Selenia, "A Life for a Life"

Commander / EDH* WB (Orzhov)

SipAndPlayGames

Lands (37)

• 1x Aether Hub
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Esper Panorama
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Forsaken Sanctuary
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Orzhova, the Church of Deals
• 1x Piranha Marsh
• 5x Plains
• 5x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Shambling Vent
• 1x Sunscorched Desert
• 3x Swamp
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Wincon (5)

• 1x Near-Death Experience
• 1x Resolute Archangel
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Tainted Remedy
• 1x Triskaidekaphobia

Protection (2)

• 1x Faith's Shield
• 1x Razor Barrier

Retrieval (2)

• 1x Obzedat's Aid
• 1x Open the Vaults

Wipe (17)

• 1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
• 1x Crux of Fate
• 1x Descend upon the Sinful
• 1x End Hostilities
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Hallowed Burial
• 1x Kirtar's Wrath
• 1x Languish
• 1x Phyrexian Rebirth
• 1x Planar Collapse
• 1x Planar Outburst
• 1x Rout
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Sublime Exhalation
• 1x Tragic Arrogance
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Winds of Rath

Mana Rocks (11)

• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Marble Diamond
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Star Compass

Tutor (3)

• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Netherborn Phalanx
• 1x Razaketh's Rite

Reset (1)

• 1x Oketra's Last Mercy

Commander (1)

Card Draw (12)

• 1x Ambition's Cost
• 1x Ancient Craving
• 1x Dark Bargain
• 1x Greed
• 1x Moonlight Bargain
• 1x Necrologia
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Skeletal Scrying
• 1x Succumb to Temptation
• 1x Syphon Mind

Finisher (5)

• 1x Cryptolith Fragment  ^Flip
• 1x Nihilistic Glee
• 1x Onyx Goblet
• 1x Scepter of Empires
• 1x Staff of Nin

Life Play (4)

• 1x Axis of Mortality
• 1x Repay in Kind
• 1x Reverse the Sands
• 1x Soul Conduit

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Maybeboard

Other (5)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1x Tree of Perdition
• 1x Vivid Marsh
• 1x Vivid Meadow

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Based on the Commander's Quarters' Selenia, Dark Angel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNIOo7cHtWI

Overview

Goal:

Wrath the Board, Get Setup, and Get Our Life Total Down.

Win through switching, manipulating, and playing with everyone's life total.

Strategy: At the beginning of our upkeep, when Axis of Mortality triggers, we activate Selenia, Dark Angel as many times as we want, taking our life total down to 1. Then we use Axis of Mortality to swap our life total with the player, who has the most life.

Note: Sanguine Bond counts Axis of Mortality as life gain, so swapping our life total with someone who has a higher life total will then cause target opponent to lose however much life we just gained (the difference between our life totals). Likewise, Tainted Remedy counts Axis of Motrality as life gain, e.g. swapping a player with 20 life with a player with 40 life would set the first player to 0 and the second player to 20.

Tutoring for wipes:

• Getting around indestructible: Hallowed Burial
• Getting us a creature: Phyrexian Rebirth , Kirtar's Wrath , Descend upon the Sinful

Transmuting Netherborn Phalanx for 6 CMC:

• Axis of Mortality for Life Swapping
• Soul Conduit for Life Swapping
• Descend upon the Sinful for exile board wipe
• Kirtar's Wrath for destroy board wipe
• Phyrexian Rebirth for destroy board wipe
• Staff of Nin for ping damage and card advantage
• Open the Vaults for recovering our pieces

Deck Category Breakdown:

• Mana_Rocks = mana rocks for ramping to the high-costed spells.
• Lands = the mana base for getting the deck online.
• Wipe = bring the board under control by wiping, forcing sacrificing, or removing pieces.
• Card_Draw = Draw cards, usually by spending life
• Tutor = search the library for specific answers. Netherborn Phalanx can also be used to kill players, instead of tutoring.
• Protection = protect combo pieces
• Retrieval = get combo pieces back
• Reset = making sure we do not drain ourselves out by having too little life.
• Life_Play = these cards can be used for playing with life totals, controlling life totals, and setting up win conditions
• Wincon = these cards can be used to win us the game, or cause players to lose the game, once the life play has been setup.
• Finisher = dealing that last little bit of damage to finish off players.

Notes:

• Note to self: cards that have been acquired have their set tracked in the card entry list.
• Sleeves used will be Dragon Shield "Valentine Dragons"

Changes that I made to The Commander's Quarters decklist.

• Replace Guardian Idol with Sol Ring
• Replaced 7 basic lands with Godless Shrine , Temple of Silence , Caves of Koilos , Command Tower , Concealed Courtyard , Isolated Chapel , and Shambling Vent
• Replaced 1 basic land with Smothering Tithe
• Replaced Sphere of the Suns with Chromatic Lantern
• Replaced the Vivid lands with basic lands, as the Vivid lands seem to be slowing this deck down.

TCC Land Analysis

I took another look at the mana base, after watching Tolarian Community College's How to Build a 2 Color EDH Mana Base video. 38+ lands and 8 accelerants were his recommendation.

Fetch Lands - Rather than running 7 Zendikar fetches, I opted for:

1. Evolving Wilds
2. Terramorphic Expanse
3. Esper Panorama

Dual Lands - Rather than the ABU dual lands, I went first for shock lands, have lands, scry lands, pain lands, check lands, man lands, and a tainted land

1. Godless Shrine
2. Concealed Courtyard
3. Temple of Silence
4. Caves of Koilos
5. Isolated Chapel
6. Shambling Vent
7. Tainted Field

Filter Lands - for the sake of budget, I went with...

1. Orzhov Signet
2. Prismatic Lens

Bounce Lands

1. Orzhov Basilica

Produce Any Color - The hub and vivid lands are less than ideal

1. Command Tower
2. Aether Hub
3. Vivid Marsh
4. Vivid Meadow

Utility Lands - I am going to count my ping and lands, here

1. Orzhova, the Church of Deals
2. Sunscorched Desert
3. Piranha Marsh
4. Scoured Barrens 5. 6.

This leaves me with the following that are not the most optimal, but are ones I will include for the sake of multiple colors

1. Forsaken Sanctuary
2. Orzhov Guildgate

In total, without basic lands, and including the filter artifacts, this numbers 23. With a recommendation of at least 38, that gives us space for 15 basic lands.

Potential Upgrades

• Vilis, Broker of Blood
• Kaya, Bane of the Dead
• Kaya's Wrath
• Cleansing Nova
• Vampiric Tutor
• Talisman of Hierarchy
• Bolas's Citadel
• Despark
• Emergence Zone
• Citywide Bust

The Maybeboard is under consideration, and I will categorize those at some point.

Recommendations from The Commander's Quarters

• Austere Command
• Decree of Pain
• Oblivion Stone
• Phyrexian Unlife
• Terminus
• Wrath of God
• Necropotence

Questionable Inclusions

I wonder if these actually fit this deck...

• Evra, Halcyon Witness
• Font of Agonies

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.05
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Demon */* B, Energy Reserve, Horror */* C, Spirit 1/1 W, Treasure
Folders	Current - Commander Builds