I don't know how prevalent of a meme it is anymore, but back when I started playing EDH, there was a joke that a good "first EDH deck" was Ashling and 99 Mountains. This deck kind of grew out of that, starting with at least 50 mountains and then slowly becoming less and less land heavy as time went on. Eventually I retired that first iteration of my Ashling deck a few years ago as it was stagnating and moved on to other decks and ideas.
Fast-forward to more recent history and I keep talking about building a new mono-red Commander deck (Ib's meme goblins aside) and just can't quite bring myself to end up building Hazoret or any of the other options I was considering. A few weeks ago it just hit me that if I was reminiscing about the Ashling deck so fondly, I could just resurrect it and rebuild it with 3+ years of new cards available for it, so I did, and this is the result. Rising like a phoenix from its own ashes, I present to you this new version, which I call Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage.
So what does this deck do? Well, the deck focuses around Ashling and maximizing her ability to blow up the world and reap benefits from it. A few of the key ways to do that are by giving her deathtouch and by preventing the damage that she would deal to herself. On top of those, I can give her lifelink to really put myself out of reach of a lot of normal threats. And then there are cards like Scythe of the Wretched which can actively steal everything that Ashling kills, commanders excluded.
Beyond the Ashling-focused strategies, the deck has the usual mono-red focuses of big mana and getting extra cards. Mono-red benefits from having Gauntlet of Power, which is a third mana-boosting rock, though its price has shot up about 500% from when I acquired one for the previous build of the deck. So what do we do with big mana other than pump up Ashling? We cast big spells. Planeswalkers, big artifact creatures, ways to draw even more cards, and of course equipping our equipment.
Speaking of equipment, I wouldn't necessarily call this deck a voltron deck as the pieces aren't there to make Ashling a lethal attacker, but that's a pretty valuable side-benefit as games get longer, though almost any creature in the deck can pick up the gear and benefit from it.
That's about all I can think to say about this deck for now, but I welcome your questions and comments about the list as always.
I also started with 99 mountain Ashling and built from there. Never put it down. Still my favorite EDH deck. I'm currently at close to 60 lands. Ive ran more spells but took a lot back out. I like to dump as much mana into Ashling as possible and only use mana otherwise for essential spells that increase how threatening Ashling is. I put pressure on players early with commander/combat damage from a large Ashling but always have mana open to threaten blowing up the board and doing a lot of damage to players if me or any of my essential permanents are targeted. I play very political. My build is currently more of a rattlesnake / voltron build than a controlling one. I try to finish the game with a big burn spell via comet storm or chandra's ignition.
I like the inclusion of Walking Ballista. Going to pick one up for my deck now. I would highly recommend extraplanar lens & heartstone for your build.
I also started with 99 mountain Ashling and built from there. Never put it down. Still my favorite EDH deck. I'm currently at close to 60 lands. Ive ran more spells but took a lot back out. I like to dump as much mana into Ashling as possible and only use mana otherwise for essential spells that increase how threatening Ashling is. I put pressure on players early with commander/combat damage from a large Ashling but always have mana open to threaten blowing up the board and doing a lot of damage to players if me or any of my essential permanents are targeted. I play very political. My build is currently more of a rattlesnake / voltron build than a controlling one. I try to finish the game with a big burn spell via comet storm or chandra's ignition.
I like the inclusion of Walking Ballista. Going to pick one up for my deck now. I would highly recommend extraplanar lens & heartstone for your build.
Heartstone I might give a try, but I don't like the land disadvantage of Extraplanar Lens. I'm not really in the market for a 4th mana boosting effect anyway. Glad to meet another Ashling afficionado, though
1x Ashling the Pilgrim
Artifact (24)
1x Basilisk Collar
1x Batterskull
1x Caged Sun
1x Champion's Helm
1x Darksteel Plate
1x Endless Atlas
1x Gauntlet of Might
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Gorgon Flail
1x Loxodon Warhammer
1x Magebane Armor
1x Mirage Mirror
1x Mox Opal
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Scythe of the Wretched
1x Sol Ring
1x Staff of Nin
1x Strata Scythe
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Sinew and Steel
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Unstable Obelisk
1x Vedalken Orrery
1x Braid of Fire
1x Outpost Siege
1x Repercussion
1x Tectonic Reformation
1x Vance's Blasting Cannons
Land (38)
1x Blast Zone
1x Buried Ruin
1x Detection Tower
1x Flamekin Village
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Kher Keep
1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
25x Mountain
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Opal Palace
1x Spinerock Knoll
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1x Wasteland
Sorcery (10)
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Burn from Within
1x Chandra's Ignition
1x Disrupt Decorum
1x Hour of Devastation
1x Jaya's Immolating Inferno
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Shenanigans
1x Vandalblast
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Comet Storm
1x Electrodominance
1x Fall of the Titans
1x Temur Battle Rage
Creature (12)
1x Ancient Stone Idol
1x Anger
1x Colossus of Akros
1x Darksteel Juggernaut
1x Hoarding Dragon
1x Kuldotha Phoenix
1x Metalwork Colossus
1x Meteor Golem
1x Neheb, the Eternal
1x Rekindling Phoenix
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Walking Ballista
Planeswalker (6)
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Karn, Scion of Urza
1x Koth of the Hammer
1x Ugin, the Ineffable
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
I don't know how prevalent of a meme it is anymore, but back when I started playing EDH, there was a joke that a good "first EDH deck" was Ashling and 99 Mountains. This deck kind of grew out of that, starting with at least 50 mountains and then slowly becoming less and less land heavy as time went on. Eventually I retired that first iteration of my Ashling deck a few years ago as it was stagnating and moved on to other decks and ideas.
Fast-forward to more recent history and I keep talking about building a new mono-red Commander deck (Ib's meme goblins aside) and just can't quite bring myself to end up building Hazoret or any of the other options I was considering. A few weeks ago it just hit me that if I was reminiscing about the Ashling deck so fondly, I could just resurrect it and rebuild it with 3+ years of new cards available for it, so I did, and this is the result. Rising like a phoenix from its own ashes, I present to you this new version, which I call Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage.
So what does this deck do? Well, the deck focuses around Ashling and maximizing her ability to blow up the world and reap benefits from it. A few of the key ways to do that are by giving her deathtouch and by preventing the damage that she would deal to herself. On top of those, I can give her lifelink to really put myself out of reach of a lot of normal threats. And then there are cards like Scythe of the Wretched which can actively steal everything that Ashling kills, commanders excluded.
Beyond the Ashling-focused strategies, the deck has the usual mono-red focuses of big mana and getting extra cards. Mono-red benefits from having Gauntlet of Power, which is a third mana-boosting rock, though its price has shot up about 500% from when I acquired one for the previous build of the deck. So what do we do with big mana other than pump up Ashling? We cast big spells. Planeswalkers, big artifact creatures, ways to draw even more cards, and of course equipping our equipment.
Speaking of equipment, I wouldn't necessarily call this deck a voltron deck as the pieces aren't there to make Ashling a lethal attacker, but that's a pretty valuable side-benefit as games get longer, though almost any creature in the deck can pick up the gear and benefit from it.
That's about all I can think to say about this deck for now, but I welcome your questions and comments about the list as always.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
I like the inclusion of Walking Ballista. Going to pick one up for my deck now. I would highly recommend extraplanar lens & heartstone for your build.
Heartstone I might give a try, but I don't like the land disadvantage of Extraplanar Lens. I'm not really in the market for a 4th mana boosting effect anyway. Glad to meet another Ashling afficionado, though
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB