Carnage Altar or Altar of Dementia?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on June 20, 2021, 10:42 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
In both my red/white/black and black/white/green EDH decks, I have a copy of Well of Lost Dreams , because I thought that that card would be very profitable for those decks, as they each contain the two best colors at gaining life, but, since those decks are not dedicated to gaining life, I am planning to replace them with different cards, and I currently am deciding between Carnage Altar and Altar of Dementia , because both cards are sacrifice outlets for the creatures that the generals of those decks can steal.
Carnage Altar is closer to the well in terms of function, but Altar of Dementia costs less mana and also can put more creatures into my opponents' graveyards for me to take, which is obviously appealing.
What does everyone else say about this? Which card should replace Well of Lost Dreams in those decks?
multimedia says... #3
Hey, sac outlets that cost no mana to activate are overall better than ones that cost mana. 3 mana to sac one creature and draw one card is a lot. Your Teneb deck is better than the other one so I will focus on that one.
Altar of Dementia gives you repeatable self-mill and/or opponent mill and being able to choose either one is versatile. Currently you're only using the strategy of reanimating your opponent's creatures with Teneb, but by adding self-mill such as Altar then you can abuse Teneb other ways by reanimating your own creatures.
Plaguecrafter , Demon's Disciple and Fleshbag Marauder can do work as sac outlets since they make all your opponents sac a creature, if they have one. They can sac themselves which gets them into your graveyard to reanimate and potentially repeat.
June 21, 2021 1:50 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
seshiro_of_the_orochi, I like the suggestion, so I shall definitely consider it (ironically, I opened an Immersturm Predator from a Kaldheim pack, but I traded it, because I did not need it at that time; thankfully, however, it is an inexpensive card, so it shall not be difficult to obtain another one), and, actually, the predator is another sacrifice outlet for creatures that I steal from my opponents.
multimedia, yes, your advice is very sound, so I shall choose Altar of Dementia , since the fact that its ability costs no mana to activate is quite appealing.
June 21, 2021 7:41 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
I actually just realized that I did not have Well of Lost Dreams in my red/white/black deck, so I cannot put the altar in that deck, but I shall still replace Pestilence Demon with Immersturm Predator .
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #2
I've looked at both decks and left a suggestion at Tariel.
Regarding your question here: If you want to put thevsame card in both decks, I think Altar of Dementia is the stronger choice. Your commanders both gain value out of opposing graves. Looking more onto the details, I think Dementia is correct for Teneb, while I'd argue for Carnage in Tariel. The reasoning is linked to my suggestion: Immersturm Predator mitigates the randomness of Tariel's ability by exiling creatures you don't want to reanimate so only the prime targets are left. With dementia, you'll propably put tons of creatures into opponent's graveyards, which will usually decrease Tariel's chances of hitting something big. So Altar of carnage or maybe even Spawning Pit might be a better sac outlet.
June 21, 2021 12:51 a.m.