What does Johnny do? Johnny just smiles and makes Spike pay. He makes Spike pay hard.
~Based on a true story. Names were changed to protect the innocent and violently reamed.
Who is Oros, the Avenger?
Oros, the Avenger is the colorshifted version of Treva, the Renewer released in Planar Chaos. As one of the Dragons Primeval (albeit colorshifted) he represents the color white along with its two enemy colors, black and red. His ability is thematic of his title and role, the Avenger. He is the scourge of those that do evil to the innocent avenging those that could not protect themselves. Hence why his ability doesn't touch creatures that are pure of heart (white). Not much else is known about the Planar Chaos Primevals as they have yet to re-appear in a set since 2007.
Why I Chose Oros to be My Deck's Commander
I was drawn to Oros initially because he was only one of three generals who gave access to the Dega (W/B/R) color wedge and not heavily tread territory in terms of what is considered to be the standard of how the deck should be built. In my Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck I had good experience when hooking Scourge of Kher Ridges up with lifelink and deathtouch either through Basilisk Collar or Vault of the Archangel to not only wrath the board but also gain a huge chunk of life. Looking at Oros, he offered an ability that was similar in that it provided a damage based wrath to the entire board albeit one with limitations (and flavor!).
While there were two other generals that offered access to the same wedge of colors, I shied away from them for either being entirely too linear in terms of gameplay (Kaalia) or not providing enough of a benefit to justify their cost (Tariel).
The final consideration that led me to Oros was that he had the largest body. With six power and toughness he is a beefy creature and only one point shy of being able to knock a player out of the game in three swings from commander damage. Since I already knew that I would be running a sizable equipment package that would boost his attack up to seven or greater it seemed like the best pick available.
Why should you play this deck?
1. You want to play a deck with aggro and combo elements that doesn't just run a deck full of tutors to set-up its wincon. 2. You love life gain and damage shenanigans. 3. You want to run the Dega wedge colors but don't want to run a general that you cannot build around easily or that you lose the game without. 4. You like being the only person in your group that runs a particular general or color combination.
Why shouldn't you choose this deck? 1. You prefer to run a general that is more central to the deck. 2. You want to play the most powerful colors in EDH (blue and green). 3. You dislike expensive generals that cost a significant amount to play. 4. You dislike essentially having to scoop against Stigma Lasher or Erebos, God of the Dead.
Other decks I would suggest you check out
Before you make a decision on which general to run, I would suggest taking a few minutes to check out these decks representing the other two commanders for this wedge. 1.Kaalia of the Vast by blueram 2.Tariel, Reckoner of Souls by Rachmiel
What This Deck Does
The goal of the deck is to give most of the creatures in this deck lifelink and deathtouch and profit from the massive swings in board position and life totals by doing so. The deck has a number of redundant tutors and draw abilities to ensure that it functions the way it is designed even through the resistance of your opponents.
Deck Concept
At its heart, this is a very Johnny type of deck in that it wants to win but only on its own terms. Anybody can build a goodstuff deck with the most powerful cards in its colors but it is much more challenging and rewarding to design and play a deck that wins with interesting combinations of cards. Nobody was really trying to see what an Oros, the Avenger deck could do because most of the Invasion dragons (and by proxy their shifted counterparts) were fairly generic. The idea behind this deck was to build a shell that maximized Oros' ability as much as possible without making the deck entirely reliant on resolving Oros to win.
The most explosive thing that this deck can do is get a creature that does damage to every creature and player on the field and then give it lifelink and deathtouch. Against some decks this can be an absolute blowout (I'm looking at you greencreatures.dec) as not only are you gaining a great amount of life but also wiping out all creatures that don't have indestructibility or protection from color. Essentially speaking this makes all of the creatures in your deck with this ability an Exsanguinate if they have lifelink with a wrath stapled onto them if they also have deathtouch. The main outlets for pulling this off are Crypt Rats, Magma Phoenix, Thrashing Wumpus, and Oros himself.
There is one infinite combo in the deck (which wasn't an intentional decision but both cards synergized well with the deck) if you resolve Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage and Exquisite Blood and any source of damage being dealt. The way this comb works is by gaining life from an opponent taking damage with Exquisite Blood which means you can do a damage to an opponent with Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage which in turn feeds Exquisite Blood. Wiping out the board this way is considered bad form in most playgroups but sometimes ending a game that has dragged on for too long is an act of mercy. If people you play with feela little salty abut this, some of that saltiness can be mitigated by making corny puns.
The tertiary way for the deck is set-up to win is through general damage. With a healthy number of equipment that can boost Oros' attack (Skullclamp, Sword of Value, and Sunforger) Oros will be able to take out an opponent in 3 to 4 swings. Not the fastest voltron kill out there but it can and does work. In corner cases you can get a two swing kill with Oros by having Gisela out or by swinging with him once while equipped with Sunforger and then on the second swing against the same player detaching Sunforger to tutor up Boros Charm and give him double strike (10 for the first swing, 12 for the second).
Obviously you can win through other means (a massive Debt to the Deathless, sticking Crypt Rats/Thrashing Wumpus, or just through normal creature damage) but the above were a few of the ways that the deck can go off.
Overall you want to control the tempo of the game using the early rounds to set-up a later line of play and use spot removal to keep faster decks from hurting you too badly. Depending on the board state, this generally means I am trying to tutor up Basilisk Collar/Vault of the Archangel or Sunforger to set-up for the next stage of the game. A lot of the low CMC creatures in this deck are utility dorks and I generally throw them in front of a larger creature as needed once they've done their job. A couple creatures (Rhox Faithmender, Vampire Nighthawk, Serra Ascendant) are in the deck specifically to help you absorb either life lost early on or dissuade players from pointing their hate your way.
The reason this deck is so heavy on wrath and spot removal is to allow you to control the faster and more aggressive decks at the table. Having Sunforger out and equipped to a creature goes a long way toward making sure that you have the right tool for the right job. The reason the so called "Sunforger Black" package is so standard among decks that run the Dega color wedge is because it is very effective. There are only a few combos you cannot disrupt with it as it is heavy on exile and tuck removal effects that work at instant speed. Another tool the deck uses to make sure it has the right tool is Vampiric Tutor/Cruel Tutor and Sensei's Divining Top. You can use any of those three cards to set either Terminus or Reforge the Soul at the top of your library to set-up for their miracle cost. If you have done this and have Sensei's Divining Top out then you have instant speed mass-tuck or hand disruption.
The general himself
Knowing when to play Oros is vital to the deck. While the deck has a shell that works with Oros' ability the deck is most definitely not married to him. If you lose Oros, it is an inconvenience but not a total loss. The deck has a number of other creatures that offer redundancy in that they have similar abilities. The best time to play Oros is when your opponents have a large build up of (non-white) creatures while you also have a way to protect him and give him haste. Using him the same turn you cast him is very important to the deck as his efficiency goes down dramatically if you give your opponents a turn to respond to him. Ideally you'll also want to be able to give him lifelink or deathtouch at the same time but this shows up one of the weaknesses of the general. To play Oros is a minimum of 6 mana. To use his ability is another 3 mana. To give him lifelink and deathtouch is an additional 3 to 4 mana. Additionally depending on whether you have Swiftfoot Boots or Lightning Greaves you may also have to pay an additional 1 to equip him. This means in order to cast Oros with haste while having enough mana to use his ability and ensure that he has lifelink/deathtouch all in the same turn will cost a whopping 12 to 14 mana. Because of this cost, it is very important than you only cast Oros if you have a way to protect him or you absolutely need a 6/6 flier on the field.
Mulliganing
Because multiplayer EDH tends to go at a much slower pace than more traditional constructed formats, I feel that poor mulliganing is the norm for many players. Just because you can generally survive long enough to start doing things off of a bad hand does not mean you should keep a bad hand. You are winning despite a bad hand not because of it.
When you look at an opening hand for this deck you are primarily looking for 3-4 lands that produce white and black mana (the two intensive colors in the deck) and then a significant play within the first 3 to 4 turns of the game. A significant play is defined in this deck as one that will allow you to set yourself up for victory in the later game. Examples of this would be getting a good balance of 3 to 4 lands, a Stoneforge Mystic, one of the deck's five drops, and something else. This will allow you to dig up either a haste enabling piece of equipment so that the five drop can start swinging as quickly as possible or a combo piece like Basilisk Collar.
This deck is very mana hungry and it frequently cares what colors of mana it makes (particularly for the pestilence creatures) so making sure that you have enough lands and that they are of the correct colors is important.
Game flow
Early on in the game you are looking to set-up the framework for a mid to late game win. The lines of opening play I tend to favor are generally along the lines of trying to drop something early on to stop opportunistic attacks from more aggressive decks and set up haste enablers and lifelink/deathtouch enablers. Crypt Rats is a good way to equalize the board early game and losing a few points of life if we're already down some is generally worth the cost of getting rid of other decks' weenies.
During the midgame is when the deck generally starts asserting itself through repeatedly board wipes and spot removal. Equipment like the Greaves and Boots can let you keep a creature on the board through most spot removal. While cards like Serra Ascendant, Baneslayer Angel, Kokusho, the Evening Star, and Wurmcoil Engine match the deck thematically, they are crucial to gaining back life lost in the earlier rounds.
Late game is usually cemented by repeatedly dropping threats (such as recurring creatures using Whip of Erebos, tutoring for creatures like Ulamog using Eye of Ugin) until something sticks or comboing off somehow. One of the swingiest cards in the deck is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight which can turn any creature into a very fast clock or double damage based abilities like Heartless Hidetsugu.
Overextending
One of the things that you have to be careful of in this deck is not overextending the cards that give your creatures lifelink and deathtouch or the creatures that do mass damage. Playing out more than one way of giving a creature lifelink and deathtouch at the same time will generally result in them all of them being destroyed at once (such as by an Austere Command) which severely hampers the deck's efficiency. Generally speaking only one creature at a time really needs those abilities so having multiple sources of it on the field at once is usually a waste of effort. Also because most of the creatures that deal damage to all creatures in players at a time will kill every other creature with the same ability, you are wasting those extra creatures when they die to the effect of another one. Play one, use it, and then play another once the first one is gone.
Voltron decks are your enemy
Except for decks that aggressively combo off for non-combat infinite wins, voltron decks are your worst enemy. Voltron does not care that you have gained over two hundred life. He does not care that you have spot removal and that he has to pay two more mana to recast his general the next turn. He just wants to hurt you. Because of this you want to make sure that when you play voltrons, that you tuck their generals whenever possible. Most voltron decks run a lot of mana acceleration so that they can repeatedly recast their general when you kill it through normal means, so tucking is one of the few ways you can slow them down.
Power Level Concerns
The goal of this deck is to win but to do so while being "fair." Because of this the deck features no alternate win conditions (e.g. Felidar Sovereign and Test of Endurance) or mass land destruction (e.g. Armageddon. It also has very minimal support for an infinite combo as that isn't the purpose of the deck. For some suggestions for building the deck to incorporate these ideas please see the first drop-down here.
Serra Ascendant - This cards is a 6/6 flying lifelinker (90% of the time) for a single W. Dropping this on the first turn will make you the most hated player at the board many times but it generally deals around 12 damage before someone takes it out which puts your starting life total effectively at 52. Because of the low casting cost for this creature compared to its stats it isn't dead when played outside of the first few turns and can easily shift your life total back up.
Weathered Wayfarer - When his ability is on (and I've never had it not work) he is an unconditional land tutor. This allows him to color fix or fetch key pieces of the deck like Vault of the Archangel, Hall of the Bandit Lord, or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth/Cabal Coffers. As with most 1 drops in the deck he is fed to larger creatures swinging at me or used to boost the lifegain from the damage to all creature effects in the deck once his value is used up.
Knight of the White Orchid - His main purposes in the deck is to ramp us by a land when he enters the battlefield. Because we're running the full suite of on-color shocklands he also helps fix our mana colors with his primary target being Godless Shrine as white and black are the heaviest colors in the deck. Because he has first strike he also plays well with deathtouch making him a decent rattlesnake card.
Stoneforge Mystic - I most frequently use Stoneforger to tutor for Lightning Greaves, Basilisk Collar, or Sunforger. One of the big benefits that Stoneforger grants is that she has an activated ability that lets you cast equipment for 1W and tapping. This lets you sneak some equipment (Sword of Feast and Famine and Sunforger) in for cheaper and bypass almost all counter magic.
Vizkopa Guildmage - My original description of this card was "Gives creatures lifelink as needed but his main purpose is to be used as a back-up for Sanguine Bond" but that was a disservice to what this card actually does. If you have the mana to invest in activating both of Vizkopa's abilities and swing with just it and another 2/2 you are effectively doing 4 damage to every person at the table and 8 damage to the person on the receiving end if they have no blockers. Being able to stick Vizkopa Guildmage early can dramatically cut down on the life totals of all players. That said, it also works as a redundant Sanguine Bond if you really need to combo off with Exquisite Blood or Heartless Hidetsugu.
Crypt Rats - The earliest "deals damage to all creatures and players" card that we have. This card is an absolute beating when given lifelink and deathtouch as it effective says "Destroy all creatures and gain X*2 life." Even without lifelink and deathtouch, this card lets you stabilize against most aggressive decks forcing the tempo back in your direction. The only downside of Crypt Rats' ability is that it requires black mana to use. Generally this isn't a problem but if you haven't hit enough black producing lands or don't have one of your fixers in play (Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Chromatic Lantern) it can become problematic.
Necrotic Sliver - Originally Necrotic Sliver was a High Priest of Penance in this deck which was included to act as a rattlesnake card. Unfortunately Priest never seemed to work the way I needed it to so I switched to Necrotic Sliver. This is essentially a recurable, instant speed, Vindicate that can also chump block. Because it is a creature and costs less than three mana to cast it can be brought back with Sun Titan or Whip of Erebos as needed to perform an encore.
Vampire Nighthawk - One of the most efficient creatures printed for black, Nighthawk has flying, lifelink, and deathtouch. Combine that with reasonable stats for its low mana cost and you have value. The deathtouch aspect of the card will discourage a lot of players from attacking you and throwing on a piece of equipment like Sunforger or Sword of Feast and Famine can make him into a very respectable beater.
Kor Cartographer - This card essentially dittos Knight of the White Orchid's description in that it is primarily in the deck to color fix and help the deck ramp. Its downside is that it costs twice as much to play as Knight and doesn't have first strike but because non-basic ramp is so sparse outside of green this is a must include.
Rhox Faithmender - The rhino cleric plays well with the overall theme of lifegain in the deck by doubling whatever lifegain we do get. The faithmender is also competitively costed on the defensive side of things and can chump block smaller creatures with impunity.
Solemn Simulacrum - This card is a staple in most EDH decks for a reason. It brings you up a land higher and when it dies it replaces itself with a card in your hand. While it is limited to only searching for basic lands, we run enough that it has never been a whiff for me.
Baneslayer Angel - Another contribution to the "If it swings, it should gain me life" club. Baneslayer was a $50.00 card in standard for a reason as it allows you to race many people based on just gaining back life faster than they can kill you. The addition of the trinket text that gives it protection from demons and dragons is surprising relevant in EDH and can be problematic for people running generals with those creature types.
Heartless Hidetsugu - Activating Heartless can completely redefine the balance of the game in your favor and in some conditions outright win you the game. While alone his activations generally only serve to shorten the game and put you at the mercy of faster decks giving him lifelinking, having Exquisite Blood in play, or activating him while Gisela is out on the field will either put you significantly ahead or outright win you the game. While he isn't good in every situation his ability is so big when it works that he is worth the inclusion in the deck.
Magma Phoenix - If you can't tell by the examples of how the deck plays at the top of this post this card is an all-star in the deck. The ability to do 3 damage to all creatures and players is significant even when it doesn't have lifelink and deathtouch. It also has the ability to be recurred meaning that in the later stages of the game you can cast it repeatedly once you have enough mana. The downside of Magma Phoenix is that it has to go to the graveyard for its effect to be triggered which means that it getting Swords to Plowshared or Path to Exiled hurts. Another (slight) downside of this card is that the deck doesn't run any true sacrifice outlets so there will be times where it won't be able to "explode" even when you need it to. For this reason I am thinking of replacing it with Shard Phoenix who functions virtually identically except that it can self-sacrifice at the cost of less damage to all creatures and players and being more red mana intensive but less expensive overall.
Stonehewer Giant - Originally put in the deck to be Stoneforge Mystic #2, this guy is actually a pretty consistent beater. Like most (all) creatures he benefits greatly from having haste which allows him to swing and then equip himself at instant speed with his ability in response to your opponents' responses. Once he is able to tap to activate his ability, he becomes very hard to deal with using spot removal as he can just tutor up and Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots in response. He can also do the same thing with Sunforger which can sometimes surprise people if you have the mana to equip him at instant speed and also pay Sunforger's detach cost to tutor up an instant in response to something they do.
Thrashing Wumpus - The third creature in the deck (not including Oros himself) that deals damage to all creatures, Thrashing Wumpus is effectively a scale up Crypt Rats. Having multiple creatures that provide the same effect offers the deck some redundancy and Thrashing Wumpus also boasts higher stats to the rats. Because he is a 3/3 as opposed to a 1/1 you can actually use his ability without killing him twice in a single turn. This can be important as it allows him to sometimes be used more than once something Crypt Rats isn't able to do without protection from black or indestructibility. He is more mana intensive than Crypt Rats costing two B and three colorless to cast as opposed to just one B and two colorless.
Kokusho, the Evening Star - Banned from being a general but not from being played in a deck, Kokusho is one of earlier EDH's biggest reanimation targets. Generally in a four person game he is gaining you 15 life when he goes to the graveyard. Having cards like Vizkopa Guildmage, Exquisite Blood, and Sanguine Bond make this effect even bigger (in some cases game ending). Kokusho has reasonable stats for his cast cost and has evasion so in a pinch he can be used as a beater but his real benefit to the deck is when he goes to the graveyard.
Sun Titan - Originally a random goodstuff pick but as I played with the deck more he become something of an MVP. Because his ability is tied to his entering the battlefield and not just to attacking means that even if he dies the turn he is played, you are still getting value from him. He brings back equipment that have been destroyed, he recurs fetchlands to accelerate or mana fix your board position, and all of the enter the battlefield creatures that cost three or less in this deck become part of an engine as opposed to one time effects. He also functions as a very reasonable blocker as he has vigilance allowing you to swing, bring something back, and still have a creature to block with.
Wurmcoil Engine - Essentially the colorless titan, this card is pure value. Having lifelink and deathtouch on a single creature makes it both an effective beater and a rattlesnake card that opponents have to play around in order to hit you. If you (or an opponent) wrath the board he preserves himself by generating two 3/3 tokens meaning that you have a very similar board presence right off the bat (as opposed to most of the other players). Additionally he is a colorless creature making him tutorable with Eye of Ugin.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - Along with Heartless Hidetsugu and Vizkopa Guildmage, Gisela creates massive swings in game balance. Her damage doubling ability make Heartless Hidetsugu a near instant win in many cases, increases the efficiency of all of your creatures (particularly important when it comes to your general), and makes your pestilence effects on Crypt Rats and Thrashing Wumpus far more dangerous. The other side of her abilities is just as potent keeping you from burning yourself out as easily with Pestilence effects, only losing a quarter of your life to Heartless, and in general being able to tank swarms of creatures like a boss.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Another late game finisher, Ulamog destroys a permanent when he is cast (not when he enters the battlefield) which means that the effect resolves even if he is countered. Additionally once he hits the board his indestructibility makes him hard to deal with and he becomes more difficult to answer if there is a Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots laying around for him to wear. With all of the haste enablers the deck has, he regularly is able to swing the same turn you cast him which can nearly immediately knock someone out of the game. Another benefit to running Ulamog is that he makes you much harder to mill to death (your opponents need to run a way to exile him at instant speed or exile all cards that would go to your graveyard) and synergizes well with the wheeleffects the deck runs allowing you to recycle your graveyard (which also synergizes with Sunforger to re-use the same spells multiple times).
Instant and Sorcery Selections & Why
Why I chose these specific instants
With the exception of Vampiric Tutor every instant in the deck is able to be searched for using Sunforger. The reason for this is beyond simply making the deck more consistent, it gives the deck a much greater ability to have the right tool for the right job. There are also a good number of tuck effects in this deck. The reason for this is because one of the things that most lifegain decks have problems with are voltron decks who do not care how much life you have gained. Tucking an opposing players' general will usually remove the threat for the majority of the game. Instants Path to Exile - Essentially a redundant copy of Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile is tied with its predecessor as one of the most efficient removal spells ever printed. While it does offer a form of permanent resource advantage when it removes a creature, the drawback is bearable when you consider that the removed creature is exiled from the game, bypassing Indestructibility, Regeneration, the possibility of the creature being reanimated, and ignoring triggers for when the creature enters the graveyard.
Swords to Plowshares - Before there was Path to Exile there was Swords to Plow. This is the original one mana "Your creature is going away forever" spell and it is still as good as it was in yesteryear. The drawback for Swords to Plowshares is far less permanent than the one for Path to Exile making it the superior of the two cards.
Vampiric Tutor - In someways Vampiric Tutor is simultaneously worse and better than its older cousin Demonic Tutor. The strength of the card is that it can be used at instant speed (at the cost of 2 life) but instead of placing the card in your hand, it places it on top of your deck. Occasionally this will be painful when you need the card right then and you don't have a way to draw but it does offer nice synergy with cards like Sensei's Diving Top, Terminus, and Reforge the Soul. Also on the list of slightly niche uses, I've used Vampiric Tutor to recycle my graveyard against mill decks by tutoring Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to the top of the library in response to a mill ability.
Boros Charm - This is primarily in the deck so I have a chance to respond to someone casting a mass land destruction spell or targeting a permanent I absolutely need to survive. I love the modal nature of all of the charms (even when the abilities aren't necessarily useful) and this is no exception. The ability to give a creature double strike can be used to gain extra life when used on one of your lifelinking creatures, to two shot a player (occasionally) with your general, or to make some player cry when you make someone else's general have double strike. The indestructibility mode can be used to counter spot removal on permanents you absolutely require to survive or to protect your board position from most type of wipes (be it land or creature). The least useful ability is the ability to randomly ding a player for 4 life but I could see it being useful every once in a blue moon.
Chaos Warp - There isn't a permanent type it doesn't deal with and the cast costing cost is very flexible. While it doesn't guarantee that a threat is gone for good (especially in more tutor heavy decks) it does generally take care of something long enough for you to have drawn another, more permanent, answer or simply taken out the player. As with all tuck spells it is absolutely house against opposing generals and very rarely have I see someone get to place a permanent in play that was more dangerous that what Chaos Warp was initially used on.
Oblation - Oblation is essentially Chaos Warp's slightly less flexible and more prohibitively drawn back cousin. It functions nearly identically to Chaos Warp in that it tucks and shuffles a problem permanent (particularly opposing generals) to get rid of it. This bypasses most forms of creature protection like Indestructibility, Regeneration, all forms of graveyard interaction, and the Command Zone, so it can be a powerful effect. Powerful effect or not, letting a player draw two cards can bring back the same threat or something just as bad. That said, when used judiciously, Oblation can be house. You can also use it as a draw spell when you absolutely need to try drawing into an answer. Also, using Oblation on a creature that your opponents have taken control of, means that you draw the two cards, not them.
Unmake - Effectively a more expensive Swords to Plowshares, Unmake has the advantage of not providing your opponent with any sort of "gift" for taking care of their creature in exchange for the greater mana cost.
Return to Dust - There are very few cards that exile non-creature permanents and fewer still that do it at instant speed. Return to Dust does both and when cast during your main phase can be a two for one. Additionally the exile stipulation gets around indestructible permanents like the Theros gods, Darksteel Forge, Blightsteel Colossus, etc. Easily one of the most powerful iterations of Disenchant ever printed.
Sorceries Vandalblast - While it costs only a single mana to blow up a single artifact, Vandalblast's strength is in its overloaded form. Simply put unless not destroying an artifact is going to lose you the game, you should never cast Vandalblast without paying its overload casting cost. The ability to asymmetrically destroy all artifacts your opponents control is fantastic.
Demonic Tutor - The original and best tutor available in Magic the Gathering. The only thing this card lacks is not being an instant but you cannot have everything.
Cruel Tutor - I dither a bit between this and playing another tutor like Diabolic Tutor or Beseech the Queen but the fact that it interacts well with the miracle casting cost cards in the deck and not having to reveal the card I search for is usually want keeps this in the main deck. There really isn't a whole lot else to say about this card, it searches your library and increases consistency.
Wheel of Fortune - In terms of mana efficiency, this is one of the strongest drawing spells in the deck but it comes with the drawback of also refueling the hands of your opponents. The best time to cast this is as soon as you can dump the majority of your hand or when you absolutely have to disrupt the hand of another player (such as when they tutor for a specific card). The main reason for the inclusion of Wheel is simply that it is a very cheap drawing spell but it also synergizes well with Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre which is a good way to get a late drop out of your hand or to recycle your graveyard (relevant for Sunforger targets). This can also be used to feed Whip of Erebos in some niche cases.
Damnation - While this is the most mana efficient wrath in the deck, it is also one of the least powerful because it does not get around indestructibility or offer any sort of flexibility in the targets you choose like Austere Command or Merciless Eviction. That said, being able to cast this on four mana is relevant in games where we start with it in our opening hand or draw into it within the first few rounds, relieving a lot of pressure early on if we are a target.
Debt to the Deathless - A scaled up version of Exsanguinate, Debt can be used to knock off a couple players or outright win you the game. One of the important things about running Debt over Exsanguinate is knowing what the breaking point is for when Debt becomes a more efficient mana investment. You do not want to cast this card until you have seven mana to invest. Exsanguinate deals five damage for a seven mana investment while Debt to the Deathless will deal six damage. As you invest more mana beyond that point in cast this card, it becomes exponentially more powerful. Debt to the Deathless plays very well with Sanguine Bond, Vizkopa Guildmage, and Exquisite Blood on the field. Casting a Debt for eight mana while you have Sanguine Bond in play will usually end a game immediately if there are three other players. Using it with Exquisite Blood is not as powerful but will still double the effect on your life gain. It is also important to note that this does not get double damage while you have Gisela, Blade of Goldnight in play as life loss is not the same thing as damage dealt.
Promise of Power - This was originally Ancient Craving but the ability to draw three cards for four mana wasn't enough for what I wanted. By scaling up one more mana you draw an additional two cards and the five life lost for casting this is negligible to the deck. Alternately this can become an aggressively costed dude depending on your hand size and both if you pay the entwine cost. One thing to note about the demon token you get for using the dude-mode of this card is that the power and toughness is set at the time you cast this card and does not change with the number of cards in your hand. This is great since a lot of times you want to dump everything you have as quickly as possible but can occasionally mean that you're casting just a chump blocker for five mana.
Reforge the Soul - The second wheel affect in the deck, the idea is to use your ability to manipulate the top of your deck to cast it at instant speed for the miracle cost. Otherwise it is a more expensive Wheel of Fortune. See my notes above for more information about some of the syngeries it offers the deck.
Austere Command - One of the best board sweeping effects in the deck, this gets rid of pretty much anything that isn't a land or a planeswalker. The ability to cast it for multiple modes as needed gives it a lot of flexibility that justifies the high-ish mana cost to cast. One thing to keep in mind with Austere Command is that the different effects resolve in the order that is printed on the card (i.e. Artifacts, then Enchantments, then Creatures with a CMC of 3 or less, and finally creatures with a CMC of 4 or greater). This can be relevant when you have an effect (such as the creatures with Totem armor) that would prevent a creature from being destroyed normally.
Merciless Eviction - While functionally this is a less effective sweeper when you want to remove all enchantments and artifacts, it gets around Indestructibility and other graveyard shenanigans becomes it specifies to exile the the targets and not destroy them. A board full of creatures with an Avacyn, Angel of Hope in play? No problem. Same thing with Darksteel Forge and a bunch of artifacts.
Terminus - The final wrath in the deck, this is a great card for when there are multiple generals on the field. This also gets around a lot of the same abilities that exiling does with the added bonus of making sure that a general doesn't go back to the command zone. Much like Reforge the Soul this card is good on its own but better when set-up at the top of your deck with some way to draw a card letting you cast it at instant speed.
Enchantment Selections & Why
Fervor - Unlike many decks there are not a huge number of significant enter the battlefield triggers on our creatures meaning that we do not get a whole lot of advantage just by playing creatures. Having a card that gives all of our creatures haste means that we are less likely to play them for negative or no value as they can attack the turn they come into play. This is especially significant for Oros, the Avenger himself as the haste requires no additional investment beyond playing Fervor itself which frees up mana to use on his ability or paying for other things (particularly equipping Basilisk Collar or activating Vault of the Archangel.
Necropotence - This is one of the most powerful card draw sources ever printed. The life lost (when used responsibly) is easily negated by the deck's lifegaining abilities. There is a nonbo (see the MTG Salvation wiki for the definition of nonbo) in this deck when using Necropotence. You do not want to use either Wheel of Fortune or Reforge the Soul while this is out as the cards you discard will be exiled instead of put in the graveyard. This also nerfs Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre's ability if it is discarded as well.
Playing this card usually has massive political ramifications as it puts a massive bullseye on your head because it signals that you are running an infinite combo in your deck. Generally I like to sit on this card until there is someone with a strong enough board position that nobody is going to attack me over them or that I absolutely need the lifegain.
Sanguine Bond - Even without using this to combo off with Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond is a potential wincon when coupled with massive lifegain. Heartless Hidetsugu having lifelink or even a massive Debt to the Deathless while this is in play will generally end the game immediately.
Much like Exquisite Blood, this card will generally put you on every other players' radar so it is important to play this judiciously.
Artifact and Equipment Selections and Why
Equipment Basilisk Collar - Basilisk Collar is one of the most important pieces of equipment in this deck as it very cheaply gives lifelink and deathtouch to any creature you slap it on. This means that any damage the equipped creature does (including non-combat damage) will kill any creature that doesn't have Indestructibility, a way to regenerate, or something like Totem Armor. This synergizes with our general, all of the creatures that have a pestilence effect built onto them, anything with first strike, etc. It is also easily tutored for using Stoneforge Mystic or Stonehewer Giant as well as the other unconditional tutors in the deck.
Lightning Greaves - The Greaves are in almost every EDH deck for a reason. Once they are cast they give any creature free haste and a pass on any targeted removal. The fact that these are also an equipment mean that the deck has a number of ways to tutor them up. The only negative about this card is that they provide the equipped creature with shroud which prevents you from equipping that creature with another artifact once the greaves are attached so it is important to make sure that unless you have another creature in play that you slap on any other equipment first and then greaves.
Swiftfoot Boots - A redundant copy of greaves, this is mostly identical except for the increased equip cost and the fact that it provides hexproof instead of shroud to the equipped creature. The boots providing hexproof means that you do not have the same issues with equipping a creature and then not being able to put on another equipment because of shroud. Other than that, Swiftfoot Boots is a functional reprint of Lightning Greaves.
Sunforger - There was a Magic article written over a decade ago by a player named Michael Flores called "Who's The Beatdown?". The key principle of the article is knowing when you need to play your deck aggressively (being the beatdown) or playing conservatively (being the control). You can find the republished copy of this article here on SCG.
The reason I am referencing that article is because Sunforger enables the deck to most efficiently play the role of control. There are some decks that are spewing out threats so quickly that under normal circumstances you would not be able to draw into all of your removal to stop them from winning. Sunforger allows you to do this by effectively extending your hand to include every other non-Vampiric Tutor instant in the deck. The selection of instants in this deck gives you the depth to handle multiple threats at instant speed multiple times.
While Sunforger's greatest strength is allowing you to have an instant speed answer to almost any threat on the board it can also give you the ability to play more aggressively. The four additional power pushes Oros up to being able to kill an opposing player in three shots under normal circumstances and occasionally a two shot kill.
Sword of Feast and Famine - Outside of Sword of Fire and Ice this is probably the most powerful of the swords printed. The ability to untap all of your lands while disrupting an opponent's hand is invaluable. Used properly this gives you the ability to spend mana on the variety of effects this deck has (such as activating Oros' ability, paying for Vault of the Archangel, or using Crypt Rats/Thrashing Wumpus) while still having mana to cast other cards in your hand during your second main phase. A nuance to the protection from black that this sword grants is that it stops you from killing your own creature when using Crypt Rats/Thrashing Wumpus allowing you to clear the field of chumps using their pestilence effect, swing in for damage, untap, and then cast other cards or use their ability again. The protection from green is also usually relevant as green decks usually have a surplus of chump blockers.
Artifacts Expedition Map - Because of the importance of some lands in our deck (such as Vault of the Archangel for giving lifelink/deathtouch to our creatures or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for mana fixing) having a land tutor that doesn't specify to search for a basic land card is invaluable. It also helps ensure that you do not miss a land drop which can put you behind considering the lackluster nature of ramp outside of green and mono-black. Because it has a cast cost of less than three, this can also be used re-used with Sun Titan giving it a bit more reach.
Nihil Spellbomb - Graveyard hate on a stick that can also become a cantrip when you are desperate for cards. This also recurs with Sun Titan which is generally considered decent.
Sensei's Diving Top - Another staple that sees play in almost every deck because of its power. This synergizes particularly well with the cards that have a Miraclecasting cost allowing you to decide when you want to use the ability and making them much easier to use at instant speed.
Sol Ring - There isn't a whole lot say about Sol Ring that hasn't already been said elsewhere. Because of the heavy cost of the general and most of the activated abilities in the deck, this is invaluable for accelerating your ability to play these cards. There really isn't anything about about it at all.
Boros Signet - Mana fixing and ramping you up an additional turn. The only downside of the signets is that you have to have mana in order to use them and I have occasionally not paid attention, used all of my other mana sources, and tried to use these until I realize I cannot.
Orzhov Signet - Mana fixing and ramping you up an additional turn. The only downside of the signets is that you have to have mana in order to use them and I have occasionally not paid attention, used all of my other mana sources, and tried to use these until I realize I cannot.
Rakdos Signet - Mana fixing and ramping you up an additional turn. The only downside of the signets is that you have to have mana in order to use them and I have occasionally not paid attention, used all of my other mana sources, and tried to use these until I realize I cannot.
Crucible of Worlds - Because of the importance of many of the lands in the deck, this is invaluable for making sure that you get them back when they have been destroyed. This is also excellent for use with a fetchland as it allows you to ensure that you do not miss a land drop when you might normally do so.
Chromatic Lantern - Color fixing and ramp, seems good. Casting Chromatic Lantern allows you a lot more flexibility in how you tap your mana as well as ensuring that you always have enough black mana to use the pestilence effects in the deck.
Whip of Erebos - First of all, I had fits trying to figure out whether to put this in artifacts or enchantments because it is both. I ended up classifying it as an artifact because it primarily died to artifact removal. The dual typing is problematic because it allows cards that destroy strictly artifacts or strictly enchantments to destroy it with equal efficiency. That said, the ability to give all creatures lifelink is excellent in this deck while the ability to recur creatures from your graveyard gives the deck a bit more reach in late game. This also synergizes well with Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul allowing you to pitch creatures to Ball Lightning at your opponents when needed.
Gilded Lotus - It ramps while producing colored mana. This is another "in every other deck" type card because of its utility and ability to allow you to cast more color intensive spells.
Mind's Eye - Probably the best generic (any deck can use it) draw source in EDH. The ability to pay one to draw a card whenever your opponents do can be a bit nutty. One consideration to keep in mind is that you generally do not want to draw extra cards when someone has a Consecrated Sphinx on the field as you'll just be enabling them to draw yet more mana.
Land Selections & Why
Philosophy on lands
Simply put, lands that enter the battlefield tapped are bad and will cost you the game at some point or another. The only reason to have a land that enters the battlefield tapped in your deck is because it provides an effect that is worth the loss of tempo (e.g. Bojuka Bog) or because you have a budget constraint of some type. The secondary rule of building a mana base is that you do not want lands that do not produce colorless mana unless they have a very strong effect attached to them (e.g. Temple of the False God).
Dual lands are superior because they offer mana fixing for all two color combinations, have no conditions or drawbacks for their use, and they can be searched for by cards that specify to look for a specific land type (such as Plains). This is in particular relevant when playing with the fetchlands from Onslaught and Zendikar that specify to look for one of two basic land types. Searching up a dual land with one of these fetchlands means that you have the ability to fix for two colors instead of just one if you found a basic land. This is also why the shocklands from Ravnica block are so popular. They also have both basic land types for the colors they produce but have the downside of entering play tapped unless you pay 2 life. Individually paying 2 life for a land isn't a bad deal but fetching up all three on-color shocklands for a three color deck will mean that you paid nearly a quarter of your starting life total (assuming you use fetchlands).
The Shadowmoor and Eventide filterlands are strong because they offer not just mana fixing in that they can produce one of two colors but also mana smoothing in that they can produce two mana of either color. Additionally they do not come into play tapped so they can be used the turn they are played even if you do not use them to produce colored mana.
Checklands are good because they generally come into play untapped if you control at least two basic land types of your total three available and have no stipulations (such as life loss or requiring a color to be activated). Their only downside is that they can come into play tapped if you only have non-basic lands that do not have a basic land type but having a full suite of dual and shocklands in your deck will generally prevent this from ever happening.
The secondary color fixing lands I would recommend are the Ice Age and Apocalypse painlands, the Odyssey filterlands, and the Ravnica block karoolands. There are other mana fixing lands that offer some sort of ancillary benefit (such as the taplands from Zendikar) but those are typically not worth it unless you have a specific reason to use them (such as Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse so you have extra targets for Crucible of Worlds).
While they do ping you on each use and generally will hurt you more over the course of a game than the shocklands, painlands come into play untapped and can produce colorless mana for times when you don't want or need to take damage. The filtlerlands from Odyssey are great in that they also come into play untapped and do not have specific mana requirements to fulfill in order to produce their colors (so you can use it with another colorless land) but on their own they do not produce mana and they are not as flexible as the Shadowmoor and Eventide filterlands in how they produce their colors. The karoolands from Ravnica come into play tapped AND require that you return a land already in play to your hand (so you cannot play it on your first turn) but they produce two mana per activation. The downside of playing these lands (beyond entering the battlefield tapped) is that if someone uses Strip Mine or other targeted land destruction on them, you are essentially losing two cards for one (the karoo itself and the land you returned to hand). A couple niche upsides to the karoos is that they can be used to return lands with an enter the battlefield effect on them (such as Bojuka Bog or the Hideaway lands from Lorwyn) or targeted by Thespian's Stage to gain additional mana. Lands
5x Plains - Excluding the cost of activated abilities, white is the single most needed color in the deck. Almost all of my earliest drops require white mana and my best spot removal spells also require white. Because of this I run more Plains than any other basic land.
4x Swamp - The second most needed color in the deck. Black is important to the deck to fulfill keep checklands from coming into play tapped, activating pestilence effects, and feeding Cabal Coffers. Because I also run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth which makes all lands Swamps, I do not need as many Swamps in the deck as I do Plains but it is more needed than Mountains.
2x Mountain - Few of my creatures and spells actually require red mana and early on in the game the main reason for wanting red is to set-up to cast Oros, the Avenger or Magma Phoenix. Red does provide mana to activate Sunforger and also is linked to most of my draw spells.
Evolving Wilds - Even though it is effectively a single mana producing tapped land, Evolving Wilds can be used to fix for all three colors in the deck and with Crucible of Worlds or Sun Titan it can be a source of ensured land drops or slow ramp.
Rocky Tar Pit - Originally this was Terramorphic Expanse but I switched it out primarily because I really hate the art on Terramorphic for some reason. This also fetches up most of my dual or shocklands and works identically to Evolving Wilds when used in conjunction with Crucible of Worlds or Sun Titan.
Arid Mesa, Bloodstained Mire, and Marsh Flats - Pretty much everything I just wrote about Evolving Wilds and Rocky Tarpit. They can fetch shocks, duals, or basic lands as needed with the added benefit of not coming into play tapped or making the lands they fetch enter tapped.
Scrubland - The first dual land I ever owned and it is great. See my comments at the top of this section for why dual lands are good.
Grave Cairns and Rugged Prairie - See my comments at the top of this section for why the Shadowmoor and Eventide filterlands are good.
Lavaclaw Reaches - I've always been a sucker for manlands as they are essentially creatures that cannot be countered. This one in particular is a favorite as it has a firebreathing ability attached to it which can allow for a pretty big hit to a single player if the board has been recently cleared.
Reflecting Pool - Aside from Command Tower this is individually one of the best individual lands in the deck that can produce all three colors. While on its own it does not produce colored mana, I have never been in a situation where it hasn't produced at least two of my decks three colors. Excellent mana smoother.
Command Tower - If you are playing a general that requires more than one color to cast, then you should play this land. Except for very corner cases, this is never a bad land to have in play as it will always enter the battlefield untapped and it will always produce the colors your deck needs.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - One half of the combo that allows Cabal Coffers produce literally ridiculous amounts of mana this is the single best black mana fixer in the deck. While it does feed Cabal Coffers, its real purpose is that it allows me to feed Thrashing Wumpus and Crypt Rats the mana they hunger for when they want to blow up the board.
Bojuka Bog - It exiles a single player's graveyard and cannot be countered. Well worth the cost of coming into play tapped.
Thespian's Stage - While this no longer functions as a Strip Mine for legendary lands, this can be used to fix mana when copying lands that produce multiple colors you need or to function as a type of pseudo-ramp when you copy a land that produces more than one mana per activation. If you can swing it, having Thespian's Stage copy Cabal Coffers and lead to truly insane mana production and offer a bit of redundancy to protect that mana production.
Cabal Coffers - With an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play (by any player at the table) this card produces incredibly ridiculous amounts of mana once you have four or more swamps in play. Without an Urborg in play, Cabal Coffers becomes a lot more mediocre and can only really be used to mana fix if you are desperate for more black mana.
Reliquary Tower - Reliquary Tower doesn't come into play tapped which is a plus but it also doesn't produce colored mana which can be painful on occasion. When you have Mind's Eye or Necropotence in play, not having to discard cards from your hand can be absolutely house. Otherwise it sits on the field going "Someone please play Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur so I can be relevant."
Vault of the Archangel - Arguably the most important land in the deck, this is land gives all of our creatures lifelinking and deathtouch with very little chance of the effect being countered. It is expensive to activate and only produces colorless mana but the fact that it is such an important enabler to the deck makes it invaluable.
Temple of the False God - You really don't want this card to be in your opening hand unless you also have drawn some way to get four other lands into play before having to play Temple. Beyond getting this card in your opening hand there really isn't much of a downside to it as it offers some acceleration in a deck that is desperate for it.
Hall of the Bandit Lord - You would think that a land that always comes into play tapped, only produces colorless mana, and Lightning Bolts your face every time you use it would be bad, right? Fortunately this land is anything but bad. Being able to get a creature (such as your general) in play and swing with it on the same turn is worth all of the drawbacks detailed above. Additionally the life lost is usually gained back by one of our numerous lifelinking creatures.
Eye of Ugin - When you absolutely need to hit Wurmcoil Engine or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre accept no substitution. While it does have a handful of downsides such as being expensive to activate and not producing any mana, this land is clutch when it comes to cementing late game victories.
Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage with any lifelinked creature - Can be used to distribute damage across the table or double the damage done to a player.
Vampiric Tutor with Terminus or Reforge the Soul - Allows you to set-up to use these cards for their much cheaper miracle costs. Combined with some form of drawing on your opponents' turn and you can use these at instant speed.
Crypt Rats or Thrashing Wumpus with Sword of Feast and Famine - The protection from black allows you to use their abilities repeatedly without killing them. Additionally it can be used (assuming they have deathtouch) to clear the board of all creatures that aren't indestructible, hit a now open player, and then do the same thing again before your next upkeep with your untapped lands.
Heartless Hidetsugu with Basilisk Collar, Vault of the Archangel, Whip of Erebos, Vizkopa Guildmage, or Exquisite Blood - Giving Heartless Hidetsugu lifelink entirely mitigates the damage he does to you. With Exquisite Blood in play while he still damages you, you will generally still gain life based on the damage dealt to your opponents. Also having Whip of Erebos out while Heartless Hidetsugu is in the graveyard provides a massive life swing at instant speed.
Heartless Hidetsugu with Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - If your opponents are at an even life total, they immediately lose once you activate Hidetsugu with Gisela on the board. If they are at odd life totals then they are dropped to 1 life.
Heartless Hidetsugu with Lifelink and Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage - The vast majority of the time, the damage reflected back at your opponents from your lifegain with Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage will kill off the rest of the table.
+Scrubland|| -Tainted Field - A strictly better replacement of one land that produces W/B for another. Scrubland does everything Tainted Field did without the stipulations and the ability to be tutored up by cards that specify you can search for a Plains.
+Whip of Erebos|| -Something - I don't remember what specifically I dropped for Whip but functionally this replaces Phyrexian Reclamation. The fact that it gives lifelinking to all of my creatures is great and it combos off excellently with the rest of the deck while giving it a little late game reach.
The idea behind this section is to list ideas that could be incorporated into the shell of the deck or even an entirely different way to play the deck. These are mostly going to be in the vein of viable but untested so your mileage may vary if you test these out.
The idea for this build is to use land destruction as a way to lock out other decks. Using cards like Avacyn, Faith's Reward, and Boros Charm to either make your cards indestructible or bring them back immediately so you have a major advantage in material. Faith's Reward and Boros Charm are both tutorable using Sunforger. Price of Glory works because it allows you to be the only person to respond on your opponents' turns once you have indestructible across the field. Grand Abolisher also helps with this strategy making it harder for your opponents to stop your board wipes or from bringing stuff back with Faith's Reward on your turn.
Basically just adding an additional set of wincons to the deck in Test of Endurance and Felidar Sovereign.
Sideboard
These cards aren't explicitly for sideboarding but rather are suggestions for cards that you can run in the colors to help against certain match-ups. This also functions well with a wishboard if you are looking are running any of the wishes.
Stranglehold, Aven Mindcensor - For combo decks one of the most consistent ways of going off is to just tutor for the pieces. These stop that.
Price of Glory, Grand Abolisher - Forces heavy permission decks to play nice on your turn. Keep in mind that Price of Glory hits you too.
You Break It, You Play It
"You break it, you play it." is the motto for our playgroup. If you want to run cards like Apocalypse or Cataclysm, we're cool with it but don't be that guy and cast one of these game wrecking cards and then leave the game. That is the path to the dark side and getting kicked in the nads.
Things I Will Add As Soon As I Get Them
While I do not play on a budget per se the fact is that many magic cards are incredibly expensive. In a perfect world everyone would own these cards ::HINT:: ::HINT:: ::WIZARDS:: ::COUGH:: or have reasonably access to purchasing them but the reality is that they aren't going to become any easier to obtain any time soon.
Badlands - Strictly a better land and tutors up off of the on-color fetchlands. Plateau - Strictly better land and tutors up off of the on-color fetchlands, Kor Cartographer, and Knight of the White Orchid. See my section on Lands & Why for why I want this. Fetid Heath - Great mana smoothing land. Behind the original dual lands and shocklands, probably the best mana fixing lands in EDH. Mana Crypt - It's a Sol Ring that doesn't cost mana. It does not get much better than that...oh wait, it's $200.00 now?! Damnit. Not getting this any time soon.
Cards I Am Currently Testing
Burnished Hart - So far has tested reasonably well. It is a little expensive but when you aren't playing green you make do with what you have.
Academy Rector - I've had it on the field but haven't had an opportunity to use its search ability yet. I love the idea behind this card and there are enough other people playing it to make me think it is good.
Wound Reflection - Ended up removing Exquisite Blood for this and I haven't regretted it. Would Reflection functions similarly enough to Exquisite Blood when I'm using it with Vizkopa Guildmage or Sanguine Bond that I haven't missed having blood or the hate you get when people see it.
Godo, Bandit Warlord - So far this has been a solid card and will end up being a part of the main deck, I just haven't figured out what specifically I want to cut for it.
Greed - Removed Mind's Eye to make room for this and haven't regretted it. The ability to draw on demand has made a huge amount of difference.
Hammer of Purphoros - Functionally identical to Fervor with a few added abilities. This can also be searched up with my enchantment specific tutors which is a plus.
Cards I've Tested and Cut
Reassembling Skeleton - This was originally included as part of Skullclamp package that ended up getting cut as I got my hands on better draw spells. It did work but it was too mana intensive for the deck to sustain. (Essentially speaking 5 mana to draw 2 cards at sorcery speed).
Bloodghast - More efficient than Reassembling Skeleton but cut when I cut other parts of the Skullclamp package.
Khemba, Kha Regent - It was a fun idea but never panned out the way I wanted and ended up not contributing to the overall theme of the deck which was taking advantage of creatures that did well with lifelink and deathtouch as well as manipulating lifegain to our advantage.
Squee, Goblin Nabob - Even less efficient than Reassembling Skeleton as part of the Skullclamp package.
Divinity of Pride - I still flip-flop on this as opposed to Baneslayer. This was originally cut in an earlier iteration of the deck when my mana base wasn't as well put together which isn't a problem as much. Will probably give this a spin again.
Grave Titan - Didn't support the overall theme of the deck. It isn't a bad card it just doesn't contribute well to the deck itself.
Inferno Titan - This wasn't terrible in the deck since it played nice with lifelink and deathtouch but I ended up cutting this because the deck was very top-heavy in its earlier iterations.
Steel Hellkite - I have enough targeted removal to make the destroy ability when he does combat damage not necessary and Wurmcoil Engine was a better pick for this slot.
Massacre Wurm - Another cut because the deck was much top-heavier than it should have been. Additionally his ability while randomly great, isn't always consistently useful.
Angel of Despair - A really expensive Vindicate. Without anyway to trick this into play its ability was not really worth the cost of playing it.
Sheoldred, the Whispering One - This was another good stuff pick I put in the deck that didn't really contribute to the deck's overall theme. Ultimately removed because at the time I made the deck it was super top-heavy (over half the creatures had a CMC of 6 or more).
Sepulchral Primordial - A lot like Grave Titan and Massacre Wurm, not bad but not good for the deck.
Rune-Scarred Demon - I waffle back and forth about running this card because I love that it is a solid body with a great ETB effect. I ended up cutting it because most of the time I was just casting it as an expensive Demonic Tutor and cutting this lowered the curve of the deck a bit.
Scourge of Kher Ridges - Ironically enough the inspiration of the deck ended up getting cut because it just wasn't efficient enough to be abused regularly. The 8 casting cost was just too much for me to keep him in when I had more efficient cards like Crypt Rats, Thrashing Wumpus, and Oros, the Avenger.
Condemn - This came out for Oblation as Oblation was more flexible and was not conditional on an opponent attacking.
Shattering Spree - I love Shattering Spree but it came out since I already enough ways to blow up all artifacts between Vandalblast and the other wraths in the deck.
Reiterate - While it was great in corner cases (such as forking opposing draw and ramp spells) it just wasn't enough to justify keeping it in the deck.
Damnation - Removed for Oblivion Stone because I needed more wraths that handled enchantments because I play regularly against an enchantress deck.
Wrath of God - Removed from Terminus which got around indestructible better and could be tricked into play at instant speed for less mana.
Ancient Craving - Switched out for Promise of Power because Promise let me dig deeper and was randomly a beater when I needed it.
Sever the Bloodline - This ended up getting cut because of the amount of other spot removal I was running that was instant speed and dealt with other permanent types.
Phyrexian Reclamation - This was removed in one of the earlier deck iterations. I liked the card but it came down to having cards I liked or cards that actually worked better toward keeping the deck on theme. When I would have put this back in the deck, Whip of Erebos had already come out which does everything I wanted from Reclamation and more.
Land Tax - I was running this was Scroll Rack but ended up cutting it because it was too durdly and I really wanted more space in the deck devoted to supporting the overall themes of gaining life and hurting opponents with said life gain and benefiting from lifelink/deathtouch on creatures.
Phyrexian Arena - Ironically enough this went missing (got stolen?). When I get another one I will re-test this against Greed.
Karn Liberated - I had Karn in the deck originally because I wanted more targeted spot removal but I ended up taking him out for spells that did the same thing because Karn would come into play, exile something, and then die. A seven mana Vindicate is not my type of thing.
Skullclamp - Never a bad card but I didn't really have the creatures to support it.
Loxodon Warhammer - Mediocre in my deck. I very rarely win through direct combat damage and I have more efficient ways to give my creatures lifelink.
Sword of Fire and Ice - Cut in favor of Sunforger which in my deck is far better since I run enough wraths to not need the pinging effect from Sword.
Mana Vault - A great card but I kept finding myself using it once and never paying mana to untap it because I always had other things to cast.
Elixir of Immortality - A durdly card I put in to help recycle my deck. It didn't do much to help the overall theme of the deck.
Scroll Rack - Without running Land Tax this had very little use after you use it one time unless you can reshuffle your deck regularly.
Druidic Satchel - This is a great fun card and was originally put in the deck because it would randomly let me ramp but overall cut due to durdlyness.
Helm of Possession - Earlier iterations of this deck ran more small creatures such as Reassembling Skeleton, Bloodghast, and Squee, Goblin Nabob to feed this but those were cut to increase the overall efficiency of the deck and to keep the deck on task for being the lifegain shenanigans deck.
Darksteel Plate - Too expensive to want to use consistently and with all of the tuck and exile removal in my metagame mostly ineffective.
Wayfarer's Bauble - I ended up cutting this for Solemn Simulacrum which provided a warm robotic body that did the same thing and netted me a block and a card on death.
Coalition Relic - While I prefer the efficiency of Coalition Relic (It costs three and can produce two colored mana in a turn) I needed the mana fixing of Chromatic Lantern more.
Olivia Voldaren - This was a fun card to run but her ability was surprisingly nonbo-ish when I ran her with something like Basilisk Collar because it would die instead of allowing me to later take control of it. Additionally she requires a pretty good amount of mana and while my deck can ramp a bit, it can't support as many activated abilities that require significant investments of mana. I cut her so I could focus on having mana for responding to my opponents using cards like Sunforger and pumping X-spells/abilities.
Jester's Cap - This was a metagame call that isn't as necessary any longer. For a while everyone in my meta was running Enter the Infinite and Omniscience and this was a mana efficient way of getting rid of those cards.
High Priest of Penance - I tested this out as a rattlesnake card to deter people from attacking me with the thought that I could trigger it whenever I wanted because of all of the damage dealing abilities I have. It just never panned out the way I wanted and I ended up running Necrotic Sliver instead.
Rhox Faithmender - Rhox Faithmender was randomly awesome but also a win more card. I ended up cutting it to make room for Batterskull which has been absolutely house.
Reforge the Soul - I put in more tutors as I found a lot of the draw effects I was using were to dig for answers for specific cards. By running more tutors to get these cards, I don't need to draw as heavily while still increasing the consistency of the deck.
Fervor - Swapped out for Hammer of Purphoros which is an almost exact functional reprint with an additional ability at the cost of being slightly less flexible on the mana cost and slightly more vulnerable to removal.
Surveyer's Scope - It looked good on paper but never really worked unless I had two or more opponents that ran green ramp.
Quietus Spike - The ability was fun when I hit with it but overall didn't contribute enough to the overall deck theme to make it worthwhile.
Shard Phoenix - Tested this out over Magma Phoenix but decided not to run it because the stipulation that says it only deals damage to non-fliers.
Mind's Eye - Removed for Greed which is functionally identical and less conditional. Additionally I can tutor this up with my enchantment tutors.
Change Log
Because I haven't settled fully on the core of the deck I'm making too many changes to catalog each card removed and added. Previous versions of the decks available on my blog:
Oros, the Avenger 08.04.2013 - This was the first published version of my deck. Oros, the Avenger 08.26.2013 - This was the result of the first major overhaul since the deck was published. Taking some feedback from many sources (primarily ISBPathfinder) I cut back on the mana curve, added more draw and ramp, and in general tightened up the goal of the deck. Oros, the Avenger 09.30.2013 - Second revision of the deck. Oros, the Avenger 11.07.2013 - Technically the fourth revision of the deck but I did not track the third revision. Added in a bunch of signets and additional draw sources to speed up the deck. Oros, the Avenger 11.30.2013 - Might be redundant with the fourth revision for the most part but I wanted to make sure it was tracked.
Decks in my meta
Krenko Tokens - Spits out crap tons of tokens with a couple infinite mana/goblin combos. Uses Goblin War Strike, Purphoros, Goblin Bombardment, Altar of Dementia and other such things as a win-con.
Derevi enchantress - Relies on massive card advantage to win out games with pillowfort enchantments to hold off until victory.
Edric elves - U/B Elf swarms.
Maelstrom Wanderer good stuff - Just a maelstrom wanderer good stuff deck that runs a ton of infinite combos.
Nekusar wheel deck - Ouch. This deck works really well and makes me generally hate this player off the board first.
Ghave tokens - Tribal mushrooms. Decently competitive but not a huge threat.
Ghave combo - Run by the same gentleman who has the Derevi deck. This deck gets stupid if not hammered down immediately.
Maelstrom Wanderer good stuff - Piloted by a different player than the previously mentioned Wanderer deck. Probably not as a good but still stupidly dangerous.
Oloro life gain/control - It's esper and it's a control deck. Wee.
About Me
I have been scrubbing out of Magic tournaments on and off since 1999. In my free time from Magic I occasionally play other collectible card games (don't tell WOTC), video games, write terrible science fiction/fantasy novels, cook, go to work, and take care of my pet cat and turtle.
First thing I notice is that your curve is really high. I dont see that much for ramp and so it leads me to feel like its going to be sort of slow and cluncky. Looking at your creatures, you have only 8/24 of your creatures that cost less than 5 mana. Generally speaking when creating a curve to a deck I dont like to make more than like 5 or so creatures in the 6+ mana mark. You have 13 currently and your commander is a 6 drop as well. Your ramp package is totally not sufficient to cover this either. Overall I would say cut at least half of your high mana creatures for other things. With a commander that costs 6 to drop the first time you really don't want to have a high curve to your creatures.
Condemn - its too situational. There are a lot of commanders out there that don't attack. If you want more tuck options I would point you in the direction of Oblation which you are not running and it can answer any nonland.
Shattering Pulse -> Vandalblast you need to lower your curve so the last thing you need to do is be trying to buy this back every turn. Just blow them all up once and move on.
Sever the Bloodline you also run Ashes to Ashes and I feel like this is more sorcery spot removal than you really need. I think I would axe Sever of the two. I would suggest adding Return to Dust probably instead.
Wrath of God & Damnation - generally I view these as somewhat of weaker wraths given the options available. You might also look at Rout which costs one more but the instant option on it has proven to be incredibly useful to me on several occasions. Living Death is another nice one but considering your high cuve I don't know if it really fits the deck. Generally speaking there are very few decks where you need the consistency of a 4 mana wrath in multiplayer EDH. Considering how high your cuve is and how little ramp you have to support it I dont think its a big problem in your meta either. In all reality, I would likely consider cutting wrath and damnation for Rout and Hallowed Burial.
Elixir of Immortality I have often viewed this as a do nothing card. I occasionally understand including it in toolbox based decks where they tutor cards out of their deck regularly but it doesnt seem to be the situation here. I dont think its worth keeping for a card slot. I also notice a lack of grave hate in your deck. Nihil Spellbomb has always been incredible for me in black. It draws a card too so even if graveyards dont matter much it draws cards.
Cabal Coffers I worry about this really working for you in your current setup. Its very difficult to make coffers work in three color decks and you don't seem to have the usual means of tutoring into assembling coffers + urborg. I would suggest either adding Weathered Wayfarer and Expidition Map or cutting coffers.
Overall, cut your curve back. You seem to be lacking any real focus for the deck which is a bit worrysome. If there is a focus to the deck I would guess its put deathtouch / lifelink on your commander and gain a bunch of life. Overall it feels like it needs focus. You also really need more draw and ramp in my opinion.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
First thing I notice is that your curve is really high. I dont see that much for ramp and so it leads me to feel like its going to be sort of slow and cluncky. Looking at your creatures, you have only 8/24 of your creatures that cost less than 5 mana. Generally speaking when creating a curve to a deck I dont like to make more than like 5 or so creatures in the 6+ mana mark. You have 13 currently and your commander is a 6 drop as well. Your ramp package is totally not sufficient to cover this either. Overall I would say cut at least half of your high mana creatures for other things. With a commander that costs 6 to drop the first time you really don't want to have a high curve to your creatures.
Condemn - its too situational. There are a lot of commanders out there that don't attack. If you want more tuck options I would point you in the direction of Oblation which you are not running and it can answer any nonland.
Shattering Pulse -> Vandalblast you need to lower your curve so the last thing you need to do is be trying to buy this back every turn. Just blow them all up once and move on.
Sever the Bloodline you also run Ashes to Ashes and I feel like this is more sorcery spot removal than you really need. I think I would axe Sever of the two. I would suggest adding Return to Dust probably instead.
Wrath of God & Damnation - generally I view these as somewhat of weaker wraths given the options available. You might also look at Rout which costs one more but the instant option on it has proven to be incredibly useful to me on several occasions. Living Death is another nice one but considering your high cuve I don't know if it really fits the deck. Generally speaking there are very few decks where you need the consistency of a 4 mana wrath in multiplayer EDH. Considering how high your cuve is and how little ramp you have to support it I dont think its a big problem in your meta either. In all reality, I would likely consider cutting wrath and damnation for Rout and Hallowed Burial.
Elixir of Immortality I have often viewed this as a do nothing card. I occasionally understand including it in toolbox based decks where they tutor cards out of their deck regularly but it doesnt seem to be the situation here. I dont think its worth keeping for a card slot. I also notice a lack of grave hate in your deck. Nihil Spellbomb has always been incredible for me in black. It draws a card too so even if graveyards dont matter much it draws cards.
Cabal Coffers I worry about this really working for you in your current setup. Its very difficult to make coffers work in three color decks and you don't seem to have the usual means of tutoring into assembling coffers + urborg. I would suggest either adding Weathered Wayfarer and Expidition Map or cutting coffers.
Overall, cut your curve back. You seem to be lacking any real focus for the deck which is a bit worrysome. If there is a focus to the deck I would guess its put deathtouch / lifelink on your commander and gain a bunch of life. Overall it feels like it needs focus. You also really need more draw and ramp in my opinion.
A large update to the deck. I've lowered the creature count and curve a bit. The deck does still seem a bit top-heavy but I also included more ways of tutoring up lands or putting them into play.
I don't have all of the cards suggested by ISB (mainly the exile sweepers) so I've had to put in a few alternates until I do get them. Shattering Spree seems like a decent replacement until I get Vadalblast plus it can be replicated multiple times at the same target to bypass counterspells in a pinch.
I also cut Druidic Satchel which was one of my favorite pet cards from the deck but it just didn't seem to do enough ramping or token generating to be worth the investment in mana to get it online. In its place I've added more land tutoring and a copy of Kher Keep in the deck so I have more Helm of Possession and Skullclamp targets.
Also, I've placed more land tutoring in the deck (Wayfarer & Expedition Map) and we'll see how those work out with trying to reliable set-up the Coffers+Urborg combo. If that doesn't work out then likely they will because something else and I'll replace Coffers/Urborg with other lands.
I was only able to get in a couple games this week at my LGS so not enough time to see how the changes have worked out yet.
Okay so a couple weeks of playing the deck and time for a quick review:
Quote from Cuts I am planning to make »
-Squee, +Nether Shadow or Nether Traitor
Squee is too expensive to do what I want with him. Running Nether Traitor or Shadow reduces how much I'm paying to recast them.
-Karn Liberated, +???
I've never had a game where I wanted to draw Karn or where I feel Karn would have helped.
-Wrath of God, +Rout
Already wanted to do this, I just didn't have the Rout.
-Steel Hellkite, +???
Just didn't do enough to support the theme of the deck. I have enough "wrath" effects to take care of tokens and enough cards that destroy permanents to take care of enchantments (the main reasons I was using him).
-Ancient Craving, +Promise of Power
Ancient just didn't draw enough to warrant the spot but Promise is a draw 5 or a dude (or both if needed). Giving it a shot.
I really like the Pestilence effects on a body when they have lifelink and deathtouch. It's been an absolute blowout in several games. The addition of Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood was well worth it. Both of them synergize well with the deck and are good enough to use even when I don't combo out. Hall of the Bandit Lord has also been house and means that between it and Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots that I can get most creatures to swing the turn they come out. With the amount of life gain I have, I can generally afford to pay the cost without issue.
I am looking to add more pestilence creatures in the form of Ashling the Pilgrim, Thrashing Wumpus, and Olivia Voldaren. The last one isn't technically a pestilence but she can pick off dorks and potentially steal bigger creatures which is tempting enough to give a shot. Another card that I'm very interested in using is Heartless Hidetsugu. Since Hidetsugu deals damage to each player giving him lifelink would be an incredible swing in the game. I'm also tempted to top out my curve with Pestilence Demon instead of Scourge of Kher Ridges because his activation cost is less expensive.
The deck is still a little cumbersome but it runs infinitely better in its current iteration. It is very mana hungry because it want to frequently wants to drop a creature, equip it with Basilisk Collar (or activate Vault of the Archangel), and then pestilence the board which is very mana intensive. I'm hoping that by running more cheaper creatures that do this that I won't find myself in as many situations where I have the creature and the piece but not enough to do everything in a single turn.
For Pestilence Demon vs Scourge of Kher Ridges, I think scourge is the better card. He costs one more but his effect requires less colored and gives more control over what you kill.
Also with all the creatures you have that deal damage have you thought about using scythe of the wretched?
For Pestilence Demon vs Scourge of Kher Ridges, I think scourge is the better card. He costs one more but his effect requires less colored and gives more control over what you kill.
Also with all the creatures you have that deal damage have you thought about using scythe of the wretched?
I'm getting my hands on one with the next batch of cards actually. I'll let you know how it goes.
Major format and content update. Still haven't had a chance to update the decklist but in the meantime enjoy some of Daren Bader's studly art in the first post.
Updated to reflect more changes. Lopped out a lot of things that didn't match with the deck's concept and also helped cut down on some of the durdly-ness of the deck itself. Still trying to figure out what to take out for Scythe of the Wretched but we'll get there.
Thrashing Wumpus how did I never know of this guy???? I love Pestilence effects. I definitely think you will get more value from your Crypt Rats due to the lower cost but still the Wumpus is a cool find that I guess I didn't know about before now.
Scroll Rack it seems like a bit of an odd deck to see scroll rack in to be honest. Usually I see it accompanied by Land Tax or put into a deck that tutors cards directly into play so it is used to push cards back into the deck. It just seems odd seeing it in here.
I know a lot of your creatures meet sort of a flavor of the build but I sort of question how many slow value engines you are running. Baneslayer Angel + 1 Divinity of Pride + Heartless Hidetsugu + Wurmcoil Engine + Scourge of Kher Ridges + Stonehewer Giant + Ashling the Pilgrim. You might consider running a few more haste outlets in the list with so many slow beater style creatures. The other question being that your commander does this style of effect how many additional effects to do the same thing do you really need? I agree that some redundancy is good but it seems like you have a lot of creatures who just beat in for damage as their thing in here.
Does Gisela have a place here? I know she's a bit top-heavy, but she interacts extremely well with the aforementioned Pestilence-type of effects in addition to your general. Plus, she turns Heartless Hidetsugu into a OHK for the table.
Does Gisela have a place here? I know she's a bit top-heavy, but she interacts extremely well with the aforementioned Pestilence-type of effects in addition to your general. Plus, she turns Heartless Hidetsugu into a OHK for the table.
I think she definitely might have a place, I just haven't figured out where that might be yet. I'm also going to test out Sword of Feast and Famine over either Darksteel Plate or Sword of Fire and Ice. Feast and Famine gives my pestilence creatures protection against themselves and also frees up more mana after a successful swing to do it again. I'm also going to be revamping the artifact base again to allow for more mana rocks (I'm looking at the Signets in particular) and I'm reintroducing Chromatic Lantern back into the deck so I'll have all black mana more regularly.
Hey! Thanks for the shoutout! My Oros deck has went through a small change as of lately, I will be doing a big update to my list this weekend when I have more free time! Some suggestions I might add:
Sunforger - Yes this is the center piece to my deck, its one of the main combos. However its too good not to add really. It can save you in a pinch or remove whats in your path.
Imperial Recruiter - If you have no budget restrictions, this card is a must. It searches up so many things in my deck. Usually the first being Serra Ascendant. After that its whatever else I need. My deck is really toolboxy and searches for answers a lot and this guy helps. He can grab Serra Ascendant, Stoneforge Mystic, Duplicant, Weathered Wayfarer, or one my favorites to set me up next turn: Solemn Simulacrum.
He also grabs my next suggestion:
Necrotic Sliver - This guy, this is a beast. Hes tutorable with recruiter, he plays early politics, scares people into not dropping their utility lands. hes a small beater, holds a sword and blows stuff up. Hes also kinda broken with Mimic Vat/Sun Titan.
Also all of those cards are great with Sun Titan. Sun Titan is the MVP of my deck!
Hey! Thanks for the shoutout! My Oros deck has went through a small change as of lately, I will be doing a big update to my list this weekend when I have more free time! Some suggestions I might add:
Sunforger - Yes this is the center piece to my deck, its one of the main combos. However its too good not to add really. It can save you in a pinch or remove whats in your path.
Imperial Recruiter - If you have no budget restrictions, this card is a must. It searches up so many things in my deck. Usually the first being Serra Ascendant. After that its whatever else I need. My deck is really toolboxy and searches for answers a lot and this guy helps. He can grab Serra Ascendant, Stoneforge Mystic, Duplicant, Weathered Wayfarer, or one my favorites to set me up next turn: Solemn Simulacrum.
He also grabs my next suggestion:
Necrotic Sliver - This guy, this is a beast. Hes tutorable with recruiter, he plays early politics, scares people into not dropping their utility lands. hes a small beater, holds a sword and blows stuff up. Hes also kinda broken with Mimic Vat/Sun Titan.
Also all of those cards are great with Sun Titan. Sun Titan is the MVP of my deck!
Thanks for taking a moment to offer feedback on the build. I had originally shied away from Sunforger just simply because everyone else was running it and I'm stupidly particular about trying not to retread existing designs but to be honest that is a terrible reason not to run it. I'll probably be adding it with the next rework of the deck.
I do not have a budget per se (in that I can afford to get a recruiter) but since I'm still building up EDH staples he competes against other cards that I need not only for this deck but for other decks I'm working on. I imagine I'll pick one up eventually but it isn't something I'll be able to get soon. Still great suggestion. Same with the Sliver.
I'm also looking at the guts of the deck and the original idea of running lifelink on all my creatures is looking less appealing as I've noticed I'm trying to morph the deck into a more combo/control type build. I imagine I'll be keeping some of the lifelink linkers but cutting that aspect of the deck will give me more leeway for pushing in other directions.
Just posting to update the decklist. I think I'm finally settling on the core of the deck and it is performing far more consistently than its initial iteration. I am also writing and expanding on the guide section for game play. Special thanks to everyone that offered advice on the build. I am still playing with this deck list (I'm looking at cards from Theros and Commander 2013) but I think it is at a good place right now.
Minor decklist updates, additions and corrections to the Rambling Explanation of the Deck section, completely rewritten Creature Selection and Why section, heavily rewritten combo and synergy section, created templating for individual card explanations for all other card types in the deck.
If you have a moment to leave any feedback or offer suggestions that I haven't considered, please feel free to do so. I am always looking to improve this deck. Thanks!
I'm not sure if any of these are appropriate for the deck just because they're more niche plays and might sometimes be dead weight, but if you manage to stick any of them with Crypt Rats or a similar card, it could be pretty nice. The deck might not even need them though. You also may have already seen or considered these, but I thought I'd mention them.
I'm not sure if any of these are appropriate for the deck just because they're more niche plays and might sometimes be dead weight, but if you manage to stick any of them with Crypt Rats or a similar card, it could be pretty nice. The deck might not even need them though. You also may have already seen or considered these, but I thought I'd mention them.
Finally finished writing all of the card descriptions and revised some of the text in a few sections (primarily including notes about why voltron decks are the bane of your existence).
Cons:
Oros can now only hit Green and Blue of creatures. Uril, the Miststalker and other voltron generals become harder to block.
Certain spot removal cards may become ineffective.
Pros: Crypt Rats can go nuts and not kill itself (and some of your stuff).
Oros doesn't kill any of your stuff. Uril, the Miststalker and other voltron generals can no longer be enchanted except by colorless enchantments.
Certain spot removal cards may become ineffective against your stuff.
No idea how it would affect the deck as a whole. There's also Tower of the Magistrate as a silly way to handle equipment based voltron generals.
I really enjoyed reading your guide; I apologize for not reading it sooner. I think it is incredibly well written, thought out, and creative.
It is refreshing to see a creature based deck that uses such clever synergies while playing a hearty toolbox of answers. Sunforger is great in this deck, and I like the life drain theme.
Cons:
Oros can now only hit Green and Blue of creatures. Uril, the Miststalker and other voltron generals become harder to block.
Certain spot removal cards may become ineffective.
Pros: Crypt Rats can go nuts and not kill itself (and some of your stuff).
Oros doesn't kill any of your stuff. Uril, the Miststalker and other voltron generals can no longer be enchanted except by colorless enchantments.
Certain spot removal cards may become ineffective against your stuff.
No idea how it would affect the deck as a whole. There's also Tower of the Magistrate as a silly way to handle equipment based voltron generals.
I'm going to be honest but Earnest Fellowship is quite possibly one of the funniest suggestions I've seen. That is genius. I'm going to test it out just to piss off my friend's enchantress deck that runs fifty-billion different auras to make a random 0/1 into a massive beater. Thanks again!
I really enjoyed reading your guide; I apologize for not reading it sooner. I think it is incredibly well written, thought out, and creative.
It is refreshing to see a creature based deck that uses such clever synergies while playing a hearty toolbox of answers. Sunforger is great in this deck, and I like the life drain theme.
I think this thread is a great candidate for a primer, and I hope you get it.
Thanks Ryujin! I actually am working on adding in Wound Reflection as I just picked one up on Wednesday (our LGS' EDH night) along with Academy Rector since the deck really likes having enchantments. Can't say it enough but congrats again on getting your Scion thread primer'd. It was well deserved and a FANTASTIC resource. It gave me a lot of perspective on how to tune my own Scion deck.
So yeah. Updates. I'm working on a major revision of the deck but in the meantime I've added to the main deck list some cards that have tested out well for me.
Now that I own an Academy Rector and an Enlightened Tutor I'm going heavier in on Enchantments. I switched out Mind's Eye for Greed since enchantment hate is less prevalent in my meta and I disliked that I had to wait for other players to draw cards in order to draw my own cards. Greed has worked great so far.
Magma Phoenix is the phoenix of choice as it doesn't have the pesky text that Shard Phoenix does that states Shard Phoenix only hits non-flyers. Very relevant in my meta.
Wound Reflection so far has carried its weight well despite being pretty expensive for an enchantment. I was able to finish the game just by hammering a player who didn't have removal with Oros and a Wound Reflection.
I took out Damnation for Oblivion Stone because a friend's enchantress deck had been giving me fits. Being able to recur it with Sun Titan completely wrecked him in addition to my other enchantment removal sweepers.
Burnished Hart is in over Kor Cartographer because I'm having some problems with Blood Moon and Ruination. I'm working on cutting some of the non-basic lands to make room for more basics.
I took out Fervor for Hammer of Purphoros. I haven't hit it yet but I'm waiting to see if the requirement for double red in Hammer's cost makes a difference.
I dropped Reforge the Soul and Wheel of Fortune for Enlightened Tutor and Increasing Ambition (I do not have access to any of the better black tutors like Imperial Seal or Grim Tutor). I realized that I was using the draw to hit cards I specifically needed most of the time. Instead of dumping perfectly good hands to draw to draw into my silver bullets, I put in tutors instead. Thus far it has worked out great. I have not missed either of them.
Oblation was outed for Unexpectedly Absent. I'm not sure if this will stick since unless I catch an opponent using an effect that makes them shuffle their deck it doesn't deal with cards as permanently as Oblation but then again it also doesn't draw them two cards. Decidedly in the "We'll see column."
Rhox Faithmender was dropped as it the doubling life gain just wasn't enough most of the time despite being randomly awesome in corner cases.
I will update the actual text portions of the deck post to reflect these changes (Specifically the synergy sections and the sections that reference these cards) presently.
Edit: I'm also testing Batterskull and so far it has performed great. I just don't know what to cut permanently for it. Right now I'm using it over Necrotic Sliver. I'm also trying to find someone who has a Slayers' Stronghold to test against Hall of the Bandit Lord since it doesn't enter the battlefield tapped and the damage and vigilance it grants in addition to the haste are very relevant since it helps us maximize our lower creature count and help push Oros through for extra damage when needed. I'm also testing Godo, Bandit Warlord which is doing great (especially with Godo) as well but again, not sure what to permanently cut for it. If there wasn't a prevalence of mill decks in my meta I would just cut Ulamog but if wishes were fishes...
Ive had 2 decks with Sunforger in them, 1 of them Oros.
The biggest addition I would make is to add a mistviel plains, and figure out a way to get non creature white permanent count up...
The ability to recycle chaos warp/ obulation to repeatedly tuck is a force to be reckoned with.
To up your white count I Reccomend putting back the kor cartographer instead of the heart you replaced it with, and find room for prison term and other effects like it. Enchantments are fragile but not as fragile as creatures when you have the boardwipe machines online
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The very fact that Flamethrowers exist proves that someone somewhere said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire... But I'm just not close enough to do it"
Ive had 2 decks with Sunforger in them, 1 of them Oros.
The biggest addition I would make is to add a mistviel plains, and figure out a way to get non creature white permanent count up...
The ability to recycle chaos warp/ obulation to repeatedly tuck is a force to be reckoned with.
To up your white count I Reccomend putting back the kor cartographer instead of the heart you replaced it with, and find room for prison term and other effects like it. Enchantments are fragile but not as fragile as creatures when you have the boardwipe machines online
I agree with re-adding Mistveil Plains and I might re-add in Kor Cartographer. That said I still have a very robust search set-up that can get lands regardless but you are correct that Kor Cartographer lets you get closer to being able to use its ability. Thank you for taking a moment to offer your feedback!
The better living through lifelink and deathtouch deck.
"Everything is swinging at you Johnny. GG."
What does Johnny do? Johnny just smiles and makes Spike pay. He makes Spike pay hard.
~Based on a true story. Names were changed to protect the innocent and violently reamed.
While there were two other generals that offered access to the same wedge of colors, I shied away from them for either being entirely too linear in terms of gameplay (Kaalia) or not providing enough of a benefit to justify their cost (Tariel).
The final consideration that led me to Oros was that he had the largest body. With six power and toughness he is a beefy creature and only one point shy of being able to knock a player out of the game in three swings from commander damage. Since I already knew that I would be running a sizable equipment package that would boost his attack up to seven or greater it seemed like the best pick available.
2. You love life gain and damage shenanigans.
3. You want to run the Dega wedge colors but don't want to run a general that you cannot build around easily or that you lose the game without.
4. You like being the only person in your group that runs a particular general or color combination.
1. You prefer to run a general that is more central to the deck.
2. You want to play the most powerful colors in EDH (blue and green).
3. You dislike expensive generals that cost a significant amount to play.
4. You dislike essentially having to scoop against Stigma Lasher or Erebos, God of the Dead.
Other decks I would suggest you check out
Before you make a decision on which general to run, I would suggest taking a few minutes to check out these decks representing the other two commanders for this wedge.
1. Kaalia of the Vast by blueram
2. Tariel, Reckoner of Souls by Rachmiel
6 Oros, the Avenger
Creatures//21
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Weathered Wayfarer
2 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Vizkopa Guildmage
3 Burnished Hart
3 Crypt Rats
3 Necrotic Sliver
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Academy Rector
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Baneslayer Angel
5 Heartless Hidetsugu
5 Magma Phoenix
5 Stonehewer Giant
5 Thrashing Wumpus
6 Kokusho, the Evening Star
6 Sun Titan
6 Wurmcoil Engine
7 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Instants//9
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Boros Charm
2 Unexpectedly Absent
3 Chaos Warp
3 Unmake
4 Return to Dust
1 Vandalblast
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Cruel Tutor
5 Increasing Ambition
5 Promise of Power
6 Austere Command
6 Merciless Eviction
6 Terminus
Enchantments//6
3 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Necropotence
4 Greed
5 Exquisite Blood
5 Sanguine Bond
6 Wound Reflection
Equipment//5
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Sunforger
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
Artifacts//12
1 Expedition Map
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Boros Signet
2 Orzhov Signet
2 Rakdos Signet
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Oblivion Stone
4 Whip of Erebos
5 Gilded Lotus
5 Plains
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Rocky Tar Pit
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Marsh Flats
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Godless Shrine
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Scrubland
1 Graven Cairns
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Command Tower
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Temple of the False God
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Eye of Ugin
Deckstats as of 02/04/2014
More Rambling Explanation of Deck Concept
The goal of the deck is to give most of the creatures in this deck lifelink and deathtouch and profit from the massive swings in board position and life totals by doing so. The deck has a number of redundant tutors and draw abilities to ensure that it functions the way it is designed even through the resistance of your opponents.
Deck Concept
At its heart, this is a very Johnny type of deck in that it wants to win but only on its own terms. Anybody can build a goodstuff deck with the most powerful cards in its colors but it is much more challenging and rewarding to design and play a deck that wins with interesting combinations of cards. Nobody was really trying to see what an Oros, the Avenger deck could do because most of the Invasion dragons (and by proxy their shifted counterparts) were fairly generic. The idea behind this deck was to build a shell that maximized Oros' ability as much as possible without making the deck entirely reliant on resolving Oros to win.
The most explosive thing that this deck can do is get a creature that does damage to every creature and player on the field and then give it lifelink and deathtouch. Against some decks this can be an absolute blowout (I'm looking at you greencreatures.dec) as not only are you gaining a great amount of life but also wiping out all creatures that don't have indestructibility or protection from color. Essentially speaking this makes all of the creatures in your deck with this ability an Exsanguinate if they have lifelink with a wrath stapled onto them if they also have deathtouch. The main outlets for pulling this off are Crypt Rats, Magma Phoenix, Thrashing Wumpus, and Oros himself.
To enable this set-up the deck runs a decent equipment Stoneforge package that includes Basilisk Collar as well as a non-basic land tutoring set-up (Weathered Wayfarer & Expedition Map) to search for Vault of the Archangel. Additionally there are three other unconditional tutors in the deck (Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, and Cruel Tutor) to pull specific pieces out of the deck as needed.
There is one infinite combo in the deck (which wasn't an intentional decision but both cards synergized well with the deck) if you resolve Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage and Exquisite Blood and any source of damage being dealt. The way this comb works is by gaining life from an opponent taking damage with Exquisite Blood which means you can do a damage to an opponent with Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage which in turn feeds Exquisite Blood. Wiping out the board this way is considered bad form in most playgroups but sometimes ending a game that has dragged on for too long is an act of mercy. If people you play with feela little salty abut this, some of that saltiness can be mitigated by making corny puns.
"My name is Bond. Sanguine Bond."
Alternately this can get you frogged in the nads.
Another combo win the deck has (though not explicitly an infinite combo) is to use Heartless Hidetsugu with either Gisela, Blade of Goldnight out or by giving him lifelink and having Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage in play.
The tertiary way for the deck is set-up to win is through general damage. With a healthy number of equipment that can boost Oros' attack (Skullclamp, Sword of Value, and Sunforger) Oros will be able to take out an opponent in 3 to 4 swings. Not the fastest voltron kill out there but it can and does work. In corner cases you can get a two swing kill with Oros by having Gisela out or by swinging with him once while equipped with Sunforger and then on the second swing against the same player detaching Sunforger to tutor up Boros Charm and give him double strike (10 for the first swing, 12 for the second).
Obviously you can win through other means (a massive Debt to the Deathless, sticking Crypt Rats/Thrashing Wumpus, or just through normal creature damage) but the above were a few of the ways that the deck can go off.
Overall you want to control the tempo of the game using the early rounds to set-up a later line of play and use spot removal to keep faster decks from hurting you too badly. Depending on the board state, this generally means I am trying to tutor up Basilisk Collar/Vault of the Archangel or Sunforger to set-up for the next stage of the game. A lot of the low CMC creatures in this deck are utility dorks and I generally throw them in front of a larger creature as needed once they've done their job. A couple creatures (Rhox Faithmender, Vampire Nighthawk, Serra Ascendant) are in the deck specifically to help you absorb either life lost early on or dissuade players from pointing their hate your way.
The reason this deck is so heavy on wrath and spot removal is to allow you to control the faster and more aggressive decks at the table. Having Sunforger out and equipped to a creature goes a long way toward making sure that you have the right tool for the right job. The reason the so called "Sunforger Black" package is so standard among decks that run the Dega color wedge is because it is very effective. There are only a few combos you cannot disrupt with it as it is heavy on exile and tuck removal effects that work at instant speed. Another tool the deck uses to make sure it has the right tool is Vampiric Tutor/Cruel Tutor and Sensei's Divining Top. You can use any of those three cards to set either Terminus or Reforge the Soul at the top of your library to set-up for their miracle cost. If you have done this and have Sensei's Divining Top out then you have instant speed mass-tuck or hand disruption.
The general himself
Knowing when to play Oros is vital to the deck. While the deck has a shell that works with Oros' ability the deck is most definitely not married to him. If you lose Oros, it is an inconvenience but not a total loss. The deck has a number of other creatures that offer redundancy in that they have similar abilities. The best time to play Oros is when your opponents have a large build up of (non-white) creatures while you also have a way to protect him and give him haste. Using him the same turn you cast him is very important to the deck as his efficiency goes down dramatically if you give your opponents a turn to respond to him. Ideally you'll also want to be able to give him lifelink or deathtouch at the same time but this shows up one of the weaknesses of the general. To play Oros is a minimum of 6 mana. To use his ability is another 3 mana. To give him lifelink and deathtouch is an additional 3 to 4 mana. Additionally depending on whether you have Swiftfoot Boots or Lightning Greaves you may also have to pay an additional 1 to equip him. This means in order to cast Oros with haste while having enough mana to use his ability and ensure that he has lifelink/deathtouch all in the same turn will cost a whopping 12 to 14 mana. Because of this cost, it is very important than you only cast Oros if you have a way to protect him or you absolutely need a 6/6 flier on the field.
Mulliganing
Because multiplayer EDH tends to go at a much slower pace than more traditional constructed formats, I feel that poor mulliganing is the norm for many players. Just because you can generally survive long enough to start doing things off of a bad hand does not mean you should keep a bad hand. You are winning despite a bad hand not because of it.
When you look at an opening hand for this deck you are primarily looking for 3-4 lands that produce white and black mana (the two intensive colors in the deck) and then a significant play within the first 3 to 4 turns of the game. A significant play is defined in this deck as one that will allow you to set yourself up for victory in the later game. Examples of this would be getting a good balance of 3 to 4 lands, a Stoneforge Mystic, one of the deck's five drops, and something else. This will allow you to dig up either a haste enabling piece of equipment so that the five drop can start swinging as quickly as possible or a combo piece like Basilisk Collar.
This deck is very mana hungry and it frequently cares what colors of mana it makes (particularly for the pestilence creatures) so making sure that you have enough lands and that they are of the correct colors is important.
Game flow
Early on in the game you are looking to set-up the framework for a mid to late game win. The lines of opening play I tend to favor are generally along the lines of trying to drop something early on to stop opportunistic attacks from more aggressive decks and set up haste enablers and lifelink/deathtouch enablers. Crypt Rats is a good way to equalize the board early game and losing a few points of life if we're already down some is generally worth the cost of getting rid of other decks' weenies.
During the midgame is when the deck generally starts asserting itself through repeatedly board wipes and spot removal. Equipment like the Greaves and Boots can let you keep a creature on the board through most spot removal. While cards like Serra Ascendant, Baneslayer Angel, Kokusho, the Evening Star, and Wurmcoil Engine match the deck thematically, they are crucial to gaining back life lost in the earlier rounds.
Late game is usually cemented by repeatedly dropping threats (such as recurring creatures using Whip of Erebos, tutoring for creatures like Ulamog using Eye of Ugin) until something sticks or comboing off somehow. One of the swingiest cards in the deck is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight which can turn any creature into a very fast clock or double damage based abilities like Heartless Hidetsugu.
Overextending
One of the things that you have to be careful of in this deck is not overextending the cards that give your creatures lifelink and deathtouch or the creatures that do mass damage. Playing out more than one way of giving a creature lifelink and deathtouch at the same time will generally result in them all of them being destroyed at once (such as by an Austere Command) which severely hampers the deck's efficiency. Generally speaking only one creature at a time really needs those abilities so having multiple sources of it on the field at once is usually a waste of effort. Also because most of the creatures that deal damage to all creatures in players at a time will kill every other creature with the same ability, you are wasting those extra creatures when they die to the effect of another one. Play one, use it, and then play another once the first one is gone.
Voltron decks are your enemy
Except for decks that aggressively combo off for non-combat infinite wins, voltron decks are your worst enemy. Voltron does not care that you have gained over two hundred life. He does not care that you have spot removal and that he has to pay two more mana to recast his general the next turn. He just wants to hurt you. Because of this you want to make sure that when you play voltrons, that you tuck their generals whenever possible. Most voltron decks run a lot of mana acceleration so that they can repeatedly recast their general when you kill it through normal means, so tucking is one of the few ways you can slow them down.
Power Level Concerns
The goal of this deck is to win but to do so while being "fair." Because of this the deck features no alternate win conditions (e.g. Felidar Sovereign and Test of Endurance) or mass land destruction (e.g. Armageddon. It also has very minimal support for an infinite combo as that isn't the purpose of the deck. For some suggestions for building the deck to incorporate these ideas please see the first drop-down here.
As Sheldon Menery says here "Strong but fair."
Weathered Wayfarer - When his ability is on (and I've never had it not work) he is an unconditional land tutor. This allows him to color fix or fetch key pieces of the deck like Vault of the Archangel, Hall of the Bandit Lord, or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth/Cabal Coffers. As with most 1 drops in the deck he is fed to larger creatures swinging at me or used to boost the lifegain from the damage to all creature effects in the deck once his value is used up.
Knight of the White Orchid - His main purposes in the deck is to ramp us by a land when he enters the battlefield. Because we're running the full suite of on-color shocklands he also helps fix our mana colors with his primary target being Godless Shrine as white and black are the heaviest colors in the deck. Because he has first strike he also plays well with deathtouch making him a decent rattlesnake card.
Stoneforge Mystic - I most frequently use Stoneforger to tutor for Lightning Greaves, Basilisk Collar, or Sunforger. One of the big benefits that Stoneforger grants is that she has an activated ability that lets you cast equipment for 1W and tapping. This lets you sneak some equipment (Sword of Feast and Famine and Sunforger) in for cheaper and bypass almost all counter magic.
Vizkopa Guildmage - My original description of this card was "Gives creatures lifelink as needed but his main purpose is to be used as a back-up for Sanguine Bond" but that was a disservice to what this card actually does. If you have the mana to invest in activating both of Vizkopa's abilities and swing with just it and another 2/2 you are effectively doing 4 damage to every person at the table and 8 damage to the person on the receiving end if they have no blockers. Being able to stick Vizkopa Guildmage early can dramatically cut down on the life totals of all players. That said, it also works as a redundant Sanguine Bond if you really need to combo off with Exquisite Blood or Heartless Hidetsugu.
Crypt Rats - The earliest "deals damage to all creatures and players" card that we have. This card is an absolute beating when given lifelink and deathtouch as it effective says "Destroy all creatures and gain X*2 life." Even without lifelink and deathtouch, this card lets you stabilize against most aggressive decks forcing the tempo back in your direction. The only downside of Crypt Rats' ability is that it requires black mana to use. Generally this isn't a problem but if you haven't hit enough black producing lands or don't have one of your fixers in play (Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Chromatic Lantern) it can become problematic.
Necrotic Sliver - Originally Necrotic Sliver was a High Priest of Penance in this deck which was included to act as a rattlesnake card. Unfortunately Priest never seemed to work the way I needed it to so I switched to Necrotic Sliver. This is essentially a recurable, instant speed, Vindicate that can also chump block. Because it is a creature and costs less than three mana to cast it can be brought back with Sun Titan or Whip of Erebos as needed to perform an encore.
Vampire Nighthawk - One of the most efficient creatures printed for black, Nighthawk has flying, lifelink, and deathtouch. Combine that with reasonable stats for its low mana cost and you have value. The deathtouch aspect of the card will discourage a lot of players from attacking you and throwing on a piece of equipment like Sunforger or Sword of Feast and Famine can make him into a very respectable beater.
Kor Cartographer - This card essentially dittos Knight of the White Orchid's description in that it is primarily in the deck to color fix and help the deck ramp. Its downside is that it costs twice as much to play as Knight and doesn't have first strike but because non-basic ramp is so sparse outside of green this is a must include.
Rhox Faithmender - The rhino cleric plays well with the overall theme of lifegain in the deck by doubling whatever lifegain we do get. The faithmender is also competitively costed on the defensive side of things and can chump block smaller creatures with impunity.
Solemn Simulacrum - This card is a staple in most EDH decks for a reason. It brings you up a land higher and when it dies it replaces itself with a card in your hand. While it is limited to only searching for basic lands, we run enough that it has never been a whiff for me.
Baneslayer Angel - Another contribution to the "If it swings, it should gain me life" club. Baneslayer was a $50.00 card in standard for a reason as it allows you to race many people based on just gaining back life faster than they can kill you. The addition of the trinket text that gives it protection from demons and dragons is surprising relevant in EDH and can be problematic for people running generals with those creature types.
Heartless Hidetsugu - Activating Heartless can completely redefine the balance of the game in your favor and in some conditions outright win you the game. While alone his activations generally only serve to shorten the game and put you at the mercy of faster decks giving him lifelinking, having Exquisite Blood in play, or activating him while Gisela is out on the field will either put you significantly ahead or outright win you the game. While he isn't good in every situation his ability is so big when it works that he is worth the inclusion in the deck.
Magma Phoenix - If you can't tell by the examples of how the deck plays at the top of this post this card is an all-star in the deck. The ability to do 3 damage to all creatures and players is significant even when it doesn't have lifelink and deathtouch. It also has the ability to be recurred meaning that in the later stages of the game you can cast it repeatedly once you have enough mana. The downside of Magma Phoenix is that it has to go to the graveyard for its effect to be triggered which means that it getting Swords to Plowshared or Path to Exiled hurts. Another (slight) downside of this card is that the deck doesn't run any true sacrifice outlets so there will be times where it won't be able to "explode" even when you need it to. For this reason I am thinking of replacing it with Shard Phoenix who functions virtually identically except that it can self-sacrifice at the cost of less damage to all creatures and players and being more red mana intensive but less expensive overall.
Stonehewer Giant - Originally put in the deck to be Stoneforge Mystic #2, this guy is actually a pretty consistent beater. Like most (all) creatures he benefits greatly from having haste which allows him to swing and then equip himself at instant speed with his ability in response to your opponents' responses. Once he is able to tap to activate his ability, he becomes very hard to deal with using spot removal as he can just tutor up and Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots in response. He can also do the same thing with Sunforger which can sometimes surprise people if you have the mana to equip him at instant speed and also pay Sunforger's detach cost to tutor up an instant in response to something they do.
Thrashing Wumpus - The third creature in the deck (not including Oros himself) that deals damage to all creatures, Thrashing Wumpus is effectively a scale up Crypt Rats. Having multiple creatures that provide the same effect offers the deck some redundancy and Thrashing Wumpus also boasts higher stats to the rats. Because he is a 3/3 as opposed to a 1/1 you can actually use his ability without killing him twice in a single turn. This can be important as it allows him to sometimes be used more than once something Crypt Rats isn't able to do without protection from black or indestructibility. He is more mana intensive than Crypt Rats costing two B and three colorless to cast as opposed to just one B and two colorless.
Kokusho, the Evening Star - Banned from being a general but not from being played in a deck, Kokusho is one of earlier EDH's biggest reanimation targets. Generally in a four person game he is gaining you 15 life when he goes to the graveyard. Having cards like Vizkopa Guildmage, Exquisite Blood, and Sanguine Bond make this effect even bigger (in some cases game ending). Kokusho has reasonable stats for his cast cost and has evasion so in a pinch he can be used as a beater but his real benefit to the deck is when he goes to the graveyard.
Sun Titan - Originally a random goodstuff pick but as I played with the deck more he become something of an MVP. Because his ability is tied to his entering the battlefield and not just to attacking means that even if he dies the turn he is played, you are still getting value from him. He brings back equipment that have been destroyed, he recurs fetchlands to accelerate or mana fix your board position, and all of the enter the battlefield creatures that cost three or less in this deck become part of an engine as opposed to one time effects. He also functions as a very reasonable blocker as he has vigilance allowing you to swing, bring something back, and still have a creature to block with.
Wurmcoil Engine - Essentially the colorless titan, this card is pure value. Having lifelink and deathtouch on a single creature makes it both an effective beater and a rattlesnake card that opponents have to play around in order to hit you. If you (or an opponent) wrath the board he preserves himself by generating two 3/3 tokens meaning that you have a very similar board presence right off the bat (as opposed to most of the other players). Additionally he is a colorless creature making him tutorable with Eye of Ugin.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - Along with Heartless Hidetsugu and Vizkopa Guildmage, Gisela creates massive swings in game balance. Her damage doubling ability make Heartless Hidetsugu a near instant win in many cases, increases the efficiency of all of your creatures (particularly important when it comes to your general), and makes your pestilence effects on Crypt Rats and Thrashing Wumpus far more dangerous. The other side of her abilities is just as potent keeping you from burning yourself out as easily with Pestilence effects, only losing a quarter of your life to Heartless, and in general being able to tank swarms of creatures like a boss.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - Another late game finisher, Ulamog destroys a permanent when he is cast (not when he enters the battlefield) which means that the effect resolves even if he is countered. Additionally once he hits the board his indestructibility makes him hard to deal with and he becomes more difficult to answer if there is a Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots laying around for him to wear. With all of the haste enablers the deck has, he regularly is able to swing the same turn you cast him which can nearly immediately knock someone out of the game. Another benefit to running Ulamog is that he makes you much harder to mill to death (your opponents need to run a way to exile him at instant speed or exile all cards that would go to your graveyard) and synergizes well with the wheel effects the deck runs allowing you to recycle your graveyard (which also synergizes with Sunforger to re-use the same spells multiple times).
With the exception of Vampiric Tutor every instant in the deck is able to be searched for using Sunforger. The reason for this is beyond simply making the deck more consistent, it gives the deck a much greater ability to have the right tool for the right job. There are also a good number of tuck effects in this deck. The reason for this is because one of the things that most lifegain decks have problems with are voltron decks who do not care how much life you have gained. Tucking an opposing players' general will usually remove the threat for the majority of the game.
Instants
Path to Exile - Essentially a redundant copy of Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile is tied with its predecessor as one of the most efficient removal spells ever printed. While it does offer a form of permanent resource advantage when it removes a creature, the drawback is bearable when you consider that the removed creature is exiled from the game, bypassing Indestructibility, Regeneration, the possibility of the creature being reanimated, and ignoring triggers for when the creature enters the graveyard.
Swords to Plowshares - Before there was Path to Exile there was Swords to Plow. This is the original one mana "Your creature is going away forever" spell and it is still as good as it was in yesteryear. The drawback for Swords to Plowshares is far less permanent than the one for Path to Exile making it the superior of the two cards.
Vampiric Tutor - In someways Vampiric Tutor is simultaneously worse and better than its older cousin Demonic Tutor. The strength of the card is that it can be used at instant speed (at the cost of 2 life) but instead of placing the card in your hand, it places it on top of your deck. Occasionally this will be painful when you need the card right then and you don't have a way to draw but it does offer nice synergy with cards like Sensei's Diving Top, Terminus, and Reforge the Soul. Also on the list of slightly niche uses, I've used Vampiric Tutor to recycle my graveyard against mill decks by tutoring Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to the top of the library in response to a mill ability.
Boros Charm - This is primarily in the deck so I have a chance to respond to someone casting a mass land destruction spell or targeting a permanent I absolutely need to survive. I love the modal nature of all of the charms (even when the abilities aren't necessarily useful) and this is no exception. The ability to give a creature double strike can be used to gain extra life when used on one of your lifelinking creatures, to two shot a player (occasionally) with your general, or to make some player cry when you make someone else's general have double strike. The indestructibility mode can be used to counter spot removal on permanents you absolutely require to survive or to protect your board position from most type of wipes (be it land or creature). The least useful ability is the ability to randomly ding a player for 4 life but I could see it being useful every once in a blue moon.
Chaos Warp - There isn't a permanent type it doesn't deal with and the cast costing cost is very flexible. While it doesn't guarantee that a threat is gone for good (especially in more tutor heavy decks) it does generally take care of something long enough for you to have drawn another, more permanent, answer or simply taken out the player. As with all tuck spells it is absolutely house against opposing generals and very rarely have I see someone get to place a permanent in play that was more dangerous that what Chaos Warp was initially used on.
Oblation - Oblation is essentially Chaos Warp's slightly less flexible and more prohibitively drawn back cousin. It functions nearly identically to Chaos Warp in that it tucks and shuffles a problem permanent (particularly opposing generals) to get rid of it. This bypasses most forms of creature protection like Indestructibility, Regeneration, all forms of graveyard interaction, and the Command Zone, so it can be a powerful effect. Powerful effect or not, letting a player draw two cards can bring back the same threat or something just as bad. That said, when used judiciously, Oblation can be house. You can also use it as a draw spell when you absolutely need to try drawing into an answer. Also, using Oblation on a creature that your opponents have taken control of, means that you draw the two cards, not them.
Unmake - Effectively a more expensive Swords to Plowshares, Unmake has the advantage of not providing your opponent with any sort of "gift" for taking care of their creature in exchange for the greater mana cost.
Return to Dust - There are very few cards that exile non-creature permanents and fewer still that do it at instant speed. Return to Dust does both and when cast during your main phase can be a two for one. Additionally the exile stipulation gets around indestructible permanents like the Theros gods, Darksteel Forge, Blightsteel Colossus, etc. Easily one of the most powerful iterations of Disenchant ever printed.
Sorceries
Vandalblast - While it costs only a single mana to blow up a single artifact, Vandalblast's strength is in its overloaded form. Simply put unless not destroying an artifact is going to lose you the game, you should never cast Vandalblast without paying its overload casting cost. The ability to asymmetrically destroy all artifacts your opponents control is fantastic.
Demonic Tutor - The original and best tutor available in Magic the Gathering. The only thing this card lacks is not being an instant but you cannot have everything.
Cruel Tutor - I dither a bit between this and playing another tutor like Diabolic Tutor or Beseech the Queen but the fact that it interacts well with the miracle casting cost cards in the deck and not having to reveal the card I search for is usually want keeps this in the main deck. There really isn't a whole lot else to say about this card, it searches your library and increases consistency.
Wheel of Fortune - In terms of mana efficiency, this is one of the strongest drawing spells in the deck but it comes with the drawback of also refueling the hands of your opponents. The best time to cast this is as soon as you can dump the majority of your hand or when you absolutely have to disrupt the hand of another player (such as when they tutor for a specific card). The main reason for the inclusion of Wheel is simply that it is a very cheap drawing spell but it also synergizes well with Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre which is a good way to get a late drop out of your hand or to recycle your graveyard (relevant for Sunforger targets). This can also be used to feed Whip of Erebos in some niche cases.
Damnation - While this is the most mana efficient wrath in the deck, it is also one of the least powerful because it does not get around indestructibility or offer any sort of flexibility in the targets you choose like Austere Command or Merciless Eviction. That said, being able to cast this on four mana is relevant in games where we start with it in our opening hand or draw into it within the first few rounds, relieving a lot of pressure early on if we are a target.
Debt to the Deathless - A scaled up version of Exsanguinate, Debt can be used to knock off a couple players or outright win you the game. One of the important things about running Debt over Exsanguinate is knowing what the breaking point is for when Debt becomes a more efficient mana investment. You do not want to cast this card until you have seven mana to invest. Exsanguinate deals five damage for a seven mana investment while Debt to the Deathless will deal six damage. As you invest more mana beyond that point in cast this card, it becomes exponentially more powerful. Debt to the Deathless plays very well with Sanguine Bond, Vizkopa Guildmage, and Exquisite Blood on the field. Casting a Debt for eight mana while you have Sanguine Bond in play will usually end a game immediately if there are three other players. Using it with Exquisite Blood is not as powerful but will still double the effect on your life gain. It is also important to note that this does not get double damage while you have Gisela, Blade of Goldnight in play as life loss is not the same thing as damage dealt.
Promise of Power - This was originally Ancient Craving but the ability to draw three cards for four mana wasn't enough for what I wanted. By scaling up one more mana you draw an additional two cards and the five life lost for casting this is negligible to the deck. Alternately this can become an aggressively costed dude depending on your hand size and both if you pay the entwine cost. One thing to note about the demon token you get for using the dude-mode of this card is that the power and toughness is set at the time you cast this card and does not change with the number of cards in your hand. This is great since a lot of times you want to dump everything you have as quickly as possible but can occasionally mean that you're casting just a chump blocker for five mana.
Reforge the Soul - The second wheel affect in the deck, the idea is to use your ability to manipulate the top of your deck to cast it at instant speed for the miracle cost. Otherwise it is a more expensive Wheel of Fortune. See my notes above for more information about some of the syngeries it offers the deck.
Austere Command - One of the best board sweeping effects in the deck, this gets rid of pretty much anything that isn't a land or a planeswalker. The ability to cast it for multiple modes as needed gives it a lot of flexibility that justifies the high-ish mana cost to cast. One thing to keep in mind with Austere Command is that the different effects resolve in the order that is printed on the card (i.e. Artifacts, then Enchantments, then Creatures with a CMC of 3 or less, and finally creatures with a CMC of 4 or greater). This can be relevant when you have an effect (such as the creatures with Totem armor) that would prevent a creature from being destroyed normally.
Merciless Eviction - While functionally this is a less effective sweeper when you want to remove all enchantments and artifacts, it gets around Indestructibility and other graveyard shenanigans becomes it specifies to exile the the targets and not destroy them. A board full of creatures with an Avacyn, Angel of Hope in play? No problem. Same thing with Darksteel Forge and a bunch of artifacts.
Terminus - The final wrath in the deck, this is a great card for when there are multiple generals on the field. This also gets around a lot of the same abilities that exiling does with the added bonus of making sure that a general doesn't go back to the command zone. Much like Reforge the Soul this card is good on its own but better when set-up at the top of your deck with some way to draw a card letting you cast it at instant speed.
Necropotence - This is one of the most powerful card draw sources ever printed. The life lost (when used responsibly) is easily negated by the deck's lifegaining abilities. There is a nonbo (see the MTG Salvation wiki for the definition of nonbo) in this deck when using Necropotence. You do not want to use either Wheel of Fortune or Reforge the Soul while this is out as the cards you discard will be exiled instead of put in the graveyard. This also nerfs Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre's ability if it is discarded as well.
Exquisite Blood - One half of the infamous combo with Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage this enchantment turns any damage dealt to an opponent into lifegain for you. This synergizes nicely with cards like Heartless Hidetsugu and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight since they usually create massive life loss for other players.
Playing this card usually has massive political ramifications as it puts a massive bullseye on your head because it signals that you are running an infinite combo in your deck. Generally I like to sit on this card until there is someone with a strong enough board position that nobody is going to attack me over them or that I absolutely need the lifegain.
Sanguine Bond - Even without using this to combo off with Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond is a potential wincon when coupled with massive lifegain. Heartless Hidetsugu having lifelink or even a massive Debt to the Deathless while this is in play will generally end the game immediately.
Much like Exquisite Blood, this card will generally put you on every other players' radar so it is important to play this judiciously.
Basilisk Collar - Basilisk Collar is one of the most important pieces of equipment in this deck as it very cheaply gives lifelink and deathtouch to any creature you slap it on. This means that any damage the equipped creature does (including non-combat damage) will kill any creature that doesn't have Indestructibility, a way to regenerate, or something like Totem Armor. This synergizes with our general, all of the creatures that have a pestilence effect built onto them, anything with first strike, etc. It is also easily tutored for using Stoneforge Mystic or Stonehewer Giant as well as the other unconditional tutors in the deck.
Lightning Greaves - The Greaves are in almost every EDH deck for a reason. Once they are cast they give any creature free haste and a pass on any targeted removal. The fact that these are also an equipment mean that the deck has a number of ways to tutor them up. The only negative about this card is that they provide the equipped creature with shroud which prevents you from equipping that creature with another artifact once the greaves are attached so it is important to make sure that unless you have another creature in play that you slap on any other equipment first and then greaves.
Swiftfoot Boots - A redundant copy of greaves, this is mostly identical except for the increased equip cost and the fact that it provides hexproof instead of shroud to the equipped creature. The boots providing hexproof means that you do not have the same issues with equipping a creature and then not being able to put on another equipment because of shroud. Other than that, Swiftfoot Boots is a functional reprint of Lightning Greaves.
Sunforger - There was a Magic article written over a decade ago by a player named Michael Flores called "Who's The Beatdown?". The key principle of the article is knowing when you need to play your deck aggressively (being the beatdown) or playing conservatively (being the control). You can find the republished copy of this article here on SCG.
The reason I am referencing that article is because Sunforger enables the deck to most efficiently play the role of control. There are some decks that are spewing out threats so quickly that under normal circumstances you would not be able to draw into all of your removal to stop them from winning. Sunforger allows you to do this by effectively extending your hand to include every other non-Vampiric Tutor instant in the deck. The selection of instants in this deck gives you the depth to handle multiple threats at instant speed multiple times.
While Sunforger's greatest strength is allowing you to have an instant speed answer to almost any threat on the board it can also give you the ability to play more aggressively. The four additional power pushes Oros up to being able to kill an opposing player in three shots under normal circumstances and occasionally a two shot kill.
Sword of Feast and Famine - Outside of Sword of Fire and Ice this is probably the most powerful of the swords printed. The ability to untap all of your lands while disrupting an opponent's hand is invaluable. Used properly this gives you the ability to spend mana on the variety of effects this deck has (such as activating Oros' ability, paying for Vault of the Archangel, or using Crypt Rats/Thrashing Wumpus) while still having mana to cast other cards in your hand during your second main phase. A nuance to the protection from black that this sword grants is that it stops you from killing your own creature when using Crypt Rats/Thrashing Wumpus allowing you to clear the field of chumps using their pestilence effect, swing in for damage, untap, and then cast other cards or use their ability again. The protection from green is also usually relevant as green decks usually have a surplus of chump blockers.
Artifacts
Expedition Map - Because of the importance of some lands in our deck (such as Vault of the Archangel for giving lifelink/deathtouch to our creatures or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for mana fixing) having a land tutor that doesn't specify to search for a basic land card is invaluable. It also helps ensure that you do not miss a land drop which can put you behind considering the lackluster nature of ramp outside of green and mono-black. Because it has a cast cost of less than three, this can also be used re-used with Sun Titan giving it a bit more reach.
Nihil Spellbomb - Graveyard hate on a stick that can also become a cantrip when you are desperate for cards. This also recurs with Sun Titan which is generally considered decent.
Sensei's Diving Top - Another staple that sees play in almost every deck because of its power. This synergizes particularly well with the cards that have a Miracle casting cost allowing you to decide when you want to use the ability and making them much easier to use at instant speed.
Sol Ring - There isn't a whole lot say about Sol Ring that hasn't already been said elsewhere. Because of the heavy cost of the general and most of the activated abilities in the deck, this is invaluable for accelerating your ability to play these cards. There really isn't anything about about it at all.
Boros Signet - Mana fixing and ramping you up an additional turn. The only downside of the signets is that you have to have mana in order to use them and I have occasionally not paid attention, used all of my other mana sources, and tried to use these until I realize I cannot.
Orzhov Signet - Mana fixing and ramping you up an additional turn. The only downside of the signets is that you have to have mana in order to use them and I have occasionally not paid attention, used all of my other mana sources, and tried to use these until I realize I cannot.
Rakdos Signet - Mana fixing and ramping you up an additional turn. The only downside of the signets is that you have to have mana in order to use them and I have occasionally not paid attention, used all of my other mana sources, and tried to use these until I realize I cannot.
Crucible of Worlds - Because of the importance of many of the lands in the deck, this is invaluable for making sure that you get them back when they have been destroyed. This is also excellent for use with a fetchland as it allows you to ensure that you do not miss a land drop when you might normally do so.
Chromatic Lantern - Color fixing and ramp, seems good. Casting Chromatic Lantern allows you a lot more flexibility in how you tap your mana as well as ensuring that you always have enough black mana to use the pestilence effects in the deck.
Whip of Erebos - First of all, I had fits trying to figure out whether to put this in artifacts or enchantments because it is both. I ended up classifying it as an artifact because it primarily died to artifact removal. The dual typing is problematic because it allows cards that destroy strictly artifacts or strictly enchantments to destroy it with equal efficiency. That said, the ability to give all creatures lifelink is excellent in this deck while the ability to recur creatures from your graveyard gives the deck a bit more reach in late game. This also synergizes well with Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul allowing you to pitch creatures to Ball Lightning at your opponents when needed.
Gilded Lotus - It ramps while producing colored mana. This is another "in every other deck" type card because of its utility and ability to allow you to cast more color intensive spells.
Mind's Eye - Probably the best generic (any deck can use it) draw source in EDH. The ability to pay one to draw a card whenever your opponents do can be a bit nutty. One consideration to keep in mind is that you generally do not want to draw extra cards when someone has a Consecrated Sphinx on the field as you'll just be enabling them to draw yet more mana.
Simply put, lands that enter the battlefield tapped are bad and will cost you the game at some point or another. The only reason to have a land that enters the battlefield tapped in your deck is because it provides an effect that is worth the loss of tempo (e.g. Bojuka Bog) or because you have a budget constraint of some type. The secondary rule of building a mana base is that you do not want lands that do not produce colorless mana unless they have a very strong effect attached to them (e.g. Temple of the False God).
Going by this philosophy the best color fixing lands you can own in most three color decks are dual lands, the Onslaught and Zendikar fetchlands, the Shadowmoor and Eventide filterlands, and finally the checklands. There are a couple individual lands that don't constitute a cycle that are also superior for mana fixing like and Command Tower, Reflecting Pool, City of Brass.
Dual lands are superior because they offer mana fixing for all two color combinations, have no conditions or drawbacks for their use, and they can be searched for by cards that specify to look for a specific land type (such as Plains). This is in particular relevant when playing with the fetchlands from Onslaught and Zendikar that specify to look for one of two basic land types. Searching up a dual land with one of these fetchlands means that you have the ability to fix for two colors instead of just one if you found a basic land. This is also why the shocklands from Ravnica block are so popular. They also have both basic land types for the colors they produce but have the downside of entering play tapped unless you pay 2 life. Individually paying 2 life for a land isn't a bad deal but fetching up all three on-color shocklands for a three color deck will mean that you paid nearly a quarter of your starting life total (assuming you use fetchlands).
The Shadowmoor and Eventide filterlands are strong because they offer not just mana fixing in that they can produce one of two colors but also mana smoothing in that they can produce two mana of either color. Additionally they do not come into play tapped so they can be used the turn they are played even if you do not use them to produce colored mana.
Checklands are good because they generally come into play untapped if you control at least two basic land types of your total three available and have no stipulations (such as life loss or requiring a color to be activated). Their only downside is that they can come into play tapped if you only have non-basic lands that do not have a basic land type but having a full suite of dual and shocklands in your deck will generally prevent this from ever happening.
The secondary color fixing lands I would recommend are the Ice Age and Apocalypse painlands, the Odyssey filterlands, and the Ravnica block karoolands. There are other mana fixing lands that offer some sort of ancillary benefit (such as the taplands from Zendikar) but those are typically not worth it unless you have a specific reason to use them (such as Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse so you have extra targets for Crucible of Worlds).
While they do ping you on each use and generally will hurt you more over the course of a game than the shocklands, painlands come into play untapped and can produce colorless mana for times when you don't want or need to take damage. The filtlerlands from Odyssey are great in that they also come into play untapped and do not have specific mana requirements to fulfill in order to produce their colors (so you can use it with another colorless land) but on their own they do not produce mana and they are not as flexible as the Shadowmoor and Eventide filterlands in how they produce their colors. The karoolands from Ravnica come into play tapped AND require that you return a land already in play to your hand (so you cannot play it on your first turn) but they produce two mana per activation. The downside of playing these lands (beyond entering the battlefield tapped) is that if someone uses Strip Mine or other targeted land destruction on them, you are essentially losing two cards for one (the karoo itself and the land you returned to hand). A couple niche upsides to the karoos is that they can be used to return lands with an enter the battlefield effect on them (such as Bojuka Bog or the Hideaway lands from Lorwyn) or targeted by Thespian's Stage to gain additional mana.
Lands
5x Plains - Excluding the cost of activated abilities, white is the single most needed color in the deck. Almost all of my earliest drops require white mana and my best spot removal spells also require white. Because of this I run more Plains than any other basic land.
4x Swamp - The second most needed color in the deck. Black is important to the deck to fulfill keep checklands from coming into play tapped, activating pestilence effects, and feeding Cabal Coffers. Because I also run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth which makes all lands Swamps, I do not need as many Swamps in the deck as I do Plains but it is more needed than Mountains.
2x Mountain - Few of my creatures and spells actually require red mana and early on in the game the main reason for wanting red is to set-up to cast Oros, the Avenger or Magma Phoenix. Red does provide mana to activate Sunforger and also is linked to most of my draw spells.
Evolving Wilds - Even though it is effectively a single mana producing tapped land, Evolving Wilds can be used to fix for all three colors in the deck and with Crucible of Worlds or Sun Titan it can be a source of ensured land drops or slow ramp.
Rocky Tar Pit - Originally this was Terramorphic Expanse but I switched it out primarily because I really hate the art on Terramorphic for some reason. This also fetches up most of my dual or shocklands and works identically to Evolving Wilds when used in conjunction with Crucible of Worlds or Sun Titan.
Arid Mesa, Bloodstained Mire, and Marsh Flats - Pretty much everything I just wrote about Evolving Wilds and Rocky Tarpit. They can fetch shocks, duals, or basic lands as needed with the added benefit of not coming into play tapped or making the lands they fetch enter tapped.
Scrubland - The first dual land I ever owned and it is great. See my comments at the top of this section for why dual lands are good.
Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, and Blood Crypt - See my comments at the top of this section for why shocklands are good.
Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat, and Dragonskull Summit - See my comments at the top of this section for why the checklands are good. Also Dragonskull Summit is quite possibly one of the most metal lands of all time.
Grave Cairns and Rugged Prairie - See my comments at the top of this section for why the Shadowmoor and Eventide filterlands are good.
Lavaclaw Reaches - I've always been a sucker for manlands as they are essentially creatures that cannot be countered. This one in particular is a favorite as it has a firebreathing ability attached to it which can allow for a pretty big hit to a single player if the board has been recently cleared.
Reflecting Pool - Aside from Command Tower this is individually one of the best individual lands in the deck that can produce all three colors. While on its own it does not produce colored mana, I have never been in a situation where it hasn't produced at least two of my decks three colors. Excellent mana smoother.
Command Tower - If you are playing a general that requires more than one color to cast, then you should play this land. Except for very corner cases, this is never a bad land to have in play as it will always enter the battlefield untapped and it will always produce the colors your deck needs.
Battlefield Forge - See my comments on the painlands above.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - One half of the combo that allows Cabal Coffers produce literally ridiculous amounts of mana this is the single best black mana fixer in the deck. While it does feed Cabal Coffers, its real purpose is that it allows me to feed Thrashing Wumpus and Crypt Rats the mana they hunger for when they want to blow up the board.
Bojuka Bog - It exiles a single player's graveyard and cannot be countered. Well worth the cost of coming into play tapped.
Thespian's Stage - While this no longer functions as a Strip Mine for legendary lands, this can be used to fix mana when copying lands that produce multiple colors you need or to function as a type of pseudo-ramp when you copy a land that produces more than one mana per activation. If you can swing it, having Thespian's Stage copy Cabal Coffers and lead to truly insane mana production and offer a bit of redundancy to protect that mana production.
Cabal Coffers - With an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play (by any player at the table) this card produces incredibly ridiculous amounts of mana once you have four or more swamps in play. Without an Urborg in play, Cabal Coffers becomes a lot more mediocre and can only really be used to mana fix if you are desperate for more black mana.
Reliquary Tower - Reliquary Tower doesn't come into play tapped which is a plus but it also doesn't produce colored mana which can be painful on occasion. When you have Mind's Eye or Necropotence in play, not having to discard cards from your hand can be absolutely house. Otherwise it sits on the field going "Someone please play Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur so I can be relevant."
Vault of the Archangel - Arguably the most important land in the deck, this is land gives all of our creatures lifelinking and deathtouch with very little chance of the effect being countered. It is expensive to activate and only produces colorless mana but the fact that it is such an important enabler to the deck makes it invaluable.
Temple of the False God - You really don't want this card to be in your opening hand unless you also have drawn some way to get four other lands into play before having to play Temple. Beyond getting this card in your opening hand there really isn't much of a downside to it as it offers some acceleration in a deck that is desperate for it.
Hall of the Bandit Lord - You would think that a land that always comes into play tapped, only produces colorless mana, and Lightning Bolts your face every time you use it would be bad, right? Fortunately this land is anything but bad. Being able to get a creature (such as your general) in play and swing with it on the same turn is worth all of the drawbacks detailed above. Additionally the life lost is usually gained back by one of our numerous lifelinking creatures.
Eye of Ugin - When you absolutely need to hit Wurmcoil Engine or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre accept no substitution. While it does have a handful of downsides such as being expensive to activate and not producing any mana, this land is clutch when it comes to cementing late game victories.
Sun Titan with any fetchland - Added ability to ramp or color fix.
Sun Titan with Necrotic Sliver - Reusable permanent destruction.
Sun Titan with Knight of the White Orchid or Stoneforge Mystic - Ability to re-use these creatures respective ETB effects once they have gone to the graveyard.
Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage with any lifelinked creature - Can be used to distribute damage across the table or double the damage done to a player.
Sanguine Bond/Vizkopa Guildmage with Exquisite Blood + 1 point of damage - With all but a few exceptions this combo will win the game for you immediately.
Vampiric Tutor with Terminus or Reforge the Soul - Allows you to set-up to use these cards for their much cheaper miracle costs. Combined with some form of drawing on your opponents' turn and you can use these at instant speed.
Sensei's Divining Top with Terminus or Reforge the Soul - Same as above but makes it easier for you to perform the same actions at instant speed.
Crypt Rats or Thrashing Wumpus with Sword of Feast and Famine - The protection from black allows you to use their abilities repeatedly without killing them. Additionally it can be used (assuming they have deathtouch) to clear the board of all creatures that aren't indestructible, hit a now open player, and then do the same thing again before your next upkeep with your untapped lands.
Heartless Hidetsugu with Basilisk Collar, Vault of the Archangel, Whip of Erebos, Vizkopa Guildmage, or Exquisite Blood - Giving Heartless Hidetsugu lifelink entirely mitigates the damage he does to you. With Exquisite Blood in play while he still damages you, you will generally still gain life based on the damage dealt to your opponents. Also having Whip of Erebos out while Heartless Hidetsugu is in the graveyard provides a massive life swing at instant speed.
Heartless Hidetsugu with Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - If your opponents are at an even life total, they immediately lose once you activate Hidetsugu with Gisela on the board. If they are at odd life totals then they are dropped to 1 life.
Heartless Hidetsugu with Lifelink and Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage - The vast majority of the time, the damage reflected back at your opponents from your lifegain with Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage will kill off the rest of the table.
Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul with Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre in hand - Allows you to recycle your graveyard while still taking full advantage of the card draw these cards produce.
Most Recent Deck Changes
+Necropotence|| -Skullclamp - With the removal of Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton, and Kher Keep, Skullclamp had lost most of its value in the deck. I still felt that the deck needed more card draw so Necropotence is going on probation.
+Whip of Erebos|| -Something - I don't remember what specifically I dropped for Whip but functionally this replaces Phyrexian Reclamation. The fact that it gives lifelinking to all of my creatures is great and it combos off excellently with the rest of the deck while giving it a little late game reach.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Land Destruction
You will want to lower your overall curve and include Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Grand Abolisher, Faith's Reward, Armageddon, Jokulhaups, Ravages of War, Price of Glory, and Ruination. Elspeth, Knight-Errant is also a possibility if you can get her emblem up.
The idea for this build is to use land destruction as a way to lock out other decks. Using cards like Avacyn, Faith's Reward, and Boros Charm to either make your cards indestructible or bring them back immediately so you have a major advantage in material. Faith's Reward and Boros Charm are both tutorable using Sunforger. Price of Glory works because it allows you to be the only person to respond on your opponents' turns once you have indestructible across the field. Grand Abolisher also helps with this strategy making it harder for your opponents to stop your board wipes or from bringing stuff back with Faith's Reward on your turn.
Life Gain
Test of Endurance, Felidar Sovereign, Beacon of Immortality.
Basically just adding an additional set of wincons to the deck in Test of Endurance and Felidar Sovereign.
Sideboard
Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage - Shuts down graveyard shenanigans pretty cold. Cage also has an added benefit of telling Tooth and Nail, Chord of Calling, and Green Sun's Zenith to get stuck.
Volcanic Fallout - Tutorable by Sunforger this is an uncounterable way to wrath weenies.
Faith's Reward - Against any deck that consistently wraths this can help a lot. Also tutorable with Sunforger.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Elixir of Immortality - While I'm already running one of these in my main deck, this is to help nerf mill strategies.
Stranglehold, Aven Mindcensor - For combo decks one of the most consistent ways of going off is to just tutor for the pieces. These stop that.
Price of Glory, Grand Abolisher - Forces heavy permission decks to play nice on your turn. Keep in mind that Price of Glory hits you too.
You Break It, You Play It
Things I Will Add As Soon As I Get Them
Badlands - Strictly a better land and tutors up off of the on-color fetchlands.
Plateau - Strictly better land and tutors up off of the on-color fetchlands, Kor Cartographer, and Knight of the White Orchid. See my section on Lands & Why for why I want this.
Fetid Heath - Great mana smoothing land. Behind the original dual lands and shocklands, probably the best mana fixing lands in EDH.
Mana Crypt - It's a Sol Ring that doesn't cost mana. It does not get much better than that...oh wait, it's $200.00 now?! Damnit. Not getting this any time soon.
Cards I Am Currently Testing
Academy Rector - I've had it on the field but haven't had an opportunity to use its search ability yet. I love the idea behind this card and there are enough other people playing it to make me think it is good.
Wound Reflection - Ended up removing Exquisite Blood for this and I haven't regretted it. Would Reflection functions similarly enough to Exquisite Blood when I'm using it with Vizkopa Guildmage or Sanguine Bond that I haven't missed having blood or the hate you get when people see it.
Godo, Bandit Warlord - So far this has been a solid card and will end up being a part of the main deck, I just haven't figured out what specifically I want to cut for it.
Repercussion - Syngerizes so well with Oros' ability as well as Crypt Rats, Thrashing Wumpus, and Magma Phoenix.
Greed - Removed Mind's Eye to make room for this and haven't regretted it. The ability to draw on demand has made a huge amount of difference.
Hammer of Purphoros - Functionally identical to Fervor with a few added abilities. This can also be searched up with my enchantment specific tutors which is a plus.
Cards I've Tested and Cut
Bloodghast - More efficient than Reassembling Skeleton but cut when I cut other parts of the Skullclamp package.
Khemba, Kha Regent - It was a fun idea but never panned out the way I wanted and ended up not contributing to the overall theme of the deck which was taking advantage of creatures that did well with lifelink and deathtouch as well as manipulating lifegain to our advantage.
Squee, Goblin Nabob - Even less efficient than Reassembling Skeleton as part of the Skullclamp package.
Divinity of Pride - I still flip-flop on this as opposed to Baneslayer. This was originally cut in an earlier iteration of the deck when my mana base wasn't as well put together which isn't a problem as much. Will probably give this a spin again.
Grave Titan - Didn't support the overall theme of the deck. It isn't a bad card it just doesn't contribute well to the deck itself.
Inferno Titan - This wasn't terrible in the deck since it played nice with lifelink and deathtouch but I ended up cutting this because the deck was very top-heavy in its earlier iterations.
Steel Hellkite - I have enough targeted removal to make the destroy ability when he does combat damage not necessary and Wurmcoil Engine was a better pick for this slot.
Massacre Wurm - Another cut because the deck was much top-heavier than it should have been. Additionally his ability while randomly great, isn't always consistently useful.
Angel of Despair - A really expensive Vindicate. Without anyway to trick this into play its ability was not really worth the cost of playing it.
Sheoldred, the Whispering One - This was another good stuff pick I put in the deck that didn't really contribute to the deck's overall theme. Ultimately removed because at the time I made the deck it was super top-heavy (over half the creatures had a CMC of 6 or more).
Sepulchral Primordial - A lot like Grave Titan and Massacre Wurm, not bad but not good for the deck.
Rune-Scarred Demon - I waffle back and forth about running this card because I love that it is a solid body with a great ETB effect. I ended up cutting it because most of the time I was just casting it as an expensive Demonic Tutor and cutting this lowered the curve of the deck a bit.
Scourge of Kher Ridges - Ironically enough the inspiration of the deck ended up getting cut because it just wasn't efficient enough to be abused regularly. The 8 casting cost was just too much for me to keep him in when I had more efficient cards like Crypt Rats, Thrashing Wumpus, and Oros, the Avenger.
Condemn - This came out for Oblation as Oblation was more flexible and was not conditional on an opponent attacking.
Shattering Pulse - Removed because Vandalblast did the same thing more effectively.
Shattering Spree - I love Shattering Spree but it came out since I already enough ways to blow up all artifacts between Vandalblast and the other wraths in the deck.
Reiterate - While it was great in corner cases (such as forking opposing draw and ramp spells) it just wasn't enough to justify keeping it in the deck.
Ashes to Ashes - Removed for Unmake which was tutorable using Sunforger.
Damnation - Removed for Oblivion Stone because I needed more wraths that handled enchantments because I play regularly against an enchantress deck.
Wrath of God - Removed from Terminus which got around indestructible better and could be tricked into play at instant speed for less mana.
Ancient Craving - Switched out for Promise of Power because Promise let me dig deeper and was randomly a beater when I needed it.
Sever the Bloodline - This ended up getting cut because of the amount of other spot removal I was running that was instant speed and dealt with other permanent types.
Phyrexian Reclamation - This was removed in one of the earlier deck iterations. I liked the card but it came down to having cards I liked or cards that actually worked better toward keeping the deck on theme. When I would have put this back in the deck, Whip of Erebos had already come out which does everything I wanted from Reclamation and more.
Land Tax - I was running this was Scroll Rack but ended up cutting it because it was too durdly and I really wanted more space in the deck devoted to supporting the overall themes of gaining life and hurting opponents with said life gain and benefiting from lifelink/deathtouch on creatures.
Phyrexian Arena - Ironically enough this went missing (got stolen?). When I get another one I will re-test this against Greed.
Karn Liberated - I had Karn in the deck originally because I wanted more targeted spot removal but I ended up taking him out for spells that did the same thing because Karn would come into play, exile something, and then die. A seven mana Vindicate is not my type of thing.
Skullclamp - Never a bad card but I didn't really have the creatures to support it.
Loxodon Warhammer - Mediocre in my deck. I very rarely win through direct combat damage and I have more efficient ways to give my creatures lifelink.
Sword of Fire and Ice - Cut in favor of Sunforger which in my deck is far better since I run enough wraths to not need the pinging effect from Sword.
Mana Vault - A great card but I kept finding myself using it once and never paying mana to untap it because I always had other things to cast.
Elixir of Immortality - A durdly card I put in to help recycle my deck. It didn't do much to help the overall theme of the deck.
Scroll Rack - Without running Land Tax this had very little use after you use it one time unless you can reshuffle your deck regularly.
Druidic Satchel - This is a great fun card and was originally put in the deck because it would randomly let me ramp but overall cut due to durdlyness.
Helm of Possession - Earlier iterations of this deck ran more small creatures such as Reassembling Skeleton, Bloodghast, and Squee, Goblin Nabob to feed this but those were cut to increase the overall efficiency of the deck and to keep the deck on task for being the lifegain shenanigans deck.
Darksteel Plate - Too expensive to want to use consistently and with all of the tuck and exile removal in my metagame mostly ineffective.
Wayfarer's Bauble - I ended up cutting this for Solemn Simulacrum which provided a warm robotic body that did the same thing and netted me a block and a card on death.
Coalition Relic - While I prefer the efficiency of Coalition Relic (It costs three and can produce two colored mana in a turn) I needed the mana fixing of Chromatic Lantern more.
Olivia Voldaren - This was a fun card to run but her ability was surprisingly nonbo-ish when I ran her with something like Basilisk Collar because it would die instead of allowing me to later take control of it. Additionally she requires a pretty good amount of mana and while my deck can ramp a bit, it can't support as many activated abilities that require significant investments of mana. I cut her so I could focus on having mana for responding to my opponents using cards like Sunforger and pumping X-spells/abilities.
Oblation - Switched out for Unexpectedly Absent which doesn't let my opponents draw cards.
Increasing Ambition -
Jester's Cap - This was a metagame call that isn't as necessary any longer. For a while everyone in my meta was running Enter the Infinite and Omniscience and this was a mana efficient way of getting rid of those cards.
High Priest of Penance - I tested this out as a rattlesnake card to deter people from attacking me with the thought that I could trigger it whenever I wanted because of all of the damage dealing abilities I have. It just never panned out the way I wanted and I ended up running Necrotic Sliver instead.
Rhox Faithmender - Rhox Faithmender was randomly awesome but also a win more card. I ended up cutting it to make room for Batterskull which has been absolutely house.
Reforge the Soul - I put in more tutors as I found a lot of the draw effects I was using were to dig for answers for specific cards. By running more tutors to get these cards, I don't need to draw as heavily while still increasing the consistency of the deck.
Fervor - Swapped out for Hammer of Purphoros which is an almost exact functional reprint with an additional ability at the cost of being slightly less flexible on the mana cost and slightly more vulnerable to removal.
Surveyer's Scope - It looked good on paper but never really worked unless I had two or more opponents that ran green ramp.
Quietus Spike - The ability was fun when I hit with it but overall didn't contribute enough to the overall deck theme to make it worthwhile.
Shard Phoenix - Tested this out over Magma Phoenix but decided not to run it because the stipulation that says it only deals damage to non-fliers.
Mind's Eye - Removed for Greed which is functionally identical and less conditional. Additionally I can tutor this up with my enchantment tutors.
Change Log
Oros, the Avenger 08.04.2013 - This was the first published version of my deck.
Oros, the Avenger 08.26.2013 - This was the result of the first major overhaul since the deck was published. Taking some feedback from many sources (primarily ISBPathfinder) I cut back on the mana curve, added more draw and ramp, and in general tightened up the goal of the deck.
Oros, the Avenger 09.30.2013 - Second revision of the deck.
Oros, the Avenger 11.07.2013 - Technically the fourth revision of the deck but I did not track the third revision. Added in a bunch of signets and additional draw sources to speed up the deck.
Oros, the Avenger 11.30.2013 - Might be redundant with the fourth revision for the most part but I wanted to make sure it was tracked.
Decks in my meta
Derevi enchantress - Relies on massive card advantage to win out games with pillowfort enchantments to hold off until victory.
Edric elves - U/B Elf swarms.
Maelstrom Wanderer good stuff - Just a maelstrom wanderer good stuff deck that runs a ton of infinite combos.
Nekusar wheel deck - Ouch. This deck works really well and makes me generally hate this player off the board first.
Ghave tokens - Tribal mushrooms. Decently competitive but not a huge threat.
Ghave combo - Run by the same gentleman who has the Derevi deck. This deck gets stupid if not hammered down immediately.
Maelstrom Wanderer good stuff - Piloted by a different player than the previously mentioned Wanderer deck. Probably not as a good but still stupidly dangerous.
Oloro life gain/control - It's esper and it's a control deck. Wee.
About Me
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Condemn - its too situational. There are a lot of commanders out there that don't attack. If you want more tuck options I would point you in the direction of Oblation which you are not running and it can answer any nonland.
Shattering Pulse -> Vandalblast you need to lower your curve so the last thing you need to do is be trying to buy this back every turn. Just blow them all up once and move on.
Sever the Bloodline you also run Ashes to Ashes and I feel like this is more sorcery spot removal than you really need. I think I would axe Sever of the two. I would suggest adding Return to Dust probably instead.
Wrath of God & Damnation - generally I view these as somewhat of weaker wraths given the options available. You might also look at Rout which costs one more but the instant option on it has proven to be incredibly useful to me on several occasions. Living Death is another nice one but considering your high cuve I don't know if it really fits the deck. Generally speaking there are very few decks where you need the consistency of a 4 mana wrath in multiplayer EDH. Considering how high your cuve is and how little ramp you have to support it I dont think its a big problem in your meta either. In all reality, I would likely consider cutting wrath and damnation for Rout and Hallowed Burial.
Elixir of Immortality I have often viewed this as a do nothing card. I occasionally understand including it in toolbox based decks where they tutor cards out of their deck regularly but it doesnt seem to be the situation here. I dont think its worth keeping for a card slot. I also notice a lack of grave hate in your deck. Nihil Spellbomb has always been incredible for me in black. It draws a card too so even if graveyards dont matter much it draws cards.
Cabal Coffers I worry about this really working for you in your current setup. Its very difficult to make coffers work in three color decks and you don't seem to have the usual means of tutoring into assembling coffers + urborg. I would suggest either adding Weathered Wayfarer and Expidition Map or cutting coffers.
Overall, cut your curve back. You seem to be lacking any real focus for the deck which is a bit worrysome. If there is a focus to the deck I would guess its put deathtouch / lifelink on your commander and gain a bunch of life. Overall it feels like it needs focus. You also really need more draw and ramp in my opinion.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
I don't have all of the cards suggested by ISB (mainly the exile sweepers) so I've had to put in a few alternates until I do get them. Shattering Spree seems like a decent replacement until I get Vadalblast plus it can be replicated multiple times at the same target to bypass counterspells in a pinch.
I also cut Druidic Satchel which was one of my favorite pet cards from the deck but it just didn't seem to do enough ramping or token generating to be worth the investment in mana to get it online. In its place I've added more land tutoring and a copy of Kher Keep in the deck so I have more Helm of Possession and Skullclamp targets.
Also, I've placed more land tutoring in the deck (Wayfarer & Expedition Map) and we'll see how those work out with trying to reliable set-up the Coffers+Urborg combo. If that doesn't work out then likely they will because something else and I'll replace Coffers/Urborg with other lands.
I was only able to get in a couple games this week at my LGS so not enough time to see how the changes have worked out yet.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
I am looking to add more pestilence creatures in the form of Ashling the Pilgrim, Thrashing Wumpus, and Olivia Voldaren. The last one isn't technically a pestilence but she can pick off dorks and potentially steal bigger creatures which is tempting enough to give a shot. Another card that I'm very interested in using is Heartless Hidetsugu. Since Hidetsugu deals damage to each player giving him lifelink would be an incredible swing in the game. I'm also tempted to top out my curve with Pestilence Demon instead of Scourge of Kher Ridges because his activation cost is less expensive.
The deck is still a little cumbersome but it runs infinitely better in its current iteration. It is very mana hungry because it want to frequently wants to drop a creature, equip it with Basilisk Collar (or activate Vault of the Archangel), and then pestilence the board which is very mana intensive. I'm hoping that by running more cheaper creatures that do this that I won't find myself in as many situations where I have the creature and the piece but not enough to do everything in a single turn.
Deck update pending the arrival of a few cards.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Also with all the creatures you have that deal damage have you thought about using scythe of the wretched?
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Scroll Rack it seems like a bit of an odd deck to see scroll rack in to be honest. Usually I see it accompanied by Land Tax or put into a deck that tutors cards directly into play so it is used to push cards back into the deck. It just seems odd seeing it in here.
I know a lot of your creatures meet sort of a flavor of the build but I sort of question how many slow value engines you are running. Baneslayer Angel + 1 Divinity of Pride + Heartless Hidetsugu + Wurmcoil Engine + Scourge of Kher Ridges + Stonehewer Giant + Ashling the Pilgrim. You might consider running a few more haste outlets in the list with so many slow beater style creatures. The other question being that your commander does this style of effect how many additional effects to do the same thing do you really need? I agree that some redundancy is good but it seems like you have a lot of creatures who just beat in for damage as their thing in here.
You might also look at Sadistic Sacrament if you like the Jester's Cap.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
stuff
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Sunforger - Yes this is the center piece to my deck, its one of the main combos. However its too good not to add really. It can save you in a pinch or remove whats in your path.
Imperial Recruiter - If you have no budget restrictions, this card is a must. It searches up so many things in my deck. Usually the first being Serra Ascendant. After that its whatever else I need. My deck is really toolboxy and searches for answers a lot and this guy helps. He can grab Serra Ascendant, Stoneforge Mystic, Duplicant, Weathered Wayfarer, or one my favorites to set me up next turn: Solemn Simulacrum.
He also grabs my next suggestion:
Necrotic Sliver - This guy, this is a beast. Hes tutorable with recruiter, he plays early politics, scares people into not dropping their utility lands. hes a small beater, holds a sword and blows stuff up. Hes also kinda broken with Mimic Vat/Sun Titan.
Also all of those cards are great with Sun Titan. Sun Titan is the MVP of my deck!
Numot - Retired
I do not have a budget per se (in that I can afford to get a recruiter) but since I'm still building up EDH staples he competes against other cards that I need not only for this deck but for other decks I'm working on. I imagine I'll pick one up eventually but it isn't something I'll be able to get soon. Still great suggestion. Same with the Sliver.
I'm also looking at the guts of the deck and the original idea of running lifelink on all my creatures is looking less appealing as I've noticed I'm trying to morph the deck into a more combo/control type build. I imagine I'll be keeping some of the lifelink linkers but cutting that aspect of the deck will give me more leeway for pushing in other directions.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
If you have a moment to leave any feedback or offer suggestions that I haven't considered, please feel free to do so. I am always looking to improve this deck. Thanks!
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Light of Sanction - Use Crypt Rats any number of times.
Personal Sanctuary - Protect yourself from your stuff and goes well with stuff like Manabarbs too
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant - Use Crypt Rats any number of times.
Gift of Immortality - Maybe useful with a Phoenix, Rats, Titan engine, I dunno.
[Primer] WBR Tariel: You'll Thank Me For This WBR [Primer]
GGG Dosan of the Green Rainbow GGG
RWU Zedruu: I Ain't Even Mad RWU
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Earnest Fellowship
Cons:
Oros can now only hit Green and Blue of creatures.
Uril, the Miststalker and other voltron generals become harder to block.
Certain spot removal cards may become ineffective.
Pros:
Crypt Rats can go nuts and not kill itself (and some of your stuff).
Oros doesn't kill any of your stuff.
Uril, the Miststalker and other voltron generals can no longer be enchanted except by colorless enchantments.
Certain spot removal cards may become ineffective against your stuff.
No idea how it would affect the deck as a whole. There's also Tower of the Magistrate as a silly way to handle equipment based voltron generals.
[Primer] WBR Tariel: You'll Thank Me For This WBR [Primer]
GGG Dosan of the Green Rainbow GGG
RWU Zedruu: I Ain't Even Mad RWU
It is refreshing to see a creature based deck that uses such clever synergies while playing a hearty toolbox of answers.
Sunforger is great in this deck, and I like the life drain theme.
You might consider adding Wound Reflection if you haven't already as it is essentially a damage multiplier for Thrashing Wumpus and friends.
It is also pretty funny with Heartless Hidetsugu.
I think this thread is a great candidate for a primer, and I hope you get it.
WBRG Saskia the Unyielding
WUB Sharuum the Hegemon
RWU Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
RG Wort, the Raidmother
WU Brago, King Eternal
B Chainer, Dementia Master
Thanks Ryujin! I actually am working on adding in Wound Reflection as I just picked one up on Wednesday (our LGS' EDH night) along with Academy Rector since the deck really likes having enchantments. Can't say it enough but congrats again on getting your Scion thread primer'd. It was well deserved and a FANTASTIC resource. It gave me a lot of perspective on how to tune my own Scion deck.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
Now that I own an Academy Rector and an Enlightened Tutor I'm going heavier in on Enchantments. I switched out Mind's Eye for Greed since enchantment hate is less prevalent in my meta and I disliked that I had to wait for other players to draw cards in order to draw my own cards. Greed has worked great so far.
Magma Phoenix is the phoenix of choice as it doesn't have the pesky text that Shard Phoenix does that states Shard Phoenix only hits non-flyers. Very relevant in my meta.
Wound Reflection so far has carried its weight well despite being pretty expensive for an enchantment. I was able to finish the game just by hammering a player who didn't have removal with Oros and a Wound Reflection.
I took out Damnation for Oblivion Stone because a friend's enchantress deck had been giving me fits. Being able to recur it with Sun Titan completely wrecked him in addition to my other enchantment removal sweepers.
Burnished Hart is in over Kor Cartographer because I'm having some problems with Blood Moon and Ruination. I'm working on cutting some of the non-basic lands to make room for more basics.
I took out Fervor for Hammer of Purphoros. I haven't hit it yet but I'm waiting to see if the requirement for double red in Hammer's cost makes a difference.
I dropped Reforge the Soul and Wheel of Fortune for Enlightened Tutor and Increasing Ambition (I do not have access to any of the better black tutors like Imperial Seal or Grim Tutor). I realized that I was using the draw to hit cards I specifically needed most of the time. Instead of dumping perfectly good hands to draw to draw into my silver bullets, I put in tutors instead. Thus far it has worked out great. I have not missed either of them.
Oblation was outed for Unexpectedly Absent. I'm not sure if this will stick since unless I catch an opponent using an effect that makes them shuffle their deck it doesn't deal with cards as permanently as Oblation but then again it also doesn't draw them two cards. Decidedly in the "We'll see column."
Rhox Faithmender was dropped as it the doubling life gain just wasn't enough most of the time despite being randomly awesome in corner cases.
I will update the actual text portions of the deck post to reflect these changes (Specifically the synergy sections and the sections that reference these cards) presently.
Edit: I'm also testing Batterskull and so far it has performed great. I just don't know what to cut permanently for it. Right now I'm using it over Necrotic Sliver. I'm also trying to find someone who has a Slayers' Stronghold to test against Hall of the Bandit Lord since it doesn't enter the battlefield tapped and the damage and vigilance it grants in addition to the haste are very relevant since it helps us maximize our lower creature count and help push Oros through for extra damage when needed. I'm also testing Godo, Bandit Warlord which is doing great (especially with Godo) as well but again, not sure what to permanently cut for it. If there wasn't a prevalence of mill decks in my meta I would just cut Ulamog but if wishes were fishes...
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion
The biggest addition I would make is to add a mistviel plains, and figure out a way to get non creature white permanent count up...
The ability to recycle chaos warp/ obulation to repeatedly tuck is a force to be reckoned with.
To up your white count I Reccomend putting back the kor cartographer instead of the heart you replaced it with, and find room for prison term and other effects like it. Enchantments are fragile but not as fragile as creatures when you have the boardwipe machines online
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade | Karador Apostles | Brago, King Eternal | Talrand the Sky Summoner | Mageta the Lion