Kaalia of the Vast - "Competitive Aggro"

Commander / EDH AlexRuzhyo

SCORE: 166 | 85 COMMENTS | 129082 VIEWS | IN 161 FOLDERS

Ancient Tomb —Nov. 9, 2016

A foil Ancient Tomb finally found its way into my LGS. Picked it up with my credit.

• -Command Beacon
• +Ancient Tomb

It was tough choosing what to cut for the Tomb, though I knew I had to cut a utility land. Cutting anything else wasn't an option considering our spells and their mana-specific casting costs, especially Kaalia, who requires all three colors on turn one to turn four.

The only justifiable cut would have been Command Beacon. Volrath's Stronghold has a ton of utility. Vault of the Archangel helps when you're racing with damage. Hall of the Bandit Lord, while it's EBT, can drop some heavy threats, or Kaalia herself, for dramatic effect. That leaves me with Command Beacon, which doesn't stack up against Ancient Tomb. Heck, I'd say that Ancient Tomb does a better job than what Command Beacon was specifically designed to do.

Now, why would I say that Ancient Tomb is a better Command Beacon? It really comes down to the Beacon's role. It only serves a purpose after your Commander gets removed, while the Tomb has considerably more use outside of that. Hell, I'd argue that the Tomb is even better than Beacon at it's job.

Let's say your cast Kaalia for four mana then pass the turn. She dies before your next turn rolls around, and you now have both Ancient Tomb and Command Beacon in your hand. Both lands will have her out that same turn, but the Beacon must be sacrificed while the Tomb remains. The Beacon sets you back to four, while the Tomb sets your ahead to six (although you're paying life for it).

That, and more notably, the ability to go turn one Tomb -> 2 cmc mana rock into a a turn two and -> Kaalia shouldn't be ignored. It adds another route, one of I think four this deck is capable of, to have her on-board within the first two turns.

Wow, that ended up a bit longer than I thought, but there you have it. I'm eager to try the deck out with both Ancient Tomb and Rakdos the Defiler in the list.