I'll cut the others as I think they're good recommendations. Maybe I'll "side" em out for the occasional 1v1.
Just to be clear, discard spells are generally bad in multiplayer, because you can only take out one player's hand at a time. Discard is generally not fast enough to protect yourself.
Single-use removal cards, like Terminate and Swords to Plowshares, are fine because they are quick, and you have to stop dangerous creatures over the course of the game. Everybody else is doing the same thing.
Trying to stop a Commander player through discard or milling, however, is too slow and not sustainable against multiple players, generally speaking.
Quote from b1ackhat »
On a sidenote... I didn't have Blood Crypt because it's about $15... but Return to Ravnica is having shocklands - yay:
They are listing spoilers now on this site. Based on what I'm seeing on eBay, I would anticipate people selling the Ravnica shocklands for $9-$10 at the lowest end shortly after RTR goes into circulation. The previous Ravnica lands might sell a little cheaper, since the RTR shockland art is the "new hotness." So, I would save up to get Blood Crypt, Godless Shrine, and Sacred Foundry, which are Kaalia's colors.
Quote from b1ackhat »
I just need ABU duals... but sheesh It's hard to justify $200+ on maybe 2-3 lands when the other 97 cards in my deck don't even cost $200.
I would not bother buying ABU dual lands unless you are going to play often in EDH/Commander tournaments where there is prize money or boosters on the line. It's just not worth buying them unless you plan to win some money or boosters back for your spending. The game is supposed to be fun, not a money sink, right?
Just as food for thought, I would almost always keep at least 1 copy of Urborg in your collection if you plan on playing EDH for long. You'll run it in almost every deck that has black in it, nearly without exception, and in some non-black decks, as well. I run it in my Kaalia list, and getting it online early is a big help, even if your mana base is very good. It makes casting your black spells a complete non-issue.
Thanks for the advice!
And thanks again Eriol... went to a local cardshop and pretty much finished my deck (all but the 3 shocklands you mentioned) for about 60$ with a 15% off deal. This may seem like a lot, but I got Kaalia, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Tutor, Sensei's Divining Top, Gisela, Defense Grid, Insidious Dreams, Hallowed Burial, Miraculous Recovery, Necromancy, Terminate, Stronghold Overseer, Swords to Plowshares, Sol Ring... all mint and shiny and it pretty much makes my deck more than playable!
And thanks again Eriol... went to a local cardshop and pretty much finished my deck (all but the 3 shocklands you mentioned) for about 60$ with a 15% off deal. This may seem like a lot, but I got Kaalia, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Tutor, Sensei's Divining Top, Gisela, Defense Grid, Insidious Dreams, Hallowed Burial, Miraculous Recovery, Necromancy, Terminate, Stronghold Overseer, Swords to Plowshares, Sol Ring... all mint and shiny and it pretty much makes my deck more than playable!
Glad to hear that you got most of the cards you need! Have fun!
I have altered the deck with the release of Gatecrash with a few more angel, dragons, and demons. I also revised the rest of the deck for my local meta.
I have a friend who plays multiplayer Kaalia (my list is 1v1) and he swears by Reconnaissance. The only for us to interact with Kaalia is via removal. He can attack into attackers all day long and not worry. Plus you can untap all your creatures to have blockers after combat damage is done.
I have a friend who plays multiplayer Kaalia (my list is 1v1) and he swears by Reconnaissance. The only for us to interact with Kaalia is via removal. He can attack into attackers all day long and not worry. Plus you can untap all your creatures to have blockers after combat damage is done.
Recently, I played against a Kaalia deck in multiplayer that had Reconnaissance in their deck, but it never came up during play. (The player and I discussed our decks in post-game.)
I didn't include Reconnaissance in my deck, because it's a very narrowly defined card, and I felt that I needed its slot for other cards. There weren't any other cards in my deck that functioned similarly, so I wasn't going to risk a 1/99 probability (assume no card searching) that it would appear. In most of my games, I have Kaalia and maybe 1 or 2 other creatures out before the board is wiped anyway, so Reconnaissance would not have gotten much use.
But, if a Kaalia player has room in their deck, I do not see a strong reason for not using the card.
Hi, I found this thread as you frequently comment on 3drink's page. I have built a multiplayer Kaalia deck, this one has a more control subtheme where i ensure that my Kaalia is protected and i have a decent enough hand before locking the board to secure the win. I think this sub-theme works great especially since i am usually the target of most players and its a nice change from winning using an entirely creature-based strategy. If you would take a look at it, it would mean a lot to me
Hi, I found this thread as you frequently comment on 3drink's page. I have built a multiplayer Kaalia deck, this one has a more control subtheme where i ensure that my Kaalia is protected and i have a decent enough hand before locking the board to secure the win. I think this sub-theme works great especially since i am usually the target of most players and its a nice change from winning using an entirely creature-based strategy. If you would take a look at it, it would mean a lot to me
and i am mostly aiming to be semi-competitive, if not competitive
3drinks has played Kaalia far longer than I, so I may not be the best person to ask about a competitive multiplayer deck.
Here are my initial thoughts about your multiplayer deck:
Sword of Fire and Ice is generally a win-more type of card in this deck, so it is isn't strictly necessary.
I don't think Nether Void and Winter Orb are enough cards to make a lockdown theme for your deck. I would focus more on land destruction cards to reduce the chances of retaliation after you begin your Kaalia assault. Consider cards like Impending Disaster on top of your existing land destruction cards. If you really want a lockdown theme, I think you need more lockdown cards, and having too many of those type of cards might start to inhibit your game plan as well. Kaalia is not a great Commander to make a lockdown deck.
I am surprised that you aren't using Stranglehold, since most competitive decks have some degree of searching. I would use that before Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
Mass Hysteria is a symmetrical card. If you want to be competitive, you almost never want cards that help your opponents. I understand that you want Kaalia or your creatures to come out of the gate swinging, but you have Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and Hall of the Bandit Lord already.
Platinum Angel isn't strong enough for this deck. If you launch it with Kaalia, it doesn't do anything to the board state.
Iona, Shield of Emeria and Master of Cruelties don't work as well in multiplayer. With three opponents, Iona can't lock all the opponents out, and Master of Cruelties is essentially a one-trick pony that might take one player out, but you're still left with two opponents. Those remaining opponents are going to take that out pretty quickly.
If you're not convinced about my thoughts, you can take these to 3drinks. I'm pretty sure he is going to agree with the majority of my thoughts.
If you're not convinced about my thoughts, you can take these to 3drinks. I'm pretty sure he is going to agree with the majority of my thoughts.
Yes. Yes I will.
Although I will add that cards such as Mass Hysteria have their place - although definitely not in this deck, of course. But, in the same vein as Ezuri Elfball decks that play Concordant Crossroads (my old Jund Warp World deck, for example, loved these kinds of cards but really I just wanted a critical mass of mass-haste so that I always had it when I resolved a Warp).
If you're not convinced about my thoughts, you can take these to 3drinks. I'm pretty sure he is going to agree with the majority of my thoughts.
Yes. Yes I will.
Although I will add that cards such as Mass Hysteria have their place - although definitely not in this deck, of course. But, in the same vein as Ezuri Elfball decks that play Concordant Crossroads (my old Jund Warp World deck, for example, loved these kinds of cards but really I just wanted a critical mass of mass-haste so that I always had it when I resolved a Warp).
Thanks for the confirming my thoughts, 3drinks. I didn't think Mass Hysteria would work out for this person's particular Kaalia deck.
I've recently built my first Kaalia deck and played her against friends and family. I've relied heavily on 3Drinks' list for converting the deck to 1v1, but would like to see what you currently have for multi-player. Would like to take Kaalia out for a spin at my local LGS for FNM.
I've recently built my first Kaalia deck and played her against friends and family. I've relied heavily on 3Drinks' list for converting the deck to 1v1, but would like to see what you currently have for multi-player. Would like to take Kaalia out for a spin at my local LGS for FNM.
Thanks in advance.
I update the first post as new cards come into circulation. I don't normally post into my own thread to raise it to the top unless I have something really meaningful to discuss. I don't consider myself to have the definitive multiplayer Kaalia deck like 3drinks has with his 1 vs. 1 version.
My multiplayer strategy concentrates on using a lot more reanimation cards and mass creature removal to stay alive longer. Kaalia is a Commander that sometimes invites a lot of hate. Depending on the other 3 decks at the table, sometimes I'm the "archenemy" and have to deal with 3 opponents. 3drinks's 1 vs. 1 relies a lot on hand disruption, but in a multiplayer game, you don't have enough of those cards to take on 3 opponents.
In terms of power level, my deck is way stronger than casual, but it might not hold up in a LGS Commander tournament, especially against blue. My multiplayer Kaalia has a poor match-up against blue just as 3drink's 1 vs. 1 does. In addition, I cannot in good conscience buy very expensive ABUR dual lands to stabilize my mana base further, so my deck will always be a little less powerful.
Well, the first post seems to be updated less than a month ago, so I would presume it's quite up to date. Furthermore, Shiroe has been relatively active participant in 3Drinks' thread.
I personally play very similar list in multiplayer compared to this one. Differences are basically I play few more A/D/D, few less (creature) removal, I play sunforger since I'm Johnny and I also play Savage Beating for the Timmy-side of me.
For me the build has done quite well and I enjoy playing it.
I used to have a Sunforger package, but I dropped it in favor of more reanimation. I found that the sorcery speed to equip Sunforger was disadvantageous in certain metas. It often got destroyed before I could equip the item onto a creature, which would invalidate the "fetch an instant spell" strategy.
Forgive my forum ignorance. I thought that deck list updates would be part of the thread in chronological order. Saw last post from July. Makes more sense to just have it in one spot.
I follow 3Drinks forum and see Shiroe's posts all over the place, much appreciated to get the multi-player perspective.
Hopefully I will be able to test out Kaalia tomorrow at my LGS if there is a pod.
Forgive my forum ignorance. I thought that deck list updates would be part of the thread in chronological order. Saw last post from July. Makes more sense to just have it in one spot.
I follow 3Drinks forum and see Shiroe's posts all over the place, much appreciated to get the multi-player perspective.
Hopefully I will be able to test out Kaalia tomorrow at my LGS if there is a pod.
Thanks for the replies!
No problem. The protocol here in these decklist forums is to dedicate the first few posts at the beginning of the thread for the deck lists, deck analysis, and updates. This is why you sometimes see a person double-post to begin his or her decklist thread, but the second post says something like "reserved for later."
3drinks plays almost entirely 1 vs. 1 games. He doesn't play multiplayer Commander much, so his multiplayer section (towards the bottom of his first post) is based more on what he would do if he went into a competitive multiplayer Commander game. That may sound like his multiplayer card choices are untested, but he has a lot of MTG gaming experience and is good at identifying cards that would be good in multiplayer. From my own multiplayer games, I have discovered that he is mostly correct about his multiplayer card choices. When my list does differ from his is either because I can't afford a particular card, or I don't want to be that cutthroat. If your find out that your LGS is very competitive, go with 3drink's multiplayer list. Otherwise, my list should provide a good fight in all but the most competitive metas.
Based on my previous conversations with 3drinks, these cards are generally weak in multiplayer.
Archfiend of Depravity: Its ability might sound nice, but it takes a whole turn before it affects a single opponent. With 2-3 opponents, it'll probably be destroyed or neutralized before it can do anything.
Mother of Runes: It is included in the Kaalia pre-con, but it is weaker in most multiplayer metas, as it can't protect from all the opponents. You tap it to protect against the first opponent's attack, and is then useless for the next opponent. Focus on cards that provide permanent hexproof or shroud.
Reconnaissance: This is a very narrow card. Some cards use this to untap Kaalia, but I find the probability of drawing it very low, so it ends up not helping most of the time.
Aurelia, the Warleader: It has flameblast syndrome.
Warstorm Surge: It costs way too much mana for its effect.
Dragon Mage: You might draw 7 new cards and disrupt an occasional combo player, but you just gave your opponents a collective 14-21 new cards. That gives your opponents a lot of card advantage.
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled: Its first ability is cool, but your deck doesn't have real way to flash him in when somebody cracks a fetchland, so it is not that great of a card.
Liliana Vess: Forget discard in multiplayer. Save up for Demonic Tutor if you need tutoring.
Strionic Resonator: Are you trying to take advantage of triggered abilities? I don't know if you have the mana to use this.
Profane Command: I don't think it's powerful enough in multiplayer.
Forbidden Orchard: You really don't want to give your opponent creatures.
Sensei's Divining Top: You are better off exchanging this for cards that draw, like Read the Bones and Ancient Craving. I found that I didn't have enough shuffling effects to make top really shine.
A lot of people's decisions depends on the meta. If a card works for you, then I'm not going to convince you guys otherwise.
For me, Mother of Runes is a 1/1 that can't be tapped for its ability until your next turn. In multiplayer, that means waiting on 2-3 opponents to act before you, which means Mother of Runes is likely gone by your next turn. Lightning Greaves is 2 mana and your can equip for 0 on your turn. Being able to take immediate advantage of cards on your turn is very important in multiplayer, because your next turn is quite a bit of time.
Yap, I agree quite much everything you say. Thing is, I just appreciate a one drop that somebody want's to use their removal on. For me t1 mother is a good play but yes, that's meta-dependant. After all, mother and greaves both suffer from the fact that usually they need to be played at least a turn before Kaalia. Quite rarely I have the mana to cast Greaves + Kaalia on the same turn.
You make a good point that Mother of Runes will attract removal spells and effects, which means there is one less spell or effect targeting Kaalia. That's completely valid. I just haven't had any good luck with Mother of Runes in my games.
My reasons (your mileage may vary):
There are too many board wipes that make Mother of Runes not matter in the long run.
There are enough targeted removal spells and effects from all opponents that one spell isn't going to make a difference.
Occasionally, somebody is playing with pingers, such as Acorn Catapult. If they manage to play a pinger before I get Mother of Runes out, Mother of Runes is neutralized. If they get a pinger afterwards, Mother of Runes is kind of doomed anyway, as I have no way to buff her. Tap her to protect herself is silly, and I've done it while I try to draw something to deal with the pinger.
My form of "protection" is often to cast a board wipe, and then get Kaalia out and attacking. I don't need Mother of Runes if I have enough board wipes.
Mother of Runes is a terrible topdeck!
I have Grand Abolisher in my list, and while it is a terrible top deck, the moment I cast it, it has an immediate effect.
End Hostilities: This should be Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, or Damnation instead.
I've found End Hostilities to be a solid card, pending metagames. The ability to wipe any bestowed cards, and equipments, with the rest of the board is commonly worth the extra 1 over a Wrath of God. Additionally, it's so pro vs Batterskull. I've actually settled on running it in place of my Hallowed Burial, and you know how high I've been on that card Shiroe.
End Hostilities: This should be Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, or Damnation instead.
I've found End Hostilities to be a solid card, pending metagames. The ability to wipe any bestowed cards, and equipments, with the rest of the board is commonly worth the extra 1 over a Wrath of God. Additionally, it's so pro vs Batterskull. I've actually settled on running it in place of my Hallowed Burial, and you know how high I've been on that card Shiroe.
Thanks for your valuable input on this! The irony is that I pulled End Hostilities once from a booster pack and sold it cheaply, thinking it wasn't a good card.
I haven't encountered Bestow cards nor have I seen Battleskull in my games, but I will now include it in my large backlog of cards to tweak my Kaalia deck in case I run into them.
End Hostilities: This should be Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, or Damnation instead.
I've found End Hostilities to be a solid card, pending metagames. The ability to wipe any bestowed cards, and equipments, with the rest of the board is commonly worth the extra 1 over a Wrath of God. Additionally, it's so pro vs Batterskull. I've actually settled on running it in place of my Hallowed Burial, and you know how high I've been on that card Shiroe.
Thanks for your valuable input on this! The irony is that I pulled End Hostilities once from a booster pack and sold it cheaply, thinking it wasn't a good card.
I haven't encountered Bestow cards nor have I seen Battleskull in my games, but I will now include it in my large backlog of cards to tweak my Kaalia deck in case I run into them.
Sure. For my meta, Sigarda exists, and it is one of the top placing decks on any average night. He runs the full five Swords, a Jitte, and among a few other equipments - so End Hostilities is worth it's weight there. Occasionally it is "just" a five mana Day of Judgment though.
I've drawn inspiration from 3drinks for my multiplayer build as well and the list looks quite similar, with the main difference being that I do run flicker effects in favor of some of the utility cards you have.
While I understand that both of these are magical-Christmasland best case scenarios, the flicker spells also double as protection while maintaining the potential for huge value. I rarely find these cards sitting dead in my hand. In the event that I do have Kaalia on the board and no removal is being pointed at her, then I am most likely winning anyways, and the flicker effects serve as a nice backup plan against topdecked removal. I do realize that it is dependent on the speed and amount of removal in your playgroup, so I would definitely consider it a meta call.
Have you tested Surveyor's Scope? I have had little trouble activating it with only 3 fetches in my deck, I imagine that with 7 it should be quite easy. If you hit just one land, then it is already on par with a 2-mana rock in terms of mana production. Any more than that and you are getting huge value.
Hide // Seek is a cool card that I noticed you discussing earlier in the thread. My group has been playing with a lot of annoying artifacts and enchantments lately, so I might try running this in addition to Wear // Tear and Return to Dust.
I've drawn inspiration from 3drinks for my multiplayer build as well and the list looks quite similar, with the main difference being that I do run flicker effects in favor of some of the utility cards you have.
While I understand that both of these are magical-Christmasland best case scenarios, the flicker spells also double as protection while maintaining the potential for huge value. I rarely find these cards sitting dead in my hand. In the event that I do have Kaalia on the board and no removal is being pointed at her, then I am most likely winning anyways, and the flicker effects serve as a nice backup plan against topdecked removal. I do realize that it is dependent on the speed and amount of removal in your playgroup, so I would definitely consider it a meta call.
Have you tested Surveyor's Scope? I have had little trouble activating it with only 3 fetches in my deck, I imagine that with 7 it should be quite easy. If you hit just one land, then it is already on par with a 2-mana rock in terms of mana production. Any more than that and you are getting huge value.
Hide // Seek is a cool card that I noticed you discussing earlier in the thread. My group has been playing with a lot of annoying artifacts and enchantments lately, so I might try running this in addition to Wear // Tear and Return to Dust.
My meta is not competitive enough that I want to add flicker cards into the deck. That doesn't mean that flicker cards are bad cards.
Because my meta is not competitive, I haven't played with Surveyor's Scope yet, although I have it in my stash of cards. Usually, I'm even or ahead of my opponents on lands, so Surveyor's Scope is a blank.
Hide // Seek is useful for tucking indestructible artifacts and enchantments. I've retired it in favor or Wear // Tear and Return to Dust. Depending on new cards being issued and my local meta, Hide // Seek may return one day.
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Just to be clear, discard spells are generally bad in multiplayer, because you can only take out one player's hand at a time. Discard is generally not fast enough to protect yourself.
Single-use removal cards, like Terminate and Swords to Plowshares, are fine because they are quick, and you have to stop dangerous creatures over the course of the game. Everybody else is doing the same thing.
Trying to stop a Commander player through discard or milling, however, is too slow and not sustainable against multiple players, generally speaking.
They are listing spoilers now on this site. Based on what I'm seeing on eBay, I would anticipate people selling the Ravnica shocklands for $9-$10 at the lowest end shortly after RTR goes into circulation. The previous Ravnica lands might sell a little cheaper, since the RTR shockland art is the "new hotness." So, I would save up to get Blood Crypt, Godless Shrine, and Sacred Foundry, which are Kaalia's colors.
I would not bother buying ABU dual lands unless you are going to play often in EDH/Commander tournaments where there is prize money or boosters on the line. It's just not worth buying them unless you plan to win some money or boosters back for your spending. The game is supposed to be fun, not a money sink, right?
Thanks for the advice!
And thanks again Eriol... went to a local cardshop and pretty much finished my deck (all but the 3 shocklands you mentioned) for about 60$ with a 15% off deal. This may seem like a lot, but I got Kaalia, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Tutor, Sensei's Divining Top, Gisela, Defense Grid, Insidious Dreams, Hallowed Burial, Miraculous Recovery, Necromancy, Terminate, Stronghold Overseer, Swords to Plowshares, Sol Ring... all mint and shiny and it pretty much makes my deck more than playable!
Glad to hear that you got most of the cards you need! Have fun!
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
Recently, I played against a Kaalia deck in multiplayer that had Reconnaissance in their deck, but it never came up during play. (The player and I discussed our decks in post-game.)
I didn't include Reconnaissance in my deck, because it's a very narrowly defined card, and I felt that I needed its slot for other cards. There weren't any other cards in my deck that functioned similarly, so I wasn't going to risk a 1/99 probability (assume no card searching) that it would appear. In most of my games, I have Kaalia and maybe 1 or 2 other creatures out before the board is wiped anyway, so Reconnaissance would not have gotten much use.
But, if a Kaalia player has room in their deck, I do not see a strong reason for not using the card.
Thanks in advance
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rwb-kaalia/
and i am mostly aiming to be semi-competitive, if not competitive
3drinks has played Kaalia far longer than I, so I may not be the best person to ask about a competitive multiplayer deck.
Here are my initial thoughts about your multiplayer deck:
If you're not convinced about my thoughts, you can take these to 3drinks. I'm pretty sure he is going to agree with the majority of my thoughts.
Yes. Yes I will.
Although I will add that cards such as Mass Hysteria have their place - although definitely not in this deck, of course. But, in the same vein as Ezuri Elfball decks that play Concordant Crossroads (my old Jund Warp World deck, for example, loved these kinds of cards but really I just wanted a critical mass of mass-haste so that I always had it when I resolved a Warp).
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Thanks for the confirming my thoughts, 3drinks. I didn't think Mass Hysteria would work out for this person's particular Kaalia deck.
I've recently built my first Kaalia deck and played her against friends and family. I've relied heavily on 3Drinks' list for converting the deck to 1v1, but would like to see what you currently have for multi-player. Would like to take Kaalia out for a spin at my local LGS for FNM.
Thanks in advance.
I update the first post as new cards come into circulation. I don't normally post into my own thread to raise it to the top unless I have something really meaningful to discuss. I don't consider myself to have the definitive multiplayer Kaalia deck like 3drinks has with his 1 vs. 1 version.
My multiplayer strategy concentrates on using a lot more reanimation cards and mass creature removal to stay alive longer. Kaalia is a Commander that sometimes invites a lot of hate. Depending on the other 3 decks at the table, sometimes I'm the "archenemy" and have to deal with 3 opponents. 3drinks's 1 vs. 1 relies a lot on hand disruption, but in a multiplayer game, you don't have enough of those cards to take on 3 opponents.
In terms of power level, my deck is way stronger than casual, but it might not hold up in a LGS Commander tournament, especially against blue. My multiplayer Kaalia has a poor match-up against blue just as 3drink's 1 vs. 1 does. In addition, I cannot in good conscience buy very expensive ABUR dual lands to stabilize my mana base further, so my deck will always be a little less powerful.
I used to have a Sunforger package, but I dropped it in favor of more reanimation. I found that the sorcery speed to equip Sunforger was disadvantageous in certain metas. It often got destroyed before I could equip the item onto a creature, which would invalidate the "fetch an instant spell" strategy.
I follow 3Drinks forum and see Shiroe's posts all over the place, much appreciated to get the multi-player perspective.
Hopefully I will be able to test out Kaalia tomorrow at my LGS if there is a pod.
Thanks for the replies!
No problem. The protocol here in these decklist forums is to dedicate the first few posts at the beginning of the thread for the deck lists, deck analysis, and updates. This is why you sometimes see a person double-post to begin his or her decklist thread, but the second post says something like "reserved for later."
3drinks plays almost entirely 1 vs. 1 games. He doesn't play multiplayer Commander much, so his multiplayer section (towards the bottom of his first post) is based more on what he would do if he went into a competitive multiplayer Commander game. That may sound like his multiplayer card choices are untested, but he has a lot of MTG gaming experience and is good at identifying cards that would be good in multiplayer. From my own multiplayer games, I have discovered that he is mostly correct about his multiplayer card choices. When my list does differ from his is either because I can't afford a particular card, or I don't want to be that cutthroat. If your find out that your LGS is very competitive, go with 3drink's multiplayer list. Otherwise, my list should provide a good fight in all but the most competitive metas.
I played in a 3 man pod; Krenko, Mob Boss & Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. I won with 4 life left, lived through the Goblin swarm.
I would appreciate any help you can give me on my current deck build:
1 Mother of Runes
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Archfiend of Depravity
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Karmic Guide
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
1 Harvester of Souls
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
1 Rakdos the Defiler
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Sun Titan
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Angel of Despair
1 Dragon Mage
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Lord of the Void
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Reconnaissance
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Wear // Tear
1 Animate Dead
1 Aurelia's Fury
1 Boros Signet
1 Dance of the Dead
1 Dragon Tempest
1 Dreadbore
1 Earnest Fellowship
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Profane Command
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Strionic Resonator
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Tainted Pact
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Banishing Light
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Council's Judgment
1 Crackling Doom
1 Fire Covenant
1 Necromancy
1 Necropotence
1 Armageddon
1 Cataclysm
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Return to Dust
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 End Hostilities
1 Liliana Vess
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Caves of Koilos
1 City of Brass
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Godless Shrine
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scabland
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Strip Mine
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Swamp
1 Temple of Malice
1 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Mountain
2 Plains
Thanks!
Will tweak the deck and force myself to patiently wait until next Friday.
For me, Mother of Runes is a 1/1 that can't be tapped for its ability until your next turn. In multiplayer, that means waiting on 2-3 opponents to act before you, which means Mother of Runes is likely gone by your next turn. Lightning Greaves is 2 mana and your can equip for 0 on your turn. Being able to take immediate advantage of cards on your turn is very important in multiplayer, because your next turn is quite a bit of time.
You make a good point that Mother of Runes will attract removal spells and effects, which means there is one less spell or effect targeting Kaalia. That's completely valid. I just haven't had any good luck with Mother of Runes in my games.
My reasons (your mileage may vary):
I have Grand Abolisher in my list, and while it is a terrible top deck, the moment I cast it, it has an immediate effect.
I've found End Hostilities to be a solid card, pending metagames. The ability to wipe any bestowed cards, and equipments, with the rest of the board is commonly worth the extra 1 over a Wrath of God. Additionally, it's so pro vs Batterskull. I've actually settled on running it in place of my Hallowed Burial, and you know how high I've been on that card Shiroe.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Thanks for your valuable input on this! The irony is that I pulled End Hostilities once from a booster pack and sold it cheaply, thinking it wasn't a good card.
I haven't encountered Bestow cards nor have I seen Battleskull in my games, but I will now include it in my large backlog of cards to tweak my Kaalia deck in case I run into them.
Sure. For my meta, Sigarda exists, and it is one of the top placing decks on any average night. He runs the full five Swords, a Jitte, and among a few other equipments - so End Hostilities is worth it's weight there. Occasionally it is "just" a five mana Day of Judgment though.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I once had my board wiped with 6 mana open and one card in my hand. On the end step preceding my turn I flashed in Necromancy targeting Sun Titan. The Sun Titan trigger brought back my Karmic Guide, which brought back my Rune-Scarred Demon. The Rune-Scarred Demon searched for Ghostway, which was played immediately. Sun Titan dropped Necromancy and brought it back targeting Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Karmic Guide brought back Grand Abolisher, and Rune-Scarred Demon tutored for Legion's Initiative (for good measure). I untapped and swung for 42 damage behind Grand Abolisher.
In another game, I attempted to Cataclysm with Kaalia out, but she was killed in response leaving me with a land and a Signet. On my next turn, I played Animate Dead on Sun Titan, returning Dance of the Dead targeting Angel of Serenity removing my 3 opponents' Cataclysm-surviving creatures. I then played Cloudshift on Sun Titan, dropping the Animate Dead and bringing it back targeting Sire of Insanity.
While I understand that both of these are magical-Christmasland best case scenarios, the flicker spells also double as protection while maintaining the potential for huge value. I rarely find these cards sitting dead in my hand. In the event that I do have Kaalia on the board and no removal is being pointed at her, then I am most likely winning anyways, and the flicker effects serve as a nice backup plan against topdecked removal. I do realize that it is dependent on the speed and amount of removal in your playgroup, so I would definitely consider it a meta call.
Have you tested Surveyor's Scope? I have had little trouble activating it with only 3 fetches in my deck, I imagine that with 7 it should be quite easy. If you hit just one land, then it is already on par with a 2-mana rock in terms of mana production. Any more than that and you are getting huge value.
Hide // Seek is a cool card that I noticed you discussing earlier in the thread. My group has been playing with a lot of annoying artifacts and enchantments lately, so I might try running this in addition to Wear // Tear and Return to Dust.
My meta is not competitive enough that I want to add flicker cards into the deck. That doesn't mean that flicker cards are bad cards.
Because my meta is not competitive, I haven't played with Surveyor's Scope yet, although I have it in my stash of cards. Usually, I'm even or ahead of my opponents on lands, so Surveyor's Scope is a blank.
Hide // Seek is useful for tucking indestructible artifacts and enchantments. I've retired it in favor or Wear // Tear and Return to Dust. Depending on new cards being issued and my local meta, Hide // Seek may return one day.