MTG Salvation

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Stuff this Deck Does

For the time being I’m just gonna say a few things about the main intents of the deck and will expand it as I go.

A few notes on Rebels.

If you’re purely interested in Rebels and want a deck that focuses utterly on them, with Lin Sivvi at the helm but restricted to mono-white, then this is not the thread you should be in. ISBPathfinder’s is. If you’re interested in abusing them outside white and want to try some other shenanigans, this deck has proven to be fun and effective in my (relatively competitive) meta.

In a format like this that values high-impact cards, Rebels will seem weak at first if you only look at them in a vacuum. While they’re certainly not hidden, S-tier tech or anything, this is still a mistake. What you’re doing is not only repeatedly getting instant-speed answers to aggro-based issues, you’re also putting a high number of bodies on the board in a manner that’s completely card-advantageous. This adds up tremendously in most games.

The key mana cost in this deck is 3. This nets you Lin Sivvi and most of the good utility Rebels like Mirror Entity, Big Game Hunter, Defiant Vanguard and Lightbringer. So to reach for them, the 2-cost rebels like Defiant Falcon and Amrou Scout become important. 3CC is also important because, if you have Conspiracy out, those little Falcons and Scouts become magical portals to Christmasland. Need a noncreature dead? Reclamation Sage. Need something back? Eternal Witness. Need a sword? Stoneforge Mystic. Someone wrathing and you wanna rescue Lin Sivvi? Stonecloaker. Just need cards? Mentor of the Meek.

The importance of tutors.

This is a bit of a “duh” for anyone familiar with the format so I won’t get too hard into it, but in 100-card singleton, it’s that much harder to get what you need for a given occasion, making tutors proportionally more important in EDH.

This deck has a Rebel toolbox explained above.

It has a legendary toolbox through Captain Sisay; this includes
-- Kor Haven -- Needs no introduction. One of the format's greatest options for a bit of stalling
-- Miren, the Moaning Well -- Sac a dude and replay with Karador or Lin-Sivvi; sac that Academy Rector when you need to
-- Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa both nice overrun options that make a ruthless combo when combined
-- Sheoldred, Whispering One -- A nice backup reanimator and a major headache for many decks

It has an even curve for Birthing Pod, with nice options like Weathered Wayfarer -> Fauna Shaman -> lolstuff -> Academy Rector -> Seedborn Muse -> Sun Titan -> Angel of Despair... You get the drill.

Speaking of even curves, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard gets very good very quickly, especially with Seedborn Muse, and is also tutorable via Sisay.

Okay, so how do I win?

Well I mean some of the obvious answers are in the deck list, like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Cathars’ Crusade, Mirror Entity, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Craterhoof Behemoth. There’s also the Elesh Norn + Kamahl combo, easily tutorable with Captain Sisay; note also this combo is nice because each piece alone works with the game plan.

But the fact of the matter is that this deck plays a good political game, scares people with rattlesnakes (or the instant-speed threat of them) and handles what threats are thrown at you. I’ve won games without these cards specifically.

Finally, this deck is extremely robust and difficult to keep down without graveyard hate. This is almost completely due to Karador being at the helm, though Lin Sivvi's graveyard-to-library ability helps. Not only are your little dudes easy to re-cast over and over again off Karador, you can do some neat shenanigans, like saccing Big Game Hunter with High Market and either re-casting him with Karador or putting him in the library with Lin Sivvi then re-tutoring for him (which costs more but can be done at instant speed).

I’ll leave it at this for now. I look forward to your questions and comments. This is a bit of a new direction for me and I’ve been enjoying it immensely so I may wish to make a primer out of it.

Cheers,
Hal

Deck History & Set Reviews

DTK and ORI in Review; Changes

I actually brewed this deck prior to Dragons of Tarkir being released so there have now been two sets to review. Cards in bold will be included somehow. Input is, as always, welcome.

Dragons of Tarkir

There are only two cards that are particularly interesting in DTK:

Collected Company has proven itself to be a complete bomb in smaller formats and it fits the theme of the deck extremely well. Almost a quarter (23%) of the deck is creatures with CMC <= 3, meaning a 75% a card is not one; assuming I'm remembering my grade school math correctly, and since CoCo checks six cards, that's 0.75^6 is only an 18% chance that I don't get a single creature straight into play off a 4 mana instant... I'd rate this pretty good.

Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit is a miniature Cathars' Crusade and for that reason is extremely tempting, but may not be impactful enough across a game to justify the slot. Will keep an eye on her.

Magic Origins

Tragic Arrogance is one of the more exciting cards for the set and absolutely relevant to this deck. It runs a healthy array of permanent types such that I'm impacted less, and there are plenty of creatures here that, when left behind, will generate lots of value, especially since this card, unlike say Cataclysm, leaves behind my land base. Looking forward to trying this.

Caustic Caterpillar is a nice one-mana utility option with Yisan, Wanderer Bard or one of the smaller rebels + Conspiracy. Earlier options in this vein only destroy one or the other, ie. Elvish Hexhunter & Scavenger Folk, and furthermore require tapping. Very nice little card. Considering.

Sword of the Animist is just... so good. I have a steady supply of creatures at all mana levels, this deck is wedge-coloured and values fixing, it's legendary and thus tutorable with Captain Sisay... I just need to figure out what to cut. Suggestions are welcome.

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Changes

Acidic Slime --> Collected Company
Thousand-Year Elixir --> Tragic Arrogance

What do folks think about Aluren in decks that won't actually go infinite with it? It still seems pretty fun and effective here.

Never thought I'd see a rebel tribal Karador!

Anyways, I doubt Aluren would be a good idea for you. Sure, you'd have a lot of guys to put in for free, but I'd be worried that your opponents could abuse it more than you could. Especially since you're not breaking it in half. Think I'd rather just plop my guys down and tutor out the rest normally.

Quote from seriph0 »

Never thought I'd see a rebel tribal Karador!

I'm shocked something like this hasn't been tried sooner. It's just so much fun. Perhaps the most fun deck I've built to date.

Anyways, I doubt Aluren would be a good idea for you. Sure, you'd have a lot of guys to put in for free, but I'd be worried that your opponents could abuse it more than you could. Especially since you're not breaking it in half. Think I'd rather just plop my guys down and tutor out the rest normally.

That's an excellent point. The risk of having my opponents abuse it just to save a bit of mana probably isn't worth a valuable card slot.

Thanks a lot for the reply, seriph0.

Since you already have Miren, have you considered Task Force + Outrider en-Kor for arbitrary life shenanigans?

Quote from Talas_Engineer »

Since you already have Miren, have you considered Task Force + Outrider en-Kor for arbitrary life shenanigans?

It's a cute combo and I like it a lot. I did indeed debate using it as a backup strategy. I fell short for three reasons: A) the components just aren't good enough on their own; I have a strict policy of each card having two tiers of synergy, so if they aren't useful under one circumstance, they're useful under another; B) I'm not THAT likely to have Miren out at a given time... I'm not even running Expedition Map in this iteration, leaving I believe only Sisay and Wayfarer, and C) infinite life is overrated in EDH; my friends have lots of ways to combo out or deal 21 commander damage.

Thanks for the suggestion though Talas_Engineer, it's a worthy combo to consider in any Rebel deck.