Nerdytimesorwhatever

Not a thing I thought about, but it just might screw over something like Tatyova :D

Any thoughts on Seasoned Pyromancer ? Repeatable ways to cheat things into the grave sounds pretty neat, and the extra tokens certainly doesn’t hurt.

Drazatis

Old Peezy will go into the deck as soon as I get a copy, worry not!

Looting is nice, guys to push in Tymna/azra Oddsmaker Card Draw is also nice!

Is there a high-end build or is this the final one? Great deck by the way!

turbofog this is as strong as I can make it for now.

High end would just feature more tutors, fetches, duals, and I'd most likely would remove a few Stax pieces for something like Bomber man combo

Would you have any idea what changes you would make if you could make it more high end then? I'd like to try and see just how far this deck could go

A combo I really like is dockside + Razaketh + corpse dance as long as your opponents have at least 5 artifacts/enchantments out, which is pretty trivial. With this, you can basically tutor up whatever you want by sacrificing dockside to razaketh, and casting corpse dance with buyback on it. It lets you tutor up your other win cons, and with 6 artifacts/enchantments out you can go positive on mana too, plus pretty much all the cards are good on their own already.

Hi I was just wondering how you came to your selection of reanimation spells. Between Reanimate , Unearth , Animate Dead , Dance of the Dead , Necromancy , Victimize , and Unburial Rites , how do you decide how many and which ones to include? Thanks.

Reanimate Animate Dead and Dance of the Dead are cheap and efficient.

Extra points for being able to do a turn 2 Sire Of Insanity because of the mana cost.

Necromancy I'm still considering but cuts are Brutal at this point for me to make.

Victimize and Unburial Rites are just too clunky, either by way you cast them, or by mana cost.

Now, how i pick my reanimation spells?

Part of it is purely intuitive, which comes with enough repetitions with the deck.

Secon part is following - i need reanimation spells, but I must not overload myself with them. It sucks having 3 of them in hand and an empty gy.

Plus, you will get Rest in Peace 'd sooner or later.

Also, enchantment reanimation spells are Sun Titan able!

Thanks for the quick reply! You explained your choices nice and clear.

I'm building a similar deck, but without tutors. Because of this restriction, I'll probably have to include a bit more reanimation. I was thinking of going Reanimate, Raise, Dance, and Victimize. You make a good point that Necromancy is a permanent for Sun Titan though. Have you tested Victimize? It just seems like it could be so nuts, and we have sacrifice fodder anyway. What about the risk of getting blown out by removal since you sac on resolution?

You ever consider Unearth at all? Doesn't hit the big targets, but the low mana cost lets you cast it through a bunch of stax pieces more easily.

Victimize is a bit of a hit and miss, might just try it one of these days again.

Unearth was fine enough, but if I want to reanimate cheap things, Alesha does that just fine.

Reanimating big things is something I'd rather do with those spellls

Hi, back with another question about your experience regarding the reanimation package. Hope you don't mind.

I've been goldfishing a bit with my prototype, and I'm worried that there aren't enough opportunities to actually get things in the yard. Your list currently has 7(+2) ways (if I'm correct) of sending things directly to the yard; Faithless Looting , Thrill of Possibility , Wheel of Fortune , Entomb , Buried Alive , Altar of Dementia , and Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion . The two additional ones I'm not counting here are Gamble , because it's unreliable, and Sire Of Insanity , because it's really a payoff rather than an enabler.

How is this working out for you? Do you get enough setup to cater to Alesha and the other reanimation spells? Do you find your creatures hitting the bin through other means often? What about things like Elesh Norn that you won't ever hardcast?

I was considering cards like Bomat Courier , Rix Maadi Reveler , Bog Witch , or Overeager Apprentice to complement the non-creature enablers, also because you could bring these back with Alesha.

I'd love to hear about your experience, since having an empty yard is a complaint I've seen often from Alesha players.

Only one I'd get from the list of the cards you mentioned, pyroclasm404, would be Bog Witch and the only reason I don't is a: Cursed Totem has a habit of screwing me over, and b) couldn't find it around my area.

Now, I don't actually have problems with putting things in the yard, but my main source of gas isn't pure reanimation, it's Staxing the table and then comboing out.

And there are a bunch of games where people Rest in Peace you and you still have to win somehow.

First let me commend you on sticking with this deck for over 3 years now. Most people lose interest in a particular general once the novelty wears off. So kudos to you.

Next, excellent primer you have created I must say. Lots of good information here. I have a similar build and have found this resource invaluable. But recently my meta has shifted to include a lot more control/removal so I have understandably been struggling a little more as of late. Do you have any recommendations on how to survive in this type of meta? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Also, I know there is probably a good reason you don't include certain cards in your build but I figured I would ask anyway about Grave Pact and Tortured Existence. Seems like they both might be on theme and good includes in a deck like this no?

manvsamerica What aspects of control bother you? Wipes, permission?

Grave Pact, for my meta at least, doesn't have high enough impact, and it's a bitch to cast.

TExistence I REAAAAAAAAALLY want to place in my deck, but dunno what to cut, and even worse, would it do enough.

Thank you for the compliments, I really love this playstyle, and this Commander!

Loyalty is its own reward!

Mishraharad Thanks for the reply.

Right now I am struggling most with permission and reactive players that load their decks up with a bunch of counterspell effects. I have tried Grand Abolisher but I can't always find him/get him down quickly enough, or he gets countered himself. Wipes are annoying but aren't nearly as much of a setback because I try not to overextend on the board or in the graveyard.

As for Grave Pact, I see where you are coming from. Definitely meta-dependent, and if it isn't relevant the hassle to cast just isn't worth it. However, for those who are interested, I have found it much easier to cast reliably running Phyrexian Tower and/or Phyrexian Altar as mana generators and additional sac outlets.

I am not sure how much of an impact Tortured Existence would make, whereas I have not tested much with it yet. But as you have said, it is REALLY intriguing and seems like it might synergize well with this deck. Instant speed discard for combo pieces to the graveyard, returning a large creature or situational hate piece to your hand to clear the way for Alesha before attacks, all the while reanimating what you just discarded? I don't know man. Seems pretty good. You are right though. The deck looks pretty tuned and cuts are tough. While not necessarily ideal, I think the only plausible option would be to cut Abrade for it (or whatever other redundant removal spell you find least valuable).

Now, the thing is, is the mana curve is low enough, thwy can't have counterspells to deal with all of the threats you try to land. Or they can, and then they get steamrolled by the rest of the table.

Always remember, bruteforcing your spells into a control player is fine - turn economy works against them.

“All of our instants are there to murder stuff. All of them.” XD

I love this list, and all the Stax pieces!

Hey Mish,

First off, huge fan of the deck. I've been playing my own version of it locally, but I wanted to pick your brain for a second.

In terms of card draw for the deck, would you consider stuff like Bitterblossom+Skullclamp, or like Geier Reach Sanitarium+Geth's Grimoire in a creature heavy meta? Or are those too slow/Mana intensive for what the deck is trying to do?

My meta's more creature based is why I ask so trying to get through with Neheb or and of the other combat based card draw can be tough even though I'm running enough wipes and tap effects I think.

Necropotence draws a lot of hate quickly because my group seems to think that I just want to pump a ton of life into it to combo off so it barely gets any value.

I was thinking Blossom+Clamp since Blossom would also give me tokens for blockers/sac fodder of I need it, but I wanted to hear from a vet of the deck before committing.

Sorry for the long winded post :P

Himsa_I know I am not the Alesha master himself. But here is my two cents.

If you need more card draw I would suggest swapping out some of your more situational creatures with things like Dark Confidant and/or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician . In my opinion, the Bitterblossom plan is far too slow. I would probably play Bloodghast with Skullclamp before any token generator whereas Bloodghast can be brought back multiple times a turn to refill your hand if need be.

I feel like there are some cards missing:
- Demonic Tutor
- Vampiric Tutor
- Enlightened Tutor
- Reveillark
- Rakdos Signet
- Path to Exile
- Toxic Deluge
- Null Rod

I am sorry if some of these cards already have been discussed, but I don't really see a reason for these cards not to be in the deck.

TCG-Player

Tutors, Deluge and Null Rod aren't here only because of budgetary reasons, I'm slowly building up to them.

Rakdos signet isn't here because I'm testing Jeweled Amulet instead of it, to see how it performs.

Path to Exile never kept me that happy, plus what would you cut for it?

Even if the cards have been discussed, it's always fine to ask again, questioning things is quite an important skill to have and all things should be questioned!

TCG-Player

You mention Reveillark for the deck, which is run in a lot of Alesha, Who Smiles at Death builds, but unless you are using it to combo with Karmic Guide and a sac outlet such as Goblin Bombardment, its just a small value card.

Which I now see he has the rest of those, so the suggestion makes a lot more sense XD.

As a fellow Alesha player/abuser i am glad to see this primer still at the top! 0>