I found a copy of Vhati il-Dal in a box of old cards at a pawnshop last summer and it's sort of been my project commander ever since. My main deck is Memnarch, and it's very good. This is way less good, but it's also totally unique and I value being able to take something unique to the table.
I play with two different groups. One is lots of black-based decks, and the other is much more diverse and probably a bit more competitive, though we tend to play Kingdoms with that group.
The idea behind the deck is to abuse Vhati's ability. To that end, I've got several untappers: Instill Energy, Nature's Chosen, Quest for Renewal, Jandor's Saddlebags, Puppet Strings, Thousand-Year Elixer, and Thornbite Staff, which can clear a whole board if there's an effect giving one damage or -1/-1 to everything. There are a few others that I don't have currently, like Magewright's Stone and Illusionist's Bracers, that will find their way in eventually.
For ramp and draw, I've decided to focus on enchantments rather than one-shot spells or artifacts. Part of this was a desire to do something different than my Memnarch deck, which is full of artifacts. It does open me up to blowouts of enchantment sweepers, but my main group sees almost none of those. I've got the enchantress package of Enchantress's Presence, Verduran Enchantress, and Eidolon of Blossoms. No Argothian Enchantress, because of the bad synergy of the Pestilence effects.
Several creatures are there for utility and filler reasons: Acidic Slime, Grim Guardian, Kothophed, Ob Nixilis, Pharika's Mender, and Phyrexian Swarmlord. Some of these will be taken out when better things get suggested.
The best cards in deck are Pestilence and Withering Wisps. They can give everything one damage for Vhati to kill, can clear the board, and if I've gained some life, can act as win conditions.
Most of the enchantments are there for particular and obvious reasons, but some are just for value: Rites of Flourishing, Lifegift, Retreat to Kazandu, Palace Siege. Many give life to offset the losses I'm going to have with the Pestilence effects, and Retreat can negate any -1/-1 counters my creatures have.
I've thought about changing the creature base to include lots of infect as a possible win condition, but many of the creatures are too small to survive Pestilence effects.
Here's the deck. Fielding suggestions for cards to add and cut. The whole deck is under $100 as of now, but I'm not opposed to purchasing $20 cards or anything. It's just that so many of the cards that work with Vhati are bulk anyway.
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
There are some powerful constellation cards you should be running. Agent of erebos and thoughtrender lamia would be excellent casual cards that are still a house in edh.
Elemental bond seems bad in here. You're not really going to be able to take advantage of the ability often.
I looked at Flourishing Defenses while putting the deck together. My big problem is that I've got so many effects that give one damage onto everything, like Pestilence and Withering Wisps, along with lots of effects that give -1/-1 globally, like Night of Souls' Betrayal, that I feel like I'd be wiping out my elf army before I had a chance to do anything with it.
Agenty of Erebos and Thoughtrender Lamia seem excellent and I'll find room for them. You're right: Elemental Bond is pretty iffy, and it's on the chopping block.
What would make this deck good? Seedborn Muse would be sweet with Vhati. Obviously Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Worldy Tutor would help a good deal. But besides those obvious cards, what is there?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I play with two different groups. One is lots of black-based decks, and the other is much more diverse and probably a bit more competitive, though we tend to play Kingdoms with that group.
The idea behind the deck is to abuse Vhati's ability. To that end, I've got several untappers: Instill Energy, Nature's Chosen, Quest for Renewal, Jandor's Saddlebags, Puppet Strings, Thousand-Year Elixer, and Thornbite Staff, which can clear a whole board if there's an effect giving one damage or -1/-1 to everything. There are a few others that I don't have currently, like Magewright's Stone and Illusionist's Bracers, that will find their way in eventually.
For ramp and draw, I've decided to focus on enchantments rather than one-shot spells or artifacts. Part of this was a desire to do something different than my Memnarch deck, which is full of artifacts. It does open me up to blowouts of enchantment sweepers, but my main group sees almost none of those. I've got the enchantress package of Enchantress's Presence, Verduran Enchantress, and Eidolon of Blossoms. No Argothian Enchantress, because of the bad synergy of the Pestilence effects.
Several creatures are there for utility and filler reasons: Acidic Slime, Grim Guardian, Kothophed, Ob Nixilis, Pharika's Mender, and Phyrexian Swarmlord. Some of these will be taken out when better things get suggested.
The best cards in deck are Pestilence and Withering Wisps. They can give everything one damage for Vhati to kill, can clear the board, and if I've gained some life, can act as win conditions.
Most of the enchantments are there for particular and obvious reasons, but some are just for value: Rites of Flourishing, Lifegift, Retreat to Kazandu, Palace Siege. Many give life to offset the losses I'm going to have with the Pestilence effects, and Retreat can negate any -1/-1 counters my creatures have.
I've thought about changing the creature base to include lots of infect as a possible win condition, but many of the creatures are too small to survive Pestilence effects.
Here's the deck. Fielding suggestions for cards to add and cut. The whole deck is under $100 as of now, but I'm not opposed to purchasing $20 cards or anything. It's just that so many of the cards that work with Vhati are bulk anyway.
1x Vhati il-Dal
Enchantment (26)
1x Bonds of Mortality
1x Curse of Death's Hold
1x Deathreap Ritual
1x Dense Foliage
1x Elemental Bond
1x Elephant Grass
1x Enchantress's Presence
1x Fertile Ground
1x Greed
1x Instill Energy
1x Lifegift
1x Nature's Chosen
1x Night of Souls' Betrayal
1x Oath of the Ancient Wood
1x Overgrowth
1x Palace Siege
1x Pestilence
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Quest for Renewal
1x Retreat to Kazandu
1x Rites of Flourishing
1x Tainted AEther
1x Underworld Connections
1x Utopia Sprawl
1x Wild Growth
1x Withering Wisps
1x Golgari Charm
1x Krosan Grip
1x Nature's Claim
1x Putrefy
Creature (18)
1x Acidic Slime
1x Ascendant Evincar
1x Bloodgift Demon
1x Carnifex Demon
1x Doomwake Giant
1x Eidolon of Blossoms
1x Grim Guardian
1x Herald of the Pantheon
1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
1x Midnight Banshee
1x Necroskitter
1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
1x Pharika's Mender
1x Phyrexian Swarmlord
1x Soul Snuffers
1x Thrashing Wumpus
1x Verduran Enchantress
1x Weed-Pruner Poplar
Artifact (9)
1x Contagion Clasp
1x Jandor's Saddlebags
1x Puppet Strings
1x Serrated Arrows
1x Sol Ring
1x Staff of Nin
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Thornbite Staff
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Cabal Pit
1x Command Tower
1x Desert
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Golgari Guildgate
1x Golgari Rot Farm
1x Jungle Hollow
1x Llanowar Wastes
1x Reliquary Tower
11x Snow-Covered Forest
13x Snow-Covered Swamp
1x Tainted Wood
1x Treetop Village
1x Woodland Cemetery
Sorcery (5)
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Explore
1x Harmonize
1x Night's Whisper
1x Read the Bones
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
That's a lot of -1/-1 counter action. Flourishing defenses might be fun.
There are some powerful constellation cards you should be running. Agent of erebos and thoughtrender lamia would be excellent casual cards that are still a house in edh.
Elemental bond seems bad in here. You're not really going to be able to take advantage of the ability often.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Agenty of Erebos and Thoughtrender Lamia seem excellent and I'll find room for them. You're right: Elemental Bond is pretty iffy, and it's on the chopping block.
What would make this deck good? Seedborn Muse would be sweet with Vhati. Obviously Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Worldy Tutor would help a good deal. But besides those obvious cards, what is there?
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered