MTG Salvation

For those of you who don't know me, I am a huge Marvel comic book nerd, and I love me some Thor Odinson. I confided in a friend that I was running low on EDH inspiration, and that I needed something new and fresh to reinvigorate my love of the format. In response to this, my friend gave me a list of deck building challenges, and I chose the one that sang to me the most: "Show me what Marvel's Thor would look like in EDH."

I have read EVERY Thor comic book (616 / prime universe) released to date, and I went HARD on my project to build my Thor, Ragnar Roks deck. The deck turned out great, and is loaded with numerous references and each card feels fun to me. Also, I got to stick with my pattern of playing less popular commanders, since you know, I am a special snowflake and have got to be different.

I loved the project. It was immensely fun to build a deck on a theme like that; and after I got the deck to a stable version, I figured, why stop there?! I want to build a Hela and enemies of Thor deck! Jay, bro, if you read this, thanks man, you really gave me a great idea to build off.

Now that said, with this theme deck, I wanted to have a few rules:

• Avoid repeated cards with Ragnar. I think I accomplished this almost perfectly. I even built a blue deck with NO CYCLONIC RIFT. Still ended up with a few minor staples.
• I can represent an evil version of a character with this deck to be a foil to the good version found in my Ragnar deck. An example of this is Loki, who often rides the line between hero and villain.
• No infinite combos. My Thor deck shows the good guy habit of working together (synergy / combo). Sometimes villains work together, but for the most part, they never actually get to a combo win because they betray / turn on each other in the end.
• Battle cruiser oriented strategy - each major villain in this deck should be a scary threat in their own regard, much like how they are in comics.

WARNING!
While this is a comic book themed deck, I also make references to the Marvel Movie franchise. Please be aware that there may be spoilers below, and if you haven't seen a movie, and hate spoilers, read further at your own risk!

You will enjoy this deck if:

• You will definitely appreciate this more if you enjoy Marvel's Thor and Avengers comics and their movies.
• You enjoy a powerful commander with lots of other players who can give you card suggestions
• You enjoy graveyard interaction
• You are a Timmy at heart, and love BIG SCARY CREATURES
• You like being the threat at the table

You will NOT enjoy this deck if:

• You want to play heavy amounts countermagic in every blue deck - go pick a control commander
• You want to play combo - there are tons of combo decks with Muldrotha, this isnt one
• You don't like to be scary / targetted. The instant you play Strip Mine, you won't have friends anymore.
• You like to play less seen commanders. Muldrotha is very popular right now, and this won't be the strongest version of her.
• You want to include better cards that don't fit theme, such as Cyclonic Rift or Tooth and Nail. I want to stress that this is a SUBPAR Muldrotha build, and there are many better competitive choices.

Every card in this deck I try to tie back to Marvel's Thor and his villains. I tried for the most part to stick to purely Thor villains, but I also included some Marvel Villains that are widely known, and have easier recognition. Not to mention - when a villain gets big enough, they cross paths with the Avengers and Thor!

Hela (Commander)
Muldrotha, the Gravetide - This card accomplishes 2 things: Firstly, she has the iconic head shape that Hela's crown of Hel provides her. Secondly, she has heavy interactions with the 'yard, which is thematically very much aligned with our thorned goddess. Love this card, and she fits the theme well.

The Nine Realms (Lands)
Bayou - A dark, dank swamp filled with nefarious creatures.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - Yggdrasil, the world tree!
Command Tower - An unfortunate repeat between my two decks. Art is reminscent of her battle with the Valkyries in Thor Ragnarok
Darkwater Catacombs - Catacomb. Need I say more?
Drowned Catacomb - Oh yes, More catacombs
Forest
Grim Backwoods - Grim, dark, and deliciously evil.
High Market - Hela is happy to sacrifice her minions to execute her goals.
Island
Misty Rainforest
Overgrown Tomb - Tombs are too good for this theme.
Polluted Delta - Another great dark theme, with evil polluting the very waters.
Reliquary Tower - One of my few repeats. To be replaced actually - never seem to draw many cards with this deck.
Strip Mine - Oppressive with Hela
Sunken Hollow - Seriously, blue black lands are too beautiful in this deck.
Swamp
Tropical Island
Underground Sea
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Keep them tombs a rolling.
Verdant Catacombs - More catacombs!
Wasteland - As with strip mine, simply incredibly powerful in this deck.
Watery Grave - Grave is literally in the name on this one. Cmon!

Loki's Tricks (Instants)
Ancient Excavation - A Hel-ish landscape that provides us much needed draw while filling our grave. The dark art feels great in this deck.
Crop Rotation - Using the art with the elf, this is the dark elves salting the very earth on their conquest to expand their territories.
Entomb - Hela using her magic to bring any of her dead minions to the top of the proverbial heap and throw them straight into the grave where she can reach them.
Grisly Salvage - More card advantage, through the salvaging of the dead and gone, which is Hela's specialty.
Harrow - In order to gain, there must be death. Hela must first see the very lands die before she can gain territory.
Putrefy - Hela's iconic green and black energy killing her foes outright.
Realms Uncharted - Even the goddess of death lets her hair down. Hela's uncharted realms tend to be offlimits, to most...
Sultai Charm - The Eternal Flame, kept in the vaults of Asgard. In the movie Thor Ragnarok, Hela uses the power of the flame to revive an evil undead army.

The Enemies of Asgard (Creatures)
Acidic Slime - Quicksand - A lesser known avengers villain, she is a nemesis to Thor Girl, and is made of shape shifting sand.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Angerboda, the mother of Hela. She is also the mother of the Midgard Serpent and Fenris, so she had to be included in our deck. Azusa synergizes well with our strategies, as well as looks pretty similar to the character.
Blood Artist - Dracula. Fun filled fact - Mjolnir is a holy relic, and does massive damage to Dracula in the comic books.
Bloodgift Demon - Kurse! I love that the belt and head shape match so much.
Coffin Queen - Karnilla, who is currently as of Thor 04 in 2018, is the WIFE OF HELA!!
Deathrite Shaman - ALL HAIL DOOM! The green cloak and face seal this 1 drop planeswalker as Doctor Doom.
Dragonlord Silumgar - Fafnir, the Dragon King. First appearing in Thor 134, he was an evil dragon lord that hails originally from a continent on Asgard itself!
Elves of Deep Shadow - Dark elves, plain and simple.
Frost Titan - Ymir, the Living Winter and most powerful of all the frost giants.
Golgari Grave-Troll - Ulik, the troll king. Nigh unkillable and immensely powerful, grave-troll was too perfect a fit with the strong synergy it provides to Muldrotha.
Grim Haruspex - The Disir, a sect of Bor's undying Valkyries. Merely speaking their name means certain death. They are the personal body guards to Hela.
Hell's Caretaker - Mephisto, Lord of Hell. Mephisto has had a relationship with Hela in the past, even providing her a slice of his own Hell in during the times of Ragnarok when she had no land of the dead for herself.
Keiga, the Tide Star - Cut from the deck, formally Foom.
Kokusho, the Evening Star - Fin Fang Foom. Another old comic villain to Thor, surprisingly, even though he appears to look like a Chinese dragon, he is actually an alien!
Llanowar Elves - Knife wielding, angry elves? Great new art for this deck.
Massacre Girl - Lady Wizaria during her time as Kurse. Female Kurse Here
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest - Gorr, the God Butcher. Gained his power using All Black the Necrosword and killing gods, Mazirek likewise gets more powerful as things die.
Merciless Executioner - Skurge, the Executioner. Hilariously played by Karl Urban, this survivalist is an off again on again villain to Thor, and iconic due to the movie Thor Ragnarok.
Midnight Reaper - Avengers and Thor Villain - Grim Reaper! And c'mon, lets face it, too perfect to not include in a death deck.
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf - Evil Loki. While Loki in my Thor deck draws cards, Loki in my Hela deck makes others discard them. Love this mirror imagery.
Ohran Frostfang- The Midgard Serpent. The world serpent is said to be the death of Thor, who will be bitten and poisoned by the great beast, and die after striking the serpent down.
Overtaker - Lorelei, the sister of the Enchantress. She uses her seductive magics to get what she wants out of others.
Phantasmal Image - Carl Creel, the Absorbing man. He, and his ball and chain, have the ability to gain the powers of anything he or it touches. Phantasmal Image not only mimics enemies just like Creel, but also wields a mace in the image. What a great card for this theme!!!
Plaguecrafter - Parker Robbins, aka, The Hood! A magic wielding villain of the Avengers, Plaguecrafter is a great representation of this villain for us, and he synergizes so incredibly well with Hela.
Ramunap Excavator - Klaus Voorhees, hailing from Journey Into Mystery #98 (1963!) Thor vs The Human Cobra! Not a particularly powerful villain on his own, but when working with others, a real pain in the asp.
Rankle, Master of Pranks - Classic Thor Villain, the Grey Gargoyle. If he was to touch you, you'd turn to stone! Flavor and ability on point with pretty solid art.
Sailmonger - This is my new representation of Enchantress, and leads to wonderful political conversations at the table.
Sire of Stagnation - The First Firmament, a being who was once the first universe. It wishes to be all that exists once again, leading to the Avenger's battling him back with the help of other abstracts. I like the similarity between this card art and the First Firmament.
Solemn Simulacrum - Can you find me a more Ultron looking card? I'll wait.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang - The Serpent, Thor's uncle. Once banished, the god of Fear made a return in Marvel's Fear Itself, and has been a real handful for the God of Thunder ever since.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - Ceaseless hunger? Red Blue and Purple? Indestructible? Yeah, Galactus is a REAL big problem for people to deal with when he arrives and starts eating everything.
Underrealm Lich - Malekith, the King of the Dark Elves. Never dies, and kills without pause, he provides Hela with all sorts of advantages. Something I love about this representation is that half his face is lit, drawing a similarity to Malekith's iconic face.
Venser, Shaper Savant - Zarrko the Future Man. A villain from classic Thor comics, this time traveler actually showed some of Thors most ridiculous powers back in the good ol' days.
Vilis, Broker of Blood - The new Mephisto on the block. Literally is signing a blood pact in the art. Too good to not upgrade to!
Void Winnower - The Void, the dark half of The Sentry. Multi limbed, utterly insane, and vicious to his enemies, the Void is utterly oppressive as a villain. Void. Void Winnower. C'mon, its like Wizards did it for me.
Wolfir Silverheart - The Fenris wolf. Technically the child of Loki (shape shifting magic leads to some unsavory things I guess), the wolf is a vicious enemy to Thor, especially when at the side of Hela.
Zulaport Cutthroat - The Wrecker, a human who was given a magic crowbar by Loki to do battle with Thor. Old comics are weird.

Magic (Sorceries)
Command the Dreadhorde - Hela leading her army of the damned to wreck face!
Commune with the Gods - Card advantage, check. God reference? Check. Uses Graveyard? Check. Whats not to love?
Explosive Vegetation - Sticking with a violent theme, I like the idea of my ramp being explosive with green magic.
Fork in the Road - More ramp that leads to cards going into the graveyard rather than simply into play. Less efficient than say Cultivate, but more on theme.
Mulch - Sticking to the idea that my ramp leads to death keeps me in the Hela flavor zone.
Primal Growth - Maximum death on my ramp spell, this card also is someone reminiscent of Cate Blanchett in her role as Hela.
Skyshroud Claim - Elves conquering in the name of Hel!
Villainous Wealth - Gold buys death. Death buys gold. - The flavor text says it all. A great game winning card that fits our flavor of being villainous.
Whispering Madness - Stick around Loki long enough, and you will lose your mind. Ego learned this the hard way in Thor 05 and 06 of 2019's Thor Vol 5

The Armory (Artifacts)
Birthing Pod - A vicious machine that prospers of death.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe - The Blood Axe. The weapon of choice for Skurge the executioner, the Blood Axe is a vicious weapon from Marvel Comics that can drive its wielder to blood lust.
Chromatic Lantern - Casket Of Frozen Winters, and an unfortunate repeat in my theme decks. Might cut this due for something more versatile, since this deck tends to ramp well.
Crucible of Worlds - The Nine Realms in all their beauty, filled with lives to be reaped. Also synergizes incredibly well with our sacrificing / pitching of lands.
Darksteel Plate - Thor's Battle Armor, a trophy for Hela, from when she cursed him with brittle bones and immortality so that he might suffer indefinitely, wishing for death.
General's Kabuto - A Hel Crown representation. Not perfect, but very useful in our deck.
Helm of the Host - Visually, a better Hel Crown, and also, incredibly powerful, considering that Muldrotha's ability stacks with itself should you get multiple copies of her on the board.
Sol Ring - Staple. Boring. Bleh.

Curses of Hela (Enchantments)
Evolutionary Leap - A lovely gorgon outstretched, this card represents so much of our deck. Green art, death for gains.
Pernicious Deed - More lovely green art, and massive quantities of death. Synergizes incredibly well with Hela as well, being a permanent card type.
Secrets of the Dead - The more death that surrounds us, the stronger the forces of Hel become.
Sultai Ascendancy - Versatile, and assures something is going into the graveyard.

Deities of Evil (Planeswalkers)
Garruk Relentless - Ares, who often gives into the Bloodaxe, and succumbs to his bloodlust. A great fit for Garruk Relentless, who shows Garruk's surrender to madness.
Ob Nixilis Reignited - Surtur, lord of the fire giants and king of Muspelheim

Early Game:
In the early game, its all about the ramp. This deck plays a bit different than other green decks, but this part we have in common. Ramp, and ramp hard. Try to keep an opener with about 3 mana, and accelerate as fast as you can with mana dorks and our ramp spells. We don't pack a lot of rocks, but we won't really need them. Focus on keeping things simple early on, and try not to draw too much undue hate. Muldrotha is a well known powerhouse, and is a threat merely by being in the command zone. A great early game card for us is actually Pernicious Deed. Anything that lets you dissuade others from attacking or threaten their mana rocks will greatly improve your odds in the early game. Since we will be dropping bombs for the rest of the game, make sure to focus purely on getting mana out there, and not much else.

Mid Game:
You should get 6+ mana out pretty quick, and for this deck, thats the sign you have hit the mid game. You won't win the game with 6 mana, but boy, can you start to shape the flow of the game. At this point, start throwing down threats one after another. This deck is a battle cruiser strategy, and we want to really show our opponents that each creature we have is a bomb. There is one important piece to this phase of the game: Do not rush Muldrotha onto the battlefield. Yes, she great, and yes, she can really give you incremental advantage; but she is also easily removed, and a high priority target. She can easily be removed 2-3 times, and suddenly be out of reach. More often than not, Hela is our closer, and we don't want her costing 12 mana. Instead, save playing your commander until you have a strong synergy to pair with her. I will write a synergy section below, but some key cards to pair with her are Merciless Executioner or Strip Mine. Until you are ready to close a game, try not to play her, and instead, throw bomb creature after bomb creature every turn. Threaten the board, be the scary player, and really press for advantage.

Late Game / End Game:
Once you get your mana base upwards of 10 mana, its time to start pushing for the win. Our commander synergizes with a TON of cards in the deck, and they can really shift a game very quickly from being the biggest threat, to being the winner. Play Muldrotha at this point, and start playing cards that can be abused over and over again from the graveyard. Most of the time, we will win games by going into the red zone. I frequently win off Ulamog eating libraries, and also tend to win by grinding away my opponents with the above mentioned Merciless Executioner and Strip Mine loops. If you can, get the Helm of the Host onto Muldrotha, which will allow you to play numerous copies from your grave, as well as give you 6/6 beaters to overwhelm your opponents with. The one thing to keep in mind in this phase of the game is that you are not using an infinite combo deck, so you won't have the explosive, 1 turn win, but instead, will most likely crush your opponents with repeated attacks from big creatures.


Weaknesses:

• Any form of gravehate. Leyline of the Void. Rest in Peace. So many others
• Early aggression. We aren't a blazingly fast deck. Play smart early and don't get too much hate.
• We recover well from most board wipes, but tend not to do well if Muldrotha is removed repeated. Protect her.
• Hela is not meant to be an arch enemy. We run a popular commander in a theme style, with subpar cards for the sake of staying on theme. Keep this in mind, and play for fun. Until your group learns you are a little easier going, brace yourself for hate.

Here is a list of cards that tend to work well together:

Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Merciless Executioner = Every great ruler needs an executioner. For 4BB, all opponents sacrifice 2 creatures on the first go around, and then you can do it 1x every turn after, sacrificing the Executioner to himself for minimal losses while taking out 3 creatures a turn.

High Market / Birthing Pod + Kokusho, the Evening Star / Keiga, the Tide Star / Solemn Simulacrum = Incremental advantage through sacrificing our own creatures, only to later reuse them via Muldrotha. Evolutionary Leap also works as a great sac outlet. We gain both the benefit of our sac outlets, but also the on death triggers from our powerful dragons and Ultron.

Crucible of Worlds + Azusa, Lost but Seeking + Strip Mine / Wasteland = Destroy 3 lands a turn. Slow, but can feel SO oppressive / demoralizing to opponents.

A great many synergies in this deck revolve around abusing Muldrotha and her ability to replay cards, and then having them at our access to sacrifice. The beauty of most of our death effects is that the sacrifice is part of the cost, leaving our opponents little room to respond to us, and gives them little ability to rob us of our toys.

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