This deck is designed to enable me to hit people early and often. I have tons of ways to make blocking difficult if not impossible. I packed it with the most aggressive creatures I could find. This allows me to start attacking before most people have even cast a spell. My average cmc is actually lower than it says. Ghalta brings it up a lot, but doesn't ever cost 12.

For this reason, the curve is kept as low as possible. Anything that costs 4 or more has to be really, really good. Haste is the most important factor for creatures at 4+ cmc. If it doesn't have haste, it needs to be amazing, like Sun Titan or Iroas, God of Victory.

If a card is not agressive, it needs to really be amazing. Gaddock Teeg and Mother of Runes are good examples of this. Gaddock prevents almost all board wipes. Mother can both protect and make things unblockable.

The main way to successfully kill people is to have 2 or more creatures in play when Saskia comes out. Since these early turns are so crucial, you can't have lands coming in tapped. No matter how budget you want to make the land base, avoid tapped lands at all costs.

This deck is best for 2 or 3 player games. You can kill 1 or 2 people with relative ease. Having to take on 3 opponents can be problematic. The early aggression that wins games tends to scare everyone and make you a huge target. It is still doable, it is just much harder.

Aug 28, 2017:

Cut Odric, Master Tactician for Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist. Similar effect that is easier to use on a card that costs one less mana.

Cut Sarkhan Vol for Sword of Light and Shadow. Was only using Sarkhan for the haste, which isnt as useful after turn 4. Wanted more recursion.

Cut Kari Zev, Skyship Raider for Skyshroud War Beast. Kari was good at holding swords, but didnt feel agressive enough otherwise. The Warbeast has very high potential power and built in trample. Worth giving it a shot.

Aug 30, 2017:

Cut Yahenni, Undying Partisan for Wrath of God. Yahenni wasnt quite agressive enough, and I rarely need the sac outlet. Needed another cheaper board wipe more.

Sept 20, 2017

Cut Skyshroud War Beast for Prowling Serpopard. War Beast was not reliable enough. Serpopard has a solid body and a useful ability.

Nov 3, 2017

Cut Rakdos, Lord of Riots for Tilonalli's Skinshifter. Been having a hard time finding something to cut for Skinshifter. Went with Rakdos for several reasons. Hes the same cmc as my commander. He is hard to cast on turn 5 when I'm going for Saskia's colours on 4. He cant attack the turn he comes down even with haste.

Nov 26, 2017:

Cut Garruk Wildspeaker for Aether Vial. Garruk is great, but 4 mana is awkward. He pretty much always comes down on 5. So the Ultimate happens turn 6 assuming he isn't hit. This is really just too slow for what I want to do.

Dec 4, 2017:

My campaign against the dreaded 4 drop continues. Cut Master Warcraft, Hero of Bladehold and Soltari Champion. Added Gaddock Teeg, Rancor and Thundermaw Hellkite.

Master Warcraft was a tough cut, but the chance for it to be a dead card is why it happened. It could return if I can justify a cut. Hero of bladehold was also hard, it's a great card. Just too slow without haste, only attacking on turn 6. Soltari Champion has been on the short list for a while. It just doesn't feel aggressive enough.

Gaddock does a great job at preventing most board wipes, the main weakness of this deck. Rancor is in for testing. An old favourite that I think will push through a lot of damage. Thundermaw is my ideal 5 drop. Big hasty flier that takes care of potential blockers.

Dec 16, 2017:

Cut Lightning Greaves, Wrath of God and Ankle Shanker for Woolly Thoctar, Toxic Deluge and Ammit Eternal.

Lightning greaves is coming out because many of my creatures have haste already. Wrath of God is just being replaced by a cheaper card that does the same thing. Ankle Shanker is very underwhelming. I would rather have something that costs less.

Toxic deluge is a great board wipes with potential to be one sided. Ammit Eternal might not work at All, but it could also be great. One way to find out. Woolly Thoctar should also be given a chance as it's so similar to the Ammit.

Dec 19, 2017

Cut Olivia, Mobilized for War for Lightning Greaves.

Cutting greaves felt like a mistake. Olivia just does a similar job less efficiently anyway.

Jan 11, 2018

Cut Ammit Eternal for Ghalta, Primal Hunger.

Eternal didn't attack for 5 unless it came in with haste. Even then only the first time. Not worth it. Ghalta has amazing potential. I expect to play him on turn 5 normally, but there are several ways it could be turn 3. Very exciting.

Jan 22, 2018

Cut Glory-Bound Initiate for Berserk.

Been wanting to try berserk for a long time, and I finally got one. Initiate was fine, but attacking every other turn was counter intuitive.

Feb 5, 2018

Cut Worldly Tutor for Putrid Leech.

I feel like I have enough tutors that I can afford to cut one of them for another early threat. Leech is pretty much always a 2 mana 4/4. Hard to argue against that.

March 10, 2018

Cut Dryad Arbor and Gaea's Cradle for Sunpetal Grove and another Forest.

Both of these cards wern't really in the deck for a reason. Arbor just slowed me down. Gaea's Cradle is amazing, but it didn't do a whole lot in this deck. I hope to upgrade Sunpetal and Dragonskull for Filter lands once M25 comes out.

Also cut Aether Vial for Wild Nacatl

Aether vial had a tendency to just do nothing, even when played early. Wild Nacatl is virtually guaranteed to be a 3/3 with my mana base.

March 19, 2018

Cut Sunpetal Grove and Dragonskull Summit for Fetid Heath and Twilight Mire.

I like filterlands more than the checklands. Pretty straight forward.

March 23, 2018

Cut Overwhelming Forces for Goblin Rabblemaster.

Forces is an awesome card, but just costs too much for this deck. Rabblemaster is a welcome addition that I have been looking to add for a while.

March 25, 2018

Cut Brutal Hordechief for Majestic Myriarch.

Hordechief is essentially a 5 drop in this deck. If it had haste I wouldn't be cutting it. Myriarch comes in at minimum as a 4/4 vigilance/haste. Expecting it to be a 6/6 or 8/8 doesn't seem unreasonable though.

April 2, 2018

Cut Bygone Bishop for Sylvan Library.

Bishop is good in theory, but you have to jump through too many hoops to draw a card. Sylvan Library is just a much better way to draw cards.

April 16, 2018

Cut Wild Nacatl and Hanweir Battlements   for Accorder Paladin and Pitiless Horde.

Nacatl is really only useful in the opening hand. After that it is too underwhelming. Battlements is often not a relevant land since it only taps for colourless. I don't think I'm hurting myself taking it out. The Paladin and the Horde are both excellent creatures that I have needed to find a home for.

April 19, 2018

Big shake up with the coming set. Cutting the following: Hero of Oxid Ridge, Odric, Lunarch Marshal, Sol Ring and Eladamri's Call.

Adding: Honored Crop-Captain, Steel Leaf Champion, Mox Amber and Wheel of Fortune.

The breakdown here is that cards that come out after turn 4 need to have a huge impact. Odric and hero didnt quite have that impact. Odric could, but only situationally. Honored Crop Captain and Steel Leaf Champion are both perfect examples of what I need in play before Saskia.

Eladamri's Call is a great card, but I think Wheel of fortune is more useful here. It allows me to reload my hand and keep up the pressure

Sol ring is the one Im less sure of, but Mox Amber can get Saskia into play on 3. I will have to test to see if I have enough legends to justify this.

April 22, 2018

Cut Tilonalli's Skinshifter for Shanna, Sisay's Legacy.

Skinshifter is either great or totally useless. Not much inbetween. Shanna is like a better version of Akroan Hoplite, which I've often considered adding.

May 9, 2018

Cut Merciless Eviction for Armageddon.

Merciless eviction was in the deck mainly for fear of artifact decks with darksteel forge. While it has helped, I dont see that very often.

Armageddon is a card that not only prevents board wipes, but also keeps me ahead to close out the game.

May 17, 2018

Cut Hanweir Garrison   and Queen Marchesa for City of Brass and Mana Confluence

After the other half of the meld was taken out, it was only a matter of time before Hanweir Garrison was taken out. Queen Marchesa was great for drawing a card later in the game, but just wasn't quite aggro enough for turn 5.

City of Brass and Mana Confluence were needed because 34 lands just wasn't enough.

May 19, 2018

Cut Smuggler's Copter for Triumph of the Hordes and Putrid Leech for Hatred.

Smugglers copter is a great card, but is smaller in power than mpst of my creatures. The card draw is great, but not reliable.

Triumph of the hordes is a way to win without having to deal so kuch damage. A turn 5 triumph can easily kill people in many situations.

Putred leech and Hatred both make use of the same finite resource. Hatred makes better use of it.

May 25, 2018

Cut Prowling Serpopard for Conqueror's Flail and Concordant Crossroads for Athreos, God of Passage.

Serpopard is rarely relevant and often does nothing. The flail does a better job and is more broadly useful. Crossroads isnt really helpful anymore, as most of my creatures at the top end have haste already. Athreos will be useful every time it is played, and backs it up with 5 power for 3 mana.

June 5, 2018

Cut Sword of Feast and Famine and Mox Amber for Phyrexian Arena and Tymna the Weaver.

I have started to get get too many equipment and one had to go. This sword does what I want less than the other two. Mox amber just doesnt have enough legends to turn it on in this deck.

Tymna and the arena are both needed card draw engines.

July 4, 2018

Cut Bloom Tender for Ranger of Eos

Bloom tender offers excellent ramp, but no fixing. Not exactly what the deck needs. Ranger of Eos offers an amazing turn 5 with several excellent creatures to tutor for.

July 27, 2018

Cut Farseek, Clifftop Retreat and Phyrexian Arena for Keen Sense, Mirri's Guile and Utopia Sprawl

My ongoing battle to lower my curve continues. There is nothing wrong with the spells I am cutting beyond their cmc. The land is one of the weaker ones, and 35 should be enough.

Utopia Sprawl may initially look like it lacks forests, but including fetchlands, I have 16 forests.

Keen Sense has great synergy with Saskia, drawing you two cards per hit instead of one.

Mirri's Guile offers excellent card selection. Its almost a second, cheaper, Sylvan Library.

July 29, 2018

Cut City of Brass for Polluted Delta.

Even off colour fetchlands are great with this mana base. I will also lose less life from a turn 1 delta vs turn 1 city of brass.

August 5, 2018

Cut Athreos, God of Passage and Nature's Lore for Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Thalia, Heretic Cathar.

Athreos has a powerful ability but is rarely attacking. Not something I want to be playing before Saskia. Natures lore isn't great at 2 cmc, and I have added more card draw lately. Should be ok to drop it.

Guardian Thalia is hurts my opponents much more than it does hurts me. Heretic Thalia slows down enemy casting and blocking. Very happy to have both of them in.

October 1, 2018

Cut Pitiless Horde for Bloodhall Ooze.

Pitiless horde was the weakest 5 power 3cmc creature I had. The Ooze gets big quickly for a small investment, even later in the game.

October 8, 2018

Cut Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Ranger of Eos and Mana Confluence for Pelt Collector, Swiftblade Vindicator and Tajic, Legion's Edge.

Gisela was an especially hard cut to make, but she was just a bit too expensive. The only time she would be played is if the game is stalled, and she doesnt break that too well. Ranger is fine, but less impactful than I hoped. With my lowered cmc, dropped to 34 lands should be ok.

All three of the new cards are exactly what I want to be doing in the early game.

October 9, 2018

Cut Bitterblossom for Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice.

Bitterblossom is an excellent card, but isn't quite fast enough fir this deck. It only gives me 2 power by the time Saskia comes out if we are on curve.

Aurelia is an absolute bomb even on turn 5. Her ability to pump a creature when she comes in is what makes her truely viable.

October 13th, 2018

Cut Utter End for Assassin's Trophy.

Assassin's Trophy is just better than utter end.

March 4, 2019

Cut Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice for Spawn of Mayhem.

Aurelia is good, as expected, but just not quite there for turn 5. Spawn will be coming out on 3 more often that not, and that is exactly where I want to be.

March 30, 2019

Cut Utopia Sprawl and Anafenza, the Foremost for Reconnaissance and Gruul Spellbreaker.

Nothing necessarily wrong with Utopia or Anafenza, just on the lower end of power/utility.

Reconnaissance virtually breaks combat for the low low price of 1 mana.

Gruul spellbreaker is an all in one package that fills multiple roles.

May 5, 2019

Cut Steel Leaf Champion and Plains for Dreadhorde Butcher and Unclaimed Territory.

Curving Steel Leaf into Saskia isn't impossible, but it is unreliable, which is almost as bad.

Dreadhorde Butcher seems like it could be a solid threat that follows up with threatening removal or even closing out a game.

Im not saying Unclaimed territory is a second copy of cavern of souls 9 times out of 10...but thats exactly what Im saying.

May 13, 2019

Cut Bloodhall Ooze and Pelt Collector for God-Eternal Rhonas and Gideon Blackblade.

Bloodhall Ooze and Pelt Collector are only good in the opening hand. As a topdeck, they are virtually useless. Rhonas and Gideon are both extremely impactful.

June 8, 2019

Cut Forest and Sword of Light and Shadow for Prismatic Vista and Ranger-Captain of Eos.

Going down from 2 forests to 1 doesn't add much risk that isn't already there. Prismatic Vista is just an excellent piece of fixing.

Sword of light and shadow isn't as useful as I expected, and often sits in my hand. Ranger-captain of Eos being 3 cmc rather than 4 makes it far more useful than ranger of eos. Excellent card even without the sac effect.

June 15, 2019

Cut Fire-Lit Thicket,Rugged Prairie and Twilight Mire for Sunbaked Canyon, Silent Clearing and Nurturing Peatland.

The filter lands have on rare occasions left me with only colourless mana available. These new lands from Modern Horizons don't have that issue, and offer card draw.

22 June, 2019

Cut Rancor and Shanna, Sisay's Legacy for Duress and Thoughtseize.

There aren't very many commander lists doing what I'm doing with this deck. The closest thing I've found is the 4c Blood Canadian Highlander archetype. After looking at some of these lists, these two hand attack cards stand out as a way to avoid problematic things like board wipes. The two cards I took out both have relatively low impact.

23 June, 2019

Cut Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite for Giver of Runes.

Elesh Norn is great, but just doesn't have the impact needed that late in the game. Giver of runes is virtually a second mother of runes.

26 June, 2019

Cut Legion Loyalist for Eldritch Evolution.

Loyalist is one of the least impactful 1 drops and rarely becomes relevant. Eldritch Evolution can be helpful at any point in the game.

June 28, 2019

Cut Chrome Mox for Path to Exile.

Chrome mox tends to underpreform in its primary role as a mana fixer at the cost of card disadvantage. Path can also serve that function in a pinch, but is more importantly a versatile removal spell.

3 July, 2019

Cut Armageddon for Dark Confidant.

Armageddon can seal wins in some games, but only in very specific situations. Many of those situations can also be won without armageddon though. Dark Confidant seems perfect for this deck with such a low curve.

5th July, 2019

Cut Spawn of Mayhem for Rotting Regisaur.

I had a hard time making this cut. I decided to take out the spawn because it had to be a 3 drop, due to how many I have. It was, to me, the worst 3 drop. Regisaur is a gift. Amazing.

17 July, 2019

Cut Wooded Bastion for Horizon Canopy.

This is a continuation of my June 15 changes, just now acquiring the Canopy.

25 August, 2019

Cut Mayor of Avabruck   and Duress for Anje's Ravager and Fire Covenant.

Mayor of Avabruck is great on curve and when you can successfully control his flipping. Unfortunately, that isn't how things normally go. Duress is more limited than Thoughtseize and doesn't work as effectively as I would like.

Fire Covenant is a great mix between targeted and mass removal. Anje's Ravager is a great way to refill my hand, even if I only draw once or twice its well worth it.

26 August, 2019

Cut Woolly Thoctar for Knight of Autumn.

This cut hurt. I love that Woolly guy. But for 1 power less I get a lot of utility from Knoght of Autumn.

18 September, 2019

Cut Thalia, Guardian of Thraben for Knight of the Ebon Legion.

This Thalia isn't as good as the newer one for slowing down my opponents. The knight has exceeded my expectations in other decks and is great on 1 or as a top deck.

28 September, 2019

Cut Birds of Paradise, Conqueror's Flail, God-Eternal Rhonas and Swiftblade Vindicator for Embercleave, Faeburrow Elder, Robber of the Rich and Syr Faren, the Hengehammer.

Big changes here for Eldraine, very exciting!

Rhonas and Swiftblade weren't too hard to cut, they have both underperformed. Birds and the Flail were harder, and I could see them getting back in at some point.

Embercleave is possibly my favourite equipment ever. It may not be as good as jitte, but it is everything I could ask for.

Faeburrow's abilty to attack and tap is really what got it in. It opens up all kind of plays.

Robber of the Rich has really impressed me in testing and even without other rogues I think he is worth playing.

Syr Faren is basically 4 power for 2 mana and just gets better from there.

4 October, 2019

Cut Champion of Lambholt for Questing Beast

This cut was actually pretty easy. Champion of Lambholt's ability is essentially duplicated but just one of Questing beast's list of abilities.

16 October, 2019

Cut Deathrite Shaman for Once Upon a Time. Deathrite shaman is an excellent card, but usually functions as a an unreliable mana dork. Once upon a time is great at all points of the game to get whatever I need at the time.

19 January, 2020

Cut Anje's Ravager for Kunoros, Hound of Athreos.

The Ravager is really close to staying, but the inability to control it's attacks is a problem many times.

Kunoros is graveyard hate on an amazing creature. Perfect for this deck.

3 August, 2020

This one has been a long time coming, covid slowed things down a bit! It's a big one.

Cut Eldritch Evolution, Tymna the Weaver, Craterhoof Behemoth, Goblin Rabblemaster, Robber of the Rich, Syr Faren, the Hengehammer, Gruul Spellbreaker, Lightning Greaves

For Scavenging Ooze Chandra's Incinerator Anafenza, the Foremost Dire Tactics Xenagos, God of Revels Heroic Intervention Selfless Spirit Lurrus of the Dream-Den

Tymna and Robber were on the weaker end of my card advantage that were too conditional. Rabblemaster and faren seem good in theory but just don't work out. Spellbreaker isn't as good as I thought it was and craterhoof is too expensive, I don't have a reliable way to play it. Lightning greaves was a direct switch for Heroic intervention, they act slightly differently but heroic feels more useful.

Ooze and anafenza are more much needed graveyard hate that can also bring the aggro. Heroic intervention and selfless spirit will help the deck avoid stalling out from a wipe. Dire tactics is a great removal spell, not much to say! Lurrus gets back a ton of things for this deck and is great for rebuilding. Xenagos and the incinerator are great finishers.

The incinerator is especially interesting because it and Saskia give everything an effect similar to Questing Beast!

September 19, 2020

Cut Kunoros, Hound of Athreos , Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Sunbaked Canyon, Horizon Canopy, Nurturing Peatland and Silent Clearing for Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats, Agadeem's Awakening  , Branchloft Pathway  , Needleverge Pathway  , Cragcrown Pathway   and Brightclimb Pathway  .

Kunoros has ended up sitting in my hand because it stops my own cards from working aswell. My other graveyard hate only effects opponents.

Shizo was very situational and I would rather have Agadeem's Awakening.

The Horizon Canopy lands ended up dealing too much damage to me, especially if you get more than one.

Agadeem's Awakening is a card that lets me cut a land while also giving me a late game recovery card.

Zagras is everything I look for in a creature. Evasion, haste, cost reduction and a team wide buff. I think it's reasonable to expect him to usually cost 5, which is totally fine.

The new dual faced lands seem good, but we will see if only having them for one colour holds them back.

26 September, 2020

Cut Fetid Heath for Turntimber Symbiosis  .

Fetid Heath was my last filter land, and isn't a totally reliable source of coloured mana.

Turntimber joins Agadeem's Awakening in the deck giving me a powerful end game spell at very little opportunity cost. May look to get more of these spells if they play as well as I hope.

Cut Ranger-Captain of Eos for Emeria's Call  .

Ranger-Captain isn't as impactful as I had hoped when I added it, and ends up sitting in the hand often. I cut it for Emeria's call instead of a land, because I wanted to get my effective land count up to 35. It is another great high end card that I can sneak in at no cost since it can just be a land if needed. Just need the red one now.

3 January, 2021

Cut Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Knight of the Ebon Legion for Tuya Bearclaw and Coastline Marauders.

Lurrus just wasn't relevant the majority of the times it was played. I don't think I've ever brought something back more than once or twice in a game. And you can't use Lurrus itself to attack if you ever want to use the ability. The Knight suffered from a similar issue where it rarely got to "do its thing". It need to get in more than once in order to start being useful.

The two new cards both fit into the same group. 3 drops that hit way harder than any 3 drop ever should. Tuya can get big fast, and the Marauders even have trample. Excellent, excellent cards for this deck.

12 February, 2021

Cut Once Upon a Time for Sarulf, Realm Eater.

Once Upon a Time is a fine card, its just on the lower end of power in the deck. Sarulf needed to be in and doesn't line up with any specific upgrade.

May 31,2021

Cut Blightstep Pathway   and Dark Confidant for Shatterskull Smashing   and Guardian Augmenter.

Shatterskull smashing rounds out the 4 spell lands from Zendikar. They are excellent and I'm happy to have 4 strong spells effectively on the backs of lands.

Dark confidant was a casualty of these cards along with other things that have been added in "recent" sets. As I have been able to add more high CMC cards Dark Confidant became more risky.

June 12, 2021

Cut Chandra's Incinerator, Dire Tactics and Scavenging Ooze for Territorial Kavu, Venerable Warsinger and General Ferrous Rokiric.

Chandra's Incinerator, like many other cards in the past, looked better on paper. Dire tactics is a hard cut, but I added another removal spell last update. I think I can take one out. Scavenging Ooze is obviously great in the right situation. I have enough graveyard hate that I could lose one.

Territorial Kavu is just...amazing. I would have considered playing it even without the on attack trigger.

Venerable Warsinger has turned out to just be an awesome mini Sun Titan.

The general is pretty much guaranteed to make at least one token when I play Saskia the next turn. Even getting one is a great power to CMC ratio.

Cut Brightclimb Pathway   and Cragcrown Pathway   for Scalding Tarn and Misty Rainforest.

The pathways are great lands, but MH2 gave me the chance to pick up the last two fetch lands.

June 25, 2021

Cut card Rhonas the Indomitable for Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer.

Rhonas is another card that is better in theory than in practice. While there are tons of creatures that are big enough to let him attack, a lot of them are also 3+ mana. This means more often than not, Rhonas isn't attacking on turn 4.

Ragavan is nuts...or should I say bananas? He just does everything all at the same time.

July 3, 2021

Cut Frontline Medic and Boros Charm for Flawless Maneuver and Deflecting Swat.

A major issue with this deck has been that people know what is going to happen when I play Saskia. They unsurprisingly save mana for removal whenever possible. Deflecting swat and Flawless maneuver will allow me to protect her from the moment she is played. They do a much better job of this than what the other two cards did. The indestructible mode is what Boros Charm was used for 95% of the time. Frontline Medic is really more of a way to get attacks in, and it isn't even totally reliable for that.

Oct 11, 2021 Cut Tuya Bearclaw for card:Angelfire inspiration.

Tuya is a fine card, but it was the weakest 3 drop that I had. Something had to come out for... Angelfire ignition. One of the best combat buff spells they have printed. 5 keywords?! Also you can play it again the next turn.

Suggestions (especially in regard to cuts) are always appreciated.

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Casual

93% Competitive

Top Ranked
Date added 7 years
Last updated 2 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

26 - 0 Mythic Rares

59 - 0 Rares

10 - 0 Uncommons

1 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.10
Tokens Angel Warrior 4/4 W, Copy Clone, Golem 4/4 RW, Treasure
Folders Decks I like, Commander, Saskia, Interesante EDH decks, potential, Saskia, EDH (One Day, 4-COL), Inspiration, Sassy, cool deck ideas!
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