@Siftidox
First, welcome to the forums cormade! Second, that's a great question. Since I play in a more competitive playgroup, where mana efficiency and CMC matters a great deal, many of the opponents this deck plays against (my wife usually pilots this Kaalia list) play either mana dorks or mana rocks faster and more consistently than they play with lands. My wife and I observed that, for several games, casting an Armageddon effect didn't close out the game. My brother and myself both play alternate forms of mana generation in large quantities in our respective decks and so this Land Destruction was proving to be not as effective.
So instead, my wife and I agreed that adding more disruption and Stax pieces would be a more effective way to control the game. The real benefit to a MLD effect (Mass Land Destruction) is to be able to create enough time to attack with Kaalia enough times to kill everyone at the table. Over the course of adapting this deck to our playgroup we've found that Stax pieces and other Prison type effects are MUCH more effective at slowing down the game and buying time for us to cast Kaalia and attack with her. I mention it in the Stax Primer Strategy section (I believe) but it's worth reiterating again:
This deck aims to slow down our opponents with Stax effects FIRST and then cast Kaalia. While our opponents are struggling to get out of the Stax effects we've put into play we are now pressuring their Board state and Life totals with Kaalia's Horde of Death. By attacking our opponent's strategies from a Stax perspective (i.e. Cursed Totem stopping nearly ALL creature based combos and advantages, Aven Mindcensor or Stranglehold keeping them trapped to the top of their library, etc.) simultaneously we create a very massive and devastating roadblock preventing our opponents to execute their strategy. While they're desperately trying to remove these obstacles so that they can play the game and win, we've cast Kaalia and are now ready to kill them dead.
So, in summary, MLD turned out to be not as effective against our playgroup as adding additional Stax effects is. The only MLD effect that we've kept is Cataclysm, and that's because it hits EVERY type of mana generation that can occur and drastically limits it to only one instance of it. If your playgroup plays a lot of Cultivate effects, and use that type of effect as their primary way of generating mana advantage over you, then adding in more MLD effects is absolutely warranted. You will want to identify the primary way that your opponents are developing their game strategy and try to attack that aspect of their strategy. For our playgroup, mana dorks and mana rocks are far more common than actual land ramp spells and so the traditional MLD effects aren't as effective.
Thanks for the congrats! Creating the Primer was a labor of love and I hope it benefits multi-player Commander decks for many years to come!
Spoiler Season has arrived! And the new Doom Whisperer is looking like a great inclusion for the deck. The fact that you can naturally hard-cast while sculpting your draws is quite invaluable for this deck. And with Lyra Dawnbringer being able to recoup any spent life, the Whisperer looks even better. I'll do a full set review once the Spoiler is completely up, but suffice to say that I like what I see so far!
Doom Whisperer - good card is good. It's absolutely going to dominate Standard in the coming months, methinks, because the body is so undercosted. What was Wizards thinking in printing a 6/6 flying trampler for 5 CMC? Oh well. It definitely is worth testing in Kaalia because it allows you to consistently find the cards you need. That, combined with its VERY reasonable CMC, make this card very attractive for Our Lady of Death.
Chance for Glory - might just be good enough to play. Most times, this deck only needs 2-3 combat steps in order to kill the table. Giving the deck an additional Chance (yep, pun intended) to close out the game could be very useful. However, I don't know what I would take out for it. Because there are other cards that are more useful to our gameplan than this one, it's probably going to miss the decklist.
Deafening Clarion - an actually useful Pyroclasm effect in our colors. While the CMC will probably get it excluded from the deck, I really like the design of this card. Sweeps the field when you're behind and pads your life when you're counter-attacking an aggressive opponent.
Light of the Legion - if we were playing an Angel tribal deck, this girl would get it in. We're not.
Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice - again, a very cool card but it suffers from both Flameblast Syndrome as well as being an underpowered card for what this deck wants to do. Go help our Boros friends in Standard, Aurelia!
Price of Fame - a 4 CMC removal spell has to be pretty attractive in order to make the list. The reduction of the cost by 2 does get it to the threshold of consideration, but not quite. Against the creatures that matter, this card is too expensive for what it does. I could be proven wrong, of course, but I think that this card is just a little too expensive.
Bounty Agent - another decent inclusion, it could get a deckslot.
Ritual of Soot - an extremely relevant sweeper for a cEDH deck. Clearing the field of smaller mana dorks and utility Generals (looking at you, Tymna) while keeping Kaalia alive is extremely attractive. This card will definitely deserve some testing.
This is more of a consistency issue and playing a low land count. Tithe helps develop our strategy more effectively than the Diamond while also providing some minor card thinning and a deck shuffle.
I sure hope more people heed this particular move. Can't run Diamond on anything below 38 lands, unless you're just using it to build storm count. And let's be honest, no one besides me is crazy enough to play Kaalia storm.
Haha, none but the liaison to Kaalia attempt such magnificence as Kaalia Storm! Glad to see you chiming in, 3drinks!
Yeah, Tithe has pretty much exceeded every expectation that I had. It almost always gets at least 2 lands because some G/x player usually plays an Exploration on T1. And Tithe always enables itself with a Fetch-land. Getting two lands to hand has been much more relevant than the burst of speed that the Diamond provides.
Haha, none but the liaison to Kaalia attempt such magnificence as Kaalia Storm! Glad to see you chiming in, 3drinks!
I really should update my dragonstorm list. I stopped playing mana myr for infernal plunge fodder for different rituals all while maintaining Forgemaster scrap. Plus, Lathlis. Lathlis changes the entire chain by her self!
Happy to stop by and be a part in such a wonderfully written primer.
First of all, thanks for the great primer and *especially* for organizing by card function and CMC!! I always end up copying deck lists into Excel and sorting like that on my own so the formatting is much appreciated A couple of questions for you:
Have you considered the "Razakats" (Razaketh, the Foulblooded + Leonin Relic-Warder) combo, esp. for your reanimator build? A user by the name of Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit has a great explanation of it:
Requires 1 creature (Kaalia) and 1WWB (this can be shortcut by 1 if you have two lands and a rock in play).
Cheat in Razaketh off Kaalia. Sacrifice Kaalia or another creature (-2 life). Tutor Leonin Relic Warder. Cast Leonin Relic Warder (WW). If you have a mana rock in play, exile it. Otherwise, target something you don't like. Sacrifice the Relic Warder (-2 life). This will either bring your rock back untapped or, if done in response to the ETB trigger, permanently exile the problem card. Tutor Animate Dead. Cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic Warder (1B). Leonin Relic Warder enters the battlefield. Target Animate Dead. Animate Dead is exiled, sacrifice trigger goes on stack. Sacrifice the Relic Warder to return Animate Dead, creating a loop where you can repeatedly tutor for -2 life. Tutor up one of your combos and enough fast mana needed to cast it (-2 life per activation).
In his list (here), Bad_Dog uses Worldgorger Dragon as his combo of choice. I don't like Worldgorger combo for the same reasons you mentioned (super-high risk being the main one), but was considering Bitter Ordeal off of Lotus Petal/Chrome Mox + Dark Ritual as an alternative option. Even without a combo finish though, repeated Vampiric Tutors to your hand from a one-card combo with Kaalia seems too good to pass up. The only real cost is putting Leonin Relic-Warder in the deck, which is a reasonable bear outside of the combo, along with a couple fast mana pieces. I haven't seen this mentioned until recently, so curious what your thoughts are!
Morbid Curiosity seems very high-risk, putting you at a 2-for-1 including a large creature if it gets countered. Disciple of Bolas costs 1 more but doesn't run the 2-for-1 risk as it's on ETB instead of cast. I personally like Read the Bones better than either though and value it similarly to Painful Truths, have you tried it?
Regarding mana rocks in your first list, I noticed the three diamonds are there but not Coldsteel Heart, which is almost strictly better than all of them as far as I can tell. Also, do you feel that these are better than Fellwar Stone which enters untapped? I find it extremely unusual for Fellwar Stone to not produce at least 1 color.
First of all, thanks for the great primer and *especially* for organizing by card function and CMC!! I always end up copying deck lists into Excel and sorting like that on my own so the formatting is much appreciated A couple of questions for you:
Have you considered the "Razakats" (Razaketh, the Foulblooded + Leonin Relic-Warder) combo, esp. for your reanimator build? A user by the name of Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit has a great explanation of it:
Requires 1 creature (Kaalia) and 1WWB (this can be shortcut by 1 if you have two lands and a rock in play).
Cheat in Razaketh off Kaalia. Sacrifice Kaalia or another creature (-2 life). Tutor Leonin Relic Warder. Cast Leonin Relic Warder (WW). If you have a mana rock in play, exile it. Otherwise, target something you don't like. Sacrifice the Relic Warder (-2 life). This will either bring your rock back untapped or, if done in response to the ETB trigger, permanently exile the problem card. Tutor Animate Dead. Cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic Warder (1B). Leonin Relic Warder enters the battlefield. Target Animate Dead. Animate Dead is exiled, sacrifice trigger goes on stack. Sacrifice the Relic Warder to return Animate Dead, creating a loop where you can repeatedly tutor for -2 life. Tutor up one of your combos and enough fast mana needed to cast it (-2 life per activation).
In his list (here), Bad_Dog uses Worldgorger Dragon as his combo of choice. I don't like Worldgorger combo for the same reasons you mentioned (super-high risk being the main one), but was considering Bitter Ordeal off of Lotus Petal/Chrome Mox + Dark Ritual as an alternative option. Even without a combo finish though, repeated Vampiric Tutors to your hand from a one-card combo with Kaalia seems too good to pass up. The only real cost is putting Leonin Relic-Warder in the deck, which is a reasonable bear outside of the combo, along with a couple fast mana pieces. I haven't seen this mentioned until recently, so curious what your thoughts are!
Morbid Curiosity seems very high-risk, putting you at a 2-for-1 including a large creature if it gets countered. Disciple of Bolas costs 1 more but doesn't run the 2-for-1 risk as it's on ETB instead of cast. I personally like Read the Bones better than either though and value it similarly to Painful Truths, have you tried it?
Regarding mana rocks in your first list, I noticed the three diamonds are there but not Coldsteel Heart, which is almost strictly better than all of them as far as I can tell. Also, do you feel that these are better than Fellwar Stone which enters untapped? I find it extremely unusual for Fellwar Stone to not produce at least 1 color.
Thanks again for crafting this fantastic resource!
Thanks for chiming in! I'm glad that you've found the Primer useful! I noticed that there was a lack of good, effective Kaalia Primers on the internet (with the exception of 3drinks' Duel Commander Primer) and I wanted to try and fill that gap with what I believe the strongest iteration of Kaalia possible.
Alright, I'll address each of your points in turn.
1) Nope, I had not considered the Razakats combo in this deck. I am familiar with it but I've completely overlooked it. My initial thoughts in regards to it are these: ok, so we can have a very high number of Vampiric Tutor effects in one single turn with the combo, as you've graciously reposted the explanation for the combo that explains the technical steps for it. This means that we can assemble an infinite combo of some sort pretty reliably and kill the table in one turn, which is ideal when playing competitively. My question is, what infinite combos exist out there that have natural synergy with Kaalia, can still work within the mana requirements dictated by the combo (the mana cost of 1WWB is pretty reasonable but still taxing IF we're trying to win on the spot), is deck choice efficient, and mana efficient? Worldgorger Dragon combo is an option, but I'm super risk averse with this deck as is since it gets such a bad reputation right from the get go and will receive a disproportionate amount of hate from T1. And, as I've mentioned, the Worldgorger combo requires other pieces in order to actually win, the most notable of which is a Stop condition and an infinite mana outlet (or Piranha Marsh kind of effect). So, Worldgorger is out. The option that I think would be most effective that has natural synergy with the deck is some sort of Kiki combo. An easy line with the deck is, after executing the Razakats combo, is to tutor for Buried Alive and Reanimate (technically redundant because Animate Dead is already in play) with Dark Ritual and a couple of other mana pieces (potentially Chrome Mox or Mox Diamond and Mana Crypt, since that will be the most mana efficient way to win on the spot. The combo pile would be Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Karmic Guide, and Restoration Angel. Reanimate/Animate Dead the Karmic Guide, Karmic back the Kiki, copy the Karmic Guide via Kiki-Jiki to get Restoration Angel into play, target Kiki-Jiki with the Resto. Angel trigger and spawn a bajillion Angels. I like this particular combo line because two of the pieces are Angels, which have natural synergy with Kaalia, and are decent cards by themselves. Kiki-Jiki would also be very powerful on a board with a couple of Kaalia targets, so he's a great include as well.
So, in summary, I think that the Razakats combo line would be excellent for the Reanimator version. I think that there are too many pieces to make the combo effective for the Stax/Aggro version to be effective. Great idea!
2) In the Stax list, Morbid Curiosity has actually overperformed for my wife and I in comparison to Read the Bones and other 3 CMC draw variants. Following the general strategy of flooding the field with Stax pieces and pressuring the table via Kaalia's Horde and trigger, it is extremely common for this deck to resolve the Curiosity uncontested. The reason for this is because the Stax pieces are so oppressive to our opponents that they almost, without fail, spend resources and tutors to try and get out of them. This leaves an opportunity to convert a spent Kaalia target into more fuel at a very cheap CMC, which has proven ideal for what the deck consistently does. I happily admit that the option for a 2-1 exists with the Curiosity but it hasn't been an issue in nearly any game that we've played. I know that when I'm playing against my wife (when she's piloting Kaalia) with my Teferi/Memnarch list I rarely have time to try and counter all of her plays because I need to play around Stax effects or Kaalia's trigger. The OP Stax list is very powerful and is, more often than not, overwhelming for the other players at the table. The higher CMC Kaalia targets with Stax effects (like Chancellor of the Annex or Iona, Shield of Emeria) give us a much higher density of Stax effects than what would normally be present in a Stax deck (Tymna and Tana Stax is the only one with MORE Stax effects than this list). We tested Read the Bones extensively but the Curiosity has simply been better and more powerful at the same CMC. EDIT: Do note that this is perhaps an oddity of our playgroup in that they (including myself) usually panic at the drop of a Stax piece from Kaalia since it amplifies the pressure that Kaalia already places on us. Each player in our group has a lot of memories of MLD, being Staxed out of the game, or being pummeled in one turn by this Kaalia list so we're all pretty reactive to the list in its current iteration, emotionally speaking.
3) Uh, Coldsteel Heart should be in the Primer list. I'll have to revisit that and update it if it isn't. EDIT: It wasn't. I've updated it to be correct. Cut the Fire Diamond since this deck is relatively R lite.
4) Possibility Storm + Rule of Law is really cool. Too bad a 6 CMC enchantment is too expensive for what this Stax deck is trying to do, because that is really cool. Good look!
Yeah it seems like Razakats combo will be great for your reanimator list as all the combo pieces are already in there aside from Leonin Relic-Warder. Possibility Storm is 5 CMC not 6, but I agree that is still quite expensive in a competitive environment. Thanks for the super detailed response!
What are your thoughts on additional Grand Abolisher effects like Defense Grid/Price of Glory/Mana Web in a meta with less fast combo and more control? Stax pieces don't seem to have as much of a lightning-rod effect in my playgroup so I lean towards running more effects to protect against countermagic/removal, along with artifact hate to target U/X control manabases. I have tried Thalia-type effects but didn't find this effective enough for protecting Kaalia. I would like to try out the Rule of Law effects but am similarly concerned that my single spell each-turn will get countered/removed. I should mention that my meta is much less tuned than what you describe, mostly due to budget constraints (rare to see cards acquired for >$20).
Great question. For heavier control metas, like what you're describing, I would probably lean into MLD effects and other mana shorting effects.
But, to answer your question directly, taxing effects are very conditional on what type of combo decks you're playing against. For our meta, Thalia is crippling. Paying an extra 1 disrupts most of the combo lines for Teferi, Azami Storm, Jeleva Storm, and Zur Storm that we play against while also slowing the game down on a more general basis. I don't particularly look at Thalia and tax effects as being a way to protect Kaalia; they are used mostly as bait or tempo loss for our opponents who rely on mana rocks and mana dorks to get ahead in the early game. Decks with low land counts, basically anything under 35 lands, can get really bogged down by tax effects during the early game, sometimes costing them a couple of turns of board development. This usually allows Kaalia the most precious thing she can want in a competitive game: time. This deck and any other Kaalia version WILL NEVER be as fast as the dedicated combo decks out there. That's simply because of the nature of the Mardu wedge being more proactive as a general strategy than anything with U. So, since we're proactive, I like to be as aggressive as possible and get as much tempo as possible to maximize my opportunities to safely cast Kaalia and attack with her. Tax effects directly help our strategy because they buy tempo over our opponents for a usually low mana investment. Chancellor of the Annex is notorious in our group because it makes every T1 play a "Land, Go" kind of play instead of "Land, Sol Ring, Dimir Signet, Go."
In regards to the Abolisher effects, I think they're great depending on the meta. Of the ones that come to mind, I really like Inquisitor's Flail and Price of Glory the best. But my general thoughts are that Abolisher effects generally tend to protect each player's turn from interaction.
The question that I would ask you is this: can you afford to NOT let your opponents interact with each other over the course of the game?
I think this is a really important question because you could inadvertently give your OPPONENTS opportunities to combo off without interaction and win. There will inevitably be moments when you AREN'T the threat at the table, and playing Defense Grid or Mana Web can limit your opponents' interactions with each other. So, if I were to play Abolisher effects, I'd rather play ones that protect only MY turn or symmetrically punish everyone's interactions by attacking their mana bases (Price of Glory). Think of it this way: Defense Grid CAN be played around, once you have enough mana, without costing you resources in the long run. Price of Glory punishes you permanently for trying to interact or do things during others' turns, permanently costing you lands. And since we are instant-lite and, again, a more proactive strategy we won't be getting punished for trying to interact with our opponents during their turns. Do you follow?
So, from what you've briefly described, it sounds like you need to attack your opponents' resource lines more aggressively. You're already playing Vandalblast, but I would also recommend By Force and Meltdown and Stony Silence. Attack them where they're trying to develop their mana advantage since that will cripple a Control strategy super effectively. You could slot in Ravages of War (depending on your budget) and, most defintely, Boil. Did you know Boil was an instant? Me neither, until my wife cast it in response to me trying to combo off with Teferi and needing my Islands. That hurt. And Boil is cheap, too, and you can rightly be smug about killing Islands. The best advice I can give you is to identify how your opponents are developing their card and mana advantages and try to combat them on that axis. The meta that my wife plays in depends on fast mana and playing multiple spells per turn, so Rule of Law and Tax effects are much more effective there than they might be in your own.
Curious, but do you find that you're short on Kaalia targets over the course of a game? Having only 15 targets seems to be risky in running out. Granted, you are more dedicated to the Razakats combo, so maybe you don't need as many.
Yeah, your explanation makes a lot of sense. In my playgroup, the most common state I find on T3 is that I am ready to cast Kaalia and at least one other player is ready to counter/remove her. This is where I really aim to play a protection piece as a must-counter-or-remove item (like Stax effects in your group). In this respect Defense Grid and Mana Web add some redundancy, but your point is well taken that these cards can become a liability as the game goes on and I will definitely look to cut these first if they seem excessive or too dangerous. I really like Price of Glory here for the insidious aspect of how it doesn't stop the Mono-U control player from stopping someone else's combo, it just eats their lands while we sit back and grin. Grand Abolisher is definitely the exemplar for these effects as it completely shuts down interaction during our turn and our turn only. Conqueror's Flail (I'm pretty sure you meant this instead of Inquisitor's Flail) has been on my radar as well, I just wish I had more small creatures to equip it to. Part of my reason for running little dorks like Mother of Runes, Weathered Wayfarer, and Devoted Caretaker is as a little experiment to see how often my Defense Grid/Mana Web could be a Flail attached to one of these.
I am currently running Stony Silence in addition to Vandalblast. By Force was next on my list to add but I ultimately couldn't figure out what to cut, maybe some of the spot removal or protection? Meltdown concerns me a bit with respect to killing our own rocks but it would definitely hurt my opponents more. What do you think of Subterranean Tremors? It's a card in Bad_Dog's list that looks interesting, can wipe artifacts for the same cost as overloaded Vandalblast with additional utility in being a mostly one-sided sweeper. Ravages of War is indeed outside of my price range, Boil looks absurd but there is a small element of pride holding me back in addition to knowing that I would definitely draw some groans, especially from my friend who plays exclusively U/X decks including Chain Veil Teferi. But I'm already running Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast, so maybe at this point I might as well fully convert to the anti-U side... I've also considered Ricochet Trap as further tech that isn't *entirely* dead against the occasional non-U deck.
I very rarely don't have a target (or a tutor/draw spell to find one) for my first Kaalia trigger, but I do sometimes run out after putting out one or two targets. My reasoning is that I'd rather have a protected Kaalia with one target on board than a Kaalia that can't stick with 3+ targets in hand. This also has the effect of making Dark Confidant more effective, as 3Drinks mentions in his primer many opponents will expect us to flip Iona/Avacyn all day long when in reality the average CMC of the deck is around 3. I just recently added the Razakats combo though, if drawing the pieces proves to be too clunky then I'll likely replace these to bring the target number up to 18.
What's your reasoning for not running the additional fast mana artifacts, especially Mana Vault and Chrome Mox? Do you find that the extra speed isn't worth the card disadvantage? I know you took out Mox Diamond due to land count and we probably don't have enough artifacts to reliably use Mox Opal.
I'm glad you understand my thinking regarding Defense Grid. It's occasionally backfired against my wife when she used to run it, protecting someone else's combo turn for free. Not a good feeling.
Yup, you're right. I was trying to reference Conqueror's Flail, not the Inquisitor one. I like the Flail because it makes any future creature that we cast have the ability to be another Abolisher effect. So not only will our opponents have to remove the creature that the Flail is attached to (all of which are usually high impact or Stax in some nature) but they'll ALSO have to deal with the Flail itself or risk being shut out of our turn and probably die.
One thing to consider with Kaalia as you're evaluating card choices like Meltdown is that we really only need 4-6 mana at any given time in order to play our game effectively (usually). Sacrificing a Rock to the Meltdown can hurt to watch, but the ability to trade our 2 cards in for 4+ cards of our opponents is a sweet deal. Not only did we deprive them of mana sources BUT we also gained tempo. You simply need to choose the window that you fire off a symmetrical Wrath effect in an opportune way.
Subterranean Tremors is a pretty awesome scalable Wrath effect. I like that it hits Artifacts after you've spent a certain amount of mana. The only reason I or my wife don't play it is because there is a Brago deck that we consistently play against and killing/Staxing out that Brago opponent is paramount to staying relevant in the game. The Tremors don't hit Brago. The end. If you find that it will hit most of the creatures that you play against, than I highly recommend it because of how well it scales over the course of the game. It's kinda like Cyclonic Rift in that regard.
I totally understand the pride issue about Boil. It's a pretty devious and evil card for any U/x mage to play against. It mostly comes down to what your expectations are with your opponents and yourself. The root of all frustration is unmet expectations. So, is your playgroup ok with MLD? If they are, then there is no reason to run the best type of MLD available to us in our colors. And Boil is one of the best MLD effects against any Blue based deck.
In regards to the fast mana rocks, this is mostly a deck space constraint in all fairness. I want to run more, but the deck space is tight and I find that I only really need between 4-6 mana sources on a consistent basis. Landing an early Stax piece is really good for the deck, and I've often thought about cards to cut in order to add additional fast mana rocks. Of the two you mention, Mana Vault is basically a colorless Dark Ritual in this deck and there aren't really any cards we can afford to Imprint to the Mox.
Balefire Dragon - noice reprint for Kaalia decks everywhere, this is possibly the strongest Dragon ever printed. It's prettu much an auto-include in any Kaalia deck as far as I'm concerned.
Demonic Tutor - a card that desperately needed a reprint, the new art is super awesome. I'm picking one up for this deck for sure.
Entomb - a great reprint for the Reanimator version of this deck.
REanimate - cool art and a desperately needed reprint as well. Wizards has really knocked this Masters set out of the park in my opinion.
Goryo's Vengeance - dude, the art is so f-ing cool. And Kaalia lists generally tend to have a decent number of legendary creatures, so this card could be good in your version.
Cavern of Souls]/CARD] - another great reprint, this card is awesome at keeping Kaalia relevant in any cEDH game you play. Laugh at the dead Counterspells your opponents are playing!
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - wow, the art for this card is SO cool. Pick one up if you can.
Well, hot damn, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is absolutely broken for the cEDH scene. It single-handedly stops nearly every competitive Combo deck in this format as long as she's in play and she has a massively attractive mana cost. This card spells Doom for fast Combo decks, and I know I'll personally be building a Control deck built around her. A DAMN shame that she has the hated U symbol in her casting cost because otherwise she would be a SLAM-DUNK include for Kaalia.
Gotta love Spoiler season! Maybe we'll finally get a Rakdos incarnation that doesn't suck without Kaalia cheating it into play. Or maybe a cool Orzhov Angel that's an upgraded Angel of Despair. One can hope!
EDIT: I'm repeating a comment I made on my Tasigur Primer about Lavinia here as well in order to clarify my thinking on why she's so important for the cEDH scene.
I think you're 100% correct when evaluating the card from a more casual approach. I happily admit that there are many ways to play Commander, and I personally prefer playing more competitively. That being said, here's how I see the new Lavinia:
Lavinia's power is directly proportional to the type of decks your opponents are playing. For me and my playgroup, and the cEDH meta generally, mana rocks are king, especially the ones costing 2 and under. Lavinia causes mana rocks to be non-beneficial sources of mana advantage since she restricts your opponents' casting of spells to their land size. Check out my Memnarch and Teferi Primers. You see the relatively low land counts? More often than not, I only have 2-3 lands in play but a bunch of artifact mana that powers out MORE sources of mana advantage and card advantage. Very few of these effects WHEN I CAST THEM are ever proportional to the number of actual lands I have in play! Lavinia makes this type of mana advantage a liability for these types of decks since they no longer contribute directly to developing your board presence for the important non-creature spells that are played. There are too many playlines and gamestates to describe where the ability of my mana rocks to generate mana that can be used to cast non-creature spells ahead of their casting cost is absolutely crucial.
In my playgroup, it's very frequent that you'll see someone trying to jam a T1 Mana Rock into some sort of T2 non-creature spell (more often than not some sort of Wheel effect). This is almost 100% the consistent playline that I see and Lavinia stops that super effectively. Additionally, cEDH decks run a VERY low land count. This means that the non-creature spells that cost any more than 2+ mana have a real possibility of being unable to be cast with Lavinia in play. Hell, she even stops the earliest, most effective Wrath effect from going off UNTIL T3. If they even get to 3 actual lands in play in order to cast it. This is a very significant tempo loss for your opponents since they now HAVE to depend on land as their primary mana sources in order to unlock their spells.
Lavinia doesn't just shut down "large X spells" or Tooth and Nail type of cards. She causes legitimate tempo loss for optimized decks that run low land counts and the most powerful non-creature spells available. Ad Nauseam decks will NEVER get off the ground as long as Lavinia is in play until AT LEAST T5. Do you see how Lavinia shuts down any type of Dark Ritual effect? What about High Tide? Fast Combo decks that aren't Flash Hulk decks can no longer chain their spells together on time until they have the correct number of lands in play. Assuming they even hit their land drops every turn. Teferi Chain Veil decks now have to up their removal count because there's NO WAY that they can cast a T2 or T3 Teferi with Lavinia in play. Even Food Chain[/CARD} decks will stumble (not as signficantly as Storm or Teferi Chain Veil) because their most common line of play is T1 mana dork or tutor -> T2 double mana dork or tutor -> T3 Food Chain, often seeing rarely seeing their 3rd land since they depend on mana dorks to power out an early Food Chain line. Even Flash Hulk type of decks have to be careful since they can still possibly jam a T2 Flash but now have to be careful about what kind of protection they have for their combo. And her 2nd ability shuts down the new Arcum Dagsson decks that depend on different variants of Ornithopter in order to keep triggering Paradox Engine.
All of this discussion is relevant because Lavinia is a Legendary creature. That means she can be cast on T2 EVERY game and even on T1 with a MASSIVE degree of consistency. Because her effects are also ASYMMETRICAL, you don't disrupt your own combo lines at all. She's like a one-sided Gaddock Teeg.
So, to conclude my rant/explanation, Lavinia is significant and a very important card for the cEDH scene. For any other type of play, she's just a cool 2/2 Hate-Bear that enforces everyone to play fairly or depend on the inherently slower land-based ramp effects available.
I both love and hate spoiler season. It's awesome because you get to see what's coming out but it sucks because it NEVER comes out fast enough.
That being said, Bedevil looks really, really good for this list. It hits Teferi, mana rocks, and creatures. It is, quite simply, one of THE most versatile removal spells printed in a while. I think I'll call the card the Bedeviling card; it's too close to Deviled Eggs not to make some sort of terrible pun (cueing my wife...).
Rakdos, the Showstopper - DAMN this card is so cool and yet so NOT good with this deck's strategy. Leaving the fate of our creatures to chance is exciting, but not in a good way. I'm definitely passing on this card for sure. It could find a spot in the Reanimator build for the lolz though.
Angel of Grace - THIS is a great card. It has Flash and sits at a good spot on the curve in order to be legitimately castable outside of Kaalia's trigger. And you can manipulate the tempo of the game to your favor. And yet another tool to defeat the stupid Animar deck and it's Craterhoof Behemoth shenanigans. Ha!
Spawn of Mayhem - a very excellently designed card, I don't think that it has quite enough impact in Commander to be worth a slot (see Primer explanation of Flameblast Syndrome), especially in the main Stax and Reanimator lists. Pass.
Serpah of the Scales - wow. Take a look at the art on this card. Amazing. Sadly, not enough impact for Commander and suffers from Flameblast Syndrome.
Kaya's Wrath - a new Wrath variant that's kinda fun (from a Vorthos/lore perspective), the color requirements for this card are quite steep for Kaalia to effectively play it on curve. A soft pass.
Revival // Revenge - what is this card?! It's so cool and weirdly fun. I really like the card but it doesn't fit the main strategy effectively. It essentially competes for a Kaalia target at 6 CMC and we want pretty much every single Kaalia target available. Pass.
Electrodominance - while this card is one of the most exciting cards to be spoiled, this card doesn't synergize with the core strategy of this Kaalia list. We're generally not leaving a lot of mana open at the end of our turn, so the surprise factor of getting a 2-1 from this card is minimal. Cool card, just doesn't quite fit with this deck's strategy.
EDIT: I also realize that the OP list hasn't been updated with the Doom Whisperer inclusion. The card has generally overperformed for this deck, as ensuring card quality is actually a little more important to this strategy than Card Quantity is. It's almost strictly better than Bloodgift Demon, which was by far the weakest Kaalia target in the list. OP updated and the Primer modified accordingly.
There aren't really any other cards that interest me beyond what I've already written about. I'll edit my previous post to indicate that it's my official set review.
In your research did you come across any more "traditional" casual (but competitive, just not Cedh) Kaalia lists? I'm trying to get into EDH with a local casual group and want to use some of my favorite angels, dragons, and demons, and am trying to find a baseline deck to start with, but having a hard time.
Welcome to the forums, jugglingjruist! I hope you continue to enjoy the wealth of knowledge that is contained here and find it useful to you.
If I were to tweak the deck to be more casual, I would certainly start with the removal of the Stax package and MLD effects since these are the meaner elements of the deck.
So, I would simply take the list of the OP and do something like this:
I would also recommend checking out the budget section of the Primer, right underneath the main decklist.
I would personally try to increase the amount of removal in your deck so that you can rule the battlefield. Cursed Totem is just too good at what it does for me to ever consider cutting it, so that's the only piece of Stax that I'd recommend keeping in (besides the natural Angels/Demons/Dragons that have Stax effects stapled to them).
Do you have a base list that you're working with that you can post?
Totally forgot about Skarrgan Hellkite. This is a pretty decent dragon for the deck and it's worth testing out. Being able to snipe mana dorks and Commanders with x/2 toughness (read: Tymna) is very useful and could have a place in the deck. I'll be testing it a little more thoroughly with my wife sometime soon I hope.
Game Reports! I played Kaalia twice this weekend, and lost both times, sadly, but the last game was due mostly to lucky topdecks by the Tasigur player.
4 Man Game: T&T Shuffle Hulk, Gitrog, Tasigur, Kaalia
The only reason I kept my opening 7 (which I should have mulliganed in hindsight) is because it had an opening turn Chancellor of the Annex AND Cursed Totem. With two lands in my hand, I reasoned that I would eventually draw into a land or a mana source so that I could try and cast Kaalia and start laying on the beatz. It didn't happen. I ran into the classic danger of Kaalia: drawing too many Angels/Demons/Dragons with not enough mana sources to actually get Kaalia into play. After a very uneventful T1 and T2 from the table (thanks, Chancellor) I stalled out on 2 lands for 2 turns, giving the table enough time to play past the Opening Hand trigger of the Chancellor and develop their board states. We lost to T&T Shuffle Hulk after he went through some serious mental hoops to try and get the naturally drawn Kozilek out of his hand. Gotta love [CARD}Survival of the Fittest[/CARD] and Academy Rector off of Protean Hulk as well as THE LUCKIEST Tymna draws I've ever seen. T&T needed to draw at least a creature from a Tymna trigger so that he could pitch it to Survival in order to find his last Hulk piece. What does he find instead? Ponder and Flash. And what does he Ponder into on his second main? A creature. Super lucky, but it was an impressive win.
4 Man Game: Gitrog, Tasigur, Kaalia, T&T Shuffle Hulk
This was a really fun game that highlighted bad luck for me as well as a crucial play mistake. I don't remember all of the details, but I had the board locked down after a Wrath effect with a Rest in Peace and [CARD}Magus of the Moon[/CARD] in play. T&T and Gitrog were literally doing nothing, so it was between Tasigur and I with his Tasigur beats getting in there. I drew into a Dragon Mage and definitely went to attack the Tasigur player with Kaalia. The Tasigur player had just cast a Walking Ballista for XX=4 and was threatening to kill my Kaalia and the Magus. I had an active Dragon Tempest in play. With Kaalia's trigger on the stack, he killed Kaalia but allowing me to put the Dragon into play. I wheel into 5 lands, a Scourge of Kher Ridges, and Morbid Curiosity with no 2nd source of black mana. I cast the Scourge and pass the turn, feeling confident that I would be able to pull out the win, especially since T&T and Gitrog were actually doing nothing but playing land-go. This is where my play mistake mattered. I missed the first Dragon Tempest trigger off of Kaalia's trigger putting the Dragon Mage into play, which I could have pointed at the Ballista. With the Scourge ETB, I remembered the first trigger hadn't been accounted for and tried to make it happen so that I could keep my Magus alive. The table fairly ruled that everyone had missed it and so game state was to be maintained. I later learned that Tasigur's freshly wheeled hand was terrible and that he couldn't cast most of it except a Dimir Signet. What does he topdeck? A Phantasmal Image. I cried a little bit. He casts the Image as a copy of my Scourge of Kher Ridges and activates the second ability of the Scourge, clearing my battlefield. He then topdecks into Biomancer's Familiar and is able to grow his Walking Ballista to a huge size. He puts me at 1 life and then proceeds to kill of T&T and Gitrog, since they can literally do nothing with the Stax pieces on my side of the field. Once the T&T player finally dies, Tasigur kills me with the Ballista's ability. In the 4 turns it took for Tasigur to get everyone down to dead, I drew straight lands and/or cards with double black mana costs. It sucked losing to my own Stax pieces, but the Tasigur player got lucky methinks.
Hi!
I registered just to say huge thank you!
Your primer is a wonderful piece of work.
I played for two years a Kruphix non-competitive-long-game-focused-deck (you know, early defense going into drawing 15 cards and using those big fat wurms, hydras, and IMBA navigator-muse-witness combos).
Several months ago, I decided to totally switch my play style. I literally picked the three non-green-non-blue colors that left And they led be to Kaalia, which on top of the colors, had a dramatic different playstyle: kill the opponents quickly and forget about sitting back.
Your primer became a top-guide for me. I read it dozens of times, thinking if I want to play it or not, and after I got a precon deck, started carefully to pick the cards I wanted to buy and which cards to replace. My deck is not a copy of yours, and will never be, but it's definitely a relative And I'm having a blast with it!
I love your work, it helped a ton, it brought inspiration, determination, and confidence.
Thank you.
EDIT:
All I said is about non 1:1 games. We always play FFA 3-5 people.
First, welcome to the forums cormade! Second, that's a great question. Since I play in a more competitive playgroup, where mana efficiency and CMC matters a great deal, many of the opponents this deck plays against (my wife usually pilots this Kaalia list) play either mana dorks or mana rocks faster and more consistently than they play with lands. My wife and I observed that, for several games, casting an Armageddon effect didn't close out the game. My brother and myself both play alternate forms of mana generation in large quantities in our respective decks and so this Land Destruction was proving to be not as effective.
So instead, my wife and I agreed that adding more disruption and Stax pieces would be a more effective way to control the game. The real benefit to a MLD effect (Mass Land Destruction) is to be able to create enough time to attack with Kaalia enough times to kill everyone at the table. Over the course of adapting this deck to our playgroup we've found that Stax pieces and other Prison type effects are MUCH more effective at slowing down the game and buying time for us to cast Kaalia and attack with her. I mention it in the Stax Primer Strategy section (I believe) but it's worth reiterating again:
This deck aims to slow down our opponents with Stax effects FIRST and then cast Kaalia. While our opponents are struggling to get out of the Stax effects we've put into play we are now pressuring their Board state and Life totals with Kaalia's Horde of Death. By attacking our opponent's strategies from a Stax perspective (i.e. Cursed Totem stopping nearly ALL creature based combos and advantages, Aven Mindcensor or Stranglehold keeping them trapped to the top of their library, etc.) simultaneously we create a very massive and devastating roadblock preventing our opponents to execute their strategy. While they're desperately trying to remove these obstacles so that they can play the game and win, we've cast Kaalia and are now ready to kill them dead.
So, in summary, MLD turned out to be not as effective against our playgroup as adding additional Stax effects is. The only MLD effect that we've kept is Cataclysm, and that's because it hits EVERY type of mana generation that can occur and drastically limits it to only one instance of it. If your playgroup plays a lot of Cultivate effects, and use that type of effect as their primary way of generating mana advantage over you, then adding in more MLD effects is absolutely warranted. You will want to identify the primary way that your opponents are developing their game strategy and try to attack that aspect of their strategy. For our playgroup, mana dorks and mana rocks are far more common than actual land ramp spells and so the traditional MLD effects aren't as effective.
Thanks for the congrats! Creating the Primer was a labor of love and I hope it benefits multi-player Commander decks for many years to come!
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
I sure hope more people heed this particular move. Can't run Diamond on anything below 38 lands, unless you're just using it to build storm count. And let's be honest, no one besides me is crazy enough to play Kaalia storm.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Yeah, Tithe has pretty much exceeded every expectation that I had. It almost always gets at least 2 lands because some G/x player usually plays an Exploration on T1. And Tithe always enables itself with a Fetch-land. Getting two lands to hand has been much more relevant than the burst of speed that the Diamond provides.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
I really should update my dragonstorm list. I stopped playing mana myr for infernal plunge fodder for different rituals all while maintaining Forgemaster scrap. Plus, Lathlis. Lathlis changes the entire chain by her self!
Happy to stop by and be a part in such a wonderfully written primer.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Have you considered the "Razakats" (Razaketh, the Foulblooded + Leonin Relic-Warder) combo, esp. for your reanimator build? A user by the name of Bad_Dog from the cEDH subreddit has a great explanation of it:
In his list (here), Bad_Dog uses Worldgorger Dragon as his combo of choice. I don't like Worldgorger combo for the same reasons you mentioned (super-high risk being the main one), but was considering Bitter Ordeal off of Lotus Petal/Chrome Mox + Dark Ritual as an alternative option. Even without a combo finish though, repeated Vampiric Tutors to your hand from a one-card combo with Kaalia seems too good to pass up. The only real cost is putting Leonin Relic-Warder in the deck, which is a reasonable bear outside of the combo, along with a couple fast mana pieces. I haven't seen this mentioned until recently, so curious what your thoughts are!
Morbid Curiosity seems very high-risk, putting you at a 2-for-1 including a large creature if it gets countered. Disciple of Bolas costs 1 more but doesn't run the 2-for-1 risk as it's on ETB instead of cast. I personally like Read the Bones better than either though and value it similarly to Painful Truths, have you tried it?
Regarding mana rocks in your first list, I noticed the three diamonds are there but not Coldsteel Heart, which is almost strictly better than all of them as far as I can tell. Also, do you feel that these are better than Fellwar Stone which enters untapped? I find it extremely unusual for Fellwar Stone to not produce at least 1 color.
Possibility Storm is a hard lock with Eidolon of Rhetoric/Rule of Law and also a decent, albeit expensive, stax piece on its own.
Thanks again for crafting this fantastic resource!
Thanks for chiming in! I'm glad that you've found the Primer useful! I noticed that there was a lack of good, effective Kaalia Primers on the internet (with the exception of 3drinks' Duel Commander Primer) and I wanted to try and fill that gap with what I believe the strongest iteration of Kaalia possible.
Alright, I'll address each of your points in turn.
1) Nope, I had not considered the Razakats combo in this deck. I am familiar with it but I've completely overlooked it. My initial thoughts in regards to it are these: ok, so we can have a very high number of Vampiric Tutor effects in one single turn with the combo, as you've graciously reposted the explanation for the combo that explains the technical steps for it. This means that we can assemble an infinite combo of some sort pretty reliably and kill the table in one turn, which is ideal when playing competitively. My question is, what infinite combos exist out there that have natural synergy with Kaalia, can still work within the mana requirements dictated by the combo (the mana cost of 1WWB is pretty reasonable but still taxing IF we're trying to win on the spot), is deck choice efficient, and mana efficient? Worldgorger Dragon combo is an option, but I'm super risk averse with this deck as is since it gets such a bad reputation right from the get go and will receive a disproportionate amount of hate from T1. And, as I've mentioned, the Worldgorger combo requires other pieces in order to actually win, the most notable of which is a Stop condition and an infinite mana outlet (or Piranha Marsh kind of effect). So, Worldgorger is out. The option that I think would be most effective that has natural synergy with the deck is some sort of Kiki combo. An easy line with the deck is, after executing the Razakats combo, is to tutor for Buried Alive and Reanimate (technically redundant because Animate Dead is already in play) with Dark Ritual and a couple of other mana pieces (potentially Chrome Mox or Mox Diamond and Mana Crypt, since that will be the most mana efficient way to win on the spot. The combo pile would be Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Karmic Guide, and Restoration Angel. Reanimate/Animate Dead the Karmic Guide, Karmic back the Kiki, copy the Karmic Guide via Kiki-Jiki to get Restoration Angel into play, target Kiki-Jiki with the Resto. Angel trigger and spawn a bajillion Angels. I like this particular combo line because two of the pieces are Angels, which have natural synergy with Kaalia, and are decent cards by themselves. Kiki-Jiki would also be very powerful on a board with a couple of Kaalia targets, so he's a great include as well.
So, in summary, I think that the Razakats combo line would be excellent for the Reanimator version. I think that there are too many pieces to make the combo effective for the Stax/Aggro version to be effective. Great idea!
2) In the Stax list, Morbid Curiosity has actually overperformed for my wife and I in comparison to Read the Bones and other 3 CMC draw variants. Following the general strategy of flooding the field with Stax pieces and pressuring the table via Kaalia's Horde and trigger, it is extremely common for this deck to resolve the Curiosity uncontested. The reason for this is because the Stax pieces are so oppressive to our opponents that they almost, without fail, spend resources and tutors to try and get out of them. This leaves an opportunity to convert a spent Kaalia target into more fuel at a very cheap CMC, which has proven ideal for what the deck consistently does. I happily admit that the option for a 2-1 exists with the Curiosity but it hasn't been an issue in nearly any game that we've played. I know that when I'm playing against my wife (when she's piloting Kaalia) with my Teferi/Memnarch list I rarely have time to try and counter all of her plays because I need to play around Stax effects or Kaalia's trigger. The OP Stax list is very powerful and is, more often than not, overwhelming for the other players at the table. The higher CMC Kaalia targets with Stax effects (like Chancellor of the Annex or Iona, Shield of Emeria) give us a much higher density of Stax effects than what would normally be present in a Stax deck (Tymna and Tana Stax is the only one with MORE Stax effects than this list). We tested Read the Bones extensively but the Curiosity has simply been better and more powerful at the same CMC. EDIT: Do note that this is perhaps an oddity of our playgroup in that they (including myself) usually panic at the drop of a Stax piece from Kaalia since it amplifies the pressure that Kaalia already places on us. Each player in our group has a lot of memories of MLD, being Staxed out of the game, or being pummeled in one turn by this Kaalia list so we're all pretty reactive to the list in its current iteration, emotionally speaking.
3) Uh, Coldsteel Heart should be in the Primer list. I'll have to revisit that and update it if it isn't. EDIT: It wasn't. I've updated it to be correct. Cut the Fire Diamond since this deck is relatively R lite.
4) Possibility Storm + Rule of Law is really cool. Too bad a 6 CMC enchantment is too expensive for what this Stax deck is trying to do, because that is really cool. Good look!
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Here is my current list for reference: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/dracaryxs-kaalia/?cb=1543356931
But, to answer your question directly, taxing effects are very conditional on what type of combo decks you're playing against. For our meta, Thalia is crippling. Paying an extra 1 disrupts most of the combo lines for Teferi, Azami Storm, Jeleva Storm, and Zur Storm that we play against while also slowing the game down on a more general basis. I don't particularly look at Thalia and tax effects as being a way to protect Kaalia; they are used mostly as bait or tempo loss for our opponents who rely on mana rocks and mana dorks to get ahead in the early game. Decks with low land counts, basically anything under 35 lands, can get really bogged down by tax effects during the early game, sometimes costing them a couple of turns of board development. This usually allows Kaalia the most precious thing she can want in a competitive game: time. This deck and any other Kaalia version WILL NEVER be as fast as the dedicated combo decks out there. That's simply because of the nature of the Mardu wedge being more proactive as a general strategy than anything with U. So, since we're proactive, I like to be as aggressive as possible and get as much tempo as possible to maximize my opportunities to safely cast Kaalia and attack with her. Tax effects directly help our strategy because they buy tempo over our opponents for a usually low mana investment. Chancellor of the Annex is notorious in our group because it makes every T1 play a "Land, Go" kind of play instead of "Land, Sol Ring, Dimir Signet, Go."
In regards to the Abolisher effects, I think they're great depending on the meta. Of the ones that come to mind, I really like Inquisitor's Flail and Price of Glory the best. But my general thoughts are that Abolisher effects generally tend to protect each player's turn from interaction.
The question that I would ask you is this: can you afford to NOT let your opponents interact with each other over the course of the game?
I think this is a really important question because you could inadvertently give your OPPONENTS opportunities to combo off without interaction and win. There will inevitably be moments when you AREN'T the threat at the table, and playing Defense Grid or Mana Web can limit your opponents' interactions with each other. So, if I were to play Abolisher effects, I'd rather play ones that protect only MY turn or symmetrically punish everyone's interactions by attacking their mana bases (Price of Glory). Think of it this way: Defense Grid CAN be played around, once you have enough mana, without costing you resources in the long run. Price of Glory punishes you permanently for trying to interact or do things during others' turns, permanently costing you lands. And since we are instant-lite and, again, a more proactive strategy we won't be getting punished for trying to interact with our opponents during their turns. Do you follow?
So, from what you've briefly described, it sounds like you need to attack your opponents' resource lines more aggressively. You're already playing Vandalblast, but I would also recommend By Force and Meltdown and Stony Silence. Attack them where they're trying to develop their mana advantage since that will cripple a Control strategy super effectively. You could slot in Ravages of War (depending on your budget) and, most defintely, Boil. Did you know Boil was an instant? Me neither, until my wife cast it in response to me trying to combo off with Teferi and needing my Islands. That hurt. And Boil is cheap, too, and you can rightly be smug about killing Islands. The best advice I can give you is to identify how your opponents are developing their card and mana advantages and try to combat them on that axis. The meta that my wife plays in depends on fast mana and playing multiple spells per turn, so Rule of Law and Tax effects are much more effective there than they might be in your own.
Curious, but do you find that you're short on Kaalia targets over the course of a game? Having only 15 targets seems to be risky in running out. Granted, you are more dedicated to the Razakats combo, so maybe you don't need as many.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
I am currently running Stony Silence in addition to Vandalblast. By Force was next on my list to add but I ultimately couldn't figure out what to cut, maybe some of the spot removal or protection? Meltdown concerns me a bit with respect to killing our own rocks but it would definitely hurt my opponents more. What do you think of Subterranean Tremors? It's a card in Bad_Dog's list that looks interesting, can wipe artifacts for the same cost as overloaded Vandalblast with additional utility in being a mostly one-sided sweeper. Ravages of War is indeed outside of my price range, Boil looks absurd but there is a small element of pride holding me back in addition to knowing that I would definitely draw some groans, especially from my friend who plays exclusively U/X decks including Chain Veil Teferi. But I'm already running Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast, so maybe at this point I might as well fully convert to the anti-U side... I've also considered Ricochet Trap as further tech that isn't *entirely* dead against the occasional non-U deck.
I very rarely don't have a target (or a tutor/draw spell to find one) for my first Kaalia trigger, but I do sometimes run out after putting out one or two targets. My reasoning is that I'd rather have a protected Kaalia with one target on board than a Kaalia that can't stick with 3+ targets in hand. This also has the effect of making Dark Confidant more effective, as 3Drinks mentions in his primer many opponents will expect us to flip Iona/Avacyn all day long when in reality the average CMC of the deck is around 3. I just recently added the Razakats combo though, if drawing the pieces proves to be too clunky then I'll likely replace these to bring the target number up to 18.
What's your reasoning for not running the additional fast mana artifacts, especially Mana Vault and Chrome Mox? Do you find that the extra speed isn't worth the card disadvantage? I know you took out Mox Diamond due to land count and we probably don't have enough artifacts to reliably use Mox Opal.
Yup, you're right. I was trying to reference Conqueror's Flail, not the Inquisitor one. I like the Flail because it makes any future creature that we cast have the ability to be another Abolisher effect. So not only will our opponents have to remove the creature that the Flail is attached to (all of which are usually high impact or Stax in some nature) but they'll ALSO have to deal with the Flail itself or risk being shut out of our turn and probably die.
One thing to consider with Kaalia as you're evaluating card choices like Meltdown is that we really only need 4-6 mana at any given time in order to play our game effectively (usually). Sacrificing a Rock to the Meltdown can hurt to watch, but the ability to trade our 2 cards in for 4+ cards of our opponents is a sweet deal. Not only did we deprive them of mana sources BUT we also gained tempo. You simply need to choose the window that you fire off a symmetrical Wrath effect in an opportune way.
Subterranean Tremors is a pretty awesome scalable Wrath effect. I like that it hits Artifacts after you've spent a certain amount of mana. The only reason I or my wife don't play it is because there is a Brago deck that we consistently play against and killing/Staxing out that Brago opponent is paramount to staying relevant in the game. The Tremors don't hit Brago. The end. If you find that it will hit most of the creatures that you play against, than I highly recommend it because of how well it scales over the course of the game. It's kinda like Cyclonic Rift in that regard.
I totally understand the pride issue about Boil. It's a pretty devious and evil card for any U/x mage to play against. It mostly comes down to what your expectations are with your opponents and yourself. The root of all frustration is unmet expectations. So, is your playgroup ok with MLD? If they are, then there is no reason to run the best type of MLD available to us in our colors. And Boil is one of the best MLD effects against any Blue based deck.
In regards to the fast mana rocks, this is mostly a deck space constraint in all fairness. I want to run more, but the deck space is tight and I find that I only really need between 4-6 mana sources on a consistent basis. Landing an early Stax piece is really good for the deck, and I've often thought about cards to cut in order to add additional fast mana rocks. Of the two you mention, Mana Vault is basically a colorless Dark Ritual in this deck and there aren't really any cards we can afford to Imprint to the Mox.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Gotta love Spoiler season! Maybe we'll finally get a Rakdos incarnation that doesn't suck without Kaalia cheating it into play. Or maybe a cool Orzhov Angel that's an upgraded Angel of Despair. One can hope!
EDIT: I'm repeating a comment I made on my Tasigur Primer about Lavinia here as well in order to clarify my thinking on why she's so important for the cEDH scene.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
That being said, Bedevil looks really, really good for this list. It hits Teferi, mana rocks, and creatures. It is, quite simply, one of THE most versatile removal spells printed in a while. I think I'll call the card the Bedeviling card; it's too close to Deviled Eggs not to make some sort of terrible pun (cueing my wife...).
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
EDIT: I also realize that the OP list hasn't been updated with the Doom Whisperer inclusion. The card has generally overperformed for this deck, as ensuring card quality is actually a little more important to this strategy than Card Quantity is. It's almost strictly better than Bloodgift Demon, which was by far the weakest Kaalia target in the list. OP updated and the Primer modified accordingly.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
If I were to tweak the deck to be more casual, I would certainly start with the removal of the Stax package and MLD effects since these are the meaner elements of the deck.
So, I would simply take the list of the OP and do something like this:
1 Suppression Field
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Rule of Law
1 Cataclysm
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Cataclysm
1 Grim Tutor
1 Kaya's Wrath
1 Crackling Doom
1 Return to Dust
1 Karmic Guide
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Harvester of Souls
1 Archangel Avacyn
2 Lands
I would also recommend checking out the budget section of the Primer, right underneath the main decklist.
I would personally try to increase the amount of removal in your deck so that you can rule the battlefield. Cursed Totem is just too good at what it does for me to ever consider cutting it, so that's the only piece of Stax that I'd recommend keeping in (besides the natural Angels/Demons/Dragons that have Stax effects stapled to them).
Do you have a base list that you're working with that you can post?
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
4 Man Game: T&T Shuffle Hulk, Gitrog, Tasigur, Kaalia
4 Man Game: Gitrog, Tasigur, Kaalia, T&T Shuffle Hulk
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
I registered just to say huge thank you!
Your primer is a wonderful piece of work.
I played for two years a Kruphix non-competitive-long-game-focused-deck (you know, early defense going into drawing 15 cards and using those big fat wurms, hydras, and IMBA navigator-muse-witness combos).
Several months ago, I decided to totally switch my play style. I literally picked the three non-green-non-blue colors that left And they led be to Kaalia, which on top of the colors, had a dramatic different playstyle: kill the opponents quickly and forget about sitting back.
Your primer became a top-guide for me. I read it dozens of times, thinking if I want to play it or not, and after I got a precon deck, started carefully to pick the cards I wanted to buy and which cards to replace. My deck is not a copy of yours, and will never be, but it's definitely a relative And I'm having a blast with it!
I love your work, it helped a ton, it brought inspiration, determination, and confidence.
Thank you.
EDIT:
All I said is about non 1:1 games. We always play FFA 3-5 people.