Shooting at the walls of heartache
I am the warrior
Yes, I am the warrior
And victory is mine - Patty Smyth
This is the legend that interested me the most from Battlebond, and there is a lot going on within this commander.
I have two deck lists here, one is to demonstrate lots of elements around playing this commander with infinite combos and synergistic Warrior and token themes.
The other is a win-fast low costing deck that aims to cast small Warriors to build up armies fast and then protect them with counterspell magic.
About this commander
First of all it's a 5 color general. No limit to what you can play. Nice.
Whenever a Warrior attacks, you may have its controller create a 1/1 white Warrior creature token that's tapped and attacking.
So Warrior type does matter. The more Warriors you have attacking the more 1/1 Warriors you will get.
They potentially double up the amount of Warriors each attack. The thing is that every time another Warrior token is created, that token can also generate another Warrior token when it attacks.
Let's do the math if Najeela, the Blade-Blossom was the only Warrior to attack initially. Let's say we do 2 attacks per turn, for the next 4 turns. That is 8 attacks total. If none of the creatures were to be killed that would be 128 Warriors in total. If we got another turn but say had 3 attacks in that turn because we had 10 mana to spend on her additional attack ability, then that would be 1024 Warriors. Math is great.
WUBRG: Untap all attacking creatures. They gain trample, lifelink, and haste until end of turn. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. Activate this ability only during combat.
There is also a lot going on here, and it can be a little confusing at first.
Creatures are "attacking" until the end of the combat phase, so you can activate this anytime until everybody passes priority at the end of combat phase. Note that "attacks" and "attacking" are two different things, and it pays to notice these terms when reading cards.
This ability can be done not only in your combat phase, but also in an opponents turn, or as Battlebond was designed for your team mates. So there is an interesting potential twist with politics in those desperate times of need.
Right so the creatures that are attacking gain trample, lifelink, and haste. The haste is important because any 1/1 Warrior tokens that were generated, get to attack again during additional combat phases.
The idea of 1/1 tramplers is not so scary, but I will show you how you can easily make your Warriors have huge power with little effort. Trample makes it impossible for your opponents to survive your attacks.
Lifelink is always a welcome bonus.
Infinite attacks, because why not?
I'm a combo enthusiast so of course I'm interested in breaking down as many combinations of going infinite with Najeela.
If you have 5 lands in play that can produce WUBRG, then Sword of Feast and Famine, Bear Umbra and Nature's Will, along with a creature that has evasion, will allow you to have infinite mana, to keep using the additional attack ability.
So realistically let's say that it's 5 1/1 Warrior tokens. Let's also say realistically that your opponents have a number of blockers that can kill a number of them.
The 5 attacking Warriors will produce 5 more Warriors tokens that are attacking. So you will have 10 attacking creatures.
It must be noted that for Druids' Repository must be when a creature "attacks", which is different to attacking. However you still have 5 counters on the enchantment. Phyrexian Altar allows you to sacrifice the ones that do get blocked.
As long as 5 of those creatures are not killed, then you get to untap your remaining creatures and have an additional combat phase. Repeat ad infinitum.
Now I'm going to show you how it's even easier than that. What if we attack an opponent with only 2 creatures that can block and kill your creatures?
Let's say we only have 3 Warriors attack. That's 6 attacking. We only get 3 counters on our Druids' Repository. But you can easily spend additional mana for the other needed 2 mana for the WUBRG. Now you have 4 Warriors attacking, and should easily be able to spend another land mana for the next additional attack. The next time we are on our 5 attacking Warriors, so infinite.
Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise allow your creatures to tap for mana.
It must be noted that only attacking creatures can untap, so you need a threshold of creatures to be able to get infinite.
Obviously you need to tap at least 5 creatures to get WUBRG. Once again the easiest way is to have 5 Warrior tokens that will not be killed. But it's not imperative in all cases. It depends on how much additional mana you have and what your opponents are able to block with.
For example, if you attack with say 4 Warriors, getting 8 Warrior tokens attacking, then use your land base/artifacts to pay for the WUBRG initially. Let's say you only have 2 more mana to pay for the WUBRG outside of your creatures for the next combat phase you want to initiate. So you tap 3 of your creatures, leaving 5 to attack, you can go infinite with this. It just sort of all depends on how many Warriors you have and how much additional mana you have in your turn initially.
Vigilance gets around any need for thresholds with Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise, as long as your creatures are not being killed. Aven Wind Guide is a flagship card in your 99, as it gives both evasion and vigilance.
The thing is that you can easily use the weakest opponent, that is the person with the least blockers or smallest creatures, to set up the threshold for infinite, and you really don't need to start with many Warriors, a handful. As long as one opponent can't block all your creatures and you have some surplus mana to use her additional attack ability, then you can get to an outnumbering attackers to blockers, which means that the rest of your opponents can't do anything about it once you get to them, as you will have a number that they simply can't block them all.
Going wide, but also going BIG!!
Subsequently after adding a section "Tokens" and looking up as many token buff cards that I could find, the results is that there are some amazing ways to really increase the power and toughness of your creatures, for relatively low mana costs. All really due to the nature of getting multiple attacks in a turn.
I know I've concentrated on showing you infinites, but it's important to note that "infinite" with Najeela is actually only a case of something like 4 or 5 activation's. Lets say you start with 4 attackers, thats 8 attacking. Let's double that each time 16, 32, 64, 128. That's actually only 4 activation's to probably kill everybody, and that's only if they are 1/1s.
We have some premium cards for making our creatures get larger, much larger.
Bramblewood Paragon, Metallic Mimic, Chief of the Edge, Honored Crop-Captain are Warriors who will help to buff up the troupes. Path of Discovery is amazing for drawing your lands, and if you really want to make sure all your creatures get the +1/+1 counter you can just keep putting the same non-land card on top. But you can filter through your whole deck if necessary with this card very quickly.
Shared Animosity will hit insanely hard, as the effect lasts until end of turn.
Let's do a 5 attacker example. That's 10 attacking creatures, so the 5 that attacked get +10/+0 until end of turn. They are currently 11/1 Warrior tokens. Note that they will get trample, oh and lifelink. The newly generated ones are still 1/1's because they didn't attack. Let's assume 3 of the original get blocked and killed because your opponent with the least blockers has to block with so much damage. Activate Najeela WUBRG. We attack with 7 Warriors, so that's 14 attacking creatures. The 7 Warriors that attacked will get +14/+0, so there are 2 that are 25/1 Warriors, another 5 that are 15/1 Warriors, and the 7 new ones that will still be 1/1s. That's 132 worth of trample damage on the final attack, never mind the damage on the first attack!
Cathars' Crusade is similar, but all the creature get the bonus, and buff their toughness, and they are counters so stay forever.
We will do the 5 creature attack example again. That's 10 attacking, but 5 creatures come into play so they all get +5/+5. Probably none are getting killed with this card, so on our next attack, we will have most likely 10 attackers, so that 20 attacking, meaning 10 creatures come into play for another +10/+10. So now they are 16/16. That's 320 worth of power. Yeeks.
Valor in Akros works the same as Cathars' Crusade but it's not counters, so the effect lasts until end of turn, but as I've shown you probably won't be require a second main phase anyway, lol.
Why don't you play some of the other known creature buffers, like Beastmaster Ascension or Coat of Arms?
Although these cards are nice additional buffers, they don't give +1/+1 counters, or until end of turn effects, like the ones I've included. If an opponent has removal for cards like Beastmaster Ascension, they can wait for combat and set you up to potentially get blown out.
The art of stealth warfare
I've shown you how you can make your creature huge, but you can also go with unblockable if you don't have a buffing card resolve. Not having your creatures killed is important, because if all your opponents have built up a sizable blocking force then you want your troupes to remain on the battlefield. A lot of games will not be about getting infinite, but just gaining value over a few turns. Amassing armies naturally is a fine plan, and put's your opponents under serious pressure.
Also unblocked creatures are important for Sword of Feast and Famine, Bear Umbra, Nature's Will, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, combos to work.
I have a number of these in the deck and most of them are Warriors: Champion of Lambholt, Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist, Aven Wind Guide.
Also Reconnaissance is a cheap card that allows them to avoid dying. Feels good to attack with impunity.
What are some of the other ways to get infinite attacks? Grand Warlord Radha and Orochi Leafcaller, along with at least 3 other creatures, can potentially do it.
It must be noted that even without the Orochi Leafcaller, you can still gain a lot of mana and potential attacks from Grand Warlord Radha. Even though you can only get G or R, you can still spend your other mana to pay for the other WUB.
So for example if you had the right mana for activating her additional attacks twice (i.e. WUBWUB, plus Grand Warlord Radha to pay for the GRGR, then you will come out of combat with quadrupling up on your Warrior base, plus a lot of green and red mana.
Let's say it was just Grand Warlord Radha and Najeela, the Blade-Blossom attacking in the first stage. That's only GR, but you have 4 Warriors attacking. Next attack you will get 8 warriors attacking for an additional GGRR. Then the third attack, you will get 16 attacking, with an extra GGGGRRRR (or whatever combination you want). That's a lot of value for not having to setup much. I believe you will have 10 mana to spend in your second main phase.
You can see why attacking protection/evasion is good in the deck, as it really allows you to double up on your tokens rapidly.
Rounding out the deck
The fact that it's a 5 color deck, means that we can round it out with some powerful spells, like cards that can search for your important cards, some select disruption, card draw and additional mana.
These can be fairly flexible, altered according to your meta or play style.
Pillow fort problems?
Doesn't pillow fort cards like Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Collective Restraint completely shut you down?
Actually because your Warrior tokens that are produced are "attacking" you don't have to pay the tax at all. You just build up your armies on the players who don't have these cards, and on the final swing do lethal to the pillow fort player with "attacking" creatures.
Pillow fort has always been a bad strategy, but Najeela is actually making these cards obsolete. Trust me, I've wiped out every opponent who has played these type of cards.
Another idea for a more low-to-the-ground, win fast deck, is to spend the first couple of turns casting mainly one drop creatures, then have counterspell and protection to keep your armies that build up fast.
The deck has 22 one casting Warriors. So you have a 88% chance of playing a Turn 1 Warrior, likely followed by a Turn 2 Warrior as well. This is literally based without any mulligans, so your odds are increased with mulls.
Also with 5 two casting Warriors you have 95% chance of casting at least one Warrior by Turn 2.
Then you cast Najeela on Turn 2 (if get mana accelerate) or 3 and can start to wrack up your Warriors by simply doubling them each turn. Aiming to win around Turn 6-7.
The deck has a lot of cheap counter magic and protection to protect Najeela and your army of Warriors.
With the chosen Warriors for the one-drops, the "strength" of the stats or abilities isn't actually that important. What I've found is that it's most important to keep your mana base and color-costing of the Warriors so that you should always have the option of casting them on the first and second turns. So with this in mind the Warriors are mainly green, red and blue.
Even then I've kept it to mainly green, as this has the most one-costing Warriors.
It is an extremely all-in deck. Essentially you are hoping to fade a board wipe of some kind, especially on the turn you cast Najeela. If you get to untap, then normally you go into counterspell mode, ready to stop the spells which remove your army.
I'll add more details to this build in the coming days but it's a deck that I've been winning with a lot. This is an extremely competitive deck.
Thanks to user albus_severus1511 for brainstorming the idea.
Going infinite can be a little excessive, and ultimetly a lot of people pride themselves on winning by "fair means". A bit of a debate, Craterhoof Behemoth would be considered fair in some circles.
But also it's important to note that "infinite" with Najeela is actually a case of something like 4 or 5 activation's. Lets say you start with 4 attackers, so that 8 attacking. Let's double that each time 16, 32, 64, 128. That's actually only 4 activation's to probably kill everybody.
It might be that you are just looking to overwhelm people with a certain amount of activation's over the course of a few turns, and wanting more like buffer effect for style points, and also instead of evasion, like in my list, you want to show your Warrior prowess by simply plowing through everything.
Well you do have a plethora of options as you have all 5 colors to choose from. I've started to collate a list of relevant cards for this strategy. I've specifically only listed some of the premium effects that give +1/+1 to your creatures, as there are hundreds of these, and we really should be looking to do more powerful effects. Also concentrated on state-based effects, as things like instants and sorceries are don't apply to all the creatures during the course attacks, as it only will effect creatures at the time of casting. So all the newly generated tokens will not benefit. Spending mana during combat is also a consideration as you really want to use it on her WUBRG, so I've limit it to cards that don't require mana activation's (unless premium), as we have to realistic about it.
I've categorized a bunch of cards that can help you in your general strategies with so much Token generation created by Najeela. There is certainly a lot of directions you could take a deck.
My current configuration only has a medium Warrior Tribal theme, streamlined to the type of strategies that benefits the combos.
But it might be that you are wanting to go much deeper into the tribal theme. There are currently 659 Warriors in Magic, so I've selected some Warrior specific cards that I consider might be commander playable and categorized them as best as possible.
To drastically reduce the price of the deck, the focus is on removing mostly the expensive searching for cards in library and the land base. We can also make alternative cards that do similar things for others as well.
The thing is that the deck is mainly Green and White. So as long as your lands are focused around these colors, then actually casting cards from your hand should be fine.
It's only when it comes to wanting WUBRG for Najeela combat ability that you want to make sure you have the required fixing.
Further land ramp and mana fixing with the cards, Farseek, Nature's Lore, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, should mean that we have the required mana for WUBRG when the time is right.
The land base is a lot slower than the non-budget, but it's not always about being the fastest to try and combo, as often they can be the first to be stopped.
There are two cards that are part of the infinite combos, Phyrexian Altar $56, Sword of Feast and Famine $32. It would be nice to have these in the deck, but if you can't really afford them, then adding in some extra creature buffs can make up for it.
It's like you're inside my head! I've smashed together a build quite similar to this.
I've got a lot of the same synergies and combos that you've listed. intruder alarm and natural affinity are also in my build. Infinite mana so long as nobody snipes your lands out.
Swing with 5 creatures, generate 25 of more mana
The really cool thing about the deck is how the Warriors can be quite evasive, and this works so well attacking in general. Once you put it together it comes out a really synergistic deck. Surprisingly well.
I have no doubt I missing some fundamental card combinations, but that's why I like to list decks online, so that people can fill me in on other cards.
You could build in some redundancy with Aggravated Assault and/or Hellkite Charger in case Najeela gets hated out too much. The additional benefit of using these is that they only require red mana, so Grand Warlord doesn't need a mana filter to activate them, and both go infinite with a lot of the other cards in the deck.
There's also Stonebrow, Krosan Hero to give your team +2/+2 on each additional combat since Najeela gives them trample, although it may not do enough to warrant inclusion over some of the other cards, since it doesn't matter if you're attacking with a 1/1 or something bigger if no one can block your guys and they can attack until your opponents are dead.
I like how low your curve appears to be--looks like most of the deck tops out at 4 or 5 mana.
You could build in some redundancy with Aggravated Assault and/or Hellkite Charger in case Najeela gets hated out too much. The additional benefit of using these is that they only require red mana, so Grand Warlord doesn't need a mana filter to activate them, and both go infinite with a lot of the other cards in the deck.
There's also Stonebrow, Krosan Hero to give your team +2/+2 on each additional combat since Najeela gives them trample, although it may not do enough to warrant inclusion over some of the other cards, since it doesn't matter if you're attacking with a 1/1 or something bigger if no one can block your guys and they can attack until your opponents are dead.
I like how low your curve appears to be--looks like most of the deck tops out at 4 or 5 mana.
Great point on the redundancy. It won't take long for opponents to figure out to kill Najeela before your combat phase very urgently.
The nice thing about Aggravated Assault is that it is a little better than Najeela when it comes to the Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise combo, as the creatures don't actually have to be attacking.
The only reason I don't like Stonebrow, Krosan Hero is that it doesn't give the buff on the first attack, meaning that your creatures are still vulnerable.
Also, Storm the Vault serves a similar function to Druidi's Repository, except that you need to connect with a player with at least 5 guys.
Pitiless Plunderer does something similar, but requires your guys to die, so you can use him with attacking tokens when the board is kind of clogged. If you have 5 disposable warriors, you could attack, making 5 more, then if the first 5 get blocked, they die and make you 5 treasure=5 mana=new combat. You could keep doing that until the defending player's blockers died from the accumulating combat damage. And if they don't block...you need another sac outlet...ehhhh...
Although Plunderer + Storm the Vault and 5 warriors to attack with makes for a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
Also, Storm the Vault serves a similar function to Druidi's Repository, except that you need to connect with a player with at least 5 guys.
Pitiless Plunderer does something similar, but requires your guys to die, so you can use him with attacking tokens when the board is kind of clogged. If you have 5 disposable warriors, you could attack, making 5 more, then if the first 5 get blocked, they die and make you 5 treasure=5 mana=new combat. You could keep doing that until the defending player's blockers died from the accumulating combat damage. And if they don't block...you need another sac outlet...ehhhh...
Although Plunderer + Storm the Vault and 5 warriors to attack with makes for a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
Storm the Vault I think is the better option, as the deck has so much evasion. Pitiless Plunderer really only provides evasion, and is not really the best kind either. Storm the Vault is just much more proactive, actually providing a win condition. Incidental transforming it into Vault of Catlacan might happen, and is not the worst, in the face of a mana hungry deck. But you can always sacrifice treasure tokens if you didn't want it to transform.
The other reason I like it over Plunderer is that enchantments are a little harder to remove, and is one less card to get wrecked by mass creature removal.
Oh, and then you also have Ramos, Dragon Engine, which can make the mana for two extra combats after a couple of spells, or if it's in play with an Ezuri with 5+ experience counters.
There are several other mana battery cards that can be combined with a few of the other cards in the list to transmute mana from one color (or colorless) into the WUBRG needed for an extra combat.
As for the deck itself, I feel like it looks a bit light on card draw, ramp, removal, and protection. Obviously, it's important to limit how many colors are being strongly utilized, and it's important to focus on the game plan of having ALL THE COMBATS, but someone at the table is going to try to mess up your game, and you're going to need some answers.
Oh, and then you also have Ramos, Dragon Engine, which can make the mana for two extra combats after a couple of spells, or if it's in play with an Ezuri with 5+ experience counters.
There are several other mana battery cards that can be combined with a few of the other cards in the list to transmute mana from one color (or colorless) into the WUBRG needed for an extra combat.
As for the deck itself, I feel like it looks a bit light on card draw, ramp, removal, and protection. Obviously, it's important to limit how many colors are being strongly utilized, and it's important to focus on the game plan of having ALL THE COMBATS, but someone at the table is going to try to mess up your game, and you're going to need some answers.
Yeah I used to play an Ezuri, Claw of Progress deck, so I had flash backs of Crystalline Crawler. But probably need to maneuver into some sort of focused +1/+1 deck if wanting to leverage these types of cards.
As far as card draw, I'm actually pretty happy that it's probably going to be more of case of deploying cards, rather than needing action.
The Skullclamp is a major source of card draw if needed and there are 5 cards that can get it if necessary.
Protection is always a problem, but there is a lot of redundancy built into the deck, so would never expect the first attempt at infinite to work, and this is OK in my opinion.
I'm definitely leaning towards more casual and variance play these days. I basically only played Brawl over the last couple of months, because it's much harder to dominate games like commander does. More fun. So not really into making this an answers all type deck. Hence why keeping in a lot of the tribal synergy, which we know is normally more casual play.
You could easily take out Rhys the Redeemed, Steward of Solidarity, Radha, Heir to Keld, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and Samut, Voice of Dissent, for more staple commander cards for disruption if leaning more into competitive play.
aura shards could work nicely. Wrecks pillow fort players quite nicely
Done. Realistically you'd never be tapping out for Doubling Season in the deck, as cool as it is. Just a "more winning" card. Little planeswalkers to get value that way either, so doing a straight swap out.
Obsidian Battle-Axe is a good source of haste for Warriors. Even better, it can attach to the Warrior tokens when they enter the battlefield. And considering both the Axe and Warstorm Surge can trigger for each Warrior token, you can easily end up dealing huge amounts of damage each swing.
Furthermore, Arcane Adaptation can turn your non-Warrior creatures into Warriors. Swinging with a 6/5 Glorybringer that just did 6 damage to something, gets to do another 4, and then generates a 1/1 which becomes a 3/2 and deals 3 can be pretty back-breaking. Blade of Selves adds more ETB opportunities. And if ETB effects become a major focus of your deck, Panharmonicon might be worth it.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Stonehoof Chieftain throw in indestructible for what the commander gives so they will never die not to mention he's a warrior
This guy can give you the threshold you need to have X amount of Warriors survive in order to go infinite. It's a shame it's only when "attacks" and not "attacking". Obviously it's the cost of the guy thats the draw back, but if you wanted a much more tribal version of the deck then you could look to go bigger is better and play him over non-warrior evasion like say Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
Brutal Hordechiefanother warrior and this will drain defend player like a battery easily
I was seriously looking at this guy for my initial list, because he also provide evasion. You can decide that all your opponents creatures are going to block a single attacker, forcing through unblockable creatures. However it was the additional mana cost which basically you will never have in addition to Najeela ability for that first attack.
Another card like Brutal Hordechief which will basically make your guys survive the attack, but again just needing the mana is going to mean setting up will be very hard. Of course in non-infinite attacks, he does have the advantage of pump faking out your opponents. Do they block and get blown out by an activation and get all their creatures killed? Plus yes you only need like 10 attacking creatures to kill a couple of opponents. Hmm, I'm thinking this might actually be needed for redundancy in those games where everybody fixates on the infinite, and this guy can just get it done on his own. I'm personally fixated on the WUBRG extra attacks, but it might be that sometimes the 3WW is just better. I'm going to try this guy over the Glorybringer.
Hamletback Goliath you did remember that the fastest growing creature ever is a warrior right?
If you had a way to redistribute +1/+1 counter this guy could be fun.
Champion of Stray Souls hey with all of those tokens you can sac them to bring your creatures back
This guy is super interesting. At the moment have God-Pharaoh's Gift and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death who can get cards back from graveyard. I think if you ended up with a deck that had more bigger Warriors, then you could look at replacing Alesha, Who Smiles at Death with Champion as she does miss being able to bring a lot of Warriors back. Or if you just play in a very heavy mass creature removal meta, just look to add it additionally.
Obsidian Battle-Axe is a good source of haste for Warriors. Even better, it can attach to the Warrior tokens when they enter the battlefield. And considering both the Axe and Warstorm Surge can trigger for each Warrior token, you can easily end up dealing huge amounts of damage each swing.
If you ended up being a little more equipment centric then there is a few additional that could make a potent deck. Sigarda's Aid and Hammer of Nazahn can also help negate initial equip costs. Auriok Steelshaper is super interesting with Skullclamp in a mass 1/1 tokens deck. You could really setup a big draw engine if you wanted to go that way.
Furthermore, Arcane Adaptation can turn your non-Warrior creatures into Warriors. Swinging with a 6/5 Glorybringer that just did 6 damage to something, gets to do another 4, and then generates a 1/1 which becomes a 3/2 and deals 3 can be pretty back-breaking. Blade of Selves adds more ETB opportunities. And if ETB effects become a major focus of your deck, Panharmonicon might be worth it.
I was keeping one-eye on Arcane Adaptation, just in case there was some vast need to play non-Warriors, but so far no need. Check out my Zur the Enchanter - Rebels Toolbox Control deck, I basically built around it, very powerful in certain decks.
Metallic Mimic ability to give +1/+1 counters is actually very relevant in my deck configuration, as it provide the needed evasion with Herald of Secret Streams. Let me think more about this guy Door of Destinies is similar but just the mana cost little high, and it only gets counters on Door when "cast" so is this limits the card a bit as well.
I personally don't think so, I consider them "more winning" cards, plus I think you'd want buffers to your creatures, so that they survive attacks, rather than these.
Cryptic Gateway can be a good way to cheat out Warriors, though it doesn't play well with the Door.
Now this is interesting. My gut feeling is that this card at least needs to be tested. If you have the bigger is better version of a more Warriors, then this should be included 100%.
If you ended up being a little more equipment centric then there is a few additional that could make a potent deck. Sigarda's Aid and Hammer of Nazahn can also help negate initial equip costs. Auriok Steelshaper is super interesting with Skullclamp in a mass 1/1 tokens deck. You could really setup a big draw engine if you wanted to go that way.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I have never actually seen Stone Haven Outfitter before, and I play a few equipment based decks, so will have to look at potentially adding it to those.
How did we miss food chain?! Works in a similar way to the other attack based enchantments and can generate any colour combinations.
I’m thinking of pairing this with impact tremors
You can only use it to cast creatures, so can't use it for her additional attack abilities. But I mean it can be used to simply turn your 1/1 tokens into your Warrior creatures in hand, so it's not nothing.
I've been doing a head count for Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and she has been getting a little worse as I've been cutting cards. She just not that impactful in the current deck setup, but I do love her as a card. Sorry gal.
might be useful (the last two for people who don't have $3,000 to spend on ABRU duals).
The mana base I've listed is $4,113. I'm super into having access to land types for fetch lands, it's the most flexible way to make sure you fix your colors early. You have that much more control of how you sequence out your turns.
However this deck is mostly Green and White. So you can skew your mana that way and come up with a much more budget version.
The other thing is that a lot of the expensive cards can be replaced. The only exception to expensive cards that are part of the combo are: Phyrexian Altar $55 and Sword of Feast and Famine $32.
Current configuration breakdown of colors:
30 cards with Green
21 cards with White
7 cards with Red
7 cards with Blue
2 cards with Black
So for a budget version fixing is not that important so much for actually casting spells, as long as your Green and White is good. The only time the total mana rainbow is important is for when you're wanting to use Najeela ability.
So a budget version can remove black, and even reduce blue if you're not so worried about the competitive nature of needing counterspells.
You lose your ability to search for your combo cards more, but there is a lot of paths to victory in this deck, so it's not super important to find particular pieces in more causal games. Like you will draw into them, if people are not winning on Turn 4 type thing.
Then you can run a few more of the tribal stuff, and land ramp as well, to help mana fixing and mana curves, as most of the cheap artifact mana is gone as well. It means slowing down the potential for infinite off-the-gate, but creates a more balanced longer game, which actually often ends up being a better strategy. As I often find it's the first person to try and combo who gets stopped first.
I'll need to think about the land base exactly for a budgeted version, but it will mean including some land tutors for the reasons I explained above, probably put in some of the more fun tribal stuff and some land ramp/fixing.
I'll post a budgeted version when I have it all more thought about.
[EDIT]
I've update the original post with some budget considerations.
Thoughts on reconnaissance?
Still triggers Najeela's ability to throw out warriors, can pull out creatures from being blocked and killed, and also allows them to tap to cryptolith rite.
It's going into mine!
Oh yeah this is perfect!! It does remove them from combat, so if you use Reconnaissance before you've used Najeela those creatures won't get the haste. So It's important to use Najeela ability first (maybe with land base) before you use Reconnaissance, so that they get the haste until end of turn, then you can use those creatures for further combat.
You get a trigger off every creature, so lets say you attacked with 5 creatures, making 10 attacking creatures, then you'd get 10 +1/+1 counters on each creature. The +1/+1 counters are relevant to Herald of Secret Streams. Then if you do another attack with only a few casualties, so say you attack with 8 creatures second time, that would be 16 lifelink triggers you'd get, so in theory in one turn you might have something like 16 x 27/27 Warrior tokens.
I spent the last couple of days researching everything to do with Token creature buffs and support, as I wanted to add a resource section "Tokens" to help people gather information quickly, listing any relevant cards for creature token strategies.
It was quite the revelation for myself. Ultimately if you do the math on these things you soon figure out that you only need to have one additional attack to make some of these cards create enough power to kill opponents. Najeela, the Blade-Blossom really is absurd.
When I first started tackling her, on was focused on the infinites. But actually if you do the math, you only really need to activate her ability like 4 times to produce enough power to kill four opponents, that's if they are 1/1s.
So I've basically cut down on some of the evasion, for simply going over-the-top with creature buffs. If you've already read the original post prior to now, then please read the section "Going wide, but also going BIG!!".
I also found another card that works with Cryptolith Rite, Song of Freyalise, with Curse of Bounty. You might be thinking well that only works for as long as you are attacking that particular player, but after only literally a few attacks you will have enough creatures to pay for the activations as many times as you need to kill the other players. I have not added it to the deck, as it does only combo with those particular cards, and infinite is not really so important to winning.
Storm the Vault doesn't work well because it says: one or more creatures, so you will get only one treasure.
The Song of Freyalise/Cryptolith Rite combo works still without vigilance if you have 5 attacking creatures and WUBRG: Attack with all 5 creatures, activate Najeela's ability wich will untap your attackers so they can be tapped for mana to activate her ability again.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I apologize for my English, it's not my main language.
Storm the Vault doesn't work well because it says: one or more creatures, so you will get only one treasure.
The Song of Freyalise/Cryptolith Rite combo works still without vigilance if you have 5 attacking creatures and WUBRG: Attack with all 5 creatures, activate Najeela's ability wich will untap your attackers so they can be tapped for mana to activate her ability again.
You're right. I looked up the oracle rulings and you can get multiple triggers if you damage multiple opponents, but that's just way too inconsistant, and I've thought about cutting Storm the Vault anyway, as the UR requirements were a little off the rest of the decks color pie, and just generally the weakest of the combo requirements, needing unblocked creatures.
I do explain that you don't need the vigilance in the primer, the secret is if you can not have 5 creatures killed each attack, i.e. you get to attack with 5 creatures each new combat round. But vigilance can make it easier for needing required number of creatures.
But I have rearranged the sections, so this should be clearer now.
Song of Freyalise also has issues because it only affects the creatures in play when it gets it's counter. Kindred discovery is a forced draw which is why I'm not running it in my multiplayer list.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
As humans, we have a tendency to cling to ideologies. Any positive set of beliefs can quickly turn malevolent once treated as ideology and not an honest intellectual or experiential pursuit of greater truth. Ideology does in entire economic systems and countries, causes religions to massacre thousands, turns human rights movements into authoritarian sects and makes fools out of humanity’s most brilliant minds. Einstein famously wasted the second half of his career trying to calculate a cosmological constant that didn’t exist because “God doesn’t play dice.”
I have two deck lists here, one is to demonstrate lots of elements around playing this commander with infinite combos and synergistic Warrior and token themes.
The other is a win-fast low costing deck that aims to cast small Warriors to build up armies fast and then protect them with counterspell magic.
About this commander
First of all it's a 5 color general. No limit to what you can play. Nice.
So Warrior type does matter. The more Warriors you have attacking the more 1/1 Warriors you will get.
They potentially double up the amount of Warriors each attack. The thing is that every time another Warrior token is created, that token can also generate another Warrior token when it attacks.
Let's do the math if Najeela, the Blade-Blossom was the only Warrior to attack initially. Let's say we do 2 attacks per turn, for the next 4 turns. That is 8 attacks total. If none of the creatures were to be killed that would be 128 Warriors in total. If we got another turn but say had 3 attacks in that turn because we had 10 mana to spend on her additional attack ability, then that would be 1024 Warriors. Math is great.
There is also a lot going on here, and it can be a little confusing at first.
Creatures are "attacking" until the end of the combat phase, so you can activate this anytime until everybody passes priority at the end of combat phase. Note that "attacks" and "attacking" are two different things, and it pays to notice these terms when reading cards.
This ability can be done not only in your combat phase, but also in an opponents turn, or as Battlebond was designed for your team mates. So there is an interesting potential twist with politics in those desperate times of need.
Right so the creatures that are attacking gain trample, lifelink, and haste. The haste is important because any 1/1 Warrior tokens that were generated, get to attack again during additional combat phases.
The idea of 1/1 tramplers is not so scary, but I will show you how you can easily make your Warriors have huge power with little effort. Trample makes it impossible for your opponents to survive your attacks.
Lifelink is always a welcome bonus.
Infinite attacks, because why not?
I'm a combo enthusiast so of course I'm interested in breaking down as many combinations of going infinite with Najeela.
If you have 5 lands in play that can produce WUBRG, then Sword of Feast and Famine, Bear Umbra and Nature's Will, along with a creature that has evasion, will allow you to have infinite mana, to keep using the additional attack ability.
If you can get 5 Warriors to attack and have 5 of them not killed/unblocked (remember that will be 10 attacking), then Druids' Repository, Phyrexian Altar, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise will also allow you to produce the required WUBRG every combat phase, meaning infinite attacks.
The 5 attacking Warriors will produce 5 more Warriors tokens that are attacking. So you will have 10 attacking creatures.
It must be noted that for Druids' Repository must be when a creature "attacks", which is different to attacking. However you still have 5 counters on the enchantment. Phyrexian Altar allows you to sacrifice the ones that do get blocked.
As long as 5 of those creatures are not killed, then you get to untap your remaining creatures and have an additional combat phase. Repeat ad infinitum.
Now I'm going to show you how it's even easier than that. What if we attack an opponent with only 2 creatures that can block and kill your creatures?
Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise allow your creatures to tap for mana.
It must be noted that only attacking creatures can untap, so you need a threshold of creatures to be able to get infinite.
Obviously you need to tap at least 5 creatures to get WUBRG. Once again the easiest way is to have 5 Warrior tokens that will not be killed. But it's not imperative in all cases. It depends on how much additional mana you have and what your opponents are able to block with.
Vigilance gets around any need for thresholds with Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise, as long as your creatures are not being killed. Aven Wind Guide is a flagship card in your 99, as it gives both evasion and vigilance.
The thing is that you can easily use the weakest opponent, that is the person with the least blockers or smallest creatures, to set up the threshold for infinite, and you really don't need to start with many Warriors, a handful. As long as one opponent can't block all your creatures and you have some surplus mana to use her additional attack ability, then you can get to an outnumbering attackers to blockers, which means that the rest of your opponents can't do anything about it once you get to them, as you will have a number that they simply can't block them all.
Going wide, but also going BIG!!
Subsequently after adding a section "Tokens" and looking up as many token buff cards that I could find, the results is that there are some amazing ways to really increase the power and toughness of your creatures, for relatively low mana costs. All really due to the nature of getting multiple attacks in a turn.
I know I've concentrated on showing you infinites, but it's important to note that "infinite" with Najeela is actually only a case of something like 4 or 5 activation's. Lets say you start with 4 attackers, thats 8 attacking. Let's double that each time 16, 32, 64, 128. That's actually only 4 activation's to probably kill everybody, and that's only if they are 1/1s.
We have some premium cards for making our creatures get larger, much larger.
Bramblewood Paragon, Metallic Mimic, Chief of the Edge, Honored Crop-Captain are Warriors who will help to buff up the troupes. Path of Discovery is amazing for drawing your lands, and if you really want to make sure all your creatures get the +1/+1 counter you can just keep putting the same non-land card on top. But you can filter through your whole deck if necessary with this card very quickly.
Shared Animosity will hit insanely hard, as the effect lasts until end of turn.
Cathars' Crusade is similar, but all the creature get the bonus, and buff their toughness, and they are counters so stay forever.
Valor in Akros works the same as Cathars' Crusade but it's not counters, so the effect lasts until end of turn, but as I've shown you probably won't be require a second main phase anyway, lol.
Although these cards are nice additional buffers, they don't give +1/+1 counters, or until end of turn effects, like the ones I've included. If an opponent has removal for cards like Beastmaster Ascension, they can wait for combat and set you up to potentially get blown out.
The art of stealth warfare
I've shown you how you can make your creature huge, but you can also go with unblockable if you don't have a buffing card resolve. Not having your creatures killed is important, because if all your opponents have built up a sizable blocking force then you want your troupes to remain on the battlefield. A lot of games will not be about getting infinite, but just gaining value over a few turns. Amassing armies naturally is a fine plan, and put's your opponents under serious pressure.
Also unblocked creatures are important for Sword of Feast and Famine, Bear Umbra, Nature's Will, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, combos to work.
I have a number of these in the deck and most of them are Warriors: Champion of Lambholt, Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist, Aven Wind Guide.
Also Reconnaissance is a cheap card that allows them to avoid dying. Feels good to attack with impunity.
What are some of the other ways to get infinite attacks?
Grand Warlord Radha and Orochi Leafcaller, along with at least 3 other creatures, can potentially do it.
It must be noted that even without the Orochi Leafcaller, you can still gain a lot of mana and potential attacks from Grand Warlord Radha. Even though you can only get G or R, you can still spend your other mana to pay for the other WUB.
Let's say it was just Grand Warlord Radha and Najeela, the Blade-Blossom attacking in the first stage. That's only GR, but you have 4 Warriors attacking. Next attack you will get 8 warriors attacking for an additional GGRR. Then the third attack, you will get 16 attacking, with an extra GGGGRRRR (or whatever combination you want). That's a lot of value for not having to setup much. I believe you will have 10 mana to spend in your second main phase.
You can see why attacking protection/evasion is good in the deck, as it really allows you to double up on your tokens rapidly.
Rounding out the deck
The fact that it's a 5 color deck, means that we can round it out with some powerful spells, like cards that can search for your important cards, some select disruption, card draw and additional mana.
These can be fairly flexible, altered according to your meta or play style.
Pillow fort problems?
Doesn't pillow fort cards like Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Collective Restraint completely shut you down?
Actually because your Warrior tokens that are produced are "attacking" you don't have to pay the tax at all. You just build up your armies on the players who don't have these cards, and on the final swing do lethal to the pillow fort player with "attacking" creatures.
Pillow fort has always been a bad strategy, but Najeela is actually making these cards obsolete. Trust me, I've wiped out every opponent who has played these type of cards.
1 Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
Infinite attack enablers (11)
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Druids' Repository
1 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Bear Umbra
1 Nature's Will
1 Grand Warlord Radha
1 Orochi Leafcaller
1 Cryptolith Rite
1 Song of Freyalise
1 Reconnaissance
Small-ball Warriors (10)
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Mardu Woe-Reaper
1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
1 Blood-Chin Rager
1 Mindblade Render
1 Radha, Heir to Keld
1 Bramblewood Paragon
1 Metallic Mimic
1 Chief of the Edge
1 Honored Crop-Captain
Evasion Warriors (3)
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
1 Aven Wind Guide
Enchantment Counters and Buffs (6)
1 Shared Animosity
1 Path of Discovery
1 Valor in Akros
1 Raiders' Spoils
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Cathars' Crusade
Non-warrior creatures (4)
1 Mother of Runes
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Captain Sisay
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Stonehewer Giant
Artifacts (6)
1 Mox Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightning Greaves
Utility Enchantments (6)
1 Steely Resolve
1 Sylvan Library
1 Aura Shards
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
1 Kindred Discovery
1 Mirari's Wake
Instants (12)
1 Pact of Negation
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Nature's Claim
1 Swan Song
1 Arcane Denial
1 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Delay
1 Unified Will
1 Mana Drain
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Beast Within
Land (34)
1 Command Tower
1 Path of Ancestry
1 City of Brass
1 Mana Confluence
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Taiga
1 Stomping Ground
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Tundra
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plateau
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scrubland
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Underground Sea
1 Arid Mesa
1 Flooded Strand
1 Marsh Flats
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
Win-Fast One Drop Deck
The deck has 22 one casting Warriors. So you have a 88% chance of playing a Turn 1 Warrior, likely followed by a Turn 2 Warrior as well. This is literally based without any mulligans, so your odds are increased with mulls.
Also with 5 two casting Warriors you have 95% chance of casting at least one Warrior by Turn 2.
Then you cast Najeela on Turn 2 (if get mana accelerate) or 3 and can start to wrack up your Warriors by simply doubling them each turn. Aiming to win around Turn 6-7.
The deck has a lot of cheap counter magic and protection to protect Najeela and your army of Warriors.
With the chosen Warriors for the one-drops, the "strength" of the stats or abilities isn't actually that important. What I've found is that it's most important to keep your mana base and color-costing of the Warriors so that you should always have the option of casting them on the first and second turns. So with this in mind the Warriors are mainly green, red and blue.
Even then I've kept it to mainly green, as this has the most one-costing Warriors.
It is an extremely all-in deck. Essentially you are hoping to fade a board wipe of some kind, especially on the turn you cast Najeela. If you get to untap, then normally you go into counterspell mode, ready to stop the spells which remove your army.
I'll add more details to this build in the coming days but it's a deck that I've been winning with a lot. This is an extremely competitive deck.
Thanks to user albus_severus1511 for brainstorming the idea.
1 Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
One-drops (22)
1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
1 Proven Combatant
1 Tidal Warrior
1 Flameblade Adept
1 Goblin Balloon Brigade
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Zurgo Bellstriker
1 Elvish Handservant
1 Elvish Skysweeper
1 Glistener Elf
1 Hero of Leina Tower
1 Jungle Delver
1 Jorga Warcaller
1 Kin-Tree Warden
1 Narnam Renegade
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Scuzzback Scrapper
1 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
1 Sunblade Elf
1 Tattermunge Maniac
1 Twinblade Slasher
1 Wild Nacatl
Two-drops (5)
1 Mindblade Render
1 Bramblewood Paragon
1 Metallic Mimic
1 Blood-Chin Rager
1 Radha, Heir to Keld
Non-Warrior Two drops
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Selfless Spirit
Non-Warrior Three drops
1 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Draw (5)
1 Windfall
1 Timetwister
1 Day's Undoing
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
Artifacts (6)
1 Mana Crypt
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Amber
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightning Greaves
Disruption and protection (20)
1 Pact of Negation
1 Mental Misstep
1 Swan Song
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Dispel
1 Flusterstorm
1 Spell Pierce
1 Unified Will
1 Arcane Denial
1 Negate
1 Delay
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Counterspell
1 Mana Drain
1 Izzet Charm
1 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Apostle's Blessing
1 Mizzium Skin
Enchantment (3)
1 Steely Resolve
1 Sylvan Library
1 Druids' Repository
Lands (32)
1 Command Tower
1 Mana Confluence
1 City of Brass
1 Tarnished Citadel
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Thran Quarry
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Unclaimed Territory
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
1 Stomping Ground
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Bayou
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Steam Vents
1 Arid Mesa
1 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
But also it's important to note that "infinite" with Najeela is actually a case of something like 4 or 5 activation's. Lets say you start with 4 attackers, so that 8 attacking. Let's double that each time 16, 32, 64, 128. That's actually only 4 activation's to probably kill everybody.
It might be that you are just looking to overwhelm people with a certain amount of activation's over the course of a few turns, and wanting more like buffer effect for style points, and also instead of evasion, like in my list, you want to show your Warrior prowess by simply plowing through everything.
Well you do have a plethora of options as you have all 5 colors to choose from. I've started to collate a list of relevant cards for this strategy. I've specifically only listed some of the premium effects that give +1/+1 to your creatures, as there are hundreds of these, and we really should be looking to do more powerful effects. Also concentrated on state-based effects, as things like instants and sorceries are don't apply to all the creatures during the course attacks, as it only will effect creatures at the time of casting. So all the newly generated tokens will not benefit. Spending mana during combat is also a consideration as you really want to use it on her WUBRG, so I've limit it to cards that don't require mana activation's (unless premium), as we have to realistic about it.
1 Valor in Akros
1 Marshal's Anthem
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Dictate of Heliod
1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Collective Effort
1 Tah-Crop Elite
Green
1 Beastmaster Ascension
1 Triumph of the Hordes
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Baru, Fist of Krosa
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Vigor
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Cultivator of Blades
1 Curse of Predation
1 Bloodspore Thrinax
1 Pathbreaker Ibex
1 Shared Animosity
1 Márton Stromgald
1 Lovisa Coldeyes
1 In the Web of War
1 Trueheart Twins
1 Ogre Battledriver
Black
1 Ambuscade Shaman
Artifacts
1 Konda's Banner
1 Sword of the Paruns
1 Coat of Arms
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Caged Sun
Multi-color
1 Fervent Charge
1 Master Biomancer
1 Sigil Captain
1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
1 Maw of the Obzedat
1 Collective Blessing
1 Gleam of Battle
1 Shaman of the Great Hunt
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Gavony Township
1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
I've categorized a bunch of cards that can help you in your general strategies with so much Token generation created by Najeela. There is certainly a lot of directions you could take a deck.
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Fecundity
1 Skullmulcher
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Coastal Piracy
1 Bident of Thassa
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Slate of Ancestry
1 Tishana, Voice of Thunder
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Kindred Discovery
1 Biomantic Mastery
1 Overwhelming Instinct
1 Collective Unconscious
1 Raiders' Spoils
1 Minions' Murmurs
Mana
1 Earthcraft
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Citanul Hierophants
1 Perilous Forays
1 Battle Hymn
1 Black market
Additional tokens
1 Anointed Procession
1 Parallel Lives
1 Doubling Season
1 Second Harvest
1 Growing Ranks
Stax or removal
1 Opposition
1 Glare of Subdual
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Martyr's Bond
1 Tangle Wire
1 Smokestack
1 Descent into Madness
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Impact Tremors
1 Raid Bombardment
1 Flame Fusillade
1 Hellrider
1 Kyren Negotiations
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Brawl
1 Burn at the Stake
1 Furystoke Giant
1 Magmaw
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Blood Artist
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Harsh Sustenance
1 Campaign of Vengeance
Transforming
1 Polymorph
1 Cultural Exchange
1 Mass Polymorph
1 Warp World
1 Kindred Summons
1 Mirrorweave
1 Synthetic Destiny
Stealing
1 Beguiler of Wills
1 Helm of Possession
1 Confusion in the Ranks
Creature kill
1 Attrition
1 Kuon, Ogre Ascendant
1 Death Match
1 Grave Pact
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 The Abyss
1 Call to the Grave
1 Hour of Reckoning
1 Orc Sureshot
1 Mind Slash
1 Larceny
1 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Corpse Traders
Protection
1 Dolmen Gate
1 Iroas, God of Victory
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
1 Emmara Tandris
1 Fanatical Devotion
Other
1 Quest for Renewal
1 Epic Struggle
1 Benefactor's Draught
Lands
1 Grim Backwoods
1 Windbrisk Heights
But it might be that you are wanting to go much deeper into the tribal theme. There are currently 659 Warriors in Magic, so I've selected some Warrior specific cards that I consider might be commander playable and categorized them as best as possible.
1 Ambassador Oak
1 Anthousa, Setessan Hero
1 Blaring Recruiter
1 Hazezon Tamar
1 Herald of Anafenza
1 Jedit Ojanen of Efrava
1 Mardu Strike Leader
1 Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
1 Oketra the True
1 Oketra's Monument
1 Presence of Gond
1 Rally the Horde
1 Regna, the Redeemer
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Secure the Wastes
1 Steward of Solidarity
1 Sylvan Offering
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Creature Buffs
1 Blaring Captain
1 Bramblewood Paragon
1 Chief of the Edge
1 Chief of the Scale
1 Lovisa Coldeyes
1 Obsidian Battle-Axe
1 Tolsimir Wolfblood
1 Trueheart Twins
1 Unstoppable Ash
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Goblin Wardriver
1 Honored Crop-Captain
1 Inner-Flame Igniter
1 Jacques le Vert
1 Jazal Goldmane
1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
1 Ogre Battledriver
1 Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
1 Reckless Bushwhacker
Combat
1 Arashin Foremost
1 Aurora Champion
1 Blood-Chin Rager
1 Boldwyr Intimidator
1 Rushblade Commander
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Ahn-Crop Champion
1 Ahn-Crop Crasher
1 Archetype of Aggression
1 Aven Wind Guide
1 Bloodlust Inciter
1 Bloodmark Mentor
1 Bola Warrior
1 Brutal Hordechief
1 Carnage Gladiator
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Champion of Rhonas
1 Combat Celebrant
1 Goblin Rimerunner
1 Greenhilt Trainee
1 Herald of Dromoka
1 Herald of Secret Streams
1 Khenra Charioteer
1 Kjeldoran Warrior
1 Madrush Cyclops
1 Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
1 Nacatl Hunt-Pride
1 Nacatl War-Pride
1 Samut, Voice of Dissent
1 Soulblade Corrupter
1 Stonehoof Chieftain
1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
1 Tuskguard Captain
Draw
1 Blood-Chin Fanatic
1 Mindblade Render
1 Raiders' Spoils
1 Academy Raider
1 Azra Oddsmaker
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Keldon Raider
1 Moriok Replica
1 Whirlpool Warrior
Mana
1 Brighthearth Banneret
1 Grand Warlord Radha
1 Neheb, the Eternal
1 Radha, Heir to Keld
Damage
1 Ash Zealot
1 Barrage Ogre
1 Bloodshot Trainee
1 Brion Stoutarm
1 Chakram Slinger
1 Cyclops Gladiator
1 Embraal Gear-Smasher
1 Furystoke Giant
1 Goblin Artillery
1 Goblin Bangchuckers
1 Goblin Chainwhirler
1 Goblin Fireslinger
1 Goblin Kaboomist
1 Goblin Razerunners
1 Graveblade Marauder
1 Hammerfist Giant
1 Hatchet Bully
1 Hellhole Flailer
1 Jeska, Warrior Adept
1 Lobber Crew
1 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Orcish Artillery
1 Orcish Cannoneers
1 Orcish Vandal
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
1 Thrasher Brute
1 Tymaret, the Murder King
1 Warfire Javelineer
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher
Counters
1 Daghatar the Adamant
1 Dragonscale General
1 Ezuri, Claw of Progress
1 Ivy Lane Denizen
1 Maulfist Revolutionary
1 Petrified Wood-Kin
1 Reyhan, Last of the Abzan
1 Rubblebelt Raiders
1 Soulblade Renewer
1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Creature kill
1 Banewhip Punisher
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Elvish Skysweeper
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Gilt-Leaf Winnower
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
1 Hammerheim Deadeye
1 Hidden Dragonslayer
1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
1 Merciless Executioner
1 Merciless Javelineer
1 Scab-Clan Giant
1 Vhati il-Dal
1 Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
1 Bloodsoaked Champion
1 Carrion Thrash
1 Champion of Stray Souls
1 Den Protector
1 Devoted Crop-Mate
1 Grim Flayer
1 Mardu Woe-Reaper
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Renegade Rallier
1 Sedris, the Traitor King
1 Timely Hordemate
Protection
1 Garna, the Bloodflame
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
Stealing
1 Enthralling Victor
1 Keldon Overseer
1 Ogre Geargrabber
1 Yasova Dragonclaw
1 Zealous Conscripts
Discard
1 Jagged Poppet
1 Lifebane Zombie
1 Rakdos Ringleader
Removal
1 Manic Vandal
1 Viridian Zealot
Equipment
1 Kazuul's Toll Collector
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Vulshok Battlemaster
Other
1 Aysen Crusader
1 Countryside Crusher
1 Dakkon Blackblade
1 Djeru, With Eyes Open
1 Grunn, the Lonely King
1 Hamletback Goliath
1 Ignition Team
1 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Kresh the Bloodbraided
1 Maraxus of Keld
1 Marshdrinker Giant
1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
1 Norin the Wary
1 Ruhan of the Fomori
1 Savage Knuckleblade
1 Shanna, Sisay's Legacy
1 Stingscourger
1 Surrak Dragonclaw
1 Two-Headed Giant
1 Warchief Giant
1 Zurgo Bellstriker
1 Zurgo Helmsmasher
The thing is that the deck is mainly Green and White. So as long as your lands are focused around these colors, then actually casting cards from your hand should be fine.
It's only when it comes to wanting WUBRG for Najeela combat ability that you want to make sure you have the required fixing.
In the budget version we are going to have some focus on getting either Crystal Quarry and Cascading Cataracts. We have some land tutors that can get these in Expedition Map, Sylvan Scrying, Pir's Whim, Hour of Promise.
Further land ramp and mana fixing with the cards, Farseek, Nature's Lore, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, should mean that we have the required mana for WUBRG when the time is right.
The land base is a lot slower than the non-budget, but it's not always about being the fastest to try and combo, as often they can be the first to be stopped.
There are two cards that are part of the infinite combos, Phyrexian Altar $56, Sword of Feast and Famine $32. It would be nice to have these in the deck, but if you can't really afford them, then adding in some extra creature buffs can make up for it.
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Expedition Map
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Pir's Whim
1 Hour of Promise
1 Farseek
1 Nature's Lore
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Anointed Procession
1 Zendikar Resurgent
1 Raiders' Spoils
1 Muddle the Mixture
Land (37)
Five colors
1 Command Tower
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Crystal Quarry
1 Cascading Cataracts
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Krosan Verge
1 Blighted Woodland
Land type
1 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
1 Sheltered Thicket
1 Murmuring Bosk
Bounce lands
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Gruul Turf
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
Needing land type
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Game Trail
1 Fortified Village
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Rith's Grove
1 Darigaaz's Caldera
1 Treva's Ruins
Tri color
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Opulent Palace
1 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Savage Lands
1 Seaside Citadel
Basics
2 Forest
2 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Swamp
- Rhys the Redeemed $25
- Stoneforge Mystic $22
- Captain Sisay $27
- Pact of Negation $12
- Vampiric Tutor $45
- Demonic Tutor $34
- Mana Crypt $110
- Mana Vault $28
- Survival of the Fittest $110
- Sylvan Library $21.0
- Doubling Season $40
- Mana Reflection $30.00
*try to get these cards, but can be replaced.
- Phyrexian Altar $56,
- Sword of Feast and Famine $32.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
The really cool thing about the deck is how the Warriors can be quite evasive, and this works so well attacking in general. Once you put it together it comes out a really synergistic deck. Surprisingly well.
I have no doubt I missing some fundamental card combinations, but that's why I like to list decks online, so that people can fill me in on other cards.
Really looking forward to getting a copy of Najeela, the Blade-Blossom.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
There's also Stonebrow, Krosan Hero to give your team +2/+2 on each additional combat since Najeela gives them trample, although it may not do enough to warrant inclusion over some of the other cards, since it doesn't matter if you're attacking with a 1/1 or something bigger if no one can block your guys and they can attack until your opponents are dead.
I like how low your curve appears to be--looks like most of the deck tops out at 4 or 5 mana.
The nice thing about Aggravated Assault is that it is a little better than Najeela when it comes to the Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise combo, as the creatures don't actually have to be attacking.
The only reason I don't like Stonebrow, Krosan Hero is that it doesn't give the buff on the first attack, meaning that your creatures are still vulnerable.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Pitiless Plunderer does something similar, but requires your guys to die, so you can use him with attacking tokens when the board is kind of clogged. If you have 5 disposable warriors, you could attack, making 5 more, then if the first 5 get blocked, they die and make you 5 treasure=5 mana=new combat. You could keep doing that until the defending player's blockers died from the accumulating combat damage. And if they don't block...you need another sac outlet...ehhhh...
Although Plunderer + Storm the Vault and 5 warriors to attack with makes for a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
The other reason I like it over Plunderer is that enchantments are a little harder to remove, and is one less card to get wrecked by mass creature removal.
Thanks again, will add.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
There are several other mana battery cards that can be combined with a few of the other cards in the list to transmute mana from one color (or colorless) into the WUBRG needed for an extra combat.
As for the deck itself, I feel like it looks a bit light on card draw, ramp, removal, and protection. Obviously, it's important to limit how many colors are being strongly utilized, and it's important to focus on the game plan of having ALL THE COMBATS, but someone at the table is going to try to mess up your game, and you're going to need some answers.
As far as card draw, I'm actually pretty happy that it's probably going to be more of case of deploying cards, rather than needing action.
The Skullclamp is a major source of card draw if needed and there are 5 cards that can get it if necessary.
Protection is always a problem, but there is a lot of redundancy built into the deck, so would never expect the first attempt at infinite to work, and this is OK in my opinion.
I added Mirari's Wake and Xenagos, the Reveler for more mana. It's more the mana I'd like to focus on.
I'm definitely leaning towards more casual and variance play these days. I basically only played Brawl over the last couple of months, because it's much harder to dominate games like commander does. More fun. So not really into making this an answers all type deck. Hence why keeping in a lot of the tribal synergy, which we know is normally more casual play.
You could easily take out Rhys the Redeemed, Steward of Solidarity, Radha, Heir to Keld, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and Samut, Voice of Dissent, for more staple commander cards for disruption if leaning more into competitive play.
I do think the deck can support Pact of Negation with the mana base in pinch. The mana base does lean towards green, so adding Beast Within and Abrupt Decay. Maybe Chain of Vapor and Chaos Warp as additional catch all disruption?
Added
+ Pact of Negation
+ Beast Within
+ Abrupt Decay
+ Mirari's Wake
+ Xenagos, the Reveler
Removed
- Imperial Recruiter
- Fauna Shaman
- Samut, Voice of Dissent
- Anointed Procession
- Parallel Lives
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Stonehoof Chieftain throw in indestructible for what the commander gives so they will never die not to mention he's a warrior
Brutal Hordechiefanother warrior and this will drain defend player like a battery easily
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born I think popping a creature each combat is a big win
Jazal Goldmane warrior version of craterhoof behemoth basicly
Hamletback Goliath you did remember that the fastest growing creature ever is a warrior right?
Champion of Stray Souls hey with all of those tokens you can sac them to bring your creatures back
Furthermore, Arcane Adaptation can turn your non-Warrior creatures into Warriors. Swinging with a 6/5 Glorybringer that just did 6 damage to something, gets to do another 4, and then generates a 1/1 which becomes a 3/2 and deals 3 can be pretty back-breaking. Blade of Selves adds more ETB opportunities. And if ETB effects become a major focus of your deck, Panharmonicon might be worth it.
Add tribal pumps like Adaptive Automaton, Metallic Mimic, Door of Destinies, and Obelisk of Urd and your army will be doing a lot of damage quickly.
Would damage doublers like Gratuitous Violence and Angrath's Marauders be worth considering?
Cryptic Gateway can be a good way to cheat out Warriors, though it doesn't play well with the Door.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
This guy can give you the threshold you need to have X amount of Warriors survive in order to go infinite. It's a shame it's only when "attacks" and not "attacking". Obviously it's the cost of the guy thats the draw back, but if you wanted a much more tribal version of the deck then you could look to go bigger is better and play him over non-warrior evasion like say Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
I was seriously looking at this guy for my initial list, because he also provide evasion. You can decide that all your opponents creatures are going to block a single attacker, forcing through unblockable creatures. However it was the additional mana cost which basically you will never have in addition to Najeela ability for that first attack.
He is a beating. Maybe in a non-infinite more tribal version?
Another card like Brutal Hordechief which will basically make your guys survive the attack, but again just needing the mana is going to mean setting up will be very hard. Of course in non-infinite attacks, he does have the advantage of pump faking out your opponents. Do they block and get blown out by an activation and get all their creatures killed? Plus yes you only need like 10 attacking creatures to kill a couple of opponents. Hmm, I'm thinking this might actually be needed for redundancy in those games where everybody fixates on the infinite, and this guy can just get it done on his own. I'm personally fixated on the WUBRG extra attacks, but it might be that sometimes the 3WW is just better. I'm going to try this guy over the Glorybringer.
If you had a way to redistribute +1/+1 counter this guy could be fun.
This guy is super interesting. At the moment have God-Pharaoh's Gift and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death who can get cards back from graveyard. I think if you ended up with a deck that had more bigger Warriors, then you could look at replacing Alesha, Who Smiles at Death with Champion as she does miss being able to bring a lot of Warriors back. Or if you just play in a very heavy mass creature removal meta, just look to add it additionally.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I was keeping one-eye on Arcane Adaptation, just in case there was some vast need to play non-Warriors, but so far no need. Check out my Zur the Enchanter - Rebels Toolbox Control deck, I basically built around it, very powerful in certain decks.
Metallic Mimic ability to give +1/+1 counters is actually very relevant in my deck configuration, as it provide the needed evasion with Herald of Secret Streams. Let me think more about this guy
I personally don't think so, I consider them "more winning" cards, plus I think you'd want buffers to your creatures, so that they survive attacks, rather than these.
Now this is interesting. My gut feeling is that this card at least needs to be tested. If you have the bigger is better version of a more Warriors, then this should be included 100%.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Oh, hey, don't forget Stone Haven Outfitter, though you might need a sac outlet since your Warriors will be 3/1s. Brion Stoutarm happens to be a capable sac outlet. And if you do go heavy on Equipment, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer is a must.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I have never actually seen Stone Haven Outfitter before, and I play a few equipment based decks, so will have to look at potentially adding it to those.
You can only use it to cast creatures, so can't use it for her additional attack abilities. But I mean it can be used to simply turn your 1/1 tokens into your Warrior creatures in hand, so it's not nothing.
Added
+ Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
+ Jazal Goldmane
Removed
- Glorybringer
- Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
I've been doing a head count for Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and she has been getting a little worse as I've been cutting cards. She just not that impactful in the current deck setup, but I do love her as a card. Sorry gal.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
- Path of Ancestry
- Crystal Quarry
- Cascading Cataracts
might be useful (the last two for people who don't have $3,000 to spend on ABRU duals).However this deck is mostly Green and White. So you can skew your mana that way and come up with a much more budget version.
The other thing is that a lot of the expensive cards can be replaced. The only exception to expensive cards that are part of the combo are: Phyrexian Altar $55 and Sword of Feast and Famine $32.
Current configuration breakdown of colors:
30 cards with Green
21 cards with White
7 cards with Red
7 cards with Blue
2 cards with Black
So for a budget version fixing is not that important so much for actually casting spells, as long as your Green and White is good. The only time the total mana rainbow is important is for when you're wanting to use Najeela ability.
So a budget version can remove black, and even reduce blue if you're not so worried about the competitive nature of needing counterspells.
Then you can lean a lot harder on Crystal Quarry and Cascading Cataracts, and actually run some land tutors, like Expedition Map, Sylvan Scying, Crop Rotation.
For a budgeted version
Remove
Rhys the Redeemed $25
Stoneforge Mystic $22
Captain Sisay $27
Pact of Negation $12
Vampiric Tutor $45
Demonic Tutor $34
Mana Crypt $110
Mana Vault $28.00
Survival of the Fittest $110
You lose your ability to search for your combo cards more, but there is a lot of paths to victory in this deck, so it's not super important to find particular pieces in more causal games. Like you will draw into them, if people are not winning on Turn 4 type thing.
Then it would be nice to still run some of the slightly more cheaper tutors like:
Green Sun's Zenith $7
Eladamri's Call $3.5
Then you can run a few more of the tribal stuff, and land ramp as well, to help mana fixing and mana curves, as most of the cheap artifact mana is gone as well. It means slowing down the potential for infinite off-the-gate, but creates a more balanced longer game, which actually often ends up being a better strategy. As I often find it's the first person to try and combo who gets stopped first.
I'll need to think about the land base exactly for a budgeted version, but it will mean including some land tutors for the reasons I explained above, probably put in some of the more fun tribal stuff and some land ramp/fixing.
I'll post a budgeted version when I have it all more thought about.
[EDIT]
I've update the original post with some budget considerations.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Added
+ Reconnaissance
Remove
- Akroma's Memorial
Yeah wouldn't be too hard to turn on for sure.
Actually I was thinking about Archangel of Thune with the lifelink.
You get a trigger off every creature, so lets say you attacked with 5 creatures, making 10 attacking creatures, then you'd get 10 +1/+1 counters on each creature. The +1/+1 counters are relevant to Herald of Secret Streams. Then if you do another attack with only a few casualties, so say you attack with 8 creatures second time, that would be 16 lifelink triggers you'd get, so in theory in one turn you might have something like 16 x 27/27 Warrior tokens.
You can see that you can make a deck that can really ignore "infinite" and simply just put in cards like Beastmaster Ascension, Archangel of Thune, Coat of Arms, etc to kill pretty quick.
I still like the infinites, because they ultimately lead to mana, which we know is all important in deploying cards. I think that's the strength of this deck, is that often other combos decks have cards that don't do anything on their own. They need other cards to become relevant. But Sword of Feast and Famine, Bear Umbra, Nature's Will, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Druids' Repository, Phyrexian Altar, Storm the Vault, Grand Warlord Radha, Cryptolith Rite, Song of Freyalise, these are all mana producing cards, which makes for a powerful deck.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
It was quite the revelation for myself. Ultimately if you do the math on these things you soon figure out that you only need to have one additional attack to make some of these cards create enough power to kill opponents. Najeela, the Blade-Blossom really is absurd.
When I first started tackling her, on was focused on the infinites. But actually if you do the math, you only really need to activate her ability like 4 times to produce enough power to kill four opponents, that's if they are 1/1s.
So I've basically cut down on some of the evasion, for simply going over-the-top with creature buffs. If you've already read the original post prior to now, then please read the section "Going wide, but also going BIG!!".
So I've made quite a few changes.
Added
+ Shared Animosity
+ Valor in Akros
+ Cathars' Crusade
+ Archangel of Thune
+ Lightning Greaves
+ Mana Reflection
+ Kindred Discovery
+ Doubling Season
+ Parallel Lives
Removed
- Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
- Iroas, God of Victory
- Jazal Goldmane
- Nacatl War-Pride
- Xenagos, the Reveler
- Huatli, Radiant Champion
- God-Pharaoh's Gift
- Helm of the Host
- Survival of the Fittest
I also found another card that works with Cryptolith Rite, Song of Freyalise, with Curse of Bounty. You might be thinking well that only works for as long as you are attacking that particular player, but after only literally a few attacks you will have enough creatures to pay for the activations as many times as you need to kill the other players. I have not added it to the deck, as it does only combo with those particular cards, and infinite is not really so important to winning.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
The Song of Freyalise/Cryptolith Rite combo works still without vigilance if you have 5 attacking creatures and WUBRG: Attack with all 5 creatures, activate Najeela's ability wich will untap your attackers so they can be tapped for mana to activate her ability again.
I do explain that you don't need the vigilance in the primer, the secret is if you can not have 5 creatures killed each attack, i.e. you get to attack with 5 creatures each new combat round. But vigilance can make it easier for needing required number of creatures.
But I have rearranged the sections, so this should be clearer now.
Added
+ Survival of the Fittest
Removed
- Storm the Vault
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Pious Warrior this has ben errated to warrior