MTG Salvation

Commander 2017 is (almost here) and...it gave us nothing for this deck. Not that I'm surprised, given the tribal theme and the fact that this is NOT a tribal deck. I could see an argument for running Taigam, Sidisi's Hand in a lower-powered meta, as the effect has the potential to be really powerful. I don't think I'll end up including him though, since he doesn't do anything unless he survives a turn cycle, 5 mana is a bit much, and there are much better reanimation targets in our deck.

Agreed in terms of additions to the Dralnu catalog.

In relateed news, I've seen arguments around for Dralnu being redundant now that Kess, Dissident Mage exists. Personally, I disagree. They're both spellslingers, but Dralnu lends to more control on account of being an activated ability instead of a passive triggered ability. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the comparison.

I'm with you. There's a lot of similarities, obviously, but I see two big differences. 1) having an activated ability allows Dralnu to use Paradox Engine as a wincon and 2) Kess doesn't allow you to flashback spells on your opponents' turn, which seems like a real downside in this kind of deck.

Glad to hear it. I didn't think I was calling that wrong, Dralnu is still a far better control engine. It's funny, after all this time, how quickly people write him off because of the (often irrelevant) negative ability.

Yeah I think the similarities are only surface level. Kess is an obvious replacement for Jeleva storm but I'd still rather have Dralnu in a control deck. The more I think about it, the more the fact that Kess only works on your turn convinces me she's not a good replacement.

I'm glad we're in agreement.

Ixalan is here, which means we have a new bunch of cards to look at. Unfortunately, I haven't had a ton of time to play magic recently, but that doesn't stop me from theory-crafting! Also, I'm hoping that will change soon, which is especially good because there are a few cards worth testing in Ixalan:

Fleet Swallower - Big reanimation targets have a high bar to meet in this deck, since they're fighting for slots along side the like of Jin-Gitaxias. The Swallower is probably too slow to warrant inclusion in this deck, but there's one word in that text box that makes me think I'll give it a try. "Player." That's right. This is no Nemesis of Reason. If we get to swing with the Swallower, we can target ourselves and put half of our library into or graveyard, which feels quite potent in this deck.
Spell Swindle - Probably too expensive, but a Mana Drain whose mana doesn't have to be used all at once gets my attention even for 5 mana.
Dire Fleet Ravager - This card almost makes me think of Kokusho. Yes, the dragon is more potent since he's gaining us life as well, but this ETB ability has enough of an impact that I might test him as another reanimation target.
Search for Azcanta - Probably the card I'm most excited for here. It fills our graveyard and draws us cards. I'm not sure what I'd cut, but this flip-land definitely has my attention.
Primal Amulet - This is likely too slow but man, having a land that copies our instants and sorceries has a LOT of potential. Another one I'm very excited to test.

And there you have it. Quite a lot of cards to test. Nothing that screams "auto-include," but I'm overall I'm happy with the set, even if I haven't been able to play it yet.

So I recently converted my version of this Dralnu deck to a Kess deck. I figured I would post it here to spark some discussion. I think adding Red actually helps the reanimator strategy a lot, but with Kess, Dissident Mage at the helm the control aspect becomes a bit less threatening.


Faithless Looting, Gamble, Grave Upheaval, Breaking // Entering, Dack Fayden, and Sire of Insanity all feel right at home in this style of deck.

Keep us posted on how testing goes with Kess. I certainly understand the appeal for making the switch from Dralnu to Kess. For me though, there are a couple reasons why I haven't felt the need to make the switch:

1) three colors can complicate your mana base, and an important part of any control deck is making sure you are as mana-efficient as possible
2) I think Kess will replace Jeleva as the go-to Grixis storm commander and will earn a reputation for being a storm commander
3) The biggest issue for me is the fact that Kess is limited to once per your turn. This prevents both Paradox Engine shenanigans, as well as casting spells from your graveyard on your opponents' turn

That being said, most of those reasons are more personal than everything, so I think Kess can be a totally viable option if you want to add red to this type of deck.

Side note: Weebos, I love the Magi Nation reference. Haven't thought of that game in years...

I switched over to Kess as well and I'm really enjoying her. My style (or intended style) is to simply play Commmander was a Grixis control type of deck until the end game where I can cast Kess with relatively little fear as most removal is used up at that pint and flashback awesome spells like Exsanguinate or Rite of Replication etc. Dralnu still has a special place in my heart though.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Finally, the list gets updated. Thanks to a combination of the list being in a really good spot and me not getting to play as much magic, the list has been pretty static for a while (7 months since the last change!). But finally, Ixalan brings us Search for Azcanta. This card is a serious card advantage powerhouse. On the enchantment side, it provides card filtering and virtual card advantage by filling our graveyard. Then it flips, gives us an extra land, and provides real life card advantage with its activated ability. It didn't take too many tests to see how powerful this card was. I ended up cutting Recurring Insight. I have a soft spot for this card and when it's good, it's really, really good. However, 6 mana at sorcery speed is steep and in the interest of bringing down the deck's curve, this card had to go. So:

IN
+ Search for Azcanta
+ Boseiju, Who Shelters All

OUT
- Recurring Insight
- Nephalia Academy

EDIT: I just noticed that I never updated the master list when I added Boseiju a while back. Being able to get important spells through counterspells is nice, and there just isn't enough discard in my meta to make the Academy worth it.

I updated the main post a bit to better reflect the dual-strategies of this deck. We are a control deck at heart and, once the we have turned the corner, we have two paths to victory. The more straightforward path is that of a reanimator deck: get a game-changing creature in our graveyard, such as Jin-Gitaxias, Void Winnower, or Tidespout Tyrant, and bring it back.

The other path is the semi-combo of Paradox Engine. This takes a little bit more setup, since you need mana rocks, but once you have a few mana rocks, Dralnu, and Paradox Engine, you start getting insane value with spells that are either free or generating mana, plus the ability to cast all of our spells twice: once from the hand and then again from the grave with Dralnu. The more and more I lean on this as my late game plan, the more I'm considering testing out more mana rocks. Currently, I'm running seven but I think eight or nine might be the better number.

You're about where I like to be on mana development for a control deck with 36 lands, 7 rocks/dork CMC ≤ 3, and 8 cards that help you find a mana source (draw, landcycling, etc) CMC ≤ 3. I've found that having roughly half the deck contribute to early development in some way is a good place to be. That said, I'd probably want to go at least one land heavier and you could probably streamline further. I'm a big fan of cantrips in Dralnu lists, particularly that instant speed ones. They're inexpensive plays that help smooth out the early game and cheap enough to not really hurt your development late. They also help you use Dralnu every turn he's down, even if there's no opportunity to reuse a counter or kill spell. Brainstorm probably works out despite the low count of shuffle effects thanks to the mill, Impulse is decent dig and instant. I'd probably go for a full complement including those two, Ponder, Preordain, and one other a la Visions of Beyond, Opt, or Gitaxian Probe. I've reached the point where all of my blue lists start with half a dozen cantrips because they've worked so well for me and Dralnu makes particularly good use of them. They also keep Paradox chains going much longer than a yard full of kill spells will. Careful Study and Hapless Researcher fill a similar role, albeit with card disadvantage, and play well with your reanimator plan as well.

One note on the Paradox kill is that you have few colored nonland mana sources. Getting choked on mana if you can't find Signet, Talisman, or Ingot kind of puts a crimp in that plan. You might consider adding in Coldsteel Heart, Sky Diamond, Charcoal Diamond, Chromatic Lantern, or Gilded Lotus (too expensive to count for early development, but great later on).

To find space for those cards, I'd be looking at cutting the lowest performing mass removal spell, spot removal spell, and counterspell. Dralnu recursion lets you get away with slightly lower counts on those, especially if you're running cheap card draw in their place. I'd also look at losing one of the colorless rocks, probably Thought Vessel. No max hand size is a downside in reanimator lists on a semi-regular basis and your general already recurs things. You could probably also ditch one of the reanimation targets, especially if you're looking at them as control finishers and not fast reanimation combos. You really don't want to see them in hand before you turn the corner and you'll have no trouble finding them with the milling, digging, and tutoring.

Hope a couple of those suggestions are helpful. They're all aimed at giving you things to do early game that aren't going to be useless later, because no one likes sitting around doing nothing at any point in the game.

I think you make a lot of good points. In fact, a lot of what you've said is stuff I've been thinking about recently as far as deck changes go so, great minds think alike!

You're definitely right that colored mana rocks are slim. I think Thought Vessel should probably be Chromatic Lantern. I may find room for another too.

There's no good reason for Brainstorm to not be in here. It's a little silly that it's not, tbh. As much as I love Kokusho, it's my weakest reanimation target and not a huge impact in this style of deck, so if I cut a fatty, it'll probably be that.

And as far as boardwipes go, Deadly Tempest is definitely the weakest.

I'll test out some of these changes soon. Thanks for all your input!

Quote from jenncertainty »

The other path is the semi-combo of Paradox Engine. This takes a little bit more setup, since you need mana rocks, but once you have a few mana rocks, Dralnu, and Paradox Engine, you start getting insane value with spells that are either free or generating mana, plus the ability to cast all of our spells twice: once from the hand and then again from the grave with Dralnu. The more and more I lean on this as my late game plan, the more I'm considering testing out more mana rocks. Currently, I'm running seven but I think eight or nine might be the better number.

Have you done any more testing or theorycrafting on this route? I was watching one of MTG Muddstah's EDH videos on YouTube with Dralnu and Paradox Engine and oh baby does it look like a lot of fun. I'd be very interested in reading about your new developments.

I decided to rebrew my old crummy Dralnu list into something more combo-oriented:



I also went ahead and added the Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal combo since it plays nicely with all the mana rocks I'm running, and both cards are useful on their own outside of the combo. AEtherflux Reservoir is also an obvious inclusion as a win condition for both Paradox Engine shenanigans as well as the Scepter/Reversal combo, though it's less useful on its own. While I was at it, I threw in Future Sight + Helm of Awakening + Sensei's Divining Top, because it's something I've always wanted to play. As a back up win con I'm going with Metallurgic Summonings since it plays nicely with the other combos I'm running and is a busted mass-Regrowth if need be.

I haven't done any testing yet but it seems like an okay rough draft. I think I'm running too few lands, but finding a cut is difficult. Maybe a counter? Mind Twist even though it's potentially backbreaking?

Oh dear, I just realized I'm not running Talisman of Dominance. Gotta find room for that one, colored artifact mana seems very important. Maybe include a 3cmc any-color rock like Chromatic Lantern, Coalition Relic, or even Darksteel Ingot.

Yes, I think a more combo-oriented Dralnu list has a lot of potential. Honestly, the only reason I don't make my list more combo-focused is personal preference. I'd rather play a control game with a combo as a finisher than a deck purely devoted to a combo. That being said, you're right that Paradox Engine is very effective. The only theory crafting I've done to that end is trying to figure out the right number of mana rocks. I know I don't want to go any lower, but there may be room for one more for efficiency's sake.

If you play mostly multiplayer, I'd say [c]Mind Twist[c] can probably go. I don't like targeted discard in a multiplayer format unless you're a deck purely devoted to discard, like Nath.

Definitely find room for more colored artifacts, if you can. That is one issue I often run into: I have enough mana numbers-wise to go off with the engine, but if only one or even two are making colored mana, it's not nearly as effective.

Definitely find room for more colored artifacts, if you can. That is one issue I often run into: I have enough mana numbers-wise to go off with the engine, but if only one or even two are making colored mana, it's not nearly as effective.

I'll second this, too. Ideally (read=with enough money) I'd look at adding some of the higher priced rocks like Chrome Mox, Gilded Lotus, Doubling Cube, Crystalline Crawler and such, but in a pinch Cultivator's Caravan, Dimir Signet, Darksteel Ingot and the diamonds are probably fine.

Quote from jenncertainty »

Yes, I think a more combo-oriented Dralnu list has a lot of potential. Honestly, the only reason I don't make my list more combo-focused is personal preference. I'd rather play a control game with a combo as a finisher than a deck purely devoted to a combo. That being said, you're right that Paradox Engine is very effective. The only theory crafting I've done to that end is trying to figure out the right number of mana rocks. I know I don't want to go any lower, but there may be room for one more for efficiency's sake.

I totally get where you're coming from with regards to preferring not to make a dedicated combo deck. I'm not a fan of uninteractive decks in general, so a pure balls-to-the-wall combo deck doesn't appeal to me, either. Indeed, I'm shooting for a similar control style deck with a combo finisher as well, I just think it's important to diversify your win conditions so you're not hosed if a vital piece gets removed. Plus, with the exception of Aetherflux Reservoir, each of the combo pieces is very playable individually. I do think the 14 mana rocks I'm running is a tad excessive, though, so removing them for more business cards is probably the right idea. If I had to go with my gut, I'd say ~10 is the sweet spot if you have an unlimited budget. Enough to ramp you into plays early on and hopefully enough to accrue a critical mass of in the mid to late game to fuel Paradox Engine/Scepter + Reversal bomb turns. Since I lack the truly broken mana rocks like Mana Crypt and Chrome Mox I think closer to 12 is better.

Definitely find room for more colored artifacts, if you can. That is one issue I often run into: I have enough mana numbers-wise to go off with the engine, but if only one or even two are making colored mana, it's not nearly as effective.

Yeah, I got some games in against some AI for goldfishing purposes and I found myself running into that problem, too. It's just an issue of trying to find out which rocks to cut and which to add. So...

Quote from toctheyounger77 »

I'll second this, too. Ideally (read=with enough money) I'd look at adding some of the higher priced rocks like Chrome Mox, Gilded Lotus, Doubling Cube, Crystalline Crawler and such, but in a pinch Cultivator's Caravan, Dimir Signet, Darksteel Ingot and the diamonds are probably fine.

Yeah, I'm thinking of cutting Everflowing Chalice, Worn Powerstone, and Hedron Archive for Coalition Relic, as I think it's the best among 3cmc mana rocks. That frees up two slots for business. I'm thinking of including Mind's Desire because it's always a card I've wanted to play in EDH but never had the opportunity to until now, but I'm not sure what else to run.

I think Buried Ruin is an auto-include that I forgot. It feels bad to have one of your broken artifacts destroyed.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. You're right about diversifying wincons, which is why my list still has the big reanimation bombs: Paradox Engine is the most efficient way to win, but sometimes you gotta win with a reanimated Jin-Gitaxis...

I highly recommend giving Mind's Desire a go. I don't play it here, but I've had fun with it in other decks.

Buried Ruin is a good idea. Currently, I have no way to recur artifacts and being a land means it's easy to find room for.

So, as an interesting case, I had the worst happen the other day: Dralnu got accused of blasphemy. I didn't really have anything else out at the time to do other than sac literally every single one of my lands. I had him nuked about 5-6 times during the game, and no one even read his first ability until BA got played and I had to sac.

I still won . I happened to have a stacked yard, Paradox Engine, some rocks, and a couple of really juicy reanimation targets about.

I have been thinking about other win cons though. The problem I'm having at the moment is that my reanimation targets are an immediate red flag, and so are Exsanguinate and Torment of Hailfire. I'm wondering whether Tendrils of Agony would be worth running. I can't see it being broken without building specifically for combo, but it could be a late game home run too. Have you run it before, jenn?

Wanted to chime in as to a Streamlined Dralnu Combo list that I've been running to great success. The List is spoilered below and it's one of the most efficient decks I've played (excepting my Teferi list, list in my sig). The explanation for the deck is somewhat lacking on my thread there, but I'm happy to answer any questions.

If you're going to diversify your win conditions, I think that adding in Tendrils of Agony is a really good way to go in comparison to the Desire. I play a couple of important X spells in my list and I don't want them exiled or cast for 0 when I'm desiring off of a high Storm count. Do note that this is purely my preference, as the Desire is a fantastic card for a dedicated Spellslinger deck. Do note that my Dralnu list is all-in on the Paradox Engine synergies and eschews the Reanimator package that your list plays with, Jenn.

Here's my Devastating Dralnu Destructor Fish-Bowl Laser Deck of Death:

One Reanimation target that seems super strong is the new-ish Nezahal, Primal Tide. I'm not sure how relevant he would be in your meta but in a higher tier meta the Plesiosaur can draw an absurd amount of cards with built-in protection. Usually, there's a higher concentration of non-creature spells being cast for more competitive decks, so the Plesiosaur would get some fantastic mileage while also being a relevant attacker. Pitching cards for his Blink ability (for protection) is never a bad thing to do with Dralnu.

And besides, it's a Dinosaur. You're playing a Reanimator deck. Reanimators bring back extinct things. Dinosaurs are extinct things. You should be Reanimating dinosaurs. The end.

If you're going to diversify your win conditions, I think that adding in Tendrils of Agony is a really good way to go in comparison to the Desire. I play a couple of important X spells in my list and I don't want them exiled or cast for 0 when I'm desiring off of a high Storm count. Do note that this is purely my preference, as the Desire is a fantastic card for a dedicated Spellslinger deck. Do note that my Dralnu list is all-in on the Paradox Engine synergies and eschews the Reanimator package that your list plays with, Jenn.

I mean that was my thought, but I know jenn's list (and mine by extension, because it is a close although somewhat budget simulacrum) is not necessarily a combo build, which makes me question how strong Tendrils of Agony could be. I can definitely see it as a Paradox Engine finisher, just not sure how much other use it would have outside of that context. If it won't pull weight outside of that context, I'd probably leave it. Personally, I'm definitely not interested in Mind's Desire in here - it just leaves too much to chance, and my build works best when I have control over what's happening. There's far too many control and clutch X spells that could fizzle from a poorly timed Desire.

One Reanimation target that seems super strong is the new-ish Nezahal, Primal Tide. I'm not sure how relevant he would be in your meta but in a higher tier meta the Plesiosaur can draw an absurd amount of cards with built-in protection. Usually, there's a higher concentration of non-creature spells being cast for more competitive decks, so the Plesiosaur would get some fantastic mileage while also being a relevant attacker. Pitching cards for his Blink ability (for protection) is never a bad thing to do with Dralnu.

It certainly isn't the worst option here. I can't see the first ability being used all that often, as personally I try to avoid hardcasting any of my creatures. The draw is nice, but it's no Consecrated Sphinx. Where it would be useful is a way to pitch to the graveyard. That being said, there's probably easier engines to get online to fill your yard.

I'm probably happy to leave it out right now - if anything it competes against Sphinx for a slot, and the draw from that bad boy is just undeniably degenerate, especially when you don't have a max hand size modifier. It means you keep what you need right now, AND fill your yard. Plus it has evasion that the dinosaur doesn't have, if necessary. It's a consideration for some metas, I imagine, but I can't see it pulling near as much weight as Sphinxy boi in mine.

It's funny you mention Tendrils of Agony, as I was just talking to a friend of mine about testing the card out. You're right that my list isn't all-in on the combo, but I'm finding myself leaning on it more and more because it's just so powerful. Currently, Exsanguinate is the only win-con with Paradox Engine. Adding Tendrils could be some nice redundancy. I'm not sure what I'd cut for it though.

I think I see Nezahal a little more favorably than you toc, but not by much. Having a reanimation target that is also a discard outlet is really attractive. However, I do agree with you that it would compete for Sphinx's spot and I have an invocation Consecrated Sphinx, so I'm hesitant to cut that haha.

Quote from jenncertainty »

It's funny you mention Tendrils of Agony, as I was just talking to a friend of mine about testing the card out. You're right that my list isn't all-in on the combo, but I'm finding myself leaning on it more and more because it's just so powerful. Currently, Exsanguinate is the only win-con with Paradox Engine. Adding Tendrils could be some nice redundancy. I'm not sure what I'd cut for it though.

I'm in much the same boat. I like the look of the card but I'm not sure what should go in its place. Probably the one thing I see regularly that I don't use often is Dismember. But then again, in the right place it can save your ass.

I get the combo thing, too. Most of my recent wins have come from waiting until I have enough momentum to play a lot of spells in a turn, or land Paradox Engine and go off. I'm almost certain it can't go infinite here, but it damn sure feels like it. Up until that point, a lot of the time I find myself playing permission for the board and keeping heat away from myself. Without a pair of shoes most of my reanimation targets are there to draw attention away from my nefarious plans or to put the pinch on with their abilities.

I'd love to hear more about Nezahal, Primal Tide. The more I think about it the more it could be a Consecrated Sphinx 2.0. It will never rival the Sphinx for sheer draw power, but it could have a place. It's weird, but I almost see the max hand size modifier as a bad thing in the context of Dralnu. Thinking a little deeper, I could see it replacing Tidespout Tyrant or It that Betrays in my list. I really haven't had the chance to playtest Tidespout Tyrant after all this time with it in the list, so I don't know how well it does. It that Betrays I love, and forcing terrible choices for the board with ITB in play and casting Torment of Hailfire is just pure evil. But it is slow, and a bit of an anomaly as far as my reanimation targets go.

Nezahal, Primal Tide, depending on the decks that you're playing against, is sometimes even better than the SPhinx. The ability to protect itself for free is really quite awesome. There used to be a heavier Storm/Spell-slinger presence in my meta, which has tapered off pretty sharply, but there were times when Nezahal drew me 10+ cards in a turn cycle. When an opponent is chaining together Tutor effects, casting enchantments, and recurring the 'yard in one turn, it was easy to draw an overwhelming number of cards and often win on my next turn.

And sometimes the 7 power it boasts is not bad either for going down the beat-down route.

However, it really depends on your meta. If there isn't a high presence of non-creature spells being cast in your meta then the Sphinx is ultimately better. It may not be a bad idea to run both. When I played Tasigur Reanimator, before I switched it to Tasigur Flash Hulk, I found that Jin-Gitaxias drew me too much attention and started affecting my ability to interact. I think that Nezahal might be a more politically palatable Reanimator target that comes with some solid card draw without wiping out your opponents' hands. Otherwise, I think cutting It That Betrays is a good choice.