A brilliant flame burns... "I knew a creature carved from a dream of wild freedom. Any attempt to leash or exploit it failed, and at terrible cost."
—Ashling
**NOTE**
This page is currently undergoing an overhaul and will be updated in time.
History of the Deck
At heart, I am a red mage and I love building mono-red decks. People in my playgroup always gave me flak for playing mono-red and I took it as a challenge to make it work and make it effective. Other red mages out there know what I mean and I'm sure you can relate to this quote from the Planeswalker web comics on Wizard's site, here. Jace is fighting Chandra and comments on how Firemages only understand force, and Chandra replies with "I understand it far better than you, mind mage!" This is truly how I feel and I feel that my deck represents this. I have gone out of my way to find cards to make up for mono-red's downsides, fueling the fire for a great furnace.
Ashling is easily one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite, in Magic with Chandra and Jaya as close contenders. Ever since I first heard of EDH, I wanted to make an Ashling EDH deck. I had even made an admittedly terrible deck in Magic Workstation, but it never got further than that. Time passed and I found a group of people who played EDH, integrated myself, and ultimately bought Heavenly Inferno to jump into the game. Kaalia was the first general I had ever called my own and eventually turned her into a huge success. All the while though, I still wanted to build Ashling and I slowly started building my way up and had even tested it a few times with plenty of proxies, but it was never complete because I didn't have an actual Ashling card. Then one day my friend gifted the card to me and I made it official.
This deck has been through a trial by fire, if I may make that joke. My play group is very Competitive while still having a rather Casual feel. The decks are all usually very brutal while still being fun. Infinite combos were voted and banned by the group, but there was a time when they were a huge part of our metagame. Even though I didn't really have much of an answer to most of them, I still put her through and even managed to sneak in a few wins. I feel confidant that should we go back to the dark times of infinite, this deck will match it's competitors with very minor tweaks. You'll notice the very heavy artifact theme surrounding the deck, about 50% of the non-lands, and that's because I've found that it works best. Think of this deck like a great forge with Ashling burning at it's heart. That being said, I could take out 90% of the artifacts and still build a competitive deck. In fact, that's just what I did!
Alright, maybe not 90%, but I definitely cut back. The old decklist is still available because it plays differently enough that I feel it's still worth mentioning. However, I feel that the latest incarnation gets things done better.
Why play Ashling?
Ashling is a very unique and versatile general. Versatility in mono red? Surely I must be in jest! Quite the opposite in fact, I am very serious. It creates interesting situations in what I like to call the "Political Explosion" and what that means is people like to use Ashling. When she's still small, she's not a threat and therefor doesn't warrant removal, not to mention she'll remove herself later. The little threat continually rises as the game goes on and that's when she starts to catch people's eye. All it takes is a single targeted removal spells and anyone can have their own Wrath of god. The Political Explosion. She is a recurring board wipe. The best part is that she's cheap and will usually out pace other generals into the late game because of her 2 CMC. Not only that, she can win by General damage should the need arise and can do a variety of interesting things depending on how she's equipped. She can also be very independent in that she functions perfectly well without the rest of the deck.
How do I know if I will enjoy Ashling?
You may find yourself enjoying Ashling if you:
Like things that go BOOM!
Enjoy the color Red or Red mana
Like potentially big creatures
Like things with +1/+1 counters
Enjoy cheap recastable Generals
Love political Explosions
Prefer mono Color Decks
You might not enjoy her so much if you:
Like using mutliple colors
Need to have all of the answers possible
Can only function by casting the same 4 cards over and over
Need all of the tutors (See above)
Hate really hot females (get it?)
Enjoy getting rid of Enchantments
Let's get to it then, shall we?
I have recently done a major overhaul of the deck. On top of that, the deck has also changed quite a few times since my last update because I was having trouble accessing the site. Rather than put a full change log in of all the cards I swapped, I will put up a new decklist while keeping the old.
[/SPOILER]The following cards I have on hand and go well with Ashling. Note that this list is not 100% yet and will continue to expand as I play test and explore even further:
[SPOILER]
This is still a work in progress as I begin to expand everything, but this is the heavy hitters of the deck that can hold the most influence over the sway of the game.
[SPOILER]This combo is very straight forward. Remember what the first thing I said in this section was? Forget it. This is is you saying "LOOK AT ME I'M A TARGET" So be ready. Keep some defense on hand. She explodes for poison damage and wipes out everyone at the table while you sit inside your glacier. I really can't explain it any better than that, but I'll try. The exoskeleton gives Ashling infect, which makes her explosion a little more terrifying because it is easily capable of hitting the board for 10 while the Glacial Chasm prevents the damage to you. It's dirty and effective. Glacial Chasm can be replaced with anything that prevents damage to you, like Pariah's Shield.[/SPOILER]
\
[SPOILER]There are a few things with this combo that are more than excellent. With enough mana, it lets you blow Ashling repeatedly in the same turn for 3 damage plus however many she had to start. It's also a good flicker against targeted removal. Add in a Basilisk Collar and you can gain control of the whole board! Anarchist added into the mix nets you a way to continuously recur your spells. While it's not in the deck due to playgroup restrictions, Ashling can actually go to infinity and beyond with a Scythe by adding in a Soulbright Flamekin and Heartstone.[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]This becomes some of your best removal you can have from mass to single target. Kumano has the benefit of exiling creatures while Ashling and Jaya can wipe the board. It's really pretty self explanatory. If there's an abundance of indestructable creatures, a Sword of Kaldra does wonders, though it's a tad expensive. In the end, the Collar wins out over everything because of how cheap it is compared to how it interacts with certain cards.[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]Welder is a workhorse in this deck and should generally be included in any mono-red deck be cause of how they usually rely on artifacts. Any two artifacts will usually work, like Spine of Ish Sa, though you'll have to recast it, which shouldn't be a problem. If you have a Thornbite Staff and two artifact creatures, you can go infinite with it.[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]Crucible is awesome. It's an artifact and it brings back lands. What's more to love? It lets you keep Glacial Chasm at the ready without having to pay the upkeep, just sacking a land that you can get back anyway . It works wonders with ANY sac land from Strip Mine getting rid of those pesky Maze of Iths or Kor Havens in exchange for your land drops. Haunted Fengraf and Buried Ruin also work wonders here.[/SPOILER]
General Tips and Advice
Now that we have the general heavy hitters in mind, what's next? The rest of the deck, obviously. Most of the cards I have chosen are independently strong because Red isn't known for it's tutors. That means each card must be able to make an impact on the game in some way. I can not stress this enough when playing mono-red. You can swap, switch, and shift every card in this deck, as long as it can make an impact by itself or with the majority of the rest of the deck. I have done test after test after test in this deck. I've done tests where I have a sound theory on something that should work, but requires the aid of one or more cards and it fell flat. Sure, I would get lucky every once and again, but it was never consistent enough for mono-red. Make every card count.
This deck has two modes: Ashling on the Table and Ashling off the table. When She's on the board, 9/10 times, you're better off leaving 6 mana open because you never know when someone's going to cast Spin into Myth. I mean it. Murphy's Law will get you every time, though really it's everyone else who will seize the opportunity to tuck her while they can. Doesn't that mean you're sitting back playing Draw-Go? Yes and no. It really means you have 6 less mana to play with on your turn. If you have one of your doublers out, that makes it all the better. I'll get to those later. It also let's you build a hand the old fashioned way while letting your opponent's go through what they have. When she's off the board, that's when you get going and start making plays, setting things up and what have you.
Never never never never never never have more than one mana doubler out at a time. It's never worth losing them both for the extra mana. Hold one in your hand and wait for them to blow a removal spell on it. You don't want to be crippled by a rogue Shatterstorm or Akroma's Vengeance. The same goes for any of your recursion engines. There's no need to have Trading Post and Welder out at the same time. Remember, a fire that burns twice as hot, burns twice as fast. Don't be so antsy to play your mana doublers just because them. Stop and ask yourself if you really need or if you want to play it because you like to have lots of mana. They will be prime targets for removal and paint the same target on you. Usually. Save them for when you really need them.
I want to put this here, Vicious Shadows is a monster in this deck. Make it hit the board and sit back to enjoy the fireworks. I once stole an Academy Rector and killed it with Chandra to put it out on the board, just in time for Thromok to devour 5 creatures allowing me to hit someone for 35 damage.[/SPOILER]
Tricks of the Trade
I pride myself in the number of tricks I have up my sleeve when using this deck. The top contender in this category is easily Not of This World. A counterspell? In Mono red? I know, right? That's usually the response I get when I stop someone from hitting Ashling when they think they've caught me because I'm tapped down. That isn't it's only trick, though. I've used it to save my mana doublers, too. That's right! It can save ANY of your permanents, though unless it's a big creature, you do have to pay for it. I have also included Red's oldest counters: Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast. Do you need both? Unless your meta is very blue light, I would say yes. For R, you can counter a counterspell or something terrible like Omniscience. You can even get rid of any of the many many many blue generals that make their way around this format.
On the topic of Removal, in addition to the above specific removal spells, I have found and included two more instant speed kill spells. Fissure and Cinder Cloud. The former has the added benefit of taking out annoying lands as well and both of them are rarely seen. I mean, seriously? A red kill spell that doesn't do damage? Two of them? I love those reactions when I cast these spells. I'm waiting for the day I can Cinder a Sera Avatar. With the use of a Welder or Shimmer Myr, Duplicant and Spine are also instant speed removal spells. Chandra Nalaar is also a shockingly decent bit of removal at times. At the very least, she kills Titans, so there's that. If she lasts long enough to ult, it's a fantastically focused board wipe. I once had someone Swords an Eldrazi Spawn in order to save Her cause he knew I was going to ult that guy on my turn. Best. Moment. Ever.
Defenses
I like to think that I have a fair number of defenses set up in this deck. In addition to what I'm mentioned above, there are a number of answers to a shocking amount of things you might not expect from a mono-red deck. Obviously Crypt is there for graveyard hate, but we also have Chandra Ablaze to counteract big draw and/or Praetor's Council. She's also there as a means of pitching things into your graveyard or getting rid of non-useful cards.
Ensnaring Bridge is annoying for just about everyone. As a mono-red, your hand is generally sitting around 5 cards unless you've hit the Wellspring engine, and even then, you're not getting attacked by generals who can 1 shot you. Glacial Chasm serves the same role while also keeping you alive, or at least long enough.
What you don't see
There are a lot of things that aren't in here, that you're thinking should be in here. For starters, I don't have a lot of the Exploration effects, namely Walking Atlas because I don't have them. When I get them, I will give them a try. You'll also note that I don't have most of the means of protecting Ashling from herself. That's crazy talk! Not really. One of her biggest strengths is being able to kill herself on command. Far too many times have I been on the end of a tuck and staring at a Memorial or Darksteel Plate. I have chosen to omit them, but that doesn't meant they are not good or useful. Magebane Armor has won me games before because I've blown up Ashling before my turn and piled her high with counters, ready for the kill on my turn. If your deck is very creature heavy, I would highly recommend going with Akroma's Memorial because there's nothing like a red Plague Wind. Anything else you don't see that you're thinking should be in here, by all means ASK AWAY! I love questions and I love defending my card choices. That's half the fun of EDH. There are so many options out there, even for mono-red and I love hearing them all.
Changelog
Two old changelogs are in my posts, but any further changes will be noted here.
In conclusion, Ashling is a very strong Mono-Red general because she herself is very Strong and Adaptable. She plays the aggressive game and the political game at the same time while being as independent or involved as you want her to be. Now, go out there and light 'em up!
Looking at it, I'm probably going to take out Chandra, the Firebrand because I don't have to many spells I want to fork and I can't do it at instant speed.
I thought about Omen, but I actually stopped using my Mass Land Destruction for the time being. I definitely wouldn't cut Pyro or Ele blast for it, either. The permanent destruction on the blasts isn't the important part, it's the counterspell, which also gives me, mono red, three counterspells when you count Not of This World.
Fissure has been one of the more useful cards I have included if anything because it's an instant speed removal spell in a color that no one expects. Hopefully, I'll be adding more this weekend. Right now, the deck is a little different than this build, and I will update it soon. Long story short, a lot of Durdle cards like the Reactor/Dismantle/Angelheart have been removed, the Wheel Effects have largely been replaced, and a few other cards that didn't make the cut. They have been replaced with more Artifact removal spells along with Liquidmetal Coating and Mycosyth Lattice to essentially turn red's plethora of artifact destruction into Vindicate. The idea is sound, but it's largely in the testing phase, still.
Ok, time for a HUGE revamp of this deck. It has gone through a few stages since my last post including not existing at all, but now I've decided that she will be my first permanent deck. She's my favorite, she deserves the best.
This change list has taken quite a few cards out and put quite a few card in that I believe are for the better, though it's not static. O-Stone was one of the big ones that was hard and it might make it's what back in, but I think Wydwen makes more use out of it than Ashling at the moment. A lot of these changes are because of how the deck winds up playing, which is a lot of artifact manipulation. Now that I finally have my Goblin Welder, things are looking better. Obviously, I'm not going to go into great detail as to why I took out a certain card for another because there were more version in between this and the last update, but I will go over a few.
Ichor Wellspring has been added because of Goblin Welder and I don't think I need to say why even though I will. It basically allows me to constantly draw cards with the Welder or any other form of Sac and recursion. It is particularly tasty with Forgemaster and Post as well as Trash for Treasure. This also brings me to another card I have been thinking about, which is this card's counterpart: Mycosynth Wellspring. It follows the same above benefits, except it puts a land into your hand instead of drawing a card. Pilgrim's Eye already does this on top of being a 1/1 Flier, though. I might give it a test run at some point, but in the meanwhile, what do you guys think?
Next up is Ensaring Bridge. The way I see it, this is a fantastic deterrent for this deck and it never really occurred to me until recently. It doesn't need to stop everything, just the big things like Mimeo or Kresh or a 100/100 Thromok. The best part about it is that it's also an artifact, so it fuels the furnace as it were.
The last big one I want to mention is Glacial Chasm. I was hesitant at first, but it has really helped me out as of late. Defensively, paying 2-10 life is worth it instead of taking a whooping from anything mentioned above. The real trick here is not having to take damage from Ashling, which let's me properly win the game with Grafted Exoskeleton.
I know, I said the other one was the last one, but this isn't talking about a specific card. You'll notice that I took out everything that saves Ashling from herself. That's right. No Memorial, no Magebane, no Plate, no Fire/War Swords. I did this because I strangely found myself in more positions where it would be better for Ashling to die than live, which is oddly one of her unseen strengths. Assuming you have mana open, which you probably do, she is effectively immune to the worst kind of removal spells. Tucks. When she can't kill herself, she is in real danger of seeing the bottom of the library, and that's a bad thing because there are very few things Mono-Red can do about that. Flamekin Harbinger and Gamble are the two most reliable ways of doing this. The former is one I think that will find it's way into the deck. Especially since I plan on getting one signed at the PTQ in Philly.
Update AHOY! Note that I will be updating the main post in two stages: The first will be me fixing the decklist and it probably wont look very nice. The second will be me giving the entire post an Overhaul. My goal is to turn this into a Primer and right now, it's kinda weak.
Please question and comment on anything! I look forward to it =)
News from testing. In short, I went to the Philly GPT today, and while I did pretty terribly on the sealed event, I got to get some EDH games in with Ashling. Before the games, I made three very tough cuts for a few cards to make room for a few cards I had purchased at the event. I cut out Chandra Ablaze, Forensian Totem, and Helkite Igniter in exchange for Shard Phoenix, Magma Phoenix and Heat Shimmer. I feel a little weird adding Phonenixes and dropping Ablaze, but the reasoning is that I feel there are too many artifacts to make proper use out of her +1, though I will miss the -2. The igniter was rough cut because he was kind of stand alone in that the deck isn't really an aggro deck, Having one creature that stands in and beats face felt clunky and expensive when I had him in my hand for more than the opposite. It's not that he's a bad card, it's just that he's expensive and gets neutered after an artifact board wipe. The Totem, as much as I like it, is really good, but it usually doesn't make the cut for me.
Now, playing games today was really refreshing as it let me test the waters with this deck in a new scene against a completely different group of people apart from the normal people I play with. She did not disappoint. The first game ultimately ended with Ashling exploding for 22 and me sitting unharmed on a Glacial Chasm. The rest was mop up as there had been a fairly brutal slugfest due to a very good voltron Geist of St Traft deck. The second game was cut short due time constrictions and the fact that everyone was just plain exhausted. Oh the whole, not only did she keep up, she excelled. It was a good learning experience.
After gathering quite a few cards from bulk rare piles, I think I'm going to rebuild the deck into a less artifact heavy deck and list it as an alternative play style. I swear it has nothing to do with signed cards. Nope. Anyway, this one will be a little more control oriented using things like Ashling's Prerogative, Stranglehold, Blood Moon, and possibly going back to Obsidian Fireheart and Soulbright Flamekin to get more use out of my now signed Flamekin Harbinger. I might also go the route of including more burn spells and taking advantage of Jaya, Chandra 2.0, and more interestingly Hostility. I'll keep things posted.
As always, questions, comments, and feedback are greatly appreciated =)
Heat Shimmer definitely seems like it would be fun. I was kind of sad it didn't show up on Saturday. Hopefully I'll see it this week. The biggest strength I see in it is taking care of generals, which is always a good thing.
My playgroup has decided to un-ban infinite combos again. This decision was made after a meeting in order to alter the card ban list. Prime Time is unbanned and Tooth and Nail, Kiki-Jiki, Omniscience, and Time Stretch all made it on the ban list. I think things will become interesting to say the least. It means I'll be gunning for my Reaper King deck, finally. What does that mean for Ashling? That means there will be another update coming and I think the deck will be getting another major facelift. It will a second deck added to this list because I feel that it will be a little too different. We'll see though.
The deck itself has undergone another major overhaul while I was unable to post (got locked out when the IP changed) and I will be updating the page to follow when I can. The old list is still available because I felt that there was a significant enough change in the way they played, that I could leave it be.
Just thought I'd post to show my support for another fellow Ashling EDH player
I built Ashling myself shortly after the Commander products came out, and after doing some forum trawling and playtesting it became clear that as you said, monored needs to be played with solid standalone cards and Ashling works great with an artifact heavy subtheme. 99 mountains and voltron style Ashling decks are cute but are just one-trick ponies.
I realize that our playgroups/metas are almost definitely different but I thought I'd share some tech that I've found to be pretty useful.
Sun Droplet: By now my playgroup has gotten fairly accustomed with the sort of things that Ashling is capable of and learned that they can stop Ashling explosions by reducing my life total so that I can't blow her up too often. Monored has a very limited access to Lifegain, and I've found angelheart vial/loxodon warhammer to be too slow and expensive. Sun Droplet subtly dissuades people from poking at you and it's cheap/innocent looking enough that people don't want to waste removal on it. I've often gained 12+ life off of it before someone decides that they're tired of it or it gets caught in a wipe.
Grinning Totem: Possibly a little too cute, but I love the smiles on people's faces when I use it to grab another player's crypt, relic, bojuka to stop genesis or other graveyard shenanigans. Late game can be used to grab eldrazi, artifacts, or strip/wastelands. Can also be used to scout out an unfamiliar deck. As a plus it doesn't exile itself so you can recur it.
Predator, Flagship: Not much to say here. Evasion and a laserbeam on a stick. Kills creatures without needing to deal damage and that's a plus in monored.
Icefall: Looks fairly innocuous, but the recover ability triggers surprisingly often and being able to destroy artifacts and utility lands is great. The downfall is the sorcery speed.
Thieves' Auction: This card isn't only good for Zedruu decks. It's actually quite nice on its own. I used to run insurrection but have gotten fairly bored with spells that immediately take out multiple players. Thieves' auction creates lots of interesting scenarios and choices without being too random like Warp World. I like that it evens out the playing field, particularly if I've been picked on mid-late game, or there seems to be soft lock going on with problematic enchantments. I've used this to steal a fresh Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, and also once casted this after a turn where I had an almost empty board thanks to annoying eldrazi triggers.
@Kinocow
All considerable options. The Sun Droplet can rack up a ton of counters with Ashling and you could even consider Dismantle and Darksteel Reactor with it.
The totem is really neat and I would definitely run it if I had one because it can get a lot of really good things like Insurrection, too. I definitely wouldn't call it too cute.
The Flagship is a perfect example of cards that really only mono red would consider. It's an expensive way to do something that we might not otherwise be able to do with the plus of also giving something flying. Funny enough, I was recently considering Skyship Weatherlight for the very reason. You basically pay 8 mana to tutor an artifact/creature to you hand. It's cheaper than Planar Portal, and the risk really isn't that big. If they let it resolve, you still search, if they destroy it with the trigger on the stack, you can fail to find, and they can't stop you from putting it in your hand unless they have a Stifle effect.
I had indeed considered Icefall, but decided to drop it because if a creature hits your GY and you don't Recover it, you exile Icefall.
Finally, my group frowns on cards like this. Our group is very big and this card would take an hour to resolve.
@Hunding
Cards that give Ashling pro-red or otherwise prevent her from dying are good, but also dangerous. The last thing you want to have happen is someone casting Spin into Myth on Ashling at a time when you can't kill her in response. My group just loves to tuck her at every chance I slip up. Just remember that.
That being said, Sword of Fire and Ice is well worth running because of the card draw. War and Peace, while it is a means of gaining some life and punishing that player who just cast Praetor's Council, is definitely cutable.
I have used Heartstone with Ashling I agree that it is fantastic, especially with Soulbright Flamekin. However, with the amazing abuse of Dead-Eye navigator in my playgroup, I have opted to take it out because paying U to flicker a creature is rough if I don't have a Blast in my hand. If you don't have that problem in your group, then there's not much of a downside to running it.
"I knew a creature carved from a dream of wild freedom. Any attempt to leash or exploit it failed, and at terrible cost."
—Ashling
**NOTE**
This page is currently undergoing an overhaul and will be updated in time.
Ashling is easily one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite, in Magic with Chandra and Jaya as close contenders. Ever since I first heard of EDH, I wanted to make an Ashling EDH deck. I had even made an admittedly terrible deck in Magic Workstation, but it never got further than that. Time passed and I found a group of people who played EDH, integrated myself, and ultimately bought Heavenly Inferno to jump into the game. Kaalia was the first general I had ever called my own and eventually turned her into a huge success. All the while though, I still wanted to build Ashling and I slowly started building my way up and had even tested it a few times with plenty of proxies, but it was never complete because I didn't have an actual Ashling card. Then one day my friend gifted the card to me and I made it official.
This deck has been through a trial by fire, if I may make that joke. My play group is very Competitive while still having a rather Casual feel. The decks are all usually very brutal while still being fun. Infinite combos were voted and banned by the group, but there was a time when they were a huge part of our metagame. Even though I didn't really have much of an answer to most of them, I still put her through and even managed to sneak in a few wins. I feel confidant that should we go back to the dark times of infinite, this deck will match it's competitors with very minor tweaks. You'll notice the very heavy artifact theme surrounding the deck, about 50% of the non-lands, and that's because I've found that it works best. Think of this deck like a great forge with Ashling burning at it's heart. That being said, I could take out 90% of the artifacts and still build a competitive deck. In fact, that's just what I did!
Alright, maybe not 90%, but I definitely cut back. The old decklist is still available because it plays differently enough that I feel it's still worth mentioning. However, I feel that the latest incarnation gets things done better.
You might not enjoy her so much if you:
I have recently done a major overhaul of the deck. On top of that, the deck has also changed quite a few times since my last update because I was having trouble accessing the site. Rather than put a full change log in of all the cards I swapped, I will put up a new decklist while keeping the old.
1 Ashling, the Pilgrim
Planeswalkers
1 Chandra Nalaar
3 Koth of the Hammer
Mana/Land Fixing
1 Extraplanar Lens
2 Coldsteel Heart
3 Caged Sun
6 Solemn Simulacrum
7 Wayfarer's bauble
8 Expedition Map
9 Pilgrim's Eye
11 Darksteel Ingot
12 Journey's Kite
Card Fixing/Tutors
1 Sensei's Diving Top
2 Planar Portal
3 Gamble
4 Staff of Nin
5 Flamekin Harbinger
Removal
1 Fissure
2 Cinder Cloud
3 Blasphemous Act
4 Chaos Warp
5 Duplicant
6 Tormod's Crypt
7 Into the Core
8 Shattering Pulse
9 Vandalblast
10 Skred
11 Comet Storm
1 Grab the Reins
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Insurrection
4 Word of Seizing
Other Creatures
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
2 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
3 Urabrask the Hidden
4 Steel Hellkite
5 Anger
6 Balefire Dragon
7 Inferno Titan
8 Magma Phoenix
9 Bogardan Hellkite
10 Bloodfire Colossus
11 Magmatic Force
12 Obsidian Fireheart
13 Kamahl, Pit Fighter
14 Jeska, Warrior Adept
15 Rimescale Dragon
Equipment
1 Sword of Kaldra
2 Grafted Exoskeleton
3 Basilisk Collar
Fork Effects
1 Reverberate
2 Reiterate
3 Radiate
1 Artisan of Kozilek
2 Mimic Vat
3 Trading Post
Spells and Other Trickery
1 Gratuitous Violence
2 Bloodmoon
3 Not of This World
4 Vicious Shadows
5 Glacial Crevasses
6 Heat Shimmer
Lands
1 Glacial Chasm
2 Valakut, Molten Pinnacle
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Scrying Sheets
5 Terrain Generator
6 Temple of the False God
7 Buried Ruin
8 Haunted Fengraf
9 Strip Mines
10 Gemstone Caverns
26 Snow-covered Mountain
The old deck can be found below. It's still a fantastic deck, but I changed it too much.
[SPOILER]
1 Ashling, the Pilgrim
Planeswalkers
1 Chandra Nalaar
2 Chandra Ablaze
3 Koth of the Hammer
Mana/Land Fixing
1 Extraplanar Lens
2 Gauntlet of Power
3 Caged Sun
4 Sol Ring
5 Coalition Relic
6 Solemn Simulacrum
7 Wayfarer's bauble
8 Expedition Map
9 Pilgrim's Eye
11 Darksteel Ingot
12 Journey's Kite
13 Prismatic Lens
Card Fixing/Tutors
1 Sensei's Diving Top
2 Ichor Wellspring
3 Gamble
4 Staff of Nin
5 Kuldotha Forgemaster
Removal
1 Fissure
2 Cinder Cloud
3 Blasphemous Act
4 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
5 Duplicant
6 Tormod's Crypt
7 Spine of Ish Sah
8 Shattering Pulse
9 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1 Grab the Reins
2 Mindclaw Shaman
3 Zealous Conscripts
4 Insurrection
5 Word of Seizing
Other Creatures
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
2 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
3 Urabrask the Hidden
4 Kuldotha Phoenix
5 Anger
6 Shimmer Myr
7 Shard Phoenix
8 Magma Phoenix
Equipment
1 Lightning Greaves
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Grafted Exoskeleton
4 Scythe of the Wretched
5 Strata Scythe
6 Basilisk Collar
Fork Effects
1 Reverberate
2 Reiterate
3 Wild Ricochet
Recursion
1 Anarchist
2 Artisan of Kozilek
3 Trash for Treasure
4 Goblin Welder
5 Codex Shredder
6 Trading Post
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
3 Not of This World
4 Vicious Shadows
5 Ensnaring Bridge
6 Heat Shimmer
Lands
1 Glacial Chasm
2 Valakut, Molten Pinnacle
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Reliquary Tower
5 Darksteel Citadel
6 Temple of the False God
7 Buried Ruin
8 Phyrexia's Core
9 Strip Mine
27 Mountain
[SPOILER]
- Heartstone
- Darksteel Plate
- Magebane Armor
- Akroma's Memorial
- Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
- Conquering Manticore
- Mana-Charged Dragon
- Banefire
- Comet Storm
- Flowstone Slide
- Stranglehold
- Coalhauler Swine
- Blood Moon
- Sword of Kaldra
- Shield of Kaldra
- Helm of Kaldra
- Stuffy Doll
- Nevinyrral's Disk
- Obvlivion Stone
- Pariah's Shield
- Gilded Lotus
[/SPOILER]Useful Cards and Combos
\
[SPOILER]There are a few things with this combo that are more than excellent. With enough mana, it lets you blow Ashling repeatedly in the same turn for 3 damage plus however many she had to start. It's also a good flicker against targeted removal. Add in a Basilisk Collar and you can gain control of the whole board! Anarchist added into the mix nets you a way to continuously recur your spells. While it's not in the deck due to playgroup restrictions, Ashling can actually go to infinity and beyond with a Scythe by adding in a Soulbright Flamekin and Heartstone.[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]This becomes some of your best removal you can have from mass to single target. Kumano has the benefit of exiling creatures while Ashling and Jaya can wipe the board. It's really pretty self explanatory. If there's an abundance of indestructable creatures, a Sword of Kaldra does wonders, though it's a tad expensive. In the end, the Collar wins out over everything because of how cheap it is compared to how it interacts with certain cards.[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]Welder is a workhorse in this deck and should generally be included in any mono-red deck be cause of how they usually rely on artifacts. Any two artifacts will usually work, like Spine of Ish Sa, though you'll have to recast it, which shouldn't be a problem. If you have a Thornbite Staff and two artifact creatures, you can go infinite with it.[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]Crucible is awesome. It's an artifact and it brings back lands. What's more to love? It lets you keep Glacial Chasm at the ready without having to pay the upkeep, just sacking a land that you can get back anyway . It works wonders with ANY sac land from Strip Mine getting rid of those pesky Maze of Iths or Kor Havens in exchange for your land drops. Haunted Fengraf and Buried Ruin also work wonders here.[/SPOILER]
This deck has two modes: Ashling on the Table and Ashling off the table. When She's on the board, 9/10 times, you're better off leaving 6 mana open because you never know when someone's going to cast Spin into Myth. I mean it. Murphy's Law will get you every time, though really it's everyone else who will seize the opportunity to tuck her while they can. Doesn't that mean you're sitting back playing Draw-Go? Yes and no. It really means you have 6 less mana to play with on your turn. If you have one of your doublers out, that makes it all the better. I'll get to those later. It also let's you build a hand the old fashioned way while letting your opponent's go through what they have. When she's off the board, that's when you get going and start making plays, setting things up and what have you.
Never never never never never never have more than one mana doubler out at a time. It's never worth losing them both for the extra mana. Hold one in your hand and wait for them to blow a removal spell on it. You don't want to be crippled by a rogue Shatterstorm or Akroma's Vengeance. The same goes for any of your recursion engines. There's no need to have Trading Post and Welder out at the same time. Remember, a fire that burns twice as hot, burns twice as fast. Don't be so antsy to play your mana doublers just because them. Stop and ask yourself if you really need or if you want to play it because you like to have lots of mana. They will be prime targets for removal and paint the same target on you. Usually. Save them for when you really need them.
I want to put this here, Vicious Shadows is a monster in this deck. Make it hit the board and sit back to enjoy the fireworks. I once stole an Academy Rector and killed it with Chandra to put it out on the board, just in time for Thromok to devour 5 creatures allowing me to hit someone for 35 damage.[/SPOILER]
On the topic of Removal, in addition to the above specific removal spells, I have found and included two more instant speed kill spells. Fissure and Cinder Cloud. The former has the added benefit of taking out annoying lands as well and both of them are rarely seen. I mean, seriously? A red kill spell that doesn't do damage? Two of them? I love those reactions when I cast these spells. I'm waiting for the day I can Cinder a Sera Avatar. With the use of a Welder or Shimmer Myr, Duplicant and Spine are also instant speed removal spells. Chandra Nalaar is also a shockingly decent bit of removal at times. At the very least, she kills Titans, so there's that. If she lasts long enough to ult, it's a fantastically focused board wipe. I once had someone Swords an Eldrazi Spawn in order to save Her cause he knew I was going to ult that guy on my turn. Best. Moment. Ever.
Ensnaring Bridge is annoying for just about everyone. As a mono-red, your hand is generally sitting around 5 cards unless you've hit the Wellspring engine, and even then, you're not getting attacked by generals who can 1 shot you. Glacial Chasm serves the same role while also keeping you alive, or at least long enough.
Changelog
Two old changelogs are in my posts, but any further changes will be noted here.
10/27/12:
[SPOILER]
1 Chandra Ablaze
1 Forysian Totem
1 Hellkite Igniter
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Magma Phoenix
1 Heat Shimmer
In conclusion, Ashling is a very strong Mono-Red general because she herself is very Strong and Adaptable. She plays the aggressive game and the political game at the same time while being as independent or involved as you want her to be. Now, go out there and light 'em up!
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
Out -> In
Mountain -> Darksteel Ingot
Looking at it, I'm probably going to take out Chandra, the Firebrand because I don't have to many spells I want to fork and I can't do it at instant speed.
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
omen of fire
I would swap that out for one of your ele blasts.
URThe Joy of Painting with Nin, the Pain Artist!UR
Fissure has been one of the more useful cards I have included if anything because it's an instant speed removal spell in a color that no one expects. Hopefully, I'll be adding more this weekend. Right now, the deck is a little different than this build, and I will update it soon. Long story short, a lot of Durdle cards like the Reactor/Dismantle/Angelheart have been removed, the Wheel Effects have largely been replaced, and a few other cards that didn't make the cut. They have been replaced with more Artifact removal spells along with Liquidmetal Coating and Mycosyth Lattice to essentially turn red's plethora of artifact destruction into Vindicate. The idea is sound, but it's largely in the testing phase, still.
I'll provide a full change list soon. =)
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
Changelist:
Out
Everflowing Chalice
Angelheart Vial
Dragon Mage
Knollspine Dragon
Reforge the Soul
Tower of Fortunes
Oblivion Stone
Decree of Annihilation
Brittle Effigy
Dismantle
Shattering Spree
Balefire Dragon
Moonveil Dragon
Obsidian Fireheart
Anger
Pentavus
Steel Hellkite
Skullclamp
Explorer's Scope
Sword of Feast and Famine
Magebane Armor
Ring of Valkas
Ruination
Ignorant Bliss
Darksteel Reactor
Terramorphic Expanse
Evolving Wilds
Spinerock Knoll
In
This change list has taken quite a few cards out and put quite a few card in that I believe are for the better, though it's not static. O-Stone was one of the big ones that was hard and it might make it's what back in, but I think Wydwen makes more use out of it than Ashling at the moment. A lot of these changes are because of how the deck winds up playing, which is a lot of artifact manipulation. Now that I finally have my Goblin Welder, things are looking better. Obviously, I'm not going to go into great detail as to why I took out a certain card for another because there were more version in between this and the last update, but I will go over a few.
Ichor Wellspring has been added because of Goblin Welder and I don't think I need to say why even though I will. It basically allows me to constantly draw cards with the Welder or any other form of Sac and recursion. It is particularly tasty with Forgemaster and Post as well as Trash for Treasure. This also brings me to another card I have been thinking about, which is this card's counterpart: Mycosynth Wellspring. It follows the same above benefits, except it puts a land into your hand instead of drawing a card. Pilgrim's Eye already does this on top of being a 1/1 Flier, though. I might give it a test run at some point, but in the meanwhile, what do you guys think?
Next up is Ensaring Bridge. The way I see it, this is a fantastic deterrent for this deck and it never really occurred to me until recently. It doesn't need to stop everything, just the big things like Mimeo or Kresh or a 100/100 Thromok. The best part about it is that it's also an artifact, so it fuels the furnace as it were.
The last big one I want to mention is Glacial Chasm. I was hesitant at first, but it has really helped me out as of late. Defensively, paying 2-10 life is worth it instead of taking a whooping from anything mentioned above. The real trick here is not having to take damage from Ashling, which let's me properly win the game with Grafted Exoskeleton.
I know, I said the other one was the last one, but this isn't talking about a specific card. You'll notice that I took out everything that saves Ashling from herself. That's right. No Memorial, no Magebane, no Plate, no Fire/War Swords. I did this because I strangely found myself in more positions where it would be better for Ashling to die than live, which is oddly one of her unseen strengths. Assuming you have mana open, which you probably do, she is effectively immune to the worst kind of removal spells. Tucks. When she can't kill herself, she is in real danger of seeing the bottom of the library, and that's a bad thing because there are very few things Mono-Red can do about that. Flamekin Harbinger and Gamble are the two most reliable ways of doing this. The former is one I think that will find it's way into the deck. Especially since I plan on getting one signed at the PTQ in Philly.
Update AHOY! Note that I will be updating the main post in two stages: The first will be me fixing the decklist and it probably wont look very nice. The second will be me giving the entire post an Overhaul. My goal is to turn this into a Primer and right now, it's kinda weak.
Please question and comment on anything! I look forward to it =)
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
Now, playing games today was really refreshing as it let me test the waters with this deck in a new scene against a completely different group of people apart from the normal people I play with. She did not disappoint. The first game ultimately ended with Ashling exploding for 22 and me sitting unharmed on a Glacial Chasm. The rest was mop up as there had been a fairly brutal slugfest due to a very good voltron Geist of St Traft deck. The second game was cut short due time constrictions and the fact that everyone was just plain exhausted. Oh the whole, not only did she keep up, she excelled. It was a good learning experience.
After gathering quite a few cards from bulk rare piles, I think I'm going to rebuild the deck into a less artifact heavy deck and list it as an alternative play style. I swear it has nothing to do with signed cards. Nope. Anyway, this one will be a little more control oriented using things like Ashling's Prerogative, Stranglehold, Blood Moon, and possibly going back to Obsidian Fireheart and Soulbright Flamekin to get more use out of my now signed Flamekin Harbinger. I might also go the route of including more burn spells and taking advantage of Jaya, Chandra 2.0, and more interestingly Hostility. I'll keep things posted.
As always, questions, comments, and feedback are greatly appreciated =)
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
I have a similar build of ashling.. ill post it shortly for you.. though Ihave been ru ning heat shimmer for a while and its wonderful.
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
My playgroup has decided to un-ban infinite combos again. This decision was made after a meeting in order to alter the card ban list. Prime Time is unbanned and Tooth and Nail, Kiki-Jiki, Omniscience, and Time Stretch all made it on the ban list. I think things will become interesting to say the least. It means I'll be gunning for my Reaper King deck, finally. What does that mean for Ashling? That means there will be another update coming and I think the deck will be getting another major facelift. It will a second deck added to this list because I feel that it will be a little too different. We'll see though.
Keep an eye out!
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
The deck itself has undergone another major overhaul while I was unable to post (got locked out when the IP changed) and I will be updating the page to follow when I can. The old list is still available because I felt that there was a significant enough change in the way they played, that I could leave it be.
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
I built Ashling myself shortly after the Commander products came out, and after doing some forum trawling and playtesting it became clear that as you said, monored needs to be played with solid standalone cards and Ashling works great with an artifact heavy subtheme. 99 mountains and voltron style Ashling decks are cute but are just one-trick ponies.
I realize that our playgroups/metas are almost definitely different but I thought I'd share some tech that I've found to be pretty useful.
Sun Droplet: By now my playgroup has gotten fairly accustomed with the sort of things that Ashling is capable of and learned that they can stop Ashling explosions by reducing my life total so that I can't blow her up too often. Monored has a very limited access to Lifegain, and I've found angelheart vial/loxodon warhammer to be too slow and expensive. Sun Droplet subtly dissuades people from poking at you and it's cheap/innocent looking enough that people don't want to waste removal on it. I've often gained 12+ life off of it before someone decides that they're tired of it or it gets caught in a wipe.
Grinning Totem: Possibly a little too cute, but I love the smiles on people's faces when I use it to grab another player's crypt, relic, bojuka to stop genesis or other graveyard shenanigans. Late game can be used to grab eldrazi, artifacts, or strip/wastelands. Can also be used to scout out an unfamiliar deck. As a plus it doesn't exile itself so you can recur it.
Predator, Flagship: Not much to say here. Evasion and a laserbeam on a stick. Kills creatures without needing to deal damage and that's a plus in monored.
Icefall: Looks fairly innocuous, but the recover ability triggers surprisingly often and being able to destroy artifacts and utility lands is great. The downfall is the sorcery speed.
Thieves' Auction: This card isn't only good for Zedruu decks. It's actually quite nice on its own. I used to run insurrection but have gotten fairly bored with spells that immediately take out multiple players. Thieves' auction creates lots of interesting scenarios and choices without being too random like Warp World. I like that it evens out the playing field, particularly if I've been picked on mid-late game, or there seems to be soft lock going on with problematic enchantments. I've used this to steal a fresh Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, and also once casted this after a turn where I had an almost empty board thanks to annoying eldrazi triggers.
All considerable options. The Sun Droplet can rack up a ton of counters with Ashling and you could even consider Dismantle and Darksteel Reactor with it.
The totem is really neat and I would definitely run it if I had one because it can get a lot of really good things like Insurrection, too. I definitely wouldn't call it too cute.
The Flagship is a perfect example of cards that really only mono red would consider. It's an expensive way to do something that we might not otherwise be able to do with the plus of also giving something flying. Funny enough, I was recently considering Skyship Weatherlight for the very reason. You basically pay 8 mana to tutor an artifact/creature to you hand. It's cheaper than Planar Portal, and the risk really isn't that big. If they let it resolve, you still search, if they destroy it with the trigger on the stack, you can fail to find, and they can't stop you from putting it in your hand unless they have a Stifle effect.
I had indeed considered Icefall, but decided to drop it because if a creature hits your GY and you don't Recover it, you exile Icefall.
Finally, my group frowns on cards like this. Our group is very big and this card would take an hour to resolve.
@Hunding
Cards that give Ashling pro-red or otherwise prevent her from dying are good, but also dangerous. The last thing you want to have happen is someone casting Spin into Myth on Ashling at a time when you can't kill her in response. My group just loves to tuck her at every chance I slip up. Just remember that.
That being said, Sword of Fire and Ice is well worth running because of the card draw. War and Peace, while it is a means of gaining some life and punishing that player who just cast Praetor's Council, is definitely cutable.
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU
Seconded. i run it in my ashling deck (i will post it for you later today), and it's wonderful!
RRRAshling, the PilgrimRRR
UUUThadda Adel, AcquisitorUUU