MTG Salvation

Okay, I've got a lot more going in this deck right now than I did before, but now I feel like I should get some other things going in here for when I don't have Vela on the field. I feel like I should have more ways to win than just using her. I still have a lot of slots open in my deck (15+ cards) and I'm struggling to get it filled to 100 without just putting useless filler.

Here's a link to my decklist so far: In-Progress Vela Deck

There's a good amount of filler in there right now as well, and there are some I'm probably willing to take out to make the deck more effective and well-rounded.

Right now some combos I have going on are:

• Pili-Pala + Grand Architect for infinite mana to cast & remove cards such as Darting Merfolk, Deadeye Navigator, Fleeting Image, and Lantern Spirit.
• Ghostly Flicker + Mnemonic Wall/Archaeomancer + Gilded Lotus (Thanks Reltastic and Teleran for the suggestions for this)
• Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + any other zombie (thanks Reltastic for this suggestion as well)

Also still comprehending ferretgr's post and will probably add some of those things in there.

Click the spoiler to see my original post asking for help!

Rite of Replication is a must in a Vela deck list. When you cast it on her, you get 30 triggers(someone will correct me if I'm wrong on the exact number) .

A fun little thing to do might be to run Gravecrawler with Phyrexian Altar? If you can get that engine online, and no one can disrupt it, you've got the game won.

The most common Vela build uses a lot of ninjas to take advantage of the Ninjutsu ability.

I play Vela but with a bounce/flicker theme instead of a sacrifice theme. I didn't do this because I think it to be superior but because my other deck(s) do a lot of saccing and I didn't want to be repetitive.

You've got some absolute gimmes in your list. Definitely play Baleful Strix, Attrition, Grave Pact, Deadeye Navigator, etc.

Going with a sac theme, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Gravecrawler is an example of where you want to be. Vela's 1 life is a minor annoyance if you can't ping it repeatedly. For each B you spend, you get one sac and return of Gravecrawler. If you have Rooftop Storm in play, that becomes infinite as the cost to recast goes to zero. Another version of this: if you have a zombie in play and use Phyrexian Altar + Gravecrawler, it's another source of infinite sac + return. Grave Titan, Nim Deathmantle, and Ashnod's Altar can similarly be made to go infinite: sac one of the zombies and then GT, use the 4 mana from the Altar to activate the Deathmantle, bring GT back, etc. Add Grave Pact and/or Butcher of Malakir to the mix to keep the rest of the boards clean. And anyone in black with a sac/etb theme should be playing Victimize... trust me. Another infinite thing (not via saccing though) is Deadeye Navigator + Cloud of Faeries/Palinchron/whatever that untaps lands.

You don't have to go infinite to make her work though. In general, you want to be thinking about cheap/free sac (ie. Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Claws of Gix, Viscera Seer, etc), graveyard recursion (ie. Reanimate, Animate Dead, Diabolic Servitude, etc.) and maybe some graveyard filling to get your choice stuff ready (Entomb, Buried Alive), good ETB (Grave Titan, Solemn Simulacrum, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and a bit of flicker (ie. Ghostly Flicker, Deadeye, Conjurer's Closet, etc.) With U you can protect your combos/plays with counters.

Vela can be fun, enjoy!

ETA: Don't forget the Ninjitsu guys... not many are worth playing but her intimidate could mean you Ninjitsu out a zombie token or something for a Silent-Blade Oni. I'd look at that guy, Sakashima's Student, and Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, at least, and maybe Throat Slitter if you're looking for some creature-based removal.

I think a card like Ghostly Flicker would be perfect, especially if you can run Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer along with it. That's a nice little engine for Vela.

Quote from reltastic »

Rite of Replication is a must in a Vela deck list. When you cast it on her, you get 30 triggers(someone will correct me if I'm wrong on the exact number) .

30 life is correct. Resolving a kicked Rite of Replication puts 5 token Velas onto the battlefield, meaning that copies of her see 5 creatures leaving the battlefield, causing 5 points of life-loss each for 30 points total.

Another card I like in these kinds of decks is Thopter Assembly. It can be hard to cast, but if you have any real sac outlets you can consistently get 5 thopter tokens a turn. I'd also look at adding in Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar for more mana goodness.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone! I will definitely be taking all of these suggestions into consideration and thanks especially Macabre for linking me your primer. I might check out those videos at some point as well!

I think I have a better idea of some things I can do now.

It sounds like your Vela deck will be more black than blue with the sacrificing, but Master of Waves generates some frail tokens and he makes a great blink/bounce target. I run a wizard tribal Vela deck and it's a blast.

The dumb thing I did with her for a brief time is Tombstone Stairwell & Dire Undercurrents

If you have a yard your opponents have a bad day.

Quote from Spitfirefox »

It sounds like your Vela deck will be more black than blue with the sacrificing, but Master of Waves generates some frail tokens and he makes a great blink/bounce target. I run a wizard tribal Vela deck and it's a blast.

I was thinking of some other things to do with the deck and one of the things I was considering was wizards. I'm not 100% attached to the idea of sacing, which is why I wanted people to throw some ideas out there since I know so little! I may try putting together several versions of the deck & playtest each until I figure out which I like best. Thanks for your suggestion though! He sounds similar to Abhorrent Overlord except blue instead of Black.

Bumping to see if anyone else has suggestions!

Shrieking Drake is really good here, and Man-o'-War isn't half bad either.

Quote from bobthefunny »

Quote from Taleran »

The dumb thing I did with her for a brief time is Tombstone Stairwell & Dire Undercurrents

If you have a yard your opponents have a bad day.

I want to +1 this so hard, it makes my mouse hurt.

Tombstone Stairwell is one of those crazy old cards that just does insane things. Combo it with Eldrazi Monument for stupid times.

Not sure if you noticed, but tombstone stairwell causes the tokens to be destroyed, and the monument causes the tokens to get indestructible.. Yikes

Quote from reltastic »

I think a card like Ghostly Flicker would be perfect, especially if you can run Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer along with it. That's a nice little engine for Vela.

If you add a Gilded Lotus to this everyone dies.

Bumping since I edited OP.

I made my own version awhile ago, pretty happy with it, and it doesn't require the general to win. It lets me approach the a game pretty much however I want, as aggro, control, or combo. It has ample backup in pretty much every single aspect of strength a deck can have other than perhaps the ramp capacity of green. (So the mana curve was made to be semi-strict and forgiving to a lack of mana abundance) It's primarily a control deck overall, and I did my best to make every card choice versatile enough that draws are rarely dead cards in a game. It's not a consistent powerhouse winning machine but its definitely quite fun.

List is in the link below, I hope it gives you some ideas for synergies and such.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-asymetric-strategem-ii/