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

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 9:19 pm
by KitsuLeif



Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger|56883
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Table of Contents



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Introduction

It has been a long ride for me. Well, it did feel long to me. I've been playing Commander since the end of 2016 and in around three years I've built nearly 100 (99 and counting) different Commanders. Only a small minority of decks stayed together; most were getting disassembled after one evening. There were times, where I've built three decks a week, only to pull them apart a day later. It was unfulfilling. Maybe that's the reason why Kroxa caught my eye. The titan of death's hunger devours everything in sight (Hey, even his eye-sockets are mouths!) and probably has the same feeling of a void that can't be filled. That, and the fact that I pulled a foil Kroxa in my booster box. **ahem**

So I did some research. I came across multiple deck lists for Kroxa, all of them focusing on discarding, some of them had Worldgorger Dragon in them, others didn't. Most of them were generic discard decks. Not that this is something bad, it just isn't something I'd consider fun for myself. You could expect the typical Megrim-esque effects in those lists. Damage through discard. Of course, this is a viable strategy, but what if your opponents don't have cards in hand to discard anymore, because they play them as soon as they draw them? Suddenly your Megrim, Liliana's Caress, Raiders' Wake and all the other cards that focus on opponents discarding their hand become dead cards.

Then I had an idea. Years ago when I was new in Magic and had no idea what Commander was, I had a budget 8-Rack deck for the Modern format. You know, the list that Tolarian Community College promoted in 2014. I didn't play often, but when I played, I had a lot of fun with 8-Rack. But The Rack itself is pretty weak in multiplayer. And I only knew of three other effects that were similar to The Rack's. So... would my idea fail before I even had the chance to fully develop it?
No! My research gave out one other list on tappedout that was simply called "Kroxa 12-Rack". A lot of credit goes to this list, because without it, it would have taken me way longer to come up with my own version of it.




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Commander Analysis

"Kroxa devours what he may — not for sustenance or pleasure, but because it is his nature. He is unending hunger given form."
— Klothys, god of destiny
First of all: Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is one of the few Rakdos-colored Commanders that focuses on opponents discarding. While Anje Falkenrath, Chainer, Nightmare Adept, Olivia, Mobilized for War and Malfegor only let you discard, Neheb, the Worthy and Blim, Comedic Genius are the only other Rakdos-colored Commanders as of now that let everyone discard. And both of them have to connect for their ability to trigger.

Kroxa has none of these restrictions. He just has to enter the battlefield to work. Yeah, he dies when he wasn't cast for his escape cost and you might think that this would be a disadvantage at first. But it opens up another strategy for a deck around him:
Reanimator! Cast Kroxa, opponents discard, let him die. Reanimate him, opponents discard, let him die. Repeat and drain your opponents of their cards, lifepoints and will to play against you with every new reanimation spell you cast.


Why Play This Commander

So Kroxa might have looked like a generic discard Commander at first, when in fact, he is the first real Commander who utilizes discard for lifeloss. And the best thing is, he only costs BR!

You should feed the unleashed titan if you:
  • like to play discard strategies (duh!)
  • want a deck that lets your commander go to the graveyard multiple times in a single turn
  • aren't opposed to cheat the cost of your creatures by reanimating them
  • like to slowly but steadily wear down your opponents
You should probably back away from this hungry giant, if you:
  • hate Rakdos (seriously, why did you even read this far?)
  • like your friends too much to destroy entire game plans
  • want to rearrange your graveyard for better overview (DON'T. REARRANGE. YOUR. GRAVEYARD! It's already a no-go by the rules, but this deck really relies on those rules)
  • think that Rakdos is for playing aggressively (which is not the case here)

So, in conclusion, what is the deck's philosophy?
The main goal of this deck is disrupting your opponents before they're being able to play their good cards that can get us in trouble. Because of its disruptive nature you should probably not play this with other players that get salty easily. Commander should be fun for everyone and if you have someone in your playgroup who gets personally offended by heavy discard strategies, maybe you should think twice if this deck is the right choice for a game with those people. Of course, if you just want to be mean sometimes, this deck provides a solid option.
But maybe your playgroup even appreciates a deck like this. I have been told quite a few times that Kroxa's discarding ability helped them reevaluate the cards in their hand from which they thought they would need them in their deck, so they straight-up replaced them with better cards the next time we played.

Other Viable Discard Commanders

Out of the various other discard-focused Commanders, I have picked a few that I feel are valid alternatives if you don't want to build Kroxa (for whatever reason that might be):
Blim, Comedic Genius is a BR Commander that leans heavily into a donate-strategy, a fun new take on discard, because it can be combined by donating harmful permanents to the opponents, while also letting them bleed for controlling our stuff. Cards like Harmless Offering are key to support a Blim deck and cards like Demonic Pact are needed to close out the game. Blim can also be played more group-huggish, where it can help certain players, but punish others. I'd say it's more fun for opponents to play against a Blim deck than it is for them to play against Kroxa. So if you want your opponents to still have some fun, maybe Blim might be the right choice for you.
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf is a weird BG Commander. Decks with Nath are often a mix of discard and Elf tribal because of both of his two abilities. Sure, waiting a turn rotation to let one opponent discard a card at random and then make a 1/1 token off of it seems pretty bad at first, given that Nath has a MV of 5. But Elves are really good at mana acceleration and combined with black, they have access to most discard spells to turn Nath's second ability into a real engine. That said, the discard is mostly not more than a tool for more Elves in Nath decks and the real finishers are Craterhoof Behemoth, Triumph of the Hordes or Elf Lords like Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Joraga Warcaller. Nath wants to limit the options of his opponents, where Kroxa wants to downright kill them with discard.
Neheb, the Worthy is another BR Commander besides Kroxa that lets opponents discard. And even though Minotaur tribal has gotten a push over the last years, I just don't see the appeal in building a deck like this. Neheb seems to want the player to play lots of Minotaurs, but also ways to keep the own hand size low enough to pump all of those horned beasts. And then Neheb himself is a 4/2 with First Strike who has to deal combat damage to a player so that everybody discards a single card. Feels like a lot of hoops to jump through. Can he be brokenly strong? Probably not. But if you are a fan of Minotaur tribal and also like discard and janky deck ideas, go give it a try.
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is a strong UBR Commander that can be build into many different themes, one of them being discard. By adding Blue to the selection of colors, Bolas has access to discard spells like Windfall, Jace's Archivist and the likes. One way to abuse Bolas would be a blink strategy, for example with Deadeye Navigator to get rid of the opponents' hand cards easily. The fact that Bolas transforms into a Planeswalker makes him a toolbox Commander that can take over the game pretty fast if not handled immediately. Grixis has a lot of "mean" cards to end the game with, like all the other Nicol Bolases. If you want a toolbox Commander of which one of the tools is discard, then go for Bolas.





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Deck History

Originally I planned on not building a new Commander deck with Theros Beyond Death. Until I pulled Kroxa in foil from my booster box. I looked at him. He looked at me. He basically screamed "Build me!" and well, what can I say? I tried. And I think, I succeeded.

It didn't take long for me to realize that this deck didn't need combos to win. They felt too random and I wasn't happy with them so I took them out before I even played the first game in a big round.

In January 2021 it was time for a big overhaul of the list after playing the deck often enough to re-evaluate some of its pieces. I went from twelve Rack effects down to only eight and I had to adjust the title, which now simply reads "The Rack", so hopefully it will be future-proof this time. I changed over 20 cards in total in this update, which wasn't easy, but needed to push the deck in the right direction.

Let's see what the future has in store for Kroxa.

I will try to play this deck as often as I can; which unfortunately at the moment in a time where the pandemic is still going on, is not that often. Although I have a new playgroup, we haven't been able to play in months, because of Covid.




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Current Decklist
By Function

Mana Acceleration

Approximate Total Cost:





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Budget Considerations


Okay, let's say you already have Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger and want to build a deck around him but looking at my list discouraged you from doing so, because some of the cards are really expensive and you don't have the financial means to buy them right now? Don't worry, I'll try to cover the more expensive cards of the deck here and try to find reasonable replacements for them. Kroxa itself is really expensive as well, but given that he is the Commander, there isn't much of a replacement. The threshold I'm setting for this deck is 10$. So every card above that price I will evaluate and give a reason why it is good and what could be a possible replacement.
  • Blood Crypt / Luxury Suite – You are going to sacrifice some versatility but you can replace those by basic lands of your choice.
  • Corpse Dance / Shallow Grave – Both do almost the same and both are very expensive, because both are on the Reserved List. More reanimation spells like Call of the Death-Dweller or Stitch Together are budget replacements.
  • Lifeline – This is basically Liliana, Defiant Necromancer's ult, just without spending turns to reach it. It's a powerful tool, but also very expensive and it won't be reprinted, due to being part of the Reserved List. So, what can you replace it with? I'd go for more reanimation spells like Grim Return or maybe even Mimic Vat? Risky, because if you exile Kroxa and Mimic Vat gets destroyed, you won't be able to get Kroxa back.
  • Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant Necromancer – A creature/planeswalker transform card that I mostly use for her +2 ability. Sometimes her powerful ult is used, but in most cases she won't live that long. Can it be cut? Absolutely. A possible replacement for her is either Liliana's Specter or Sibsig Icebreakers.
  • Necrogen MistsBottomless Pit. Just be wary of the random discard that also hits you.
  • Necromancy – Instant reanimation is awesome, so let me give you two more reanimation spells with instant speed that can be a replacement: Makeshift Mannequin and Wake the Dead
  • Necropotence – Now with AFR there is a cheap alternative with Asmodeus the Archfiend that even comes with the upside of not having to exile the cards when discarding down to 7. Also, as a creature it's easily recurrable, but also more prone to removal.
  • Painful Quandary – There's not really a card that can act as a budget replacement for this kind of effect. Just slot in another EtB discard or card draw, I guess?
  • Panharmonicon – I'd really advise you to get this card. It is a staple in EDH and in this deck as well. Double Kroxa triggers with each reanimation makes this worth it. And it's only slightly above the 10$ threshold. There isn't really a good replacement for it either unfortunately. If you happen to have a Mirage Mirror, this would be the best alternative, but I wouldn't buy one specifically for this deck. Of course, you can always throw in another EtB creature that lets the opponents discard.
  • Rankle, Master of Pranks – Flying and Haste is what makes this card so good. If you can live without the Haste part, but still want evasion, may I offer Stronghold Rats, since Rankle is mostly used for discard? Or do you want First Strike instead of Flying, because Neheb, the Worthy is also a cheap option.
  • Reanimate – The original reanimation spell that's unfortunately slightly above 10$, so if you can't afford it, look for other cheap reanimation spells. Inscription of Ruin for example.
  • Sheoldred, Whispering One – You will be hated if you play this card and not because of the reanimation part. Though my main use is for repeated reanimation, so it can be replaced with Dawn of the Dead. Note that this is an enchantment and can't be reanimated itself. Also, you should only get Kroxa back with this, because it exiles your other reanimated creatures when you are not able to kill them off in time.
  • Storm World – It's a Rack piece that is also a Reserved List card, so you can just replace it with one of the non-used and less-expensive Rack pieces (Hellfire Mongrel, Hollowborn Barghest, Lavaborn Muse, Rackling).
  • Waste Not – Cutting this card shouldn't be a big problem as it is a dead card in the late-game. You are going to sacrifice some early game speed, but more EtB discard like Elderfang Disciple should be fine.
With these changes, I've put together a Budget list that goes down from around 750$ to under 220$ (if you already own Kroxa, it's even less). It's untested, but hopefully it can give you a taste of how much fun Kroxa can be. And you can still replace some of the more expensive dual lands by basic lands to lower the price even more.
Budget List
Approximate Total Cost:





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Card Choice Discussion

Well, except for basic lands I will go through this card by card, so I will split this up in categories as well. For a better reading experience, I've spoilered each section individually.

Artifacts
Artifacts
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  • Altar of Dementia – If we really do not have any reanimator spell in hand and want to get Kroxa onto the battlefield permanently, we can use this thing to sacrifice Kroxa before his EtB would force us to sacrifice him and mill ourselves with it, so we can then pay Kroxa's Escape costs. Also we can use the Altar to mill out our opponents of course, if the game takes long enough.
  • Bolas's Citadel – When this beast of an artifact comes down, we can use our life to reanimate Kroxa a few times in a single turn, or develop our board, or... hit two lands in a row with it... well, most of the time the risk is worth it.
  • Geth's Grimoire – It's a little anti-synergistic with some of the cards like Sire of Insanity, but I like having more options than my opponents. And drawing some cards every time we reanimate Kroxa sounds like a good deal. It also has some fun synergies with cards like Dark Deal or Geier Reach Sanitarium which lets us refill our own hand, while stripping those of our opponents.
  • Lifeline – We have to use it with caution because it works for all players and not just us. Still, we are the ones that have a Commander that sacrifices itself every time it enters the battlefield and wasn't cast for its Escape costs.
  • Mirror of the Forebears – Name Elder or Giant and copy a freshly entered Kroxa the same way as Mirage Mirror does, just a bit cheaper.
  • Noetic Scales – This acts as a one-sided boardwipe on each upkeep and is oftentimes a lifesaver, but can be useful with cheap creatures like Burglar Rat to use and abuse their EtB each turn with an empty hand.
  • Panharmonicon – Worth it, when the EtBs trigger twice.
  • Paupers' Cage – Rack piece #01
  • Rakdos Signet – Yeah, this ramp piece is probably needed.
  • Skullcage – Rack piece #02 (note that this also triggers, when opponents have 5 or more cards in hand)
  • Sol Ring – 98 cards + Sol Ring + Commander, bla bla...
  • Strionic Resonator – Copying EtBs is awesome. Especially Kroxa's.
  • Sundial of the Infinite – Ends the turn after Kroxa's discard trigger resolved but before his self-sacrifice trigger resolves and we end up with an undercosted, overpowered Commander very early in the game. Of course we can also use it to keep Feldon of the Third Path's token copies, for more Rack shenanigans or other cool stuff.
  • Uba Mask – We don't want our opponents to recover from having no hand cards, so exiling them right when they're drawn sounds reasonable. That they can only be used that turn they are exiled is even better. Also has some nice synergies with cards like Dark Deal or Geier Reach Sanitarium, because cards drawn from those effects are lost most of the time with Uba Mask in play.
  • Wheel of Torture – (I really love the pun in the flavor text on this one) Rack piece #03


Creatures
Creatures
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  • Asylum Visitor – Often enough this should give us extra cards. And we can even cast it while discarding it!
  • Burglar Rat – Yay for more discard effects if Kroxa is somehow unavailable.
  • Dauthi Voidwalker – Even without using its last ability, this is a powerhouse, a Rest in Peace but only for our opponents. With the last ability it becomes even more useful and playing those cards without paying their mana costs? Come on, WotC... how hard can you push a two-drop? I feel like this could be a potential candidate for a ban, but for now I will use it.
  • Feldon of the Third Path – Soo many cool creatures to copy with him (Junji, Kroxa and Syr Konrad are the best ones probably).
  • Junji, the Midnight Sky – A great tool for either letting every opponent discard two cards, or for reanimating Kroxa. Awesome sacrifice fodder!
  • Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant Necromancer – We let Kroxa die often enough so she'll transform, then she proceeds to lessen our opponents' hands. And her ultimate, if reached, is a better version of Lifeline. What's not to love?
  • Mindleech Ghoul – Can exploit itself, so it's repeatable with our reanimation package and it exiles the card, so it's even harder for our opponents to get them back.
  • Morbid Opportunist – Great card draw engine on a stick. Works well in this deck as lots of creatures will die.
  • Nezumi Shortfang // Stabwhisker the Odious – At first a discard piece, after flipped it's Rack piece #04
  • Plaguecrafter – Early game disruption.
  • Rankle, Master of Pranks – Discard, Card Draw and Creature Removal on one card with Haste and Flying. Probably one of the few times this deck makes use of the combat step.
  • Sheoldred, Whispering One – This is also a card that draws a lot of hate, but hopefully it will be manageable with the amount of discard we're running. Sheoldred works as both reanimator and removal.
  • Sire of Insanity – Sometimes we need brute force to ensure our opponents' hands are empty. This is the card to do it.
  • Syr Konrad, the Grim – This transforms Kroxa into a real beast. Let's say we have Syr Konrad on the battlefield and reanimate Kroxa. Kroxa leaves the graveyard, Syr Konrad deals 1 damage to each opponent. Then each opponent discards a card (maybe there were creatures under those cards, so Syr Konrad will trigger again for each creature card, dealing even more damage). And then Kroxa dies again which lets Syr Konrad trigger one more time. So Syr Konrad might be the secret MVP of this deck.
  • Tergrid, God of Fright / Tergrid's Lantern – A powerful toolbox card that turns all of our discard into board advantage. With all the reanimation, she is likely to stay alive even if she is a prime target for removal. I'm sure her Lantern will have its uses as well, but most of the time, the creature side is what we want.


Enchantments
Enchantments
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  • Attrition – Saccing a non-escaped Kroxa into this is cheap removal.
  • Animate Dead – -1/-0 is such a small price to pay for a good reanimation. This card lets us also hit opponents' graveyards.
  • Court of Ambition – Even if we can't keep the Monarch token, this is value. If we can keep it, then it's pretty much GG.
  • Dance of the Dead – Same cost as Animate Dead but this time +1/+1. Downside is that we have to pay an additional 1B to untap the enchanted creature in our next upkeep. I think, we'll use it most of the time for Kroxa.
  • Necrogen Mists – Works quite well with Noetic Scales.
  • Necromancy – Reanimating with instant speed is cool, so doing this while in our opponent's draw step on Kroxa lets them discard the card they just drew if they have no other cards in hand.
  • Necropotence – *sigh* I had to convince myself that this card is a must-have for this deck. I don't really like it, because we are discarding as well from time to time, but card draw is so important.
  • Painful Quandary – We're effectively giving our opponents a choice here. But it is a choice between two bad outcomes. Discarding brings them closer to the range were the Rack effects become active. Losing 5 life may seem like a small price to pay, but it adds up. Also, there is no choice if they don't have any other cards in hand, so they'll just lose 5 life.
  • Phyrexian Reclamation – A way to get back creature cards from the grave we don't want to use reanimation spells on. Sometimes getting back Kroxa multiple times a turn can be just as good, even if we pay some life for it.
  • Quest for the Nihil Stone – Rack piece #05
  • Shrieking Affliction – Rack piece #06
  • Storm World – Rack piece #07 (note that this also triggers for you, so watch your life total and cards in your hand)
  • Waste Not – Together with Geth's Grimoire the only "real" discard-for-payoff card. It's awesome in the early-game, okayish in the mid-game and probably useless in the late-game. Hopefully it will be more awesome than useless.


Instants
Instants
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  • Abrade – Flexible Removal.
  • Bedevil – More flexible Removal.
  • Chaos Warp – Even more flexible Removal.
  • Corpse Dance – It's probably best to be played directly after Kroxa goes to the grave. And once more: DO. NOT. REARRANGE. THE. GRAVEYARD!
  • Goryo's Vengeance – Has some juicy targets in this deck, but we have to be careful that we won't exile our useful stuff with it. So it's best if we use it on Kroxa, Liliana, Heretical Healer (when you are able to transform her right away), or if we can exile the trigger with Sundial of the Infinite.
  • Shallow Grave – You should know the drill by now. Best used on Kroxa.
  • Terminate – Creature removal. Stay dead!


Lands
Lands
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Planeswalkers
Planeswalkers
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Sorceries
Sorceries
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  • Blasphemous Act – A blessing against Token decks.
  • Call to the Netherworld – Getting Kroxa back in our hand for B is good, but for 0 with Madness it's even better.
  • Claim // Fame – The Claim side is bonkers with Kroxa. Fame can be useful but I won't count on it.
  • Dark Deal – Really good for reducing our opponents' hands and it has some nice synergies.
  • Footsteps of the Goryo – Just another reanimation spell.
  • Last One Standing – A boardwipe for MV 3 is always nice, the random aspect is okay.
  • Mind Rake – We almost always want to Overload this.
  • Postmortem Lunge2B or 2 and 2 life for getting another discard trigger out of Kroxa.
  • Reanimate – The classic reanimation spell.
  • Stir the Grave – Another reanimation spell for Kroxa.
  • Unearth – The last reanimation spell for Kroxa.


Cards I'm not using at the moment
Those are the cards that didn't quite make the cut for this deck or that I have excluded (from the beginning or over time as the deck evolved) for other reasons.
Cards I'm not using at the moment
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  • Ashnod's Altar – Often seen in Token decks, in this deck it could be a good mana source after reanimating Kroxa and saccing him to the Altar. But as we often empty our hands, we can't do a lot with colorless mana, so for the moment it's excluded from the list.
  • Azra Oddsmaker – When a creature connects, it's some good card draw, the problem is, the list very creature-light so connecting with one isn't as easy.
  • Basalt Monolith – Yet another combo piece and mana source.
  • Blood ScrivenerAsylum Visitor is just the better option.
  • Bloodstained Mire – On-color fetchland. At the moment I'm not playing it because it sits in another one of my decks. If you want to play it, replace a basic with it and you should be fine.
  • Bottomless Pit – Quite similar to Necrogen Mists, but with the downside that it hits us randomly as well. Can be swapped 1:1.
  • Cabal Coffers – I realized that I don't need that much mana and it takes time to be worth it.
  • Cabal Stronghold – I don't run enough basics anymore to justify running this card.
  • Chains of Mephistopheles – Have you seen the price tag for this card? If you happen to have it in your collection, feel free to include it, but the deck is working fine without it, no need to sell your firstborn child for this.
  • Damnation – Yeah... I just don't have that one and do not really plan on getting it. There are other boardwipes in our colors that are sometimes better. Blasphemous Act for example can be a lot cheaper for the same outcome.
  • Demonic Tutor – I think, Commander decks should be fine without constant tutoring.
  • Deserted Temple – Untapping a utility land or Cabal Coffers is sometimes the best we can do.
  • Diabolic Tutor – See my reasoning for Demonic Tutor.
  • Dictate of Erebos – It has Flash, but we play proactive, not reactive. Now that I don't even use Grave Pact anymore, I think that Dictate shouldn't be in here as well.
  • Erratic Portal – To return Kroxa to our hand before he can be sacrificed to himself. And also sometimes to bounce a creature an opponent controls so I can discard it, if they're tapped out. 4 mana to play it is a lot though.
  • Ever After – Getting two creatures back and putting Ever After on the bottom of our library is crucial for the synergy with Sidisi, Undead Vizier.
  • Expedition Map – Searching for an utility land has proven to be powerful.
  • Flayer of the Hatebound – With Kroxa constantly entering the battlefield from the graveyard this thing is evil enough even without the rest of the combo, but too clunky.
  • Geralf's Messenger – Would be a key piece for a combo with Ashnod's Altar and Nim Deathmantle (which both are excluded at the moment)
  • Grave Pact – Probably useless against Token decks, but good against other creature related decks, so it's just another form of removal.
  • Grim Return – It's a nice reanimation spell, but too narrow and only useful in fringe cases.
  • Hellfire Mongrel – Unused Rack piece #01
  • Hollowborn Barghest – Unused Rack piece #02 (note that this also triggers during your upkeep, so having no cards in hand is advantageous)
  • Kozilek, Butcher of Truth – Eldrazi daddy number one. Prevents that we mill ourselves and when we cast him, we draw a bunch of gas.
  • Lavaborn Muse – Unused Rack piece #03
  • Mesmeric Orb – We shouldn't play this too early as it draws a lot of hate (rightfully). It doesn't bug us, because if we run it, we should also run at least one of the Eldrazi daddies so we can shuffle our graveyard back into our library, which mostly our opponents can't, so milling them can be a sub-theme here.
  • Mindslicer – I don't like the idea that this creature has to die for its effect and doesn't do this immediately as an EtB. If you have enough sac outlets for it, it might be good enough. But I've had enough games where I wanted a creature I controlled dead and no one on the table wanted to kill it.
  • Mind Stone – Ramp and draw and nothing more.
  • Mirage Mirror – Mostly we want to use this on a freshly entered Kroxa so we can get an attack trigger from it. But it's also useful with lots of other cards, including those of our opponents.
  • Mortuary Mire – Enters tapped. Witch's Cottage does the job way better and is fetchable.
  • Murderous Redcap – A little worse than Flayer of the Hatebound, but still a combo piece.
  • Myriad Landscape – In we don't have lots of good ramp, so we have to use what we can get to put some lands onto the battlefield.
  • Nim Deathmantle – Reanimation piece for Kroxa or combo piece for winning the game? Both is possible.
  • Oppression – Quite similar to Painful Quandary. Comes out earlier but also hits us as well. At the moment, I'm happy with Painful Quandary because it still does something when our opponents' hands are empty already, which this card doesn't.
  • Phyrexian Arena – An old classic. But I fear that it's outclassed.
  • Pox – Wasn't really happy with how it performed, so it had to go. At least for now.
  • Rackling – Unused Rack piece #04
  • Sanctum of Eternity – Same as Erratic Portal, we can return Kroxa to our hand before he proceeds to sacrifice himself.
  • Sea Gate Wreckage – Our hand is oftentimes empty, so this could come in handy.
  • Sidisi, Undead Vizier – Exploiting herself or another creature is great, but if we combine it with reanimator spells, it gets even better, so she works as a reusable tutor from the graveyard.
  • Smallpox – Same as Pox, wasn't really happy with it.
  • Syphon Mind – This is basically discard + Geth's Grimoire in one card, but I don't know if it's worth including.
  • Terrain Generator – Another ramp land to put basics onto the battlefield.
  • The Rack – I know, it's sad that the card that gave me the idea for this deck is kinda useless itself but it only hits one player, so I won't play it.
  • Thespian's Stage – Copy opponents' lands or our own Cabal Coffers for maximum value.
  • Torment of Hailfire – With enough mana this is a brutal wincon. Sometimes it's just a board- and handwipe. But most of the time it's a win-out-of-nowhere card that I don't want to play anymore.
  • Torpor Orb – Can be used to work around Kroxa's own sacrifice trigger, but ultimately shafts the deck more than it helps.
  • Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre – Eldrazi daddy number two. Prevents that we mill ourselves and when we cast him, we destroy a permanent.
  • Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth – It's not really needed, since we don't run Cabal Coffers anymore.
  • Vandalblast – Artifact hate at its best.
  • Witch's CottageMortuary Mire but better most of the time and fetchable!
  • Words of Waste – It's really cool with Geier Reach Sanitarium and Geth's Grimoire, but I don't know if it fits in this deck.
  • Worldgorger Dragon – I feel like the combo is too easy to disrupt and when that happens I am left with no permanents and I hate when that happens.





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Deck Strategy


The main strategy of the deck is to get our opponents hands to zero as fast as we can. The reanimation spells in this deck often have only one target: Kroxa. We don't have to rely on Megrim-esque effects to be drawn early in the game, because with some The Rack effects our opponents will constantly be drained; slowly but steadily. Having almost no dead cards in the course of the game is something I'm always trying to accomplish and at the moment I feel like only Geth's Grimoire and Waste Not are becoming dead cards the longer the game goes. But even then there is the chance that these cards hit those players who play lots of card draw.
Mulligans
With just 35 lands in the deck, we aim for 2-3 in our opening hand, so we are able to play Kroxa reliably on turn 2. Of course on turn 2 there can be better options, I will cover those in a moment.
A few reanimation spells are also a good keep in our opening hand. Cheap Rack pieces (Quest for the Nihil Stone, Shrieking Affliction, Storm World and Nezumi Shortfang) are worth to keep as well, as three of them can be played as early as turn 1.
Sol Ring, Claim // Fame, Reanimate, Unearth, Mind Rake, Waste Not, Liliana, Heretical Healer, Sundial of the Infinite and Feldon of the Third Path are also cards I'd keep in an opening hand. Of course, not all of them at once, but 3-4 of them plus 2-3 lands are what I'd call an ideal start for this deck.
The Early-Game

A land like Path of Ancestry of Temple of Malice on turn 1 is just as fine as a turn 1 Phyrexian Reclamation/Quest for the Nihil Stone/Shrieking Affliction/Storm World. No need to rush on turn 1.
Turn 2 should be Kroxa-time. We should have good reason to not play Kroxa on turn two. Reasons for this can be Mind Rake, Altar of Dementia, Sundial of the Infinite or Waste Not.
Turn 3 is normally the first turn to reanimate Kroxa the first time if we can do so cheaply. Be sure to not overdo it and keep building to your board as well, because by turn three normally your opponents have already figured out what you're trying to do and they'll do anything to stop you. If you were lucky and got a Waste Not, you'll have a value engine set up already, but you can also play Liliana, Heretical Healer, Feldon of the Third Path or use Mirror of the Forebears on Kroxa to get an early attack trigger (and also 6 damage). If you played a Sundial of the Infinite on turn 2, you can even get Kroxa out and let him stay on the battlefield.
Turn 4 is probably the last turn I consider to be early-game for this deck and probably the last turn you should focus on setting yourself up for the mid-game if you haven't already reached it by getting out one or two Rack pieces. Optimally our opponents' hand size has shrunken to only two or three cards by now, maybe even one or zero. Uba Mask is a good choice to play on turn 4 as well as Geth's Grimoire if they still have some cards left in their hands.

So after turn 4, your board optimally has some creatures and/or artifacts on it already and Kroxa has seen the board a few times already but rests in your graveyard now, again waiting to be pulled out by a reanimation spell.
The Mid-Game

By turn 5 you should have assembled a board state and all players know that you are a threat but can't do anything about it (without lucky topdecking) because ideally they have either discarded their options or the mana sources to play them. You should start deploying your clocks in the form of Rack pieces now to whittle your opponents down turn after turn while taking away the last few cards in their hands if there are still any left to further limit their options that they might be able to play with one more mana if they topdecked it.
Turn 6 and 7 are mostly for big game-changing plays. Your opponents still have cards in their hand? Sire of Insanity. You want a reusable reanimation engine? Sheoldred, Whispering One. Of course you could get all these cards out way earlier with optimal draws (turn 3 Sheoldred is definitely possible) but in case you didn't have the right cards, you sometimes need to play those for their regular costs. Which shouldn't be a big problem once your opponents have no way to react to them.

Once you are in the mid-game, your opponents will most likely have played their Commanders and probably have at least tried to advance their own strategy before you were able to disrupt their hands fully. So they will now try and focus you. Fortunately, discard is great against decks that win through combo, so what is the most dangerous thing the opponents could do? That's right: Combat damage. They will try and swing everything they have at you. Since this list is light on creatures you are a prime target for every beater. But luckily you have some tools to strike back. Glacial Chasm will protect you from damage for a few turns at the cost of a land. Most of the time you don't want to attack anyway, so it's great protection. Blasphemous Act and Last One Standing will also help you reach the late-game. And Noetic Scales does not only help you replay your own EtB creatures, but also cleans the board of unwanted big beaters that can be discarded if your opponents don't want to play them over and over again. Even an early Tergrid, God of Fright can help with taking control over the board.

Just watch out for the graveyard-hate player, they will probably try to disrupt your reanimator strategy, so if you spot one, target them first.
Another playstyle that could be problematic for Kroxa is lots of card draw. You can prevent this by deploying an Uba Mask or at least try to fight it by getting out Sire of Insanity.
The Late-Game

"We are in the End Game now." (Get it? Thanos is also a titan and... ah, forget it...)

Everything after turn 7 should be the end game for this deck. If you haven't already won through your opponents conceding because all their precious cards were discarded, you're hopefully wearing them down slowly with your Rack pieces.
If you're brave enough you can even let Kroxa escape naturally and start hitting your opponents with Commander damage.
There are many possible ways to end the game with this deck once your opponents can't disrupt you anymore.

One of these ways is with Bolas's Citadel, a card that creates tons of value. From multiple reanimation spells in a single turn, to an explosive board development, everything is possible. It can be a total game changer.
The same is true for Liliana, Defiant Necromancer's emblem. Once you can safely ult her, Kroxa's self sacrifice is a clock that will wear down your opponents pretty quickly. In every end step they have to discard a nonland card, otherwise they lose 3 life. A turn cycle with four players makes for 12 life lost for each opponent that way.
Liliana, Waker of the Dead's emblem is a little worse in this deck, as it only reanimates Kroxa once a turn cycle... but the power scales with the creatures that are in your opponents' graveyards.
With Court of Ambition out, you should try to keep the Monarch to draw more cards and it also acts as a semi Rack piece in your upkeep.
Painful Quandary is killer in a state where your opponents are topdecking already. They have to consider if casting a spell is worth 5 life each time. Together with other damage/lifeloss effects this will indeed be painful. But if they don't play their cards, they have to discard them, softlocking them out of options until the sweet release of death...

I've made a little overview (okay, I lied, it's quite a large image) on how much damage/lifeloss the Rack pieces do. It's in no way perfect and it features all 12 Rack pieces, but you can use this as a little guide and maybe checklist where you can quickly see how much life your opponent loses, based on the cards in their hand and your Rack pieces out.
WARNING: Large visual chart
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Image




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Credit & Thanks

First of all, I want to give Lithl huge credit for their Kroxa 12-Rack deck over on tappedout. It gave me inspiration and saved me quite some time. Without this list I wouldn't have known that there are more than four The Rack effects. It would have taken me a lot longer to come up with my own list, without this as a guideline.
  • Dragoon for a great discussion partner on what could go into the deck, even though, they build their list differently.
  • BluBoi from the German mtg-forum who suggested Call to the Netherworld and Dark Deal.
  • benjameenbear for this Primer template. Formatting would have taken ages without it!
  • DementedKirby for showing me how a well-sorted Primer looks like. You really got me into Commander with your list and even though I disassembled Sidisi a while ago, I still follow your thread.
  • Segrus for suggesting Mirror of the Forebears, Mirage Mirror's little brother that I had already completely forgotten even though I had it in my collection.
  • shandiris for convincing me to try Necropotence, a card I still don't like, but probably learn to love.
  • All of you, who read or even follow this thread, make suggestions and discuss with me. Even if I can't play all the cards you suggest, I am still grateful for your interest in this deck.




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Change Log
05/03/2022
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The combined Kamigawa and New Capenna update. I've cut Torpor Orb in both the Main Build and the Budget Build and replaced it with Junji, the Midnight Sky.
Latest Changes to both Builds
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11/20/2021
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The big Innistrad update! Changed some minor things in the budget list, and some major ones in the current one:
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07/31/2021
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MH2 gave us a powerful new card to play with in the main build that I think is almost broken.
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And AFR gave the budget build its own Necropotence-replacement.
Latest Changes to the Budget Build
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03/24/2021
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Re-formatted the primer; added the "Budget Considerations" section and provided a Budget Decklist (untested); fixed a few errors and cleaned up in general
03/14/2021
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With Kaldheim, we got two new MDFCs to play with.
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01/18/2021
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After a lot of testing I had to overhaul the deck completely. Removed four Rack pieces, because creatures were too easy to remove. At least, the deck runs more smooth than ever now and can lock the opponents out of the game with ease.
03/08/2020
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I swapped 17 cards, 14 of them lands, because the mana base needed some work. I also needed more card draw, so a Necropotence was due. Pox and Smallpox underperformed so they got replaced by Mirage Mirror and Mirror of the Forebears for more synergies with Kroxa.
03/02/2020
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I threw out both combos entirely. They felt too luck-dependant and this deck doesn't really need them. They are nice to have but I wanted more space for interaction, so those were the first cards to be cut. I also think that one Eldrazi daddy is enough.
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Note that I kept Syr Konrad, the Grim for now, because he still fits the theme of reanimation and dealing damage with constant graveyard shenanigans.
02/14/2020
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Deck and this primer are created :)

Re: Kroxa - No Escape from 12-Rack

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:50 am
by WolfWhoWanders
lifeline is a great card with the Titans, although you do need to be very aware of the ramifications of it's symmetrical effects when you play it. I haven't tried kroxa because I tried a rankle deck and it turns out people really hate that type of effect... Hand hate and all that. So I tried Uro, and I realize he is basically simic value with a bad rap from the get go but I came up with something that amuses me for now

Re: Kroxa - No Escape from 12-Rack

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:10 am
by darrenhabib
Are there in fact 12 racks in the deck? If not can I suggest Liliana of the Veil? ..badum tish

Re: Kroxa - No Escape from 12-Rack

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:16 am
by Tevesh
Angrath, the Flame-Chained was an absolute beast when I faced a deck similar to this concept. Tree of Perdition and Sorin Markov lowers opponent's lives quickly. Captive Audience can be very fun if you're down with that level of tomfoolery.

Sangromancer takes advantage of all this discard, keeping you alive against the hate and has Flying. Mindslicer is a quick way to ensure that nobody has a hand. If you go that route, you may wish to consider Asylum Visitor.

Wake the Dead is further Reanimation shenanigans and a bunch of your Creatures do want to ETB and/or die. A disgusting loop you could do is Sidisi with Ever After. Use Ever After to get back Kroxa who dies and have Sidisi Exploit herself to fetch the Ever After. Something you can do every turn until everybody's dead or you find a more interesting trick.

Lands are always low opportunity cost way of improving your deck. High Market/Miren, the Moaning Well to stay alive from more hate thrown your way? You seem to have a handful of expensive cards, so I'd suggest Phyrexian Tower. Myriad Landscape and Terrain Generator are ways to Ramp you. Leechridden Swamp gives your deck further reach. Path of Ancestry's Scry can smooth your draws since you plan on casting your Commander over and over again?

Re: Kroxa - No Escape from 12-Rack

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:12 am
by KitsuLeif
WolfWhoWanders wrote:
4 years ago
lifeline is a great card with the Titans, although you do need to be very aware of the ramifications of it's symmetrical effects when you play it. I haven't tried kroxa because I tried a rankle deck and it turns out people really hate that type of effect... Hand hate and all that. So I tried Uro, and I realize he is basically simic value with a bad rap from the get go but I came up with something that amuses me for now
Added Lifeline to my wants list. My boyfriend occasionally plays a Nath of the Gilt-Leaf discard deck, so my play group is used to hand disruption shenanigans :D
darrenhabib wrote:
4 years ago
Are there in fact 12 racks in the deck? If not can I suggest Liliana of the Veil? ..badum tish
Those are the 12 Rack effects I want to play. And I'd love to get a Lili, but not for 50€ :/

Tevesh wrote:
4 years ago
Angrath, the Flame-Chained was an absolute beast when I faced a deck similar to this concept. Tree of Perdition and Sorin Markov lowers opponent's lives quickly. Captive Audience can be very fun if you're down with that level of tomfoolery.

Sangromancer takes advantage of all this discard, keeping you alive against the hate and has Flying. Mindslicer is a quick way to ensure that nobody has a hand. If you go that route, you may wish to consider Asylum Visitor.

Wake the Dead is further Reanimation shenanigans and a bunch of your Creatures do want to ETB and/or die. A disgusting loop you could do is Sidisi with Ever After. Use Ever After to get back Kroxa who dies and have Sidisi Exploit herself to fetch the Ever After. Something you can do every turn until everybody's dead or you find a more interesting trick.

Lands are always low opportunity cost way of improving your deck. High Market/Miren, the Moaning Well to stay alive from more hate thrown your way? You seem to have a handful of expensive cards, so I'd suggest Phyrexian Tower. Myriad Landscape and Terrain Generator are ways to Ramp you. Leechridden Swamp gives your deck further reach. Path of Ancestry's Scry can smooth your draws since you plan on casting your Commander over and over again?
I'm not sure about Angrath. I feel like most of the time he would be an overcosted Vicious Rumors (which I want to cut as well) and then he dies in the turn cycle.

The thing with Sangromancer is, it would help me in the first turns, but ideally, no one has cards in their hand to discard when Sangromancer would be necessary. So Mindslicer would be a dead card as well. Asylum Visitor on the other hand sounds like I have to consider it.

Oh, I love the Ever After loop, definitely gonna add this one!

I don't really know about High Market, 1 life doesn't seem to be worth the inclusion. Miren, the Moaning Well on the other hand sounds good enough. Terrain Generator sounds fun as well.
Myriad Landscape goes in. Path of Ancestry... I have it, but most of the time I will reanimate Kroxa and not cast him. I really don't want to pay his Escape cost. On the other hand, Path fixes both colors. But it cipts. Eh... dunno. I will try it.


Oh, I also could play Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Deserted Temple + Thespian's Stage. Think I'll do this :D

Kroxa - No Escape from 12-Rack

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:54 am
by KitsuLeif
Updated the deck list into the final version that I will playtest for a while now.

Kroxa - No Escape from 12-Rack

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:44 am
by Tevesh
I just remembered Delirium Skeins if you want to give that a shot.

Kroxa - No Escape from 12-Rack

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:52 am
by KitsuLeif
Tevesh wrote:
4 years ago
I just remembered Delirium Skeins if you want to give that a shot.
I will keep that one in mind!

A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:50 pm
by Dragoon
Looks good! It's a bit light on removal though, you could maybe play Foul Renewal as creature removal? I'd also suggest Bedevil and the likes to be able to remove noncreature permanents.

For reanimation, did you think of Makeshift Mannequin? It might be better than Grim Return since you don't have to play it on the turn Kroxa dies.

Also, what about cards that'll put Kroxa back on top of your library? Especially the land ones like Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage or Volrath's Stronghold (that last one might be a bit pricey though).

A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:10 pm
by KitsuLeif
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
Looks good! It's a bit light on removal though, you could maybe play Foul Renewal as creature removal? I'd also suggest Bedevil and the likes to be able to remove noncreature permanents.
With all the hand disruption I play, I kinda hope that I don't have to play that much spot removal. I consider Pox, Smallpox, Torment of Hailfire, Erratic Portal (sometimes), Grave Pact, Flayer of the Hatebound, Murderous Redcap, Rankle, Master of Pranks and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre as removal. And if it works out and I mill an Eldrazi titan and have a Feldon of the Third Path ready, I can make a token copy of the titan before my library gets shuffled in. A token copy with haste and Annihilator 4. Corpse Dance, Goryo's Vengeance and Shallow Grave would also work in reaction to the shuffle trigger, but I wouldn't want to do this with both Eldrazi titans, because of the danger of milling myself without them.
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
For reanimation, did you think of Makeshift Mannequin? It might be better than Grim Return since you don't have to play it on the turn Kroxa dies.
It's one more mana and only reanimates from my graveyard. Sure, most of the time I want Kroxa, but in some cases I want to take something out of my opponents' graveyards as well. For example if all of them don't have any cards in hand, I don't think it's worth it to get Kroxa out again.
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
Also, what about cards that'll put Kroxa back on top of your library? Especially the land ones like Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage or Volrath's Stronghold (that last one might be a bit pricey though).
Yeah, Mortuary Mire and Witch's Cottage might be some good inclusions, but I'm always hesitant about putting my Commander in my library because if I have to shuffle because of an opponents' effect, I have no way to get Kroxa back. But I will probably play those lands for other creatures I want to get back.


Also I'm pondering to throw out Thornbite Staff and Hell's Caretaker. The combo is fun when I can assemble it, but it has to survive a full turn cycle and a 4 mana 1/1 is very fragile... so maybe instead of Caretaker I'll play Apprentice Necromancer and Thornbite Staff is replaced with Sheoldred, Whispering One. This one at least does something in my opponents' turns, before she reanimates Kroxa in my turn. Of course, Sheoldred draws hate, but in turn 7 my opponents' hands should be empty. If not, then something went terribly wrong.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:51 pm
by Dragoon
KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago
With all the hand disruption I play, I kinda hope that I don't have to play that much spot removal. I consider Pox, Smallpox, Torment of Hailfire, Erratic Portal (sometimes), Grave Pact, Flayer of the Hatebound, Murderous Redcap, Rankle, Master of Pranks and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre as removal. And if it works out and I mill an Eldrazi titan and have a Feldon of the Third Path ready, I can make a token copy of the titan before my library gets shuffled in. A token copy with haste and Annihilator 4. Corpse Dance, Goryo's Vengeance and Shallow Grave would also work in reaction to the shuffle trigger, but I wouldn't want to do this with both Eldrazi titans, because of the danger of milling myself without them.
That's a risky plan. If a pesky artifact or enchantment (or even land) hits the field, you can't do anything except hoping to draw Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or having enough mana to force the outcome with Torment of Hailfire (at which point you might as well just win the game).
KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago
It's one more mana and only reanimates from my graveyard. Sure, most of the time I want Kroxa, but in some cases I want to take something out of my opponents' graveyards as well. For example if all of them don't have any cards in hand, I don't think it's worth it to get Kroxa out again.
It's one more mana but doesn't need to be cast on the same turn as the creature you want to reanimate died. Being limited to your graveyard only sure is annoying, but how likely is it that you'll have 3 mana open to cast Grim Return at the right time? The deck doesn't strike me as being very reactive. You'll play mostly on your turn. And Grim Return looks to me to be a very reactive card that would be best played in a control shell with lots of removal.
KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago
Yeah, Mortuary Mire and Witch's Cottage might be some good inclusions, but I'm always hesitant about putting my Commander in my library because if I have to shuffle because of an opponents' effect, I have no way to get Kroxa back. But I will probably play those lands for other creatures I want to get back.
I didn't think of good ol' tucking, that might indeed be a risky play if you have to wait a full turn cycle before drawing Kroxa.
KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago
Also I'm pondering to throw out Thornbite Staff and Hell's Caretaker. The combo is fun when I can assemble it, but it has to survive a full turn cycle and a 4 mana 1/1 is very fragile... so maybe instead of Caretaker I'll play Apprentice Necromancer and Thornbite Staff is replaced with Sheoldred, Whispering One. This one at least does something in my opponents' turns, before she reanimates Kroxa in my turn. Of course, Sheoldred draws hate, but in turn 7 my opponents' hands should be empty. If not, then something went terribly wrong.
Can't really comment on that one, but always keep in mind what your deck can do when something goes wrong. I've seen people coming back from an opposing Windfall backed up by a Notion Thief. This is commander, crazy stuff happens all the time. :P

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:54 pm
by KitsuLeif
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
That's a risky plan. If a pesky artifact or enchantment (or even land) hits the field, you can't do anything except hoping to draw Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or having enough mana to force the outcome with Torment of Hailfire (at which point you might as well just win the game).
Of course it's risky, but I have to start somewhere. When I find that I need some more removal, I'll put in Bedevil and probably Hero's Downfall. Maybe something like Vandalblast as well. But I don't think that I'll start putting in bad enchantment removal. Rakdos naturally has problems with enchantments but I don't want to play suboptimal cards.
And in regards of Torment of Hailfire, I play Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers + Desert Temple + Thespian's Stage, so getting enough mana for that thing to have a huge impact early in the game shouldn't be too hard.
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
It's one more mana but doesn't need to be cast on the same turn as the creature you want to reanimate died. Being limited to your graveyard only sure is annoying, but how likely is it that you'll have 3 mana open to cast Grim Return at the right time? The deck doesn't strike me as being very reactive. You'll play mostly on your turn. And Grim Return looks to me to be a very reactive card that would be best played in a control shell with lots of removal.
I see your point. The thing is, I don't really want to spend 4 mana on reanimating Kroxa. 3 mana is, where I draw the line, because for 4, I could just let him escape. I could play Stir the Grave, because for Kroxa that would be a 3 mana spell. And as you said, I'm not really reactive, so it doesn't matter that it's sorcery speed. On the other hand I want to play a lot cheap reanimator spells (the best one in this deck is most probably Claim), so maybe I have to play Stir the Grave in addition to Grim Return? I have to make up my mind about this.
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
I didn't think of good ol' tucking, that might indeed be a risky play if you have to wait a full turn cycle before drawing Kroxa.
I've put them in for now. There are a lot of other utility creatures I want to have in my hand rather than in my graveyard (even though I could reanimate them).
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
Can't really comment on that one, but always keep in mind what your deck can do when something goes wrong. I've seen people coming back from an opposing Windfall backed up by a Notion Thief. This is commander, crazy stuff happens all the time. :P
I know, this format is sick and wonky and I love it :D
Also, I'm more of a Narset, Parter of Veils + Teferi's Puzzle Box player xD

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:42 am
by Shabbaman
In standard the Kroxa deck has Nightmare Shepherd. A nice trick to get double mileage out of your CitP-triggers, although it's at odds with Escape and regular recursion. And perhaps it's worth checking out where Panharmonicon could bring you.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 9:09 am
by KitsuLeif
I had both cards in the first draft of the deck, but they ultimately got cut due to space issues. I really like Panharmonicon though. Maybe I'll find a place for it again.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:12 pm
by KitsuLeif
Updated the starting post with something I hope I can get the primer status for, once I have gathered enough experience with this deck. I hope you like it.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:24 pm
by DementedKirby
KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago
Updated the starting post with something I hope I can get the primer status for, once I have gathered enough experience with this deck. I hope you like it.
Excellent job! It's easy to follow and covers every base any player looking to play Kroxa would need to know. I have no doubt this will achieve Primer status when the time comes. Keep up the good work!

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 5:33 pm
by shandiris
Cool deck! You're playing a lot of cards I've never heard of.
How often do you win through a combo and how often through the racks? From the outside looking in, they seem at a weird hextaposition. Racks go slow and want grindy games, whereas the combos want to go fast.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 7:43 pm
by KitsuLeif
shandiris wrote:
4 years ago
How often do you win through a combo and how often through the racks? From the outside looking in, they seem at a weird hextaposition. Racks go slow and want grindy games, whereas the combos want to go fast.

I only playtested this deck twice in a 1v1 against my boyfriend's K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth. It won both times through Rack effects; the combo is more of a backup plan and I don't really know if I want to keep all of the pieces in.

I will test the deck again on friday next week and hopefully a new addition to this deck will arrive in time: Noetic Scales.
At first it seems like an anti-synergy with the Rack effects, but keeping my opponents from swinging with big creatures is crucial. And I can also stack the triggers so that they lose life/get damaged first by the Rack cards, before returning their creatures to their hands. So they can either play them again and take damage next turn or their creatures get discarded by me.
Now I just need to figure out what I want to cut for it.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:31 pm
by Dragoon
KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago
I will test the deck again on friday next week and hopefully a new addition to this deck will arrive in time: Noetic Scales.
At first it seems like an anti-synergy with the Rack effects, but keeping my opponents from swinging with big creatures is crucial. And I can also stack the triggers so that they lose life/get damaged first by the Rack cards, before returning their creatures to their hands. So they can either play them again and take damage next turn or their creatures get discarded by me.
Now I just need to figure out what I want to cut for it.
That's a good find!

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:38 pm
by KitsuLeif
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
That's a good find!
It was suggested to me on reddit, and I really like the card :D
I'm still unsure what to cut. Or if I even want to keep the combos in. Because if I get rid of Ashnod's Altar, Nim Deathmantle, Murderous Redcap, Basalt Monolith, Mesmeric Orb and probably one of the two Eldrazi titans, I could fit some more removal in. While playtesting I had the feeling that I couldn't assemble the combos reliably. And they don't even fit into the theme of the deck that well.

Chaos Warp, Bedevil, Vandalblast, Blasphemous Act and Last One Standing come to mind as replacements for those five cards.
Also Stitch Together could be another reanimation piece. Maybe I'll find a place for it as well.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:04 am
by Dragoon
KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
That's a good find!
It was suggested to me on reddit, and I really like the card :D
I'm still unsure what to cut. Or if I even want to keep the combos in. Because if I get rid of Ashnod's Altar, Nim Deathmantle, Murderous Redcap, Basalt Monolith, Mesmeric Orb and probably one of the two Eldrazi titans, I could fit some more removal in. While playtesting I had the feeling that I couldn't assemble the combos reliably. And they don't even fit into the theme of the deck that well.

Chaos Warp, Bedevil, Vandalblast, Blasphemous Act and Last One Standing come to mind as replacements for those five cards.
Also Stitch Together could be another reanimation piece. Maybe I'll find a place for it as well.
I think that will be for the best indeed, but I might be biased since I don't like combos and I systematically play around 10 removal cards in each of my decks :P
Keep us updated! :)

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:42 am
by KitsuLeif
Dragoon wrote:
4 years ago
I think that will be for the best indeed, but I might be biased since I don't like combos and I systematically play around 10 removal cards in each of my decks :P
Keep us updated! :)
Will do^^
Combos are fine, when the deck is based on them. This one... really isn't.
Can't wait for friday to finally try this deck in a big pod!

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:38 am
by kenbaumann
@KitsuLeif I enjoyed reading this! Good luck with your games on Friday; I'll be following this thread to see how they went.

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 6:50 pm
by Kyra Warsong
This looks so cool! I had fantasies about playing Kroxa several times in a turn with Warstorm Surge in play. Keep it up!

Re: A Take on Titan - No Escape from 12-Rack (Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger)

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:44 pm
by KitsuLeif
kenbaumann wrote:
4 years ago
KitsuLeif I enjoyed reading this! Good luck with your games on Friday; I'll be following this thread to see how they went.
Thank you, I will keep you updated!
Kyra Warsong wrote:
4 years ago
This looks so cool! I had fantasies about playing Kroxa several times in a turn with Warstorm Surge in play. Keep it up!
That's why I'm keeping in Flayer of the Hatebound even though I'll cut the rest of the combo, as it is a living Warstorm Surge for Kroxa that can be reanimated as well :D