Sounds interesting! I've been having great success with Razakats combo in the standard Kaalia shell with Worldgorger combo. I won one of my recent multiplayer games on turn 3 which was as satisfying as it sounds. Most tables don't expect Kaalia to be able to clean kill in multiplayer
White Beast Within and enemy-colored Talismans are crazy hype!
Have you considered Leonin Relic-Warder for the "Razakats" combo in your multiplayer list? I mentioned it in /u/benjameenbear 's primer but here's the relevant excerpt for convenience (original credits to Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit):
Requires 1 creature (Kaalia) and 1WWB (this can be shortcut by 1 if you have two lands and a rock in play).
Cheat in Razaketh off Kaalia. Sacrifice Kaalia or another creature (-2 life). Tutor Leonin Relic-Warder. Cast Leonin Relic-Warder (WW). If you have a mana rock in play, exile it. Otherwise, target something you don't like. Sacrifice the Relic Warder (-2 life). This will either bring your rock back untapped or, if done in response to the ETB trigger, permanently exile the problem card. Tutor Animate Dead. Cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic-Warder (1B). Leonin Relic-Warder enters the battlefield. Target Animate Dead. Animate Dead is exiled, sacrifice trigger goes on stack. Sacrifice the Relic-Warder to return Animate Dead, creating a loop where you can repeatedly tutor for -2 life. Tutor up one of your combos and enough fast mana needed to cast it (-2 life per activation).
In your case you could grab a couple fast mana pieces, Entomb, and Necromancy for WGD combo win; if you have B open then all you need is Entomb with the Relic-Warder trigger on the stack. The main cost would be finding a spot for Leonin Relic-Warder, which I think is a reasonable if unexciting card outside of the combo. Seems like it would be a great fit given that you've already included WGD combo, being able to win from Kaalia + Razaketh with 4 open mana and no cards in hand is pretty powerful!
Not incredibly excited for Sephara, Sky's Blade. The alt cost asks you to forego ~20 points of damage and requires pretty Timmy-esque deck construction. If we're not paying the alt cost then she's basically a weaker redundant version of Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
Vilis, Broker of Blood is poggers though. "B: Draw 2 cards" sounds amazing as we'll often have mana to activate him as soon as he hits the field, and incidentally kills mana dorks/utility creatures as well. Works with Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Vampiric Tutor, all our black card draw, a huge chunk of our manabase - not just fetches but shocks, City of Brass, Hall of the Bandit Lord(!) - you name it. Even provides protection by discouraging creature-based decks from attacking. Busted card and one of the best Kaalia targets in recent memory imo.
However as others have mentioned the Angel/Demon/Dragon count needed is quite high and paying mana for each one is a steep cost. There's a serious question as to whether any deck running baby Kaalia as commander would just be better off with OG Kaalia at the helm. Overall I don't think she will be a better than OG Kaalia but at least offers a potential change of pace.
White Beast Within and enemy-colored Talismans are crazy hype!
Have you considered Leonin Relic-Warder for the "Razakats" combo in your multiplayer list? I mentioned it in /u/benjameenbear 's primer but here's the relevant excerpt for convenience (original credits to Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit):
Requires 1 creature (Kaalia) and 1WWB (this can be shortcut by 1 if you have two lands and a rock in play).
Cheat in Razaketh off Kaalia. Sacrifice Kaalia or another creature (-2 life). Tutor Leonin Relic-Warder. Cast Leonin Relic-Warder (WW). If you have a mana rock in play, exile it. Otherwise, target something you don't like. Sacrifice the Relic Warder (-2 life). This will either bring your rock back untapped or, if done in response to the ETB trigger, permanently exile the problem card. Tutor Animate Dead. Cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic-Warder (1B). Leonin Relic-Warder enters the battlefield. Target Animate Dead. Animate Dead is exiled, sacrifice trigger goes on stack. Sacrifice the Relic-Warder to return Animate Dead, creating a loop where you can repeatedly tutor for -2 life. Tutor up one of your combos and enough fast mana needed to cast it (-2 life per activation).
In your case you could grab a couple fast mana pieces, Entomb, and Necromancy for WGD combo win; if you have B open then all you need is Entomb with the Relic-Warder trigger on the stack. The main cost would be finding a spot for Leonin Relic-Warder, which I think is a reasonable if unexciting card outside of the combo. Seems like it would be a great fit given that you've already included WGD combo, being able to win from Kaalia + Razaketh with 4 open mana and no cards in hand is pretty powerful!
Yeah, your explanation makes a lot of sense. In my playgroup, the most common state I find on T3 is that I am ready to cast Kaalia and at least one other player is ready to counter/remove her. This is where I really aim to play a protection piece as a must-counter-or-remove item (like Stax effects in your group). In this respect Defense Grid and Mana Web add some redundancy, but your point is well taken that these cards can become a liability as the game goes on and I will definitely look to cut these first if they seem excessive or too dangerous. I really like Price of Glory here for the insidious aspect of how it doesn't stop the Mono-U control player from stopping someone else's combo, it just eats their lands while we sit back and grin. Grand Abolisher is definitely the exemplar for these effects as it completely shuts down interaction during our turn and our turn only. Conqueror's Flail (I'm pretty sure you meant this instead of Inquisitor's Flail) has been on my radar as well, I just wish I had more small creatures to equip it to. Part of my reason for running little dorks like Mother of Runes, Weathered Wayfarer, and Devoted Caretaker is as a little experiment to see how often my Defense Grid/Mana Web could be a Flail attached to one of these.
I am currently running Stony Silence in addition to Vandalblast. By Force was next on my list to add but I ultimately couldn't figure out what to cut, maybe some of the spot removal or protection? Meltdown concerns me a bit with respect to killing our own rocks but it would definitely hurt my opponents more. What do you think of Subterranean Tremors? It's a card in Bad_Dog's list that looks interesting, can wipe artifacts for the same cost as overloaded Vandalblast with additional utility in being a mostly one-sided sweeper. Ravages of War is indeed outside of my price range, Boil looks absurd but there is a small element of pride holding me back in addition to knowing that I would definitely draw some groans, especially from my friend who plays exclusively U/X decks including Chain Veil Teferi. But I'm already running Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast, so maybe at this point I might as well fully convert to the anti-U side... I've also considered Ricochet Trap as further tech that isn't *entirely* dead against the occasional non-U deck.
I very rarely don't have a target (or a tutor/draw spell to find one) for my first Kaalia trigger, but I do sometimes run out after putting out one or two targets. My reasoning is that I'd rather have a protected Kaalia with one target on board than a Kaalia that can't stick with 3+ targets in hand. This also has the effect of making Dark Confidant more effective, as 3Drinks mentions in his primer many opponents will expect us to flip Iona/Avacyn all day long when in reality the average CMC of the deck is around 3. I just recently added the Razakats combo though, if drawing the pieces proves to be too clunky then I'll likely replace these to bring the target number up to 18.
What's your reasoning for not running the additional fast mana artifacts, especially Mana Vault and Chrome Mox? Do you find that the extra speed isn't worth the card disadvantage? I know you took out Mox Diamond due to land count and we probably don't have enough artifacts to reliably use Mox Opal.
What are your thoughts on additional Grand Abolisher effects like Defense Grid/Price of Glory/Mana Web in a meta with less fast combo and more control? Stax pieces don't seem to have as much of a lightning-rod effect in my playgroup so I lean towards running more effects to protect against countermagic/removal, along with artifact hate to target U/X control manabases. I have tried Thalia-type effects but didn't find this effective enough for protecting Kaalia. I would like to try out the Rule of Law effects but am similarly concerned that my single spell each-turn will get countered/removed. I should mention that my meta is much less tuned than what you describe, mostly due to budget constraints (rare to see cards acquired for >$20).
Yeah it seems like Razakats combo will be great for your reanimator list as all the combo pieces are already in there aside from Leonin Relic-Warder. Possibility Storm is 5 CMC not 6, but I agree that is still quite expensive in a competitive environment. Thanks for the super detailed response!
First of all, thanks for the great primer and *especially* for organizing by card function and CMC!! I always end up copying deck lists into Excel and sorting like that on my own so the formatting is much appreciated A couple of questions for you:
Have you considered the "Razakats" (Razaketh, the Foulblooded + Leonin Relic-Warder) combo, esp. for your reanimator build? A user by the name of Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit has a great explanation of it:
Requires 1 creature (Kaalia) and 1WWB (this can be shortcut by 1 if you have two lands and a rock in play).
Cheat in Razaketh off Kaalia. Sacrifice Kaalia or another creature (-2 life). Tutor Leonin Relic Warder. Cast Leonin Relic Warder (WW). If you have a mana rock in play, exile it. Otherwise, target something you don't like. Sacrifice the Relic Warder (-2 life). This will either bring your rock back untapped or, if done in response to the ETB trigger, permanently exile the problem card. Tutor Animate Dead. Cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic Warder (1B). Leonin Relic Warder enters the battlefield. Target Animate Dead. Animate Dead is exiled, sacrifice trigger goes on stack. Sacrifice the Relic Warder to return Animate Dead, creating a loop where you can repeatedly tutor for -2 life. Tutor up one of your combos and enough fast mana needed to cast it (-2 life per activation).
In his list (here), Bad_Dog uses Worldgorger Dragon as his combo of choice. I don't like Worldgorger combo for the same reasons you mentioned (super-high risk being the main one), but was considering Bitter Ordeal off of Lotus Petal/Chrome Mox + Dark Ritual as an alternative option. Even without a combo finish though, repeated Vampiric Tutors to your hand from a one-card combo with Kaalia seems too good to pass up. The only real cost is putting Leonin Relic-Warder in the deck, which is a reasonable bear outside of the combo, along with a couple fast mana pieces. I haven't seen this mentioned until recently, so curious what your thoughts are!
Morbid Curiosity seems very high-risk, putting you at a 2-for-1 including a large creature if it gets countered. Disciple of Bolas costs 1 more but doesn't run the 2-for-1 risk as it's on ETB instead of cast. I personally like Read the Bones better than either though and value it similarly to Painful Truths, have you tried it?
Regarding mana rocks in your first list, I noticed the three diamonds are there but not Coldsteel Heart, which is almost strictly better than all of them as far as I can tell. Also, do you feel that these are better than Fellwar Stone which enters untapped? I find it extremely unusual for Fellwar Stone to not produce at least 1 color.
@3Drinks I was looking back through your main list on the front page and I had a couple of questions:
1. In your list you have 6 discard spells Duress, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Tidehollow Sculler, Mind Twist, but in the thread it seems like you favor closer to 8-9 hand disruption pieces. Which number is preferred for non-DC 1v1?
2. Would you make any changes to your removal suite if you were not running Earnest Fellowship? I know you're a big fan of the card, but blue and green are just so predominant in my meta that personally I'd almost always rather just have Mother of Runes for Pongify/Rapid Hybridization/Beast Within.
Thanks for taking the time to maintain this fantastic resource
Quote from Yaugzbob »
Hi there!
Long time reader but first time poster of this thread.
Nice work on Kaalia! I didn't read the 3918 posts (!!) only beginning and last ones (to get some ideas)
I got an EDH multiplayer build of Kaalia, which try not to be too unfriendly whith others. A lot of cards are the same than your build, but of course I removed targeted discard, mass land destruction, most of tutors (I like the more random style of play), and foiled other legendary creature just because of the flavor I try to have in each of my EDH deck.
OK so here's the list, tell me what you are thinking. My only problem I think is too few cards to gain life. More tests will tell
While I'm here I thought I'd offer my opinion as a primarily multiplayer Kaalia player.
1. Mana Rocks: You're at 6 rocks right now, which is a little low. The main 2-cmc rocks I would suggest are Fellwar Stone (amazing with the recent change to Rule #4, now gives you every color off an opponent's City of Brass/Mana Confluence) and Surveyor's Scope (the requirement is easier to meet than you might think, and in multiplayer this is just plain broken). Mind Stone is also decent, but less desirable in this deck due to producing colorless mana, and Jeweled Amulet is worse in multiplayer but still a solid alternative to more risky 0 CMC rocks like Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Lotus Petal. I would aim for 8-9 rocks to increase productivity on your early turns, even if you don't plan to rush Kaalia out on turn 3 (sometimes not the best move in multiplayer depending on the game state).
2. Tutors: The only tutor I see in this list is Rune-Scarred Demon, which I feel is a mistake. Tutoring is one of the most powerful actions you can take in a singleton format, and black has access to arguably the best tutors in the game in Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor. If these are out of your budget/too un-casual in your eyes, I would still go for budget options like Beseech the Queen, Diabolic Tutor, Dark Petition, etc. These cards let you find the Kaalia target you want when Kaalia is out, or the removal/boardwipe you need to survive when you're behind.
3. Lifegain: How are you losing life beyond the black draw spells? If you're getting attacked by creatures, I would increase the number of efficient spot removal spells like Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares. These will let you remove threatening creatures while leaving you plenty of mana to take other actions on your turn. Politics will also take you far in saving damage ("Look, I know this Hellkite Tyrant is scary, but if you don't attack me I promise I won't attack you next turn!"). As far as actually gaining life, Archangel of Thune and Baneslayer Angel are efficiently costed beaters with lifegain. The CMC 5 is very valuable as a follow-up play if your 4-mana Kaalia gets removed. I would probably only run one of these (favoring Baneslayer Angel personally), as you'd rather run tutors that can grab these cards or other sources of lifegain (Sword of Light and Shadow, Vault of the Archangel) when you're low on life.
4. Kaalia Targets: Overall, I would reduce the number of targets you're running. You're currently running 22 targets, which I would drop to around 15 in favor of spot removal/tutors. There are also a few notable targets that you aren't running:
Bloodgift Demon: Solid source of card draw and a great political option in multiplayer ("Hey man, if you want to counter that Wrath of God I'll give you an extra draw next turn"). Also sits in the important 5-CMC slot along with Thundermaw Hellkite and Baneslayer Angel. Rakdos the Defiler: The only reason I could see for not running this is that it's too much of a "feel-bad" card, but you're already running Master of Cruelties. Yosei, the Morning Star: You have Sword of Light and Shadow and High Market but you're skipping the piece to complete the lock. He's also a great deterrent from getting attacked. I could understand if Stasis-type effects were considered unfun though.
Of course, these are all just suggestions so feel free to accept or refuse them as you see fit. The most important thing is that YOU like your list and YOU have fun playing with it. I always have a blast playing Kaalia in a heavy combo-control environment even though people say she's not as good in multiplayer, and I hope you arrive at a list that suits your needs!
What's the sweet spot on lands for this? Can Kaalia get away with 35?
No. Absolutely not. In fact, I don't even like playing less than thirty-seven (and would rather be on thirty-eight at the minimum).
Will the main decklist in the first post be updated to reflect this? All of the lists in the first post currently recommend 36 lands, I'm curious where cuts have been made
You're totally right, the Sun Titan brought back an Animate Dead which targeted the Karmic Guide. My mistake, I lost myself in all the card-linking haha. And I feel the same, once you take the G-way there is no going back
I've drawn inspiration from 3drinks for my multiplayer build as well and the list looks quite similar, with the main difference being that I do run flicker effects in favor of some of the utility cards you have.
While I understand that both of these are magical-Christmasland best case scenarios, the flicker spells also double as protection while maintaining the potential for huge value. I rarely find these cards sitting dead in my hand. In the event that I do have Kaalia on the board and no removal is being pointed at her, then I am most likely winning anyways, and the flicker effects serve as a nice backup plan against topdecked removal. I do realize that it is dependent on the speed and amount of removal in your playgroup, so I would definitely consider it a meta call.
Have you tested Surveyor's Scope? I have had little trouble activating it with only 3 fetches in my deck, I imagine that with 7 it should be quite easy. If you hit just one land, then it is already on par with a 2-mana rock in terms of mana production. Any more than that and you are getting huge value.
Hide // Seek is a cool card that I noticed you discussing earlier in the thread. My group has been playing with a lot of annoying artifacts and enchantments lately, so I might try running this in addition to Wear // Tear and Return to Dust.
What do you think of Glen Elendra Archmage? As a 4-drop Wizard with 2 power it seems to fit in perfectly with your deck. With any source of +1/+1 counters (Sage of Fables comes to mind) the ability becomes "U: Counter target noncreature spell" which is pretty insane in my opinion.
Vilis, Broker of Blood is poggers though. "B: Draw 2 cards" sounds amazing as we'll often have mana to activate him as soon as he hits the field, and incidentally kills mana dorks/utility creatures as well. Works with Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Vampiric Tutor, all our black card draw, a huge chunk of our manabase - not just fetches but shocks, City of Brass, Hall of the Bandit Lord(!) - you name it. Even provides protection by discouraging creature-based decks from attacking. Busted card and one of the best Kaalia targets in recent memory imo.
However as others have mentioned the Angel/Demon/Dragon count needed is quite high and paying mana for each one is a steep cost. There's a serious question as to whether any deck running baby Kaalia as commander would just be better off with OG Kaalia at the helm. Overall I don't think she will be a better than OG Kaalia but at least offers a potential change of pace.
Have you considered Leonin Relic-Warder for the "Razakats" combo in your multiplayer list? I mentioned it in /u/benjameenbear 's primer but here's the relevant excerpt for convenience (original credits to Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit):
In your case you could grab a couple fast mana pieces, Entomb, and Necromancy for WGD combo win; if you have B open then all you need is Entomb with the Relic-Warder trigger on the stack. The main cost would be finding a spot for Leonin Relic-Warder, which I think is a reasonable if unexciting card outside of the combo. Seems like it would be a great fit given that you've already included WGD combo, being able to win from Kaalia + Razaketh with 4 open mana and no cards in hand is pretty powerful!
I am currently running Stony Silence in addition to Vandalblast. By Force was next on my list to add but I ultimately couldn't figure out what to cut, maybe some of the spot removal or protection? Meltdown concerns me a bit with respect to killing our own rocks but it would definitely hurt my opponents more. What do you think of Subterranean Tremors? It's a card in Bad_Dog's list that looks interesting, can wipe artifacts for the same cost as overloaded Vandalblast with additional utility in being a mostly one-sided sweeper. Ravages of War is indeed outside of my price range, Boil looks absurd but there is a small element of pride holding me back in addition to knowing that I would definitely draw some groans, especially from my friend who plays exclusively U/X decks including Chain Veil Teferi. But I'm already running Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast, so maybe at this point I might as well fully convert to the anti-U side... I've also considered Ricochet Trap as further tech that isn't *entirely* dead against the occasional non-U deck.
I very rarely don't have a target (or a tutor/draw spell to find one) for my first Kaalia trigger, but I do sometimes run out after putting out one or two targets. My reasoning is that I'd rather have a protected Kaalia with one target on board than a Kaalia that can't stick with 3+ targets in hand. This also has the effect of making Dark Confidant more effective, as 3Drinks mentions in his primer many opponents will expect us to flip Iona/Avacyn all day long when in reality the average CMC of the deck is around 3. I just recently added the Razakats combo though, if drawing the pieces proves to be too clunky then I'll likely replace these to bring the target number up to 18.
What's your reasoning for not running the additional fast mana artifacts, especially Mana Vault and Chrome Mox? Do you find that the extra speed isn't worth the card disadvantage? I know you took out Mox Diamond due to land count and we probably don't have enough artifacts to reliably use Mox Opal.
Here is my current list for reference: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/dracaryxs-kaalia/?cb=1543356931
Have you considered the "Razakats" (Razaketh, the Foulblooded + Leonin Relic-Warder) combo, esp. for your reanimator build? A user by the name of Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit has a great explanation of it:
In his list (here), Bad_Dog uses Worldgorger Dragon as his combo of choice. I don't like Worldgorger combo for the same reasons you mentioned (super-high risk being the main one), but was considering Bitter Ordeal off of Lotus Petal/Chrome Mox + Dark Ritual as an alternative option. Even without a combo finish though, repeated Vampiric Tutors to your hand from a one-card combo with Kaalia seems too good to pass up. The only real cost is putting Leonin Relic-Warder in the deck, which is a reasonable bear outside of the combo, along with a couple fast mana pieces. I haven't seen this mentioned until recently, so curious what your thoughts are!
Morbid Curiosity seems very high-risk, putting you at a 2-for-1 including a large creature if it gets countered. Disciple of Bolas costs 1 more but doesn't run the 2-for-1 risk as it's on ETB instead of cast. I personally like Read the Bones better than either though and value it similarly to Painful Truths, have you tried it?
Regarding mana rocks in your first list, I noticed the three diamonds are there but not Coldsteel Heart, which is almost strictly better than all of them as far as I can tell. Also, do you feel that these are better than Fellwar Stone which enters untapped? I find it extremely unusual for Fellwar Stone to not produce at least 1 color.
Possibility Storm is a hard lock with Eidolon of Rhetoric/Rule of Law and also a decent, albeit expensive, stax piece on its own.
Thanks again for crafting this fantastic resource!
1. In your list you have 6 discard spells Duress, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Tidehollow Sculler, Mind Twist, but in the thread it seems like you favor closer to 8-9 hand disruption pieces. Which number is preferred for non-DC 1v1?
2. Would you make any changes to your removal suite if you were not running Earnest Fellowship? I know you're a big fan of the card, but blue and green are just so predominant in my meta that personally I'd almost always rather just have Mother of Runes for Pongify/Rapid Hybridization/Beast Within.
3. In your discussion of card draw spells, it seemed like you favored Painful Truths over Read the Bones. Any reason for Read the Bones but not Painful Truths in the main list?
Thanks for taking the time to maintain this fantastic resource
While I'm here I thought I'd offer my opinion as a primarily multiplayer Kaalia player.
1. Mana Rocks: You're at 6 rocks right now, which is a little low. The main 2-cmc rocks I would suggest are Fellwar Stone (amazing with the recent change to Rule #4, now gives you every color off an opponent's City of Brass/Mana Confluence) and Surveyor's Scope (the requirement is easier to meet than you might think, and in multiplayer this is just plain broken). Mind Stone is also decent, but less desirable in this deck due to producing colorless mana, and Jeweled Amulet is worse in multiplayer but still a solid alternative to more risky 0 CMC rocks like Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Lotus Petal. I would aim for 8-9 rocks to increase productivity on your early turns, even if you don't plan to rush Kaalia out on turn 3 (sometimes not the best move in multiplayer depending on the game state).
2. Tutors: The only tutor I see in this list is Rune-Scarred Demon, which I feel is a mistake. Tutoring is one of the most powerful actions you can take in a singleton format, and black has access to arguably the best tutors in the game in Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor. If these are out of your budget/too un-casual in your eyes, I would still go for budget options like Beseech the Queen, Diabolic Tutor, Dark Petition, etc. These cards let you find the Kaalia target you want when Kaalia is out, or the removal/boardwipe you need to survive when you're behind.
3. Lifegain: How are you losing life beyond the black draw spells? If you're getting attacked by creatures, I would increase the number of efficient spot removal spells like Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares. These will let you remove threatening creatures while leaving you plenty of mana to take other actions on your turn. Politics will also take you far in saving damage ("Look, I know this Hellkite Tyrant is scary, but if you don't attack me I promise I won't attack you next turn!"). As far as actually gaining life, Archangel of Thune and Baneslayer Angel are efficiently costed beaters with lifegain. The CMC 5 is very valuable as a follow-up play if your 4-mana Kaalia gets removed. I would probably only run one of these (favoring Baneslayer Angel personally), as you'd rather run tutors that can grab these cards or other sources of lifegain (Sword of Light and Shadow, Vault of the Archangel) when you're low on life.
4. Kaalia Targets: Overall, I would reduce the number of targets you're running. You're currently running 22 targets, which I would drop to around 15 in favor of spot removal/tutors. There are also a few notable targets that you aren't running:
Bloodgift Demon: Solid source of card draw and a great political option in multiplayer ("Hey man, if you want to counter that Wrath of God I'll give you an extra draw next turn"). Also sits in the important 5-CMC slot along with Thundermaw Hellkite and Baneslayer Angel.
Rakdos the Defiler: The only reason I could see for not running this is that it's too much of a "feel-bad" card, but you're already running Master of Cruelties.
Yosei, the Morning Star: You have Sword of Light and Shadow and High Market but you're skipping the piece to complete the lock. He's also a great deterrent from getting attacked. I could understand if Stasis-type effects were considered unfun though.
Of course, these are all just suggestions so feel free to accept or refuse them as you see fit. The most important thing is that YOU like your list and YOU have fun playing with it. I always have a blast playing Kaalia in a heavy combo-control environment even though people say she's not as good in multiplayer, and I hope you arrive at a list that suits your needs!
Will the main decklist in the first post be updated to reflect this? All of the lists in the first post currently recommend 36 lands, I'm curious where cuts have been made
I once had my board wiped with 6 mana open and one card in my hand. On the end step preceding my turn I flashed in Necromancy targeting Sun Titan. The Sun Titan trigger brought back my Karmic Guide, which brought back my Rune-Scarred Demon. The Rune-Scarred Demon searched for Ghostway, which was played immediately. Sun Titan dropped Necromancy and brought it back targeting Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Karmic Guide brought back Grand Abolisher, and Rune-Scarred Demon tutored for Legion's Initiative (for good measure). I untapped and swung for 42 damage behind Grand Abolisher.
In another game, I attempted to Cataclysm with Kaalia out, but she was killed in response leaving me with a land and a Signet. On my next turn, I played Animate Dead on Sun Titan, returning Dance of the Dead targeting Angel of Serenity removing my 3 opponents' Cataclysm-surviving creatures. I then played Cloudshift on Sun Titan, dropping the Animate Dead and bringing it back targeting Sire of Insanity.
While I understand that both of these are magical-Christmasland best case scenarios, the flicker spells also double as protection while maintaining the potential for huge value. I rarely find these cards sitting dead in my hand. In the event that I do have Kaalia on the board and no removal is being pointed at her, then I am most likely winning anyways, and the flicker effects serve as a nice backup plan against topdecked removal. I do realize that it is dependent on the speed and amount of removal in your playgroup, so I would definitely consider it a meta call.
Have you tested Surveyor's Scope? I have had little trouble activating it with only 3 fetches in my deck, I imagine that with 7 it should be quite easy. If you hit just one land, then it is already on par with a 2-mana rock in terms of mana production. Any more than that and you are getting huge value.
Hide // Seek is a cool card that I noticed you discussing earlier in the thread. My group has been playing with a lot of annoying artifacts and enchantments lately, so I might try running this in addition to Wear // Tear and Return to Dust.
Wow, a lot of good finds in there! Did you have some way of searching for those, or were those all off the top of your head?