Okay so Tax makes things more expensive, Stax removes your ability to cast anything by attacking your resources (lands and artifacts)
Your creatures seem extremely vanilla, there are creatures with exactly the same abilities and mana costs but are just way way better. You also hate your own things with a lot of your cards, lots of nonbos.
I actually kind think GAAIV is kind of bad as a commander :/ everyone hates you and you don't achieve anything with him on the field. I think you need a bunch of combos so you can lock the game and combo out rather than trying to deal 3 x 40 with a Serra Angel :/. Its extremely frustrating to play against.... at least a nice infinite combo quickly ends the game. I use Dragonlord Ojutai as my UW control commander (features many of these hate cards but counter spells instead of tax and stax), Ojutai quickly ends the game as a commander. You also don't have any planeswalkers which can also be really good win cons with their ultimates while you lock people out of interacting with them.
Tien, can you point out some of the self-hate cards and the nonbos for me?
1) What is the difference between tax and stax?
2) Is my deck above considered Tax or Stax? Take note: I am not asking for feedback but to identify whether my deck is stax or tax or both.
RDW, like all aggro decks, wins because opp simply can't remove all the threats; you can only hope to trade favorably until you stabilize. (Which is more difficult because against burn, single-digit life totals are often "zero next turn".)
Kaalia doesn't do that. In Kaalia, removal behaves if anything more like counterspells: You have a very short time frame (before she puts on her Lightning Greaves) to erase everything other than the additional Commander tax. And she has an additional problem: At 1RWB, she comes out the same turn as Pestilence, Pyrohemia, and Aether Flash, all of which shut her down completely. Even n00bs are likely to consider Pestilence Demon or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, which cost a lot more, but also shut her down completely, if you can just keep removing her until she costs eight mana.
Kaalia Decks stomp noobs, but fold to removal. So, in a way, a Kaalia deck ist MUCH more powerfull the less removal your opponents play. A T3 Kaalia in a causal meta often means that T4-5 the first person dies. If the group is not prepared for a landwipe T4 its pretty much over.
Thing is, simple, one mana spells like path to exile, rapide hybridization and the likes hurt this deck A LOT. Kaalia costs 4 on her 1st cast, 6 on her 2nd, and she is just a 2/2 flying. So, when you pay 6 for her, and she eats another removal, its pretty much cheaper to outright play the demons and dragons she meant to cheat in, rather than to play them yourself.
This is what makes this assumption:
Noob Kaalia player stomps Noob Group
Good group stomps Noob Kaalia player
Good Kaalia Player has some struggle in Good groups but can manage.
Do not require thinking: For Noob Groups: Play Kaalia. Kill. True.
For good groups: There is a lot of things to consider, like who to attack, wich deals to make, wich threads to play, wich cards to tutor to get this deck running and not fetch that sworrs to plowsahres. So, if you want to play kaalia in a group with good players, you will have to be very carefull what you do, and what you remove at what time.
Other than that, there are always the
T1 Swamp => Solring > Talisman of (Whatever makes red and black) > Bloodlust inciter
T2 Plains => Kaalia => Give haste => Master of Cruelties => gg
I browse the Net and I get 2 complains that Kaalia of the Vast and RDW deck shares:
1) They are for noobs.
2) They don't require thinking, just whack till the cows come home.
Its the perfect response to my Kaalia trigger to ensure I get exactly the piece I want.
Either you know what you need and you play it because it's another means to an end...or that's it. You're not playing this "just because", you have a reason you're considering this card.
I do that too! The reason I posted this thread is because I was putting it in my Kaalia. It helps find Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
Any cheap yet competitive decks out there? With the life of brawl in one vs one downed to 20, Ghalta, Primal Hunger becomes very expensive along with its components. I am looking for a a cheap yet competitive deck that can go toe to toe with Ghalta. My budget is RM600 or so.
I have been constructing and playing a GAAIV deck. My problem is it is not stax enough. It does not grind the game to a halt as much as I want. You may notice that I play a lot of evasive vigilant creatures because I play some cards that prevent people from untapping (vigilance gets around these things). I already play about 17 anti creatures spells to prevent people from attacking me (boardwipe, propaganda effects etc) and yet people still whack me to death. What is it I am doing wrong? I admit I don't have a clear path to victory other than cast GAAIV, cast some vigilant evasive angels/creatures, accumulate cards from Sphinx's Revelation, Rhystic Study, F and F. Take a look at my deck below.
Part of me wants to build a Kaalia deck that even the Spikes will fear,
I say, Gabrielle, you fight fire with fire. I have done it. Go on, the look of your opponents' faces (the Spikes) is enough to worth whatever risk you take from running Kaalia. Screw the so-called Social Contract. The Spikes showed that they are not bothered about it. It is time tit for tat.
Tien, can you point out some of the self-hate cards and the nonbos for me?
1 Capsize
1 Mist of Stagnation
1 Azorius Signet
1 Sunscape Familiar
1 Spelltithe Enforcer
1 Web of Inertia
1 Serra Angel
1 Stormscape Familiar
1 Felidar Sovereign
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Fatespinner
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Windborn Muse
1 Magus of the Moat
1 Path to Exile
1 Sun Titan
1 Avacyn, Guardian Angel
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
1 Aurification
1 Archangel
1 Planar Cleansing
1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
1 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Shepherd of the Lost
1 Meekstone
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Cursed Totem
1 Rout
1 Sol Ring
1 Wrath of God
1 Stony Silence
1 Wing Shards
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Norn's Annex
1 Aura of Silence
1 Ojutai, Soul of Winter
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Vryn Wingmare
1 Teferi's Moat
1 Propaganda
1 Kismet
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Rest in Peace
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Stasis
1 Winter Orb
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Rhystic Study
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Land Tax
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
14 Plains
10 Island
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Prairie Stream
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Port Town
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Skycloud Expanse
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Command Tower
1) What is the difference between tax and stax?
2) Is my deck above considered Tax or Stax? Take note: I am not asking for feedback but to identify whether my deck is stax or tax or both.
yeah, you are right.
Yeah, I like your explanation.
1) They are for noobs.
2) They don't require thinking, just whack till the cows come home.
Are these statements true?
I do that too! The reason I posted this thread is because I was putting it in my Kaalia. It helps find Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
I think it is an underrated card.
1 Capsize
1 Mist of Stagnation
1 Azorius Signet
1 Sunscape Familiar
1 Angelic Arbiter
1 Web of Inertia
1 Serra Angel
1 Stormscape Familiar
1 Felidar Sovereign
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Fatespinner
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Windborn Muse
1 Magus of the Moat
1 Path to Exile
1 Sun Titan
1 Avacyn, Guardian Angel
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
1 Aurification
1 Archangel
1 Planar Cleansing
1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
1 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
1 Day of Judgment
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Shepherd of the Lost
1 Meekstone
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Cursed Totem
1 Rout
1 Sol Ring
1 Wrath of God
1 Stony Silence
1 Wing Shards
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Norn's Annex
1 Aura of Silence
1 Ojutai, Soul of Winter
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Vryn Wingmare
1 Nevermore
1 Propaganda
1 Blind Obedience
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Rest in Peace
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Stasis
1 Winter Orb
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Rhystic Study
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Land Tax
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Prairie Stream
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Port Town
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Skycloud Expanse
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Command Tower
I say, Gabrielle, you fight fire with fire. I have done it. Go on, the look of your opponents' faces (the Spikes) is enough to worth whatever risk you take from running Kaalia. Screw the so-called Social Contract. The Spikes showed that they are not bothered about it. It is time tit for tat.
Epic against Ezuri yo which runs rampant in my meta.