Killian, Ink Duelist - Spot Removal Tribal

[Phoenixlance]

Killian, Ink Duelist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Creatures: 23

1 Giant Killer

1 Dark Confidant

1 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner

1 Keen Duelist

1 Mindblade Render

1 Pain Seer

1 Athreos, God of Passage

1 Breena, the Demagogue

1 Bygone Bishop

1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation

1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den

1 Mentor of the Meek

1 Monastery Mentor

1 Murderous Rider

1 Ruin Raider

1 Sedgemoor Witch

1 Toshiro Umezawa

1 Tymna the Weaver

1 Crypt Ghast

1 Dread Presence

1 Twilight Prophet

1 Firja, Judge of Valor

1 Shadrix Silverquill

Artifacts: 6

1 Sol Ring

1 Wayfarer's Bauble

1 Arcane Signet

1 Fellwar Stone

1 Orzhov Signet

1 Talisman of Hierarchy

Enchantments: 3

1 Dark Tutelage

1 Phyrexian Arena

1 Revel in Riches

Instants: 23

1 Slaughter Pact

1 Cling to Dust

1 Path to Exile

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Despark

1 Go for the Throat

1 Unexpectedly Absent

1 Vanishing Verse

1 Anguished Unmaking

1 Generous Gift

1 Poison the Cup

1 Skywhaler's Shot

1 Baleful Mastery

1 Deadly Rollick

1 Drag to the Underworld

1 Eat to Extinction

1 Hagra Mauling

1 Price of Fame

1 Silence the Believers

1 Slaughter

1 Snuff Out

1 Utter End

1 Vraska's Contempt

Sorceries: 7

1 Bloodchief's Thirst

1 Night's Whisper

1 Winds of Abandon

1 Read the Bones

1 Retribution of the Meek

1 Vindicate

1 Dusk // Dawn

Lands: 37

1 Bojuka Bog

1 Brightclimb Pathway

1 Command Tower

1 Concealed Courtyard

1 Fetid Heath

1 Godless Shrine

1 Isolated Chapel

1 Marsh Flats

6 Plains

1 Reliquary Tower

1 Scrubland

1 Shineshadow Snarl

14 Swamp

1 Tainted Field

1 Temple of Silence

1 Terrain Generator

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Vault of Champions

1 Vault of the Archangel

Approximate Total Cost:

First and most important: huge shout out to WizardMN and his Sygg list, which was an incredible inspiration for the direction I took with this.

While I may be an Azorius mage at heart, Scrubland being the first ABU dual I ever owned has given Orzhov a special place in my heart. As Strixhaven and Commander 2021 spoilers continued, I had my fingers crossed for a new legendary I could work with. But while Breena and Shadrix both caught my eye, in the end it was Killian, Ink Duelist who prompted me to start brewing.

I like the idea of having "ramp" in the command zone, especially in these colors. But rather than the more conventional ideas I saw getting tossed around on the Internet--I don't own Hatred, and for some reason Enchrantress-style decks just never appeal to me--I liked the idea of using Killian's cost reduction to help me control the board. So I went dumpster diving through Scryfall came up with a list of spells that I wanted to include. Some of the more hilarious options like Hex or Curtain's Call are sitting in the maybeboard, as I'm using quite a lot of painful draw spells to keep my card advantage up. With only 3 cards above 4CMC/mana value, I'm hoping my greatness doesn't come at such a huge cost.

My main plan for the winning the game is just eventually poking my opponents to death with my small creatures. Shadrix and Breena are in the 99 to help make them all hit just a little harder. Worst comes to worst, my 4 Auras can be placed on Killian so he can go to town.

My biggest concerns right now would be the fact that most of the cards in my deck hurt me. A lot. I could probably stand to put in a few more lifegain effects. Some additional/more solid ways to win could probably be useful too. Cards like Bloodchief Ascension, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, and things with Extort seem like a decent way to address both those concerns. I'm also fighting every instinct in my body to add in cards like Reveillark and Sun Titan, but more ways to recur my creatures could be useful.

[Ruiner]

I would probably consider including Celestial Mantle since it is cheaper to play in this deck and helps with your life concerns.

I have a rather casual monoblack assassins and rogues deck that runs a decent amount of spot removal and tries to win with just poking people to death as well (see my Kiku, Night's Flower list in my signature if interested). I would highly recommend you run Quietus Spike and Virtus the Veiled if that is your plan since they can speed up the clock tremendously in my experience.

Revel in Riches is a solid inclusion for an alternative win condition.

[Phoenixlance]

I would probably consider including Celestial Mantle since it is cheaper to play in this deck and helps with your life concerns.

I have a rather casual monoblack assassins and rogues deck that runs a decent amount of spot removal and tries to win with just poking people to death as well (see my Kiku, Night's Flower list in my signature if interested). I would highly recommend you run Quietus Spike and Virtus the Veiled if that is your plan since they can speed up the clock tremendously in my experience.

Revel in Riches is a solid inclusion for an alternative win condition.

Oh man, I remember how bomb-tastic Celestial Mantle was back in the day. I think it may be a bit awkward here, however. Having a mana value of 6 means potential pain with my draw effects, and having triple white in the casting cost can make it rather unwieldily. I'm already noticing that I seem to be choked a bit on white mana, so Mantle may have to sit on the sideline at the very least until I address that issue.

Between Spike and Virtus, I would probably lean towards the latter as it helps trigger cards like Mentor of the Meek and Bygone Bishop. Revel, however, is the card I'm most looking forward to adding. While there is a potential for it not to trigger as much as I would like (quite a bit of my removal exiles the target instead of destroying it), it has the potential to give me a stream of Lotus Petals to help further my plays and maybe even win the game.

I've spent the weekend putting Killian through some solitaire tests, and I've made some changes:

Changes, Round 1

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

CUTS:

1 Herald of Torment

1 Nighthowler

1 Celestial Archon

1 Angelic Destiny

1 Liliana's Standard Bearer

1 Mangara, the Diplomat

1 Hero's Downfall

1 Witch's Cottage

ADDS:

1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation

1 Monastery Mentor

1 Sedgemoor Witch

1 Athreos, God of Passage

1 Firja, Judge of Valor

1 Revel in Riches

1 Unexpectedly Absent

1 Command Tower

Approximate Total Cost:

I've decided that I don't want to lean into the Voltron sub-theme for now, and instead want to fully dedicate myself to "play small creatures, draw cards, kill things." Mentor and Witch each help with this go-wide plan and the latter even helps pad my life total. Kambal is just a generally good card for multiplayer in these colors, and the life loss/life gain really adds up over the course of the game. Athreos either allows me to recur my small utility creatures or continue whittling down someone's life total.

I swapped Standard Bearer for Firja, although I'm honestly not too sure about the choice. Part of it is certainly because I have the alternate art version of Firja and it's too cool to sit on the sidelines, but functionality-wise I feel like I will be able to double-spell fairly often and being able to Anticipate and pick the best tool for the situation is nice. However, given that I am moving more towards a "go-wide" approach, Standard Bearer might still be worth it alongside my two token makers. I'll probably be revisiting this as I get actual games in with this list.

Out of my various draw options, Mangara is my least consistent and proactive of them. This made it an easy cut for Revel.

Unexpectedly Absent is an upgrade to Downfall in terms of flexibility. Again, double white in the casting cost is a little awkward so I'll have to look closer at my mana base to make sure it's balanced correctly. I'm cutting Witch's Cottage for Command Tower (I honestly have no clue how it didn't make it in originally), so hopefully between this and Revel I'll see some improvement. Otherwise I'll adjust how many Swamps I have, or maybe even add a 38th land.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to play some games with this in the coming weeks. Finding an actual stable playgroup is difficult between the pandemic and my usual cohort not playing as often because of recent WotC decisions. Fingers crossed that they can be convinced to shuffle up once more.