Alright guys, this is a shell of what was my favorite EDH deck: Doran, the Siege Tower. Before you post, consider that this is built with 1v1 in mind as I only play on MWS. Also, I'm not looking to focus on Doran's ability. I want this deck to be solid and dependable. Think all the years of Rock decks and their hand disruption and removal and the density that is "The Rock".
Consider the meta of Clique, Teferi, and other solid blue generals as well as Rofl-os and the beastly green and white powerhouses like Sisay and Teeg.
So, MTGS, I reach out to you to help me build the siege tower that is Doran, and construct a deck that shows the real power behind BGW.
Now before I get 10 posts going "zomg LJ, ur dec not 100 cardz".. This is a shell of what it was. I kept in cards that I felt needed to be in there or I particularly enjoy and want to stay.
Think I should remove something? Give me a good reason to and I'll consider. I'll post updates as we go. And please don't just post cards, add some thought and tell me why I should add it.
As for the lands, I won't be going any lower than 36, but I will replace basics for nonbasics as I see fit. I'll probably go up to 37-38 depending on the amount of ramp I may add.
Since you're playing on MWS, this will help that there won't be any budget constraints :).
That being said, the first add I would go with would be Imperial Seal. It's worst than Vamp Tutor, but I do like to advocate redundancy especially for powerful cards.
A wedge deck is going to have a wobbly manabase, and you ned to be able to have it stable especially if you want to be able to reliably cast Doran. I would add in every single fetchland that is white, black, and green in the deck (bascially, all the fetchlands minus Scalding Tarn). They will act as de facto dual lands, which is easily the best way you can have a stable mana base.
You're already running Mind Twist and Crucible, you might as well add Sol Ring and Mana Crypt. They don't accelerate directly into Doran, but they accelerate into the rest of your spells and then later on provide easy mana production for recasting Doran should he die.
I'm not the biggest fan of Akroma and Phantom Nishoba as finishers. As you are focusing on being a midrange Rock deck, I'm not the biggest fan of upping the curve. Against blue decks, they become Bribery/Control Magic fodder -- something that can easily haunt you.
I like Sword of Fire and Ice over Warhammer. Cheaper equip cost and I like the abilities it provides of accelerating your clock/picking off X/2s and drawing cards.
More acceleration is warranted, especially for a cheap general like Doran. Khymera and I talk a lot about how acceleration is critical in EDH; it's one of the factors that will usually make or break a game. Birds of Paradise seems like a no-brainer to me in getting out Doran on turn 2, and other accelerators such as Sakura-Tribe Elder are good as well. You could run a few more 1 CMC mana producers to get that turn 2 Doran out such as Llanowar Elves or Mox Diamond/Chrome Mox.
I LOVE Aven Mindcensor. This guy shuts down an alarmingly high number of cards in the format, especially against decks that rely a little too much on tutors.
Planeswalkers will also help to add to your threat count. Elspeth and Garruk are the two I would add in for sure. Elspeth turns Doran into a very quick clock while producing her own army, while Garruk can do the same plus accelerate you. Liliana Vess is also another good add if you go the planeswalker route.
Skullclamp is a godly card, but I would add more utility creature in there to make it more effective. The previously suggested mana producers such as Birds and Llanowar Elves will help contribute to that.
Quasali Pridemage, solid cheap removal that beats and loves to be clamped.
Hypnotic Specter, a 3 mana creature that will win the game if unanswered.
Hymn to Tourach, way undercosted for what it does.
Identity Crisis is better than Mind Shatter.
Mirraris Wake and Skyshroud Claim ramp to late on the curve to be much use
World Queller is interesting. I will add and test it. Pridemage is a great suggestion as well. As for Specter and Hymn, I'm not too interested in those. They just don't feel like they belong here. Same with Crisis. I will be keeping Claim though, it has proven itself to be an awesome card. Wake, however, will need more testing.
I'm also trimming Damnation as I feel I have too much mass removal.
I think you need more disruption. Surging Chaos's suggestions are all good, but you're going to need extra discard/removal, even more so than acceleration, to be competitive.
Many "build-around-me" generals like Arcum or Sisay can afford to focus on acceleration, because the faster they are, the faster they achieve a lock/combo win. You're not assembling a lock--you have to end the game through damage, which takes a lot longer. Accelerating Doran out a turn faster actually isn't that big a deal for this deck.
Since you can't hope to have a faster goldfish, the best you can do is try to slow down everyone else's. You already have a lot of removal, which is good. Additions like Aven Mindcensor and Qasali Pridemage only help that, but you could use some discard other than Mind Twist/Mind Shatter. I'd add at least Duress and Thoughtseize, and see how that feels. You might want more. Austere Command would be good too, it's one of the most useful sweepers in the format.
Another option you might want to explore could be following the "Ernhamgeddon" template--drop a beefy creature quickly, destroy all lands, and win before your opponent recovers. You could probably win a lot of games off the back of Armageddon/Ravages of War, if you choose to go that way.
It seems that most of the Generals you said you would play against have a low toughness and the decks rely on them to a large extent. So play a reusable way to kill the general.
If you do go with LftL, you can try Raven's Crime as reusable discard against decks packing countermagic. You could also possibly pack some cycling lands to get a draw engine out of LftL.
Consider the meta of Clique, Teferi, and other solid blue generals as well as Rofl-os and the beastly green and white powerhouses like Sisay and Teeg.
So, MTGS, I reach out to you to help me build the siege tower that is Doran, and construct a deck that shows the real power behind BGW.
1x Doran, the Siege Tower
Creatures (23)
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Eternal Dragon
1x Chameleon Colossus
1x Oversoul of Dusk
1x Eternal Witness
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Divinity of Pride
1x Angel of Despair
1x Stonecloaker
1x Necrotic Sliver
1x Harmonic Sliver
1x Genesis
1x Glory
1x Reveillark
1x Phantom Nishoba
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Llanowar Elves
1x World Queller
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Boneshredder
1x Saffi Eriksdotter
Spells (40)
1x Pernicious Deed
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Crime/Punishment
1x Plow Under
1x Harmonize
1x Survival of the Fittest
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Loxodon Warhammer
1x Skullclamp
1x Skyshroud Claim
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Mortify
1x Putrefy
1x Aura Shards
1x Oblation
1x Vindicate
1x Wrath of God
1x Hallowed Burial
1x Primal Command
1x Mind Twist
1x Mind Shatter
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Sol Ring
1x Garruk Wildspeaker
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Liliana Vess
1x Imperial Seal
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Armageddon
1x Ravages of War
1x Life from the Loam
1x Duress
1x Thoughtseize
1x Raven's Crime
1x Austere Command
1x Hymn to Tourach
1x Fetid Heath
1x Krosan Verge
1x Bayou
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Godless Shrine
1x Temple Garden
1x Twilight Mire
1x Wooded Bastion
1x Windswept Heath
1x Miren, the Moaning Well
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Marsh Flats
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Scrubland
1x Savannah
1x Kor Haven
1x Strip Mine
1x Polluted Delta
1x Wasteland
1x Cabal Pit
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstaind Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
3x Forest
3x Plains
2x Swamp
Now before I get 10 posts going "zomg LJ, ur dec not 100 cardz".. This is a shell of what it was. I kept in cards that I felt needed to be in there or I particularly enjoy and want to stay.
Think I should remove something? Give me a good reason to and I'll consider. I'll post updates as we go. And please don't just post cards, add some thought and tell me why I should add it.
As for the lands, I won't be going any lower than 36, but I will replace basics for nonbasics as I see fit. I'll probably go up to 37-38 depending on the amount of ramp I may add.
Alright, have at it.
GraphiX via XenoNinja | Apprentice of Spell Manipulation in [The Izzet]
That being said, the first add I would go with would be Imperial Seal. It's worst than Vamp Tutor, but I do like to advocate redundancy especially for powerful cards.
A wedge deck is going to have a wobbly manabase, and you ned to be able to have it stable especially if you want to be able to reliably cast Doran. I would add in every single fetchland that is white, black, and green in the deck (bascially, all the fetchlands minus Scalding Tarn). They will act as de facto dual lands, which is easily the best way you can have a stable mana base.
You're already running Mind Twist and Crucible, you might as well add Sol Ring and Mana Crypt. They don't accelerate directly into Doran, but they accelerate into the rest of your spells and then later on provide easy mana production for recasting Doran should he die.
I'm not the biggest fan of Akroma and Phantom Nishoba as finishers. As you are focusing on being a midrange Rock deck, I'm not the biggest fan of upping the curve. Against blue decks, they become Bribery/Control Magic fodder -- something that can easily haunt you.
I like Sword of Fire and Ice over Warhammer. Cheaper equip cost and I like the abilities it provides of accelerating your clock/picking off X/2s and drawing cards.
More acceleration is warranted, especially for a cheap general like Doran. Khymera and I talk a lot about how acceleration is critical in EDH; it's one of the factors that will usually make or break a game. Birds of Paradise seems like a no-brainer to me in getting out Doran on turn 2, and other accelerators such as Sakura-Tribe Elder are good as well. You could run a few more 1 CMC mana producers to get that turn 2 Doran out such as Llanowar Elves or Mox Diamond/Chrome Mox.
I LOVE Aven Mindcensor. This guy shuts down an alarmingly high number of cards in the format, especially against decks that rely a little too much on tutors.
Planeswalkers will also help to add to your threat count. Elspeth and Garruk are the two I would add in for sure. Elspeth turns Doran into a very quick clock while producing her own army, while Garruk can do the same plus accelerate you. Liliana Vess is also another good add if you go the planeswalker route.
Skullclamp is a godly card, but I would add more utility creature in there to make it more effective. The previously suggested mana producers such as Birds and Llanowar Elves will help contribute to that.
That'll suffice for now to break the ice :).
+ Birds of Paradise
+ Sakura-Tribe Elder
+ Sol Ring
+ Aven Mindcensor
+ Garruk Wildspeaker*
+ Elspeth, Knight-Errant*
+ Liliana Vess*
+ Imperial Seal
+ Sword of Fire and Ice*
+ Llanowar Elves
_____________________________________
+ Polluted Delta
+ Flooded Strand
+ Misty Rainforst
+ Arid Mesa
+ Bloodstaind Mire
+ Wooded Foothills
- 2x Swamp
- 2x Plains
- 2x Forest
* indicates that it was in the deck before I hallowed it.
I'm not a huge fan of Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond. Would the filter artifacts work instead?
GraphiX via XenoNinja | Apprentice of Spell Manipulation in [The Izzet]
Quasali Pridemage, solid cheap removal that beats and loves to be clamped.
Hypnotic Specter, a 3 mana creature that will win the game if unanswered.
Hymn to Tourach, way undercosted for what it does.
Identity Crisis is better than Mind Shatter.
Mirraris Wake and Skyshroud Claim ramp to late on the curve to be much use
World Queller is interesting. I will add and test it. Pridemage is a great suggestion as well. As for Specter and Hymn, I'm not too interested in those. They just don't feel like they belong here. Same with Crisis. I will be keeping Claim though, it has proven itself to be an awesome card. Wake, however, will need more testing.
I'm also trimming Damnation as I feel I have too much mass removal.
+ World Queller
+ Qasali Pridemage
- Damnation
GraphiX via XenoNinja | Apprentice of Spell Manipulation in [The Izzet]
Many "build-around-me" generals like Arcum or Sisay can afford to focus on acceleration, because the faster they are, the faster they achieve a lock/combo win. You're not assembling a lock--you have to end the game through damage, which takes a lot longer. Accelerating Doran out a turn faster actually isn't that big a deal for this deck.
Since you can't hope to have a faster goldfish, the best you can do is try to slow down everyone else's. You already have a lot of removal, which is good. Additions like Aven Mindcensor and Qasali Pridemage only help that, but you could use some discard other than Mind Twist/Mind Shatter. I'd add at least Duress and Thoughtseize, and see how that feels. You might want more. Austere Command would be good too, it's one of the most useful sweepers in the format.
Another option you might want to explore could be following the "Ernhamgeddon" template--drop a beefy creature quickly, destroy all lands, and win before your opponent recovers. You could probably win a lot of games off the back of Armageddon/Ravages of War, if you choose to go that way.
Life from the Loam
Cabal Pit
Genesis (You already have in list)
Shriekmaw/Bone Shredder/Nekrataal
If you do go with LftL, you can try Raven's Crime as reusable discard against decks packing countermagic. You could also possibly pack some cycling lands to get a draw engine out of LftL.
You could also try to go all out with the Reveillark combo. Add in Saffi Eriksdotter, Karmic Guide, Acidic Slime, Mirror Entity. Bone Shredder works here as well.
+ Armageddon
+ Ravages of War
+ Life from the Loam*
+ Duress
+ Thoughtseize
+ Cabal Pit
+ Raven's Crime
+ Boneshredder
+ Saffi Eriksdotter*
+ Austere Command
+ Hymn to Tourach
+ Wasteland*
- Mirari's Wake
- Misty Rainforest
- Flooded Strand
With those additions, it brings the deck to 100 cards exactly. So now for some tweeking, testing, and tuning. Please keep the suggestions coming!
GraphiX via XenoNinja | Apprentice of Spell Manipulation in [The Izzet]
I would highly suggest desolation angel if you are playing so much land destruction. She flat out wins me games.