I have decided to make a couple small tweaks based on some earlier conversations.
First, as EbonRose and Greg1706 mentioned, Reliquary Monk seems like it could be good in this deck. And, the deck only has 3 ways to deal with Artifacts and Enchantments now so this would be a welcome addition to dealing with some troublesome non-creature permanents.
Second, I decided to try out Kaya, Orzhov Usurper. This gives me a way to deal with Sol Ring or other cheap permanents as well as trying to keep graveyards clean. I do not actually expect her to be fantastic or game-breaking but I can see where each of her abilities can be useful in certain situations. This is more of an experiment to see what she is capable of and this build seems the most likely to allow her to stick around. In the end, I fully expect to cut her again but at least I will then have the knowledge of how well she actually plays instead of just looking at her and thinking she is too weak.
To make room for these, I have decided to cut the following:
Lost Auramancers - As Pokken mentioned, it is rare for it to actually die without counters. I also haven't felt that this deck really needs the effect anyway. Enlightened Tutor takes care of it and, if I really feel I need it, Academy Rector will probably just go into that spot. It doesn't work with Teysa that well, but it is guaranteed to get me an Enchantment.
Disciple of Bolas - I have been finding this card just doesn't cut it in a lot of situations and I feel the same here. The deck doesn't really need the card draw and Kaya can (sometimes) handle the life gain.
Huh, I see your point on forcefield. Guess I had a misunderstanding as trample should not be stopped in my mind but gatherer states it right their.
As for the attitude and lack of interpersonal skills, this thread is just all about you proving superiority of your card choices. Don’t care.
I'm not trying to play mod or anything but as someone who follows a few of WizMN's threads I have never really gotten that sense. It's clear their decks are not being hyperoptimized so it's more about making the right choice within a playgroup than about picking the most powerful card in a vacuum.
When you're wrong it's OK to just admit that you're wrong and move on without a parting shot Took me a really long time and a lot of time being annoyed to learn that lesson, so I'm speaking from experience fwiw
I have decided to make a couple small tweaks based on some earlier conversations.
First, as EbonRose and Greg1706 mentioned, Reliquary Monk seems like it could be good in this deck. And, the deck only has 3 ways to deal with Artifacts and Enchantments now so this would be a welcome addition to dealing with some troublesome non-creature permanents.
Second, I decided to try out Kaya, Orzhov Usurper. This gives me a way to deal with Sol Ring or other cheap permanents as well as trying to keep graveyards clean. I do not actually expect her to be fantastic or game-breaking but I can see where each of her abilities can be useful in certain situations. This is more of an experiment to see what she is capable of and this build seems the most likely to allow her to stick around. In the end, I fully expect to cut her again but at least I will then have the knowledge of how well she actually plays instead of just looking at her and thinking she is too weak.
To make room for these, I have decided to cut the following:
Lost Auramancers - As Pokken mentioned, it is rare for it to actually die without counters. I also haven't felt that this deck really needs the effect anyway. Enlightened Tutor takes care of it and, if I really feel I need it, Academy Rector will probably just go into that spot. It doesn't work with Teysa that well, but it is guaranteed to get me an Enchantment.
Disciple of Bolas - I have been finding this card just doesn't cut it in a lot of situations and I feel the same here. The deck doesn't really need the card draw and Kaya can (sometimes) handle the life gain.
I'm not sure about Kaya, I think you generally would get more mileage out of a Remorseful Cleric - though Kaya may prove herself quite strong in EDH. there are a ton of annoying 1 and less CMC cards in EDH, so might be worth a go.
As for the attitude and lack of interpersonal skills, this thread is just all about you proving superiority of your card choices. Don’t care.
I'm certainly not trying to come off that way. This thread, and all my threads, show I am generally pretty open to ideas and discussions about cards. This deck has evolved a lot over a short time due to suggestions made by others. I don't think I know everything, but I do know how I want my decks to play. I appreciate all the suggestions being made (no matter what my tone previously may have suggested) as they allow me to see cards I may not have thought of as well as allowing others to see potential inclusions I may not go with. I will generally give an honest opinion of the cards being discussed but I do reserve the right to say "no" to card suggestions I feel don't fit in *my* vision of the deck. And that, unfortunately, is where Settle the Wreckage lies for me.
I would recommend Elspeth, Sun's Champion as a pseudo one sided board wipe and as a token generator. I'm usually not too big of a fan of planeswalkers in commander but she works really well in Teysa doing double duty and almost always not a dead card in your hand.Stoneforge Mysticis another card that I thinks works really well in a Teysa deck. searches for skull clamp or sword of the animist if you already drew it and leaves a body behind to sac.
I could get behind Elspeth, Sun's Champion. I think OG Teysa can do some work if she had a bit more fodder to actually work with and Elspeth can help with that. The tokens also tie into Teysa Karlov's ability.
As to the Board Wipe aspect: she would currently hit 9 of my 35 creatures. 3 or 4 of these are ones I want to die anyway, so no harm done and the others I can just work to get back. Now, counters and Mikaeus can put more into the 4 power range but, by default, she hits very little of my side. The main issue stems from how much she will hit on the opponents' boards. It is possible she will not destroy some problematic creatures controlled by my opponent, so there is an an awareness that she may not hit everything. It is possible that, when used in conjunction with my sac effects, she can make some boards easier to deal with.
6 mana is also a concern (I don't think she is super hard to protect in this deck) but I am willing to give her a chance.
She's generally better than any second creature sweeper in my experience, since she doubles as a wincon and protects herself with both modes. I'd consider swapping her for damnation.
I could get on board with that. I think I have mentioned cutting down on sweepers in general anyway so swapping one for a more utilitarian card that can be a sweeper seems fine to me.
I probably won't be playing EDH for the next 2-3 weeks so I will try to get a game or two in after that point with Elspeth in the deck to see how she runs.
I played this the other night and, while I didn't win, I did like a few things I saw.
I played against Dragonlord Silumgar and Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire. I started off with a couple lands and a Mana Crypt so I got Teysa down really quickly. On turn 1, after Vaevictus played their land, I did cast Tithe to get 2 lands. I then didn't really get the greatest board but I got a Midnight Reaper down and a couple other creatures so I could keep drawing cards. I also flashed in a Dictate of Erebos at one point and used that to control the board. It did take a little to get things sacrificed since my only sac outlet for a while was Phyrexian Tower.
Recruiter of the Guard got me 3 different things over the course of the game: Reliquary Monk, Viscera Seer and Carrion Feeder which did keep things going. I also ended up getting Grave Pact down as well. However, this was after the Brutalizer Exarch from Vaevictus that Silumgar reanimated with Sepulchral Primordial tucked Dictate. They ended up getting rid of Grave Pact the same way later (that Exarch basically just wrecked me). I ended up taking way too much damage off of Mana Crypt and Midnight Reaper while my board kept getting answered in one way or another. I did get rid of my Crypt with Reliquary Monk (having gotten it back for the third time) to help keep my alive but it was too late.
Reliquary Monk was an all star. It blew up 5 or 6 things (including my own Mana Crypt when I needed it to). And Tithe showed that it does good work. I know this game was a lot of Mana Crypt causing me issues but I noticed that I had no real way to gain life. Hallowed Spiritkeeper with Teysa seems to be the best way to do it which just isn't enough. I like Resolute Archangel in other decks and I may just slot her in here to help control some of the life loss I take over the course of the game and from my own stuff. I am not sure if there is something better.
I might look for either an artifact or enchantment I can get off Enlightened Tutor or a small creature I can get off Recruiter. I know things like Basilisk Collar, Batterskull, Akroma's Memorial, etc. exist but I don't think they are quite good enough. I also don't want to go too far into the token route just because Teysa can work with them, but it might not be the worst thing to slot in a White Sun's Zenith or a Decree of Justice. They are threats and can work to give me a huge life gain swing when I need them. And, since they are (effectively) Instants, I can use them on the end of someone's turn to get me an army to swing with right away. I am not sure if they are what I want, but I can see situations where they are good.
I played with this deck the other day and ended up not winning. It just didn't go too well overall. I never really got anything going. I kept trying to dig with Erebos as I basically got the wrong half of my deck. I got down to 10 life and cast Resolute Archangel to set me back to 40 but I still didn't have a lot going on. I ended up, again, spending life to try to get more cards. At one point, when I was at something like 3 life, I tried to cast Living Death to get a board state. Unfortunately, Archangel had been exiled so that wouldn't help me anyway, but the Izzet player countered my spell. Since my board was basically empty at this point, and I didn't have anything else to do, this ended the game for me.
I don't know there is anything this game really tells me. I did slot in White Sun's Zenith but never saw it. Archangel was very good to keep me in the game (if only temporarily). The best play I ever got was Hallowed Spiritkeeper and Teysa, Orzhov Scion. This helped exile a few things but it still wasn't enough.
Having a bad game here or there isn't the end of the world, so there really isn't much I want to try to change. Hopefully my next game with this works out better.
The game was super grindy. I got out Reliquary Monk early which let me blow up something from Tawnos. I ended up casting Toxic Deluge kind of early as Tawnos had a Steel Hellkite that I could see was aiming for me since I had won the previous game and it would have gotten rid of a few rocks that I felt I needed.
From there, I got Teysa down but almost none of my main cards. No Grave Pact effects and my only sac outlet for the longest time was Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. My mana wasn't the greatest so having to spend 1 mana to sac things was tough. I did eventually get a High Market and Miren, the Moaning Well down though I never once used Miren since it cost too much and it got blown up later on (along with High Market). The turning point came when I got Kokusho, the Evening Star down. I sacrificed him with Teysa on the board so I gained 31 life total to put me at 61. I had a Beast token as well from Beast Within blowing up something so that gained me some life too. Erebos came down and let me draw more cards.
Around this time, Karador and Tawnos kind of ganged up on Progenitus as their board was getting out of control (they were running "God-Tribal") so they have a bunch of gods turned on with Phenax milling people. Luckily, they were able to kill him off.
A few turns later, I cast White Sun's Zenith for X=8 and gained 16 life off that (while splitting the damage between 2 people). The board got wrathed but that was fine as Tawnos had 14 myr tokens and a Myr Battlesphere. After a while, I built back up and got Dark Prophecy and Midnight Reaper on the board so I could draw a bunch of cards. Along with Krav, the Unredeemed I could have drawn 18 cards. I ended up only drawing 13 as I did not have many left so I got rid of the Midnight Reaper first. Had I thought about it, I would have made sure to draw even fewer.
I did try to cast White Sun's again, but it got countered and exiled so that was out of the question.
A few turns later, I was at 3 cards left in my library along with 46 1/1 flying tokens from a Hallowed Spiritkeeper dying and Teysa giving me an extra trigger. I swung for lethal at both players only to get got with a Settle the Wreckage. Amazingly, my 3 card library didn't have 46 basics for me to get, so I got no value (though I wouldn't have pulled any basics anyway). Then, Karador wrathed the board with Hour of Revelation. I got back Carrion Feeder and Hallowed Spiritkeeper[/c] off of Phyrexian Reclamation (I tried to get Mikaeus, the Unhallowed back too but Tawnos exiled him with Scrabbling Claws. Not that it mattered as I really only needed the first two and Claws couldn't stop me from getting them.
Using these, I got down Spiritkeeper which got me 28 tokens. I swung out at Karador and killed them and then, with 0 cards in my library, I swung 27 at Tawnos. They had 3 blockers and 21 life so I just barely had enough damage to get through for lethal.
The game was a nail biter until the end and I am lucky to have come away with the win but overall it does show that the deck is proving to be resilient and powerful even without the main cards. Obviously, with as many cards as I was drawing, I was able to get some Grave Pact effects which helped as well as being able to recur Archon of Justice and Karmic Guide (with Mikaeus around) to get rid of some very important permanents. Notably, I got rid of all of Karador's sac outlets so that I could exile their creatures (like Avacyn and a few others) without having to worry about them coming back.
After this game, I would be lying if I said I didn't start thinking of the issue of not having a library and contemplating adding in Elixir of Immortality or even just an Eldrazi Titan. I am not sure if either makes sense as this game went on for 2 hours and I still won. If I can't win a game in 2 hours and deck myself instead, I probably don't really deserve to win that game. On the other hand, being able to shuffle things back in can be game breaking for the others and adding in an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre also gives me some added removal or Kozilek, Butcher of Truth gets me card draw. I might think of one of them to add in later.
The deck performed very well for not really getting its engine going until really late of keeping the board clear with Grave Pact effects. Ayli was the most disappointing card I used because she costs mana to use her sac ability. I did (finally) get to use her Exile ability but a few early plays were hindered by not having enough mana to do what I needed to do with her. Granted, she was instrumental in keeping me going but I feel that basically any sac outlet there would have been. I don't know if her exile ability and gaining life from her sac ability are enough to keep her in over a free sac outlet. The main issue is that the other 2 drop free sac outlets aren't that great so I don't think there is an obvious swap.
Another fantastic game with this deck occurred the other night. I was playing against Kaalia, Zacama, and something else (I don't remember what it was).
I started off really poorly. I had lands and Burnished Hart and Knight of the White Orchid for Ramp. I cast Hart and passed the turn. Kaalia dropped in an Ob Nixilis, Unshackled which meant that for me to search for my lands on my turn, I would need to sac 2 creatures and lose 20 life. I did that and then I cast Toxic Deluge for 6 or 7 the next turn. I was at 7 life when I started my turn after that and cast Resolute Archangel to start me over again with a full life total and a clear board. I then started getting a few creatures down and kept control of the board as well as I could.
I cast a Living Death at one point that helped out a lot. I did a few things with my ETB triggers but mostly I just made sure that the ETB from Resolute Archangel resolved last. This allowed me to take a bunch of damage from Zacama due to Purphoros and then gain it all back.
At one time, Zacama tried to cast their general. I had Butcher of Malakir out so with the ETB trigger on the stack, I just sacrificed a creature so they had to sac Zacama. They cast Zacama again and I did the same thing. Next turn, they tried to cast Avenger of Zendikar with Purphoros still around. I sacrificed a creature to the trigger so they sacrificed Avenger. I then exiled Purphoros with Utter End to ensure we didn't all take 22 more damage. This actually would have killed everyone but me but I didn't feel comfortable going down to 8 life.
I had a Hallowed Spiritkeeper on the board during this and that is what I sacrificed to get rid of Avenger. Because I had Teysa, I ended up with 30 tokens. I swung them at Zacama and the other player (not Kaalia) and killed them and then put myself to 60+ life. I then killed Kaalia the next turn.
Butcher of Malakir was key in the late game, but Resolute Archangel was super important early on to even keep me in the game. It was definitely the right call to add her into this deck as I tend to be a bit cavalier with my life total.
Solid deck, not a lot of smart stuff to say here. You should consider losing the personal rule about off-colour fetches, this deck seems like it wants to go long, and in those sort of scenarios a fetch + Crucible of Worlds can go a long way. Sun Titan doesn't mind either. Other than that, you're a smidge sac outlet light. Attrition may not get doubled by Teysa, but it gives you something to do with your dudes.
Solid deck, not a lot of smart stuff to say here. You should consider losing the personal rule about off-colour fetches, this deck seems like it wants to go long, and in those sort of scenarios a fetch + Crucible of Worlds can go a long way. Sun Titan doesn't mind either. Other than that, you're a smidge sac outlet light. Attrition may not get doubled by Teysa, but it gives you something to do with your dudes.
In the Random Deck Discussion Thread, Spawning Pit was mentioned by Reaper9889. I might give that a try. The main issues with Attrition (and I have thought about it) are 1) it costs mana to activate and 2) I don't often need the effect since the board is being cleared in other ways. The most disappointing sac outlet for me to see now is Ayli due to the mana payment required and she gets a pass since she is gaining me life and she is a 2 drop. It is often relevant that her ability costs mana if I need to sac my entire board and can't. I know at least one game was decided based on me not having the mana to sac the creatures I needed to sac. Attrition would have the same problem whereas Spawning Pit does not. So, I do agree that there might be more room for another sac outlet or two and I think I am going to give Spawning Pit a chance at that first.
As for the attitude and lack of interpersonal skills, this thread is just all about you proving superiority of your card choices. Don’t care.
Multiplayer Decks- Memnarch - Animar, Soul of Elements - Zur, the Enchanter - Atraxa, Praetors' Voice - Food Chain Tazri - Teysa Karlov
Modern BUMill and Bant Spirits.
Thank you Xenphire for the signature!
First, as EbonRose and Greg1706 mentioned, Reliquary Monk seems like it could be good in this deck. And, the deck only has 3 ways to deal with Artifacts and Enchantments now so this would be a welcome addition to dealing with some troublesome non-creature permanents.
Second, I decided to try out Kaya, Orzhov Usurper. This gives me a way to deal with Sol Ring or other cheap permanents as well as trying to keep graveyards clean. I do not actually expect her to be fantastic or game-breaking but I can see where each of her abilities can be useful in certain situations. This is more of an experiment to see what she is capable of and this build seems the most likely to allow her to stick around. In the end, I fully expect to cut her again but at least I will then have the knowledge of how well she actually plays instead of just looking at her and thinking she is too weak.
To make room for these, I have decided to cut the following:
Lost Auramancers - As Pokken mentioned, it is rare for it to actually die without counters. I also haven't felt that this deck really needs the effect anyway. Enlightened Tutor takes care of it and, if I really feel I need it, Academy Rector will probably just go into that spot. It doesn't work with Teysa that well, but it is guaranteed to get me an Enchantment.
Disciple of Bolas - I have been finding this card just doesn't cut it in a lot of situations and I feel the same here. The deck doesn't really need the card draw and Kaya can (sometimes) handle the life gain.
I'm not trying to play mod or anything but as someone who follows a few of WizMN's threads I have never really gotten that sense. It's clear their decks are not being hyperoptimized so it's more about making the right choice within a playgroup than about picking the most powerful card in a vacuum.
When you're wrong it's OK to just admit that you're wrong and move on without a parting shot Took me a really long time and a lot of time being annoyed to learn that lesson, so I'm speaking from experience fwiw
I'm not sure about Kaya, I think you generally would get more mileage out of a Remorseful Cleric - though Kaya may prove herself quite strong in EDH. there are a ton of annoying 1 and less CMC cards in EDH, so might be worth a go.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
As to the Board Wipe aspect: she would currently hit 9 of my 35 creatures. 3 or 4 of these are ones I want to die anyway, so no harm done and the others I can just work to get back. Now, counters and Mikaeus can put more into the 4 power range but, by default, she hits very little of my side. The main issue stems from how much she will hit on the opponents' boards. It is possible she will not destroy some problematic creatures controlled by my opponent, so there is an an awareness that she may not hit everything. It is possible that, when used in conjunction with my sac effects, she can make some boards easier to deal with.
6 mana is also a concern (I don't think she is super hard to protect in this deck) but I am willing to give her a chance.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I probably won't be playing EDH for the next 2-3 weeks so I will try to get a game or two in after that point with Elspeth in the deck to see how she runs.
I played against Dragonlord Silumgar and Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire. I started off with a couple lands and a Mana Crypt so I got Teysa down really quickly. On turn 1, after Vaevictus played their land, I did cast Tithe to get 2 lands. I then didn't really get the greatest board but I got a Midnight Reaper down and a couple other creatures so I could keep drawing cards. I also flashed in a Dictate of Erebos at one point and used that to control the board. It did take a little to get things sacrificed since my only sac outlet for a while was Phyrexian Tower.
Recruiter of the Guard got me 3 different things over the course of the game: Reliquary Monk, Viscera Seer and Carrion Feeder which did keep things going. I also ended up getting Grave Pact down as well. However, this was after the Brutalizer Exarch from Vaevictus that Silumgar reanimated with Sepulchral Primordial tucked Dictate. They ended up getting rid of Grave Pact the same way later (that Exarch basically just wrecked me). I ended up taking way too much damage off of Mana Crypt and Midnight Reaper while my board kept getting answered in one way or another. I did get rid of my Crypt with Reliquary Monk (having gotten it back for the third time) to help keep my alive but it was too late.
Reliquary Monk was an all star. It blew up 5 or 6 things (including my own Mana Crypt when I needed it to). And Tithe showed that it does good work. I know this game was a lot of Mana Crypt causing me issues but I noticed that I had no real way to gain life. Hallowed Spiritkeeper with Teysa seems to be the best way to do it which just isn't enough. I like Resolute Archangel in other decks and I may just slot her in here to help control some of the life loss I take over the course of the game and from my own stuff. I am not sure if there is something better.
I might look for either an artifact or enchantment I can get off Enlightened Tutor or a small creature I can get off Recruiter. I know things like Basilisk Collar, Batterskull, Akroma's Memorial, etc. exist but I don't think they are quite good enough. I also don't want to go too far into the token route just because Teysa can work with them, but it might not be the worst thing to slot in a White Sun's Zenith or a Decree of Justice. They are threats and can work to give me a huge life gain swing when I need them. And, since they are (effectively) Instants, I can use them on the end of someone's turn to get me an army to swing with right away. I am not sure if they are what I want, but I can see situations where they are good.
I don't know there is anything this game really tells me. I did slot in White Sun's Zenith but never saw it. Archangel was very good to keep me in the game (if only temporarily). The best play I ever got was Hallowed Spiritkeeper and Teysa, Orzhov Scion. This helped exile a few things but it still wasn't enough.
Having a bad game here or there isn't the end of the world, so there really isn't much I want to try to change. Hopefully my next game with this works out better.
The game was super grindy. I got out Reliquary Monk early which let me blow up something from Tawnos. I ended up casting Toxic Deluge kind of early as Tawnos had a Steel Hellkite that I could see was aiming for me since I had won the previous game and it would have gotten rid of a few rocks that I felt I needed.
From there, I got Teysa down but almost none of my main cards. No Grave Pact effects and my only sac outlet for the longest time was Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. My mana wasn't the greatest so having to spend 1 mana to sac things was tough. I did eventually get a High Market and Miren, the Moaning Well down though I never once used Miren since it cost too much and it got blown up later on (along with High Market). The turning point came when I got Kokusho, the Evening Star down. I sacrificed him with Teysa on the board so I gained 31 life total to put me at 61. I had a Beast token as well from Beast Within blowing up something so that gained me some life too. Erebos came down and let me draw more cards.
Around this time, Karador and Tawnos kind of ganged up on Progenitus as their board was getting out of control (they were running "God-Tribal") so they have a bunch of gods turned on with Phenax milling people. Luckily, they were able to kill him off.
A few turns later, I cast White Sun's Zenith for X=8 and gained 16 life off that (while splitting the damage between 2 people). The board got wrathed but that was fine as Tawnos had 14 myr tokens and a Myr Battlesphere. After a while, I built back up and got Dark Prophecy and Midnight Reaper on the board so I could draw a bunch of cards. Along with Krav, the Unredeemed I could have drawn 18 cards. I ended up only drawing 13 as I did not have many left so I got rid of the Midnight Reaper first. Had I thought about it, I would have made sure to draw even fewer.
I did try to cast White Sun's again, but it got countered and exiled so that was out of the question.
A few turns later, I was at 3 cards left in my library along with 46 1/1 flying tokens from a Hallowed Spiritkeeper dying and Teysa giving me an extra trigger. I swung for lethal at both players only to get got with a Settle the Wreckage. Amazingly, my 3 card library didn't have 46 basics for me to get, so I got no value (though I wouldn't have pulled any basics anyway). Then, Karador wrathed the board with Hour of Revelation. I got back Carrion Feeder and Hallowed Spiritkeeper[/c] off of Phyrexian Reclamation (I tried to get Mikaeus, the Unhallowed back too but Tawnos exiled him with Scrabbling Claws. Not that it mattered as I really only needed the first two and Claws couldn't stop me from getting them.
Using these, I got down Spiritkeeper which got me 28 tokens. I swung out at Karador and killed them and then, with 0 cards in my library, I swung 27 at Tawnos. They had 3 blockers and 21 life so I just barely had enough damage to get through for lethal.
The game was a nail biter until the end and I am lucky to have come away with the win but overall it does show that the deck is proving to be resilient and powerful even without the main cards. Obviously, with as many cards as I was drawing, I was able to get some Grave Pact effects which helped as well as being able to recur Archon of Justice and Karmic Guide (with Mikaeus around) to get rid of some very important permanents. Notably, I got rid of all of Karador's sac outlets so that I could exile their creatures (like Avacyn and a few others) without having to worry about them coming back.
After this game, I would be lying if I said I didn't start thinking of the issue of not having a library and contemplating adding in Elixir of Immortality or even just an Eldrazi Titan. I am not sure if either makes sense as this game went on for 2 hours and I still won. If I can't win a game in 2 hours and deck myself instead, I probably don't really deserve to win that game. On the other hand, being able to shuffle things back in can be game breaking for the others and adding in an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre also gives me some added removal or Kozilek, Butcher of Truth gets me card draw. I might think of one of them to add in later.
The deck performed very well for not really getting its engine going until really late of keeping the board clear with Grave Pact effects. Ayli was the most disappointing card I used because she costs mana to use her sac ability. I did (finally) get to use her Exile ability but a few early plays were hindered by not having enough mana to do what I needed to do with her. Granted, she was instrumental in keeping me going but I feel that basically any sac outlet there would have been. I don't know if her exile ability and gaining life from her sac ability are enough to keep her in over a free sac outlet. The main issue is that the other 2 drop free sac outlets aren't that great so I don't think there is an obvious swap.
I started off really poorly. I had lands and Burnished Hart and Knight of the White Orchid for Ramp. I cast Hart and passed the turn. Kaalia dropped in an Ob Nixilis, Unshackled which meant that for me to search for my lands on my turn, I would need to sac 2 creatures and lose 20 life. I did that and then I cast Toxic Deluge for 6 or 7 the next turn. I was at 7 life when I started my turn after that and cast Resolute Archangel to start me over again with a full life total and a clear board. I then started getting a few creatures down and kept control of the board as well as I could.
I cast a Living Death at one point that helped out a lot. I did a few things with my ETB triggers but mostly I just made sure that the ETB from Resolute Archangel resolved last. This allowed me to take a bunch of damage from Zacama due to Purphoros and then gain it all back.
At one time, Zacama tried to cast their general. I had Butcher of Malakir out so with the ETB trigger on the stack, I just sacrificed a creature so they had to sac Zacama. They cast Zacama again and I did the same thing. Next turn, they tried to cast Avenger of Zendikar with Purphoros still around. I sacrificed a creature to the trigger so they sacrificed Avenger. I then exiled Purphoros with Utter End to ensure we didn't all take 22 more damage. This actually would have killed everyone but me but I didn't feel comfortable going down to 8 life.
I had a Hallowed Spiritkeeper on the board during this and that is what I sacrificed to get rid of Avenger. Because I had Teysa, I ended up with 30 tokens. I swung them at Zacama and the other player (not Kaalia) and killed them and then put myself to 60+ life. I then killed Kaalia the next turn.
Butcher of Malakir was key in the late game, but Resolute Archangel was super important early on to even keep me in the game. It was definitely the right call to add her into this deck as I tend to be a bit cavalier with my life total.