Balvron Thanks, man! Happy to help, really.

So the core of the / presence in the deck should be devoted to Dorks, Ramp and Tutors so that you can quickly get the deck engine up and running. Getting your commander on the field and geared up as quickly as possible is everything in this new context. Some cheaper options for Tutors are Diabolic Tutor, Profane Tutor, Mastermind's Acquisition and Increasing Ambition. I'd really recommend just biting the bullet and slotting in the more efficient ones like Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Intent & Wishclaw Talisman though. Cheaper card draw options like Phyrexian Arena & Dark Tutelage are also pretty solid. Necropotence, Black Market Connections & Dark Confidant are up there, but worth it.

The only thing you need for is for card draw and interaction, with a few key Proliferate pieces that you'll be able to Tutor for when the time is right. Spells like Brainstorm, Ponder, Tolarian Winds, Impulse, Preordain & Serum Visions provide decent gas for cheap. Classics like Counterspell, Delay, Negate, & Dispel protect your game plan. Flux Channeler & Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus are probably the only Proliferate pieces you'll need, but I'd Throw a Serum Snare in there too. Mystical Tutor, Rhystic Study & Mystic Remora are always nice to have as well.

The few things you'll need for here is to Tutor up gear for your Commander with cards like Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Steelshaper's Gift & Open the Armory, and occasionally control the board with Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile. I'd also recommend some Stax pieces like Silence, Grand Abolisher, Smothering Tithe, Esper Sentinel, Archivist of Oghma & Drannith Magistrate for good measure, & some more Commander protection with Mother of Runes & Giver of Runes.

Some good pieces of gear to retrieve slap on could be Swiftfoot Boots, Mask of Memory, Conqueror's Flail, Bone Sabres & Mask of the Schemer, for example.

drader Hey man! So here are my suggestions:

Number one, I think you need way more mana dorks. Arbor Elf, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Elvish Mystic,Elves of Deep Shadow & Deathrite Shaman are all great options. Other cards like Farseek, Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Dark Ritual & Culling the Weak are also always great to have access to.

It looks like you need a bit more card draw as well, I'd recommend Necropotence, Dark Confidant, Dark Tutelage, Ad Nauseam, Toski, Bearer of Secrets & Scroll Rack.

I know they can get expensive, but a few Tutors are essential for a smooth game plan. A few cheaper options are Diabolic Tutor, Profane Tutor, Time of Need, Beseech the Queen & Shared Summons. Diabolic Intent & Worldly Tutor are also relatively cheap due to recent print runs.

Metallic Mimic could also work wonders here, allowing your Snake tokens to host more -1/-1 counters, helping the deck power itself. Young Wolf accomplishes something similar.

Let me know how you feel about these recommendations!

Balvron Glad to help!

Personally, I'd stick with the one you're using and just keep the inclusion of and at a minimum for utility, but if you wanted to stay strictly in / for simplicity I'd go with something like Yargle and Multani for a more straightforward build style....as long as you don't get too distracted by the additional colors, though, Atraxa, Praetors' Voice will be objectively more powerful in every way!

Balvron Welcome back to the game! As I'm sure you know, a lot has changed.

So, my personal deck building philosophy these days is to decide how the deck is going to win with specific cards and work backwards from there, filling in the rest of the deck with the means to win with those specific cards (ramp, draw, tutors, etc.)

I'll get straight to the point, I think a better approach would be to use your access to 4 colors to quickly Tutor up gear for Atraxa, Praetors' Voice such as Phyresis, Grafted Exoskeleton and Swiftfoot Boots as the backbone of your infect strategy. Cards like Enlightened Tutor, Steelshaper's Gift & Open the Armory can help with that. There are also a lot of tutors in Black like Diabolic Tutor and Grim Tutor that can get you where you're trying to go.

I'd also Include a high density of mana dorks like Bloom Tender & Llanowar Elves since you're in Green. That, along with a decent number of mana rocks like Sol Ring & Arcane Signet will help you get your commander out in the early game, as well as allow you to cut down on lands to between 29-35, depending on the numbers.

Blue cantrips like Ponder, Brainstorm & Preordain are great. Enchantments or Artifacts like Dark Tutelage, Phyrexian Arena & Scroll Rack could also work here.

As for proliferation, I'd recommend cards like Flux Channeler, Inexorable Tide, Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, Viral Drake & Thrummingbird. There are also control options like Serum Snare, Reject Imperfection & Brokers Confluence.

Strionic Resonator & Lithoform Engine might pass playtesting, but maybe not idk!

Cheers!

TheRevelator (The first pile you'd want to go for in this particular iteration is Razaketh, the Foulblooded and Reanimate tho!)

TheRevelator It's way more comfortable with a reanimator package than without, I gotta say. This brew is way more susceptible to Stax as a result, though...Thanks again for your insight!

TheRevelator Definitely liking the lines off of Rune-Scarred Demon and Hoarding Broodlord, classic Kaalia vibes. I think I was running Dualcaster Mage + Twinflame in my 1st iteration of the deck but ended up cutting it in favor of more flavor. Not necessarily the best choice as they're both just great cards on their own, especially Twinflame in this context, but there have been enough cards printed for Kaalia since then to where she hasn't lost much speed from the cut.

I saw that you're running Saw in Half in your build, and it seems like a banger. If I can manage to find space for the Recruiters again, I don't think I'll have a legitimate excuse to not run it myself.

Also, how do you feel about Burning-Rune Demon? I've seen a fair amount of Kaalia players cut it nonchalantly, but I've found that it basically acts as a pseudo Intuition depending on what you Tutor up with it, which is a big deal imo.

TheRevelator Yeah, I ended up finding space for Hoarding Broodlord and Restoration Angel by cutting Imperial Recruiter and Recruiter of the Guard for better flavor and synergy! Easy choice once I realized, although I would love to find room for the recruiters in the future.

Ashnod's Altar and Disciple of the Vault are both part of one of this deck's Razaketh lines in addition to their other utility, but I admittedly would not be running them otherwise. The steps are as follows:

1. Cheat Razaketh into play via Kaalia

2. Sac Kaalia to Tutor for Dockside

3. Sack Dockside to Tutor for Reanimate (or Animate Dead/Necromancy)

4. Reanimate + Sac Dockside to Tutor for Corpse Dance

5. Corpse Dance + Sac Dockside twice to Tutor for Altar and Disciple

6. Loop it up!

Or you can just go with the Razakats strat if the aforementioned plan goes to pot.

Heavily considering Shadow-Rite Priest as another cheap piece that can activate the winning lines by sacrificing Kaalia and taking her place in the 1st step, but it's lack of Haste is a real downside.

Pretty convoluted, I know lol

TheRevelator Oh man, that's great news, I'm gonna have to slot Master of Cruelties into my own build then. I remember it being a major point of contention for Kaalia players for a bit, but if it triggers on the declare blockers step instead of the declare attackers step like I thought...that's amazing lol.

I've been trying to find room for Hoarding Broodlord since it's release, but I can't quite decide what to cut. Would you be willing to give my list a look and give some recommendations?

Cheers!