Thanks. Yes, they are all done with acrylics. I don't have any videos of me painting, unfortunately. I would like to once I have more time to dedicate to altering. My facebook page (follow the link in my sig) has a bunch of progress pictures and a couple gifs.
Excellent write up. I'm making a hybrid between this and the r/cEDH Breya eggs list.
A couple notes:
You have Ad Nauseam listed in the sorceries.
What are your thoughts on running Grand Architect without pili-pala? He works as a redundant piece with Nim Deathmantle since the thopter tokens are blue as well as Breya.
Your original concept, i.e. gumming up the board off things like Sigil of the Empty Throne and making them fatter, essentially a perfected version of the precon, is a perfectly valid approach by the way. That version tends to spiral out of control pretty quickly if left to its own devices and doesn't even rely on Daxos as heavily as expected. Just saying, in case the change was motivated by nobody else running those cards
One card that I'd definitely recommend is Sword of the Animist. "Aww, how cute, the cute enchantment deck is playing such a cute little artifact, I'll take the 3/3 swinger, sure. *some time later* Wait, how many lands do you have?!" Surprisingly effective in a durdly enchantment shell dedicated to amassing value over time.
I was definitely influenced from your decklist, but the cards that I removed just weren't preforming for me anyway. I can see how the token build could work, but didn't end up fitting my play style.
Haven't had to much time for write-ups, but did a lot of changes on the decklist. After perusing some other Daxos lists, I picked up some good ideas on card inclusions. I bumped up the recursion and upgraded the draw. Still need to pick up an Anguished Unmaking. The deck seems to hold its own with some of the more powerful decks, especially if I have some handy removal early to hold off broken plays.
I'll eventually finish the intro post.
Finally got to play with this a little. Did pretty good and had fun. Four player game against Momir, Animar, and Surrak. The Momir player was having land troubles and the other guys were trying to make sure he couldn't get to much going (they're all friends and know how fast Momir can be). I started pretty slow, but got a Mesa Enchantress on board to get things moving along. My Serra's Sanctum was destroyed, but my hand of three cards was Sun Titan, Angelic Renewal, and Martyr's Cause. I had Doomwake down a turn or two before against a really clogged board, and one land shy of casting the three. Drew a Thespian's Stage off Angelic Renewal and showed the combo wiping the board. To actually pull off the only combo in the deck in my first multiplayer game was fun, but I think I'll be a target the next time we play.
The last thing that springs to mind is Land Tax, one of the better ramp options that white has access to.
Angelic Renewal can save a key creature, or combos with Sun Titan. I have given consideration to Debtors' Knell, and if I can pick up the card, it will probably make it's way in. Martyr's Cause I see more as a sacrifice outlet with exile effects being common. It also fuels the Sun Titan/Angelic Renewal combo.
I completely missed Extiguish All Hope. Auramancer will probably make it in after testing also. Opalescence and Starfield of Nyx kill Heliod's and Daxos' tokens. But if I feel I need more recursion, then I can put them in. If I can pick up Replenish and Academy Rector, they too will go in. Martyr's Bond is another I need to track down. It's like a Gravepact for everything. And again, testing will probably agree with you as far as spot removal goes. Oblivion Ring doesn't do enough for me, as it's only one permament, and they get it back if I lose the o-ring. Grasp of Fate hits every opponent. I've contemplated Darksteel Mutation to hit annoying commanders. And I'm trying to stay away from too much pillowfort. I feel like if I start adding too much, I might as well go pillowfort the whole way.
I was thinking about Greater Auramancy for enchantment protection.
Speaking of Pacifism variants, how about Forced Worship?
Cage of Hands is much better. Costs one more to cast, but it's cheaper to bounce so it kinda evens out. It also stops the creature from blocking. Although neither of them prevent activated abilities like Faith's Fetters (which also hits permanents in general, not just creatures), Prison Term (which can jump around if a more dangerous creature crops up), or Arrest. Forced Worship doesn't rank high on my list since all of those are better and pretty cheap to acquire.
Necrotic Plague might not be all that good, but it's a pet card of mine that I'll be running in my Daxos deck. It's funny and it actually kills the creature. Plus, sometimes I just enjoy creating a little chaos.
There are a couple bounce aura's that I've looked at, with Flickering Ward being the best. After testing I'll see how the ones I have fair. Necrotic Plague would work if I had some way to keep it off my creatures.
They do work against each other, but I think it's fine here. Nuking graveyards repeatedly is awesome so Agent of Erebos needs to stay. Since this deck only has 18 creatures, Nighthowler won't work very well without your opponents' help, but they're very likely to help out in a big way. If you've got the agent and the howler on board at the same time they do work against each other. However, at some point someone will remove the agent and start restocking yards again. Basically what I'm trying to say is that even though the cards do want different things, the conflict is not that bad.
On another note, if you feel that the deck can withstand more colorless-producing lands then Haunted Fengraf is a great piece of hidden value.
This was my first foray into EDH. When the 2015 Commander decks came out, it gave me a good opportunity to get into it.
I decided to try Daxos the Returned for my first commander. I started building it just for fun, but quickly decided to try to get it as competitive as I thought it could. The deck out of the box is fun enough to play, and it doesn't take too much investment to have it hold its own in less competitive groups. Out of the box, the deck runs a little more on tokens. With Sigil of the Empty Throne, Ajani's chosen, and Daxos himself. I saw the potential with Skybind and decided on that direction.
Constellation Creatures
Constellation creatures give you extra utility out of each enchantment you cast. They are especially useful with Daxos's and Heliod's token abilities. If you have multiple constellation creatures out, be sure to stack your abilities properly to get the most value; i.e. If you have Doomwake and Agent of Erebos on the battlefield, trigger the Agent first, then the Doomwake. This will ensure any creatures sent to the graveyard by Doomwake will be exiled by the Agent.
Agent of Erebos - Clears out those pesky graveyards. Important with all the graveyard shenanigans in Commander. Doomwake Giant - Repeatable, one-sided board wipe. Works great with Heliod/Daxos tokens, blinking enchantments, and Sun Titan + Angelic Renewal combo. Thoughtrender Lamia - With the insane card draw that is abundant in Commander, this card can have a huge affect. Grim Guardian - Useful in stalled board situations, or for large chunks of life if you have blinking auras or a good amount of mana for tokens.
Other considerations Underworld Coinsmith - Life gain isn't as great in Commander, but could be useful depending on your playgroup. Harvestguard Alseids - Offers protection for your Commander, but won't help against targeted removal.
Dreadbringer Lampads - Intimidate is the lowest form of evasion, and rather useless in this format.
Bestow Creatures
Bestow creatures can help by coming down early or pumping a creature late game. They are also very effective against wrath effects, as they stay on the board if they were enchanting a creature . Be aware when tutoring or recurring that bestow creatures are only auras when they are on the battlefield enchanting a creature or on the stack cast for their bestow cost. But they are always enchantments. Casting them as Auras will get you a draw off of Kor Spiritdancer as well as Mesa Enchantress.
Celestial Archon - The largest body bestow creature. The flying and first strike, along with the large power boost, can make Daxos threatening.
Ghostblade Eidolon - Double strike makes most of your big threats lethal, but the bestow cost is higher.
Nighthowler - Can get really big against creature heavy decks; but if you have Agent of Erebos out, he'll just really help your enchantment count.
None of the other available bestow creatures are worth the card slot, and even the ones listed are replaceable depending on your meta.
Utility Creatures
The remaining creature slots either synergize with enchantments or provide needed utility. These will depend on your meta and playgroups, but these are the choices that work for me. Aegis of the Gods -Cheap enough creature with a relevant ability for as long as he sticks around, which may not be very long with only 1 toughness. Redundant with Leyline of Sanctity, but I like redundancy.
Ajani's Chosen - If we're going to be putting enchantments into play, this guy's worth putting in. You can amass a pretty large board presence with him.
Celestial Ancient - Buffs your army with each enchantment cast, so no triggers off token generators or Sun Titan fun. But works great with our Flickering Ward type auras.
Heliod, God of the Sun - Indestructible token generator. Oh, and did I mention his tokens are enchantments, triggering contellation and Ajani's Chosen, as well as adding to your enchantment count for Serra's Sanctum.
Heliod's Pilgrim - Aura tutor. Remember that bestow creatures are not auras in your library or graveyard.
Kor Spiritdancer - Good card draw and you can voltron her with auras if you need to. If it were'nt for the blinking auras, I'm not sure she would be worth the slot.
Mesa Enchantress - Solid card draw in an enchantment deck, but a very weak body.
Monk Idealist - Enchantment recursion. He can be blinked with Skybind for good card advantage.
Sun Titan - Best recursion in the deck. I'm never not happy to draw him. Combos with either Angelic Renewal or Gift of Immortality and a sac outlet for constellation triggers.
Academy Rector - This one's simply not in my list because I haven't acquired it yet.
Athreos, God of Passage - An indestructible 5/4 with a recursion ability is nice, but I don't think I have the creature count to warrant his inclusion. If your running a more creature heavy build, he may be worth including.
Enchantments
Blinking Auras and Recursion
These auras can give you massive board and card advantage, depending on your board state. The downside of replayable auras is the sorcery speed nature of replaying them.
Angelic Renewal - Besides the combo with Sun Titan, this card can help keep other valuable creatures from the graveyard.
Angelic Destiny - A huge buff that returns to your hand if you lose the creature. Not as abusable as some of the flickering auras, but still useful.
Brilliant Halo - Small buff that returns to your hand. Probably easily replaced with a better enchantment, but a good budget option.
Conviction - A returnable buff with a minimal activation and casting cost.
A couple notes:
You have Ad Nauseam listed in the sorceries.
What are your thoughts on running Grand Architect without pili-pala? He works as a redundant piece with Nim Deathmantle since the thopter tokens are blue as well as Breya.
1 Daxos the Returned
–¦| Creatures (13) |¦–
1 Academy Rector
1 Agent of Erebos
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Doomwake Giant
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Emeria Shepherd
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Grim Guardian
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Mother of Runes
1 Sun Titan
1 Thoughtrender Lamia
1 Weathered Wayfarer
–¦| Enchantments (24) |¦–
1 Angelic Destiny
1 Angelic Renewal
1 Aura of Silence
1 Black Market
1 Conviction
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Dictate of Erebos
1 Dictate of Heliod
1 Flickering Ward
1 Grasp of Fate
1 Indestructibility
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Martyr's Cause
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Rule of Law
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Seal of Doom
1 Shackles
1 Skybind
1 Soul Snare
1 True Conviction
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Exsanguinate
1 Extinguish All Hope
1 In Garruk's Wake
1 Open the Vaults
1 Plea for Guidance
1 Replenish
1 Rout
1 Toxic Deluge
–¦| Instants (7) |¦–
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Faith's Reward
1 Mortify
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Utter End
–¦| Artifacts (10) |¦–
1 Crystal Chimes
1 Expedition Map
1 Helm of the Gods
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Diamond
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Swiftfoot Boots
–¦| Lands (36) |¦–
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Kor Haven
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Scrubland
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Tainted Field
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of Silence
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Windswept Heath
5 Swamp
7 Plains
I know, no Cloudstone Curio. Haven't gotten around to picking a copy up yet. I also decided against the prison\pillowfort cards.
I've had good experiences with Cabal Coffers, between Weathered Wayfarer and Expedition Map it's fairly common to get it on the field with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
I've also lived the dream of having Sun Titan, Angelic Renewal and Martyr's Cause along with Skybind.
I was definitely influenced from your decklist, but the cards that I removed just weren't preforming for me anyway. I can see how the token build could work, but didn't end up fitting my play style.
Cloudstone Curio is on my radar, just have to find one for trade somewhere. Same with Deserted Temple
I'll eventually finish the intro post.
Angelic Renewal can save a key creature, or combos with Sun Titan. I have given consideration to Debtors' Knell, and if I can pick up the card, it will probably make it's way in.
Martyr's Cause I see more as a sacrifice outlet with exile effects being common. It also fuels the Sun Titan/Angelic Renewal combo.
I completely missed Extiguish All Hope. Auramancer will probably make it in after testing also. Opalescence and Starfield of Nyx kill Heliod's and Daxos' tokens. But if I feel I need more recursion, then I can put them in. If I can pick up Replenish and Academy Rector, they too will go in.
Martyr's Bond is another I need to track down. It's like a Gravepact for everything. And again, testing will probably agree with you as far as spot removal goes. Oblivion Ring doesn't do enough for me, as it's only one permament, and they get it back if I lose the o-ring. Grasp of Fate hits every opponent. I've contemplated Darksteel Mutation to hit annoying commanders. And I'm trying to stay away from too much pillowfort. I feel like if I start adding too much, I might as well go pillowfort the whole way.
I was thinking about Greater Auramancy for enchantment protection.
There are a couple bounce aura's that I've looked at, with Flickering Ward being the best. After testing I'll see how the ones I have fair.
Necrotic Plague would work if I had some way to keep it off my creatures.
I was thinking the same thing with Nighthowler and Agent of Erebos. Sometimes Nighthowler will be more useful, sometimes Agent of Erebos will be. Haunted Fengraf looks nice. I'm all for utility lands.
1 Aegis of the Gods
1 Ajani's Chosen
1 Athreos, God of Passage
1 Celestial Ancient
1 Ghostblade Eidolon
1 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Kor Spiritdancer
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Monk Idealist
1 Nighthowler
1 Brave the Sands
1 Brilliant Halo
1 Celestial Mantle
1 Karmic Justice
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Stasis Snare
1 Underworld Connections
1 Plague Wind
1 Winds of Rath
1 Unmake
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Shambling Vent
1 Drifting Meadow
1 Polluted Mire
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Barren Moor
1 Academy Rector
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Emeria Shepard
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Mother of Runes
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Rule of Law
1 Seal of Doom
1 Soul Snare
1 Extinguish All Hope
1 In Garruk's Wake
1 Replenish
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Expedition Map
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Diamond
1 Skullclamp
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Argivian Find
1 Anguished Unmaking
Hurkyl's Recall is a $5 rare.
Original art by Leinil Yu
Original art by Frank Quitely
Original art by Ed Mcguinness
original art by Alex Ross
original art by Jim Lee
Original art by Terry Dodson
Video game art
Chuthulu (couldn't find original artist)
Firefly poster reference
Game of Thrones screenshot
Norman Rockwell 'Triple Self-Portrait'
source: Star Wars screenshot