MTG Salvation

Hey guys! I'm back here for the third time attempting to brew up my first EDH deck, and I figured since I feel a little bit in over my head with this whole process, you fine folks here could help me. I just fished out a bunch of crappy commons to use as proxy backings, got some decent sleeves, and decided to brainstorm a list based on my favorite of the new commanders from Conspiracy: Brago, King Eternal. He's a simple enough dude to build around, having a clearly-defined theme, but the number of cards that go well with him is dizzying. This is where I hope you guys can help me out.

Below is the shell I'm working off of right now that contains several pieces to an infinite combo with Brago. I'm not looking to base the deck solely around that particular combo though; I'm looking more for ETB value with a hint of voltron so that I don't have to rely fully on the combo to win. Also, I'm hoping to build a physical version of this at some point if I can scrounge up the dosh, so if possible, keeping card suggestions accessible (i.e no Mana Crypts plz) would be awesome. Anyways, time for me to shut up and show you the limited pool of what I'm working with so far.



I'll update the list as more suggestions come in. Thanks in advance for all your help!

Blerg mana ramp.
mana ramp to what?

My brago deck is enchantment control.

But some suggestions. Resolute Archangel saves my arse all the time they almost kill me then... nope. Actually I kinda have an angel theme going, Sunblast angel, angel of serenity. Sphact and Sphiction (sphinx of Uthuun).

Decree of silence, Mystic remora reset

Narvuntien, the mana ramp is there for two reasons. One, they work well with Brago, untapping and roviding extra mana. Two, they produce 2 or more colorless mana per tap, meaning that they can go infinite with a Brago trigger and Strionic Resonator in play.

Thank you both for your suggestions, I'll work on trying to implement them as soon as I can. Keep 'em coming!

Here's how the combo works:
1. With a Brago trigger on the stack, tap a mana rock that produces two or more mana and tap Strionic Resonator. Parallax Tide can also be used for this if you have two or more mana available in lands. Just tap your lands, then respond to the Resonator trigger by removing the tapped lands with Tide.

2. Target the Brago trigger with Resonator, then use the copied trigger to target the mana rock/Tide, Resonator, and any number of ETB/LTB effects you have.

3. The copied trigger will resolve, blinking everything and returning your flickered pieces to the battlefield untapped. If you used Tide, you also get the lands you removed back untapped.

4. Voila, you now have your original Brago trigger on the stack and an untapped Resonator. Repeat the process indefinitely for infinite ETB/LTB fun. If one of the cards you're blinking is either Venser, Shaper Savant, Spine of Ish Sah, or Reality Acid, duck, because someone will probably be throwing the table at your head

Quote from Macabre »

since the resonator only let's you copy one thing per tap, and bragos flicker trigger only happens once per combat damage, how does that create an infinite state?

Simple, with Brago's triggered ability on the stack, you target it with the resonator, creating a copy. You target the resonator with the copy of Brago's triggered ability. When that resolves, you exile the resonator and return it to play untapped. Then you get priority to do stuff before the original trigger resolves. You use the resonator again to copy the original trigger and repeat.

EDIT: Also, revilark has a leaves the battlefield trigger. Nevermind, thought it had to die.
Try Karmic Guide instead.

Edit 1: Added a ton of stuff from things you guys suggested into the deck, as well as a piecemeal instant/sorcery set for Archaeomancer and some Voltron stuff to better help Brago wing in. Still could use a fair amount of suggestions though. Also, the curve right now looks pretty fat. Any ideas for stuff you guys can already see that might need to be tweaked around?

Another iteration down. There's about 13 cards too many, but I'm hoping to look at it tomorrow before I head to FNM and test it out to make final cuts. If anyone sees anything I missed, or sees a card decision that puzzles them, let me know.

Made the last of the preliminary edits to the deck. This will be the list I end up taking to FNM tonight. Will let everyone know how it goes. Once again, if you have any suggestions, I'm more than happy to read them, as I could use any help I can get at this point.

Ended up playing four games this evening before I got tired.

The first two were against Nekusar, the Mindrazer and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts. The deck's maiden voyage went surprisingly smooth, and I managed to win fairly quickly by getting Brago up with five blinkable cards and sufficient counterspell protection. However, after this game, I immediately turned into the archenemy. I was targeted from the get-go by both players, wasn't able to do anything after having my board continually wiped and most of my resources exiled, and eventually ended up bowing out first before the Nekusar player eventually won.

Third game was against the Nekusar player from before, Prime Speaker Zegana, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Once again, the deck was targeted from the get-go after not having the greatest of opening hands, and I wasn't able to make anything stick. I don't think Brago was able to swing in once, much less stick around on the field for more than a turn. The Nekusar player eventually killed us all at once with Doomsday + Laboratory Maniac after removing the rest of his deck.

The final game was against the same decks, except the Nekusar player swapped out his deck for a Lieutenant Kirtar voltron build. I mulliganed to five and was stuck on two lands for several turns until the Zegana player let me draw a few cards out of sympathy. By the time I was able to get any sort of board state, everyone else was miles ahead and basically left me in the dust. I bowed out third after Kirtar was forced out in revenge for some early aggression.

As stated, this deck became archenemy among the group I was playing with very quickly, and I think it exposed how fragile it is. If Brago isn't able to get some sort of protection, he just dies over and over again before I can swing in. It's also not very resilient to board wipes, making my board states even more fragile. I would love to know if there was any way to fix this, because the results of the last three games were incredibly frustrating.

Recursion. My playgroup tends to have a lot of board control. I often use Karmic Guide, Reveillarks and clone effects to rebuild a boardstate. The other method is attack manabases and use hardlocks like Stasis etc in which you keep them out of the game. Tangle wire/Static Orb/Winter Orb/Stasis. Savage use of Parallax Tide. Brago Staxx approach is quite good. Protecting Brago can be a pain if he is constantly the target. Swiftfoot boots, Mother of Runes or Sword of X and Y work well. I use Gift of Immortality as another aura that simply puts Brago back into play repeatedly versus destruction effects.

phate: Thank you for your suggestions; I will certainly try to fit Angel of Serenity and Geist-Honored Monk in particular in here if I can. My one issue with taking out the two auras you listed is that it completely gets rid of most of the Voltron elements that were my backup win condition. Without them, games seem to be grindy, and this version doesn't have a ton of protection for Brago at the moment. I'm not sure if removing the auras would benefit me, but I certainly might try it out.

Elminster: Thanks for the suggestions. I'm pretty sure Brago Stax would be the easiest way for me to become even more of an archenemy to my playgroup, unfortunately. I already cut Decree of Silence from my list at a friend's suggestion because he said it would draw a lot of hate, and after Friday's series of games, I think Stasis and its ilk would do much the same thing. Plus, I don't think I'd have the cash to shill out for them when it finally comes around to putting the physical deck together. Gift of Immortality is an interesting effect I never thought of, and Karmic Guide is something I'll try to fit in if I can figure out what to cut for it.

Feedback so far has been very much appreciated guys. I'd love more if you're willing to give it.

Vanishing as well. Probably the best protection Aura, as well as it's next of kin Flickerform. Tons of sweepers def hurt Brago's strategy, which sadly is the reason I retired him (which sucks since I love blink effects). Another way to combat this is to not let Brago be the only flicker engine. Deadeye navigator (cheap but does draw lots of hate) paired with etb creatures, conjurer's closet, Venser the Sojourner etc and def the new Clever Impostor. If you can try and get a draining whelk paired with deadeye navigator and wait for the groans lol.

An enchantment deck without Sovereigns of Lost Alara?
Don't know if you're enthusiastic about prison effects (Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Aurification, ...) but those could help as well.
If you're looking for more creatures, take a look at Bruna, Light of Alabaster as well.

OwnDemon: I'm not sure if I want this to be an "enchantment deck" per se; I was more leaning towards ETB value effects with a few combos and voltron as a side win condition. I'm not looking to go all in to them unless they really help my cause, and I don't know if I want to devote a ton of the deck to actively seeking them out. I could be open to that if you think it would be a better direction to take the deck, however. I'll definitely consider the prison effects though.

Elminster: Sweepers and targeted instant speed removal were the bane of my existence when I played the other night, especially after the first game. I want to give this deck a shot at being decent, and I wanted to see how far I can really take my first deckbuilding project, so I don't think I want to give up on it just yet. My meta, while not cutthroat, is certainly fairly competitive though. Navigator, Venser, and Impostor are already in the deck, and I could certainly try to find a slot for Draining Whelk, Conjurer's Closet, and Flickerform/Vanishing as well.

Do you guys have any idea of what I might cut to fit these suggestions in? My eye for weak points in synergy isn't the most trained yet.

Well personally I think that a blink deck with enchantment voltron would be pretty good and cool ^^.

For the voltron-enchantment package, a couple of suggestions:

Now some options if you wanna blink ^^.

Well I have alot more suggestions, but by summing up all of these cards made me sound pretty boring already :P.
If you want more suggestions, or want me to clarify on a certain card, feel free to reply ^^.

Wow, that's a lot to consider...I feel like I would have to almost reshape the deck from where it is right now in order to get it to be centered around that. I'll have to think on if I want the deck to go in that direction and what I might need to do to get it there before I go any further.

Like I said, if you wanna go that route those are a couple of suggestions ^^. Make the deck the way you like to play it, so it doesn't become boring.
That way you can enjoy the deck for a long time. I for example don't really like the combo's with the Parallaxe's, but that is my personal opinion.

You could even build a pauper/peasant version of a certain theme :).

Hi guys! So, a bit has happened since the last time I posted. Most notably, I got to play a couple more games with the deck! I used the same version as the last time I played, and was quite surprised with the results. The first game ended up being against Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter fling, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BUG goodstuff, Lazav, Dimir Mastermind mill/steal, and Raksha Golden Cub cat tribal. I tried to keep a fairly low profile early, but the table quickly turned against me after I put out an Exclusion Ritual with Brago in play and started threatening everyone's permanents. I got reduced to about 19 life through having to tap Mana Confluence and being swung at, but I managed to stabilize my board position and turn the table back in my favor through some good politicking with the Lazav player. Raksha bowed out after grinding to a halt midgame, and I managed to beat the very threatening Sidisi player to death after fitting Brago up with Sword of Feast and Famine (which also kept me from being blown up by Vish Kal's Avatar of Woe). Somewhere in there, Resolute Archangel and Parallax Wave hit my board as well, which basically made me untouchable to everyone. Vish Kal bowed out after Lazav told him every effect he had was going to be aimed at him for the rest of the game, which cleared the way for me to combo out with Resonator and win.

The second game wasn't entirely noteworthy. It was against Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero rebels, Experiment Kraj combo, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight big wallop. Brago got tucked early, and Gisela aimed a couple swings at me and I lost. However, this game was arguably more fruitful, as it showed me that I needed more blink effects if I wanted to stay alive longer if Brago went away. With that in mind, I've made a few changes:

Out:
Skybind
Forbid
Clone
In:
Mistmeadow Witch
Planar Guide
Karmic Guide

Other cards I'm also thinking about are:
Mirrorworks
Mimic Vat
Voyager Staff
Draining Whelk
Conjurer's Closet
Flickerform
Angel of Serenity
Sea Gate Oracle
Rhystic Study

Once again, suggestions would be awesome. I'm very impressed at how the deck is turning out after only a few revisions. It's quite powerful, but it can get better. Thanks for continuing to stick around guys!