Note: Kaervek's definition of a "hug" is shooting flaming balls of fire in your face. He doesn't have a lot of friends.
This deck is a little strange in its setup, yet incredibly awesome. Leave any suggestions for stuff to add in or take out! I could especially use help simplfying the lands.
The biggest annoyance with Kaervek is that his mana cost is insane, so the deck is packed with mana and accelerants to try to get him out ASAP. The other problem is that very few cards work well with his ability, so how do you make sure you get them? Well, tons of tutors, that's how. Only the very best cards go into the deck, and your massive tutoring engine ensures that you get them. it's slow, but hey, this is EDH, and your mana acceleration should get them into play quickly.
A few cool notes: Scythe of the Wretched + Kaervek the Merciless is not only a great way to gain control of your opponent's creatures...it's a way for kaervek to survive a Wrath of God or Terminate! When they cast it, have him deal damage to HIMSELF. It won't kill him, but when he goes to the graveyard the trigger will bring him back, and reequip scythe before your opponents can even cast something to kill him again! As long as the cmc is less than 6, he's effectively indestructible, and even immune to edicts!
Erratic Portal is a great way to save Kaervek from the nastiest removal, like Hallowed Burial (actually in that case he can just kill himself rather than get plowed under...but say Bant Charm instead), but it's also a great way to abuse his ability. Did an opponent tap out to play their huge fatty? Bounce them back, then Kaervek can deal even more damage when they have to cast it again. Or if they're your pal, you can work together to keep recasting their creatures and shooting your enemies!
Sorin Markov, in case he wasn't douchey enough, can not only set enemy life to 10, but also take their turn and cast all their huge cmc stuff to set off Kaervek and probably kill them, or someone else.
Vampiric Dragon + Basilisk Collar + Scythe of the Wretched = 1R: gain 1 life, gain control of target creature, put a +1/+1 counter on Vampiric dragon, laugh maniacally. (Note: you have to activate Vampiric dragon in response to the Scythe's trigger, otherwise it will equip to the creature you killed and you won't be able to gain control of any others until you reequip it to the dragon.)
Cabal Interrogator is a nice way to make sure your opponents are trying to combo off nastily...just give their hands a rummaging with the big mana you've got, and if there's something nasty, get rid of it. If there's not, then I'd recommend picking whatever they wanted the LEAST, so they won't hate you. Kaervek is desperately in need of politics, especially once he's got out his recursion engines and brutal enhancements. Another card I've considered for his slot: Rakdos Augermage. I figure this deck will be able to play its hand quickly and have plenty of mana, but I'm not sure which is more likely. Feel free to give me your opinion.
I think more removal would help, you can accelerate, but you are very light on answers, so I potentially Damnation, Mutilate, Decree of Pain or Plague Wind. Plague wind is even castable earlier given your artifacts.
Some splot removal too, maybe even simply Boneshredder and Shriekmaw for card advantage. This could lead to more recursion too. I'm not sure if this is meant for one on one, but you shouldn't need so many artifacts. It depends how much you think you need to get Kaervek out.
I love the idea, it seems a bit risky, but quite powerful.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
I think more removal would help, you can accelerate, but you are very light on answers, so I potentially Damnation, Mutilate, Decree of Pain or Plague Wind. Plague wind is even castable earlier given your artifacts.
Some splot removal too, maybe even simply Boneshredder and Shriekmaw for card advantage. This could lead to more recursion too. I'm not sure if this is meant for one on one, but you shouldn't need so many artifacts. It depends how much you think you need to get Kaervek out.
I love the idea, it seems a bit risky, but quite powerful.
Well, the concept behind the deck is that, with the huge number of tutors (and tutor engines) in the deck, I only need to include 1 card for 1 purpose. So for removal, I wanted something that could continually kill enemy creatures without requiring any mana, so I included Visara. Woe is also a good option too (it was a real toss-up, to be honest) but I don't want any redundancy, so it's either one or the other. Decree of pain is an excellent mass removal spell, but I liked o-stone more. Since they have similar effects, I kept the stone and ditched the decree. If you don't think artifacts or enchantments are a problem, you could use decree instead, it's up to you. But you only need 1 mass removal spell. The number of tutors makes sure you can get it every game, and the recursion engine makes sure you can reuse it over and over.
Draw-wise, stuff like night's whisper and sign in blood weren't high on my list because they aren't engines. There's only 21 non-tutor non-mana cards in the deck. Nobody is going to waste a demonic tutor to get sign in blood, but when I've got enough mana I'd definitely use it for a tower of fortunes. For anything in the deck, you have to ask "Is this still a good card if I tutored for it?" Most of the stuff is going to get tutored, not drawn. So if it's not worth tutoring, it's not worth it.
This is definitely a multiplayer deck. It might work for 1v1 too, I'm not sure, but I'm designing it for multiplayer.
I see what you're trying to do, it just seems fragile to removal and say a fast beat down deck could overwhelm it. Uril or say Rafiq could go to town quickly and your removal is quite low, so you're relying on others to reign them in.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
I see what you're trying to do, it just seems fragile to removal and say a fast beat down deck could overwhelm it. Uril or say Rafiq could go to town quickly and your removal is quite low, so you're relying on others to reign them in.
To a fast beatdown like Uril or Rafiq, yes, I'm probably screwed in a 1v1. I doubt anyone could make a deck built around Kaervek that would stand a chance vs those...although, for what it's worth, Hatred could give me a win vs one of those if the other player isn't expecting it. Other than that, though, there really isn't any way that the deck is going to win a 1v1 vs aggro, and I'm not attempting to.
Vs removal, I think I'm fine. There aren't a ton of cards that protect Kaervek from removal, but with the number of tutors in the deck, I'm guaranteed to get at least one of them every game, whichever one best fits my needs. Besides that, the recursion engine is nigh-unkillable, and easily tutorable. Once I've got Beacon of Unrest + Planar Portal I'll probably never have to cast Kaervek from the general zone again. I considered both cards you're suggesting, but nezumi graverobber is better than either of them, as is beacon and Xiahou Dun, and neither of them give me something that I don't already have.
The basic concept here is that a tutor is anything I want it to be - if I'm worried about removal, I've basically got 24 pieces of protection (all the usual protection, plus 20 ways to get it). If they aren't playing heavy removal, then the tutors can get something else. It's definitely slow, but its consistant and should guarantee me that I'll get what I need. As long as my opponents aren't trying to kill me immediately with an aggro deck, it should be fine.
Btw, a fun thought occurred to me to encourage people to play spells - just say "If you play a spell, I won't target you or your creatures with Kaervek's trigger - I'll target one of your opponents or their creatures." That way no one is holding back spells, but everyone is still getting shredded by Kaervek's ability from when their opponents play stuff.
I would suggest Wound Reflection as a nice piece to go with Kaervek. Works very nicely.
it's a possibility, but the only advantage I see vs gratuitous violence is that it fits into my recursion engine (as does Anthem of Rakdos). If gratuitous violence keeps getting killed, and hellbent is too iffy, then I'll think about it. It seems likely to draw a lot of hate, though. I didn't want to build this as a "group hate" deck that punishes anyone for doing anything (like most people seem to want to do with Kaervek) - that just means everyone will kill you ASAP. effectively halving everyone's life total - not a good way to make friends. Kaervek can be a politically effective general since he's targeted hate - don't target the people you want to ally with. Wound reflection hurts EVERYONE, so everyone will hate you for it. If it was a "may" effect I'd like it a lot more.
Here are the current areas where I'm looking at modifying the deck:
stuff I might take out:
Removal: visara the dreadful. When I think about it, I just don't think she gives me anything that I can't get from Kaervek, especially with Basilisk collar. It's nice that she doesn't need a spell, but especially in a multiplayer game there's spells flying everywhere. I just don't see tutoring her very often when I could tutor collar instead. And in this deck, if you aren't getting tutored, you're out. But I'm open to reasons why she should stay.
Protection: General's Kabuto. I already took it out...it prevents me from using Scythe of the Wretched or Erratic portal to protect Kaervek from mass removal, so I think I prefer Shield of Kaldra. Not positive I need shield either - opinions? is my other protection enough?
Draw: which one feels the most redundant? I like Mind's Eye because it generates tons of card advantage. I like Tower of fortunes because it generates tons of card advantage even in a 3 or 4 person game. I like bottled cloister because it doesn't require mana, and shields my hands during enemy turns from discard and null brooch. I'm thinking maybe pitch the tower? is there anything better than the ones I've already got? I could really use opinions on this one =/
Stuff I might add in:
Tutors: If anyone can think of anything that vaguely resembles a tutor (and isn't insanely expensive, i.e. imperial seal), let me know. I've stuck in almost everything I could think of, though.
Removal: There are a lot of cards vying for Visara's place. My favorites: avarice totem. With the double-swap you can keep stuff permanently, and it targets ANY permanent, which is very rare for red/black. and seems like a blast in multiplayer. deepfire elemental. Kills creatures or artifacts for mana, which I've got a lot of. But no enchantments. Still, nice, and doesn't have to deal with summoning sickness like visara. The mana costs could be too large to make it worth it, though. Shattering Pulse/Viashino Heretic. Nice repetitive artifact destruction, which Kaervek doesn't provide. Nothing else, though, which is a bummer.
Could definitely use suggestions on which to use, or something else better? Or I could just toss in more mana.
For all the other categories, I'm certainly open to suggestion, as long as it provides some functionality the deck doesn't already have. I'm hoping to playtest extensively thursday, although my playgroup wants to do 2HG...yawn.
This deck is a little strange in its setup, yet incredibly awesome. Leave any suggestions for stuff to add in or take out! I could especially use help simplfying the lands.
Enjoy
1 Kaervek the Merciless
Tutors (20):
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Brainspoil
1 Citanul Flute
1 Cruel Tutor
1 Demonic Collusion
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Dimir Machinations
1 Gamble
1 Grim Tutor
1 Infernal Tutor
1 Insidious Dreams
1 Journeyer's Kite
1 Liliana Vess
1 Netherborn Phalanx
1 Night Dealings
1 Planar Portal
1 Tainted Pact
1 Vampiric Tutor
Deterrents (2):
1 Dread
1 Ensnaring Bridge
Discard (2):
1 Cabal Interrogator
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
Draw (3):
1 Bottled Cloister
1 Mind's Eye
1 Tower of Fortunes
Enhancements (3):
1 Basilisk collar
1 Gratuitous Violence
1 Scythe of the Wretched
1 Erratic Portal
1 Shield of Kaldra
1 Null Brooch
Recursion (3):
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
Removal (2):
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Visara the Dreadful
Wincons (3):
1 Hatred
1 Sorin Markov
1 Vampiric Dragon
Accelerants (18):
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Coalition Relic
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Grim Monolith
1 Jeweled Amulet
1 Kyren Toy
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mind Stone
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Sisay's Ring
1 Sol Ring
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Ur-Golem's Eye
1 Worn Powerstone
Lands (40):
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Blinkmoth Well
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Dust Bowl
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Graven Cairns
1 Kher Keep
1 Leechridden Swamp
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Molten Slagheap
3 Mountain
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Shivan Gorge
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Spawning Pool
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Springjack Pasture
1 Sulfurous Springs
8 Swamp
1 Urborg
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Urza's Factory
1 Temple of the False God
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Zoetic Cavern
The biggest annoyance with Kaervek is that his mana cost is insane, so the deck is packed with mana and accelerants to try to get him out ASAP. The other problem is that very few cards work well with his ability, so how do you make sure you get them? Well, tons of tutors, that's how. Only the very best cards go into the deck, and your massive tutoring engine ensures that you get them. it's slow, but hey, this is EDH, and your mana acceleration should get them into play quickly.
A few cool notes:
Scythe of the Wretched + Kaervek the Merciless is not only a great way to gain control of your opponent's creatures...it's a way for kaervek to survive a Wrath of God or Terminate! When they cast it, have him deal damage to HIMSELF. It won't kill him, but when he goes to the graveyard the trigger will bring him back, and reequip scythe before your opponents can even cast something to kill him again! As long as the cmc is less than 6, he's effectively indestructible, and even immune to edicts!
With a tutor engine like Planar Portal or Night Dealings, Beacon of Unrest can be used to resurrect over and over and over. If it gets countered, Xiahou Dun can rescue it and then be resurrected by it, and if he dies prematurely, Volrath's Stronghold or Nighteyes the Desecrator can rescue him, and then beacon resurrects everybody...it's an almost unbreakable recursion engine.
Erratic Portal is a great way to save Kaervek from the nastiest removal, like Hallowed Burial (actually in that case he can just kill himself rather than get plowed under...but say Bant Charm instead), but it's also a great way to abuse his ability. Did an opponent tap out to play their huge fatty? Bounce them back, then Kaervek can deal even more damage when they have to cast it again. Or if they're your pal, you can work together to keep recasting their creatures and shooting your enemies!
Sorin Markov, in case he wasn't douchey enough, can not only set enemy life to 10, but also take their turn and cast all their huge cmc stuff to set off Kaervek and probably kill them, or someone else.
Null Brooch + Bottled Cloister = counter noncreatures for t!
Vampiric Dragon + Basilisk Collar + Scythe of the Wretched = 1R: gain 1 life, gain control of target creature, put a +1/+1 counter on Vampiric dragon, laugh maniacally. (Note: you have to activate Vampiric dragon in response to the Scythe's trigger, otherwise it will equip to the creature you killed and you won't be able to gain control of any others until you reequip it to the dragon.)
Cabal Interrogator is a nice way to make sure your opponents are trying to combo off nastily...just give their hands a rummaging with the big mana you've got, and if there's something nasty, get rid of it. If there's not, then I'd recommend picking whatever they wanted the LEAST, so they won't hate you. Kaervek is desperately in need of politics, especially once he's got out his recursion engines and brutal enhancements. Another card I've considered for his slot: Rakdos Augermage. I figure this deck will be able to play its hand quickly and have plenty of mana, but I'm not sure which is more likely. Feel free to give me your opinion.
WUB Merieke Ri Berit BUW
GWU Phelddagrif 1 2 3 4 UWG
BR Kaervek the Merciless RB
B Chainer, Dementia Master B
WUB Sen Triplets BUW
BG Sisters of Stone Death GB
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon GRBUW
GWU Angus Mackenzie UWG
R Kumano, Master Yamabushi R
WB Teysa BW
U Higure U
B Geth B
WUBRG Child of Alara 1 2GRBUW
R Zirilan R
U Arcum U
UR Nin RU
BRG Sek'Kuar GRB
U Teferi U
G Melira G
GU Edric UG
BG Glissa GB
Casual
GUB Knacksaw Clique BUG
RWU Sunforger UWR
Avatar of Woe would be a good card as Visara v2.
Phyrexian Arena, Night's Whispers, Sign in Blood or Ambition's Cost would increase your card drawing potential. Over Tower of Fortunes.
I think more removal would help, you can accelerate, but you are very light on answers, so I potentially Damnation, Mutilate, Decree of Pain or Plague Wind. Plague wind is even castable earlier given your artifacts.
Some splot removal too, maybe even simply Boneshredder and Shriekmaw for card advantage. This could lead to more recursion too. I'm not sure if this is meant for one on one, but you shouldn't need so many artifacts. It depends how much you think you need to get Kaervek out.
I love the idea, it seems a bit risky, but quite powerful.
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Well, the concept behind the deck is that, with the huge number of tutors (and tutor engines) in the deck, I only need to include 1 card for 1 purpose. So for removal, I wanted something that could continually kill enemy creatures without requiring any mana, so I included Visara. Woe is also a good option too (it was a real toss-up, to be honest) but I don't want any redundancy, so it's either one or the other. Decree of pain is an excellent mass removal spell, but I liked o-stone more. Since they have similar effects, I kept the stone and ditched the decree. If you don't think artifacts or enchantments are a problem, you could use decree instead, it's up to you. But you only need 1 mass removal spell. The number of tutors makes sure you can get it every game, and the recursion engine makes sure you can reuse it over and over.
Draw-wise, stuff like night's whisper and sign in blood weren't high on my list because they aren't engines. There's only 21 non-tutor non-mana cards in the deck. Nobody is going to waste a demonic tutor to get sign in blood, but when I've got enough mana I'd definitely use it for a tower of fortunes. For anything in the deck, you have to ask "Is this still a good card if I tutored for it?" Most of the stuff is going to get tutored, not drawn. So if it's not worth tutoring, it's not worth it.
This is definitely a multiplayer deck. It might work for 1v1 too, I'm not sure, but I'm designing it for multiplayer.
WUB Merieke Ri Berit BUW
GWU Phelddagrif 1 2 3 4 UWG
BR Kaervek the Merciless RB
B Chainer, Dementia Master B
WUB Sen Triplets BUW
BG Sisters of Stone Death GB
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon GRBUW
GWU Angus Mackenzie UWG
R Kumano, Master Yamabushi R
WB Teysa BW
U Higure U
B Geth B
WUBRG Child of Alara 1 2GRBUW
R Zirilan R
U Arcum U
UR Nin RU
BRG Sek'Kuar GRB
U Teferi U
G Melira G
GU Edric UG
BG Glissa GB
Casual
GUB Knacksaw Clique BUG
RWU Sunforger UWR
If you are putting all your eggs in one basket, maybe include: Phyrexian Reclamation or Haunted Crossroads to make getting him back easier.
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
To a fast beatdown like Uril or Rafiq, yes, I'm probably screwed in a 1v1. I doubt anyone could make a deck built around Kaervek that would stand a chance vs those...although, for what it's worth, Hatred could give me a win vs one of those if the other player isn't expecting it. Other than that, though, there really isn't any way that the deck is going to win a 1v1 vs aggro, and I'm not attempting to.
Vs removal, I think I'm fine. There aren't a ton of cards that protect Kaervek from removal, but with the number of tutors in the deck, I'm guaranteed to get at least one of them every game, whichever one best fits my needs. Besides that, the recursion engine is nigh-unkillable, and easily tutorable. Once I've got Beacon of Unrest + Planar Portal I'll probably never have to cast Kaervek from the general zone again. I considered both cards you're suggesting, but nezumi graverobber is better than either of them, as is beacon and Xiahou Dun, and neither of them give me something that I don't already have.
The basic concept here is that a tutor is anything I want it to be - if I'm worried about removal, I've basically got 24 pieces of protection (all the usual protection, plus 20 ways to get it). If they aren't playing heavy removal, then the tutors can get something else. It's definitely slow, but its consistant and should guarantee me that I'll get what I need. As long as my opponents aren't trying to kill me immediately with an aggro deck, it should be fine.
Btw, a fun thought occurred to me to encourage people to play spells - just say "If you play a spell, I won't target you or your creatures with Kaervek's trigger - I'll target one of your opponents or their creatures." That way no one is holding back spells, but everyone is still getting shredded by Kaervek's ability from when their opponents play stuff.
it's a possibility, but the only advantage I see vs gratuitous violence is that it fits into my recursion engine (as does Anthem of Rakdos). If gratuitous violence keeps getting killed, and hellbent is too iffy, then I'll think about it. It seems likely to draw a lot of hate, though. I didn't want to build this as a "group hate" deck that punishes anyone for doing anything (like most people seem to want to do with Kaervek) - that just means everyone will kill you ASAP. effectively halving everyone's life total - not a good way to make friends. Kaervek can be a politically effective general since he's targeted hate - don't target the people you want to ally with. Wound reflection hurts EVERYONE, so everyone will hate you for it. If it was a "may" effect I'd like it a lot more.
WUB Merieke Ri Berit BUW
GWU Phelddagrif 1 2 3 4 UWG
BR Kaervek the Merciless RB
B Chainer, Dementia Master B
WUB Sen Triplets BUW
BG Sisters of Stone Death GB
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon GRBUW
GWU Angus Mackenzie UWG
R Kumano, Master Yamabushi R
WB Teysa BW
U Higure U
B Geth B
WUBRG Child of Alara 1 2GRBUW
R Zirilan R
U Arcum U
UR Nin RU
BRG Sek'Kuar GRB
U Teferi U
G Melira G
GU Edric UG
BG Glissa GB
Casual
GUB Knacksaw Clique BUG
RWU Sunforger UWR
stuff I might take out:
Removal: visara the dreadful. When I think about it, I just don't think she gives me anything that I can't get from Kaervek, especially with Basilisk collar. It's nice that she doesn't need a spell, but especially in a multiplayer game there's spells flying everywhere. I just don't see tutoring her very often when I could tutor collar instead. And in this deck, if you aren't getting tutored, you're out. But I'm open to reasons why she should stay.
Protection: General's Kabuto. I already took it out...it prevents me from using Scythe of the Wretched or Erratic portal to protect Kaervek from mass removal, so I think I prefer Shield of Kaldra. Not positive I need shield either - opinions? is my other protection enough?
Draw: which one feels the most redundant? I like Mind's Eye because it generates tons of card advantage. I like Tower of fortunes because it generates tons of card advantage even in a 3 or 4 person game. I like bottled cloister because it doesn't require mana, and shields my hands during enemy turns from discard and null brooch. I'm thinking maybe pitch the tower? is there anything better than the ones I've already got? I could really use opinions on this one =/
Stuff I might add in:
Tutors: If anyone can think of anything that vaguely resembles a tutor (and isn't insanely expensive, i.e. imperial seal), let me know. I've stuck in almost everything I could think of, though.
Removal: There are a lot of cards vying for Visara's place. My favorites:
avarice totem. With the double-swap you can keep stuff permanently, and it targets ANY permanent, which is very rare for red/black. and seems like a blast in multiplayer.
deepfire elemental. Kills creatures or artifacts for mana, which I've got a lot of. But no enchantments. Still, nice, and doesn't have to deal with summoning sickness like visara. The mana costs could be too large to make it worth it, though.
Shattering Pulse/Viashino Heretic. Nice repetitive artifact destruction, which Kaervek doesn't provide. Nothing else, though, which is a bummer.
Could definitely use suggestions on which to use, or something else better? Or I could just toss in more mana.
For all the other categories, I'm certainly open to suggestion, as long as it provides some functionality the deck doesn't already have. I'm hoping to playtest extensively thursday, although my playgroup wants to do 2HG...yawn.
WUB Merieke Ri Berit BUW
GWU Phelddagrif 1 2 3 4 UWG
BR Kaervek the Merciless RB
B Chainer, Dementia Master B
WUB Sen Triplets BUW
BG Sisters of Stone Death GB
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon GRBUW
GWU Angus Mackenzie UWG
R Kumano, Master Yamabushi R
WB Teysa BW
U Higure U
B Geth B
WUBRG Child of Alara 1 2GRBUW
R Zirilan R
U Arcum U
UR Nin RU
BRG Sek'Kuar GRB
U Teferi U
G Melira G
GU Edric UG
BG Glissa GB
Casual
GUB Knacksaw Clique BUG
RWU Sunforger UWR