Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger: A Take on Titan - No Escape from The Rack

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 2 years ago

Huh, I might have overlooked Morbid Opportunist in my set review. It's great for both the budget build and the main build as card draw. Kroxa dies? Draw a card. Opponents' creatures die? Draw a card. Sure, only once each turn, but it's still up to four cards each turn cycle. Count me in!

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 2 years ago

Just a quick update, before Crimson Vow spoilers start next week. I pondered if I should wait until the set releases to make a big Innistrad Update, but I want to keep the primer updated with every new set, so here we go, a little late, but anyway...

Gisa, Glorious Resurrector didn't make the cut for now, unfortunately. I still think about adding her, but at the moment I just don't have a spot for her in my list, as she is in this weird position of being another variant of Tergrid, but Tergrid works better with Kroxa.
Latest Changes to the Main Build
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Phyrexian Arena is a great example of a card that has fallen out of time over the evolution of the format, I think. I'm not even sure if it was ever "good". But it was card draw. Now, we have a creature-based card draw effect with Morbid Opportunist in the same mana slot. Creature-based means we have another target to reanimate and it can go off each turn instead of just my own upkeep. Also, I need more creatures in this list, to have some blockers, because I'm still getting targeted pretty often.

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 2 years ago

Crimson Vow spoilers are done and unfortunately there is not much I want to talk about. But at least there's something:
  • Mindleech Ghoul - Exploiting itself or another creature, it exiles cards from opponents' hands and it can easily be recurred from the graveyard in this deck. Will replace Rotting Rats!
Hooray for a new way to harass our opponents by letting them exile cards from their hands rather than having them discarding them.

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 2 years ago

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Don't get me wrong, I really love the Urborg + Coffers interaction... just not in this deck. I have almost no reliable way to get Coffers or Urborg, let alone both together. Often enough I mulliganed a Cabal Coffers away, because it wouldn't do anything in the first few rounds. And in the end, I don't need huge amounts of mana anyway. So I'll cut them from my list, making it more budget-friendly as a side-effect.

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plaganegra
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Post by plaganegra » 2 years ago

Cool list man! No love for Tinybones in the "alternate commanders" section?

I have a few questions about cards you run I am considering for my Tinybones List... Would you run either Lifeline or Uba Mask in that deck? Two cards that are powerful, but have big drawbacks. Mask shuts off Tinybones effect and Lifeline helps opponents also. My deck is in the same vein as yours being a creature-focused discard strategy. Lifeline is something I have been looking at but am not sure if the upside is worth the risk... Thoughts?
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Also: Yawgmoth, Tinybones, Blim, Krenko, Kaalia, Beckett Brass, Chatterfang, Evelyn, Kodama-East, Kozilek, Breya, Morophon, U-Braids, Ashcoat.
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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 2 years ago

plaganegra wrote:
2 years ago
Cool list man! No love for Tinybones in the "alternate commanders" section?

I have a few questions about cards you run I am considering for my Tinybones List... Would you run either Lifeline or Uba Mask in that deck? Two cards that are powerful, but have big drawbacks. Mask shuts off Tinybones effect and Lifeline helps opponents also. My deck is in the same vein as yours being a creature-focused discard strategy. Lifeline is something I have been looking at but am not sure if the upside is worth the risk... Thoughts?
I guess I'll have to include him in the alternate commanders section now that you mention him^^°

I'd run Lifeline if you have repeatable sac outlets, which your list doesn't seem to have. Lifeline is great in Kroxa because he sacrifices himself and gets pulled back each turn. And since I'm already running a Reanimation theme, it fits well in here. But I don't think it fits in your list.
Uba Mask could be a good card in Tinybones for the second ability. With enough mana you could end games pretty fast, when your opponents' hands stay empty. The risk of not drawing any more cards with Tinybones is of course something you should be willing to take.

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plaganegra
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Post by plaganegra » 2 years ago

@KitsuLeif thanks so much! Great advice is always appreciated. Any other thoughts on my deck would be most welcome :)
Zombies ate my brains.
My Varina Decklist
Also: Yawgmoth, Tinybones, Blim, Krenko, Kaalia, Beckett Brass, Chatterfang, Evelyn, Kodama-East, Kozilek, Breya, Morophon, U-Braids, Ashcoat.
MTG since 2003

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 2 years ago

I'm trying to look into your list some more in the next couple of weeks, when I have some more time to spare. Pre-Christmas this year feels pretty busy.

Also, I just learned from this article that Tergrid, God of Fright might see the ban hammer in February. So maybe there will be a slot for Gisa, Glorious Resurrector after that ban announcement.

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 2 years ago

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty spoilers are done and again, there isn't much to talk about.
  • Gravelighter - This one falls into the same category as Plaguecrafter, but it's a little more versatile since you can "choose" card draw instead of the sacrifice option. Unfortunately, it doesn't discard, so I guess I'll pass.
  • Junji, the Midnight Sky - As soon as this card was leaked, I wanted it. This fits perfectly into the deck, because if it dies, we usually want option #1 of letting every opponent discard 2. Sometimes, though, we can reanimate better stuff from ANY graveyard. I love this dragon! And if Tergrid gets banned next Monday, this one will take her spot for sure. If not, then I have to think of another cut for this.
  • Virus Beetle - Another Burglar Rat, maybe for the Budget Build?
And... that's it. Junji is love, Junji is life. Apart from that, nothing great.

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 1 year ago

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Turns out, shutting off Kroxa's EtBs aren't as great as I thought when having multiple reanimation spells in my hand. One attack trigger in each of my turns isn't enough to justify a 6/6 body. Junji, the Midnight Sky is a great creature that can be fed into Altar of Dementia or Attrition (even though I'm thinking about cutting that card).

Right now, Kroxa doesn't perform as well anymore, since it draws way too much hate, with almost no ways of defending itself. There's so much card draw and attacking creatures in my meta that I can't get my Rack pieces to work properly before being taken out of the game, so I'm thinking of cutting these Rack pieces entirely, making room for more ways to defend myself, or whatever is needed to turn the tides of the game in my favor again.


Anyway, let's get to the set review of New Capenna and its corresponding Commander set:
A whole lot of nothing. Those last sets were really lackluster in terms of new additions for Kroxa :/

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 1 year ago

Well then, I have something new in the works for Kroxa, but I still have to play a few more games before I want to update my list accordingly. I have swapped 12 cards in total (all the Rack pieces are gone now). The one game I managed to get in, was a very close one. Third place, but the opponent had who took me out, had the choice of whom to kill, before he died to the other player. He decided to kill me and then lost to the player after me. If he had decided to kill the other player, I would have won. So yeah, a close one. And it went pretty good.

But for now, let's review Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate:
  • Altar of Bhaal // Bone Offering - This would be a great inclusion if we had more token producers. Feldon of the Third Path isn't enough to justify running this, though.
  • Balor - This looks like a card I might want to include with the new version of the deck. It can make use of triggers when opponents discard cards, it gets rids of artifacts, and it can help with punishing players with massive amounts of card draw. Might be a fun target to reanimate.
  • Black Market Connections - I don't even like Phyrexian Arena. This card is different, yet feels a lot like it. In my opinion, it's too slow.
  • Wild Magic Surge - I might cut Chaos Warp for this. It seems kinda better.

And that's it for now.

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 1 year ago

*le sigh*

Dominaria United and its corresponding Commander decks aren't offering a lot of new toys for Kroxa, but there is one card that looks interesting enough to consider.
  • The Raven Man - It's great that he does trigger in each end step, it's just sad that the bird tokens can't block. But it's another discard ability (even though it's pretty expensive to activate).

It will take some more time for me to adjust the list, because I haven't been able to play since 3+ months. Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll finally be able to give an update in some form, but I can't promise anything.

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 1 year ago

Let's keep it short and simple. Nothing of interest in both The Brothers' War and The Brothers' War Commander sets. Just know that I haven't abandoned this deck, as I'm still optimizing it. I want at least one win with the new version before I post it here, otherwise I'd feel like I have failed.

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