For those of you who don't know me, I am a huge Marvel comic book nerd, and I love me some Thor Odinson. I confided in a friend that I was running low on EDH inspiration, and that I needed something new and fresh to reinvigorate my love of the format. In response to this, my friend gave me a list of deck building challenges, and I chose the one that sang to me the most: "Show me what Marvel's Thor would look like in EDH."
I have read EVERY Thor comic book (616 / prime universe) released to date, and I went HARD on my project to build my Thor, Ragnar Roks deck. The deck turned out great, and is loaded with numerous references and each card feels fun to me. Also, I got to stick with my pattern of playing less popular commanders, since you know, I am a special snowflake and have got to be different.
I loved the project. It was immensely fun to build a deck on a theme like that; and after I got the deck to a stable version, I figured, why stop there?! I want to build a Hela and enemies of Thor deck! Jay, bro, if you read this, thanks man, you really gave me a great idea to build off.
Now that said, with this theme deck, I wanted to have a few rules:
Avoid repeated cards with Ragnar. I think I accomplished this almost perfectly. I even built a blue deck with NO CYCLONIC RIFT. Still ended up with a few minor staples.
I can represent an evil version of a character with this deck to be a foil to the good version found in my Ragnar deck. An example of this is Loki, who often rides the line between hero and villain.
No infinite combos. My Thor deck shows the good guy habit of working together (synergy / combo). Sometimes villains work together, but for the most part, they never actually get to a combo win because they betray / turn on each other in the end.
Battle cruiser oriented strategy - each major villain in this deck should be a scary threat in their own regard, much like how they are in comics.
WARNING!
While this is a comic book themed deck, I also make references to the Marvel Movie franchise. Please be aware that there may be spoilers below, and if you haven't seen a movie, and hate spoilers, read further at your own risk!
Why should you play Hela?
You will enjoy this deck if:
You will definitely appreciate this more if you enjoy Marvel's Thor and Avengers comics and their movies.
You enjoy a powerful commander with lots of other players who can give you card suggestions
You enjoy graveyard interaction
You are a Timmy at heart, and love BIG SCARY CREATURES
You like being the threat at the table
You will NOT enjoy this deck if:
You want to play heavy amounts countermagic in every blue deck - go pick a control commander
You want to play combo - there are tons of combo decks with Muldrotha, this isnt one
You don't like to be scary / targetted. The instant you play Strip Mine, you won't have friends anymore.
You like to play less seen commanders. Muldrotha is very popular right now, and this won't be the strongest version of her.
You want to include better cards that don't fit theme, such as Cyclonic Rift or Tooth and Nail. I want to stress that this is a SUBPAR Muldrotha build, and there are many better competitive choices.
Every card in this deck I try to tie back to Marvel's Thor and his villains. I tried for the most part to stick to purely Thor villains, but I also included some Marvel Villains that are widely known, and have easier recognition. Not to mention - when a villain gets big enough, they cross paths with the Avengers and Thor!
Hela (Commander) Muldrotha, the Gravetide - This card accomplishes 2 things: Firstly, she has the iconic head shape that Hela's crown of Hel provides her. Secondly, she has heavy interactions with the 'yard, which is thematically very much aligned with our thorned goddess. Love this card, and she fits the theme well.
Loki's Tricks (Instants) Ancient Excavation - A Hel-ish landscape that provides us much needed draw while filling our grave. The dark art feels great in this deck. Crop Rotation - Using the art with the elf, this is the dark elves salting the very earth on their conquest to expand their territories. Entomb - Hela using her magic to bring any of her dead minions to the top of the proverbial heap and throw them straight into the grave where she can reach them. Grisly Salvage - More card advantage, through the salvaging of the dead and gone, which is Hela's specialty. Harrow - In order to gain, there must be death. Hela must first see the very lands die before she can gain territory. Putrefy - Hela's iconic green and black energy killing her foes outright. Realms Uncharted - Even the goddess of death lets her hair down. Hela's uncharted realms tend to be offlimits, to most... Sultai Charm - The Eternal Flame, kept in the vaults of Asgard. In the movie Thor Ragnarok, Hela uses the power of the flame to revive an evil undead army.
The Enemies of Asgard (Creatures)
Acidic Slime - Quicksand - A lesser known avengers villain, she is a nemesis to Thor Girl, and is made of shape shifting sand. Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Angerboda, the mother of Hela. She is also the mother of the Midgard Serpent and Fenris, so she had to be included in our deck. Azusa synergizes well with our strategies, as well as looks pretty similar to the character. Blood Artist - Dracula. Fun filled fact - Mjolnir is a holy relic, and does massive damage to Dracula in the comic books. Bloodgift Demon - Kurse! I love that the belt and head shape match so much. Coffin Queen - Karnilla, who is currently as of Thor 04 in 2018, is the WIFE OF HELA!! Deathrite Shaman - ALL HAIL DOOM! The green cloak and face seal this 1 drop planeswalker as Doctor Doom. Dragonlord Silumgar - Fafnir, the Dragon King. First appearing in Thor 134, he was an evil dragon lord that hails originally from a continent on Asgard itself! Elves of Deep Shadow - Dark elves, plain and simple. Frost Titan - Ymir, the Living Winter and most powerful of all the frost giants. Golgari Grave-Troll - Ulik, the troll king. Nigh unkillable and immensely powerful, grave-troll was too perfect a fit with the strong synergy it provides to Muldrotha. Grim Haruspex - The Disir, a sect of Bor's undying Valkyries. Merely speaking their name means certain death. They are the personal body guards to Hela. Hell's Caretaker - Mephisto, Lord of Hell. Mephisto has had a relationship with Hela in the past, even providing her a slice of his own Hell in during the times of Ragnarok when she had no land of the dead for herself. Keiga, the Tide Star - Cut from the deck, formally Foom. Kokusho, the Evening Star - Fin Fang Foom. Another old comic villain to Thor, surprisingly, even though he appears to look like a Chinese dragon, he is actually an alien! Llanowar Elves - Knife wielding, angry elves? Great new art for this deck. Massacre Girl - Lady Wizaria during her time as Kurse. Female Kurse Here Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest - Gorr, the God Butcher. Gained his power using All Black the Necrosword and killing gods, Mazirek likewise gets more powerful as things die. Merciless Executioner - Skurge, the Executioner. Hilariously played by Karl Urban, this survivalist is an off again on again villain to Thor, and iconic due to the movie Thor Ragnarok. Midnight Reaper - Avengers and Thor Villain - Grim Reaper! And c'mon, lets face it, too perfect to not include in a death deck. Nath of the Gilt-Leaf - Evil Loki. While Loki in my Thor deck draws cards, Loki in my Hela deck makes others discard them. Love this mirror imagery. Ohran Frostfang- The Midgard Serpent. The world serpent is said to be the death of Thor, who will be bitten and poisoned by the great beast, and die after striking the serpent down. Overtaker - Lorelei, the sister of the Enchantress. She uses her seductive magics to get what she wants out of others. Phantasmal Image - Carl Creel, the Absorbing man. He, and his ball and chain, have the ability to gain the powers of anything he or it touches. Phantasmal Image not only mimics enemies just like Creel, but also wields a mace in the image. What a great card for this theme!!! Plaguecrafter - Parker Robbins, aka, The Hood! A magic wielding villain of the Avengers, Plaguecrafter is a great representation of this villain for us, and he synergizes so incredibly well with Hela. Ramunap Excavator - Klaus Voorhees, hailing from Journey Into Mystery #98 (1963!) Thor vs The Human Cobra! Not a particularly powerful villain on his own, but when working with others, a real pain in the asp. Rankle, Master of Pranks - Classic Thor Villain, the Grey Gargoyle. If he was to touch you, you'd turn to stone! Flavor and ability on point with pretty solid art. Sailmonger - This is my new representation of Enchantress, and leads to wonderful political conversations at the table. Sire of Stagnation - The First Firmament, a being who was once the first universe. It wishes to be all that exists once again, leading to the Avenger's battling him back with the help of other abstracts. I like the similarity between this card art and the First Firmament. Solemn Simulacrum - Can you find me a more Ultron looking card? I'll wait. Tasigur, the Golden Fang - The Serpent, Thor's uncle. Once banished, the god of Fear made a return in Marvel's Fear Itself, and has been a real handful for the God of Thunder ever since. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - Ceaseless hunger? Red Blue and Purple? Indestructible? Yeah, Galactus is a REAL big problem for people to deal with when he arrives and starts eating everything. Underrealm Lich - Malekith, the King of the Dark Elves. Never dies, and kills without pause, he provides Hela with all sorts of advantages. Something I love about this representation is that half his face is lit, drawing a similarity to Malekith's iconic face. Venser, Shaper Savant - Zarrko the Future Man. A villain from classic Thor comics, this time traveler actually showed some of Thors most ridiculous powers back in the good ol' days. Vilis, Broker of Blood - The new Mephisto on the block. Literally is signing a blood pact in the art. Too good to not upgrade to! Void Winnower - The Void, the dark half of The Sentry. Multi limbed, utterly insane, and vicious to his enemies, the Void is utterly oppressive as a villain. Void. Void Winnower. C'mon, its like Wizards did it for me. Wolfir Silverheart - The Fenris wolf. Technically the child of Loki (shape shifting magic leads to some unsavory things I guess), the wolf is a vicious enemy to Thor, especially when at the side of Hela. Zulaport Cutthroat - The Wrecker, a human who was given a magic crowbar by Loki to do battle with Thor. Old comics are weird.
Magic (Sorceries)
Command the Dreadhorde - Hela leading her army of the damned to wreck face! Commune with the Gods - Card advantage, check. God reference? Check. Uses Graveyard? Check. Whats not to love? Explosive Vegetation - Sticking with a violent theme, I like the idea of my ramp being explosive with green magic. Fork in the Road - More ramp that leads to cards going into the graveyard rather than simply into play. Less efficient than say Cultivate, but more on theme. Mulch - Sticking to the idea that my ramp leads to death keeps me in the Hela flavor zone. Primal Growth - Maximum death on my ramp spell, this card also is someone reminiscent of Cate Blanchett in her role as Hela. Skyshroud Claim - Elves conquering in the name of Hel! Villainous Wealth - Gold buys death. Death buys gold. - The flavor text says it all. A great game winning card that fits our flavor of being villainous. Whispering Madness - Stick around Loki long enough, and you will lose your mind. Ego learned this the hard way in Thor 05 and 06 of 2019's Thor Vol 5
The Armory (Artifacts) Birthing Pod - A vicious machine that prospers of death. Bloodforged Battle-Axe - The Blood Axe. The weapon of choice for Skurge the executioner, the Blood Axe is a vicious weapon from Marvel Comics that can drive its wielder to blood lust. Chromatic Lantern - Casket Of Frozen Winters, and an unfortunate repeat in my theme decks. Might cut this due for something more versatile, since this deck tends to ramp well. Crucible of Worlds - The Nine Realms in all their beauty, filled with lives to be reaped. Also synergizes incredibly well with our sacrificing / pitching of lands. Darksteel Plate - Thor's Battle Armor, a trophy for Hela, from when she cursed him with brittle bones and immortality so that he might suffer indefinitely, wishing for death. General's Kabuto - A Hel Crown representation. Not perfect, but very useful in our deck. Helm of the Host - Visually, a better Hel Crown, and also, incredibly powerful, considering that Muldrotha's ability stacks with itself should you get multiple copies of her on the board. Sol Ring - Staple. Boring. Bleh.
Curses of Hela (Enchantments) Evolutionary Leap - A lovely gorgon outstretched, this card represents so much of our deck. Green art, death for gains. Pernicious Deed - More lovely green art, and massive quantities of death. Synergizes incredibly well with Hela as well, being a permanent card type. Secrets of the Dead - The more death that surrounds us, the stronger the forces of Hel become. Sultai Ascendancy - Versatile, and assures something is going into the graveyard.
Deities of Evil (Planeswalkers) Garruk Relentless - Ares, who often gives into the Bloodaxe, and succumbs to his bloodlust. A great fit for Garruk Relentless, who shows Garruk's surrender to madness. Ob Nixilis Reignited - Surtur, lord of the fire giants and king of Muspelheim
Early Game:
In the early game, its all about the ramp. This deck plays a bit different than other green decks, but this part we have in common. Ramp, and ramp hard. Try to keep an opener with about 3 mana, and accelerate as fast as you can with mana dorks and our ramp spells. We don't pack a lot of rocks, but we won't really need them. Focus on keeping things simple early on, and try not to draw too much undue hate. Muldrotha is a well known powerhouse, and is a threat merely by being in the command zone. A great early game card for us is actually Pernicious Deed. Anything that lets you dissuade others from attacking or threaten their mana rocks will greatly improve your odds in the early game. Since we will be dropping bombs for the rest of the game, make sure to focus purely on getting mana out there, and not much else.
Mid Game:
You should get 6+ mana out pretty quick, and for this deck, thats the sign you have hit the mid game. You won't win the game with 6 mana, but boy, can you start to shape the flow of the game. At this point, start throwing down threats one after another. This deck is a battle cruiser strategy, and we want to really show our opponents that each creature we have is a bomb. There is one important piece to this phase of the game: Do not rush Muldrotha onto the battlefield. Yes, she great, and yes, she can really give you incremental advantage; but she is also easily removed, and a high priority target. She can easily be removed 2-3 times, and suddenly be out of reach. More often than not, Hela is our closer, and we don't want her costing 12 mana. Instead, save playing your commander until you have a strong synergy to pair with her. I will write a synergy section below, but some key cards to pair with her are Merciless Executioner or Strip Mine. Until you are ready to close a game, try not to play her, and instead, throw bomb creature after bomb creature every turn. Threaten the board, be the scary player, and really press for advantage.
Late Game / End Game:
Once you get your mana base upwards of 10 mana, its time to start pushing for the win. Our commander synergizes with a TON of cards in the deck, and they can really shift a game very quickly from being the biggest threat, to being the winner. Play Muldrotha at this point, and start playing cards that can be abused over and over again from the graveyard. Most of the time, we will win games by going into the red zone. I frequently win off Ulamog eating libraries, and also tend to win by grinding away my opponents with the above mentioned Merciless Executioner and Strip Mine loops. If you can, get the Helm of the Host onto Muldrotha, which will allow you to play numerous copies from your grave, as well as give you 6/6 beaters to overwhelm your opponents with. The one thing to keep in mind in this phase of the game is that you are not using an infinite combo deck, so you won't have the explosive, 1 turn win, but instead, will most likely crush your opponents with repeated attacks from big creatures.
Early aggression. We aren't a blazingly fast deck. Play smart early and don't get too much hate.
We recover well from most board wipes, but tend not to do well if Muldrotha is removed repeated. Protect her.
Hela is not meant to be an arch enemy. We run a popular commander in a theme style, with subpar cards for the sake of staying on theme. Keep this in mind, and play for fun. Until your group learns you are a little easier going, brace yourself for hate.
Here is a list of cards that tend to work well together:
Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Merciless Executioner = Every great ruler needs an executioner. For 4BB, all opponents sacrifice 2 creatures on the first go around, and then you can do it 1x every turn after, sacrificing the Executioner to himself for minimal losses while taking out 3 creatures a turn.
A great many synergies in this deck revolve around abusing Muldrotha and her ability to replay cards, and then having them at our access to sacrifice. The beauty of most of our death effects is that the sacrifice is part of the cost, leaving our opponents little room to respond to us, and gives them little ability to rob us of our toys.
Out: General's Kabuto - Honestly, didnt get as much use, and I don't need 2x Hel Crowns Keiga, The Tide Star - Upgraded flavor to Ohran Frostfang Hell's Caretaker - New Mephisto in town makes blood pacts Tasigur, the Golden Fang - Never got mileage out of him since I don't do infinite mana Ancient Excavation - Weak Flavor Darksteel Plate - Expensive and not great. I will keep it nearby though if Hela gets hated off the table too much.
Out: Garruk Relentless - No real synergy with Muldrotha, and Ares isn't really an enemy of Asgard outside of events where he is misled.
In: Plaguecrafter - The Hood! A great synergy with the commander and regular Avengers villain that looks incredibly similar to the art on this card. Huge win for the deck.
My name is Erik and I am 31 years old. I have been playing Magic: The Gathering for over 20 years, though there have been off and on periods during that time frame. I have mostly played extended till Legacy came into being; at which point I played strictly legacy for several years. My deck experience (and mostly small events, though a few SCG qualifiers) were Merfolk, Reanimator, and BUG (team america and shardless).
I transitioned over to EDH around 2012; when I joined MTG Salvation. I had recently moved, and none of my new friends played legacy. My first EDH deck was a Dralnu deck that I made out of spare cards that the timmy in me wanted to see played. Time Warp, Time Stretch, etc. I did not do well, but found a love for the format. I then shifted to Azami wizards, and realized that playing some of the best decks wasnt ideal for casual games at the kitchen table. Today, i still enjoy playing power cards and winning games; but I also see the fun in casually playing with friends, and thats where Mishra and I joined forces. I have played Mishra for years, and have become known in my circles as "that blue mage who loves artifacts." So since I am bros with Mishra, favor blue and artifact cards...I am basically Urza, and you should listen to me.
For those coming from reddit, I am u/frotch on reddit, and frequent both the magicTCG and edh subreddits. Cheers!
Still working on my 2018 set reviews, but no major changes have been made to this deck list this year, still maintaining, and would love to hear if anyone has any suggestions / synergies that are working for them; but my build has been performing very well for a while now.
So this deck has quickly become one of my absolute favorites. I would urge others to mimic voltron / combo decks when they can, its such a power deck strategy type.
I have begun work on a sister deck to this one, Enemies of Asgard, which is a deck built around Hela, the goddess of death. That post should be out in the next month or two. I am still cutting cards from my list.
really surprised to see the cut of candelabra, power artifact, AND spellskite. All have proven very valueable to me over time. Has Shackles proven worth it?
Ajacobik, if you ever check back in on the thread or MTGSalvation generally, I think you'll be proud of how the Primer has turned out!
Many thanks also go to LordRewind. Thanks for taking a look at some of the coding to help correct errors and help it look good for the approval process.
I was happy to help, but good job working with the primer committee, addressing their feedback, and making sure to put in the legwork to get their approval. Let the record show, i was a deny vote a few times during the polishing process
Theme / Fun decks. Sure, I have my Teferi deck that I built to rek faces with, but what do i truly enjoy, and what decks do i never tire of? Mishra, Urza, and Thor. I am currently building a Hela deck to counter Thor, so i can say I have both the Brothers War, and Asgard and its enemies as the 4 decks i mostly play.
I thought about running it in my blind seer deck as a great way to color hose people (just change the color of their first spell), but it was very mana consumptive to use, and as a mono color deck vs multi color decks, sometimes it didnt have the impact i wanted.
I spent my early game controlling a fast ramping Vaevictis and trying to keep him off the table. Used Wrath of Merit Lage to delay him, then boxed him out HARD by eventually sticking back to basics. 10/10 would recommend. I protected myself for a long time with a bunch of pro red flying faeries. I am starting to think that there may be value in more pro-x fliers than pro-x ground troops. Leaning towards including cerulean wyvern - though i hate the 5cmc.
Game dragged for a while, Ojutai got killed by Trostani, who was looking strong until i hit a wash out, and blew away all white permanents (after vaevictis was already fairly under control). It straight up wrecked all my opponents. Followed it with a Will Breaker. Now THATS a card. Holy moley is he strong. I kept the table under control at that point with a fist full of counter magic and alpha striked Vaevictis with stolen cards. I then dropped Akroma's Memorial, and began the long haul of whittling down Trostani's life with commander damage. He scooped shortly after i established such strong control, and realized that he wasnt going to sneak a spell by to kill will breaker free his dudes. At some point, i also stuck invoke prejudice, and it made it really hard for the green mages to afford all their critters, even with their piles of mana, because it was so late in the game i could tap a small stack of lands to convert what little i had stolen in their upkeep.
I gotta say, the deck feels so weak, until you get a grasp on the game, then its surprisingly lethal. Didnt hurt that there was a lot of green in the game, and my deck is already tilted towards killing green, and i had an early game 1/1 flier pro red to prevent vaevictis from completely wrecking me.
TL;DR up front - Artifacts are weak and uninspiring. Honestly, the best card in the set from my perspective is likey Stolen Strategy, and its not great if you can afford superior enchantments.
Blue
Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom - I am not super excited about this card, but it does provide another means of drawing cards for us. If you run a more chaotic Mishra and include Krark's Thumb, this could be a great card for you.
Chakram Retriever - With the right mana dorks, this card could be very abusable in a storm variant. That said, at 5cmc its very expensive for a non artifact.
Fumble - Meta specific, but my god is this strong against voltrons.
Spellseeker - great card, though idk if it fits Mishra.
Red
Okaun, Eye of Chaos - Again, if you are going hard on chaos and rocking the thumb, this guy MIGHT work well in Mishra, but not without his partner.
Stolen Strategy - oh man, this one has legs. We could steal an artifact and get value. Not consistent, but would be a great budget card for mishra!
Black
Thrilling Encore - Only really useful card I've seen in this set for Mishra, could help us recover from a board wipe. That said, not a trick i want to hold 5 mana for unless I am running a VERY creature heavy variant.
Colorless
Sentinel Tower - Frankly, the only card worthy of mention, and its really just useful in a storm / eggs mishra deck, and considering that we build up storm count via artifact cycling, its really not useful. Artifacts in general are a dud from this set.
Multicolor
Last One Standing - 3 mana board wipe can be pretty damn clutch, even if 1 creature sneaks by. Most decks in my meta are go wide, and rarely have a single key creature.
Lands
Nothing to see here
Let me know if you think I missed a noteworthy card and why and i'll add it to this list!
I'm not sure why this is the first time I'm seeing this decklist, but this is the most winning Vorthos deck of all time. If I could upvote it, I would. Well done!
I consider this very high praise. Thank you very much!
Question, what would be some good substitutes for the most expensive cards in this list such as Timetwister, Tabernacle, and power artifact? The most I'm willing to splurge for this deck right now is a Mana crypt and maybe grim monolith. I don't have Mox diamond either but I think I can either trade an extra city of traitors for it or get a Lotus petal to run instead.
If it helps focus the suggestions a bit, what cards could help tune this deck to better fight aggro strategies? I know they're probably not the most competitive strategies to fight but they are the most dominant locally.
Power Artifact is a lot harder to replace, but instead maybe consider running additional 'sol' permanents since it is an alternative for creating mana for your chain veil combo.
Tabernacle CAN be replaced by Pendrell Mists, but its one of those cards that incredibly difficult to replace. If your objective is to reduce aggro amounts, alternatives like crawlspace might be more affordable / consistent. Or even something like Portcullis depending on your meta.
Can you describe what sorts of aggro decks you are facing? Are you seeing decks like krenko, where tokens are going wide, causing problems, or are you facing more voltron / single attacker decks that create a single game ending threat (Uril, Rafiq, Zur, Narset, etc).
back after a short hiatus. I will be posting some reviews of the upcoming new cards for this deck and if i plan to throw any Thor to really help bolster my theme and success with the deck.
My apologies everyone, my office got crazy this month, and I took some time away from MTGSalv to focus on getting my project out the door on time. I am back now and I intend to catch up and post some updates
I have read EVERY Thor comic book (616 / prime universe) released to date, and I went HARD on my project to build my Thor, Ragnar Roks deck. The deck turned out great, and is loaded with numerous references and each card feels fun to me. Also, I got to stick with my pattern of playing less popular commanders, since you know, I am a special snowflake and have got to be different.
I loved the project. It was immensely fun to build a deck on a theme like that; and after I got the deck to a stable version, I figured, why stop there?! I want to build a Hela and enemies of Thor deck! Jay, bro, if you read this, thanks man, you really gave me a great idea to build off.
Now that said, with this theme deck, I wanted to have a few rules:
- Avoid repeated cards with Ragnar. I think I accomplished this almost perfectly. I even built a blue deck with NO CYCLONIC RIFT. Still ended up with a few minor staples.
- I can represent an evil version of a character with this deck to be a foil to the good version found in my Ragnar deck. An example of this is Loki, who often rides the line between hero and villain.
- No infinite combos. My Thor deck shows the good guy habit of working together (synergy / combo). Sometimes villains work together, but for the most part, they never actually get to a combo win because they betray / turn on each other in the end.
- Battle cruiser oriented strategy - each major villain in this deck should be a scary threat in their own regard, much like how they are in comics.
WARNING!While this is a comic book themed deck, I also make references to the Marvel Movie franchise. Please be aware that there may be spoilers below, and if you haven't seen a movie, and hate spoilers, read further at your own risk!
Why should you play Hela?
You will NOT enjoy this deck if:
1x Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Creature (34)
1x Acidic Slime
1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Blood Artist
1x Bloodgift Demon
1x Coffin Queen
1x Deathrite Shaman
1x Dragonlord Silumgar
1x Elves of Deep Shadow
1x Frost Titan
1x Golgari Grave-Troll
1x Grim Haruspex
1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Massacre Girl
1x Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
1x Merciless Executioner
1x Midnight Reaper
1x Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
1x Ohran Frostfang
1x Overtaker
1x Phantasmal Image
1x Plaguecrafter
1x Ramunap Excavator
1x Rankle, Master of Pranks
1x Sailmonger
1x Sire of Stagnation
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1x Underrealm Lich
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
1x Void Winnower
1x Wolfir Silverheart
1x Zulaport Cutthroat
1x Bayou
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Command Tower
1x Darkwater Catacombs
1x Drowned Catacomb
8x Forest
1x Grim Backwoods
1x High Market
4x Island
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Polluted Delta
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Strip Mine
1x Sunken Hollow
7x Swamp
1x Tropical Island
1x Underground Sea
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wasteland
1x Watery Grave
Artifact (6)
1x Birthing Pod
1x Bloodforged Battle-Axe
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Helm of the Host
1x Sol Ring
1x Crop Rotation
1x Entomb
1x Grisly Salvage
1x Harrow
1x Putrefy
1x Realms Uncharted
1x Sultai Charm
Sorcery (9)
1x Command the Dreadhorde
1x Commune with the Gods
1x Explosive Vegetation
1x Fork in the Road
1x Mulch
1x Primal Growth
1x Skyshroud Claim
1x Villainous Wealth
1x Whispering Madness
Enchantment (4)
1x Evolutionary Leap
1x Pernicious Deed
1x Secrets of the Dead
1x Sultai Ascendancy
Planeswalker (1)
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
Hela (Commander)
Muldrotha, the Gravetide - This card accomplishes 2 things: Firstly, she has the iconic head shape that Hela's crown of Hel provides her. Secondly, she has heavy interactions with the 'yard, which is thematically very much aligned with our thorned goddess. Love this card, and she fits the theme well.
The Nine Realms (Lands)
Bayou - A dark, dank swamp filled with nefarious creatures.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - Yggdrasil, the world tree!
Command Tower - An unfortunate repeat between my two decks. Art is reminscent of her battle with the Valkyries in Thor Ragnarok
Darkwater Catacombs - Catacomb. Need I say more?
Drowned Catacomb - Oh yes, More catacombs
Forest
Grim Backwoods - Grim, dark, and deliciously evil.
High Market - Hela is happy to sacrifice her minions to execute her goals.
Island
Misty Rainforest
Overgrown Tomb - Tombs are too good for this theme.
Polluted Delta - Another great dark theme, with evil polluting the very waters.
Reliquary Tower - One of my few repeats. To be replaced actually - never seem to draw many cards with this deck.
Strip Mine - Oppressive with Hela
Sunken Hollow - Seriously, blue black lands are too beautiful in this deck.
Swamp
Tropical Island
Underground Sea
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Keep them tombs a rolling.
Verdant Catacombs - More catacombs!
Wasteland - As with strip mine, simply incredibly powerful in this deck.
Watery Grave - Grave is literally in the name on this one. Cmon!
Loki's Tricks (Instants)
Ancient Excavation - A Hel-ish landscape that provides us much needed draw while filling our grave. The dark art feels great in this deck.
Crop Rotation - Using the art with the elf, this is the dark elves salting the very earth on their conquest to expand their territories.
Entomb - Hela using her magic to bring any of her dead minions to the top of the proverbial heap and throw them straight into the grave where she can reach them.
Grisly Salvage - More card advantage, through the salvaging of the dead and gone, which is Hela's specialty.
Harrow - In order to gain, there must be death. Hela must first see the very lands die before she can gain territory.
Putrefy - Hela's iconic green and black energy killing her foes outright.
Realms Uncharted - Even the goddess of death lets her hair down. Hela's uncharted realms tend to be offlimits, to most...
Sultai Charm - The Eternal Flame, kept in the vaults of Asgard. In the movie Thor Ragnarok, Hela uses the power of the flame to revive an evil undead army.
The Enemies of Asgard (Creatures)
Acidic Slime - Quicksand - A lesser known avengers villain, she is a nemesis to Thor Girl, and is made of shape shifting sand.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Angerboda, the mother of Hela. She is also the mother of the Midgard Serpent and Fenris, so she had to be included in our deck. Azusa synergizes well with our strategies, as well as looks pretty similar to the character.
Blood Artist - Dracula. Fun filled fact - Mjolnir is a holy relic, and does massive damage to Dracula in the comic books.
Bloodgift Demon - Kurse! I love that the belt and head shape match so much.
Coffin Queen - Karnilla, who is currently as of Thor 04 in 2018, is the WIFE OF HELA!!
Deathrite Shaman - ALL HAIL DOOM! The green cloak and face seal this 1 drop planeswalker as Doctor Doom.
Dragonlord Silumgar - Fafnir, the Dragon King. First appearing in Thor 134, he was an evil dragon lord that hails originally from a continent on Asgard itself!
Elves of Deep Shadow - Dark elves, plain and simple.
Frost Titan - Ymir, the Living Winter and most powerful of all the frost giants.
Golgari Grave-Troll - Ulik, the troll king. Nigh unkillable and immensely powerful, grave-troll was too perfect a fit with the strong synergy it provides to Muldrotha.
Grim Haruspex - The Disir, a sect of Bor's undying Valkyries. Merely speaking their name means certain death. They are the personal body guards to Hela.
Hell's Caretaker - Mephisto, Lord of Hell. Mephisto has had a relationship with Hela in the past, even providing her a slice of his own Hell in during the times of Ragnarok when she had no land of the dead for herself.
Keiga, the Tide Star - Cut from the deck, formally Foom.
Kokusho, the Evening Star - Fin Fang Foom. Another old comic villain to Thor, surprisingly, even though he appears to look like a Chinese dragon, he is actually an alien!
Llanowar Elves - Knife wielding, angry elves? Great new art for this deck.
Massacre Girl - Lady Wizaria during her time as Kurse. Female Kurse Here
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest - Gorr, the God Butcher. Gained his power using All Black the Necrosword and killing gods, Mazirek likewise gets more powerful as things die.
Merciless Executioner - Skurge, the Executioner. Hilariously played by Karl Urban, this survivalist is an off again on again villain to Thor, and iconic due to the movie Thor Ragnarok.
Midnight Reaper - Avengers and Thor Villain - Grim Reaper! And c'mon, lets face it, too perfect to not include in a death deck.
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf - Evil Loki. While Loki in my Thor deck draws cards, Loki in my Hela deck makes others discard them. Love this mirror imagery.
Ohran Frostfang- The Midgard Serpent. The world serpent is said to be the death of Thor, who will be bitten and poisoned by the great beast, and die after striking the serpent down.
Overtaker - Lorelei, the sister of the Enchantress. She uses her seductive magics to get what she wants out of others.
Phantasmal Image - Carl Creel, the Absorbing man. He, and his ball and chain, have the ability to gain the powers of anything he or it touches. Phantasmal Image not only mimics enemies just like Creel, but also wields a mace in the image. What a great card for this theme!!!
Plaguecrafter - Parker Robbins, aka, The Hood! A magic wielding villain of the Avengers, Plaguecrafter is a great representation of this villain for us, and he synergizes so incredibly well with Hela.
Ramunap Excavator - Klaus Voorhees, hailing from Journey Into Mystery #98 (1963!) Thor vs The Human Cobra! Not a particularly powerful villain on his own, but when working with others, a real pain in the asp.
Rankle, Master of Pranks - Classic Thor Villain, the Grey Gargoyle. If he was to touch you, you'd turn to stone! Flavor and ability on point with pretty solid art.
Sailmonger - This is my new representation of Enchantress, and leads to wonderful political conversations at the table.
Sire of Stagnation - The First Firmament, a being who was once the first universe. It wishes to be all that exists once again, leading to the Avenger's battling him back with the help of other abstracts. I like the similarity between this card art and the First Firmament.
Solemn Simulacrum - Can you find me a more Ultron looking card? I'll wait.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang - The Serpent, Thor's uncle. Once banished, the god of Fear made a return in Marvel's Fear Itself, and has been a real handful for the God of Thunder ever since.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - Ceaseless hunger? Red Blue and Purple? Indestructible? Yeah, Galactus is a REAL big problem for people to deal with when he arrives and starts eating everything.
Underrealm Lich - Malekith, the King of the Dark Elves. Never dies, and kills without pause, he provides Hela with all sorts of advantages. Something I love about this representation is that half his face is lit, drawing a similarity to Malekith's iconic face.
Venser, Shaper Savant - Zarrko the Future Man. A villain from classic Thor comics, this time traveler actually showed some of Thors most ridiculous powers back in the good ol' days.
Vilis, Broker of Blood - The new Mephisto on the block. Literally is signing a blood pact in the art. Too good to not upgrade to!
Void Winnower - The Void, the dark half of The Sentry. Multi limbed, utterly insane, and vicious to his enemies, the Void is utterly oppressive as a villain. Void. Void Winnower. C'mon, its like Wizards did it for me.
Wolfir Silverheart - The Fenris wolf. Technically the child of Loki (shape shifting magic leads to some unsavory things I guess), the wolf is a vicious enemy to Thor, especially when at the side of Hela.
Zulaport Cutthroat - The Wrecker, a human who was given a magic crowbar by Loki to do battle with Thor. Old comics are weird.
Magic (Sorceries)
Command the Dreadhorde - Hela leading her army of the damned to wreck face!
Commune with the Gods - Card advantage, check. God reference? Check. Uses Graveyard? Check. Whats not to love?
Explosive Vegetation - Sticking with a violent theme, I like the idea of my ramp being explosive with green magic.
Fork in the Road - More ramp that leads to cards going into the graveyard rather than simply into play. Less efficient than say Cultivate, but more on theme.
Mulch - Sticking to the idea that my ramp leads to death keeps me in the Hela flavor zone.
Primal Growth - Maximum death on my ramp spell, this card also is someone reminiscent of Cate Blanchett in her role as Hela.
Skyshroud Claim - Elves conquering in the name of Hel!
Villainous Wealth - Gold buys death. Death buys gold. - The flavor text says it all. A great game winning card that fits our flavor of being villainous.
Whispering Madness - Stick around Loki long enough, and you will lose your mind. Ego learned this the hard way in Thor 05 and 06 of 2019's Thor Vol 5
The Armory (Artifacts)
Birthing Pod - A vicious machine that prospers of death.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe - The Blood Axe. The weapon of choice for Skurge the executioner, the Blood Axe is a vicious weapon from Marvel Comics that can drive its wielder to blood lust.
Chromatic Lantern - Casket Of Frozen Winters, and an unfortunate repeat in my theme decks. Might cut this due for something more versatile, since this deck tends to ramp well.
Crucible of Worlds - The Nine Realms in all their beauty, filled with lives to be reaped. Also synergizes incredibly well with our sacrificing / pitching of lands.
Darksteel Plate - Thor's Battle Armor, a trophy for Hela, from when she cursed him with brittle bones and immortality so that he might suffer indefinitely, wishing for death.
General's Kabuto - A Hel Crown representation. Not perfect, but very useful in our deck.
Helm of the Host - Visually, a better Hel Crown, and also, incredibly powerful, considering that Muldrotha's ability stacks with itself should you get multiple copies of her on the board.
Sol Ring - Staple. Boring. Bleh.
Curses of Hela (Enchantments)
Evolutionary Leap - A lovely gorgon outstretched, this card represents so much of our deck. Green art, death for gains.
Pernicious Deed - More lovely green art, and massive quantities of death. Synergizes incredibly well with Hela as well, being a permanent card type.
Secrets of the Dead - The more death that surrounds us, the stronger the forces of Hel become.
Sultai Ascendancy - Versatile, and assures something is going into the graveyard.
Deities of Evil (Planeswalkers)
Garruk Relentless - Ares, who often gives into the Bloodaxe, and succumbs to his bloodlust. A great fit for Garruk Relentless, who shows Garruk's surrender to madness.
Ob Nixilis Reignited - Surtur, lord of the fire giants and king of Muspelheim
In the early game, its all about the ramp. This deck plays a bit different than other green decks, but this part we have in common. Ramp, and ramp hard. Try to keep an opener with about 3 mana, and accelerate as fast as you can with mana dorks and our ramp spells. We don't pack a lot of rocks, but we won't really need them. Focus on keeping things simple early on, and try not to draw too much undue hate. Muldrotha is a well known powerhouse, and is a threat merely by being in the command zone. A great early game card for us is actually Pernicious Deed. Anything that lets you dissuade others from attacking or threaten their mana rocks will greatly improve your odds in the early game. Since we will be dropping bombs for the rest of the game, make sure to focus purely on getting mana out there, and not much else.
Mid Game:
You should get 6+ mana out pretty quick, and for this deck, thats the sign you have hit the mid game. You won't win the game with 6 mana, but boy, can you start to shape the flow of the game. At this point, start throwing down threats one after another. This deck is a battle cruiser strategy, and we want to really show our opponents that each creature we have is a bomb. There is one important piece to this phase of the game: Do not rush Muldrotha onto the battlefield. Yes, she great, and yes, she can really give you incremental advantage; but she is also easily removed, and a high priority target. She can easily be removed 2-3 times, and suddenly be out of reach. More often than not, Hela is our closer, and we don't want her costing 12 mana. Instead, save playing your commander until you have a strong synergy to pair with her. I will write a synergy section below, but some key cards to pair with her are Merciless Executioner or Strip Mine. Until you are ready to close a game, try not to play her, and instead, throw bomb creature after bomb creature every turn. Threaten the board, be the scary player, and really press for advantage.
Late Game / End Game:
Once you get your mana base upwards of 10 mana, its time to start pushing for the win. Our commander synergizes with a TON of cards in the deck, and they can really shift a game very quickly from being the biggest threat, to being the winner. Play Muldrotha at this point, and start playing cards that can be abused over and over again from the graveyard. Most of the time, we will win games by going into the red zone. I frequently win off Ulamog eating libraries, and also tend to win by grinding away my opponents with the above mentioned Merciless Executioner and Strip Mine loops. If you can, get the Helm of the Host onto Muldrotha, which will allow you to play numerous copies from your grave, as well as give you 6/6 beaters to overwhelm your opponents with. The one thing to keep in mind in this phase of the game is that you are not using an infinite combo deck, so you won't have the explosive, 1 turn win, but instead, will most likely crush your opponents with repeated attacks from big creatures.
Weaknesses:
Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Merciless Executioner = Every great ruler needs an executioner. For 4BB, all opponents sacrifice 2 creatures on the first go around, and then you can do it 1x every turn after, sacrificing the Executioner to himself for minimal losses while taking out 3 creatures a turn.
High Market / Birthing Pod + Kokusho, the Evening Star / Keiga, the Tide Star / Solemn Simulacrum = Incremental advantage through sacrificing our own creatures, only to later reuse them via Muldrotha. Evolutionary Leap also works as a great sac outlet. We gain both the benefit of our sac outlets, but also the on death triggers from our powerful dragons and Ultron.
Crucible of Worlds + Azusa, Lost but Seeking + Strip Mine / Wasteland = Destroy 3 lands a turn. Slow, but can feel SO oppressive / demoralizing to opponents.
A great many synergies in this deck revolve around abusing Muldrotha and her ability to replay cards, and then having them at our access to sacrifice. The beauty of most of our death effects is that the sacrifice is part of the cost, leaving our opponents little room to respond to us, and gives them little ability to rob us of our toys.
General's Kabuto - Honestly, didnt get as much use, and I don't need 2x Hel Crowns
Keiga, The Tide Star - Upgraded flavor to Ohran Frostfang
Hell's Caretaker - New Mephisto in town makes blood pacts
Tasigur, the Golden Fang - Never got mileage out of him since I don't do infinite mana
Ancient Excavation - Weak Flavor
Darksteel Plate - Expensive and not great. I will keep it nearby though if Hela gets hated off the table too much.
In:
Massacre Girl - Lady Wizaria during her time as Kurse
Rankle, Master of Pranks - Classic Thor Villain, the Grey Gargoyle. If he was to touch you, you'd turn to stone! Flavor and ability on point with pretty solid art.
Vilis, Broker of Blood - The new Mephisto on the block. Literally is signing a blood pact in the art. Too good to not upgrade to!
Ohran Frostfang - An amazing parallel to the World Serpent.
Command the Dreadhorde - Hela leading her army of the damned to wreck face!
Midnight Reaper - Avengers and Thor Villain - Grim Reaper! And c'mon, lets face it, too perfect to not include in a death deck.
Garruk Relentless - No real synergy with Muldrotha, and Ares isn't really an enemy of Asgard outside of events where he is misled.
In:
Plaguecrafter - The Hood! A great synergy with the commander and regular Avengers villain that looks incredibly similar to the art on this card. Huge win for the deck.
Why Listen to me?
I transitioned over to EDH around 2012; when I joined MTG Salvation. I had recently moved, and none of my new friends played legacy. My first EDH deck was a Dralnu deck that I made out of spare cards that the timmy in me wanted to see played. Time Warp, Time Stretch, etc. I did not do well, but found a love for the format. I then shifted to Azami wizards, and realized that playing some of the best decks wasnt ideal for casual games at the kitchen table. Today, i still enjoy playing power cards and winning games; but I also see the fun in casually playing with friends, and thats where Mishra and I joined forces. I have played Mishra for years, and have become known in my circles as "that blue mage who loves artifacts." So since I am bros with Mishra, favor blue and artifact cards...I am basically Urza, and you should listen to me.
For those coming from reddit, I am u/frotch on reddit, and frequent both the magicTCG and edh subreddits. Cheers!
I have begun work on a sister deck to this one, Enemies of Asgard, which is a deck built around Hela, the goddess of death. That post should be out in the next month or two. I am still cutting cards from my list.
its god damn beautiful
Blind Seer - Me.
Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire (Jund Goodstuff)
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice (Go wide token life gain)
Dragonlord Ojutai (not quite sure what his strategy was, seemed like a UW control deck).
I spent my early game controlling a fast ramping Vaevictis and trying to keep him off the table. Used Wrath of Merit Lage to delay him, then boxed him out HARD by eventually sticking back to basics. 10/10 would recommend. I protected myself for a long time with a bunch of pro red flying faeries. I am starting to think that there may be value in more pro-x fliers than pro-x ground troops. Leaning towards including cerulean wyvern - though i hate the 5cmc.
Game dragged for a while, Ojutai got killed by Trostani, who was looking strong until i hit a wash out, and blew away all white permanents (after vaevictis was already fairly under control). It straight up wrecked all my opponents. Followed it with a Will Breaker. Now THATS a card. Holy moley is he strong. I kept the table under control at that point with a fist full of counter magic and alpha striked Vaevictis with stolen cards. I then dropped Akroma's Memorial, and began the long haul of whittling down Trostani's life with commander damage. He scooped shortly after i established such strong control, and realized that he wasnt going to sneak a spell by to kill will breaker free his dudes. At some point, i also stuck invoke prejudice, and it made it really hard for the green mages to afford all their critters, even with their piles of mana, because it was so late in the game i could tap a small stack of lands to convert what little i had stolen in their upkeep.
I gotta say, the deck feels so weak, until you get a grasp on the game, then its surprisingly lethal. Didnt hurt that there was a lot of green in the game, and my deck is already tilted towards killing green, and i had an early game 1/1 flier pro red to prevent vaevictis from completely wrecking me.
TL;DR up front - Artifacts are weak and uninspiring. Honestly, the best card in the set from my perspective is likey Stolen Strategy, and its not great if you can afford superior enchantments.
Blue
Red
Black
Colorless
Multicolor
Lands
Nothing to see here
Let me know if you think I missed a noteworthy card and why and i'll add it to this list!
Timetwister can be replaced to some degree by Windfall.
Power Artifact is a lot harder to replace, but instead maybe consider running additional 'sol' permanents since it is an alternative for creating mana for your chain veil combo.
Tabernacle CAN be replaced by Pendrell Mists, but its one of those cards that incredibly difficult to replace. If your objective is to reduce aggro amounts, alternatives like crawlspace might be more affordable / consistent. Or even something like Portcullis depending on your meta.
Can you describe what sorts of aggro decks you are facing? Are you seeing decks like krenko, where tokens are going wide, causing problems, or are you facing more voltron / single attacker decks that create a single game ending threat (Uril, Rafiq, Zur, Narset, etc).