Kaalia, Zenith Seeker ETB/Dragon Combo deck
A Jenny/Johnny deck for dragon-lovers.
Expected Power Level: Highly Optimized (~8.5; or about as high as you can get without tutors)
We're probably a little light on fast interaction to be at the absolute highest tippy-top of the non-cEDH power spectrum, but if we're allowed to play a proactive game we are still a force to be reckoned with.
Despite being vulnerable to faster combos, still a comfortable contender as the underdog against any non-cEDH decks stronger than it, and strong enough to survive being the archenemy to anything weaker.
My take on Kaalia, Zenith Seeker.
Looks to ramp early into big fliers to rule the skies with big creatures and ETB value, use Kaalia's ETB to keep your card advantage up against removal and wipes, then finish the game with either one of two major combo lines, or by burning the table down with ETB burn effects like Warstorm Surge and Red Dragon.
The main combo lines are:
A)
Worldgorger Dragon targeting itself with a Warstorm Surge effect underneath its ETB on the stack with either an ETB reanimator on board (Karmic Guide or Bladewing the Risen) along with either a second ETB burn effect, Panharmonicon or Wrathful Red Dragon to burn the table to death, or Nadaar to win the game with an infinite dungeon loop
and
B)
Underworld Breach lines involving looping Reckless Barbarian, Patron of the Arts, or Swashbuckler Extraordinaire with an ETB burn effect targeting itself to recast it (Ideally Terror of the Peaks, for reason that I will explain in a bit), and either Panharmonicon, Wrathful Red Dragon, or a second ETB burn effect to kill opponents with (This is not needed for Reckless Barbarian, as it can sacrifice itself).
Our primary method of putting cards in the yard to pay Escape costs will be Doom Whisperer, which leads into the reason we ideally want Terror of the Peaks to execute the combo: Terror of the Peaks can be given Lifelink with Angelic Skirmisher, which will heal us enough to pay for some (if using Reckless Barbarian without Panharmonicon) or all (for all other variations) of the life we're spending to fuel our Escape cost.
Also note that while Reckless Barbarian can pay its own Mana Cost to Escape, Patron of the Arts will need either Ganax or Panharmonicon to pay its Mana Cost, and Swashbuckler Extraordinaire will need both.
You've probably noticed that that's a lot more moving pieces than the Worldgorger variations that we're running, and that we're much less likely to pull this one off. While that is certainly true, it is important to note that with enough open mana, it is possible to start digging for the combo with only Doom Whisperer and Underworld Breach in hand, which makes it a little bit easier to pull off than it seems at first glance.
With that in mind, counting the 2 mana to play Underworld breach from hand with a Doom Whisperer in play, the thresholds to be able to play the whole combo in one turn are
at minimum: 2 + 5 + 2 = 9 mana without Angelic Skirmisher lifegain and 9 + 6 = 15 mana with. (Underworld Breach, Terror of the Peaks, Reckless Barbarian) This variation deals 2 damage to an enemy and heals more life than you pay for Doom Whisperer for each time you Escape Reckless Barbarian.
and maximum: 2 + 5 + 5 + 6 + 3 - 2 = 19 mana without Angelic Skirmisher lifegain and 25 with, for the least mana-efficient version of the combo (Underworld Breach, Ganax, Terror of the Peaks, Warstorm Surge, Patron of the Arts) This variation deals 3 damage to an enemy and heals equal to the life you pay for Doom Whisperer for each time you Escape Patron of the Arts.
Obviously that's a lot of mana to pay in one turn, but with any one other piece already in play, that number can easily drop down to a much more feasible amount.
-
To summarize and reiterate, our main combo lines are:
A)
{ Terror of the Peaks; OR Warstorm Surge } +
{ Karmic Guide; OR Bladewing, the Risen } +
{ Worldgorger Dragon } +
{ Panharmonicon; OR Wrathful Red Dragon; OR any other ETB burn effect; OR Nadaar, Selfless Paladin }
and
B)
{ Underworld Breach } +
{ Terror of the Peaks } +
{ Panharmonicon; OR Wrathful Red Dragon; OR any other ETB burn effect; OR nothing if using Reckless Barbarian } +
{ Reckless Barbarian; OR [ Patron of the Arts + ( Panharmonicon or Ganax, Astral Hunter ) ]; OR [ Swashbuckler Extraordinaire + Panharmonicon + Ganax, Astral Hunter ] } for the main loop,
and either { [ Doom Whisperer + ( Angelic Skirmisher or a high enough life total ) ]; OR a sufficiently full graveyard } to pay for Escape costs
With our determinate combo finishers out of the way, there are a few other potentially noteworthy game-ending synergies in this deck you should also be aware of.
Most importantly, Ancient Gold Dragon with either Dragon Tempest or Scourge of Valkas in play is very likely to kill at least one person if it connects.
Some notable thresholds for this interaction:
A roll of at least [6] deals a minimum of 42 damage, enough to guarantee a kill on one player without lifegain.
A roll of at least [9] deals a minimum of 90 damage, enough to guarantee a kill on two players without lifegain.
A roll of at least [11] deals a minimum of 132 damage, enough to guarantee a kill on three players without lifegain.
Much less reliable, but still worth being aware of: a lucky Mirror March trigger can do a significant amount of damage in combination with Terror of the Peaks, Scourge of Valkas, or Red Dragon.
The odds of killing one person with this interaction, let alone the whole table, is obviously significantly less likely than killing someone with the Ancient Gold Dragon + Dragon Tempest interaction, and you should generally treat Mirror March only as a more inconsistent second copy of Panharmonicon, but it's worth being aware of as a potential try in a bad situation, particularly with Red Dragon, as Red Dragon both does more overall damage on lower numbers of winning coinflips, and is the least integral of the aforementioned choices when it comes to our combo finishers.
With that said, Red Dragon is still one of our strongest win conditions outside of direct combo finishers.
In combination with any repeatable blink or flicker effect, Red Dragon can burn the table down deceptively quickly, but against any opponent with even halfway decent threat-assessment, this will likely put more of a target on your back than the faster combo pieces will, as it's a very telegraphed win condition, so be prepared to have the whole table against you.
One final, but very important note: Torpor Orb shuts our entire deck down. We get absolutely destroyed by Torpor Orb.
If you think there is even a chance that someone at the table could be running Torpor Orb, you must hold on to at least one piece of artifact interaction at all times, unless not doing so is going to lose the game.
Our only real answers to Torpor Orb are: Vandalblast, Bedevil, Utter End, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, and Steel Hellkite, so keep that in mind at all times.
