Akroan Horse to make chump blockers and gain some life?

@plusmental: I used to run Alliance of Arms to get chump blockers and some more tokens on my opponent's side. I took it out because I just don't need tokens on my side. If I get out Soul Warden, I'm pretty much guaranteed massive life gain through giving tokens to my opponents alone. This life gain also allows me not to worry too much about blocking creatures. Akroan Horse is pretty much a slower version of Alliance of Arms.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Ah yeah. Fair call :-) love the deck idea btw +1 bud

i like your deck and i wish that the war riders was modern legal so i could play it in my You and this army! deck. i dont know what suggestions i could give since we went separate ways with our finishers. the only thing i could maybe suggest would be adding in a 4th city of brass to help color fix if you have problems. i mean the life loss wont hurt you nearly as much as being color screwed would considering the life gain you have.

@aholder7: Yeah, you're right. Sometimes I do have mana color problems. It's not really that bad, because I play a very slow game with Ghostly Prison, but it is annoying at times. I'm definitely going to add the fourth; maybe I'll even add 2 Mana Confluences, if I get my hands on them.

Thanks for the suggestion and the +1!

You used to have Silent Arbiter, didn't you? I'm wondering why you took it out. My assumption is that it is similar to Ghostly Prison, which has a lower CMC..? Well, the other day I came across a card that reminded me of this deck: Dueling Grounds - a cheaper, harder-to-remove Silent Arbiter. What do you think?

@daengburapa: Yeah, I ran Silent Arbiter and Crawlspace for some time; I didn't know Dueling Grounds, but it's quite similar. I don't run them anymore because they are dead cards with Ghostly Prison. If I control a Prison, my opponent won't pay to attack with tokens, but with his own (much more impactful) creatures. In most cases, he wants to cast something, so only one creature attacks. Silent Arbiter doesn't change anything about that, so I replaced him with Rakdos Charm.

If I were to add another card to stop my opponent from attacking, it would be Propaganda to have more Prisons.

Thanks for your suggestion!

Genesis Chamber Gives tokens for both sides.

for a deck with blue mana, I'd just use Mulldrifter intead of phyrexian arena. If you play arena:T3 play arenaT4 draw first card, lose 1 lifeT5 draw second card, lose 1 lifeT6 draw third card, lose 1 life

But the Drifter gets youT3 evoke drifter, draw two cards, lose no life

Only on T6 does the arena come out ahead, while costing you life. The drifer will work together with the rest of your plan (suture priest, soul warden, blood artist), and it can be hardcast for a blocker. It can even be hit with Mercy killing for 5 if you need to change up your gameplan and persecution for the swing.

@smack80: Genesis Chamber relies on my opponent casting creatures and I don't need the tokens, as I hide behind Ghostly Prison and a life buffer from Soul Warden.

Mulldrifter is an interesting suggestion, and it seems pretty well backed up. I will test it. Thanks!

just a note on the muldrift explanation. mercy killing works off power not cmc, so it only would be for 2 and not 5. but i do agree with the rest of your reasoning.

@smack80: I tested Mulldrifter today and you're right, it's better than Phyrexian Arena in this deck. Thanks for the suggestion! And thanks for the clarification, aholder7!

Illness in the Ranks over Zealous Persecution- it keeps their tokens dead.

@Guardians: Thanks for the suggestion. I don't run it for reasons stated in "Notable Exclusions" in the description.

Hunted Troll's token's are 1/1's, that seems fine to me.

@Guardians: True, but Hunted Phantasm is just better in here.

Troll costs 4 mana, Phantasm 3, both with 2 mana in colors I need "special" lands for.
Troll gives 4 tokens, Phantasm 5.
Troll's tokens have evasion (even if that doesn't really matter, thanks to Ghostly Prison), Phantasm's don't.
Troll's regenerate doesn't really matter to me, Phantasm's unblockable matters a lot.

There's not enough space for both, so Hunted Phantasm it is.

Hey there, currently running a force-feed EDH myself (Force-Feed them, you Dingus! If you want to take a look) I have found Infernal Genesis To really by a game changer, albeit random. Seed the Land may be worth a look too. Tainted AEther Is also cool, along with Last Laugh

+1 from me!

@Cerradura: Thanks for your suggestions!

Sadly, these cards may work great in your EDH, but they won't work here.

Infernal Genesis - This is a great effect and I would totally play it, if it were a lot cheaper (like 2 or 3 CMC). Infernal Genesis starts giving my opponents tokens in turn 7. I want to win the game with a Massacre Wurm in turn 6...

Seed the Land - Seems good in EDH, where you need lots of mana. With a 60-card deck, my opponents often don't need more than 4 lands. Also, it's way too few tokens for this deck (2 if I go first, they play a land every turn and I win turn 6). Compare this to Varchild's War-Riders, which gives my opponent 10 tokens (turn 3 to 6) and has a viable body for 2 mana less.

I don't play cards like Illness in the Ranks, because I want my opponent to accumulate tokens for me to kill when I control Blood Artist or end the game with Massacre Wurm. Tainted AEther seems really nasty with Illness in the Ranks, because then they can't sac the tokens you give them. Here, they would just sac their tokens and be happy to do it. Also, I need my creatures and would have to sac my lands...

Last Laugh kills the creatures that make my opponent lose (Blood Artist, Suture Priest), so it's out. I will probably test it in my Pestilence/Withering Wisps deck, though.

I took a look at your deck, and it seems a blast to play/pretty nasty to play against, +1 for sure. I very much like the idea of using Pharika, God of Affliction as token engine for your opponents.

I know you don't use sideboards, but if you play against decks that like to use the graveyard, you could consider Beckon Apparition. Hoses Snapcaster Mage, Golgari Grave-Troll, anything else with dredge or flashback, can hurt Tarmogoyf, all while giving you another token that can be used to trade or chump block.

Also, how about Orzhov Pontiff as a sorcery speed Zealous Persecution that also adds a creature to your side and can give your opponents -1/-1 twice?

You could also run a Purphoros, God of the Forge so that tokens coming in on your side also hurt your opponent.

@daengburapa: Thanks for your suggestions!

Beckon Apparition: Too narrow-minded. There aren't that many decks at my LGS that use the graveyard heavily, and for those that do I have Rakdos Charm, which also has other very good abilities.

Orzhov Pontiff: I need my removal to be instant speed. If my opponent destroys Ghostly Prison, an Orzhov Pontiff won't save me. Zealous Persecution and Ratchet Bomb will.

Purphoros, God of the Forge: The whole point of this deck is to give tokens to my opponent. The only way I can get tokens is targetting one of my own creatures with Mercy Killing.

I have a question how does Rachet bomb destroy the tokens. It says destroy each non land permanent with converted mana cost equal to the number of charge counters.

Do the Tokens actually have a converted mana cost?

Cards with no cost technically have Cmc of 0

So you simply do not add anything to the Ratchet bomb. Got it thanks.

Okay, so recently I've been trying to test out a Xenagos, God of Revels commander build that was group hug-ish (I've played Warp World and The Great Aurora in one turn for the win before) but I've begun to feel it needs something more.

Now what you've designed here seems to be what I'm looking for as the extra kick to make it a 3 color deck, you run off the idea to in essence "kill 'em with kindness", but you use black and white cards. I don't feel like trying to wait for the 4 color commanders, so if I tried to incorporate this idea into a commander build, which color of black or white would you say the deck could survive without?

@TheRedGoat: Well, there are different options for survival.

Token specific mass removal: Ratchet Bomb, Engineered Explosives, Illness in the Ranks, Zealous Persecution

Protection from being attacked: Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Sphere of Safety, Silent Arbiter, Crawlspace, Ensnaring Bridge, Magus of the Moat, Blazing Archon and probably some more.

Stuff that gives you life: Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Auriok Champion, basically look at Soul Sisters decks...

Stuff that hurts your opponent: Blood Seeker, Blood Artist, Massacre Wurm, Suture Priest, Rakdos Charm

Stuff that puts tokens into play for your opponent: Forbidden Orchard, Alliance of Arms, Mercy Killing, Varchild's War-Riders the Hunted cycle

Honestly, I don't think this would work as a RGx Commander. Both black and white cards are important and there aren't that much cards that put tokens on your opponent's board. Either wait for a WUBR commader, or go 5-color or run Phelddagrif with emphasis on its first ability. This also gives you access to Questing Phelddagrif.

Thanks for the +1!