MTG Salvation

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A Brief Note About Doran
Doran is a unique general because his ability fundamentally changes the way the game is played. Each creature assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power. Now sure, many creatures have equal power and toughness so this won’t apply, but many more are affected by his ability, starting with Doran himself. For three mana, you’ve got effectively a 5/5 creature. That wall someone dropped to gain a blocker all of a sudden and cause some serious damage. The high power/low toughness creature you wanted to force someone to trade with all of a sudden doesn’t do much. There’s all sorts of scenarios that can be a factor, and we have the ability to prepare for them all.

An Introduction to the Deck
I’ll go more into detail about the deck further down, but essentially this deck plays like a Rock deck. That is to say, it focuses more on digging in for a long game with some heavy-hitters. I deliberately chose not to focus too heavily on Doran’s ability because I found that it is not effective to build around him when he isn’t on the battlefield. The deck does have the potential for explosive starts, though.

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Reasons to Play Doran

• He’s unconventional - Who would have thought a 0 power tree could be the leader of an aggressive deck?
• He’s malleable – Play aggro? Use Doran. Play defense? Use Doran. Play birds? Use Doran someone else. (Maybe they built a nest on Doran though.)
• He’s a tree - Like Lord of the Rings? Of course you do! What could be more fun than swinging at someone with your very own army of Ents? Ents aren’t your thing? How about the lulz of building a deck full of walls and finding a way to animate them into attackers?
• Card stats – White, black, and green give you access to the best ramp, the best removal, and some of the best non-counterspell control. There is very little you won’t be able to do in these colors. And at a scoffable 3cmc, Doran comes out early and he comes out swinging. Slap some equipment on him and he’s killing a player in three swings, possibly before they have time to develop a board.

Reasons to Not Play Doran

• You prefer more traditional control –If you like your control decks to splash blue, you’re gonna have a bad time. A defensive build is going to rely more on proactive means such as blockers and grief, rather than reactive cards like counterspells.
• You don’t like to win through the combat step – I mean, sure you COULD Tooth and Nail for Mikaeus the Unhallowed and Triskelion or some sort of Reveillark and Saffi Eriksdotter combo, but where’s the fun in that?
• He’s very general-dependent – What do I mean by that? Well, in order to get the most from Doran, you’re going to look for high toughness creatures, and some of the best have low power and a low cmc. The problem is that when Doran isn’t in play, you’re not going to do much attacking. (Note that Rock/Junk is a very strong color combo, so you don’t actually have to build around Doran’s ability and can make a good stuff deck.)
• You’re impatient – Sometimes you’ll get a board state when you just have to dig in and wait. If you don’t want your games to drag on while waiting to draw an answer, this might not be the deck for you.

Other Options in the Necra Wedge

• Ghave, Guru of Spores – If tribal Saprolings and/or combo is your thing, Ghave is your man, er Fungus.
• Karador, Ghost Chieftain – I love me some ghost manhorse, and if you like recursion strategies, this is the way to go.
• Teneb, the Harvester – For the longest time, this was your only choice of Necra generals. He’s big, he’s got evasion and a cool ability, and he’s a freaking dragon.

Different Strategies for Doran

• Tribal – Typically, the two ways of building a tribal deck with Doran are Treefolk (because duh, he is one), and Walls, because of his unique ability. I’ve tried building him as a Wall deck, with a splash of Treefolk/Spiders, and found that it’s just too slow because you’re not attacking much until you find one of the few cards that let walls attack. Quite frankly, it was boring. For bonus points, you could build around his Shaman subtype, but there’s not that many decent shamans that you wouldn’t already include in either a Treefolk or generic build.
• Stax –Personally, I think Ghave, Guru of Spores is better suited for a Stax deck because he makes his own tokens to sacrifice and attack with. But Doran is fine if you want a defensive stance.

Other People’s Take on Doran
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:

• Treefolk Tribal, by MidoriRyu
• Defense and Extort, by iamfanboy
• 1v1 Aggro-disruption, by Emether

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Doran, the Siege Tower was one of my earliest decks, and I've been playing it on and off since 2011. There are two things I like about Doran: his color wedge, and his ability. Necra is my favorite color combination, right alongside Esper. I love the overlapping flexibility that white and black provide, along with the flavorful dichotomy, and green provides much needed support. As for Doran’s ability, don’t let his absent power fool you; he’s a beater through and through.

My first build was an attempt of a tribalish low power high toughness mixed with goodstuff build. It was ok, but needed work. For help, I turned to Sean McKeown when his ‘Dear Azami’ was still called 99 Problems (see the article here.) I was able so slowly upgrade the deck, but when it became too powerful for my playgroup which consisted of a mix of players like me who invested money into their decks and players who just enjoyed playing whatever they owned, I cannibalized it for the first draft of Dakkon Blackblade.

Eventually I got more invested in MTGO, so I rebuilt the deck with a similar theme. For a while, I also built a Halloween themed deck around him full of spooky stuff. As my paper collection grew, I’ve since rebuilt the deck, but due to the sheer number of decks I have and my deck priorities, the paper deck has a pretty weak mana base.

With the release of Gatecrash and my newfound interest in Extort, I’ve been experimenting with adding an Extort and lifelink sub-theme to the deck, all while keeping what worked (a mix of creatures that got better with Doran alongside creatures that didn’t need any additional support) and getting rid of some of the chaff.

For me, Doran will always be one of my favorite generals for three reasons: 1) he holds nostalgia, because I was drawn to the Necra colors when I started playing EDH, but my only options were Doran and Teneb. 2) the aggressive nature of swinging for combat damage is how like like my games of Magic to end. 3) Teneb feels better suited to be in the 99, rather than at the head of it.

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Depending on your build, Doran can be a pretty straight-forward aggro deck that wants to drop threats on the board as soon as possible, or it can be a more defensive build that tries to get a stable board and deter threats before bringing in the heavy hitters.

Playing Doran – An Overview
The goal of this deck is to win through combat damage, and this will be achieved in one of two ways: first, by getting a fast draw and focusing attacks on the most threatening player (based on predetermined meta knowledge or good old-fashioned stereotyping their general), and then building your defense once forced to slow down, or second, by just building a defensive position from the very beginning an winning a war of attrition. How will you know which is right for you? Well, your opening hand will determine a lot of that. If you’ve got a good mana base in your opening hand along with some cheap critters and/or equipment, try to get some early damage in if you can. On the other hand, if your opening hand consists of mostly defensive cards, lay low until a spot presents itself. Remember, Even though Doran is cheap to cast, you don’t want to have to support recasting him from the Command Zone after the first couple of deaths.

The other thing to take into consideration is his ability. One area where he really shines is taking the vast array of low power/high toughness creatures that are out there (Indomitable Ancients is a poster child of this) and lets you cheat with dealing damage. Now, you may be tempted to build around this exclusively, but don’t. Well, I shouldn’t say don’t, because you’re free to do what you want. I’d highly recommend against it, and here’s why: what is your plan when Doran isn’t in play? A smart opponent will target Doran and take the lumbering tower you were about to smash face with, and turn it into a minor nuisance. You need a backup plan, in case Doran gets tucked or becomes too expensive to recast. It’s good to run SOME critters that synergize with Doran, but they should also stand on their own merit (Skinshifter is a perfect example of a creature that doesn’t need Doran).

Piloting the Deck
In the early game, it’s much more likely that you’ll be playing at least somewhat conservatively, so your first few turns will probably consist of lands, ramp, and maybe a low cmc defensive creature like Skinshifter or Kitsune Loreweaver. This is good though, because Doran build range from goofy tribal wall to goodstuff Necra, so people will probably not view you as a threat right off the bat unless you give them a reason to be wary of you. Remember, you’re an aggro deck at heart, so eventually you’ll have to get the beats in, and the sooner the better. By midgame, you should have a decent blocker or some other way to deter most attacks, and looking to kill off a player or two. As with most aggro decks, focus on one player at a time if you can get away with it. In my experience, if you constantly attack one player, the other players won’t mess with you too much. By late game, the remaining table will have eyes on you, so you need a large creature to swing with, and a way to grant it evasion. Removal is light in the deck and somewhat situational, so save it for big threats to YOU, and let the rest of the table worry about their own threats.

Primary Win Condition – General Damage
The fastest way to win is to start attacking with Doran on turn 3/4, and looking to equip him with a Sword the following turn. To achieve this, you will want to focus on one player at a time (this early in a game, I usually base it on what I anticipate from a stereotypical general, or pre-game knowledge). Yeah, many players hate this and I’ve had my fair share of people scooping when I relentlessly attack them, but aggro decks don’t like to spread the love. Your equipment is vital because it is what turns Doran into a three-shot kill from a five-shot kill. Keep pressure on your opponents with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and use your recursion (Eternal Witness, Unburial Rites) as needed.

Key cards: Stoneforge Mystic (tutoring Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of War and Peace, or Swiftfoot Boots), Serra’s Ascendent, Skinshifter, Kitsune Loreweaver.

Support cards: Ramp and removal.

Secondary Win Condition - Bleeding
Should you get a slow start, there is a whole package of cards to extend your life until you can move into an advantageous position.

Lock the board down: Blind Obedience and Loxodon Gatekeeper will slow down your opponents, and Crackdown will keep them from untapping. Torpor Orb will slow down ETB decks (and there aren’t too many cards in this deck that are affected). Be forewarned that this will likely draw hate towards you.

Slowly bleed them: Extort with Blind Obedience and Crypt Ghast as much as you can. Combine Extort with Vizkopa Guildmage whenever possible. (Support cards: Lifelink creatures)

Win the game: Get Urborg, Tomg of Yawgmoth/Cabal Coffers online or Exquisite Blood and kill everyone all at once with Exsanguinate or Vizkopa Guildmage.

Optional Cards to Consider: With a high life total, you can use the Wall of Blood/Repay in Kind combo, and finish them off with Extort or Debt to the Deathless. It’s risky, but it works.

Deck Synergies

• Doran (duh) – A lot of the creatures are going to be glorified walls when Doran isn’t in play, but that’s okay. There are a few beaters that can stand on their own, and the others will provide decent defense until you bring out your Treefolk lord.
• Crypt Ghast +Cabal Coffers & Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Debt of the Deathless – Urborg and Crypt Ghast will make tons of mana, which you can dump into draining a ton of life.
• Vizkopa Guildmage + Exquisite Blood (or Debt of the Deathless) – Combo table kill (or darn close). You can also add Sanguine Bond to the deck if you want, but people tend to dislike the ease of that combo. This way, if they ask you if you run Bond when you drop Blood, you don’t have to lie (even if you still run the combo).
• Oathsworn Giant + Crackdown – Gets your team around the Crackdown effect.
• Blind Obedience + Crackdown brings their dudes in tapped and keeps them that way (hopefully).

Dealing With an Unfavorable Meta

• Against Combo – Krosan Grip is your catch-all against a combo deck trying to go uninterrupted, but there’s numerous instant speed removal spells to stop Deadeye Navigator, Palinchron, or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Additionally, Blind Obedience and Loxodon Gatekeeper pull a lot of weight against someone that wants to keep dropping permanents on the battlefield and use them instantly, which can buy you and the table an extra turn.
• Against Control – Decks that like to stall the board through higher-than-normal numbers of wrath effects can slow you down due to the light amount of card draw and recursion that the deck runs. Cards like Genesis, Sheoldred, Whispering One, and Debtor’s Knell can help you rebuild, Asceticism and Faith’s Reward can keep your team alive, and in general just try to limit the number of creatures you play at any given time. If permission is too much of a problem, consider Grand Abolisher or City of Solitude. Tuck can also be an issue, but Green Sun’s Zenith and Worldly Tutor can find Doran if he gets put in the library.
• Against Stax – Stax dies hard to Aura Shards and other artifact and enchantment hate. With green and white at your disposal, you shouldn’t lack for cards to give Stax what it deserves.
• Against Tokens - Brawn or Horned Helm will give you trample so you can get past their endless supply of blockers, and the Helm has the added bonus of doing it at instant speed. Lightmine Field is great at keeping the attack step from getting too cluttered.

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Land

• Bojuka Bog – Solid utility land to exile a graveyard. I’m happy to run this in any black deck I own.
• Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth – Tons of mana!
• Forbidding Watchtower – Turns into an attacker or a defender depending on the situation, and taps for W.
• Homeward Path – More of a proactive card than reactive in this deck, as I don’t expect much to get stolen, but it’s still a nice card to include regardless.
• Maze of Ith, Mystifying Maze – Deters attackers, or at least gets them to swing somewhere else. Each have their pros and cons though, so use them how you see fit.
• Rogue’s Passage – Eventually, we’re going to have to connect with Doran or another big creature.
• Tectonic Edge – Spot land destruction is a necessity for any EDH deck. Tectonic Edge works well, but its big brother Strip Mine doesn’t discriminate.
• Thespian’s Stage – Removes legendary lands, and copies stuff that’s better than yours.

Artifacts

• Elixir of Immortality – Keeps your library stocked, and helps against mill strategies. Recursion is light in the deck, so sometimes it’s just easier to put everything back into the library and redraw or tutor for it again.
• Nihil Spellbomb – Like Bojuka Bog, I’ll run this in every black deck as a just in case. This is nice because it replaces itself.
• Orzhov Keyrune – The other Keyrunes don’t get run because they don’t provide enough of an alternate effect, but turning this one into a lifklinker that hits for 4 is pretty nice.
• Sensei’s Divining Top – Very useful with all the shuffling effects present.
• Torpor Orb – As this format turns into ETB: the Gathering, I try to include this card when I won’t suffer too much from the effect.

Artifacts - Equipment

• Behemoth Sledge – Having a big bottom doesn’t matter much if my guys can get chump blocked. A towering body should trample over the resistance, and gaining some life while I’m at it is nice. Note: There is anti-synergy with the swords due to them giving pro-white/green, so be aware.
• Swiftfoot Boots – When we want an aggressive start, haste is a must, and plenty of guys in the deck like to be hexproof.
• Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of War and Peace – Offers protection, evasion, and a cool ability that pushes the game forward. As was mentioned earlier with Behemoth Sledge, you can’t equip the Swords and Sledge on the same creature due to the protection from white/green.
• Sword of Light and Shadow – Protects against the two colors most prone to spot removal of a creature, and has a relevant effect for our deck.
• Sword of War and Peace – Like Sword of L&S, it offers protection against pertinent colors, and the extra damage this deals adds up quickly.

Creatures

• Baneslayer Angel – Flies over the heads of potential blockers, and an all-around good aggressive creature.
• Crypt Ghast – The extort ability can help you survive longer than usual, and the limited mana doubling can help if you stall for mana or need to cast a big spell.
• Divinity of Pride – A dumb beater that comes out big.
• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite – Crowd control against tokens, and a booster for your team.
• Eternal Witness – Solid recursion that comes back with Sun Titan and Reveillark.
• Kitsune Loreweaver – Firebreathing for a Doran deck? Yes please. This fox can hit for a lot if your opponent doesn’t pay attention.
• Lord of Extinction – Every rock build needs an end game creature, and this is it.
• Loxodon Gatekeeper – Slows down your opponents.
• Oathsworn Giant – Turns your field into pseudo walls.
• Oracle of Mul Daya – This hard worker acts as ramp and filters your draw. Great in any green deck.
• Pontiff of Blight – Gives all your dudes extort, which isn’t bad (other than all the triggers)
• Qasali Pridemage – Removal. Hopefully you don’t have to rely on the Exalted trigger.
• Reveillark – Half of our creatures can come back with this bird, and thanks to Doran, we’re cheating on the “power”.
• Rhox Faithmender – There’s enough lifelink to make his ability useful, but even by himself he still gains you 10 life every time he connects with Doran out.
• Serra Ascendant – Ideally this would be in your opening hand every game.
• Silklash Spider – Defense against the overall weakness to this deck (flyers).
• Skinshifter – An odd choice at first, but with Doran he can swing for 8 damage.
• Steel Hellkite – To help control the board a little.
• Stoneforge Mystic – Tutors up your Greaves or Sword.
• Stonehewer Giant – He tends to die, but he can put a nasty surprise on the field mid-combat.
• Sun Titan – Recursion for your equipment and some of your critters.
• Teneb, the Harvester – Another late game finisher that can bring people over to your side.
• Thornling – A new add, but looks like potential to be good early or late game.
• Vizkopa Guildmage – Time will tell, but it looks promising.

Enchantments

• Blind Obedience – Slows them down a turn, gives you more reasons to Extort, and works great with…
• Crackdown – It just makes sense with Doran. Meekstone is another good card if you have one.
• Luminarch Ascension – In EDH it doesn’t take long to get four counters, and this will provide the necessary air support that this deck lacks.
• Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena – Card draw that helps keep your hand stocked.
• No Mercy – An excellent rattlesnake card that encourages opponents to attack elsewhere.

Instants
Not much worth talking about. Mostly it’s just your standard removal package.

• Crop Rotation – Between Bojuka Bog, Cabal Coffers, Homeward Path, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, there’s enough reasons to want an instant speed tutor.
• Eladamri’s Call – Instant speed creature tutor. I briefly debated on Green Sun’s Zenith because it put the creature on the battlefield, but using Call right before your untap step is just as good.
• Tithe – More in the way of cheap land tutors. Yeah, it goes to your hand, but with a cmc of 1 and the ability to find duals, I’ll take it.

Sorceries

• Austere Command, Merciless Eviction, Wave of Reckoning – Mass removal.
• Farseek, Nature’s Lore, Rampant Growth – Basic ramp spells. Everything is lower than 3 cmc to stay out of the range of when you want to cast Doran.
• Increasing Ambition – Since I can’t afford Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor, this is the best option for the mana cost.
• Debt to the Deathless – Yeah, it’s a boring way to win, but that’s the name of the game. It’s also a little harder to pull off than Exsanguinate, and has more benefit when X doesn’t equal infinity.
• Remember the Fallen, Unburial Rites – Recursion.

On the Chopping Block

• Cabal Coffers/Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth – Outside of Exsanguinate, I don’t have a use for this pair. The main issue is that without Urborg, I’m rarely going to tap Coffers for actual value (I only have 8 Swamps in the deck, so more often than not it’s a dead land).
• Luminarch Ascension – Haven’t gotten much use out of this card yet, so while I don’t have a good reason to cut it, I don’t have a good reason to keep it also.

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For the most part, these are all cards that I’ve tried and either didn’t fit the strategy that I’m going for, or I didn’t find to perform as well as I had hoped. In general, I’ve at some point run most of the tribal cards for either Treefolk or walls.

If Price Wasn’t a Concern
Ignore the dual lands. I’ve acquired them over time and because they get played in a number of decks. Cards on this list are ones that I know are good, but I can’t justify their cost because I won’t use them enough.

Batterskull – An easy replacement for Behemoth Sledge.
Vindicate – Almost strictly better than Mortify, even though you lose the speed.

Notable Absences
While not necessarily expensive cards, these are some cards that have decent synergy with Doran.

Fireshrieker – Sure, double strike is nice, but without any form of evasion, what’s the point? Most of the creatures in this deck can butt heads and survive even without the ability.
Meekstone – A little pricey on MTGO. Maybe at some point I’ll get on, but I’d rather spend $7 on a card that will see play in more than one deck rather than just this one. If you run it, I’d recommend Sword of the Paruns as a way to untap your dudes, or Concerted Effort to just give everyone vigilance.
Retribution of the Meek – You’d think this card would be great, wouldn’t you? It may very well be, but every time I’ve had it in my hand I’ve wished for a different kind of wrath.
Slagwurm Armor – It’s a great piece of equipment when Doran is out, but any other time it isn’t really impressive. YMMV though, so give it a whirl.


Cards for Various Strategies
These are cards that work well in certain strategies, but not necessarily overall.

Treefolk Tribal

• Black Poplar Shaman
  
• Bosk Banneret
  
• Dauntless Dourbark
  
• Deadwood Treefolk
  
• Indomitable Ancients
  
• Leaf-Crowned Elder
  
• Magnigoth Treefolk
  
• Oakgnarl Treefolk
  
• Orchard Warden
  
• Rootgrapple
  
• Sapling of Colfnor
  
• Seedguide Ash
  
• Thorntooth Witch
  
• Timber Protector
  
• Treefolk Harbinger
  
• Unstoppable Ash
  
• Wickerbough Elder
  
• Woodfall Primus
  

Walls Matter
I mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: Wall.dec is VERY slow and durdly until you find one of the few cards that let you attack with your walls.

• Animate Wall
  
• Axebane Guardian
  
• Carven Caryatid
  
• Crenellated Wall
  
• Ensnaring Bridge
  
• Junktroller
  
• Living Wall
  
• Overgrown Battlement
  
• Rolling Stones
  
• Shield Sphere
  
• Snow Fortress
  
• Souls of the Faultless
  
• Stalwart Shield-Bearers
  
• Sworn Defender
  
• Traproot Kami
  
• Tree of Redemption
  
• Wakestone Gargoyle
  
• Wall of Blossoms
  
• Wall of Faith
  
• Wall of Junk
  
• Wall of Mulch
  
• Wall of Omens
  
• Wall of Reverence
  
• Wall of Tanglecord
  
• Warmonger’s Chariot
  

Pillowfort

• Ensnaring Bridge
  
• Ghostly Prison
  
• No Mercy
  
• Silent Arbiter
  
• Sphere of Safety
  

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Eventually, this will become a sort of mini-Primer format as I get more 1v1 play. In the meantime, here is an informative Aggro-Control 1v1 Doran list by Emether.

This is my current 1v1 deck list. It's designed to be aggressive and nuke the manabase around turn 4/5. I'm basing this off a tenitive ban list which includes Serra Ascendent, Sol Ring, and Necropotence.

Deck list update, and slowly making this into a proper informative thread. I'm not completely sold on some of the changes I made though...

Out: Plains, Golgari Rot Farm, Leechridden Swamp, Orzhov Basilica, Selesnya Sanctuary
In: Swamp, Homeward Path, Maze of Ith, Mystifying Maze, Rogue’s Passage, Winding Canyons
Thoughts: Mediocre lands became better utility lands.

Out: Coalition Relic, Darksteel Ingot, Forcefield, Mimic Vat, Slagwurm Armor
In: Lightning Greaves, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of War and Peace
Thoughts: Cut down on the number of mana rocks, and took out underperformers for more finishers.

Out:Deadwood Treefolk, Duplicant, Traproot Kami, Wall of Junk, Xathrid Gorgon
In: Baneslayer Angel, Ikiral Outrider, Lord of Extinction, Loxodon Gatekeeper, Mortivore, Reveillark, Serra Ascendant, Steel Hellkite, Stoneforge Mystic, Stonehewer Giant, Sun Titan
Thoughts: Got rid of some bland creatures, upped the number of utility creatures and finishers. I will probably have to find a place for Duplicant again though, it’s a good utility card, even if Iona, Shield of Emeria isn’t a common sight.

Out: Aura of Silence, Ghostly Prison, Martyr’s Bond, No Mercy, Phyrexian Arena, Prison Term
In: Crackdown, Luminarch Ascension
Thoughts: I’ll miss a lot of these cards, but I’ve had Stax on the brain for a while, and a lot of them were remnants from a punishing mindset.

Out: Imp’s Mischief, Oblation, Return to Dust
In: Mortify, Putrefy
Thoughts: Swapping removal.

Out: Ashes to Ashes, Austere Command, Exsanguinate, Harmonize, Revoke Existence, Syphon Mind, Wave of Reckoning[/c]
In: Identity Crisis, Unburial Rites
Thoughts: More removal that I’ll miss.

Nice decklist, looks very good. Skinshifter+Doran, the Siege Tower=Trololo!!! Keep up the good work, and don't forget to check my deck out too.

Quote from akashortstack

Nice decklist, looks very good. Skinshifter+Doran, the Siege Tower=Trololo!!! Keep up the good work, and don't forget to check my deck out too.

Thanks! I was rather amused with myself when I stumbled upon that as I sorted through my junk rares.

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Deck updates:

Out: Plains, Vesuva
In: Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers

Thoughts: Huge mana dump to fuel…

Out: Identity Crisis
In: Exsanguinate

Thoughts: Yawn, but Identity Crisis is better in 1v1.

Out: Genju of the Fields, Mortivore
In: Divinity of Pride, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Thoughts: More relevant late game creatures.

I like your decklist, I'm just done building my own Doran deck.

Silverblade paladin could be a good add.
Doran + slagwurm, if you can manage to get silverblade out, it's GG if you hit your target

Quote from JohnnyGilles

I like your decklist, I'm just done building my own Doran deck.

Silverblade paladin could be a good add.
Doran + slagwurm, if you can manage to get silverblade out, it's GG if you hit your target

Yeah, I saw him and considered it for my 1v1 deck. Then I saw the current price.....

It would probably be good in a multiplayer deck as well because there's more viable targets that don't necessarily need Doran in play to be good.

My deck needs Doran to be usefull, that's a great weakness IMO. But it's the 1.0 version, I'll need to play it a bit to tweek it.

The deck is controlish and very defensive. Then I kill.
Lots of creatures with power over X cannot attack or cannot untap.
My playgroup uses huge creatures, maybe this strategy will do.

Until now the deck value is around 200$, I'll probably have to invest more in a near future.

Quote from JohnnyGilles

My deck needs Doran to be usefull, that's a great weakness IMO. But it's the 1.0 version, I'll need to play it a bit to tweek it.

The deck is controlish and very defensive. Then I kill.
Lots of creatures with power over X cannot attack or cannot untap.
My playgroup uses huge creatures, maybe this strategy will do.

Until now the deck value is around 200$, I'll probably have to invest more in a near future.

Manabase aside, if you go with a Meekstone strategy, the deck shouldn't be overly expensive. May I also suggest Sword of the Paruns, as it provides an anthem effect, and can untap anything held down by Meekstone.

Indeed! I already have this card in my decklist, I hope it won't be too long before I receive my cards. I want to test this deck ASAP.:D

Quote from JohnnyGilles

Indeed! I already have this card in my decklist, I hope it won't be too long before I receive my cards. I want to test this deck ASAP.:D

Once you do, I hope you'll post a deck list. Even when similar strategies are used, it's neat to see the random cards that other people use. If you go for a Doran matters theme, I highly recommend Kitsune Loreweaver. It's becoming one of my favorite critters, behind Skinshifter.

Knight of the reliquary ? you run quite a bit of utility lands and coffers combo. Also do you like birthing pod / survival/ fauna in a deck with this many creatures maybe even skullclamp? Also my friend had a deck like this he used elesh norn + living plane to finish us as funny and janky as it sounds it was actually pretty effective lol

Quote from cryogen

Once you do, I hope you'll post a deck list. Even when similar strategies are used, it's neat to see the random cards that other people use. If you go for a Doran matters theme, I highly recommend Kitsune Loreweaver. It's becoming one of my favorite critters, behind Skinshifter.

Count on me I will!

I also already have those cards

My muscles for the deck are mainly Doran, Kitsune, Skinshifter and Guiltfeeder.

I'm not sure if this was suggested to you yet or not, but one of my favorite cards in my Doran Deck is Pernicious Deed . It's great for blowing up board strategies or just swinging the board influence in your favor and ruins token deck that rely both on 0 cost tokens, but also largely on enchantments to give them a helping hand. It also can be brought by Sun Titan which is just a bonus and another card that would be great for your deck, especially with the swords and a general that is a 3 drop I think Sun Titan is a must. I also really like the card Crime/Punishment for similar reasons. It has the ability to pick apart the board like Void or you can use it to bring back a good card from an opponent's Graveyard.

Quote from TheHellfish

I'm not sure if this was suggested to you yet or not, but one of my favorite cards in my Doran Deck is Pernicious Deed . It's great for blowing up board strategies or just swinging the board influence in your favor and ruins token deck that rely both on 0 cost tokens, but also largely on enchantments to give them a helping hand. It also can be brought by Sun Titan which is just a bonus and another card that would be great for your deck, especially with the swords and a general that is a 3 drop I think Sun Titan is a must. I also really like the card Crime/Punishment for similar reasons. It has the ability to pick apart the board like Void or you can use it to bring back a good card from an opponent's Graveyard.

Don't own one for cost reasons I agree that it's a really good card though.

Out: Winding Canyons, Oblivion Ring
In: No Mercy, Phyrexian Arena

Thoughts: Canyons, despite the praise Sean McKeown gives it, never seems to do anything for me, so I’m changing the O-Ring for a deterrent, and adding more draw.

Out: Day Of Judgement, Wrath of God
In: Noetic Scales, Retribution of the Meek

Thoughts: Upgraded to be (hopefully) more one-sided wraths. Scales will have the potential downside of making good use of ETB effects for opponents, so I'll have to play this by ear. With any luck, I can have Torpor Orb in play to counter this.

Out: Magus of the Tabernacle
In: Thornling

Thoughts: Magus is cute, but by itself not very good synergy with the rest of the deck, other than as a wall/attacker.

Out: Wall of Blossoms, Wall of Omens
In: Eternal Witness, Green Sun’s Zenith

Thoughts: Since walls don’t really matter in this deck, they were mainly just a short-term blocker and mainly used because they replace themselves. A Regrowth effect and a creature tutor will probably be better overall.


Also added Wave of Reckoning to the deck list, which was always in the deck but somehow overlooked when I wrote the list.

Got a few games in today on MTGO. Noetic Scales performed as hoped, and saved my butt in one game, while Crackdown worked wonders in another. There were a couple of awkward moments when I was affected as well, but with Scales, that can actually be to my advantage with ETB creatures. One thing to look for is using your equipment to actually trigger Scales with these dudes for reuse later on.

As mentioned, Crackdown was an issue, so if you have Batterskull or Concerted Effort (depending on how many vigilance creatures you run), you might want to consider adding them. Another oldie but goodie to think about is Sword of the Paruns. Sure, it's a little expensive to move around and untap creatures, but it also buffs your team.

One other trifling concern is evasion, both giving my team trample, and opposing fliers. I've addressed this in the past with Brawn and Spidersilk Armor, respectively, and may revisit them depending on how necessary they become.

Played my first game with Viskopa Guildmage. Dropped it, activated the second ability, then cast Exsanguinate for 5. Killed two people and dropped the third player into the single digits. I think I'm going to like that dude.

Only spoiler season is done I'll evaluate Dragon's Mage as it pertains to Doran.

Edit: Ikiral Outrider is a relic from earlier days. Recently though, I haven't been impressed and I rarely want to level him up (although typically I'd just do it once for the vigilance). I'll probably end up cutting him, but not sure for what yet.

Birthday to myself:

Out: Forest, Plains, Cultivate, Green Sun’s Zenith, Kodama’s Reach
In: Bayou, Savannah, Eladamri’s Call, Farseek, Nature’s Lore

Thoughts: Pretty self-explanatory upgrades.

Out: Stingerfly Spider, Treasury Thrull
In: Blind Obedience, Crop Rotation

Thoughts: These two creatures have never impressed me, and I’ve sorely wished for the enchantment and instant.

Thought's on Dragon's Maze spoilers:

Pontiff of Blight - Oh god yes. Sure, it's pricy in our 6cmc slot, but giving everything Extort may pay off. The fact that it's effectively a 7/7 with Doran out is just gravy.

Debt to the Deathless - Cost more than Exsanguinate but hopefully it will be worth the swap.

Gaze of Granite - If I owned Pernicious Deed I'd run it, but this will have to do.

Obzedat's Aid - A little high cmc, but looks solid.

Ready // Willing - I love the flexibility that I can save my troops from a wrath, or gain a lot of life.

Crypt Incursion - Truthfully, it's pretty meh. But if I was up against a heavy graveyard meta I'd probably add it simply because lifegain is a mini-theme in the deck.

I like what you have going here. I love Necra/junk colors and haven't found a build I like quite yet so I've been thinking about giving Doran a go.

Out of curiosity, what swaps would you make if budget were no issue? I assume would Vindicate be on your list for removal.

Quote from jmdt

I like what you have going here. I love Necra/junk colors and haven't found a build I like quite yet so I've been thinking about giving Doran a go.

Out of curiosity, what swaps would you make if budget were no issue? I assume would Vindicate be on your list for removal.

Hmm, yeah, Vindicate could take Mortify's spot, Strip Mine for Tectonic Edge, but other than that, I'm not really sure. It's such a delicate balance of stuff that works with Doran and just good Necra cards. Of course, if you choose to ignore the Vizkopa Guildmage combo (with or without Exsanguinate, there's plenty of room for fatties or Doranesque cards.

I'm going to find room for Necrotic Sliver or Acidic Slime, as I was recently in a game where I needed an answer and all I had was Eladamri's Call. So actually, more tutors like Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor are worth having.

A few thoughts for you.

Have you thought about batterskull to go along with your lifegain theme and Stoneforge Mystic?

Also, you seem a bit low on card draw. Something like Necropotence seems like it would be a good fit.

Quote from cryogen

Hmm, yeah, Vindicate could take Mortify's spot, Strip Mine for Tectonic Edge, but other than that, I'm not really sure. It's such a delicate balance of stuff that works with Doran and just good Necra cards. Of course, if you choose to ignore the Vizkopa Guildmage combo (with or without Exsanguinate, there's plenty of room for fatties or Doranesque cards.

I'm going to find room for Necrotic Sliver or Acidic Slime, as I was recently in a game where I needed an answer and all I had was Eladamri's Call. So actually, more tutors like Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor are worth having.

Yeah you definitely need more tutors.

Since you have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in there, how about Nightmare Incursion? Even if X is just like 3 or 4, it could seriously hamper one combo player which will pretty much take him out of the game. Same thing goes for Sadistic Sacrament.

BTW, I really really like Spidersilk Armor and Sylvan Library for your multiplayer decklist. Sylvan Library is just too good to pass up.