Though we took a slight sidestep in the last installment of Better Deckbuilding, we're back on the mono-colored track today with my other mono-black deck- Akuta, Born of Ash!
WHY AKUTA?
At first, I thought the Commander for this deck was original Ob Nixilis, as I wanted a land-based theme for the design.
Upon playtesting even just a basic list, I realized it wasn't going to be very successful, so I went back to the drawing board.
For those long-time Zoners, you might recall that Akuta's a card I ranked favorably back when I did the top 20 lists for mono-colored commanders. Haste seemed so favorable, and while losing a Swamp sounds rough, trading a land in the late game for another creature post Wrath is unique and opportunistic.
THE STRATEGY
A few days were spent brainstorming the concepts for creating ways to make Akuta valuable. As an aggressive card, the instinct to play Aggro felt fine, especially in a color with access to other resilient, graveyard resilient creatures and sacrifice outlets to make them more valuable in combat.
Normally, this strategy in Commander can get burnt out on cards if you aren't careful. Fortunately, the obvious cards mono-black likes to play- Phyrexian Arena, Bloodgift Demon, etc. - work well with our deck's goals. Not only do we want to be able to dig Akuta out of the bin, but we also want to be drawing into a lot of stuff so we don't run out of gas.
And because we're drawing a lot of cards, we're hopefully drawing enough land to make drops every turn, supporting our Commander's ability every turn, but only to be used when necessary.
Put together with a few other nice tricks, this allows us to put a lot of pressure on an opponent in 1v1, as well as give us a backup sacrifice engine when the game stalls out.
THE TECH
The biggest piece of tech for Akuta is Nightmare Lash, Lashwrithe, and/or Strata Scythe. Any combination of this equipment turns the game on its head pretty quickly. The optimal plan is to get Akuta, a creature, equip each one with our little land-powered equipment package, and swing for the game.
While the value might go down a land or two depending on how much removal our opponents have, there are enough Swamps in the deck to make these powerful options in the late stages of the game.
Being able to hold these up and play them with tempo in the mid-to-late stages of a game has been this deck's recipe for success so far.
One of the design gimmicks for this deck is that I don't play any dedicated reanimate spells. Really, this isn't something I'd recommend other people doing if they want to make this deck, and they want to make it good, but the Reanimate suite is something I played in Greel, and I was interested in carving out a different way of doing the same thing, even if we're just splitting hairs.
The deck has access to several cool, budget-friendly Gravedigger effects- Cadaver Imp, Grim Harvest, and Phyrexian Reclamation.
While Greel and Akuta want to pay a lot of life in their quests to draw cards and emerge victorious, Akuta actually burns through life at a higher rate because of cards like this and paying equip costs on Nightmare Lash.
As a result, Phyrexian Reclamation and these other life-cost cards have to be used with a lot of descretion and tact. Sometimes we're paying 2 life for Cadaver Imp, even if what we really want is Soul of Innistrad, or even Akuta.
Anyone who plays Pauper or played during Kamigawa will tell you Okiba-Gang is a house.
GG used to play this 60 card U/B casual deck centered around Dimir Infiltrator and Okiba-Gang beats.
Here in Akuta, I've channeled the spirit of that design by adding Tormented Soul, but really, any time you can get ahead of your opponents on the creature count, and attack, Okiba-Gang is dangerous.
In the early game, this card is a lot more difficult to see. Later on, Okiba-Gang becomes a nice way to put your opponent into top-deck mode, effectively being able to outdraw them, and once again ensure you'll have the Akuta graveyard option next upkeep.
For long time Magic players who remember when this card came out, it's probably a choice that isn't "tech" and is therefore boring.
However, this card is a dangerous choice based on what I've talked about earlier. When your life total is a resource, using it this way seems a little counterintuitive. Even with access to Lashwrithe and Nightmare Lash, Recurrable Crypt Rats is rough, but powerful- particularly when our opponent(s) may want to play pillowfort and stall.
Still, getting Demon or the Rats equipped with our Plan A Nightmare Lash/Lashwrithe is a sweet deal. Not only do they become effective board sweepers, but they can then attack for more value.
Much like the Edric decks, Akuta wants some cheap creatures that can turn sideways for certain damage.
Dauthi Horror is both my creepiest looking option, and one of the best, next to the aforementioned Tormented Soul.
Either one of them can pick up our equipment and get 5-8 extra points of damage in with no fuss.
Even cooler is the fact that all of those white shadow creatures people might play can't do much to our guy. Short of a Looter il-Kor, I can't think of much else Dauthi Horror has to worry about getting in his way.
There's a lot of neat stuff in this deck, but the last card I'll talk about is Infernal Tribute.
This is a card I haven't seen a whole lot of on the internet, and I'd like to make its presence known. Really, it's just a color-dedicated Carnage Altar, even in this deck- but it can do more.
Infernal Tribute also helps to protect your other permanents, which may also protect you. More than once I've been able to sacrifice Phyrexian Arena or Dark Tutelage to avoid dying to my own draw engines. Not to mention it's a devotion monster!
Here's the list. Check it out.
Uncle Landdrops' Akuta, Born of Ash EDH
Until next time, remember only to let the penitent man pass.
-UL
