This is to help determine what CMC slots to overload on, should I actually want to build this deck well. It is based on things that are commonly played, not to be a comprehensive list.
Hm. I though reality smasher was more expensive than he is. Maybe I'll pick one up for this. Batterskull was a thought, and is sitting in my short list in case I need more lifelink, but I'd rather have more trample.
Memory Jar I tend to prefer if I have more ways to abuse - either recursion, or rings.
Conjurer's Closet is made weak by the fact that I don't have that many ETB effects.
I skipped out on the tutoring for the initial build, as I'd like to try out the cards I get before putting in the tutors to go get the staples every game. I did pull aside Ring of 3 wishes, Planar Portal, and Skyship Weatherlight when building the deck.
I think you're right on Mind's Eye. I'll add that in when I get home. Probably cut SoFI for it.
If I were to pick a few things out that seem a little more important:
Silent Arbiter - it makes you unblockable and it serves on defense too. This guy is huge. Oblivion Sower - you seem to have graveyard hate so this seems even better than usual to me. Lion's Eye Diamond - so.... price wise I can understand not picking one of these up. If its not the cost thats keeping you back I can confirm that this thing is insane. Most of the time I dont want the junk still in my hand when I go to cast my commander and its great because this comes from nowhere and you suddenly have +3 mana in one turn nobody expected. Due to fully drawing a new hand the downside is actually kind of an upside to me as I can throw away stuff I dont feel I need. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - its like another All is Dust. I super recommend getting one if you dont have one. I think I ordered 4 of them when he first came out. He is just going to go up.
Some things about your list offhand:
You seem to run too many mana stones that only give one mana. I would avoid this as you just have a ton of them. Focus more on the 3-4 mana two mana stones and things that will give you more than two mana I guess. I also dont like the plan of waste heavy as there are just too few upsides vs the utility you could have instead. Primarily you are looking at the Extraplanar Lens and personally I think thats probably too little utility to justify not having more utility in your landbase.
The one thing I have found so far is there is no such thing as too much ramp with Kozilek. More ramp means getting out faster and after you are in play you can use them as counterspells.
I also dont like Soul of New Phyrexia or Void Winnower. The soul seems really expensive to play with and I had bad results with Darksteel Forge which I feel is a similar effect. I am concerned about the winnower as it cuts off casting Kozilek himself.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
A lot of changes have occurred, including most of the equipment package slowly going away. Not logging changes yet, as the deck is still in 'construction,' we'll see how it plays tomorrow and I'll start logging changes then.
From some sample hands/goldfishing, I note that as the game extends, I end up with a lot of extra lands in hand. I don't want to cut my wastes too much, as I like dredging them out of the deck (as I do with all decks), but I may lower the land count to 38, and then further if need be.
It looks like the following are the remaining major changes I want to get in:
3 Matter Reshaper - replace ??? - arriving soon
4 Thran Dynamo - need to find - likely to replace Wastes - hopefully should find
3 Junk Diver - Likely to replace Pilgrim's Eye. - arriving soon 5 Mind's Eye - To replace Pristine Talisman
5 Kozilek's Chaneler - likely to replace Wastes
5 Reality Smasher - replaces ???? - arriving soon
6 Oblivion Sower - replaces Ulamog's Crusher - arriving soon
6 Conduit of Ruin - replaces Pathrazer of Ulamog - arriving soon
11 old kozi - relaces ?Eldrazi conscript? / Void Minnow? - arriving soon
6 Steel Hellkite - More Removal, +flyer - ????
Current creature cuts could be:
8 Ulamog's Crusher
9 Void Winnower
11 Pathrazer of ulamog
This would open up slots for lower costs, and to get in Old Kozilek when I get him in the mail. As well as Oblivion Sower and Conduit of Ruin, both of whom will power out stronger in the early game.
Depending on how evil Annihilator pans out, I may cut boots/greaves and Eldrazi Conscription. Doubt it though. If I have big beatsticks, I like my haste a lot.
Silent Arbiter - it makes you unblockable and it serves on defense too. This guy is huge. Oblivion Sower - you seem to have graveyard hate so this seems even better than usual to me. Lion's Eye Diamond - so.... price wise I can understand not picking one of these up. If its not the cost thats keeping you back I can confirm that this thing is insane. Most of the time I dont want the junk still in my hand when I go to cast my commander and its great because this comes from nowhere and you suddenly have +3 mana in one turn nobody expected. Due to fully drawing a new hand the downside is actually kind of an upside to me as I can throw away stuff I dont feel I need. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - its like another All is Dust. I super recommend getting one if you dont have one. I think I ordered 4 of them when he first came out. He is just going to go up.
Traded my LED off a while ago for a second Gauntlet of Might, as I wanted to build twin Brothers Yamazaki decks. Probably not going to get another, at its current cost. That said, I'd only run it if I was running a Salvaging Station build, which honestly, isn't a bad idea, but would be such a drastically different build. I do have an issue with lands clogging the hand as time goes on though. I should perhaps look into that.
Don't have an Ugin either. I plan on getting one, or a few, but I hear he's about to rotate, so I'll wait a tiny bit. Maybe I'll just get one, and go from there. He'd replace Perilous Vault, as with Dust, OStone, etc, I think I'm on a good wrath count.
Oblivion Sower - I ordered one ages ago, and can't find it. I have another coming in the mail. I definitely want him in.
Silent Arbiter - ... I have a 12/12, that's already pretty hard to block - does it really need to be unblockable? Either way, you're not the only to suggest him, so I am looking at him.
You seem to run too many mana stones that only give one mana. I would avoid this as you just have a ton of them. Focus more on the 3-4 mana two mana stones and things that will give you more than two mana I guess.
I think 2cc rocks are important, as they ramp you into the 4cc rocks. I don't want my early turns to be only land, go. Pristine Talisman is likely an incorrect inclusion though. I'll fix that. Don't know if I should go for a 2cc, or a 4cc. Still looking for my Thran Dynamo, which I think I have an extra in that precon it came in.
I also dont like the plan of waste heavy as there are just too few upsides vs the utility you could have instead. Primarily you are looking at the Extraplanar Lens and personally I think thats probably too little utility to justify not having more utility in your landbase.
I like stripping all the basics out of my decks. I'm heavily considering Rings+Crucible combo in the deck, but haven't pulled on it simply due to having no cheap tutors. Sword of the Animist and Thawing Glaciers are really the only thing that pulls them out reliably right now, so I may need to consider it. If I did a Salvaging Station package, then Wayfarer's Bauble and Expedition Map would ensure waste gathering. I might still cut the extraplanar lens, but overall I feel that fetching wastes is their utility, and that a lot of colorless lands are pointless, even in this deck. Without Salvaging Station + Expedition Map you're unlikely to pull UrzaTron online in any game at all, and even with Vesuva and Thespian's Stage, Cloudpost is likely to simply be a land that ETB tapped that may eventually tap for 2 mana. At that cost, I could simply copy my Temple of the False God, or some other power/useful land, instead.
There are a few of the eldrazi lands that would be useful, and they're arriving as well. I may end up dropping to 14ish wastes, which would bring me in line with basics counts of other decks. In general, my litmus test is to see at what point in a game I fail to find a basic. If that doesn't happen, I have too many. If it happens mid-game, I have too few. =p
The one thing I have found so far is there is no such thing as too much ramp with Kozilek. More ramp means getting out faster and after you are in play you can use them as counterspells.
True, but I don't want to just sit on a solitary Kozi either. I want a balance, and it'll be important to have a hand that isn't simply ramp.
I also dont like Soul of New Phyrexia or Void Winnower. The soul seems really expensive to play with and I had bad results with Darksteel Forge which I feel is a similar effect. I am concerned about the winnower as it cuts off casting Kozilek himself.
Darksteel Forge isn't a 6/6 trampler for 6, and can't activate from the GY for a surprise. Void Winnower is opponents only. Doesn't turn off Kozi. Honestly, he just looked like fun, but may end up cut anyways... but then, maybe not. It would be interesting to tailor the deck to him with lots of odd costs that way Kozi can keep him protected. Mega .
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A salvaging package would have the benefits of having extra draw power for when kozi is on the board, so that you don't need to depend on him for refills, and also gives you plenty of 1cc things to pitch vs Swords, Path, and Tragic Slip.
The concern with Void Winnower can also come from opponent theft. If an opponent runs Bribery for instance it would be unfortunate. I sometimes avoid creatures who backfire badly when they are stolen / cloned. Its something to at least think about even if its unlikely.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
A bit sad to lose the conscription, simply because I wanted to hit all card types in a colorless deck, but really, it's proved in the past to be a bit of a jerk move, so I'm not that sad.
That's right. A game. Singular. I would have thought that a deck that ramps into big mc.fatty stuff would make games go quickly. Boy was I wrong. I played Magic: the Wrathening again last night. (Ok, I played 3 1v1's while waiting too, but those don't count. G1 vs Karlov, early aggro hurts, but an All is Dust resets him, and I crawl back in and he can't compete v eldrazi. G2 v Karlov, Karlov commander damages me to death, as Oran-Rief ETB tapped, so I couldn't Sour from Existence Karlov before I died to commander damage (6+8+more than 8). G3 vs Ezuri, win by unable to deal with Karn).
On to the real game, that took up hours.
Yours truly vs. Oloro, Animar, Animar
1st annoying bit was getting some of my ramp killed off early, and then one of the Animars played his own Kozilek, the Great Distortion before me, and pitched a Newlamog to counter my Commander. What a jerk. Admittedly, he had tutored up a creature to top of library, so I Oblivion Sowered him. Fantastic. So I guess I deserved it. I did get 3 lands off of him (2 from sower (deserted temple was 1), 1 exiled by furnace earlier in the game (a fetch I couldn't use, but I grabbed it anyways incase someone dropped urborg. No one did, but it sucked up part of an annihilator trigger for me)) Game proceeds, and pretty much any time I try to attack with an eldrazi thing, I get evacuated, routed, Cyclonic Rifted, Woodfall Primused (+oranrief/novijen).
Both the other Animars have eldrazi existing in their decks, so poor Oloro (who's doing most of the wrathing, and is mana screwed to boot), is facing a horrendous invasion. Luckily, he's largely ignored, since everyone else has eldrazi. One Animar cast Void Winnower early, into New Kozi (discarded newlamog to counter my kozi), Old Kozi, and Bane of Bala Ged. Other animar only had the two old titans, and cast them both during the game. I of course cast my titans several times. It's amazing how people keep evacuating my newlamog and stuff. Also, Winding Canyons did at times flash newlamog or oldlamog in front of cyclonic rifts, just so I could blow up more stuff. Like other peoples ulamogs which I didn't want to see cast again.
In the end, key points:
Scrabbling Claws and Phyrexian Furnace both succeeded at their jobs, eating up prime recursion from one of the Animars. He was not happy, but it was funny.
Flashing in Kozilek in front of a spell (via Winding Canyons) remains hilarious. Despite missing. Every single time.
Winding Canyons was especially amusing, as it allowed me to react to other players, using the various eldrazi as spells.
I fetched every single wastes in my deck during the game. I out ramped both green players (Sword of the Animist as well as Thaeing Glaciers+Deserted temple). This means I'm actually happy with my waste count. I may want to increase it. Although, 1 game does not make a trend. Both Sword and Glaciers are my only repeatable ramp, so getting both, and early, should be considered unusual.
I still ended up a bit land flooded in hand towards the end of the game. Despite ramping out the wastes. This means that I like the wastes even more, since they thin out the deck. Considering adding Walking Atlas to the deck again. (he was cut early).
Feedback from other players.
As expected, haste + flash + annihilator is frustrating, and leaves bad interaction for the opponents, and few interaction opportunities for Annihilator. Bane of Balaged will be cut, and I am considering cutting Hall of the Bandit Lord and the boots. If I keep one, it will be the hall.
That said, annihilator itself isn't bad, as it's not a core theme of the deck, but rather simply part of my haymakers.
Nevinyrral's disk was recommended as an extra wipe. I'm still not as impressed.
Tempted by: Null Brooch. May be too evil with all the untap effects, but a decent catch all, perhaps?
Perhaps some flying defenses of some sort. Predator comes to mind. Didn't come up during games, but it's a notable weakness. Expedition Map. I've been avoiding tutors, especially with the Hall of the Bandit Lord, but with the possibility of fetching glaciers + temple to thin the deck...
Concluding thoughts: Rather happy with the deck. Was more fun and less unfun than I feared, considering the presence of annihilator.
Crusher for Kozi has just been waiting to happen, so that's one check down. Doesn't help the proportion of annihilator, but keeps it to calling in the titans, which is nice.
Ruins has simply been annoying due to entering tapped, and I have no idea what to do with that +1/+1 counter on stuff this big anyways.
Game 1: Kozilek vs. Feldon artifacts, Horde tribal bad elementals, and Kaalia angels.
Well, this quickly devolves into two 1v1s. Kaalia starts hard targeting me from the get go, with Kaalia + Silverblade Paladin, luckily he's got a dead hand, or I would have been dead for sooner. A Reality Smasher hits early to give 'some' counter measures, but he eats a card to path it, once I drop an Akroma's Memorial to have a viable blocker. Of course, once I finally get a git of mana to drop a Newlamog, I can't because the other 1v1 bleeds over and I eat a Waves of Vitriol. Thank goodness Wastes exist. There goes my memorial though, and much of my chances at survival. I top deck into a Extraplanar Lens though, and manage to drop Newlamog to clear out the flyers on Kaalia's side, since I'm now at 1 life, and 20 commander damage. From Kaalia.
So of course, Feldon casts scrap mastery, and I lose my lens. At least I get my Akroma's Memorial back, and some good mana rocks... Wait... No... Horde broke all the artifacts again. Well at least I still have an indestructible... Merciless Eviction from Kaalia. Well. This sucks.
With nothing in hand, I die horribly, but in my final moments I give Horde unblockableness with Rogue's Passage so that I at least am not the first to die. Kaalia mistakes a lethal attack against horde, and Horde barely takes the game, with exact lethal.
Game 2: vs. Feldon artifacts, The Mimeoplasm standard, Patron of the Moon tribal Islands, and Merieke theft.
This one starts off better, though for most of the game I end up doing more damage to myself off of my Hall of the Bandit Lord than to other players. At one point, I hasty out an Oldlamog to kill off some of Feldon's board, and he counters with a Hasty that dragon thing that steals all the artifacts to steal most of my stuff. Since there's a leyline of singularity out (from merieke), he opts to sac my Swiftfoot boots to the legend rule. I point out this was a mistake. He asks why, and Merieke steals my Ulamog with his Preacher. And gloriously punches Feldon with it again, and feldon gets to sac almost all the stuff he stole from me (he was probably just barely more tempted than hitting me, which would have ended my game). I manage to topdekc a land, which lets me drop Karn, Liberated to exile my own Ulamog, before I'm annihilated out of the game - literally. Karn doesn't make it to my next turn, but then, that's to the surprise of... nobody.
I slowly work on rebuilding my board, and eventually get to a decent place. At one point, Patron (my brother) is mocking how Hall of the Bandit lord has done more damage to me than I have to anyone else. So I'm really excited when Mimeo gets out a Lord of Extinction as I am planning to eat it with a hasty Duplicant to OHKO patron. But Merieke foils that plan with a EOT Miraculous Recovery on Merieke, which means there's no way I can risk it. I try dropping a Staff of Domination to tap her down, but that land that untaps legendaries foils me. I had forgotten about it. So I have to settle for punching Patron for a measely 2 with my useless Duplicant.
I kinda stabilize a bit more, but then Merieke goes Capsize mode and bounces my Staff of Domination and two of my lands. That's not nice. On his next turn, he moves to capsize Merieke, (since I killed all his untappers, wonder why...), and I use Winding Canyons to flash out Kozilek, draw... 1 card... but pitch my newly bounced Staff of Domination to counter that stupid capsize. Phew.
Unfortunately time starts getting called, but Feldon one-shots Patron with a Dragon that +X's for artifact count, Mimeo scoops, Merieke scoops with no cards in hand, and since Newlamog had exiled 20 cards from feldon, (including 4 Mountains and a Valakut, the molten Pinnacle, I gleefully try to Oblivion Sower him for lethal, and whiff horribly! I mean, no. We instead pretend that I actually, you know, played things smart instead of rushing for time, and attacked him with Newlamog instead, and got lethal from whatever mountains exiled on that pass. Yes. That's exactly what happened. I totally lethaled him with Oblivion Sower + Valakut.
I don't tap it for colorless. I tap it for red. Or blue.
Gilded Lotus has always worked in colorless decks. Nothing says that you have to choose a color in your identity. The only cards that don't work are specifically Command Tower, and Commander's Sphere, since those explicitly state a color in you Color Identity, which I obviously don't have.
Even before the rule 4 change, choosing a color would simply turn it colorless (due to rule 4). With rule 4 removal, I actually get the color now, for whatever good that does me (not much in this list, but others I've brewed could have maybe made use of it).
Just a small land switchup, as always, I'm still examining my land/wastes ratio and situation, and will adjust accordingly. Both of these cut lands may return.
Also keeping an eye on the strength of Hall of the bandit lord + annihilate mechanic, and will adjust if needed.
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Need to audit decklist The decklist here is missing Reality Smasher, which was added a short while ago.
Kozilek vs Karlov, Horde of Notions tribal champions, Mina and Denn, w/b enchantress Undead Daxos (new player borrowing a deck!)
Horde starts the game, but Daxos leads off with a Land Tax into Daxos, into Ghostly Prison for the safety. Mina and Denn start off with a t2 Sylvan Library I start off with a good hand of land, with a t1 Thawing Glaciers, and eventually move up into using a Sculpting Steel on Karlov's Burnished Hart, and also manage to use a Terrain Generator a time or two. Karlov starts with a turn 2 Serra Ascendant, with Mina then giving the quote of "Wow, that's way grosser than Sylvan Library." I joke that I'm keeping up with Mina and Denn's ramp, but quickly get outpaced after. Horde blows us both out of the water with Azusa, Lost but Seeking into more ramp, into a Boundless realms. Oh, and horde is almost entirely a basic landbase, if that wasn't mentioned. The only non-basic he plays all game was a Sunhome, fortress of the legion.
Karlov keeps going with the enchantments into a Blind obedience and then into a Sphere of Safety, so he's being left alone. Karlov moves up into a 2 soul sisters to drop Karlov, with a Sun droplet on the field (but not active yet), so Mina and Denn resets with a Blasphemous Act. Horde drops a Chameleon Colossus. I'm still ramping and emptying my hand.
Karlov then replays Karlov, and drops a scale lord. He also kills my blocker. So Horde one shots him with the Chameleon Colossus (64 damage).
I re-drop creatures (thanks Karlov! ), but Blind obedience means they come in tapped. So Horde one shots me with the Chameleon Colossus (32 damage).
During this time, thanks to an Oracle of Muldaya, we all know that Mina and Denn have Spider Fog. Mina and Denn tap out to cast an x=9 Animist's Awakening for more lands. And only hits two lands. Both Colorless. Biggest. Whiff. Ever.
So Horde puts an Unquestioned Authority on Chameleon and One shots Mina and Denn with the Chameleon (32 Damage). Mina also reveals a Chaos Warp, showing that either color land from the Awakening would have saved him. (ha ha!)
This leaves Daxos. So Horde one shots him with the Chameleon Colossus (32 damage). BUT WAIT! Removal save! No Chameleon kill on the Daxos!
So Horde drops a Bane of Progress, then champions it. Daxos' wrath frees the Bane. So the Bane gets championed again. A double striking Horde goes for the throat on Daxos, but he makes two 6/6 tokens to block, BUT WAIT, Surprise Horde Activation on the Champion in the graveyard, Championing the Champion, Releasing the Bane, THE BLOCKERS ARE KILLED, and Horde Tramples over the nothing for 10! Horde then casts a third Champion (Nova Chaser?) Hiding the bane once more!
Daxos tries to frantically rebuild with a Sigil of the empty throne. Horde drops a False Demise on Horde, and moves to attacks again, with Both Champions and Horde. Blocks occur, with the fantastic quote of "Remember, this one is championing the Champion, and this one is championing the Bane of Progress, your best friend." Daxos takes 3 trample from Horde, due to the double strike, kills it, but it returns due to the false demise. He also kills the champion championing the champion, with releases the champion that was championed, allowing it to champion the other champion, releasing the Bane of Progress. Try saying that 3 times fast.
Daxos tries to rebuild and remove the Bane, but a Horde activation returns the Champion to champion the bane, and with a well timed release on the Bane of progress, leaves a clear field for Horde to double strike to victory.
Thran Dynamo seems like a mistake. I'll need to look into why that happened. Bane of Bala Ged was likely a cut based on 'fun-ness' considerations. Vault was likely removed as Ugin replaced it.
I forgot that you played Kozilek. Its interesting to see how different our approaches are. I find myself running less and less expensive to cast cards all the time as I make more changes with mine.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
One thing to remember is that I built this deck specifically to be non-optimized, as a testing grounds for various things. If I really wanted to improve the deck, one of the first things I would do is drop the average CMC by a lot. While some draw and removal pieces are necessarily going to be expensive, right now the deck does play it a threat at a time. Though it is fun to Smash people with the Eldrazi horde.
That said, there are a few things that I rather like about the deck - such as the high Wastes count. While my land ramping can be a bit inconsistent, relying on specific cards for it, overall I like it a lot when it goes off. An argument can be made for the utility that other lands provide, but truth be told, we're talking such corner case scenarios in which those lands will not simply be tapping for mana, and a number of them even enter tapped. There's definitely some room to shuffle around some of my lands though.
Certain things that could be exciting would be a Salvaging Station package, and perhaps Myr Welder, Junk Diver for general artifact recursion. Nim Deathmantle is also a great equipment, and would help protect my threats, while also synergizing with Burnished Hart, and potentially other effects could be explored.
There's also a lot of new goodies from both Kaladesh sets that I should look into. At the very least, the new Solemn fits quite well.
Another thought I had was to see if I could embrace more of the Eldrazi token theme, but sadly a lot of the producers are actually in colored cards.
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Also, I remember why Thran Dynamo happened - I was adding in a new card, and had to make a cut, and coincidentally at the same time someone needed a Thran Dynamo, so I gave him one, since I had extras at home. ... Then I never actually bothered to fix it.
ISB's http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/663866-the-great-distortion-of-kozilek
Professor Cactus http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/656493-kozilek-the-great-distortion-edh
Juwdah's Primer for Old Kozi (but new Kozi is discussed extensively) http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/477463-kozilek-butcher-with-juice
10 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Creatures - 21
3 Burnished Hart
3 Junk Diver
3 Matter Reshaper
3 Metalworker
3 Palladium Myr
3 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Warden of Geometries
5 Reality Smasher
5 Walker of the Wastes
6 Conduit of Ruin
6 Duplicant
6 Endbringer
6 Oblivion Sower
6 Soul of New Phyrexia
9 Artisan of Kozilek
9 Void Winnower
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
10 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
12 It That Betrays
Artifacts - 14
0 Tormod's Crypt
1 Avarice Totem
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Scrabbling Claws
1 Voltaic Key
1 Voyager Staff
2 Torpor Orb
3 Oblivion Stone
3 Sculpting Steel
3 Staff of Domination
4 Clock of Omens
5 Mirrorworks
7 Akroma's Memorial
7 Spine of Ish Sah
0x Astral Cornucopia
0 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
2 Mind Stone
2 Thought Vessel
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Extraplanar Lens
3 Unstable Obelisk
3 Worn Powerstone
4 Hedron Archive
5 Blinkmoth Urn
5 Gilded Lotus
6 Dreamstone Hedron
Equipment - 5
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Sword of the Animist - Mana
3 Loxodon Warhammer
6 Argentum Armor
Planeswalker - 2
7 Karn Liberated
8 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Instant - 3
2 Warping Wail
7 Not of This World
7 Scour from Existence
Sorcery - 1
7 All is Dust
Land - 38
17 Wastes
1 Buried Ruin
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Deserted Temple
1 Eldrazi Temple
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord - Haste
1 High Market
1 Homeward Path
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Mirrorpool
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Shrine of the Forgotten Gods
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False Gods
1 Terrain Generator
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Winding Canyons
Kozilek Counter Chart
This is to help determine what CMC slots to overload on, should I actually want to build this deck well. It is based on things that are commonly played, not to be a comprehensive list.
Card looking to come in
Rings + Fetch + Crucible worthwhile add?
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Hm. I though reality smasher was more expensive than he is. Maybe I'll pick one up for this. Batterskull was a thought, and is sitting in my short list in case I need more lifelink, but I'd rather have more trample.
Memory Jar I tend to prefer if I have more ways to abuse - either recursion, or rings.
Conjurer's Closet is made weak by the fact that I don't have that many ETB effects.
I skipped out on the tutoring for the initial build, as I'd like to try out the cards I get before putting in the tutors to go get the staples every game. I did pull aside Ring of 3 wishes, Planar Portal, and Skyship Weatherlight when building the deck.
I think you're right on Mind's Eye. I'll add that in when I get home. Probably cut SoFI for it.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Silent Arbiter - it makes you unblockable and it serves on defense too. This guy is huge.
Oblivion Sower - you seem to have graveyard hate so this seems even better than usual to me.
Lion's Eye Diamond - so.... price wise I can understand not picking one of these up. If its not the cost thats keeping you back I can confirm that this thing is insane. Most of the time I dont want the junk still in my hand when I go to cast my commander and its great because this comes from nowhere and you suddenly have +3 mana in one turn nobody expected. Due to fully drawing a new hand the downside is actually kind of an upside to me as I can throw away stuff I dont feel I need.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - its like another All is Dust. I super recommend getting one if you dont have one. I think I ordered 4 of them when he first came out. He is just going to go up.
Some things about your list offhand:
You seem to run too many mana stones that only give one mana. I would avoid this as you just have a ton of them. Focus more on the 3-4 mana two mana stones and things that will give you more than two mana I guess. I also dont like the plan of waste heavy as there are just too few upsides vs the utility you could have instead. Primarily you are looking at the Extraplanar Lens and personally I think thats probably too little utility to justify not having more utility in your landbase.
The one thing I have found so far is there is no such thing as too much ramp with Kozilek. More ramp means getting out faster and after you are in play you can use them as counterspells.
I also dont like Soul of New Phyrexia or Void Winnower. The soul seems really expensive to play with and I had bad results with Darksteel Forge which I feel is a similar effect. I am concerned about the winnower as it cuts off casting Kozilek himself.
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[Modern] Allies
From some sample hands/goldfishing, I note that as the game extends, I end up with a lot of extra lands in hand. I don't want to cut my wastes too much, as I like dredging them out of the deck (as I do with all decks), but I may lower the land count to 38, and then further if need be.
It looks like the following are the remaining major changes I want to get in:
3 Matter Reshaper - replace ??? - arriving soon
4 Thran Dynamo - need to find - likely to replace Wastes - hopefully should find
3 Junk Diver - Likely to replace Pilgrim's Eye. - arriving soon
5 Mind's Eye - To replace Pristine Talisman
5 Kozilek's Chaneler - likely to replace Wastes
5 Reality Smasher - replaces ???? - arriving soon
6 Oblivion Sower - replaces Ulamog's Crusher - arriving soon
6 Conduit of Ruin - replaces Pathrazer of Ulamog - arriving soon
11 old kozi - relaces ?Eldrazi conscript? / Void Minnow? - arriving soon
6 Steel Hellkite - More Removal, +flyer - ????
Current creature cuts could be:
8 Ulamog's Crusher
9 Void Winnower
11 Pathrazer of ulamog
This would open up slots for lower costs, and to get in Old Kozilek when I get him in the mail. As well as Oblivion Sower and Conduit of Ruin, both of whom will power out stronger in the early game.
Some sort of recovery, like Sword of Light and Shadow may return as well.
Depending on how evil Annihilator pans out, I may cut boots/greaves and Eldrazi Conscription. Doubt it though. If I have big beatsticks, I like my haste a lot.
I'm trying very hard not to cut torpor orb.
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I like stripping all the basics out of my decks. I'm heavily considering Rings+Crucible combo in the deck, but haven't pulled on it simply due to having no cheap tutors. Sword of the Animist and Thawing Glaciers are really the only thing that pulls them out reliably right now, so I may need to consider it. If I did a Salvaging Station package, then Wayfarer's Bauble and Expedition Map would ensure waste gathering. I might still cut the extraplanar lens, but overall I feel that fetching wastes is their utility, and that a lot of colorless lands are pointless, even in this deck. Without Salvaging Station + Expedition Map you're unlikely to pull UrzaTron online in any game at all, and even with Vesuva and Thespian's Stage, Cloudpost is likely to simply be a land that ETB tapped that may eventually tap for 2 mana. At that cost, I could simply copy my Temple of the False God, or some other power/useful land, instead.
There are a few of the eldrazi lands that would be useful, and they're arriving as well. I may end up dropping to 14ish wastes, which would bring me in line with basics counts of other decks. In general, my litmus test is to see at what point in a game I fail to find a basic. If that doesn't happen, I have too many. If it happens mid-game, I have too few. =p
True, but I don't want to just sit on a solitary Kozi either. I want a balance, and it'll be important to have a hand that isn't simply ramp.
Darksteel Forge isn't a 6/6 trampler for 6, and can't activate from the GY for a surprise.
Void Winnower is opponents only. Doesn't turn off Kozi. Honestly, he just looked like fun, but may end up cut anyways... but then, maybe not. It would be interesting to tailor the deck to him with lots of odd costs that way Kozi can keep him protected. Mega .
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A salvaging package would have the benefits of having extra draw power for when kozi is on the board, so that you don't need to depend on him for refills, and also gives you plenty of 1cc things to pitch vs Swords, Path, and Tragic Slip.
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I wonder if Astral Cornucopia could be a worthwhile include, as a scalable large rock to pair with Voltaic Key and Clock of Omens.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
-Pristine Talisman
+Thran Dynamo
-Darksteel Ingot
+Astral Cornucopia
EDIT:
Some of my replacements have come in:
-3 Wastes +Shrine of the Forsaken Gods +Matter Reshaper +Junk Diver
- Pathrazer of Ulamog +Oblivion Sower
- Eldrazi Conscription +Conduit of Ruin
A bit sad to lose the conscription, simply because I wanted to hit all card types in a colorless deck, but really, it's proved in the past to be a bit of a jerk move, so I'm not that sad.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
That's right. A game. Singular. I would have thought that a deck that ramps into big mc.fatty stuff would make games go quickly. Boy was I wrong. I played Magic: the Wrathening again last night. (Ok, I played 3 1v1's while waiting too, but those don't count. G1 vs Karlov, early aggro hurts, but an All is Dust resets him, and I crawl back in and he can't compete v eldrazi. G2 v Karlov, Karlov commander damages me to death, as Oran-Rief ETB tapped, so I couldn't Sour from Existence Karlov before I died to commander damage (6+8+more than 8). G3 vs Ezuri, win by unable to deal with Karn).
On to the real game, that took up hours.
Yours truly vs. Oloro, Animar, Animar
1st annoying bit was getting some of my ramp killed off early, and then one of the Animars played his own Kozilek, the Great Distortion before me, and pitched a Newlamog to counter my Commander. What a jerk. Admittedly, he had tutored up a creature to top of library, so I Oblivion Sowered him. Fantastic. So I guess I deserved it. I did get 3 lands off of him (2 from sower (deserted temple was 1), 1 exiled by furnace earlier in the game (a fetch I couldn't use, but I grabbed it anyways incase someone dropped urborg. No one did, but it sucked up part of an annihilator trigger for me)) Game proceeds, and pretty much any time I try to attack with an eldrazi thing, I get evacuated, routed, Cyclonic Rifted, Woodfall Primused (+oranrief/novijen).
Both the other Animars have eldrazi existing in their decks, so poor Oloro (who's doing most of the wrathing, and is mana screwed to boot), is facing a horrendous invasion. Luckily, he's largely ignored, since everyone else has eldrazi. One Animar cast Void Winnower early, into New Kozi (discarded newlamog to counter my kozi), Old Kozi, and Bane of Bala Ged. Other animar only had the two old titans, and cast them both during the game. I of course cast my titans several times. It's amazing how people keep evacuating my newlamog and stuff. Also, Winding Canyons did at times flash newlamog or oldlamog in front of cyclonic rifts, just so I could blow up more stuff. Like other peoples ulamogs which I didn't want to see cast again.
In the end, key points:
Feedback from other players.
Projected changes:
-Lightning Greaves, -Swiftfoot Boots +Walking atlas +Spatial Distortion (I want more ways to interact on opposing turns)
-Bane of Bala Ged, +Reality smasher
(-Ulamog's Crusher, +old kozi)
(-Warden of Geometries, +Kozzilek's Channeler)
Tempted by:
Null Brooch. May be too evil with all the untap effects, but a decent catch all, perhaps?
Perhaps some flying defenses of some sort. Predator comes to mind. Didn't come up during games, but it's a notable weakness.
Expedition Map. I've been avoiding tutors, especially with the Hall of the Bandit Lord, but with the possibility of fetching glaciers + temple to thin the deck...
Concluding thoughts: Rather happy with the deck. Was more fun and less unfun than I feared, considering the presence of annihilator.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
- Ulamogs Crusher +Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- Ruins of Oran-Rief +Sea Gate Wreckage
Crusher for Kozi has just been waiting to happen, so that's one check down. Doesn't help the proportion of annihilator, but keeps it to calling in the titans, which is nice.
Ruins has simply been annoying due to entering tapped, and I have no idea what to do with that +1/+1 counter on stuff this big anyways.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Well, this quickly devolves into two 1v1s. Kaalia starts hard targeting me from the get go, with Kaalia + Silverblade Paladin, luckily he's got a dead hand, or I would have been dead for sooner. A Reality Smasher hits early to give 'some' counter measures, but he eats a card to path it, once I drop an Akroma's Memorial to have a viable blocker. Of course, once I finally get a git of mana to drop a Newlamog, I can't because the other 1v1 bleeds over and I eat a Waves of Vitriol. Thank goodness Wastes exist. There goes my memorial though, and much of my chances at survival. I top deck into a Extraplanar Lens though, and manage to drop Newlamog to clear out the flyers on Kaalia's side, since I'm now at 1 life, and 20 commander damage. From Kaalia.
So of course, Feldon casts scrap mastery, and I lose my lens. At least I get my Akroma's Memorial back, and some good mana rocks... Wait... No... Horde broke all the artifacts again. Well at least I still have an indestructible... Merciless Eviction from Kaalia. Well. This sucks.
With nothing in hand, I die horribly, but in my final moments I give Horde unblockableness with Rogue's Passage so that I at least am not the first to die. Kaalia mistakes a lethal attack against horde, and Horde barely takes the game, with exact lethal.
Game 2: vs. Feldon artifacts, The Mimeoplasm standard, Patron of the Moon tribal Islands, and Merieke theft.
This one starts off better, though for most of the game I end up doing more damage to myself off of my Hall of the Bandit Lord than to other players. At one point, I hasty out an Oldlamog to kill off some of Feldon's board, and he counters with a Hasty that dragon thing that steals all the artifacts to steal most of my stuff. Since there's a leyline of singularity out (from merieke), he opts to sac my Swiftfoot boots to the legend rule. I point out this was a mistake. He asks why, and Merieke steals my Ulamog with his Preacher. And gloriously punches Feldon with it again, and feldon gets to sac almost all the stuff he stole from me (he was probably just barely more tempted than hitting me, which would have ended my game). I manage to topdekc a land, which lets me drop Karn, Liberated to exile my own Ulamog, before I'm annihilated out of the game - literally. Karn doesn't make it to my next turn, but then, that's to the surprise of... nobody.
I slowly work on rebuilding my board, and eventually get to a decent place. At one point, Patron (my brother) is mocking how Hall of the Bandit lord has done more damage to me than I have to anyone else. So I'm really excited when Mimeo gets out a Lord of Extinction as I am planning to eat it with a hasty Duplicant to OHKO patron. But Merieke foils that plan with a EOT Miraculous Recovery on Merieke, which means there's no way I can risk it. I try dropping a Staff of Domination to tap her down, but that land that untaps legendaries foils me. I had forgotten about it. So I have to settle for punching Patron for a measely 2 with my useless Duplicant.
I kinda stabilize a bit more, but then Merieke goes Capsize mode and bounces my Staff of Domination and two of my lands. That's not nice. On his next turn, he moves to capsize Merieke, (since I killed all his untappers, wonder why...), and I use Winding Canyons to flash out Kozilek, draw... 1 card... but pitch my newly bounced Staff of Domination to counter that stupid capsize. Phew.
Unfortunately time starts getting called, but Feldon one-shots Patron with a Dragon that +X's for artifact count, Mimeo scoops, Merieke scoops with no cards in hand, and since Newlamog had exiled 20 cards from feldon, (including 4 Mountains and a Valakut, the molten Pinnacle, I gleefully try to Oblivion Sower him for lethal, and whiff horribly! I mean, no. We instead pretend that I actually, you know, played things smart instead of rushing for time, and attacked him with Newlamog instead, and got lethal from whatever mountains exiled on that pass. Yes. That's exactly what happened. I totally lethaled him with Oblivion Sower + Valakut.
Totally.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Social Distortion by Bennie Smith:
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/32480_Social-Distortion.html
Gilded Lotus has always worked in colorless decks. Nothing says that you have to choose a color in your identity. The only cards that don't work are specifically Command Tower, and Commander's Sphere, since those explicitly state a color in you Color Identity, which I obviously don't have.
Even before the rule 4 change, choosing a color would simply turn it colorless (due to rule 4). With rule 4 removal, I actually get the color now, for whatever good that does me (not much in this list, but others I've brewed could have maybe made use of it).
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
-Mage-ring Network
+Sanctum of Ugin
+Eldazi Temple
Just a small land switchup, as always, I'm still examining my land/wastes ratio and situation, and will adjust accordingly. Both of these cut lands may return.
Also keeping an eye on the strength of Hall of the bandit lord + annihilate mechanic, and will adjust if needed.
===
Need to audit decklist The decklist here is missing Reality Smasher, which was added a short while ago.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Horde starts the game, but Daxos leads off with a Land Tax into Daxos, into Ghostly Prison for the safety. Mina and Denn start off with a t2 Sylvan Library I start off with a good hand of land, with a t1 Thawing Glaciers, and eventually move up into using a Sculpting Steel on Karlov's Burnished Hart, and also manage to use a Terrain Generator a time or two. Karlov starts with a turn 2 Serra Ascendant, with Mina then giving the quote of "Wow, that's way grosser than Sylvan Library." I joke that I'm keeping up with Mina and Denn's ramp, but quickly get outpaced after. Horde blows us both out of the water with Azusa, Lost but Seeking into more ramp, into a Boundless realms. Oh, and horde is almost entirely a basic landbase, if that wasn't mentioned. The only non-basic he plays all game was a Sunhome, fortress of the legion.
Karlov keeps going with the enchantments into a Blind obedience and then into a Sphere of Safety, so he's being left alone. Karlov moves up into a 2 soul sisters to drop Karlov, with a Sun droplet on the field (but not active yet), so Mina and Denn resets with a Blasphemous Act. Horde drops a Chameleon Colossus. I'm still ramping and emptying my hand.
Karlov then replays Karlov, and drops a scale lord. He also kills my blocker. So Horde one shots him with the Chameleon Colossus (64 damage).
I re-drop creatures (thanks Karlov! ), but Blind obedience means they come in tapped. So Horde one shots me with the Chameleon Colossus (32 damage).
During this time, thanks to an Oracle of Muldaya, we all know that Mina and Denn have Spider Fog. Mina and Denn tap out to cast an x=9 Animist's Awakening for more lands. And only hits two lands. Both Colorless. Biggest. Whiff. Ever.
So Horde puts an Unquestioned Authority on Chameleon and One shots Mina and Denn with the Chameleon (32 Damage). Mina also reveals a Chaos Warp, showing that either color land from the Awakening would have saved him. (ha ha!)
This leaves Daxos. So Horde one shots him with the Chameleon Colossus (32 damage). BUT WAIT! Removal save! No Chameleon kill on the Daxos!
So Horde drops a Bane of Progress, then champions it. Daxos' wrath frees the Bane. So the Bane gets championed again. A double striking Horde goes for the throat on Daxos, but he makes two 6/6 tokens to block, BUT WAIT, Surprise Horde Activation on the Champion in the graveyard, Championing the Champion, Releasing the Bane, THE BLOCKERS ARE KILLED, and Horde Tramples over the nothing for 10! Horde then casts a third Champion (Nova Chaser?) Hiding the bane once more!
Daxos tries to frantically rebuild with a Sigil of the empty throne. Horde drops a False Demise on Horde, and moves to attacks again, with Both Champions and Horde. Blocks occur, with the fantastic quote of "Remember, this one is championing the Champion, and this one is championing the Bane of Progress, your best friend." Daxos takes 3 trample from Horde, due to the double strike, kills it, but it returns due to the false demise. He also kills the champion championing the champion, with releases the champion that was championed, allowing it to champion the other champion, releasing the Bane of Progress. Try saying that 3 times fast.
Daxos tries to rebuild and remove the Bane, but a Horde activation returns the Champion to champion the bane, and with a well timed release on the Bane of progress, leaves a clear field for Horde to double strike to victory.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
+ Reality Smasher
+ Voyager Staff
+ Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
- Bane of Bala Ged
- Perilous Vault
- Thran Dynamo
Thran Dynamo seems like a mistake. I'll need to look into why that happened. Bane of Bala Ged was likely a cut based on 'fun-ness' considerations. Vault was likely removed as Ugin replaced it.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
That said, there are a few things that I rather like about the deck - such as the high Wastes count. While my land ramping can be a bit inconsistent, relying on specific cards for it, overall I like it a lot when it goes off. An argument can be made for the utility that other lands provide, but truth be told, we're talking such corner case scenarios in which those lands will not simply be tapping for mana, and a number of them even enter tapped. There's definitely some room to shuffle around some of my lands though.
Certain things that could be exciting would be a Salvaging Station package, and perhaps Myr Welder, Junk Diver for general artifact recursion. Nim Deathmantle is also a great equipment, and would help protect my threats, while also synergizing with Burnished Hart, and potentially other effects could be explored.
There's also a lot of new goodies from both Kaladesh sets that I should look into. At the very least, the new Solemn fits quite well.
Another thought I had was to see if I could embrace more of the Eldrazi token theme, but sadly a lot of the producers are actually in colored cards.
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Also, I remember why Thran Dynamo happened - I was adding in a new card, and had to make a cut, and coincidentally at the same time someone needed a Thran Dynamo, so I gave him one, since I had extras at home. ... Then I never actually bothered to fix it.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek