Imo Necropotence doesn't belong in a deck with haakon, especially since you're running discard tech like Tortured Existence and also Transmute cards like Dimir Machinations . Necro makes you exile stuff you discard and doesn't inherently synergize with your strategy. You have a ton of draw already, so I would run a high-value creature reanimation target like Ashen Rider in its place. Also, since you're playing the Haakon/Ashes of the Fallen combo, you should consider Crib Swap as it's another knight to cast from the yard like Nameless Inversion, and so is Mirror Entity to make your plethora of tokens into a massive army. Any particular reason why no Sun Titan ? Since both Haakon, Decaying Soil, and Ashes of the Fallen are all 3 mana or less and huge pieces of this deck, I would think running Sun Titan is a huge benefit that I wish I could have in my Haakon deck.

Thank you all for the comments!

Darkshadow327 Bond is okay, but since I'm only really sacing creatures it's just a worse Dictate here. I like the lands!

DRmagic2017 neat card, but I demand more out of my 6+ cmc cards.

FenIsABasicSwamp Thanks for commenting! I have swapped Sun Titan and Necro, among other changes. I think when I was first picking recursion cards I only focused on Elenda, thus wrote Sun Titan out. I will consider Mirror Entity and Crib Swap, time will tell how heavy I want to lean into Haakon.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! Keep up discussion!

Teysa and Elenda are girlfriends, thank you for acknowledging this
Also Mr Cortez is a hilarious off-the-wall card that I never would've expected to see in a list like this, but your explanation for him makes perfect sense. Bravo!

Silverdrake yeah Elenda and Teysa are for sure secret lovers.

Thanks for the comment :)

I don't have much time, and just saw your sweet message, but I will note that with the first listed Animation Module combo, Phyrexian Altar also gives infinite mana, because you can sacrifice Elendra, get infinite tokens, sacrifice half of those (infinite mana), then recast Elendra and combo out again or whatever too.

This deck looks very fun. I like the gameplan of comboing out without a finisher as I have a similar deck. One thing I can suggest is Mother of Runes for your combos that rely on Elenda to stick around. This card does wonders. She basically counters the first of any targeted removal or effects aimed at your creatures each turn and can protect herself.

On a different note, unless it's due to budget concerns, I'd definitely get a hold of the lands you have listed in your maybeboard and add them to your deck, especially Phyrexian Tower and Orzhov Basilica . Although, maybe your manabase has been working well despite the large amount of basics.

Furthermore, has your deck been consistent enough where you're able to get things done every game? One of the greatest challenges I find with deckbuilding is finding the right amount of consistency. Too little and you have no fun each game while doing nothing. Too much, and games quickly become too similar for you and your playgroup.

SynergyBuild good point, though since Elenda has to hit the graveyard to get the tokens I'd need some recursion to make that infinite as well. Would love for you to come back and give a full critique if you ever have time :)

Masterful thanks! Insta-win combos feel unfulfilling to me, so I like to give the table 1 turn to respond so I feel like I've earned the win.

I like Mother of Runes . Good suggestion. I'm torn because Elenda sort of has built in protection; the threat of token generation. But I do want to up my creature count and Lightning Greaves messes with all the stuff I want to target Elenda with, so I'll consider it!

Yeah the land base isn't fully done... been to busy to really hash it out. And I am trying to be budget conscious here so expensive lands are low on the priority list.

Good question, and one I always keep in mind when playtesting new decks. I have not been able to playtest this in real life yet, but I'm hoping the high amount of synergy and low amount of combo finishers will strike the perfect balance for me. Thanks for the comment!

Amazing deck and presentation! Looks really pleasurable to pilot. I love all the synergies you've built between Haakon and Elenda.

Here comes a few suggestions I've in mind :

• Bitterblossom > not the funniest card you could find, but it is a real powerhouse alongside Attrition , Anointed Procession , Skullclamp , Dictate of Erebos etc. / I was a bit surprised it wasn't included.

• Bloodghast > same note.

• Enduring Renewal > makes you a bit more vulnerable against control match-ups as they can see and play around what you're trying to do, but it has the potential of being extra spicy there - giving you a lift at building up your combos.

• Grave Pact / Martyr's Bond > don't know if they are needed (depends a lot on your meta I guess), but their absence is at least just worth mentioning.

• Academy Rector > absurdly good at tutoring some of your combos. Expensive (money speaking) nonetheless.

• Ethereal Absolution / Night of Souls' Betrayal / Tainted AEther + Akroan Horse / Infernal Genesis / Alliance of Arms > weird strategy to fuel Elenda. Could create an additionnal effective win con.

• Forbidden Orchard > fuel for Elenda against creatureless decks. Taps for any color.

• Grave Betrayal > greedy and expensive card that only works against decks running valuable creatures. Good fun, poor consistency.

+1 btw!

ShreddedByCrows thanks for the upvote and comment!

Most of your suggestions I have not included because of price. In the case of Grave Betrayal, too high cmc. Ethereal Absolution / Night of Souls' Betrayal / Tainted AEther + Akroan Horse / Infernal Genesis / Alliance of Arms etc, just not what I want to do I suppose, too much to work around.

Forbidden Orchard is nice, I'll consider it.

I do however, really like Enduring Renewal . It's a tough work around but combos with Deathrender at the cost of no mana... I will have to play around with it. Thanks again!

How competitive do you want this list? I could give a full list of switches and possible meta dependent inclusions I would make if I know. (budget could help too!)

SynergyBuild Hi! Thoughts on what I want to do with the deck!

Power level: I'd like it about where it's at.. 7 power level, able to win turns 6, 7, 8, but also able to out-value other decks in longer games where I don't feel like combo-ing. I suspect that I will eventually have to take some tutors or even combos out if it gets too fast or consistent and starts undermining the fun-oriented gameplay of my playgroup. I want to keep the "restrained" part of the combo deck, I.E. no/very few combo finishers. Just infinite tokens to give the table time to respond.

Budget: Also around where it's at... $300. No cards over $25 unless they're on Enlightened Tutor or Phyrexian Altar levels of importance. Cards over $10 better have a good reason to be here. I own a small portion of the cards already.

Meta: Pretty casual, not a lot of interaction, boardwipes, or counter magic. We like to each do our own powerful things which makes for grindy games at times. We tend to stray away from combo with a few exceptions, so this deck is trying to be able to grind with the rest, but also combo off when the game drags on for too long.

Things I won't cut and for sure want to keep: Elenda as the commander, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and his package(but not necessarily all of it), any of the combo pieces that have additional synergy with the deck I.E. Animation Module with Krav.

Hope some of this helps you and anyone else who comments for suggesting cards and themes for the deck! :)

Just saw your deck on explore, nice to see you're still using my stylesheet! :) If you want me to make another one, something more along the lines of this one then I'd be happy to. There's so much more to change!

scotchtapedsleeves yes, many thanks again!

While I am content with how it is currently, making the panel that holds the deck name, hubs, featured art, and my name transparent and the buttons on the left hand side (Edit, upvote, feature, etc) transparent like you have yours would look really nice. Maybe one for the "Suns Champion" font and one for the mono red?

I'd love your upvote and thoughts on the actual deck too :) Thanks for commenting!

Changed some stuff on your decks, how does that look?

Hey man!

I'm not a big fan of Together Forever in this deck. It just doesn't feel like there are enough counters being thrown around for it to work, with only 6 that can give +1/+1 counters or gain them by my count. Maybe some more removal such as Anguished Unmaking or Utter End ?

Good Luck,

Hexaflexagon

I'm surprised to not see Cabal Coffers on the maybe list, it honestly pairs so well with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth !

If you want to lock down the board, Contamination is pure evil, especially if you end up grabbing a Bitterblossom .

+1 from me, Orzhov is pretty sweet.

Hexaflexagon Thanks for the suggestions!

Together Forever is excellent recursion for Elenda, and gives out counters by itself so it doesn't take much else to make it worth it. It combos with Deathrender + Elenda + altar for infinte tokens, can recur Krav, and can recur anything for 1 mana with Cathars' Crusade or Unspeakable Symbol out.

I see your point for more removal. Though I'd focus on things that destroy or sac so I can get death triggers.

Thanks again, I'd appreciate an upvote if you like the deck!

Lhurgyof Thanks for the comment and upvote! The lack of Cabal Coffers, Contamination, and Bitterblossom is simply budgetary. All great cards, but excluding them saves money and leaves space for doing less mainstream stuff. Thanks again!

Some changes for anyone interested; not enough to make an update about it so I'll comment instead.

Out:

• Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip - While she's very good, just just didn't do anything well enough for me. Still on the radar though.
• Fallen Ideal - I decided it needs too many things on the board to actually be good.
• Diabolic Intent - Besides my personal dislike of tutors, it's not good early because I don't have enough early tokens. I think I'd rather have draw.

In:

• Burnished Hart - Great ramp, and with a little recursion(especially Sun Titan ) it is amazing.
• Lingering Souls - Trying to up my early token count.
• Necropotence - Draw to replace the tutor. It hurts my small discard theme, but only effects three cards overall and let's be honest, the benefits of necropotence still outweigh those downsides. I have Reliquary Tower and Thought Vessel as well which make it even better. Plus, I own a copy, whereas I don't have any of the cards I removed.

Card I considered:

• Enduring Renewal - the combo potential was there but was too hard to work around. Hurt my draw too.

Thanks for reading!