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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Ukud Cobra
Creature — Snake
Deathtouch
Monkeylordz on
Weenies Who Smile At Death
6 years ago
Hello, I came to this deck through your forum post.
I am not the best commander player, and haven't played/faced Alesha, but I like deck building. One thing I noticed is a lack of board wipes, which I think all decks should have. There will always be a point where you won't be winning, and a board wipe can clear the path and give you the board priority. However, you don't need that many. Three should suffice, but more isn't bad either.
Boards wipes I have in mind:
Wrath of God. Cheap, reliable and classic.
Dusk / Dawn. What clayperce said. It keeps most of your stuff alive while getting rid of annoying big things.
Divine Reckoning. You choose Alesha, which can reanimate anything that died from the wrath.
Retribution of the Meek. Same as Dusk.
You want more mana rocks. You have Sol Ring and two others, but that won't cut it, especially in a 3-colored deck. I suggest around 10 mana rocks. Here is my list:
You can of course choose whatever you want, these are just some suggestions for you to take.
Card draw. My favorite thing to do in EDH is draw cards. While white and red struggle with drawing cards, black has no problem.
Random Cards that come to mind:
Darksteel Plate. It allows your commander to attack even if your opponent has big blockers.
Bojuka Bog. Graveyard Hate with small opportunity cost.
Raving Dead. Can dish out a lot of damage, and when it dies, you bring it back.
Graveblade Marauder. Hits hard, especially because you stock your yard.
Return to Dust. You need artifact/enchantment hate in commander. There are too many broken things that a board full of creatures cannot solve. Luckily, there is also great removal for those things.
Increasing Ambition. This tutor is good because it essentially tutors 3 times in one card.
Crypt Ghast. Staple in any black deck. It ramps you, and even has extort. (and 2 power)
Aegis of the Gods. A little protection is always nice. You never know when the next Comet Storm is going to come.
Panharmonicon. My favorite card in standard right now. Actually, don't add this one, because you cannot effectively capitalize on it's ability to warrant using a card slot. However, if your add more ETB effects, the power of this card increases exponentially!
Ashnod's Altar or some other sac outlet. This allows you to sac the creature for utility, and then bring it back. Have a Priest of the Blood Rite sitting around? Sac it, reanimate it, and then sac it again! Useful for ETB creatures and also locked down creatures (Arrest, etc.).
With every added card, you have to cut a card. Cards I suggest cutting are low-impact cards. Commander is often a game of value, and Alesha assists you greatly in doing so. However, Brazen Wolves is likely not going to do anything impactful. You would much rather have something like Taurean Mauler, which is just better. Remember: Everyone has 40 life, so games tend to go long. The best cards are cards that scale as the game goes on. I will list cards that I don't think are impactful enough, but that is just my opinion. If your like using a card, or don't have better cards, you can keep it.
Grey Merchant of Asphodel. Not enough black mana symbols. If your deck changes to add more, you can add this back in. It is pretty good, but only with support.
Some equipment. You don't need that many equipments without equipment support. (However, you could add equipment support, like Sram, Senior Edificer)
Azorius Justiciar. Just use removal instead. Use Alesha to get back something else.
Scrapper Champion. A 3/3 double striker may sound good, but in commander, it doesn't do as much as you expect.
Ukud Cobra. Not terrible, but doesn't do anything either. It just sits waiting to block, then dies to a board wipe.
Merciless Eternal. 3 mana and discarding a card is too high a cost for just +2/+2. Even if it puts something in your graveyard, why didn't you use Tormenting Voice and draw two instead?
That's it for my comment! I hope I helped you improve your deck, and remember: commander is about creating a custom deck. Make it how you and you playgroup enjoy playing.
Raknamadak on
Jarad, Baelnorn of Golgari 2.0
6 years ago
Removed Leaf Gilder and Druid of the Cowl for Deathcap Cultivator and Beastcaller Savant
Removed Ukud Cobra, Fetid Imp, The Gitrog Monster, Baloth Null, and Gravepurge for Mindwrack Demon, Archfiend of Depravity, Profane Command, Languish and Sidisi, Undead Vizier
TheVectornaut on
7 years ago
Let's see if I can offer anything here. I'd start by deciding what format this deck is going to be in. It's constructed as if it was in standard several months ago, but it's currently situated squarely in modern. As such, I'll make all suggestions from the modern card pool. If you're building for standard or for unlimited casual, let me know and I can update my suggestions.
The first thing that jumps out at me is the 32 land count. This is very high, even for the relatively high 3.54 average converted mana cost you have. I'd cut the lands down to something like 24-26, and if you can lower the average CMC by adding low-cost cards, then you could even move into the 20-22 land range. Without going into the value of dual lands, I will say that Holdout Settlement and Radiant Fountain both lack much of a purpose in this deck and could just as easily be basics.
I think the most interesting thing going on here is the exploit combo idea with Sidisi, Undead Vizier and Chasm Skulker. However, since you mention that you like dragons, I assume you want them to be the central focus of the deck. In addition to the dragons you have, U/B also has Silumgar, the Drifting Death, Keiga, the Tide Star, Deathbringer Regent, Necromaster Dragon, and Ruthless Deathfang. You could also use Acid-Spewer Dragon and Belltoll Dragon, but I find they don't offer enough value for the cost. Some cards that synergize with dragons are Haven of the Spirit Dragon, Foul-Tongue Invocation, Crux of Fate, Dragonlord's Prerogative, and Silumgar's Scorn. All of these can fit well in the control shell you've already set up. Most decks I've seen run something like 5-8 dragons with the rest of the spells being control magic. This means you'll probably want to cut any other creatures whether they're just weak (like Ukud Cobra) or not conducive to the control plan (like Chasm Skulker). However, if you're more interested in mixing dragons with the exploit mechanic, I'd focus on Dragonlord Silumgar and Ruthless Deathfang and add in some more ways to exploit/things to exploit. Profaner of the Dead and Vulturous Aven come to mind for exploiters, but I know there's plenty of others form Khans block. Dutiful Attendant and Sultai Emissary, similarly, are some guys to sacrifice.
Something else to consider is just upgrading to better versions of cards, budget permitting. Snapcaster Mage, for example, is usually going to be better than Call to Mind. Another example is running Thoughtseize over Despise. Otherwise, cards like Icy Blast could probably just be counterspells.
Finally, I'd change the planeswalkers around to fit the deck. For one, you can't have 2 different versions of a walker out because of the planeswalker uniqueness rule, so I'd cut one of the Jaces. Jace Beleren is definitely who I'd drop since the mill theme isn't supported by anything else in the deck. If you feel you need another walker, I'd look into the popular control option Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver.
Those are just my initial thoughts. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
DukeofSam on
Forest of Lost Souls (Delirium)
7 years ago
Theme/Style: Important in all decks but especially so in budget decks. Typically if you aren't playing very expensive cards that are the best in their own right you have to try and make the most out of synergies and combos to make your deck good. You can either do this by committing heavily to a mechanic such as delirium (which gives you great pay off if you can get 4 or more card types in your graveyard) sacrifice synergy (my personal favourite, kill your own creatures for value with cards like Nantuko Husk, Smothering Abomination and Zulaport Cutthroat) or aligning your strategy to that of the colour combination your playing. Traditionally for this means grinding your opponent out by getting more value out of your cards than they do. Typically you'll be answering their threats bringing important things back from your graveyard whilst slowly building board pressure. Deathtouch is a great mechanic for this as it allows even your smallest creatures to stay relevant and trade for their biggest. Here is a link to all standard cards that will help you eek value out of your graveyard, ideally you want to choose cards that also do other things as well as this is how you will win the "value" game. That isn't to say that cards that only return things from your graveyard aren't useful as they give you alot of versatility in what you choose to take back with them but bear in mind you aren't affecting the board state by just returning a card so it can result in you falling behind in tempo. Pulse of Murasa (which you've already included is an example of a good card that does this as it more than compensates you for the time you spent casting i by restoring a significant amount of life, it's also an instant which means you can hold up mana in-case something else demands your attention (even if you're just bluffing a kill spell) and then cast it on your opponents end step if you still have the mana up. Cemetery Recruitment is a less good example in this deck I feel as you have very few zombies to get that "draw a card" compensation. I would recommend either increasing the number of zombies you run (Baloth Null and Cruel Revival would also be great if you wanted to do that) or finding a better alternative that is more likely to give you a "two for one", Foul Renewal for example can kill a creature and get you one back.
Creatures: I won't direct you too much in terms of your creature choices as there are a huge number to choose from for all price ranges. Look on any card data base (such as the one on this site) and you'll find an overwhelming selection. Just bear in mind things such as curve, synergy, value and board presence. Some personal budget favorites in these colours: Catacomb Sifter, Distended Mindbender, Elvish Visionary, Graf Rats + Midnight Scavengers, Shrill Howler Flip, The Gitrog Monster, Ukud Cobra
Interaction: The only major concern I have about your deck as it stands is that as a colour combination is typically not fast enough to beat someone in a typical damage race. I like what you're doing with equitable menace abilities and a generally high toughness creature line allowing you to force through one of your own creatures whilst holding down the fort with the rest. I fear this won't work against decks that try to be much faster or go much bigger than yours. In order to survive to the point where you can out value your opponent and win with medium sized creatures you'll need to have real answers to your opponents win conditions. This: Grasp of Darkness, Ultimate Price, Cruel Revival, Murder and removal options like that.
Lands (the backbone of any deck): Having a two colour deck makes things nice and simple for obvious reasons. The two best lands in standard in your colours are Llanowar Wastes and Hissing Quagmire; it's great that you've already got some Hissing Quagmire the 2/2 deathtouch ability is brilliant, many opponents will be too scared to attack you with their big creatures in the mid game if you hold up mana for it and you can often sneak in some nice hits with it as well. I wouldn't bother getting any Llanowar Wastes as they'll be rotating out of standard in a few weeks but if you have any it's worth noting that it's a very good land and sometimes the ability to tap for and on the turn you play it can make the difference between winning and loosing. Foul Orchard is a solid choice in budget and full priced decks alike and I would recommend replacing some forests and swamps for them. Including more two colour lands in your deck will not only ensure you get colour screwed less often but it should also free up some space for some utility lands, such as: Warped Landscape/Evolving Wilds (great for deck thinning, colour fixing and getting lands into your graveyard for effects such as delirium), Westvale Abbey Flip (an incredibly powerful land that can win games on it's own but doesn't provide you with coloured mana), Blighted Fen (A removal spell that you can use for mana until you need to kill something!), Spawning Bed (Tokens!), Rogue's Passage (sneak your biggest creature through a massive board stall) and many more. Hopefully you'll be able to see the advantage of sorting out all the colours you need through multi coloured lands such that you can play very powerful lands that don't give you coloured mana but do have other very useful effects. I don't know how good you are at maths but typically a 90+% chance of having access to 4 lands with enough of each colour by turn 4 is a good target.
TL/DR: Commit to a strategy to make the most of budget cards. Have a clear way to win. You're in so look to outvalue your opponant. You could use some removal. There are some more budget duel lands you can fit in to improve your mana base. Sorry for any typos/ terrible writing style. Have fun!
Umbreomancer on
Fun Control (fun for me, that is...)Esper
7 years ago
Always happy to see another esper player. Judging from my own experience with Esper (check out my deck if you want some tips), it seems like you're trying to do too many things. A true control deck would only run 2-5 creatures tops, unless you have more copies of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip, because otherwise Narset Transcendent doesn't draw you anything. The creatures would include a couple tempo creatures, so your Reflector Mages are fine, but the other creatures should be game-enders. Ojutai's great, as is the Sphinx, and other good finishers are Emrakul, the Promised End and Linvala, the Preserver. You're also going to want more planeswalkers; they're versatile and can take damage or attention away from your life total. I don't know what your budget is, but try to get them whenever you can. If you can, I'd suggest taking out the extra creatures like Fathom Feeder and Ukud Cobra for more Languishes and walkers.
TheHurrDurrMan on
7 years ago
I really like this deck!
Have you thought about making it BUG considering that Tree of Perdition is coming in Standard?
What about Silent Observer, Glint, or Updraft Elemental? Ukud Cobra? Graveblade Marauder?
mookman288 on
Dimir Unblockable
8 years ago
Consider trading in a few one-cost creatures, for things like Ukud Cobra or Akroan Horse.
dashdo101 on
Pathway Deathtouch **KALADESH STANDARD**
8 years ago
i dont think Rakshasa's Secret is good for this deck. the top 2 cards you put into your graveyard could be Erebos's Titan or Ukud Cobra
