Yidris, Maelstrom Morgoth [Lord of the Rings Theme Deck]

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FenrirRex
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Post by FenrirRex » 3 years ago

With the forthcoming Lord of the Rings set I figure I should properly post up my four-color Morgoth theme deck. Initially the deck started as a Thraximundar "attack" tribal deck running a subset of some of my favorite creatures in magic: specters. I looked at the alternative art for Liliana's Specter and its visual similarity to the Nazgul and decided to shift directions towards a more flavorful build- adding green to represent the biggest bad in the Ur-Fantasy setting of Middle Earth: Morgoth. I have a thing™️ for literary villains, and Morgoth and the many evils that ultimately spawn from him are the very definition of the rule of cool.

Morgoth Theme Deck

Story Beats:

1 Anthem of Rakdos (Corrupting the Song)
1 Tree of Perdition (Destroying the Trees)
1 Driven // Despair (The Curse of Hurin)
1 The Eldest Reborn (Dagor Dagorath)

Morgoth's Armaments:

1 Batterskull (Grond)

Sauron, Greatest Minion of Morgoth:

1 Nath of the Gilt-Leaf (Sauron the Deceiver)
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited (Sauron at His Height)
1 Eye of Doom (The Eye)
1 Conqueror's Flail (Sauron's Mace)

Other Named Evils of Middle Earth:

1 Pain Seer (Saruman)
1 Kardur, Doomscourge (Bane of Durin)
1 Crosis, the Purger (Glaurung)

The One Ring:

Cult Of Personality:

1 Elves of Deep Shadow (Corrupted Elves)
1 Disciple of Deceit (Corrupted Men)
1 Averna, the Chaos Bloom (Corrupted Maiar)

Banners of Evil:

1 Gruul Signet (The Eye)
1 Golgari Signet (The White Hand)
1 Rakdos Signet (Balrogs)
1 Izzet Signet (Dragons)
Approximate Total Cost:

Last edited by FenrirRex 3 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 3 years ago

I have no immediate suggestions, just wanted to let you know how great this is. You've done so well with the deck, I can't see anything here that doesn't fit really quite well.

Have you considered adding Grond to the list somehow? I know Loxodon Warhammer is Morgoth's named mace Grond, you could possibly get it the siege weapon into the list with something like Darksteel Juggernaut or Traxos, Scourge of Kroog.

Would Nekusar, the Mindrazer fit as Witch-King as well as Thrax? I really like Thrax myself, he's a fantastically fun card to play, just wondering. I know little about the lore of the Witch-King, despite him being one of my favourite characters.

As much as it's cool to see the crossover, I'm a little sad that these sorts of labours of love will have an easy mode option moving forward. I like the idea of finding a theme, making it your own and having the deck be yours and yours alone, rather than a direct copy with immediate printings of characters as their face value. I hope you keep the deck together regardless!
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

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FenrirRex
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Post by FenrirRex » 3 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
I have no immediate suggestions, just wanted to let you know how great this is. You've done so well with the deck, I can't see anything here that doesn't fit really quite well.

Have you considered adding Grond to the list somehow? I know Loxodon Warhammer is Morgoth's named mace Grond, you could possibly get it the siege weapon into the list with something like Darksteel Juggernaut or Traxos, Scourge of Kroog.

Would Nekusar, the Mindrazer fit as Witch-King as well as Thrax? I really like Thrax myself, he's a fantastically fun card to play, just wondering. I know little about the lore of the Witch-King, despite him being one of my favourite characters.

As much as it's cool to see the crossover, I'm a little sad that these sorts of labours of love will have an easy mode option moving forward. I like the idea of finding a theme, making it your own and having the deck be yours and yours alone, rather than a direct copy with immediate printings of characters as their face value. I hope you keep the deck together regardless!
Thanks! I appreciate the nod of recognition- it was indeed a labor of love to try and dredge up as many flavorful cards as I could. I really like Grond (both the mace and the siege weapon) and agree that it should get in here- thinking Batterskull could be real cool both flavorfully and mechanically, since it can be returned to hand to Cascade again. Bonus points that, if wanted, it is literally both a siege engine and mechanically a weapon, so it can be both Gronds.

Most of the Grixis legends are actually perfect fits for The Witch King of Angmar at different stages of his service and conquests, including Sedris, the Traitor King and Nekusar, the Mindrazer. I like Thraximundar the most of these, since a sorcerously-inclined, fiery dual-wielding, mounted figure is about as on-the-nose as his descriptions get in the text. As a side-note, if you can acquire a copy of the strategy game, The Battle for Middle Earth II: The Rise of the Witch King, (used or pirated unless you feel like dropping a ridiculous sum on an old game) you can get a real fun, semi-canon look at the Witch Kings career.

Finally, yes, I do have to agree on the easy mode of crossover IP deckbuilding. Was the impetus of finally posting this up, for better or worse. I have every intention of keeping the deck together, in one form or another. Heck, I'm even tentatively hopeful that I'll get some flavor-win lands (mana base is total trash, if including some great visuals for Mordorish landscapes) and some generically evil Morgoth-aligned creatures that don't just stomp all over what I've tried to do here.

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 3 years ago

FenrirRex wrote:
3 years ago
Thanks! I appreciate the nod of recognition- it was indeed a labor of love to try and dredge up as many flavorful cards as I could. I really like Grond (both the mace and the siege weapon) and agree that it should get in here- thinking Batterskull could be real cool both flavorfully and mechanically, since it can be returned to hand to Cascade again. Bonus points that, if wanted, it is literally both a siege engine and mechanically a weapon, so it can be both Gronds.
Yes! Chef's kiss perfect pick there, I love it. And bonus points for it fitting your deck mechanically too.
FenrirRex wrote:
3 years ago
Most of the Grixis legends are actually perfect fits for The Witch King of Angmar at different stages of his service and conquests, including Sedris, the Traitor King and Nekusar, the Mindrazer. I like Thraximundar the most of these, since a sorcerously-inclined, fiery dual-wielding, mounted figure is about as on-the-nose as his descriptions get in the text. As a side-note, if you can acquire a copy of the strategy game, The Battle for Middle Earth II: The Rise of the Witch King, (used or pirated unless you feel like dropping a ridiculous sum on an old game) you can get a real fun, semi-canon look at the Witch Kings career.
I might actually look into this at some point. I've read very little lore of his aside from seeing some of him in the ps4 games Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor (very much non-canon, but a lot of fun nonetheless).
FenrirRex wrote:
3 years ago
Finally, yes, I do have to agree on the easy mode of crossover IP deckbuilding. Was the impetus of finally posting this up, for better or worse. I have every intention of keeping the deck together, in one form or another. Heck, I'm even tentatively hopeful that I'll get some flavor-win lands (mana base is total trash, if including some great visuals for Mordorish landscapes) and some generically evil Morgoth-aligned creatures that don't just stomp all over what I've tried to do here.
Yeah, it's a double=edged sword. In some ways its great, in some ways it isn't (although that being said we don't even know what form the IP will take when it hits MtG, so it might not be as devastating for LotR vorthos decks as we think it could be). I love that Tolkien is getting more representation and recognition within the modern fantasy era, but part of a vorthos build is taking a collective bunch of cards that otherwise have little thematic cohesion, and giving them cohesion through a labor of love. Just getting all the LotR printed cards isn't the same. I'm very lucky in that the chances of a Malazan crossover at any point in the future is very, very slim, so I can continue to toy with my theme decks ongoing. But still, you never know.

With regards to land base, there's a couple of possibilities for improvement via theme. For mine, in terms of basics I tend to look towards planes that have geographical similarities. For broken and battered landscapes, BFZ and Hour of Devastation were quite good, as was Alara, and for idyllic (which probably isn't this deck) Eldraine and Lorwyn were quite good. Potential food for thought at any rate. Otherwise, I know it's expensive (having recently traded a copy) but Volrath's Stronghold could fit nicely as Morgoth's stronghold at Angband. As a plus it helps nicely recur creatures for cascading.

I'm also racking my brain for something mechanically better than the Silmarils you currently have. They're fine, but I'm sure we could come up with better mechanical picks that still represent well the most exquisite gems ever wrought. I guess you could go with Mox Opal, Mox Amber and Chrome Mox, but again, I don't know how much cash you're throwing at this one.
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

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FenrirRex
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Post by FenrirRex » 3 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
I might actually look into this at some point. I've read very little lore of his aside from seeing some of him in the ps4 games Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor (very much non-canon, but a lot of fun nonetheless).
Definitely, the Shadow games are very high on my list (the first more than the second)- definitely do some cool things with the Nazgul and glad to see Calebrimbor given the chance to do something outside the canon.
toctheyounger wrote:
3 years ago
With regards to land base, there's a couple of possibilities for improvement via theme. For mine, in terms of basics I tend to look towards planes that have geographical similarities. For broken and battered landscapes, BFZ and Hour of Devastation were quite good, as was Alara, and for idyllic (which probably isn't this deck) Eldraine and Lorwyn were quite good. Potential food for thought at any rate. Otherwise, I know it's expensive (having recently traded a copy) but Volrath's Stronghold could fit nicely as Morgoth's stronghold at Angband. As a plus it helps nicely recur creatures for cascading.

I'm also racking my brain for something mechanically better than the Silmarils you currently have. They're fine, but I'm sure we could come up with better mechanical picks that still represent well the most exquisite gems ever wrought. I guess you could go with Mox Opal, Mox Amber and Chrome Mox, but again, I don't know how much cash you're throwing at this one.
To answer alot of the above I'm mostly aiming to keep whatever picks remain as largely budget, though I may have a Stronghold hiding somewhere less relevant since some chunks of my collection remain from before all these ridiculous price spikes- though that's an entirely different topic.

Unfortunately, the biggest on-flavor lands to drop are in the most recent set in the form of three more tap lands that don't even tap for more than one color- Port of Karfell gives both necromancy and naval power a nod, Gnottvold Slumbermound gives trolls a rep without consuming a "real" deck slot, and Skemfar Elderhall looks like a stellar Silmaril-era elf home. Have not 100% decided what lands are getting the axe for them, but probably going to need to further sac some power for that flavor.

Relatedly, Kardur, Doomscourge and Kardur's Vicious Return represent the Balrog of Moria, Durin's Bane, basically perfectly so I'll probably be making room for them too.

As for Silmarils, agreed that there are better picks though Moxen are largely out of budget or placed better elsewhere- though a Mox Amber is an interesting option that I know I have laying around since the Silmarils seem to respond most to the powerful and the deck is full of legends- just not great that it doesn't help ramp out the legends themselves (though the deck has no 0 drop yet, always getting a Silmaril off the One Ring is kind of hilarious). Mox Tantalite is comparatively in budget, and I think it still works with the change to cascade. Arcane Signet could work well enough, as could three of the Diamonds but the latter are pretty awful in four color. The unquestionably best silmaril is Coveted Jewel, but that card sure asks a lot of you, even in a deck that loves attacking as much as this one.

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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 3 years ago

I kinda like the uncommon non-basics from Kaldheim. They're expensive, but generally strong effects. That being said, having a less than optimal landbase in 4c puts you up against it for actual gameplay. Kardur, Doomscourge is a nice card, and definitely fits Balrog vibes well. I'm picking up a copy myself for other places. Although I do like Rakdos, Lord of Riots for a Balrog too, hope he's not getting cut!

Silmarils are tough. I did think of Arcane Signet, and it's probably worth running in 4c anyway, but I don't know if it's a perfect fit. You're right, Coveted Jewel is the best, but it is a bit weird to run.
Malazan Decks of the Fallen
| Shadowthrone/Lazav | Raest/Yidris | T'iam / The Ur-Dragon |

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FenrirRex
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Post by FenrirRex » 3 years ago

Definitely fun trying to balance power and curve with flavor, the deck does an okay job of balancing it but is still very obviously on the lower end of power level. Still makes for some fun battlecruiser style games when in the right group though!

The decklist has been edited with the following changes based on our conversation so far:

Out:
Black Sun's Zenith and Villainous Wealth (Hitting X spells off cascade feels real bad, so decided to just cut them entirely despite the flavor.)
Loxodon Warhammer
Worn Powerstone
Jwar Isle Refuge
Izzet Boilerworks
Blighted Woodland (Arguably the three weakest lands in both function and flavor)

In:
Kardur, Doomscourge
Kardur's Vicious Return
Batterskull
Arcane Signet
Gnottvold Slumbermound
Port of Karfell
Skemfar Elderhall

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FenrirRex
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Post by FenrirRex » 2 years ago

Didn't see anything from Strixhaven that immediately jumped out flavor wise, but curious if anyone is seeing something Tolkienesque hiding in the wizard school that beats out any flavor I've got in here already.

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