Daxos' Revenge
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 1 | 5 COMMENTS | 676 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Huge Update —Feb. 17, 2017
Out --> In
Crystal Chimes --> Expedition Map
Swamp --> Vault of the Archangel
Nighthowler --> Dauthi Embrace
Pacifism --> Prison Term
Campaign of Vengeance --> Skybind
Journey to Nowhere --> Quarantine Field
Hour of Reckoning --> Merciless Eviction
Silent Sentinel --> Thoughtrender Lamia
Death Grasp --> Extinguish All Hope
Marshal's Anthem --> Harvestguard Alseids
Doom Blade --> Utter End
vandizzlebus Wow! Thanks for all the ideas and clear explanations!
Expedition Map is on my buy list since I got my Serra's Sanctum. As you said it is an auto include with the other lands! So much choice and flexibility.
Righteous Aura and Gossamer Chains are also really good to protect me or just dissuade people from attacking and tapping their big guys.
Seal of Doom I originally had and honestly never thought about it the way you explained it. I am putting it right back in instead of Grave Peril. Grave Peril has been an all star against a creatureless Mizzix of the Izmagnus but other than that it has been screwing me up some times and just being annoying. Seal of Doom is much more versatile and achieves the same.
Prison Term first time I hear of it! I really like its political side as you explained! Watch for it in coming updates of the deck.
Read the Bones is awesome! The two life is a small cost for what it offers. As for Erebos, God of the Dead he is also coming to the party soon.
Dauthi Embrace and Equipoise are my type of cards. Unheard of and unplayed but they work so well in Daxos! Dauthi Embrace I see myself using as a finisher with my 5 8/8 Spirits. Equipoise I will try out and come back to you as I can see it being really funny and annoying.
Argivian Find, there is not much enchantment removal for now in my meta so with Sun Titan, Replenish and Open the Vaults for now I am alright. I will keep in mind in the event where my enchantments become targets
Thanks!
January 24, 2017 1:52 p.m.
vandizzlebus says... #3
k_larriv Glad you liked the suggestions. I just realized that Gossamer Chains can get political too since it prevents damage from any unblocked creature, whether that creature is attacking you or not. Need to make an ally? Ptevent any damage from that 10/10 swing at him or her. Or, you want an extra exp counter? Bargain with another player to attack you (unblocked) or allow you to attack him or her (unblocked) so that you can activate the Chains to recast it for more exp. Possibilities!
Yeah, Dauthi Embrace will most often target your Daxos's tokens, but it can target any creature, so can also be played politically to help another player's creatures get through (might be best to target a defending player's possible blocker for this since that blocker would then only be able to block creatures with shadow and if no attacking creatures have shadow, then all the attacking creatures are essentially unlockable depending on how many blockers there could be). It can get fun. I remember playing a 6-player game. One player had Purphoros, God of the Forge out with Norin the Wary, so everyone someone played a spell, we would all be taking 2 damage by each players' end step. In a 6-player game, that can get crazy quick. He brought us all down from 40 life to about 18 before we could band together and eliminate him. One player stole control of another player's big creature, and I was able to give it shadow to push through exactly enough lethal to get him out. Loads of fun.
I look forward to seeing the deck progress.
January 25, 2017 3:33 p.m.
vandizzlebus, great tips again! Thanks!
I was concentrated on finishing my Silver Slivers Be Coming After Yah! deck but as its almost completed I'll give a little love to Daxos so it should start progressing in the next months! :)
vandizzlebus says... #1
k_larriv Very interesting list and I think it looks really good.
Ill admit Im a little jealous you found a Serra's Sanctum, which should be wonderful in a deck like this.
As far as the maybe lands you have, Id forego all but Cabal Coffers. I agree that Scrubland and Marsh Flats are pricey for the fixing they provide like its a near insignificant improvement in the land base for the price of all the lands already in the deck all put together (unless, of course, your meta is super cut-throat competitive, which doesnt sound like much fun to me)!I highly recommend Cabal Coffers, although it would work best if you increased your swamp count or indeed picked up Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. In fact, if you add Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and a couple more swamps, that should take pretty good care of your mana fixing right there without considering the (other) expensive duals and fetches since Urborg will make all your lands tap for black mana. Paired with Cabal Coffers and you can see where your mana can accumulate rather quickly without duals and fetches. I might go as far to say that the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Cabal Coffers combo is more effective and consistent at generating mana in a deck like this than Serras Sanctum would be because they rely on your lands, which are less prone to removal than your enchantments throughout the game (unless your meta is running mass land removal). Of course, this only applies if you actually manage to get these lands into play, and for that I suggest the incredible Expedition Map. Expedition Map is a great artifact in that for 3 generic mana you may search for a land . . . any land! This includes Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Serra's Sanctum, or even Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. This effect can easily replace a mana rock, as essentially fetching for any land can be much more powerful than almost any mana rock. For example, you have Commander's Sphere, which is the same cmc as Expedition Maps total effect (1 cmc plus 2 to sac it), but the sphere can eventually be removed easier because it has to hang around for a couple turns before you get even with the amount of mana you used to cast it. Yes, it cantrips on the fly if targeted for removal, but the draw can be anything from another card that produces only a single mana to a high cmc card that you cant even play for a while (because, ironically, youre getting mana screwed) or a great card that you didnt want to draw at that time. Expedition Map, however, cantrips itself into any land you feel will help you out the most at that time. Have a bunch of enchantments out, but only a couple swamps? Use it to get Serra's Sanctum! Just got wiped of your enchantments and have a handful of swamps out? Get Cabal Coffers! Already have Cabal Coffers out? Get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth! You notice your devotion to white is currently greater than your number of enchantments out? Grab out Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx with Expedition Map! With so many high utility lands, especially if you add Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers, the Map is a great tutor for them, and can replace a mana rock.
Regarding Eiganjo Castle: its great to keep Daxos alive . . . if he were only taking 2 damage at a time since you have to tap the land for the ability, but if he were taking 4+ damage, then not so good. At least in my meta, Im more likely being swung at, and would like to block or prevent damage, of power 5+ (this is EDH afterall). The 2s and 3s swinging at me I would usually let in if I have no other blocker other than Daxos since I obviously dont want to trade my commander, and with enough life-gain effects from lifelink abilities and extort, this may end up being okay (et al your Campaign of Vengeance, Death Grasp, Fumigate, Underworld Coinsmith, etc., and Authority of the Consuls and Blind Obedience from your maybeboard). A better effect would be to prevent the higher damage amounts, which, if Daxos is not already enchanted for indestructibility, can be done via other enchantments! Righteous Aura (already on your maybeboard) is a cheap (cmc and $) aura enchantment that allows you to repeatedly pay one white mana and 2 life to prevent all damage a targeted source would deal to you this turn. Not great when 1/1s and 2/2s are swinging at you (again, see the life-gain balance above), but great for a small handful of 4/4s+ - even if those creatures attacking you have trample and lifelink the Righteous Aura will protect you for a mere investment of a white mana an 2 life. Better to pay 6 life and 3 mana than lose 10-12 life from a couple 6/6 tramplers (or worse still, 5-6+ commander damage!). Possibly even better for Daxos specifically is Gossamer Chains. A nifty 2 white mana enchantment with the ability to return it to your hand to prevent all combat damage from any single unblocked creature. Someone attacking you with his or her green fatty? Assign no blockers and just before the damage step, return Gossamer Chains to your hand and prevent it all which you can then recast from your hand on your turn for another experience counter from Daxos! Of course, its a single use until you can recast it, whereas Righteous Aura can be used multiple times while its out, but for late game when its down to you and one other player, or a three player game where one player isnt casting much fatty creatures, it could really shine and rack up your exp counters. Like any similar prevent damage effect, it can also outright prevent an opponent from attacking you if he or she knows the damage wont get through anyway, and it would even net you another exp counter for which the attacker does not want to be responsible for, so he or she may end up attacking your opponents instead until the Chains can be removed. I notice you have Pariah on your maybeboard, which would have a similar effect for you if you enchanted your own indestructible creature or creature with protection from combat damage (et al your Heliod, God of the Sun and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts), but then Pariah is highly susceptible to being 2-for-1d if the creature it enchants is still removed somehow, plus Pariah is usually used on an opponents creature to play that opponent into using removal on it instead of on your other enchatments.
Other observations:
-I notice youre running Grave Peril over Seal of Doom. Grave Peril is 1 cmc less, but at 3 cmc for Seal of Doom (1 generic mana at that, but Sun Titan can still recur either), it shouldnt be terribly difficult to cast, plus you can trigger Seal of Doom whenever you would like instead of relying on Grave Peril mandatorily (not optional according to Oracle) sacing itself when any other non-black creature ETBs. You must sac Grave Peril to destroy any other non-black creature, which I understand may prevent opponents from casting certain creatures while it is out, but only temporarily until they find a way to remove it or cast a martyr creature that he or she is willing to be destroyed (or worse yet, just trip it with a 1/1 token) to then cast other non-black creatures. In fact, Grave Peril auto-triggers on any of your own 7 white creatures in your deck, so you wouldnt be able to cast those either white it is out unless you remove Grave Peril or allow your creature to be destroyed. Seal of Doom on the other hand, like Seal of Cleansing that you have, allows you to cast and choose when to sac it to destroy any targeted non-black creature.
-I notice youre running Pacifism over Prison Term. Pacifism, like Grave Peril, is 1 cmc less than the alternative Prison Term (1 white mana, but Sun Titan can still recur either one), but for the one extra white mana investment, the enchanted creature also cannot activate its abilities (Breya and Atraxa, anyone?). Better still, whenever another creature ETBs, you may move Prison Term to that creature, so you can move the Prison Term around the board as new creature threats emerge from multiple players. It can even be used as a political bargaining chip in the political atmosphere of EDH. You can play it on PlayerAs creature for example, but then PlayerB casts a big fatty that PlayerA knows is going to attack him or her. PlayerA can bargain with you to move your Prison Term to PlayerBs creature in exchange for not attacking you or targeting you with PlayerAs creature. Now youve effectively Pacified 2 creatures from attacking you! I thought there was a Pacifism-type enchantment that could also be returned to a players hand (to recast for Daxos exp counters), but I cant think of the name off the top of my head ATM.
-I notice youre running Succumb to Temptation over Read the Bones. I admit, Succumb to Temptation is rather . . . tempting (couldnt help it), but for the same 3 cmc (without the double-black mana even) you can effectively dig 4 cards deep with Read the Bones. For example, Temptation draws you 2 cards. Thats it. You draw whatever 2 cards were sitting on the top of your library at that moment. However, with Bones, you get to scry 2 first before you draw 2. You dont like the 2 cards you just scryd? No problem, slip them to the bottom of your library instead and take your chances on the next 2 cards, which means youve now effectively dug 4 cards deep into your library looking for that answer. Granted, Temptation is at instant speed whereas Bones is sorcery, but I think the scry ability essentially letting you look at the top 2 cards before choosing to draw them is more powerful than drawing at instant speed when you have other draw engines in the deck (et al your Underworld Connections and Erebos, God of the Dead if you choose to add him too from your maybe board). Plus, Bones is on flavor point for being from Theros block where Daxos originally hails.
A couple other cool cards I can suggest include:
-Dauthi Embrace: a 3cmc enchantment (Sun Titan range!) that can give a target creature shadow until end of turn for 2 black mana. With shadow, your creatures (most likely your Daxos enchantment tokens) can only be blocked (and can only block) other creatures with shadow. Tell me the last time you saw a shadow creature stomping around in EDH? So, this effectively makes your tokens unblockable given enough black mana, which shouldnt be terribly difficult mid- to late-game if youve used Expedition Map to pull up your Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth!
-Equipoise: Although I havent used this enchantment myself, it seems fairly spicy! Again, that sweet 3cmc Sun Titan range. It basically makes it so that a target player doesnt have more resources than you during your turn by phasing out any amount of each permanent type that the player controls greater than the amount of perms you control. Phasing out basically removes the permanents (and any attached auras or artifacts) from the game like they were never there important to note that the permanents are not exiled, so ETB triggers do not trigger upon their return and all attached auras/equips also return just the same. Best part is that you get to choose which perms phase out for your turn, so you can choose the untapped creatures, untapped lands, etc, to prevent combat clocks or counters/other instants being played from that player on your turn. If you play this card, let me know how it goes because Im interested in its effects.
-Argivian Find is worth a note if you manage to lose Sun Titan and really need to get back that Seal of Cleansing or Seal of Doom, etc. A 1 white mana instant-speed recursion of any enchantment or artifact is always good utility. Bonus points if you return Expedition Map to fetch up Cabal Coffers after youve just used the Map to get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth!!
January 18, 2017 5:48 a.m.