Very nice. I love that you still actively curate this deck after all this time.
I have actually been looking for an interesting Sultai deck for a while now, and never found a theme that really spoke to me. I like this a lot - maybe I will dabble with a similar build one of these days.
"Then we entered the Straits in great fear of mind, for on the one hand was Scylla, and on the other dread Charybdis kept sucking up the salt water."
- Homer, Odyssey Book 12
Art by Steve Somers
Hello everybody!
The goal of this deck is to create choice situations for my opponents. But, much like Odysseus' choice between Scylla and Charybdis, the only alternatives are between bad and worse. It is reminiscent of a stax deck, but rather than outright preventing my opponents from doing anything, it aims to attach a cost to any action they take. They are free to do whatever they want, as long as they are willing to pay the price. Needless to say, this twist makes for slightly more fun and interactive games than your typical stax lockdown build. When playing this deck, I want the pilot to feel like an evil mastermind, playing games with their opponents and constructing elaborate schemes, where any action taken by the heroes will inevitably cost them something that they hold dear. Think Jigsaw from the Saw movies, or the Green Goblin, or Lex Luthor...hell, if you have ever liked a supervillain, chances are they have made a hero face a sadistic choice at some point.
Vial Smasher the Fierce and Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker are a very good fit, both in terms of gameplay and flavor. For one thing, they give us access to a wide range of really cool pain cards. Furthermore, Ishai is in line with a theme of the deck (cards that do something whenever my opponents cast a spell), and Vial Smasher is a powerful reducer of life totals in a deck that doesn't always have the capacity to deal large chunks of damage. She is also incredibly fun to have on the board, as I found that due to the random nature of her trigger, other players rarely feel unfairly targeted.
Naturally, our adversaries won't be happy with these choices, and they might put it in their minds to fight back. Which, of course, they are free to do - if they can afford it. Propaganda, Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, Dread and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts attach a steep price to attacking us, while Martyr's Bond makes it costly to remove our permanents.
Of course, what would a deck such as this be without our favorite Evil Mastermind, the nefarious Nicol Bolas himself. I opted for his Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh incarnation, as his +2 is just so gratifying (and I recently pulled a copy from a fatpack). To round things off, we have the usual assortment of ramp, draw, control (some unconditional boardwipes and removal) and protective footwork for our most unpopular henchmen to hopefully maintain our boardstate and chip away at opponent life totals until we can finish things up with a big Debt to the Deathless or Torment of Hailfire.
Because remember, kids:
"This is why only fools are heroes — because you never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice.
Let die the woman you love...or suffer the little children! Make your choice, Spider-Man, and see how a hero is rewarded!"
— Green Goblin, to Spider-Man
But why no Foglio commander for the Foglio tribal deck?
Also, do you have your K&T list somewhere? I just finished my Tamanoa enrage deck and I was really tempted to add blue for Swans of Bryn Argoll and Nin, the Pain Artist. I am curious as to how you built it.
If your playgroup is cool with it, Tamanoa also makes for a very potent Naya enchantress commander with a built-in wincon. Play the usual defensive enchantments a la Ghostly Prison and Greater Auramancy and ye olde enchantress card draw, and then watch your opponents die to Overabundance, Manabarbs, Primal Order, Citatel of Pain, Ancient Runes....while periodically clearing the board with Pyrohemia and comfortably sitting on hundreds of life.
Very nice. I run a similar list (with Anafenza at the helm as well). My preferred game plan is to resolve Enduring Ideal to quickly build up a defensive position with things like Sandwurm Convergence and Privileged Position or Greater Auramancy, and then gain incremental value through Constellation triggers and pouring my mana into Daxos the Returned or Heliod, God of the Sun to get tokens (and more constellation triggers). I avoided hard locks and other Enduring Ideal combos, because they are no fun. As I don't really run non-enchantment tutors, I don't always draw Enduring Ideal, in which case I try to build up a similar boardstate through manual labor, so to speak. Haven't played the deck a lot yet, and it is kind of a budget build, hence it is missing some auto-includes like Replenish or Academy Rector. The games I played were fun though, and it even won a couple of them.
Some random thoughts on your list:
- besides Aura Shards and the seals, a nice option for enchantment removal is Cleansing Meditation. With threshold, it is a one-sided enchantment wrath and gives you a bunch of constellation triggers to boot.
- I personally am not a big fan of Dark Tutelage because the life loss can be very significant in my experience. I am not sure if you are running all the enchantress effects - I think they are the most efficient draw in a deck like this. For instance, Femeref Enchantress doesn't seem to be included in your list. If you want unconditional draw on demand, you can consider Greed, which has more manageable life loss than Dark Tutelage.
- If you are looking for more tutors a la Green Sun's Zenith, you can try Defense of the Heart. If you have some protection like Sterling Grove, it is likely to stick around long enough to give you some real nice rewards.
Here is my list (feedback is of course also welcome:-)
“There comes a stage at which a man would rather die cleanly by a bullet
than by the unknown terror of the phantom in the forest.”
― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger King: The Quest for a Lost City
Hello everyone,
after years of passively perusing this forum, I decided to create an account and start things off with sharing my most recent deck: Tamanoa. I know she is not technically legal, but my playgroup is fine with her. Honestly, she has all the makings of a legendary creature: a unique name and feel and a wonderful build-around ability. Pretty sure she would be legendary if she were printed today. I mean, she is part of a cycle with 3 other legendary creatures, so bear with me here. ;-)
The deck started out as a Gishath, Sun's Avatar dinosaur build with a focus on enrage. I threw in some other enrage-y creatures like Phytohydra and Boros Reckoner, and realized pretty soon that I didn't want a lot of the beatstick/tribal dinos but instead more Pyrohemia type effects. Since a lot of the damage sources are noncreature spells, Tamanoa was a perfect fit. Also, she looks like a guardian spirit of Orazca, so to me it even felt great flavor-wise.
My goal was for my opponents to feel like they are venturing into a hostile wild jungle. Everything is hot and humid, and all around you the forest keeps growing. Every time you strike at the vines or try to kill the animals, they only seem to grow faster. The deeper you go, the harder it is to keep track of directions. Every inch of ground has to be earned with sweat and pain, and little by little you grow tired, while all around you the jungle keeps growing, and the predators are watching you from the dark places between the trees, biding their time, waiting for the kill until you are weak and finally lose your will to fight.
The deck doesn't really want to attack, but instead set up a board with Tamanoa and some creatures that want to be dealt damage. Add one of the various indestructibility effects (Vigor counts, Rite of Passage has a comparable effect with Pyrohemia), and start dishing out some global burn while gaining tons of life in the process. Pyrohemia is an all star, and Earthquake and co. can do some heavy lifting as well. Star of Extinction with Repercussion is usually game-over, and Boros Reckoner or Spitemare can do some major damage as well. The deck often wins by reducing my enemies' life totals with Overabundance or Manabarbs, getting in for a bit of damage with my creatures every now and then, and finish things off with a big Hurricane or Repercussion.
There are a couple of (somewhat) infinite combos. Usually I try to avoid such combos, but in this case I just really really wanted to play the individual cards. They don't happen often, as I don't have tutors in the deck (except Forerunner of the Empire) and most of the combos need at least three to four cards to go really crazy. For instance, Pyrohemia and Rite of Passage will kill the board and grow my dudes very large. Rite of Passage has a similar effect with Forerunner of the Empire and Polyraptor. I realize I could always get Polyraptor with Forerunner of the Empire, but I usually don't because I have no haste enablers and, while it is pretty sweet to immediately get 8 Polyraptors, the likelihood of a Wrath before my next turn is just too high. Another combo is Pariah + Coalhauler Swine + Indestructibility. Pariah effects and indestructibility are a synergy I enjoy in general, and with Boros Reckoner or some enrage dino they are really sweet. Also, they don't win the game on the spot, which I consider a plus.
Tamanoa is really fun and can build some really sweet synergies. It has definitely become one of my favorite decks to play.
I am more than happy to hear some suggestions and feedback!
I have actually been looking for an interesting Sultai deck for a while now, and never found a theme that really spoke to me. I like this a lot - maybe I will dabble with a similar build one of these days.
Hello everybody!
The goal of this deck is to create choice situations for my opponents. But, much like Odysseus' choice between Scylla and Charybdis, the only alternatives are between bad and worse. It is reminiscent of a stax deck, but rather than outright preventing my opponents from doing anything, it aims to attach a cost to any action they take. They are free to do whatever they want, as long as they are willing to pay the price. Needless to say, this twist makes for slightly more fun and interactive games than your typical stax lockdown build. When playing this deck, I want the pilot to feel like an evil mastermind, playing games with their opponents and constructing elaborate schemes, where any action taken by the heroes will inevitably cost them something that they hold dear. Think Jigsaw from the Saw movies, or the Green Goblin, or Lex Luthor...hell, if you have ever liked a supervillain, chances are they have made a hero face a sadistic choice at some point.
Vial Smasher the Fierce and Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker are a very good fit, both in terms of gameplay and flavor. For one thing, they give us access to a wide range of really cool pain cards. Furthermore, Ishai is in line with a theme of the deck (cards that do something whenever my opponents cast a spell), and Vial Smasher is a powerful reducer of life totals in a deck that doesn't always have the capacity to deal large chunks of damage. She is also incredibly fun to have on the board, as I found that due to the random nature of her trigger, other players rarely feel unfairly targeted.
1 Vial Smasher the Fierce
1 Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
// 98 Maindeck
// 8 Artifact
1 Sol Ring
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
// 21 Creature
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Combustible Gearhulk
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
1 Dread
1 Prince of Thralls
1 Spelltithe Enforcer
1 Leonin Arbiter
1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
1 Sire of Stagnation
1 Magus of the Tabernacle
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sin Prodder
1 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
1 Angelic Arbiter
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Burnished Hart
1 Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
1 Windborn Muse
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Harsh Mentor
1 Pendrell Mists
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Propaganda
1 Manabarbs
1 Spellshock
1 Vile Consumption
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Energy Flux
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Soul Barrier
1 Widespread Panic
1 Rhystic Study
1 Martyr's Bond
1 Mind's Dilation
1 Painful Quandary
1 Mystic Remora
// 6 Instant
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Chaos Warp
1 Insidious Will
// 2 Planeswalker
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
// 8 Sorcery
1 Torment of Hailfire
1 Killing Wave
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Debt to the Deathless
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Exsanguinate
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Grand Coliseum
3 Plains
1 Command Tower
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Swamp
2 Island
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Mystic Gate
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Meteor Crater
1 Vivid Creek
2 Mountain
1 Shadowblood Ridge
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Boros Garrison
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 City of Brass
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Skycloud Expanse
The cards in the deck can be separated into various thematic categories. There are cards that punish our opponents whenever they cast spells (Spellshock, Kaervek the Merciless, Painful Quandary, Kambal, Consul of Allocation), activate abilities or tap lands (Harsh Mentor, Manabarbs), put things into their graveyard (Bloodchief Ascension) or search their library (Ob Nixilis, Unshackled) . Then there are cards that force our opponents to give something to us every time they cast spells (Nezahal, Primal Tide, Rhystic Study and of course Mind's Dilation - which also has great synergy with Vial Smasher) or play lands (Sire of Stagnation). Finally, there are cards that force our opponents to choose between paying tribute to us or burning themselves (Combustible Gearhulk, Indulgent Tormentor, Sin Prodder, Prince of Thralls) or force them to choose between their own life or their loved ones (Killing Wave, Vile Consumption, Torment of Hailfire).
Naturally, our adversaries won't be happy with these choices, and they might put it in their minds to fight back. Which, of course, they are free to do - if they can afford it. Propaganda, Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, Dread and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts attach a steep price to attacking us, while Martyr's Bond makes it costly to remove our permanents.
Of course, what would a deck such as this be without our favorite Evil Mastermind, the nefarious Nicol Bolas himself. I opted for his Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh incarnation, as his +2 is just so gratifying (and I recently pulled a copy from a fatpack). To round things off, we have the usual assortment of ramp, draw, control (some unconditional boardwipes and removal) and protective footwork for our most unpopular henchmen to hopefully maintain our boardstate and chip away at opponent life totals until we can finish things up with a big Debt to the Deathless or Torment of Hailfire.
Because remember, kids:
But why no Foglio commander for the Foglio tribal deck?
Also, do you have your K&T list somewhere? I just finished my Tamanoa enrage deck and I was really tempted to add blue for Swans of Bryn Argoll and Nin, the Pain Artist. I am curious as to how you built it.
Some random thoughts on your list:
- besides Aura Shards and the seals, a nice option for enchantment removal is Cleansing Meditation. With threshold, it is a one-sided enchantment wrath and gives you a bunch of constellation triggers to boot.
- I personally am not a big fan of Dark Tutelage because the life loss can be very significant in my experience. I am not sure if you are running all the enchantress effects - I think they are the most efficient draw in a deck like this. For instance, Femeref Enchantress doesn't seem to be included in your list. If you want unconditional draw on demand, you can consider Greed, which has more manageable life loss than Dark Tutelage.
- If you are looking for more tutors a la Green Sun's Zenith, you can try Defense of the Heart. If you have some protection like Sterling Grove, it is likely to stick around long enough to give you some real nice rewards.
Here is my list (feedback is of course also welcome:-)
// 1 Artifact
1 Crystal Chimes
// 20 Creature
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Archetype of Courage
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Silent Sentinel
1 Grim Guardian
1 Ajani's Chosen
1 Archetype of Finality
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Fate Unraveler
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Herald of the Pantheon
1 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Agent of Erebos
1 Thoughtrender Lamia
1 Auramancer
1 Daxos the Returned
1 Doomwake Giant
1 Femeref Enchantress
// 37 Enchantment
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Mana Reflection
1 Aurification
1 Sylvan Library
1 Aura Shards
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Stasis Snare
1 Black Market
1 Privileged Position
1 Aura of Silence
1 Land Tax
1 Awakening Zone
1 Font of Fertility
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Dawn's Reflection
1 Sterling Grove
1 Debtors' Knell
1 Burgeoning
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Greed
1 Karmic Justice
1 Kismet
1 Lethal Vapors
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Overgrowth
1 Sandwurm Convergence
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Porphyry Nodes
1 Spreading Plague
1 Starfield of Nyx
1 Into the Wilds
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Prison Term
1 Abzan Charm
1 Enlightened Tutor
// 34 Land
1 Graypelt Refuge
3 Swamp
1 Caves of Koilos
5 Plains
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Forest
1 Command Tower
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Tainted Wood
1 Vivid Grove
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Maze of Ith
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Sungrass Prairie
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Shambling Vent
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Godless Shrine
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Temple of the False God
// 6 Sorcery
1 Open the Vaults
1 Duneblast
1 Plea for Guidance
1 Cleansing Meditation
1 Enduring Ideal
1 Extinguish All Hope
If you are intereste, here's a list.
Hello everyone,
after years of passively perusing this forum, I decided to create an account and start things off with sharing my most recent deck: Tamanoa. I know she is not technically legal, but my playgroup is fine with her. Honestly, she has all the makings of a legendary creature: a unique name and feel and a wonderful build-around ability. Pretty sure she would be legendary if she were printed today. I mean, she is part of a cycle with 3 other legendary creatures, so bear with me here. ;-)
The deck started out as a Gishath, Sun's Avatar dinosaur build with a focus on enrage. I threw in some other enrage-y creatures like Phytohydra and Boros Reckoner, and realized pretty soon that I didn't want a lot of the beatstick/tribal dinos but instead more Pyrohemia type effects. Since a lot of the damage sources are noncreature spells, Tamanoa was a perfect fit. Also, she looks like a guardian spirit of Orazca, so to me it even felt great flavor-wise.
My goal was for my opponents to feel like they are venturing into a hostile wild jungle. Everything is hot and humid, and all around you the forest keeps growing. Every time you strike at the vines or try to kill the animals, they only seem to grow faster. The deeper you go, the harder it is to keep track of directions. Every inch of ground has to be earned with sweat and pain, and little by little you grow tired, while all around you the jungle keeps growing, and the predators are watching you from the dark places between the trees, biding their time, waiting for the kill until you are weak and finally lose your will to fight.
Without further ado, here is the list:
// 5 Artifact
1 Pariah's Shield
1 Staff of Nin
1 The Immortal Sun
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Well of Lost Dreams
// 20 Creature
1 Tamanoa
1 Silverclad Ferocidons
1 Polyraptor
1 Forerunner of the Empire
1 Ripjaw Raptor
1 Ranging Raptors
1 Bellowing Aegisaur
1 Wayward Swordtooth
1 Trapjaw Tyrant
1 Boros Reckoner
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Spitemare
1 Phytohydra
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Vigor
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Wood Elves
1 Coalhauler Swine
1 Protector of the Crown
// 18 Enchantment
1 Pyrohemia
1 Lightmine Field
1 Powerstone Minefield
1 Rite of Passage
1 Shielded by Faith
1 Pariah
1 Overabundance
1 Repercussion
1 Aether Flash
1 Form of the Dinosaur
1 Manabarbs
1 Citadel of Pain
1 Gift of Immortality
1 Indestructibility
1 Asceticism
1 Primal Order
1 Sylvan library
1 Dictate of the Twin Gods
1 Fault Line
1 Squall Line
1 Chaos Warp
1 Starstorm
1 Beast Within
// 1 Planeswalker
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
// 13 Sorcery
1 Molten Disaster
1 Fiery Confluence
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Acidic Soil
1 Harmonize
1 Hurricane
1 Vengeful Rebirth
1 Ranger's Path
1 Star of Extinction
1 Chain Reaction
1 Soul's Majesty
1 Treacherous Terrain
// 37 Land
1 Command Tower
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Boros Garrison
1 Gruul Turf
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Naya Panorama
5 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Mossfire Valley
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Myriad Landscape
The deck doesn't really want to attack, but instead set up a board with Tamanoa and some creatures that want to be dealt damage. Add one of the various indestructibility effects (Vigor counts, Rite of Passage has a comparable effect with Pyrohemia), and start dishing out some global burn while gaining tons of life in the process. Pyrohemia is an all star, and Earthquake and co. can do some heavy lifting as well. Star of Extinction with Repercussion is usually game-over, and Boros Reckoner or Spitemare can do some major damage as well. The deck often wins by reducing my enemies' life totals with Overabundance or Manabarbs, getting in for a bit of damage with my creatures every now and then, and finish things off with a big Hurricane or Repercussion.
There are a couple of (somewhat) infinite combos. Usually I try to avoid such combos, but in this case I just really really wanted to play the individual cards. They don't happen often, as I don't have tutors in the deck (except Forerunner of the Empire) and most of the combos need at least three to four cards to go really crazy. For instance, Pyrohemia and Rite of Passage will kill the board and grow my dudes very large. Rite of Passage has a similar effect with Forerunner of the Empire and Polyraptor. I realize I could always get Polyraptor with Forerunner of the Empire, but I usually don't because I have no haste enablers and, while it is pretty sweet to immediately get 8 Polyraptors, the likelihood of a Wrath before my next turn is just too high. Another combo is Pariah + Coalhauler Swine + Indestructibility. Pariah effects and indestructibility are a synergy I enjoy in general, and with Boros Reckoner or some enrage dino they are really sweet. Also, they don't win the game on the spot, which I consider a plus.
Tamanoa is really fun and can build some really sweet synergies. It has definitely become one of my favorite decks to play.
I am more than happy to hear some suggestions and feedback!