Ayli: Eternal Sacrificing
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 151 | 53 COMMENTS | 22337 VIEWS | IN 82 FOLDERS
What's Old is New Again —June 30, 2017
This is a deck I've been playtesting a lot. Ironically, I think some of the recent changes actually made the deck a little weaker. I had removed some cards that were actually serving me well like Coffin Queen and Gift of Immortality. Whip of Erebos proved to be a "non-bo" too often.
I've also taken out both sac outlets. Since my commander is a sac outlet I don't really need redundancy of the effect. The free activation cost of Ashnod's Altar and Viscera Seer are only really necessary for combo shenanigans which this deck doesn't have. Plus I'd much rather sacrifice for life gain since it's the main focus of this deck.
Overall the changes bring down the CMC of the deck to make it less mana intensive:
Dread Return ---> Coffin Queen: My previous complaint about Coffin Queen was that it was too slow. However, it is cheap, repeatable, and can steal from any grave. Dread Return's flashback cost of 3 creatures sometimes proved challenging.
Strip Mine ---> Phyrexian Reclamation Once a deck dips below 3.5 average CMC, I become comfortable cutting back on a land. My copy of strip mine is more needed in a different deck. Phyrexian Reclamation brings back creatures to hand which I typically don't like. However, it's ability is so cheap I figure it's worth giving a try again.
Whip of Erebos ---> Gift of Immortality: The Whip is kind of a "non-bo" with the deck. Several of my creatures have "dies effects" like Grim Haruspex, Blood Artist, Archon of Justice, etc. The Whip unavoidably exiles creatures meaning that I missed out on the death triggers. Gift of Immortality gives me another repeatable reanimation engine that gets me both ETB and death triggers.
Burnished Hart ---> Mind Stone: Burnished Hart was taking up too much of the early game. Yes, the ramping by 2 is great but it comes at a pretty steep mana cost. Also, there was the risk of removal if I didn't have enough mana to use it immediately. Mind Stone is a cheap ramp card that can usefully be cycled for a card later.
Divinity of Pride ---> Nekrataal: Divinity of Pride doesn't have any ETB or death triggers. It's a well-costed beater but this deck is all about abusing ETB and death triggers. Nekrataal was in earlier versions of the deck and always proved useful.
Vizkopa Guildmage ---> Zulaport Cutthroat: The amount of times I actually used Vizkopa's ability was minimal. There weren't that many times I was gaining enough life in one go to make its activation worth it. Zulaport again was in earlier versions of the deck and accrued value over time, which is what this deck typically does.
Ashnod's Altar ---> Mortify: Another returning card. Sometimes you just need instant-speed cheap removal.
Viscera Seer ---> Soul's Attendant: I didn't have this "soul sister" because I didn't own a copy. Now she can join her sister.
Plains ---> Cabal Coffers: I've taken apart my mono black deck so Coffers can find a home here now.