I don't get your win cons at all and I've been playing a very long time and I play cEDH purely now. If you would like to explain them to me i would be thankful.

Sure Shane.Allen

This mini primer is still very much under construction but the short and long of it is this.

The deck functions a bit like a sliding scale with fast combo lines at one extreme (Worldgorger Dragon + Animate dead) and a prison hard lock (Eidolon of Rhetoric + Possibility Storm) at the other. In between you use Kaalia, prison pieces like trinisphere and blood moon, and your other monsters to out tempo the table and control how the board develops.

Learning how to effectively use pieces like Rune-Scarred Demon, Razaketh, and Sneak Attack takes practice and the lines are not apparent at first glance (which is why I need to hurry up and finish this). There's a pretty decent description of the basic Worldgorger lines using Entomb, Buried Alive, and Sneak Attack already up under the heading "Enabling Lines" but it's still lacking a lot of other stuff like how to properly use Razaketh and the Power of Rune-Scarred Demon.

Probably the "Core" combo of the deck (not the best one, but the one that all the others are build from conceptually) comes from the first enabling line listed in there where you use kaalia to cheat in rune-scarred demon and then activate the worldgorger combo 'around' that. Blinking rune-scarred demon allows you to tutor as much of your deck as you'd like while simultaneously gaining infinite mana. From there it's pretty trivial to flash in Bogardan Hellkite or break the loop and cast Cut//Ribbons to win the game. Be careful of your opponents' interaction (obviously).

Buried Alive and Sneak Attack are partially explained above (or at least their main uses) but be aware that you can also use them to get massive tempo swings or a hard lock prison like Brisela into play.

Razaketh needs white a bit of exposition to fully explain, but to keep things simple we are using it to either enable one of our combos/ locks or act as a toolbox and control engine (if we can't combo for whatever reason). The lines you take with Razaketh are entirely dependent on the situation and you simply need to practice with it. However, perhaps the most direct path (and the one which jettisons kaalia + razaketh to the fore as a 2 card combo) comes from a variation of the Razakats line as perfected by ShaperSavant .

Requires 1 creature (kaalia) and (this can be short cut by one you have two lands and a rock in play).

Cheat in Razaketh off Kaalia Sacrifice Kaalia (-2 life) Tutor Leonin Relic Warder Cast Leonin Relic Warder () If you have a mana rock in play, exile it. Otherwise, target something you don't like. Sacrifice the Relic Warder (-2 life). This will either bring your rock back untapped or, if done in response to the etb trigger, permanently exile the problem card. Tutor Animate Dead. Cast Animate Dead targeting Leonin Relic Warder () Leonin Relic Warder enters the battlefield. Target Animate Dead creating a loop. Sacrifice the Relic warder to tutor up one of your combos and enough fast mana needed to cast it (-2 life per activation)

The single sac line is still being perfected and Razaketh obviously gets stronger the more creatures you have in play to feed it, so realize that you don't always have to go through this exact routine to win. There are some people who have offered criticism of this line and feel that it could be improved by the inclusion of Lion's Eye Diamond, Leonin Squire, and Auriok Salvagers for a more mana efficient line. My counter point to this argument is that unlike in other Razaketh builds, which predominantly use green, we lack mana dorks and other cheap creatures to sacrifice in order to feed the LED line adequately. However, because of the nature of the general, we are very likely to be in a position where we have an Razaketh, a single creature (kaalia), and ~ 4 mana (used previously to cast kaalia), so it makes far more sense to perfect our combos from that kind of a scenario.

I may change my opinion about this last one in due time, and am open to outside thoughts on this. However, I have yet to see an argument that has convinced me to change course.

Good Luck building and I hope this helps explain some things.

Bad_Dog / BadnNglish, is this the current iteration of cEDH kaalia? Just trying to keep up with your updates / changes as Im running my own paper version and want note any changes. Also, are we not running Avacyn, Angel of Hope anymore? Not a critique just curious, I was also luke warm with her in a cEDH build because of the vast diversity of efficient removal anyway indestructibility doesnt always cut it, plus I get to remove her for something more useful if we are no longer using her.

Follow up question, how is Brisela duo working out for you?

Gwent Yeah this is the most current version. You've got the assessment right, Avacyn, Angel of Hope is out but we have a flex slot in Aurelia, The War Leader for an extra fatty. Gisela, Steel Hellkite, Avacyn, or Master of Cruelties are all fine there.

Brisela is interesting, I need to practice the timing with that combo to get better with it as a player, however, in testing its been freaking sweet. Bruna's on cast ability has mattered in a few games already and while this combo isn't a 'necessity', raza = bae, it will handily win games.

Thank you for very much for sharing! I have a couple of questions:

Kuro, Pitlord: I imagine he is mostly a one-shot effect, has he been performing well for you?

Collective Brutality: Does the discard option raise this over other removal options like Swords to Plowshares? I don't see single-target discard like Thoughtseize, Duress, etc. often in multiplayer EDH.

Subterranean Tremors: Do you prefer this to Toxic Deluge?

Eidolon of Rhetoric, Ethersworn Canonist: What is your opinion of these two compared to Rule of Law? Do the creature bodies and lower cost (respectively) outweigh the immunity to creature removal and restriction on artifact?

Final Parting: This card seems awfully expensive to me in a cEDH environment, even for tutoring your full combo. Has it been working well for you?

Chalice of the Void, Sanctum Prelate: What is the correct number to name with these in cEDH?

Worldgorger Dragon: As one of the most high-risk high-reward combos out there, how often does this backfire on you and how do you know when to "go for it"?

Thanks again for writing this! Several of the cards (esp. the fast mana) are out of my price range, but it's great to see someone doing well in cEDH with my favorite commander :D

Toxic Deluge kills Kaalia, Subterranean Tremors does not.

Collective Brutality is a way to discard 2 cards and kill mana dorks at the same time.(it's primary purpose is discard as to enable your reanimation spells)

Final Parting is great to play the turn after someone has just killed your Kaalia(assuming you're casting Kaalia on curve). It makes you lethal again after losing your commander.

Ethersworn Canonist doesn't keep you from ramping into creatures if Kaalia dies. Eidolon of Rhetoric dies to Razaketh, a card that should be a primary win con. Rule of Law can stop you from combo-ing off until you find an answer to your own enchantment, it also can stop you from ramping via casting multiple rocks in a turn.

Hi Dragon2559,

rabelz pretty much got all points right in his answer but I'll expand a little further because there's a bit of modularity that gets missed when you're just looking at the list.

Kuro is often a one shot effect, however against certain decks, it basically functions as a one card lock. Cedh decks with green in them almost always use creature based combos to win. If Kruo sticks they don't get their creatures so long as you have life. Decks like selvala, yisan, thrasios, momir vig, and many others can't play if the demon is down.

Rabelz explained Collective Brutality perfectly, but there's another theme beyond the list which is that because there are so many powerful options for removal in mardu it's actually your choice as to what you run here. I found the options Brutality provided to be quite useful, but it's not "wrong" to run swords to plowshares or even something like Lightning Axe if you'd rather in this spot.

Subterranean Tremors/ Toxic Deluge fit in the same vein as the removal above and again Rabelz explained the reasoning well. To add a little more to it, while Toxic is probably one of the top two sweepers for normal cedh decks, because of the colors and deck constraints it actually becomes less powerful than other options like fire covenant and subterranean tremors. If you need a third sweeper though, deluge is excellent.

Eidolon of Rhetoric/ Ethersworn Canonist: again Rabelz got it. We run these two as opposed to straight Rule of Law because they can be sacrificed to Razaketh. Remember, these guys also function as a lock with Possibility Storm.

Final Parting: This one was a test card which preformed decently but it may be dropped when I get around to adding Doom Whisperer and some other new ravnica cards to the mix. Parting can be used in two ways; 1, straightforward bin a fatty (iona, worldgorger, etc.) and have a reanimate spell in hand or 2, a one card combo with rune-scarred demon. The rune-scarred line works like this, drop rune-scarrred with kaalia, tutor final parting, cast final parting, bin worldgorger dragon and tutor animate dead effect to hand. Cast animate dead effect to begin the loop. Rune-scarred demon bounces infinitely for infinite tutors and mana.

Chalice of the Void/ Sanctum Prelate: Entirely optional depending on how much you want to go into stax. We are the only cedh deck that can run these effects to profit, but they are not "required". The deck is getting much much faster (already clocking in a turn 3.8 goldfishing) and Doom Whisper is going to push it more towards fast combo, away from stax, with more spot removal showing up in the mix. Will these cards drop? Possibly. But Kaalia is the only general in the format that can run them and if you want to stax some fools, you should keep em.

Worldgorger Dragon, Abbreviated (WGD): WGD is very scary. So why run it compared to other combos? The reason is because it's the only combo which truly takes advantage of the bombs kaalia drops, unlike other lines in mardu. Razaketh gives you some leeway in terms of what you run, even making it possible to have kill conditions like tendrils of agony. But wgd enables tricks with runescarred demon, bogardan hellkite, and pushes the reanimator lines into overdrive. Is it the "right choice". No such thing. But it is the most synergistic one.

Good luck with your brewing and thank you Rabelz for jumping in to help.

Thank you rabelz and Bad_Dog for your thorough responses!

What are your thoughts on Grand Abolisher effects like Defense Grid/Price of Glory/Mana Web in a meta with less fast combo and more control? I haven't found stax pieces to be effective enough at keeping Kaalia in play so am currently lean towards running more effects to protect against countermagic/removal, along with artifact hate to target /X control manabases. I should mention that my meta is less tuned than cEDH, mostly due to budget constraints (rare to see cards acquired for >$20).

Here is my current list for reference: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/dracaryxs-kaalia/?cb=1543356931

No problem Dragon2559

Grand Abolisher, Defense Grid, Price of Glory, and Mana Web are all fine but they are meta calls. If you mess with your opponents instant speed stuff you make all combos across the table harder to stop. There's pluses and minuses to it. Additionally, because the mana bases are so diversified in cedh with rocks and dorks it can be a bit difficult to lock opponents out of all their mana. But I get why you're doing it, have run this plan before myself, and it's really not so bad. And again, because it's a meta call, and your meta isn't the trice discord stuff, running these may be 100% the correct choice for you. Keep in mind you can also throw winter orb into the mix which has some nasty synergies with the rest.

Taking a look at your deck I honestly think it looks solid and it looks like a splice between mine and another very solid kaalia brewer's that I know :) . The only bits that I'd say you need to change up are to see if you can't add a couple more sources of fast mana like gemstone caverns and simian spirit guide, that you might want to refine your mana base a bit with lands that have less restrictions (no filters), and that you give blood and magus of the moon a shot.

Good luck brewing and the list looks solid

Can I ask the main win con step by step? I still don't

Sorry what I meant to say is that I still quite don't understand the winning combo here. Can you please explain it to me?

Hi Trismegistus18

I have to give you a half answer for now because I really should just finish the primer. There's 3 main combos.

The worldgorger dragon combo (dragon in the graveyard and animate dead) to blink your whole board. From there all you need is a win condition like runescarred demon, bogardan hellkite, or cut// ribbons.

The next one is Brisela. Most cedh decks are designed to have a cmc less than 2, which means that if you land Brisela they're locked out of 90% or more of their deck. From there you win with combat damage.

Last one, possibility storm + eidolon of rhetoric/ ehtersworn canonist, is similar in concept to Brisela. That combo locks everyone out of their hands, but people can still cast their generals. For us, because we can cast Kaalia we can cheat monsters into play around the lock.

That's the basics of it but there's a lot more nuance with the real power coming from the ways you enable the combo, shit like razaketh for example. Also, I need to spend some time adjusting to the new things brought in from Guilds of Ravnica. Lots of new toys and they mean changes for a deck like this.

Huge thanks!! I can't wait to see what you come up with the new GRN and even upcoming Ravnica Allegiance. Good luck on the primer and I'm really excited to see what comes up :))

Why no master of cruelties?

phoneytoney It draws too much heat and doesn't inflict enough damage in a full power meta. Killing one in three opponents isn't as useful as getting them all with an infinite. Both should be happening by the same turn.

Most interesting Kaalia build I've seen. Very flexible. Can more/less stax be added depending on your local meta?

Thanks Nepheliad !

Absolutely. Right now I'm tinkering with three different builds. A fast, all in version which has no stax effects, a midrange one which can play staxy or quickly depending on the starting hand, and then this one which is the most staxy.

The list needs to be updated to include stuff like Doom Whisperer, Mausoleum Secrets, and a few other stuff but it's done work running in a comp meta :)

Hey RaPhst0w thanks for the compliment!

I wasn't able to find a link to your list on your profile but if you send me one I'd be happy to take a look.

How many stax pieces you run basically depends on how much you're prioritizing that strategy. For example, the more you want to go into fast combo, the more card advantage you include in the deck. For getting a staxing kaalia to be effective you want about 15 or more pieces to guarantee a 33% chance of getting one in your opening hand. This can also be spread out into your monsters, Iona for example is pretty staxy.

Probably the most powerful stax effects that you can run in Kaalia are Aven Mindcensor, Iona, Rule of Law bears, Blood Moons, Linvala, and Chalice of The Void. Cursed Totem is great too but it will interfere with Razaketh.

Thanks again friend. I need to update this list as well as get out some of the other ones I've been working on, but Kaalia is absolutely a comp deck at this point.

Hey Bad_Dog, what do you think about the new m20 Kaalia? Is it worth trying in the 99?

I should probably be waiting for all of m20 to be spoiled but I gotta ask anyway

1) What do you think about the new demon that was spoiled Vilis, Broker of Blood? What would you take out for it assuming it ends up deserving a spot? Kuro Pitlord doesnt seem like an awful choice but its removal does not cost mana.

Also do you think Land Tax has been worth the slot in this build?

Gwent List has been updated bro

Thoughts on the newly spoiled Deafening Silence? It interferes with the LED line but Dockside is fine ( Leonin Relic-Warder can exile the enchantment if needed). Seems like a strong alternative/adjunctive Rule of Law effect.

Dragon2559 Deafening Silence is interesting and as you've noted parity can be broken on it with LRW. I think if you want to bring it in as a meta call it's a super solid option but I wouldn't run it before bringing on Ethersworn Canonist .

What's the use case for Goryo's? Is it just a backup plan for getting Razaketh out of the grave to try and combo?