MTG Salvation

So this is my next project, a Kaervek punisher deck. Probably won't make me too many friends but it should at least be fun to play and may actually get complained about less than my 5 color monstrosity.

I think I've pretty much nailed everything down, the question is more does anyone know of anything I missed?

I decided against damage doublers, they seemed excessive and did nothing on their own, although if Gisela, Blade of Goldnight was in my colors I would absolutely be running her.

I avoided things like Blood Artist and Vicious Shadows because I'm not sure how much creature killing this deck is going to do, although shadows is definitely still on my watch list as is Repercussion which I only left out because of the potential for major backfire.


EDIT: So I just realized what happens when I play Wheel of Fortune with Chains of Mephistopheles on the board. WOW that's evil, I may need to build a deck around that now.

The deck looks solid to me. I've been playing a similar one recently so I have a lot of ideas and opinions for you to browse upon:

I don't think you missed anything huge, but I do offer some ideas. First, how do you want to win? Right now wheels looks like a nice option with spiteful visions and lilliana's caress. Maybe underworld dreams and kederekt parasite could help out here. I also suggest incendiary command because it can do so many things. It can wipe, ping a player for that little extra you need, or hit an important land. Also fitting is Winds of change. Teferi's puzzle box is great constant draw too without giving too much advantage, and probably better than memory jar. There are of course font of mythos and other normal card draw cards for the table. I would stick with the hand disruption ones though for the pseudo control though.

I'm starting to realize cards like subversion just don't cut. If you can't manipulate the punisher cards in your favor (wheels with underworld dreams for example), it just doesn't seem worth it. I don't see subversion in your list, but this idea is key to this kind of deck I've found. In this case it's too slow and only cards like paradox haze can help it out.

I see you have bogarden hellkite. I suggest inferno titan, flameblast dragon, or magmatic force in it's place. All of these offer a nice body with a better return on burn imo and can target creatures or players.

Vicious shadows is good because it happens if any creature dies whether you kill them or not. Things most likely will be dying, but I suppose this depends on your meta.

I know you said you avoided damage doublers, but I highly suggest wound reflection. It just does so much work because it basically makes your punisher cards twice as good, along with making people take twice as much from hitting each other or paying life for things.. I don't recommend furnace of rath as much, as many punisher cards are life loss. Wound reflection is also one sided, and basically amazing. A sorin markov with a wound reflection out is usually an instant kill, along with a table kill with repay in kind (if their health goes down it's considered life loss).

Hand destruction and land destruction are how these colors seem to control the table..... so yeah... land destruction. A well placed obliterate with your enchantments out can win a game.

Finally, reiterate and fork. You have so many card draw spells (which could cause heavy damage), exsanguinate, rakdos's return etc, along with whatever anyone else casts. These could be awesome here.

Citadel of pain is a card that you may like if you have a lot of blue at the table. It either shuts them down or hurts them. It also works great with manabarbs.

Anyways, great deck. You've given me some ideas with the discard punish too.

grafted exoskeleton is an amazing piece of tech for Kaervek, unless poison is a no go.

Quote from Drizzle

The deck looks solid to me. I've been playing a similar one recently so I have a lot of ideas and opinions for you to browse upon:

I don't think you missed anything huge, but I do offer some ideas. First, how do you want to win?

The idea was pretty much to win through incremental advantage. with so many punisher effects on the board people will eventually start dropping dead although cards like sorin and heartless hidetsugu, especially Havoc Festival can get me there fast

Right now wheels looks like a nice option with spiteful visions and lilliana's caress. Maybe underworld dreams and kederekt parasite could help out here. I also suggest incendiary command because it can do so many things. It can wipe, ping a player for that little extra you need, or hit an important land. Also fitting is Winds of change. Teferi's puzzle box is great constant draw too without giving too much advantage, and probably better than memory jar. There are of course font of mythos and other normal card draw cards for the table. I would stick with the hand disruption ones though for the pseudo control though.

The only reason I decided against puzzlebox was that it makes my tutors nearly useless unless I can play what I search for that turn.

Underworld Dreams I like but I felt like the triple black was too much of an investment, and not something I was likely to have turn 3, when I want to drop it the most.

I'm definitely still considering the parasite it's just a matter of finding the right spot for it.

I see you have bogarden hellkite. I suggest inferno titan, flameblast dragon, or magmatic force in it's place. All of these offer a nice body with a better return on burn imo and can target creatures or players.

The reason I chose bogardan hellkite was because I can play it at instant speed. I'm not sure yet how relevant that is but I figure a 5/5 flying beatstick + 5 points of burn to anything was pretty decent for 8 mana, something i can achieve easily with mana rocks. If I find it underperforms I probably will replace it with inferno titan.

Vicious shadows is good because it happens if any creature dies whether you kill them or not. Things most likely will be dying, but I suppose this depends on your meta.

I agree that shadows is an amazing card, my only real concern is the mana cost. In EDH it doesn't sound like much but if I include too many big mana spells it can screw me, especially without the green for land ramp. I will probably find a spot for it, it's just a matter of finding out what works in the current list and what doesn't

I know you said you avoided damage doublers, but I highly suggest wound reflection. It just does so much work because it basically makes your punisher cards twice as good, along with making people take twice as much from hitting each other or paying life for things.. I don't recommend furnace of rath as much, as many punisher cards are life loss. Wound reflection is also one sided, and basically amazing. A sorin markov with a wound reflection out is usually an instant kill, along with a table kill with repay in kind (if their health goes down it's considered life loss).

Wound Reflection is another big spell I struggled trying to include. It will probably end up in the deck after some testing.

Hand destruction and land destruction are how these colors seem to control the table..... so yeah... land destruction. A well placed obliterate with your enchantments out can win a game.

I was actually considering finding room for Skullrend, Hymn the table seemed really good. Obliterate is also on my watch list since I love the card to death and I know how backbreaking it can be.

Finally, reiterate and fork. You have so many card draw spells (which could cause heavy damage), exsanguinate, rakdos's return etc, along with whatever anyone else casts. These could be awesome here.

Citadel of pain is a card that you may like if you have a lot of blue at the table. It either shuts them down or hurts them. It also works great with manabarbs.

I really wanted to find room for at least Reiterate and Mana Geyser but it's going to be tough to do.

I know how good fork effects are, my favorite EDH deck was Wort, the Raidmother and in there they won games.

I have more ramp than anything so I think that citadel might be a bit of a dead card where manabarbs is guaranteed damage.

Anyways, great deck. You've given me some ideas with the discard punish too.

well thank you and you're welcome

Quote from sadgasm

grafted exoskeleton is an amazing piece of tech for Kaervek, unless poison is a no go.

I was actually considering Tainted Strike or something to that effect in here, I'll have to play with it at some point and see how well it does.

I second the exoskeleton and hatred for finishers if you are finding you need something to help you push through for a win. I suppose that necropotence could be a great card draw in a deck that gains a decent amount of life. Loxodon warhammer is also another life gain option, and crypt rats is a baby exsanguinate that can be equipped to gain a large amount of life and clear the board, or just push through for a win.

I took out skullrend but that was because I didn't have enough dedicated discard or discard punish. It's weak without those I think.

I can't say I've had a problem with 3 black or 3 red in costs yet for underworld dreams and stuff. I run a signet, a talisman and a few dual lands though. The other thing about dreams is that you can play it late game before wheels and it's still fine.

Since vicious shadows and obliterate are on your watch list... think of them together! Definitely late game stuff though. Vicious shadows is never a horrible draw, but can definitely be underwhelming for 7 depending on the board state.

I know you said you were shying away from damage doublers, but at least consider Gratuitous Violence. Your opponents can't take advantage of that and it has great synergy with Kaervek since Gratuitous Violence doesn't care if the damage is from combat or not from combat.

Damage doublers are really good in decks like this. They cause serious damage amplification that can cause even the tiniest of threat to chisel out chunks of life. They also have extreme synergy when they are out in play together because they exponentially increase the damage multiplier (2 damage doublers = quadruple damage, 3 damage doublers = octuple damage, and so on).

I will second Wound Reflection. Wound Reflection is really, really good for punisher/group slug. If you want to be mean, there are many quick combo kills with Wound Reflection like Sorin's 10 life reset + Wound Reflection and Havoc Festival + Wound Reflection.