Reconnaisance is better than a land that doesn't tap for mana any day. it can untap your cretures after damage in the end of combat step.

Chandra585 fair point. I was actually speaking with Phil, Dog, Nine Tails and AZ earlier on our kaalia discord. We're straying away from being a combat based build of her. I did end up taking out maze as it was essentially missing a land drop, though it was good at stopping opponents commanders swinging or other problems.

Reconnaissance I feel beats Maze here. Attack all out (or just get Kaalia's trigger) and have everyone safe and ready to block. You can untap to avoid bad blockers, untap after first strike damage but before normal combat is dealt, and you can even untap after normal combat damage is dealt due to the creature being an 'attacking' creature until the end of combat step ends (you untap in the middle of this step). Being able to squeeze small amounts of damage through by attacking with everyone at no risk to your board rather than just focusing on Kaalia is worth it.

Last_Laugh all valid points made. I ended up taking it out all together though. Kind of changed some of the strategy here and now with the way i have the deck built, it doesn't hurt to have kaalia blocked, i usually sac her to razaketh because its my actual intention to win the game from that point.

What a spicy list, friend! Gotta say, I'm intrigued by the Kaalia combo deck. Still not really my thing, but damn does it look satisfying.

Being in Mardu, we are limited in ways to protect those combos. I see you run just about every way to do that, does it end up being enough?

My opinion is probably skewed a little, given that I focused more on the combat aspect of kaalia.

CaptainKraw it usually does, but you have to be mindful of when to go off. This is an interactive build for sure and more stax based builds do exist. I run a light stax package to help out as well. What I like about Kaalia the most is that she is unique and a great tempo stax commander. You definitely will nab victories with it.

As someone that has played against Kaalia a lot, cheating out an Avacyn, Angel of Hope early can be extremely frustrating. I'm a bit surprised to don't have more ways to protect Kaalia at instant speed, because she's usually so important to the strategy.

Wicked_N_Irish there is a reason why not only me but many of the more competitive Kaalia builds moved away from her. While she is amazing and does a lot for us, at the end of the day she really didn’t win the game for us. In the cedh setting most of the decks go for entire table kills and locking out opponents with hard stax effects (Blood Pod for example). Kaalia is very aggressive and Avacyn made us play way more defensively then we are supposed to. This build is more interactive with disruption rather then sit and wait to be picked off like in more casual metas.

Hey Sir_Flash,

Really like the Leonin Relic-Warder + Animate Dead + Razaketh, the Foulblooded | Almost Infinite Tutor Synergy, I'm going to use it in my deck Kaalia, Mirror Breaker EDH. With Kaalia of the Vast play Razaketh, the Foulblooded , Sacrifice Kaalia of the Vast tutor Leonin Relic-Warder , cast Leonin Relic-Warder , if I have a tapped Artifact mana exile it, then Sacrifice Leonin Relic-Warder to Tutor Animate Dead , Cast Animate Dead , bring Leonin Relic-Warder back exiling the Animate Dead , Sacrifice Leonin Relic-Warder to pull Chrome Mox , any spell to Imprint, Mana Crypt , Sol Ring , Restoration Angel and Goblin Bombardment . Then cast all the rocks, and Goblin Bombardment , using rocks to pay for Restoration Angel re-engage the Animate Dead but using Goblin Bombardment as the Sacrifice outlet for Infinite Damage. (CMC5) + 16 life win. If I have Goblin Bombardment in play already, a CMC3 + 14 life win.

It's pretty awesome for me, because Leonin Relic-Warder + Animate Dead + Goblin Bombardment on it's own is also pretty quick. With an Entomb I can definitely Entomb the Leonin Relic-Warder , Animate Dead it and cast Goblin Bombardment on Turn 1 and win (with things like Gemstone Caverns , Chrome Mox , Mana Crypt , Etc.) I need to get a Mox Diamond in there but so much cash! Very exited to include the Leonin Relic-Warder .

I like Path to Exile , I'll often exile one of my creatures to ramp an extra land into play, plus the other obvious benefits.

These were a bit confusing, until I read, Attack lines. Might describe them in summary detail like:

Impact Tremors + Animate Dead + Entomb or Buried Alive | Tutor Leonin Relic-Warder to Graveyard for Infinite Damage

Bogardan Hellkite + Animate Dead + Buried Alive or Entomb | Tutor Worldgorger Dragon to Graveyard for Infinite Damage

Leonin Squire + Lion's Eye Diamond + Razaketh, the Foulblooded | Tutor Reanimate + Leonin Relic-Warder + Animate Dead Combo. For this one how do you get the Impact Tremors into play without losing control of the Animate Dead ?

No Sunscorched Desert ? it's a which I know sucks since everything needs mana, but with Worldgorger Dragon it's similar to Impact Tremors although that works with Leonin Relic-Warder + Animate Dead . Sunscorched Desert as a land has CMC+1 (colorless) though. Piranha Marsh used to be a staple, but it ETB tapped so useless to me.

Since you already play Tainted Pact , an Instant speed tutor, it also allows you to instant speed pull a Comet Storm (I know your running Cut / Ribbons because it's modular), without pausing the Worldgorger Dragon combo. Just a thought anyway. Cut / Ribbons is less of a dead draw for sure, but also Sorcery and subject to Graveyard hate. Comet Storm is definitely not as modular probably why it doesn't make the cut.

I saw another deck with Subterranean Tremors , not sure I get it, at CMC5 it destroys all artifacts and probably most creatures without flying. It's CMC2 to remove most mana dork accelerators, only benefit I can see. Not sure I get that one Sorcery speed.

I don't have any great suggestions, Mother of Runes perhaps, she can be Sacrificed to Razaketh, the Foulblooded , provide protection for the Worldgorger Dragon since a single Swords to Plowshares ends your game. Can also protect Kaalia of the Vast or make Kaalia of the Vast unblockable in some cases.

Your quite different than me, but also very much the same. I had Worldgorger Dragon in before, but choose to remove it and go with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo focus and didn't need another "same" win-con. My alt-win going to be the Leonin Relic-Warder for sure.

Cheers, +1.

spirit you're not wrong about Comet Storm at all. It has been considered many times over. As for Mother, she has been in and out of the deck very often and might come back, but we will see.

For the Leonin Squire line you will need Doomed Traveler .

1. Cheat in Razaketh with Kaalia

2. Sacrifice your Kaalia (-2 life) and tutor up Doomed Traveler

3. Play it

4. Sacrifice the Traveler (-2 life) to find and cast Lion's Eye Diamond

5. Sacrifice the Spirit Token left behind by the traveler (-2 life) and crack LED in response for 3

6. Use the tutor to find and play Leonin Squire 2

7. Bring back LED and crack it for 3 , a total of (3 and 1 in mana pool)

8. Sacrifice the Squire (-2 life) to find Reanimate

9. Animate the Squire ( and -2 life) and bring back LED

10. Crack LED for (3 and 2 in mana pool)

11. Sacrifice Leonin Squire (-2 life) to find Leonin Relic Warder

12. Cast Leonin Relic Warder and pivot into the Leonin Line from above (2 2 in pool for setting up with Animate Dead).

My bad, I didn't realize I was making a suggestion to someone that has cEDH completely solved! What's it like having to deal with so many casual players?

Wicked_N_Irish I don't have it solved by any means. Everything goes through testing and I don't think any deck is ever truly completed either. This version of Kaalia is tuned for more competitive environments though.

Sir_Flash,

Once your at 12. Cast Leonin Relic-Warder and pivot into the the Leonin Line, I assume you tutor the Animate Dead . Which allows you to Tutor the Animate Dead to start the combo. I'm wondering when/how you resolve the Impact Tremors , even if you Tutor it, once you stop the Infinite Flicker, can't restart it very easily? Is the assumption you already have the Impact Tremors (Or have tutored it off the Doomed Traveler because you probably at least have 1 other piece)? Or is there a way to restart the combo?

Spirits you cast it first before you begin any combo. That way the damage applies.

You should reflectively change Kaalia with her newest incarnation Kaalia, Zenith Seeker as your strategy is more in line with ETB effects. And with the Worldgorger Dragon combo in play, you can collect all your wincons and cheat them out with Sneak Attack

DFall3n1 i'm barely running any ADD actually and 9 in total out of 20 creatures and Vast is clearly the stronger of the two. Zenith is better if you have a larger package of ADD.

Cool, a Kaalia deck that isn't about winning on turn 4 due to sheer power. Instead, you go infinite! XD

I mean, yes, you'll still lose friends but not as quickly as putting Iona on the field by turn 4--oh wait she's banned now. Hashtag RIP.

JohnMichaelBushman it can very much so still win by T3/T4 with the correct hand. But generally Razaketh was always our first option, iona 2nd. We got Vilis now so it was easy to replace. I still don't make friends with this build as you say lol.

This is a really interesting route too see Kaalia taken in (I tried the ADD route in cEDH and it went...poorly...), so unusual to see so few creatures and such a low average CMC. What's Chandra in there for out of interest?

loricatuslupus thank you for the compliments man, trust me when I say it was very hard to get it this low! I made cuts on the creatures that did nothing for me the turn they came out, cards that were very dead and added in things that helped me combo better. This deck can brutal but you gotta be mindful of the meta you are bringing this too. Chandra is actually very interesting. On turns Razaketh isn't on board or you have no true lines to get into, you use her first ability to give her loyalty. With Razaketh on board you can make tokens using the 2nd ability for sac fodder and the 3rd (-2) ability you can extend your combos even further and potentially win a game.