This was a deck that started as a Ruhan pillowfort type deck, but I was never happy with how wild and uncontrolable he was. :/ So instead, I grabbed Numot and decided I was going to jam in every fun red, white, and blue spell that I wanted to play with, including a Sunforger-counterspell package.
What's resulted is a very defensive-oriented deck that relies on sitting back and waiting to see what happens. It has less creatures than I'd like, but I'm fine with that, so long as I have at least one dude to swing a sword or Sunforger around.
I'm currently in the process of agonizing what to cut out for some functional cards that would help the deck out by leaps and bounds. Stuff like Sun Titan, Leyline of Anticipation, and (most importantly) Tormod's Crypt.
Any suggestions, questions, or tips would be much appreciated.
I did this a long time ago -- during an unfortunate run-in with someone's Phyrexian Crusader. Path to Exile was the odd man out, and I replaced it with Dismember then. I do board Path back in for multiplayer, but I play a bit heavier on the removal there, since there is more things I need to deal with.
It'd probably be worth it just to diversify the removal a little bit to take out both Path AND Mortify.
Dreadbore is a good addition too, but I don't know what you'd pull out. It's definitely good for taking out planeswalkers, and because you added Obzedat's Aid, you can beat someone's face in with their own planeswalker(My friend runs Jace, the mind sculptor <_<).
You know, in my deck, I run a 4th sword x: Much because I'm lacking an enlightened tutor. The 4th sword I added was Sword of Feast and Famine. With that, I was able to tutor first main phase for the beloved Boros Charm, then I cast Armageddon and made my permanents indestructible second main phase
On a side note, have you toyed around with Angelic Renewal a bit more? I've been actually looking into some sort of spell that can return a creature into play. Now, I'm not sure if this has been discussed, but has anyone brought up Faith's Reward? I was actually thinking of running that card much because people are seeking a mass removal towards the end of the game and that would be my answer for a wipe
Well, Obzedat's Aid actually only brings back YOUR stuff, so that doesn't work. It'd be EFFing BUH-ROKEN if it did that.
Feast and Famine certainly is a handy card, and certainly worth running if you find the extra mana to be handy. With that said, it also makes Faith's Reward a lot better since it keeps your mana open for it.
I've played with Angelic Renewel some more and I'm convinced it needs to stay in now. Two mana card that threatens to bring back anything that dies is a nice way to rattlesnake removal, and saves us a Kaalia casting. I actually used it recently to save Kaalia after she'd been threatened and sac'd. Really helped my tempo.
Mortify might be the unlucky card I would remove. You already run hide // seek and wear // tear, aka enchantment/artifact removal, so taking out mortify might be safe. Sounds pretty scary that you're considering swapping out path or swords, but I suppose it is for the better. I would not consider running wrecking ball though, I can hardly see you destroying a single land, unless some opponent got mana screwed and you screw him even further since the spell costs 4 mana.
I'm sketchy with using all is dust, that's risking leftover artifacts for your opponents to still use. I do, however, like that permanents are sacrificed. Amongst my friends, they run indestructible permanents(spellbreaker behemoth, sapling of colfenor) which is a bit of a nuisance because with it being late game, I wouldn't have an answer. Then again, my meta isn't your meta.
My memory is a little fuzzy, did you run mistveil plains? I don't remember if I saw it in your list or not.
edit: now that I noticed, how often do you use seek's ability? I use that pretty often to take out ulamog
......tbh, it's been so long since I put that card in that I COMPLETELY forgot that there was a second side to hide // seek. I'll be using it a LOT more often, particularly since it'll deal with the problems before they're problems to begin with. Ya, Jester's Cap effects are really powerful.
Ya, I ran Mistveil Plains before, but I rarely had the two white permanents needed to get the sunforger engine working. It's much more viable in my Numot deck.
Given that it'd be leaving us OUR artifacts as well, I think it's a chance worth taking, particularly since it gets around Avacyn.
I do believe you're right now, taking out Mortify probably IS the right move since there's enough removal specifically for enchantments already. Terminate will probably get the call, though I still REALLY like Dreadbore.
Hey there mate, I've been following your deck for quite a while and it has given me many answers to problems that I've been having. That being said, thank you, and let's get on with the discussion-
Why not race them to see who gets Iona first, if you call white before they do, that should prevent them from casting a bunch of spells as well. Of course, worst case scenario, you are going to need to find black/red removal. Having diversity in removal is always good, though it's difficult to find them in Kaalia's colors.
What's the scenario in your meta anyway? Which opponents of yours run Iona and what colors do they run?
Tragic Slip seems okay, but meeting the conditions for morbid seems iffy to me. In a multiplayer game, when Iona comes out, that should be nearing end game status. So either Iona gets wiped by a form of mass removal, or gets destroyed by a non-white spell. Sure, you or your opponents can chump and Tragic Slip Iona that way, but if it was you who had to chump, you'd be losing a creature ]:
If you're that late into a game, assuming you haven't used armageddon, would it be safe to suggest Weight of Spires? It may be creature specific as well, but it also supports the sunforger package and slaps things silly.
I'm gonna go out on a super, thin limb here and really stretch for an answer... maybe a brainstorming session to combat Elesh and Iona...
Grab the Reins. Take their Iona or Elesh and throw her back at them with Entwine? Grasping for straws on this one, but it IS a desperation Sunforger target (minus Entwine cost).
Damnation. Black Wrath of God... to replace one of the white sweepers?
Shadowborn Demon from M14. 3BB Destroy target non-Demon creature when it ETB... sacrifice during upkeep though.
Elesh has been popping up during some of our matches but lately, I only see Iona if someone uses Bribery on my deck.
First of all, let me just say that I'm an idiot for forgetting that Wrecking Ball, Terminate, and Dreadbore are still cards. The first two even work with sunforger. I'll have to change up some of the removal...I may even end up cutting Path just to diversify the colors.
Second, thank you and welcome! Glad this primer is still helping people, though I wish more of them would comment and share their experiences (I'll catch up to you yet 3drinks!!! *shakes fist*).
Racing for Iona sounds like something that's doable if we get a tutor or lucky on the draw.
So far though, the problem's been the same: SISAY. If I don't deal with sisay swiftly and quickly, I start having problems. There was a game where I managed to shut down a Sisay by not only dropping Stranglehold, but by blowing up Thousand-year elixir and Sisay herself as soon as she came out. The hate was strong that game...and it was also Karrthus, who has access to ramp spells. Unfortunately, I lost because I dedicated all my resources to neutering her while player three just wound up for the knock out punch on me.
The problem with doing that with Kaalia is that once you start hating someone off the board with her, your presences scares the ever loving crap out of everyone else and they'll do everything they can to kill you before you can deal with Sisay, letting her crawl back in and snatch victory from under their nose.
There's also a crap ton of maelstrom wanderer decks running around. My Numot deck (which I'm hoping to get some time to put up soon) is better tuned for it, but Kaalia has a hard time matching up to that speed without getting preemptively clipped if she hits the field naked.
Ironically, both sisay and maelstrom are regulars at my more competitive closed group of four every sunday, so the lgs has become something of a training grounds for me.
Weight of Spires might be alright, but Grab the Reigns is too costly for my taste. But if you run reanimator Kaalia with plenty of sac outlets, I could see it pulling some decent weight. Damnation could be a good replacement for Akroma's Vengeance, but I think All is Dust might have to be the solution. If they're out, we probably haven't wrathed away the lands yet and probably have the mana to cast it. Probably for Akroma's Vengeance.
So current question: What removal currently on the list should I swap out for Terminate (first choice), Dreadbore (second choice since it saves us from wasting time with walkers'), or Wrecking Ball (nice cuz it hits lands for us)?
Just out of curiosity, why did you take Eternal Dragon out. Even though he is not on my current list, he has been bugging me to give him a chance.
Wear // Tear is a card I added as well. I mean, I liked Return to Dust but the WW and extra mana left me high and dry sometimes.
Obzedat's Aid. I also thought about this one. How do you like it so far? I passed on this card because there was not a lot of non-creature permanents in my graveyard that would justify running this over Reanimate.
It seems to me more-and-more lately, that Magic players get ticked off at anyone that doesn't try to win the same way they do. IMO, Maelstrom is way more degenerate than Kaalia... They can cascade into Jokulhops or Apocalypse (I think) and have Maelstrom as the only permanent on the table. Seen it many times.
Elesh has also been rearing its ugly head at our table lately... let me know if you find more ways to get around her. For now, I am considering even more spot removal.
I ended up cutting Eternal Dragon because what I needed was a faster start, not long-term land drops. He got cut for a mana rock, and I've been pretty happy with that. I've only ever used him to fetch a plains ONCE per game because it's so costly to bring him back. He's great when you don't have anything else to do, but if that's happening, we're going to need more than a simple dragon. I'd prefer to keep mana open for a top-decked fatty.
Obzedat's Aid hasn't seen TOO much play as of yet just because I haven't drawn it. It's a good tutor target though, so I'm keeping that in mind. At least Sword of War and Peace is pulling its weight just for the protection and the buff on Kaalia.
I've been wondering if I just don't have enough removal PERIOD, because if Iona declares white, I have virtually no way to get rid of her, save combat and Chaos Warp. Of course, trying to open other colors diminishes the value of the Sunforger packages somewhat.
I'm at least giving Tragic Slip a look just because it gets around the Iona lock and kills Avacyn.
Looking through the list earlier this week, I realized that I lacked a lot of "catch-up" power. With this in mind, I swapped Boom // Bust for Merciless Eviction. Another sweeper was sorely needed, and Bust isn't necessarily the best land wipe we have. Sometimes you just gotta deal with dudes. :/
It's been a while since I've played Kaalia at the LGS. Unfortunately, most of it was spent fighting from under an Iona locking me out white, and subsequently most of my spells. I was also denied from Kaalia a lot with all of the Elesh Norns running around.
This has finally convinced me to look VERY closely for something to cut for Legion's Initiative. I've been wanting to add it for a while (particularly since I pulled a foil version from my fat pack when DGM was released), but had a hard time making cuts.
This is potentially a bad move considering how hungry Kaalia is for a grip of cards, but I'm making the experimental move of cutting Phyrexian Arena for LI. If Elesh Norn is going to dominate my meta, then I need to find every way possible I can use to Keep Kaalia alive, and anthem effects that double as anti-wrath tech really do the trick. Sword of War and Peace has been relevant so far just because it stops Kaalia from being path'd, swords'd, chaos warp'd, or any given burn spell. We rarely have cards in our hand to use the life gain, and the hand-based burn varies, so it's continuing to see play for the protection more than anything else. It DOES work nicely with Necropotence though.
With that said, I played three games with Kaalia (I think) and won the last one. Toward the beginning, I swung Kaalia at the Maelstrom Wanderer player and flashed in a Lord of the Void. No blockers, I used Boros Charm to give the Lord double strike, and Maelstrom immediately scooped. I mean, jesus. He'd already cast Maelstom by that point and got a couple of dudes out of it and he starts calling me out as the dick at the table just because I'm playing Kaalia.
Honestly, it's because of attitudes like this that I have no qualms using Armageddon as a win-con. That and the Sisay player calling me out for having Armageddon when he takes 20 mins to tutor every game and builds a board state of Avacyn, Elesh, and Iona every game.
Whatever. I'm off to update the deck list.
EDIT: Deck has FINALLY been updated! Geez, you'd think I would have noticed that I cut stuff like Eternal Dragon out sooner.
My own recommendation, honestly is to run both. Sire is super-strong to put everyone on top deck mode, but in 1v1, Master is your OTK. With the copious amounts of removals we have, it shouldn't be hard at all to get the interaction off. Just the ability to make one attack and win is crazy man. Sure, Wits Ending everyone is sweet -- but winning the game is better, naitch.
Strictly for one-on-one? Yes, I would agree with that 100%. OHKO PLUS keeping them from holding answers is good.
During the tourney, I came in second during each FFA, due to too much life loss. I think I definitly need some more lifegain, or fewer lifeloss cards. Also, I think I want another sweeper or 2 for FFA's, although not sure if that would help. In one game I got milled due to a hit with a Sword of Body and Mind, with the ten cards being Hallowed Burial, Cataclysm, Merciless Eviction, Volrath's Stronghold, Phyrexian Tower and some lands I believe. Then again, that won't happen that much I guess. Master of Cruelties was quite ok, they just have to block them anyways, while you build up some other stuff to ride your ADD's to victory.
I put in an Angelic Arbiter, which worked quite okay for me, although it did draw me ****loads of hate. Not sure if it stays.
I actually love Angelic Arbiter. A lot of people forget what it does and end up having to skip their combat step (which is usually aimed at you anyways). It might get you some hate, but you're already playing Kaalia, so that's to be expected. This ain't no Stonebrow deck.
Normally I would recommend cutting Master of Cruelty for a multi-player build, but I've been toying with the of of experimenting with him in my personal list too.
It really depends on how desperately you think you need a one-shot kill, how often you don't expect him to be chumped with utility dorks, and how useful he is to you as a blocker, because that's pretty much all he'll do after you get your one shot.
If you run Sunforger, don't forget another one of blueram's pet cards: Cloudshift! Cloudshift is amazing for dodging spot-removal or reusing ETB effects.
I am using Aurelia, the Warleader in my Kaalia deck right now with above-average results:
DRAWBACKS:
If you sneak her in with Kaalia her ability will NOT trigger that turn.
If she attacks outright with Kaalia, and you sneak an A/D/D into play, that particular A/D/D will not be able to attack in combat phase 2 due to summoning sickness.
That being said.
Turn 3 Kaalia, Equip Greaves, Attack, Sneak Aurelia in. (1 attack phase)
Turn 4 Attack with Kaalia + Aurelia, Sneak in Gisela. Attack Again (Gisela cannot attack), Sneak in another A/D/D.
Turn 5 Win Game. Attack with Kaalia + Aurelia + Gisela + A/D/D... twice. Win-more
Aurelia I actually consider to be okay. I'd be much more willing to give her a test run (and pretty excited to try it too) IF it didn't require me to cut any of the amazing creatures I'm already packing. From a pure competitive standpoint, I should have cut Akroma by now, but she gets a pass for being one of my all-time favorite cards ever so no dice.
It's a good problem to have when you have TONS of quality creatures coming out every set that seem to slot in very nicely for Kaalia, particuarly since angels, demons, and dragons are some of the best supported higher-rarity tribes in Magic.
So do you have any suggestions for generating more card advantage? I have Phyrexian Arena and Bloodgift Demon but are there any other consistent ways to draw cards?
Necropotence is mana-intensive, but is GREAT card draw and should really be run in any black deck that needs a full grip. The only downside is that when we use life as a resource, we tend to burn through it pretty quickly, especially if people are trying to kill us (and they will). Fortunately, there are enough lifelink angels out there (like Baneslayer Angel) that you can run to get it back. There's also Vault of the Archangel which I've come to love, just because it's a relevant mana sink that makes Kaalia a lot less appealing to block and makes Balefire Dragon absolutely nuts. I also ran Promise of Power and still run Sword of Fire and Ice for some nice draw power. PoP recently came out of my list, but it's a solid one-shot effect.
For my purposes though (in addition to the above), I run a small amount of "wheel" effects, cards that force everyone to discard their hand to draw seven new cards.
Reforge the Soul is great because it's miracle cost gives us disruption when played with Top, and is relatively cheap to cast without the MC, AND can be set up with Liliana's tutor ability (I LOVE doing that and have done so multiple times). Dragon Mage can be cheated in with Kaalia AND draws you those cards you need. I usually try to use him last if I have cards I want to use, but sometimes you might need to just get some new cards, even if it means abandoning one or two otherwise sweet cards.
The bonus of using wheel effects is that if you play in a combo-based meta (like I was for a while), playing one late when people are holding game-winners absolutely hoses their plan. Again, RtS is AWESOME for this strategy if you combine it with top after they've drawn their tutored-game-winner (by drawing it on their turn).
...that reminds me, I need to get an ACTUAL Wheel of Fortune for this deck at some point...
Have you experimented at all with extra combats? I have Aurelia right now, but I'd like to get an idea of how powerful they are before expending resources on acquiring the cards. Great primer btw! I'm a relatively new player and had no idea about the true power of the Sunforger!
Thanks! Yes, Sunforger has always been a pet card of mine. I've thought about taking it before, but every time I do I look at our toolbox and remember just how much reach it gives us in multiplayer dog-fights when we can't cast Armageddon on turn five like we'd want to. I love it so much I made a Numot Sunforger-control list that plays a lot of the good white and red counterspells...hm...I need to put that list up soon....
As for extra combat steps, it really depends on how you want to build your deck. You certainly CAN build Kaalia to take advantage of those, but there are a few downsides:
1) A lot of them only untap creatures that "attacked". Since the creatures that Kaalia flashes never declared an attack, they don't get the benefit of the attack step.
2) Unless they have haste (like Akroma), they won't get to attack even if they untap. Unless you have a hand chocked full of angels, demons, or dragons, Kaalia's going to be swinging by herself most of the time since our creatures are usually such high priorities for spot removal too.
3) As I mentioned above, unless you have a hand chock full of A/D/D, then Kaalia lacks the punch to really make use of those effects. This is a deck that tends to run out of cards pretty quickly, so unless you have a way to constantly keep a fresh grip of cards (somewhat hard to do in these colors), then the effect is minimal.
But like I said, if that's the route you want to go with your deck, it's definitely doable, you just have to overcome those three obstacles.
So I think it's safe to say that the new legend rule helps out Kaalia a TON. I was SO sick of having Avacyn and Iona legend-ruled by my friend's Captain Sisay deck, and it eliminates one of the easiest ways that players have been using to kill Kaalia, even after she's strapped on her boots or a sword.
DO WANT and will be applying to my groups immediately, official applications be damned.
Thanks for the response. Well, it seems I shall be keeping Adarkar Valkyrie in my build, since it seems to combo with a few other creatures I have, like Yosei, the Morning Star (if it dies, I can bring it right back)
Your deck's a reanimator build of Kaalia, right? I would definitely agree with that sentiment if that is the case.
What's resulted is a very defensive-oriented deck that relies on sitting back and waiting to see what happens. It has less creatures than I'd like, but I'm fine with that, so long as I have at least one dude to swing a sword or Sunforger around.
1 Numot, the Devastator
1 Batterskull
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Spellbook
1 Sunforger
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 AEtherling
1 Augury Adept
1 Brass Squire
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
1 Ith, High Arcanist
1 Markov Blademaster
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Rhystic Study
1 Stranglehold
1 Boros Charm
1 Chaos Warp
1 Cloudshift
1 Counterflux
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Double Negative
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Odds // Ends
1 Pact of Negation
1 Path to Exile
1 Render Silent
1 Return to Dust
1 Safe Passage
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Suffocating Blast
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tithe
1 Wear // Tear
1 Academy Ruins
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Calciform Pools
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Kor Haven
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mistveil Plains
5 Mountain
1 Mystic Gate
2 Plains
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Slayer's Stronghold
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Steam Vents
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Karn Liberated
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Terminus
I'm currently in the process of agonizing what to cut out for some functional cards that would help the deck out by leaps and bounds. Stuff like Sun Titan, Leyline of Anticipation, and (most importantly) Tormod's Crypt.
Any suggestions, questions, or tips would be much appreciated.
It'd probably be worth it just to diversify the removal a little bit to take out both Path AND Mortify.
Iona WILL go down!
Well, Obzedat's Aid actually only brings back YOUR stuff, so that doesn't work. It'd be EFFing BUH-ROKEN if it did that.
Feast and Famine certainly is a handy card, and certainly worth running if you find the extra mana to be handy. With that said, it also makes Faith's Reward a lot better since it keeps your mana open for it.
I've played with Angelic Renewel some more and I'm convinced it needs to stay in now. Two mana card that threatens to bring back anything that dies is a nice way to rattlesnake removal, and saves us a Kaalia casting. I actually used it recently to save Kaalia after she'd been threatened and sac'd. Really helped my tempo.
......tbh, it's been so long since I put that card in that I COMPLETELY forgot that there was a second side to hide // seek.
Ya, I ran Mistveil Plains before, but I rarely had the two white permanents needed to get the sunforger engine working. It's much more viable in my Numot deck.
Given that it'd be leaving us OUR artifacts as well, I think it's a chance worth taking, particularly since it gets around Avacyn.
I do believe you're right now, taking out Mortify probably IS the right move since there's enough removal specifically for enchantments already. Terminate will probably get the call, though I still REALLY like Dreadbore.
First of all, let me just say that I'm an idiot for forgetting that Wrecking Ball, Terminate, and Dreadbore are still cards. The first two even work with sunforger. I'll have to change up some of the removal...I may even end up cutting Path just to diversify the colors.
Second, thank you and welcome! Glad this primer is still helping people, though I wish more of them would comment and share their experiences (I'll catch up to you yet 3drinks!!! *shakes fist*).
Racing for Iona sounds like something that's doable if we get a tutor or lucky on the draw.
So far though, the problem's been the same: SISAY. If I don't deal with sisay swiftly and quickly, I start having problems. There was a game where I managed to shut down a Sisay by not only dropping Stranglehold, but by blowing up Thousand-year elixir and Sisay herself as soon as she came out. The hate was strong that game...and it was also Karrthus, who has access to ramp spells. Unfortunately, I lost because I dedicated all my resources to neutering her while player three just wound up for the knock out punch on me.
The problem with doing that with Kaalia is that once you start hating someone off the board with her, your presences scares the ever loving crap out of everyone else and they'll do everything they can to kill you before you can deal with Sisay, letting her crawl back in and snatch victory from under their nose.
There's also a crap ton of maelstrom wanderer decks running around. My Numot deck (which I'm hoping to get some time to put up soon) is better tuned for it, but Kaalia has a hard time matching up to that speed without getting preemptively clipped if she hits the field naked.
Ironically, both sisay and maelstrom are regulars at my more competitive closed group of four every sunday, so the lgs has become something of a training grounds for me.
Weight of Spires might be alright, but Grab the Reigns is too costly for my taste. But if you run reanimator Kaalia with plenty of sac outlets, I could see it pulling some decent weight. Damnation could be a good replacement for Akroma's Vengeance, but I think All is Dust might have to be the solution. If they're out, we probably haven't wrathed away the lands yet and probably have the mana to cast it. Probably for Akroma's Vengeance.
So current question: What removal currently on the list should I swap out for Terminate (first choice), Dreadbore (second choice since it saves us from wasting time with walkers'), or Wrecking Ball (nice cuz it hits lands for us)?
I ended up cutting Eternal Dragon because what I needed was a faster start, not long-term land drops. He got cut for a mana rock, and I've been pretty happy with that. I've only ever used him to fetch a plains ONCE per game because it's so costly to bring him back. He's great when you don't have anything else to do, but if that's happening, we're going to need more than a simple dragon. I'd prefer to keep mana open for a top-decked fatty.
Obzedat's Aid hasn't seen TOO much play as of yet just because I haven't drawn it. It's a good tutor target though, so I'm keeping that in mind. At least Sword of War and Peace is pulling its weight just for the protection and the buff on Kaalia.
I've been wondering if I just don't have enough removal PERIOD, because if Iona declares white, I have virtually no way to get rid of her, save combat and Chaos Warp. Of course, trying to open other colors diminishes the value of the Sunforger packages somewhat.
I'm at least giving Tragic Slip a look just because it gets around the Iona lock and kills Avacyn.
Changes:
Looking through the list earlier this week, I realized that I lacked a lot of "catch-up" power. With this in mind, I swapped Boom // Bust for Merciless Eviction. Another sweeper was sorely needed, and Bust isn't necessarily the best land wipe we have. Sometimes you just gotta deal with dudes. :/
It's been a while since I've played Kaalia at the LGS. Unfortunately, most of it was spent fighting from under an Iona locking me out white, and subsequently most of my spells. I was also denied from Kaalia a lot with all of the Elesh Norns running around.
This has finally convinced me to look VERY closely for something to cut for Legion's Initiative. I've been wanting to add it for a while (particularly since I pulled a foil version from my fat pack when DGM was released), but had a hard time making cuts.
This is potentially a bad move considering how hungry Kaalia is for a grip of cards, but I'm making the experimental move of cutting Phyrexian Arena for LI. If Elesh Norn is going to dominate my meta, then I need to find every way possible I can use to Keep Kaalia alive, and anthem effects that double as anti-wrath tech really do the trick. Sword of War and Peace has been relevant so far just because it stops Kaalia from being path'd, swords'd, chaos warp'd, or any given burn spell. We rarely have cards in our hand to use the life gain, and the hand-based burn varies, so it's continuing to see play for the protection more than anything else. It DOES work nicely with Necropotence though.
With that said, I played three games with Kaalia (I think) and won the last one. Toward the beginning, I swung Kaalia at the Maelstrom Wanderer player and flashed in a Lord of the Void. No blockers, I used Boros Charm to give the Lord double strike, and Maelstrom immediately scooped. I mean, jesus. He'd already cast Maelstom by that point and got a couple of dudes out of it and he starts calling me out as the dick at the table just because I'm playing Kaalia.
Honestly, it's because of attitudes like this that I have no qualms using Armageddon as a win-con. That and the Sisay player calling me out for having Armageddon when he takes 20 mins to tutor every game and builds a board state of Avacyn, Elesh, and Iona every game.
Whatever. I'm off to update the deck list.
EDIT: Deck has FINALLY been updated! Geez, you'd think I would have noticed that I cut stuff like Eternal Dragon out sooner.
Strictly for one-on-one? Yes, I would agree with that 100%. OHKO PLUS keeping them from holding answers is good.
I actually love Angelic Arbiter. A lot of people forget what it does and end up having to skip their combat step (which is usually aimed at you anyways). It might get you some hate, but you're already playing Kaalia, so that's to be expected. This ain't no Stonebrow deck.
It really depends on how desperately you think you need a one-shot kill, how often you don't expect him to be chumped with utility dorks, and how useful he is to you as a blocker, because that's pretty much all he'll do after you get your one shot.
Aurelia I actually consider to be okay. I'd be much more willing to give her a test run (and pretty excited to try it too) IF it didn't require me to cut any of the amazing creatures I'm already packing. From a pure competitive standpoint, I should have cut Akroma by now, but she gets a pass for being one of my all-time favorite cards ever so no dice.
It's a good problem to have when you have TONS of quality creatures coming out every set that seem to slot in very nicely for Kaalia, particuarly since angels, demons, and dragons are some of the best supported higher-rarity tribes in Magic.
And yes, Cloudshift is teh r0x0r
Necropotence is mana-intensive, but is GREAT card draw and should really be run in any black deck that needs a full grip. The only downside is that when we use life as a resource, we tend to burn through it pretty quickly, especially if people are trying to kill us (and they will). Fortunately, there are enough lifelink angels out there (like Baneslayer Angel) that you can run to get it back. There's also Vault of the Archangel which I've come to love, just because it's a relevant mana sink that makes Kaalia a lot less appealing to block and makes Balefire Dragon absolutely nuts. I also ran Promise of Power and still run Sword of Fire and Ice for some nice draw power. PoP recently came out of my list, but it's a solid one-shot effect.
For my purposes though (in addition to the above), I run a small amount of "wheel" effects, cards that force everyone to discard their hand to draw seven new cards.
Reforge the Soul is great because it's miracle cost gives us disruption when played with Top, and is relatively cheap to cast without the MC, AND can be set up with Liliana's tutor ability (I LOVE doing that and have done so multiple times). Dragon Mage can be cheated in with Kaalia AND draws you those cards you need. I usually try to use him last if I have cards I want to use, but sometimes you might need to just get some new cards, even if it means abandoning one or two otherwise sweet cards.
The bonus of using wheel effects is that if you play in a combo-based meta (like I was for a while), playing one late when people are holding game-winners absolutely hoses their plan. Again, RtS is AWESOME for this strategy if you combine it with top after they've drawn their tutored-game-winner (by drawing it on their turn).
...that reminds me, I need to get an ACTUAL Wheel of Fortune for this deck at some point...
Thanks! Yes, Sunforger has always been a pet card of mine. I've thought about taking it before, but every time I do I look at our toolbox and remember just how much reach it gives us in multiplayer dog-fights when we can't cast Armageddon on turn five like we'd want to. I love it so much I made a Numot Sunforger-control list that plays a lot of the good white and red counterspells...hm...I need to put that list up soon....
As for extra combat steps, it really depends on how you want to build your deck. You certainly CAN build Kaalia to take advantage of those, but there are a few downsides:
1) A lot of them only untap creatures that "attacked". Since the creatures that Kaalia flashes never declared an attack, they don't get the benefit of the attack step.
2) Unless they have haste (like Akroma), they won't get to attack even if they untap. Unless you have a hand chocked full of angels, demons, or dragons, Kaalia's going to be swinging by herself most of the time since our creatures are usually such high priorities for spot removal too.
3) As I mentioned above, unless you have a hand chock full of A/D/D, then Kaalia lacks the punch to really make use of those effects. This is a deck that tends to run out of cards pretty quickly, so unless you have a way to constantly keep a fresh grip of cards (somewhat hard to do in these colors), then the effect is minimal.
But like I said, if that's the route you want to go with your deck, it's definitely doable, you just have to overcome those three obstacles.
Memorial day.
DO WANT and will be applying to my groups immediately, official applications be damned.
Your deck's a reanimator build of Kaalia, right? I would definitely agree with that sentiment if that is the case.