Copy/Paste Personal EDH Philosophy Bit
In building my decks, my end goal is "strong but fair". In other words, I want to win, yes, but not at the expense of fun. For me, that means:
- No infinite combos
- No MLD
- Very few discard/countermagic/tutors
- Try to limit format staples only to decks they fit mechanically or thematically
At first sight, I thought Kykar was just okay as an Equipment.dec pilot. Then I thought about it some more, then I played with it, and I saw the possibilities unravel before me. Kykar, it turns out, is an excellent Equipment commander. BTW it was only after I made this deck that I found out what were people usually using him for =) Let's see the list:
Wings and Sticks
Approximate Total Cost:
Possible cuts ATM
- Catch // Release — A really cute card that's under testing. Basically, Catch is really neat, Release sucks hard. I want to see if Catch is good enough to warrant a spot by itself.
- Urza, Lord High Artificer — So here's what always haooens when Urza hits the table: the token maybe gets in an attack or two, Urza maybe pays for one equip cost, then Urza gets killed. It seems I just don't have enough artifacts to make him shine.
So, what are all the ways Kykar is awesome for an Equipment deck? First off, he has built-in evasion for the direct Voltron strategy. He makes evasive tokens when I'm casting Equipment, which can serve both as backup evasive Equipment bearers in case Kykar himself falls victim to targeted removal, and as a meat wall to protect my life total while I'm Voltroning. He can also sacrifice the tokens for mana. This comes in handy because of the deck's Jeskai colors. I don't have green for ramp and there are these turns where you're just one mana short of doing all the awesome you have in store. Well, Kykar can cover that. Whether I need to cast that second big spell, or equip that big stick, he can push me there.
The single best thing about Kykar, however, is that it's all of the above on one card. This flexibility is the basis of the deck's considerable win rate. On to the special mentions:
Cards you expected to see but don't
- Sunforger — Every time I'm in Boros, I put it in. Every time, it underperforms and I take it out. Maybe once I get to building that Zirda, the Dawnwaker deck I'm carrying in my head, my Sunforger will finally find home.
- Hammer of Nazahn — Yeah, gotta get me one of those.
- Blackblade Reforged — As I mentioned in the Bonehoard writeup, BH is almost as good as Blackblade and even has some advantages over it. Not 100% sure I need it, TBH.
- Bonehoard — This is a severely underplayed card. It's a colorless Lhurgoyf that leaves an Equipment behind. In a four-player game, it routinely grants about +8/+8 or more. Yeah, it's no Blackblade Reforged, but honestly, it's not that much worse, either. Try it.
- Heartseeker — At the time of this writing, Blackblade Reforged is in more than 18K decks on EDHrec. Bonehoard is in a bit over 3K. Heartseeker sits on a paltry 615. Eh, it's an artifact that basically says "5, Tap an untapped creature you control: Destroy target creature." It's a niche card at best, I admit. But I still like it. Granted, I do like it more in my Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient deck, but it does decent work in here as well. Hey, if a card draws targeted removal, it can't be that bad, right? And if you can cheat the costs, maybe cast it instantly and have it come into play attached with Sigarda's Aid, well, surprise, mothertrampler.
- Fires of Invention — There's a recent thread that debates the usefulness of this card and though it's not the all-star I thought it would be when it was spoiled, it's damn good here. First off, Kykar costs four, which means if I'm casting Fires on four lands, I can throw him in as well. This deck very rarely does things outside of my turn, so the sorcery limitation is not much of a downside. As for playing only two spells per turn, well, this is an Equipment deck — I have a lot of non-spell things to do with the mana I save.
- Heavenly Blademaster — This card is murder on wings. With a few sticks lying around and a source of haste, she can end someone for . And even without haste, if there happens to be several Spirit tokens around when she hits the table, a hefty +5/+5 Anthem does good work as well.
- Nahiri, the Lithomancer — Good old OG Nahiri. I must say, I like the card much more in the 99, with all these extra colors around. Cheats casting costs? Check. Cheats equip costs? Check. Makes tokens? Check. Is a noncreature spell that makes a Spirit with Kykar? Check. What was that? Recursion to the battlefield? Now you're just braggin'. No, she's not gonna ult, ever, but she doesn't have to.
- Ugin, the Ineffable — Just like Nahiri, this guy covers so much ground it's insane. Makes my Equipment (and mana rocks) cheaper, can destroy pretty much anything, makes tokens that draw me a card when they die. But the best detail is, guess what creature type Ugin's tokens are? That's right, they're Spirits, which means Kykar can eat them for and get me the card anytime. Profit!
- Narset, Enlightened Master — Back when Narset was first spoiled, I wanted to build a deck around her. It went pretty well, I even got a prerelease foil copy of her, but I slowly realized that the deck was gravitating towards a degenerate mess of extra turns and combat steps. I abandoned the idea, but the shiny card remained in my binder until I saw an opportunity and I made her a part of Kykar's 99. She's been striking terror into the hearts of my enemies ever since. One or two triggers can push me quite far ahead and thanks to first strike, almost any Equipment can make her not fear the blockers.
- Commander's Insignia — Another criminally underplayed card. For only one more mana over Glorious Anthem, you get a card that has no problem having double, triple, even quadruple the effect. And how is this card in less than half the decks than Collective Blessing? It costs two less mana, has one less color, and unless your commander costs six or more mana, it can easily have the same effect. Do yourself a favor and get this card for your Go Wide deck now.
- Skyfire Phoenix — I like this little guy. It may look as if it doesn't quite fit in here, but an uncounterable, evasive, hasty body whenever I recast my general is a pretty sweet deal. Especially later in the game, when Kykar starts getting expensive and I don't have mana to cast another spell with him to make a Spirit. With Phoenix, I always have a backup plan.
- Clash of Realities — This is just a funny little inclusion. Haven't tested it much, yet, but the potential of adding three damage to a non-Spirit creature to every noncreature spell I cast seems pretty good. Plus, the card looks sweet in foil.
Comments and suggestions are, of course, welcome.
Antis, out.
