(But Wyvern, it’s “ah-KOO-tuh”, not “uh-CUT-uh”. Your pun makes no sense!)
Shhhh, shshshshsh. No griping. We’re talking about the deck now.
Now, if there’s something I get a kick out of in this glorious format we call EDH Commander, it’s being a little different. It’s slapping down the legendary creature that everyone immediately wants to pick up in their grabby little paws so they can read it. Akuta fits this to a tee. If it’s his first time in a new group, I can watch someone scoop him up, mutter his rules text under their breath, then watch their faces scrunch in bewilderment. Oh, yeah. You read it right – straight outta Saviors.
So why Akuta?
A couple reasons. First of all, I greatly enjoyed the kami from the ill-received plane of Kamigawa – they were creepy, cool, and just so… weird. Anyone remember laying eyes on Hana Kami for the first time? It’s a flower face puking petals while surrounded by a ring of little faceless replicas. Gimme another hit of that.
I remember opening Akuta years ago, and doing that same scrunchy-face thing when I read it. “This card can’t possibly be good,” I said in my breaking, pubescent voice. “But it looks cool. I’ll just hang onto it.” And I did. For years.
Fast-forward to today – I’m having a talk with my roommate about random Magic stuff, and the conversation ends up at lousy commanders.
Before we go any further, my roommate is a very dear friend of mine, and I’d say about half of the decks I’ve ever built for this wonderful format are because I’ve wanted to prove him wrong. He once said green was terrible – I built Kamahl. He once said Stitcher Geralf was the worst thing to come out of Commander 2014 – I built him. And now, he floats the idea that having Akuta in the command zone would be worse than a vanilla legend.
Oh, it’s ON.
So, what do we have?
Let’s take a closer look at Akuta and see if we can figure out what exactly a 99 led by him wants to do.
Mana cost – 2BB
Okay, not the cheapest thing in the world, but we’re not exactly casting Avacyn, Angel of Hope here. Four mana means he can be seen turn 2 off a Sol Ring, and can be recast once or twice over the course of the game if he finds himself in the command zone again.
Creature type – Spirit
Black has a decently strong showing in the Spirit tribe, but if that’s your shtick, you’re probably using Iname, Death Aspect and running Akuta as one of the 99. So we won’t be doing anything with Akuta’s creature type here. If you're into a Spirit-heavy mono-black experience, have a gander at Ulka's He Who Hungers list!
Combat stats: 3/2
Blegh. Four mana gets us so much more these days. Two toughness is a tough pill to swallow for four mana. 3 power isn’t terrible in mono-black, though. Hopefully his abilities save these underwhelming stats…
Ability #1: Haste
Huh. Well that’s kind of neat. Black doesn’t see haste terribly often. But where’s my evasion? You mean to tell me that four mana only gets me a 3/2 haste? I’m playing Commander with Vulshok Berserker at the helm?! Come on! Xiahou Dun gets frigging horsemanship (read: unblockable), and I get stuck with haste?! This is so fu- …oh there’s one more thing. Okay.
Ability #2: “At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have more cards in hand than each opponent, you may sacrifice a Swamp. If you do, return Akuta from your graveyard to the battlefield.”
Ummmm……
So I guess that makes him kind of hard to deal with? I think? Sacrificing a Swamp every time I want to bring him back is pretty harsh. Better than nothing, I guess. If anything, this means I can be liberal with board wipes and still threaten commander damage with no additional mana investment.
Oh wait. I have to have the most cards in hand, too? Wizards, have you seen how people hoard cards in this format?! Give me a break!
So that’s what we’re dealing with. How can we make it work?
Strategy the First: A Mind is a Glorious Thing to Waste
Especially if it’s someone else’s. Black has a plethora of discard effects, which should help ensure that Akuta holds the most every turn. This will at least make sure you always have the ability to recur him. Note that Akuta needs more cards than each opponent, so this gives additional value to cards that make all opponents discard – even something as innocuous as Liliana’s Specter can enable Akuta if timed properly.
Strategy the Second: Hunting Insects with Tactical Nukes
Akuta can’t really ignore opposing creatures on his own – he doesn’t win fights, and isn’t slippery enough to avoid them via flying or intimidate. Trading removal one-for-one doesn’t really help Akuta get ahead in the “cards-in-hand” department, so what’s the next best way? The classic X-for-ones we call “wrath effects.” Black Sun’s Zenith. Mutilate. Decree of Pain. Make them all die, over and over. And then watch Akuta come slithering back to attack on an open field.
Strategy the Third: We Require More Minerals
So you’ve minced up your opponents’ hands with discard, and you’ve killed all of their things. Akuta has been recurring, as he does, but now your opponents are getting wise as to just how broken this guy is, and start pointing their removal at him. Over and over, hoping to run you out of swamps. Eventually, they reason, you’ll run out of lands to play, and be stuck doing nothing while they rebuild in peace. We’ll want plenty of ways to keep our hand full of Swamps if we intend to keep playing Magic past the eighth turn or so.
Strategy the Fourth: Form the Head
Akuta needs to connect seven times with an opponent for death by commander damage. Needless to say, that’s unacceptable. We’ll be wanting to suit up our ashen slug abomination with some powerful equipments to help close the deal. Again, Akuta’s mana-free recursion will help with this, ensuring you’ll have enough left over to pick up those sweet beats.
Disclaimer: The first draft of this deck was cobbled together from what I had laying around/leftover from failed experiments. I’m not going to explore the benefits of every card right now, because I'm a busy adult with many important things to do lazy af. There are some noteworthy cards that I’ll mention here, however:
Cabal Conditioning – This card is just vicious. Even if your priciest permanent in play is Akuta, making everyone discard four cards is powerful. At this stage of the game, anyone who hasn’t been going ham with draw spells is likely to lose the rest of their grip, helping ensure you’ll keep the cards-in-hand advantage. Be wary of getting blown out by having your CMC anchor killed or bounced in response, though – paying seven mana to do nothing is… well, I’ve cast worse, actually.
Scepter of Fugue - Do not be deceived by the seemingly small effect - this card WILL piss people off. And it's a great devotion enabler! I tend to always direct the Scepter towards the person with the most cards in hand; it keeps people from getting too upset, and chances are the guy with the most cards is also the one keeping you from recurring Akuta.
Vedalken Orrery – Moving past the fact that the entire deck is sorcery speed (not intentional, it just sort of happened), Orrery allows your discard spells to be played at instant speed. Which is mean. And also good.
Strata Scythe, Nightmare Lash, Lashwrithe – This is the holy trinity of mono-B beatdown equipment. Even with Akuta munching on your Swamps every so often, these are incredibly powerful. The two Lashes benefit from “free” equip costs. The Scythe counts your opponents’ Swamps. They’re excellent and should be part of every (read: this) Akuta deck.
Assault Suit – Sending Akuta around the table to rack up Commander damage is always nice. I’ve been increasingly impressed with this equipment lately. I've since cut this card to make room for the more ubiquitous Sword of Light and Shadow, but it's still a great budget option.
Bonehoard - Pretty boring in the grand scheme of things, but the idea is that your opponents are discarding a lot of stuff when you play this deck - including creatures. That isn't enough to run Mortivore on its own, but a Mortivore that can latch onto a flier or Akuta for a measly two mana is excellent. Nighthowler is a functional second copy of this Equipment.
Sword of the Animist – You really could not ask for a better effect here. Keeps your battlefield super-swampy to turbo out big spells, or to satiate Akuta. A+
Umezawa's Jitte - Well, come on... it's Jitte. But seriously, don't be fooled by the seemingly small effects this Equipment provides; they are all powerful. Shrink/kill pesky blockers to sneak your guys through (and then ninjutsu, because we're in Magical Christmasland), pump up Akuta for a vicious helping of pain, and gain some life to offset your Necropotence and various other self-inflicted life loss.
Wayfarer's Bauble and Armillary Sphere - Mercifully inexpensive, these are critically important to ensuring you'll always have enough Swamps in play to feed Akuta and the Cabal lands.
Crucible of Worlds – Any Akuta deck that does not include this card is not an Akuta deck I would consider as such.
This is a list of cards that I’ve made a note of to grab for this deck. As stated before, this deck is mostly scraps and loose ends. Help me make this list huge, so I can make it smaller (and make Akuta better!)
-Damnation: Debating moving it in from another deck.
-Filth: I have an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth sitting around; if I get this card, Urborg goes in too.
-Hatred: RKO Commander kill outta nowhere!
Wholesale changes! Too many to name! Woohoo! Akuta!
Addendums, Potpurri, and Various Nonsense
7/8/2016: Primer created. Original list posted.
4/18/2019: Primer and decklist updated. Card descriptions WIP.
If you are going to go heavy on discard I suggest Myojin of Night's Reach . Indestructible and able to wipe opponents hands for good. The cost may be expensive but black has great mana doublers so you're going to be okay.
As I suggested on the General Discussion forum, Hatred should work wonders with Akuta. Opponent puts him on the yard, you reanimate him and go for the kill at the same time.
Hey, thanks man. I'll do my best to turn this into a fun deck to play!
I was able to get a couple games in against some friends, and here's what I learned:
-Sink into Takenuma, while very cute, is just not strong enough. Maybe if it said "each opponent discards" instead of "target player" it'd be worth the slot, but alas. I cut it for Liliana Vess.
-I am well aware that the equipment list needs a little bit of help. My good swords are all in other decks, but a Whispersilk Cloak would be a solid addition. Lightning Greaves too.
-Sadly don't own a Hatred yet, and my local shop didn't have one in their case, but it is on the radar!
-Holy crap I didn't even realize black Myojin made EACH opponent discard. That just moved to the top of the acquire list!
The problem with discarding in commander is that you tend to go all in and then most cards are useless midgame or the cards that affect everyone are few. Some other cards that you can check out (with discard theme) Words of Waste ( I never tried to run this properly) Bite of the Black Rose Scythe Specter
There are cards like Unnerve or Tasigur's Cruelty but I have some doubts about their effectiveness.
The problem with discarding in commander is that you tend to go all in and then most cards are useless midgame or the cards that affect everyone are few. Some other cards that you can check out (with discard theme) Words of Waste ( I never tried to run this properly) Bite of the Black Rose Scythe Specter
There are cards like Unnerve or Tasigur's Cruelty but I have some doubts about their effectiveness.
Yeah, of that list, the only one I think I'd consider is Scythe Specter, just because it's a reasonable body.
Ooh, yeah, Sangromancer is a nice one. Fits perfectly with both the discard and "everything dies" themes.
Death Match is a neat card, but I'm worried that -3/-3 won't really do enough in the circles I play in; I'd have to piggyback multiple creatures on one guy to kill them.
Finally picked up a Bloodghast and worked him into the deck.
Now that I've had some opportunities to play the deck (and watch opponents pick up Akuta and read him), I think I'm starting to identify some of the weaker facets of the deck I'd like to improve on.
Number A - Flooding Out
This is probably the number one reason I lose games with Akuta. I'll shred the tables' hands and feel like I'm turning a corner, only to get crippled by someone's topdeck and be forced to rebuild. Except... I draw a lot of lands. I'm wondering if I need some more draw power. Are the one-shot draw effects like Ancient Craving/Ambition's Cost worth a look? Should I go for more conditional, but more powerful effects like Kothophed, Soul Hoarder? I'm open to suggestions. Mind the lifeloss though, because...
Number the Second - Suicidal Tendencies
I pay a lot of life in this deck. Like, a LOT of life. Maybe not all in one go, but if I've got to equip Nightmare Lash, pay some life into Necropotence, and end up triggering Dark Prophecy once or twice in a turn, that's a great way to kill yourself in four or five turns. I'm thinking more lifelink is in order to offset this. I'm going to find something to cut for Whip of Erebos and possibly a lifelink Equipment like Loxodon Warhammer or Umezawa's Jitte.
Bloodghast was already mentioned previously, it has replaced the crappy filler random utility creature Vampire Hexmage.
Nightshade Assassin was a holdover from when I was expecting to play some symmetrical discard effects (which never actually happened), and for being cute with the ninjas. As it turns out, he's pretty turdy with a handful of Swamps, so he gets replaced by Sangromancer, who synergizes with discard and wraths and is a potentially ridiculous lifegain option.
Our underappreciated friend Herald of Leshrac goes to the bench. I love this card because it's a unique effect, and it's actually pretty helpful if you want to maintain your land drop while still sacrificing to Akuta, but this deck does not protect him hardly at all, and thus he would often die on sight. Instead, I'll try out Corpse Connoisseur; he can help tutor up one (or two) of my recursive creatures and get that engine going with a little more consistency.
Ring of Xathrid is still a decent option for its cheap equip cost, but the pump is too slow and regeneration isn't enough sometimes. That clears up a space for Whip of Erebos. Lifelink is great.
At first I was very worried that the deck didn't have ways to interact at instant speed, and that Vedalken Orrery would help improve that. Orrery was a card that suffered greatly from the "flooding out" problem - no spells to cast means it does actual nothing. I really wanted an instant to replace it, and my number one choice was Entomb, but I don't have one. So I'll try out Wretched Confluence, which does a little bit of everything.
Altar of Dementia was a free sac outlet. You know, in case I wanted one. It was cute to strap a load of equipment on a Nether Whatever and sac it to mill people for big chunks at a time, but it's a corner case at best, and durdle-tastic at worst. I swapped it for Attrition, which will at least affect the board in a meaningful way. Costs mana to activate, but whatever.
Sword of Body and Mind was only in the deck because it was the only spare Sword of X and Y I had sitting around. The protections were never relevant, and I couldn't do anything special with the milling. Until I get another Sword of Light and Shadow, Hero's Blade can serve as the fill-in. Akuta is way scarier as a 6/4!
Still on the hunt for a Myojin of Night's Reach, since the deck really wants another haymaker play, and Entomb will likely have to wait until my LGS finishes relocating, but in the meantime... yay Jitte!
so maybe this is an illicit bump but this deck is cool enough to make me actually want to play a voltron deck so I thought i'd chip in
how about empyrial plate? obviously just generic pumping, but seems good with your desire to have the most cards
so maybe this is an illicit bump but this deck is cool enough to make me actually want to play a voltron deck so I thought i'd chip in
how about empyrial plate? obviously just generic pumping, but seems good with your desire to have the most cards
I love Empyrial Plate, but I decided against adding it because I foresaw myself having only a couple cards in hand most of the time. I hedged and ran Bonehoard instead.
That said, Bonehoard and Nighthowler haven't been performing well lately (people are always randomly Bojuka Bogging one another), so maybe it's time to give Plate a spin.
I'm glad you like the deck!
EDIT: Oh, oh, also - I'm looking for some sweet creatures to try out in this deck. Preferably something in the 2-3 cmc range that likes wearing Equipment. If anyone has any ideas, I want to hear them!
Small update: I replaced Vampiric Rites with Infernal Tribute. Rites wasn't horrible when I was able to get it in play, and it may very well make it back into the deck at some point, but I've been on the hunt for Tribute for a while now - it's a sac outlet that can also eat things like Dark Prophecy and Necropotence if I need to conserve my life total. And just look at that BBB cost! Devotion monster!
I recently sat down with Akuta to a game with two of my friends. One of them is playing Brion Stoutarm (R/W Equipment shenanigans), and the other is playing Márton Stromgald (all-in Red). I'm feeling pretty good about this - neither of the opposing decks' colors are known for drawing heaps of cards, so I should be able to keep Akuta's reanimation condition online from a very early stage.
The opening turns develop slowly. Brion runs out an early Grand Abolisher and his general. Márton has played a couple of small token-makers. Meanwhile, our intrepid hero has little else but a Needle Specter and Geth's Grimoire. I send the Specter at Brion, and he discards Anger. Womp. Next turn the Specter heads for Márton. HE discards Anger. At that point, I've resigned myself to taking a huge hit from Márton and friends. My only hope is that I'm considered non-threatening enough to be left alone for at least another turn.
Brion tries to set up his shields with Adarkar Valkyrie. Márton answers by casting his general, Act of Treasoning the Valkyrie, and sending in his team, which included four or five Goblin tokens (Krenko's Command, Mogg War Marshal, etc) and an Emrakul's Hatcher with all its Spawn. Brion eats about a hundred damage or so and dies. Now it's just me and Márton. I haven't shown much in the way of board presence other than the Grimoire, the Specter, a Hero's Blade (unequipped), and Liliana of the Dark Realms (which has been innocuously fetching swamps). I cast a Mutilate with seven swamps in play, melting Márton's board and putting him into topdeck mode. He draws and plays a creature, and attacks me to 22. I don't remember which creature it was, because Liliana promptly -3'd to kill it on my turn. I cast Akuta, who picks up the Blade and deposits 6 commander damage on Marton. He draws a brick and recasts Marton, sending him in to kill Liliana.
And now, for the moment of truth. My original plan was to drop Whip of Erebos to get some lifelink action going and put the game out of reach, but I rip Nightmare Lash off the top. Now the plan is to cast Whip, cast Lash, pay three life to equip and smash for 14. Now sitting at 20 commander damage, no hand, and no way to take me down from 33 with a single card, Marton concedes.
(But Wyvern, it’s “ah-KOO-tuh”, not “uh-CUT-uh”. Your pun makes no sense!)
Shhhh, shshshshsh. No griping. We’re talking about the deck now.
Now, if there’s something I get a kick out of in this glorious format we call
EDHCommander, it’s being a little different. It’s slapping down the legendary creature that everyone immediately wants to pick up in their grabby little paws so they can read it. Akuta fits this to a tee. If it’s his first time in a new group, I can watch someone scoop him up, mutter his rules text under their breath, then watch their faces scrunch in bewilderment. Oh, yeah. You read it right – straight outta Saviors.So why Akuta?
I remember opening Akuta years ago, and doing that same scrunchy-face thing when I read it. “This card can’t possibly be good,” I said in my breaking, pubescent voice. “But it looks cool. I’ll just hang onto it.” And I did. For years.
Fast-forward to today – I’m having a talk with my roommate about random Magic stuff, and the conversation ends up at lousy commanders.
Before we go any further, my roommate is a very dear friend of mine, and I’d say about half of the decks I’ve ever built for this wonderful format are because I’ve wanted to prove him wrong. He once said green was terrible – I built Kamahl. He once said Stitcher Geralf was the worst thing to come out of Commander 2014 – I built him. And now, he floats the idea that having Akuta in the command zone would be worse than a vanilla legend.
Oh, it’s ON.
So, what do we have?
Let’s take a closer look at Akuta and see if we can figure out what exactly a 99 led by him wants to do.
Mana cost – 2BB
Okay, not the cheapest thing in the world, but we’re not exactly casting Avacyn, Angel of Hope here. Four mana means he can be seen turn 2 off a Sol Ring, and can be recast once or twice over the course of the game if he finds himself in the command zone again.
Creature type – Spirit
Black has a decently strong showing in the Spirit tribe, but if that’s your shtick, you’re probably using Iname, Death Aspect and running Akuta as one of the 99. So we won’t be doing anything with Akuta’s creature type here. If you're into a Spirit-heavy mono-black experience, have a gander at Ulka's He Who Hungers list!
Combat stats: 3/2
Blegh. Four mana gets us so much more these days. Two toughness is a tough pill to swallow for four mana. 3 power isn’t terrible in mono-black, though. Hopefully his abilities save these underwhelming stats…
Ability #1: Haste
Huh. Well that’s kind of neat. Black doesn’t see haste terribly often. But where’s my evasion? You mean to tell me that four mana only gets me a 3/2 haste? I’m playing Commander with Vulshok Berserker at the helm?! Come on! Xiahou Dun gets frigging horsemanship (read: unblockable), and I get stuck with haste?! This is so fu- …oh there’s one more thing. Okay.
Ability #2: “At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have more cards in hand than each opponent, you may sacrifice a Swamp. If you do, return Akuta from your graveyard to the battlefield.”
Ummmm……
So I guess that makes him kind of hard to deal with? I think? Sacrificing a Swamp every time I want to bring him back is pretty harsh. Better than nothing, I guess. If anything, this means I can be liberal with board wipes and still threaten commander damage with no additional mana investment.
Oh wait. I have to have the most cards in hand, too? Wizards, have you seen how people hoard cards in this format?! Give me a break!
So that’s what we’re dealing with. How can we make it work?
Strategy the First: A Mind is a Glorious Thing to Waste
Especially if it’s someone else’s. Black has a plethora of discard effects, which should help ensure that Akuta holds the most every turn. This will at least make sure you always have the ability to recur him. Note that Akuta needs more cards than each opponent, so this gives additional value to cards that make all opponents discard – even something as innocuous as Liliana’s Specter can enable Akuta if timed properly.
Strategy the Second: Hunting Insects with Tactical Nukes
Akuta can’t really ignore opposing creatures on his own – he doesn’t win fights, and isn’t slippery enough to avoid them via flying or intimidate. Trading removal one-for-one doesn’t really help Akuta get ahead in the “cards-in-hand” department, so what’s the next best way? The classic X-for-ones we call “wrath effects.” Black Sun’s Zenith. Mutilate. Decree of Pain. Make them all die, over and over. And then watch Akuta come slithering back to attack on an open field.
Strategy the Third: We Require More Minerals
So you’ve minced up your opponents’ hands with discard, and you’ve killed all of their things. Akuta has been recurring, as he does, but now your opponents are getting wise as to just how broken this guy is, and start pointing their removal at him. Over and over, hoping to run you out of swamps. Eventually, they reason, you’ll run out of lands to play, and be stuck doing nothing while they rebuild in peace. We’ll want plenty of ways to keep our hand full of Swamps if we intend to keep playing Magic past the eighth turn or so.
Strategy the Fourth: Form the Head
Akuta needs to connect seven times with an opponent for death by commander damage. Needless to say, that’s unacceptable. We’ll be wanting to suit up our ashen slug abomination with some powerful equipments to help close the deal. Again, Akuta’s mana-free recursion will help with this, ensuring you’ll have enough left over to pick up those sweet beats.
The Decklist
1 Akuta, Born of Ash
Creature (24)
1 Bloodghast
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Deadeye Tracker
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Ghost-Lit Stalker
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Krovikan Horror
1 Liliana's Shade
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
1 Nether Shadow
1 Nether Traitor
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Nighthowler
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Relentless Dead
1 Sangromancer
1 Soul of Innistrad
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Bonehoard
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Geth's Grimoire
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Hero's Blade
1 Lashwrithe
1 Nightmare Lash
1 Scepter of Fugue
1 Sol Ring
1 Strata Scythe
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
Enchantment (7)
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Dark Prophecy
1 Infernal Tribute
1 Mind Slash
1 Necropotence
1 Tortured Existence
1 Waste Not
Instant (3)
1 Entomb
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Wretched Confluence
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Cabal Conditioning
1 Decree of Pain
1 Life's Finale
1 Mind Twist
1 Mutilate
1 Overwhelming Forces
1 Syphon Mind
Planeswalker (3)
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana Vess
Land (38)
1 Blighted Fen
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
26 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Disclaimer: The first draft of this deck was cobbled together from what I had laying around/leftover from failed experiments. I’m not going to explore the benefits of every card right now, because I'm
a busy adult with many important things to dolazy af. There are some noteworthy cards that I’ll mention here, however:Scepter of Fugue - Do not be deceived by the seemingly small effect - this card WILL piss people off. And it's a great devotion enabler! I tend to always direct the Scepter towards the person with the most cards in hand; it keeps people from getting too upset, and chances are the guy with the most cards is also the one keeping you from recurring Akuta.
Vedalken Orrery – Moving past the fact that the entire deck is sorcery speed (not intentional, it just sort of happened), Orrery allows your discard spells to be played at instant speed. Which is mean. And also good.
Assault Suit – Sending Akuta around the table to rack up Commander damage is always nice. I’ve been increasingly impressed with this equipment lately. I've since cut this card to make room for the more ubiquitous Sword of Light and Shadow, but it's still a great budget option.
Bonehoard - Pretty boring in the grand scheme of things, but the idea is that your opponents are discarding a lot of stuff when you play this deck - including creatures. That isn't enough to run Mortivore on its own, but a Mortivore that can latch onto a flier or Akuta for a measly two mana is excellent. Nighthowler is a functional second copy of this Equipment.
Sword of the Animist – You really could not ask for a better effect here. Keeps your battlefield super-swampy to turbo out big spells, or to satiate Akuta. A+
Umezawa's Jitte - Well, come on... it's Jitte. But seriously, don't be fooled by the seemingly small effects this Equipment provides; they are all powerful. Shrink/kill pesky blockers to sneak your guys through (and then ninjutsu, because we're in Magical Christmasland), pump up Akuta for a vicious helping of pain, and gain some life to offset your Necropotence and various other self-inflicted life loss.
Wayfarer's Bauble and Armillary Sphere - Mercifully inexpensive, these are critically important to ensuring you'll always have enough Swamps in play to feed Akuta and the Cabal lands.
Crucible of Worlds – Any Akuta deck that does not include this card is not an Akuta deck I would consider as such.
Liliana of the Dark Realms – Ditto.
Horizon Upgrades
This is a list of cards that I’ve made a note of to grab for this deck. As stated before, this deck is mostly scraps and loose ends. Help me make this list huge, so I can make it smaller (and make Akuta better!)
-Damnation: Debating moving it in from another deck.
-Filth: I have an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth sitting around; if I get this card, Urborg goes in too.
-Hatred:
RKOCommander kill outta nowhere!Changelog
IN: Liliana Vess, Vampiric Tutor
IN: Bloodghast, Attrition, Sangromancer, Whip of Erebos, Corpse Connoisseur, Wretched Confluence, Hero's Blade, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Strip Mine
IN: Umezawa's Jitte
IN: Infernal Tribute
Addendums, Potpurri, and Various Nonsense
7/8/2016: Primer created. Original list posted.
4/18/2019: Primer and decklist updated. Card descriptions WIP.
Please talk about this, I am secretly very lonely
If you are going to go heavy on discard I suggest Myojin of Night's Reach . Indestructible and able to wipe opponents hands for good. The cost may be expensive but black has great mana doublers so you're going to be okay.
As I suggested on the General Discussion forum, Hatred should work wonders with Akuta. Opponent puts him on the yard, you reanimate him and go for the kill at the same time.
Regarding equipment, I suggest boots, Sword of Feast and Famine , effects similar to Whispersilk cloak and General's Kabuto.
I would also suggest Expedition Map, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and frieds.
I think I will convert my mono black chainer deck to Akuta, going for a discard / voltron route. Keep up the good work
I was able to get a couple games in against some friends, and here's what I learned:
-Sink into Takenuma, while very cute, is just not strong enough. Maybe if it said "each opponent discards" instead of "target player" it'd be worth the slot, but alas. I cut it for Liliana Vess.
-Given that I won one of the games by casting Gray Merchant of Asphodel for 23 devotion, you are right in that Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx would be a great addition.
-I am well aware that the equipment list needs a little bit of help. My good swords are all in other decks, but a Whispersilk Cloak would be a solid addition. Lightning Greaves too.
-Sadly don't own a Hatred yet, and my local shop didn't have one in their case, but it is on the radar!
-Holy crap I didn't even realize black Myojin made EACH opponent discard. That just moved to the top of the acquire list!
Words of Waste ( I never tried to run this properly)
Bite of the Black Rose
Scythe Specter
There are cards like Unnerve or Tasigur's Cruelty but I have some doubts about their effectiveness.
Yeah, of that list, the only one I think I'd consider is Scythe Specter, just because it's a reasonable body.
Sangromancer
Geth's Grimoire
thee two shine and help churn advantage drastically.
otherwise feel free to look at my thread for more ideas if you want.
Death Match is a neat card, but I'm worried that -3/-3 won't really do enough in the circles I play in; I'd have to piggyback multiple creatures on one guy to kill them.
Now that I've had some opportunities to play the deck (and watch opponents pick up Akuta and read him), I think I'm starting to identify some of the weaker facets of the deck I'd like to improve on.
Number A - Flooding Out
This is probably the number one reason I lose games with Akuta. I'll shred the tables' hands and feel like I'm turning a corner, only to get crippled by someone's topdeck and be forced to rebuild. Except... I draw a lot of lands. I'm wondering if I need some more draw power. Are the one-shot draw effects like Ancient Craving/Ambition's Cost worth a look? Should I go for more conditional, but more powerful effects like Kothophed, Soul Hoarder? I'm open to suggestions. Mind the lifeloss though, because...
Number the Second - Suicidal Tendencies
I pay a lot of life in this deck. Like, a LOT of life. Maybe not all in one go, but if I've got to equip Nightmare Lash, pay some life into Necropotence, and end up triggering Dark Prophecy once or twice in a turn, that's a great way to kill yourself in four or five turns. I'm thinking more lifelink is in order to offset this. I'm going to find something to cut for Whip of Erebos and possibly a lifelink Equipment like Loxodon Warhammer or Umezawa's Jitte.
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Nightshade Assassin
1 Herald of Leshrac
1 Ring of Xathrid
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Altar of Dementia
1 Sword of Body and Mind
2 Swamp
1 Bloodghast
1 Sangromancer
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Wretched Confluence
1 Attrition
1 Hero's Blade
1 Strip Mine
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
crappy fillerrandom utility creature Vampire Hexmage.-
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Staff...so I bought it some fresh sleeves. Trust me - sometimes, a new set of sleeves is all it takes to make your deck feel fresh and interesting again.
Oh, and also this happened:
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Still on the hunt for a Myojin of Night's Reach, since the deck really wants another haymaker play, and Entomb will likely have to wait until my LGS finishes relocating, but in the meantime... yay Jitte!
how about empyrial plate? obviously just generic pumping, but seems good with your desire to have the most cards
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash
I love Empyrial Plate, but I decided against adding it because I foresaw myself having only a couple cards in hand most of the time. I hedged and ran Bonehoard instead.
That said, Bonehoard and Nighthowler haven't been performing well lately (people are always randomly Bojuka Bogging one another), so maybe it's time to give Plate a spin.
I'm glad you like the deck!
EDIT: Oh, oh, also - I'm looking for some sweet creatures to try out in this deck. Preferably something in the 2-3 cmc range that likes wearing Equipment. If anyone has any ideas, I want to hear them!
I recently sat down with Akuta to a game with two of my friends. One of them is playing Brion Stoutarm (R/W Equipment shenanigans), and the other is playing Márton Stromgald (all-in Red). I'm feeling pretty good about this - neither of the opposing decks' colors are known for drawing heaps of cards, so I should be able to keep Akuta's reanimation condition online from a very early stage.
The opening turns develop slowly. Brion runs out an early Grand Abolisher and his general. Márton has played a couple of small token-makers. Meanwhile, our intrepid hero has little else but a Needle Specter and Geth's Grimoire. I send the Specter at Brion, and he discards Anger. Womp. Next turn the Specter heads for Márton. HE discards Anger. At that point, I've resigned myself to taking a huge hit from Márton and friends. My only hope is that I'm considered non-threatening enough to be left alone for at least another turn.
Brion tries to set up his shields with Adarkar Valkyrie. Márton answers by casting his general, Act of Treasoning the Valkyrie, and sending in his team, which included four or five Goblin tokens (Krenko's Command, Mogg War Marshal, etc) and an Emrakul's Hatcher with all its Spawn. Brion eats about a hundred damage or so and dies. Now it's just me and Márton. I haven't shown much in the way of board presence other than the Grimoire, the Specter, a Hero's Blade (unequipped), and Liliana of the Dark Realms (which has been innocuously fetching swamps). I cast a Mutilate with seven swamps in play, melting Márton's board and putting him into topdeck mode. He draws and plays a creature, and attacks me to 22. I don't remember which creature it was, because Liliana promptly -3'd to kill it on my turn. I cast Akuta, who picks up the Blade and deposits 6 commander damage on Marton. He draws a brick and recasts Marton, sending him in to kill Liliana.
And now, for the moment of truth. My original plan was to drop Whip of Erebos to get some lifelink action going and put the game out of reach, but I rip Nightmare Lash off the top. Now the plan is to cast Whip, cast Lash, pay three life to equip and smash for 14. Now sitting at 20 commander damage, no hand, and no way to take me down from 33 with a single card, Marton concedes.
Chalk one up for the Saviors legend!
I would probably also get one/two shot by Akuta because, honestly, who would have thought? 10/10 Super cool deck
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls - Knowledge is Power U [Primer]
R Heartless Hidetsugu - The Art of Ending Games R
GB Ishkanah, Grafwidow - The Cluster HungersBG
Haven't been around much of late (kinda stepped back from MtG to focus on other things) but I'm slowly coming back.