Alela, Artful Provocateur

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

After playing this general in Brawl, I realized I really liked the idea of the commander even though the deck kind of sucked. I think she allows for an interesting take on the colors and allows for a swarm type of deck rather than control. And, offers a little bit of Voltron type playstyle due to the number of artifacts and enchantments she wants in the deck.

Here is my main list for now:

Approximate Total Cost:

And then here are my "maybe" cards. Some of these are in the deck that I am thinking of cutting and some are ones I am thinking of adding.

Maybe

Potential Adds

1 Helm of the Ghastlord

1 Erebos, God of the Dead

1 Unquestioned Authority

1 Sleeper's Robe

1 Spirit Mantle

1 Arguel's Blood Fast

1 Curiosity

1 Curious Obsession

Potential Cuts

1 Sword of Truth and Justice

1 Sword of Light and Shadow

1 Sword of Sinew and Steel

1 Sigil of the Empty Throne

1 Plains

1 Island

Approximate Total Cost:

I currently have 38 lands but I am likely going to cut 2 lands since I seem to get flooded quite often. The Swords are probably going to come out due to Protection actually being very bad for the way the deck works. The only Sword I would include is the Green/Red Sword and it hasn't been printed yet. Sigil is just very high on mana cost and I have found that Alela gets me the army I want anyway.

Some of the adds are solely for card draw since I have been finding myself in spots where I have very few cards in hand. In one instance, I drew 4 or 5 lands in a row and copying someone else's Arguel's Blood Fast was the only reason I got out of it. Which is also why that card is being slotted in.

Overall, the idea is to just cast Auras and Equipment to give me an army and then beat down with them as much as possible. I have a few anthem effects to make my army stronger and I really want to be able to cast a couple spells each turn so a low curve is preferable to high cost, high impact cards.

This is definitely a work in progress and I am having a fun time playing the deck so far. I had built it for a "league" we are doing but that never really got off the ground so I am now trying to make it into a better version without any restrictions.

Post by **pokken** » 4 years ago

You and I have disturbingly similar taste in commanders

I would give some thought to a few generic pieces of stuff that's great with Alela:

And also consider some enchantment/artifact type removal that's very solid with her:

And some of the bounce enchantments:

I do think that the swords are going to be exceptional with Alela, and batterskull should be very good.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

I hadn't thought of Copter, but I do like it. Mirrormade is one I thought of before too and just never got it since I am trying to get a good price on the Borderless version. Military Intelligence also seems good.

I am not sold on Leyline. And Favorable Winds was in the first iteration and I took it out since it is "just" a buff and I don't like that as much. I actually cut the creature based buffs for now as well so I am going to see if I really miss them. With Alela, Sorin, and Serra, I think that is enough to really go big. Maybe it would make sense to still have the Winds just because it is an enchantment though. I will think on it.

Overburden makes sense but holy cow is it expensive. I might just skip over it due to price for now.

The enchantment based removals aren't too bad. I haven't really figured out the removal suite in this deck yet so those might come in later if I feel I need more.

I like Flickering Ward and Conviction a lot so I might try to find a place for them. The Swords have, so far, been pretty hit or miss. They are great in general, but cause my Auras to fall off (or not be able to put them on to begin with) so that is why I am looking at cutting them, I have had a couple games where a certain line I wanted was thwarted because of the Swords. Batterskull probably should be in the deck though.

Post by **pokken** » 4 years ago

Yeah I can see the swords being an issue with the auras. They're also quite expensive tempo-wise (5 mana to get on someone is a lot!).

With your commander being a creature buff, and 2/1's getting the job done so fast I can see the point in not running too many buffs too.

I think I would try flickering ward first since it's the most efficient, and then if it's good adding one or more others.

riptide chimera is another engine guy I forgot. Pretty efficient and lets you bounce itself before sweeping if you need to.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

I played this deck last night and it worked out very well. I don't remember who the opposing generals were but it was a 3 person game.

I got down Alela on turn 4 and I was able to keep up a steady string of blockers with my tokens. I then got Alela suited up with Swiftfoot Boots which pretty much prevented her from being removed.

I never really got any of the new cards I added (the ones in the Potential Adds column above) but I was able to keep things going with the cards I did get. One of the biggest plays I had was casting Merciless Eviction to clear the board of a massive pile of creatures from one opponent and then casting Alela again the next turn to keep things moving.

Towards the end, I ended up with her having Boots, Sage's Reverie, and Eidolon of Countless Battles attached to her. I also got a Hammer of Nazahn on her. The one player was able to rebuild a massive army again but I was able to use Saving Grace to blank the attack. I put it onto a token the first couple time so it would go to the graveyard and I could get it back with Hall of Heliod's Generosity and then, the last time, I attached it to Alela to make sure they couldn't remove the target in response.

This tactic worked to stall my opponent while I still got to attack in the air with my general. I ended up winning with Commander Damage which is something rare for me

Nothing really stood out for changes to make for now. I am picking up the cards pokken mentioned in case I want to fight a place for them. I am liking the deck so far and it plays quite a bit differently than any of my other decks so it helps to diversify my lineup so to speak.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

I got another game in with this deck and it showed the ridiculous power of Skullclamp. I basically cast Auras and Equipment to create tokens to then 'Clamp to draw cards and just used Alela to beat down. I did get down Bitterblossom on turn two as well so that gave me even more fodder for drawing.

I got Alela equipped with Darksteel Plate and one of my "protection from creatures" auras to make her unblockable. And just kept swinging in. I think she was killed once at one point, but I rebuilt reasonably well after that to end up winning the game.

I would go into more details, but it has been a couple days so I don't remember everything about the matchup. Also, there wasn't much more to it than "Clamp tokens; draw cards; swing with Alela" which was obviously plenty.

I do know I want Stoneforge Mystic in this deck at some point. I have been holding off for a couple reasons but, with the inclusion of Skullclamp and some of the stuff Umezawa's Jitte did for me, I will likely get her added soon. She just gets too much stuff, and potentially increases the consistency of the deck to such a degree that I don't think I want her excluded. Alela isn't necessarily an oppressive, or overpowered deck (I think she is kind of fragile as a lot of Voltron strategies are) so increasing consistency isn't a bad thing here.

Tevesh · Post by **Tevesh** » 4 years ago

You already have lifelink so Loxodon Warhammer doesn't seem like a good add; I would recommend Sword of Vengeance. You have deathtouch, which combos with the trample; vigilance so you can block and first strike to make yourself one hell of a roadblock.

When I was dicking around with a build, I added Gossamer Chains. It doesn't have to be your attack, so I frequently would at end of combat bounce it to get an extra play. It's what I did with my Daxos the Returned deck. You can probably rummage through mine and Rumpy's decks for some B/W technology.

Another Enchantment I put in my dicking around build was Fanatical Devotion which is just another way to protect Alela and could be serious dirty pool with cards like Grave Pact.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

Tevesh wrote: ↑
4 years ago
You already have lifelink so Loxodon Warhammer doesn't seem like a good add; I would recommend Sword of Vengeance. You have deathtouch, which combos with the trample; vigilance so you can block and first strike to make yourself one hell of a roadblock.

That is good. Warhammer was mostly for the Trample but the +3/+0 was a good add too. But, Sword, with the same costs, seems to do a lot more even with the cost of losing a single power. Haste and Vigilance in particular are definitely worth losing out on that single point of power.

When I was dicking around with a build, I added Gossamer Chains. It doesn't have to be your attack, so I frequently would at end of combat bounce it to get an extra play. It's what I did with my Daxos the Returned deck. You can probably rummage through mine and Rumpy's decks for some B/W technology.

This is certainly another option for a reusable enchantment. I think I like Flickering Ward more as it is the same cost but I can cast it a couple times each turn where Chains is (generally) limited to once per turn. And, I haven't added in either Flickering Ward or Conviction yet, so I am not sold on the idea of it yet anyway. But, it is a good call out.

Another Enchantment I put in my dicking around build was Fanatical Devotion which is just another way to protect Alela and could be serious dirty pool with cards like Grave Pact.

I don't have, nor do I plan to run things like Grave Pact, but Fanatical Devotion could be a decent add. I will keep an eye on things and see if I feel it would be worthwhile. I think with all the other auras and equipment to protect her, Regenerating her might not be all that relevant in most cases. But, it probably would be good so I will keep it in mind.

Tevesh · Post by **Tevesh** » 4 years ago

WizardMN wrote: ↑
4 years ago
Another Enchantment I put in my dicking around build was Fanatical Devotion which is just another way to protect Alela and could be serious dirty pool with cards like Grave Pact.
I don't have, nor do I plan to run things like Grave Pact, but Fanatical Devotion could be a decent add. I will keep an eye on things and see if I feel it would be worthwhile. I think with all the other auras and equipment to protect her, Regenerating her might not be all that relevant in most cases. But, it probably would be good so I will keep it in mind.

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Regeneration has been phased out of the game for what, ten years? Kill spells at these point Exile or Destroy. The only time I get messed up with a "Cannot Be Regenerated"-clause is from Rout. What kill spells do you see in your metas have "Bury"?

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

Well, Wrath of God and Damnation are still seen quite a bit. Especially with Wrath of God being relatively cheap. And Toxic Deluge is seen a bit as well. It is actually the only mass removal spell I play in this deck due to how efficient it is.

But, I didn't mean to suggest that Regeneration isn't always relevant because of things that stop me from regenerating. I meant that it might not be as relevant because of things I already have that stop Alela from being destroyed to begin with. Etchings of the Chosen is almost the same thing but gives a buff on top of it. Shielded by Faith, Darksteel Plate and Hammer of Nazahn gives her Indestructible as well. Vanishing allows me to save her if I leave mana up. I have Eel Umbra and Felidar Umbra (they only protect her once, but offer a buff on top of things) to "regenerate" her,

I am not necessarily saying that things like Fanatical Devotion aren't good. The effect is worthwhile and can do a lot to keep Alela around. It is just that I have chosen to go a slightly different route with my "protection" effects. And there is only so much room for defensive effects like this as I still need to be aggressive and try to close out the game.

Perhaps there is an argument that something above should be Fanatical Devotion instead, but I like the cards I have now to protect her and I don't feel it is necessary to add more. Perhaps time will show that I would benefit from it so it is good to know about as an option.

Post by **pokken** » 4 years ago

I just wanted to drop by and give you props for saving grace lol. I won a game against some elves last night due to presenting a hall of heliod's generosity + saving grace loop. my meekstone didn't beat his pump effects.

I've updated my deck quite a bit since last time and will try to get it in there, but I could not believe another card I forgot:

moat

I finally picked one up just for this deck and it's pretty stellar.

------------------------------------------------

re: The fanatical devotion

I try to almost never play cards that are just kill in EDH. Because of all these kinds of effects out there to beat destruction. I run:

That kinda stuff.

Protecting Alela, I would spend almost zero calories on something that doesn't do a lot more than just regenerate. So far my plan is:

1) Counterspells, oblivion ring effects, my own theft effects and spellskite for dealing with non-destruction targeted removal (theft, sac, exile); I have a bit of a gap with things like Swords/Path but generally I'll save a counterspell for those. Alela protects against edicts on her own, so if you're playing against a dictate deck you just do that.

note: spellstutter sprite and spell queller have been great at filling this role while cranking out 2-3 flying power along with them

2) Counterspells and reanimation for dealing with destroying/graveyarding sweepers (BSZ, toxic deluge, etc.)

I think if there were more Oblivion Ring effects that can target our own stuff there might be something to tucking Alela under an O-ring or parallax wave type of thing as a strategy.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

Hey no problem. It looks like you ended up using it almost exactly as I expected it to be used, since it was the same way I used it.

As for Moat, I like it. It would also give me a reason to use one of mine

I am not big into "prison" effects in general, but I think the synergy with the general and her minions, as well as potentially giving me a much needed reprieve from some more aggressive and strong creatures on the ground. It also helps slow the game down when I don't have Alela around as I can just sit and wait for the right time to go off again.

Due to the efficacy of Skullclamp, I am thinking of scaling back the other card draw effects for now. I am thinking of cutting two of them and adding Stoneforge Mystic and Moat. I will see what I can come up with.

I also posted before you finished your post above so another thought: I kind of like Spellskite as a form of protection. I will see how often she is actually targeted. Maybe Spellskite is a worth include as well.

Post by **pokken** » 4 years ago

Yea, with the amount of card draw I have in mine I've been right at the bleeding edge of having enough stuff most games and it's been fun. My card draw suite right now is:

Which so far has been pretty solid but not over the top.

Ephara was one of the recent adds, as she's just a nice chill resilient way to draw a card every turn but sometimes more, and makes a faerie triggering herself the turn she comes out.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

After the excellent discussions above, I have decided to make the following changes. I am also also noting the previous changes I neglected to record:

11/20/19

CUTS

1 Sword of Truth and Justice

1 Sword of Light and Shadow

1 Sword of Sinew and Steel

1 Sigil of the Empty Throne

1 Plains

1 Island

1 Empyrean Eagle

1 Thassa, God of the Sea

1 Thunderclap Wyvern

1 On Serra's Wings

ADDS

1 Arguel's Blood Fast

1 Curiosity

1 Military Intelligence

1 Sleeper's Robe

1 Spirit Mantle

1 Unquestioned Authority

1 Erebos, God of the Dead

1 Skullclamp

1 Helm of the Ghastlord

1 Curious Obsession

Approximate Total Cost:

11/20/19

CUTS

ADDS

1 Spellskite

1 Moat

1 Ephara, God of the Polis

1 Stoneforge Mystic

1 Sword of Vengeance

Approximate Total Cost:

Notably, I added Curious Obsession and am cutting it now. Part of that is due to Skullclamp and, now, Stoneforge Mystic as methods to draw more cards than Obsession would allow. And, since it has a built in way to get rid of itself and offers no evasion, I decided to get rid of that one. Also, the one I ordered never arrived so this way I don't have to order another one.

Warhammer is cut for Sword of Vengeance based on the comments Tevesh made. Also, when going through the cards I was pointing out that offered "protection" to the point I didn't feel regeneration was necessary, I neglected to mention Eldrazi Monument. I realized that this was because this card hasn't really done anything. It is a 5 drop so I don't want to take a turn off to cast it. The buff has, thus far, been irrelevant. And, as pointed out, I have plenty else that provides indestructible or close to it. So, I think it is overkill at this point.

Whitewater Naiads seems to be overkill as well, especially with the latest changes. I seem to have better ways to make Alela effectively unblockable and a 5 drop that does little else isn't necessary. Helm of the Gods is an odd cut. It is very cheap but, for some reason, it seems to do very little most of the time. I know I have a lot of enchantments but more often than not, I seem to have a limited number of them when I have the Helm. Since it is *only* a buff, I figured I could do without it for now.

The inclusions have been discussed prior to this as to why they are being included. I think the additions offer more utility or power compared to the cards being cut.

Post by **pokken** » 4 years ago

Would love to hear specifically how erebos is when you get some games, I almost added him as well since he seems to go great with alela having lifelink

Sword of vengeance is an interesting card that turns alela knto kind of a moat slash propaganda. I was thinking of playing archetype of courage for that but sword giving vigilance also is something near. Blends nicely with her keyword soup for sure.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

Erebos might be high on cost, but the life payment should be close to irrelevant with Alela gaining me life. Interestingly, the "opponents can't gain life" ability might not be super relevant either since I plan on winning with Commander Damage most of the time. But, I like him for being able to attack and not being easily removed. I will be sure to provide an update once I have one.

Yeah, I think the suggestion of swapping Warhammer for the Sword makes a ton of sense. Vigilance being one of the bigger benefits. Haste is good too, but being able to swing and hold back on blocks will likely make a difference.

I had looked at Archetype of Courage before (since it is the only one that grants an ability Alela doesn't already have) and I just felt that First Strike alone wasn't enough. It obviously works great with Deathtouch, but I didn't like taking the slot for it. Sword giving First Strike on top of everything else works out well.

EbonRose · Post by **EbonRose** » 4 years ago

Since you don't seem to be concerned with Faerie tribal, have you considered Divine Visitation? That card gets very silly, very quickly, if you are pumping out tokens.

Also, I saw you said you weren't a huge fan of "just" buffs, which I support, but you may want to consider Intangible Virtue, as giving your team vigilance can really change the combat decisions around the table.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

I hadn't thought of Divine Visitation but I am not sure I like it. It is a 5 drop that takes a bit to cast and doesn't do anything when it enters the field. Now, obviously, if this is left unchecked, it can get out of hand pretty quickly. But, I think a bigger question ends up being "does the deck become that much better with it" and I am not sure it does. I have found myself, more often than not, going all in with Alela herself with the tokens just being used for chump blocking or being able to be "sacrificed" to Skullclamp.

I want to be clear that I think the effect is absolutely worth it in this deck. Making a 5/4 angel with Vigilance and Flying every time I cast an Artifact or Enchantment is powerful to be sure. My concern rests entirely on the mana cost. And, with the exception of 2 cards, nothing is above 4 mana. With that being said, one of those cards might not even be right for this deck. Torrential Gearhulk was added as more of a pet card and one that I liked due to also being an artifact. However, looking at the cards it interacts with, I have 9 Instants with only 7 of those being ones the Gearhulk is actually likely to get. So, I am going to cut Gearhulk for now since it doesn't make much sense anyway. I will try out the Visitation in that slot to see how much that changes the deck. It might still not be worth it, but I am willing to give it a try.

Virtue isn't a bad option either but it just isn't one that I really want to slot in. It doesn't change much and makes my tokens harder to Skullclamp is needed. I also often find that I don't have many tokens at any given point for a variety of reasons. I will watch the next couple games to see if there are situations where having the Virtue makes a difference and I can potentially think about slotting it in then.

Post by **pokken** » 4 years ago

I think if the sequencing worked out so you got a 5/4 angel when you resolved divine visitation it would be a shoe-in for me. As it is, I don't think it's worth it. The chances of casting it and getting it blown up or having to hold off til you can defend it are high. Which is not where either of our builds want to be I think -- we want to just fire and forget our artifacts and enchantments mostly and not play anything that's a massive tempo blowout by being so expensive we can't defend it or afford to lose it.

I had a thought I wanted to run by you totally unrelated --

I have noticed I can chip in for a few damage pretty much constantly, and I was thinking Sygg, river cutthroat might be a reasonable card draw engine. It doesn't trigger Alela, but the mana cost is quite low and he generally goes with the kind of gameplan we want which is to chip shot people and present a board state that is unattractive to attack into, deflecting people to attacking others.

In the abstract I think it's likely to generate more consistent CA than sleeper's robe or curiosity effects, possibly a couple cards a turn if you get it at the right time. But not sure how many engines, and especially how many non-triggering engines, we need to be running.

Post by **ISBPathfinder** » 4 years ago

What do you think about Mox Amber? I have a few decks that operate on a similar axis and the fact that you can free cast it, get mana from it, and make a token for casting it are kind of appealing given it doesn't have card disadvantage. It doesn't get the commander out faster or recast them but it helps tempo some other things behind the commander.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

Agreed on Visitation but I am still willing to try it over the Gearhulk. I am expecting something akin to what you have described, but who knows.

As for Sygg, he is a tough call. We can almost certainly get him to trigger on our turn for the card so, for that, he is just like Curiosity without the added Faerie from Alela. To trigger on other players' turns ends up being dependent on our opponents not attacking us but attacking someone else to get them to lose life. We don't have a way to make sure it triggers on others' turns so it could be hit or miss.

I think the way to look at it is trading off a "guaranteed Faerie and a high chance for a card" for "a high chance for a card and a reasonable chance for 1-3 more cards". So, the question is probably whether losing that Faerie is worth the potential gain in and additional 1-3 cards each turn. And it probably is. He would be so much better if Alela was already 3 power but I think there is a good chance that he can at least always give us a card on our turn.

I would look at Curiosity as the swap if wanted just because Robe at least offers some more evasion to help Alela hit more consistently. I am not sure which way to go exactly, but I can see the merits of Sygg.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote: ↑
4 years ago
What do you think about Mox Amber? I have a few decks that operate on a similar axis and the fact that you can free cast it, get mana from it, and make a token for casting it are kind of appealing given it doesn't have card disadvantage. It doesn't get the commander out faster or recast them but it helps tempo some other things behind the commander.

I think not getting out Alela faster is the biggest hit against it. Once I get Alela out, "just" producing mana isn't as attractive as something else that actually progress the game plan. Now, getting a free Faerie is definitely enticing (assuming Alela is out) and being able to cast Alela, cast Mox (get a Faerie), cast a 1 drop, or activate Swiftfoot Boots, could work out well. I am just not sure *how* well that would work.

Post by **pokken** » 4 years ago

Ultimately I think the most powerful configuration for Alela involves the full artifact suite, since storming out with faeries is absolutely the strongest thing you can be doing. I don't think mox amber has a place in this deck unless you are running mox opal et al because it just doesn't do enough and the legend count is way too low.

The upside of turning on mox opal and doing busted stuff with infinite faeries with scrap trawler is the main attraction of Amber I think.

(However, that is obviously not this deck - here I think it is middling to bad)

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

A couple changes:

12/04/19

CUTS

1 Torrential Gearhulk

1 Cast Out

ADDS

1 Divine Visitation

1 Mirrormade

Approximate Total Cost:

Gearhulk for Visitation was commented on above. But I really want to try out Mirrormade in this deck and Cast Out seemed to be one of the more underwhelming cards. I have yet to actually cast it and I haven't felt I have needed it yet. Being an Enchantment based deck, there is probably an argument for having more enchantment based removal but Cast Out doesn't seem like the way to go about it.

Post by **WizardMN** » 4 years ago

I played this deck twice last night. Both times were against Gargos, Vicious Watcher and The Ur-Dragon.

The first game was awful. Gargos was able to get big creatures down and Ur-Dragon got out a dragon that needed to attack a random opponent it didn't attack last turn (I don't want to look up the name). The game was over pretty quickly though I was able to utilize Umezawa's Jitte and Skullclamp to get my creatures to die to draw cards. I ended up digging about 6 -8 cards extra with this in the hopes of finding my Moat. I was basically two turns away from finding it too before I died. I was also one turn away from Saving Grace which would have saved me so I could get to the Moat. The Gargos deck was just too fast and I never drew removal.

The second game went much better. I actually got Alela down, and got a bunch of tokens. I did also get Ephara down who drew me about 4-6 cards over the course of the game. Not a lot, but still kept me in the game. Curiosity also helped early on.

I ended up using Mirrormade early to copy an opponent's Sol Ring so I could keep up and then I was able to load up Alela with some Auras while using the faeries as blockers for Gargos's creatures. Unquestioned Authority ensured Alela couldn't be blocked and Spellskite was there in case they tried to remove her. I ended up just running over players with Alela while being able to deal with individual threats with some spot removal.

Overall, the deck performed very well again. being able to attach Sage's Reverie on to Alela for cards as well as a Copy Enchantment to copy the Sage's Reverie, made sure I had plenty of cards. I also attached Shielded by Faith onto Spellskite so I could protect Alela and Spellskite. I am really liking Spellskite in this deck.

Otherwise, as I think I mentioned above, I think I have gone a little overboard with the draw card effects. I had Sleeper's Robe at one time and it just didn't feel like I really needed it. I wish I could actually get Sram down as he seems like he would really help out but I have not cast him once yet. If I do end up cutting a card that draws cards, Helm of the Ghastlord is probably the one that goes first just since it is 4 mana and really works best on my general (on my Faeries, it is just a Curiosity that also buffs).

Eidolon of Countless Battles is another that I really liked to begin with but I am starting to get down on. 3 mana is actually a lot in this deck and I have other ways to buff my creatures. I had this in hand in the second game and never found a good time to cast it. I could see cutting this for something a little more useful.

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