I got to play a game yesterday with Athreos, it was against a Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer artifact deck and a Baird, Steward of Argive. The early turns were me making land drops and playing out a few smaller creatures, Brudiclad building up a decent boardstate with Feldon of the Third Path and Precursor Golem and Saheeli, the Gifted, and the Baird player putting down some early attacking deterrents such as Ghostly Prison and his commander. The Brudiclad player was spreading out his attacks fairly evenly, which was not the best move in my opinion but so it goes. After getting me down to about 20 life I find the third white pip i needed to cast Akroma's Vengeance and wiped both boards clean except for my Athreos and Erebos. Using Erebos's draw, I was able to rebuild quickly with Sun Titan and Kokusho, the Evening Star and get them both down below 10 life. When I had the win on my next turn the Baird player top decks an Austere Command and chooses to use modes that destroy below 3cmc and above 4cmc, I cast the newly added Eerie Interlude to save my creatures and killed them on the following turn.
I have two new inclusions for this round of updates:
Adding Fetid Heath in place of a Swamp for more fixing
Adding Teferi's Protection in place of Magus of the Balance, as whenever I draw him I'm always ahead and he seems to slow to be able to save me from behind.
Let me know if anyone is interested in reading short game recounting, as I wanted to try it and if others want to hear about them I'd be happy to write more even!
Since my last update I've played a few games, and have found I'm short on cards fairly consistently. So I've decided to add Greed Arguel's Blood Fast Gray Merchant of Asphodel
The cards being taken out are Skeletal Scrying : Exiling my cards usually doesn't work out well Sadistic Hypnotist : His ability has been a little too mean for my meta recently, so even though I love this card it's going to come out for now Boreas Charger : Wasn't as good as I thought it would be. This deck makes land drops pretty well so I was only behind and able to use him a few times.
I'll hopefully be able to get some more games in this week and will update with some info.
Back again with a few changes. Since moving from part-time to full-time and college starting again, I've had less time to play EDH and almost every game I've played since then has been in a commander league with the new precon decks. I have picked up some new cards to slot in and plan to play a few games with Athreos on Wednesday and will have a follow up with some gameplay highlights. Now for the changes:
- Swamp
- Plains
- Mangara of Corondor
+ Winding Canyons
+ Strip Mine
+ Eerie Interlude
I decided to take out Mangara since his ability was largely being overblown by other players in many games and leading to him/my board being blown out in fear. So I decided to give him a break and try out Eerie Interlude, which is a card function that isn't largely used in my meta. Being able to protect myself from board wipes or trigger multiple ETBs seems like a really valuable line of play.
Strip Mine was added due to the increase in problematic lands in the meta as well.
And Winding Canyons was added because with a creature count of 36, it seems like a really good inclusion.
With Commander 2018 and going over Core Set 19 again, I found a few cards I decided to try out in Athreos.
I swapped Falkenrath Noble for Magus of the Balance , Thraben Inspector for Militia Bugler ,
and Expedition Map for Boreas Charger.
The reason for Thraben Inspector getting cut is he is fairly mana-intensive for the purpose of drawing cards. And I think the Bugler will provide better filtering for the same cost. Ever since Boreas Charger was spoiled I have been excited about sleeving it up and decided being able to reanimate him was a better effect for the same overall mana cost of the Map. Lastly, Balance style effects are one of my favorite playstyles so I want to try out the Magus and see how he plays, I decided to cut the Falkenrath Noble because I have two other similar effects in the deck in the cards of Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist and I'm not sure having a 3rd was all that helpful.
Today I took out Victory's Herald and replaced it with Chainer, Dementia Master. We'll see how it plays out tonight, but I have a good feeling Chainer will just provide good value. I decided to take out the Victory's Herald because on en empty board it's not a great draw and doesn't really help me get back into the game. While Chainer not only helps me rebuild but can also help me push towards the win.
This deck is based around the archetype of decks in constructed 60 card decks called Tempo. I choose Azorious as the colors for the deck since they give access to the traditional blue bounce spells and counter spells as well as white for targeted exile and mass removal. The general game plan is to land a cheap but powerful threat: Kefnet the Mindful, Serra Ascendant, Chasm Skulker, etc : and protect it and stop the opponents from winning the game or getting to far ahead. The threats that can be played are largely up to the individual player as are the ways to hinder your opponents, which makes the archetype so interesting to me. I have been playing this list for about 2 weeks and not only are my games more fun, but I feel better equipped in my games to handle many different types of threats while also feeling like a relevant player in the game.
Without further ado, the list
My main goal for the deck right now is increasing the ability to draw cards. As I feel my ability to answer and present threats is sufficient.
As always, please leave questions or suggestions as I love to talk about EDH and decks. Thanks for taking a look!
I have picked up a few copies of Dusk // Dawn for EDH since it seems like a good wrath effect in a few different strategies. I haven't put it Athreos yet though. With the amount of utility/value creatures that are present in decks in my meta I think it might not be as effective as I need it to be. However, there are cases were the opposite it true and it hoses big creatures while leaving most of mine around.
I guess the question is, do you feel your smaller creatures are worth it enough to let opponents have their smaller utility/value creatures?
The games at GP Minneapolis went well and I was able Leonin Warleader and Fumigate to great effect. I've also been able to get Mentor of the Meek out a few times and while he doesn't do as much as I'd hope as mana is tight when playing this deck, however he does enable me to draw some cards and this deck is always running my hand out fairly quickly so for now I think it's worth the slot.
I also was able to purchase a Marsh Flats and Godless Shrine, and slotted them in by taking out a Plains and a Swamp. Obviously having these lands makes the deck a little more consistent and being able to get Godless Shrine when looking for "a Plains card".
I haven't been able to use Mentor of the Meek yet, but my other two latest swaps (Retribution of the meek and Regal Caracal) worked out very well earlier this week. Having the lifelink cat tokens turned out to be a huge plus as my meta is very aggressive with creatures and the life mattered frequently.
Since the lifelink cats worked so well I've decided to finally take out Tragic Poet and include Leonin Warleader instead, as well as upgrade Day of Judgment to Fumigate.
I plan on going to GP Minneapolis tomorrow and getting in some EDH games so hopefully these turn out to be good changes. I also plan on getting many of the lands suggested by user Legend.
Updates:
I felt having two clone effects in Clone and Clever Impersonator was too many, so I took out Clone and slotted in Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Upgraded Serpent Warrior into Lifebane Zombie, which is just a better card.
Took out Howl From Beyond since it felt out of place in this build, and put in Temporal Trespass as I feel another extra turn effect will be nice to have. Cemetery Puca also didn't feel right, so it is being swapped for Virtus the Veiled as the effect is great and triggers Sygg. Should be getting a few games in tonight so hopefully I'll have some information to follow up with!
Those are all good suggestions, thank you. I had thought about Duskmantle Seer but giving my opponents cards just doesn't sound like it's worth the extra draw I get from it. But I didn't even think of Gray Merchant of Asphodel, he seems like a very strong include. I might just try to find room for Phyrexian Arena rather then take out Kumena's Awakening, as it's been doing pretty good work for me and I've been able to drop it down with Ascend active every time.
My first real attempt at an aggro/control-ish multiplayer EDH deck. I choose Sygg, River Cutthroat as the general for this deck since I enjoy the Dimir colors but also wanted to beat down my opponents. The overall plan for the deck is to get out Sygg and another one or two of the evasive creatures in the deck to be able to trigger him in combat, and then draw cards to answer opponent's threats and play my own. Once the path is clear, cards like Necropolis Regent or Notorious Throng can significantly increase the clock to finish of the other players.
Here is the deck list:
7/21/18:My goal with this deck at the moment is to determine if I want to focus on dealing combat damage, or on dealing damage to my opponents throughout the turn cycle. Both methods have their merits, and having both in the deck is for sure beneficial, however I'd like to focus on one aspect in particular.
Thank you for reading and for any comments/suggestions you have as I'd love to hear them and talk about them!
In an effort to lower my curve and take out some higher costed effects which were not always reliable due to their cost I've made a few changes: Harvester of Souls has been replaced with Mentor of the Meek since I have a fairly decent amount of < 2 power creatures, and the draw occurring on the ETB may possibly be better since it gets me the cards sooner. Demon of Dark Schemes is being replaced with Retribution of the Meek, since again I have a decent amount of low power creatures. Also, the Demon really wasn't able to reanimate often if at all ever. Emeria Shepherd got switched out with Regal Caracal. This one was a difficult choice since the Shepherd has a really good effect but it's cost was often prohibitive. It's also such high priority target in my meta that it gets killed to often to be paying 7 mana.
Hopefully I'll be able to test out these changes on Monday and report back on how it goes.
I have two new inclusions for this round of updates:
Adding Fetid Heath in place of a Swamp for more fixing
Adding Teferi's Protection in place of Magus of the Balance, as whenever I draw him I'm always ahead and he seems to slow to be able to save me from behind.
Let me know if anyone is interested in reading short game recounting, as I wanted to try it and if others want to hear about them I'd be happy to write more even!
Greed
Arguel's Blood Fast
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
The cards being taken out are
Skeletal Scrying : Exiling my cards usually doesn't work out well
Sadistic Hypnotist : His ability has been a little too mean for my meta recently, so even though I love this card it's going to come out for now
Boreas Charger : Wasn't as good as I thought it would be. This deck makes land drops pretty well so I was only behind and able to use him a few times.
I'll hopefully be able to get some more games in this week and will update with some info.
- Swamp
- Plains
- Mangara of Corondor
+ Winding Canyons
+ Strip Mine
+ Eerie Interlude
I decided to take out Mangara since his ability was largely being overblown by other players in many games and leading to him/my board being blown out in fear. So I decided to give him a break and try out Eerie Interlude, which is a card function that isn't largely used in my meta. Being able to protect myself from board wipes or trigger multiple ETBs seems like a really valuable line of play.
Strip Mine was added due to the increase in problematic lands in the meta as well.
And Winding Canyons was added because with a creature count of 36, it seems like a really good inclusion.
I swapped Falkenrath Noble for Magus of the Balance ,
Thraben Inspector for Militia Bugler ,
and Expedition Map for Boreas Charger.
The reason for Thraben Inspector getting cut is he is fairly mana-intensive for the purpose of drawing cards. And I think the Bugler will provide better filtering for the same cost. Ever since Boreas Charger was spoiled I have been excited about sleeving it up and decided being able to reanimate him was a better effect for the same overall mana cost of the Map. Lastly, Balance style effects are one of my favorite playstyles so I want to try out the Magus and see how he plays, I decided to cut the Falkenrath Noble because I have two other similar effects in the deck in the cards of Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist and I'm not sure having a 3rd was all that helpful.
Without further ado, the list
1 Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
Creature
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Stunt Double
1 Reef Worm
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Kor Cartographer
1 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Karmic Guide
1 Mulldrifter
1 Cloudblazer
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Stormtide Leviathan
Enchantment
1 Rhystic Study
1 Metallurgic Summonings
1 Mystic Remora
Land
11 Plains
1 Strip Mine
1 Terrain Generator
13 Island
1 Flood Plain
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Flooded Strand
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Prairie Stream
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Field of Ruin
1 Temple of the False God
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Sea of Clouds
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sol Ring
1 Mind Stone
Instant
1 Trickbind
1 Wipe Away
1 Render Silent
1 Dig Through Time
1 Boomerang
1 Overwhelming Denial
1 Crib Swap
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Glimmer of Genius
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Commit // Memory
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Capsize
1 Teferi's Protection
1 Swan Song
1 Into the Roil
1 Condemn
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Arcane Denial
1 Disenchant
1 Counterspell
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Impulse
1 Negate
1 Time Reversal
1 Ponder
1 Crush of Tentacles
1 Preordain
1 Fumigate
1 Hour of Revelation
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Devastation Tide
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Windfall
My main goal for the deck right now is increasing the ability to draw cards. As I feel my ability to answer and present threats is sufficient.
As always, please leave questions or suggestions as I love to talk about EDH and decks. Thanks for taking a look!
I guess the question is, do you feel your smaller creatures are worth it enough to let opponents have their smaller utility/value creatures?
I also was able to purchase a Marsh Flats and Godless Shrine, and slotted them in by taking out a Plains and a Swamp. Obviously having these lands makes the deck a little more consistent and being able to get Godless Shrine when looking for "a Plains card".
Since the lifelink cats worked so well I've decided to finally take out Tragic Poet and include Leonin Warleader instead, as well as upgrade Day of Judgment to Fumigate.
I plan on going to GP Minneapolis tomorrow and getting in some EDH games so hopefully these turn out to be good changes. I also plan on getting many of the lands suggested by user Legend.
I felt having two clone effects in Clone and Clever Impersonator was too many, so I took out Clone and slotted in Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Upgraded Serpent Warrior into Lifebane Zombie, which is just a better card.
Took out Howl From Beyond since it felt out of place in this build, and put in Temporal Trespass as I feel another extra turn effect will be nice to have.
Cemetery Puca also didn't feel right, so it is being swapped for Virtus the Veiled as the effect is great and triggers Sygg. Should be getting a few games in tonight so hopefully I'll have some information to follow up with!
Here is the deck list:
1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
Creature
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Jhessian Thief
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Virtus the Veiled
1 Mulldrifter
1 Gravelgill Duo
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Dauthi Marauder
1 Trespasser il-Vec
1 Wasp Lancer
1 Horizon Drake
1 Skywinder Drake
1 Lifebane Zombie
1 Latch Seeker
1 Cloud Spirit
1 Daggerclaw Imp
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Necropolis Regent
1 Hunted Horror
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Dark Tutelage
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Kumena's Awakening
Land
1 Bad River
1 Choked Estuary
1 Field of Ruin
1 Halimar Depths
1 Temple of the False God
1 Ash Barrens
1 Reliquary Tower
15 Island
16 Swamp
Artifact
1 Mask of Riddles
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Dimir Signet
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Bident of Thassa
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Dig Through Time
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Capsize
1 Swan Song
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Release to the Wind
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
Sorcery
1 Notorious Throng
1 Call to Mind
1 Temporal Trespass
1 Ponder
1 Day's Undoing
1 Preordain
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Damnation
1 Windfall
1 Read the Bones
1 Flood of Recollection
7/21/18:My goal with this deck at the moment is to determine if I want to focus on dealing combat damage, or on dealing damage to my opponents throughout the turn cycle. Both methods have their merits, and having both in the deck is for sure beneficial, however I'd like to focus on one aspect in particular.
Thank you for reading and for any comments/suggestions you have as I'd love to hear them and talk about them!
Harvester of Souls has been replaced with Mentor of the Meek since I have a fairly decent amount of < 2 power creatures, and the draw occurring on the ETB may possibly be better since it gets me the cards sooner.
Demon of Dark Schemes is being replaced with Retribution of the Meek, since again I have a decent amount of low power creatures. Also, the Demon really wasn't able to reanimate often if at all ever.
Emeria Shepherd got switched out with Regal Caracal. This one was a difficult choice since the Shepherd has a really good effect but it's cost was often prohibitive. It's also such high priority target in my meta that it gets killed to often to be paying 7 mana.
Hopefully I'll be able to test out these changes on Monday and report back on how it goes.