Hi Elywood,

Quite a few actually. A non-combo will be more, 1) Protect Kaalia of the Vast with Equipment/Spells, 2) More removal Mortify/Utter End/Etc 3) Cheat enablers Quicksilver Amulet/Sneak Attack, 4) Mid-Range Recursion Phyrexian Reclamation/Etc

I see you have one complete and one prototype deck, but none of them our public. Do you have a rough guideline for a deck, or looking for an initial in the 99 to start constructing it? If you have something online I can look at, I would be happy to. If not I can provide a rough in the 99 and some consideration cards.

Spirits that'd be awesome, thanks!

Here's what I have so far: Kaalia (WIP)

Look into running Reconnaissance. This card is so busted it feels like cheating.

Untap to avoid bad blockers, check.

Untap after first strike damage but before normal combat damage is dealt, check.

Untap after normal combat damage is dealt due to the creature still being an attacking creature until the end of the end of combat step (You untap in the middle of this step), check.

Aka busted.

Thanks for the suggestion Last_Laugh.

Reconnaissance is indeed broken, way to powerful for . Work's exactly as you've described. Keep the favorable blocks, bail out at any time, vigilance anyone after damage!

I haven't included it in the 99, or 2 primary reasons, 1) I find that flying (most guys fly), is pretty good evasion/unblockable ability, not perfect, but pretty good 2) Most of my guys end up in favorable blocks anyway due to size or ability (except Kaalia of the Vast usually)

Also, I have Combo built into the deck, as a turn 2-5 win-con, so long term sustainability of creatures is less of a concern for me (in combat anyway). I'd take recommendations for a card removal for it, because it is indeed a powerhouse!

I'd personally drop Lord of the Void (unless I'm missing combo potential here?). I'm sure he does amazing things when he connects for combat damage but he has no immediate impact and is just a big flyer if he can't connect.

Another possibility is Chromatic Lantern unless this is to combat Aven Mindcensor and similar 'can't search' effects to help your fetches tap for mana. If this is just here for mana fixing, you seem to have that covered with all the good fetchable lands and off color fetches (a man after my own heart).

Last_Laugh,

Lord of the Void has won me games, pulling Eldrazi's, he almost lost me the game once against a Grixis top-decking a Phage the Untouchable, luckily there was a Baleful Strix in the 7. He also works great with Gisela, Blade of Goldnight and Silverblade Paladin who is cut from the deck right now unfortunately. I'm okay with losing Lord of the Void but, what i've found right now is I'm critical mass with A/D/D. Sometimes, I don't have one when need one. So i'm reluctant to go down any more A/D/D that isn't being replaced with another. I've actually been thinking I need to +1 and A/D/D to get more consistency. But I combo turns 2-4 50% of the time with Buried Alive + Reanimate so don't want to mess with that either.

Chromatic Lantern is protection against Aven Mindcensor for sure, also Leonin Arbiter has been popping up here and there now, and especially against Blood Moon. It's also a mana rock, CMC3 sucks, but I've found it supports a Necropotence drop in as well.

Maybe Orzhov Signet could go, don't utilize too many rocks already though, or Faithless Looting, I added it in to draw into an A/D/D if I don't have one, plus it pushes Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker out of my hand if I'm unlucky and draw into him. Reveillark, breaks up a bunch of combos, but I haven't needed him in a very long time, he's a very late game rebuild/combo win-con, usually don't need him. He also recurs lots of little power 2 guys.

Yeah will try playtesting it in place of Reveillark perhaps. See if I get any utility out of it. Would like to get Silverblade Paladin back in to, when the combo doesn't work, he was good.

The new Demonlord Belzenlok looks like it could be a great addition for this deck, thoughts?

Hi Reosoul,

I'm excited to playtest Demonlord Belzenlok, I bet he will draw more than 1 card frequently. 27% of the deck is > CMC4, but he exiles the land so he really is pulling from a stock of 63 cards, not 99, so really 43% of the time he should draw more that one card. See how he goes. Mardu doesn't have the greatest draw, so nice to get a demon that replaces himself in hand.

Lyra Dawnbringer is going to be an auto-include into the deck from this new set as well.

I was just about to ask the same question that Reosoul just asked, although I would like to know your thoughts on Mox Amber. I'm about 75% away from finishing the main part of this deck and with what I have together right now I love this deck.

So any playtesting with Reconnaissance? Assuming so, how's it been going?

Hi Hodor1,

I love mana rocks, but I want mana accelerators, it doesn't really do this because once I have a legendary it's too late! I won't test this. Trying to T4-T6 win it's too slow. It would be another tutorable rock with Razaketh, the Foulblooded but with Chrome Mox and Mana Crypt I usually have enough, only once I can think of in play that this would have won me the game, often a Mana Crypt into a Sol Ring is enough. Dead draw early so a no.

Last_Laugh,

Both times I managed to draw my Reconnaissance early on, I tutored my Razaketh, the Foulblooded sac'd Kaalia of the Vast and Mother of Runes/Dark Confidant into Reanimate + Buried Alive and won grabbing the Mana Crypt and Chrome Mox and Goblin Bombardment so it wasn't a factor. I drew it later in the game and didn't find it as big a factor, but still handy. I think it's not the card for me, but its awesome, but I usually just tutor Razaketh, the Foulblooded and win, instead of tutoring nasty angels like Avacyn, Angel of Hope or Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. In a muti-pod theres usually someone I can attack and resolve with flying, and assuming I've tutored Razaketh, the Foulblooded already, i'll just sac before blocking damage is assigned anyway. Spectacular card, you should run it, see how you like it. In my Alesha, Who Smiles at Death I couldn't live without it.

I've had mixed feelings about Faithless Looting lately, I know a problem I had was drawing Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and then it's hard to combo, but I drew Karmic Guide and other than being CMC5 I haven't needed it, it can cycle cards to draw some A/D/D to my hand too, but wondering if something like Tormenting Voice but it let's me draw and discard 2, as well as flashback if i'm stalled. Just thought I would share.

I was reading some of the Alternative Cards selections but have considered and was wondering why Sword of Feast and Famine hasn't made its way into the deck. I have some friends that have asked me the same thing and its like what do I cut to make a slot for it. I was just wondering what you reasoning is for not finding a slot for it?

Hi Hodor1,

I find Sword of Feast and Famine is a very classic Kaalia of the Vast weapon, and I really do like it.

It was very commonly used (including by myself, I put it in my Arahbo, Xenagos... for Cats EDH deck now), to multiply the damage output.

Hellkite Charger or Aggravated Assault + Sword of Feast and Famine | Infinite Combat Phases

A very respectable and viable game plan, without either Hellkite Charger or Aggravated Assault, it loses some synergy.

The questions I ask myself are:

1) What am I going to do with that extra mana? I'm already free-casting A/D/D with Kaalia of the Vast and want to avoid over-committing my board position.

2) Is CMC3 + Equip2 viable on or before turn 4 through 6? If it is, then does it win me the game, which I get back to 1) What am I doing with the mana. A good answer here like Hellkite Charger would be an include, without him, exclude as an example.

3) It provides protection from & . The has lots of instant destroy removal, although Kaalia of the Vast being (and Multi-color) negates many of the kill spells. Good protection from Terminate or the likes. also has quite a few Flying creatures, so It's quite good. has very little (playable) good destroy cards, nor do they have a tremendous amount of Flying (but some reach). So 1/2 the protection is really not needed by Kaalia of the Vast except under highly specific circumstances, so the protection get 1/2 a point.

4) Can I do anything with the discarded card by the opponent / does it add value? Not really, don't have anything to return from opponents graveyards, so It really is just a disadvantage to them, I would probably rather have draw instead of it.

I didn't want to go the "traditional" infinite combat phases, I also didn't want to go "traditional" land destruction either, thus ending up on the Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo.

That's why it didn't make the cut anyway, it's a terrific card, I wouldn't discourage you from playing it, but doesn't have much synergy in the current format without some other card adds. I found the CMC5 to cast/equip was too slow for my game plan. I can tutor Buried Alive + Reanimate for about the same mana, and that gives me a win!

Thanks for the suggestion.

How is Demonlord Bezelnok treating you?

UR2L8,

Honestly, haven't seen him yet in gameplay. In fairness to him though, I would never tutor him, one day I will draw/resolve him.

Have you played him? Works? My sense is that the draw + potential for multiple draws will be very cool.

I think I took Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip out for him, but lately I've been missing Stranglehold + Maralen of the Mornsong with all the Teferi, Temporal Archmage Infinite Turns I've run into. (Also: Izzet & Grixis )

Spirits,

I'm in the same boat as you with not drawing or resolving him. On paper I feel Demonlord Belzenlok has wonderful potential. 6/6 Flample isn't a joke, nor is the Tainted Pact ETB. But it's there where I feel torn about how consistently useful that ability is as an ETB.

One scenario is that we we cheat Demonlord Belzenlok in, load our hand with a good chunk of A/D/D, discard down to hand limit then reanimate.

Another Scenario is that we cheat Demonlord Belzenlok in, get a good A/D/D in hand then Kaalia gets removed from the field and then we're stuck with something uncastable for a few turns.

My playgroup doesn't let Kaalia sit on the field for more than a turn, so the turn I do attack, I need something devastating like Master of Cruelties or Iona, Shield of Emeria so I can stabilize.

I'd argue that beyond the 6/6 Flample, there's hardly a reason to cheat in Demonlord Belzenlok. Perhaps this is what one would call a loss of tempo. It's also a gamble, there's life total to consider as well.

Again, some playtesting is necessary. I'm just not a fan of the idea of cheating him in to maybe load our hand with something useful while at the same time leaving ourselves wise open to attack. Especially considering we run the best tutors and card draw period already.

UR2L8,

Tough to tell. A worst case I can see is that he replaces himself in my hand with a CMC < 4 card, So i haven't lost any card advantage. I get what your saying, I've wasted my Kaalia of the Vast swing for a 6/6 Flample at this point. If Kaalia of the Vast gets killed, it hasn't delivered any value. In my build 36 / 63 = 57.1% I'll only get 1 card as well. Using Hypergeometric probability, 24.9% I'll get 2 cards, 10.6% 3 cards, 4.5% 4 cards, 2.9% 5 or more. I can't tell if that is going to be worth the slot he's taking. If he draws me 3 cards (10.6%) I pay 3 life, I'm probably quite happy, because 2 cards are CMC >= 4 and 1 is CMC < 4. Need to see him in action a couple times, but worst-case I do not lose a card in hand advantage, gets me 1 card draw closer to that Iona, Shield of Emeria in my deck, and potentially he filters out some lands I would have top-decked (ew).

Trying to figure out his opportunity cost here, I already have Master of Cruelties and Iona, Shield of Emeria in my build, so those aren't options/opportunities. I can't see any other A/D/D that are on that level, I replaced Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip with Demonlord Belzenlok, but her CMC5 was challenging too, and it only made creatures indestructible, and on occasion would wipe out my Kaalia of the Vast with her flip ability.

To get a Master of Cruelties or Iona, Shield of Emeria that means I would need a Tutor to hand, Gamble? It is cast/gone and then it also forces a discard, so I go down net 1 card, which might actually be the card I tutored. Also with 0 cards in hand it's just an Entomb. Diabolic Tutor but that is CMC4, but maybe better, in general it is too high a CMC. Cruel Tutor for CMC3 does top of library only, but maybe? Beseech the Queen i've been thinking about for a while, but it is limited by the number of lands I have, so can't pull a Razaketh, the Foulblooded. There are CMC5 tutor with Cycling or Spell Mastery etc, none feel just right. Imperial Recruiter but there's no Power 2 creature that helps me out that much, tutor the Dark Confidant maybe would be his best option, or Grand Abolisher/Mother of Runes?

I've found I'm at critical mass of A/D/D where sometimes (occassionally), I do not have an A/D/D and Kaalia of the Vast sits without anything to resolve. For a while I've been thinking of increasing my A/D/D by another 1.

Some other creatures I'm considering are Angel of Sanctions small and doesn't permanently exile it, Archfiend of Depravity which is situational, Aurelia, the Warleader which doesn't trigger properly with Kaalia of the Vast, Bruna, the Fading Light which doesn't work with Kaalia of the Vast, Disciple of Bolas which is a different way to draw cards, but it requires a creature to sacrifice, Maralen of the Mornsong which by itself is a dead draw and not an A/D/D, only powerful with Stranglehold (High CMC), Silverblade Paladin who I miss, but he was cut to increase my A/D/D odds so Kaalia of the Vast wasn't sitting doing nothing, Steel Hellkite who since being in the deck since inception has done nothing except destroy 1 Mana Crypt and 1 Sol Ring for all his efforts, Zodiac Dragon which I can't afford, but even so, he's not trample or flying, so limited usefulness, if any.

What other opportunities are > Demonlord Belzenlok, that's the key question. Right now have to see how he goes. I'm ok if he pulls me 3 cards to my hand and gives me a 6/6 Flample. Maybe he pulls me a Tutor so I can pull Teferi's Protection and protect my Kaalia of the Vast long enough to play the Razaketh, the Foulblooded he also pulled to my hand? I know that's a best-case type scenario, but it could happen?

Let me know if you get him resolved and if he does work, or if he's just a big flop.

What are your thoughts on Battlebond?

I think that these would be an auto include but I thought I would get your opinion.

Luxury Suite Archfiend of Despair

Hi psamtek,

Luxury Suite is off-colors for Kaalia of the Vast. An average deck is 45% , 38% , 16%. That being said, I have the "Luxury" of some expensive lands and fetches, so I don't even have Sulfurous Springs in there at the moment. It is a reasonable land though, and if you play Multi-Player, it will work great! Not for me, but I can see it in the 99.

Archfiend of Despair looks pretty good. In my specific build, he could potentially replace Lord of the Void, Rakdos the Defiler, Thundermaw Hellkite (and Reveillark combo). I would include him in the 99, doubles the damage and prevents life gain. He doesn't take over the board, but he's a good tutorable solution.

Thoughts on the new demon/angel pair Regna, the Redeemer & Krav, the Unredeemed?

Elywood,

Regna, the Redeemer is not a threat, slow conditional triggered ability, and a high CMC.

Not sure what I would do with the 1/1 Warrior, unless I had Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Krav, the Unredeemed is playable because of the draw, he's also small but gets bigger. They have synergy together for sure, draw 2 cards for , in a multi-player you could sack the 1/1 Warrior and draw on each opponents turns as well.

Regna, the Redeemer is terrible without Krav, the Unredeemed, understanding you can tutor the other, but if Krav, the Unredeemed is ever removed, Regna, the Redeemer becomes useless.

Too slow, too dependent on each other and too much risk for me losing Krav, the Unredeemed. Outside of each other, they don't really have any synergies within the deck. Much like how Bruna, the Fading Light these two just don't present too grand a problem.

A Regna, the Redeemer + Krav, the Unredeemed teaming up could generate advantage, either on their own no advantage, chances of that synergy remaining in play for long is very low. To get the synergy going, you have to sacrifice another creature as well (or have lifelink), wait for turns to end. Pass for me on these guys.

Thoughts on M19 and Resplendant Angel?

Hi psamtek,

Resplendant Angel (M19) feels too small as a 3/3, also slow because requires an EOT (Instead of ETB) trigger, also, is a conditional EOT trigger, and the activated ability at CMC6 is way too much.

I'm going to avoid this guy. He doesn't put any pressure, or change the board state when cast.

Spirits

I cheated out Demonlord Belzenlok today. It drew me a lot of ADD and a Terminate off the top. I need no further convincing as I find myself in top deck mode a lot, I can appreciate the extra cards Demonlord Belzenlok nets me. I had to discard to hand size, but that helps with the reanimator part of this deck a lot.

I wanted your opinion on Demanding Dragon also as well. I know it gets less effective if the opponent has a lot of creatures out, but seeing as we often win with actual damage, I couldn't pass up a potential ETB 5 Damage.

Hi UR2L8,

I've been happy with my Demonlord Belzenlok, I don't tutor him so don't see him that often, but as a 6/6 Flample draw, he is a permanent in my build now.

Demanding Dragon if he was a choose one, I would like him, the problem arises, they will only pay the 5 life when your really need to get a creature, and just not pay if they have unimportant creatures/tokens, or no creatures. So never will get their life when it makes a difference, and will never get a creature that makes a difference.

Can't see him displacing a Rakdos the Defiler, Reveillark or Thundermaw Hellkite.

Lately I've been missing Gamble as well, especially in the opening hand. I was thinking of Gamble tutor the Reanimate that way if it makes me discard an A/D/D I'm in nice shape, if it makes me discard the Reanimate means I'll have to pull Yawgmoth's Will or Animate Dead later. It could also replace Damnation, I haven't cast it in a while, but I like knowing when I need it I can tutor it, although maybe it should be a Merciless Eviction to give me some Modular options other than destroy/no regenerate. Faithless Looting is also out again, and I know I will get burned with a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker in hand again and need to put it back in.

I don't want to go down an A/D/D either because I worked my way back up to this amount, because I found myself, on occasion, having a Kaalia of the Vast swing without a free A/D/D and that is bad, need to limit that as much as possible. Some games I have too many A/D/D some games short. Difficult to balance.