Tale of Two Commanders #4- Angels and Demons and Dragons Oh My!

Features

GoldGhost012

2 February 2014

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Welcome back to the latest installment of Tale of Two Commanders. This is what you've all been waiting for- my deck versus yours. The boring tournament between my decks is complete, and we can move on to the good stuff! Alright, cue the confetti!

Alright, that’s enough celebration. Let's get down to business.

I was surprised by the sheer number of decks submitted for this article. There were 26 decks for me to choose from, and I had to choose one! But I'll admit, I didn't want to hit the ground running and going toe-to-toe with Dominus - Dreamcrusher Edition immediately. Or ever, really. I wanted something even I couldn't screw up too badly. So I decided to play a most beloved and powerful Commander- no, not Phelddagrif. Kaalia of the Vast. And so, today the matchup will be against thePESSIMIST's

deck-large: Kaalia Ruins Friendships

My reasons for playing this deck is three-fold:

1. It's primary wincon isn't hard to figure out or screw up. Gather a bunch of powerful Demons, Dragons, and Angels and attack. I think I can handle that (right?).

2. Kaalia is a very popular and successful Commander, because she's brutally effective at what she does (bashing people in the face).

3. With such an unusual card like Possibility Storm screwing everyone else up with its chaos, how could I not want to try it out?

Deck Tech

Well, as previously mentioned, Kaalia's all about summoning the most powerful creatures in her colors immediately to the battlefield and bashing face as much as possible. Not hard, right? And with Possibility Storm, a Stoneforge Mystic can become a Demon of Death's Gate or a Vandalblast can become a Waves of Aggression. So let's break down what I think are five of the most powerful cards in this deck:

1. Kaalia of the Vast. Duh.

2. Possibility Storm. A bit of an odd choice, right? Well, I really don't want my Scourge of Valkas turning into a Vexing Shusher. That would be pretty bad... Plus, the only way I can get rid of it is with Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, and Lux Cannon, and those aren't very fast methods.

3. Sorin Markov. Because nothing says screw you like losing 30 life in a single turn before the combat phase.

4. Master of Cruelties. Yeah, a one-hit KO is really what a Kaalia deck needs.

5. Baneslayer Angel. Mostly because it has protection from the majority of my deck's threats.

Obviously there are other threats too, but I think that these are among the worst, especially against my deck. Geez, this deck has more weapons in it than a military base.

Now, what advantages does my deck have against it?

1. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund has the quite amazing ability of stealing my opponents' Dragons and adding them to my deadly arsenal (have I made enough weapons jokes yet?). And since Kaalia cheats Dragons onto the battlefield, Karrthus could be necessary to my survival.

2. Technically, Sneak Attack is a glorious advantage over practically every deck, but it's one of my only ways to beat face at the around same speed as Kaalia. Same with Elvish Piper and Quicksilver Amulet, although one is much more vulnerable to removal and one is more mana intensive, and both are slower.

... I think that's it. I don't think this is looking very good for me on paper. But I suppose the playtester will tell. As always, D will stand for Dragons and thoughts will be italicized and K will stand for Kaalia and thoughts will be bolded.

Disclaimer: Both these decks are played by me on the Tappedout playtester. I am definitely not a MTG pro. Far from it. I WILL make mistakes and misplays. This is for me to improve my skills as well as for the viewers.

Let's Begin

D wins the roll and will go first. He keeps a hand of Ryusei, the Falling Star, Elfhame Sanctuary, Quicksilver Amulet, Forest, Evolving Wilds, Into the Wilds and Beastmaster Ascension. It's not over the top wonderful, but it's fast mana fixing and quick cheats onto the battlefield with potential buffs.

K keeps a hand of Hellkite Tyrant, Chromatic Lantern, Godless Shrine, Plains, Swamp, Rakdos the Defiler, and Demon of Death's Gate. Excellent hand. Just the right amount of mana and huge threats to end this quickly.

Turn 1

D plays Evolving Wilds, then activates its ability, tapping and sacrificing it to search his library for a Mountain and puts it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffles his library.

K draws Shadowblood Ridge, then plays Godless Shrine tapped.

Turn 2

D draws Graven Cairns. He plays Forest and casts Elfhame Sanctuary.

K draws a Swamp, then plays Shadowblood Ridge. Wow, these first few turns are definitely the best parts of the article...

Turn 3

D draws Dragon Shadow. He plays Graven Cairns and casts Beastmaster Ascension.

K draws Sorin Markov. Oh, look at that, the third-most dangerous card in the deck. He plays Plains, then taps Plains to activate the ability of Shadowblood Ridge, adding RB to his mana pool, then taps Godless Shrine to cast Chromatic Lantern.

Turn 4

During his upkeep, D decides to trigger Elfhame Sanctuary's ability, searching his library for a Swamp, revealing it, and putting it into his hand, shuffling his library and skipping his draw step. He then plays the Swamp, then casts Quicksilver Amulet. Next turn I can cheat Ryusei out, and hopefully I'll draw more creatures.

K draws Clifftop Retreat, which he plays. He then casts his Commander, Kaalia of the Vast for the first time. As long as Kaalia survives through the next turn, the beating of face will commence.

Turn 5

D draws Bladewing the Risen. He activates the ability of Quicksilver Amulet, placing Ryusei, the Falling Star onto the battlefield from his hand.

K draws Sacred Foundry. He plays Swamp, then casts Sorin Markov. The beating of face shall now commence! He activates Sorin's -3 (1), making D's life total become 10 (D: 10, K: 40). Oh yay. That's not even fair. He attacks D with Kaalia of the Vast, making Kaalia’s effect trigger. Decisions, decisions... pure power or removal? Well, I guess I'll get rid of stuff, maybe it'll keep him from Quicksilvering another threat. He puts Rakdos the Defiler onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. If I block, I'm not going to have enough mana to cheat Bladewing next turn. If I don't, I'm at one life! ... Well, I suppose I'd lose next turn anyway. Hoping for a great land topdeck! No blocks (D:1, K: 40). Since he dealt combat damage to D, Rakdos's ability triggers, making D sacrifice half his non-Demon permanents, rounded up. D controls 8 permanents, so he sacrifices Ryusei, the Falling Star, Elfhame Sanctuary, Beastmaster Ascension, and Swamp.

Turn 6

D draws Bojuka Bog. Worst. Land. Topdeck. EVER!!!!!!!!!! Concedes.

deck-large: Kaalia Ruins Friendships

wins the game!

Well, rather boring game, with the exception of K's last turn. And a fast one too; only lasted 5 (6?) turns. Geez, Kaalia's speed and powerful cards can really make it difficult for opponent’s to react to there suddenly being another large, threatening beater attacking.

So, I have good news and bad news. The bad news (although I guess it can be taken as good news, depending on how you look at it) is that the game is over. And so fast too! But the good news (although again, depending on how you look at it, it could be bad news) is that, since the game was so short, I'll play another! So round 2 is coming up right away!

Let’s begin (again).

K wins the roll and will go first. He keeps a hand of Cavern of Souls, Reliquary Tower, Stormbreath Dragon, Rune-Scarred Demon, Mortify, Mountain, and Boros Charm. This hand is a little color-drained, but I think I'll be fine with it.

D keeps a hand of Forest, Planar Portal, Into the Wilds, Fire-Lit Thicket, Spearbreaker Behemoth, Dragonspeaker Shaman, and Spinerock Knoll. Eh, could be better, but I like the odds of drawing into a dragon or land.

Turn 1

K plays Cavern of Souls, naming Human.

D draws Abundance. He plays Spinerock Knoll, which comes into play tapped. Due to the Hideaway ability, he looks at the top 4 cards of his library, seeing Garruk Wildspeaker, Primal Rage, Bogardan Hellkite, and Aggravated Assault. He chooses to exile Bogardan Hellkite face down and puts the others on the bottom of his library.

Turn 2

K draws Plains and plays Reliquary Tower.

D draws Elfhame Sanctuary. He plays Forest, then casts the Sanctuary.

Turn 3

K draws Strionic Resonator. Interesting. Double Kaalia triggers. Wow. He plays Mountain, then casts the Resonator.

D draws Reflecting Pool, which he plays. He then casts Dragonspeaker Shaman.

Turn 4

K draws Archangel of Strife. He plays Plains, then casts his Commander, Kaalia of the Vast, for the first time, with Cavern of Souls producing B via its second ability.

D draws Cavern of Souls, which he plays and names Dragon. If I attack and get blocked, he's losing a lot more than I am. Attacks with Dragonspeaker Shaman, no blocks (K: 38, D: 40). Casts Into the Wilds.

Turn 5

K draws Linvala, Keeper of Silence. He attacks with Kaalia of the Vast, triggering Kaalia's ability. He then taps Reliquary Tower, Cavern of Souls, and Strionic Resonator to copy the ability. The copy resolves first, letting K put Archangel of Strife onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. When it enters the battlefield, Archangel's ability triggers, and K chooses war, giving all his creatures +3/+0 (Kaalia: 5/2, Archangel: 9/6). Peace won't help me. D chooses war as well, giving all his creatures +3/+0 (Shaman: 5/2). Kaalia's non-copied ability resolves, letting K put Rune-Scarred Demon onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. The Demon becomes a 9/6. When it enters the battlefield, the Demon's ability triggers, and K searches his library and puts Waves of Aggression into his hand, shuffling his library. Waves of Aggression is overkill, but overkill's the best kind of kill. If I don't draw a land next turn it won't be the end of the world. (K:38, D: 17; K: 0 Commander Damage, D: 5 Commander Damage) Ouch.

Into the Wilds triggers at the beginning of D's upkeep, and he looks at the top card of his library. It is Hellkite Overlord, which he draws. I can't cast it. I'm one mana too short. There's no way I can win, but I want to go out with a bang. He plays Fire-Lit Thicket, then casts his Commander, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, for the first time. When he enters the battlefield, Karrthus's ability triggers, but K controls no Dragons. Karrthus becomes a 10/7. D attacks with Karrthus and Dragonspeaker Shaman (K: 23, D: 17; K: 10 Commander Damage, D: 5 Commander Damage). Let's see how much he can dish out.

Turn 6

K draws Flameblast Dragon. Well, no Waves of Aggression, but that's alright. He attacks with Kaalia of the Vast, Rune-Scarred Demon, and Archangel of Strife, triggering Kaalia's ability. He then taps Reliquary Tower, Cavern of Souls, and Strionic Resonator to copy the ability. The copy resolves first, letting K put Flameblast Dragon onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Flameblast becomes an 8/5. Kaalia's non-copied ability resolves, letting K put Stormbreath Dragon onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Stormbreath becomes a 7/4. K then casts Boros Charm, giving Archangel double strike, hitting for a total of 47 damage, with 30 points of overkill.

deck-large: Kaalia Ruins Friendships

wins the game! (Again)

Afterword

So, not one but two games that show how brutal these Kaalia decks can be. Early game wins are usually disliked in EDH, especially multiplayer because the game is too fast. That's why I decided to play two games; I was able to play two games in the time I spent to play one game in any of my last three articles.

I’m not sure if I've said this yet, but Kaalia is a brutal Commander, especially in a deck with little to no removal and no access to counterspells like mine. The key to slowing these decks down is to keep Kaalia off the battlefield as much as possible. If you can stop her once or twice, your opponent’s momentum is often stalled enough that you can set up for your own wincon. I think the games above demonstrate what can happen if Kaalia isn't stopped.

My only regret about these two games was that I never played Possibility Storm. The sheer chaos would've been fun.

Game 1 Greatest Contributors: Kaalia of the Vast, Rakdos the Defiler

Game 2 Greatest Contributors: Kaalia of the Vast, Archangel of Strife, Strionic Resonator

Dragons... basically did nothing. Kaalia's onslaught was just too fast and too powerful for it. Karrthus hit the field, but there was nothing to steal. If there had been one or two dragons that could've been stolen, the game might have turned around. And for the first time in this article series, Kokusho, the Evening Star didn't show up in either game. I know, I'm really sad about it too.

Game 1 Greatest Contributors: Quicksilver Amulet

Game 1 Greatest Contributors: Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund

Lessons to Take Away From This:

Kaalia. Beats. Face. Extremely. Have removal handy when facing her.

I would like to thank thePESSIMIST for submitting deck:Kaalia Ruins Friendships. Powerful, fast, and efficient, with the potential for sheer hilarity. And many thank yous to all the others who submitted decks but didn’t get chosen for the challenge. But here's another chance! Submit your decks in a comment below, and, as always, don't be afraid to point out any mistakes I made- I'm always learning too.

Stipulations for the next article: None. But know that it will be a 1-v-1 match, and I will be somewhat wary of using an all-out control and/or combo deck.

Thanks for reading! Have a nice day guys.