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Still Better than Dan Brown...

Commander / EDH Aggro Angels Demons RBW (Mardu)

loricatuslupus

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Land (33)

Enchantment (5)

Creature (30)

Sorcery (7)

Commander (1)

Commander: Kaalia of the Vast

Artifact (15)

Instant (8)

Planeswalker (1)

Maybeboard

Creature (15)

Land (5)

Sorcery (10)

Artifact (5)

Instant (8)

Enchantment (5)

Planeswalker (4)

Kaalia of the Vast Likes: Angels, Demons, haste. Dislikes: Containment Priest, blue mages. While she may not be the most exciting or combo-y commander ever - out, swing, get a thing - she was my first. A nice guy gave me a copy of the oversized version when I was still new to MTG so I immediately grabbed everything I could find that was angel-shaped and welded it into a deck. To start with I still lost quite a lot due to inexperience and less than optimum cards but now, many years later, the deck is finally at a reasonably competitive level in terms of both mana base and EPIC LEGENDARY CREATURES. Plus the Judge foils look damn fine even when I am losing, usually to legitimate top-tier decks that think it's funny that anyone who can't outright win by turn three calls themselves competitive.

Creatures

The most important part of any Kaalia deck because your game plan revolves around being able to cheat them out early, then on them being strong enough to win the game through beatdown. You may notice that I've not really bothered with any dragons and stuck with Angels and Demons, with the reason for this being twofold: I also run a Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck (see BURNINATION HAS FORSAKEN THE COUNTRYSIDE!) which has pinched them all along with her Quicksilver Amulet; and I found they needed more support or had very mana-intensive abilities. Firebreathing does not pair well with destroying your own lands! Most of the creatures I have are mainly about doing at least 5 damage on the turn they come out, preferably alongside some other advantage like an ETB trigger or simply looking scarier than Kaalia herself (who then can live to bring another one out next turn). I don't mind if they die so long as they have an impact and force someone to waste a spell. While each bomb is usually strong enough to be a threat alone there's a nice little combo in Burning-Rune Demon + Razaketh, the Foulblooded + Reya Dawnbringer , which provides repeatable tutoring for multiple cards every turn. Then there's the instant kill from Master of Cruelties and Kaalia against someone with no flying blockers. Tempted by Blade of Selves for this guy but as many of my other creatures are legendary they wouldn't be improved by Myriad, and I can't justify the inclusion of a potential dead draw here. Finally there's Grand Abolisher to make sure noone messes with our plans and Magus of the Moat because everyone knows the only thing better than a moat is another moat.

Support Bling

The artifacts and enchantments section started life being full of funky flavour with cards like Moonsilver Spear and Elbrus, the Binding Blade   but in the end I had to accept that without Green or Blue what the deck needed most was mana fixing/acceleration and protection for Kaalia so it got (reluctantly) phased out apart from the two swords. The Talismans are there to reliably ramp out Kaalia and have advantages over Signets - especially after a Ravages of War - while the life loss is negligible. I also don't run Quicksilver Amulet as without card draw a duplicate ability is worth less than recasting Kaalia if she gets removed, and doing that still usually costs less than the eight required to play and activate the amulet. Strionic Resonator has some other potential applications and is cheaper so will stay for now. Reconnaissance is a low CMC way to sneak Kaalia in past flying blockers, and is especially spicy with her as it can be activated after damage has been dealt, so both she and the creatures she cheats out can untap once they've battered someone for pseudo-vigilance. Phyrexian Arena and Necropotence give us some extra draw to keep the pressure on. I also have a Moat. Not much to say here: I got very lucky acquiring that and my duals before things went a bit insane pricewise and I'm extremely grateful to own such a lovely piece of Magic history.

Other Spells

Most of these are either tutors or removal of some kind. Spot removal is my preference, with Austere Command as a back-up in case things get out of hand or I need to work around hexproof. I have slowly phased out most other board wipes as the mana cost is prohibitive for a deck that wants to be threatening to win rather than resetting the board, especially if I've blown up my lands. Then there are the land destruction spells which become incredibly unfair if you still have Kaalia getting stuff out for free or have Avacyn, Angel of Hope/Boros Charm protecting yours. I usually ask if people are ok with running these before a game, and if not count them as Day of Judgment/Wrath of God - another reason I don't run those as well. Despite being disliked by many players, I have found Aurelia's Fury to be a surprisingly versatile spell that can both open the way for a kill and mean you don't have to worry about combat tricks on a crucial turn.

Lands

These are pretty much what you'd expect, with all the fanciest Mardu dual/fetch/shock/filter lands plus some that can make any colour and enter untapped. Backing those up are utility lands such as Volrath's Stronghold, Maze of Ith (which can be used on Kaalia) and Strip Mine/Wasteland for those Gaea's Cradles. I tried Hall of the Bandit Lord but personally don't rate it: entering tapped is too much of a downside considering it doesn't make coloured mana, and I need mana in the first couple of turns to play rocks or tutor up Lightning Greaves for the same effect. Normally I like to run about 35 lands in a commander deck but I've found 33 to be acceptable here given the proliferation of cheap rocks combined with multiple tutors, and although our game plan is primarily to cheat out the higher CMC stuff Wizards has provided us with some cheaper Angels/Demons in recent sets so hard-casting those is an option.

Cast Kaalia. Quickly. While I do prefer to wait until I've got something like Swiftfoot Boots out, sometimes you just have to take a chance and play aggressively. Using a tutor to fetch a mana rock or Cavern of Souls is rarely a bad move. Once Kaalia is out, you might as well accept that you will be Archenemy, so revel in it! Amassing an army of huge flyers is good news for exactly none of your opponents, especially as you HAVE to attack someone in order to get them on the field. That's when you play Armageddon. At the end of the day, simply playing this deck makes you a target even when the pod includes a Merieke Ri Berit set to untap twice per turn while stealing two things each time and Atraxa Superfriends with Doubling Season. Players will get all salty about universal land destruction because it stopped them being able to win next turn even if they've shut down every other option you had. Ok, so I might be a bit salty from that one time too. Basically, if you want to play with Kaalia expect an not-unreasonable amount of hate and correspondingly having to play nasty. At this point the deck is pretty powerful though, to the point where I normally prefer to play with something more enjoyable for everyone else or lend it to a new player who can enjoy massive angels without knowing how to pilot it super effectively.

There are still a couple of the legendary angels which could be "better" creatures but to be honest I'm happy with the composition of the deck at this point, so mostly I'm just looking for bling now. Once I've, uh, paid off the Mox Diamond and that Moat anyway...

If you've got any questions or suggestions I'd be happy to hear them, always love the way this community finds me amazing cards I've never heard of!

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Banned and Restricted plus M20 — July 9, 2019
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Well, Iona, Shield of Emeria is gone. Honestly, I am surprised at this ban: while she had the potential to essentially lock out one player - assuming they're mono-colour - this almost never happened. Most EDH decks are multicolour, so what she usually became was a lightning rod for everyone's removal or an unnecessary "win more" card. I get that the interaction with Painter'a Servant could be too oppressive but I just can't see any decks playing both on the off-chance you get them out. The Servant enables some far more interesting and janky combos, plus Millstone is way easier to cast! Fortunately I needed to decide on a card to swap out for Vilis, Broker of Blood so that's helpful. This guy is just amazing, with dedicated card draw and removal on a decent body. There's also Sephara, Sky's Blade to consider, as while there is no way I'm going to use my creatures to pay for her alternate caring cost her functioning as a back-up Avacyn is extremely good.

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Casual

97% Competitive

Date added 6 years
Last updated 4 days
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

45 - 0 Mythic Rares

46 - 0 Rares

5 - 0 Uncommons

1 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.82
Tokens Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Emblem Serra the Benevolent, Morph 2/2 C, Spirit 1/1 C
Folders Kaalia ideas, Kaalia, Mardu Ideas, Commander
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