Introduction
So I heard there are cards that care about copying spells now. Funny that, I know someone who loves making copies...
-- Kalamax, the Stormsire --
This is a budget combo deck for casual commander play. It does require some knowledge of the decks interactions, and is thus not a deck to simply pick up and play - even though it would likely do pretty well by generating tons of value, it would be confusing to see how to win the game. Since there are many noteworthy interactions, I will present those first. And we can talk shortly about the supporting pieces at the end.
Combos upon a Combo
*The deck now also runs a Kiki package, see more at the end of the section.
There is one first thing we need to take a look at, being Kalamax's first ability. This ability copies the first instant spell _we cast _each turn, but only if Kalamax is tapped. This means several things. Firstly, casting an instant spell while Kalamax is not tapped gives us no additional value, neither does casting any instant spells beyond the first each turn. Secondly, if Kalamax i tapped during an opponents turn we copy copy our first instant spell cast during that opponents turn. Thirdly, Kalamax's ability is not interupted by casting spells that are not instant spells. This means we aim to tap our general and then play exactly one instant spell during as many players' turns as possible.
There is a noteworthy combo between Kalamax, an instant spell that copies a target spell and another spell that can be copied - this can be either a non-instant spell of our own or any spell (which is a legal target) cast by an opponent. Kalamax then copies the copy spell with the copy targeting the copy spell, making a copy targeting the copy spell. If it seems confusing, it means that we can create infinite copies of a spell and put an infinite number of +1/+1 counters on Kalamax. We then end the loop by having a copy target the "another spell" so we don't have to make any more copies - this also leaves three instances of the "another spell" to resolve.
So why does this matter? Well firstly we get an infinitly large general that OHKOs anyone it deals damage to. But Kalamax lacks evasion of any kind, so this might not actually help us. Instead, we look to other cards that care about this copying. Ral, Storm's Conduit will turn the copies into an instant win from his static ability, Storm-Kiln Artist gives us an infinite number of treasure tokens, and Quandrix Apprentice will draw us every land in our deck and lets us stack our deck any way we like (unless our deck is a perfect multiple of three, in which case we can just leave a land in to get around this), we can then have Splendid Reclamation ready at the top of our deck to get all our lands onto the battlefield. If the initially copied spell is Gravitic Punch, we also win instantly since Kalamax gets to punch three players for infinite damage, and Comet Storm and Expansion / Explosion can use the huge amounts of mana to do the heavy lifting. These are all suplemental combos that feed off of Kalamax's initial combo with instant speed, targeted copy spells - and the rest of the deck simply supports these interactions.
I have now managed to squeeze in a Kiki package into the deck as yet another combo win condition. The package centers on finding Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and either Pestermite or Corridor Monitor by having Kalamax or Ral copy Chord of Calling to find the two pieces directly (the original spell finds Kiki-Jiki and the copy finds a creature that can be copied and untaps Kiki-Jiki, or the other way around), or by having Kalamax or Ral copy Whir of Invention to find Corridor Monitor and Birthing Pod and then sacrificing Kalamax to Pod to find Kiki-Jiki. The combo can be played at instant speed, but you will probably have to do it before combat on your turn to allow you to win by beating your opponents up with a million little walking lanterns.
Setting Everything Up
Our deck thus has a very clear plan: combo off of Kalamax. To do this we need a critical mass of copy spells, such as Reverberate, Increasing Vengeance and Double Major. The latter is clearly the best choice, since it can target creature spells and thus both has more legal targets and can sometimes steal game winning creatures from our opponents - perhaps even getting two of them. We also need Kalamax to be tapped, which can be problematic if there are no good combat options. Therefore we run some otherwise lackluster cards like Energy Tap, Springleaf Drum and Survivors' Encampment. These cards don't do nothing by themselves, but it's questionable if they merit a full card slot in their own right. We also run a lot of cantrips to find these pieces, conciously spread between instants that synnergize more with Kalamax and sorceries that provide targets for our copy spells. Among these are Brainstorm, Magmatic Insight and Opt.
We run a good amount of counter magic to protect our combo - cards of the budget kind of course. Some of these are Supreme Will, Decisive Denial and Spell Pierce, and it is worthy of notice that counterspells that tax our opponents to get their spells through are more powerful in a Kalamax deck, since we often get two instances of the spell and the tax thus becomes doubled. (Mana Leak off of a tapped Kalamax basically taxes our opponent for 6 for instance.) We can also use our copy spells to interact with the stack, but this may not always be a wise way to spend our resources.
To get started we run various forms of ramp, such as Tinder Wall, Sudden Breakthrough and Growth Spiral, and to keep going we run card draw like Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, Glademuse and Dig Through Time. It's once again important to note that any instant spells has the potential to be doubly effective, such as Behold the Multiverse drawing us 4 cards or Harrow putting 4 lands onto the battlefield for sacrificing only one. The key is for the spells to do enough on their own to merit an inclusion, while we raise the ceiling for their potential.
We then run a decent amount of interaction to deal with whatever our opponents are trying to do - from Beast Within to Into the Roil to Pongify, all great spells that become even greater if we can extract additional value from them.
Back Ups
So what do we do if it seems we will not be able to win through our main plan? Well, there are two scenarios: we either were able to grow Kalamax to lethal power but unable to gain critical value from other pieces, or we were unable to get the main combo off entierly.
In the first scenario we have a number of cards (all incidentally cantrips) that grant Kalamax some form of evasion, Charge Through, Leap and Slip Through Space for example. This will likely enable us to kill off an opponent, or _maybe _two, but it is unlikely to win us the game from a full table of players. Thus, we need to be patient and try to steer the table into killing off other players first to then surprise attack when we get down to a 1v1. Protecting ourselves becomesthe number one priority, and trying to stop our opponents plans is not important unless we are going to lose the game.
In the second scenario, and while we bide our time in the first, we should try to focus on getting as much value as possible from casting instants - especially cantrips that let us continually represent interaction with our mana. Against fair decks (which are quite rare in the format) we should out value our opponents. But now we find ourselves in a game of resource management. We cannot allow anyone to get too far ahead, but we also don't have the resources to keep three players in check - so it becomes important to try to make other players spend their resources in your place, and to properly assess what threats will actually lose you the game. Perhaps removing a stax piece or value engine is not the correct play if its controller does not seem able to use that card to a game winning extent.
Conclusion
Kalamax is a very fun commander to play, with explosive effects and a good ability to interact in efficient ways. The ceiling built in magic cristmas land is very high, and the floor is not uncomfortably low. It is, however, a deck to get to know to enjoy fully.
