This week, we've got a little bit of a challenge in this Atalya build, because we're making it for the Dollar General format.
For those who don't know, the Dollar General format was created by me and a couple of my friends to help shape a competitive environment for some newcomers in our playgroup.
The Dollar General format puts a $40 cap on the 100 cards in your deck, and in addition, your Commander must cost less than $1.
As a uniform price moderator, our friends agreed on using the cheapest available price for each card on tcgplayer.com. So put our decks in there, and adjust accordingly.
Anyway, I promised a friend of mine I'd pop the hood and make some changes. So let's look at his deck.
General:
Atalya, Samite Master
Creatures:
Ajani's Pridemate
Ajani's Sunstriker
Alabaster Mage
Archon of Redemption
Celestial Force
Changeling Hero
Felidar Sovereign
Ghost-Lit Redeemer
Goldenglow Moth
Healer of the Pride
Inquisitor Exarch
Knight of Meadowgrain
Martyr of Sands
Mistmeadow Skulk
Nearheath Pilgrim
Rhox Faithmender
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
Serra Ascendant
Serra Avatar
Soul Warden
Soul's Attendant
Wall of Reverence
Windbrisk Raptor
Sorcery:
Day of Judgment
Feudkiller's Verdict
Instant:
Abuna's Chant
Alabaster Potion
Blessed Reversal
Chastise
Congregate
Disenchant
Divine Offering
Honor the Fallen
Path to Exile
Rest for the Weary
Soul's Grace
Enchantments:
Angelic Chorus
Animal Boneyard
Arrest
Boon Reflection
Cradle of Vitality
Felidar Umbra
Lifelink
Noble Purpose
Oblivion Ring
Pacifism
Spirit Link
Test of Endurance
True Conviction
Artifacts:
Angel's Feather
Caged Sun
Chalice of Life
Elixir of Immortality
Lightning Greaves
Loxodon Warhammer
Pristine Talisman
Tower of Eons
Venser's Journal
Land:
37 Plains
I actually had the privilege of getting to battle this deck on Cockatrice before I make some edits.
As you can see, the deck plays many singleton life gain spells, using cards like Boon Reflection and the new m13 Rhox Faithmender to gain a whole bunch of life.
From there, the deck's next step is to get out a Test of Endurance or a Felidar Sovereign and win the game.
What's good about this deck is that retardo_08 designed it and kept to his guns. His theme is a theme along the deck. The creatures have lifelink or work to gain him life. His spells mostly gain him life. The Stall plan is in place.
However, this deck is probably overcommitted to this plan. It doesn't matter how much life is gained with this deck, because a) there's always the 21-and-done General damage plan or b) amassing the hoard to destroy.
In our game, I was able to get 36 points of unblocked damage through on three turns and trounce the deck.
One of the other big problems is being able to find his win conditions. In fact, this part was so crucial he had to commit a $6 Idyllic Tutor to the deck in order to find Test of Endurance, allowing him only 3 ways to win the way the deck was designed. Draw Felidar Sovereign, Test of Endurance straight up, or top an Idyllic Tutor.
This, for EDH, won't be consistent enough to win, and even if the right draws happen, his opponent will still have the opportunity on the following turn to disrupt the plan.
So in my redux of the deck, we're going to do something a little unconventional. I hate to pull out the cards so early, but I think for this life gain deck to work, we need to fix the first problem, which is the deck's leadership.
Atalya, while not a bad creature, shouldn't be the general of this deck at this time. This is because she does exactly what the deck does. Gain Life.
We actually need better support here to make the deck's theme consistent.
Unfortunately, my first choice we can't actually use, as Darien, King of Kjeldor is more than a dollar.
My second choice, however, should be just as good. So in the immortal words of Bob Barker, “Cho-Manno, Revolutionary, Come on Down!”
So Cho's not just any general. In fact, he comes equipped with a great combo that was in the Standard metagame a while ago.
Cho-Manno + Pariah or Pariah's Shield is used to prevent all the damage dealt.
The best part about this is that white is the perfect colors to find ways to get these things out on the CHEAP, both casting-wise and dollar-wise.
So, our new strategy is to use Cho as a scapegoat, offering a few turns for your opponent to find an answer so that life can be gained and one of the original win-cons can be found.
The best part about Cho is that the opponent will be forced to have multiple answers to the problems, creating an environment in which they have to be forced to play their removal spells.
Also, because of Cho, we can reduce the amount of life gain spells strictly to cards that will help the deck win. This should help free up a siginificant amount of space so that we can add some more great threats and distractions.
So here's what I did.
General
Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
Creature
Atalya, Samite Master
Auratouched Mage
Battlegrace Angel
Captain of the Watch
Celestial Force
Emeria Angel
Felidar Sovereign
Healer of the Pride
Knight-Captain of Eos
Kor Cartographer
Leonin Relic-Warder
Lightkeeper of Emeria
Lost Auramancers
Patron of the Kitsune
Rhox Faithmender
Serra Avatar
Shattered Angel
Soul Warden
Soul's Attendant
Steel Hellkite
Steelshaper Apprentice
Taj-Nar Swordsmith
Totem-Guide Hartebeest
As far as the creatures go, we've got a lot of new faces. Obviously our life gain dudes stayed, and Felidar Sovereign. I was intrigued on the initial list by Serra Avatar, so I kept it. It's new, so I'm not sure if it's gonna be good, but it has potential to be huge, so it could be a threat.
The new faces to be excited about are the tutoring guys. Taj-Nar Swordsmith, Steelshaper Apprentice, Totem-Guide Hartebeest, Auratouched Mage, and Lost Auramancers are all new pieces designed to help target the the win conditions in the deck.
Other new faces to be excited about include Patron of the Kitsune, Shattered Angel, and Knight-Captain of Eos. I think those cards are very niche-y (not Nietzsche) and will fit well into this deck.
Instant
Alabaster Potion
Beacon of Immortality
Blessed Reversal
Crib Swap
Disenchant
Exile
Faith's Reward
Second Sunrise
Stir the Pride
White Sun's Zenith
Wing Shards
So I focused the life gain down quite a bit here. Got a lot more removal and a lot more threats.
Some cards I'm excited about are Stir the Pride and Beacon of Immortality. They are the most surprising and the most notably dangerous in the deck. Blessed Reversal seemed sweet too.
Obvious removal, is naturally obvious.
Note that we do have a couple of hokey tricks in Second Sunrise and the new m13 version, Faith’s Reward. Stir the Pride is also a potential life gain trick or game winner in the way that Overrun or Overwhelming Stampede works for green. I think that those cards are really handy for keeping Felidar Sovereign or Test of Endurance out. That following turn for your opponent is crucial, and these cards have the potential to crush his or her hopes and dreams. I don’t know if they’ll be good consistently, but in Magical Christmas Land scenarios, they’re pretty amazing. Magical Christmas Land might not come at all though, so if that's the case, they'll be among the first cards cut.
Sorcery:
Archangel's Light
Conqueror's Pledge
Day of Judgment
Decree of Justice
Festival of Trokin
Increasing Devotion
Landbind Ritual
Martial Coup
Planar Cleansing
Storm Herd
Three Dreams
More threats here. Archangel's Light seems cool in this deck, though I don't know how many cards will be in the graveyard when it goes off.
Some Token power was added, mostly because I added a Skullclamp (Spoiler!), but also because these cards are great. Martial Coup is a 2-for-1 mass removal and among white's best. Storm Herd works in conjunction with the life total too, which could be bonkers in this deck.
Decree of Justice seems awesome because you can make Angels at sorcery or Soldiers at Instant speed.
The highlight card of this package though is Three Dreams, which can go get three of the following Auras.
Enchantment:
Armored Ascension
Boon Reflection
Celestial Mantle
Faith's Fetters
Felidar Umbra
Luminarch Ascension
Marshal's Anthem
Pariah
Pentarch Ward
Test of Endurance
True Conviction
Obviously, Three Dreams wants to go get Pariah, Faith's Fetters, and probably Armored Ascension as its primary targets. Pentarch Ward, Celestial Mantle, and Felidar Umbra are there for backup.
Luminarch Ascension I thought was a great addition to Cho because of synergy. Again, creating avenues to divert removal away from the win-cons.
Marshal's Anthem is there as a way to pump dudes and dig other guys out.
Artifact
Caged Sun
Pariah's Shield
Shrine of Loyal Legions
Skullclamp
Shrine of Loyal Legions is the best shrine in EDH I think, while the others are pretty self-explanatory.
Land
Emeria, The Sky Ruin
Evolving Wilds
35x Plains
Springjack Pasture
Terramorphic Expanse
The mana base got a slight upgrade. Springjack pasture is there for chumps and life gain, while Emeria is there for the luck of activation.
Some final thoughts.
I don't know how good this deck is going to be yet, but the upgrades will help. It'll still obviously need some tweaking cause we kept some goofy stuff, but now the deck has many more lines of play and avenues to win, with or without its primary strategy.
One of the biggest challenges in the deck will be creating ways to confuse your opponent into deciding whether or not to attack. This is the deck's biggest function as it works to gain life.
Even more so, this deck needs a good player, one who can figure out what cards your opponent needs to draw to get rid of stuff. Bonus points if you can figure out what they have in their hand.
Anyway, that's the deck.
Pass Turn.
-Uncle Landdrops
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