Maybeboard


There isn't anything abstract about Anhelo's art - Be splashy, be grandiose.

More up to date version of my decklist

"Action painting, sometimes called 'gestural abstraction', is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work or concern of its artist."

Action Painting seems like it would be Anhelo's preferred technique.

Instead of trying to copy spells every possible turn with Anhelo, I will focus on generating value moreso off of Spellslinger payoffs with some occasional, to minimal, Aristocrats payoffs. The more I look at the aristocrats effects, the more I think they should be the accentual piece to the deck overall.

This deck has a combo wincon option, with potential to win from copying group damage effects. The current combo wincon is Dualcaster Mage + Twinflame to create "infinite" hasty tokens into combat. Additional pieces such as Impact Tremors or Ral, Storm Conduit can be added to this combo to circumvent the necessity for combat.

With a spellslinger first emphasis, this version of the deck would instead utilize the Casualty 2 on Anhelo to copy "Quality spells", such as:

Extra Turns

A quick review of my binders revealed that I have the following spells in my possession:

I hadn't included any of these extra turn spells because I kinda forgot I had the others aside from Alrund's Epiphany. If I include extra turns, I want to ensure that I can definitively close out the game during those turns. It's not fun for anyone if I'm just spinning my wheels and can't end things.

Hand Destruction

I have a copy of Waste Not, and I can't help but be excited at its potential as a value engine for this deck. I think that copying group hand destruction, with the addition of Tergrid, God of Fright   and Syr Konrad, the Grim could throw plenty of damage around. Possible includes:

I started a version of this deck that has more of the discard support from above. It's much more rough and less well thought out than this version of the deck.

Although Dualcaster Mage + Twinflame was originally the primary intended combo for the deck, others have made their way in unintentionally. Some combos may have overlapping pieces, making additional benefits and synergy possible. All possible combos currently in the deck:

The Professor Onyx/Chain of Smog combo was pretty hyped shorlty after Strixhaven dropped. 8 mana is a deep investment, especially if Chain of Smog will force me to discard my hand, and leave me open without combo protection in hand.

Not under consideration (right now)

I have no doubts that more cEDH leaning iteratitions of Anhelo decks will use some mix of these cards to achieve a combo finisher. I will not be running any of these combos since my play group isn't that high-powered.

To take advantage of Anhelo's capabilities, I wanted to run a mix of typical mana rocks, as well as Ritual effects which can potentially be copied with Casualty 2 or other copy effects in the deck:

Rituals

  • Cabal Ritual

  • Birgi, God of Story Telling - Kinda ritualish in spell cast

  • Jeska's Will - Excellent copy target for the ritual effect in addition to its impulse draw.

Rocks

Other mana acceleration

Not necessarily "ramp", but effects that can help accelerate mana beyond Turn 3

As an artist, Anhelo needs to draw his inspiration from somewhere. Alright, I'll see myself out. Similar to the ramp and mana acceleration, I wanted to get a mix of repeatable draw effects on permanents, as well as draw and cantrip effects on instants and sorceries that can be copied if needed. This is definitely a section that I think needs a bit more fine-tuning.

Draw & cantrip effects

Tutors

Since I'm still getting a feel for what combos (if any) will end up in this deck, I wanted some tutors that I know aren't currently commited to any of my other decks.

Potential Tutor additions:

Some other tutor effects that I have in my collection or in other decks that I could proxy or swap in if this list becomes more combo focused.

In general I tend to view "Removal" as any effect that can destroy/exile single targets or multiple permanents at once, and "Interaction" as any effect that prevents opponents from interacting with your board and resources, or their own board and resources in a beneficial manner.

One can split hairs on the "Interaction" section, but I also tend to lump in "protection" effects into Interaction, since they prevent my opponents from interacting with my things lol.

Removal

Interaction

To improve the likelihood that Casualty 2 pops off I've included various spells that can create 2/2 tokens:

Spellslinger decks aren't my forte, so I'm still getting a feel for the ratio of creatures to instants/sorceries, as well as the right balance of token production and spellslinger payoffs.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Finally got some games in with Anhelo. The deck performed better in each subsequent game, but I think that was in part to me getting more comfortable with the deck.

  • Game 1- This game took place well over a month ago, so I don't remember the other commanders that were around the table, except for my friend's Yurlok of Scorch Thrash deck. In short summary, my friend playing Yurlok used a symmetrical land destruction card, which ended up screwing me the most (unintentional, it was fine). I missed the most land drops and couldn't rebuild a decent board state, so I was quickly killed in combat by the other 3 decks.

  • Game 2 - This game was last weekend. Highlights: I was able to get a Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephali on board T2 to help wtih token set up. As the only spellslinger deck at the table, I still had the squishiest board in comparison to everyone else. I drew into a Dualcaster Mage around T5 and had Demonic Tutor as part of my opening 7. I rushed tutoring for Twinflame and Swan Song about a turn early. Everyone rightfully focused their attention on me the turn rotation after. I didn't have any other creatures in hand, or draw into any, so had to recast Anhelo to have a creature to target with Twincast. The table finished me off in that turn rotation after.

  • Game 3 - Also from last weekend. First W for the deck. The two all-star cards for this game were Pulse of the Grid and Bloodghast. I was consistently hitting land drops for Bloodghast due in part to my repeated and copied casts of Pulse of the Grid. I was often 1-2 cards behind someone else at the table, and would return Pulse of the Grid to my hand, after having copied it. I think I cast and copied Pulse of the Grid 3 times before I didn't meet the recursion clause. I filtered through a lot of land drops I wouldn't have needed, and pitched them to my yard as Escape fodder for Underworld Breachfoil. I was able to draw into various burn spells like Breath of Malfegor and consistently copy them. Breath of Malfegor was one of the cards I re-cast with Underworld Breachfoil, so over its 2 casts and Casualty copies, it dealt 20 damage to each opponent. I ended up finishing everyone with a copied Jaya's Immolating Inferno, where X=6.

Comments

90% Casual

Competitive

Revision 43 See all

(1 year ago)

+1 Soul Shatter main
Top Ranked
Date added 2 years
Last updated 1 year
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

7 - 0 Mythic Rares

50 - 0 Rares

20 - 0 Uncommons

8 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.89
Tokens Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Demon Horror 2/2 UR, Drake 2/2 U, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Spawn 3/3 R, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed
Folders Inspirations, Good ideas from random people, EDH busild future decks, Decks I'm Interested In, COMMANDER, EDH, Others' Commanders, EDH, CMDR, EDH Decks
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