Alesha, Who Smiles With Pride (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Alesha, Who Smiles With Pride

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Budget Combo Exile RBW (Mardu) Reanimator Sacrifice Unblockable

Sheriff_K

Creature (32)

Enchantment (5)

Land (35)

Instant (7)

Commander (1)

Artifact (12)

Sorcery (8)

Sideboard

Creature (3)

Enchantment (3)

Land (2)

Maybeboard

Creature (33)

Land (14)

Sorcery (13)

Artifact (13)

Enchantment (8)

Instant (4)

Planeswalker (1)

1x Nahiri, the Harbinger

~$100 Budget deck. Aristocrats, Combo, Reanimation; you know the drill. Lotta combos, so chances are can piece together something to win with.

Was originally a $50 budget deck, but time and the pandemic did a number on card prices, so I decided to round up to a $100 budget deck instead and make some upgrades. While I may have certain printings/blinged versions of cards raising the price of the deck, the budget of the deck using the cheapest printings of the cards IS still ~$100.

Pro-Tip: Sac an "O-Ring" on ETB for perma-exile.

Current Considerations:

Do I need more ways to make Alesha connect safely? (Agent of the Shadow Thieves is a nice choice, albeit worse than the ones I have in the deck already.. I think? Cultist of the Absolute also does a lot, but is risky.)
Do I need more sac outlets, like High Market? (Probably not. Btw, Fanatical Devotion is cute.)
Would it be worth adding the taplands Cabaretti Courtyard and/or Sulfurous Mire for better fixing and Duergar Hedge-Mageing?
Squeeze Cruel Celebrant back in for redundancy, or it not really needed? (What would I even cut?)

Edit; 09/01/22 changes:

Skyclave Apparition <= Ravenous Chupacabra (weakest interaction Creature; I'd rather keep Bone Shredder instead since it can sac itself to be recurred.)
Fellwar Stone <= Talisman of Indulgence (swapping Fellwar back in, cuz having all 3 Talismans isn't worth how pricy it is to the budget, and Fellwar has the potential to be both worse and better.)
Sulfurous Mire => Smoldering Marsh (around the same price, but sometimes doesn't enter tapped.)
Cut 5 Basics => Ash Barrens, Battlefield Forge, Rugged Prairie, Exotic Orchard, Sulfurous Springs

Edit; 08/29/22 changes:

Thrilling Discovery => Cathartic Pyre (Was the hardest Loot Spell to cast, and Cathartic has nice flexibility.)
Kor Cartographer => Plargg, Dean of Chaos (I think Solemn Simulacrum is enough ETB Ramp. Plargg is a great repeatable Draw engine. Also his reverse side gives pseudo-Vigilance, if it'd ever matter..)
Cruel Celebrant => Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (Just a better version, with built-in Deathtouch protection when entering. May end up putting in both if I find something else to cut.)

Archived Changes: Show

Edit; 08/07/22 changes:

Ponyback Brigade => Jaxis, the Troublemaker (Insanely good in Alesha. Ponyback was rather meh anyway.)
Welcoming Vampire (definitely include! But what to cut.. Also, mommy. I mean.. mommy. I mean..)
Pia and Kiran Nalaar => Karmic Guide (forgot it combo'd with the O-Ring Creatures when I cut it earlier.. whoops. Or do I already have enough contingency combos? Add Kor Cartographer instead?)

Recent Considerations:

Should I just replace Diabolic Tutor w/ Razaketh's Rite or something? Do I really even need more tutors? Well, it IS a combo deck for the most part, albeit a budget one, but I do have a fair amount of tutors (mostly Entomb effects.) Maybe try out Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire? He's kind of a non-bo w/ Alesha, but at least you can get the tutor the next next turn.. Probably better than Diabolic?
Remorseful Cleric or Callous Bloodmage as Graveyard hate option? Didn't have it before because was only against $50 budget decks, but now I may need the tools.. or just rely on rest of table.
Nahiri, the Harbinger could be interesting, but probably too slow. But it is card advantage + Utter End, so that's not too bad.
Put a semi-non-budget card (Ashnod's Altar) in Sideboard consideration, depending on where I'd end up drawing the budget line.. (TCG low? mid? $100? Ionno.)
Do I cut Hidden Stockpile for any of the aforementioned cards? It's decent card advantage in that scry, along with some token bodies (that go decently w/ Pia/Kiran,) and a non-free sac outlet if necessary.. but is it enough?

Recent Changes:

Dude, Dimir House Guard is LEGIT FIRE.. It's a free sac outlet that's also a tutor for a lot of important pieces or situational cards. (You can transmute him to get a combo piece, a wheel, removal, utility/value engines, an entomber, etc.. and once he's in the bin, you can reanimate him to use as a sac outlet for combos.) I think I'm cutting Razaketh's Rite for this actually.
Savai Crystal vs Mana Geode? Cycling if not needed, or ETB Scry? I wonder what's better on a rock.. I think I'll go with the Crystal, since the added Temples (and my sac outlets) give me enough Scry [early-game.] May be the wrong choice though, as budget Mardu is rather low on Ramp to begin with, so how often will it really be cycled?
Tormenting Voice vs Thrilling Discovery.. the latter is a double-edged sword I think, but it may be the better choice.
Callous Bloodmage and/or Avalanche Riders could be nice utility/anti-meta choices, likely not as needed against other budget decks, but if going against stronger decks they may put in work. I'd lean more towards the Bloodmage though, since I'd rather not waste a non-Land slot on Land Destruction, especially in a budget deck.
Should I cut Razaketh's Rite for Callous Bloodmage?
Swapped Kor Cartographer for Solemn Simulacrum. I'd pref have both, but don't know how I'd fit it in..
Swapped gainlands for slowsnowduals. Better for Duergar Hedge-Mage, and can be found off Kor (though having swapped it for Sad Robot, it won't be possible any longer..)
Put in a few cycling lands for extra card advantage (a budget deck needs all the help it can get, since it's missing the expensive options other decks run.)
Cut a Swamp for Malakir Rebirth .
Added [the cheap] Temples.
Added Myriad Landscape and Command Tower.
Zephyr Boots seem great, definitely adding it in.
Added Sol Ring (cutting Prismatic Lens, the worst of the Rocks/Fixing.)

Deliberations on more difficult changes:

Cut Hidden Stockpile for Vile Entomber (this card is pretty sick, and Stockpile seemed kinda meh for the most part, though I have used it to good effect before. Though going down a sac outlet and value engine has me doubting.. maybe I should squeeze it back in somehow?)
Should I keep Reveillark Karmic Guide combo? It requires Viscera Seer and Corpse Knight to win, but that's not any crazier than the triple O-Ring Creatures + Corpse Knight combo.. lol. The downside to Reveillark though, is that it basically only functions with Karmic Guide (or Evoking, which is expensive,) whereas other combo pieces have multiple uses and can be reanimated via Alesha. Do I really need a 3rd combo that has less synergies with the rest of the deck? Likely not..
Do I cut Unearth? It's mostly there as an alternative to Alesha (don't want too many eggs in the Commander basket, incase she gets removed too many times and I can't get her back out as easily.. but then again it only hits like half my creatures and mostly the ones that don't do too much.. so it is questionable, and likely an easy cut for something better.)
I cut Reveillark/Karmic, and put in Eerie Interlude (it's like Heroic Intervention on crack basically,) but now I got room for 1 more card.. do I put back in Hidden Stockpile? Or maybe Kor Cartographer? I'm leaning towards the former for that value/sac engine..
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire is a cute card.. (But I realize you can't Boast off an Alesha trigger, so you'd need to wait a full turn cycle before you can Boast him.. IF he survives, and THEN wait another turn to draw the tutored card if you can't cycle.. so nope.)

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90% Casual

Competitive

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	UG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 1 Rares 36 - 3 Uncommons 13 - 3 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.00
Tokens	Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Goblin Shaman, Illusion X/X U, Treasure
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