The main goal of the deck is to use and abuse Glissa's triggered ability for fun and profit. While the current version is pretty solid, I can't help but feel like it's missing something. I intend to use this as my "competitive" deck, so going for broken is perfectly fine.
Blightsteel Colossus - While this is as good as it gets for artifact finishers, I have very few ways to deal with Bribery in these colors.
Mishra's Bauble/Urza's Bauble - They work well with Glissa, but they don't actually do anything on their own. Sure, I get to draw a card on the next upkeep...but most of the deck is at sorcery speed so that doesn't accomplish much.
Why aren't you running more artifact sweepers? Oblivion Stone comes to mind.
I don't have a copy of Oblivion Stone, so that's why it's missing from the list.
Also, I'm not really sure what the critical number of sweepers actually is for this deck. Most of the win conditions involve creatures, so continuously wiping the board is eventually going to hurt more than it helps.
I'd cut evolving wilds, terramorphic, and tainted wood. if you can get more fetches (or of course bayou) I'd run those, otherwise, basics. terramorphic and evolving wilds are ok for 5-color decks, but for 2 color the tempo loss is a big waste.
some of my favorite artifacts with glissa are urza's bauble and mishra's bauble, so I'm baffled why you wouldn't want to use them. They make sure you've always got something to return to your hand, so you aren't wasting triggers. That CA adds up quick. Unless you're always getting back other artifacts, the cost of the baubles is so low (they basically just cost the delay of one draw) and they can easily net you 10 cards over a long game. That sort of insane CA is the reason to run glissa, imo. Even if you've got more powerful artifacts to return, you'll often get multiple triggers between turns to take advantage of. If I could run 12 baubles, I'd run every last one of them. They're amazing. If you're theorycrafting that they're bad and haven't actually used them much, I definitely recommend trying them before you dismiss them. The cost is SO LOW and the payout is SO LARGE.
some of the other graveyard hate artifacts are also pretty solid (scrabbling claws and phyrexian furnace) depending on how graveyard-heavy your meta is.
as far as wincons, some of my favorites with glissa are skithiryx, the blight dragon, sorin markov, bonehoard, nezumi graverobber, inkmoth nexus, and avarice totem, although nim deathmantle beats with glissa can work too. O-stone is basically a wincon, be sure you run it with yavimaya hollow to regen glissa and you'll be very hard to stop. of course volrath's stronghold is awesome too if you can get one. I've also had great results with liliana of the veil: her first ability barely hurts you since you can just discard artifacts. her second ability gives you a definite glissa trigger and removes tricky creatures. And glissa makes it easy to defend her.
I'd cut evolving wilds, terramorphic, and tainted wood. if you can get more fetches (or of course bayou) I'd run those, otherwise, basics. terramorphic and evolving wilds are ok for 5-color decks, but for 2 color the tempo loss is a big waste.
You're probably right about Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse. I'm not sure why Tainted Wood is on the block though. It's active more often than not, it doesn't enter tapped, and it taps for colorless at a bare minimum. It's not the best "dual" land ever, but it certainly has more potential upside than a basic.
some of my favorite artifacts with glissa are urza's bauble and mishra's bauble, so I'm baffled why you wouldn't want to use them. They make sure you've always got something to return to your hand, so you aren't wasting triggers. That CA adds up quick. Unless you're always getting back other artifacts, the cost of the baubles is so low (they basically just cost the delay of one draw) and they can easily net you 10 cards over a long game. That sort of insane CA is the reason to run glissa, imo. Even if you've got more powerful artifacts to return, you'll often get multiple triggers between turns to take advantage of. If I could run 12 baubles, I'd run every last one of them. They're amazing. If you're theorycrafting that they're bad and haven't actually used them much, I definitely recommend trying them before you dismiss them. The cost is SO LOW and the payout is SO LARGE.
Here's how I see the baubles: They're great when you have nothing else to do. If I can land a turn 3 Glissa and a bauble, I'm sure the card advantage is great. Thing is, I don't want to be drawing a bauble on turn 30. So I'd be spending 2 slots for the chance to sometimes draw a couple extra cards. I'm never going to tutor for one, and they do nothing unique or interesting. I think these colors are deep enough that there are plenty of other things I can fill these two spots with.
some of the other graveyard hate artifacts are also pretty solid (scrabbling claws and phyrexian furnace) depending on how graveyard-heavy your meta is.
As far as graveyard hate I have Nihil Spellbomb and Bojuka Bog (plus Crop Rotation). It's been enough in the past, but I'll certainly keep the others in mind if I wind up needing more.
as far as wincons, some of my favorites with glissa are skithiryx, the blight dragon, sorin markov, bonehoard, nezumi graverobber, inkmoth nexus, and avarice totem, although nim deathmantle beats with glissa can work too. O-stone is basically a wincon, be sure you run it with yavimaya hollow to regen glissa and you'll be very hard to stop. of course volrath's stronghold is awesome too if you can get one. I've also had great results with liliana of the veil: her first ability barely hurts you since you can just discard artifacts. her second ability gives you a definite glissa trigger and removes tricky creatures. And glissa makes it easy to defend her.
I'm not a huge fan of Skittles as one of the 99. I think he's great as a mono-black general, but he is too big of a target to actually do anything relevant. The same goes for Inkmoth Nexus. The deck isn't really trying to poison anyone out, so random infect damage doesn't really further my game plan at all.
Avarice Totem is pretty cute...I didn't realize that was a card. Do you find that there are generally things worth "trading" for? I imagine you also need Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots to get use out of something before you "trade" back though. This seems like it would be more at home with Zedru.
Sorin always struck me as the easy way out. It's pretty trivial to win once someone's life total is 10, and it's pretty feel-bad for both me and the guy I just took out.
I like the idea of Liliana of the Veil in here, so I'll have to see about picking one up.
you've got (effectively)...11 swamps? So maybe it's a 50/50 chance of tapping for either color when it's out. Biggest issue I see with it is that glissa costs no generic mana, so if you want to get her out quickly a generic mana on a land is a big bummer. It's maybe an ok substitute until you get better ones (bayou + fetches) but it's really subpar imo. I think I'd rather have the terramorphic expanse tbh, at least that makes glissa easier to cast.
Your evaluation of the baubles is... a little simplistic. Let's compare 2 cards: 1 card is a 0-cost instant that draws 2 cards. Another is a 1-cost 10/10. Which is better? The first one is, because while the benefit is much smaller, the cost is zero. It's easy to look at cards like eldrazi and say they're good because they're so powerful when they hit the field and they win games, but cards like brainstorm and ponder are actually better, because their cost is so low. The strength of a card is its power/cost. Sure, EDH is about getting big bombs to win, and you probably need some of those in the end, but utility cards can make it a lot easier to get to that point. What does a bauble cost? It delays one single draw, and that's IT. as soon as you draw it, you play it, sac it, and then it's an engine for the rest of the game, giving you card advantage every time anything dies. The cost is so close to zero it's insane. The only time I'd be disappointed to see a bauble is if I was literally going to lose that turn. It doesn't matter if it's turn 30 - unless you absolutely need something THIS TURN, it replaces itself (almost) right away, and then gives you access to more free draw forever.
Just...next time you play glissa, count how many creature death triggers from glissa you fail to take advantage of, and think about how much more CA you could have if every single one of those gave you a free draw. And then weigh that against delaying one draw for 1 turn. I cannot stress enough how powerful those baubles are in Glissa. If you don't listen to anything else I say, run those damn baubles.
speaking of CA, life from the loam is an excellent card for this archetype - guarantees lots of land drops, gives tons of CA, puts artifacts into the yard for glissa, etc. Run it with 7x fetches and the cycling lands and it's pure gold.
I'd prefer artifact removal over bojuka bog as they're repeatable - frequently bojuka bog comes at an inconvenient time when you don't need a grave exiled but you need a land. It's a fine land, maybe worth including too, but since glissa makes cantripping artifacts so nice, I'd much prefer claws/furnace. Also they're instant-speed, which is a lot more effective against most GY strategies. And sure, crop rotation, but crop rotation's sort of mediocre anyway, and your only other target is forbidden orchard. I guess strip mine in some situations but trading 2-for-1 against a land is sort of a bummer. at any rate it's almost never repeatable, which the artifacts are, easily, and they can work on multiple people at once while giving you CA as well.
skittles is a 3 turn clock with haste, evasion, and protection, that's never a bad finisher when it's down to 1v1 imo, plus black's got lots of recursion options should he die. equipment makes it an easy 2-turn or 1-turn clock (sup bonehoard). inkmoth rarely gets there for 1 a turn, but I've killed people with bonehoard attached to one out of nowhere. It's a little iffy but it lives through sweepers and just takes a land's slot. My manabase is really robust (aka expensive) though to handle some of the utility lands I'm running.
in case you aren't aware, you double-activate avarice totem to trade something stupid (sup, bauble) for something awesome. I use it as sort of a catch-all answer against things that BG doesn't have much of an answer for, such as darksteel forge. Also it often forces people to keep 5 mana open at all times to prevent the double swap, without you even needing to activate it, and makes people edgier about dropping big bombs...it's just all-around fun. It's even better in decks that generate tons of mana or produce lots of junky tokens. It's nice with glissa too, though, as it's recurrable, tutorable with entomb, etc.
I'd rather get killed by sorin than by mindslaver. I mean, if you just think it's mean, then I guess that's your call, but slaverlock is probably the most obnoxious way to win available to glissa, so in the pantheon of dickish wincons I'd run Sorin before mindslaver if you're trying to appease your playgroup.
you've got (effectively)...11 swamps? So maybe it's a 50/50 chance of tapping for either color when it's out. Biggest issue I see with it is that glissa costs no generic mana, so if you want to get her out quickly a generic mana on a land is a big bummer. It's maybe an ok substitute until you get better ones (bayou + fetches) but it's really subpar imo. I think I'd rather have the terramorphic expanse tbh, at least that makes glissa easier to cast.
I've actually been doing a bunch of work with the mana base over the past couple days. The latest draft looks like this:
The overall goal is to make the mana base work harder and to get a little more value out of Crop Rotation. Boseiju might end up not being worth it, but only testing will really tell there. I also considered Vesuva, but ultimately decided against it.
Your evaluation of the baubles is... a little simplistic. Let's compare 2 cards: 1 card is a 0-cost instant that draws 2 cards. Another is a 1-cost 10/10. Which is better? The first one is, because while the benefit is much smaller, the cost is zero. It's easy to look at cards like eldrazi and say they're good because they're so powerful when they hit the field and they win games, but cards like brainstorm and ponder are actually better, because their cost is so low. The strength of a card is its power/cost. Sure, EDH is about getting big bombs to win, and you probably need some of those in the end, but utility cards can make it a lot easier to get to that point. What does a bauble cost? It delays one single draw, and that's IT. as soon as you draw it, you play it, sac it, and then it's an engine for the rest of the game, giving you card advantage every time anything dies. The cost is so close to zero it's insane. The only time I'd be disappointed to see a bauble is if I was literally going to lose that turn. It doesn't matter if it's turn 30 - unless you absolutely need something THIS TURN, it replaces itself (almost) right away, and then gives you access to more free draw forever.
Just...next time you play glissa, count how many creature death triggers from glissa you fail to take advantage of, and think about how much more CA you could have if every single one of those gave you a free draw. And then weigh that against delaying one draw for 1 turn. I cannot stress enough how powerful those baubles are in Glissa. If you don't listen to anything else I say, run those damn baubles.
Like I said, they're certainly something I'll keep in mind as I play the deck. I'm not 100% sold on the current build, and I'm sure there will be plenty of tweaking as time goes on.
speaking of CA, life from the loam is an excellent card for this archetype - guarantees lots of land drops, gives tons of CA, puts artifacts into the yard for glissa, etc. Run it with 7x fetches and the cycling lands and it's pure gold.
Definitely agree here. It's on the short list of cards I need to pick up, especially now that I've added Coffers/Urborg to the deck.
skittles is a 3 turn clock with haste, evasion, and protection, that's never a bad finisher when it's down to 1v1 imo, plus black's got lots of recursion options should he die. equipment makes it an easy 2-turn or 1-turn clock (sup bonehoard). inkmoth rarely gets there for 1 a turn, but I've killed people with bonehoard attached to one out of nowhere. It's a little iffy but it lives through sweepers and just takes a land's slot. My manabase is really robust (aka expensive) though to handle some of the utility lands I'm running.
3 turns is a long time for Skittles to stick around at the tables I frequent, especially when he's putting the hurt on someone.
in case you aren't aware, you double-activate avarice totem to trade something stupid (sup, bauble) for something awesome. I use it as sort of a catch-all answer against things that BG doesn't have much of an answer for, such as darksteel forge. Also it often forces people to keep 5 mana open at all times to prevent the double swap, without you even needing to activate it, and makes people edgier about dropping big bombs...it's just all-around fun. It's even better in decks that generate tons of mana or produce lots of junky tokens. It's nice with glissa too, though, as it's recurrable, tutorable with entomb, etc.
Yeah, I figured the double-activation thing. Seems interesting.
I'd rather get killed by sorin than by mindslaver. I mean, if you just think it's mean, then I guess that's your call, but slaverlock is probably the most obnoxious way to win available to glissa, so in the pantheon of dickish wincons I'd run Sorin before mindslaver if you're trying to appease your playgroup.
Mindslaver is one of those cards that's only "broken" if you let it be. Yeah, Glissa + Forbidden Orchard make setting up a slaver lock pretty trivial. That doesn't mean I have to play it that way. Sometimes there is a player at the table that totally deserves it (I'm looking at you, Zur and Sharuum). In all honesty, Mindslaver was on the bubble as soon as I put it in. I tell myself it's "reasonable protection" from the infinite combos of the world...but it doesn't make it feel any better. As soon as something more interesting comes along it's most likely making its exit.
As for Sorin, let's be honest. His only purpose in EDH is to set life totals to 10. The +2 is only useful for more activations of the -3, and Mindslaver is infinitely more attainable than his ultimate. There is absolutely no way to use Sorin "fairly".
The overall goal is to make the mana base work harder and to get a little more value out of Crop Rotation. Boseiju might end up not being worth it, but only testing will really tell there. I also considered Vesuva, but ultimately decided against it.
Like I said, they're certainly something I'll keep in mind as I play the deck. I'm not 100% sold on the current build, and I'm sure there will be plenty of tweaking as time goes on.
Definitely agree here. It's on the short list of cards I need to pick up, especially now that I've added Coffers/Urborg to the deck.
3 turns is a long time for Skittles to stick around at the tables I frequent, especially when he's putting the hurt on someone.
Yeah, I figured the double-activation thing. Seems interesting.
Mindslaver is one of those cards that's only "broken" if you let it be. Yeah, Glissa + Forbidden Orchard make setting up a slaver lock pretty trivial. That doesn't mean I have to play it that way. Sometimes there is a player at the table that totally deserves it (I'm looking at you, Zur and Sharuum). In all honesty, Mindslaver was on the bubble as soon as I put it in. I tell myself it's "reasonable protection" from the infinite combos of the world...but it doesn't make it feel any better. As soon as something more interesting comes along it's most likely making its exit.
As for Sorin, let's be honest. His only purpose in EDH is to set life totals to 10. The +2 is only useful for more activations of the -3, and Mindslaver is infinitely more attainable than his ultimate. There is absolutely no way to use Sorin "fairly".
I don't think I'd run coffers when the only way to make it worthwhile (or even likely to produce any mana at all) is with urborg, and you've only got a few tutors for it.
skittles never comes out early, it's usually when a few people have already died and people are low on answers. Unless I've got bonehoard handy, in which case sometimes he'll come out early to 1-shot some people. I usually keep him in my hand until I'm sure people are pretty played out. My deck usually plays to keep the game balanced until people are low on gas and easy prey, but if you're trying to win quicker then skittles might not be right for you.
Sorin's +2 is plenty handy, usually gets me glissa triggers. I mean sure, he's a nasty card, no argument, but I can't even express how much happier I'd be to have my life total changed than to have even 1 turn of mindslavering. Again, that's totally up to your meta, and I can't fault you for running a powerful card, it just seems weird to dislike sorin when mindslaver is so much more annoying.
I'd rather lose the GAME than get mindslavered.
Hell, I'd rather lose my JOB than get mindslavered.
I don't think I'd run coffers when the only way to make it worthwhile (or even likely to produce any mana at all) is with urborg, and you've only got a few tutors for it.
I was thinking along the same lines, which is why I haven't updated the OP with the new mana base yet. I also have no real use for Deserted Temple without Coffers kicking around...so back to the drawing board.
skittles never comes out early, it's usually when a few people have already died and people are low on answers. Unless I've got bonehoard handy, in which case sometimes he'll come out early to 1-shot some people. I usually keep him in my hand until I'm sure people are pretty played out. My deck usually plays to keep the game balanced until people are low on gas and easy prey, but if you're trying to win quicker then skittles might not be right for you.
Hell, I'd rather lose my JOB than get mindslavered.
This is exactly how I feel about Sorin. Sure, beat me down to 10 with some huge wurm or something, that's fine...but spending 5 mana and activating an ability is a different thing entirely.
In addition to the baubles, there are also things like Conch Horn and Aeolipile that are cheap and have a significant effect that becomes quite good when recurred with Glissa.
I would also take a look at something like Triskelion and/or Triskelvus as potential cards to recur. They are both especially good with your sac outlets and with Grave Pact... which by the way, why aren't you running Grave Pact? And on the same note, Skullclamp would be excellent here...
In addition to the baubles, there are also things like Conch Horn and Aeolipile that are cheap and have a significant effect that becomes quite good when recurred with Glissa.
I would also take a look at something like Triskelion and/or Triskelvus as potential cards to recur. They are both especially good with your sac outlets and with Grave Pact... which by the way, why aren't you running Grave Pact? And on the same note, Skullclamp would be excellent here...
Grave Pact didn't make the cut because I don't own one. Also, it's not really at it's best in this deck since I'm actively trying to keep my guys around.
Skullclamp is fantastic and all, but again, there's no real way to abuse it here. Much like Grave Pact, I'm not looking to get rid of my creatures for profit.
Triskelion and friends were considered at the outset, but I eventually decided against them. If I were running Skullclamp and Grave Pact they would be much better, but I think that takes the deck in a different direction.
Promise of Power is very high up in the running for Mindslaver replacement of the year. It was in the pile of cards I started with, and ultimately got cut because of it's potentially prohibitive mana cost.
I usually reach for Cultivate and Kodama's Reach myself, but I left them on the bench in favor of mana rocks this time. I suspect this will gradually change as the deck evolves though.
What about a perilous myr with heartless summoning and some kind of effect similar to dictate of erebos, you drop the myr for free, it dies, you deal 2 damage to an opponent, they sacrifice a creature because the myr died, then you get an artifact back because they lost a creature, grab the myr again, and repeat until your opponents have no creatures left.
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1 Glissa, the Traitor
//Creatures
1 Korozda Guildmage
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Sakura-tribe Elder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Wood Elves
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Hunted Troll
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Shriekmaw
1 Vulturous Zombie
1 Duplicant
1 Harvester of Souls
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
//Instants
1 Crop Rotation
1 Entomb
1 Imp's Mischief
1 Beast Within
1 Chord of Calling
1 Putrefy
1 Spore Cloud
1 Momentous Fall
1 Slice in Twain
1 Ancient Stirrings
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Explore
1 Profane Command
1 Regrowth
1 Treasured Find
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Victimize
1 Damnation
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Harmonize
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Increasing Ambition
//Artifacts
1 Mox Opal
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Expedition Map
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Voyager Staff
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Coalition Relic
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Blinkmoth Urn
1 Memory Jar
1 Mindslaver
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Grave Betrayal
//Land
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Strip Mine
1 Tainted Wood
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tree of Tales
1 Twilight Mire
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Woodland Cemetery
9 Forest
9 Swamp
Notable Exclusions:
Blightsteel Colossus - While this is as good as it gets for artifact finishers, I have very few ways to deal with Bribery in these colors.
Mishra's Bauble/Urza's Bauble - They work well with Glissa, but they don't actually do anything on their own. Sure, I get to draw a card on the next upkeep...but most of the deck is at sorcery speed so that doesn't accomplish much.
Necropotence - A non-bo with Mindslaver, and since I'm running the 'slaver myself I don't want to risk it. Copy Artifact/Phyrexian Metamorph are very popular in blue decks.
Viridian Longbow - A worse version of Thornbite Staff. It may turn out that I want two copies, but for now this one is on the bench.
Wishlist:
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Bayou
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Oblivion Stone
I don't have a copy of Oblivion Stone, so that's why it's missing from the list.
Also, I'm not really sure what the critical number of sweepers actually is for this deck. Most of the win conditions involve creatures, so continuously wiping the board is eventually going to hurt more than it helps.
some of my favorite artifacts with glissa are urza's bauble and mishra's bauble, so I'm baffled why you wouldn't want to use them. They make sure you've always got something to return to your hand, so you aren't wasting triggers. That CA adds up quick. Unless you're always getting back other artifacts, the cost of the baubles is so low (they basically just cost the delay of one draw) and they can easily net you 10 cards over a long game. That sort of insane CA is the reason to run glissa, imo. Even if you've got more powerful artifacts to return, you'll often get multiple triggers between turns to take advantage of. If I could run 12 baubles, I'd run every last one of them. They're amazing. If you're theorycrafting that they're bad and haven't actually used them much, I definitely recommend trying them before you dismiss them. The cost is SO LOW and the payout is SO LARGE.
some of the other graveyard hate artifacts are also pretty solid (scrabbling claws and phyrexian furnace) depending on how graveyard-heavy your meta is.
as far as wincons, some of my favorites with glissa are skithiryx, the blight dragon, sorin markov, bonehoard, nezumi graverobber, inkmoth nexus, and avarice totem, although nim deathmantle beats with glissa can work too. O-stone is basically a wincon, be sure you run it with yavimaya hollow to regen glissa and you'll be very hard to stop. of course volrath's stronghold is awesome too if you can get one. I've also had great results with liliana of the veil: her first ability barely hurts you since you can just discard artifacts. her second ability gives you a definite glissa trigger and removes tricky creatures. And glissa makes it easy to defend her.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
You're probably right about Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse. I'm not sure why Tainted Wood is on the block though. It's active more often than not, it doesn't enter tapped, and it taps for colorless at a bare minimum. It's not the best "dual" land ever, but it certainly has more potential upside than a basic.
Here's how I see the baubles: They're great when you have nothing else to do. If I can land a turn 3 Glissa and a bauble, I'm sure the card advantage is great. Thing is, I don't want to be drawing a bauble on turn 30. So I'd be spending 2 slots for the chance to sometimes draw a couple extra cards. I'm never going to tutor for one, and they do nothing unique or interesting. I think these colors are deep enough that there are plenty of other things I can fill these two spots with.
As far as graveyard hate I have Nihil Spellbomb and Bojuka Bog (plus Crop Rotation). It's been enough in the past, but I'll certainly keep the others in mind if I wind up needing more.
I'm not a huge fan of Skittles as one of the 99. I think he's great as a mono-black general, but he is too big of a target to actually do anything relevant. The same goes for Inkmoth Nexus. The deck isn't really trying to poison anyone out, so random infect damage doesn't really further my game plan at all.
Avarice Totem is pretty cute...I didn't realize that was a card. Do you find that there are generally things worth "trading" for? I imagine you also need Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots to get use out of something before you "trade" back though. This seems like it would be more at home with Zedru.
Sorin always struck me as the easy way out. It's pretty trivial to win once someone's life total is 10, and it's pretty feel-bad for both me and the guy I just took out.
I like the idea of Liliana of the Veil in here, so I'll have to see about picking one up.
Your evaluation of the baubles is... a little simplistic. Let's compare 2 cards: 1 card is a 0-cost instant that draws 2 cards. Another is a 1-cost 10/10. Which is better? The first one is, because while the benefit is much smaller, the cost is zero. It's easy to look at cards like eldrazi and say they're good because they're so powerful when they hit the field and they win games, but cards like brainstorm and ponder are actually better, because their cost is so low. The strength of a card is its power/cost. Sure, EDH is about getting big bombs to win, and you probably need some of those in the end, but utility cards can make it a lot easier to get to that point. What does a bauble cost? It delays one single draw, and that's IT. as soon as you draw it, you play it, sac it, and then it's an engine for the rest of the game, giving you card advantage every time anything dies. The cost is so close to zero it's insane. The only time I'd be disappointed to see a bauble is if I was literally going to lose that turn. It doesn't matter if it's turn 30 - unless you absolutely need something THIS TURN, it replaces itself (almost) right away, and then gives you access to more free draw forever.
Just...next time you play glissa, count how many creature death triggers from glissa you fail to take advantage of, and think about how much more CA you could have if every single one of those gave you a free draw. And then weigh that against delaying one draw for 1 turn. I cannot stress enough how powerful those baubles are in Glissa. If you don't listen to anything else I say, run those damn baubles.
speaking of CA, life from the loam is an excellent card for this archetype - guarantees lots of land drops, gives tons of CA, puts artifacts into the yard for glissa, etc. Run it with 7x fetches and the cycling lands and it's pure gold.
I'd prefer artifact removal over bojuka bog as they're repeatable - frequently bojuka bog comes at an inconvenient time when you don't need a grave exiled but you need a land. It's a fine land, maybe worth including too, but since glissa makes cantripping artifacts so nice, I'd much prefer claws/furnace. Also they're instant-speed, which is a lot more effective against most GY strategies. And sure, crop rotation, but crop rotation's sort of mediocre anyway, and your only other target is forbidden orchard. I guess strip mine in some situations but trading 2-for-1 against a land is sort of a bummer. at any rate it's almost never repeatable, which the artifacts are, easily, and they can work on multiple people at once while giving you CA as well.
skittles is a 3 turn clock with haste, evasion, and protection, that's never a bad finisher when it's down to 1v1 imo, plus black's got lots of recursion options should he die. equipment makes it an easy 2-turn or 1-turn clock (sup bonehoard). inkmoth rarely gets there for 1 a turn, but I've killed people with bonehoard attached to one out of nowhere. It's a little iffy but it lives through sweepers and just takes a land's slot. My manabase is really robust (aka expensive) though to handle some of the utility lands I'm running.
in case you aren't aware, you double-activate avarice totem to trade something stupid (sup, bauble) for something awesome. I use it as sort of a catch-all answer against things that BG doesn't have much of an answer for, such as darksteel forge. Also it often forces people to keep 5 mana open at all times to prevent the double swap, without you even needing to activate it, and makes people edgier about dropping big bombs...it's just all-around fun. It's even better in decks that generate tons of mana or produce lots of junky tokens. It's nice with glissa too, though, as it's recurrable, tutorable with entomb, etc.
I'd rather get killed by sorin than by mindslaver. I mean, if you just think it's mean, then I guess that's your call, but slaverlock is probably the most obnoxious way to win available to glissa, so in the pantheon of dickish wincons I'd run Sorin before mindslaver if you're trying to appease your playgroup.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I've actually been doing a bunch of work with the mana base over the past couple days. The latest draft looks like this:
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Command Tower
1 Deserted Temple
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Gilt-leaf Palace
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 High Market
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Strip Mine
1 Tainted Wood
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Tree of Tales
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Woodland Cemetery
7 Forest
8 Swamp
The overall goal is to make the mana base work harder and to get a little more value out of Crop Rotation. Boseiju might end up not being worth it, but only testing will really tell there. I also considered Vesuva, but ultimately decided against it.
Like I said, they're certainly something I'll keep in mind as I play the deck. I'm not 100% sold on the current build, and I'm sure there will be plenty of tweaking as time goes on.
Definitely agree here. It's on the short list of cards I need to pick up, especially now that I've added Coffers/Urborg to the deck.
3 turns is a long time for Skittles to stick around at the tables I frequent, especially when he's putting the hurt on someone.
Yeah, I figured the double-activation thing. Seems interesting.
Mindslaver is one of those cards that's only "broken" if you let it be. Yeah, Glissa + Forbidden Orchard make setting up a slaver lock pretty trivial. That doesn't mean I have to play it that way. Sometimes there is a player at the table that totally deserves it (I'm looking at you, Zur and Sharuum). In all honesty, Mindslaver was on the bubble as soon as I put it in. I tell myself it's "reasonable protection" from the infinite combos of the world...but it doesn't make it feel any better. As soon as something more interesting comes along it's most likely making its exit.
As for Sorin, let's be honest. His only purpose in EDH is to set life totals to 10. The +2 is only useful for more activations of the -3, and Mindslaver is infinitely more attainable than his ultimate. There is absolutely no way to use Sorin "fairly".
I don't think I'd run coffers when the only way to make it worthwhile (or even likely to produce any mana at all) is with urborg, and you've only got a few tutors for it.
skittles never comes out early, it's usually when a few people have already died and people are low on answers. Unless I've got bonehoard handy, in which case sometimes he'll come out early to 1-shot some people. I usually keep him in my hand until I'm sure people are pretty played out. My deck usually plays to keep the game balanced until people are low on gas and easy prey, but if you're trying to win quicker then skittles might not be right for you.
Sorin's +2 is plenty handy, usually gets me glissa triggers. I mean sure, he's a nasty card, no argument, but I can't even express how much happier I'd be to have my life total changed than to have even 1 turn of mindslavering. Again, that's totally up to your meta, and I can't fault you for running a powerful card, it just seems weird to dislike sorin when mindslaver is so much more annoying.
I'd rather lose the GAME than get mindslavered.
Hell, I'd rather lose my JOB than get mindslavered.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I was thinking along the same lines, which is why I haven't updated the OP with the new mana base yet. I also have no real use for Deserted Temple without Coffers kicking around...so back to the drawing board.
True enough.
This is exactly how I feel about Sorin. Sure, beat me down to 10 with some huge wurm or something, that's fine...but spending 5 mana and activating an ability is a different thing entirely.
I would also take a look at something like Triskelion and/or Triskelvus as potential cards to recur. They are both especially good with your sac outlets and with Grave Pact... which by the way, why aren't you running Grave Pact? And on the same note, Skullclamp would be excellent here...
Some cards I always recommend to people playing black are Promise of Power, Oversold Cemetery, and Massacre Wurm. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed also has a place here I think.
As far as green cards go, I usually never leave home without Yavimaya Elder, Cultivate and Kodama's Reach.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
Thanks for the suggestions!
Grave Pact didn't make the cut because I don't own one. Also, it's not really at it's best in this deck since I'm actively trying to keep my guys around.
Skullclamp is fantastic and all, but again, there's no real way to abuse it here. Much like Grave Pact, I'm not looking to get rid of my creatures for profit.
Triskelion and friends were considered at the outset, but I eventually decided against them. If I were running Skullclamp and Grave Pact they would be much better, but I think that takes the deck in a different direction.
Promise of Power is very high up in the running for Mindslaver replacement of the year. It was in the pile of cards I started with, and ultimately got cut because of it's potentially prohibitive mana cost.
I usually reach for Cultivate and Kodama's Reach myself, but I left them on the bench in favor of mana rocks this time. I suspect this will gradually change as the deck evolves though.