The Coat of Harms [w/ Primer]
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 7 | 2 COMMENTS | 939 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Final Revision — Holy Mother of Changelogs! —July 21, 2024
WAVE 1
The change I always thought I could make but was too afraid to try: removing the explosive equipment. If the deck no longer has the 4 equipment that keep one-shotting people, then it has to win by grinding out combat over longer periods of time. That's exactly what I want. The deck is now more transparent about when and how it wins, which makes it friendlier to casual tables without compromising its steamlined performance.
Colossus Hammer --> Bloodforged Battle-Axe
Bloodforged Battle-Axe provides a massively snowballing win-condition, now that the deck tries to win over multiple turns of combat. Emphasis on "massively." This card gets so out of hand that I am suprised I ever convinced myself it would be inconsistent and greedy.
Blackblade Reforged --> Tarrian's Soulcleaver
I thought Tarrian's Soulcleaver would fill a similar role of a "growing" threat, while removing that instant, one-shotting power that Blackblade has in the late game.
Sting, the Glinting Dagger --> Swiftfoot Boots
Embercleave --> Lightning Greaves
The Boots are back, both of them. After removing them in a previous update, I am back to say that I missed them dearly. Gwyn still attracts lots of removal, especially with opponents that know my deck and aren't just trying to slow down my equips, but also trying to stop me from drawing cards and having the constant gas to grind the game out.
Glimmer Lens --> Argentum Armor
I have a bad history when it comes to this deck's consistency, which I tried to make up for with a high density of card draw that wasn't reliant on Gwyn. I've both better tuned the deck since those early days and grown as a pilot, which means I can more reliably use Gwyn and/or one of those card draw sources to meet my needs. I only need to draw one extra card per turn to keep up with casting one spell per turn, and now I have the experience to confidently state that the current amount is enough—that we don't need so much when the Commander provides some. Argentum Armor provides a new kind of finisher. If it goes unanswered for a couple turns, I will have likely gained enough advantage to guarantee my victory, meaning it represents a way for me to close the game faster when I'm indefinitely grinding out combats.
Path to Exile --> Armory Paladin
Swords to Plowshares --> Skyhunter Skirmisher
I'm hesitant to cut two efficient pieces of removal, but this deck does well against most creature strategies, with specific tech against the ones that go-wide (the type it struggles against). So in my recent games, these cards have been sitting in my hand for long periods of time, with Path to Exile even being used as ramp. As for Armory Paladin, I realize that just took out Glimmer Lens, so there's an irony to adding back in a source of Card Advantage, but Armory Paladin is also too good of an equipment bearer for me to pass up on compressing deck slots. (3-Mana 3/3 is an excellent rate for Knights, and it gets TRAMPLE!) Skyhunter Skirmisher makes a return for being one of the best performing bearers out of old creatures that I've cut from the deck.
WAVE 2
Once Bloomburrow releases, I'll also add in the cards below. For now though, they are already listed as in the decklist.
Minas Tirith --> Monumental Henge
Demolition Field --> Arena of Glory
While I accepted the potential inconsistency of Minas Tirith's activation condition, I've gotten sick of it coming in tapped. Monumental Henge will enter untapped more frequently (since my deck is already built to accomodate checklands), AND it comes with an even more powerful/deck-relevant digging effect. Arena of Glory is coming in as well just to complete the trio of mono-colored check lands (alongside Castle Locthwain), especially because I want to put in an extra colored land to help with this deck's greedy color demands. But, its mana-neutral Haste effect will likely still have relevant fringe cases.
Search for Glory --> White Orchid Phantom
Thalia's Lancers --> Shrike Force
As strange as it might sound, I think I have enough equipment in the deck. If I count tutors as equipment slots, then I could remove these two and still have about 1/4 odds of drawing an equipment. If every 4th card is a knight and then an equipment, then I believe we have we almost the perfect odds to get at least one pairing for every game. (Only way we could improve it is by somehow hitting the true target number of 30/99 for both categories.) While I really like these two as budget tutor options, they are admittedly the weakest options in the list, because they have a more restricted pool of targets than my equipment tutors. This is also why I've been adding more creatures (to reach 25/99 for those 1-in-4 odds), like Skyhunter Skirmisher above. So that said, we're adding the brand new Shrike Force, which is a strict upgrade on the already well-performing Skyhunter Skirmisher. Finally, we're adding in White Orchid Phantom. Like Armory Paladin, it's a creature with an incredible combination of on-rate stats, good keywords, and then it STILL has extra utilty on top of that! White Orchid Phantom is the reason I was comfortable changing Demolition Field out for a colored land.
Stormfist Crusader --> Scurrilous Sentry
Because of my prior comments about having enough card draw, a looting effect is just as good for this deck as Stormfist Crusader's group draw. It has similar traits as a 2-power knight with Menace, but Sentry has the benefit of being a growing threat in exchange for it's higher mana cost. Even then, its cost of 4 mana will even out my deck's curve a little more.
MANA
Lastly, becasue I expect this version of the deck to stick for a while, I am inspecting my mana more closely. If I include the nonland stuff (e.g. my mana rocks), I have more than enough sources of each color. However, while red and black have almost the same representation in the deck (10:9), my black cards have greedier pip demands, as seen in Vorpal Sword and the multiple cards that require . If I don't need more than just one for a game, then I'm slightly increasing my black sources.
Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep --> Swamp