Background Information
I've been playing EDH for a few years now, both in paper and online. One of my first decks that I had a lot of fun with was Wort, the Raidmother. Making tokens, casting giant splashy spells, and doing some things in R/G that aren't traditional of what the colors do. But then Riku of Two Reflections was spoiled and he did everything that Wort did, was harder to deal with since you weren't riding on the backs of tokens, he was able to copy giant value creatures, he cost one less mana to cast, and to wrap it all up he had blue in his colors. That was pretty much the death knell for Wort. After that I dismantled Wort and moved on to other things, namely mono-color. But my two colors were red, playing decks like Krekno, Norin, and most recently Purphoros; and green, playing Kamahl, and Azusa. When Xenagos was spoiled I could tell that a powerhouse was going to amongst us. Getting to play the big green value creatures and have them be incredible threats, getting to play things with Firebreathing and double dipping into Xenagos' Passive, and best of all playing one of my favorite cards from Scars/Innisdrad Standard, Kessig Wolf Run. I threw a pile together and jumped into testing.
Why Play This General?
You enjoy playing creatures with large bodies and winning in the red zone
You want to be able to quickly decimate the player who's deck poses the greatest threat
You enjoy going from an unassuming board state to swinging with 20+ damage in a turn
You like to some cards that aren't common in EDH
You like playing a general that has build in protections
You don't like playing Blue and you think it's a dumb color and Islands should probably be banned in all formats
You have to win every game. While this is a competitive deck it isn't the strongest out there, it has some pretty big weaknesses.
You enjoy controlling the game. There isn't really much of that here.
You're afraid of having your general tucked. This deck can win through shear value and beating with fatties, but if the general gets tucked there is only so far it gets you.
You don't like having to pick a target early in the game and making them dead. This can be seen on as picking on someone and can be frowned upon in a lot of playgroups. But quickly killing off one player and making it to where threats are coming from fewer directions is how this deck works best.
Let's face it. Red and green aren't known for the intricacies in their game plan. As a result most of this deck is incredibly straight forward, but there are a few things to keep in mind. The first thing is to know when to hold back. While we play a few cards which generate card advantage, that is the biggest lack in the deck. Therefore if we walk into a boardwipe we're dead in the water. Another is that if at all possible we don't want Xenagos to turn into a creature, which can be tricky giving the combination of cards that we play. But as long as he is just an enchantment he is immune to all of the creature removal that is common in EDH, Path of Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Bant Charm. And finally a big part of what you have to do to be successful with this deck is to evaluate what player is likely to be the biggest threat in the game, and focus them until they're dead. (More on that later)
Mulliganing (With Some Sample Hands)
Getting Xenagos out early is vital to the success of this deck. If you can cast him before the blue player has three mana available you're doing good. Because of this we want a few lands, and at least one piece of ramp. At this point fatties in your hand aren't incredibly useful and are the first to get tossed (Higher the CMC the worse they are in the opener.) Also something to note, I'm notorious for aggressive and sweeping mulligans, even pitching lands.
My thought on this is if I'm going to mulligan two cards, but I have three lands in my hand about a third of the deck is lands so if I mull two non-lands, and one land card, then I should statistically get the same back. But if I only mull two there is a good chance of just drawing a land and not cards that do things. If you do this though, never mulligan away lands if you only have two in your hand.
Mana Vault allows a turn two Xenagos, which isn't a bad place to start. However, it'll leave us without continuous mana so we should look for some smaller things.
At this point I'd keep this hand.
T1: Scalding Tarn -> Taiga -> Mana Vault
T2: Mountain -> Xenagos
T3: Kessig -> Gamble grabbing whatever you need, Yavimaya Dryad would be good as she can start swinging for 4
There are a few cards that we would like to keep in this hand, Hellkite Tyrant, and Seize the day in particular. However we have no ramp so we're going to mulligan a bit more aggressively. Also note, Panglacial Wurm should ALWAYS be mulliganed.
This hand became AMAZING.
T1: Forest -> Sol Ring -> Coldsteel Heart naming Red
T2: Rootbound Crag -> Xenagos
T3: If a land has been drawn -> Play land -> Hellkite Tyrant -> Swing twelve at the person who has any artifacts.
If a land hasn't -> Sakura-Tribe Elder -> Swing for two -> Grab a land
This hand is a little bit of a weird one. If I was playing in a casual environment I'd keep it. But because Valakut comes in tapped we can't get a turn two Xenagos unless we top deck a land. But we can mull a card that is better late game to hopefully see a land.
Makes this hand perfect.
T1: Mountain -> Sol Ring -> Talisman
T2: Forest -> Xenagos
T3: Valakut -> (Anything drawn)
T4: Garruk looking for creatures
As you can see from the sample hands getting out Xenagos turn two can happen quite often. Most people will just ignore him once he hits the board since he doesn't do anything by himself. (Or they can't touch him because he's indestructible) This leaves us in a great position where whenever we find something we can play it makes all of those turns way more explosive.
Early Game
During the first two to three turns of the game all you should be worried about, as far as what you're playing, is ramping into playing Xenagos as fast as you possibly can. The bigger part of your early game is seeing who it is that you need to target first and make sure that they are as dead as possible, as fast as you can make them.
Your enemy number one is going to be blue players. Permission is something that this deck struggles against as there isn't a huge amount of draw in the deck so every threat that you get in your hand needs to hit the field or you'll end up stalled very easily.
If you're fortunate enough to not have blue mages at your table, or they're just doing very poorly you need to look at the generals at the table.
Are there generals that are known for comboing out and winning? (Animar, Niv-Mizzet, Ghave, etc.) They are your first target. (Note: Many combo decks are also blue decks so try and kill them twice as hard) It doesn't matter how much damage you've done if the combo deck just wins.
Is there a voltron general in the mix? (Riku, Thrun, Omnath, etc.) They are another good target. You won't be dealing general damage, so you have to deal twice as much damage as they do to kill them. Getting ahead of them is a good start.
After those targets the most threatening things to the deck are boardwipes and creature removal so targeting people playing black and or white are your best bets.
Mid Game
The person you chose in the early game to target, you kill them. After you swing once at someone there are very few reasons to start attacking someone else until that person is dead. The biggest reason is if someone starts playing down combo pieces. If you don't have ways to deal with the pieces through destruction or what have you, turn your aggression on them.
Something to keep in mind is this deck actually prefers to only have one big creature in play at a time, and to keep the rest in your hand unless they contribute to the board by other than swinging. (Oracle of Mul Daya, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Hellkite Charger for example)
The other part of mid game is setting up your hand to try and kill off the rest of the table soon after you kill your first target. The best cards for doing this are the extra combat phase cards.
Late Game
The end game usually comes after at least one player is knocked out of the game. Because if you did it right the player you kill was likely the one that was keeping you in check or was racing you in some fashion. When that player is gone the table will likely turn to you and try and kill you. Therefore you need to end the game quickly as possible with cards that enable multiple combat steps, or by dumping the fatties from your hand that you've held onto until this point to push through damage.
While you don't necessarily have to kill the rest of the table at once your goal should be to be killing one player every one or two turns, and killing them in the threat order established above.
The easiest way to do this is using the extra combat phase cards, Seize the Day, which allows for as many as three combat steps, Savage Beating, allowing for a 6 power creature to swing for 72 damage, you can see how that can get out of hand.
Recovering
This deck is one that in the early game relies heavily on artifacts and the middle and late game hinges on creatures. Both of these things are very prone to removal in any marginally competitive EDH environment.
Getting our artifacts blown up prior to getting Xenagos down puts us really behind, and because we mulligan aggressively to see those artifacts, sometimes sacrificing land to do so there isn't much we can do to recover. At that time we just try and slog through early game resolving Xenagos as soon as possible assuming we can do so safely.
If our artifacts get blown up after Xenagos is down that isn't as big of a deal. Everything we play is still going to be a decent threat since we're swinging whenever we can. It'll take longer to get there but it isn't a huge deal.
Dealing with creature destruction I touched on earlier. Unless someone is going crazy with discard spells and the like, keep creatures in your hand if you already have a fat body on the board. Because Xenagos gives haste we don't see any down time from rolling one creature into the next when the first is dealt with. Xenagos' ability really lends itself to this strategy and I feel that safer is better in the long run.
Cards That Make Us Cry
Maze of Ith/Mystifying Maze: These cards are two that epically destroy what this deck tries to accomplish. Because these lands can see play in any deck these are at the top of the bad list. They are the primary reason for including a full suite of land destruction in the deck.
Meekstone: Thankfully this isn't played much in EDH, but this is another card that entirely shuts down this deck. There isn't much to do here other that use an artifact removal on it, sit around and be sad, or to extend your board state to try and kill that player, which opens you up to boardwipes
Tuck Effects: These are a big bane to the deck and getting rid of Xenagos slows us down a bunch. There is a healthy amount of tutor for him, and one of the reasons Gamble is still in the deck, since you can grab him and not care if he gets tossed.
Two colored decks don't have a lot in the way of running dual lands, as such we run all of them that we can to ease the burden that this deck faces of being color greedy.
Fetches serve four purposes in this deck. The first is deck thinning, every fetch played means two cards out of the deck which means there is a higher chance of not drawing land. While this isn't as prevalent in Commander as other formats, it is still relevant. Second is that it allows us to color fix which as previously stated can be an issue with the number of heavily color costed cards ran. Third is that when we have Valakut active any fetch that can grab a mountain runs as a Shock. Panglacial Wurm.
These were initially included to kill Maze of Ith and Mystifying Maze. But they also do a good job of taking care of other troublesome lands which are run frequently in EDH.
Dryad Arbor counts as a forest so splitting the basics 9/10 means an equal split of both which is what the deck wants since it doesn't favor one color over the other at any point in the game.
Mosswort Bridge - This deck can have 10 power on board during the second Main Phase with only a 5/5. Making Mosswort incredibly easy to turn on, which gives us a free card. No reason to not run it.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle - This is a card that could be cut for a different land, but I feel that with 12 mountains in the deck it has the potential to turn on, and it synergizes well with the fetch lands.
Kessig Wolf Run - Being able to pump our creatures pre-combat and double dip into the power increase is amazing. And on top of that, the few creatures that don't have trample in the deck receive it from Kessig.
Cavern of Souls - Uncounterable cards are good, but what you'll name is highly situation. Because Xenagos frequently comes down quite early you don't have the need to name God. But if he is in your command zone and blue players are keeping mana up it'd best to name God. Other than that it's usually about naming what is in your hand so that you know it'll resolve. Dragon, Wurm, and Golem are good bets though.
Dryad Arbor - Sole reason that she is in here is for getting tutored out by Green Sun's Zenith. That being said she has the ability to be pumped with Xenagos, getting in damage where you can is key in this deck.
Removal
Krosan Grip - Every deck in EDH should have artifact removal. This is one of the best pieces of artifact removal ever printed.
Beast Within - The utility this card brings is well worth the cost of having to deal with a 3/3 beast. Your critters will always be bigger, and in a 40 life format it's not likely to matter.
Chaos Warp - While a bit riskier than Beast within Chaos Warp is one of the best ways to deal with something on the board, generals especially because of the fact they get tucked.
Domri Rade - This guy is potentially card advantage, but he is primarily in the deck for his second ability which makes our huge dudes fight either value creatures, combo creatures, or just clear the way for a big swing. Unless you're in an incredibly drawn out game, trying to get him to ultimate is a mistake.
Grab the Reins - Less about being removal, this card is usually used to right out kill one opponent, either by Flinging one of your beefed up creatures at them, or by stealing the Blightsteel Colossus they just played and swinging at them for 22 Infect. Occasionally this card will just be a 7 mana removal spell.
Acidic Slime - Removal on a body, that has deathtouch. With Xenagos he swings as a 4/4 which mostly prevents trading with him from utility creatures, getting even more value out of him.
Vandalblast - Sometimes you just need to make sure no one but you has artifacts on the table. This is the best card to accomplish that goal.
Duplicant - Exiling a creature and stealing it's power which can then swing double back at somebody. It's really good, but using on a Commander always feels bad since you don't get the power/toughness swap.
Hellkite Tyrant - From testing I can say without a doubt that this guy is likely the most powerful card in the deck. (Assuming of course you're playing with people that like Mana Rocks.) When he hits someone he steals all of their artifacts. Sol Rings, Sad Bots, Gilded Lotuses, Memnarch and all. Being able to do that, with a good sized body, with built in evasion, given haste with Xenagos...he is bonkers.
Woodfall Primus - Two removal shots, which can target land. He also has trample and a good body. Everything a Xenagos wants.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - He is mean, he should be green, and he blows up a permanent on cast. Plus with Xenagos Annihilator 4, haste, 20/20.
Fatties
Putrefax - Likely the strangest inclusion, but with Xenagos he deals exactly 10 infect if someone doesn't have blockers. It's likely to label you as a jerk, but taking people out one at a time is how this deck does things.
Kalonian Hydra - Unfortunately Xenagos' trigger happens before Kalonian Hydra's, but even so with haste Hydra gets very big, very quickly. One of the best creatures for multiple combat phases.
Rapacious One - Built in trample, and when he hits someone he will be generating a bunch of Eldrazi Spawns that we can further use to drop mana into something like Kessig, Wolf Run, or cast fatter fatties.
Scourge of the Throne - Multiple combat phases without spending additional mana? Yes please. It won't work if you're sitting at the highest life total but the potential for massive damage is there.
Wurmcoil Engine - When deciding on including this I was initially against it. He doesn't have trample, and Lifelink didn't seem all that valuable. But after testing and seeing my gain a chunk of 12 life at a time, I was sold. He may not end the game like a trample creature would, but he makes the long game a lot more promising. Plus if you can give him trample, that plus Deathtouch spells a quick GG.
Panglacial Wurm - He is somewhat of a gimmick card, but even so there have been a plethora of times when I'm sitting with no gas, and then draw something that lets me tutor my deck and I have enough mana to cast him. Suddenly you have a 9/5 (18/14) staring people in the face.
Living Hive - With Xenagos this guy creates a ton of tokens, flying tokens that can also attack. Which makes damage pile up very quickly, we can also use tokens for various utility things in the deck.
Worldspine Wurm - He is a 15/15. He is the fattest legal creature that we can play in this deck. And he comes with trample.
We play most of the multicolor 2CMC ramp because they curve very well with the broken mana. That and it allows faster plays sooner than other, more expensive ramp.
Yavimaya Dryad – Good piece of ramp, and happens to be a 2/1 which Xenagos appreciates.
Farhaven Elf – Ramp on a body, offers utility such as Skullclamp.
Wood Elves – Same story, but also grabs a forest, so it can grab one of our duals. Happens to come into play untapped as well.
Oracle of Mul Daya – Strong piece of ramp, is included in most green decks and rightfully so.
Solemn Simulacrum – Ramp and Draw, and swinging with a 4/4 with Xenagos acts as quite a bit better of a threat than a 2/2.
Nissa, Worldwaker – Not only is she a potentially huge amount of ramp the turn after she comes out, she can turn our lands into beaters which Xenagos approves of. Ain’t much sweeter than killing someone with 8/8 lands.
Mana Reflection – Mana doubling, helps resolve more and fatter spells.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger – Doubles mana, makes opponents miserable, and he has a big body with trample attached. Everything we want, in one card.
Extra Damage
Seize the Day – This is a great, and underrated card. People will never really suspect what is up with this card until they see it in action. Also if it somehow gets into your graveyard without you casting it it’ll lay there, no one suspecting it until it wins you the game.
Savage Beating – Biggest finisher card in the game, with Xenagos out, a 5/5 will deal a total of 60 damage in one turn.
Aggravated Assault – Being able to have as many combat phases as you have mana is bonkers in this deck, and unlike Hellkite Charger it doesn’t die to creature removal so it’ll usually stick around longer and therefore get more activations.
Hellkite Charger – If you have the mana this guy is repeatable combat phases, which is great. He is one of the few creatures that you shouldn’t feel bad about having along with another fattie.
Tutors
Worldly Tutor – Creature tutor, we run a lot of creatures, therefore we run this.
Gamble – This is mostly in the deck because of the fact that without Xenagos the deck crawls, and is therefore weak to tuck. With Gamble we don’t care if we discard him again, since this deck produces quite a bit of mana.
Survival of the Fittest – Turning useless creatures in hand into good creatures we can play.
Tooth and Nail – We resolve this, we should be able to instantly kill at least one person, if not win the game. Common targets are Blightsteel Collossus, Hellkite Charger, Vorinclex, Worldspine Wurm.
Green Sun's Zenith – We can tutor creatures, and with Dryad Arbor in the deck we can ramp with GSZ.
Chord of Calling – Instant speed tutor, there isn’t often when that matters, but when it does, it’s incredibly relevant.
Interaction
Relic of Progenitus – Most decks in EDH have ways of interacting with their graveyard. Being able to head off these interactions is very good, also acts as a cantrip in a pinch.
Scavenging Ooze – Same as above, but can quickly turn into a serious beater if there have been creatures being put into the graveyard.
Reap and Sow – Blowing up utility lands and then grabbing ours in the process. Great trade.
Skullclamp – Turns utility creatures into cards and increases the attack of our beaters when it’s not busy drawing cards.
Strionic Resonator – Turns Xenagos into an even bigger beast, and turns the other triggers that the deck has into even more value. The on cast triggers of the Eldrazi come to mind.
Sylvan Library – Card filtering, and gives us the option to draw cards when we really need to.
Eternal Witness – Recurring something in the graveyard attached to a body that can swing.
Mimic Vat – In general a good EDH card, and keeps the fatties swinging when they die.
Yavimaya Elder – Good green EDH card, grabbing two lands and drawing a card is strong. Can even block+sac in some situations.
Greater Good – Post combat fatties are huge, and greater good allows us to turn those big creatures into big card advantage.
February 4th, 2014 - Deck added. This is the second iteration of this deck, the first was running very minimal ramp and as such was sitting for the first 3-4 turns doing nothing but playing lands. Decided to add in all the broken mana as well as play the good rocks. Also took out Sylvan Primordial due to ban.
May 20th, 2014 -
Added in strategy section need to figure out a way to format it better to make it less of a wall of text.
May 22nd, 2014 -
Started adding card explanations, under a spoiler tag while it's getting finished up and formatted. Should have the rest of the explanations done in a few days at which point I'll be ready to submit it to the committee.
Ancient Ooze would be a lot better if Xenagos wasn't just and Enchantment 95% of the time. And something that you usually want to do is hold things in your hand and just play one threat at a time since you can only use Xenagos' ability once each turn, Ancient Ooze would lead to overextending.
Mossbridge Troll has some of the same issue where he doesn't lend himself to just being played on his own. You want other things to turn him on. Another problem that they both have is the lack of native trample, which is very vital, otherwise you'll just be getting chump blocked every turn.
That is something that I have considered. But Haste is given by Xenagos, Trample is more a less a requirement for the fatties in the deck. The rest would be nice, but I'm not sure if it warrants the 7 mana to cast it. It is something that I do plan on testing though.
When I first saw the new Xenagos the first two cards that sprung into mind to me were Living Hive and Rapacious One. I see you already have the former, but have you tried the latter? Unfortunately the Eldrazi Spawn tokens don't give your side of the board any increase in total power like Living Hive's do, but they can still chump block and help you ramp into things like Blightsteel Colossus.
I'm guessing Kookus is in here because it and red Akroma are two of the few creatures who have both Trample and firebreathing. There are a couple other cool cards that I think could maybe go into the deck instead though, like Flowstone Mauler and Thornling. Maybe you could add Berserk and/or Fatal Frenzy as other ways to give something Trample and power boosting? I don't know what to take out though.
Also, Avatar of Fury seems like it fits well with the Xenagod. It's a (potentially) cheap evasive beater who can pump itself up a lot the turn it enters the battlefield, if you can cast it for RR
Have you considered Godo, Bandit Warlord and Batterskull? They make for a wicked turn after you drop Xenagos. Since his ability fires on each combat step you can take the first to swing with Godo for 6 and then on the second step swing with Godo for 6 and Batterskull 8.
I actually forgot to mention this in my first post, but Akroma's Memorial's protection from red makes all of your creatures unable to be targeted by Xenagos. Multani, Maro-Sorcerer can't be Xenagos'd either.
@Prof; For some reason I didn't think that Rapacious One had trample. I agree that this is good and will likely be taking Kookus' spot. I also don't think the power level of Mauler is up there enough. Thornling is a possibility but I'm not a big fan that he caps at 7/1 and then to give him trample, you're spending 4 mana a turn on him to keep him relevant. But it'd probably warrant some testing. The Berserk effects I'm not a big fan of because they'll usually be used to blow out one person which generates a lot of hate and threat and unless you have something that you can put down on Main 2, you're looking a board full of angry/frightened people. Never a good position to be in politics wise. But they are strong cards. Avatar while lacking trample does have flying and very well might be good enough for the deck.
@Stephan; Yeah at 50 creatures I could see Ruric Thar being a huge powerhouse, but I'm actually playing more non-creature spells than creatures which would likely result in my quick and painful death from my own card. In regards to Deus, he is good, just him being a 6/6 Trample is almost enough to get him in the deck, thing is though that I usually play heavy LD decks, and I don't really think that it's needed in this deck. As for the two Sorcerer, Multani doesn't have Trample. He might be worth considering if the deck gets changed to run more trample enablers. Also though Molimo is one of the weakest cards in the deck and will likely be making his way out of it in short order. Also as Prof. pointed out, Shroud means you can't target him with Xenagos.
@Partisan; Holy poop. How could I have forgotten about multiple combat steps. This is something that I'm definitely going to be looking into. Only problem I have with Godo is if I was playing Batterskull, that would be the only equipment in the deck, and if it's in my hand, well then Godo is a mostly dead card.
@LordGrim; The two Hydras that I've considered playing are Apocalypse Hydra, because of the added utility, and Primordial Hydra because it gives itself Trample. But with Xenagod I'm wanting it to have trample as soon as it enters play which would usually mean spending 12 mana on it. Otherwise it's 7 mana, wait a turn and then you can use it. But most people won't let that happen. It's just not fast enough. Kalonian Hydra may be worth it though, a 12/12 attacking for 6 mana is very respectable.
Land Destruction; It's a good option, but it's one that I don't feel is needed for the deck, and you're usually paying more mana for it than if you pursue other routes of attack.
Wurmcoil Engine: I think that this warrants a spot just because it's a fattie with Lifelink. It'll be impossible to favorably block and gaining chucks of 12 life a turn is solid.
Behemoth, Vigor, Ragebeast, Tanglewurm, Packleader & Ancient; All of these guys are decent on their own, but really lends themselves to playing quite a few other creatures. Vigor was in the original list but he is either a static 12/12 attacking, or you have to extend into a potential boardwipe to get value from his second ability. The best out of that bunch that I'll probably end up playing is Ragebeast, since he is removal on his own and if I am extending it gets rid of more things.
Doublers; Yes, I think this is where the deck could really pick up speed. I would rather be playing the extracombat phases in favor of Doublestrike, but they're both strong. I thing Savage Beating is one of the biggest blowout cards that the deck could have.
After these considerations I'm thinking that I'll be testing with these changes:
Land Destruction; It's a good option, but it's one that I don't feel is needed for the deck, and you're usually paying more mana for it than if you pursue other routes of attack.
So try looking outside of just Tramplers for your deck. There are plenty of powerful ways to give your creatures trample and plenty of very powerful non-Tramplers.
Also did you see Deus of Calamity. Sure its LD, but its also a 6/6 Trample for 5 mana. And repeatable LD can be very potent. Especially with multiple combat phases and double strike.
I wasn't really able to get any games in yesturday, but I have nothing going on today and plan on playing a bunch of games and seeing how the cards I've pointed out add up. I do plan on testing out Trample enablers with good fat creatures, but I have some problems because you're basically taking up twice as many spots and I'm already having issues finding the things to cut.
Well that was an interesting game. Thasa player used Sky Swallower giving Riku their everything. Riku dumps 3 Wurmcoils onto the board with Parallel Lives, passes. Borborygmos Enraged player gets Groundskeeper out with Illusionist's Bracers and a Seismic Assault because general got tucked. My turn rolls around, have Xenagod online, have a Kozilek in play, play Worldspine Wurm, go to combat. Xenagod target Wurm, 30/30. Swing at Riku player, he sacs Wurmcoils to Annihilator gets 12 3/3's, blocks with everything. Borbor player then uses Groundskeeper to discard/return 10 lands dealing 20 damage to the Riku player killing him before any damage is dealt for combat. Wurm is still intact! Go to 2nd main, flashback Seize the Day, target Wurm, 60/60. Swing and kill Borbor player, Thasa player scoops. GG Xenagod.
Not a big beater but he doesn't need to connect for his LD, Dwarven Miner.
The point of it wasn't LD, but rather synergistic cards that can deal with troublesome cards. And Maze of Ith can certainly be troublesome to decks like this. Deus of Calamity is a 6/6 trample for 5 and Reap and Sow can fetch Kessig Wolf Run. Beast Within is just one of those cards that should be in every green deck since it kills any permanent. Asceticism is good because it protects your creatures from spot removal and most wraths.
Well that was an interesting game. Thasa player used Sky Swallower giving Riku their everything. Riku dumps 3 Wurmcoils onto the board with Parallel Lives, passes. Borborygmos Enraged player gets Groundskeeper out with Illusionist's Bracers and a Seismic Assault because general got tucked. My turn rolls around, have Xenagod online, have a Kozilek in play, play Worldspine Wurm, go to combat. Xenagod target Wurm, 30/30. Swing at Riku player, he sacs Wurmcoils to Annihilator gets 12 3/3's, blocks with everything. Borbor player then uses Groundskeeper to discard/return 10 lands dealing 20 damage to the Riku player killing him before any damage is dealt for combat. Wurm is still intact! Go to 2nd main, flashback Seize the Day, target Wurm, 60/60. Swing and kill Borbor player, Thasa player scoops. GG Xenagod.
Not a big beater but he doesn't need to connect for his LD, Dwarven Miner.
The point of it wasn't LD, but rather synergistic cards that can deal with troublesome cards. And Maze of Ith can certainly be troublesome to decks like this. Deus of Calamity is a 6/6 trample for 5 and Reap and Sow can fetch Kessig Wolf Run. Beast Within is just one of those cards that should be in every green deck since it kills any permanent. Asceticism is good because it protects your creatures from spot removal and most wraths.
He littarly said he needed LD and I have already mentioned Deus of Calamity as an utility beater I now suggested some LD that is repeatable and doesn't need to connect due to a Maze of Ith.
Perhaps, but Dwarven Miner does literally nothing to aid the main goal of the deck. Dealing with a Maze of Ith here or there is very narrow and unless he's up against a ton of nonbasic lands (typically 4+ color decks, or 3+ nongreen decks), this won't be as powerful as you think. Such cards belong in stax decks and this isn't one.
Not a big beater but he doesn't need to connect for his LD, Dwarven Miner.
The point of it wasn't LD, but rather synergistic cards that can deal with troublesome cards. And Maze of Ith can certainly be troublesome to decks like this. Deus of Calamity is a 6/6 trample for 5 and Reap and Sow can fetch Kessig Wolf Run. Beast Within is just one of those cards that should be in every green deck since it kills any permanent. Asceticism is good because it protects your creatures from spot removal and most wraths.
He littarly said he needed LD and I have already mentioned Deus of Calamity as an utility beater I now suggested some LD that is repeatable and doesn't need to connect due to a Maze of Ith.
Perhaps, but Dwarven Miner does literally nothing to aid the main goal of the deck. Dealing with a Maze of Ith here or there is very narrow and unless he's up against a ton of nonbasic lands (typically 4+ color decks, or 3+ nongreen decks), this won't be as powerful as you think. Such cards belong in stax decks and this isn't one.
Ill reiterate my point again its LD its repeatable and it is in color. It maybe isn't a creature with witch you can attack but a so is a sorcery, instant, artifact and enchantment.
And I will reiterate... it doesn't aid the main goal of the deck at all and none of the reasons you have provided are substantial enough for the deck to run it anyway. Sorceries, instants, artifacts, and enchantments, while they can't attack (with some exceptions), can support the overall goal of the deck in other ways. They can provide card advantage, accelerate your damage, deal with a broader selection of troublesome cards than just... nonbasic lands (cards like Blazing Archon), or recycle/fetch cards that do those things. Dwarven Miner does none of that. There are better options available for that slot and therefore the deck shouldn't run it even if you're on a tight budget.
If you still insist on running it... more power to you. Nobody can stop you from doing so, but I'm trying to tell you there are better options for this particular deck. Cards like this shift the deck away from being more aggressive to more stax, and that isn't what this deck needs.
They have the same Annihilator amount, but Ulamog is also an out to cards like Blazing Archon and Maze of Ith. Ulamog is also indestructible and has the same anti-mill property.
I think Deus of Calamity is a great card to deal with other problem lands, but a pretty terrible way to get rid of Maze of Ith/Mystifying Maze considering you'll never actually be able to do 6 damage to that player with Deus if he keeps removing it from combat
I actually don't even know if adding specific land destruction is necessary considering you have a lot of tutors who can search up Acidic Slime/Woodfall Primus, as well as card draw to hopefully help draw into Beast Within/Chaos Warp. Maybe just adding a couple land destruction lands like Wasteland/Strip Mine/etc could be what the deck needs?
@Stephan; I'm in agreeance with Grim. I changed up the deck some and am running Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, Reap and Sow, and Deus of Calamity. I'm thinking that I might add in the destruction lands. Wasteland, Tectonic Edge, Strip Mine, Ghost Quarter.
@Grim; I'm already running both. Kozilek is under Card Advantage, Ulamog is under removal.
@Professor; Yeah, I'm thinking that Acid Moss could be something else and then just adding in the destruction lands.
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Background Information
I've been playing EDH for a few years now, both in paper and online. One of my first decks that I had a lot of fun with was Wort, the Raidmother. Making tokens, casting giant splashy spells, and doing some things in R/G that aren't traditional of what the colors do. But then Riku of Two Reflections was spoiled and he did everything that Wort did, was harder to deal with since you weren't riding on the backs of tokens, he was able to copy giant value creatures, he cost one less mana to cast, and to wrap it all up he had blue in his colors. That was pretty much the death knell for Wort. After that I dismantled Wort and moved on to other things, namely mono-color. But my two colors were red, playing decks like Krekno, Norin, and most recently Purphoros; and green, playing Kamahl, and Azusa. When Xenagos was spoiled I could tell that a powerhouse was going to amongst us. Getting to play the big green value creatures and have them be incredible threats, getting to play things with Firebreathing and double dipping into Xenagos' Passive, and best of all playing one of my favorite cards from Scars/Innisdrad Standard, Kessig Wolf Run. I threw a pile together and jumped into testing.
Why Play This General?
Reasons to Avoid This General
The Big Fat Stack
1 Taiga
1 Stomping Ground
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Dryad Arbor
9 Forest
10 Mountain
Removal (11)
1 Krosan Grip
1 Beast Within
1 Chaos Warp
1 Domri Rade
1 Grab the Reins
1 Acidic Slime
1 Vandalblast
1 Duplicant
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Putrefax
1 Kalonian Hydra
1 Rapacious One
1 Scourge of the Throne
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Panglacial Wurm
1 Living Hive
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Blightsteel Colossus
Ramp (17)
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Talisman of Impulse
1 Mind Stone
1 Gruul Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Star Compass
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Yavimaya Dryad
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Wood Elves
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Mana Reflection
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Extra Damage (4)
1 Seize the Day
1 Savage Beating
1 Aggravated Assault
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Gamble
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Chord of Calling
Interaction (3)
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reap and Sow
Card Advantage/Selection & Value (13)
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Strionic Resonator
1 Sylvan Library
1 Eternal Witness
1 Mimic Vat
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Greater Good
1 Genesis
1 Primal Command
1 Soul's Majesty
1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
General Information
Mulliganing (With Some Sample Hands)
Early Game
Mid Game
Late Game
Recovering
Cards That Make Us Cry
Card Explainations
Changelog
1 Grab the Reins
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Might Makes Right
1 Phytotitan
1 Nothing Currently
GUPrime Speaker Zegana
BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores
WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
RWU Zedruu, the Greathearted
GWU Rafiq of the Many
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
WUBRG Cromat
Mossbridge Troll has some of the same issue where he doesn't lend himself to just being played on his own. You want other things to turn him on. Another problem that they both have is the lack of native trample, which is very vital, otherwise you'll just be getting chump blocked every turn.
GUPrime Speaker Zegana
BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores
WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
RWU Zedruu, the Greathearted
GWU Rafiq of the Many
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
WUBRG Cromat
GUPrime Speaker Zegana
BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores
WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
RWU Zedruu, the Greathearted
GWU Rafiq of the Many
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
WUBRG Cromat
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
I'm guessing Kookus is in here because it and red Akroma are two of the few creatures who have both Trample and firebreathing. There are a couple other cool cards that I think could maybe go into the deck instead though, like Flowstone Mauler and Thornling. Maybe you could add Berserk and/or Fatal Frenzy as other ways to give something Trample and power boosting? I don't know what to take out though.
Also, Avatar of Fury seems like it fits well with the Xenagod. It's a (potentially) cheap evasive beater who can pump itself up a lot the turn it enters the battlefield, if you can cast it for RR
Like smashing face? Like not worrying about pitiful tokens or life gain? Check out Stonebrow, Krosan Hero for all your face smashing needs
Some fatties you haven't considered from what I can see:
Primordial Hydra
Savageborn Hydra
Hydra Omnivore
Kalonian Hydra
Spearbreaker Behemoth
Vigor
Wurmcoil Engine
Gruul Ragebeast
Deus of Calamity
Bellowing Tanglewurm
Garruk's Packleader
Forgotten Ancient
Also don't underestimate damage doublers, double strike enablers, and extra combat phases:
Furnace of Rath
Rage Reflection
Aggravated Assault
Savage Beating
I also like some of these ramp options:
Krosan Drover
Reap and Sow
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
@Stephan; Yeah at 50 creatures I could see Ruric Thar being a huge powerhouse, but I'm actually playing more non-creature spells than creatures which would likely result in my quick and painful death from my own card. In regards to Deus, he is good, just him being a 6/6 Trample is almost enough to get him in the deck, thing is though that I usually play heavy LD decks, and I don't really think that it's needed in this deck. As for the two Sorcerer, Multani doesn't have Trample. He might be worth considering if the deck gets changed to run more trample enablers. Also though Molimo is one of the weakest cards in the deck and will likely be making his way out of it in short order. Also as Prof. pointed out, Shroud means you can't target him with Xenagos.
@Partisan; Holy poop. How could I have forgotten about multiple combat steps. This is something that I'm definitely going to be looking into. Only problem I have with Godo is if I was playing Batterskull, that would be the only equipment in the deck, and if it's in my hand, well then Godo is a mostly dead card.
@LordGrim; The two Hydras that I've considered playing are Apocalypse Hydra, because of the added utility, and Primordial Hydra because it gives itself Trample. But with Xenagod I'm wanting it to have trample as soon as it enters play which would usually mean spending 12 mana on it. Otherwise it's 7 mana, wait a turn and then you can use it. But most people won't let that happen. It's just not fast enough. Kalonian Hydra may be worth it though, a 12/12 attacking for 6 mana is very respectable.
Land Destruction; It's a good option, but it's one that I don't feel is needed for the deck, and you're usually paying more mana for it than if you pursue other routes of attack.
Wurmcoil Engine: I think that this warrants a spot just because it's a fattie with Lifelink. It'll be impossible to favorably block and gaining chucks of 12 life a turn is solid.
Behemoth, Vigor, Ragebeast, Tanglewurm, Packleader & Ancient; All of these guys are decent on their own, but really lends themselves to playing quite a few other creatures. Vigor was in the original list but he is either a static 12/12 attacking, or you have to extend into a potential boardwipe to get value from his second ability. The best out of that bunch that I'll probably end up playing is Ragebeast, since he is removal on his own and if I am extending it gets rid of more things.
Doublers; Yes, I think this is where the deck could really pick up speed. I would rather be playing the extracombat phases in favor of Doublestrike, but they're both strong. I thing Savage Beating is one of the biggest blowout cards that the deck could have.
After these considerations I'm thinking that I'll be testing with these changes:
1 Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Kookus
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Birthing Pod
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Moonveil Dragon
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Genesis Wave
1 Coldsteel Heart
2 Mountain
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Kalonian Hydra
1 Gruul Ragebeast
1 Aggravated Assault
1 Relentless Assault
1 Savage Beating
1 Seize the Day
1 Rapacious One
2 Forest
(I apologize for the wall of text.)
One 5/5 with trample + Xenagos + Savage Beating = 60 damage
5/5 * 2 (Xenagos) = 10/10 + Double Strike = 20 damage + 2nd Combat Phase = 20/20 + Doublestrike = 60 damage total
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Maybe not, but remember that Reap and Sow can fetch Kessig Wolf Run. You can also run Nylea, God of the Hunt, Archetype of Aggression, and Brawn. Tempt with Discovery, Crop Rotation and Expedition Map also fetch Kessig Wolf Run.
So try looking outside of just Tramplers for your deck. There are plenty of powerful ways to give your creatures trample and plenty of very powerful non-Tramplers.
Also did you see Deus of Calamity. Sure its LD, but its also a 6/6 Trample for 5 mana. And repeatable LD can be very potent. Especially with multiple combat phases and double strike.
And speaking of multiple combat phases: Hellkite Charger
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Deus of Calamity
Reap and Sow (and also to fetch KWR)
Not to mention, Maze of Ith can't stop extra combat phase attacks. So you should be good with that.
Beast Within is also an out to a ton of troublesome cards.
Another card that would help and would be good for many other situations as well is Asceticism
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
The point of it wasn't LD, but rather synergistic cards that can deal with troublesome cards. And Maze of Ith can certainly be troublesome to decks like this. Deus of Calamity is a 6/6 trample for 5 and Reap and Sow can fetch Kessig Wolf Run. Beast Within is just one of those cards that should be in every green deck since it kills any permanent. Asceticism is good because it protects your creatures from spot removal and most wraths.
Wow that sounds awesome
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Perhaps, but Dwarven Miner does literally nothing to aid the main goal of the deck. Dealing with a Maze of Ith here or there is very narrow and unless he's up against a ton of nonbasic lands (typically 4+ color decks, or 3+ nongreen decks), this won't be as powerful as you think. Such cards belong in stax decks and this isn't one.
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
And I will reiterate... it doesn't aid the main goal of the deck at all and none of the reasons you have provided are substantial enough for the deck to run it anyway. Sorceries, instants, artifacts, and enchantments, while they can't attack (with some exceptions), can support the overall goal of the deck in other ways. They can provide card advantage, accelerate your damage, deal with a broader selection of troublesome cards than just... nonbasic lands (cards like Blazing Archon), or recycle/fetch cards that do those things. Dwarven Miner does none of that. There are better options available for that slot and therefore the deck shouldn't run it even if you're on a tight budget.
If you still insist on running it... more power to you. Nobody can stop you from doing so, but I'm trying to tell you there are better options for this particular deck. Cards like this shift the deck away from being more aggressive to more stax, and that isn't what this deck needs.
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
-1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
+1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
They have the same Annihilator amount, but Ulamog is also an out to cards like Blazing Archon and Maze of Ith. Ulamog is also indestructible and has the same anti-mill property.
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
I actually don't even know if adding specific land destruction is necessary considering you have a lot of tutors who can search up Acidic Slime/Woodfall Primus, as well as card draw to hopefully help draw into Beast Within/Chaos Warp. Maybe just adding a couple land destruction lands like Wasteland/Strip Mine/etc could be what the deck needs?
@Grim; I'm already running both. Kozilek is under Card Advantage, Ulamog is under removal.
@Professor; Yeah, I'm thinking that Acid Moss could be something else and then just adding in the destruction lands.