MTG Salvation

What Came Before

You may have caught the thread for the rough draft of this idea that existed here over the last couple days. It was a very rough draft of this idea and large parts have been tweaked and reworked including a change in Commander and central idea to be this list in front of you.

The deck spawned out of my wanting to use a card which I have never before used for its proper use, Blood Funnel is a card that is typically used in Mishra, Artificer Prodigy decks as a card to Artifact Storm utilizing Mishra's ability. This deck has a similar idea however without a an ability to grab those cards back this deck plans to use a lot of creatures and tokens as the ingredients in these cheaper rituals.

Specifically the interaction between Monastery Mentor (to a lesser extent, Young Pyromancer) and Blood Funnel. In which you resolve the Mentor trigger for the Monk and then sacrifice the monk to pay the Blood Funnel cost. Obviously a lot of creature and token death and creation plays into the rest of the deck.

The New

So I got thinking about this list again and wanted to emphasize one of my favorite pairing of cards in the game being:


For those of you who have not seen these two together or have maybe never seen Shaman's Trance what these two cards do together is allow you to cast everything in everyones graveyard however when you cast opponents spells they do not exile because that part only cares about your graveyard. The typical play from there was either to cast a Lotus Petal if very lucky infinite times or if less luck a Dark Ritual or a Frantic Search to create some stupid storm count.

Now that is fun and all but it is very narrow certain decks of certain colors were just immune to it so I needed a way to generalize this combo and to do that gonna use one of the most played cards in Commander ol Sol Ring, now those pesky mana rocks get killed throughout the game so getting one in grave is not a big problem but returning it there is also not a problem when cards like Krark-Clan Ironworks exist. If no one has cast a Sol Ring well there is a means for that as well in Praetor's Grasp.

Now as long as we are adding some artifacts why not add more and there is a perfect creature package to utilize in Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, Scrap Trawler, Myr Retriever and Junk Diver not to mention how well Teshar already plays with a bunch of cards in the deck.

The deck changed a lot and now looks something like this:



Electrodominance Sidebar

Electrodominance is a very ridiculous magic card that I am still finding all the ways it is incredible in this list.

It is a ritual in casting Lotus Bloom for 2, it is a Wheel of Fate at instant speed also for a minimum of 2. It can cast Yawgmoth's Will as an instant which opens up a gigantic rabbit hole of possibilities. Can drop a Sacrifice Outlet into play at instant speeds.

This card has such a huge possibility space in this format I am excited for where it goes.

Other Stuff

So another thing I have been thinking about that isn't in this deck is

Experimental Frenzy specifically the way it would interface with Necropotence in that you could Pay a life to keep Frenzying as long as you keep hitting cards that you can cast and then you pick up all the cards you could not cast at end of turn. I wonder how good if at all that would be and am extremely curious about it.

This is a really awesome list and idea. I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like it. I've wanted to build a Mardu deck for a while and seeing your list is a strong push in that direction. I have a Boros list that could certainly be adapted to something like this. But Green is also a strong option for a 3rd color. It could go either way for me.

I know you didn't really ask for feedback but I have a few thoughts. My Boros token deck is here if you are interested. It's aggro list with a strong equipment subtheme. Although the strategies certainly diverge, I feel like you could cherry pick a couple of cards from that list perhaps since it's a similar idea...

Why no Skullclamp? Definitely on theme and will draw you a ton of cards. One of the strongest cards in my list. I can foresee a deck like this really eating through cards, so having solid draw is necessary.

Shivan Harvest can be devastating in a deck like this.

With a solid token producing package, Purphoros is a pretty reliable win-con, alongside Blood Funnel, and ESPECIALLY if you are chaining token making spells such as Conqueror's Pledge. You will also get plenty of sac fodder, blockers, or anything you need them to be. Something like Krenko, Mob Boss might be worthwhile. But the ideal I think for this list are non-creature token producers, especially enchantments, but sorceries and instants can also work well.

Assemble the Legion might be ok, if you can get it out early enough, but it's always cost a bit too much for me, easier to do with black or green added maybe? Call the Bloodline might work. There are really a ton of options on these lines thankfully, we can pick and choose what seems to work the best.

Emeria Angel can be good if you are using enough fetchlands or are playing green

Chancellor of the Forge is nice with Sneak Attack.



Anyway, just some friendly suggestions/thoughts/ideas.

Updated this post with a bunch of new fun stuff.

Quote from RowanKeltizar »

This is a really awesome list and idea. I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like it. I've wanted to build a Mardu deck for a while and seeing your list is a strong push in that direction. I have a Boros list that could certainly be adapted to something like this. But Green is also a strong option for a 3rd color. It could go either way for me.

I know you didn't really ask for feedback but I have a few thoughts. My Boros token deck is here if you are interested. It's aggro list with a strong equipment subtheme. Although the strategies certainly diverge, I feel like you could cherry pick a couple of cards from that list perhaps since it's a similar idea...

Why no Skullclamp? Definitely on theme and will draw you a ton of cards. One of the strongest cards in my list. I can foresee a deck like this really eating through cards, so having solid draw is necessary.

Shivan Harvest can be devastating in a deck like this.

With a solid token producing package, Purphoros is a pretty reliable win-con, alongside Blood Funnel, and ESPECIALLY if you are chaining token making spells such as Conqueror's Pledge. You will also get plenty of sac fodder, blockers, or anything you need them to be. Something like Krenko, Mob Boss might be worthwhile. But the ideal I think for this list are non-creature token producers, especially enchantments, but sorceries and instants can also work well.

Assemble the Legion might be ok, if you can get it out early enough, but it's always cost a bit too much for me, easier to do with black or green added maybe? Call the Bloodline might work. There are really a ton of options on these lines thankfully, we can pick and choose what seems to work the best.

Emeria Angel can be good if you are using enough fetchlands or are playing green

Chancellor of the Forge is nice with Sneak Attack.



Anyway, just some friendly suggestions/thoughts/ideas.

Thanks for the reply, I am trying to keep the CMC of the deck down generally which negates a lot of that stuff, Skullclamp was an obvious oversight that I just forgot about. I am also trying for some alternate win conditions at this point so while Purph and Impact Tremors and those kinds of things would be good I am only running Zulaport as a life stabilization engine as well.

Really like this list, nice innovations here.
How punishing has it been to have Monastery Mentor removed after you play Blood Funnel. I understand the potential but it seems that if Mentor is removed it becomes very difficult for you to resolve spells (given you have few creatures in the list). Defense Grid / Grand Abolisher could help out with this, in any case on your combo turn.

Do you find Wheel of Fate to be worth it if you don't have Electrodominance. It seems really weak if you're suspending it. Perhaps play Cathartic Reunion instead?

Lion's Eye Diamond also seems like a natural fit, as does Goblin Welder given the artifact theme.

You also play quite a number of basic lands, so both Blood Moon and Land Tax seem like good inclusions. I would also recommend taking out a land for Tithe.

Quote from capitacom »

Really like this list, nice innovations here.
How punishing has it been to have Monastery Mentor removed after you play Blood Funnel. I understand the potential but it seems that if Mentor is removed it becomes very difficult for you to resolve spells (given you have few creatures in the list). Defense Grid / Grand Abolisher could help out with this, in any case on your combo turn.

Do you find Wheel of Fate to be worth it if you don't have Electrodominance. It seems really weak if you're suspending it. Perhaps play Cathartic Reunion instead?

Lion's Eye Diamond also seems like a natural fit, as does Goblin Welder given the artifact theme.

You also play quite a number of basic lands, so both Blood Moon and Land Tax seem like good inclusions. I would also recommend taking out a land for Tithe.

Thanks for the post.

The times I played the old version I tended to not go for it unless I had more creatures than just one of the two of them that makes tokens and it paid off until it didn't. It is a really hard thing to judge not in the moment.

I haven't gotten to actually play the new deck yet so as to your questions about Wheel of Fate I will let you know. I would love to have a Lion's Eye Diamond at some point but that is not in the cards right now, Goblin Welder should probably find a home with Bloom having made the cut.

I don't have a Blood Moon but Land Tax was in at a point and I think I cut it the same time I cut Scroll Rack but I could totally see the Tithe I have fitting into a spot.

Thanks for the post.