Instant (8)
- 1x Anguished Unmaking
- 1x Enlightened Tutor
- 1x Path to Exile
- 1x Shred Memory
- 1x Tithe
- 1x Utter End
- 1x Vampiric Tutor
Sorcery (9)
Enchantment (10)
- 1x Animate Dead
- 1x Grave Pact
- 1x Greed
- 1x Haunted Crossroads
- 1x Land Tax
- 1x Necropotence
- 1x Phyrexian Arena
- 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
- 1x Test of Endurance
- 1x Underworld Connections
Artifact (13)
Creature (23)
- 1x Academy Rector
- 1x Auriok Champion
- 1x Daru Spiritualist
- 1x Devoted Caretaker
- 1x Disciple of Griselbrand
- 1x Edgewalker
- 1x Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
- 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
- 1x Felidar Sovereign
- 1x Grand Abolisher
- 1x Leonin Relic-Warder
- 1x Mother of Runes
- 1x Preacher
- 1x Ranger of Eos
- 1x Shaman en-Kor
- 1x Solemn Simulacrum
- 1x Soul Warden
- 1x Soul's Attendant
- 1x Stoneforge Mystic
- 1x Sun Titan
- 1x Vizkopa Guildmage
- 1x Weathered Wayfarer
- 1x Withered Wretch
Land (36)
- 1x Arcane Lighthouse
- 1x Bojuka Bog
- 1x Buried Ruin
- 1x Cabal Coffers
- 1x Cavern of Souls
- 1x Caves of Koilos
- 1x Command Tower
- 1x Fetid Heath
- 1x Godless Shrine
- 1x Isolated Chapel
- 1x Kor Haven
- 1x Marsh Flats
- 1x Miren, the Moaning Well
- 1x Myriad Landscape
- 9x Plains
- 1x Reliquary Tower
- 1x Starlit Sanctum
- 7x Swamp
- 1x Tainted Field
- 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- 1x Volrath's Stronghold
- 1x Winding Canyons
Commander (1)
Sideboard
Creature (3)
Maybeboard
Foreward
I first started playing magic during the Onslaught block a very long time ago. The very first set of cards I picked up was the Ivory Doom deck, a collection of black and white clerics working together in a somewhat mediocre and yet flavorful fashion. Though I never really stopped playing Orzhov since, I also never revisited the cleric tribe. This was in large part due to the fact that I felt there was no viable General for clerics in my colors - and now that's changed. I present to you, tribal cleric Ayli and friends.
Deck Concept and Choice Inclusions
You may have noticed this list isn't actually a purist tribal compilation (nor are all the cleric's from Dominaria) - and that comes down to the bare bones truth of tribal decks themselves. 1) The tribal support must be outstanding and 2) The tribe's identity itself must match our Commander's identity in terms of both our winning image and our path to achieve that winning image. In both the aforementioned guidelines, we have an acceptable number of clerics that fall into category 2, but not so much in category 1. Regardless, we'll take what we can get.
What can we get? Show
What else is there? Show
No surprise here, after all Ayli is a more flexible Starlit Sanctum on a legendary cleric body, and on top of that we can achieve redundancy with Lightning Greaves, Disciple of Griselbrand, and Miren, the Moaning Well. I'd like to establish this as our basis, Let's tackle a few points before we move on.
1) What about her second ability? Shouldn't we build around that as well?
Yes and no. I don't want to get attached to strategy of getting "50 and up" on life points. This is two-fold; the first point emphasizes traditional orzhov mentality that life is a resource. Veteran B/X players know well that short of B/U, black very likely holds our main card draw components. Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena, Greed, Underworld Connections , Erebos, God of the Dead, are common core and all require some measurable amount of life. If we are too focused on hitting our 50 and staying there, we invite the possibility of passing on opportunities when we should be up on card advantage rather than life totals.
The second point is simply the politics; if I set the standard of the game with the "50 and up" mindset; then surely all three of our opponents will do their absolute best to keep me as far from it as possible. In essence, convincing our opponents our main strategy is to hit our milestone life totals not only gives them an excuse to swing our way as much as they please - but will very likely grant another player the underdog status (allowing them the time to build their board state and resources while we are forced to use all our answers defensively rather than disruptively).
So instead, let us choose the more flexible route that allows us to play with an almost utmost disregard to our life totals. As long as our life total isn't zero, then in true cleric fashion, have faith that sooner or later we will go infinite. When that happens, win however you see fit (Winding Canyons + Felidar Sovereign, Vizkopa Guildmage, Test of Endurance)
Easy Auto-Includes
This kind of thinking lends itself to a certain choice of cards above others. We are not going crazy over high frequency sacrificing of small things, or in most case the low frequency high value sacrificing of on-death trigger fatties - we're just looking for the right set of cards at the right time in the right board state. Let's get the easy picks out the way
Tutors Show
Utility Lands Show
Card Advantage Show
The Clerics
Here we approach the not so intuitive part of the build - choosing our tribe members, their associates, and convincing ourselves we made the right choices. Be reminded that this particular Ayli build is through and through a supremely underwhelming infinite-life-gain combo build. Interestingly enough, clerics are surprisingly combo friendly, piece protective, and if you fail once - than the tribe encourages you to try, try again.
A friend of the Combo Show
Protector of the Combo Show
Try, try again Show
Huh? Show
Let's tie up some loose ends, by now we've gotten a solid foundation for what the build can and wants to do, so what remains is entirely up to the deck designers whim. Personally, I preferred to flesh the remaining slots left with a suite of flexible spot removal, flexible mass removal, mana rocks, land grab, and land fetch. You can see for yourself in the list. Feel free to deviate in whatever way you so choose (if you really like, ignore this guide in its entirety if for some reason you have not done so already but are still reading at this point). Moving on, I'll discuss my personal experience playing the deck; and thus the tips and tricks I have derived from many games.
Deck Philosophy and Piloting
The deck plays very easily and is flexible in most situations; I'm able to adapt to any playgroup and I don't necessarily feel the need to rush for a win or outlast my opponents using the most charismatic political maneuvers known to EDH-kind (that being said, you can easily do both depending on your starting hand and draws, and reasonably so). Player's who have piloted or are familiar with Selenia's suicide builds may know this style of play best. You can play at your own pace, interact with the board in a way that suits you best and combo out at your leisure.
This seems like a bold assessment; but remember that the entry-point to your win conditions, especially in EDH, are oddly acceptable. Obviously, I am not referring to the winning part, but rather the infinite life gain. Among infinite combos, many players (probably myself included) consider infinite life gain to be the most underwhelming and least threatening of all infinite combos. This is a concept well enforced in more ways than one - getting infinite life does not remotely mean victory. We're still vulnerable to commander damage, let alone our opponent's infinite damage or draw combos and short of something like Vizkopa Guildmage, our win con's are very slow.
This is certainly a hindrance in most other builds, but in our Ayli cleric tribal we can use these weaknesses to our advantage. More accurately put. the deck is prepared to deal with its own shortcomings. From experience, infinite life-gain combo is something that is not always off the negotiating table against our opponents - there's a very likely chance we get to go infinite through sheer politics and threat assessment alone. Assuming we fall under the microscope, our cleric tribesmen and recursion suite are more than prepared to bring back what is lost and try again multiple times. Factoring in the redundancy of multiple toughness-based sacrifice outlets and our back-up infinite combo, going infinite is not only an inevitability but more so changes the relevant topic of 'will I go infinite this game?' to 'how many resources can I force my opponents to waste?'
On the other hand, actually winning the game after getting a fat life-stack is more complex. Let it be said first that the vizkopa-guildmage timed simultaneously with going infinite is the most sure fire method of ending games. However, establishing this can lead over-extending ones position on the board. In some cases, it may be feasible to achieve infinite once, than do so again in tandem with the guild-mage on board. In other cases, we can flash in Felidar Sovereign via Winding Canyons or throw down a Test of Endurance and watch our opponents scramble.
Post infinite plays differently than pre-infinite, but it is ultimately to our benefit. We can disregard non-infinite, non-general damage entirely and use as much of our life as we please to gain card advantage or pay for a massive Phyrexian Processor. Since we are well above 50, using Ayli's second ability on a whim becomes very viable, and keeps our opponents from threatening a win from a distance.
Closing Notes
I've had a lot of great moments playing this deck, It's very flavorful and I get to use a lot of cards that I have not been able to fit into other builds (looking at you Edgewalker ). Mechanically, the deck is simple to pilot, but doesn't lose any luster as far as decision-making and interacting with the board. Its fair, and I am comfortable sitting down with any level of competitiveness to play degenerate-free.
The final note I'll say is that this is not a definitive Ayli build. In my opinion I think Ayli can be built an infinite number of ways to supreme effectiveness. What I feel this build offers is a list that sits at the crossroads of theme and flavor, competitiveness, and mechanical fun. I hope you take something away from this that helps you with your own implementation, brew on!
Updates/Play-testing/My Other stuff
Updates
Playtesting
More Stuff
If you liked what you see here I also have an Athreos list thats been up for a while:
Divergent Athreos: The Bouncer at Club Erebos
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 75 | 39 COMMENTS | 9098 VIEWS | IN 32 FOLDERS
In the future I hope to show off a list I'm brewing for yet another Ayli deck - this one will feature even more jank that will utilize all of her abilities to the fullest, including her death touch!
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Revision 6 See all
(7 years ago)
| +1 | Angelic Chorus | side |
| -1 | Bloodghast | main |
| +1 | Dark Petition | main |
| +1 | Diabolic Intent | side |
| +1 | Erebos, God of the Dead | main |
| +1 | Grave Pact | main |
| +1 | Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip | side |
| +1 | Martyr's Bond | side |
| +1 | Master Apothecary | side |
| +1 | Patriarch's Bidding | side |
| +1 | Proper Burial | side |
| -1 | Reassembling Skeleton | main |
| +1 | Soul's Attendant | main |
| +1 | Test of Endurance | main |
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 8 years |
| Last updated | 7 years |
| Legality | This deck is Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 11 - 2 Mythic Rares 43 - 8 Rares 24 - 1 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.62 |
| Tokens | Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Minion X/X B, Zombie 2/2 B |
| Folders | Compare to.... , Orzhov Commander Decks, Test Enemy, EDH, Fun Decks, Interesting Deck Ideas, edh, ayli cards, Cool decks, EDH (Combo) |
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