White has historically really only been good at two things in edh: boonweaver combo, and making people miserable with cards like Armageddon and Hokori, Dust Drinker. Sram changes this equation by giving white what it has always needed: consistent, cheap, accessible card draw. The deck still lacks any real selection, but sheer draw power has, in my own experience, been enough to power through inconsistency.
some people play an aura based deck but I actually want to win some games
Grand Abolisher: interaction is the bane of any fragile combo deck's existence. I disliked having to spend two white on this card and hated seeing it when I needed to draw gas. Not bad by any means, I personally dislike it.
Rebuff the Wicked:Like Grand Abolisher, but it's cheaper and less flexible. I personally prefer a more fragile playstyle for more consistency in my midrangey meta, but this is a good option.
Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, and Mox Diamond: The card disadvantage is too much for this deck. With an average mana cost of 1.53, this deck struggles with having cards much more than having mana.
Goblin Cannon: It's another wincon with infinite mana. I might need more ways of generating infinite mana if I were to add this.
Let me know if I missed any important cards. Give me your feedback. Thanks mates!
May 18, 2017
Big changes here! Reviving the list with some changes from cedh discord amigos.
-Eight Plains bite the dust, City of Traitors replaces Mishra's Workshop
-Skyblinder's Staff, +Scroll Rack: I said i added this but forgot???
+Leonin Bola
+O-Naginata
+Neurok Hoversail
+Honed Khopesh
+Copper Carapace
+Ethersworn Canonist: stax piece that doesnt affect us really at all
+Pursuit of Knowledge, somehow was removed???
+Tithe
+Cultivator's Caravan
Seems like a cool idea. However, even though you're against adding auras, why not swap out some underwhelming equipment for some useful auras? By useful I mean auras that can bounce themselves. Thus, you can save them and be able to cast them later in order to draw a card. Here are some of the better ones:
The cool thing about Spirit Loop is that it doesn't grant lifelink. So if the creature it enchants has lifelink, you gain twice the amount of life in damage it deals.
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I would also add as many fetchlands as possible in order to thin the land count as much as possible while playing.
Seconded. Deck thinning matters a lot more when you're going to be seeing so much of your deck. There are some other lands that seem better than the 21st basic Plains:
Land Tax = Deck thinning. A few turns of taxing and you should be running fairly low on such things. Emeria, the Sky Ruin = Creature retrieval and it costs nothing. Sigarda's Aid = Need I explain why? Mycosynth Golem = substitute Cloud Key / Foundry Inspector and also goes great with my next suggestion... Ancestral Statue = It with the Mycosynth Golem can get you infinite triggers for Aetherflux Reservoir without having to deck yourself. Even without mycosynth, it can give you a reusable means to still increase your reservoir. Altar of the Brood = You want mill? Even without Ancestral Mycosynth, you can force actual mill. ALSO you don't deck yourself once you got the combo. Ring of Three Wishes = Between the Mycosynth, other cost reducers, Puresteel Paladin and Sigarda's Aid you are going to have plenty of spare mana to not only cast this but activate it and still be cantripping off your equipment. As you are going to run into dead end draws where your pace just slows down to a crawl and you need a direct means of fishing for your specific pieces you actually need to win. Helm of Awakening = Sure it benefits your opponent but you get more benefit out of it as you can seemingly draw your entire deck on a good series of draws. Open the Vaults = Because you can suddenly go from Sram + Lands to a board filled with artifacts and if you have a Puresteel Paladin you can push for victory. Roar of Reclamation = You might as well run a second copy of Open the Vaults.
Also yes I been brewing Sram, Senior Edificer in a combo storm way and since you are using something similar, this is my advice.
It's true that I was pretty lazy with the manabase. I think all colored lands are basically a necessity, but flagstones is just a better plains, and the fetchlands will help thin out the deck. CIPT lands are also a no-no when you want to goldfish turn 4.
I have already tested Sigarda's Aid, and it did very little in the deck. The equipment are not meant to be equipped, just cast for draws. Being able to cast them at instant speed is nice, but it was never useful for me.
Land Tax is an interesting suggestion. I always seem to get swamped with lands (even with just 28!), and this would be great on turn 1. However, this is basically a dead card anywhere past turn 3. Maybe Endless Horizons would be more suitable, just to immediately remove all plains from my deck. That's an effect that would be useful at any point. I'm going to test Land Tax and Endless Horizons separately, probably swapping each out for a plains.
Leering Emblem and Scroll of Masters are cute, but, in a four player game, possibly hitting someone for a lot just means I would have played a lot of spells and won the game anyway.
The only aura I run is flickering ward because of its low cost to cast and return to hand. The other enchantments that return themselves to the hand are far too expensive to be practical over just running a cheap equipment. The colored mana costs are also more difficult to fulfill.
I think I might add Mox Diamond, just because I usually tend to have extra lands in hand on the combo turn. Thran Dynamo probably eats the axe for being slow.
Mycosynth Golem seems...terrible. As fun as the interaction with it and ancestral statue is, that is the only scenario where the card is good.
Open the Vaults/Second Sunrise/Roar of Reclamation are great to recover from a board wipe. But these cards are almost never proactive without some sac outlet-- and I only run Krark-Clan Ironworks.
So:
-Thran Dynamo, +Mox Diamond
-Plains, +Land Tax
Let me know if you disagree with any points raised and why. Thanks for the input.
I completely agree that Monastery Mentor is broken in a deck like this. Also, if you're amassing a huge army, being able to give them all the same perks from the equipment by running Odric, Lunarch Marshal is just genius.
I would also add as many fetchlands as possible in order to thin the land count as much as possible while playing.
Seconded. Deck thinning matters a lot more when you're going to be seeing so much of your deck. There are some other lands that seem better than the 21st basic Plains:
Those pseudo-storm cards are broken. This, combined with amassing an army, means various wincons during the combat step: commander damage, horde, and a huge creature; you could potentially take out 3 opponents at once.
Land Tax = Deck thinning. A few turns of taxing and you should be running fairly low on such things. Emeria, the Sky Ruin = Creature retrieval and it costs nothing. Sigarda's Aid = Need I explain why? Mycosynth Golem = substitute Cloud Key / Foundry Inspector and also goes great with my next suggestion... Ancestral Statue = It with the Mycosynth Golem can get you infinite triggers for Aetherflux Reservoir without having to deck yourself. Even without mycosynth, it can give you a reusable means to still increase your reservoir. Altar of the Brood = You want mill? Even without Ancestral Mycosynth, you can force actual mill. ALSO you don't deck yourself once you got the combo. Ring of Three Wishes = Between the Mycosynth, other cost reducers, Puresteel Paladin and Sigarda's Aid you are going to have plenty of spare mana to not only cast this but activate it and still be cantripping off your equipment. As you are going to run into dead end draws where your pace just slows down to a crawl and you need a direct means of fishing for your specific pieces you actually need to win. Helm of Awakening = Sure it benefits your opponent but you get more benefit out of it as you can seemingly draw your entire deck on a good series of draws. Open the Vaults = Because you can suddenly go from Sram + Lands to a board filled with artifacts and if you have a Puresteel Paladin you can push for victory. Roar of Reclamation = You might as well run a second copy of Open the Vaults.
Also yes I been brewing Sram, Senior Edificer in a combo storm way and since you are using something similar, this is my advice.
Most of those are great suggestions. I'm trying to build a similar deck but trying to squeeze in as many wincons as possible in order to avoid losing to cards like Denying Wind, Bitter Ordeal, etc. and to just not have it be a one-trick pony. Recovering from wraths is key. Making everything cheaper is also key. Once you start comboing off, you should be winning. So it's also important to avoid players doing things during your turn.
What I like about Altar of the Brood is that, with Cloud Key, Helm of Awakening, and Foundry Inspector, it'll be free to cast anyways. It may not win the game by milling your opponents, but it could potentially be very disruptive. I wouldn't run it, though. However, it's still cool to consider.
It's true that I was pretty lazy with the manabase. I think all colored lands are basically a necessity, but flagstones is just a better plains, and the fetchlands will help thin out the deck. CIPT lands are also a no-no when you want to goldfish turn 4.
I have already tested Sigarda's Aid, and it did very little in the deck. The equipment are not meant to be equipped, just cast for draws. Being able to cast them at instant speed is nice, but it was never useful for me.
Land Tax is an interesting suggestion. I always seem to get swamped with lands (even with just 28!), and this would be great on turn 1. However, this is basically a dead card anywhere past turn 3. Maybe Endless Horizons would be more suitable, just to immediately remove all plains from my deck. That's an effect that would be useful at any point. I'm going to test Land Tax and Endless Horizons separately, probably swapping each out for a plains.
Leering Emblem and Scroll of Masters are cute, but, in a four player game, possibly hitting someone for a lot just means I would have played a lot of spells and won the game anyway.
The only aura I run is flickering ward because of its low cost to cast and return to hand. The other enchantments that return themselves to the hand are far too expensive to be practical over just running a cheap equipment. The colored mana costs are also more difficult to fulfill.
I think I might add Mox Diamond, just because I usually tend to have extra lands in hand on the combo turn. Thran Dynamo probably eats the axe for being slow.
Mycosynth Golem seems...terrible. As fun as the interaction with it and ancestral statue is, that is the only scenario where the card is good.
Open the Vaults/Second Sunrise/Roar of Reclamation are great to recover from a board wipe. But these cards are almost never proactive without some sac outlet-- and I only run Krark-Clan Ironworks.
So:
-Thran Dynamo, +Mox Diamond
-Plains, +Land Tax
Let me know if you disagree with any points raised and why. Thanks for the input.
I honestly don't know how Sigarda's Aid has been underperforming for you. Whenever I draw into it early game, Sram becomes ridiculous enough to score a commander-damage win that same turn. Besides drawing through your entire deck to cast Aetherflux Reservoir, you have no other wincon. I've been testing a similar build and Sigarda's Aid makes Sram very dangerous. If he gets hexproof or shroud, all he needs to become is unblockable to take out any dangerous opponent in a single swoop. Flashing in equipments and auras is great as well, since you can draw a bunch of cards at the end of a turn.
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There are arguments to be made both ways regarding Ruins and Farm, but Cavern of Souls is virtually free protection for your commander against countermagic. You could also run Eiganjo Castle for similar reasons. Preventing two damage is seldom going to save Sram from whatever's trying to kill him, but again, it's very nearly free to have it in your deck.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I honestly don't know how Sigarda's Aid has been underperforming for you. Whenever I draw into it early game, Sram becomes ridiculous enough to score a commander-damage win that same turn. Besides drawing through your entire deck to cast Aetherflux Reservoir, you have no other wincon. I've been testing a similar build and Sigarda's Aid makes Sram very dangerous. If he gets hexproof or shroud, all he needs to become is unblockable to take out any dangerous opponent in a single swoop. Flashing in equipments and auras is great as well, since you can draw a bunch of cards at the end of a turn.
The major problem with Sigarda's Aid is that I have zero intention of ever equipping things onto creatures, which leaves the 'give your equipment flash'. It is nice to be able to draw on an opponent's end step, but I don't know if it's worth a card slot. What would you replace for Sigarda's Aid? It would definitely be worth it in a more good-stuff deck with stuff like Sword of Feast and Famine and Grafted Exoskeleton.
I think your Open the Armory is unneeded, it costs 3 to go get an Aura or an equipment - which equipment is any more valuable then any other and spending 3 to find Flickering Ward seems too slow. The same applies to Stoneforge and Batterskull, if your goal is to be a midrange equipment deck then you are fine, but they doesn't accelerate your combo or protect your combo.
I think your Open the Armory is unneeded, it costs 3 to go get an Aura or an equipment - which equipment is any more valuable then any other and spending 3 to find Flickering Ward seems too slow. The same applies to Stoneforge and Batterskull, if your goal is to be a midrange equipment deck then you are fine, but they doesn't accelerate your combo or protect your combo.
Batterskull is a combo piece, primarily. With a certain amount of mana rocks + paradox engine (or infinite mana) it wins us the game. Additionally, it is silly with masterwork of ingenuity and skullclamp. I think you might be right about Open the Armory though. Most of the time it wants to go find Batterskull or Flickering Ward, which might be too slow. Maybe this could be where I slot in Sigarda's Aid for some more testing?
I guess I could use some more recursion. I have thought about second sunrise or open the vaults as sweeper protection, but buried ruin is pretty solid too.
Temple Bell/Otherworld Atlas aren't just wincons, they're card draw. Even just temple bell and paradox engine lets me draw another card for every spell like a pseudo puresteel paladin (white doesn't have any better options or I would play them lol). I'm not going to change the deck until I test out the land tax shenaniganry tho.
Yeah, my insistence with Sigarda's Aid is that it can be a wincon in and of itself. If you're not having any use for the equipment besides card draw then they'll be dead draws if Sram is indisposed (Song of the Dryads, Imprisoned in the Moon, Darksteel Mutation, etc.). Being able to attach all of those equipment (for free) on Sram is a wincon by commander damage. Each of its abilities provides a use in a deck like this.
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Fun and interesting deck to play but to say that "Sram, Senior Edificer may be the first actually good white commander" is stupid...i smell green mage here -.-.
Sometimes Sram would be killed or your primary win con exiled....now you dont need to listen to me, i am just saying what would i try to run...
Kemba, Kha Regent as secondary win con...you dont have enough Protection to be sure that you can combo off every time AND you dont have many options for tutor or draw in mono white if Sram is not here...and with so many equipment it is okay to sometimes swing for a lot of dmg...or just spam some tokens and try to stay alive long enough so you can combo off
As a combo heliod player i can tell you that if you are playing in competitive playgroup with mono white use some distruption but not just because you can but because sometimes that will keep you alive...now that depends on your opponents but for example:
-Comeuppance and kor haven are very good cards to keep you alive
-Ethersworn Canonist- this can put some hate on you but if storm decks are big in your playgroup it can slow them turn or two just enough for you to combo off
-Mycosynth Golem- maybe? maybe not? i dont Know
-Scrap Trawler- i didnt try it yet but looks good
Honestly, who's a competitive mono-white commander? Kemba? Jazal? Decks that revolve around winning through combat will never be high tier competitive decks. Comeuppance doesn't do enough imo since this deck wants to win before someone has (presumably) mustered a force large enough to threaten the life total. I wouldn't run Kemba for the same reason: this deck goldfishes anywhere from turn 3-6 on average. If I need tokens so badly that early in the game, I will have lost the game anyway.
Ethersworn Canonist is actually an incredible suggestion, however. Most of the cards cast in the combo turn are artifacts, if not every card cast. While it would not prevent control decks from ruining the fun with countermagic, it limits the interactions and also slows down other decks. I don't play any other storm decks in my meta, mostly control and stax. I do try to have one or two protection pieces, though the low cmc and redundancy of the deck makes protection less valuable. Canonist might be tried. Scrap Trawler is incredibly slow.
On another note, what the heck is combo heliod?
Some more deck changes: Land tax is amazing when it's drawn early so I think it stays.
I also put in Ancient Tomb and Mishra's Workshop because they're broken enough to offset the lack of colored mana.
I FORGOT SCROLL RACK AHHHHHH
I'm considering some more crazy cards: Pursuit of Knowledge and Frantic Salvage. I think the primary concern for me now is figuring out the optimal amount of equipment in the deck in order to consistently combo off in conjunction with other card draw effects. If anyone else has had success with an all-in combo version of sram, let me know what differs between our lists!
Why are you playing Helm of the Gods? Even if you are onlt playing it for the cantrip, wouldn't something like Hyena Umbra be bettet?
Helm of the Gods is affected by cost reductions that apply to artifacts. The colorless casting cost is far easier to produce. The artifact type matters for purposes of Krark-Clan Ironworks, Puresteel Paladin, Metalworker, Mox Opal, , Auriok Salvagers, any tutor...Hyena Umbra is a better effect, but we don't care about the effect in this deck. Just the draws. Chaining together a bunch of cost reduced artifacts is much better than playing a hyena umbra and passing.
I suggest Warping wail. A overloaded vandal blast will freaking suck. Same goes for a resolved tooth and nail, wrath and generally any other sorcery. It can also snipe utility creatures as well like baby Jace or death rite shaman. At worse it is a body for an equipment or that last bit of mana ramp for the following turn.
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
mine is similar to this one http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/558940-heliod-god-of-the-sun
in competitive wolrd it is tier 2 deck yes...but to say that "White has historically really only been good at two things in edh: boonweaver combo, and making people miserable with cards like Armageddon and Hokori, Dust Drinker" is stupid and ignorant....or you just forgot about karmic guide and similar stuff??? Mono white is fine on its own...
I'm not gonna argue about your heliod deck with you on this thread dedicated to a not-heliod deck. The fact is that mono-white is widely agreed to be the worst color identity in commander (some people have mono-red as the worst, but I think red has better commanders). If you have anything constructive to add about this sram list, I would appreciate the feedback.
I'm running a similar build based off a build I saw on /r/cedh's tier list thread
I definitely recommend Monastery Mentor
Scrap Trawler is something i want to test going forward, particularly with KCI, as once we get KCI out, we tend to win. Tend, as sometimes one can run out of gas. I've also been running less lands than you, something I didnt think would be a huge issue with the low curve of the deck.
Despite this deck being called a glass cannon I've often recovered from losing my commander once or twice.
I'm running a similar build based off a build I saw on /r/cedh's tier list thread
I definitely recommend Monastery Mentor
Scrap Trawler is something i want to test going forward, particularly with KCI, as once we get KCI out, we tend to win. Tend, as sometimes one can run out of gas. I've also been running less lands than you, something I didnt think would be a huge issue with the low curve of the deck.
Despite this deck being called a glass cannon I've often recovered from losing my commander once or twice.
Tbh I love playing glass cannon decks, so too much protection ruins my fun. I also find losing Sram a couple of times isn't that problematic due to his low cost and the low mana curve of the deck.
I dislike Monastery Mentor, not because it's bad, but because it doesn't really fit into the combo game plan as all the tokens it makes don't have haste or retain their P/T boosts.
I feel like going any lower on the land count might be bad but I also feel like I tend to flood out, hence the land tax. I tried to solve this with fetches, but you might be right.
I don't know if Scrap Trawler is worth it since it seems to only be relevant with KCI.
Phew, updated this list again. The exact changes are detailed in the changelog.
The highlights are:
1.) Land count way down.
2.) Cultivator's Caravan
3.) Cards I thought were already in the list are in the list, aka Scroll Rack and Pursuit of Knowledge.
4.) Numbers of card types fixed, and Mox Diamond duplicate was removed.
5.) E T H E R S W O R N C A N O N I S T
Just curious if the build you have is already stable? I myself is also trying to brew a sram cheerios deck. Basically my deck is to race resolving paradox as quickly as possible and continue to draw aetherflux.
Also you haven't considered sensei's top? It seems its good if you have paradox + temple bell + any discount artifact effect in field as it will draw out your deck.
- Myth realized, becomes big quickly and for 3 mana with basilisk in play banks alot of life to pay for aetherflux
- Children of Korlis, enables me to regain my life once paid to aetherflux and kill another player
- Renounce - I do run low curve cmc, 0 to 1 mostly and this would enable me to sac my permanents midway of decking out to kill using aetherflux
- Cataclysm - Slowdown players ahead of me and allow me to sac sram if he is imprisoned like song of the dryad effects
- Faith's reward - effect to bounce my permanents back to battlefield
Sram, Senior Edificer may be the first actually good white commander.
White has historically really only been good at two things in edh: boonweaver combo, and making people miserable with cards like Armageddon and Hokori, Dust Drinker. Sram changes this equation by giving white what it has always needed: consistent, cheap, accessible card draw. The deck still lacks any real selection, but sheer draw power has, in my own experience, been enough to power through inconsistency.
some people play an aura based deck but I actually want to win some games
1x Accorder's Shield
1x Adventuring Gear
1x Aetherflux Reservoir
1x Alhammarret's Archive
1x Avacyn's Collar
1x Basilisk Collar
1x Batterskull
1x Blade of the Bloodchief
1x Bladed Bracers
1x Blazing Torch
1x Blinding Powder
1x Bone Saw
1x Bonesplitter
1x Cathar's Shield
1x Cloud Key
1x Copper Carapace
1x Cultivator's Caravan
1x Darksteel Axe
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Explorer's Scope
1x Flayer Husk
1x Ghostfire Blade
1x Golem-Skin Gauntlets
1x Grim Monolith
1x Hedron Archive
1x Hedron Blade
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Helm of the Gods
1x Hot Soup
1x Honed Khopesh
1x Infiltration Lens
1x Kite Shield
1x Krark-Clan Ironworks
1x Leonin Bola
1x Leonin Scimitar
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Masterwork of Ingenuity
1x Memory Jar
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Opal
1x Neurok Hoversail
1x O-Naginata
1x Otherworld Atlas
1x Paradise Mantle
1x Paradox Engine
1x Runed Stalactite
1x Sai of the Shinobi
1x Scroll Rack
1x Shield of the Avatar
1x Shuko
1x Sigil of Distinction
1x Silver-Inlaid Dagger
1x Skeleton Key
1x Skullclamp
1x Slagwurm Armor
1x Sol Ring
1x Spidersilk Net
1x Temple Bell
1x Trusty Machete
1x Viridian Longbow
1x Auriok Salvagers
1x Foundry Inspector
1x Metalworker
1x Mother of Runes
1x Puresteel Paladin
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Walking Ballista
1x Recruiter of the Guard
1x Ethersworn Canonist
Sorcery (2)
1x Open the Armory
1x Steelshaper's Gift
Land (20)
13x Plains
1x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Arid Mesa
1x Flooded Strand
1x Marsh Flats
1x Windswept Heath
1x Ancient Tomb
1x City of Traitors
Instant (2)
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Tithe
Enchantment (3)
1x Flickering Ward
1x Land Tax
1x Pursuit of Knowledge
Essentially, you almost always play a turn two Sram into a bajillion garbage equipment, hopefully hitting gas in the form of Puresteel Paladin, Alhammarret's Archive, or Memory Jar.
The deck, unfortunately, lacks in wincons and essentially scoops to a smart jester's cap. You can win with Aetherflux Reservoir, Walking Ballista and infinite mana from Auriok Salvagers + Lion's Eye Diamond, or (funnily enough) milling people out with Paradox Engine + Temple Bell/Otherworld Atlas + Elixir of Immortality.
Mox Diamond: The card disadvantage is too much for this deck. With an average mana cost of 1.53, this deck struggles with having cards much more than having mana.Let me know if I missed any important cards. Give me your feedback. Thanks mates!
-Plains, +Flagstones of Trokair
-Plains, +Arid Mesa
-Plains, +Marsh Flats
-Plains, +Windswept Heath
-Plains, +Flooded Strand
-Thran Dynamo, +Mox Diamond
-Plains, +Land Tax
February 12, 2017
-Sylvok Lifestaff, +Viridian Longbow
-Neglected Heirloom, +Ancient Tomb
-Inventor's Goggles, +Mishra's Workshop
-Civic Saber, +Scroll Rack
May 18, 2017
Big changes here! Reviving the list with some changes from cedh discord amigos.
-Eight Plains bite the dust, City of Traitors replaces Mishra's Workshop
-Skyblinder's Staff, +Scroll Rack: I said i added this but forgot???
+Leonin Bola
+O-Naginata
+Neurok Hoversail
+Honed Khopesh
+Copper Carapace
+Ethersworn Canonist: stax piece that doesnt affect us really at all
+Pursuit of Knowledge, somehow was removed???
+Tithe
+Cultivator's Caravan
Also, some auras that return to your hand when they would go to the graveyard seem to be good also:
The cool thing about Spirit Loop is that it doesn't grant lifelink. So if the creature it enchants has lifelink, you gain twice the amount of life in damage it deals.
Other cards I would add is Sigarda's Aid. That card alone should be ridiculous here. Conqueror's Flail has an asymmetric Dosan the Falling Leaf type effect on it and it's relatively cheap to cast, as well. Although you're against adding cards like Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond, they actually go infinite with Flickering Ward and Paradox Engine. Tapping both to bounce and then cast Flickering Ward means you get an infinite storm count, which can give you infinite life with Aetherflux Reservoir.
I would also add as many fetchlands as possible in order to thin the land count as much as possible while playing.
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R.I.P. Sundering Titan (6/20/12) and Braids, Cabal Minion (9/12/14)
Seconded. Deck thinning matters a lot more when you're going to be seeing so much of your deck. There are some other lands that seem better than the 21st basic Plains:
Land Tax = Deck thinning. A few turns of taxing and you should be running fairly low on such things.
Emeria, the Sky Ruin = Creature retrieval and it costs nothing.
Sigarda's Aid = Need I explain why?
Mycosynth Golem = substitute Cloud Key / Foundry Inspector and also goes great with my next suggestion...
Ancestral Statue = It with the Mycosynth Golem can get you infinite triggers for Aetherflux Reservoir without having to deck yourself. Even without mycosynth, it can give you a reusable means to still increase your reservoir.
Altar of the Brood = You want mill? Even without Ancestral Mycosynth, you can force actual mill. ALSO you don't deck yourself once you got the combo.
Ring of Three Wishes = Between the Mycosynth, other cost reducers, Puresteel Paladin and Sigarda's Aid you are going to have plenty of spare mana to not only cast this but activate it and still be cantripping off your equipment. As you are going to run into dead end draws where your pace just slows down to a crawl and you need a direct means of fishing for your specific pieces you actually need to win.
Helm of Awakening = Sure it benefits your opponent but you get more benefit out of it as you can seemingly draw your entire deck on a good series of draws.
Open the Vaults = Because you can suddenly go from Sram + Lands to a board filled with artifacts and if you have a Puresteel Paladin you can push for victory.
Roar of Reclamation = You might as well run a second copy of Open the Vaults.
Also yes I been brewing Sram, Senior Edificer in a combo storm way and since you are using something similar, this is my advice.
So:
-Plains, +Arid Mesa
-Plains, +Marsh Flats
-Plains, +Windswept Heath
-Plains, +Flooded Strand
I have already tested Sigarda's Aid, and it did very little in the deck. The equipment are not meant to be equipped, just cast for draws. Being able to cast them at instant speed is nice, but it was never useful for me.
Land Tax is an interesting suggestion. I always seem to get swamped with lands (even with just 28!), and this would be great on turn 1. However, this is basically a dead card anywhere past turn 3. Maybe Endless Horizons would be more suitable, just to immediately remove all plains from my deck. That's an effect that would be useful at any point. I'm going to test Land Tax and Endless Horizons separately, probably swapping each out for a plains.
Leering Emblem and Scroll of Masters are cute, but, in a four player game, possibly hitting someone for a lot just means I would have played a lot of spells and won the game anyway.
The only aura I run is flickering ward because of its low cost to cast and return to hand. The other enchantments that return themselves to the hand are far too expensive to be practical over just running a cheap equipment. The colored mana costs are also more difficult to fulfill.
I think I might add Mox Diamond, just because I usually tend to have extra lands in hand on the combo turn. Thran Dynamo probably eats the axe for being slow.
Mycosynth Golem seems...terrible. As fun as the interaction with it and ancestral statue is, that is the only scenario where the card is good.
Open the Vaults/Second Sunrise/Roar of Reclamation are great to recover from a board wipe. But these cards are almost never proactive without some sac outlet-- and I only run Krark-Clan Ironworks.
So:
-Plains, +Land Tax
Let me know if you disagree with any points raised and why. Thanks for the input.
I completely agree that Monastery Mentor is broken in a deck like this. Also, if you're amassing a huge army, being able to give them all the same perks from the equipment by running Odric, Lunarch Marshal is just genius.
Those pseudo-storm cards are broken. This, combined with amassing an army, means various wincons during the combat step: commander damage, horde, and a huge creature; you could potentially take out 3 opponents at once.
Most of those are great suggestions. I'm trying to build a similar deck but trying to squeeze in as many wincons as possible in order to avoid losing to cards like Denying Wind, Bitter Ordeal, etc. and to just not have it be a one-trick pony. Recovering from wraths is key. Making everything cheaper is also key. Once you start comboing off, you should be winning. So it's also important to avoid players doing things during your turn.
What I like about Altar of the Brood is that, with Cloud Key, Helm of Awakening, and Foundry Inspector, it'll be free to cast anyways. It may not win the game by milling your opponents, but it could potentially be very disruptive. I wouldn't run it, though. However, it's still cool to consider.
I honestly don't know how Sigarda's Aid has been underperforming for you. Whenever I draw into it early game, Sram becomes ridiculous enough to score a commander-damage win that same turn. Besides drawing through your entire deck to cast Aetherflux Reservoir, you have no other wincon. I've been testing a similar build and Sigarda's Aid makes Sram very dangerous. If he gets hexproof or shroud, all he needs to become is unblockable to take out any dangerous opponent in a single swoop. Flashing in equipments and auras is great as well, since you can draw a bunch of cards at the end of a turn.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
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- Arcbound Crusher
- Psychosis Crawler
There are arguments to be made both ways regarding Ruins and Farm, but Cavern of Souls is virtually free protection for your commander against countermagic. You could also run Eiganjo Castle for similar reasons. Preventing two damage is seldom going to save Sram from whatever's trying to kill him, but again, it's very nearly free to have it in your deck.The major problem with Sigarda's Aid is that I have zero intention of ever equipping things onto creatures, which leaves the 'give your equipment flash'. It is nice to be able to draw on an opponent's end step, but I don't know if it's worth a card slot. What would you replace for Sigarda's Aid? It would definitely be worth it in a more good-stuff deck with stuff like Sword of Feast and Famine and Grafted Exoskeleton.
I don't run Paradox Engine or Metalworker, but they would seem to attract a lot of hate, I do run Swiftfoot Boots to protect Sram or Puresteel and Conqueror's Flail to enable me to go off thru Blue players. Finally with the boots, I run Kuldotha Forgemaster to be able to find what I want immediately.
I think your Open the Armory is unneeded, it costs 3 to go get an Aura or an equipment - which equipment is any more valuable then any other and spending 3 to find Flickering Ward seems too slow. The same applies to Stoneforge and Batterskull, if your goal is to be a midrange equipment deck then you are fine, but they doesn't accelerate your combo or protect your combo.
Batterskull is a combo piece, primarily. With a certain amount of mana rocks + paradox engine (or infinite mana) it wins us the game. Additionally, it is silly with masterwork of ingenuity and skullclamp. I think you might be right about Open the Armory though. Most of the time it wants to go find Batterskull or Flickering Ward, which might be too slow. Maybe this could be where I slot in Sigarda's Aid for some more testing?
I guess I could use some more recursion. I have thought about second sunrise or open the vaults as sweeper protection, but buried ruin is pretty solid too.
Temple Bell/Otherworld Atlas aren't just wincons, they're card draw. Even just temple bell and paradox engine lets me draw another card for every spell like a pseudo puresteel paladin (white doesn't have any better options or I would play them lol). I'm not going to change the deck until I test out the land tax shenaniganry tho.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
Honestly, who's a competitive mono-white commander? Kemba? Jazal? Decks that revolve around winning through combat will never be high tier competitive decks. Comeuppance doesn't do enough imo since this deck wants to win before someone has (presumably) mustered a force large enough to threaten the life total. I wouldn't run Kemba for the same reason: this deck goldfishes anywhere from turn 3-6 on average. If I need tokens so badly that early in the game, I will have lost the game anyway.
Ethersworn Canonist is actually an incredible suggestion, however. Most of the cards cast in the combo turn are artifacts, if not every card cast. While it would not prevent control decks from ruining the fun with countermagic, it limits the interactions and also slows down other decks. I don't play any other storm decks in my meta, mostly control and stax. I do try to have one or two protection pieces, though the low cmc and redundancy of the deck makes protection less valuable. Canonist might be tried. Scrap Trawler is incredibly slow.
On another note, what the heck is combo heliod?
I also put in Ancient Tomb and Mishra's Workshop because they're broken enough to offset the lack of colored mana.
I FORGOT SCROLL RACK AHHHHHH
Helm of the Gods is affected by cost reductions that apply to artifacts. The colorless casting cost is far easier to produce. The artifact type matters for purposes of Krark-Clan Ironworks, Puresteel Paladin, Metalworker, Mox Opal, , Auriok Salvagers, any tutor...Hyena Umbra is a better effect, but we don't care about the effect in this deck. Just the draws. Chaining together a bunch of cost reduced artifacts is much better than playing a hyena umbra and passing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
BG Rock
Modern:
RW Sun & Moon
RBG Dredge
RWG Burn
Legacy:
W Death & Taxes
I'm not gonna argue about your heliod deck with you on this thread dedicated to a not-heliod deck. The fact is that mono-white is widely agreed to be the worst color identity in commander (some people have mono-red as the worst, but I think red has better commanders). If you have anything constructive to add about this sram list, I would appreciate the feedback.
I definitely recommend Monastery Mentor
Scrap Trawler is something i want to test going forward, particularly with KCI, as once we get KCI out, we tend to win. Tend, as sometimes one can run out of gas. I've also been running less lands than you, something I didnt think would be a huge issue with the low curve of the deck.
Despite this deck being called a glass cannon I've often recovered from losing my commander once or twice.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Tbh I love playing glass cannon decks, so too much protection ruins my fun. I also find losing Sram a couple of times isn't that problematic due to his low cost and the low mana curve of the deck.
I dislike Monastery Mentor, not because it's bad, but because it doesn't really fit into the combo game plan as all the tokens it makes don't have haste or retain their P/T boosts.
I feel like going any lower on the land count might be bad but I also feel like I tend to flood out, hence the land tax. I tried to solve this with fetches, but you might be right.
I don't know if Scrap Trawler is worth it since it seems to only be relevant with KCI.
Do you have a list you could link?
The highlights are:
1.) Land count way down.
2.) Cultivator's Caravan
3.) Cards I thought were already in the list are in the list, aka Scroll Rack and Pursuit of Knowledge.
4.) Numbers of card types fixed, and Mox Diamond duplicate was removed.
5.) E T H E R S W O R N C A N O N I S T
Just curious if the build you have is already stable? I myself is also trying to brew a sram cheerios deck. Basically my deck is to race resolving paradox as quickly as possible and continue to draw aetherflux.
Also you haven't considered sensei's top? It seems its good if you have paradox + temple bell + any discount artifact effect in field as it will draw out your deck.
- Myth realized, becomes big quickly and for 3 mana with basilisk in play banks alot of life to pay for aetherflux
- Children of Korlis, enables me to regain my life once paid to aetherflux and kill another player
- Renounce - I do run low curve cmc, 0 to 1 mostly and this would enable me to sac my permanents midway of decking out to kill using aetherflux
- Cataclysm - Slowdown players ahead of me and allow me to sac sram if he is imprisoned like song of the dryad effects
- Faith's reward - effect to bounce my permanents back to battlefield
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/cards/battlebond/34669-fumble
Fumble 1U
Instant
If there is a Sram player in your commander-match, you win the game.
-
Its an uncommon... everyone in my playgroup is going to play this ;_;