Anyhoo, I don't see myself going out to buy a single of either land, because chances are that they'll be reprinted in FTV: Realms. I'm hoping whatever the RTR land is, it'll be useful too. I could probably run Phyrexian Tower, but I'd rather run Miren, the Moaning Well over High Market.
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Anyhoo, I don't see myself going out to buy a single of either land, because chances are that they'll be reprinted in FTV: Realms. I'm hoping whatever the RTR land is, it'll be useful too. I could probably run Phyrexian Tower, but I'd rather run Miren, the Moaning Well over High Market.
Feel free to post something and bump it up, I wouldn't mind posting some results on the thread but I've already posted twice.
Just got it complete a week ago (previously I had a slightly different version that was proxied) and it's been doing well. Of course, being a political build, YMMV.
Miren is ok but the downside is that you've got to keep a lot of mana open. That's probably more feasible in my deck than yours, but if you're relying on it to protect your general from tuck it might get pretty tricky to always keep 4 mana open every time you might get tucked. the additional life gain is nice but I don't know that it's really necessary.
Feel free to post something and bump it up, I wouldn't mind posting some results on the thread but I've already posted twice.
Just got it complete a week ago (previously I had a slightly different version that was proxied) and it's been doing well. Of course, being a political build, YMMV.
Miren is ok but the downside is that you've got to keep a lot of mana open. That's probably more feasible in my deck than yours, but if you're relying on it to protect your general from tuck it might get pretty tricky to always keep 4 mana open every time you might get tucked. the additional life gain is nice but I don't know that it's really necessary.
With Miren though, since it's pretty desirable to trigger cantrippable artifacts (spellbombs, Moriok Replica) at EoT, keeping mana open to do stuff is pretty easy, particularly if your grip is pretty empty.
Just played a game last Monday, while continually shooting an opposing General (Sheoldred,) with the Thornbite Machine Gun, Garruk Relentless was tutoring up awesome-stuff, and Karn outright stole me the game. It was ironic, the Esper control player who counters any normal shenanigans I try, let the silver golem slip past.
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I've been busy, acquiring stuff from the Planechase 2012 weekend. I got Buried Alive (sadly, not the Graveborn foil, but a regular Odyssey copy, and I've got a foil Netherborn Phalanx on the way.
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Last night at the LGS, I was presented a unique opportunity. The dealer had a secret box, of stuff too old or rare to keep in his showcase. I learned of this box last night, and scanned through it. I didn't have a ton of money on me, so I resolved to buy one card that would amp up one of my commander decks.
Lo, and behold, a Genesis.
One of my trading orders came in as well, yielding a foil Netherborn Phalanx.
Changes
+Netherborn Phalanx
+Genesis
-Crushing Vines
-Nezumi Graverobber
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Duplicant added, Ezuri removed. I've been meaning to get a Duplicant for a while, but no one had 'em. The internet is a great thing for trading though.
This build is now a Certified Primer. Wooty woot woot.
A few cards I've been pondering, as well as the implications of M13 on this deck..
Tortured Existence is an interesting card, that's sort of like Survival of the Fittest, but for the GY instead of your library. Obviously, it is usable in the same sort of functions as Ulvenwald Tracker and Fauna Shaman, as well as giving better functionality to Buried Alive and Corpse Connosieur. Considering replacing Prismatic Omen with this.
In M13, only three cards have really gotten my attention.
Diabolic Revelations is a very disputed card for EDH right now. Some people say it's not worth it, others say it's great. In decks that have a lot of mana at their disposal, it's great. Therefore, in this deck, it's great. Will probably replace Increasing Ambition.
Disciple of Bolas presents an interesting conundrum. A 2/1 for 4 mana isn't great, except that he eats a creature and then gives you some cards and life. I can see him turning Sad Robot and Duplicant into snack food for profit. The issue with him is that he cannot eat himself and can be a dead card, only good for pitching to Garruk or Fauna Shaman. This one's going to be a tough sell for sure.
The last of the three is Liliana of the Dark Realms. Repeatable swamp tutor for 4 mana is no laughing matter, and her ultimate pretty much ends the game if there's an Exsanguinate in your hand. It's gonna be hard, but I will find a slot for her in this deck.
Thoughts about cards in the deck as of late...
I was playing an imperfect build of this deck last week, stripped of it's money lands and Top (I had them proxied in the deck, but forgot to bring my actual copies with me) and Duplicant saved my ass from an active Sheoldred. Unfortunately, he did nothing to stop the zerg rush of Elves from stomping me flat.
Prismatic Omen is okay, but is a little underperforming. Same with Sol Ring. Both are being considered for removal.
Pondering whether Elvish Harbinger, Wirewood Herald, and Elvish Archdruid are worth running anymore. The first two are nice in that they save Glissa from being tucked, as well as fetching Fauna Shaman and Oracle of Mul Daya, but that's pretty much it. Archdruid is a Glissa pump tacked onto a Fyndhorn Elder most of the time, so he's not faring for survival either. I might put some more artifact ramp in their place though, plus the cards I still need to get.
That's all for now.
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
The M13 release has come and gone, and thanks to Griselbrand being GriselBANNED, I managed to trade for the new Liliana of the Veil. I also picked up a foiled Diabolic Revelation and a Disciple of Bolas. Disciple hasn't earned his slot yet, but he's still trying.
"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
So, I've been investigating some interesting tech that's been in EDH for a while. Snow landbase.
I loves my Zendikar lands, but a snow landbase opens up Scrying Sheets and Extraplanar Lens as options in this deck. I own two S-Forests but zero S-Swamps.
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
For the Snow base, it seems pretty underwhelming overall, considering you'll have 16 cards total in your deck to take advantage of Scrying Sheets; I am disappointed a lot of times in monocolored decks with ~25 Snow lands, so adding another colorless land (unless you're replacing a colorless land with it) for the limited chance to occasionally draw a card seems lackluster.
Extraplanar Lens...meh. It's much better in monocolor as well, but it also makes you sink an extra resource into it that disappears forever, and it is a common victim of collateral damage from artifact removal. Frankly, it never makes the cut for any deck I play, but I guess if no one in your playgroup plays any real artifact removal, it could be ok.
Well, in reflection of this year's From The Vault series, two cards have been added to the primer.
Vesuva - I adore Clone effects, so Vesuva is just plain badass. The primary use for this is turning it into Cabal Coffers #2. It also kills other legendary lands (looking at you, Gaea's Cradle!) and can just turn into another land in the early game, then be reset with Golgari Rot Farm.
Forbidden Orchard - Fixing is great, but it lets us give opponents dorks so they can die and create recursion triggers off of Glissa. Mindslaver tricks come to mind, but this deck is designed for multiplayer, and achieving a lock on one player will assuredly piss off the others.
"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
So, some pre-change musings on the current spoilers of Return to Ravnica.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord will soon make an appearance in this deck, when he's released to the public on Friday. I'll be getting my copy of Izzet VS Golgari on Saturday, during the Celebration event (which you should totally go to because, hey, free cards and stuff.)
In terms of monocolored stuff, not much impresses me so far. For the record, I hate Scavenge and it can go pound sand for all I give a damn.
Multicolored brings some new options to the table. Besides Jarad, Korozda Guildmage, Grisly Salvage, and, naturally, Vraska the Unseen, are digging holes in my brains, begging me for a slot.
Grisly Salvage intrigues me, because it's almost like a spell that has Dredge. It mills five and lets you keep a creature or a land. I'm not a huge fan of one shot effects unless they're removal, tutors, or something that will bail me out/win me the game. Until the deck adapts more cards that abuse the idea of dredge, this one might be sitting on the sidelines.
Korozda Guildmage is certainly an excellent update to the formerly cut Golgari Guildmage. Even his name is cool! (Seriously, Korozda sounds badass.) Trading his, frankly, expensive recursion abilities for increased combat potential certainly puts this one in a favorable light. Especially when combined with the ult from...
Vraska the Unseen has the Commander veterans abuzz. Some hate her because they see her as an overcosted Vindicate (BTW guise, it's more like Maelstrom Pulse without the hitting everything clause) that will eat beatings and removal once used. Others see her as a powerful rattlesnake card that will cost opponents valuable creatures to attempt to remove, and that her ult can win the game if used properly. I am firmly in the second camp on this. This deck has the potential to protect planeswalkers for multiple turns (the Game Reports section has some examples) and any incentive to hit Vraska will be thoroughly chump blocked. Plus, how awesome would it be to pull a Decree of Pain into an Ultimate Vraska?
Elvish Archdruid will be removed for Jarad when the time comes. Vraska will be decided upon when she comes out and the Golgari cards have been revealed.
"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
I am also looking forward to the Duel deck.. although I am not sure what I will be taking out of my deck atm.
Probably not using Jarad, he doesn't have as much synergy with my deck since I am artifact recursion and not creature recursion... but I think I might not be able to resist... plus I lack 4 drops in my Pod chain.
I might try to find room for the guild mage, I like the saporling token making ability because Craterhoof behemoth is one of my major win conditions, he surprised me with just how powerful he was at just ending games. Myr battlesphere and Grave titan quickly get me a stack of tokens.
to get the most out of dredge I will have to redesign the deck and I don't really want to.
The thing I need most of course is the Lands!.. because atm I have just basics (+ a few uncommon colourless ultility lands)... it works fine like that I have a million ways to search for basics + Boundless realms.
Have you tried Trading Post?... I opened one in a M13 draft slipped it into my deck... then just started winning games with my cheap all basics, cards I had lying around EDH deck. I have been very impressed with it. As long as I have 1 mana up it can just dodge all removal with it and draw cards... can cycle unneeded artifacts, can get me back the ones I really need.
Artifact recursion can work with Jarad, to an extent. Pitching Solemn Simulacrum and Wurmcoil Engine to get back with Glissa seems incredibly stupid.
The E. Witness is so cool, I already had one in the deck. I wish they'd give her some damn alt art, or at least start using the FNM art for more than FNM.
Cabal Coffers is pretty cheap now, and Urborg might drop a bit thanks to FTV: Realms. Primeval Titan, assuming he doesn't rule over modern, will also see a heavy drop in price. Caged Sun is extremely cheap. Those cards alone will tune your mana up a great deal.
Trading Post is kind of meh, in my opinion. If I want to recycle creatures, I'd feed them to Garruk Relentless or Fauna Shaman. Most of my artifacts cantrip by themselves, and the ones that don't are creatures. Genesis makes sure that both types stay stocked in my hand when I need them. Goats and lifegain are totally unnecessary for the deck, because neither will really affect the gamestate in any significant way.
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
So, kids, we lost Primeval Titan, thanks to the new banlist updates.
There's a few contenders from Return to Ravnica that make good replacements.
Golgari Charm isn't that good. We won't be playing it.
Grave Betrayal is incredibly great and a definite shoe-in for the RTR Update.
Worldspine Wurm is cool as hell and has the same appeal as Wurmcoil Engine.
Codex Shredder is an interesting card. Recurable Regrowth at six colorless? Might be worth it, but it needs testing.
This ban might just win Expedition Map its day in the sun though. For now, the updated list will run Expedition Map.
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Jarad's Orders replaces Worldly Tutor. Having the ability to tutor a creature in hand and throw one in the yard is easily worth the three extra mana.
Grave Betrayal replaces Triumph of Ferocity, which isn't as good as I once thought. Landing GB and then dropping a wrath is pretty much guaranteed to win you the game. Careful though, this one will likely eat a lot of removal.
Another candidate card is Abrupt Decay, but unfortunately, I've yet to acquire one. This will be tough to find at the moment, but should be more acquirable later.
I'm still interested in Codex Shredder, if anyone has any info about how good it is.
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Deathrite Shaman is an interesting card, for sure. My only issue is, it doesn't feel like it does enough for me. Targeted grave hate can be a great thing, though, so I'll be testing it.
Sivarta, here's what I suggest:
Abrupt Decay is a great card, and I would run it if I had one. Hunter's Insight is a likely cut for this bit of hardware.
Vraska is a little weak in my opinion. Upticking her loyalty basically does nothing and her ultimate can be stopped very easily. If I had to cut a card for her, make it Karn Liberated. The two's minus abilities are basically the same.
Scavenging Ooze is not a great idea in this deck, as targeted grave hate is fine, but it's a beater, and beaters tend not to be good unless they do something more. Try cutting Netherborn Phalanx if necessary.
Keep in mind, the deck does run quite a few "dredge" tutors including Buried Alive and Jarad's Orders. Fauna Shaman can be tutored and recurred through this method, while SotF cannot. SotF is better, but less searchable or recurable. I'd cut something else for it. Redundancy is good, from what I've heard.
Another card I'm highly considering is Doubling Cube. It takes seven mana to get any value from it, but that's not a big problem in this deck.
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Hanna does need more grave hate to be addressed. Keep Hanna off the table as much as possible, grab Nihil Spellbomb as soon as you can get it, and keep busting up her artifacts with Sylvok Replica and any of your versatile removal. Creeping Corrosion might help.
Anyway, I did manage to trade for a cheap Abrupt Decay and I'll cut Hunter's Insight for it.
Edit: Hey kids, those swell guys at TopAndGoProductions on Youtube are producing a Glissa, the Traitor video, featuring this deck! Keep an eye out for it soon!
"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Been a while since I haunted this thread, but I've been updating my glissa list so here's some thoughts:
as always, if you're going to post this as a primer (now with the tag) it really makes no sense to exclude cards that obviously belong in the deck but you don't happen to own. You don't even have to playtest to know that bayou (and all the fetches) are worth running.
moriok replica is far inferior to urza/mishra baubles. 5 mana + 2 life only draws you one more card than the bauble. That's just gross.
similarly, horizon spellbomb costs 4 to get +1 card over a bauble, and one of those will definitely be a basic land. It's maybe ok if you're already running the baubles, but the baubles are soooo much better. Unless you're never whiffing on Glissa triggers, they're always worth including. if I could legally play with as many baubles as I wanted, I'd play with at least 30. it's FREE card advantage. I've frequently drawn 10+ cards with one baubles over the course of the game. It's never sitting in your hand or in play (like replica or spellbomb) when something dies, because you wanted to spend the mana on something better. It's free. Replica and spellbomb might give you more CA, but you don't get any CA if it's not in your graveyard to recur. baubles let you play whatever the hell you want, while giving you CA. I cannot overemphasize how crucial they are to a strong glissa build.
phyrexian arena and underworld connections are pretty strong CA engines for black.
Without ptitan is exsanguinate really that useful? I guess it could be ok, but Glissa's never been a really "huge mana" deck for me.
with only 10 swamps by my count, is tainted wood really that useful? seems like the risk of it being colorless and delaying glissa could be really annoying. I'd rather have a forest.
life from the loam is just awesome card advantage.
liliana of the veil is way better than her newer counterpart.
can't say for sure about codex shredder but it looks really awesome to me. the free milling is great, and being able to rip cards from the grave at instant speed sounds awesome. To say nothing of the fact that you can cycle between shredder and removal spells (cough, damnation) as long as you have mana.
Hoo boy, college sure keeps you busy. No new updates to the deck so far, since we're in that long period before Gatecrash busts down the door (get it?) However, thanks to the fellows over at TopAndGoProductions, this primer now comes in a (slightly-altered) video primer form! Thanks to Karston and Brionne Perry for putting it together.
Been a while since I haunted this thread, but I've been updating my glissa list so here's some thoughts:
as always, if you're going to post this as a primer (now with the tag) it really makes no sense to exclude cards that obviously belong in the deck but you don't happen to own. You don't even have to playtest to know that bayou (and all the fetches) are worth running.
moriok replica is far inferior to urza/mishra baubles. 5 mana + 2 life only draws you one more card than the bauble. That's just gross.
similarly, horizon spellbomb costs 4 to get +1 card over a bauble, and one of those will definitely be a basic land. It's maybe ok if you're already running the baubles, but the baubles are soooo much better. Unless you're never whiffing on Glissa triggers, they're always worth including. if I could legally play with as many baubles as I wanted, I'd play with at least 30. it's FREE card advantage. I've frequently drawn 10+ cards with one baubles over the course of the game. It's never sitting in your hand or in play (like replica or spellbomb) when something dies, because you wanted to spend the mana on something better. It's free. Replica and spellbomb might give you more CA, but you don't get any CA if it's not in your graveyard to recur. baubles let you play whatever the hell you want, while giving you CA. I cannot overemphasize how crucial they are to a strong glissa build.
phyrexian arena and underworld connections are pretty strong CA engines for black.
Without ptitan is exsanguinate really that useful? I guess it could be ok, but Glissa's never been a really "huge mana" deck for me.
with only 10 swamps by my count, is tainted wood really that useful? seems like the risk of it being colorless and delaying glissa could be really annoying. I'd rather have a forest.
life from the loam is just awesome card advantage.
liliana of the veil is way better than her newer counterpart.
While the philosophy behind having cards in the primer that I don't own seems useful, deciding what to cut for fetches is actually a bigger deal, since it wouldn't just be autocutting basics. I'm sure it seems obvious to replace one of the deck's basics for Bayou.
I've found that Glissa simply doesn't stick to the board often enough once her shenanigans are in full force, to justify running the baubles yet. Moriok Replica's body and creature type are super relevant in the deck, as my current outline of dredge tricks (including Buried Alive) fetch only creatures, and some cards require saccing creatures (including Fauna Shaman) to reap the full benefits.
The deck is never dead for draw or tutoring that isn't synergistic to the rest of the deck. PhyArena and Underworld Connections, while adding draw power, require wasting hard tutors to get consistently, and are dead draws in tight scenarios. Same goes for the baubles.
The fact is, Glissa herself isn't huge mana by design. However, Black and Green's color mechanics overlap in three main areas: Mana production, creature interactivity, and graveyard interactions. This deck is designed to capitalize on those three mechanics, with Glissa being the most obvious of the Golgari generals to design a general-centric package for. Exsanguinate is unique in that it hits all players, meaning in multiplayer, you're looking at a lot of damage (and subsequent lifegain) for what, in comparison, is a meager mana investment. To put this in a four-player game, a 40 mana Exsanguinate puts your life total ahead by 160 of any given player (counting the 40 you take from them + the 120 gained altogether.) To beat through that sort of buffer would require a life-circumventing strategy, most of which this deck has options against. The multitude of removal stops combo and infect, Netherborn Phalanx hoses tokens, and Grave Pact keeps voltron in check, just to name a few off the top of my head.
Tainted Wood is able to hit quite consistently due to the fact that satistically, you should be able to see a Swamp within your first three turns (not counting the multitude of fetching and tutoring available to get said swamp.) I've rarely had a game where the land actually hampers gameplay.
LoTL is fine card advantage, but the deck isn't set up to sacrifice lands for positive effects (except for Jarad,) and it's not worth another slot just to be able to recur him endlessly.
Liliana of the Veil is certainly a fine card, and it would indeed make a fine addition to the deck...if the deck didn't already play Liliana of the Dark Realms. Garruk gets a pass because his two forms do drastically different things for gameplay (but yet both synergize well,) but both Lili's do have removal built-in. Veil gets to abuse discard triggers, but her removal isn't targeted, for better or for worse. Although shroud and hexproof are problematic at times, the ability to target a Blightsteel Colossus with Dark Realm's targeted removal has helped in a pinch. Note to other readers, both planeswalker's can destroy indestructible creatures and could easily be swapped out for one another if one needs the unconditional sacrifice over the targeted -X-X.
Whew, dat's a lot of writing.
(Edit: Dammit, Salve doesn't have HTML enabled. Oh well, guess I can link it instead.)
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"When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!" Currently Piloting: EDH BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer) WBRKaalia of The Vast URGRiku of Two Reflections WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius UBRamirez DePietro GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
I have a habit of T2-3 Glissa and T3-4 Momentous Fall or Disciple of Bolas saccing Glissa every time one of them shows up in my hand.
Works wonders for getting the mid-game going smoothly, both with mana and options. Obviously if any non-glissa creatures are more beneficial to sac, I do that instead.
Didn't see it on your list or in the portions of your thread I read. Just thought I'd post the suggestion.
Another thing to note since you said you're considering Doubling Cube - is that with Mana Reflection, which you're already running, Doubling Cube actually QUADRUPLES your available mana, as it is considered 'tapping for mana' per MReflection's ability. This interestingly allows you to benefit from Doubling Cube with anything as little as 3 land, with MReflection out (possible with something like Gaea's Touch or a destroyed Sol Ring, etc.) Starting with 3 land = 6 mana pool with MReflection, triggering cube (pay 3) you get 12 mana out (6-3=3*2(cube)=6*2(MR)=12. Obviously with more than 3 land this gets increasingly ridiculous. I run cube in every deck I run reflection in, they make a fabulous pair (alone, Cube works at 7 mana and MR works at 6 mana. Together, from any cheat into play effects or otherwise, they "work" at 3 and get ridiculous at 4. 3=12, 4=20, 5=28, 6=36, etc...)
Just out of curiosity (didn't read all 6 pages), I always wondered why Glissa lists never went for Leyline of the Void/Helm of Obedience combo? It totally synergizes with the deck, runs with it's theme and is a super sleezy wincon. Plus both cards serve a purpose in their own right, and can be fun to random people out with.
I can see the cons being- it's definitely a kiss of death to play early since normally it only pops one player a turn, painting a giant bullseye on you from the remaining opponents. It's also a one-trick pony since everyone will be wary of it in the future games.
Is it because the combo is so obvious and likely overplayed... that it did not make this deck?
Anyhoo, I don't see myself going out to buy a single of either land, because chances are that they'll be reprinted in FTV: Realms. I'm hoping whatever the RTR land is, it'll be useful too. I could probably run Phyrexian Tower, but I'd rather run Miren, the Moaning Well over High Market.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Sure, here's mine:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=407345
Feel free to post something and bump it up, I wouldn't mind posting some results on the thread but I've already posted twice.
Just got it complete a week ago (previously I had a slightly different version that was proxied) and it's been doing well. Of course, being a political build, YMMV.
Miren is ok but the downside is that you've got to keep a lot of mana open. That's probably more feasible in my deck than yours, but if you're relying on it to protect your general from tuck it might get pretty tricky to always keep 4 mana open every time you might get tucked. the additional life gain is nice but I don't know that it's really necessary.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
With Miren though, since it's pretty desirable to trigger cantrippable artifacts (spellbombs, Moriok Replica) at EoT, keeping mana open to do stuff is pretty easy, particularly if your grip is pretty empty.
Just played a game last Monday, while continually shooting an opposing General (Sheoldred,) with the Thornbite Machine Gun, Garruk Relentless was tutoring up awesome-stuff, and Karn outright stole me the game. It was ironic, the Esper control player who counters any normal shenanigans I try, let the silver golem slip past.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Lo, and behold, a Genesis.
One of my trading orders came in as well, yielding a foil Netherborn Phalanx.
Changes
+Netherborn Phalanx
+Genesis
-Crushing Vines
-Nezumi Graverobber
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Duplicant added, Ezuri removed. I've been meaning to get a Duplicant for a while, but no one had 'em. The internet is a great thing for trading though.
This build is now a Certified Primer. Wooty woot woot.
A few cards I've been pondering, as well as the implications of M13 on this deck..
Tortured Existence is an interesting card, that's sort of like Survival of the Fittest, but for the GY instead of your library. Obviously, it is usable in the same sort of functions as Ulvenwald Tracker and Fauna Shaman, as well as giving better functionality to Buried Alive and Corpse Connosieur. Considering replacing Prismatic Omen with this.
In M13, only three cards have really gotten my attention.
Diabolic Revelations is a very disputed card for EDH right now. Some people say it's not worth it, others say it's great. In decks that have a lot of mana at their disposal, it's great. Therefore, in this deck, it's great. Will probably replace Increasing Ambition.
Disciple of Bolas presents an interesting conundrum. A 2/1 for 4 mana isn't great, except that he eats a creature and then gives you some cards and life. I can see him turning Sad Robot and Duplicant into snack food for profit. The issue with him is that he cannot eat himself and can be a dead card, only good for pitching to Garruk or Fauna Shaman. This one's going to be a tough sell for sure.
The last of the three is Liliana of the Dark Realms. Repeatable swamp tutor for 4 mana is no laughing matter, and her ultimate pretty much ends the game if there's an Exsanguinate in your hand. It's gonna be hard, but I will find a slot for her in this deck.
Thoughts about cards in the deck as of late...
I was playing an imperfect build of this deck last week, stripped of it's money lands and Top (I had them proxied in the deck, but forgot to bring my actual copies with me) and Duplicant saved my ass from an active Sheoldred. Unfortunately, he did nothing to stop the zerg rush of Elves from stomping me flat.
Prismatic Omen is okay, but is a little underperforming. Same with Sol Ring. Both are being considered for removal.
Pondering whether Elvish Harbinger, Wirewood Herald, and Elvish Archdruid are worth running anymore. The first two are nice in that they save Glissa from being tucked, as well as fetching Fauna Shaman and Oracle of Mul Daya, but that's pretty much it. Archdruid is a Glissa pump tacked onto a Fyndhorn Elder most of the time, so he's not faring for survival either. I might put some more artifact ramp in their place though, plus the cards I still need to get.
That's all for now.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
The M13 release has come and gone, and thanks to Griselbrand being GriselBANNED, I managed to trade for the new Liliana of the Veil. I also picked up a foiled Diabolic Revelation and a Disciple of Bolas. Disciple hasn't earned his slot yet, but he's still trying.
Mods:
+Diabolic Revelation
+Liliana of the Dark Realms
-Increasing Ambition
-Prismatic Omen
Also, definitely picking up a set of FTV: Realms. Foil copies of Forbidden Orchard and Urborg make it too good to pass up.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
I loves my Zendikar lands, but a snow landbase opens up Scrying Sheets and Extraplanar Lens as options in this deck. I own two S-Forests but zero S-Swamps.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Extraplanar Lens...meh. It's much better in monocolor as well, but it also makes you sink an extra resource into it that disappears forever, and it is a common victim of collateral damage from artifact removal. Frankly, it never makes the cut for any deck I play, but I guess if no one in your playgroup plays any real artifact removal, it could be ok.
Well, in reflection of this year's From The Vault series, two cards have been added to the primer.
Vesuva - I adore Clone effects, so Vesuva is just plain badass. The primary use for this is turning it into Cabal Coffers #2. It also kills other legendary lands (looking at you, Gaea's Cradle!) and can just turn into another land in the early game, then be reset with Golgari Rot Farm.
Forbidden Orchard - Fixing is great, but it lets us give opponents dorks so they can die and create recursion triggers off of Glissa. Mindslaver tricks come to mind, but this deck is designed for multiplayer, and achieving a lock on one player will assuredly piss off the others.
A Forest and Wirewood Lodge are removed.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord will soon make an appearance in this deck, when he's released to the public on Friday. I'll be getting my copy of Izzet VS Golgari on Saturday, during the Celebration event (which you should totally go to because, hey, free cards and stuff.)
In terms of monocolored stuff, not much impresses me so far. For the record, I hate Scavenge and it can go pound sand for all I give a damn.
Multicolored brings some new options to the table. Besides Jarad, Korozda Guildmage, Grisly Salvage, and, naturally, Vraska the Unseen, are digging holes in my brains, begging me for a slot.
Grisly Salvage intrigues me, because it's almost like a spell that has Dredge. It mills five and lets you keep a creature or a land. I'm not a huge fan of one shot effects unless they're removal, tutors, or something that will bail me out/win me the game. Until the deck adapts more cards that abuse the idea of dredge, this one might be sitting on the sidelines.
Korozda Guildmage is certainly an excellent update to the formerly cut Golgari Guildmage. Even his name is cool! (Seriously, Korozda sounds badass.) Trading his, frankly, expensive recursion abilities for increased combat potential certainly puts this one in a favorable light. Especially when combined with the ult from...
Vraska the Unseen has the Commander veterans abuzz. Some hate her because they see her as an overcosted Vindicate (BTW guise, it's more like Maelstrom Pulse without the hitting everything clause) that will eat beatings and removal once used. Others see her as a powerful rattlesnake card that will cost opponents valuable creatures to attempt to remove, and that her ult can win the game if used properly. I am firmly in the second camp on this. This deck has the potential to protect planeswalkers for multiple turns (the Game Reports section has some examples) and any incentive to hit Vraska will be thoroughly chump blocked. Plus, how awesome would it be to pull a Decree of Pain into an Ultimate Vraska?
Elvish Archdruid will be removed for Jarad when the time comes. Vraska will be decided upon when she comes out and the Golgari cards have been revealed.
I hope Golgari Charm is good...
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Probably not using Jarad, he doesn't have as much synergy with my deck since I am artifact recursion and not creature recursion... but I think I might not be able to resist... plus I lack 4 drops in my Pod chain.
I might try to find room for the guild mage, I like the saporling token making ability because Craterhoof behemoth is one of my major win conditions, he surprised me with just how powerful he was at just ending games. Myr battlesphere and Grave titan quickly get me a stack of tokens.
Eternal witness too good not to use.
to get the most out of dredge I will have to redesign the deck and I don't really want to.
The thing I need most of course is the Lands!.. because atm I have just basics (+ a few uncommon colourless ultility lands)... it works fine like that I have a million ways to search for basics + Boundless realms.
Have you tried Trading Post?... I opened one in a M13 draft slipped it into my deck... then just started winning games with my cheap all basics, cards I had lying around EDH deck. I have been very impressed with it. As long as I have 1 mana up it can just dodge all removal with it and draw cards... can cycle unneeded artifacts, can get me back the ones I really need.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
The E. Witness is so cool, I already had one in the deck. I wish they'd give her some damn alt art, or at least start using the FNM art for more than FNM.
Cabal Coffers is pretty cheap now, and Urborg might drop a bit thanks to FTV: Realms. Primeval Titan, assuming he doesn't rule over modern, will also see a heavy drop in price. Caged Sun is extremely cheap. Those cards alone will tune your mana up a great deal.
Trading Post is kind of meh, in my opinion. If I want to recycle creatures, I'd feed them to Garruk Relentless or Fauna Shaman. Most of my artifacts cantrip by themselves, and the ones that don't are creatures. Genesis makes sure that both types stay stocked in my hand when I need them. Goats and lifegain are totally unnecessary for the deck, because neither will really affect the gamestate in any significant way.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
There's a few contenders from Return to Ravnica that make good replacements.
Golgari Charm isn't that good. We won't be playing it.
Grave Betrayal is incredibly great and a definite shoe-in for the RTR Update.
Worldspine Wurm is cool as hell and has the same appeal as Wurmcoil Engine.
Codex Shredder is an interesting card. Recurable Regrowth at six colorless? Might be worth it, but it needs testing.
This ban might just win Expedition Map its day in the sun though. For now, the updated list will run Expedition Map.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
The cards added to the deck are Jarad's Orders, and Grave Betrayal.
Jarad's Orders replaces Worldly Tutor. Having the ability to tutor a creature in hand and throw one in the yard is easily worth the three extra mana.
Grave Betrayal replaces Triumph of Ferocity, which isn't as good as I once thought. Landing GB and then dropping a wrath is pretty much guaranteed to win you the game. Careful though, this one will likely eat a lot of removal.
Another candidate card is Abrupt Decay, but unfortunately, I've yet to acquire one. This will be tough to find at the moment, but should be more acquirable later.
I'm still interested in Codex Shredder, if anyone has any info about how good it is.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
I've taken the elf package out for the most part, would you play Survival of the Fittest over Fauna Shaman at that point?
Sivarta, here's what I suggest:
Abrupt Decay is a great card, and I would run it if I had one. Hunter's Insight is a likely cut for this bit of hardware.
Vraska is a little weak in my opinion. Upticking her loyalty basically does nothing and her ultimate can be stopped very easily. If I had to cut a card for her, make it Karn Liberated. The two's minus abilities are basically the same.
Scavenging Ooze is not a great idea in this deck, as targeted grave hate is fine, but it's a beater, and beaters tend not to be good unless they do something more. Try cutting Netherborn Phalanx if necessary.
Keep in mind, the deck does run quite a few "dredge" tutors including Buried Alive and Jarad's Orders. Fauna Shaman can be tutored and recurred through this method, while SotF cannot. SotF is better, but less searchable or recurable. I'd cut something else for it. Redundancy is good, from what I've heard.
Another card I'm highly considering is Doubling Cube. It takes seven mana to get any value from it, but that's not a big problem in this deck.
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Anyway, I did manage to trade for a cheap Abrupt Decay and I'll cut Hunter's Insight for it.
Edit: Hey kids, those swell guys at TopAndGoProductions on Youtube are producing a Glissa, the Traitor video, featuring this deck! Keep an eye out for it soon!
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
as always, if you're going to post this as a primer (now with the tag) it really makes no sense to exclude cards that obviously belong in the deck but you don't happen to own. You don't even have to playtest to know that bayou (and all the fetches) are worth running.
moriok replica is far inferior to urza/mishra baubles. 5 mana + 2 life only draws you one more card than the bauble. That's just gross.
similarly, horizon spellbomb costs 4 to get +1 card over a bauble, and one of those will definitely be a basic land. It's maybe ok if you're already running the baubles, but the baubles are soooo much better. Unless you're never whiffing on Glissa triggers, they're always worth including. if I could legally play with as many baubles as I wanted, I'd play with at least 30. it's FREE card advantage. I've frequently drawn 10+ cards with one baubles over the course of the game. It's never sitting in your hand or in play (like replica or spellbomb) when something dies, because you wanted to spend the mana on something better. It's free. Replica and spellbomb might give you more CA, but you don't get any CA if it's not in your graveyard to recur. baubles let you play whatever the hell you want, while giving you CA. I cannot overemphasize how crucial they are to a strong glissa build.
phyrexian arena and underworld connections are pretty strong CA engines for black.
Without ptitan is exsanguinate really that useful? I guess it could be ok, but Glissa's never been a really "huge mana" deck for me.
with only 10 swamps by my count, is tainted wood really that useful? seems like the risk of it being colorless and delaying glissa could be really annoying. I'd rather have a forest.
life from the loam is just awesome card advantage.
liliana of the veil is way better than her newer counterpart.
can't say for sure about codex shredder but it looks really awesome to me. the free milling is great, and being able to rip cards from the grave at instant speed sounds awesome. To say nothing of the fact that you can cycle between shredder and removal spells (cough, damnation) as long as you have mana.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
While the philosophy behind having cards in the primer that I don't own seems useful, deciding what to cut for fetches is actually a bigger deal, since it wouldn't just be autocutting basics. I'm sure it seems obvious to replace one of the deck's basics for Bayou.
I've found that Glissa simply doesn't stick to the board often enough once her shenanigans are in full force, to justify running the baubles yet. Moriok Replica's body and creature type are super relevant in the deck, as my current outline of dredge tricks (including Buried Alive) fetch only creatures, and some cards require saccing creatures (including Fauna Shaman) to reap the full benefits.
The deck is never dead for draw or tutoring that isn't synergistic to the rest of the deck. PhyArena and Underworld Connections, while adding draw power, require wasting hard tutors to get consistently, and are dead draws in tight scenarios. Same goes for the baubles.
The fact is, Glissa herself isn't huge mana by design. However, Black and Green's color mechanics overlap in three main areas: Mana production, creature interactivity, and graveyard interactions. This deck is designed to capitalize on those three mechanics, with Glissa being the most obvious of the Golgari generals to design a general-centric package for. Exsanguinate is unique in that it hits all players, meaning in multiplayer, you're looking at a lot of damage (and subsequent lifegain) for what, in comparison, is a meager mana investment. To put this in a four-player game, a 40 mana Exsanguinate puts your life total ahead by 160 of any given player (counting the 40 you take from them + the 120 gained altogether.) To beat through that sort of buffer would require a life-circumventing strategy, most of which this deck has options against. The multitude of removal stops combo and infect, Netherborn Phalanx hoses tokens, and Grave Pact keeps voltron in check, just to name a few off the top of my head.
Tainted Wood is able to hit quite consistently due to the fact that satistically, you should be able to see a Swamp within your first three turns (not counting the multitude of fetching and tutoring available to get said swamp.) I've rarely had a game where the land actually hampers gameplay.
LoTL is fine card advantage, but the deck isn't set up to sacrifice lands for positive effects (except for Jarad,) and it's not worth another slot just to be able to recur him endlessly.
Liliana of the Veil is certainly a fine card, and it would indeed make a fine addition to the deck...if the deck didn't already play Liliana of the Dark Realms. Garruk gets a pass because his two forms do drastically different things for gameplay (but yet both synergize well,) but both Lili's do have removal built-in. Veil gets to abuse discard triggers, but her removal isn't targeted, for better or for worse. Although shroud and hexproof are problematic at times, the ability to target a Blightsteel Colossus with Dark Realm's targeted removal has helped in a pinch. Note to other readers, both planeswalker's can destroy indestructible creatures and could easily be swapped out for one another if one needs the unconditional sacrifice over the targeted -X-X.
Whew, dat's a lot of writing.
(Edit: Dammit, Salve doesn't have HTML enabled. Oh well, guess I can link it instead.)
Currently Piloting:
EDH
BGGlissa, The Traitor - Recursion (Primer)
WBRKaalia of The Vast
URGRiku of Two Reflections
WUBSydri, Galvanic Genius
UBRamirez DePietro
GWKrond, The Dawn-Clad
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage
Modern
UG Infect
Thanks!!
Works wonders for getting the mid-game going smoothly, both with mana and options. Obviously if any non-glissa creatures are more beneficial to sac, I do that instead.
Didn't see it on your list or in the portions of your thread I read. Just thought I'd post the suggestion.
Another thing to note since you said you're considering Doubling Cube - is that with Mana Reflection, which you're already running, Doubling Cube actually QUADRUPLES your available mana, as it is considered 'tapping for mana' per MReflection's ability. This interestingly allows you to benefit from Doubling Cube with anything as little as 3 land, with MReflection out (possible with something like Gaea's Touch or a destroyed Sol Ring, etc.) Starting with 3 land = 6 mana pool with MReflection, triggering cube (pay 3) you get 12 mana out (6-3=3*2(cube)=6*2(MR)=12. Obviously with more than 3 land this gets increasingly ridiculous. I run cube in every deck I run reflection in, they make a fabulous pair (alone, Cube works at 7 mana and MR works at 6 mana. Together, from any cheat into play effects or otherwise, they "work" at 3 and get ridiculous at 4. 3=12, 4=20, 5=28, 6=36, etc...)
I like your list a lot.
I can see the cons being- it's definitely a kiss of death to play early since normally it only pops one player a turn, painting a giant bullseye on you from the remaining opponents. It's also a one-trick pony since everyone will be wary of it in the future games.
Is it because the combo is so obvious and likely overplayed... that it did not make this deck?
:symu::symr::symw::symb::symg: Dream Halls :symu::symr::symw::symb::symg:
:symu::symw: U/W/x Landstill (now Miracles) :symu::symw:
:symu::symu: Merfolk :symu::symu:
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