Out - Grave Titan
In - Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Reasoning - This was a tough call as Grave Titan has been a poster child for the deck since the beginning, putting a ton of power on the battlefield for the relatively cheap mana cost. I've been trying to find a way to fit in Jarad for a long time and he is just required in a power matters deck, giving me another win condition that doesn't require combat. And he can just flat out kill the table with Malignus and a power doubler or Lord of Extinction/Kresh. Grave Titan is the card I settled on for a couple reasons. The 6 CMC slot was overfull and all the other slots were cards that were either answers or can win the game, making them much better toolbox options. Grave Titan is much more of an attrition card, which the deck continues to go away from in favor of sudden wins.
Have been watching the new sets for potential cards and have not seen anything. Ghalta, Primal Hunger is finally something that has me intrigued. It is very vanilla, but at the same time could easily be cast for 2 in this deck and is a serious threat by itself, especially with some of the damage doublers.
Rivals of Ixalan Card Review Lots of commander goodies in this set, unlike the last one.
Ghalta, Primal Hunger - As mentioned previously, I'm a bit intrigued by this one. I don't think it's an auto-include by any means, but the possibilities of casting it for cheap, then sacrificing it to something like Greater Good or Disciple of Bolas would be really good. May require some testing.
Angrath, the Flame-Chained - This isn't a fit for this build, but I could see this as a card in a Kresh deck that focuses on sacrificing and control. Making every opponent discard is a decent control option and the minus ability allows you to take a creature for a turn and then sacrifice it after. Definitely not a great commander card, but playable.
Rekindling Phoenix - I really like this one. A 4/3 flyer for 4 that comes back every turn with haste is super solid. This allows you to attack and then sacrifice it at the end of turn and just get it back again. That's some great value, especially if I have something like Birthing Pod, Eldritch Evolution, Victimize, etc. Going to take a hard look at this one and see if there's room.
The Immortal Sun - Just a solid value card where the sum is greater than it's parts. I think it really has a place in red/white decks that don't have much access to card draw. Not good enough for this deck where the higher mana slots need to have an immediate impact.
Journey to Eternity - Even though this is doing the sort of thing we want to be doing with Kresh, this just seems like way too many hoops to jump through/too slow for me. You have to pay 3 mana and have a creature in play to even use it, at which point it does literally nothing and you are vulnerable to the normal blow outs you can get when trying to put an aura on a creature. Then from there, your creature needs to die to even flip it and if that wasn't enough, it costs five mana and a tap to even use it. There are just way better ways to recur creatures than this and I don't see the appeal on this one, preselling for $5???
Etali, Primal Storm - Wow, this seems like a red staple to me for any non-competitive decks as red is really lacking in the value/card advanatage department. It's a bit too unfocused and random for this deck, which is trying to assemble very specific lines of play, but I have a couple other decks that'll be playing it for sure.
Tetzimoc, Primal Death - All of these elder dinosaurs are pretty sweet. This guy may be the worst one though. Even though he has the potential for Plague Wind level shenanigans, it takes a lot of mana and possibly two turns to pull it off. You also lose out on his upside when recurring him from the graveyard.
World Shaper - Seems alright, especially for Kresh decks that are pitching a lot of cards to the graveyard. 4 mana for a 3/3 is pretty steep, but in the right deck it can be great. Won't be fitting in this one.
Tilonalli's Summoner - This seems incredible for token themed decks. It's going to give you Ascend when you use it most likely, so those tokens are going to be staying in play. It also isn't unreasonable to think she can live through the attack in a multiplayer game, whether through someone being open or protection of some sort. I have gone away from the token theme myself, so won't be including it, but any token deck with red wants this.
Strength of the Pack - A possible include for anyone focusing on a +1/+1 counter theme. The price is quite high for what it does though.
Edit: Ok, I totally didn't realize Journey to Eternity put the creature back in play when it died. This card is a lot better than I thought and something to consider here... I actually may be putting this in the deck
About the Journey, its got a best friend in Steve and others.
Its flip side is ramp colour fixing and instant speed(reactive), reusable reanimation which is very very rare.
Its not auto include in many decks, so-so here. I agree $5 is $4.50 more for a card that will not impact standard or modern, but its good.
Also Vona's Hunger its bloody instant! Hits all opponents, likely 3 and has a huge impact late game. Play this.
Maybe I'm underestimating Journey, wouldn't be the first time. I guess turn 1 or 2 tribe elder into it is the dream scenario. There is also still a decent chance your creature gets killed by spot removal and even if you pull it off you're still paying 8 mana before you get its ability. That in itself seems pretty bad, but having it also be a land makes it hard to judge. I guess time will tell.
Didn't realize Vona's Hunger was an instant... man that is good.
Fixed some grammatical stuff. Added updates to the Tutors and How to Play sections to include Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord as a win condition. Made the below deck changes. Yes, I know I totally just ripped Journey to Eternity, but in my defense I somehow missed that it brought the creature back to play after it died and I thought it did nothing until it flipped. Reading comprehension is hard.
Out - Yavimaya Elder, Traverse the Ulvenwald
In - Wood Elves, Journey to Eternity/Atzal, Cave of Eternity
Reasoning - Yavimaya Elder was a bit of a relic from my earlier EDH days where I didn't appreciate mana cost as much as I do now. It essentially costs 5 mana to use and doesn't actually ramp you. It's still a solid card but Wood Elves has a much more immediate impact and is easier to abuse. Traverse the Ulvenwald is solid, but with 39 lands and a bunch of ramp in the deck I don't think it is all that necessary to help with hitting land drops early. Yes, it's very good once delirium is triggered, but can take a while to get there. Journey to Eternity just works great with the ETB and on death triggers in the deck, provides ramp, and potentially repeatable recursion. It just seems like a very good card for the deck.
Had a magic get together with a bunch of out of town buddies this weekend. Many games of EDH were played, but I only played one game with Kresh as I had three new decks that I spent most of my time playing. The Kresh game turned out to be one of those where everything fell together. I won on turn 5 with combat damage and was able to get some justification for my inclusion of Veteran Explorer, which is a card I have always been on the fence about. Updated the primer to include this in the How to Play > Real Game Examples section.
1/19/18
I started with a turn one Veteran Explorer, which one of my opponents openly questioned after asking what it did, wanting to know how it helped me if everyone got the lands. It was a fair question, but the card ultimately won me the game this time. One of my opponents opened with a Deathrite Shaman, which happened to be the only relevant opponent's card in this game. Turn 2 I cast Diabolic Intent sacrificing the Veteran Explorer and tutoring for Malignus. I did not have anything to use my two extra lands on from the explorer dying so passed the turn. Turn 3 I played Malignus, who was 21/21 because of one of my opponents gaining two life. Turn 4 I played Rishkar's Expertise drawing 21 cards with the notable ones being Craterhoof Behemoth, Avenger of Zendikar, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, and Anger. I cast Sidisi, Undead Vizier, for free off the Rishkar's, exploiting herself, and tutored up Twilight's Call. I also put a Mana Crypt into play. I discarded all of my creatures at end of turn and kept some spells that would allow me to rebuild in case my recursion strategy got thwarted. Fifth turn I cast Twilight's Call and after I put all the creatures into play and seeing what was coming, the opponent with the Deathrite Shaman exiled Anger in response. They began to discuss finding a wrath to stop my inevitable attack next turn. Needing haste to end the game, I exploited Veteran Explorer with Sidisi, Undead Vizier's ETB, getting Urabrask the Hidden and the two untapped lands I needed to cast him. With haste in play, I swung for lethal on the table, with Craterhoof giving all my creatures +17/+17 and trample.
Reasoning - Assassin's Trophy just seems to be a straight upgrade over Maelstrom Pulse. I'm not sold on Vaevictis Asmadi and haven't had the fortune of getting to use him in the few games I have played in the last year, but I've been looking to replace Inferno Titan. I'm still looking for possible replacements in this slot.
Reasoning - This is the one slot I've been waffling on for a while. I played this deck twice at my most recent get together, won both games pretty quickly with Jarad, and had no chance to utilize Vaevictis at all. I think as a tutor target when I'm in trouble, it's going to be rare that I both have haste and need to get rid of a permanent from each player. But this is a tutorable removal option when I'm unloading creatures on the board and going for a win. So with no real evidence either way I'm taking the dragon out and going with The Great Henge. I like the obvious synergy with a power matters deck and there is a pretty good chance I can just play this for free in a lot of cases. There are a ton of lands that deal damage to you in this deck, not to mention Mana Crypt so the 2 life when a creature comes in could come into play if a game goes long. It just adds some value with (laterish) ramp and card draw. The +1/+1 counters are fine as well.
Also updated the mana base, there have been a lot of changes there that I've been too lazy to update.
Reasoning - Garruk is almost always being used for ramp anyway and Dockside Extortionist is too good to not add to the deck, especially when we can start abusing ETB's on creatures, it just makes sense to go more towards creatures whenever possible. Farhaven Elf isn't the greatest card, but adding more ramp is just going to make the deck run more smoothly and again we can start getting free value off recursion. Korvold, could actually be the commander for the deck and might make it better, but I can't take the reins out of Kresh's hands. Korvold should be able to generate a ton of value due to the number of sacrifice options within the deck. Sheoldred is really just too slow for this deck. It wins off of big sudden turns and Sheoldred needs to make the rounds before generating any value. Lightning Greaves is fine, but Anger and Urabrask both do haste better in this deck. As creatures they can be recurred or tutured and also give haste to the whole team. When the deck starts going off for a winning turn Lightning Greaves is just never a part of that.
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Out - Grave Titan
In - Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Reasoning - This was a tough call as Grave Titan has been a poster child for the deck since the beginning, putting a ton of power on the battlefield for the relatively cheap mana cost. I've been trying to find a way to fit in Jarad for a long time and he is just required in a power matters deck, giving me another win condition that doesn't require combat. And he can just flat out kill the table with Malignus and a power doubler or Lord of Extinction/Kresh. Grave Titan is the card I settled on for a couple reasons. The 6 CMC slot was overfull and all the other slots were cards that were either answers or can win the game, making them much better toolbox options. Grave Titan is much more of an attrition card, which the deck continues to go away from in favor of sudden wins.
Ghalta, Primal Hunger - As mentioned previously, I'm a bit intrigued by this one. I don't think it's an auto-include by any means, but the possibilities of casting it for cheap, then sacrificing it to something like Greater Good or Disciple of Bolas would be really good. May require some testing.
Angrath, the Flame-Chained - This isn't a fit for this build, but I could see this as a card in a Kresh deck that focuses on sacrificing and control. Making every opponent discard is a decent control option and the minus ability allows you to take a creature for a turn and then sacrifice it after. Definitely not a great commander card, but playable.
Rekindling Phoenix - I really like this one. A 4/3 flyer for 4 that comes back every turn with haste is super solid. This allows you to attack and then sacrifice it at the end of turn and just get it back again. That's some great value, especially if I have something like Birthing Pod, Eldritch Evolution, Victimize, etc. Going to take a hard look at this one and see if there's room.
The Immortal Sun - Just a solid value card where the sum is greater than it's parts. I think it really has a place in red/white decks that don't have much access to card draw. Not good enough for this deck where the higher mana slots need to have an immediate impact.
Journey to Eternity - Even though this is doing the sort of thing we want to be doing with Kresh, this just seems like way too many hoops to jump through/too slow for me. You have to pay 3 mana and have a creature in play to even use it, at which point it does literally nothing and you are vulnerable to the normal blow outs you can get when trying to put an aura on a creature. Then from there, your creature needs to die to even flip it and if that wasn't enough, it costs five mana and a tap to even use it. There are just way better ways to recur creatures than this and I don't see the appeal on this one, preselling for $5???
Etali, Primal Storm - Wow, this seems like a red staple to me for any non-competitive decks as red is really lacking in the value/card advanatage department. It's a bit too unfocused and random for this deck, which is trying to assemble very specific lines of play, but I have a couple other decks that'll be playing it for sure.
Tetzimoc, Primal Death - All of these elder dinosaurs are pretty sweet. This guy may be the worst one though. Even though he has the potential for Plague Wind level shenanigans, it takes a lot of mana and possibly two turns to pull it off. You also lose out on his upside when recurring him from the graveyard.
World Shaper - Seems alright, especially for Kresh decks that are pitching a lot of cards to the graveyard. 4 mana for a 3/3 is pretty steep, but in the right deck it can be great. Won't be fitting in this one.
Tilonalli's Summoner - This seems incredible for token themed decks. It's going to give you Ascend when you use it most likely, so those tokens are going to be staying in play. It also isn't unreasonable to think she can live through the attack in a multiplayer game, whether through someone being open or protection of some sort. I have gone away from the token theme myself, so won't be including it, but any token deck with red wants this.
Strength of the Pack - A possible include for anyone focusing on a +1/+1 counter theme. The price is quite high for what it does though.
Edit: Ok, I totally didn't realize Journey to Eternity put the creature back in play when it died. This card is a lot better than I thought and something to consider here... I actually may be putting this in the deck
Its flip side is ramp colour fixing and instant speed(reactive), reusable reanimation which is very very rare.
Its not auto include in many decks, so-so here. I agree $5 is $4.50 more for a card that will not impact standard or modern, but its good.
Also Vona's Hunger its bloody instant! Hits all opponents, likely 3 and has a huge impact late game. Play this.
Didn't realize Vona's Hunger was an instant... man that is good.
Fixed some grammatical stuff. Added updates to the Tutors and How to Play sections to include Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord as a win condition. Made the below deck changes. Yes, I know I totally just ripped Journey to Eternity, but in my defense I somehow missed that it brought the creature back to play after it died and I thought it did nothing until it flipped. Reading comprehension is hard.
Out - Yavimaya Elder, Traverse the Ulvenwald
In - Wood Elves, Journey to Eternity/Atzal, Cave of Eternity
Reasoning - Yavimaya Elder was a bit of a relic from my earlier EDH days where I didn't appreciate mana cost as much as I do now. It essentially costs 5 mana to use and doesn't actually ramp you. It's still a solid card but Wood Elves has a much more immediate impact and is easier to abuse. Traverse the Ulvenwald is solid, but with 39 lands and a bunch of ramp in the deck I don't think it is all that necessary to help with hitting land drops early. Yes, it's very good once delirium is triggered, but can take a while to get there. Journey to Eternity just works great with the ETB and on death triggers in the deck, provides ramp, and potentially repeatable recursion. It just seems like a very good card for the deck.
Had a magic get together with a bunch of out of town buddies this weekend. Many games of EDH were played, but I only played one game with Kresh as I had three new decks that I spent most of my time playing. The Kresh game turned out to be one of those where everything fell together. I won on turn 5 with combat damage and was able to get some justification for my inclusion of Veteran Explorer, which is a card I have always been on the fence about. Updated the primer to include this in the How to Play > Real Game Examples section.
1/19/18
I started with a turn one Veteran Explorer, which one of my opponents openly questioned after asking what it did, wanting to know how it helped me if everyone got the lands. It was a fair question, but the card ultimately won me the game this time. One of my opponents opened with a Deathrite Shaman, which happened to be the only relevant opponent's card in this game. Turn 2 I cast Diabolic Intent sacrificing the Veteran Explorer and tutoring for Malignus. I did not have anything to use my two extra lands on from the explorer dying so passed the turn. Turn 3 I played Malignus, who was 21/21 because of one of my opponents gaining two life. Turn 4 I played Rishkar's Expertise drawing 21 cards with the notable ones being Craterhoof Behemoth, Avenger of Zendikar, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, and Anger. I cast Sidisi, Undead Vizier, for free off the Rishkar's, exploiting herself, and tutored up Twilight's Call. I also put a Mana Crypt into play. I discarded all of my creatures at end of turn and kept some spells that would allow me to rebuild in case my recursion strategy got thwarted. Fifth turn I cast Twilight's Call and after I put all the creatures into play and seeing what was coming, the opponent with the Deathrite Shaman exiled Anger in response. They began to discuss finding a wrath to stop my inevitable attack next turn. Needing haste to end the game, I exploited Veteran Explorer with Sidisi, Undead Vizier's ETB, getting Urabrask the Hidden and the two untapped lands I needed to cast him. With haste in play, I swung for lethal on the table, with Craterhoof giving all my creatures +17/+17 and trample.
Out - Inferno Titan, Maelstrom Pulse
In - Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire, Assassin's Trophy
Reasoning - Assassin's Trophy just seems to be a straight upgrade over Maelstrom Pulse. I'm not sold on Vaevictis Asmadi and haven't had the fortune of getting to use him in the few games I have played in the last year, but I've been looking to replace Inferno Titan. I'm still looking for possible replacements in this slot.
Out - Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire
In - The Great Henge
Reasoning - This is the one slot I've been waffling on for a while. I played this deck twice at my most recent get together, won both games pretty quickly with Jarad, and had no chance to utilize Vaevictis at all. I think as a tutor target when I'm in trouble, it's going to be rare that I both have haste and need to get rid of a permanent from each player. But this is a tutorable removal option when I'm unloading creatures on the board and going for a win. So with no real evidence either way I'm taking the dragon out and going with The Great Henge. I like the obvious synergy with a power matters deck and there is a pretty good chance I can just play this for free in a lot of cases. There are a ton of lands that deal damage to you in this deck, not to mention Mana Crypt so the 2 life when a creature comes in could come into play if a game goes long. It just adds some value with (laterish) ramp and card draw. The +1/+1 counters are fine as well.
Out - Garruk Wildspeaker, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Lightning Greaves
In - Dockside Extortionist, Farhaven Elf, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Also updated the mana base, there have been a lot of changes there that I've been too lazy to update.
Reasoning - Garruk is almost always being used for ramp anyway and Dockside Extortionist is too good to not add to the deck, especially when we can start abusing ETB's on creatures, it just makes sense to go more towards creatures whenever possible. Farhaven Elf isn't the greatest card, but adding more ramp is just going to make the deck run more smoothly and again we can start getting free value off recursion. Korvold, could actually be the commander for the deck and might make it better, but I can't take the reins out of Kresh's hands. Korvold should be able to generate a ton of value due to the number of sacrifice options within the deck. Sheoldred is really just too slow for this deck. It wins off of big sudden turns and Sheoldred needs to make the rounds before generating any value. Lightning Greaves is fine, but Anger and Urabrask both do haste better in this deck. As creatures they can be recurred or tutured and also give haste to the whole team. When the deck starts going off for a winning turn Lightning Greaves is just never a part of that.