Seky Seky Five Dolla: Sek'Kuar Lands Primer

Commander / EDH* Philoctetes

SCORE: 60 | 70 COMMENTS | 7327 VIEWS | IN 21 FOLDERS


I'd recommend taking out anger because you only have 2 mountains.

September 15, 2017 6:37 a.m.
September 15, 2017 6:39 a.m.

Philoctetes says... #3

Hi there, thanks for the comment!

While you are right, there are only two basic Mountains, there are several other cards in the deck with the mountain sub-type, which is what Anger checks for, as well as a number of Tutors that find lands.

Within my Mana base, 10 total cards are of the mountain sub-type or can fetch for mountains - Blood Crypt, Canyon Slough, Stomping Ground, Sheltered Thicket, and 2 Mountain all turn on Anger, and Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath, and Myriad Landscape can all Fetch me mountains.

Outside of the Mana base, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Sylvan Scrying, Traverse the Ulvenwald, and to a lesser extent Crop Rotation can all find me a mountain as well.

Because of these reasons I think he's pretty easy to turn on, but again thanks for the comment!

September 15, 2017 9:39 a.m.

Oh, I didn't notice the other mountains :P

September 15, 2017 7:40 p.m.

Fecundity and Harvester of Souls seem like they would be better card advantage options than some of your current choices, since they directly synergize with your main strategy.

September 20, 2017 6:18 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #6

Hi there! Thanks for the comment!

I used to have Fecundity in the deck, and you very well may be right that it should go back in over The Gitrog Monster or something else, but I tried to err towards card draw that would be effective even without a sac engine running. A lot of times you need card draw the most when things are not going well, and the Frog Man and the rest of the gang mostly do that. I need to continue testing my draw suite, however, and could be that Fecundity is powerful enough when we are going off that it needs a spot.

Harvester of Souls in my opinion is just too expensive for that effect, I would rather include Fecundity if I'm going to add another of that effect.

September 21, 2017 8:10 a.m.

harbingerofduh says... #7

I've found Greater Gargadon to be absolutely essential in my own Sek'Kuar deck, What the Hell Are Graveborn?, and it's one of my favorite turn-1 plays. It's a great sac outlet, of course, but unlike most sac outlets, it's worth the investment even when you don't have fodder for it because it'll always be counting down to the turn when you get a 9/7 haste creature. Opponents always seem to underestimate just how fast the suspend counters come off once Sek'Kuar is online.

I'm also surprised to see no Fleshbag Marauder, which I've found to be a nice early play to help control the board while setting up. And once Sek'Kuar is online, Marauder is basically free.

October 11, 2017 7:18 a.m.

harbingerofduh says... #8

Also, I know you say you're not into combo kills, but Nim Deathmantle gets pretty silly with Ashnod's Altar in play. Anyway, any opponent who lets you have Deathmantle, Altar, and Sek'Kuar all at once probably deserves what's coming to them, considering how long it takes to set up.

October 11, 2017 7:25 a.m.

Philoctetes says... #9

Hey there harbingerofduh, thanks for the comment and suggestions!

First of all, very nice deck, I really do enjoy the rock-style choices you've made. There are some similarities with some parts of my own deck, but ultimately we went different directions which is very cool to compare and contrast.

I like the Greater Gargadon suggestion, that is a really nice un-interactable sac outlet for sure. I will consider it, added to the Maybeboard. In regards to Nim Deathmantle, I certainly see some awesome scenarios for it, even in my own metagame where we only allow 5 cycles per turn of a demonstrated infinite loop. I do think it fits better in your deck, trying to grind out the opposition. The card is great, albeit slow, as a value engine, but after some thought on it I don't know if it will be a fit for me.

Fleshbag Marauder and his cousin Merciless Executioner - great cards, which I actually had included in past iterations of the deck, but with so few slots for interaction currently they were tough cuts. I like them as miniature board wipes for sure, there could be a spot for 1 in the future. In that same type of slot would go Shriekmaw, basically creature tutorable removal. It's definitely on my radar as a possible change to make.

October 11, 2017 12:33 p.m.

Darkersun says... #10

Great deck, I'm also trying to find a Sek'kura deck to stick with. Great ideas here very different from other decks around here.

What about: Fresh Meat can be absolute explosive?

Living Death can be a great wining card.

Puppeteer Clique can die two times and brings a SACable buddy.

Elemental Bond Really explosive carddraw? Same goes for Smothering Abomination.

Sakura-Tribe Elder for some ramp and a Sac trigger?

Gutter Grime for when the Commander is not available?

Natural Balance can be great if you are sacing lands.

Sorry for the spam, but I really would like you opinion on those cards.Also thanks for the deck +1 :)

October 16, 2017 8:37 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #11

Hey Darkersun! I totally lost track of your comment, so sorry for the late reply!

Its funny, most of your suggestions were cards I included at one point in this deck! I think they are all fine considerations - many of them are consensus auto includes for many Sekkuar connessiurs actually. You cant go wrong with Fresh Meat, Elemental Bond, or Smothering Abomination, I have tended to prioritize card draw that works when my combo pieces are off the board though (ie when things arent going well).

I really like Natural Balance - I may have to find some room!

Gutter Grime is a busted card, I dont like the combo pieces that cost 5 so ultimately I cut it in favor of Pawn of Ulamog and Golgari Germination.

Thanks for the comments guys! Keep me coming it really helps me think about this deck!

December 1, 2017 9:56 a.m.

Darkersun says... #12

Hey no problem, thanks for the answer. Still thinking about my own version of Sekkuar.

December 6, 2017 9:26 a.m.

BurtReynolds says... #13

Nice deck.

From the last line of code in your description it looks like your images aren't displaying. The same thing has happened to my deck pages. Do you have any idea why this is? Has tappedout changed its posting rules or something?

January 22, 2018 5:46 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #14

Thanks! Hmmm yeah thats odd. I have two lines of background alteration - one to make text boxes opaque and one to add a swarm of locusts image as my backdrop. When I look at the list I see those images, so if you arent that is odd. They should be pulling from a public space on my Dropbox.

I have found that the codes do not always work appropriately on mobile? Also one of my backdrops just stopped working all of a sudden, so yeah it seems to be a bit buggy in some cases, I am somewhat of a novice at it so my troubleshooting skills are elementary.

January 23, 2018 10:23 a.m.

BurtReynolds says... #15

Ah, maybe it's just the computer I've been using lately - it's on public domain and perhaps they've blocked certain things from loading from secondary sites(?). Thanks for the info, I'll check on my home computer later on.

January 23, 2018 6:26 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #16

Updates made today! My interest has been moving more and more in a relatively unique direction for this build - an EDH Lands deck! Description and Card Selections have been updated with new info, take a look and any feedback appreciated!

February 23, 2018 1:55 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #17

Further updates! I just can't stop brewing with this deck, it is seriously consuming a ton of my mental energy. Feedback appreciated!

March 23, 2018 12:11 p.m.

Dig the game-report model of tracking the deck's performance. Keep up the good work!

April 3, 2018 12:02 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #19

@harbingerofduh

Thanks! Glad you like the style!

It really helps me to keep a log of games to look back on and recall why certain changes have been made. Plus it's fun reading!

April 3, 2018 4:23 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #20

@Everyone

Made some big edits today! Finally acquired myself a Dark Depths so obviously that + Thespian's Stage is in. Plus, I had a Craterhoof Behemoth Lieing around, so why not!

Also, everyone should start playing high impact cantrips. The cuts to include them are Very hard, but worth it as they are essentially free effects. Insist is dope, Scout's Warning is dope, Overmaster is dope, Quicken is dope. Play them!

Also, Battlebond is out and the card by far that I am most excited about is Pir's Whim. I seriously believe that this card will find a home in just about every green deck, It is at it's best a 4 for 1 in a 4 player pod, plus there are political implications.

Finally, I continue to slot in more and more lands, and my colored sources got a major revamp!

June 7, 2018 12:54 p.m.

TheMightyHoju says... #21

I would love a larger update of your primer in general! Obviously the deck is taking a new direction, so seeing these updates fleshed out in a new gameplan section

July 2, 2018 6:48 p.m.

Philoctetes says... #22

@TheMightyHoju

Thanks so much for the comment! I definitely need to revamp the primer, and knowing that you and others are looking at it and not getting full value anymore is the kick in the pants I need!

July 3, 2018 9:29 a.m.

TheMightyHoju says... #23

Awesome! I legit just bought the deck, as I only needed a few pieces to complete. Slightly sad I didn't play it back when some of the cards from the primer were in it, but I love the current iteration from just goldfishing and can't wait for a more in-depth primer update!

July 3, 2018 9:52 p.m.

Darkersun says... #24

To give you more motivation, I also would love to see an updated primer, thanks. Great deck :)

July 4, 2018 4:52 a.m.

Darkersun says... #25

Sorry for the doublepost, but I forget to ask: The landbase is not budget friendly is it possible to build a budget deck that still works?

July 4, 2018 4:53 a.m.

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