Crow-Umbra: I haven't had HUGE problems with token armies so far, and a Massacre Wurm or three generally clears that right up... But it might just be a meta thing. Test and find out? I'd love to hear your experiences :) I'd also test with Toxic Deluge.

Does heartless summoning affect encode costs?

Pestilence30, are you referring to cipher? If yes, the casting cost or reduction of it doesn't effect the ability to cipher.

I just realized maybe you meant encore. I think it applies per rule 601.2e and would reduce the cost.

sub780lime ya i apologise, i meant to ask if the heartless summoning reduces the encore cost. thank you for your replies!

after a little research it does not. encore is an ability and therefore is not casting the creature but activating an ability. sorry for the scrub question. thanks!

Interesting. That makes sense. Alternate costs would be reduced, but encore isn't really an alternate cost. Nice catch!

Pestilence30: Heartless does not reduce encore, but it does help me get out my high-cmc creatures from hand for cheap :)

Hello, very cool deck, i will try it soon! I have a question for the mesmeric orb combo, you say at the end of your explaination about mesmeric orb combo: "to win on that same turn.", but how? Because all creaatures will have invocation sickness right? Or am i missing something?

jeh1184: They do have summoning sickness if we Living Death them, but we don't win with combat -- we win through looping Gray Merchant of Asphodel or a couple other options. We win through leveraging enter the battlefield effects, not attacking :)

Would you considering play-testing Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip? She could lead to some explosive plays when combined with the wheels and sac-based removal in most Araumi lists.

I've been really excited to slot her into my build since she was revealed. It's hard to get an idea what she could be stealing in gold-fishing, but grabbing a bunch of permanents from Wheeling seems really promising.

Crow-Umbra: Hm. I'm doubtful. Certainly doesn't seem BAD, especially if you're running Burglar Rat and friends. But it's an... unstable, winmore kind of value? Kinda gimmicky hit-or-miss stuff, no offense. On a 5-drop, I want guaranteed value / threat from that card alone, not requiring a bunch of other cards to work right.

With that being said, she's probably going into my Kroxa list! :3

Those are all really valid points. Tergrid looks exciting, and I think I might have over-valued it due to the aristocrats and wheels decks in my meta

Testing Mystic Reflection over Price of Fame here -- even if it's useful for a shorter window of time, I think it's a better answer for commanders, it can lock things down as effectively as Oko...

And also I suspect it'll enable new combo lines like casting Wake the Dead into five copies of Gray Merchant of Asphodel for the win :3

Daedalus19876: What do you think about Gravebreaker Lamia? Too cute or do you think it might open up some other lines / make sure you have what you want in your bin?

Plus the discount on casting spells from your graveyard might be useful.

Ack, its late. Just reread Encore and the spells are not cast. Wish I could just edit my post.

This looks like such a cool deck. I love Araumi would love to build her but my playgroup has a lot of Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void effects. Makes me wary of playing graveyard strategies outside of Wx/Gx

iammute: I'm very glad you enjoy the list, even if it won't work right in your meta! Yeah, while this deck CAN handle some RIP effects, it's definitely the best in metas without too much strong graveyard hate. You could maybe make a much more control-centric Araumi list work? But perhaps it's simply best to wait for your meta to shift until Araumi's viable ;)

Heyo! Was just wondering with the advent of Kaldheim, are you planning on making any updates to this deck? Mystic Reflection looks like it could be pretty hilariousin this deck, and Burning-Rune Demon also looks like it could be a pretty good tutor in or out of grave. Even Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire looks like it could be a pretty good cheap encore target for Araumi, though I'd love to hear your thoughts!

GoldenGolgari: I am definitely testing Mystic Reflection ! I'm considering Burning-Rune Demon , especially since I opened a full art foil in the only Kaldheim pack I've purchased. But I don't think Varagoth will go in, he's just too slow to be worth it IMO.

Daedalus19876 I also pulled a Burning-Rune Demon , but sadly it isn't full art or foil. I've kept it in my stash of maybe cards for Araumi. Anything you'd consider cutting to make room for it? Only Kaldheim cards I've slotted into Araumi so far are Saw It Coming and Mystic Reflection . I've been on the fence for Rise of the Dread Marn (have it in my Brokkos build), and Ravenform . My meta is more creature heavy, so Dread Marn could help me set up defensively post boardwipe.

Crow-Umbra: Cuts are so hard in this deck... Maybe Obsessive Stitcher ? She seems like the weak link, but I have a great fondness for necro-grandma...

Daedalus19876 I wanted to say that I really like your primer and it has been helping me shape up my budget list as many of the combo lines I've found are pretty easy on the wallet to pull off, so thanks! I also was curious what your thoughts would be on the combo of Kalastria Healer + Zulaport Cutthroat ? If you encore them both with Araumi and pull them both out, after sacrificing them you'll net a total of 36 damage to the table and 36 life to yourself for only four mana(and an untapper)!

Shintome: Glad my list has inspired you! My only concern with that combo is that 1) it’s dependent on Araumi (most of my combos have moved away from using her to some degree, since she gets hit by removal so often), and 2) I’m not sure Kalastria healer is good enough on its own to justify inclusion.

However, this might have inspired me to put Zulaport back in, since cloning Zulaport with Phantasmal Image or Glasspool will hit opponents for 27 each...

(3 death triggers with 6 Zulaport on field + 3 death triggers with 3)

This is a good suggestion, thank you! I’d love to hear more about your experiences building her on a budget :)

I've proxied this deck and have been playing with it and it's proven super fun. I actually prefer it without tutors like you mentioned as it makes the lines of play different each game, which is something I've now applied to other decks of mine, so thanks!

Back to the deck itself, is there a reason Arcane Signet is in the maybe? If you're playing Talisman of Dominance , Signet can at least replace or be added alongside Talisman, especially since there is no requirement for colourless.

Also have you run into any issues with needing a board wipe? We probably don't care about creatures too much with the Fleshbag Marauder effects, but for anything else have you at least considered Cyclonic Rift ?