Mutinee wrote: ↑1 month ago
I appreciate the feedback and discussion around what is quickly becoming my current favorite Commander to play. Thoughts on each of the cards you mentioned:
Shakedown Heavy -- Gives me an extra card per turn as early as turn 3 (but normally turn 4). I've yet to have anyone say early game "sure, hit me for 6", I've been given the card draw every time instead. Also beefy enough to handle a fair amount of hits.
I guess it's a meta difference, but many tables I've played at, and certainly ones running high-power interaction like you are, wouldn't provide card advantage to an opponent if they could help it. I just feel like, if you want to draw +1 card/turn, there are more reliable ways of doing so for the same CMC, and if what you want is a beater, there are more impactful options. Personally, I don't like giving opponents the choice of what I'm getting, especially if there is an obvious preference (I'm not including this guy as a beatstick).
Grand Abolisher and Stormscape-- I'm gonna lump them together and I'm assuming you mean the Arbiter not Abolisher. This one and Stormscape are given me food for thought because you're right, the discounts aren't that impactful to our commander, though it has helped me with Commander tax as well as hardcast rather than reanimate some creatures. These would probably be my first 2 cuts.
Definitely meant the Arbiter. I think a benefit to helping with commander tax is too narrow, and again, a mana rock does the same, but helps cast ALL the spells in the deck.
Shadow Kin -- I've only had it hit the table 2x so far, and both times the value I've gotten from it were from copying one of my opponents creatures, because you're right triggering our Commander on our own turn is the easiest time to do it. Would also consider this my number 3 cut if I made a change.
I run Shadow Kin in my Captain N'ghathrod deck, which specifically wants to mill opponents then steal creatures from their yards...and even there I find it somewhat disappointing. It's not uncommon to mill 0 creatures, or nothing of real value. There are just much better options for Sefris.
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Sensei's Top - I'm going to strongly disagree on this one. Not sure where you see I'm self milling 3 cards a turn. Being able to stack my deck before surveils (as limited as mine are) is nice, being able to stack my deck to answer for when I'm mana short is nice, being able to instant speed hail mary for a free counterspell (Force or Fierce) and draw it has saved me, this card has done WORK in this deck and would only do more if I leaned into surveiling more.[/quote] ...the card we discussed right above this mills for 3. For surveil, I don't think you have enough for this to be that relevant. Don't get me wrong, Top is a good card, but I find that in lists that don't have any specific synergy with it the card could be cut for something more impactful.
Zur -- He's there because in early to mid game he's a 4 drop that is a guaranteed Rhystic/Mystic/Land Tax/Necro/Animate Dead depending on what I need/want that is uncounterable. If I can get 1 hit in off of him, he's done his job. If I can get 2 or more hits off of him, he's positive EV in my opinion.
Again, maybe a meta difference, but in my experience Zur is kill on sight. Needing to attack to get your enchantment is
far from guaranteed.
Other thoughts:
I find it odd that your group is so down on infinites, yet ok with all the other high-power cards you're running.
Not sure what is odd about it. Our mentality is if you want to win via beating me down with high power stuff, that's fine. If you want to win out of the blue with a random infinite loop, that feels cheesy.
A last note I'll make is that without an infinite sac outlet, like Viscera Seer
I had her in there for quite a few games and with the exception of one time I never felt like I was using her much, she was just taking up space in the deck.
Fair, I guess. I count Reveillark as one of the best pieces of protection for Sefris vs board wipes, and a useful tool alongside limited sac outlets, like
Phyrexian Tower. Depends a little on the density of creatures with power < 3 in the deck. Mine has plenty of high value.
PrimevalCommander mentioned some other cards I've tried:
For each:
Doom Whisperer - Never my first choice I felt like when I was reanimating something, there was always something I wanted out more
I usual hard-cast this, but will reanimate it as a top priority if I don't already have a way to venture on each player's turn. It costs a lot of life to do so, but going through a dungeon per turn cycle is going to push you pretty far ahead.
Living Death - I never once had it line up where it was helping me more than at least one of my opponents, so I cut
I would say that probably means you need more grave hate, with or without LD.
Massacre Wurm - If the -2/-2 stayed I'd keep, but otherwise what's it really doing? 2 dmg each time an opponent's creature dies didn't have a big impact in our games, more just an annoyance
I don't run it, but it's in the top 5 cards outside my list. It straight-up kills go-wide decks, and can execute even those with a handful of mana dorks or utility creatures if they've gotten beaten up a little. It also is a strong disincentive to Wrath the board.
Mulldrifter - 3 mana to draw 2 cards and get a Sefris trigger on my own turn felt like a let down
There are a handful of similar cards, but this deck specifically wants creatures it can reanimate for card advantage AND wants ways to trigger Sefris. This does both (and plays very well with Reveillark).
Noxious Gearhulk - Never my first choice to reanimate, and if casting I would always go for Plaguecrafter or Ork Commander for half the mana and 3x the impact (all players not just 1)
I actually prefer
Primaris Eliminator for being cheaper to hard cast, and for the option to wipe out a number of small creatures, which, by the way, I've used as often as I've used the single-target removal mode--a point in favor of also including Massacre Wurm. Sometimes -2/-2 to the board absolutely wrecks someone.
Selfless Spirit - A hard cut, one I might put back in. If it had flash it would be an insta-include.
It protects Sefris (and the rest of your board) while also triggering Sefris, and is cheap enough to come down before the commander.
Teferi, Master of Time - I'd love to put this card back in, but it never lasts more than a turn cycle for me with my pod so I ended up pitching it
This may be due to the lower number of interaction creatures you're running, or fewer creatures in general? I find that Teferi can usually go 2 turn cycles, or close enough, since, again, it's providing a trip through a dungeon per turn cycle, and can protect itself, while I often have the biggest creatures on the field (and most of them fly). Still, 4 mana to loot 4 times, scry 1, make a treasure, drain 1, draw a card, and gain X life where is the amount of damage thrown at Teferi instead of you is a very good rate. Not to mention forcing opponents into bad attacks that you can block for advantage.
Tortured Existence - Will probably put this back in, I find myself missing it
This is one of the top 5 cards in Sefris. Period.
Troll of Khazad-dum - Swampcycle was nice, but was never once a reanimate target for me and I didn't find myself cycling often, was more a dead card
I haven't run it, but I plainscycle
Angel of the Ruins regularly. I might try out this guy in place of a mana rock since the deck mostly does fine making its land drops and playing on curve.
Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator - Would you swap out for Rona? Arguably does more.
I think I'm on 5 or 6 2-mana looters now. I would put this in over something else, not in place of another looter. These are some of our best set-up cards: they come down before Sefris and can provide a trigger as soon as the commander comes down. After that, they're instant-speed triggers, and are card-neutral. I would 100% run this over the Familiar, for example.
Archon of Cruelty - Another casualty of "not what I'd go to bring back first" so many times that I just cut it
If you'd reanimate Plaguecrafter, why wouldn't you reanimate this? Admittedly, the former removes a creature for everyone, but this is hand disruption, life loss, card draw, and life gain, in addition to the edict, and is then repeatable with a big, flying body. This is often one of the first cards I'll reanimate. I would only pick Plaguecrafter over this if 2 or more opponents had only 1 high-value creature or planeswalker in play, but that's fairly rare. More often, everyone has 2-3 creatures at least, with at least 1 of low- or middling-value that they may not want to give up, but for which doing so doesn't significantly impact their game plans.
Have either of you tried
Dakkon, Shadow Slayer out at all? Was wondering if he might be worth it as another surveil option that is also a creature exiler if need be.
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If Teferi isn't surviving a turn cycle, why would Dakkon? Teferi is also MUCH better here. I would always prefer to loot 1 than surveil 2, even as a straight comparison, but Teferi vs Dakkon is almost always loot 2 vs surveil 2, and that's not contest at all. Often, it's going to be loot 3 or loot 4 vs surveil 2. Then Teferi's ultimate is
terrifying, while Dakkon's is almost entirely irrelevant here. Sure, that may mean it gets targeted down less, but you could also just run any number of creatures, artifacts, or enchantments that surveil 1 or surveil 2, depending on whether you prefer deck synergy (creatures) or protection vs removal (artifacts/enchantments).
I find that Sefris is at its best when it can chug through a dungeon as fast as possible (once per turn cycle or faster), and when it is recurring threats that also impact the board (removal, huge life swings, protection for your board, etc...).
Oh, I also don't think I'd bother with Delney in your list: you only have 5 creatures besides Sefris that it benefits, and for Sefris, it's only giving you the extra reanimate upon dungeon completion. That's not nothing, but I don't think it's worth including almost exclusively for that. If you wanted that specifically, you could run any of the other 'clone but nonlegendary' cards to copy Sefris and double up on all your venture triggers, while also providing the flexibility of cloning one of your bombs.