Kaalia Dab's to Win! | cEDH Primer

Commander / EDH* Ad Nauseam Combo Competitive Infinite Combo Primer RBW (Mardu)

Flash_Andretti

Land (29)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 1x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Spire of Industry
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Dance of the Dead
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Underworld Breach

Instant (21)

• 1x Abrade
• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Burnt Offering
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Corpse Dance
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Final Fortune
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Rain of Filth
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Wear / Tear

Creature (15)

• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Leonin Relic-Warder
• 1x Lurrus of the Dream-Den
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Ranger-Captain of Eos
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Simian Spirit Guide
• 1x Skirk Prospector
• 1x Tithe Taker
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood

Commander (1)

Artifact (15)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Wishclaw Talisman

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Kuldotha Rebirth
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Rite of Flame
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Twinflame
• 1x Wheel of Fortune

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Maybeboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Path to Exile

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Toxic Deluge

Creature (1)

• 1x Mayhem Devil

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A wise leader once said, "Speed to strike, fury to smash! ヽ( •_)ᕗ".

Join the Kaalia Discord for more in depth conversation!

Primer Theme Song

Introduction

I've been playing competitive EDH for well over a year now and am showcasing this deck to you all. She is by far my favorite commander and I will likely never stop playing this deck. My drive to make her as great as possible will not stop! Feel free to give me any and all feedback you may want to provide.

Strengths

She is deceptively quick and used to be the fastest combat based clock attacker there was until recently. Impervious to stax and can quickly make the game end with the correct hand. With creatures such as Razaketh and Doom Whisperer, it enables her to win-cons you otherwise wouldn't get to. She is an extension of Sneak Attack and and the fact she is a flyer makes for great upside.

Onto the strengths of Mardu: We have access to majority of the best wipes, Spot Removal, Reanimation and on likely fatties such as (WDG, Razaketh, Vilis), then there is card draw (mainly a strength of black), which red is no slouch either in that aspect.

Weakness

The biggest thing to remember is Kaalia is a card that draws a lot of threat generation by simply being a general. What she does is elegant and to the point, but most importantly is it can be fast and brutal. In big games with 2+ other non-Kaalia players, it is much easier to handle her because of this. No one wants to get repeatedly smashed by an army of big creatures, so she can become the target just by hitting the board whether or not they are in the deck.

Onto the weakness of Mardu: Mono U/G are our biggest issue. One has all of the counters and the other can just play a land and be okay. Partners just dunk on us.

With that being said, this should not steer you away from playing her, no deck is perfect!

Combos

Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead + Payload

Colors to prioritize:

Entomb + Necromancy + Payload

Colors to prioritize:

Kuldotha Rebirth + Dockside Extortionist + Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Colors to prioritize:

Lines

1.) Worldgorger Dragon:

Lets start this off with a classic, the feared Worldgorger Dragon combo, once banned in Legacy, now the line sits in relative obscurity in favor of other bombs like Griselbrand (If only EDH had it back) in that format (damn you rules committee!!!!). While it may currently take the backseat line to Razaketh, the Foulblooded it was the first combo to really get some traction for competitive Kaalia builds grinding in the format and has the most synergies with the big scary monsters the deck wants to play, so it is only right to start here. The weaknesses are that it is a three card combo (needs a way to get the dragon to the graveyard, an Animate Dead effect, and a win condition that works off infinite mana or repeated enter and leave the battlefield triggers) and can backfire spectacularly if an opponent knows how to fight it (making you exile your own board in the process). The strengths are that there are very few dead cards, in the right setup it can be quick and win through stax, and it is one of our turn one wins. Beyond that I get to answer the many questions I get about why cards like Dragon Tempest & Bogardan Hellkite are in the deck.

2.) Runescarred Demon:

card:Runescarred Demon makes the Worldgorger Dragon package a two card combo and pre-Razaketh, was the foundation of the premier lines in the deck. The basic line required Runescarred Demon and one half of the Worldgorger enabling package in hand (either Entomb but more often an Animate Dead effect). How it works is deceptively simple, but can sometimes have far reaching effects.

Kaalia cheats in card:Runescarred Demon, usually by turn four, and the demon finds the other missing piece of the puzzle. From there the player Entombs Worldgorger Dragon , Animate Dead 's it, generate's infinite mana and tutors up their library. From there it's pretty easy to win the game. What makes this line so powerful is that it bypasses most stax effects and if you have Necromancy as the animate effect you can win the game at instant speed.

3.) Leonin Relic-Warder:

Requires Razaketh, one creature to sacrifice (usually Kaalia), and four mana (WWB1). This cost can be shortcut to WWB or WW1 if you have a mana rock in play. The four to three mana is significant because by the time you get your first Kaalia attack going, you should have exactly three to four mana on your board. The line works like this:

Cheat in Razaketh

Sacrifice your creature (-2 life)

Tutor up and play Leonin Relic-Warder () If you have a mana rock in play you can exile it here to make the line cheaper.

Sacrifice Leonin Relic-Warder (-2 life). The mana rock will now reenter untapped.

Tutor up and play Animate Dead () targeting Leonin

When the Leonin enters play, exile Animate Dead

This action can create an infinite enter and leave the battlefield loop, broken only if the player decides to target something else with the leonin. But what's crucial about it for us is that the leonin can be sacrificed in response to Animate Dead's leave the battlefield clause, and with Razaketh on the field this means infinite tutors bound by half your life total. From this position, tutor up a bunch of fast mana, cast Impact Tremors and Necromancy on the Leonin to win the game, or you can transition to the Worldgorger Dragon combo, if you like to live dangerously. One caveat though to note about this line is that the tutors will not resolve until you decide to break the loop, so know going in what you want to grab.

4.) Kuldotha Rebirth:

Fundamentally the same setup as the Leonin line. Razaketh, one creature to sacrifice, but only needs to function. How it works is as follows:

Cheat in Razaketh

Sacrifice your creature (-2 life) and tutor up Kuldotha Rebirth

Play it and sac the least useful artifact ()

Sacrifice 1 of the Tokens (-2 life) to find and cast Dockside Extortionist , but make sure at least 6 artifacts/enchantments are on the board (sometimes if you have the right ramp you can do it with 4).

Sacrifice the last 2 tokens left behind by rebirth (-4 life) and tutor up Corpse Dance & Silence

Cast Silence and sac Dockside after or in response (in case they have interaction) and get Children of Korlis or Pyroblast .

Cast Corpse Dance with its buyback and get Dockside Extortionist, to net 1 mana each time. Use this as a way to get the rest of your rocks.

Eventually you can go for the win via Searing Touch .

Other options in the line, you can go straight to WGD combo or even not use Kuldrotha Rebirth and skip straight to Dockside into WGD.

5.) Doom Whisperer:

Now that we are on full graveyard strategy, i will write out a full line here soon.

WinCons

These card(s) (/and or combinations) will outright win you the game.

1. Bogardan Hellkite + Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead (Infinite Burn)

2. Searing Touch + Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead (Infinite Burn)

3. Dragon Tempest + Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead (Infinite Burn)

4. Razaketh, the Foulblooded + Leonin Relic-Warder + Animate Dead (Finite Tutoring)

5. Dockside Extortionist + Phyrexian Reclamation + Searing Touch (Infinite Burn)

Sample Hands

Under Construction

My Meta

1.) Maximum Power (14):

1x 4c Divergent Control

1x 4c Rashmi

2x Kess

1x Najeela

1x Gitrog

1x Opus Thief

1x Razakats

2x Shuffle Hulk

1x The First Sliver

1x Urza

1x Yisan

1x Zur

2.) Competitive (11):

1x Animar

1x Breya

2x Elsha

1x Godo

1x Meren

1x Meta Pod

1x Niv Mizzet

1x Tasigur

1x Teferi

1x Yarok

Budget

Redoing this soon!

FAQ's

Why isn't Avacyn, Angel of Hope in the build? - While she is amazing and does a lot for us, at the end of the day she really didn’t win the game for us. In the cedh setting most of the decks go for entire table kills and locking out opponents with hard stax effects (Blood Pod for example). Kaalia is very aggressive and Avacyn made us play way more defensively then we are supposed to. This build is more interactive with disruption rather then sit and wait to be picked off like in more casual metas.

Why isn't Aurelia, the Warleader in the build? - When you talk about voltron you cannnot forget to have her in your build. A staple in battle-cruiser builds, instrumental to the success of infinite combats but, as far as competitive meta goes, it is far too easy to stop this strategy as there are a plethora of ways to stop you.

References

Deck Stats

Archidekt

MTG Goldfish

EDH REC

Shout Outs!

I want to give a special thanks to my buddy Country and Pat at my locals for helping me with ideas on the regular, especially optimizing the deck.

Thanks to my boy FarmerxSurfer off of Playstation Network for often theory crafting for commander and market watching with me so I would know when to buy certain cards, especially the high priced alternate foiled art-works.

Also thank you to Shaper & Daedalus for additional advice on the optimizing of this deck.

S/O to Tab for the Dockside Line.

Last but not least, thank you to these two friends of mine, hkhssweiss & Bad_Dog. Both have helped me make strides on bettering my deck. I got a better understanding of Kaalia from these two masters of her. Partial credit to them on my primer as well.

Page created and inspired by scotchtapedsleeves!

Page created and inspired by scotchtapedsleeves!

Deck inspired by http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/01-04-18-anu-die-hard/

Kaalia Discord

Top Ranked	Achieved #17 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #8 position in Commander / EDH 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Primer 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 55 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.14
Tokens	Companion Zone, Copy Clone, Goblin 1/1 R, Spirit 1/1 C, Spirit 1/1 WB, Treasure
Folders	Kaalia Decks, Excellent Primer, My Decks, EDH, Cool EDH, cool decks, Commander Decks, EDH Sets, Mander, EDH