Gallia of the Endless Dance: Rise of the Phoenix

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DirkGently
My wins are unconditional
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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

I look at Gallia of the Endless Dance and I think...damn, that is a lot of value for a 2-drop. Remember how a gruul bear with haste used to be fine? Remember how a multicolor bear with a stat-only tribal buff used to be fine? Remember how it used to cost 3 to get a repeatable draw engine that triggered on a 3-creature attack - and it didn't come with any creatures to trigger it? Gallia does all of that and more, in one card!

But let's get the awkward part out of the way...Satyrs are, uh, how shall I put this...garbage. Worthless garbage. There's a couple that are borderline playable, but the majority of them are total trash, and giving them +1/+1 and haste still isn't enough to save them. The only ones even worth considering imo are: There is a special mention that must go to Lumbering Satyr. It's well-statted and, in the right circumstance, could provide some very powerful evasion. But it could also backfire horribly. Whether it's worth running is probably a meta call.

But okay, so Satyrs are (mostly) out. So what exactly is Gallia good for, then? Sure, she's a good aggressive creature, but aggro is consistently bad in commander. So what's the angle?

The angle is phoenixes.

Think about it. They've almost all got haste and flying, so they're excellent at triggering her. They self-recur, so board wipes are a temporary setback, not a knockout punch. And best of all, if Gallia discards them, they can bring themselves back, sometimes even more efficiently than casting from hand, making her ability all the more potent!

So this version of the deck is built to be a tenacious aggro deck - we don't hit super hard, but we never stop swinging. Removal might set us back, but most of our minions have haste and/or recursion, so there's no downtime from the beatdown. This is not a deck you want to be on low life against.

So far it's gone quite well - I believe I won more than half of my games (3-4 players). Any enemy deck that stumbles is in major trouble, because you really are on a clock against this thing. If I end the turn with any creatures not sideways, that's unusual.

This deck REALLY cares about its curve, as far as creatures are concerned. You're really looking to play 1-drop, 2-drop, gallia, or 1-drop, gallia, 3-drop with haste. Get the engine and the clock going ASAP. We're especially looking for stuff that can come down early but still be a reasonable topdeck late, and contribute to the plan even when it can't safely attack. Anything that costs more than 3, or costs 3 but doesn't have haste, should pretty high impact and ideally give us continuous value while also being hard to answer.

You'll also notice we run very few noncreatures (or at least, few noncreatures that don't produce tokens). This deck is all about simplicity. Anything that requires setup is probably just going to get discarded. I'd rather have stuff that I can empty from my hand, to ensure I'm discarding for value. So only the very best non-attacking-things are going to find their way in.

Alright, enough talk. Here's the deck.
Gallia, Rise of the Phoenix

Commander (1)

Approximate Total Cost:

Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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