This is going to be hard to make cuts as many cards you run are all fantastic. I would sit down and break the permanents down by type and evaluate possible additions from card-type.
For example I love Stranglehold, and it is a very important card to have in a few decks. But it doesn't really make Akroma win. Comparing Stranglehold to Outpost Siege and think about which one you would prefer to have in an opening hand.
Another example would be War's Toll, which is an excellent card, but not as consistent as you may want. Avatar of Slaughter and Insurrection are also not very reliable in a 1v1 design, especially when the mana investment in those two could be the lethal for firebreathing up Akroma.
Seething Song effects are great but I would consider Koth of the Hammer as the pseudo ramp effect since he is going to give you more options. He is still good acceleration even if your only running 20ish mountains.
When it comes to Akroma being ultimately dealt with (like your Nevermore or if she got Terminus'd for example) I typically rely on a few extra beaters or a handful of big x-spells (which you already have). All-In voltron/general damage with Akroma works great but can be a somewhat glass-cannon, so I tend to go mid-range semi-linear with about 5 to 8 big creatures and enough utility to make use of my equipment; Stormbreath Dragon Thundermaw Dragon (also great for tapping down blockers for akroma) Tahngarth, Talruum Hero (not as useful without the equipment / swords of protection) Hoard-Smelter Dragon for repeat artifact removal Inferno Titan Wurmcoil Engine
My opinion on the numbers there although is going to be inappropriate for your design since I tend to run more equipment. You may want more creatures instead of just 5ish beaters.
If your opponents do resolve a Nevermore although I think you can just morph Akroma out, may need to double check althoug
Also consider Karn Liberated as an ideal replacement for the Spine of Ish Sah. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon would make for an excellent addition too for enchantment removal. All is Dust would also make for a good situational board wipe that also hits problem enchantments.
I love Akroma, Angel of Fury with a sick passion. I have currently two decks active with her, and a history of different builds. I have a video hosted with one of my designs (the video needs updating with about 4x new cards). My second build is less voltron and more battlecruiser - I took its video down because I'm building a Duel Decks EDH: Akroma (white vs red), where the decks are equivalent in power.
For starters I love your list.
While I see the comment regarding its price, I highly suggest that you can get a Guantlet of Might from the ABU collectors or international edition. It has square boarders but most people don't mind you playing it. You can even clip the edges although that ruins the cards value. Just make sure you can't see the gold peeking out the back of your sleeves. Usually you can snag one on eBay for $25 to $35, or from a site like abu for ~40ish
edit: nvm about the above comment as I just remembered that you play mtgo
If you get the 3rd mana doubler, then consider Sculpting Steel. It is usually an iffy-inclusion, but a potential duplicate mana-doubler is usually game ending.
You may also like Granite Grip and Claws of Valakut. Assuming you hit every land drop and (for example sake) cast Akroma on turn-8. On Turn-9 you drop your 9'th Mountain, enchant akroma, then swing + firebreathing for exactly 21. You can obviously ramp into this and pump firebreathing / double damage / etc in other ways. These weak variants of Blanchwood Armor are almost always a completely spontaneous bomb, even if you snap it on your Inkmoth Nexus. Noone ever expects to see these. Although do note that in my builds I usually run about 4x non-basic's and Ruination so I have lots of mountains.
Journeyer's Kite is an auto-include I run in all of my mono-red decks, even 1v1, because it does help landfalls. If someone resolves a Bane of Progress against you before you land or attack with Akroma, then you've probably lost all of your support. (just as an example but Bane of Progress kills 36 permanents out of your 100 card deck) Your lands are the harder-to-remove permanent, and all you need with Akroma is mana to firebreath, so the lands are the most important thing. So with that in mind, also consider a Torpor Orb since most of your support is vulnerable to very common etb-removal.
This is an entry level guide for introducing someone to their first combo deck. As such this guide has been detailed with as many examples as possible to help point out the possible combinations. Many of these are classically known and my repetitiveness may appear unnecessary, and many interactions may be overly explained. This is simply for the benefit of helping educate those unfamiliar with the concept of running a combo deck.
While this is a simple combo to understand, it is neither the strongest nor easiest to understand, but hopefully my thoroughness will make this an easy to read and understand experience.
This may sound unbelievable to some, the words "combo" and "control" can often times elicit quite a few groans to many meta's. In some groups control and combo decks are hated so brutally that any player who tries to bring one to the table will be targeted. But in all honesty, those aggro / battle cruiser / voltron / creature beat heavy groups are missing an important archetype that is often times a necessary evil. A true control deck is often times needed to stop many otherwise repetitive plays and muddle up those bland environments, and a true combo deck is a great way to change up those 3+ hour games.
Also it is not necessary for those environments to include some control/combo at their table. Your meta may be perfect and everyone is happy playing their combat based designs. Just understand that by excluding control and combo from your table, you will never fully expose yourselves to these strategies. You are missing out on a large fraction of what this game has to offer.
Some people may consider this "baby's first combo deck" because the functionality of this design is easy to understand and, more importantly to your meta, easy to explain to your opponents. When the combo is about to go off, it only requires a brief explanation of how the combo will work - there are very few "motions" for resolving your combo. You don't have to fiddle around with your deck for more than a normal turn should last. If not disrupted, you create some interaction that just wins you the game.
The simplicity of this design is not to say that it is weak. In reality all designs have a weakness. That is the point of this guide - to "optimize" the combo. With enough draw and repetition in cards, the combo can become more reliable. With more experience the pilot can become more knowledgeable with decisions regarding threats, tutor targets, etc. With better cards the deck can become faster.
Do realize although that since the combo is exceptionally easy to understand, many will find it quite boring. More elaborate combo decks tend to be more akin to puzzle solving for the pilot. Finding that perfect stack of 5 cards for Doomsday? Interlocking those perfect trinkets for your Salvaging Station package? Finding that equilibrium of death cycling for Teysa, Orzhov Scion? Keeping track of you're mana on one dice and your storm count on another dice for that Grapeshot? These combo decks can all take an inordinate amount of time and thought power. These decks and designs can be fairly complicated to both pilot and very tedious to play against due to their own intricacies. Some people love the puzzle solving, and is absolutely true that the more complex the puzzle the sweeter the victory. These complex puzzles are not always welcome at every table. Circu and Vela combo's are nothing like this - you simply put together one of the many duplicate parts of your machine and set it in motion.
TLDR - this is a newbie friendly combo, but still strong enough to be a viable threat. It is simple and elegant and doesn't take much explanation. When the combo is capable of happening and if it is not disrupted, then the pilot of the deck simply explains how the combo is working, then everyone can proceed to the next game.
Circu stuff.. Circu, Dimir Lobotomist has always been an interesting card that since his printing I had always wanted to build around.
Opponents unfamiliar with your deck will not initially consider him to be a "combo" deck due to the requirement of "casting"
combo designed around interactions of creatures
actually including vela into a circu list
Understand now that any potential for optimizing a deck around Circu has, in many ways, been dwarfed by Planechase's Vela the Night-Clad.
end Circu stuff
Vela stuff..
There are many issues and strict stringent requirements for Circu's combo to work. But for Vela we can rely on a boarder spectrum of cards.
Flavorfully although the most Vela decks I've seen appear to rely on her Planechase origins and play a ninja theme'd deck, utilizing her Intimidate effect for small combat shenanigans and recycling creatures via ninjitus for some advantage.
end vela stuff
Every combo in the following decklist works with both Vela and Circu, but Vela's ability works upon a creature leaving play, and doesn't require it to be "cast." A common and nasty trick with Vela is kicking rite of replication on her, which bleeds every opponent for 30 life upon legendary rule resolution. This novelty, along with flicker effects, just doesn't work with Circu, so there are many additional mechanics that a Vela deck can deploy.
So we have a conundrum here. Arguments can be made for both, and Vela really does gives us more potential. But what it boils down to (for me) is that she has a higher casting cost. While Vela may be strictly better in some situations, Circu is cheaper. This is the primary reason why I choose Circu over Vela for combo. Granted some of the combo's generate infinite mana, but some do not, and having the lowest curve possible is ideal for any combo deck.
Personally I have a passion for UB control, and I actually already have a Vela deck that does something completely different. My love for Dimir has me wanting to keep Circu alive, thus the following deck is still being played.
A word on budget
Now that you have an idea of the essential combo elements of the deck, lets chat a bit about the actual price of constructing something like this.
The cards for the primary combo's listed above are all fairly cost efficient. The following parts of our combo design have the highest prices (prices in USD from SCG as of May 2015);
Omniscience - $20
Venser, Shaper Savant - $13
Palinchron - $12
Phantasmal Image - $7
Cloudstone Curio - $6
And then everything nose-dives to the $2 or less range. This is excluding Power Artifact and Grim Monolith as they are not used for Circu and only one possible combination with Vela.
So with the most expensive and arguably essential cards in our deck being approximately $55 USD, this makes a Circu or Vela combo design extremely budget friendly.
The question then becomes where do you dedicate your finances in a combo deck? The answer is an obvious on to most, but often times overlooked by newer players - optimization.
When compared to each other Demonic Tutor is better than Diabolic Tutor. The only time Diabolic would be better than Demonic is in some bizarre situation, like when a Chalice of the Void @2 is in play. This just doesn't happen. Due to just the manacost we would say that Demonic Tutor is strictly better than Diabolic Tutor. Likewise Counterspell is strictly better than Cancel.
The curve of a combo deck should be as low as possible, so optimization in speed is very important. The trend here is that the cheaper spells are (typically) more powerful. This is not necessary although, as it is dependent on the speed of your playgroup.
You really need to ask yourself if it is worth investing $20.00 for a Demonic Tutor over $0.50 for a Diabolic Tutor in a deck, especially if that deck would have a good success rate in your meta with just the Diabolic Tutor.
Politically speaking for the multiplayer environment, the person who has the most expensive cards in their deck often times finds themselves being targeted. Then there is the notion of quick-combo is not fun and breaks some sort of EDH spirit thing. For these reasons (and others) many people opt for a 70% optimization design for multiplayer EDH, where they purposefully degrade the quality of cards in their deck, deliberately making their deck worse, just for a more lax environment.
It all revolves around your playgroup and your opponents. There simply is no need to invest a large amount of resources in a deck if your opponents are not up to that tier yet. Instead of crushing them under your wallet, it would be wiser to help develop them into stronger players while you display your deck to them, improving it over time and allowing them to piggy-back learn.
Finding your combo parts from your 99 card deck Draw
One of the hardest parts of running a combo is simply finding the parts. With a simple draw-go strategy a combo design will often times fail, unless it is supplemented by an absurd amount of counter magic, and you enjoy playing very long games.
Alternatively we can dig deeper into our deck by utilizing effective card draw. By effective card draw I mean more than 1-card nets 2-cards in the case of Divination or Sign in Blood. Both are great effects, and with a nice mana cost, but we need to dig deep, and fast. A good example here is the new Dig Through Time - a card that literally digs deep for us. Some EDH classics like Fact or Fiction are also ideal as this one card digs 5 cards deep, although you don't get them all, and many people don't like that the opponent gets to see what it is that you choose to keep.
Below in the spoielers are many of the common card draw and tempo effects that you might see in EDH;
Tutor
And while drawing many cards is nice, often times trading one card for that one exact part we need to win with is just better. Tutoring in EDH many people feels breaks that spirit thing again, but in a combo design running a handful of tutors can be very important for making a consistent deck.
Below in the spoilers are some of the more common tutor effects, be it a hard tutor or semi-restricted effect.
Intuition is, financially speaking, a semi-expensive tutor, and many don't understand why. Here I will break down the potential that this card offers, and more importantly, how it can best be used in this design.
There are three effective ways to use Intuition;
1.) You tutor for 3 threats, and you just need one to win. For example, you use it to tutor up Æther Adept, Cavern Harpy, and Dream Stalker. It doesn't matter which the opponent chooses, because you get what you need.
2.) You tutor up one card you specifically need, but the means to get it from the 'yard. For example, you tutor up Damnation, Pull from the Deep, and Archaeomancer. The Damnation could be an answer you need, but you might be bluffing this so that you can recur something else from your graveyard.
3.) You tutor up 3 parts, but you have the ability to keep all of them. For example, you tutor up Palinchron, Phantasmal Image, and Venser, Shaper Savant, but unbeknownst to your opponent you have Phyrexian Reclamation in hand. Another example is tutoring up 3 lands while you have Crucible of Worlds.
In our design, optimization is key, so we should always shoot to use Intuition for #2 or #3 whenever possible.
Opponents with little experience will often times make poor choices when choosing what card you get with Intuition. Smart opponents will choose the card that makes you expend the most resources (mana and time) to get what you needed.
Creating a tutor "package" with Trinket, Muddle (getting the illusion & harpy), and Shred Memory.
Trinket Mage Toolbox Trinket Mage is essentially a restricted tutor, but often times is thought of as a minimal threat and after he resolves is dismissed by the opponents. In our design Trinket Mage serves a far greater purpose than he typically would, because our combo design focuses on looping creature-entry. We will quite often find some way of bouncing and re-using Trinket Mage, be it from a Shrieking Drake to Riptide Laboratory (yep hes a wizard!). This snazzy fellow usually has an accompanying "package" of targets he can tutor for. Below are just a few examples;
Casting our Cards - obtaining enough mana in Blue/Black Lands
With the obvious fact of requiring mana to cast our spells aside, picking which lands to run can really make or break a deck. Below is a selection of common lands you might see in EDH, broken to categories to consider. Expensive lands are not necessary to make a functional deck. It is best to invest in expensive lands only if you have a passion for a specific deck, or the color combination of that deck so you can recycle those lands in future decks. It is far more important to spend your trade and financial resources on the essential parts within the deck before investing in expensive lands.
The most important thing about crafting your land-base is to make sure you get your needed colors. Luckily we are in a two color deck. Three and five color decks have less space for utility lands that don't produce the color of mana we need for spells.
For the most part, an EDH deck will want somewhere between 42 and 47 sources of mana, from lands and acceleration (anything from your Sol Ring to a Elvish Mystic would be considered here). The variance depends on the curve of your deck. Someone running 30 dragons with Bladewing the Risen as a commander will want upwards to 50 mana sources, while the punisher deck running Zo-Zu the Punisher can skate away with 40 mana sources.
The "curve" of a combo should always be as low as possible. A lower curve means we can cast more spells, earlier in the game, and eventually more than one spell a turn. A converted mana curve below 3.5 is a nice average for most metas. From my personal experience while playing Circu and Vela, I prefer to have 37 lands + 6 artifact accelerants in Circu, and 38 lands + 6 artifact accelerants in Vela.
There is no exact number of color-producing lands you should include in your deck. The number of utility lands vs color producing lands entirely depends on what is in your deck. Including Necropotence and Mind Over Matter in the same deck means you should have fewer colorless producing lands, or have more fetch lands to guarantee your colors. But if you are also running all of the mana rocks that produce color as well as Burnished Hart and other ramp effects, then it may be safer to include more utility lands.
Below in the spoiler are some lands to consider while constructing a U/B EDH deck;
Here are a few basic utility lands you will most likely see in EDH:
After Riptide I feel that Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is the second most important because it fixes 50% of your mana color issues. Close to this is Cabal Coffers that helps us generate a nice chunk of mana.
While not at all necessary for our design, many people love man-lands. The only one I would ever consider for this deck is Creeping Tar Pit as it does give us both of our colors.
Many combo's can work better with lands that produce more than one mana. While I have a personal hatred for bounce lands, many people swear by them, and they do serve a purpose in our design. While the benefit of these lands is obvious, there is always the possibility of being set back by having them destroyed. Weighting this chance is entirely dependent on your group's likelihood to run things like Strip Mine and Acidic Slime effects.
When it comes to fixing the colors in your deck, there are some lands that work just better than others. This is where you might end up spending more money than the deck is actually worth. Again these are not necessary to make the deck playable. These just help optimize it to run smoother, often times by a minor %.
Some of the above cards can command a hefty price tag. But for the price of just that Watery Grave you could actually afford the entire list of budget lands below and have excess. Some of these have a "CIPT" (comes into play tapped) effect, which is essentially setting you back one turn to guarantee your colors. If your meta is not full of incredibly fast and cut-throat decks, then these lands all work just fine.
Another budget alternative for that can be incorporated as a meta-hate is to run the other versions of "fetch lands." If you include Back to Basics in your deck, then the following all become very strong candidates. Do note that the Terminal Moraine and panorama's all produce colorless mana on the turn they come out. Using these also means a higher basic land count, which is great against those opponents running Ruination and Blood Moon effects.
A word of fetch lands, from Polluted Delta to Grixis Panorama. For those unfamiliar with why these are considered "good" there are several ways that these help past just fixing our colors. While technically they do "thin" your deck so you are less likely to draw more lands late-game, this "thinning" makes a very small %change to your deck. It is still a factor although. By using these they also cause a "shuffle" effect, which makes manipulating the top of your deck with Sensei's Divining Top a much stronger effect. Finally if you include something like Crucible of Worlds you have the potential to make a landfall every single turn without having to use cards from your hand. This benefit is further amplified if you have a Scroll Rack out so you can put the lands you have drawn on top your deck, and then shuffle them away when you break your fetch land.
If you do not want to include, or can not afford to include Crucible of Worlds, then the strongest benefit of using a fetch land is not in your deck. If you are on a specific budget, it is best to have the Crucible first and use the budget fetch lands before investing in expensive fetch lands.
Ramp
Now that you have an idea of which lands to include, the next step in getting our combo online is to get more mana faster than 1-land-per-turn. Acceleration in black/blue comes in the form of artifacts and a few spells. There are quite a few strong spell effects that can combine High Tide effects and mass untap effects like Turnabout. While these tricks can work exceptionally and produce a gross amount of mana, our design wins when we can create an infinite loop, so it is best to have reliable acceleration that we can use every turn.
Below in the spoiler are some ramp cards to consider while constructing a U/B EDH deck;
Here are some of the cheapest artifacts and spells that we can do as early as turn-1.
Any acceleration that costs more than 2 mana is most likely too slow. It would need to serve a very important purpose to warrant it's inclusion, like being able to replace it self later, or tapping for more than one mana.
There is another "budget" acceleration for multiplayer environments called Surveyor's Scope. It works best if you have 4 or more opponents. If your design runs a combination of bounce lands and fetch lands, you can activate the scope's ability after you sacrifice a land to drop your land count down. This is often times a whimsical and unreliable source for acceleration, and since it can not be recurred it is typically just forgotten about.
Non-ramp
While not technically acceleration, there are a few cards that help guarantee land drops or can act as a source for mana.
Expedition Map and Tolaria West are excellent tutors if you need specific lands, such as Urborg or Coffers to compliment the other.
Crucible of Worlds is a common site as it essentially means any earlier used fetch land can be reused every turn. Do note that it is more important to have this before investing in the expensive fetch lands like Polluted Delta as the effect can be granted with the budget versions like Terminal Moraine or Evolving Wilds.
Mind Over Matter often times ends up being a source of mana on the turn you are about to win. If you have a Gilded Lotus out essentially every card in your hand becomes a Black Lotus.
Many also consider Tezzeret the Seeker as a source for ramp, as he will often tutor for our artifact acceleration and later be used to untap those rocks. He can be used to tutor for critical needs, but our combo design does not rely on many artifacts.
Caged Sun is another potential inclusion because some of our combo's are made easier with having a land that taps for two mana. Gauntlet of Power is an alternative but this helps your opponents as well, and makes for sticky situations if you pick black and have an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth out. Extraplanar Lens also is worth mentioning as it goes well with Snow-Covered Islands and Snow-Covered Swamps, but the potential setback of having the Lens removed or flickered is often times too much of a setback.
8.) Protecting the Machine (answers, control, and recursion)
Control and Recursion - Protecting the win-condition.
Relying on a few select cards to enable a combo win is not all sunshine and lollipops. Our "quick" combo's all heavily rely on Omniscience or Palinchron. The cards that we abuse Omniscience and Palinchron with we have duplicates of, but many of our combos rely on these core cards.
A timely Dissipate or Mindbreak Trap can really hurt us. While we can recover from a single card exiled from the likes of Praetor's Grasp, an early game Sadistic Sacrament from a smart opponent can wreck our plans for (easy) victory.
Then there is the entire issue of actually dealing with the opponent while we build our machine. Running Vela and Circu at the helm of a combo deck, while fun, is not the quickest nor the most efficient thing to do. We can sacrifice some of our combo's and tutors to dedicate space for answers, but finding that threshold of wincon vs answer is a difficult, very meta-specific, and very time consuming ploy.
Luckily we are in the best color of magic. With the über island on our side we have access to counter-magic. With swamps on our side we have access to hard tutors and recursion.
Counter Magic
Some combo decks go all-in on the combo, while others will heavily lean on a control shell. Many control decks simply deploy a small combo within their deck as the win-condtion.
Whichever route you choose it is highly advised to include a counter package to have an answer to a threat of your own board, or to the opponents win-condition.
When it comes to counter-magic, it is best to consider what the deck is doing. We are playing a combo deck that wants to win as fast as possible, so counters like Spelljack and Desertion, while fun, are way too slow for our needs. When it comes to any sort of "competitive" environment, the cheaper the spell's converted mana cost, the better. Below in the spoilers are just a few of the most common counterspells you will see while playing EDH.
It should be noted that if you enjoy using Deadeye Navigator, the Draining Whelk and Venser, Shaper Savant can be potential win-conditions as a spell lock. Venser is the optimal one here as he can also start bouncing the opponents permanents back to hand.
Elements of Control
Often times a single card can completely wreck an opponents plans. If you have a landbase in a multicolor deck that is over $100, then you most likely know the pains of that mono-red troll resolving Blood Moon.
We are in the colors where we have a few cards that can give us the breathing room we need to resolve our combo.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is an excellent example here. This design, as a combo deck that most likely will include elements of control, will have its hardest time against a strictly control style deck. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, if he resolves, has a tendency to really wreck those control decks.
The importance of Teferi!
Effects like Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery are very powerful to a combo player. Being that Circu and Vela combos work around interactions of creatures, something like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir becomes far more important than just a stall mechanic to mess with the opponent. A large chunk of creatures in our design do things when they enter the battlefield, so not only does he derp on the opponent, but he also acts as an enabler to both protect our combo and help push it online during the opponents turn. His ability extends to the command zone - he gives our general flash. If you can't keep him safe with one of the etb-bounce creatures, well he is a wizard so yet again Riptide Laboratory warrants an inclusion.
It is in my opinion that Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir needs to be one of the first cards sought after for this design, past the basic combo parts. He does nothing for our combo, but his impact is extremely tremendous.
Another style of control via "hosing" the opponent is tuning your land-base around something like Back to Basics. While this is not optimal for speedy wins since your land-base has become slightly less reliable, it is an excellent inclusion for a meta with an absence of non-basic land hate.
Answering the opponent (past counterspells)
duress package in protection, mindtwist in 1v1
The unexpected - Darkness & Howl from Beyond
Meta hate - shadow of doubt, mindlock orb w/ tutorless combo
threats to our deck - cards that nerf our combo like tomorrow, azami's familiar
timewalk effects like exhaustion & mana vapors
Recursion
We do have access to quite a bit of creature based recursion since we are also playing with swamps. While a large chunk of our combos rely on creatures, from my personal experience, it is not always best to spend valuable card slots for excessive recursion. If you have too much recursion, then the decks design is boarderline reanimator/attrition and looses out on speed.
The only cards I've had a fleeting passion for when it comes to recursion are;
Call to Mind and Pull from the Deep are unique inclusions here that many people will dismiss. Retrieving any earlier spent spell from the 'yard is an incredible ability, not for just getting back a tutor to re-use, but to even recur a Counterspell to skew the opponents next few plays. If you are running a design with R, then I would also highly recommend Mystic Retrieval.
Wake the Dead is also an odd inclusion, but in a deck possibly full of etb-bounce creatures and value creatures, this ends up netting quite a bit of advantage when used correctly. It is tutor-able with Muddle the Mixture and Shred Memory. Do note that while it does require to be used on an opponents combat step, even if that opponent chooses to skip combat, you can still request priority as they pass phases to use this card.
Yawgmoth's Will is card worth mentioning and well worth including. A combo deck wants to go off as soon as possible, but often times it will be stopped by timely answers. Eventually a large number of our cards will end up in the graveyard, and with just a few of them we could possibly win. Yawgmoth's Will can enable this... if you have the mana. For the newer players, understand that playing this card has a slight learning curve, so it is suggested to test it whenever possible. It takes a bit of practice as learning the priority of which cards can be recovered, are worth recovering, or if it is actually worth expending Yawgmoth's Will.
In a tutor-heavy design it is often viable to chain together your tutor's after each other in one turn, then follow that turn by Will'ing them all back. Say you Vampiric Tutor for a Demonic Tutor, them Demonic Tutor for a Grim Tutor, and then you use Grim Tutor to find your Yawgmoth's Will. If you know your opponent can't answer quickly, then you can use Yawgmoth's Will to effectively re-use the 3 tutors from your 'yard. You've just turned a Vampiric Tutor and two turns into finding whatever combo parts you need.
9.) Knowing the flaws (unique things that disrupt the plan)
Also the deck has a few ways of generating infinite mana, so might as well include some 1-card win-conditions like Exsanguinate, Capsize, or Blue Sun's Zenith. If the mana is coming from a Deadeye Navigator combo then also by repairing him with another value creature we could draw/tutor yourself via Baleful Strix or Rune-Scarred Demon, or bounce the opponents world with Venser, Shaper Savant. Staff of Domination is another possibility that was in an earlier design of this deck that has been replaced.
The deck has many generic UB combinations that are just good and can often times win the game, that have nothing to do with finding a combo for the general;
Rite of Replication kicked on Rune-Scarred Demon. Ideally you want to cast your own demon to tutor up the Rite's, then kick it the following turn, netting you 6 6/6 flyers and 5 tutors. Pretty snazzy.
Here is how the deck works, combo essentials and card selection/options
The following combinations are (mostly) ordered by the # of cards required to complete the combo. It is classically known that the fewer cards to enable a combo, the better the combo. The best combo's only require two cards. There are (currently) no single-card combo's that create a win-condition when combined with Circu or Vela that I am aware of. Currently the smallest number of cards required for any functional combo is 3, including either Circu or Vela.
Having a combo that requires fewer cards is ideal. This makes it quicker to tutor up the needed parts, space for creating duplicate cards that have the same effect (if possible) of essential parts, and gives us room for dedicating more cards to obtain and protecting the combo.
Recent change - due to the removal of commander tuck storm cards have been removed from this design. The combo's that work with Circu tend to generate an infinite storm count so cards like Tendrils of Agony used to be an alternate win-condition if Circu was not available.
Combo with Circu!
Primary Circu Combo! (requires Circu and as few as two additional cards)
The easiest and quickest 3-card combo that we can use with Circu involves Phantasmal Image copying a Palinchron.
The phantasmalichron can bounce itself and be cast again, re-cloning the Palinchron. Bounce and cast ad nauseam. This gives us infinite mana so we can cast our general and continue the phantasmalichron combo, giving us infinite blue creature "cast" triggers, allowing Circu to exile away the opponents deck(s).
Any 4-cmc Clone variant will work, assuming we have Circu and Palinchron in play with at least one land that produces two mana. Clone, Clever Impersonator, Phyrexian Metamorph, Evil Twin, Sakashima's Student, Sakashima the Impostor all work here. We can tap seven lands (including at least one that taps for 2 mana), which adds 8 mana to our pool. It only takes four mana to cast the clone, which untaps the seven lands when it enters and copies Palinchron. We can use the last four floating to bounce the clone back. Again bounce and cast the clone ad nauseam for the win.
Secondary Circu Combo! (requires Circu and as few as two additional cards)
The etb-bounce creature we can cast from our hand for free thanks to Omniscience, which upon entry we want it to bounce itself back. Repeat ad nauseam and Circu can exile away the opponents deck(s).
These are just few that I prefer running myself, although there are many others. Below in the spoilers are all possibilities;
Both Batterskull and Ancestral Statue does work if you are bleeding out with Vela, but not work with Circu. Suncrusher is excluded from Circu since it also requires infinite mana to spam-bounce.
It is important to note that while our combo typically revolves around infinite mana or Omniscience, the cmc on these creatures is still very relevant. Often times these will be used early game for disruption, defense, or to recycle our own value effects.
The specific reason why I prefer these etb-creatures
After extensively playing this combo I have found that approximately 5 to 6 maindeck etb-bounce creatures is an effective number to run. They do enable our combo, but are also generically good at reusing value from our side or slowing down the opponent. It was necessary for me to run more in more aggro metas, but less than 5 I was always annoyed at having to tutor for them more often than other required parts. The variance in # is dependent on your meta, and if it is for multiplayer or 1v1.
Shrieking Drake is my 4'th favorite simply due to the mana cost. Dream Stalker is a very close inclusion here as his butt is great against aggro, but the flying is often times more relevant in meta, and is tutorable with Muddle the Mixture.
The Planshift "gateing" creatures like Cavern Harpy and Doomsday Specter are at the tail end. The Harpy is a must due to again the mana cost and its self-bounce ability, but also being tutorable with Muddle the Mixture. The specter is very good as an annoying threat on its own. Marsh Crocodile can be used to dump the opponents hands (you can stack the triggers to your favor and discard before bouncing the croc), but there is no point in doing this if you are already capable of finishing the combo.
Per the possible targeting of Phantasmal Image - some of these etb-bounce creatures do and do not target. We must be mindful lest we kill our own Phantasmal Image!
Tertiary Circu Combo! (requires Circu and as few as three additional cards)
Due to the mana-cost on Great Whale it is typically not the best of ideas to run him. He does fit in some of our combo's, he is a strictly worse version of Palinchron, and keeping that curve low is ideal.
With infinite mana we can then land our general and proceed bounce-looping with one of the etb-bounce creatures.
Quaternary Circu Combo! (requires Circu and as few as three additional cards)
If you run a deck with a higher creature count, then having one of the etb-bounce creatures may not be necessary.
While we sadly can't run Aluren, Cloudstone Curio can still help us bounce without requiring something like Æther Adept. With infinite mana from one of the above combinations then we can continue with our Circu exile plan. I ran this for a while when my deck had approximately 30 creatures, but with less creatures it was less advantageous.
We can cast either Peregrine DrakeGreat Whale or Palinchron, untap whatever amount of lands you can, then follow up with a Clone to copy the previous creature. Our Clone will untap the desired lands again, and the curio we can bounce the first creature. Just recast the Peregrine Drake or Palinchron and bounce the clone to continue the cycle.
The curio combo above also works with Cloud of Faeries and Phantasmal Image. Again this is tight on the mana - you will need to have the general in play already, and these exact cards.
Equilibrium can be considered a backup for Cloudstone Curio, but the requirements to make this work are stringent. First it must be stated very clearly that, unlike the above Cloudstone Curio interactions, Equilibrium manipulation can only utilize a clone if there are three creatures in the equation. The Curio triggers when a creature enters play (so a clone can effectively become what is being bounced), but Equilibrium triggers upon casting. If you cast a Clone and activate Equilibrium, the Clonecan not enter as what you bounce.
It is in my opinion although that Equilibrium is still worth an inclusion as you can use it to keep the opponents creatures off the field while you develop your own presence.
Equilibrium does work with other parts of our deck. By using two of the following creatures
and any land that taps for two mana, such as one of the following;
we can start a bounce-loop similar to how the Curio combo works. Utilizing a land that taps for 2 mana and untapping it from the creature entry means we have the extra mana to continually pay for Equilibrium.
This combination does require 5 cards (our general, two land-untap creatures, Equilibrium, and a special land like Temple of the False God).
This combination can work with clones, but by increasing it to rely on 6 cards, which becomes even more unlikely. With the above example, simply have the land-untap creature (like Great Whale) in play, and use a pair of clones to keep copying the Great Whale and the special land to generate the extra mana to enable Equilibrium and bounce the previous clone. Do note that Equilibriumtargets the creature, so you can not use Phantasmal Image in this scenario.
Combinations with Vela!
Primary Vela Combo! (requires Vela and as few as two additional cards)
So all of the above combo's work with both Circu and Vela. But Vela's bleed ability works when a creature leaves play, not when a creature is cast. This is a much more relaxed requirement when it comes to assembling a combo. The Deadeye Navigator mana combo above is actually all it takes to win with Vela, but can be complimented by Cloud of Faeries.
Secondary Vela Combo! (requires Vela and as few as three additional cards)
Another easy one is to bleed everyone by activating Pentavus's first and second ability repeatedly. Infinite mana from the above combo helps, but this mana does not require any color, so alternative infinite mana combo's can work.
There is also Rings of Brighthearth with Basalt Monolith. The Rings do not work for mana abilities, but again that untap ability is the key. You can tap the monolith for 3, then pay 3 to untap it, spend 2 to double the untap ability via rings, then tap the monolith another time before the rings trigger re-untaps it. You will net 1 colorless mana per sequence.
Including a secondary infinite mana combo next to the Deadeye also means further redundancy of 1-card win-conditions could be more viable. ExsanguinateBlue Sun's Zenith and Staff of Domination all have the potential to end the game with all this colorless mana.
Tertiary Vela Combo!
With our general in play, we can create a series of creature leaves play effects also by abusing Ghostly Flicker targeting an Archeomancer.
The Archeomancer will re-enter and can return the Ghostly Flicker to our hand from the graveyard. With Omnescience in play we can continue to cast the Ghostly Flicker for free. The Ghostly Flicker also allows us to flicker a 2nd object, such as a land, so we can generate the mana to cast Vela from the command zone.
Quaternary Vela Combo! (requires Vela and as few as two additional cards, + one upkeep)
While the above Pentavus combo is quick win, another way of approaching this is with infinite turns.
If both Thopter Assembly and Time Sieve get to stay on your battlefield for your next upkeep you have the potential for infinite turns.
This works by bouncing the assembly due to its ability, and sacrificing the five tokens it generated to Time Sieve. Next recast and resolve Thopter Assembly in this same turn. You get a free turn to loop the assembly. With Vela in play this little combo incidentally bleeds each opponent out for 6 life every turn, so you won't even have to dig for a win-condition.
It should be noted although that this is a dated and delicate combo. A combo is strong if all of the effects can occur in the same turn. The Thopter Assembly and Time Sieve combo requires you keep both of these artifacts out for a full turn (or lots of mana to flash them out via Leyline of Anticipation for example). Because the opponent is typically given time to answer this is considered a suboptimal combo.
Graveyard Vela Combo(s)!
Not only does Vela the Night-Clad combo with everything listed above that works with Circu, but her leaves play effect also opens doors to another series of combinations using gravestorm (see Bitter Ordeal). This section will list a few examples of graveyard shenanigans that generate an infinite loop of creature entry and exit, allowing Vela to bleed out the opponents. This pathway is completely different from the Circu approach - the following cards do not always synergies with other combinations in the deck. Most of these combinations require precise cards, which means there is less duplicates with the same functionality. This pathway for combo would essentially dictate a completely different sort of deck, with different supporting cards and themes. Utilizing these combos is more for an attrition style deck instead of a combo/control style deck.
It is in my personal opinion that going with this route of combinations is less effective in a competitive design. The above combinations can be disrupted by counter-magic and removal, but relying on the graveyard makes us susceptible to even more disruption. The combinations also (typically) require more cards to complete. The following combinations are not necessarily bad, but just less competitive in design due to the speed of obtaining more parts for the combination to work, the lack of easy duplicate cards in required parts, and the extra vulnerability by utilizing another zone.
The following combinations all give the potential for an infinite gravestorm, which is a mechanic found on Bitter Ordeal, but also a means to win with Blood Artist and/or Falkenrath Noble effects. Before commander-tuck was removed from the rules, these cards were suitable to include if Vela was not available to us. With our commander being more reliably accessible now these would be a frivolous inclusion.
Sacrifice Su-Chi to whatever effect you have in play, and use the mana Su-Chi gives you to reanimate him to the Nim Deathmantle. With Vela out we can bleed out the opponents, while also enjoying whatever effect the sacrifice outlet gives us.
Sacrifice the auxiliary creature to the sacrifice effect, and allow Rotlung Reanimator to generate a token. The auxiliary creature and the tokens created by Rotlung Reanimator will always generate another token when they die thanks to Xenograft or Conspiracy.
Another version of the above Rotlung combo that also requires 5-cards is Xenograft or Conspiracy (calling "Human"), Avacyn's Collar and Ashnod's Altar, along with any creature and our general.
Equip and sacrifice an auxiliary creature to Ashnod's altar to gain two mana, which we can use to re-equip the token generated by Avacyn's Collar.
Brewing Combos! Dissipation Field seems like it might be able to enable some sort of chain. A close out-of-color inclusion would be Electric Eel and Paradise Plume + some blue mana generation (intruder alarm + silver myr for example). But alas there is no other etb-creature that triggers damage in our colors, and the mana mechanic requires too many cards. Not enough duplicate parts for reliance. Too many cards required to run!
Master Transmuter seems like there should be some combo. It honestly feels like it has been just waiting to be realized, lofting mockingly behind some comboy shadow. An inclusion could be Gilded Lotus as an easy artifact to keep bouncing with her to generate mana. An old classic mana combo with her and the lotus is just enchanting her with Freed from the Real. Aura of Domination might act as a backup since we might be bounce-looping a creature to help the untap. Sadly Deceiver Exarch is not an artifact at all times (in our hands) to keep abusing with her, and fatestitcher is a one-time use unless we have more intruder alarm nonsense. Dross Scorpion seems like it would help untap her if we added some sort of blasting station tech, but the # of cards is beginning to get too high.
Mirran Spy seems easy enough and might produce the blue-cast creature trigger we need.
Since transmuter is a human it seems like Captain of the Mists should be able to interact with her in some way.
But we would need an easier way to untap her, and a colorful artifact to add to the cycling. Courier's Capsule, Executioner's Capsule, hell even something cute like etherium astrolob could function here for the colorful trigger for Circu.
He isn't the weakest by far. Avacyn requires a significant mana investment beyond her casting cost, and you don't even get the benefits of true protection (evasion, protection from most removal, protection from auras). Jalira is probably better, but is at least as fragile and has to live a turn or have haste somehow to do anything so she's even more fragile at the same cost. Yisan is similar to Jalira in that respect. Ob is good, as long as your opponents are continuing to tutor. He comes down after most ramp is going to be played, so it's not hard to play around that ability. He's also not going to stop a fast combo deck, because their tutoring is likely to happen before your six drop comes down, particularly if your forecasting it from the general zone. I don't think Kurkesh is the strongest of the M15 legendaries, but trying to paint him as the weakest by far is ridiculous. None of them has a clear edge.
He although does require his deck to run what very few and fairly unique cards to work. All of the other legendaries are capable of being functional on their own or with very little other requirement. The only other one that actually requires something is Ob, and that is for the opponent to tutor. But you still have a giant beater... The only other requirement for is for blue and green one, and that is for the deck to include...*gasp*...creatures.
This is and always will be stapled as my opinion, but I still feel that his level of power compared to the other 4 legendary is insultingly underwhelming.
I usually get annoyed by the power-level comparison of rares per color that are offered in a cycle.
Some are really good, but when compared to some of the other rares of the same cycle are slightly less appealing (Rage Reflection vs Wound Reflection? Inferno Titan vs Grave & Primeval? All of the primordials?)
But then you have things like the traps, time spiral magus's, commands, pacts, praetors, and so on, where when lining up all of the cards per that cycle, the red cards always look like they are recovering from some previous powercreep and had been smashed with a nerf-hammer.
Granted I'm not as annoyed this time around as I was with the rare list from Morningtide. When the rares were spoiled from that set I was absolutely livid. I love Tauren Mauler, but just about every red rare in that entire set was highly specific and incredibly situational, compared to a giant pile of magnificent and overwhelming rares the other colors got. This time around it is just this one rare that is so incredibly situational.
The one that I've seen most often is a combination of creature beats, big mana, and attrition. If you're not playing in a fast combo meta (which does not imply a meta full of underwhelming decks), grindy value and attrition engines can still perform well. Drawing more cards and making more mana than everyone else puts you in a good position, even if your actual kill mechanism is Wurmcoil Engine beats. There's also the potential for several infinite combos, if you want to go that route. They may not include Kurkesh (outside of some really convoluted stuff), but he helps develop the board to the point where you can find and protect them.
While I do understand what you're getting at per all comments of your response, the big issue, for me, is that Kurkesh himself still doesn't significantly promote any sort of win-condition that can be easily and reliably played. In his deck, he is almost unnecessary unless you want some small extra benefit from an artifact, or you are trying to combo.
I can see that he has the potential to combo with some very delicate elements. But in mono-red the ability to recover those elements if lost is much harder than other colors. Honestly while I love making ashtrays, any half-intelligent opponent will murder Goblin Welder after they figure out what he is capable of.
While I was looking at all of the negatives, it is true that Kurkesh can help create a good board presence. But it is very situational to possibly get a benefit. It's not just that if he is dealt with, it's that there is no reliable tutor for any of the solid cards that work well with him. Then the deck he is being run in has cards that are fine-tuned to him, and are most likely not offensive in nature. While some of those are cards that will be in your typical mono-red deck, many cards that are being talked about in this entire thread feel...pointless.
Taking your concept of using Kurkesh to create a grindy attrition style deck, would it not be easier to use a general that is actively having a board presence instead of waiting for the potential, not the guarantee, but the potential of some slight value? I think in a grindy deck I would prefer to run Zo-Zu the Punisher so that I can get some early damage off before I land the big-heavy-beats. Most likely the deck would have cards that are proactive to Zo-Zu as well as the beats (Batterskull / Loxodon Warhammer / Basilisk Collar / Wurmcoil / etc), and the deck can run just as smoothly without him as with him.
I should mention that I come from a rather cut-throat meta where the idea of running mono-red is typically laughed at. Being that I am typically the mono-red player in my group, I've had to develop decks that are compatible with very strong decks that tend to go off or stabilize or lock by turn-5 or earlier. Vs my group if I'm giving mono-red an honest try for a win, I'm playing Akroma or Jeska. I still feel that my Latulla deck (which I hardly consider in any way competitive enough for my own meta) is capable of stabilizing better than a Kurkesh deck can. She definitely does not tap at every opportunity as you mentioned. Her deck is designed to create a stable board presence and then tapping for 30 to 60+ damage via mana and damage doublers. There are more ways the deck can win past Latulla tapping for a massive amount although, because again the deck can run just as smoothly without her.
I don't feel that any sort of Kurkesh deck would survive and have any sort of consistent win ratio in our group. That is actually the underlying issue here - my opinion stems from my playgroup. Until some busted combo becomes realized or is printed that makes Kurkesh stronger, he is just insignificant to my meta.
I was thinking that Mind's Eye should work, but I don't think it does.
I didn't want to re-post another SCD of this guy, so hopefully my sharing my opinion here isn't considered necro'ing the topic. He is fairly knew after all.
I do have a fairly strong opinion on this guy, so be forewarned before reading further - while I am a heavy mono-red player (in all formats, not just EDH), I'm going to try my best to not vent and complain about the functionality of mono-red in the format.
But lets start with a very important question - something that hasn't been actually talked about here at all (unless I've missed something).
For those of you who have tried little ol' Kurkesh here in EDH, what exactly is your win condition in the deck?
From what deck lists I've read, reviews, comments, and opinions, everyone seems to agree that Kurkesh here is great for value. But to what end?
There are decks and archetypes that have "good-stuff," where the deck is full of just generally good cards per the color. Are you all considering Kurkesh a "good-stuff" general for mono-red?
Do the decks with him plan on winning with a 3-card (or more) infinite mana-combo and pray that they have some x-spell in hand, or pray that they can trick out Darksteel Forge early and hope that they can get Hellkyte Tyrant and land a hit with lattice in play? Is Kurkesh really the best enabler for that sort of win condition?
In my opinion (sorry in advance);
Kurkesh doesn't fit anywhere, and the fact that development gave him the legendary stamp is nearly insulting. He is pointless in standard, terrible in legacy and modern, not even making the cut for extended (if that were even still a thing), and in casual he is a worse version of Rings of Brighthearth (situationally, but not strictly - an easier to remove creature that requires you to use red, and only works with artifacts, vs an artifact that cost more to activate but hits everything?). So what, that must mean he was designed with being an EDH general in mind?
Look at all the other mono-colored legendarys from the core set and compare them to this guy, and tell me that he isn't the weakest by far. I mean honestly, blue has a semi-polymorph on a stick, black gets tutor-hate and a giant beater, green gets a repeatable tutor-to-play, white gets another elaborate angel, and red gets... a severely weakened Rings of Brighthearth.
To be perfectly honest, he is just not very playable unless your meta is full of very underwhelming decks. Treasonous Ogre would have made a better legendary creature, even without dethrone.
With his 3 toughness he is in Lightning Bolt range. He has no other evasion or protection, nor any other ability to prompt any other sort of offensive strategy. He would have been more playable with a 0/4 body simply because what works with him doesn't imply that he will ever attack.
His mana-cost is also too high. I'm sure those who hear mono-red players complain probably expected to hear this, but think about it;
~A voltron deck that doesn't ramp around turn 4 or 5 is probably about to smash someone hard.
~A control deck that hasn't accelerated around turn 4 or 5 is about to ether play something oppressive, hold back an answer, or something worse.
~A combo deck that hasn't accelerated by around turn 4 or 5 is most likely on the verge of their combo, or holding back an answer to guarantee their combo.
What is this deck going to do if it doesn't ramp? Cast Kurkesh on turn 4, and get some sort of value on turn 5?
Let's just pretend that your opponent has absolutely no answer to a 3-toughness creature on turn 4, and the opponent doesn't have any removal for artifacts (like Bane of Progress, Harmonic Sliver, Acidic Slime, Into the Core, or {{insert massive list of answers here}}).
It is true that he could give us great value off of seemingly invaluable things. It's cute turning the baubles into Divination's with a little benefit here and there. It's cute that he can make Armillary Sphere get 4 basics and Journeyer's Kite fetch us 2 per turn, but with Terrain Generator not being an artifact, then really we are just thinning out the deck. Umezawa's Jitte should be really good here, but what parts of this entire thread seem to be focusing the deck around combat? Disrupting Scepter equates to a possible 4-cmc Mind Rot, but in what situation when you play EDH were you really wanting to spend 4 mana to Mind Rot your opponent around turn 5? The other novelties are all cute, not good, just cute.
But past Burnished Hart and Wayfarer's Bauble (a 2-card requiring red Explosive Vegetation), and Sensei's Divining Top for easy draw, I see very little honest value of getting these small value cards when you are required to have the general out. Lux Cannon and Magestrates Scepter are both potential very powerful cards when paired with proliferate effects, but the speed and color restriction here is the key and downfall.
While coming from an incredibly different deck, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer is, in my opinion, still superior because he can protect things. I run a Latulla, Keldon Overseer deck, and even she is superior to this thing. Again, these generals come from different deck builds, and this is my opinion, but when setting this brand new mono-red legendary next to my 14-year old under powered and underwhelming Latulla, even she seems a bit more playable, no?
Now I may be missing something here. I simply don't see a win condition being talked about unless I've overlooked it. If there is some combo then please tell me so I don't have to hate this silly Ogre so hard. But a Legendary Treasonous Ogre would still have been better :/
I've been flirting with the idea of utilizing some grandeur gimmick in an edh deck for a while now.
One classic moment in my groups edh history was me pummeling someone to death with a 64/63Scion of the Ur-Dragon transformed into Tarox Bladwing thanks to Phyrexian Reclamation. IMO it was a cute and rare gimmick, and the Tarox was simply a hasty place holder until I had gotten some other dragon, so it happened quite unintentionally.
There is a fun decklist and some ideas by Jules Robins here, that got me thinking about grandeur again.
Here are some combo's that I've been putting together;
In edh, one of them must be cast and in the battlefield, then cloned so that the original goes into the graveyard. I think that sending the original to the graveyard is the best idea as infinite bounce is already a stronger ability than the grandeur creatures can offer.
I'm posting here for two reasons - first I'm looking for any more potential combo parts to make for a more cost effective and repeatable grandeur, and hopefully requiring less cards to enable. I greatly dislike the idea of one-shot uses and grandeur triggers, as it just seems wasteful. Per the flicker combo's, something like Conjuerer's Closet would be great for a 1-per-turn grandeur, but that gives the opponent time to react to this very delicate 4-card combo.
Also I'm looking for flat out opinions on the value and potential of this in edh. A focused deck built around this I could see running The Mimeoplasm or Scion of the Ur-Dragon w/ Conspiracy to help negate the need for clones. But both decks can be exponentially stronger when being built in their own way.
Some blue/black build may be even stronger as it can focus on the swamp ramp and bounce tech of the two grandeur candidates, and the rest of the deck can be counter/bounce/recursion/tutor.
Running Linessa, Zephyr Mage as a general and a few clones and tamiyo could simply be a strong mono blue deck with a less-than-useful general at times, but honestly may be the strongest deck out of any of these simply because it is not focused on the grandeur.
Why play Ramses? Well, you shouldn't. It's best to just stop here.
But if you want to keep reading then fine. Here are the most likely reasons why someone might want to run this guy;
1.) Because your playing blue/black and don't need a general, so any general will do. You just need the color identity. This is the most likely cause for considering Ramses. But honestly why bother? If you want some generic build then Sygg, River Cutthroat is better as an early chump blocker for aggro. Why not pay one more mana for Sivitri Scarzam so you have a slightly better body and something pretty to look at? Why not run Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and forget to include white cards? Excluding whitey is just racist, so man up and sleeve that Oloro.
2.) Because you play underwhelming opponents (be it low skill, some budget affair, or lack of desire for competitiveness), and you want to see how far this junker can get you while your opponents grow into better players. This is most likely the second most common reason to play Ramses. This is actually why I play Ramses. If this is your reason then a pre-con is better, as Ramses here can often times make things confusing and often times includes old cards with dated rules and big complicated text boxes.
3.) Because you are on a budget. Time to check yourself - there are (currently) 22 legendary blue/black creatures to pick from, and when it comes to the price of pocket change, then picking up just about any other will do.
4.) Because you are a mtg hipster. Check yourself again - you are reading a guide about this dude that compares his functionality over the past few years. We're not so original now are we?
Ok so here's the skinny. This is clearly an underwhelming and bad commander. Even a decade ago and ignoring powercreep Ramses here was always bad. No mater how many impressive and reoccurring aura's are printed Ramses will never have some über combo that will break the format, and he will never see heavy play.
His 6-cmc 4/3 body is pathetic and his ability is excessively situational. In today's EDH standard environment the only commander you will consistently see with auras would be Zur the Enchanter, who not only comes out faster than Ramses, but also tends to get Diplomatic Immunity effects upon first swing in multiplayer. There are also Sigarda and Uril, but to get your anti-hexproof effects via tutoring while these two will be busy ramping, tempo-racing, and stomping you out seems like a grand plan, no?
So why would any sensible EDH player spend any amount of effort to optimize and work with Ramses? There is no sensible reason. You have to be pretty absurd to want to run Ramses. A good synonym here would be insane. So let's just assume that people who spend effort developing Ramses are all insane. I'm insane, Ramses is insane, and if you keep reading this you must also be insane.
Great - now that we are all on the same level of crazy, let's start.
This deck was first brewed around 2008, and started as a budget deck to bring to a multi-player table. Since the original components were dirt cheap there was never reason to ever dismantle Ramses. Over the years it had been used as a newbie-player deck to test with against new opponents and friends to gauge their skill for future games (matching compatibility).
This design started as a budget, but has been a cesspool for my excess "staples" for edh. Ramses Overdark can be an extremely cheap general to build, so when looking at my below list please realize that all of the "ramses tech" is cheap, but the generic blue/black fillers may not be. There are obvious replacements here. The Mana Drain could be a Counterspell, the duel land could be a guildgate, the fetch lands could be basics and so on. Expensive cards can make a deck run smoother but are not required for Ramses!
With set after set of new cards released, and the rare occasional useful aura given to us, making Ramses playable has always been a tough job.
The most important part to consider when running this design is that we do not want to have our deck depend on Ramses. He is overcosted and his ability is often times whimsical. So having him out for the extra benefit is nice, but many things that need him are excluded. Since there are many times there will be no targets for our auras, we can't run too many, so what aura's that are included must be worthy.
Here are a few pointers for playing the deck;
This is a very political deck. My design only runs one counter and two tutor spells. Often times I will explain to the opponents that I only run one counter and one tutor as the demon is more or less a win-condition and used to almost always get one specific card. Running Ramses Overdark in the command zone tends to take quite a bit of pressure off you in multiplayer. Explaining that you only run one counter and one tutor to the opponents usually makes them dismiss you during the entire early game.
But not everyone is a wicked smooth Jedi, and the mere display of islands on your side of the table will cause some worry and targeting.
We will fail in 1v1 due to the speed and reliance on our enchantments, so when playing multiplayer we need to smartly manipulate the board the best we can. Our best general-answers now are Vow of Malice and Vow of Flight. Snapping one of these on the more aggressive opponent at the table is great. Using one of the 5 reanimation enchantments to get back a diverting creature is even better. You won't have time to fiddle early game waiting in hopes of having Ramses, so we need to start the mind games early.
When it comes to actually winning, this design is sickeningly short on winconditions. Bribery honestly may be the best bet since we can pull a better creature out of the opponents deck. Rune-Scarred Demon into Rite of Replication, then rite-kicking the demon is another generic blue/black win-con. These three cards do not require anything from our deck other than mana, and do nothing for the Ramses theme.
Auramancer's Guise on Ramses is a possible pathway for general damage. The only reason this made the cut is due to Vigilance. Ramses's ability can be activated after he is declared as an attacker, akin to Stonehewer Giant plays. But man wouldn't it just be better to have Stonehewer in the deck?
When using our general the best we can do is find as much value that doesn't kill our own tempo. With that idea, we are running as many auras that can "reoccur" themselves. I call this the "Rancor effect," since this is the most popular card with this ability. We have 10 of these effects included in the deck, but there are others.
Fool's Demise is most likely our best enchantment to use with Ramses out. We can theft a creature every turn if the enchantment isn't countered and Ramses isn't disrupted. This is hands down the strongest effect that Ramses can provide for us.
The rest of the "reoccurring" enchantments should be considered as spot removal with Ramses, or early game disruption. Dragon Wings and Dragon Shadow are both great. Cycling the wings early is nice, but most people tend to forget that you can auto-equip these from the graveyard to your opponents side. Despondency and Launch are the original reoccurring "rancor" cycle and have very little use past being slightly annoying to the opponent. These and Slow Motion + Sleeper's Guile are the decks best repeatable creature removal with Ramses. Screams from Within is pretty unique, and can sometimes backfire as it may end up on one of our dudes, but the option of wiping out an entire token army is pretty great. Glistening Oil and Fallen Ideal blur the lines between offense and defense, as both might end up on our own guys for combat.
Do note that I have chosen to take out Genju of the Fens and Genju of the Falls, since this is a multi-player deck that is already fairly weak, and showing the opponents that you can repeatably destroy a land a turn is a good way to paint a target on us.
The new Constellation crew with Herald of Torment and Nighthowler are the most recent additions. Agent of Erebos is proving to be fantastic in a deck with 30+ enchantments to hose many graveyard based strategies. Rite-kick'ing a Doomwake Giant essentially requires a boardwipe or the opponents will never be able to keep creatures on the field.
Thassa's Emissary was considered as a replacement for Shadowmage Infiltrator in my most recent update. Infiltrator is great but often times the fear ended up being useless in my meta, and the power-boost on the emissary was tempting. Do note that we can bestow an opponents creature, and when that creature dies the incoming enchantment-creature does still belong to us.
Venser, Shaper Savant is running double-duty here as one of our few control elements in the deck, but also a possible saving grace to snap something vital of ours back to hand. I've been considering Riptide Chimera as a secondary effect here to help save a few enchantments.
Hakim, Loreweaver is just silly, and spaming his first activated ability to recover enchantments is great. He is extremely useful for recovering the "rancor effect" enchantments to hand if they were countered, since his second ability will cause them to go back up to hand yet again. And paying uu for Eldrazi Conscription is just fancy.
Here are some of the previously used cards, possible alternate paths to take Ramses, possible improvements worth testing, and other Ramses tech;
There are many "good" cards that work well with enchantments, but over the past few years these things have been found to be just too slow, or too situational. From what I've tested myself, and what few Ramses decks I've seen, there is typically some sort of theme or trend. For example, my first push for Ramses was a theft theme with enchantments like;
While treachery is still main-decked, this theme was just not good enough. There are better theft generals out there to pick from, and relying on enchantments for theft is bad. Considering that an Aura Shards blows out our deck, this was too unreliable.
I've seen a few variants when browsing other decks. One that seemed interesting was a tap-down + tax effect;
All these themes were themselves better deployed with a better general.
There is also quite a few generically good cards that many may still consider running with Ramses.
Ramses decks tend to have a huge plethora of generic effects that occur when the enchantments or the enchanted creature die or attack. These could be considered "tempo" but we are in the color of drawing and tutoring, so really why waste an enchantment slot for Casting of Bones when we have access to Ancestral Vision?
And some of the ghetto Ramses tech has just been dated due to the growing popularity of the format and power-creep. EDH has not aged well for the casual, and this makes Ramses a sad panda. Something like Crystal Chimes still has a place for mass recursion late game, but these others have just not aged well;
The Rootwater Shaman specifically has just been blown away by Leyline of Anticipation, but even the Leyline doesn't fit in what this deck wants to do very well. Flash everything is really strong, but the majority of our effects manipulate creatures on the opponents turn. The only time we desperately need to flash an enchantment out is to stop a haste creature. The odds of seeing the leyline + the answering enchantment vs a haste are slim. How's about a Capsize instead?
More Voltron...
So Endless Scream used to be the card of this deck as a big scary win-condition. When we got Eldrazi Conscription late 2010 this great old card was hastily replaced. But cards like this may still have a place in some variant. Your argument then again gets to 'why run Ramses?' when you could just run Hakim or Zur or any general with protection.
Multiplying the ability;
With Ramses's ability not requiring any mana, and many of the reoccurring enchantments being very cheap to cast, it may be tempted to run some untap or double effects. Illusionist's Bracers and Rings of Brighthearth may work if there are two creatures simultaneously enchanted. From playtesting the only one that might be worth the slot is Fatestitcher and Thousand-Year Elixir. I have taken these out of my recent designs to make my deck appear weaker. Most opponents will dismiss Ramses's ability in early game, but landing this with Ramses out will skew threat assessment and put you on someone's radar.
The most recent revision included the new Constellation and enchantment-creatures from the Theros block. Considering Riptide Chimera as another addition. Considering Fatestitcher and Copy Enchantment for reasons.
Without knowing the position of said guild that I would be holding, that makes things a tough choice.
Simply from how I play, I like control aspects in (B/R) style decks, so I suppose I could be a blood cultists from Rakdos. Or maybe an undercover red mage from House Dimir.
Spells: 7 51x Demonic Tutor (1b, ...six impossible things before breakfast.) 52x Dismember (1bb, Who stole the Tarts?) 53x Hero's Downfall (1bb, Why is a raven like a writing-desk?) 54x Dreadbore (br, You used to be much more..."muchier.") 55x Damnation (2bb, It's always tea-time.) 56x Decree of Pain (6bb, Off with their heads!) 57x Savage Beating (3rr, We're all mad here.)
The Cast;
Flamingos
The Frog-Footman
Club Card Guards
Spade Card Guards
Diamond Card Guards
Heart Card Guards
Snark / Ice Snark
Phantasmagoria
Jackbomb
Clockwork Bomb
Demondice
Jacks
Tea Cup
book quotes;
Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.
“That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked: "because they lessen from day to day.”
“Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice 'but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing i ever saw in my life!”
“Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today. -Mad Hatter.”
“what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'"
“You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
The King's argument was that anything that had a head, could be beheaded, and you weren't to talk nonsense.
“How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail, And pour the waters of the Nile On every golden scale!”
“If you don't know were you want to get to, then any road will take you there.”
72x alice liddell quotes;
"I wish to get very small. No bigger than a mouse. Do you know how I might do that?”
"And if not, there may be more than one way to skin a cat, if you'll pardon the expression. ”
"Everyone seems completely dejected. Are things really as bad as all that?”
"Tragic, I'm sure, but I'm a bit pressed for time. Have you seen a rabbit?”
"Risk nothing, gain nothing.”
"Everyone I love dies violently... unnaturally. I'm cursed. Why go on? I'll just hurt others...”
"Obscure allusions to chess are fine, but it troubles me that anonymous oracles know more of my business than I do.”
"I'll have the Turtle shell now, you disgusting ogre!”
"Then she must do it unwillingly. I'll teach her manners.”
"And where does that smushy lay-about hang his hookah these days?”
"A simple thank-you would have been nice... I've kept my part of the bargain, Turtle.”
"As am I, if I can't pass through this realm. I must collect the pieces to the Jabberwock's Eye Staff.”
"You've gone quite mangy, Cat, but your grin's a comfort.”
"Obscure allusions to chess are fine, but it troubles me that anonymous oracles know more of my business than I do.”
"Should I be grateful for the truth? A lie or two might have been more persuasive.”
"I'm not really a player. What are the rules?”
"Spare me the platitude. Do you have any useful advice?”
"Despicable, grotesque, and smelly louts; I'll fill your bellies, alright!”
"A mere pawn is the best I can hope for?”
"Were you impolite at table? Did you slurp your tea? Or talk while chewing? Confess your crime.”
"I only take mine with friends.”
"Those two seem to barely comprehend their situation.”
"Both are powerful, destructive, and indiscriminately cruel. But the typhoon doesn't mean to be.”
"Hmm... Perhaps 6 comes early today.”
"Promise only what you're prepared to deliver. I am destined to battle the Red Queen. The outcome is uncertain.”
"How shall we prepare for battle?”
"You? Bizarre creature! I was beginning to like you.”
"What good are you to me? I'm supposed to attack this ferocious creature; but I'm not even sure this is my fight.”
"Save myself from death, is that it? Is that why I've come here? I'm not afraid to die! Times I've welcomed death.”
"What then? A fate worse than death? I'm not stupid. Don't make me think you are.”
"What I've been feeling, I am beginning to understand. I broke this world; and only I can repair it.”
"That the best you can do? Hurl second-rate insults? They don't hurt...”
"Must I fight on? Can't the Red Queen be persuaded to surrender?”
"It's not a dream, it's a... memory. And it makes me sick!"
"What's happening? Are you mad?"
"Pollution! Corruption! It's killing me! Wonderland is destroyed! My mind is in ruins!"
"My memories make me vomit."
"I want to forget! Who would choose to be alone, imprisoned by their broken memories?"
"I'm passed a cure. Terminal condition."
"Hello puss. Puss, puss, puss, puss! Don't be afraid!"
"Seems following furry creatures into dark holes has become a habit. I hope it's not a vice."
"I don't think so. Our last visit cost me several pounds and got me nowhere."
"Blasted cat. Don't try to bully me! I'm very much on edge."
"I'll frighten myself, when necessary, thanks very much. I was hoping to escape from all that."
"My God! I'm shrinking in this potion! Shall I disappear?"
"Ugly, gross, and evil in a single monstrosity!"
"Hatter always hated mechanical malfunctions. This disaster is either his doing, or his epitaph."
"Dr. Bumby says change is 'constructive'; that 'different' is good."
"I've made more graceful entrances. I suppose I must be grateful nothing's broken."
"I finished my work and you’re complete, Hatter. Now, what about this “damnable” train?"
"Answer me, Hatter. I’m suffering. And changes here a cause; or they’re a reflection. Or the effect… What’s going on? What are the new rules?"
"You should know the doctor says I’ve a terrible disease."
"Very pithy. He deserved to die. And I’m about to drown in tea… in ignorance!"
"Admirals go down with their ships. In any case, I never knew you for a sailor. If memory serves, you were station-master of the Looking Glass line."
"Place smells like a ripe distillery. With a whiff of halitosis and urine."
"I’m not terribly musical, but... you seem out of tune!"
"Wait! Come back here! I’m a savior… of a sort."
"Did I rip his head off? I… wanted to…"
"What’s left of my brain will explode! Is it mad to pray for better hallucinations? Perhaps I’m fated to expire right here."
"You’re not that good a liar and I’m not that stupid. But something a bit less calamitous would have been welcome."
"How can she stem this growing corruption or assist my search? What does she know that I don’t?"
"She didn’t treat you too well last time; lost your head as I recall."
"I’m an idiot. Don Quixote had a better chance with his windmills. And without the risk of decapitation."
"I won’t miss your tentacles."
"The destruction of Wonderland is the destruction of me?"
"I know their pain. I would assist. But is sanity required for the job?"
"You oozing sore of depravity… children wearing their names around their necks, as if they’re breeding livestock!"
"You’ve used me and abused me, but you’ll not destroy me."
"I know I’m guilty of something, but punishment never suits the victims of the crime."
"You corrupted my memories, but you failed to make me forget."
"You, monstrous creature… Such evil will be punished."
Here is something I put together and ran last week. It went extremely quick. It suffered a bit during matchups where the opponent could sideboard things like extra Azorius Charms. Vs the (G/W) matchup's I've gone up against it was essentially a race.
While I can try to increase the speed of the deck or play with merchants vs control, the hardship is actually (G/W) decks with efficient creatures (lions, smiters, wurms) - as by the time they typically resolve, my creatures will trade 2:1 card advantage with me running out of steam pretty quick.
But at other times this deck was strait up wicked. Ordeals on an unleashed cackler that isn't dealt with is an evil evil thing. A turn-3 4/4 that has made the opponent discard 2x cards is funny.
I'm going to give 2x Ordeal of Purphoros a try in place of 2x Ordeal of Erebos in the maindeck this week, as it may net just that much more damage or be able to pick off a lion/blocker. I've also been considering Stormbreath Dragons in place of the demons, but the double worries me as I can't fail on my mana requirement for the Agent of Fates - it is my only consistent reliable removal turn-4+.
^Thats hilarious. I usually play land destruction to make players not enjoy the game by denying them the ability to play cards, but that seems much more amusing in a play-anything-denial sort of way.
Have everyone in your play group build a broken proxy deck full of mox & whatnot. Play your own decks vs each other, but when he wants to play, just have everyone use the proxy decks, and have everyone target him first.
If he is so proud of how much cash he has spent on his cards, or he does not seem to care about the price difference a deck is capable of (pauper deck vs someone using p9 cards) then he should not complain when he is facing a theoretical deck loaded with mox, even if they are not the authentic card.
Doesn't mater if he is a good player or not, if he is a good person he would have spent a little bit of chump-change on a more amusing / friendly deck and left his wallet-deck on the sidelines. The game to him seems to be more about winning, not having fun. Even if I had a deck that would crush him, I wouldn't bother playing with this person.
The schemes are all basically made to function as a universal archenemy deck w/ mana ramp. I chose most of the cards to help focus on my skeleton deck in the signature, as the mana ramp + deck thinning would be the most helpful thing for them to function.
I usually play (B/R) as a bit of a quick turn-4 devastating pounce deck. Equipment usually doesn't fit in very well - Demonspine Whip is very theme appropriate, and firebreathing mod is great, but I would switch that and Riot Spikes out for a monkey wrench like Brute Force.
Brute Force is one of my fav's as it is usually very unexpected coming from any non-green deck, and it can do more than just pump for damage-surprise - it can act as a creature savior if your opponent is running things like Disfigure, or if he thinks he can overrun your creature for a lethal hit.
Since your deck looks to be running turn-5 balance, you should invest in some sort of card-drawing mechanic. Sign in Blood is a good instant, but requires 2x swamps. I prefer Browbeat for the possible 3-mana Lava Axe effect, but there are many great ones out there. For longer-duration games where you're not trying to kill the opponent as soon as possible, there is Wheel of Fortune and Phyrexian Arena.
edits; also, Jund Hackblade and/or Grixis Grimblade are good early surprises. Veinfire Borderpost can be pop'ed turn-1 for a turn 2 creature drop. Those two creatures are hardly expensive to cast and almost always beg your opponent to waste a target/removal them.
And Donate needs more printed versions / variations. Everyone seems to have played against someone who had it, and hated it, but not willing to build their own back-stabbing deck.
For example I love Stranglehold, and it is a very important card to have in a few decks. But it doesn't really make Akroma win. Comparing Stranglehold to Outpost Siege and think about which one you would prefer to have in an opening hand.
Another example would be War's Toll, which is an excellent card, but not as consistent as you may want. Avatar of Slaughter and Insurrection are also not very reliable in a 1v1 design, especially when the mana investment in those two could be the lethal for firebreathing up Akroma.
Seething Song effects are great but I would consider Koth of the Hammer as the pseudo ramp effect since he is going to give you more options. He is still good acceleration even if your only running 20ish mountains.
When it comes to Akroma being ultimately dealt with (like your Nevermore or if she got Terminus'd for example) I typically rely on a few extra beaters or a handful of big x-spells (which you already have). All-In voltron/general damage with Akroma works great but can be a somewhat glass-cannon, so I tend to go mid-range semi-linear with about 5 to 8 big creatures and enough utility to make use of my equipment;
Stormbreath Dragon
Thundermaw Dragon (also great for tapping down blockers for akroma)
Tahngarth, Talruum Hero (not as useful without the equipment / swords of protection)
Hoard-Smelter Dragon for repeat artifact removal
Inferno Titan
Wurmcoil Engine
My opinion on the numbers there although is going to be inappropriate for your design since I tend to run more equipment. You may want more creatures instead of just 5ish beaters.
If your opponents do resolve a Nevermore although I think you can just morph Akroma out, may need to double check althoug
Also consider Karn Liberated as an ideal replacement for the Spine of Ish Sah. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon would make for an excellent addition too for enchantment removal. All is Dust would also make for a good situational board wipe that also hits problem enchantments.
For starters I love your list.
While I see the comment regarding its price, I highly suggest that you can get a Guantlet of Might from the ABU collectors or international edition. It has square boarders but most people don't mind you playing it. You can even clip the edges although that ruins the cards value. Just make sure you can't see the gold peeking out the back of your sleeves. Usually you can snag one on eBay for $25 to $35, or from a site like abu for ~40ish
edit: nvm about the above comment as I just remembered that you play mtgo
If you get the 3rd mana doubler, then consider Sculpting Steel. It is usually an iffy-inclusion, but a potential duplicate mana-doubler is usually game ending.
You may also like Granite Grip and Claws of Valakut. Assuming you hit every land drop and (for example sake) cast Akroma on turn-8. On Turn-9 you drop your 9'th Mountain, enchant akroma, then swing + firebreathing for exactly 21. You can obviously ramp into this and pump firebreathing / double damage / etc in other ways. These weak variants of Blanchwood Armor are almost always a completely spontaneous bomb, even if you snap it on your Inkmoth Nexus. Noone ever expects to see these. Although do note that in my builds I usually run about 4x non-basic's and Ruination so I have lots of mountains.
Myriad Landscape is great for ramping faster. Commander's Sphere should make its way in place as mana ramp that replaces itself later.
Seize the Day is 7-mana for 12 extra general damage at the very least, or if you firebreath +1 (8 mana) your 3x combat steps = 21 akroma damage.
You might also like Rage Reflection as another doublestrike effect.
I would also suggest a bit more draw effects. Staff of Nin, Mind's Eye, Coercive Portal, Outpost Siege, and Chandra, Pyromaster are worth considering. If you are reliably getting a mana-doubler out then Memory Jar usually nets you quite a few cards if it survives a turn to let you untap. That also opens the doors for Goblin Welder shenanigans with the jar and things like Duplicant and/or Burnished Hart.
Journeyer's Kite is an auto-include I run in all of my mono-red decks, even 1v1, because it does help landfalls. If someone resolves a Bane of Progress against you before you land or attack with Akroma, then you've probably lost all of your support. (just as an example but Bane of Progress kills 36 permanents out of your 100 card deck) Your lands are the harder-to-remove permanent, and all you need with Akroma is mana to firebreath, so the lands are the most important thing. So with that in mind, also consider a Torpor Orb since most of your support is vulnerable to very common etb-removal.
Here is how the deck works, combo essentials and card selection/options
The following combinations are (mostly) ordered by the # of cards required to complete the combo. It is classically known that the fewer cards to enable a combo, the better the combo. The best combo's only require two cards. There are (currently) no single-card combo's that create a win-condition when combined with Circu or Vela that I am aware of. Currently the smallest number of cards required for any functional combo is 3, including either Circu or Vela.
Having a combo that requires fewer cards is ideal. This makes it quicker to tutor up the needed parts, space for creating duplicate cards that have the same effect (if possible) of essential parts, and gives us room for dedicating more cards to obtain and protecting the combo.
Recent change - due to the removal of commander tuck storm cards have been removed from this design. The combo's that work with Circu tend to generate an infinite storm count so cards like Tendrils of Agony used to be an alternate win-condition if Circu was not available.
Secondary Circu Combo! (requires Circu and as few as two additional cards)
Tertiary Circu Combo! (requires Circu and as few as three additional cards)
Quaternary Circu Combo! (requires Circu and as few as three additional cards)
Combinations with Vela!
Secondary Vela Combo! (requires Vela and as few as three additional cards)
Tertiary Vela Combo!
Quaternary Vela Combo! (requires Vela and as few as two additional cards, + one upkeep)
Graveyard Vela Combo(s)!
Brewing Combos!
Dissipation Field seems like it might be able to enable some sort of chain. A close out-of-color inclusion would be Electric Eel and Paradise Plume + some blue mana generation (intruder alarm + silver myr for example). But alas there is no other etb-creature that triggers damage in our colors, and the mana mechanic requires too many cards. Not enough duplicate parts for reliance. Too many cards required to run!
Master Transmuter seems like there should be some combo. It honestly feels like it has been just waiting to be realized, lofting mockingly behind some comboy shadow. An inclusion could be Gilded Lotus as an easy artifact to keep bouncing with her to generate mana. An old classic mana combo with her and the lotus is just enchanting her with Freed from the Real. Aura of Domination might act as a backup since we might be bounce-looping a creature to help the untap. Sadly Deceiver Exarch is not an artifact at all times (in our hands) to keep abusing with her, and fatestitcher is a one-time use unless we have more intruder alarm nonsense. Dross Scorpion seems like it would help untap her if we added some sort of blasting station tech, but the # of cards is beginning to get too high.
Other pay-to-untap would be staff of domination and voltaic construct and Filigree Sages.
Mirran Spy seems easy enough and might produce the blue-cast creature trigger we need.
Since transmuter is a human it seems like Captain of the Mists should be able to interact with her in some way.
But we would need an easier way to untap her, and a colorful artifact to add to the cycling. Courier's Capsule, Executioner's Capsule, hell even something cute like etherium astrolob could function here for the colorful trigger for Circu.
Amulet of Vigor means we could keep bouncing a mistvein borderpost with the transmuter to generate mana.
If there were an easier way to untap her then she could easily go infinite with meteorite.
Another looping creature could be Triskelion.
A graveyard looping creature could function with Blasting Station again if we had mana.
He although does require his deck to run what very few and fairly unique cards to work. All of the other legendaries are capable of being functional on their own or with very little other requirement. The only other one that actually requires something is Ob, and that is for the opponent to tutor. But you still have a giant beater... The only other requirement for is for blue and green one, and that is for the deck to include...*gasp*...creatures.
This is and always will be stapled as my opinion, but I still feel that his level of power compared to the other 4 legendary is insultingly underwhelming.
Some are fantastic like the Thundermaw Hellkite, Hostility, and Dictate of the Twin Gods.
Some are really good, but when compared to some of the other rares of the same cycle are slightly less appealing (Rage Reflection vs Wound Reflection? Inferno Titan vs Grave & Primeval? All of the primordials?)
But then you have things like the traps, time spiral magus's, commands, pacts, praetors, and so on, where when lining up all of the cards per that cycle, the red cards always look like they are recovering from some previous powercreep and had been smashed with a nerf-hammer.
Granted I'm not as annoyed this time around as I was with the rare list from Morningtide. When the rares were spoiled from that set I was absolutely livid. I love Tauren Mauler, but just about every red rare in that entire set was highly specific and incredibly situational, compared to a giant pile of magnificent and overwhelming rares the other colors got. This time around it is just this one rare that is so incredibly situational.
While I do understand what you're getting at per all comments of your response, the big issue, for me, is that Kurkesh himself still doesn't significantly promote any sort of win-condition that can be easily and reliably played. In his deck, he is almost unnecessary unless you want some small extra benefit from an artifact, or you are trying to combo.
I can see that he has the potential to combo with some very delicate elements. But in mono-red the ability to recover those elements if lost is much harder than other colors. Honestly while I love making ashtrays, any half-intelligent opponent will murder Goblin Welder after they figure out what he is capable of.
While I was looking at all of the negatives, it is true that Kurkesh can help create a good board presence. But it is very situational to possibly get a benefit. It's not just that if he is dealt with, it's that there is no reliable tutor for any of the solid cards that work well with him. Then the deck he is being run in has cards that are fine-tuned to him, and are most likely not offensive in nature. While some of those are cards that will be in your typical mono-red deck, many cards that are being talked about in this entire thread feel...pointless.
Taking your concept of using Kurkesh to create a grindy attrition style deck, would it not be easier to use a general that is actively having a board presence instead of waiting for the potential, not the guarantee, but the potential of some slight value? I think in a grindy deck I would prefer to run Zo-Zu the Punisher so that I can get some early damage off before I land the big-heavy-beats. Most likely the deck would have cards that are proactive to Zo-Zu as well as the beats (Batterskull / Loxodon Warhammer / Basilisk Collar / Wurmcoil / etc), and the deck can run just as smoothly without him as with him.
I should mention that I come from a rather cut-throat meta where the idea of running mono-red is typically laughed at. Being that I am typically the mono-red player in my group, I've had to develop decks that are compatible with very strong decks that tend to go off or stabilize or lock by turn-5 or earlier. Vs my group if I'm giving mono-red an honest try for a win, I'm playing Akroma or Jeska. I still feel that my Latulla deck (which I hardly consider in any way competitive enough for my own meta) is capable of stabilizing better than a Kurkesh deck can. She definitely does not tap at every opportunity as you mentioned. Her deck is designed to create a stable board presence and then tapping for 30 to 60+ damage via mana and damage doublers. There are more ways the deck can win past Latulla tapping for a massive amount although, because again the deck can run just as smoothly without her.
I don't feel that any sort of Kurkesh deck would survive and have any sort of consistent win ratio in our group. That is actually the underlying issue here - my opinion stems from my playgroup. Until some busted combo becomes realized or is printed that makes Kurkesh stronger, he is just insignificant to my meta.
Otherworld Atlas
Pyxis of Pandemonium
Steel Hellkite (ya double destroy for no profit!)
I was thinking that Mind's Eye should work, but I don't think it does.
I didn't want to re-post another SCD of this guy, so hopefully my sharing my opinion here isn't considered necro'ing the topic. He is fairly knew after all.
I do have a fairly strong opinion on this guy, so be forewarned before reading further - while I am a heavy mono-red player (in all formats, not just EDH), I'm going to try my best to not vent and complain about the functionality of mono-red in the format.
But lets start with a very important question - something that hasn't been actually talked about here at all (unless I've missed something).
For those of you who have tried little ol' Kurkesh here in EDH, what exactly is your win condition in the deck?
From what deck lists I've read, reviews, comments, and opinions, everyone seems to agree that Kurkesh here is great for value. But to what end?
There are decks and archetypes that have "good-stuff," where the deck is full of just generally good cards per the color. Are you all considering Kurkesh a "good-stuff" general for mono-red?
Do the decks with him plan on winning with a 3-card (or more) infinite mana-combo and pray that they have some x-spell in hand, or pray that they can trick out Darksteel Forge early and hope that they can get Hellkyte Tyrant and land a hit with lattice in play? Is Kurkesh really the best enabler for that sort of win condition?
In my opinion (sorry in advance);
Kurkesh doesn't fit anywhere, and the fact that development gave him the legendary stamp is nearly insulting. He is pointless in standard, terrible in legacy and modern, not even making the cut for extended (if that were even still a thing), and in casual he is a worse version of Rings of Brighthearth (situationally, but not strictly - an easier to remove creature that requires you to use red, and only works with artifacts, vs an artifact that cost more to activate but hits everything?). So what, that must mean he was designed with being an EDH general in mind?
Look at all the other mono-colored legendarys from the core set and compare them to this guy, and tell me that he isn't the weakest by far. I mean honestly, blue has a semi-polymorph on a stick, black gets tutor-hate and a giant beater, green gets a repeatable tutor-to-play, white gets another elaborate angel, and red gets... a severely weakened Rings of Brighthearth.
To be perfectly honest, he is just not very playable unless your meta is full of very underwhelming decks. Treasonous Ogre would have made a better legendary creature, even without dethrone.
With his 3 toughness he is in Lightning Bolt range. He has no other evasion or protection, nor any other ability to prompt any other sort of offensive strategy. He would have been more playable with a 0/4 body simply because what works with him doesn't imply that he will ever attack.
His mana-cost is also too high. I'm sure those who hear mono-red players complain probably expected to hear this, but think about it;
~A voltron deck that doesn't ramp around turn 4 or 5 is probably about to smash someone hard.
~A control deck that hasn't accelerated around turn 4 or 5 is about to ether play something oppressive, hold back an answer, or something worse.
~A combo deck that hasn't accelerated by around turn 4 or 5 is most likely on the verge of their combo, or holding back an answer to guarantee their combo.
What is this deck going to do if it doesn't ramp? Cast Kurkesh on turn 4, and get some sort of value on turn 5?
Let's just pretend that your opponent has absolutely no answer to a 3-toughness creature on turn 4, and the opponent doesn't have any removal for artifacts (like Bane of Progress, Harmonic Sliver, Acidic Slime, Into the Core, or {{insert massive list of answers here}}).
It is true that he could give us great value off of seemingly invaluable things. It's cute turning the baubles into Divination's with a little benefit here and there. It's cute that he can make Armillary Sphere get 4 basics and Journeyer's Kite fetch us 2 per turn, but with Terrain Generator not being an artifact, then really we are just thinning out the deck. Umezawa's Jitte should be really good here, but what parts of this entire thread seem to be focusing the deck around combat? Disrupting Scepter equates to a possible 4-cmc Mind Rot, but in what situation when you play EDH were you really wanting to spend 4 mana to Mind Rot your opponent around turn 5? The other novelties are all cute, not good, just cute.
But past Burnished Hart and Wayfarer's Bauble (a 2-card requiring red Explosive Vegetation), and Sensei's Divining Top for easy draw, I see very little honest value of getting these small value cards when you are required to have the general out. Lux Cannon and Magestrates Scepter are both potential very powerful cards when paired with proliferate effects, but the speed and color restriction here is the key and downfall.
While coming from an incredibly different deck, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer is, in my opinion, still superior because he can protect things. I run a Latulla, Keldon Overseer deck, and even she is superior to this thing. Again, these generals come from different deck builds, and this is my opinion, but when setting this brand new mono-red legendary next to my 14-year old under powered and underwhelming Latulla, even she seems a bit more playable, no?
Now I may be missing something here. I simply don't see a win condition being talked about unless I've overlooked it. If there is some combo then please tell me so I don't have to hate this silly Ogre so hard. But a Legendary Treasonous Ogre would still have been better :/
One classic moment in my groups edh history was me pummeling someone to death with a 64/63Scion of the Ur-Dragon transformed into Tarox Bladwing thanks to Phyrexian Reclamation. IMO it was a cute and rare gimmick, and the Tarox was simply a hasty place holder until I had gotten some other dragon, so it happened quite unintentionally.
There is a fun decklist and some ideas by Jules Robins here, that got me thinking about grandeur again.
For those of you unfamiliar with grandeur, it is a mechanic that involves one of 5 legendary creatures that require the player to discard a second copy of said creature while one is on the battlefield. Here they are; Baru, Fist of Krosa, Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, Linessa, Zephyr Mage, Oriss, Samite Guardian, & Tarox Bladewing.
Here are some combo's that I've been putting together;
In edh, one of them must be cast and in the battlefield, then cloned so that the original goes into the graveyard. I think that sending the original to the graveyard is the best idea as infinite bounce is already a stronger ability than the grandeur creatures can offer.
The quickest and least card requiring combo is the Tamiyo, the Moon Sage emblem.
The other combos all assume the grandeur creature is in graveyard after being cloned;
(with Korlash only) Veilborn Ghoul w/ Tortured Existence & Amulet of Vigor = all swamps in play with one left untapped per grandeur
Soul of Innistrad = 3bb per grandeur
Disturbed Burial = 4b per grandeur
Endbringer's Revel = 4 per grandeur
Phyrexian Reclamation = 1b & 2 life per grandeur
Pitchstone Wall & Enduring Renewal = 2r per grandeur
Spirit Cairn w/ Malevolent Awakening = 1wbb per grandeur
Spirit Cairn w/ Golgari Guildmage = 4wb per grandeur
(would probably include He Who Hungers for Spirit Cairn shenanigans)
flicker tech w/ Exhumer Thrull, Eternal Witness, Entomber Exarch, Deadwood Treefolk, Crypt Angel (tarox & linessa only), Cadaver Imp, Pharika's Mender, Gravedigger = profit, but to make it work best would be an infinite flicker, which means that just about any other enter-the-battlefield tech would be better.
I'm posting here for two reasons - first I'm looking for any more potential combo parts to make for a more cost effective and repeatable grandeur, and hopefully requiring less cards to enable. I greatly dislike the idea of one-shot uses and grandeur triggers, as it just seems wasteful. Per the flicker combo's, something like Conjuerer's Closet would be great for a 1-per-turn grandeur, but that gives the opponent time to react to this very delicate 4-card combo.
Also I'm looking for flat out opinions on the value and potential of this in edh. A focused deck built around this I could see running The Mimeoplasm or Scion of the Ur-Dragon w/ Conspiracy to help negate the need for clones. But both decks can be exponentially stronger when being built in their own way.
Some blue/black build may be even stronger as it can focus on the swamp ramp and bounce tech of the two grandeur candidates, and the rest of the deck can be counter/bounce/recursion/tutor.
Running Linessa, Zephyr Mage as a general and a few clones and tamiyo could simply be a strong mono blue deck with a less-than-useful general at times, but honestly may be the strongest deck out of any of these simply because it is not focused on the grandeur.
What do you all think?
Why play Ramses? Well, you shouldn't. It's best to just stop here.
But if you want to keep reading then fine. Here are the most likely reasons why someone might want to run this guy;
1.) Because your playing blue/black and don't need a general, so any general will do. You just need the color identity. This is the most likely cause for considering Ramses. But honestly why bother? If you want some generic build then Sygg, River Cutthroat is better as an early chump blocker for aggro. Why not pay one more mana for Sivitri Scarzam so you have a slightly better body and something pretty to look at? Why not run Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and forget to include white cards? Excluding whitey is just racist, so man up and sleeve that Oloro.
2.) Because you play underwhelming opponents (be it low skill, some budget affair, or lack of desire for competitiveness), and you want to see how far this junker can get you while your opponents grow into better players. This is most likely the second most common reason to play Ramses. This is actually why I play Ramses. If this is your reason then a pre-con is better, as Ramses here can often times make things confusing and often times includes old cards with dated rules and big complicated text boxes.
3.) Because you are on a budget. Time to check yourself - there are (currently) 22 legendary blue/black creatures to pick from, and when it comes to the price of pocket change, then picking up just about any other will do.
4.) Because you are a mtg hipster. Check yourself again - you are reading a guide about this dude that compares his functionality over the past few years. We're not so original now are we?
Ok so here's the skinny. This is clearly an underwhelming and bad commander. Even a decade ago and ignoring powercreep Ramses here was always bad. No mater how many impressive and reoccurring aura's are printed Ramses will never have some über combo that will break the format, and he will never see heavy play.
His 6-cmc 4/3 body is pathetic and his ability is excessively situational. In today's EDH standard environment the only commander you will consistently see with auras would be Zur the Enchanter, who not only comes out faster than Ramses, but also tends to get Diplomatic Immunity effects upon first swing in multiplayer. There are also Sigarda and Uril, but to get your anti-hexproof effects via tutoring while these two will be busy ramping, tempo-racing, and stomping you out seems like a grand plan, no?
So why would any sensible EDH player spend any amount of effort to optimize and work with Ramses? There is no sensible reason. You have to be pretty absurd to want to run Ramses. A good synonym here would be insane. So let's just assume that people who spend effort developing Ramses are all insane. I'm insane, Ramses is insane, and if you keep reading this you must also be insane.
Great - now that we are all on the same level of crazy, let's start.
This deck was first brewed around 2008, and started as a budget deck to bring to a multi-player table. Since the original components were dirt cheap there was never reason to ever dismantle Ramses. Over the years it had been used as a newbie-player deck to test with against new opponents and friends to gauge their skill for future games (matching compatibility).
This design started as a budget, but has been a cesspool for my excess "staples" for edh. Ramses Overdark can be an extremely cheap general to build, so when looking at my below list please realize that all of the "ramses tech" is cheap, but the generic blue/black fillers may not be. There are obvious replacements here. The Mana Drain could be a Counterspell, the duel land could be a guildgate, the fetch lands could be basics and so on. Expensive cards can make a deck run smoother but are not required for Ramses!
With set after set of new cards released, and the rare occasional useful aura given to us, making Ramses playable has always been a tough job.
Here is what the current design is running;
1 Ramses Overdark
Creatures: 16
1x Baleful Strix
1x Burnished Hart
1x Clever Impersonator
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Mulldrifter
1x Trinket Mage
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Hakim, Loreweaver
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Herald of Torment
1x Nighthowler
1x Agent of Erebos
1x Doomwake Giant
1x Thoughtrender Lamia
1x Rootwater Matriarch
1x Iridescent Drake
Spells: 11
1x Mana Drain
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Damnation
1x Decree of Pain
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Bribery
1x Rite of Replication
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Ancestral Vision
1x Capsize
1x Cyclonic Rift
Enchantments: 2
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Mystic Remora
1x Auramancer's Guise
1x Drake Umbra
1x Eel Umbra
1x Pemmin's Aura
1x Zephid's Embrace
1x Eldrazi Conscription
1x Vow of Malice
1x Vow of Flight
1x Treachery
1x Unhallowed Pact
1x Shade's Form
1x Fool's Demise
1x False Demise
1x Private Research
1x Dragon Wings
1x Dragon Shadow
1x Slow Motion
1x Sleeper's Guile
1x Despondency
1x Launch
1x Glistening Oil
1x Fallen Ideal
1x Screams from Within
Artifacts: 10
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
1x Wayfarer's Bauble
1x Mind Stone
1x Charcoal Diamond
1x Sky Diamond
1x Commander's Sphere
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Expedition Map
1x Crystal Chimes
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Temple of the False God
1x Flooded Strand
1x Polluted Delta
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Marsh Flats
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Temple of Deceit
1x Watery Grave
1x Underground River
1x Underground Sea
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1x Strip Mine
1x Wasteland
8x Island
5x Swamp
0 cmc = 1 + lands (38x)
1 cmc = 6
2 cmc = 13
3 cmc = 20
4 cmc = 12
5 cmc = 7
6 cmc = 2
7 cmc = 0
8 cmc = 2
The most important part to consider when running this design is that we do not want to have our deck depend on Ramses. He is overcosted and his ability is often times whimsical. So having him out for the extra benefit is nice, but many things that need him are excluded. Since there are many times there will be no targets for our auras, we can't run too many, so what aura's that are included must be worthy.
Here are a few pointers for playing the deck;
This is a very political deck. My design only runs one counter and two tutor spells. Often times I will explain to the opponents that I only run one counter and one tutor as the demon is more or less a win-condition and used to almost always get one specific card. Running Ramses Overdark in the command zone tends to take quite a bit of pressure off you in multiplayer. Explaining that you only run one counter and one tutor to the opponents usually makes them dismiss you during the entire early game.
But not everyone is a wicked smooth Jedi, and the mere display of islands on your side of the table will cause some worry and targeting.
We will fail in 1v1 due to the speed and reliance on our enchantments, so when playing multiplayer we need to smartly manipulate the board the best we can. Our best general-answers now are Vow of Malice and Vow of Flight. Snapping one of these on the more aggressive opponent at the table is great. Using one of the 5 reanimation enchantments to get back a diverting creature is even better. You won't have time to fiddle early game waiting in hopes of having Ramses, so we need to start the mind games early.
When it comes to actually winning, this design is sickeningly short on winconditions. Bribery honestly may be the best bet since we can pull a better creature out of the opponents deck. Rune-Scarred Demon into Rite of Replication, then rite-kicking the demon is another generic blue/black win-con. These three cards do not require anything from our deck other than mana, and do nothing for the Ramses theme.
Auramancer's Guise on Ramses is a possible pathway for general damage. The only reason this made the cut is due to Vigilance. Ramses's ability can be activated after he is declared as an attacker, akin to Stonehewer Giant plays. But man wouldn't it just be better to have Stonehewer in the deck?
When using our general the best we can do is find as much value that doesn't kill our own tempo. With that idea, we are running as many auras that can "reoccur" themselves. I call this the "Rancor effect," since this is the most popular card with this ability. We have 10 of these effects included in the deck, but there are others.
Fool's Demise is most likely our best enchantment to use with Ramses out. We can theft a creature every turn if the enchantment isn't countered and Ramses isn't disrupted. This is hands down the strongest effect that Ramses can provide for us.
The rest of the "reoccurring" enchantments should be considered as spot removal with Ramses, or early game disruption. Dragon Wings and Dragon Shadow are both great. Cycling the wings early is nice, but most people tend to forget that you can auto-equip these from the graveyard to your opponents side. Despondency and Launch are the original reoccurring "rancor" cycle and have very little use past being slightly annoying to the opponent. These and Slow Motion + Sleeper's Guile are the decks best repeatable creature removal with Ramses. Screams from Within is pretty unique, and can sometimes backfire as it may end up on one of our dudes, but the option of wiping out an entire token army is pretty great. Glistening Oil and Fallen Ideal blur the lines between offense and defense, as both might end up on our own guys for combat.
Do note that I have chosen to take out Genju of the Fens and Genju of the Falls, since this is a multi-player deck that is already fairly weak, and showing the opponents that you can repeatably destroy a land a turn is a good way to paint a target on us.
The new Constellation crew with Herald of Torment and Nighthowler are the most recent additions. Agent of Erebos is proving to be fantastic in a deck with 30+ enchantments to hose many graveyard based strategies. Rite-kick'ing a Doomwake Giant essentially requires a boardwipe or the opponents will never be able to keep creatures on the field.
Thassa's Emissary was considered as a replacement for Shadowmage Infiltrator in my most recent update. Infiltrator is great but often times the fear ended up being useless in my meta, and the power-boost on the emissary was tempting. Do note that we can bestow an opponents creature, and when that creature dies the incoming enchantment-creature does still belong to us.
Venser, Shaper Savant is running double-duty here as one of our few control elements in the deck, but also a possible saving grace to snap something vital of ours back to hand. I've been considering Riptide Chimera as a secondary effect here to help save a few enchantments.
Hakim, Loreweaver is just silly, and spaming his first activated ability to recover enchantments is great. He is extremely useful for recovering the "rancor effect" enchantments to hand if they were countered, since his second ability will cause them to go back up to hand yet again. And paying uu for Eldrazi Conscription is just fancy.
Here are some of the previously used cards, possible alternate paths to take Ramses, possible improvements worth testing, and other Ramses tech;
There are many "good" cards that work well with enchantments, but over the past few years these things have been found to be just too slow, or too situational. From what I've tested myself, and what few Ramses decks I've seen, there is typically some sort of theme or trend. For example, my first push for Ramses was a theft theme with enchantments like;
While treachery is still main-decked, this theme was just not good enough. There are better theft generals out there to pick from, and relying on enchantments for theft is bad. Considering that an Aura Shards blows out our deck, this was too unreliable.
I've seen a few variants when browsing other decks. One that seemed interesting was a tap-down + tax effect;
Another ran reanimation;
"Burning" via enchantment kill;
Repeatable Land Destruction via;
Then there was the deck running the Licids;
Corrupting Licid, Dominating Licid, Gliding Licid, Leeching Licid, Stinging Licid, and Transmogrifying Licid are some pretty dated tech. Yea, the Licid's are cute. They are terribly cute. They are terrible. Please just stop.
All these themes were themselves better deployed with a better general.
There is also quite a few generically good cards that many may still consider running with Ramses.
Ramses decks tend to have a huge plethora of generic effects that occur when the enchantments or the enchanted creature die or attack. These could be considered "tempo" but we are in the color of drawing and tutoring, so really why waste an enchantment slot for Casting of Bones when we have access to Ancestral Vision?
And some of the ghetto Ramses tech has just been dated due to the growing popularity of the format and power-creep. EDH has not aged well for the casual, and this makes Ramses a sad panda. Something like Crystal Chimes still has a place for mass recursion late game, but these others have just not aged well;
The Rootwater Shaman specifically has just been blown away by Leyline of Anticipation, but even the Leyline doesn't fit in what this deck wants to do very well. Flash everything is really strong, but the majority of our effects manipulate creatures on the opponents turn. The only time we desperately need to flash an enchantment out is to stop a haste creature. The odds of seeing the leyline + the answering enchantment vs a haste are slim. How's about a Capsize instead?
More Voltron...
So Endless Scream used to be the card of this deck as a big scary win-condition. When we got Eldrazi Conscription late 2010 this great old card was hastily replaced. But cards like this may still have a place in some variant. Your argument then again gets to 'why run Ramses?' when you could just run Hakim or Zur or any general with protection.
Multiplying the ability;
With Ramses's ability not requiring any mana, and many of the reoccurring enchantments being very cheap to cast, it may be tempted to run some untap or double effects. Illusionist's Bracers and Rings of Brighthearth may work if there are two creatures simultaneously enchanted. From playtesting the only one that might be worth the slot is Fatestitcher and Thousand-Year Elixir. I have taken these out of my recent designs to make my deck appear weaker. Most opponents will dismiss Ramses's ability in early game, but landing this with Ramses out will skew threat assessment and put you on someone's radar.
The most recent revision included the new Constellation and enchantment-creatures from the Theros block. Considering Riptide Chimera as another addition. Considering Fatestitcher and Copy Enchantment for reasons.
Simply from how I play, I like control aspects in (B/R) style decks, so I suppose I could be a blood cultists from Rakdos. Or maybe an undercover red mage from House Dimir.
1x Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch (2br, Alice Liddell, the Curious, flip side is 'Hysterical' in "unleashed")
Creatures: 20
2x Burnished Hart (3, White Rabbit)
3x Phyrexian Crusader (1bb, Bill (the Lizard))
4x Prophetic Flamespeaker (1rr, Dormouse)
5x Markov Blademaster (1rr, March Hare)
6x Needle Specter (1bb, Rocking-Horsefly)
7x Solemn Simulacrum (4, Mock Turtle)
8x Mirri the Cursed (2bb, Cheshire Cat)
9x Olivia Voldaren (2br, Queen of Hearts)
10x Blazing Specter (2br, Daiymo Wasp)
11x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon (3bb, Jabberwocky)
12x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief (3bb, The Duchess)
13x Bloodgift Demon (3bb, Boojum)
14x Tahngarth, Talruum Hero (3rr, King of Hearts)
15x Stormbreath Dragon (3rr, The Gryphon)
16x Thundermaw Hellkite (3rr, Dodo Bird)
17x Keldon Firebombers (3rr, Mad Hatter)
18x Duplicant (6, Colossal Ruin)
19x Godo, Bandit Warlord (5r, Knave of Hearts)
20x Inferno Titan (4rr, Tweedle Dee)
21x Grave Titan (4bb, Tweedle Dum)
Equipment: 20
22x Basilisk Collar (1, Jabberwock's Eye Staff)
23x Skullclamp (1, Pepper Grinder)
24x O-Naginata (1, The Carpenter's Hammer)
25x Trailblazer's Boots (2)
26x Inquisitor's Flail (2, Vorpal Blade)
27x Livewire Lash (2, Blunderbuss)
28x Mask of Avacyn (2, Playing Cards)
29x Blight Sickle (2, Ice Wand)
30x Sword of Fire and Ice (3, Sword of Spades and Diamonds)
31x Sword of Feast and Famine (3)
32x Sword of War and Peace (3, Sword of Hearts and Spades)
33x Sword of Light and Shadow (3, Sword of Diamonds and Clubs)
34x Sword of Body and Mind (3,Sword of Clubs and Hearts)
35x Sword of Vengeance (3, Sword of the Fool)
36x Loxodon Warhammer (3, Croquet Mallet)
37x Tenza, Godo's Maul (3, Hobby Horse)
38x Fireshrieker (3, Syringe of Mental Illness)
39x Champion's Helm (3, Umbrella)
40x Batterskull (5, The Walrus's Appetite, makes Walrus Dignity Token)
41x Argentum Armor (6, Teapot Cannon)
42x Sol Ring (1, The White Queen)
43x Wayfarer's Bauble (1, The White King)
44x Mind Stone (2, The White Bishop)
45x Star Compass (2, The Red Bishop)
46x Charcoal Diamond (2, The White Knight)
47x Fire Diamond (2, The Red Knight)
48x Talisman of Indulgence (2, The White Rook)
49x Rakdos Signet (2, The Red Rook)
50x Torpor Orb (2, The Queen of Heart's Tarts)
Spells: 7
51x Demonic Tutor (1b, ...six impossible things before breakfast.)
52x Dismember (1bb, Who stole the Tarts?)
53x Hero's Downfall (1bb, Why is a raven like a writing-desk?)
54x Dreadbore (br, You used to be much more..."muchier.")
55x Damnation (2bb, It's always tea-time.)
56x Decree of Pain (6bb, Off with their heads!)
57x Savage Beating (3rr, We're all mad here.)
Enchantments: 7
58x Phyrexian Arena (1bb, Caterpillar)
59x Erebos, God of the Dead (3b, Armored Card Guard)
60x Whip of Erebos (2bb, Curiouser and curiouser!)
61x Furnace of Rath (1rrr)
62x Dictate of the Twin Gods (3rr)
63x Gratuitous Violence (2rrr)
64x Wound Reflection (5b, Deadtime Watch)
Lands: 36
65x Inkmoth Nexus (Bolterfly Nest, makes Bolterfly)
66x Lavaclaw Reaches (Heart Palace, makes tentacle monster)
67x Blood Crypt (Vale of Tears)
68x Shadowblood Ridge (Rutledge Asylum)
69x Temple of Malice (Fortress of Doors)
70x Dragonskull Summit (Hatter's Domain)
71x Graven Cairns (Littlemore Infirmary)
72x Sulfurous Springs (Liddell House)
73x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep (Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth)
74x Shizo, Death's Storehouse (Looking Glass Railway)
13x Swamp (Wonderland)
13x Mountain (Queensland)
1x Pilgrim's Eye (3, Bread-and-Butterflies)
1x Order of Yawgmoth (2bb, Bandersnatch)
1x Master of Cruelties (3br, The Executioner)
1x Wurmcoil Engine (6, Doctor Bumby/The Dollmaker & Doll Tokens)
1x Hand of Cruelty (bb, Card Guard (Spades))
1x Black Knight (bb, Card Guard (Clubs))
1x Blood Knight (rr, Card Guard (Diamonds))
1x Ash Zealot (rr, Card Guard (Hearts))
1x Etched Champion (Armored Card Guard)
The Cast;
Flamingos
The Frog-Footman
Club Card Guards
Spade Card Guards
Diamond Card Guards
Heart Card Guards
Snark / Ice Snark
Phantasmagoria
Jackbomb
Clockwork Bomb
Demondice
Jacks
Tea Cup
book quotes;
Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.
“That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked: "because they lessen from day to day.”
“Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice 'but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing i ever saw in my life!”
“Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today. -Mad Hatter.”
“what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'"
“You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
The King's argument was that anything that had a head, could be beheaded, and you weren't to talk nonsense.
“How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail, And pour the waters of the Nile On every golden scale!”
“If you don't know were you want to get to, then any road will take you there.”
72x alice liddell quotes;
"I wish to get very small. No bigger than a mouse. Do you know how I might do that?”
"And if not, there may be more than one way to skin a cat, if you'll pardon the expression. ”
"Everyone seems completely dejected. Are things really as bad as all that?”
"Tragic, I'm sure, but I'm a bit pressed for time. Have you seen a rabbit?”
"Risk nothing, gain nothing.”
"Everyone I love dies violently... unnaturally. I'm cursed. Why go on? I'll just hurt others...”
"Obscure allusions to chess are fine, but it troubles me that anonymous oracles know more of my business than I do.”
"I'll have the Turtle shell now, you disgusting ogre!”
"Then she must do it unwillingly. I'll teach her manners.”
"And where does that smushy lay-about hang his hookah these days?”
"A simple thank-you would have been nice... I've kept my part of the bargain, Turtle.”
"As am I, if I can't pass through this realm. I must collect the pieces to the Jabberwock's Eye Staff.”
"You've gone quite mangy, Cat, but your grin's a comfort.”
"Obscure allusions to chess are fine, but it troubles me that anonymous oracles know more of my business than I do.”
"Should I be grateful for the truth? A lie or two might have been more persuasive.”
"I'm not really a player. What are the rules?”
"Spare me the platitude. Do you have any useful advice?”
"Despicable, grotesque, and smelly louts; I'll fill your bellies, alright!”
"A mere pawn is the best I can hope for?”
"Were you impolite at table? Did you slurp your tea? Or talk while chewing? Confess your crime.”
"I only take mine with friends.”
"Those two seem to barely comprehend their situation.”
"Both are powerful, destructive, and indiscriminately cruel. But the typhoon doesn't mean to be.”
"Hmm... Perhaps 6 comes early today.”
"Promise only what you're prepared to deliver. I am destined to battle the Red Queen. The outcome is uncertain.”
"How shall we prepare for battle?”
"You? Bizarre creature! I was beginning to like you.”
"What good are you to me? I'm supposed to attack this ferocious creature; but I'm not even sure this is my fight.”
"Save myself from death, is that it? Is that why I've come here? I'm not afraid to die! Times I've welcomed death.”
"What then? A fate worse than death? I'm not stupid. Don't make me think you are.”
"What I've been feeling, I am beginning to understand. I broke this world; and only I can repair it.”
"That the best you can do? Hurl second-rate insults? They don't hurt...”
"Must I fight on? Can't the Red Queen be persuaded to surrender?”
"It's not a dream, it's a... memory. And it makes me sick!"
"What's happening? Are you mad?"
"Pollution! Corruption! It's killing me! Wonderland is destroyed! My mind is in ruins!"
"My memories make me vomit."
"I want to forget! Who would choose to be alone, imprisoned by their broken memories?"
"I'm passed a cure. Terminal condition."
"Hello puss. Puss, puss, puss, puss! Don't be afraid!"
"Seems following furry creatures into dark holes has become a habit. I hope it's not a vice."
"I don't think so. Our last visit cost me several pounds and got me nowhere."
"Blasted cat. Don't try to bully me! I'm very much on edge."
"I'll frighten myself, when necessary, thanks very much. I was hoping to escape from all that."
"My God! I'm shrinking in this potion! Shall I disappear?"
"Ugly, gross, and evil in a single monstrosity!"
"Hatter always hated mechanical malfunctions. This disaster is either his doing, or his epitaph."
"Dr. Bumby says change is 'constructive'; that 'different' is good."
"I've made more graceful entrances. I suppose I must be grateful nothing's broken."
"I finished my work and you’re complete, Hatter. Now, what about this “damnable” train?"
"Answer me, Hatter. I’m suffering. And changes here a cause; or they’re a reflection. Or the effect… What’s going on? What are the new rules?"
"You should know the doctor says I’ve a terrible disease."
"Very pithy. He deserved to die. And I’m about to drown in tea… in ignorance!"
"Admirals go down with their ships. In any case, I never knew you for a sailor. If memory serves, you were station-master of the Looking Glass line."
"Place smells like a ripe distillery. With a whiff of halitosis and urine."
"I’m not terribly musical, but... you seem out of tune!"
"Wait! Come back here! I’m a savior… of a sort."
"Did I rip his head off? I… wanted to…"
"What’s left of my brain will explode! Is it mad to pray for better hallucinations? Perhaps I’m fated to expire right here."
"You’re not that good a liar and I’m not that stupid. But something a bit less calamitous would have been welcome."
"How can she stem this growing corruption or assist my search? What does she know that I don’t?"
"She didn’t treat you too well last time; lost your head as I recall."
"I’m an idiot. Don Quixote had a better chance with his windmills. And without the risk of decapitation."
"I won’t miss your tentacles."
"The destruction of Wonderland is the destruction of me?"
"I know their pain. I would assist. But is sanity required for the job?"
"You oozing sore of depravity… children wearing their names around their necks, as if they’re breeding livestock!"
"You’ve used me and abused me, but you’ll not destroy me."
"I know I’m guilty of something, but punishment never suits the victims of the crime."
"You corrupted my memories, but you failed to make me forget."
"You, monstrous creature… Such evil will be punished."
While I can try to increase the speed of the deck or play with merchants vs control, the hardship is actually (G/W) decks with efficient creatures (lions, smiters, wurms) - as by the time they typically resolve, my creatures will trade 2:1 card advantage with me running out of steam pretty quick.
But at other times this deck was strait up wicked. Ordeals on an unleashed cackler that isn't dealt with is an evil evil thing. A turn-3 4/4 that has made the opponent discard 2x cards is funny.
I'm going to give 2x Ordeal of Purphoros a try in place of 2x Ordeal of Erebos in the maindeck this week, as it may net just that much more damage or be able to pick off a lion/blocker. I've also been considering Stormbreath Dragons in place of the demons, but the double worries me as I can't fail on my mana requirement for the Agent of Fates - it is my only consistent reliable removal turn-4+.
Anyone have any input?
4x Tormented Hero
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Rakdos Shred-Freak
2x Spike Jester
4x Agent of the Fates
2x Erebos, God of the Dead
2x Desecration Demon
4x Boon of Erebos
Enchantments: 11
3x Deviant Glee
4x Ordeal of Erebos
4x Madcap Skills
Lands: 23
4x Blood Crypts
7x Mountain
12x Swamp
2x Spike Jester
2x Desecration Demon
1x Wrecking Ogre
4x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Deviant Glee
2x Ordeal of Purphoros
3x Hero's Downfall
^Thats hilarious. I usually play land destruction to make players not enjoy the game by denying them the ability to play cards, but that seems much more amusing in a play-anything-denial sort of way.
If he is so proud of how much cash he has spent on his cards, or he does not seem to care about the price difference a deck is capable of (pauper deck vs someone using p9 cards) then he should not complain when he is facing a theoretical deck loaded with mox, even if they are not the authentic card.
Doesn't mater if he is a good player or not, if he is a good person he would have spent a little bit of chump-change on a more amusing / friendly deck and left his wallet-deck on the sidelines. The game to him seems to be more about winning, not having fun. Even if I had a deck that would crush him, I wouldn't bother playing with this person.
What I mean by dead scheme is a useless one that doesn't help - like turn 1 creature theift.
I was thinking maybe just using two of these possible cards, making the deck have a chance of 1/10 dead turn-1 draw. This is what I was planning;
2x Your Fate Is Thrice Sealed
2x Realms Befitting My Majesty
2x Only Blood Ends Your Nightmares
2x Look Skyward and Despair
2x Know Naught but Fire
2x Introductions Are in Order
2x I Delight in Your Convulsions
1x All in Good Time
1x Your Inescapable Doom
1x Behold the Power of Destruction
1x My Crushing Masterstroke
The schemes are all basically made to function as a universal archenemy deck w/ mana ramp. I chose most of the cards to help focus on my skeleton deck in the signature, as the mana ramp + deck thinning would be the most helpful thing for them to function.
What sort of ratio do you all use?
In my sig I'm running a similar (B/R) deck. You should really give Goblin Deathraiders a try here. If you drop him 2nd turn, Fist of the Demigod + Blazing Salvo 3rd, and Ashenmoor Liege 4th, his trample becomes a very disgusting threat.
I usually play (B/R) as a bit of a quick turn-4 devastating pounce deck. Equipment usually doesn't fit in very well - Demonspine Whip is very theme appropriate, and firebreathing mod is great, but I would switch that and Riot Spikes out for a monkey wrench like Brute Force.
Brute Force is one of my fav's as it is usually very unexpected coming from any non-green deck, and it can do more than just pump for damage-surprise - it can act as a creature savior if your opponent is running things like Disfigure, or if he thinks he can overrun your creature for a lethal hit.
Since your deck looks to be running turn-5 balance, you should invest in some sort of card-drawing mechanic. Sign in Blood is a good instant, but requires 2x swamps. I prefer Browbeat for the possible 3-mana Lava Axe effect, but there are many great ones out there. For longer-duration games where you're not trying to kill the opponent as soon as possible, there is Wheel of Fortune and Phyrexian Arena.
edits; also, Jund Hackblade and/or Grixis Grimblade are good early surprises. Veinfire Borderpost can be pop'ed turn-1 for a turn 2 creature drop. Those two creatures are hardly expensive to cast and almost always beg your opponent to waste a target/removal them.
Just cause...
And Donate needs more printed versions / variations. Everyone seems to have played against someone who had it, and hated it, but not willing to build their own back-stabbing deck.