Kagemaro, First to Suffer...but not the last

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DirkGently
My wins are unconditional
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Post by DirkGently » 1 year ago

I've got a lot of commanders in my backlog that will probably never get built. But if there's one thing that can suddenly give me the impetus to build something, it's noticing that they're massively underrepresented on EDHrec. And if there's a second thing, it's realizing that people aren't building it right.

Kagemaro, First to Suffer has 53 decks on EDHrec. That's half as many as extreme trash like Taniwha. Gabriel Angelfire, and Maraxus of Keld. Personally I think Kagemaro is actually pretty damn strong, and that low number is a bit of an embarassment.

Also, I don't even see Corpse Dance on the list of cards used in his decklist, despite being awesome (everywhere, but especially here).

Anyway, so here's how to build Kagemaro properly. I'll crush your Gabriel Angelfire deck, see if I don't.
Kagemaro Kontrol

Commander (1)

Approximate Total Cost:

Notes:

Corpse dance and Night of the Living Dead are the two best recursion engines, with Night being more efficient and Dance being safer. Deathmantle is third, being inefficient and unreliable but still good, and gives some nice combat boosts. XHD is mostly to recur other things, in tandem with the main recursion pieces. Flip liliana is by far the strongest recursion, but obviously takes some doing to set up. Stronghold is very inefficient, but it's reliable and uses a land slot so it's the backup backup. There's also some single-use recursion in lands, just in case.

Because alternative recursion engines are mostly much weaker, so we're going fairly heavy tutors to find the good ones.

Ramp I initially planned on having a 2-stage system with a 2-drop into 3/4 drop rock, but then realized this doesn't make much sense as there are enough <=3-drop rocks that can provide 2+ mana, and thus get Kagemaro into play on turn 4 (with B up for activation). Earlier than turn 4 is obviously possible with some cards. I opted not to include ramp like Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond since it would too severely damage our handsize. Using a single rock ensures we keep a big handsize the turn we play Kagemaro.

Right now the deck is pretty heavy on lands. This might be okay. We're going to want to keep a big handsize anyway, so having some dead cards isn't the worst, given that it also ensures we don't miss land drops. Also, we're running a lot of utility lands, so we'll keep busy even if we're bricking land draws to some extent. I could see cutting lands for more tutors or control pieces, but I want to see how it plays. Oh, and I know not running Cabal Coffers is heresy, but I don't think it gives us any huge benefits here, and it's a brick early. Frankly, with how many utility lands we're running, it'd take quite a while to get off the ground, and not worth a tutor to find urborg. So, meh.

Time to go create some suffering, the mono-black way.
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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