Kess, Archmage of Grixis
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 1 | 2 COMMENTS | 1114 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Round 2: Beginning the Upgrades —Jan. 21, 2018
The major alterations this time around was adjusting my card draw, switching around what removal spells I was running, and throwing in more win conditions so I wasn't hinging my bets on playing keep away until I could win with a big X spell. Also counters, I can't believe I only had 1 in this deck's original iteration.
What’s Out?
Charmbreaker Devils I love this card and I doubt I will ever stop trying to make it work but 6 CMC in a deck lacking in heavy ramp is just a touch expensive.
Talrand, Sky Summoner He's far from a bad card but he never flooded the board with Drake tokens and being the same CMC as my commander it was pretty often that he just wouldn't get cast.
Vivid Crag Upgrading the mana base.
Vivid Creek See above.
Shivan Reef See above.
Jwar Isle Refuge See above.
Swiftwater Cliffs See above.
Dismal Backwater See above.
Vivid Marsh See above.
1 Swamp See above.
Docent of Perfection Flip I really like this card but this isn't Wizard tribal, the boost to Kess is negligible, and with the amount of removal I am currently running I don't need chump blockers.
Young Pyromancer Like Talrand he has great potential but the little 1/1 tokens weren't making much, if any, difference.
Armillary Sphere I have not been having issues hitting my land draws so I figure the card slot would better serve me as a draw instant or sorcery.
Fellwar Stone It's ramp but I may only have access to a color that is useless to me.
Exotic Orchard See Fellwar Stone
Thought Vessel I'm not entirely sure if I want an unlimited hand size considering how much I am using Wheels right now. I may be removing Reliquary Tower as well. We'll see.
Crux of Fate Swapped out for the Surge of Tentacles. It's not a bad wipe but Surge just helps me more right now.
Decree of Pain It may be swapped back in but that is a damn expensive board wipe.
Faithless Looting Good card draw in red and will probably be making a comeback. I think I'm just seeing how the deck runs favoring draw spells that cost a little more but leave me with more cards in hand.
Ponder See Faithless Looting
Preordain See Faithless Looting
Brainstorm See Faithless Looting
Necromantic Selection Yeah I needed to RTFC here. Put this in primarily because I thought I'd be stealing Commanders.
Curtains' Call I really can't recall what I swapped this out for. I am probably going to find something to take out and swap this back in.
Dark Ritual Replaced by Cabal Ritual due to netting me more mana almost every game.
Divergent Transformations This card ended up hurting me more than helping a few too many times.
What’s In?
Waste Not My meta has a few decks that like to discard for profit. Combined with my wheel effects this will be pure profit.
Psychic Spiral This is my answer to anyone who has been gaining too much life or getting greedy with how many cards they draw. It also helps prevent me from milling out.
Sunbird's Invocation Pure value, anytime this has dropped the results have been great.
The Locust God Another win con. He's hard to remove himself and the tokens he makes can protect me or rush down someone without flyers.
Torrential Gearhulk Now that his price has dropped to be more reasonable I'm throwing the gearhulk in.
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh Another win con and he can help control the game.
Primal Amulet Flip It's ramp and another copying effect. Every spellslinger deck will be using this in the future I imagine.
Drowned Catacomb Upgrading the manabase.
Dragonskull Summit Upgrading the manabase.
Mana Confluence Upgrading the manabase.
Sunken Hollow Upgrading the manabase.
Smoldering Marsh Upgrading the manabase.
Blood Crypt Upgrading the manabase.
Bojuka Bog Every black deck should run this land just due to the prominence of graveyard strategies.
Cabal Ritual A great ritual plain and simple.
Mana Geyser Another ritual to keep the instants and sorceries flying.
Wheel of Fate Another Wheel to fuel Waste Not, refill my hand, and annoy the non-graveyard players.
Reforge the Soul See above.
Read the Bones Just a solid draw spell.
Cathartic Reunion See Above
Swan Song A single mana counterspell is just too good to pass up. Yes there are restrictions but I have plenty of creature removal.
Counterspell An oldie but a goodie.
Disallow Just another fantastic counter.
Crush of Tentacles I completely forgot about this board wipe from BFZ. Plus triggering Surge should be relatively easy with this deck.