MTG Salvation

This is my first pass for Saskia the Unyielding. For the moment, I'm a bit at a loss for what direction this will take, and it will probably take a good deal of playtesting to decide what I end up wanting for this list. For the moment, I just threw in cards that I enjoy, because efficient aggro already kind of messes with another of my decks, and I want to avoid that.

Tainted Strike and Triumph of the Hordes?! Oh boy . . I can't wait to die to this

Super interest in how an avg cmc turns out like this. I leaned Sun Titan and Alesha shenanigans, with some Birthing pod fluidity up til 6. I've realized how actually broad her ability is. I'm also gambling on something like Snake Umbra to provide some serious draw.

Quote from Welgo »

Super interest in how an avg cmc turns out like this. I leaned Sun Titan and Alesha shenanigans, with some Birthing pod fluidity up til 6. I've realized how actually broad her ability is. I'm also gambling on something like Snake Umbra to provide some serious draw.

Yeah, I cut a lot of high cost cards to even get it this low. It's definitely going to need some tweaking, I can definitely see it in the 3 mana symbol spells.

Yeah, I cut a lot of high cost cards to even get it this low. It's definitely going to need some tweaking, I can definitely see it in the 3 mana symbol spells.

Same issue, even with a lower curve. This has easily been the hardest leader to figure out a mana base. She calls for so much great stuff and it's rough making cuts. Keeping the token thing going Cryptolith Rite has helped a lot, probably not nearly as much here but it's a card worth mentioning. I never seem to be out of firepower or draw but I have been limited on when I could cast things just because I was short a R on Aurelia or something like that, even though I was fixing most of the way

I've made some updates to the list based on cards I felt were underpreforming while adding a few more aggressive cards, as well as a Homeward Path, as creatures being taken was causing a bit of a problem for me.

Out
Ophiomancer
Verdant Confluence
Furnace of Rath
Blade of Selves
1x Mountain

In
Serra Ascendant
Scab-Clan Berserker
Bloodbraid Elf
Krosan Grip
Homeward Path

As a side note, my average CMC is down to roughly 3.7, so I call this a win.

Wound Reflection?

Scab-Clan is an interesting add, I'll try slotting it in my build

Quote from umtiger »

Wound Reflection?

Interesting. I'll add it to my list of test cards to slot in at some point. I haven't quite found the right balance of stuff for this deck yet, but I'll make sure to get some test time in with it.

Quote from Welgo »

Scab-Clan is an interesting add, I'll try slotting it in my build

I've liked it, but I also regularly play with a Kambal deck that runs a lot of similar effects (and play against a lot of non-creature heavy lists to boot), so anything that helps drop life totals is good in my book. I'm also thinking about Ruric Thar, the Unbowed along similar lines, but I like that Scab-Clan comes down early and can start swinging.

The major problem that I see with Saskia and why I'm not really in a hurry to build it is that it's too combat-centric. It wouldn't be a problem since I personally enjoy aggro-ing out EDH players who waste their early things doing nothing. However, Saskia's curve is just so....high. It's really tough to build a "Saskia" deck that can hit harder than many of the tribal options available (namely Goblins and Elves).

Saskia's support cards (i.e. all of the damage doublers) are also crazy-high on the curve. Since she's null-blue, you also have to use crappy extra-attack phase cards which are strangely the same converted mana cost as blue's time walks. I mean, that's insane.

How can you build around Saskia and be resilient at the same time? I'm thinking that it'll have to head towards enchantments of some sort because those stick and being in 4 colors affords some unique opportunities. Besides, some of the support cards are already enchantments.

Can you incorporate cards like Manabarbs? or find some way to abuse Replenish?

Sorry about missing your post. I forgot to set this decklist to alert me when people respond.

Quote from umtiger »

The major problem that I see with Saskia and why I'm not really in a hurry to build it is that it's too combat-centric. It wouldn't be a problem since I personally enjoy aggro-ing out EDH players who waste their early things doing nothing. However, Saskia's curve is just so....high. It's really tough to build a "Saskia" deck that can hit harder than many of the tribal options available (namely Goblins and Elves).

I specifically went for Saskia because she's combat-centric without relying on a tribe or some other gimmick. I realize that is a deal breaker for most people, but I've never minded playing around straight beat down in EDH, even if it isn't the 'best' way to build a deck. That said, yes. It is difficult finding a balance between early game aggro and late game board presence. However, Saskia's ability helps quite a bit with speeding up the clock of a game, especially if you're in a group like mine.

Of the people I play most with, my boyfriend runs an Azami, Lady of Scrolls list. Sometimes you'll just lose to the combo, but the deck rarely blocks and when it does, I'm usually not in danger of trading my creatures. This lets me name someone who I otherwise would have a tough time hitting while still pressuring the combo deck (and there's enough threatening lists in my meta that people usually don't have time to split off and deal with me to the degree which they should to shut down aggro, which is nice).

Saskia's support cards (i.e. all of the damage doublers) are also crazy-high on the curve. Since she's null-blue, you also have to use crappy extra-attack phase cards which are strangely the same converted mana cost as blue's time walks. I mean, that's insane.

To some extent, yes. Though the more I've played around with her, I think sticking at three damage doublers is a nice spot in the middle. Granted, every meta is different, and if you're trying to be lightning fast, no aggro deck is going to be good enough, but Saskia does give you the benefit of only having to commit the resources to kill one person, and either kill two just as quickly, or one in half the time. Sure, you could get timewalks by playing blue, but that would be a different deck. You can get a decent amount of mileage out of cards like Triumph of the Hordes without having to rely only on high end cards.

How can you build around Saskia and be resilient at the same time? I'm thinking that it'll have to head towards enchantments of some sort because those stick and being in 4 colors affords some unique opportunities. Besides, some of the support cards are already enchantments.

If you're constantly losing your board, there are always options like Soul of New Phyrexia (not the best example, but the first card that came time mind) to prevent your board from being wiped, or abuse the fact that you're in WBG, and go for more of a recursion subtheme to keep your threats on board and dealing damage. You could go an enchantment theme (or even voltron, if you were so inclined), though you'd have to balance it out with having enough damage.

Can you incorporate cards like Manabarbs? or find some way to abuse Replenish?

Sure. There are other decks I've seen for Saskia that focused more on a hatebears theme, with cards like Price of Glory/War's Toll (also a bad example, first cards that came to mind) in addition to creatures like Spirit of the Labyrinth/Gaddock Teeg. It's not really my style to go for that much lock down, but it's certainly a valid strategy.

I made several changes of this deck including the addition of Samut, Voice of Dissent and Rishkar's Expertise, and the removal of a few cards such as Aggravated Assault. Unforutantely, I did not write my changes down as I was updating the deck.

From the current sent, I'm primarily looking at Hour of Promise as an addition, once I find a second copy.