saskia's slugfest

Commander / EDH BRGW

a7thson

Land (34)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 4x Forest
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Grand Coliseum
• 1x Gruul Turf
• 1x Jungle Shrine
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 3x Plains
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1x Savage Lands
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 1x Sheltered Thicket
• 1x Stirring Wildwood
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Windbrisk Heights

Removal (4)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Dauntless Escort
• 1x Sylvan Reclamation
• 1x Vindicate

Win-Con (3)

• 1x Grafted Exoskeleton
• 1x Lavalanche
• 1x Phyrexian Swarmlord

Tutor (2)

• 1x Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
• 1x Sunforger

Pump (11)

• 1x Behemoth Sledge
• 1x Berserk
• 1x Blood Mist
• 1x Bloodforged Battle-Axe
• 1x Hammer of Nazahn
• 1x Iroas, God of Victory *list*
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Overrun
• 1x Rancor
• 1x Ready / Willing
• 1x Temur Battle Rage

Beater (8)

• 1x Bloodbraid Elf
• 1x It of the Horrid Swarm
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Stonehoof Chieftain
• 1x Sunspear Shikari
• 1x Taj-Nar Swordsmith
• 1x Taurean Mauler
• 1x Thunderfoot Baloth

Disruption (7)

• 1x Brood Butcher
• 1x Brutal Hordechief
• 1x Burning-Tree Shaman
• 1x Conqueror's Flail
• 1x Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
• 1x Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• 1x Order / Chaos

Token-Gen (4)

• 1x Deranged Hermit
• 1x Dune-Brood Nephilim
• 1x Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
• 1x Parallel Evolution

Recursion (2)

• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Temur Sabertooth

Token (1)

• 1x Valduk, Keeper of the Flame

Wipe (1)

• 1x Blasphemous Act

Commander (1)

Ramp (9)

• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Explosive Vegetation
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gruul Signet
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Zhur-Taa Druid

Haste+Evasion (5)

• 1x Fires of Yavimaya
• 1x Goblin War Drums
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sword of Body and Mind

Draw (4)

• 1x Elemental Bond
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Skullclamp

Toolbox (4)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Gruul Charm
• 1x Naya Charm
• 1x Primal Command

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Maybeboard

Beater (6)

• 1x Balan, Wandering Knight
• 1x Batterskull
• 1x Chameleon Colossus
• 1x Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Sunspear Shikari

Token-Gen (1)

• 1x Artifact Mutation

Land (4)

• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Rugged Highlands

Pump (1)

• 1x Firesong and Sunspeaker

Toolbox (1)

• 1x Quirion Ranger

Disruption (2)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Vindictive Lich

Ramp (2)

• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Quirion Elves

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Saskia's Slugfest

The origins of this are of course the 2016 precon featuring our friend Saskia the Unyielding, which is sort of a strange concoction. I tried a few different avenues and veered in the direction of combining the original with the Cat tribal of the 2017 precon Feline Ferocity, eventually ending with an even stranger brew.

What is it about? An aggressive midrange deck with threat variety and multiple paths to victory, mostly, which aims to keep combat interesting. You can't discount the effectiveness of Saskia+Infect but that is just not nice to build around for a good time. On the other hand, it's too good not to at least tip the hat to with a Grafted Exoskeleton. I don't care for stompy aggro either, so what's a fussy brewer to do? Throw out most of the infect, double up on combat tricks and equipment to Voltron up a commander or another threat creature on the board and add some token generation for fodder and variety. The creatures are a weird mix but they are all value/utility plus each is enough of a threat on their own.

Playing It

Follow the usual pattern - play lands and creatures, and ramp up. Deathrite Shaman is a house if he does not eat a timely Lightning Bolt and Sakura-Tribe Elder and Zur-Taa Druid help clear the initial hurdle.

You will see this kind of runs itself once it gets going and there's enough ramp to fuel it to that point; then, it coasts. Guardian Project and Elemental Bond reward the play of big creatures, Skullclamp can turn the 1/1 tokens into more cards and we draw into bigger threats and avail ourselves of some Gruul hatred ( i.e. Burning-Tree Shaman, Gruul Charm, Marisi, Breaker of the Coil ) solidly aimed at permissions and pillow-fort. If you scored some early poison counters and then laid off the Infect threat before the table killed you, Phyrexian Swarmlord can come down and deliver a nice surprise mid/late game.

Sunforger can grab the charms (Gruul Charm, Naya Charm), Utter End, Temur Battle Rage, or Ready / Willing, a seriously underused little gem. You have tons of combat buffs and multiple forms of evasion ability with plenty of beefy creatures and the possibility for a swarm rush so we have Overrun as well for an anthem-type effect.

There are at least half a dozen token gen options and plenty to do with them besides Skullclamp for cards. Valduk, Keeper of the Flame literally fell into this deck by accident as a bonus card thrown in on an order and it ended up being a keeper. The 3/1 Elementals are hasted and large enough to trigger Elemental Bond so between that and Menace/evasion, stack some equipment on that guy and he can be a finisher on his own. Dune-Brood Nephilim, Deranged Hermit and Nath of the Gilt-Leaf plus the Sword of Body and Mind should keep you in 1/1's for a long time. Bloodforged Battle-Axe is great for spreading among a token swarm and then loading them all onto Saskia the Unyielding, Valduk, Keeper of the Flame or just a beefy surprise finisher. Rancor, Temur Battle Rage and Berserk definitely give some surprise one-shot potential as well.

Budget

This is a pretty random pile and includes some semi-expensive cards you probably don't need. And on the other end of it, I'm not shelling out for a Stoneforge Mystic in this casual deck, but add her for Taj-Nar Swordsmith if you have it. Play a decent bit of random equipment if you lack a Sword of Body and Mind. You can build most of this from the C16 and C17 precons -- that's what I did -- but otherwise some of these cards have also gotten a little expensive (Hammer of Nazahn especially). Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith still has utility without his Hammer as an cheap ($-wise) but expensive (mana wise) equipment tutor but there may be better options for you.

Deranged Hermit ... I love this one but the cost is a little silly. I had a few of these and Survival of the Fittest left from ancient days so it was a natural inclusion. This is pure token gen for value and sacrifice, so just put in something else that ETB making tokens. Hornet Queen here? Or maybe another Eldrazi to keep It of the Horrid Swarm company - he's nothing great, mostly an overcosted beater, but I love the art.

Berserk ... Old school, I was thrilled to discover it wasn't $$$ and got a reprint, but it's getting expensive again. Toss in whatever pump option works; even a Giant Growth could slot in at 1cc.

Roll with what's there and you will find additional synergies to play off but that is the basic idea.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.55
Tokens	1/1 N Creature Sand, Copy Clone, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Elemental 3/1 R w/ Trample, haste, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Human 2/2 G, Insect 1/1 G, Phyrexian Insect 1/1 G, Squirrel 1/1 G, Wolf 2/2 G