MTG Salvation

I'm looking for ways to improve my Anafenza deck:

I'm gonna talk about the purpose of this deck first. I'm in a casual plyagroup, meaning that most of the decks are pretty low budget (like <30$ budget) and we don't mind the duel commander ban list, even when we play 1:1 (i.e. we play Sol Ring, Sensei's Divining Top and Dig through Time. On the other side we play pretty tight, as in we try to play optimally and play to win. My metagame consists of Etrata, the Silencer, Tatyova, Benthic Druid and Muldrotha, the Gravetide.

The commanders played influenced the choices, i.e. I play graveyard hate against Muldrotha, the Gravetide and lots of cards that are Etrata, the Silencer-proof.

There are some ideas I had to make the deck better.
- Replace Thran Dynamo with Gilded Lotus, because lots of my cards have high color requirements.
- Add some finishers such as Exsanguinate and/or Debt to the Deathless which also replenish my own life points as I often expense a lot of lifepoints for bitterblossom, draw effects and so on.
- Add Beast within and/or Vindicate which can remove nasty commanders but also artifacts and enchantments.
- Add Runed Halo which is very effective against Etrata, the Silencer but also generally useful.

Otherwise I'm looking for any advice to improve the deck in general and with respect to the named commanders specifically. Any help is appreciated.

Suggestions

1. You have too many lands that enter tapped. I would remove the Vivid lands and replace them with Sunpetal Grove, Isolated Chapel and Woodland Cemetery. I realize that this is a slight hit to the wallet if you are trying to stay to a 30$ budget, but I do not get the impression you are trying to stay in that budget, more that power level.
2. RAvnica bounce lands and Temple of the False God are enemies. I would take out Temple. You may as well put Scavenger Grounds or Dryad Arbor in the deck.
3. Zetalpa - a lot of mana for a beater. Think you would be happier with something that costs less but impacts the board. The cards in your sideboard seem fine, or maybe something like Aven Mindcensor?
4. Josu - not sure if I am missing something, but if you are playing him for the kicker, I think you would be happier with Army of the Damned.
5. Archfiend of Depravity - Bad against Muldrotha, but also generally bad because your opponents get to choose. I would play something like Merciless Eviction.
6. Protean Hulk is a 7 mana 5/5 that your opponents will try not to kill and that you have no sacrifice effects to kill. What do you want this guy to do? Do you think it would be better to have a creature tutor instead?
7. Collective blessing -- I don't think your deck 'goes wide' enough for this to be very good. This is easily replaced by those cards you are considering.

My main concern with your deck is that if you cast Anafenza on turn 3 you have very few creatures to put the counter on when you attack the following turn. If this were my deck, I would play Avacyn's Pilgrim, Elves of Deep Shadow and probably a couple other dorks.

Your deck seems to be based around good-stuff strategy, with no clear synergy or theme to the deck. In my experience goodstuff decks have a tendency to get old faster then themed decks, assuming you enjoy that theme. Also without the cards working together to build a large advantage, your individual cards need to work harder to win you the game.

I am not up to date on the prices of some of the cards. But here are some additions I would make. It seems you have a light token theme, so we can build on that while swapping some weaker control cards with more flexible options. I apologize in advance if it looks like I am tearing your deck apart. These are some opinions and feel free to use as many, or none, of them you like.

You need to add in at least 5-8 MORE creatures. 20 creatures in a deck like this looks terribly light, especially when your Commander wants other creatures in play to pump. Take a close look at Puppeteer Clique and Woodfall Primus, as persist works well with your Commander.

In

• Beast Within
  
• Generous Gift
  
• Vindicate
  
• Karmic Guide
  
• Avenger of Zendikar
  
• Massacre Girl
  
• Yahenni, Undead Partisan
  
• Sakura Tribe Elder
  
• Wood Elves
  
• Farhaven Elf
  
• Sylvan Ranger
  
• Wake the Dead
  
• Hallowed Burial
  
• God-Eternal Oketra
  
• Scavenging Ooze
  
• Hallowed Spiritkeeper
  
• Woodfall Primus
  
• Puppeteer Clique

Out

• Mistcutter Hydra
  
• Sylvan Caryatid
  
• Mirran Crusader
  
• Great Sable Stag
  
• Siege Rhino
  
• Oversoul of Dusk
  
• Arguel's Blood Fast
  
• Thaumatic Compass
  
• Thran Dynamo
  
• Abzan Charm
  
• Price of Fame
  
• Identity Crisis
  
• Sadistic Sacrament
  
• Wit's End
  
• Golden Demise
  
• Zetalpa, Primal Dawn

Other Cards

• Ant Queen
  
• Mycoloth
  
• Corpse Augur
  
• Temur Sabertooth
  
• Acidic Slime
  
• Phyrexian Arena
  
• Heroic Downfall
  
• Maelstrome Pulse
  
• Putrefy
  
• Sepulchural Primordial
  
• Woodland Bellower
  
• End-Raze Forerunners
  
• Nihil Spellbomb
  
• Momentus Fall

Someone with a Ghave deck will be along to throw out some more token support. I play more reanimation in my GWB deck, and not much token support.

Lastly, I just noticed all of your Pro-Blue, Pro-Black creatures as defense against Etrata, however adding some good instant speed removal should mitigate the amount of hits you take from Etrata. Just make sure you leave removal mana open after Etrata enters the battlefield and threaten a removal if she swings your way. That shoudl make your deck much more versitile than playing mediocre creatures with Pro-Colors. There may be some better options in Hexproof creatures, but I am not sure.

Or add some swords of X & Y with Pro Blue and Pro Black for much greater benefit. Not budget, I know. Sword of Body and Mind seems good for you, and you even want the wolf token; its not horribly expensive. Sword of Truth and Justice and Sword of Sinew and Steel are coming soon. Get that trade binder ready...

I took some time off from MTG for university reasons, but I did rebuild the deck with a theme, i.e. +1/+1 counters.

This is the new list:



Also, I never said my deck was 30$, just most decks in my meta.

The lands are definitely a problem. I'm still trying to figure out, how I can play all the nice 1XX cards like Aura of Silence and Courser of Kruphix without making the manabase to expensive. I frequently get mana problems because lands enter tapped or due to lack of colors. I'm thinking Sunpetal Grove and Co. might be a good idea. Also Canopy Vista along with more basic lands and Forbidden Orchard. I don't like Dryad Arbor, because it's like an ETBT land and also easy prey to Etrata, the Silencer. Similarly, I don't like Scavenger Grounds because it's colorless. I like Gavony Township and Vault of the Archangel a lot, but I think I should get rid of Temple of the false god as suggested and not use other colorless lands. Probably I'll also follow the suggestion of getting rid of Vivids along with things like Winbrisk Heights and Lotus Field. The latter seems nice, because it colorfixes and has hexproof, but it's ETBT, you don't want it on your starting hand, it anti-synergizes with bounce lands and it's also useless when you need multiple different colors. Additionally I might use cards like Farseek, Kodama's Reach and Rampant Growth to replace some the more expensive land tutors. Another idea might be to remove some cards with prohibitive color requirements. Mirran Crusader was already suggested, but maybe others as well.

Concerning the suggestions: Aven Mindcensor might be worth it, but there's not that much tutors and combos in my meta so maybe not. Merciless Eviction is definitely a good idea. I got rid of Protean Hulk because I notice the same problem and it is especially sad against Etrata, the Silencer. Concerning Josu Vess, Lich Knight: Pretty much every black deck in my meta has him but since it's like missing out on christmas when someone has to play him for 4 and I can't really flicker him, Army of the Damned might be a replacement, especially since it is immune to Etrata, the Silencer.

Some manadorks might be good, but in that case, I'll also put Sylvan Caryatid back in. Sure it costs 2, but it has hexproof, color-fixing and decent early-game blcoking capabilities. I'm pretty sure Thaumatic Compass stay. Games generally take long enough for it to flip and then it provides good defense against big creatures and against Etrata. Also I definitely will keep Identity Crisis. I have literally NEVER cast that card without it being awesome. Avenger of Zendikar, Massacre Girl and Sakura-Tribe Elder are definitely worth considering as are some of the swords: Sword of Body and Mind is good with the tokens, Sword of Truth and Justice is better because of the counters and it is pretty cheap. Maybe I'll get Sword of Feast and Famine as well. Sword of Sinew and Steel might not be that interesting because many decks in my meta mostly play creatures and not so many planeswalkers and artifacts, although there should be ab artifact present most of the time.

Any thoughts on the new list and on my analysis?

While this may not be compatible with your group, I always liked the idea of using savage summoning or scout's warning to sneak Anafenza into play in response to some graveyard antics or aristocrat/combo loops from your opponents. At worst it's a way to skate by sorcery speed removal/wipes if you just want to land some big etb effect like your hydra.

If your mana is an issue you can focus on cheap creature etb-basic land ramp. There are a handful of generically good 3cmc or less dorks, and can even build a woodland bellower+fierce empath package if you up the # of green etb value.

sun titan would also be good for generic recursion. Pairs great with aura of silence.