets blown out too much or too often. With Indestructible, as well as cheating Equip costs, Akiri should be in a better position to solo down the table.

How would you feel about cutting Stubborn Denial in favor of Spell Swindle? Like Revel in Riches, the treasure tokens will boost Akiri's power significantly.

Also, how is Godsend working for you? I don't think Akiri will be blocked all that often, and in a singleton format it's second ability is not that great. I think Trail of Evidence would be a better replacement. Get an additional artifact every time you cast a instant or sorcery spell (including if your forge it) plus the clue tokens can be sacced for cards if you run out of gas. Other goods cards which could be meta calls are Gideon's Intervention (against those pesky Cyclonic Rifts) or Conqueror's Flail to prevent people from intervening during your attack.

Not at all. I just need one mana open for Stubborn Denial. 4 is a lot of keep open. This is a tempo deck first, I need to kill the table before they stabilize.

Godsend is good for Exiling Creatures to help with the Trample damage. There has been a funny time when I Exiled a Creature that was someone else's Commander. There are a lot of staples in the format that get eaten by Godsend that then deny players. There was even a time of collusion when we knew a guy was going to cast Drake, so another person blocked with theirs.

I don't run enough Instants or Sorceries to use Trail of Evidence. I don't have time to cast it and then Instants and Sorceries.

I haven't grabbed a Conqueror's Flail, it's too money for only +2/+2 though the prevent Cast might be good. The next piece of expensive Equipment I'm eyeing is Darksteel Plate just to keep Akiri alive.

Quote from Tev »

Not at all. I just need one mana open for Stubborn Denial. 4 is a lot of keep open. This is a tempo deck first, I need to kill the table before they stabilize.

Godsend is good for Exiling Creatures to help with the Trample damage. There has been a funny time when I Exiled a Creature that was someone else's Commander. There are a lot of staples in the format that get eaten by Godsend that then deny players. There was even a time of collusion when we knew a guy was going to cast Drake, so another person blocked with theirs.

I don't run enough Instants or Sorceries to use Trail of Evidence. I don't have time to cast it and then Instants and Sorceries.

I haven't grabbed a Conqueror's Flail, it's too money for only +2/+2 though the prevent Cast might be good. The next piece of expensive Equipment I'm eyeing is Darksteel Plate just to keep Akiri alive.

Fair enough. I do think you need to reread Conqueror's Flail: it boosts for each color among permanents you control. If you have both your commanders out, it will give +4/+4.

If I've cast Silas then things have gone horrifyingly wrong.

I don't use any combo components like you listed. So really, Silas only gets in there if Akiri is prohibitively expensive. This is a pure Voltron deck. Though slapping just First Strike and Trample on Silas is pretty damned satisfying.

Quote from Tev »

I don't use any combo components like you listed. So really, Silas only gets in there if Akiri is prohibitively expensive. This is a pure Voltron deck. Though slapping just First Strike and Trample on Silas is pretty damned satisfying.

Balan, Wandering Knight also does a good Akiri impression for when Akiri becomes too expensive.

Made an Equipment upgrade: Godsend and Avarice Amulet required too much mana for their benefits. Avarice was just a costly way to draw cards which I fix with my next update, Godsend didn't provide evasion and pump. +3/+3 doesn't do that much when I'm trying to Voltron. After all, going from 1 to 6 power shortens the kill clock but you need to go from 7 to 11 before it changes again. Akiri frequently hits 7 power and so I got used to a three turn clock, I rather have evasion or protection than an equipment that gobbles up chump blockers and slows my kill.

Bloodforged Battle-Axe's price bottomed out and looks like a great way to cheaply and quickly increase Akiri's kill pressure. Prowler's Helm helps me get in there.

I was still having trouble sticking to any game that hits end of mid- or enters endgame, which is why people suggested adding more draw. Seems like an obvious solution but I was too busy focusing on getting as many Artifacts into play to increase Akiri's power, instead of increasing card quality. Mask of Memory requires a lot of hoops to jump through, Arguel has me pay some mana to draw cards. As much as I want to play Greed for its lowered Activation, I'll pass as the deck is lean and mean. I need things to be as efficient as possible and Fast helps with that.

I understand why you put the Blood Fast in, but wouldn't Erebos, God of the Dead not be a better inclusion? The lifegain prevention is not that relevant but it is indestructable, which makes it worth the extra 2 mana imo. I see Blood Fast more as Erebos nr. 2 in a deck that can use the redundancy.

I don't care about life gain, I rather have a really low to the ground curve. This is a pure voltron deck, I just need to count to 21; my opponent's life total does not matter. I can't afford to spend 4 mana on nothing that advances my board state.

With that in mind, I made a huge increase to my draw suite: With all of the evasion the deck is packing now and my goal to count to 21 as fast as possible, Infiltration Lens does not cut the mustard. Mystic Remora, despite not being an artifact, would draw me a lot of cards and I can easily see myself paying for one or two upkeeps to keep a steady increase of cards. This deck is one of my more serious decks which means there's going to be less Creatures and more Noncreatures, making Remora more valuable.

I have never cast Master Warcraft. The one time I thought about it, it had been milled and I was unable to activate my Mistveil Plains due to lacking White Permanents (to fetch with Sunforger). While I would prefer to trade like-for-like, I am find with going from 4 CMC to 3 for something that is ridiculous good in Rhystic Study.

Two cards I am currently toying with: Deadeye Quartermaster and Nim Deathmantle. Deadeye lets me grab any Equipment, even if it costs one more. I have some really good options at 2 and 4 now, the deck is less Sunforger-based but more Sunforger featured. One of the frequent ways I lose is when Akiri gets prohibitively expensive, with Nim Deathmantle I can just recur her for four open mana. Furthermore, it gives +2/+2 which helps count to 21 and Intimidate with turning Black makes the Deathmantle as good as Fear.

I'm looking for more draw engines and ways to make Akiri difficult to deal with. Key to the City's costs aren't frontloaded onto an Equip cost. I am curious how card selection will be over raw draw, but I think this is just an overall improvement. Fear is fairly good evasion but it doesn't hold a candle to unblockable.

Quote from Tev »

Bloodforged Battle-Axe's price bottomed out and looks like a great way to cheaply and quickly increase Akiri's kill pressure. Prowler's Helm helps me get in there.

I played my Akiri/Silas deck last week for the first time and in one game I managed to kill 3 opponents by turn 7. Bloodforged Battle-Axe played key role in this game, it's pretty cool card Have you had any trouble with equipment granting shroud? I haven't added Lightning Greaves or Whispersilk Cloak in to my deck because I'm afraid drawing them early and then being unable to equip more stuff.

I run Akiri alongside Tymna the Weaver instead of Silas, but the overall gameplan looks similar to what you're trying, albeit not quite so focused on Sunforger (I do run it, but only with half a dozen or so targets), and I've a few suggestions based on my experience with her.

Have you considered Winter Orb and Static Orb? I know some people complain about them, but they are so good with Akiri, particularly Static Orb thanks to her having vigilance. I've found that, once I've got a couple of good bits of equipment, maybe a mana rock or two, dropping an Orb will get me at least one player kill before anyone can do anything. Armageddon can do much the same, if you really want to be evil.

Cursed Totem is another nice disruptive card that has little if any impact on our deck, can mess with all sorts of strategies and even gives Akiri a point of power.

Scrap Mastery is a nice alternative to Open the Vaults - it costs one less, and if you need it, you probably don't have much in play to lose.

If money is not much of an issue, then Mox Diamond is amazing - gives you a turn 1 Akiri and buffs her power. It's not cheap though (I was lucky and picked up a few a couple of years back at a very good price). Bob is another nice addition if you can afford him - the CMC of this kind of deck is low enough that you're looking at a 2 mana Phyrexian Arena that can pick up equipment in a pinch.

They're somewhat of a no-brainer, but if you can get the good black tutors (Demonic and/or Vampiric) then they're well worth including.

^
I just ordered Cursed Totem and Winter Orb couple days ago, gonna play test in my deck in couple weeks. I'll probably test Tymna version sooner and later, even though Silas was better than I expected in last games I played. Gotta say Sunforger is in my chopping block. It's cool card but it's damn mana intensive. Do you have your list somewhere online @PhroX?

Quote from psilocybianth »

I played my Akiri/Silas deck last week for the first time and in one game I managed to kill 3 opponents by turn 7. Bloodforged Battle-Axe played key role in this game, it's pretty cool card Have you had any trouble with equipment granting shroud? I haven't added Lightning Greaves or Whispersilk Cloak in to my deck because I'm afraid drawing them early and then being unable to equip more stuff.

I'm less fond of Lightning Greaves than Whispersilk Cloak. At least with Cloak I can just throw down a few Artifacts to get Akiri's power to 7 and have a 3 turn clock that says 'deal with me'. Greaves just seems like a way to block Akiri until the cows come home. The deck loses if Akiri becomes prohibitively expensive, so any ways to mitigate paying for her costs is important. Overall, Shroud is nice though Greaves is on my radar for a potential cut due to only offering Shroud and Haste.

Quote from PhroX »

Have you considered Winter Orb and Static Orb? I know some people complain about them, but they are so good with Akiri, particularly Static Orb thanks to her having vigilance. I've found that, once I've got a couple of good bits of equipment, maybe a mana rock or two, dropping an Orb will get me at least one player kill before anyone can do anything. Armageddon can do much the same, if you really want to be evil.

Cursed Totem is another nice disruptive card that has little if any impact on our deck, can mess with all sorts of strategies and even gives Akiri a point of power.

I have been thinking about using Winter Orb and Cursed Totem - I am too afraid of Static Orb screwing myself over as I do need mana. I've juggled my deck tiers, so I am fine with making this one of my more meaner decks.

Quote from psilocybianth »

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I just ordered Cursed Totem and Winter Orb couple days ago, gonna play test in my deck in couple weeks. I'll probably test Tymna version sooner and later, even though Silas was better than I expected in last games I played. Gotta say Sunforger is in my chopping block. It's cool card but it's damn mana intensive. Do you have your list somewhere online @PhroX?

I'm actually in the same boat, which would free my deck up to be leaner and meaner. I guess I would run a lot more counterspells instead of R/W answers. I really like Sunforger, I think it is a really neat card, but the deck has morphed into something that doesn't use Sunforger.

Quote from psilocybianth »

^
I just ordered Cursed Totem and Winter Orb couple days ago, gonna play test in my deck in couple weeks. I'll probably test Tymna version sooner and later, even though Silas was better than I expected in last games I played. Gotta say Sunforger is in my chopping block. It's cool card but it's damn mana intensive. Do you have your list somewhere online @PhroX?

Here's my list. There's a few things I need to pick up like a Steelshaper's Gift and a couple of cards that are in because I like them rather than them being amazing in the deck, such as Aurelia who was the commander of the Boros deck that this deck was built from for about 4 years. Also, I remembered that I have actually cut Sunforger as I'm testing Dowsing Dagger - the one game I've had it, it was amazing, but I don't think flipping it turn two is exactly typical of how it will perform.

Made these changes: Whir of Invention just costed too much Blue, I like it as it usually costs UUU because I tap my Equipment to pay for the Improvise and with such a low curve I don't have to tap too many. Unfortunately, there have been too many games where I didn't have triple Blue to cast it. I've replaced it with Iconoclast Daretti who makes an Artifact every turn to pump Akiri or I can throw away an Artifact to deal with a problem permanent. Some decks can't handle having their Commander become expensive and as this is a tempo deck, I need ways to throw as many wrenches in peoples' plans.

Sunhome is just to give Akiri Double Strike out of nowhere, giving me extra reach.

Since moving Akiri and Silas to a more competitive tier, the need for Comeuppance has declined. I just flat out better removal, so Dispatch is used in its place.

Welp, it's happened again. I come up with an original deck idea and then during the course of tuning my deck I cut the card that brought me to make it in the first place. As I realized that the only way to make Akiri a decent deck was to make it faster and faster, I found I had less room for inefficiencies. Before I knew it, Akiri was one of my more serious decks because of how quickly it can run over an opponent and it wasn't until now that I was willing to shed the fat. I've decided to make the deck go full serious and so I'm cutting the overcosted things in my quest to make Akiri count to 21 ASAP. A moment of silence for Sunforger. I'm testing out the Aether Grid as a way to ping utility Creatures and the like at a very little opportunity cost. I am also planning of adding Winter Orb and Static Orb, so this would be a great way to cheat their drawbacks by tapping them down EOT. Return to Dust gets the axe as the most expensive Instant that I was willing to axe in the first place.

Sword of Vengeance is very expensive for what I want to do with Akiri now. Keyword soup and numbers isn't good enough for Akiri when I have so many ways to make her flat out unblockable. With that in mind, I put in Aggravated Assault due to its price bottoming out with the Rivals of Ixalan product. Sometimes I just need to swing one more time and Assault lets me do that. Combined with Sword of Feast and Famine, it's infinite combat steps as long as Akiri is left unblocked - something that the deck does quite easily.

RIP Sunforger, you will be missed. Instead, Prying Blade takes the Sunforger's place due to its cheap cost and that it makes more Artifacts with Treasure tokens. That'll help fix any color screw, which is more and more of a problem due to the relatively budget landbase, or it'll help recast Akiri if she dies. Until then, it'll help with my kill clock.

Counterflux is the most color intensive card that I am not interested in casting. Render Silent hoses people who wanted to do big plays, Counterflux being uncounterable isn't worth it. Delay goes in due to how color friendly it is and with how fast this deck goes, Suspend 3 is probably far too late.