Vilis will replace it easily

Sir_Flash and Spirits, Also was curious why Felidar Guardian isn't in consideration, it combos with kiki so easily?

Hi LordKunai,

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is primarily here for cards like, Necropotence and Vilis, Broker of Blood . Also the primary win-con is lots of , Buried Alive + Reanimate , always good to have extra for tutors as well. There are some combos with things like Kormus Bell and Stax or Balefire Dragon , but I don't play those in this build. It's primary intensive so helps if all mana is in addition to it's other colors.

Felidar Guardian works great with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker , I found I didn't need the redundancy as it's the same as a Restoration Angel (who has flash and can protect Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker ). I go for my primary win-con, if it misses, usually someone else will combo and win before I can try again. Usually the Restoration Angel isn't the target anyway, so it's another downside to the redundancy, if Restoration Angel is no good, Felidar Guardian probably isn't either, and just distracts from primary win-con. If your stacking, Worldgorger Dragon , Adarkar Valkyrie (+sac outlet), Zealous Conscripts , Village Bell-Ringer , Lightning Crafter (+sac outlet) also have good (and interconnected) synergies. My "Alternative Synergies Excluded" accordion has some discussion and interactions, as well as cross/interconnected interactions. Some work with Splinter Twin too. I find Zealous Conscripts (steal) or Village Bell-Ringer (flash defend) both have more upside (outside of the primary win-con) than the Felidar Guardian so I would probably go there if I found I needed another Restoration Angel or was building around that flicker infrastructure.

SolomonsEfreet, sad to see Iona, Shield of Emeria go, I disagree with the reasoning, but it is what it is. Vilis, Broker of Blood is the obvious replacement as Sir_Flash mentioned.

I see you're on the fence with Mausoleum Secrets and Diabolic Tutor.

Me too! I'm gonna give "Open the Armory" and "Entomb" a shot. OtA can search out Animate Dead or Greaves and Entomb can put Relic Warder in the grave for a potential combo later.

Spirits!

I've been putting my nose to the grindstone as far as my own version of this deck. Once I've hit a stopping point, I'd like for you to look. But for now, I gotta say, as far as putting in or taking out ADD, it helps me to categorize them as what their primary use is (ETB effect, Flample/Beatdown, "I better block this", etc)

Otherwise, I've been browsing a few cEDH decks and saw some interesting tutors in Demonic Consultation and Plunge into Darkness both of which are instant and will be seeing some testing on my side. Also, don't forget Open the Armory .

Lastly, I wanted to shake things up a bit and talk about the Buried Alive + Reanimate + Kiki/Resto/Karmic combo. Mainly the fact that this deck aims to draw a lot of cards in a turn. One scenario I'm getting flustered with is having a reanimation spell in hand waiting for Buried Alive or vice versa and then drawing into Kiki, Resto or Karmic. At the point the combo is gonna cost too many resources to get back online. It's a major set back that our opponents had nothing to do with, being on the verge of victory into having a clogged hand.

I noticed Faithless Looting as a band-aid to the above situation, but I think that's more reactive than proactive, not to mention the very few reanimation options in the deck to capitalize off of dumping ADD with it.

That all said, I think I'm going to lean more into Leonin-Relic Warder combos, as it's never a dead card. At worst, he impacts the board, dies later, gets Animate Dead for a loop with something like Impact Tremors or Purphoros, God of the Forge . Drawing Kiki just sucks, and this deck draws a lot of cards, so I'm trying to find a workaround.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Hi UR2L8,

I just started a new job last month leaving the one I was with for 15 years, and I also moved! Needless to say, been very busy last few months, amidst unpacking trying to get back online a bit.

Demonic Consultation is an uncontrolled Tainted Pact . Because Kaalia of the Vast doesn't have much deck manipulation like , sometimes you will exile the card your after. You'll also need to know the solution your looking for (even if it's the last card in your deck) vs. Tainted Pact where sometimes you run into a solution and you're like that will do! then stop. Risky but low cost.

Plunge into Darkness , the challenge is that if you happen to connect on 2 pieces of the combo, you exile your own combo! Open the Armory is good to tutor the Animate Dead for sure! In a primary win with Leonin Relic-Warder it would be critical.

You're evaluation is correct, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is a 2-card combo, which is why I like it. Drawing a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Restoration Angel really sucks. Karmic Guide too also sucks because of the CMC5 to start the reanimation engine.

Leonin Relic-Warder being a 3-card combo, you'll need to have redundancy. Purphoros, God of the Forge is good, Impact Tremors (unless you build synergy around it) isn't that great. I would opt for a Blasting Station in that case. Faithless Looting on it's own is good, has synergy to dump ADD in the graveyard for Kaalia of the Vast to recast, as well if your using Razaketh, the Foulblooded you can pull to keep chaining into the win.

Buried Alive is still good, can pull many different combos. I have several listed in my accordion panels. If you decide to go with a primary win-con around Leonin Relic-Warder , let me know, I can evaluate your build and give some further ideas, I had an Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck built around the Impact Tremors model (also Mardu )

I'll see what I can come up with. I am curious about some of the card choices, so I'll hopefully have my thoughts collected soon. I have a migraine right now and I feel like shit, so I might forget by the time I get home. If I do, please feel free to keep asking me - I'm bad about checking TappedOut for notifications, but I at least glance at a couple of my 5 active decks a couple of times per day. I also occasionally get in the mood to go back and edit old decks, like the Kaalia deck you saw.

Are you trying to get this as close as you can to cEDH or are you looking more for a high power build (tier 3, right below cEDH)?

Sorry it took me so long to get to this. Be prepared to read a book.

I'll break this up into two parts. First, I'll try to get this deck as close to cEDH as possible. As you likely read from my post on the primer, I do not believe that Kaalia can be a cEDH deck. Still, I'll try, as I tried hard in the past to do so with her. Second, I'll do the best I can to help you tune this to the high power meta while still keeping some of the cards that make the deck fun, like, well, the majority of the bad creatures people run (like Avacyn, for example. She doesn't DO anything. At all.).

First, cEDH.

You're going to want to cut down on those lands. cEDH can be fast and it can be slow, but you're going to want to focus on making sure you're online when you need to be online and then not bogged down with lands after, especially because you aren't Gitrog. You don't get extra land drops. I'd highly recommend cutting all the filter lands, as they are effectively slightly better signets. The color fixing is fine, yes, but the fact that they require another land to function as anything other than a colorless generator makes them significantly worse than they should be. Your ideal land count is likely between 30 and 32, though cEDH decks tend to go closer to 30 and even lower. I personally felt like 33 was the correct number in my final paper Kaalia build, so test as you see fit. Granted, mine had 12 rocks. Also granted, the build you saw is my theorycraft build, which I will never build in paper. It likely needs less mana than my final paper build, though I am trying to increase the number of rocks to around 14.

Also, please cut Hall of the Bandit Lord. It enters tapped. That's bad. This deck needs to go as fast as it can. Waiting a turn to be able to give Kaalia haste is bad, especially considering the fact that she likely isn't going to stick, anyway. She should be played with finesse - play her when she can crush an opponent and otherwise, leave her in the Command Zone.

Please cut Volrath's Stronghold. You're setting yourself a turn behind by playing that. The fact that it doesn't tap for colored mana means you're also potentially whiffing on colors. A deck like this needs to be online ASAP. The only effects you should care about for getting creatures back are reanimation spells. Speaking of that, unless you have some specific combo need for Yawgmoth's Will, it really isn't all that good. It can go. I'm saying this as someone who likes graveyard recursion spells like Regrowth (and as a green mage) - unless you have a specific need for Yawgmoth's Will, you're likely better off without it. You already have to pay 3 of the little mana you have just to have the ability to cast spells from your grave for one turn. Most of your important spells are relatively expensive, so it makes little sense to pay an extra 3 to MAYBE be able to recur a single card one turn. If Mardu had a Regrowth, that would be so much different, as you could get the card back and hold onto it until it was needed. It would also let you bring creatures back for Kaalia to cheat in. Since Yawgmoth's Will doesn't let you do that, I really can't see a reason to run it.

Speaking of mana, you're going to likely want to bump up that rock count. You should be running cards like Armageddon, which you aren't, so you're going to want rocks and Smothering Tithe to keep your mana flowing. You need Mox Diamond, for one, and depending on how high you get your artifact count, you may even want to consider Mox Opal (~16 or so rocks, including Opal, would probably be enough. I feel like 20 is a better number, but it comes down to personal preference. Some builds I've seen use the artifact lands, not including Darksteel Citadel, to make this easier). Lotus Petal comes in very handy, too, and I'd even consider the signets, as you don't have many other options. Speaking of signets, Arcane Signet is your friend. You're definitely going to want to throw Dark Ritual in. You're also going to want to throw Chromatic Lantern away. You have plenty of color fixing and a 3-mana rock hurts.

Your tutor package is fine, though I'm honestly iffy on Diabolic Intent simply because of the fact that there aren't many creatures you really want to sacrifice outside of using Razaketh's ability and you're going to want to seriously cut down on your angels, demons, and dragons. If you feel that it's working quite well for you, go for it. Mausoleum Secrets should also go. I'd highly recommend Demonic Consultation, though it is a risky card. You pretty much only want to play it when you're ready to go all in on a combo and you only need a single card to finish it up.

Kaalia needs haste, yes, but I wouldn't run Swiftfoot Boots, Hall of the Bandit Lord (for reasons mentioned above), and the equipment tutors. Swiftfoot Boots is bad becuase it costs too much and it feels weird to run equipment tutors for a single piece of equipment past that. Granted, I did exactly that when I was still playing this deck, so it is entirely reasonable to play Steelshaper's Gift and Lightning Greaves. I wouldn't run the others.

I was always rather underwhelmed with Mardu's draw power despite the deck being black, but you do have a lot of tutors to make up for it. I personally like Wheel of Fortune a lot, though giving opponents a full hand can be excessively dangerous. Play it with caution. Phyrexian Arena and Sensei's Divining Top can go, as neither of these cards really do anything. Phyrexian Arena is too slow and Sensei's Divining Top requires the mana that you have precious little of, especially since you should be running Armageddon, Cataclysm, Ravages of War, Blood Moon, and possibly even Winter Orb. Kaalia can't survive long and she really needs to be able to shut down the board a bit, so ignoring MLD seems odd to me. Granted, if this is something new that the Kaalia Discord is going on about, then do as you please. I just don't see the point of playing her without MLD given my experience with her in the past. If this is some kind of personal aversion to MLD, then please keep in mind that you're purposefully limiting your deck, which is a no-go in cEDH.

Azra Oddsmaker and Tymna the Weaver are good options for draw power. Tymna is significantly better. There's a reason she's one of the two Commanders listed in the tier 0/overpowered section of the Commander tier list on TappedOut.

Street Wraith is cool. I hadn't even thought of that when I was playing my deck. The ONLY thing I don't like about it is the fact that it is 5 CMC, so it hurts quite a bit when you draw it off of Bob. I still really like it, so kudos! Speaking of that high CMC, I will say this in favor of Top - it is nice to have both together, provided you have the mana to spin the Top before you draw with Bob. Take that as you will, but also recognize that life is not something to be protected in cEDH - it is a resource to be burned. That's why it's often correct to go for 15-25 cards, and maybe even more, with your first Necro.

You already mentioned Reveillark doesn't really deserve a place in the deck. I completely agree. I'd cut both it and Karmic Guide and add in Dance of the Dead and Necromancy. Karmic Guide can be cheated into play with Kaalia, which is cutesy at best, but she costs 5 mana. The enchantments cost 2 or 3. The choice here should be obvious - not only are you burned more by Bob for Karmic Guide, you also are at a disadvantage because you have to swing with Kaalia and cheat her in if you don't want to pay the mana for her. Run the enchantments instead. Dance of the Dead isn't exactly necessary if you'd prefer to have a little less reanimation, which is entirely understandable since you're not on the Worldgorger combo.

Before I move to creatures, I want to touch on what is probably my favorite part of deckbuilding - creating an interaction package. Yours is, sadly, slim. There are many cards you can easily run that will help out tremendously. Among the list of cards are Generous Gift, Lightning Bolt (yes, Lightning Bolt. It's good. Run it.), Dismember (1 to give a creature -5/-5? VERY strong.), and Fire Covenant (the best wrath in the game alongside Toxic Deluge), Disenchant (Mardu has few options in this case), Wear // Tear (easily one of the best removal spells Boros has to offer). I'd also highly recommend Silence, Red Elemental Blast, and Pyroblast. You're going to absolutely need to cut Path to Exile, which is easily one of the worst removal spells in the game. Giving an opponent a land is way too high of a cost for its ability (though Assassin's Trophy gets away with this by being able to blow up anything, not just creatures). I'd also potentially consider Thoughtseize, Duress, and maybe even Inquisition of Kozilek, though this is definitely up to you. Not every deck wants to play them. I just really like them.

Onto creatures! You probably aren't going to like my suggestions here. I honestly doubt you'll like them at all. My approach to Kaalia is a bit unorthodox, though from all the testing I've done in the past (granted, the game has changed since then), I found that the majority of the classic Kaalia creatures are mediocre. deep breath

Angel of Despair is a 7-mana Vindicate and is impossible to play outside of Kaalia. She's entirely underwhelming as your Kaalia drop. Angelic Arbiter doesn't do anything because combat is a joke in this game. Avacyn doesn't do anything because the best removal isn't destruction and being an 8/8 attacker/blocker is underwhelming when you have 120 life to take down before you're declared the winner. Balefire Dragon is fine if your meta is mostly creature-based decks, but cEDH decks tend to have few creatures. Baneslayer Angel is cute, but she doesn't do anything. Her protections and life gain are irrelevant. Serra Ascendant falls into the same category. Bloodgift Demon is as bad as Phyrexian Arena in that it's really slow. Dark Confidant only gets around this by easily being playable turn 1 or 2. Both Giselas are mediocre at best, as you aren't going to be winning with combat damage in most cases and as Baneslayer Angel is already mediocre. New Gisela is worse than Baneslayer, so she's automatically less than mediocre. Hellkite Tyrant is literally only useful if your meta is full of artifact decks, and even then, you have to wait a whole round to win. You won't win that way. If you want to steal artifacts, run Treasure Nabber. We've already discussed why Karmic Guide is bad. Lyra Dawnbringer is another bad Baneslayer Angel. I don't like Restoration Angel, but I know it's part of your combo. Mother of Runes is mediocre at best because she's slow. You likely aren't going to get to do a whole lot with Kaalia, anyway, so if you really want this kind of effect, I'd run Apostle's Blessing. Ob Nixilis is okay at best because he's slow. He's fine to run, but I prefer Aven Mindcensor. Run both if you'd like, but I'd definitely run Aven Mindcensor first.

I like several of these creatures. Baneslayer Angel is a personal favorite. I've always loved Serra Ascendant. Old Gisela is another personal favorite and she was one of the most difficult cuts I ever made. Unfortunately, to tune the deck, concessions have to be made.

I'd highly recommend adding Sire of Insanity. It's difficult for many decks to interact when they're constantly hellbent. You, on the other hand, can keep the pressure going and you still draw a couple of cards each turn, anyway, so you're likely going to be able to make an impact. It's a card you have to learn to play around, but once you do, it puts in a lot of work.

Onto your maybeboard!

You can reasonably add Steel Hellkite, as its one-sided Engineered Explosives is wonderfully powerful.

Ancient Tomb is good. Run it. The pain lands are fine if you want them. Prismatic Vista is underwhelming since you should only be running 3-6 basics due to Tainted Pact (either 1 of each normal basic or snow basic or 1 of each normal AND snow basic at most).

Boom!

Now, High Power.

Much of what I said above applies to High Power, but you can make a few exceptions. You can run more lands, a bit less interaction (though I am always in favor of running 20+ instants in my decks), more haste, cutesy creatures like the ones mentioned above, etc. Still, keep in mind the fact that you're going to need to optimize all of your choices. If a creature only does one small thing once, like Angel of Despair, it likely isn't very good. You're going to want repeatedly abusable effects or effects that have a definite impact on the game, like hitting someone with Rakdos the Defiler. If MLD is taboo in your meta (and you're not playing cEDH, because there should be nothing that is taboo in cEDH), then you can continue to ignore it.

It's going to be difficult for me to say there's much of a difference between a High Power Kaalia build and a "cEDH" Kaalia build, as I've stated that I don't believe that Kaalia can be cEDH on any level, even fringe. She's strong, surprisingly fast, and even somewhat resilient, but in the end, her fatal flaw is the fact that she's Mardu. Without access to green ramp, blue interaction/draw power, and better colors (white and red are the worst colors in EDH), she's likely always going to be subpar. I would recommend switching over to a partners deck (likely WUBR), but that does kinda defeat the purpose of playing her in the first place. Still, you'd likely be able to keep the majority of the cards and combos and only lose out on the creatures (again, most of which are pretty bad in the first place).

One of the primary differences in deckbuilding between High Power casual and cEDH is that you can generally run cutesy creatures like Avacyn and get away with it, as she can put some strain on a board that isn't prepared for her. In this case, you can include creatures like Avacyn, old Gisela, Bloodgift Demon, and even Baneslayer Angel. You still want to make sure each creature you run is going to have a powerful impact on the board, though it doesn't necessarily need to be as immediate. Avacyn helps keep your board going strong and provides you with a big beater and blocker thanks to her 8/8 body and viligance. Gisela helps drive that damage home. Baneslayer is mainly playable because she only costs 5, which is pretty easy to pay once Kaalia has been killed off a few times. New Gisela also fits this role, but she's not as strong.

Below is a list of creatures that are fine in a less competitive Kaalia build. Keep in mind the fact that you're still going to have to pick and choose which ones suit you best and which ones have the most impact in your meta. You shouldn't just be playing a creature because it fits the typing, like Angel of Despair (who is effectively a 5/5 vanilla for 7...).

Archfiend of Depravity (meta call - if you run into a lot of decks based on creatures, this is fine), Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Balefire Dragon, Baneslayer Angel, Bloodgift Demon, Chancellor of the Annex (also reasonable in a more competitive setting, though that 7 CMC and WWW in the casting cost hurts its viability if you can't cheat it in), Demonlord Belzenlok, Doom Whisperer, Dragon Mage, Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Gisela, the Broken Blade, Hellkite Tyrant (meta call - only run this if you play against a lot of artifact decks, and it still may not be worth running then), Kokusho, the Evening Star (too slow, but still cute, especially if you can loop it somehow), Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Lord of the Void (only if you play against decks based on creature strategies), Lyra Dawnbringer (arguably worse than Gisela, the Broken Blade because the anthem is pointless since most angels suck and since she costs more), Master of Cruelties, Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, Pestilence Demon, Rakdos the Defiler, Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Restoration Angel (only for combos), Reya Dawnbringer (only if you have a heavy sacrifice/reanimation theme, as she is utterly impossible to cast and ridiculously slow otherwise), Rune-Scarred Demon, Scourge of Kher Ridges, Sire of Insanity, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Steel Hellkite, Vilis, Broker of Blood, Yosei, the Morning Star (same as Kokusho here)

Keep the CMC of each creature in mind. You need to have a low curve. Yes, in a perfect world, you will never cast any of these creatures. Still, you're playing a rather frail Mardu deck - you're going to have to attempt to cast some of these creatures at some point (Sneak Attack, especially if you run a pretty heavy reanimation theme, and Quicksilver Amulet can help mitigate this). You also have to be wary of Dark Confidant - hit too many big creatures and you're dead. Do your best to keep the creatures above 5 CMC to a minimum. You're going to have to play around with the list above a little bit for a while until you find what works best for you. I'd recommend playing around 15 Kaalia targets for non-cEDH decks. You can go up to 20 or so, but you really want to keep that curve down and focus on creatures that keep pushing your game forward rather than just being big and scary. Kaalia may be an intimidating deck to many, but her armor is weak. Once a player sees through her intimidation, they may find out she's often more bark than bite. Make every attack and every spell count.

I apologize for this being a huge wall of text. This is pretty much everything I have for you for now. It should be at least somewhat obvious that I was using my build for reference. I tried to take into account things you were attempting to do with yours, so I hope I didn't try to make yours too much like mine. I wouldn't care if people took my deck and made it their own, I just don't want to have someone completely trash their own deck to build something I made.

Wow, thanks realsoupersand, appreciate all the work you put into this review and comment. I have lot's to work on here.

I spent about an hour making a reply earlier today, but when I clicked preview forced me to login and it was gone forever. So I decided to make some updates to the deck before responding again, here it is.

I understand and appreciate your comments about Kaalia of the Vast and cEDH, of course, your correct the play analytics certainly support the position. The meta is fairly narrow on cEDH, however, like most formats (eg: Modern), there are non-meta decks that can be competitive in the format, but perhaps not with a high degree of consistency. I feel that the ability to have T1-T4 win-cons can make it competitive in the cEDH format, and with your help if we can get avg turn win under 4 or improve T1/T2 win %, it certainly can play although being mardu, it doesn't have access to the core strengths of the Tier1 decks.

I reduced my lands count a few. I read an article and ran their statistics through a bunch of models I created based on the raw data. Their conclusion, and my analysis verified, there is a co-relation between playing or missing a T3 land drop and your winning % in commander. At my previous lands, I still miss the T3 land about 20% of the time. I'll see how the reduction in lands impacts those statistics. I removed Rugged Prairie , but the other 2 filter lands, provide additional conversion avenues for a Turn 1 win, so although not the best lands, the higher T1 win % benefits from their inclusion.

I also hate any land that ETB tapped like Hall of the Bandit Lord . The way I was thinking about it was, Dragon Tempest is CMC2 (but active that turn if I have mana to play something), if I play Hall of the Bandit Lord tapped on T2, it is only CMC1 because I still have my T1 land available (although it doesn't do anything that turn). Haste is important for utility, I didn't include it for a long time, then added it back to see if it brought my avg win turn down, will do some testing with it in and out.

Yawgmoth's Will mostly has been beneficial. Although its CMC3 (terrible), assuming I have a Fetch land in the graveyard, and don't have a land drop in hand, it can play the fetch, so in some cases it's a modular ramp. Also, it can cast a Karmic Guide (we'll get to her) to start the Infinite Combo, also, it can cast a Reanimate or Animate Dead to do the same, or be a Demonic Tutor /modular tutor/removal, etc. Also, with the inclusion of Worldgorger Dragon Infinte Mana, going to allow me to play my entire graveyard in a single turn. It helps with improving the T3 and T4 land drops % and provides as good a ramp as mardu is going to get.

Mox Diamond unfortunately I don't have one, I have several decks including this one that need it, but it's not budget friendly either, so going to be a future add whenever I can get my hands on some. I'll see what I can do with artifacts to get to a reasonable consistency on Mox Opal going to take a while to make all the updates and buy some cards. Arcane Signet still shows as Illegal in commander, I assume the Brawl decks will be released soon or else tapped out will update their system. It's the best CMC2 rock, it will be in there whenever legal.

Diabolic Intent has only screwed me once so far, outside of Grand Abolisher there isn't anyone (including Kaalia of the Vast ) that I won't sacrifice to pull my combo piece and go for the win. It usually finds the last piece. Mausoleum Secrets works nicely with Buried Alive and Entomb to pull the Reanimate card. They are not the best, they were includes for testing purposes, I just find I need more tutoring to be consistent so having CMC1 and CMC2 tutors with conditions is still useful, I wish there was better options for mardu. I'll keep evaluating them, if they are unplayable when drawn in too high a % of circumstances they do not add value to the deck.

To replace the Swiftfoot Boots I added Idyllic Tutor , I know you didn't suggest, but with Worldgorger Dragon in, any way to pull Dragon Tempest for haste or Infinite damage or Animate Dead feels right? Steelshaper's Gift with just Lightning Greaves does feel weird. I'm wondering on the Swiftfoot Boots though, the Equip 0 is key certainly on Lightning Greaves , but usually just throw it on Kaalia of the Vast maybe a Grand Abolisher so Steelshaper's Gift + Lightning Greaves is similar CMC to Swiftfoot Boots and equip () but of course not playable on T1 (boo). I'll try with boots out and keep the tutors in, see how consistently I get to haste when I need it to drop a Razaketh, the Foulblooded , would never want to be waiting for haste when I have a win-con in hand.

As you mentioned Sensei's Divining Top works well with Dark Confidant , but mostly I use it to enable same turn Vampiric Tutor / Imperial Seal or to ensure I get the lands I need or try and find an ADD to resolve if Kaalia of the Vast is available and don't really need the mana. Also, if I have nothing else, it's a good random draw chance to stop a win-con or pull a tutor (and shuffle it away! happens so often).

I'm thinking on Tymna the Weaver seems not bad, I don't play to her strengths but still viable as mardu can't draw properly.

About 40% of my wins are my primary win-con of Buried Alive + Reanimate , Karmic Guide is the enabler. Even when I draw her to hand, CMC5 is still playable, or cheat-able with Kaalia of the Vast . She did combo with Reveillark but that wasn't working, Reveillark was too high CMC. She re-pops a Razaketh, the Foulblooded then he sac's her, outside of the primary win-con, its never a dead draw usually. I put Dance of the Dead in, but now, I'm thinking Necromancy is better, because it also works with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker as well. Might swap the Dance of the Dead to Necromancy if I have one, I'll check tomorrow.

Dismember I like, play it in Modern even, Fire Covenant makes sense, but feel I would rather just Tutor Toxic Deluge which can remove indestructible and not have the duplication. Usually, I just try and win instead of disrupting, just let the Counterspell players stop the others, that opens a windows sometimes for me to try going for combo. I hate how Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast are potential dead draws, but realistically always of value. Similar to a more generic Silence (wish it had Split Second), probably need them, need to review for more cuts. Path to Exile is a CMC1 exile, so it's good for decks that rely on commander (understanding they often don't care if they are removed because that is too late), I also use it as a modular ramp card, CMC1 to pull a land into play. I haven't found it hurts me most of the time, it's usually stopping a go for the win (like a Laboratory Maniac or something), usually wouldn't play it to enable a win.

Thoughtseize and the like, one of my favorite cards BTW, I found just hurts me and 1 player. Gives a wide opening to the other 2 players to go for the win, and now I'm short on card advantage, draw poorly, and disabled a player potentially that could have stopped the win. If it's pre-emptive (like Silence ) before going for the win, do I really want to increase my Win-Con by CMC1 or wait that extra turn to have the mana, or just go for it now, and maybe win? Tough to tell. Again too, wherever I can would rather go for my win than stop others win.

I'll have to go over creatures responses tomorrow as I'm out of time tonight, my earlier message addressed everything plus a bunch of cards I'm considering putting in and your opinion on those. For another night!

Thanks again for the fantastic input, I'm really working on making the changes. I ordered a bunch more cards on Card Kingdom today, so in 7 days free shipping, should see some more changes coming down the pipe. Also going to continue reviewing your recommendations and deciding on cuts tomorrow and over the upcoming weekend.

Cheers!

Hi again realsoupersand,

Had to fly out to Ottawa, ON in Canada for a bit, so back in action.

50% of the time, I win with my primary win-con, which is Buried Alive + Reanimate , generally between T1-4 depending on how much tutoring and mana ramps I have available. It's CMC4, which happens on T1 occassionally, T2/T3 more realistically.

Karmic Guide is a critical component of that combo, also, yes she is playable with Kaalia of the Vast . Also enables Razaketh, the Foulblooded from the graveyard, and provides for sac/tutor. It's usually never a dead draw, and at CMC5 is still playable from hand, on occasion if the game is going on, and the Protection: with Flying also has assisted occasionally. Other than her obvious CMC as just a recursion tool, she's generally been good, and a requirement for the primary win-con.

Angel of Despair is just a Vindicate for CMC7, its ridiculous and only 5/5 flying. However, it's what I ALWAYS Tainted Pact to when Show and Tell + Omniscience , unless they have Leyline of Anticipation it's "usually" good enough. I can tutor Anguished Unmaking , however, I have to give priority up with an Omniscience on the table, so it's far too late by then. Can also destroy other random threats if needed too. She's borderline for sure. Red Elemental Blast is too slow in this case.

Angelic Arbiter was answering the Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge but now it's always Kess, Dissident Mage . Also for Tooth and Nail type encounters (eg: Craterhoof Behemoth ) or any type of haste/recursion. All together stops a few. I usually just put 1 response to any situation, because I just tutor the exclusive solution needed.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope protects against MLD type situations, but she's not difficult to remove anyway, everyone's removal deals with her no problem. If she buys me an extra turn though, it's worth it. Can also put a player on a turn timer or make them act before prepared (no Force of Will for example), sometimes... Not the strongest for sure. Or like a The Gitrog Monster looping destroy maybe...

Balefire Dragon is again, just to solve specific issues or eliminate high value ground targets. Like the others, Tainted Pact to hand whenever, a situation calls for it. I tried to cut back on creature controls (ex: Damnation ) just because its not a creature world, but often creatures can be enablers.

Baneslayer Angel cut, served no purpose other than lifelink for the Hatred but the CMC5 was too much, and only removed a single opponent. Serra Ascendant T1 "usually" puts enough pressure on 1 player (usually )), who is now on a turn timer, spending life for tutoring becomes harder, and sometimes waste time removing it. Statistically found, I was usually nearly 1 turn earlier to win with Serra Ascendant , plus overcharges me for an early Necropotence or Razaketh, the Foulblooded win or Doom Whisperer win.

Phyrexian Arena is tough, high CMC, no return. It still the second highest played card in commander, and I don't know how else to draw? Mardu is a drawing nightmare. Have to think on it, how to deal with it but agreed, same issue is with Bloodgift Demon . I've had Skyline Despot recommended has a same turn impact (draw at EOT), but also, might be ramping oppponents draw too, especially if I have no way to reconnect on attack as Skyline Despot doesn't have trample.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight has the added benefit of removing 1-damage win-cons like Impact Tremors , Blasting Station , Goblin Bombardment , Dragon Tempest (with 1 dragon), Etc... Also puts pressure on. Usually just for a specific application though. I think my interaction package is more similar to a Thoughtseize type application, where if I can't win early, I tutor what I need to address the specific threats, instead of using Instant spell to do them? If that makes sense. Gisela, the Broken Blade i've cut.

Hellkite Tyrant was specifically answering an almost consistent Breya, Etherium Shaper deck. It's been a while since C16 set now, so definitely seeing it less and less. Might help with Teferi, Temporal Archmage or Urza, Lord High Artificer on occasion. It wasn't enough on it's own though, it also needed a Linvala, Keeper of Silence to go with it. Prior to this, I had nothing to compete with Breya, Etherium Shaper , had no way to win.

Lyra Dawnbringer is on my cut list now, might become the Sire Of Insanity or something like that. Mother of Runes works good with Master of Cruelties , also can protect Kaalia of the Vast , makes guys like Balefire Dragon unblockable too, or protects a Razaketh, the Foulblooded and becomes Tutor mana, or blocks an early Infect attack. Slow yes, but has some utility. Also can protect my Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Worldgorger Dragon causing me to win (instead of lose). It's borderline for sure, have to think about it. Aven Mindcensor feels good, looking for a way to include him as well as the Sire Of Insanity .

Steel Hellkite I tried for over a year, I would either, not be able to connect (no trample), or when I did, not enough mana to get the threat that I really needed to remove. I gave up on Steel Hellkite , also needs a Mother of Runes for support.

Ancient Tomb is back in, can't recall why I removed it. Think it screwed me one game with the colorless, but now that I've removed most of the colorless, it makes sense. Prismatic Vista isn't great, only 2 basics (can put in the snow's but for why), I like that it filters a land out (lower probability of drawing a land), but also destroys my mana-fixing as well, so agreed, unnecessary in this build, but feels weird.

I'm probably going to continue reducing CMC and reducing land counts as you've recommended, but needs some expensive 0-CMC rocks which I don't have, or some resource planning around alt. mana sources.

Overall goal is still to build for cEDH, understanding that consistency isn't going to push into more than a Tier-2.5/3 categorization, so I'll go over High Power again later lol.

Thinking about Interaction, I really don't want to go heavy into that with things like, Dismember or Lightning Bolt would rather let the opponents use their removal, and PRAY that I can sneak through a combo. If I combo T1 it has a fairly high success rate (other than a Pact of Negation which eliminated themselves) usually don't get stopped (Odd Force of Will or Swords to Plowshares here and there), T2 is still decently good, often others are still tutoring for a T3 win, but outside of T3 or beyond, usually I need to wait until someone tries to combo, and then is stopped, before I have a chance. I just go for it whenever I can though, increases winning % over trying to strategically go for it and being too late.

I think perhaps Red Elemental Blast or Pyroblast or both perhaps will be handy, Silence I wish it had Split Second (like Teferi's Protection ) because most combos don't have a "sorcery" speed interaction so doesn't stop. Can protect me on the turn I'm going for it like another Grand Abolisher but outside of that not highly useful. Will do some playtesting with it and see if it improves my completion % for combo and increases my combo win % because that's all that matters.

I decided not to go MLD, can Stax/MLD certainly is a strategy, but prefer just to ignore others, and just go for the win myself, win or lose. Plus I don't repopulate my hand nor ramp, so probably just slowing myself down instead of the opponents. Plus I don't have a Ravages of War so would require a financial commitment, would rather focus on finding a way to go for the win on T1-T3 more consistently.

I think if you found Kaalia of the Vast wasn't competitive using MLD before you dissolved that strategy, don't think it's the right course to go down either. Would rather try some out-of-the-box planning, and see if we can get her into a cEDH, which your comments are VERY helpful, and VERY appreciated. Think I've made some decent strides, still waiting for my card order to come in the mail so I can make some more cuts/adds to the deck!

I'll reply on high power shortly since it's lower priority, and hopefully you'll see my deck going in a stronger direction. Pushing that T1 probability up is key. I keep thinking there must be a T1 with Entomb and Goryo's Vengeance that I can do somehow? Razaketh, the Foulblooded would need another enabler, but there must be someone (like Griselbrand aka Griselbanned) to win with? Hmm.

Hey realsoupersand,

How do you feel about Chains of Mephistopheles , shuts down the card advantage of draw, but still lets the search through their library. Mass draw like Enter the Infinite wield yield very little result. It's also a way for me to discard a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Worldgorger Dragon (or any combo guys) if they are in my hand for CMC2?

Beseech the Queen can be a CMC3 tutor which is still reasonable, but has a restriction against it bound by lands, but I always need Reanimate or Animate Dead likely pulls those no problem?

Mishra's Bauble , doesn't help for T1 win, however, it makes T2 better, also, it's a CMC0 that may support getting Mox Opal in there? What do you think?

Crucible of Worlds always feels too slow, CMC3, and no MLD seems advantageous, but with a fetch land, it ramps pretty good? Still too slow though.

What's the reasoning for running fetches outside the Mardu color identity?

Hi Chesu,

Fetch lands do a couple things:

1. Color fix. A Windswept Heath for example can pull Scrubland / Godless Shrine for , or Plateau / Sacred Foundry for . All fetch lands get you the color your in need of, and always pull dual lands. In 3-color mana fixing is key, without the correct mana source you will be stalled and lose. Unused (wrong-color) mana is perishable and can never be recovered.

2. Concentration. in cEDH 3/4 lands is likely all a deck needs to execute a win-con. Drawing another land (unneeded) on T4 may be the difference between a W (drawing a disruption or win-con) or L (having another land in hand). In a deck of 99, removing 2 lands (the fetch, and the fetched lands) significantly increases your probability of drawing a non-land card vs. a land card (hypergeometric distribution). You want higher-density (non-land) draws at that higher probability. You want enough lands to hit your T3 land drop, after that, draw into win-cons.

Well, thanks for the super detailed answer, I appreciate it. Glad to know I should throw that loose dimir fetch into my deck. Thanks

Boy oh boy it sure has been some time; I been completely out of the game and stopped when WAR came out. How has the revised deck been playing, any improvements on the average win rate since the revisions or still the same?

How has the reduction of Lands affected the tempo (or so it seems they've been reduced)

Any benefits playing with Thoughtseize ? Its never a dead card so I wouldn't say if its taking up space but I guess I wouldn't know who to single it out on and I'd be more of a gamling man using Vicious Rumors which would probably do absolutely nothing but its at least hitting everyone. lol

Still no Mox Diamond or did you end up testing it and did not like its addition to the deck?

Any updates would be sweet, thoughts on certain cards you added, dislikes. I see theres a few other additions, just didn't want to list every single one.

Now I got to go and blow all the dust off the decks and see where I last left off with their builds :D

Hi weezel,

I received the first order of paper cards, still pending my second order. I'm hoping they all arrive before Fri casual and Sat tournament.

I've done quite a bit of online testing and found: 1) Hasn't improved my avg win turn significantly (bad) and 2) Its increased how, meaning winning by combo only significantly (good).

To my surprise so far the lands have tested fine. I've been watching my T3 land drop %, and so far so good. I'm going to do a comprehensive test on it (30 runs) to do a full audit, but in the games so far, good good!

Thoughtseize was added, because of the need to get Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker , Karmic Guide , Restoration Angel out of my hand, now also in the current build Worldgorger Dragon . Faithless Looting can do this, but needed an alternative, and Thoughtseize can also be used to remove a win-con from a player, if a play tutors twice, I can Thoughtseize in and remove a component. Vicious Rumors doesn't work because doesn't have the modular ability to put the aforementioned creatures in the graveyard from my hand.

Still no Mox Diamond , hopefully my F2020-Q1 bonus will provide me enough cash to buy the damn thing! Need 3 now, have 0!

Dark Ritual has been better than expected, enables a bunch of T1/T2 wins that I didn't have before. Any Swamp producing land + Dark Ritual + Mana Crypt + Buried Alive + Reanimate or Animate Dead as an example.

Demonic Consultation was in, then out, then in again. I thought the only downside would be the 6 random cards killing me. Turns out, unless it's tutoring the final piece (eg. a Reanimate ) the other components have to played or it exiles them. Buried Alive then Demonic Consultation then Reanimate . It's a dead draw in opening hand unless you have the other tutors already, and it exiles you alt-win cons if your primary doesn't end up working.

Worldgorger Dragon I thought if I drew Dragon Tempest that I had a quicker tutor path to Entomb + Animate Dead , much like when I draw Goblin Bombardment I have a path to Leonin Relic-Warder + Animate Dead . The problem is that Dragon Tempest only gives Kaalia of the Vast haste, whereas Goblin Bombardment can be used in other combos (like drawing into a Karmic Guide and then using Entomb to put Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker in the graveyard. Expensive CMC5 to cast Karmic Guide but builds Goblin Bombardment builds towards alt-win, whereas Dragon Tempest still useful but no combo. I don't think I need the Worldgorger Dragon , I've found Leonin Relic-Warder is enough anyway and usually faster.

The additional Talisman's (2) and Arcane Signet just improve the crappy mana ramp rocks that Mardu had access to before, so it's a definite upgrade.

Necromancy I'm still not enjoying the CMC, but Dance of the Dead doesn't work with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker because he needs to to use his ability. Uncertain if I need it as a duplicate to Animate Dead , not much left in the realm of tutor packages, so been aiming at drawing the combo cards. With Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker , Leonin Relic-Warder and worldgorger all now relying on Animate Dead the Necromancy seems to make sense even at ridiculous CMC3.

Mana Vault has held it's weight so far as well, no complaints.

The ADD is light now, so have run into situation where CAN resolve a haste Kaalia of the Vast but have nothing to drop, but as realsoupersand was explaining, it doesn't matter if you have an ADD to drop if it doesn't change the board state where you win (don't resolve low/no-impact ADD). Trying to keep that in mind, haven't quite paired it back enough or identified any more impact ADD to add back in.

PS weezel,

Trying to build a reliable and effective Doomsday stack, so far,

Night's Whisper

Faithless Looting

Leonin Relic-Warder (discard with Faithless Looting )

Animate Dead

Goblin Bombardment

That's CMC7 , it's too much mana to be effective at all. If I can build a CMC5 (Prefer CMC4) Doomsday stack will include it.

I think we might have discussed this before, not too sure but thoughts on Winds of Change in place of Thoughtseize yea you have the possibility of others benefiting off of it.

Or hell, even a Lion's Eye Diamond , granted your hand goes bye bye but you dump what you need in your graveyard with a cost of Maybe even crack it in response to Winds of Change or dumping it while tutoring with Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Ever thought of running Final Fortune or cards alike? Might be a card that would be instantly countered. Which then you can use as a decoy to play what you really want? Okay, just being silly now.

Still considering good ol' Mishra's Bauble ? Lol

Spirits

Just for clarity, Are you trying to get that Doomsday line off one draw all while using a total of CMC4?

Hi weezel,

Winds of Change too risky, plus I'm running a heavy tutor package, will disrupt myself. Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast probably better solutions.

The reason I choose Thoughtseize is just to give me a modular card to discard Worldgorger Dragon / Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker as well. This supplements the Faithless Looting .

I've tried to build out a Lion's Eye Diamond Doomsday pile, but I don't have a Laboratory Maniac so not sure how else to build the stack. Of the 5-pile, I need 3 of the cards!

Yes, T1/T2 I Dark Ritual + Doomsday , then T2/T3 I probably have 4,5 mana maybe with a Chrome Mox , Sol Ring , Mana Vault , Mana Crypt , Ancient Tomb , etc. I won't have CMC7 on T2 and probably not T3. Have to be able to play into an infinite win-con for CMC4 preferably, CMC5 possibly.

Very difficult. You had me thinking for awhile. Trying to reduce that CMC is going to be difficult, At first I was thinking Reforge the Soul Miracle cost! but then I was like well wait, if Only we had a Laboratory Maniac :(

Tried to think of a way to add Street Wraith which would help with the reduction of CMC but I don't think that would quite get you there with draw.

I can already tell this is going to be bugging me; trying to find a way to get it to that CMC

Hi weezel,

Yup! Since can’t simply draw out, so need a 2-card combination to make it work. Buried Alive + Reanimate needs all 5 cards so no way to pile Faithless Looting .

Worldgorger Dragon is the same CMC7 as Leonin Relic-Warder but riskier using Dragon Tempest .

With Worldgorger Dragon :

Faithless Looting

Worldgorger Dragon (Discard with Faithless Looting )

Animate Dead

Comet Storm (Use the infinite mana from Worldgorger Dragon and Flashback Faithless Looting to draw)

Yawgmoth's Will Just incase!

CMC3 - only viable pile can think of. The second card discarded (non- Worldgorger Dragon ) has to be a creature to stop the infinite loop to Flashback Faithless Looting .

Comet Storm outside of Doomsday or perhaps Worldgorger Dragon combo as an alternative to Dragon Tempest it’s pretty much a dead draw. Not sure it’s worthwhile, but maybe?

Thought maybe Anje Falkenrath might be a path, but starting at CMC3. Street Wraith . Challenge is how to get the other cards needed?

LED doesn’t seem to give me a clear path as Yawgmoth's Will is CMC3. Faithless Looting , Lion's Eye Diamond , Yawgmoth's Will (LED). So have access to LED again, but only 2 cards left in pile. Can Faithless Looting into them, discard and cast them with the 3 from LED and Yawgmoth's Will , but what are these 2 mystery cards to win? Lol

Not giving up just challenging.

Totally wrong, LED discards Yawgmoth's Will , can’t see a LED path to CMC4 reasonably.

Sorry, everyone who asked me more questions. I'm pretty burned out on this deck. I don't have much else to say.