MTG Salvation

So, I noticed that Elenda, the Dusk Rose was a knight and liked rotating in and out of play and I immediately jumped on Haakon, Stromgald Scourge here. I have a rediculous love for Knight Exemplar and Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and the thought of a commander who cares about going in and out of the graveyard and cares about not getting wrathed with the rest of the board before getting her counters and the +1/+1 benefits how many tokens she makes really got me hooked on looking into Elenda, the Dusk Rose.

My concern offhand is that the rest of the deck I ended up building was mostly not a deck that I really foresaw myself interested in filtering cards I really didn't want to build the deck in such a way that it felt like a one trick pony built around Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. Given the tokens that Elenda, the Dusk Rose makes as well as the fact that you really want to be able to control when she dies I felt that it was a good transition to build sac outlets into this deck. From there I was looking at ETB and Dies trigger creatures in part because it made sense to have recursion in the deck to pick Elenda, the Dusk Rose up from the grave as well.

So I guess this is my take on Elenda, the Dusk Rose. I went ETB / Death based with sac outlets and recursion. The Knights package is a bit smaller in part because honestly there just are not many other good knights. This is all untested and just theorycraft at this point.

Why is Entomb missing: I decided that Entomb really only had the target of Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. I decided to keep Buried Alive because it could get more knights in one shot which makes getting Haakon a little stronger. I think its also more viable to Buried Alive into three juicy creatures into a Living Death or something than it is to try to Entomb a single one.

Have you considered Ashes of the Fallen? You can set it to "Knight" so Haakon can recur any creature in your yard.

I think Vindictive Lich/Archon of Justice have a lot of potential in this list, but you look light on non-creature interaction (I know archon does this, but it just seems expensive for one removal).

What do you think of cards like Merciless Eviction and Leonin Relic-Warder?

So, let me get started with saying that I am still questioning a lot of cards as well as directions to go. I did a little more digging at the knights package because I did want to potentially expand it a little and I came back with:

• Champion of Dusk - I actually forgot that this was a knight. My commander does in fact create vampire tokens so playing this right after splitting my commander could actually be very strong draw. I like that this is a knight and it has a good strong ETB effect which means that in general its better with recursion.
• Knight-Captain of Eos - I like that it has an ETB effect and it gives me a few bodies. The fog portion of this card seems.... underwhelming though and the number of bodies / what it does in play seem sort of so so. That said, it is a knight that comes with three bodies in one that is a little more friendly towards flickering.
• Hero of Bladehold - so, in play I actually like this knight a lot more than Knight-Captain of Eos but its a value over time knight rather than one that is as friendly towards the rez plan.
• Sanctum Seeker - its kind of interesting in its ability but it more fits an aggro deck than a midrange control. Its somewhat fast in its value but it has no ETB / death trigger.

Looking at these knights.... I think I do want to probably try to play Champion of Dusk. I think that Knight-Captain of Eos and Hero of Bladehold are both potentials as well but I have always found the Knight Captain to be underwhelming and I don't think Hero actually fits my build very well. For the time being I might try to add the new Vamp Knight with draw and see how that goes.

Quote from BlackVise »

Awesome list ISB.

Have you considered Dawn of the Dead? Personally I'd consider it in place of Debtors' Knell for the lower mana cost or Chainer, Dementia Master for being a little less vulnerable to removal. Also, could Filigree Familiar or Treasure Keeper warrant a spot in here? With all the sacrificing and reanimating this deck does they look like they could really complement Solemn Simulacrum for value.

How is Sword of the Meek working for you? With the focus on sacrificing and reanimating I'm not sure it's a card I would look at for this sort of list. If you really want a sword for value I'd maybe look at Blade of Selves in its place as this list could generate a lot of value with it.

Hey BV how is life for you? It feels like its been forever now since we served together.

Dawn of the Dead I forgot this was a card I suppose. I think it is still viable to mention that it is limited to just your own creatures instead of rezing any card which Debtors' Knell can do but I think that is not as important. I mainly included Debtors' Knell because I thought it made a good pickup inclusion for Academy Rector but I think Dawn of the Dead probably still gives me 80% the same functionality for less mana. There is obviously the fun times when someone else is running goodstuff cards but of late I have felt like its better to rely on my own list than assume I am going to find Eternal Witness everywhere. I will try to swap it in for now and see if I notice any issues with its targeting being only my own graveyard.

Filigree Familiar I am always worse when it comes to finding colorless tech just because there is so many crap artifacts and I always struggle to go through them all lol. It reminds me a little bit of Wall of Omens. The big question I guess is at what point am I paying too much to mostly just draw a card. Given the lifelink on my commander and the tokens it makes I kind of devalued small bits of lifegain as a whole in my list otherwise. I think the fact that it does cost three for the time being is enough to keep me from running it.

Treasure Keeper - Hummmm I forgot about this guy. So.... there are definitely things I would want to hit with it but there are also some duds as well as some that are more situational. Obviously the power of this guy would more be in situations that I can loop / abuse him but in a sense he is kind of like another Wall of Omens like card in that he draw / tempos a card to being cast. Being that I could control when I pop him via sac outlets I guess I could see including it. I am having a hard time finding room for it right now given that its role seems a little fuzzy but I think its something I might watch and see if I can try it out at some point.

Sword of the Meek - without some sort of sac effect for the sword it seems like a more robust but worse Hero's Blade. I think its an interesting thought and yes I did put some consideration into some effects that make my commander a little stronger all the time (like the anthem walkers). I think while it is cool I don't see enough value in it right now.

Blade of Selves - I often forget about this card because its so rare that I run a deck that is full of ETB / Death creatures. Yea I suppose it does seem to fit this deck and in general it fits a similar role as Mimic Vat but potentially can make more value and I think it has a little better interaction with my commander so I think I can justify swapping it in there.

Quote from yeti1069 »

Have you considered Ashes of the Fallen? You can set it to "Knight" so Haakon can recur any creature in your yard.

I think that Ashes of the Fallen is a cool card. I played it for a while in a Gisa and Geralf deck but seeing that my Haakon, Stromgald Scourge package is a package of cards that are not my commander I think its a little heavy on the greed factor to assume I can run a card that does nothing but prop up Haakon to be better. If Haakon did not have direct interaction with my commander I probably would not justify running him in here and I like to think that the Knights I have chosen to run are good enough to be at least a card I maybe would consider without Haakon. Knight Exemplar is probably my weakest knight right now but even without Haakon it is still a decent card in that it pumps and protects the commander which makes me stronger vs wrath removal wich is a thing that Elenda does in fact want as it means that she gets more +/+ counters when a wrath does happen.

It is important not to go too far all in on the knights because what if you don't find Haakon or if he gets exiled? Ashes of the Fallen is a card that is strictly an enabler card for other effects and when I ran my Gisa and Geralf deck I was willing to enable my commander it becomes a lot more questionable when you start looking at cards to enable a specific card in your deck that is not your commander. Yes, I think its a cool card and I think Haakon is great. I am just not willing to run a card that does nothing without him. I would like to think that the Knights I run are still decent cards without Haakon.

Quote from Tryno »

I think Vindictive Lich/Archon of Justice have a lot of potential in this list, but you look light on non-creature interaction (I know archon does this, but it just seems expensive for one removal).

What do you think of cards like Merciless Eviction and Leonin Relic-Warder?

Vindictive Lich - I have never gotten to play with it before. I have always sort of thought that in general Fleshbag Marauder effects tend to get played because of a specific player rather than because you need the effect for everyone at the table. I think being able to point a single edict + the discard two cards might possibly be stronger in more situations. I still think that Fleshbag Marauder is a great card but in a lot of cases you are playing it to mess up one player and if you get others to trip then groovy.

Archon of Justice - I have some concerns as to how little noncreature hate I have offhand in my list. I think I might have enough creature hate though to turn this spot into Leonin Relic-Warder though.

Merciless Eviction - maybe, right now I am just trying to keep things to creatures / creature abuse. I also considered if I make room for a Tragic Arrogance which I think could also be nice to have. Right now I just don't want to devote a lot of spots to wraths given that I am trying to push for synergy first and foremost. I might add more later but I want to see what is working before I get too far into cards that are just sort of generically good.

DECK CHANGES:

• Debtors' Knell -> Dawn of the Dead while I do like to think of the what if situations on abusing opponents creatures like say Eternal Witness and such I think it is probably better to be more efficient and assume that I am most of the time going to be rezing my own creatures. Its not that I would never rez an opponents value creature but assuming that my opponents are playing a bunch of value creatures every game is an assumption I find more often to not be true than for it to be true. I think it is going to make the mana investment on this card a lot less extreme outside of finding it via Academy Rector. So in a sense, I think I lose a little bit when utilizing Academy Rector but I think it gets stronger when drawn with this change. Given that I have always thought that casting Debtors' Knell felt a little weak I think I am happy to swap to Dawn of the Dead.
• Mimic Vat -> Blade of Selves I think these two cards have some similarities but I am willing to try out the blade in part because I think it has potential to get more value for the investment as well as more upfront value. Mimic Vat has the potential to act as grave hate against some things but its also a little more sketch to use my commander with. Being that both effects cost essentially 6 mana to cast + use I think its valid to compare the two.
• Sidisi, Undead Vizier -> Champion of Dusk I decided that instead of tutoring for 5 mana I could potentially just draw a ton of cards. I like that Champion of Dusk is a pickup for the Knight synergy as well as being a good recursion creature given he is on an ETB effect. My commander makes vampire tokens so I felt like this really should often be some sort of Promise of Power on legs sort of effect that might possibly be stronger than that. Being that it also hits on the Knight synergy I liked what I could do with it.
• Archon of Justice -> Leonin Relic-Warder I think its probably fine to cut the curve a little here and still probably have a similar effect. I can exile gods with the Relic Warder if need be and while it is not quite as versatile in its timing its nice that its cheaper to cast.

Deathrender was another card I was really trying to work in as well. I think its a card with a lot of potential that I would love to potentially play with assuming I can ever figure out where I would include it. Helm of Possession also seems like something that could fit in here really nicely assuming I can figure out how to make room for it.

You have an unhealthy fascination with Dark Prophecy

It's going to get you killed one day

Quote from theCreecH »

You have an unhealthy fascination with Dark Prophecy

It's going to get you killed one day

lol well... honestly its a card I have probably only played in three decks to my knowledge (this one, Edgar, and Athreos). Given the commander has lifelink and the tokens that the commander makes have lifelink I thought it actually made fairly good sense here. Attacking with a bunch of tokens and not really caring which ones are blocked / die as I get to draw and recover the life I lose to the draw seems handy.

It seems like it fits here a lot better than it does my Edgar list these days because again I am running a lot of control over my sac outlets. The card gets a lot better as you get better control over what is dying and when.

Heyyo! Hope this isn't a problem posting after so long.

I'm building an Elenda list as well and am looking for some feedback on "niche tech" that's worked well for you. The knight/Haakon package in particular tickles my fancy. Stuff like Arvad the Cursed, Aryel, Knight of Windgrace, Benalish Marshal and Dauntless Bodyguard seem like they'd perform well in this deck. I also think there are a number of other cards from Dominaria that could go well here: Blackblade Reforged, Cast Down, Memorial to Folly, Phyrexian Scriptures, Whisper, Blood Liturgist and Yawgmoth's Vile Offering are all on my "maybeboard" for the deck.

Thoughts? Would love to hear about non-Dominaria choices as well.

Quote from Phosphorus »

Heyyo! Hope this isn't a problem posting after so long.

I'm building an Elenda list as well and am looking for some feedback on "niche tech" that's worked well for you. The knight/Haakon package in particular tickles my fancy. Stuff like Arvad the Cursed, Aryel, Knight of Windgrace, Benalish Marshal and Dauntless Bodyguard seem like they'd perform well in this deck. I also think there are a number of other cards from Dominaria that could go well here: Blackblade Reforged, Cast Down, Memorial to Folly, Phyrexian Scriptures, Whisper, Blood Liturgist and Yawgmoth's Vile Offering are all on my "maybeboard" for the deck.

Thoughts? Would love to hear about non-Dominaria choices as well.

I ended up playing it once or twice and in the game I played I think someone executed an infinite combo for the win on like turn 5/6. I still like the idea of this deck I have just only been able to play one night of commander since December and so some of the newer decks and builds I have been toying with are a little more fleeting in if and when I play them.

There are ultimately some new knights and some of them might be decent in here. I moved on and am pushing a few other decks right now with similar strategies of rez and sac so for now I retired my own build. I never got to do much testing so I don't know that I am that great of a source of info other than my theoretical build here.