Interesting. Definetly written well enough to have me try this out.

However, TCG Player is having the hardest of times Optimizing my cart... Could it be due to the Origin Card In it?

Lriley777 - Tcgplayer has a tendency to hang for 5-10 minutes when 'optimizing', unfortunately. I really have no clue why that function is so particularly slow.

For the upgrades section, what would you advise replacing?

Lriley777 - Most likely the transmute cards (i.e. Brainspoil, Dimir Machinations) for actual tutors like Liliana Vess and/or Beseech the Queen.

Pestilence, Divine Reckoning and such are better replaced by unconditional wraths and life loss enablers like Toxic Deluge.

Necrologia and Greed should be replaced with Necropotence and Erebos, God of the Dead, or a card similar in concept.

Sun Titan / Reanimate can replace the cheaper recursion effects such as Mine Excavation.

Disenchant/Spot removal can be replaced with far more encompassing cards like Utter End/Vindicate.

Orzhov Guildmage/Underworld Coinsmith are gimme cards that offset life totals. They can really be replaced by anything, but I'd personally add in something like Exquisite Blood to complete another combo. Otherwise, most likely better replaced with removal of some sort.

I think that about covers the basics. I usually aim for "LOWER COST + HIGHER IMPACT" when upgrading decks. Anyway, if you're curious about any specific cards - feel free to hit me up.

Ive tried out both versions of the deck now, and I feel that I am left wide open for creatures to hit me in 1v1 matches for commander, However noone really expects the life draining that eliminates the board in FFA.

With the modifications is was similar, but I was able to get the combo out faster, so I took less life to do so.

Thanks for the idea! I won 3 Path to Exile in a row on 3 FNM's. The deck is great.

Wait, how does Selenia work? I am putting this together and like the idea immensely, I am just struggling to understand her.

justchill4xe - I'll use the words of Shutupandjive, as he explained this nicely to another user with the same question.

"That ability means that when Selenia, Dark Angel is in play, you can use it's ability to bounce it back to your hand, paying two life. While that card is being bounced to your hand, you can use it's own ability again to act before the original ability.

So basically in magic, when abilities are activated, they go on a stack, and the latest ability or spell activated comes into effect first. So in using Selenia's ability, you can use it over and over to burn your life total 2 at a time, and you can choose how much damage to deal. So say you start on 40 life, and use Selenia's ability 19 times, and bring your life down to 2.

Basically just tell people you're using it's ability to bring your life down to whatever number you choose"

trashpile Thanks!!

Is there an easy way to see how much this deck would cost "foiled out"? If there isn't I could enter each card in 1 by 1 but im' just curious.

kengiczar - I did an estimate out of humor. It would cost you about $130-140.

If you excluded high cost cards (over $5) like Temple of the False God, Necrologia, Greed and Phyrexian Reclamation, the total comes out to about $90-$98.

Considering how well the deck plays for $20.00 that's phenomenal. I'm going to order this up along with some "upgrades" so that if my brother starts really liking MTG I can later surprise him @ Christmas time this year. Something like Yosei, the Morning Star would really tickle his fancy as he's a huge dragon fan and help him combo. And if he doesn't like it? Then I have a great new deck to train people on and hopefully create a resurgeance in 1v1 commander. (It's all group play no which is fine, but the competitive scene at my LGS died with the lack of interest in 1v1.)

Thanks again for the sweet deck tech.

what is the point of the mirroden's core? I've experimented with it in other decks and found it the absolute slowest land you can use and seems a little unneeded for only two colors.

This is a fun deck, nicely done. The grand cost to pick up the half of the deck I didn't already have on MTGO - 1 tix. Can't beat that for value.

I think I understand how most of the win-cons are supposed to work in this, but I'm a newer player and I'm still a little confused about how the stack works with life-swapping and some cards' activated abilities. Do I want to (or, can I) swap life totals and then in response drain my life to or below 1? Can I gain life and then use Vizkopa Guildmage's second ability in response to that? Would you mind running through a scenario or two? Thanks!

Sun_Tail_Hawk - It's a matter of use/opinion. I don't mind waiting a turn for colored mana, but this allows me to tap immediately for a colorless if needed. Given the structure of this deck, it's alright mana fixing for the speed that it is usually played at. That being said, I'm sure there are other people who have modified this deck into hyper-efficiency by removing cards like Mirrodin's Core.

rajah - Simply put, both of those scenarios work exactly as you would intend.

Scenario 1 - You put the life-swap on the stack, awesome. Assuming there is no interruption (i.e. somebody casting Counterspell or Stifle, you can respond immediately with the second action of draining your life to 1 or below. If there are no actions taken after this, your life will drain as it is the most recent action placed on the stack. Following this, you will now switch life totals with another player. (And hopefully win.)

Scenario 2 - More or less the same deal. In response to the trigger of gaining life (via a drain card or switching life totals), you can respond to this by activating Vizkopa Guildmage's ability. The ability of Vizkopa Guildmage will resolve, followed by the action of gaining life. (Once again, hopefully leading to victory.)

To summarize, you've got the basics of the stack down. It works exactly how you're thinking!

Also, general update while I'm making a comment here. I've noticed the price of the deck slowly crawl up (most likely a few dollars above $20 even when optimized in the tcgplayer cart). I'm going to wait until the release of Commander 2015 as they are printing a BW deck that may have crucial reprints that will lower the deck's cost and/or new cards in general.

Based on reading the deck description, Priest of the Blood Rite would be absolutely amazing in here.

How does this deck go in multilayer matches, it looks cool thinking of building.

What do you think of Ob Nixilis Reignited being in this deck? I traded for one a while ago and really dont have a good place for him.

jjarmst - As said before, it works surprisingly well. It's main resilience factor is the fact that taking damage is less of a concern and, in fact, plays right into your win condition. (Sorry for the late response!)

cinubae - Ob Nixilis Reignited would be awesome here! I'm running it in my Horobi, Death's Wail deck and it has everything I could ask for. The main factors for this deck are, though:

• It can offset your life by 1 and also consistently draw you cards.
• At the very worst, it is a sorcery speed removal spell.
• The ultimate basically plays right into the win condition if you manage to drain your opponent down!

All around, a very solid card for this setup.

I know it's a slight bit over budget (possibly can have it as an upgrade), but Worship could help with the Near-Death Experience win-con :)

I'm trying to buy this de k but tcg is saying it's 68 dollars? Have you recently looked at the pricing?

I like this deck iam New to EDH but this deck is so fun to play also i added a Obzedat, Ghost Council an it so funny :D