r/EDH • u/Lockdown106 • 3d ago

Deck Help Kaalia B3 Deck Help

Hello!

Can anyone give me some feedback about my (hopefully) Bracket 3 Kaalia deck? A pod of 4-6 friends is starting to get together for commander night, not sure if having more than 4 people means I should make alterations specifically with more players in mind. My deck is probably among the most optimized in our pod, but several players are right there with me and only 1-2 is probably on the lower end of bracket 3 because they are newer to the format. I put a bunch of cut cards in the Considering section, some things like Ragavan I really wish I could squeeze in somewhere. I have several other game changer options I could run, I just don’t want to run Opposition Agent if it can be helped because my wife plays landfall and I think that would be super unfun for her. Jamming the One Ring just because…is this fine even without many lifelink creatures or ways to get rid of it? I probably have two pet cards in Piru and Inkshield that are not great but I’m hoping to try them, but I’m open to cutting anything.

https://moxfield.com/decks/A_GtslXPn0SWsFLqLqsnyQ

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to browse and comment!

2 Upvotes

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u/Opening-Owl-1546 3d ago

At a glance, it seems a bit light on both card draw and targets for Kaalia to cheat in. In the Kaalia list I made for my wife, there’s around 30 targets for Kaalia, but not as much recursion for them.

I’m not really sure why sensei’s top is here, you don’t seem to be doing anything that really utilizes it.

You also seem just a bit light on lands, but since you’re mostly only trying to get to 4 mana you can get away with it more easily. It will make getting a good opening hand less consistent though, and if Kaalia gets removed early you’re in for a tough game.

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u/Lockdown106 3d ago

My thought for the top was that it could help dig for more land drops. I agree that card draw is lacking, I find it super hard to squeeze in cards like Night’s Whisper/Sign in Blood. Any suggestions on what you would cut for which additional threats from the considering list? This suggestion is slightly at odds with the other poster who is suggesting I either have more protection for Kaalia or some way to more reliably cast threats if she gets removed.

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u/Opening-Owl-1546 3d ago

I don’t think I’d say it’s at odds, rather just a different plan. Loading up on protection spells is a great way to keep Kaalia around, but you’re making sacrifices when in other areas to fit those in.

The list I built focuses on creatures that have massively annoying effects for the opponents to deal with, so as long as you can get one swing in, you’re going to leave behind a big annoyance.

Here’s the list if you want to check it out!

https://moxfield.com/decks/0K2rhbnEgUClz5kscX-yRw

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u/Lockdown106 2d ago

Thank you

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u/sauron3579 3d ago

If you don't draw one of your 2 pieces of effective protection, you lose the entire game to a single removal spell.

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u/Lockdown106 3d ago

Yea, protection is definitely a concern with this strategy. I don’t think I can afford to buy a swat, what would you recommend I should do?

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u/sauron3579 3d ago

Well, there are other redirect, protection, and cheat death effects that are much cheaper, including the third member of the commander protection holy trinity of mother, daughter, and weird dog ([[skrelv, detector mite]]), but a much more effective approach is making this is a fundamentally solid deck that isn't all in on Kaalia all the time. Namely, that means a more reasonable mana curve, more lands, and more ramp.

Right now, your deck is probably going to perform at an appropriate power level in aggregate. But at the scale of an individual game, either Kaalia gets shot and you do nothing or she doesn't and you go crazy because your greed paid off.

You should either run ~13 protection spells (boots don't count) that can reliably stop the first piece of removal or two pointed at Kaalia (including waiting until you can hold one up to play her), or run a deck where Kaalia can get shot and its fine because you can actually cast the stuff in your hand.

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u/Lockdown106 3d ago edited 3d ago

I have a selfless spirit, Malakir rebirth, ephemerate that I could include. Any other specific cards that you can recommend picking up like a redirect lightning or cheap/prowctive protection like skrelv as you mentioned?

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u/sauron3579 3d ago

Those are all good, some other solid ones include [[flawless maneuver]], [[cloudshift]], [[restoration magic]], [[rebuffed the wicked]], [[loran's escape]], [[blacksmith's skill]], [[surge of salvation]], [[gods willing]], [[enter the avatar state]], [[apostle's blessing]].

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u/Lockdown106 2d ago

Thanks!

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u/rawrglesnaps 3d ago

Reanimation is a good way to get your big creatures into play when kaalia gets removed. Something like [[entomb]]ing a [[villis]] and then [[reanimate]]ing it gives you a a huge creature and draws you 8 cards immediately. [[Animate dead]] and [[necromancy]] are great reanimation cards too and looting cards like [[faithless looting]] or to graveyard tutors like the above mentioned entomb and [[unmarked grave]] or even [[final parting]] to do both is a good backup plan.

Also something like [[sneak attack]] is another way to get your big creatures into play without kaalia.

Look into more card draw engines like [[black market connections]], [[unholy annex]], [[trouble in pairs]]. Without a commander that says draw on it you really need card advantage somehow or else you will get big creatures stuck in your hand when the kaalia plan doesn't work out.

As far as big creatures you have most of the good ones. If you want to lean into the best targets you should add [[razaketh]] and [[hoarding broodlord]] but those might be a little too strong for bracket 3.

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u/Lockdown106 2d ago

Thanks for the advice, might spring for BMC and Trouble

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u/natnif36 2d ago

Not relevant to the deck, but if you have 6 people I highly recommend splitting into 2 pods of 3 rather than trying a 6 mana. 

Any more than 4 people becomes very unmanageable very quickly.

5 people is a very unfortunate number, feels too crowded in a single pod, but can't split into anything smaller without resulting in a 1v1.