Fantastic deck. Really liking how you've put it together :-)

+1 from here for sure

Winther appreciate the love bro. Working hard to keep this deck as good as possible.

You're making this more complicated than it needs to be. I apologize in advance if this sounds harsh, but as a former Kaalia player, I feel like I have to say something.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/i-bid-you-welcome-to-the-pyre/?cb=1569459531

I don't look at this deck much anymore because I don't see the point in continuing to play it, so it's currently sitting at 110 cards. Still, I'm going to have to say that it is leaner and more focused than yours. Regardless, it's all moot. Kaalia has too many glaring flaws to be considered part of cEDH. I tried for a long time, but she just doesn't have what it takes. She misses out on several of the important key factors that make cEDH decks work. Face it - Kaalia is not a cEDH Commander. She simply isn't. I'm sorry. I hate saying that. Kaalia has held a special place in my heart ever since I first saw her. I wish she was better. She just isn't. There are many reasons I moved on to Paradox Sisay and then Thrasios & Tymna.

Here's why she's not fit to be played in cEDH: firstly, her ramp is subpar at best since you have to rely on rocks, though this is an issue that can be worked around for many decks. Yes, she can function on little mana, but so can all the other cEDH decks. Secondly, she's incredibly frail. Thirdly, she has to connect with an opponent to cheat out creatures, which is never a reliable plan. Besides, combat is terrible. Fourth, she has no inherent value engine. Putting a creature into play is not value. She doesn't generate any advantage or push your game forward, which is a death sentence in cEDH. Finally, she doesn't have access to blue, so she is stuck with interaction that is less than optimal. Her only counterspells are Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast. Both are necessary, but that only fills up 2 slots. My Thrasios & Tymna deck runs 13 counterspells. Sure, Kaalia can throw Stax on the board instead, but in my opinion, holding mana up for a counterspell is just better.

I'd recommend cutting out a lot of the creatures that are just in there for combos and trimming the fat down. Focus on a single combo and explosive bombs that can help back you up. I'm surprised to see that you aren't running Master of Cruelties and Rakdos the Defiler, as these are bombs that can really catch people off guard and knock a player out of the game. There are also some other card choices that I find odd. There are too many to list, but the first things that stood out to me aside from creatures were Imp's Mischief (if you really want a protection effect, use Apostle's Blessing), Ricochet Trap (same reason), and Chandra (...why?). This list is definitely not complete.

For my combo, I focused on a slimmer Worldgorger package. It's pretty simple - you just need Sunscorched Desert or Dragon Tempest (which is a solid haste source on its own), any reanimation enchantment, and Worldgorger Dragon in the grave to go infinite. You don't need bad cards like Bogardan Hellkite to make it work. With Entomb and Necromancy, you can do the combo at instant speed. You don't need things like Cut // Ribbons, either, since the combo is contained within the three cards. It just makes this so much smoother and gives you room for more tutors, including Demonic Consultation to find that last piece.

I really have to ask... why in the world is Swords to Plowshares only in the maybeboard? I'm glad you're not running Path to Exile, but come on...

And the last thing I have to say is that I'm shocked you care about losing Iona. She was never any good. Shutting off a single color is mediocre at best. She was out of my deck way before the ban was announced. She's impossible to cast, for one, and tuned decks will have answers in other colors. She won't stay on the board long enough to matter and she won't make an impact. She shouldn't have been in the deck in the first place.

realsoupersand well to begin, I am glad you are passionate about this deck but, the one thing I do disagree with you is this, I know she isn't Max Power or Tier 1, she is definitely fringe for sure and does work in very specific situations. I wish you were on our Kaalia discord because a lot of the things you have pointed out have long been discussed my friend.

We got off of the lands a while back like Sun-scorched and Piranha Marsh because we are color intensive. Bogardagan has been on the fence for a long time. The other thing I take from your list is that you are a stax deck, this is full on combo. I go for winning as fast as possible so I keep very aggressive hands to win the game and have. I play on playEDH, cEDH and Nexus server almost everyday against many proven players. I earned their respect through THIS deck.

I know for a fact you know what it means to wear your heart as a sleeve. Kaalia isn't my main deck anymore, as you can probably tell from my Elsha list, but always gets love from me. I am a Frog, Meren, Kess and BloodPod player as well. I don't know if you have noticed, but me and Bad_Dog did everything we could and finally got her onto the cedh database through our play alone, here is a link for you:

https://cedh-decklist-database.xyz/fringe.html

Now as for Tempest that is one of our biggest discussions because we are wondering how many haste enablers are too many. I am aware it synergies with WGD, but we are on a Razakats package as well, so Leonin Relic does play a huge part in this decks package. Chandra for the fact she can make raz fodder and you can use things like your tutors twice, she is definitely gas and their other cedh list on her for sure, does that mean its fit for our girl? that remains to be seen, everything is in testing and you have to remember, every deck IS NEVER COMPLETE!

Cruelties and Defiler are definitely no slouches, legends of Kaalia if you will, but the reason behind them not being in the list was because whenever at a table, i knew for sure if one player died, i would lose the game entirely after that. I have nothing against them, definitely would use Rakdos over her and as you can see, my list isn't the only one, many other list with sub 3 cmc trying their best to take a crack at her.

One last thing, I noticed you are on mass MLD. When i used to have it, it never did a thing at cEDH tables and also, you do realize i made this deck 100% graveyard reliable right?

I am inclined to agree with you though on other things said from you and you just helped me figure out cuts I was trying to do for a long time, so thank you for that! I would rather all Kaalia players stick together. no matter Power Level...

I apologize if I came across as harsh at all. Kaalia was my baby for a long time and I hated dismantling her, but it was time.

I went the Stax route with mine to make the deck more lean. Instead of running a lot of combo pieces, I built mine to sit back, try to slow the board down, and only cast Kaalia when it was time to do so. I mainly played her against mono-U and Ux decks, so having her stick was difficult at best.

realsoupersand I understand and no worries. It's funny you say that because I play her in the exact same way, just with very aggressive hands and try to go off ASAP in a frog kind of way. She plays great into 3+ color decks and is deceptively fast. You just have to know her clock order if that makes sense. I tried the stax way, but I love combo decks. I'm currently on Elsha and Frog. Kess & Meren are my other decks. Might pick up Yisan and Sliver next.

Faithless Looting is banned.

Nianque1 it is banned in the Modern format. This is the commander format.

This theme hurts my eyes

Anti-sticky_keys its the blood of my enemies. O_O

Get’em!

Mardu Bird Gang Unite!

Flash_Andretti Congrats on 100 upvotes!!! Awesome job on the primer buddy!!!

As a common courtesy, you shouldn't make music autoplay for when people visit your page - it is rude. Some of us who have our headsets turned up a little too high get a nasty surprise. Also, under your combos panel in your accordion, could you add a little explanation for how each combo goes off? I'm not familiar with the combo and would appreciate a bit more of an explanation. Speaking of which, great job on the deck description.

LVL_666 the combo's explained are under Attack Lines.

Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead + Payload

Question - what payload are you referencing? I'm not familiar with that card - are you trying to say "x cards that do an effect?". As for attack lines, you discuss cards more individually - what I think would be best is if you were to combine the attack lines and combos panels. Instead of making the reader have to go between panels to try and understand what you mean by a combo, you have it all together for one nice easy read. e.g. "Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead + Payload - use kaalia's attack trigger to get worldgorger on the field. Exile effect happens. Use something to flicker world gorger ad infinum." Because honestly, between the two panels I still have no idea how that combo works based on the explanations. Specifically, I don't understand how Animate Dead removes Worldgorger Dragon from play. Based on the text of the card it looks like it can't even target the dragon because it's on the battlefield and not in the graveyard. Am I wrong?

LVL_666 Payloads are spells that will actually win you the game if cast infinite under the right scenarios, such as Bogardan Hellkite , Searing Touch , Rolling Earthquake , Sickening Dreams which the latter 3 also count as winconless. Winconless decks seek to win using cards closest to the "useful spell" end of this spectrum. Which this deck isn't completely winconless, due to some cards counting as dead outside of the combo, like Bogardan Hellkite and WGD.

For a full breakdown of how this deck works, it is a mardu graveyard combo deck that essentially uses kaalia to cheat out powerful demons/angels under the competitive vacuum. This deck is fringe for sure, but can do greatly in specific meta's and is not meant to be put at a casual table. With that out of the way, for the WGD combo, here is how it works.

You are required to have Worldgorger Dragon (WGD or George) in your graveyard to perform this (or something that discards it into your graveyard. You cast Animate Dead from your hand (or Necromancy if you want to win at instant speed) and target WGD. When he enters the battlefield you must exile ALL of your permanents including your Animate Dead. Animate Dead states that when in leaves the field you must sacrifice the creature it was enchanted too. When WGD dies all permanents return back to the field untapped, most importantly, your lands come back untapped and your Animate Dead comes back as well. In response to them returning, tap all your lands for mana which will leave them floating. You will then target WGD again, rinse and repeating the process, causing an infinite mana loop until you are ready to stop it or not. If you do decide you want it to continue, if you have Bogardan Hellkite in hand, you can flash him in and burn the table or even kill hatebears, then kill the table or do the same with Searing Touch . If you stop it, you can sink all the mana you have into a card like Cut or Exsanguinate and win at sorcery speed. These also count as winconless.

Sorry for the miscommunication earlier, didn't realize what you were actually asking me, that and I was rushing due to me heading out to work, been a very long week because Christmas sales ect. at my job. I hope all of this helps you and trust me, this primer isn't fully done, there are other things that need to be done to it when I have proper time to sit down and do so. I hope you understand. Anyway if you have anything else to ask me, feel free, I am here to help you and am always available via Discord!

Hi,

I'm currently also building a Kaalia deck and I have some questions about Kuldotha Rebirth : Why are you using it, if you just can tutor for Dockside Extortionist and go on from there? I think I might be missing something here, at least as you described it in the Attack Lines section. Or can you use the first token to search for LED instead of Silence to get the loop running? And how is Dockside Extortionist + Phyrexian Reclamation + Searing Touch infinite burn if you have to pay 2 life each time you get Extortionist to your hand?

Thanks a lot for the effort you put in here, helps a lot!

Laronve great question friend! So the first thing about Rebirth is that it is not a dead card and can be used outside of combos. If you are familiar with the Razakats strategy that became famous from Shaper, you'll notice Doomed Traveler was the card of choice in the Orzovh package. After much testing, if you go full aggro, red is better than white, while white is more midrange. Even then we didn't like being on Grim Initiate either. This is where Rebirth comes in. It gives razaketh 3 tutors instead on 1; yes you can do it with only Dockside, but sometimes it pays to layer your deck out a lil bit more for the sake of redundancy.

For the Dockside Reclamation line, you make use of Children of Korlis & Entomb to keep your life at bay while netting mana. You sac the dockside to Razaketh for Korlis, Entomb or Wheel of Fortune (if an opponent has Smothering Tithe), Silence, so 14 life will be used between him and Reclamation. You Entomb for Korlis and cast it, sac it to gain back your life and repeat until you feel you have enough mana you use Searing Touch to burn the table.

All of these cards can be used in other combos as well or even as 1 time uses, which is good for any deck.

Flash_Andretti Thanks a lot! Got the answer to question number 1.

I don't know if I got the Dockside Reclamation line:
1) Sac Kaalia, get dockside | (-2 life)
2) Play it (and get 6 treasures), sac it (get Korlis), get it back to hand | (-4 life, +1 treasure)
3) Play it again, sac it (get 6 treasures), sac it (get Entomb or Wheel of Fortune), get it back to hand | (-4 life, +1 treasure)
4) Play it again, sac it (get 6 treasures), sac it (get Silence) | (-4 life, +1 treasure)

Now my question: After this step, I lost 14 life, have 3 mana left (I want to keep the loop running) and then I entomb for Korlis? Thought I already tutored for it and with the mana, I can easily play it too. And should I not play Wheel of fortune if an opponent has Smothering Thithe? Anyways, I got how the combo works now. Applies for Corpse Extortionist too I guess.

Last question: Have you considered using Goblin Bombardment ? Works just fine with Leonin Relic-Warder + Animate Dead and the Corpse Extortionist combo.

Flash_Andretti,

Take this all worth a grain of salt, as your deck page is your own - but I have a few suggestions that in my opinion would help with the user experience for your customer deck page. White letters on a Black background is hard on the eyes - making it difficult to read for long periods of time. I suggest changing the color of the text in the comment section to a light grey:

comment {
    color: rgb(213, 213, 213);
    text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 1.5px 1.5px 1.5px;
}

Adding transparency to div.well (correct me if i'm wrong on that element) to show the background artwork - letting it peek through just a bit would help. As it currently stands, I have no idea what your background really looks like.

I know I pointed this out before, but I have to reiterate: having any music on autoplay sucks. It makes for an awful user experience as it changes the user's initial thought of "I bet this will be an interesting/cool deck" to "What is that awful noise?". To clarify - i'm not knocking your taste in music, i'm just saying that autoplay music changes the whole focus of your deck page, and can ruin a first visit (It ruined mine.) I suggest you add the soundtrack under your "Intro" section of your accordion. Frame it as something optional to enhance the user experience, and make sure that the user has to actively click on the play button.

LVL_666 there are many pages that have auto play though and it did bleed through at one point. I changed it because everything is way too light for it.

Laronve It used to be run actually, but it sucks to have it early and then I went to Impact Tremors, then Blood Artist, then Corpse Knight. Nothing wrong with it, but Knight is a better card and less dead to use...

"There are many pages that have auto play though and it did bleed through at one point. I changed it because everything is way too light for it. - Look. Again, grain of salt here but just because a bunch of other pages do it wrong - that makes it okay? No more sermons. As for transparency I totally forgot to look up which element I think you should change - i'll get you proper example code tonight - or at least try to again lol. But if "everything" is too light - why not make it slightly darker so the reader can both read content and decrease the transparency of the well elements so the user can actually see the background? It is possible to do so.

Laronve btw, due to the meta changing, its looking like its gonna be a turn 2 meta, due to that, I just made some fresh changes to deal with Fish Hulk better. If you have not seen or heard of it yet here is an article.

Thanks a lot for keeping me updated! I usually play in a meta with high power level, but sadly not cEDH (e.g. with this guy: Minor Recombobulator). I used to play Zur the Enchanter , but this annoyed people quite quickly. After two months, we decided, that we don't want to have turn 2-3 wins regularly (: So I switched to Kaalia, since she has a similar mechanism (but without blue interaction) and can be just a little bit slower. I'm currently trying to make her fit into that environment, which is not easy, considering that I love combo and I joined EDH 7 months ago... Anyways, keep me updated and I'll join the discord. Easier to understand some changes then (: