As a mortal, Dakkon was a master blacksmith and a warrior. One day he was visited by the planeswalker Geyadrone Dihada, who offered to make him a planeswalker if he would make her the most powerful blade in existance, the Blackblade. He agreed and she shared with him the secret sorceries required to make the sword a soul-drinker, a blade capable of stealing the energy of those it killed. Dakkon claimed to have stood at his anvil every day for ten years, cooling the blade by killing a slave with it after each time he heated it. Finally the blade was completed, and Dakkon could not help but test it. He waded into battle and with each kill felt his strength grow. So ferocious was his assault that as tales spread of his slaughter, his name became Dakkon Blackblade. Dihada returned when she heard these stories and did make him a planeswalker, having sensed the spark within him when they first met, but immediately afterwards that she stabbed the sword into Dakkon's shadow and absorbed his soul, but not his life. Dakkon was left wandering the plane, wondering why Dihada would grant him so much power only to make him her enemy. (Source: Dakkon Blackblade wiki)
I have no idea, to be honest. When you look at all the options for Esper, he ranks pretty low. All around him are some of the most badass control generals you could ever meet, and every one of them will put a target on your head. Hmm… well, maybe that’s a good reason to play Dakkon. I play him because Esper is my favorite color combination, and since he doesn't force me into a particular strategy, I can fluidly alter my deck between control and aggro as I feel. (One of these days I’m going to try and make this a Stax deck.) And despite his casting cost which is towards the upper end of playable, his unique ability and color identity makes this less of a concern because since you’re encouraged to get lands into play, so paying the extra General tax isn’t very hard to do.
Reasons to Play Dakkon Blackblade
Colors – Because he’s basically a vanilla general, you’re probably pretty attached to white, blue, and black (it’s ok to admit it, I am too). But that’s fine, because those are three of the four strongest colors in Magic (suck it, red). You've got aggression, control, removal, and tutoring at your disposal.
You like playing a “blank slate” general - Most of the other Esper options have rather unique abilities that are best served when you build around them. If you prefer having the freedom of building your deck as it suits your mood, this may be the general for you.
You don’t like preemptive assumptions – Well, this is mostly true. The plus side is that most people I encounter think it’s cool that I’m playing an old-school general (those that actually recognize him). The down side is that I am in Esper, so there is a slight stigma towards control. This would be even worse with the other generals.
You like getting there with general damage – With this deck you won’t miss land drops, and you’ll have no trouble making Dakkon one of, if not the biggest guy on the field. Dakkon is usually a two hit general, and you have plenty of ways to capitalize on this. It’s rare, but if the game goes long, you can kill people with one hit from him.
Reasons to Not Play Dakkon Blackblade
You need focus during deck construction – Sometimes building a deck from scratch can be intimidating, and having a theme or innate synergy can alleviate that. Unfortunately Dakkon can’t help you there.
Playing a silly aggro deck is so uncouth – No one’s saying you have to play straight aggro, but you’re missing out on some options if you don’t.
You have an advanced meta – At the risk of getting flak for that statement, if your meta is full of mass land destruction and tight mana curves, you’ll have a harder time winning with commander damage. You can survive them if you’re prepared, but they certainly can mess up your plans. Similarly, because this is a slower deck with limited control elements, fast decks and dedicated control decks will probably out-pace you.
You like to ramp – Don’t misunderstand me, the ramp is still present, but you have to work a lot harder at it than you would if you had access to green.
Other Options in the Esper Shard
Chromium – The original Esper general, back when the format was new. Nowadays, he’s an expensive flyer with a nasty upkeep, and Rampage 2. I’ll wait while you look up what Rampage does. Does anyone actually run these guys outside of flavor, barring Nicol Bolas?
Dromar, the Banisher – The fixed legendary dragon cycle. Pretty cool, but limited, ability. Like Dakkon, he’s useless unless he connects. One of the just-a-little-bit-of-control choices that doesn’t scream build around. I am a bit jealous that he can fly. (StyxOfTolaria’s Stax Primer)
Halfdane - Cute, but like Dakkon and Chromium, there isn’t a lot to go off of.
Lady Evangela – Targeted Fog is certainly political. Help a player, encourage someone to attack elsewhere. Another solid choice for the Esper non-control player, but thanks to some of our fellow forum members, she's slowly getting some play in a Stax build.
Merieke Ri Berit – Steals AND exiles creatures? Hmm… She can make players nervous, and people tend to play control with her. Expect people to be watching you.
Sydri, Galvanic Genius – The Esper artifact general when you don’t want to run Sharuum. Make no mistake, she can be a combo general like the kitty, but she typically draws less hate. She is also pretty fun to play. (Sydri, by Dtrain)
Pillowfort – Neener neener, can’t get me!!!! Does the thought of grabbing a roll of scotch tape and making a giant fort out your little pieces of cardboard excite you? Don’t like to get attacked? Great! Now, go next level with….
Stax – As Stax have become more popular just about every Esper general has been represented. Although using a general that wants a lot of land seems counter-intuitive when you’ll probably be the one blowing them up, Dakkon could theoretically be a nice fallback if things aren’t going your way. (If the thought of not being invited back to play Commander with your group interests you, or you don’t know what Stax is, look here for the unofficial Stax primer.
Other People’s Take on Dakkon
You didn’t think that I was a trailblazer did you? Other people have some damn fine taste in Generals too, and here they are:
My first introduction to Magic was through my step-brother when I was just a wee little cryo in middle school. By high school I eventually found a group of kids who also played, and we played sporadically through high school (about three years, if you’re curious). Even though I saw other people playing in the LGS I’d drop by every once in a while, I never approached them, and I remained a naive kid who thought Shivan Dragons and Will-o’-the-Wisps were the coolest creatures around. My brother and friends were all older than me, so when they left for college I had no one to play with and ended up packing away my cards. Fast forward to late 2011, on a military base in Kuwait. I had just started a deployment that was going to last for almost a year, didn’t have any friends, and nothing to do. I was exploring the rec center and found a group of guys who were playing Magic. They invited me to join them, and after a crash course in drafting, I found a new way to rid myself of all that excess deployment income. Once EDH was explained to me I was hooked, and the rest is history.
My first deck was Brion Stoutarm, but after learning that noncombat damage can’t kill people, I built a Doran, the Siege Tower rock deck. This proved too powerful for most of the group, which was very casual, so I dismantled it and decided to give Esper a try. It started off as a Sen Triplets control deck, but I quickly found out two things. First, I was getting targeted as a threat very early on, and more importantly, I really didn’t enjoy playing the role of a strict control player. Sure, there was nothing like building your little pillow fort and countering a ton of spells, but it just didn’t feel productive unless I was getting in there with damage. More often than not, I was playing the trio of lovely wizards as a figurehead and not using their ability because it drew even MORE hate. Still, I loved the flexibility that the color shard offered, so I looked into other options. Hmm… control, control, weak, really high mana cost, and hello, what’s this? A big dumb beater that gets bigger as the game goes longer? That won’t draw any hate.
I needed a game plan though, because Dakkon didn’t really offer me a strategy other than “drop a land, I get bigger”. I still had a sour taste in my mouth from playing control, so out went the Ghostly Prisons, Oblivion Rings, counterspells and pretty much all disruption. Question is, how am I going to win? Being short in the green department, the usual ramp was going to be a problem. In went every on-color critter and artifact that could fetch lands to my hand and the battlefield. If I couldn’t ramp, I’d sure as heck never miss a land drop. That Primeval guy sure was popular, so in went the Clones. I still had that pesky problem of getting blocked by some random dork token so I grabbed ways to give him trample and make him unblockable. I rounded the deck out with more dumb beaters, a little lifelink, and a Storm Herd for giggles. A bunch of play-testing showed me two things, people seldom took the deck seriously, and it did one of two things: crush a player or stall out and just sit there. I was fine with this, because at this point I was the targeted player with anything I sleeved up, simply because I had the best cards overall.
My next playgroup at school had a new meta which was both graveyard heavy (B/G/x was huge) and worse, a LOT better than my old one. Additionally, there was another Dakkon player, but that deck almost ran him as an afterthought, sticking to a control deck that wanted to combo with Time Sieve. All of a sudden my dorky little beatdown deck wasn’t going to cut it. As an aside, I had started getting more invested into Commander on MTGO, which exposed me to all manner of playstyles and decks as well more deck testing. Out went a lot of the chaff, in went a lot of graveyard hate and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (I got hit with Hinder/Tunnel Vison once and swore never again). I also tested out the multitude of options for non-basic mana fixing (storage lands, Mirrodin’s Core, etc.) and found that the lowered basic count really didn’t justify running Scrying Sheets, so I replaced the snow lands with pretty Zendikar and Unhinged lands. The deck fared better, but still wasn’t all I felt it could be.
School stopped and MTGO became my go-to source of EDH until I got found a league at my LGS. MTGO has a very broad meta and it’s all but pointless to tune for it, and my LGS required siding in specific hate (like Jester’s Cap to extract combo pieces, lots of tuck, and extra graveyard hate). I reflected back on what worked and what didn’t over the previous couple of years, and decided bring back some of the control, as well as the snow land package. It played well, but I needed to bring the level of competition up a notch to do better in the league. The snow came back out, and in its place was a recursion package centered around Academy Ruins and Crucible of Worlds.
What you see now is the result of constantly playing and tweaking this deck. It is at the point now where I am mostly satisfied with the way it plays, and the win rate is decent enough. I’m not going to reliably own the game, but I don’t feel outclassed when I play it, I can hold my own, and most importantly, I have fun with it and don’t stop anyone else from having fun. If I had to rate the deck on a competitive scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is Norin the Wary with 99 Mountains, and 10 was a $2,000 Five-Color Hermit Druid deck, I'd give it around a 6. My goal is to raise that, but unless you want to do a cookie-cutter Esper combo/control decklist with Dakkon as just another card, I don't see it getting any higher. The deck itself occasionally runs some odd meta choices, but for the most part it is ready for any meta.
Update: In 2014 I disassembled all of my decks (including this one) and traded off most of my excess collection in order to build a cube, which I now build EDH decks from to play in my weekly league. I still track cards for this deck and play it from time to time, but it is no longer a fixed deck in my collection.
Using Dakkon Blackblade
It should go without saying, but Dakkon is less than impressive in the early to midgame. Sure you can bring him out by turn six, but he won’t be very big and will probably just sit there waiting to get blown up without attacking. That’s not to say you can’t or shouldn’t bring him out when you’ve only got a handful of lands out, but once a player has general damage from Dakkon, they know they’re on a short clock and may respond appropriately. On that note, one advantage to him is that even though he costs more every time you bring him out, that just means he’ll just come out bigger and more threatening each time. Anyway, what I tend to do is wait until I have the rest of my board set up to support him, and only when I’m fully prepared to attack a player that turn (or if I’m fairly certain he’ll make it back around to my next turn) will I bring him into play. The only exception to this is when I need a threatening blocker, or he’s useful for some other interaction with the board state (not as much anymore, but for a time I ran Wall of Reverence). At the very least, try to be able to protect him before you bring him out. Because this build leans more towards control than aggro, the density of big creatures are limited. You may be tempted to over-extend, but in the long run, you'll be in a better shape if you only play one or two creatures at a time. Similarly, even if land destruction isn't heavy in your meta, since it's pretty rare to be able to kill with Dakkon in one hit, once you hit 11 lands, hang on to some unless you absolutely need the extra mana.
This is totally a manpurse.
Esper Ramp 101
Ramp outside of green is pretty rare, and is mostly achieved through the use of artifacts rather than the traditional green methods of cheating land into play. This is doubly problematic, because for one, Dakkon doesn't want mana rocks, he wants to feel the surge of power through the soil, and also because artifacts are prone to removal. Thankfully, ramp has improved over the years, and at worst, you should be able to consistently hit land drops. Druidic Satchel can be an absolute all-star in this deck, and having a high land count helps it reveal a land most times you activate it. Combine it with Sensei's Divining Top, scrylands, and Brainstorm effects, and you'll be able to keep up with or outpace green decks. There's also Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum, both of which can be exploited and reused. White has other effects like Kor Kartographers and the less reliable Knight of the White Orchid, and black can make your swamps more useful with doubling effects such as Crypt Ghast. This ramp, rounded out with Thawing Glaciers and Land Tax, will ensure you hit most of your land drops each turn. There are many other options available for land tutoring that I don’t run, mainly because I have enough ways to ramp, so there truly are a plethora of options available if you think outside the box. They all have solid potential though, and are worth considering dep[ending upon your preference, budget, and style.
Piloting the Deck The Opening Hand (Mulligans) – When I evaluate my opening hand, the first thing I look at is the quantity of lands. With a few exceptions, three is the bare minimum number of lands I want to see. After that, I want to know the quality of them. Lands that tap for colorless are usually less than stellar and I'd rather shuffle them back in than get stuck waiting for a certain color mana. If I have two or less lands, I better have a clear game plan. For instance, if I'm holding Land Tax, I'm perfectly happy if my only land is a fetchland or can tap for W. Similarly, if I've got Druidic Satchel and two lands I'll most likely keep it. Heck, I've kept a zero land hand because it had a Ring, Satchel, a Signet, and a Top in it. After evaluating how my mana looks, I want to have a general idea of what I'm going to do for the first few turns and what my board state may look like by turn 4-5. Being able to dump your hand on the table doesn't do much if you don't have anything to show for it (and yes, being able to hardcast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn by turn seven but having no cards in hand sucks). Also, keep in mind what the game may look like based on the other generals that are being played. You’ve got a broad spectrum of disruption, so plan accordingly.
Early Game – The first few turns largely go by unnoticed, and this is to our advantage. There's not many cards that should scare your opponents early on, but there's a few cards, such as Sensei's Divining Top, Land Tax, and Rhystic Study that some people attack out of ignorance. I generally don't run many permanents that I can cast early which I won't, but I'll hold on to my equipment until I'm ready to start attacking (the last thing you want is to drop an early sword only to have it eat removal). Ideally, the first few turns will consist of playing a land and a Rhystic Study/Phyrexian Arena to keep your hand stocked, Thassa to filter, or a ramp creature, then passing turn. At this stage you are preparing yourself for the midgame and prepping your hand accordingly (counterspells, removal, and perhaps a tutor).
Mid Game – Stick to playing control and trying not to stall out. Hopefully your first few turns gave you the setup to either consistent land drops or minor card draw so you aren't falling behind. There are is enough counters and spot removal in the deck to help you get some early and make players assume you're holding some, but not so much that you can use them on everything. Try to save them for something powerful that will directly impact you or the game. Other than that, just keep playing quiet control, and disrupt the board when necessary. People tend to retaliate against that kind of thing like crazy, but if you play politics you might not make enemies. By turn 7 you should be planning to bring out Dakkon or one of his aggressive friends (hopefully your hand and board is developing towards that goal). There are a few creatures that want to attack, so don’t be afraid to swing away if you have the chance. You can also use creatures like Bloodgift Demon and Drogskol Reaver to bait out removal. Sure, it stinks when they die, but better them than Dakkon and ultimately that's what they're there for.
Late Game – By now you should have an idea of how you want to end the game. Did you blow up the world and can swing freely with Dakkon? Grind out attrition with Sun Titan? Or maybe snipe a player with Hatred or Tainted Strike? By the time Dakkon’s ready to come out, he should be able to hit a player twice to kill them. If at all possible, you want to be able to bring him out, protect him with equipment, and swing right away. He’s slow, so try not to cast him when he will just sit on the field without doing anything unprotected. Proper threat assessment and politics are key, so take out the biggest threat, and attempt to get the other players to forget that you're an enemy while your defenses are down. If Dakkon gets too expensive to recast you've still got tutors to find some help, or if all else fails you can fall back on the manlands with some equipment to make them beefier until you can stabilize or find a more powerful attacker.
Deck Synergies
The deck runs a fair number of fetchlands and tutors, so Sensei's Divining Top will keep the top of your library with something you want to draw. 3
Sun Titan pulls a lot of weight in this deck, so I've tried to keep as many of the permanents 3cmc and under whenever it didn't lower the quality of the deck.
There are a fair number of ETB and reset effects such as Sun Titan and Mystic Remora, so Venser will turn into long-term advantage if your opponents don’t do something to any of them. You can also use Archaeomancer and Time Warp for infinite turns, provided you have the mana.
(The lack of) Reliquary Tower and card draw: I felt it was important to mention this by itself. Yes, you can draw double digits with the numerous card draw engines in the deck, but I personally try to avoid this unless I’m digging. There’s nothing that makes people more nervous than a blue player with a full grip of cards and a Reliquary Tower in play. I personally try to keep my hand as close to seven as possible and make a point of not getting greedy. If you choose to run it, keep eight or nine cards if you really like what you have, but don’t go overboard and make people realize that you have a lot of cards if you can help it.
Dealing With an Unfavorable Meta
As stated in the Why Shouldn’t You Play Dakkon section earlier, this deck is weak against three things: MLD, tuck, and fast decks. However, these aren’t the only problems you may encounter:
Against Mass Land Destruction:Sacred Ground and Fath's Reward are musts, and I'd probably alter the basic/nonbasic distribution even if Ruination wasn't the only MLD so that you could run Planar Birth. Other options include Terra Eternal and Equinox. In a dedicated MLD meta, you'll have to tune the deck appropriately. Holding back land drops is key, and you can't rely on getting Dakkon as big as normal. Overall, the curve will have to lower. If your meta likes to randomly play MLD (such as on MTGO where there is the occasional Cataclysm and friends), I wouldn't adjust the deck too much, other than maybe lowering the curve slightly, but I'd play as if I expected it and hold back my land drops accordingly.
Fast Decks: This deck is slow, so your best defense against fast decks is to counter a key card if possible, or barring that, try to stay under the radar as long as possible. If token swarm decks are bad, add Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Collective Restraint, and/or Sphere of Safety. I'd start with the first two, simply because of Sun Titan.
Against Token Strategies: Swarms go down hard against Massacre Wurm, and if Netherborn Phalanx isn’t needed, you can transmute it for any number of useful cards.
This section is dedicated to in-depth analysis of each card I’m running. Mana is never a problem for this deck, so I’m not as worried about having a smooth mana curve (although I definitely try to somewhat limit the higher cmc cards). When it comes down to making cuts and comparing two different cards for one slot, the two main factors I look at are converted mana cost, and spell speed. Sun Titan pulls a lot of weight in the deck, so whenever possible I like to make my permanents cost 3 or less. Speed is a factor because I tend to leave mana untapped, and anything I can do at instant speed means less I’m forced to do during my turn.
so i herd you liek landz
Lands
Because you don’t want to miss a land drop, I’d recommend running around 38-40 lands, with as much color fixing as you can. However, that shouldn’t come at the price of slowing you down with a lot of lands that come into play tapped. After having played with cheaper versions of dual lands and fetchands, I've come to the conclusion that having a basic come into play untapped is better than a dual that unconditionally comes into play tapped (with some exceptions). Even though I’ve lowered the reliance on searching basic lands, I still feel like in need to run at least 10 to make Thawing Glaciers and Land Tax a worthwhile inclusion, and the longer the game goes, the higher that number should be.
Academy Ruins – I don’t run many artifacts, but they’re all important, so being able to recur them is handy.
Ancient Tomb – An upgrade to Temple of the False God because it won’t hurt your opening hand. Obviously the two life will be relevant over time, but played wisely, it shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
Arcane Lighthouse - With the increase in hexproof creatures that Wizards prints, this works nicely with how much removal the deck runs. And it is good politics if an opponent has a way to remove a mutually beneficial target.
Dimir Aqueduct - A lot of people don't like them because they slow you down, but they’re useful for reusing Bojuka Bog, Halimar Depths, and the scrylands, or for bouncing Thawing Glaciers after you've activated it. I do find that I can get clunky opening hands, however, so I only run one of the three. Your mileage may vary.
Bojuka Bog – Free graveyard removal that can be reused with the bouncelands.
Creeping Tar Pit - The manlands can be a late game attacker if you start stalling for creatures. (I’ve won long games before with nothing more than Tar Pit and a sword.) They also dodge the various board wraths in the deck. I used to run Celestial Colonnade, but the activation cost is pretty high.
Strip Mine – For a long time I was running Dust Bowl, but I rarely need to blow up more than one or two utility lands in my current group, so I prefer not having to pay to use this. Your results may vary, however.
Thawing Glaciers - This isn't really ramp, but like a few other cards in the deck, it gives you long term fixing and consistent land drops. [Blinking it with Venser, the Sojourner resets it and is totally ramp.)
Creatures
I try to cram as much utility in to every card that I run in order to lessen the chance of drawing a card I don't want to see. As such, I've tried to cut every creature that doesn't impact the board or further my agenda enough.
Archeomancer – A beater that gets back your instants and sorceries.
Baleful Strix - For a long time I ran Mulldrifter, and then as a suggestion I swapped the two. Strix is so much better since it cost way less and is a deterrent. It can be recurred with Sun Titan or Academy Ruins if needed, so if you don't run both I would definitely run Strix.
Bloodgift Demon – Card draw on an impressive body that can swing for some damage.
Drogskol Reaver –You may want to cut this depending on how you want your curve to level out or on how much you value your life total. Overall I’m pleased having it in my deck, but everyone has different opinions on it.
Phyrexian Metamorph – Another useful clone that can also become an artifact. The downside of costing more than 3 is mitigated by being able to recur it with Academy Ruins.
Serra Ascendant – Ah, the turn 1 6/6 flying lifelink. This can really set the pace for the game, but even midgame she’s usually decent to draw. Be careful though, because the deck does eat through your life total.
Solemn Simulacrum – Ramp, card draw, clone target. The sad robot does it all with a smile frown on its face.
Snapcaster Mage - If you can stomach the price tag, this is a worthwhile addition to any control deck. And since it has flash, it can be used as an emergency chump blocker.
Sun Titan - Despite the high curve of the deck, there's always something for him to bring back into play.
Thassa, God of the Sea – My replacement for Rogue’s Passage. She cost less to make a creature unblockable, she gives me repeatable scry, and she can occasionally attack (or block).
The next best thing to the actual Black Blade.
Artifacts
Pretty self-explanatory. Artifacts basically come in the variety of basic mana ramp and utility. As I tried to do with all permanents, everything is 3cmc and under for Sun Titan friendliness.
Crucible of Worlds – This comes and goes, so I'll just mention it anyway. Between three fetchlands and Dust Bowl, Crucible is pretty useful. The fact that cards like Rogue’s Passage like to get blown up makes it even better.
Druidic Satchel – The more I use this card, the more I'm convinced that Wizards made it so that decks that lacked green could ramp. Despite the fact that I flip-flop between running it, I feel that it is important enough to be included in this list regardless, so no matter whether I am running it this second, it will always be a part of this section.
Sensei’s Divining Top – a near indestructible way to cheaply stack the top of your deck.
Swiftfoot Boots – Haste and shroud are good, from what I’ve heard. Boots are slightly better since they grant hexproof.
Umezawa's Jitte - It took me a while to get this and even longs to seriously test it, but it has lived up to the hype. And at least in my meta, as long as you don't get obnoxious with it people tend to forget it's there.
Enchantments
Here's where I stick most of my card draw and utility. I'm not usually upset when anything gets blown up, because that means less removal for things I really want to keep (like the Swords).
Ghostly Prison/Propaganda - I flip-flop between running these because of creature count and deck slots. Basically when I feel like I am leaving myself too open I'll try to make room for these.
Land Tax – Unless you're against a dedicated ramp deck this becomes a dead draw midgame (hopefully because you've ramped yourself), but it helps early game or when you get an iffy opening hand.
Mystic Remora – I prefer this over Rhystic Study for a couple of reasons (even though I run both). For one, it’s harder to pay the cost, so you’ll net more cards. For two, having the cumulative upkeep means opponents are less likely to destroy it, and will wait for you to sac it. If I have it in my opening hand, I’ll usually wait until around turn 3 to cast it, when more people have mana to start casting spells.
Phyrexian Arena- Slow card draw that doesn't draw too much attention to you.
Rhystic Study - "Did you pay one?" gets pretty annoying after a while, but it forces players to slow down or give you cards.
Instants
One benefit of getting so many lands out is that I always have untapped mana. Anything that I could get away with doing at instant speed instead of sorcery speed is preferred, and that helps my image as a blue mage and keeps people wary of a counterspell. Some of it is straight forward so I won't discuss it, but it can be boiled down to "does it remove stuff draw stuff or tutor for stuff?"
Arcane Denial/Counterspell/Force of Will/Mana Drain/Negate/Swan Song - Your counterspell package will vary based on your budget, but I can tell you that Mana Drain is absolutely worth the money (Force of Will not so much but it is still very good). Basically, what I look for in a counterspell is cheap CMC and flexibility. I run a lot of creature removal also, so I'm not too worried about being able to counter everything, hence the lack of 3cmc counters.
Brainstorm/Impulse – Instant speed card draw. There are plenty of varieties available, so use as you see fit.
Cyclonic Rift – It can bounce something in a pinch, but it truly shines when it bounces everyone else’s stuff.
Enlightened Tutor - Pretty self-explanatory. Early game it gets card draw and later on it can grab a sword.
Fact or Fiction - Sure, your opponent gets to make the split for you, but with such a high density of good cards, you'll probably get something nice.
Hatred - It seems like a cute trick that you might like, but after being able to kill players out of nowhere a few times I decided that this is a keeper. Beyond Dakkon, the allstar is Drogskol Reaver with this, followed closely bySerra Ascendant.
Tainted Strike – With Dakkon it can be an instant kill. Other times it can be an instant kill depending on what an opponent attacks with, or it can kill an indestructible creature out of nowhere.
Tithe - This really helps opening hands that are light on lands or have the wrong kind, and later on it will help avoid missed land drops.
Utter End - My catchall piece of removal. Pricey at 4 mana, but still worth it.
Vampiric Tutor – More tutors mean more ways to get what I’ll need to win the game.
Planeswalkers Jace, the Mind Sculptor - I's still not entirely sold, but so far I feel that this slot could be better utilized unless you can protect him. Brainstorming and Unsummoning is really good in the deck, so if you have or can afford him, test it out. Venser, the Sojourner - Like Jace, if you can't protect him you are spending a lot of mana for a one-time effect. Blinking your ETB creatures, scrylands, tapped creatures for blocking is still strong, and his minus ability helps Dakkon kill someone.
Sorceries
Only high impact spells that I can't get a worthwhile instant substitute are here.
Time Warp – Gives you an extra turn when you need it (usually an extra combat step to kill a player), and every once in a while you can go infinite with it.
Unburial Rites - There's probably better cards out there, but this two-for-one is perfect for me.
Everything in this list is cards that I played at some point and either didn't like or upgraded, as well as some cards that various builds may enjoy.
Lands
All Color Lands:
City of Brass/Mana Convergance - If you build a deck that is very demanding of your mana with double and triple color requirements, you will need lands like this. The life payment is in my opinion worth not having a tempo loss for coming into play tapped.
Calciform Pools/Dreadship Reef - I liked these batteries as a way to dump unused mana for later on. They're nice in a more casual group, but they do make juicy Strip Mine targets, so beware.
Single Color and Colorless Lands:
Maze of Ith/Mystifying Maze - Deterrents from attacking you. They both target so you can't get past hexproof/shroud without additional cards, and Mystifying Maze has the downside of benefiting ETB creatures.
Myriad Landscape - Not a bad option for mana fixing, but it's slow and it isn't much work to get better options. I don't like this card so much in three color decks because often I want two different lands.
Prahv, Spires of Order - The upside to this card is that it doesn't target, so it can shut down voltron decks that rely on getting there with their general (like this one). The downside is that it has a huge mana activation cost, so it's not useful until later in the game, and even then you still need to hold up a lot of mana every turn.
Elixir of Immortality - With the amount of cards that this deck sends to the graveyard it is nice to be able to redraw them again, even if you aren't metagaming against mill decks.
Expedition Map - Not much to say about this card. It does exactly what it says it does well even if the land goes to your hand.
Journeyer's Kite - Slow but consistent way to ensure you hit every land drop.
Oblivion Stone - Very good reset button, but with as many permanents as we run, this is often times going to be a card you only play when you're already losing.
Obsidian Battle-Axe - Since Dakkon is a Warrior, this will give him a boost and haste for free. Certainly a good budget card or tribal option.
Sword of Vengeance - Better than the Battle-Axe in terms of stats, but it has an equip cost. Still a good card though.
Whispersilk Cloak - I don't like this because even though it give Dakkon evasion, it also gives him shroud so you can't equip anything else without first removing the Cloak.
7/10/15
After too long of neglect, the deck and thread has been given a major overhaul. Too many changes to list, but many changes were made, mainly because I've acquired big stuff like Vindicate, Snapcaster Mage, as well as new cards in recent sets. I also updated the thread in light of the tuck rule change.
Thoughts: Dust Bowl -> Strip Mine was a direct swap because I don’t actually need to constantly blow up utility lands, so not having to pay to do it seems better. Rogue’s Passage -> Thassa was also a direct swap because she’s cheaper to make a creature unblockable, has the scry bonus, and can become a creature. Minor anti-synergy if Dakkon has a Sword of F&I, but c’est la vie. The rest are just trying out different cards and trying to lower my curve some.
Thoughts: First things first. I finally got a proper original Dakkon from Legends (yay for black borders!). I also traded off a bunch of random cards that I don’t use which had jumped in price to a guy at my LGS and got a Force of Will. I really don’t have a desire for one, but why not, right? Anyway, as to the other changes. The painlands are nice, but my basic count is actually lower than I had realized, so I got rid of the least needed pains for another Swamp and a Burnished Hart. Rite of Replication is a good card, but once I hit 9 mana I should be doing other stuff, so I’m cutting it to bring the Leyline back in.
Thoughts: The latter two were meta changes I made that just didn’t pan out. Trying out these two. Tomorrow lets me dig deeper, and Scout gives me instant speed Dakkon and pseudo haste.
Thoughts: Archeomancer is pretty straight forward. Tainted Strike is a result of the discussion in this thread regarding the card, so I’m trying it out. Brainstorm is a no-brainer, and with Terminus in the deck, I should have been running it long ago.
Thoughts: Swapped the checklands for painlands because I don’t want to ever have to mulligan due to CIPT lands. Slimming down to six total should ensure that this almost never happens. The rest are meta decisions (the Guardian Seraph is the most meta call).
Thoughts: The extra hand size is less often relevant than the extra mana, and because I try my best to limit the colorless mana, I needed to cut a colorless to add Tomb.
Thoughts: Swayed by all the discussion of KotWO on the Top 50 thread, I’ve swapped him back in. As Pithing Needle was always a meta call, I replaced it with Pact.
Thoughts: Trading one type of removal for another, we’ll see how it goes. Also added Time Warp for the infinite turn combo, and I like Ghast in another deck, so I’ll see if it’s worth it (although outside of the small boost in mana and Capsize, I don’t really see much use for it.)
3/6/13
I feel like I need to explain this change. First, I have finally obtained the ABU duals for my paper deck, and now my paper deck actually is more powerful than the MTGO version. So change number one is that this primer now tracks the paper one. Secondly, I think the list was slightly off before. TL;DR: This update is part corrections, part updates.
Thoughts: Most of these are just upgrades. As for the rest, Ixidron, Withered Wretch, and Pithing Needle worked so well in my LGS league that I’ve made them permanent additions
Thoughts: Temple of the False God is briefly coming out while I test Thespian’s Stage. I like the Azorius and Dimir Keyrunes because they have evasion, but Orzhov just doesn’t cut it. Necrotic Sliver is really good, but without being able to reliably get Sun Titan, it’s a six mana Vindicate, and I’ve already got Angel of Despair at seven mana. Why not start abusing my excess mana with Deadeye Navigator? Going with that theme, I swapped walls, added some time magic, and replaced Consecrated Sphinx with Recurring Insight. Ulamog is a sad swap, because he’s one of my big finishers. I had to make a late game cut somewhere, and he got the short end of the straw.
Thoughts: The no-brainers were Signets -> Keyrunes, Sword for Sword, and Knight for Kor. Serra -> Sphinx was because I want the power of Serra but playing her early game before I have a board position is usually wrong. Wayfarer became Land Tax because Tax usually lasts longer. As for the rest, they just didn't consistently perform as well as I need them to.
Thoughts: Everything is an upgrade. The ABU duals provide more tutoring power for the tutors which search out a Plains as well as never coming into play tapped, and Tithe is superior to Gift of Estates for many reasons (lower casting cost, instant speed, not reliant upon having fewer lands). The only downside is that it searches out less lands, but I found that I almost always only grabbed two in order to prevent discarding at the end of my turn.
Thoughts: Reflecting Pool is almost a strict upgrade, and I'm really trying to cut as many ETBT lands as possible. Lat-Nam's Legacy isn't as powerful as Deep Analysis, but I like having the option to shuffle away a card when it's not helping me at the moment.
Thoughts: High Market became Homeward Path, because the only reason I was running it in the first place was to prevent people from taking my dudes. The lifegain was irrelevant, and Homeward Path is a much better card overall. Running all three bouncelands led to some clunky draws and slowed me down in the early game, so Orzhov Basilica was cut because it lacked blue. Crucible of Worlds didn't perform as I had expected, and I never should have cut Druidic Satchel ever. Decree of Pain got swapped for Hallowed Burial to help lower the curve.
Thoughts: Added the manlands for some more backup attackers. Experimented enough with the Keyrune to decide I like it for the same reason as the manlands. Fingers crossed that Gatecrash gives Dimir and Orzhov something good (my hunch is that Dimir Keyrune will be similar to Creeping Tar Pit). Mind's Eye is a little to costly and paints a bulls-eye, so I swapped it out for some cheaper enchantments. Drift of Phantasms seemed like a good idea, but I've almost never transmuted it, and usually it just sits in my hand. Weathered Wayfarer it situational because unless there's a player ramping hard, he has limited effect.
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11/07/12
Holy huge deck update, Batman! This is actually a couple of updates in one. Basically, I made some changes, but since I was expecting some money and had big ideas, I held off on updating until the second update.
Thoughts: Where to begin? Well, essentially I got a Crucible of Worlds, and to better exploit it and protect the growing quality of artifacts I’m running, I wanted Buried Ruin, Academy Ruins, and Dust Bowl. The number of colorless lands was too high, so out went the snow. The overall count of basics was dropped by a couple, but it didn’t feel like Journeyer’s Kite was still pulling its weight. Some cards got swapped out, like Shinzo, Death’s Storehouse for Rogue’s Passage, and Winding Canyons for Leyline of Anticipation. I’m also experimenting with running more specific tutors, such as the Transmutes and Stoneforge Mystic. Overall, I’m trying to keep a lot of the utility lower than 3cc for Sun Titan.
Thoughts: Obsidian Battle-Axe was cute, but it didn’t give any evasion, and in the end, Dakkon is useless without evasion. Upgraded to the slightly more expensive but better Sword of Vengeance.
Thoughts: Keiga, the Tide Star was iffy. Either she’d meet her demise in the exile zone or during a board wipe. She wasn’t enough of a deterrent to be useful, and when I got to steal creatures, they weren’t stellar. The rest came out to support better removal and the Mystical Tutor I finally got.
Here's a thought: Is Korlash, Heir to Blackblade worth adding if I get an Urborg? Of course, this means I'd have to add Coffers which means I'd have to add Exsanguinate which means I'd have to add Storm Herd which means I'd have to add Akroma's Memorial. Bonus points for flavor though.
The question is, what to remove for anything I add?
Druidic Satchel might be a good one to cut... maybe duplicant, i don't know about capsize. no one in my city plays it as far as i know.
Also i love the Dauthi Embrace card you have, i might have to try it out in my Itadakimatsu! deck.
Druidic Satchel might be a good one to cut... maybe duplicant, i don't know about capsize. no one in my city plays it as far as i know.
Also i love the Dauthi Embrace card you have, i might have to try it out in my Itadakimatsu! deck.
Have you ever used Satchel? That card is bonkers. I regularly hit lands with it, even without the use of Top, and if someone attacks me I'll activate it and maybe get a token blocker. Plus, the land comes in untapped, so when it hits a land it only costs one.
Duplicant is more removal and as another combo card with Deadeye and Venser. I would most likely cut Deadeye before I cut Duplicant.
Capsize just feels like long-term value since my land count is so high and I tend to want to be untapped just as much as I want to tap out during my turn.
For cuts one card that jumped out to me is keiga tide star I tried ai hard to like that card it was just always beetween meh and bad Is put in myojin of night's reach in here but maybe that's too dick for you lol.
Here's a thought: Is Korlash, Heir to Blackblade worth adding if I get an Urborg? Of course, this means I'd have to add Coffers which means I'd have to add Exsanguinate which means I'd have to add Storm Herd which means I'd have to add Akroma's Memorial. Bonus points for flavor though.
The question is, what to remove for anything I add?
I would add Urborg, regardless of what specific intentions you might have for it, it will just be an upgrade to your mana base. I would not necessarily add Coffers, though. In fact, I might advise against adding them. I've found Coffers to be severely lacking even in 2-color decks without green, and I think you'll be disappointed with them, even in a "land matters" 3-color deck.
Also, I'm wondering how you've liked those Ravnica karoo lands you've got in there. They seem somewhat anti-synergistic with your commander, given that they essentially set you back a land drop in terms of your overall land count. It's entirely possible that I'm simply looking at it wrong, though :p.
If you've never run Satchel, try it in a deck that doesn't have green ramp. I love that card, but I'll admit it's not for every deck.
Dump the mana into capsize?
Korlash isn't worth adding, you would need to find urborg for that (which will take another slot with expedition map, etc...). I like your deck because it's unique, if you would add exsanguinate (with the coffers and urborg) it will become less unique... so I wouldn't do it ;).
Suggested cut perhaps Treasure Mage, it has only 1 target and that's Spine of ish ash (you can bounce and counter with blue, destroy artifacts and enchantments with white, black destroys creatures..)
Why is Spine even in here!
Another suggestion Vindicate!
For cuts one card that jumped out to me is keiga tide star I tried ai hard to like that card it was just always beetween meh and bad Is put in myojin of night's reach in here but maybe that's too dick for you lol.
Ugh... Yeah, I hate being against that card so there's no way I'll run it. Plus, my average CMC is already higher than I'd like it to be.
I know what you mean about Keiga. At best, she's usually a deterrent, and for every time she dies and you get to steal something cool, there's that time when someone wraths the board and you don't get squat. That's probably the reason I took it out in the first place.
Dump the mana into capsize?
Korlash isn't worth adding, you would need to find urborg for that (which will take another slot with expedition map, etc...). I like your deck because it's unique, if you would add exsanguinate (with the coffers and urborg) it will become less unique... so I wouldn't do it ;).
Suggested cut perhaps Treasure Mage, it has only 1 target and that's Spine of ish ash (you can bounce and counter with blue, destroy artifacts and enchantments with white, black destroys creatures..)
Why is Spine even in here!
Another suggestion Vindicate!
Haha, yeah, forgot about the Capsize infi-bounce. And yeah, I never actually thought about Korlash until I saw him flipping through my binder. Way too much work for just a dumb beater.
With Treasure Mage, he can also search up Wurmcoil and the two sphinxes. Spine is in there because it fun to bounce it with Venser.
I have thought about Vindicate, but like the real fetchlands, it's outside my budget ATM.
For cuts one card that jumped out to me is keiga tide star I tried ai hard to like that card it was just always beetween meh and bad Is put in myojin of night's reach in here but maybe that's too dick for you lol.
wait....you actually understood that?
also cut the Rupture spire for Urborg, rupture requires it to be a turn two "sorry no boots drop" turn
For cuts one card that jumped out to me is keiga tide star I tried ai hard to like that card it was just always beetween meh and bad Is put in myojin of night's reach in here but maybe that's too dick for you lol.
"For cuts, one card that jumped out to me is Keiga, the Tide Star. I tried hard to like that card, but it was always between meh and bad. i'd put in Myojin of Night's Reach in here but maybe that's too dick for you. LOL."
I'm with you on Rupture Spire. It's nice for extra fixing but slow. I cut the Lair already for that reason, Rupture is probably next. Realistically, I could probably cut it now. Maybe for a Maze of Ith?
I found my lack of Obsidian Battle-Axe disturbing, so I ordered one, along with Pongify. I also had a thoug about the swords. I have all the standard ones, and F&F would be good for getting me more mileage out of my mana, as well as some protection against black. Thoughts on the others? I don't own any of the older ones, so they're out for the time being.
Cool looking deck. I'm mulling over a Dakkon control/voltron list, so nice to see yours.
SoFaF in a control deck is pretty brilliant. Do stuff on your turn, make someone discard, and then untap all your lands for counters? Nice.
Fire and Ice is actually my favorite though because I don't play a lot of blue and need the draw. The shock ability is pretty relevant too.
Underrated and underused is Sword of Vengeance. Look at all those abilities, including haste, and trample for Dakkon seems pretty good. And it's $cheap$ so get one and try it out.
Just noticed Dauthi Embrace which is awesome. A little less flexible, but less mana intensive is Spirit en-Dal. Nobody sees it coming either. I've used it in my Jor Kadeen voltron deck.
Tezzeret can get artifact lands for free, as can Trinket Mage. Darksteel Citadel at least, if you're concerned about artifact hate.
Cool looking deck. I'm mulling over a Dakkon control/voltron list, so nice to see yours.
SoFaF in a control deck is pretty brilliant. Do stuff on your turn, make someone discard, and then untap all your lands for counters? Nice.
Fire and Ice is actually my favorite though because I don't play a lot of blue and need the draw. The shock ability is pretty relevant too.
Underrated and underused is Sword of Vengeance. Look at all those abilities, including haste, and trample for Dakkon seems pretty good. And it's $cheap$ so get one and try it out.
I've had this deck for a couple of years now, and it's gone through a few different builds, and the swords have never made it in. Originally it was straight aggro with very little control, but now that I've incorporated more control, I simply agonize over every card. Sword of Vengeance is definitely worth a slot, and can go in the place of the Warhammer. F&F, on the other hand, I just don't know where to put it.
Deadeye was (obviously) a recent add. I haven't gotten much use out of him (I had the setup today with a Duplicant, but someone ruined those hopes with a Path to Exile). Mnemonic Wall looks like the better choice of the two, being a wall and less color intensive. Draining Whelk does look pretty sweet. I have one and it just never made the cut before.
Just noticed Dauthi Embrace which is awesome. A little less flexible, but less mana intensive is Spirit en-Dal. Nobody sees it coming either. I've used it in my Jor Kadeen voltron deck.
Yes, Embrace is nice. The reason I like it over the Spirit is because I can do it at instant speed. Which means I can do it to other people's creatures (oh, you were holding back that blocker? Too bad he has shadow. Mwahahaha!). I also don't have to announce my plans during my upkeep, and can do it to multiple creatures.
Tezzeret can get artifact lands for free, as can Trinket Mage. Darksteel Citadel at least, if you're concerned about artifact hate.
Ran it and the artifact lands in an previous build (or maybe pre-Dakkon when it was Sen Triplets?). No denying how useful they are, but with all the ways to fetch basics, if I lower the count any more I might as well take most of them out.
If you decide to go a route similar to mine: If you're going to run a lot of basics, Scrying Sheets and snow lands is awesome. There's no drawback since you don't have to reveal it, and if you couple it with a Terrain Generator the ramp you can potentially generate is astonishing. Druidic Satchel falls into the same category. Also, since when you really get to it, Dakkon is just a big dumb french vanilla beater, Winding Canyons is wonderful. Cavern of Souls would be a great add too (I may have to look for one). Another good card to consider is Steel of the Godhead (and getting it back with Sun Titan).
I have to say that since I revamped to include more control (and thereby having a good reason to leave my mana open) I've been a lot happier. But I also had to get used to doing everything at my rights EOT (Capsize with buyback, satchel, glaciers, vat for a sad robot). During one match today I was spending more time on other people's turns than my own. Probably what I love most about the deck is the satisfying feel of just curb-stomping someone with general damage rather than assembling some intricate combo.
I've had this deck for a couple of years now, and it's gone through a few different builds, and the swords have never made it in. Originally it was straight aggro with very little control, but now that I've incorporated more control, I simply agonize over every card. Sword of Vengeance is definitely worth a slot, and can go in the place of the Warhammer. F&F, on the other hand, I just don't know where to put it.
Deadeye was (obviously) a recent add. I haven't gotten much use out of him (I had the setup today with a Duplicant, but someone ruined those hopes with a Path to Exile). Mnemonic Wall looks like the better choice of the two, being a wall and less color intensive. Draining Whelk does look pretty sweet. I have one and it just never made the cut before.
Yes, Embrace is nice. The reason I like it over the Spirit is because I can do it at instant speed. Which means I can do it to other people's creatures (oh, you were holding back that blocker? Too bad he has shadow. Mwahahaha!). I also don't have to announce my plans during my upkeep, and can do it to multiple creatures.
Ran it and the artifact lands in an previous build (or maybe pre-Dakkon when it was Sen Triplets?). No denying how useful they are, but with all the ways to fetch basics, if I lower the count any more I might as well take most of them out.
If you decide to go a route similar to mine: If you're going to run a lot of basics, Scrying Sheets and snow lands is awesome. There's no drawback since you don't have to reveal it, and if you couple it with a Terrain Generator the ramp you can potentially generate is astonishing. Druidic Satchel falls into the same category. Also, since when you really get to it, Dakkon is just a big dumb french vanilla beater, Winding Canyons is wonderful. Cavern of Souls would be a great add too (I may have to look for one). Another good card to consider is Steel of the Godhead (and getting it back with Sun Titan).
I have to say that since I revamped to include more control (and thereby having a good reason to leave my mana open) I've been a lot happier. But I also had to get used to doing everything at my rights EOT (Capsize with buyback, satchel, glaciers, vat for a sad robot). During one match today I was spending more time on other people's turns than my own. Probably what I love most about the deck is the satisfying feel of just curb-stomping someone with general damage rather than assembling some intricate combo.
Thanks for the tips. An esper deck that focuses on getting lands into play is such a weird idea, I really kind of dig it. I forgot about Terrain Generator. I like the idea of playing a control game with a huge beater waiting in the command zone to finish things off. My plans for Vish Kal are very similar.
Whenever you get fetches, you could add Faith's Reward which is good in general, but would allow you to sac fetches, get lands, return fetches to play, get lands again. Pretty niche combo, but would be fun to pull off. That's generally how I feel about combo anyways. Once I pull one off well, I don't really want to do it again.
The only thing I'd suggest (and this is a huge time sink) is to put spoilers in for a couple alternate decklists with different strategies. It's always good for someone who is just starting on a particular general to read what an experienced player has learned.
The only thing I'd suggest (and this is a huge time sink) is to put spoilers in for a couple alternate decklists with different strategies. It's always good for someone who is just starting on a particular general to read what an experienced player has learned.
Certainly a doable idea. One reason I went over the various card choices is because the deck can easily shift one way or the other (take out the pillow fort element, add more equipment and/or creatures, or vice versa). Did you have anything in particular you'd recommend for strategies?
Certainly a doable idea. One reason I went over the various card choices is because the deck can easily shift one way or the other (take out the pillow fort element, add more equipment and/or creatures, or vice versa). Did you have anything in particular you'd recommend for strategies?
Hmmm, a strategy for esper, what couldn't be done. I started thinking about this after I suggested it. You could do anything with Dakkon just as a fairly unthreatening figurehead but, that's not the point of writing a primer on a general.
I wouldn't do combo because every other good esper general does that better.
An equipment based control deck with creatures with shadow sneaking in for damage, but that's pretty niche and isn't really suggested by the general.
Esper Super Friends with a lot of Planeswalkers, enchantments, and board wipes. Basically another control variant with Dakkon as a finisher.
Long game control with Dakkon as a finisher. Wouldn't really need much focus on ways to get extra lands into play as by the time you're ready to bring him out, you should have most of them out anyways.
Hmmm, a strategy for esper, what couldn't be done. I started thinking about this after I suggested it. You could do anything with Dakkon just as a fairly unthreatening figurehead but, that's not the point of writing a primer on a general.
I wouldn't do combo because every other good esper general does that better.
An equipment based control deck with creatures with shadow sneaking in for damage, but that's pretty niche and isn't really suggested by the general.
Esper Super Friends with a lot of Planeswalkers, enchantments, and board wipes. Basically another control variant with Dakkon as a finisher.
Long game control with Dakkon as a finisher. Wouldn't really need much focus on ways to get extra lands into play as by the time you're ready to bring him out, you should have most of them out anyways.
Landfall has decent options: Seer's Sundial (which felt underwhelming to me - YMMV), Emeria Angel, Admonition Angel, Eternity Vessel, and of course, Roil Elemental. Out of all of them, Sundial and Roil are the only ones that don't seem conditional. It would be amusing to exile my own stuff with AA then board wipe.
Long game control and super-friends is probably what I'll look in to doing. I've been brainstorming a few things for that already. Not so much the PW's, but heavy on the tutors, counterspells and wraths, and something like Blightsteel as an alt finisher.
As a mortal, Dakkon was a master blacksmith and a warrior. One day he was visited by the planeswalker Geyadrone Dihada, who offered to make him a planeswalker if he would make her the most powerful blade in existance, the Blackblade. He agreed and she shared with him the secret sorceries required to make the sword a soul-drinker, a blade capable of stealing the energy of those it killed. Dakkon claimed to have stood at his anvil every day for ten years, cooling the blade by killing a slave with it after each time he heated it. Finally the blade was completed, and Dakkon could not help but test it. He waded into battle and with each kill felt his strength grow. So ferocious was his assault that as tales spread of his slaughter, his name became Dakkon Blackblade. Dihada returned when she heard these stories and did make him a planeswalker, having sensed the spark within him when they first met, but immediately afterwards that she stabbed the sword into Dakkon's shadow and absorbed his soul, but not his life. Dakkon was left wandering the plane, wondering why Dihada would grant him so much power only to make him her enemy. (Source: Dakkon Blackblade wiki)
Legends, Y U NO match color and flavor?
(Alter by Galspanic)
Reasons to Play Dakkon Blackblade
Reasons to Not Play Dakkon Blackblade
Other Options in the Esper Shard
Different Strategies for Dakkon
Although I’ve chosen to take this deck in a slower direction, there are various things you can do with Dakkon:
Other People’s Take on Dakkon
You didn’t think that I was a trailblazer did you? Other people have some damn fine taste in Generals too, and here they are:
My first deck was Brion Stoutarm, but after learning that noncombat damage can’t kill people, I built a Doran, the Siege Tower rock deck. This proved too powerful for most of the group, which was very casual, so I dismantled it and decided to give Esper a try. It started off as a Sen Triplets control deck, but I quickly found out two things. First, I was getting targeted as a threat very early on, and more importantly, I really didn’t enjoy playing the role of a strict control player. Sure, there was nothing like building your little pillow fort and countering a ton of spells, but it just didn’t feel productive unless I was getting in there with damage. More often than not, I was playing the trio of lovely wizards as a figurehead and not using their ability because it drew even MORE hate. Still, I loved the flexibility that the color shard offered, so I looked into other options. Hmm… control, control, weak, really high mana cost, and hello, what’s this? A big dumb beater that gets bigger as the game goes longer? That won’t draw any hate.
I needed a game plan though, because Dakkon didn’t really offer me a strategy other than “drop a land, I get bigger”. I still had a sour taste in my mouth from playing control, so out went the Ghostly Prisons, Oblivion Rings, counterspells and pretty much all disruption. Question is, how am I going to win? Being short in the green department, the usual ramp was going to be a problem. In went every on-color critter and artifact that could fetch lands to my hand and the battlefield. If I couldn’t ramp, I’d sure as heck never miss a land drop. That Primeval guy sure was popular, so in went the Clones. I still had that pesky problem of getting blocked by some random dork token so I grabbed ways to give him trample and make him unblockable. I rounded the deck out with more dumb beaters, a little lifelink, and a Storm Herd for giggles. A bunch of play-testing showed me two things, people seldom took the deck seriously, and it did one of two things: crush a player or stall out and just sit there. I was fine with this, because at this point I was the targeted player with anything I sleeved up, simply because I had the best cards overall.
My next playgroup at school had a new meta which was both graveyard heavy (B/G/x was huge) and worse, a LOT better than my old one. Additionally, there was another Dakkon player, but that deck almost ran him as an afterthought, sticking to a control deck that wanted to combo with Time Sieve. All of a sudden my dorky little beatdown deck wasn’t going to cut it. As an aside, I had started getting more invested into Commander on MTGO, which exposed me to all manner of playstyles and decks as well more deck testing. Out went a lot of the chaff, in went a lot of graveyard hate and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (I got hit with Hinder/Tunnel Vison once and swore never again). I also tested out the multitude of options for non-basic mana fixing (storage lands, Mirrodin’s Core, etc.) and found that the lowered basic count really didn’t justify running Scrying Sheets, so I replaced the snow lands with pretty Zendikar and Unhinged lands. The deck fared better, but still wasn’t all I felt it could be.
School stopped and MTGO became my go-to source of EDH until I got found a league at my LGS. MTGO has a very broad meta and it’s all but pointless to tune for it, and my LGS required siding in specific hate (like Jester’s Cap to extract combo pieces, lots of tuck, and extra graveyard hate). I reflected back on what worked and what didn’t over the previous couple of years, and decided bring back some of the control, as well as the snow land package. It played well, but I needed to bring the level of competition up a notch to do better in the league. The snow came back out, and in its place was a recursion package centered around Academy Ruins and Crucible of Worlds.
What you see now is the result of constantly playing and tweaking this deck. It is at the point now where I am mostly satisfied with the way it plays, and the win rate is decent enough. I’m not going to reliably own the game, but I don’t feel outclassed when I play it, I can hold my own, and most importantly, I have fun with it and don’t stop anyone else from having fun. If I had to rate the deck on a competitive scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is Norin the Wary with 99 Mountains, and 10 was a $2,000 Five-Color Hermit Druid deck, I'd give it around a 6. My goal is to raise that, but unless you want to do a cookie-cutter Esper combo/control decklist with Dakkon as just another card, I don't see it getting any higher. The deck itself occasionally runs some odd meta choices, but for the most part it is ready for any meta.
Update: In 2014 I disassembled all of my decks (including this one) and traded off most of my excess collection in order to build a cube, which I now build EDH decks from to play in my weekly league. I still track cards for this deck and play it from time to time, but it is no longer a fixed deck in my collection.
A quick note about the decklist. Everything is catagorized by type and cmc, with subcategories for functions (as best they fit).
6 Dakkon Blackblade
Land - Multi/Monocolor
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Scrubland
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Silence
1 Prairie Stream
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Swamp
5 Island
6 Plains
Land - Colorless Utility
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Strip Mine
Land - Fetches
1 Flooded Strand
1 Marsh Flats
1 Polluted Delta
1 Thawing Glaciers
Artifacts - Utility
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Sword of War and Peace
Creatures - Ramp
4 Solemn Simulacrum
Creatures - Utility
2 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Archaeomancer
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
5 Bloodgift Demon
5 Dragonlord Ojutai
6 Sun Titan
Creatures- Finishers
1 Serra Ascendant
7 Drogskol Reaver
Enchantments
1 Land Tax
1 Mystic Remora
1 Ghostly Prison
3 Necropotence
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Propaganda
3 Rhystic Study
Instants - Counters/Removal
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Swan Song
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Disenchant
2 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Drain
2 Negate
3 Anguished Unmaking
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Mortify
4 Utter End
5 Force of Will
5 Mystic Confluence
1 Brainstorm
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tithe
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Impulse
4 Fact or Fiction
Instants - Finishers
1 Tainted Strike
5 Hatred
Planeswalkers
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
5 Venser, the Sojourner
Sorceries - Removal
4 Damnation
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Wrath of God
6 Austere Command
Sorceries - Tutors/Utility
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
2 Demonic Tutor
5 Time Warp
5 Unburial Rites
It should go without saying, but Dakkon is less than impressive in the early to midgame. Sure you can bring him out by turn six, but he won’t be very big and will probably just sit there waiting to get blown up without attacking. That’s not to say you can’t or shouldn’t bring him out when you’ve only got a handful of lands out, but once a player has general damage from Dakkon, they know they’re on a short clock and may respond appropriately. On that note, one advantage to him is that even though he costs more every time you bring him out, that just means he’ll just come out bigger and more threatening each time. Anyway, what I tend to do is wait until I have the rest of my board set up to support him, and only when I’m fully prepared to attack a player that turn (or if I’m fairly certain he’ll make it back around to my next turn) will I bring him into play. The only exception to this is when I need a threatening blocker, or he’s useful for some other interaction with the board state (not as much anymore, but for a time I ran Wall of Reverence). At the very least, try to be able to protect him before you bring him out. Because this build leans more towards control than aggro, the density of big creatures are limited. You may be tempted to over-extend, but in the long run, you'll be in a better shape if you only play one or two creatures at a time. Similarly, even if land destruction isn't heavy in your meta, since it's pretty rare to be able to kill with Dakkon in one hit, once you hit 11 lands, hang on to some unless you absolutely need the extra mana.
This is totally a manpurse.
Ramp outside of green is pretty rare, and is mostly achieved through the use of artifacts rather than the traditional green methods of cheating land into play. This is doubly problematic, because for one, Dakkon doesn't want mana rocks, he wants to feel the surge of power through the soil, and also because artifacts are prone to removal. Thankfully, ramp has improved over the years, and at worst, you should be able to consistently hit land drops. Druidic Satchel can be an absolute all-star in this deck, and having a high land count helps it reveal a land most times you activate it. Combine it with Sensei's Divining Top, scrylands, and Brainstorm effects, and you'll be able to keep up with or outpace green decks. There's also Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum, both of which can be exploited and reused. White has other effects like Kor Kartographers and the less reliable Knight of the White Orchid, and black can make your swamps more useful with doubling effects such as Crypt Ghast. This ramp, rounded out with Thawing Glaciers and Land Tax, will ensure you hit most of your land drops each turn. There are many other options available for land tutoring that I don’t run, mainly because I have enough ways to ramp, so there truly are a plethora of options available if you think outside the box. They all have solid potential though, and are worth considering dep[ending upon your preference, budget, and style.
Piloting the Deck
The Opening Hand (Mulligans) – When I evaluate my opening hand, the first thing I look at is the quantity of lands. With a few exceptions, three is the bare minimum number of lands I want to see. After that, I want to know the quality of them. Lands that tap for colorless are usually less than stellar and I'd rather shuffle them back in than get stuck waiting for a certain color mana. If I have two or less lands, I better have a clear game plan. For instance, if I'm holding Land Tax, I'm perfectly happy if my only land is a fetchland or can tap for W. Similarly, if I've got Druidic Satchel and two lands I'll most likely keep it. Heck, I've kept a zero land hand because it had a Ring, Satchel, a Signet, and a Top in it. After evaluating how my mana looks, I want to have a general idea of what I'm going to do for the first few turns and what my board state may look like by turn 4-5. Being able to dump your hand on the table doesn't do much if you don't have anything to show for it (and yes, being able to hardcast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn by turn seven but having no cards in hand sucks). Also, keep in mind what the game may look like based on the other generals that are being played. You’ve got a broad spectrum of disruption, so plan accordingly.
Early Game – The first few turns largely go by unnoticed, and this is to our advantage. There's not many cards that should scare your opponents early on, but there's a few cards, such as Sensei's Divining Top, Land Tax, and Rhystic Study that some people attack out of ignorance. I generally don't run many permanents that I can cast early which I won't, but I'll hold on to my equipment until I'm ready to start attacking (the last thing you want is to drop an early sword only to have it eat removal). Ideally, the first few turns will consist of playing a land and a Rhystic Study/Phyrexian Arena to keep your hand stocked, Thassa to filter, or a ramp creature, then passing turn. At this stage you are preparing yourself for the midgame and prepping your hand accordingly (counterspells, removal, and perhaps a tutor).
Mid Game – Stick to playing control and trying not to stall out. Hopefully your first few turns gave you the setup to either consistent land drops or minor card draw so you aren't falling behind. There are is enough counters and spot removal in the deck to help you get some early and make players assume you're holding some, but not so much that you can use them on everything. Try to save them for something powerful that will directly impact you or the game. Other than that, just keep playing quiet control, and disrupt the board when necessary. People tend to retaliate against that kind of thing like crazy, but if you play politics you might not make enemies. By turn 7 you should be planning to bring out Dakkon or one of his aggressive friends (hopefully your hand and board is developing towards that goal). There are a few creatures that want to attack, so don’t be afraid to swing away if you have the chance. You can also use creatures like Bloodgift Demon and Drogskol Reaver to bait out removal. Sure, it stinks when they die, but better them than Dakkon and ultimately that's what they're there for.
Late Game – By now you should have an idea of how you want to end the game. Did you blow up the world and can swing freely with Dakkon? Grind out attrition with Sun Titan? Or maybe snipe a player with Hatred or Tainted Strike? By the time Dakkon’s ready to come out, he should be able to hit a player twice to kill them. If at all possible, you want to be able to bring him out, protect him with equipment, and swing right away. He’s slow, so try not to cast him when he will just sit on the field without doing anything unprotected. Proper threat assessment and politics are key, so take out the biggest threat, and attempt to get the other players to forget that you're an enemy while your defenses are down. If Dakkon gets too expensive to recast you've still got tutors to find some help, or if all else fails you can fall back on the manlands with some equipment to make them beefier until you can stabilize or find a more powerful attacker.
Deck Synergies
The deck runs a fair number of fetchlands and tutors, so Sensei's Divining Top will keep the top of your library with something you want to draw. 3
Sun Titan pulls a lot of weight in this deck, so I've tried to keep as many of the permanents 3cmc and under whenever it didn't lower the quality of the deck.
There are a fair number of ETB and reset effects such as Sun Titan and Mystic Remora, so Venser will turn into long-term advantage if your opponents don’t do something to any of them. You can also use Archaeomancer and Time Warp for infinite turns, provided you have the mana.
(The lack of) Reliquary Tower and card draw: I felt it was important to mention this by itself. Yes, you can draw double digits with the numerous card draw engines in the deck, but I personally try to avoid this unless I’m digging. There’s nothing that makes people more nervous than a blue player with a full grip of cards and a Reliquary Tower in play. I personally try to keep my hand as close to seven as possible and make a point of not getting greedy. If you choose to run it, keep eight or nine cards if you really like what you have, but don’t go overboard and make people realize that you have a lot of cards if you can help it.
Dealing With an Unfavorable Meta
As stated in the Why Shouldn’t You Play Dakkon section earlier, this deck is weak against three things: MLD, tuck, and fast decks. However, these aren’t the only problems you may encounter:
Against Mass Land Destruction: Sacred Ground and Fath's Reward are musts, and I'd probably alter the basic/nonbasic distribution even if Ruination wasn't the only MLD so that you could run Planar Birth. Other options include Terra Eternal and Equinox. In a dedicated MLD meta, you'll have to tune the deck appropriately. Holding back land drops is key, and you can't rely on getting Dakkon as big as normal. Overall, the curve will have to lower. If your meta likes to randomly play MLD (such as on MTGO where there is the occasional Cataclysm and friends), I wouldn't adjust the deck too much, other than maybe lowering the curve slightly, but I'd play as if I expected it and hold back my land drops accordingly.
Fast Decks: This deck is slow, so your best defense against fast decks is to counter a key card if possible, or barring that, try to stay under the radar as long as possible. If token swarm decks are bad, add Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Collective Restraint, and/or Sphere of Safety. I'd start with the first two, simply because of Sun Titan.
Against Token Strategies: Swarms go down hard against Massacre Wurm, and if Netherborn Phalanx isn’t needed, you can transmute it for any number of useful cards.
Against Dredge (and other Grave-centric Decks): Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, and Withered Wretch pull their weight against minor recursion, but if you need to stock up on graveyard hate, consider Leyline of the Void, Ravenous Trap, Tormond’s Crypt, Weathered Wayfarer (to find your Bog and bouncelands), and Relic of Progentis. Even though the last one replaces itself, I don’t like exiling my own graveyard if I can help it.
so i herd you liek landz
Because you don’t want to miss a land drop, I’d recommend running around 38-40 lands, with as much color fixing as you can. However, that shouldn’t come at the price of slowing you down with a lot of lands that come into play tapped. After having played with cheaper versions of dual lands and fetchands, I've come to the conclusion that having a basic come into play untapped is better than a dual that unconditionally comes into play tapped (with some exceptions). Even though I’ve lowered the reliance on searching basic lands, I still feel like in need to run at least 10 to make Thawing Glaciers and Land Tax a worthwhile inclusion, and the longer the game goes, the higher that number should be.
Creatures
I try to cram as much utility in to every card that I run in order to lessen the chance of drawing a card I don't want to see. As such, I've tried to cut every creature that doesn't impact the board or further my agenda enough.
smilefrown on its face.The next best thing to the actual Black Blade.
Pretty self-explanatory. Artifacts basically come in the variety of basic mana ramp and utility. As I tried to do with all permanents, everything is 3cmc and under for Sun Titan friendliness.
Enchantments
Here's where I stick most of my card draw and utility. I'm not usually upset when anything gets blown up, because that means less removal for things I really want to keep (like the Swords).
Instants
One benefit of getting so many lands out is that I always have untapped mana. Anything that I could get away with doing at instant speed instead of sorcery speed is preferred, and that helps my image as a blue mage and keeps people wary of a counterspell. Some of it is straight forward so I won't discuss it, but it can be boiled down to "does it remove stuff draw stuff or tutor for stuff?"
Planeswalkers
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - I's still not entirely sold, but so far I feel that this slot could be better utilized unless you can protect him. Brainstorming and Unsummoning is really good in the deck, so if you have or can afford him, test it out.
Venser, the Sojourner - Like Jace, if you can't protect him you are spending a lot of mana for a one-time effect. Blinking your ETB creatures, scrylands, tapped creatures for blocking is still strong, and his minus ability helps Dakkon kill someone.
Sorceries
Only high impact spells that I can't get a worthwhile instant substitute are here.
Everything in this list is cards that I played at some point and either didn't like or upgraded, as well as some cards that various builds may enjoy.
Lands
Artifacts:
7/10/15
After too long of neglect, the deck and thread has been given a major overhaul. Too many changes to list, but many changes were made, mainly because I've acquired big stuff like Vindicate, Snapcaster Mage, as well as new cards in recent sets. I also updated the thread in light of the tuck rule change.
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5/24/14
Out: Dust Bowl, Rogue’s Passage, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Return to Dust, Scout’s Warning, Venser, the Sojourner
In: Island, Strip Mine, Sol Ring, Sword of War and Peace, Thada Adel, Acquisitor, Thassa, God of the Sea
Thoughts: Dust Bowl -> Strip Mine was a direct swap because I don’t actually need to constantly blow up utility lands, so not having to pay to do it seems better. Rogue’s Passage -> Thassa was also a direct swap because she’s cheaper to make a creature unblockable, has the scry bonus, and can become a creature. Minor anti-synergy if Dakkon has a Sword of F&I, but c’est la vie. The rest are just trying out different cards and trying to lower my curve some.
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4/12/14
Out: Dakkon Blackblade (Chronicles), Caves of Koilos, Underground River, Faerie Trickery, Rite of Replication
In: Dakkon Blackblade (Legends), Swamp, Burnished Hart, Leyline of Anticipation, Force of Will
Thoughts: First things first. I finally got a proper original Dakkon from Legends (yay for black borders!). I also traded off a bunch of random cards that I don’t use which had jumped in price to a guy at my LGS and got a Force of Will. I really don’t have a desire for one, but why not, right? Anyway, as to the other changes. The painlands are nice, but my basic count is actually lower than I had realized, so I got rid of the least needed pains for another Swamp and a Burnished Hart. Rite of Replication is a good card, but once I hit 9 mana I should be doing other stuff, so I’m cutting it to bring the Leyline back in.
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3/29/14
Two changes in one update.
Out: Guardian Seraph, Runed Halo
In: Tomorrow, Azami’s Familiar, Scout’s Warning
Thoughts: The latter two were meta changes I made that just didn’t pan out. Trying out these two. Tomorrow lets me dig deeper, and Scout gives me instant speed Dakkon and pseudo haste.
Out: Thespian’s Stage, Evil Twin, Deadeye Navigator
In: Winding Canyons, Damnation, Divine Reckoning
Thoughts: These two guys and land were never impressive, so I’m cutting them for more board wipes and instant speed dudes.
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1/15/14
Well I’m not sure of the actual date, because I made a couple of changes and forgot to document them.
In: Archeomancer, Brainstorm, Tainted Strike
Out: Mnemonic Wall, Druidic Satchel, Recurring Insight
Thoughts: Archeomancer is pretty straight forward. Tainted Strike is a result of the discussion in this thread regarding the card, so I’m trying it out. Brainstorm is a no-brainer, and with Terminus in the deck, I should have been running it long ago.
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12/28/13
In: Adarkar Wastes, Caves of Koilos, Underground River, Guardian Seraph, Runed Halo, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Out: Drowned Catacomb, Glacial Fortress, Isolated Chapel, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Trinket Mage, Withered Wretch
Thoughts: Swapped the checklands for painlands because I don’t want to ever have to mulligan due to CIPT lands. Slimming down to six total should ensure that this almost never happens. The rest are meta decisions (the Guardian Seraph is the most meta call).
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8/28/13
In: Ancient Tomb
Out: Reliquary Tower
Thoughts: The extra hand size is less often relevant than the extra mana, and because I try my best to limit the colorless mana, I needed to cut a colorless to add Tomb.
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7/10/13
Out: Pithing Needle, Kor Cartographer
In: Pact of Negation, Knight of the White Orchid
Thoughts: Swayed by all the discussion of KotWO on the Top 50 thread, I’ve swapped him back in. As Pithing Needle was always a meta call, I replaced it with Pact.
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7/5/13
Out: Crypt Ghast, Ethersworn Adjudicator
In: Evil Twin, Necropotence
Thoughts: These two haven’t impressed me enough, so I added some more card draw and am testing out Evil Twin with the M14 rules change.
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4/5/13
Out: Homeward Path, Necromancy
In: Relequary Tower, Crucible of Worlds
Thoughts: Removed some situational cards that really don’t do anything most of the time for a couple of oldies that I want to give a second chance.
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3/31/13
Out:Ixidron, Treasury Thrull, Dismantling Blow
In: Crypt Ghast, Ethersworn Adjudicator, Time Warp
Thoughts: Trading one type of removal for another, we’ll see how it goes. Also added Time Warp for the infinite turn combo, and I like Ghast in another deck, so I’ll see if it’s worth it (although outside of the small boost in mana and Capsize, I don’t really see much use for it.)
3/6/13
I feel like I need to explain this change. First, I have finally obtained the ABU duals for my paper deck, and now my paper deck actually is more powerful than the MTGO version. So change number one is that this primer now tracks the paper one. Secondly, I think the list was slightly off before. TL;DR: This update is part corrections, part updates.
Out: Tectonic Edge, Lightning Greaves, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Wurmcoil Engine, Soothsaying, Brainstorm, Ashes to Ashes, Animate Dead, Lat-Nam’s Legacy, Divine Reckoning, Hallowed Burial, Temporal Mastery
In: Dust Bowl, Pithing Needle, Ixidron, Necrotic Sliver, Treasury Thrull, Trinket Mage, Withered Wretch, Necromancy, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Merciless Eviction, Terminus
Thoughts: Most of these are just upgrades. As for the rest, Ixidron, Withered Wretch, and Pithing Needle worked so well in my LGS league that I’ve made them permanent additions
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2/18/13
Out: Temple of the False God, Orzhov Keyrune, Consecrated Sphinx, Necrotic Sliver, Wall of Denial, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
In: Thespian’s Stage, Deadeye Navigator, Mnemonic Wall, Mulldrifter, Recurring Insight, Temporal Manipulation
Thoughts: Temple of the False God is briefly coming out while I test Thespian’s Stage. I like the Azorius and Dimir Keyrunes because they have evasion, but Orzhov just doesn’t cut it. Necrotic Sliver is really good, but without being able to reliably get Sun Titan, it’s a six mana Vindicate, and I’ve already got Angel of Despair at seven mana. Why not start abusing my excess mana with Deadeye Navigator? Going with that theme, I swapped walls, added some time magic, and replaced Consecrated Sphinx with Recurring Insight. Ulamog is a sad swap, because he’s one of my big finishers. I had to make a late game cut somewhere, and he got the short end of the straw.
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1/28/13
Out: Azorious Signet, Dimir Signet, Sword of Vengeance, Whispersilk Cloak, Archon of Justice, Knight of the White Orchid, Serra Ascendant, Weathered Wayfarer, Dauthi Embrace, Leyline of Anticipation, Balancing Act, Mystic Speculation
In: Dimir Keyrune, Orzhov Keyrune, Elixir of Immortality, Sword of Fire and Ice, Kor Cartographer, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Land Tax, Soothsaying, Supreme Verdict, Venser, the Sojourner
Thoughts: The no-brainers were Signets -> Keyrunes, Sword for Sword, and Knight for Kor. Serra -> Sphinx was because I want the power of Serra but playing her early game before I have a board position is usually wrong. Wayfarer became Land Tax because Tax usually lasts longer. As for the rest, they just didn't consistently perform as well as I need them to.
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12/13/12
Out: Drowned Catacomb, Glacial Fortress, Isolated Chapel, Gift of Estates
In: Scrubland, Tundra, Underground Sea, Tithe
Thoughts: Everything is an upgrade. The ABU duals provide more tutoring power for the tutors which search out a Plains as well as never coming into play tapped, and Tithe is superior to Gift of Estates for many reasons (lower casting cost, instant speed, not reliant upon having fewer lands). The only downside is that it searches out less lands, but I found that I almost always only grabbed two in order to prevent discarding at the end of my turn.
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12/10/12
Out: Arcane Sanctum, Deep Analysis
In: Reflecting Pool, Lat-Nam's Legacy
Thoughts: Reflecting Pool is almost a strict upgrade, and I'm really trying to cut as many ETBT lands as possible. Lat-Nam's Legacy isn't as powerful as Deep Analysis, but I like having the option to shuffle away a card when it's not helping me at the moment.
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12/03/12
Out: High Market, Orzhov Basilica, Crucible of Worlds, Decree of Pain
In: Homeward Path, Druidic Satchel, Fact or Fiction, Hallowed Burial
Thoughts: High Market became Homeward Path, because the only reason I was running it in the first place was to prevent people from taking my dudes. The lifegain was irrelevant, and Homeward Path is a much better card overall. Running all three bouncelands led to some clunky draws and slowed me down in the early game, so Orzhov Basilica was cut because it lacked blue. Crucible of Worlds didn't perform as I had expected, and I never should have cut Druidic Satchel ever. Decree of Pain got swapped for Hallowed Burial to help lower the curve.
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11/25/12
Out: Plains, Swamp, Mind's Eye, Orzhov Signet, Weathered Wayfarer, Drift of Phantasms
In: Celestial Colonnade, Creeping Tar Pit, Arzorius Keyrune, Knight of the White Orchid, Phyrexian Arena, Rhystic Study
Thoughts: Added the manlands for some more backup attackers. Experimented enough with the Keyrune to decide I like it for the same reason as the manlands. Fingers crossed that Gatecrash gives Dimir and Orzhov something good (my hunch is that Dimir Keyrune will be similar to Creeping Tar Pit). Mind's Eye is a little to costly and paints a bulls-eye, so I swapped it out for some cheaper enchantments. Drift of Phantasms seemed like a good idea, but I've almost never transmuted it, and usually it just sits in my hand. Weathered Wayfarer it situational because unless there's a player ramping hard, he has limited effect.
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11/07/12
Holy huge deck update, Batman! This is actually a couple of updates in one. Basically, I made some changes, but since I was expecting some money and had big ideas, I held off on updating until the second update.
Out: Snow land, Shinzo, Death’s Storehouse, Rupture Spire, Scrying Sheets, Strip Mine, Terrain Generator, Winding Canyons, Flood Plain, Bad River, Baneslayer Angel, Bloodgift Demon, Clone, Deadeye Navigator, Enigma Sphinx, Kor Cartographer, Mnemonic Wall, Mulldrifter, Rune-Scarred Demon, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Trinket Mage, Walking Atlas, Wall of Reverence, Withered Wretch, Druidic Satchel, Expedition Map, Journeyer’s Kite, Mimic Vat, Aura of Silence, Ravenous Trap, Rout, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Venser, the Sojourner
In: Non-snow basic lands, Calciform Pools, Dreadship Reef, Tolaria West, Academy Ruins, Buried Ruins, [c]Dust
Bowl[/c], High Market, Rogue’s Passage, Vesuva, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Azorius Signet, Dimir Signet, Orzhov Signet, Crucible of Worlds, Sword of Feast and Famine, Drift of Phantasms, Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Stoneforge Mystic, Animate Dead, Leyline of Anticipation, Mystic Remora, Brainstorm, Cyclonic Rift, Balancing Act, Decree of Pain, Deep Analysis, Gift of Estates
Thoughts: Where to begin? Well, essentially I got a Crucible of Worlds, and to better exploit it and protect the growing quality of artifacts I’m running, I wanted Buried Ruin, Academy Ruins, and Dust Bowl. The number of colorless lands was too high, so out went the snow. The overall count of basics was dropped by a couple, but it didn’t feel like Journeyer’s Kite was still pulling its weight. Some cards got swapped out, like Shinzo, Death’s Storehouse for Rogue’s Passage, and Winding Canyons for Leyline of Anticipation. I’m also experimenting with running more specific tutors, such as the Transmutes and Stoneforge Mystic. Overall, I’m trying to keep a lot of the utility lower than 3cc for Sun Titan.
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9/22/12
Out: Obsidian Battle-Axe
In: Sword of Vengeance
Thoughts: Obsidian Battle-Axe was cute, but it didn’t give any evasion, and in the end, Dakkon is useless without evasion. Upgraded to the slightly more expensive but better Sword of Vengeance.
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9/21/12
Out: Keiga, the Tide Star, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Crib Swap, Deep Analysis
In: Mnemonic Wall, Oblivion Stone, Ravenous Trap, Mystical Tutor, Oblation
Thoughts: Keiga, the Tide Star was iffy. Either she’d meet her demise in the exile zone or during a board wipe. She wasn’t enough of a deterrent to be useful, and when I got to steal creatures, they weren’t stellar. The rest came out to support better removal and the Mystical Tutor I finally got.
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8/31/12
Out: Treasure Mage, Spine of Ish Sah, Rings of Brighthearth
In: Clone, Obsidian Battle-Axe, Aura of Silence
Thoughts: Rings of Brighthearth was fun and abusable, but not useful enough. Ditto with Spine of Ish Sah. I enjoyed the repeatable Vindicate effect with Venser, the Sojourner, but became too expensive otherwise. Once that came out there was less use for Treasure Mage.
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Would you like Cryptic Command or Sleep?
Neheb
Marath
Yidris
Sharuum
Yidris
Here's a thought: Is Korlash, Heir to Blackblade worth adding if I get an Urborg? Of course, this means I'd have to add Coffers which means I'd have to add Exsanguinate which means I'd have to add Storm Herd which means I'd have to add Akroma's Memorial. Bonus points for flavor though.
The question is, what to remove for anything I add?
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Also i love the Dauthi Embrace card you have, i might have to try it out in my Itadakimatsu! deck.
Have you ever used Satchel? That card is bonkers. I regularly hit lands with it, even without the use of Top, and if someone attacks me I'll activate it and maybe get a token blocker. Plus, the land comes in untapped, so when it hits a land it only costs one.
Duplicant is more removal and as another combo card with Deadeye and Venser. I would most likely cut Deadeye before I cut Duplicant.
Capsize just feels like long-term value since my land count is so high and I tend to want to be untapped just as much as I want to tap out during my turn.
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If you've never run Satchel, try it in a deck that doesn't have green ramp. I love that card, but I'll admit it's not for every deck.
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Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
I would add Urborg, regardless of what specific intentions you might have for it, it will just be an upgrade to your mana base. I would not necessarily add Coffers, though. In fact, I might advise against adding them. I've found Coffers to be severely lacking even in 2-color decks without green, and I think you'll be disappointed with them, even in a "land matters" 3-color deck.
Also, I'm wondering how you've liked those Ravnica karoo lands you've got in there. They seem somewhat anti-synergistic with your commander, given that they essentially set you back a land drop in terms of your overall land count. It's entirely possible that I'm simply looking at it wrong, though :p.
R.I.P. Sundering Titan (6/20/12) and Braids, Cabal Minion (9/12/14)
Dump the mana into capsize?
Korlash isn't worth adding, you would need to find urborg for that (which will take another slot with expedition map, etc...). I like your deck because it's unique, if you would add exsanguinate (with the coffers and urborg) it will become less unique... so I wouldn't do it ;).
Suggested cut perhaps Treasure Mage, it has only 1 target and that's Spine of ish ash (you can bounce and counter with blue, destroy artifacts and enchantments with white, black destroys creatures..)
Why is Spine even in here!
Another suggestion Vindicate!
Neheb
Marath
Yidris
Sharuum
Yidris
Ugh... Yeah, I hate being against that card so there's no way I'll run it. Plus, my average CMC is already higher than I'd like it to be.
I know what you mean about Keiga. At best, she's usually a deterrent, and for every time she dies and you get to steal something cool, there's that time when someone wraths the board and you don't get squat. That's probably the reason I took it out in the first place.
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Haha, yeah, forgot about the Capsize infi-bounce. And yeah, I never actually thought about Korlash until I saw him flipping through my binder. Way too much work for just a dumb beater.
With Treasure Mage, he can also search up Wurmcoil and the two sphinxes. Spine is in there because it fun to bounce it with Venser.
I have thought about Vindicate, but like the real fetchlands, it's outside my budget ATM.
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wait....you actually understood that?
also cut the Rupture spire for Urborg, rupture requires it to be a turn two "sorry no boots drop" turn
"For cuts, one card that jumped out to me is Keiga, the Tide Star. I tried hard to like that card, but it was always between meh and bad. i'd put in Myojin of Night's Reach in here but maybe that's too dick for you. LOL."
I'm with you on Rupture Spire. It's nice for extra fixing but slow. I cut the Lair already for that reason, Rupture is probably next. Realistically, I could probably cut it now. Maybe for a Maze of Ith?
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SoFaF in a control deck is pretty brilliant. Do stuff on your turn, make someone discard, and then untap all your lands for counters? Nice.
Fire and Ice is actually my favorite though because I don't play a lot of blue and need the draw. The shock ability is pretty relevant too.
Underrated and underused is Sword of Vengeance. Look at all those abilities, including haste, and trample for Dakkon seems pretty good. And it's $cheap$ so get one and try it out.
Also, Deadeye Navigator is in your deck. Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer are pretty good with him. Not to mention the fattest counterspell of all Draining Whelk. Bouncy bouncy.
Just noticed Dauthi Embrace which is awesome. A little less flexible, but less mana intensive is Spirit en-Dal. Nobody sees it coming either. I've used it in my Jor Kadeen voltron deck.
Tezzeret can get artifact lands for free, as can Trinket Mage. Darksteel Citadel at least, if you're concerned about artifact hate.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
I've had this deck for a couple of years now, and it's gone through a few different builds, and the swords have never made it in. Originally it was straight aggro with very little control, but now that I've incorporated more control, I simply agonize over every card. Sword of Vengeance is definitely worth a slot, and can go in the place of the Warhammer. F&F, on the other hand, I just don't know where to put it.
Deadeye was (obviously) a recent add. I haven't gotten much use out of him (I had the setup today with a Duplicant, but someone ruined those hopes with a Path to Exile). Mnemonic Wall looks like the better choice of the two, being a wall and less color intensive. Draining Whelk does look pretty sweet. I have one and it just never made the cut before.
Yes, Embrace is nice. The reason I like it over the Spirit is because I can do it at instant speed. Which means I can do it to other people's creatures (oh, you were holding back that blocker? Too bad he has shadow. Mwahahaha!). I also don't have to announce my plans during my upkeep, and can do it to multiple creatures.
Ran it and the artifact lands in an previous build (or maybe pre-Dakkon when it was Sen Triplets?). No denying how useful they are, but with all the ways to fetch basics, if I lower the count any more I might as well take most of them out.
If you decide to go a route similar to mine: If you're going to run a lot of basics, Scrying Sheets and snow lands is awesome. There's no drawback since you don't have to reveal it, and if you couple it with a Terrain Generator the ramp you can potentially generate is astonishing. Druidic Satchel falls into the same category. Also, since when you really get to it, Dakkon is just a big dumb french vanilla beater, Winding Canyons is wonderful. Cavern of Souls would be a great add too (I may have to look for one). Another good card to consider is Steel of the Godhead (and getting it back with Sun Titan).
I have to say that since I revamped to include more control (and thereby having a good reason to leave my mana open) I've been a lot happier. But I also had to get used to doing everything at my rights EOT (Capsize with buyback, satchel, glaciers, vat for a sad robot). During one match today I was spending more time on other people's turns than my own. Probably what I love most about the deck is the satisfying feel of just curb-stomping someone with general damage rather than assembling some intricate combo.
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Thanks for the tips. An esper deck that focuses on getting lands into play is such a weird idea, I really kind of dig it. I forgot about Terrain Generator. I like the idea of playing a control game with a huge beater waiting in the command zone to finish things off. My plans for Vish Kal are very similar.
Whenever you get fetches, you could add Faith's Reward which is good in general, but would allow you to sac fetches, get lands, return fetches to play, get lands again. Pretty niche combo, but would be fun to pull off. That's generally how I feel about combo anyways. Once I pull one off well, I don't really want to do it again.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
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The only thing I'd suggest (and this is a huge time sink) is to put spoilers in for a couple alternate decklists with different strategies. It's always good for someone who is just starting on a particular general to read what an experienced player has learned.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Certainly a doable idea. One reason I went over the various card choices is because the deck can easily shift one way or the other (take out the pillow fort element, add more equipment and/or creatures, or vice versa). Did you have anything in particular you'd recommend for strategies?
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Hmmm, a strategy for esper, what couldn't be done. I started thinking about this after I suggested it. You could do anything with Dakkon just as a fairly unthreatening figurehead but, that's not the point of writing a primer on a general.
Esper landfall might be interesting. Ob Nixilis, the Fallen etc.
I wouldn't do combo because every other good esper general does that better.
An equipment based control deck with creatures with shadow sneaking in for damage, but that's pretty niche and isn't really suggested by the general.
Esper Super Friends with a lot of Planeswalkers, enchantments, and board wipes. Basically another control variant with Dakkon as a finisher.
Long game control with Dakkon as a finisher. Wouldn't really need much focus on ways to get extra lands into play as by the time you're ready to bring him out, you should have most of them out anyways.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Landfall has decent options: Seer's Sundial (which felt underwhelming to me - YMMV), Emeria Angel, Admonition Angel, Eternity Vessel, and of course, Roil Elemental. Out of all of them, Sundial and Roil are the only ones that don't seem conditional. It would be amusing to exile my own stuff with AA then board wipe.
Long game control and super-friends is probably what I'll look in to doing. I've been brainstorming a few things for that already. Not so much the PW's, but heavy on the tutors, counterspells and wraths, and something like Blightsteel as an alt finisher.
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