Please use this thread for ideas toward chalice builds. Currently we are trying to find what works best. Be it aggro, mid range, combo, or control. As more proven deck lists are posted I will update this post. Also as this thread goes along this primer will become more organized.
The basic idea is to get to 30+ life so that you can flip Chalice of Life to Chalice of Death. The fun part is that you can build a version of this in all colors. Since Chalice is colorless and can fit in anywhere it leads to very diverse decks and play styles.
Some current strategies being discussed include: Artifacts, Tokens, Soul Sisters Combo, Burn and Turbo Fog. Again as more testing is done I will post the actual lists and more precise card choices.
So far the only consensus is Chalice of Life is in the deck and you want to gain life. The rest is currently up for grabs.
Some of the cards being discussed include:
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas - Able to search up Chalice and any other artifacts that you may be running. Becomes and alt win con with 5/5 artifacts and can be ulted to help the Chalice cause. Drogskol Reaver - Very strong late game and an excellent enabler for Chalice. And in this deck will allow you to draw may times a turn. Pristine Talisman - Ramp and incremental life gain. Searchable by Tez and combos very well with Reaver. Whitesun's Passage - Instant speed life gain. Flips Delver and can be hit with Snapcaster. Elixir of Immortality - Great one drop for the deck. Allows for explosive plays with Whitesun's Passage. Phyrexian Metamorph - Can copy Chalice, and is part of the infinite life combo. Suture Priest - Incremental life gain and damage. Part of the infinite life combo. Leonin Relic Warder - Part of the infinite life combo. Buried Ruin - Good at getting Chalice and more back. Phyrexia's Core - Additional life gain in the artifact builds. Prevents you artifacts from getting exiled so you can shuffle them back in with Elixir or get them back with Ruin. Delver of Secrets - No explanation needed. Snapcaster Mage - No explanation needed. Elspeth Tirel - Life gain and fits in with the Token strategy very nicely. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Reasoning is along the same as Elspeth's. Wurmcoil Engine - Big beater that can create big life swings. Consume Spirit - If playing heavy black, this can go a long way.
To my opinion, Chalice is great if you have the right methods of using it. For instance, I am debating on a soul sisters build using the chalice as the major wincon:
I like that idea. I originally set out to make this creature-less and started with a UB artifact build, then I tried a WR build. Now its something in between. The issues I had with betting everything I had on Chalice was it got Extracted on too many times. What would your soul sisters build look like?
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My mainboard would look something like that. Bringing in blue and the amazing life gain creature Drogskol Reaver should give you enough heavy lifegain to use the Chalice.
Have you been able to test that at all? It looks like you could trade pretty easy with the Delvers and RDWs of the world and once you get a Drogskol Reaver on the board, that sticks, it should be over. Especially if you have a Chalice or Talisman on deck when you drop Reaver. The only issue that I see is dealing with a board wipe / getting to 7 mana for Reaver.
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The good news is that we have Pristine Talisman to speed up our turns. The quicker we drop the Reaver, the quicker the game should end. Also, we might can even fit Delver of secrets into our own list.
I like the Delver idea. Since it hits off of Whitesun Passage. and then you can just play the deck a little more controlly with Delver soming in as a solid early beater. I will work up a list.
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Buried Ruin definitely needs to be in my list just in case something happens. I think this archtype could really take off in this heavy aggro format, because our lifegain can keep us out of reach.
I was thinking a Bant turbo fog list based around, chalice, just stall him compeletely with counter, fog wrath, lifegain and chalice him out
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Veni Vidi Vici - Gaius Julius Caesar
Fear not the night, fear those who walk the night.
And I am he that walks the night,
But only evil need to fear me
And gentle souls sleep safe in their beds
Because I own the night.
I feel the versions that you guys are currently playing are overall subpar and depend on playing too many cards that do not actually do anything to win the game on their own. Personally, I would play this in a B/W deck and utilize lifelink beaters to win the game in the case that Chalice does not come down like you want it. Vault Skirge, Batterskull, Vault of the Archangel, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Wurmcoil Engine... These are the cards that come to my mind when trying to achieve flipping the Chalice but at the same time having a game plan outside of it. Maybe play the above cards in a B/W Tokens shell.
I feel the versions that you guys are currently playing are overall subpar and depend on playing too many cards that do not actually do anything to win the game on their own. Personally, I would play this in a B/W deck and utilize lifelink beaters to win the game in the case that Chalice does not come down like you want it. Vault Skirge, Batterskull, Vault of the Archangel, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Wurmcoil Engine... These are the cards that come to my mind when trying to achieve flipping the Chalice but at the same time having a game plan outside of it. Maybe play the above cards in a B/W Tokens shell.
I do not feel that gaining infinite life with a combo is subpar. If you look at my list, you will notice that I included the lifegain combo from the old soul sisters. However, I like the idea of using Wurmcoil Engine, Sorin, and Vault of the Archangel. The tokens shell really is worth looking into as a whole.
@Madmaardigan- I have to say, Bant Turbofog would be a fun idea for this archetype. What kind of stall effects do you hope to include?
Here's a take on it, that I thought could possibly work.
I know someone mentioned a "soul sisters" strategy, and I feel like that's very doable.
We plink our way up to thirty with Suture Priest, Pristine Talisman, and Chalice of Life.
Here would be an esper list. Not tested though just theory crafted. And about the tokens my buddy is about to post a BW Token Chalice that he has been working on.
I too really like the Turbo Fog idea. That's all I used to play back in Lorwyn/Shards. THe only issue there is I dont know if we have enough draw engines right now. What would you list look like?
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Based on what we are looking at, this is easily doable. I want to continue my work on a u/w soul sisters variant with the Chalice of Life. Getting the creature list will be the key part, and making sure we have enough protection. I may consider Faith's Shield to protect my Leonin Relic Warder and Suture Priest when I go for the combo.
Meaning to control the board, gain life, and in late game easily smacking your opponents down to 0 with 5 life a turn from either chalices or from Tezzeret animations. Wurmcoil and Vault skirge for life gain from creatures, Swords are a big help of course. Spellskite and revoker to help control your opponents plays while counterspells and Go for the Throat do the rest. Tezzeret to win, along with Elixir to reshuffle any needed utility.
@ Shadowrulz - I was / am running a similar build. However I will say that Satchel ended up being super underwhelming. There was not a time that I would not rather of had an Elixir or a Talisman or removal or pretty much anything else. Also I would definitely try out Talisman. Lets you ramp to Wurmcoil and is great incremental life gain and plays well with Tez.
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I like this idea, I think the esper or bant decks would be the most powerful. Definitely need to play this as a control/fog style deck. The other decks in the meta are too fast to not have turn 1/2 responses to things like delvers. As such I don't think the inclusion of delvers to be a good idea.
Running a slew of planeswalkers will help with the board control and lifegain in some cases. The Reaver or sphinx (or both if we're feeling frisky) will provide the late game rock we need to survive other big beat based decks. Every other slot should be dedicated to tutoring/life gain/counters/removal. Artifact recursion is important, so is saving your chalice from being nuked. Steel Sabotage and the ruins should be included.
I'm going to build this deck as soon as release rolls around and see how it goes.
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Currently Playing----------------------------- R/ Nasticore
@ Fdbog - Unwinding Clock would be a great one of, if your running a Heavy Artifact version with Tez. Because it is fairly easy to dig out one ofs with Tez and Forbidden Alchemy. But in a non Tez build I don't know how great it would be to land that. I mean it would untap your Talismans and Chalices but is that good enough to take up the slots?
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Funny thread since I've been playing a Chalice deck all day (at least 4 hours... way too much).
Started out with a GW version that employed the fog effects. It was terrible.
Switched to a mono white version and it seems good, but it's still losing more than winning. Here's the current build. I haven't tested much with Elspeth yet, just threw her in for my last match and didn't draw her. Hero is there in case you can't get Chalice going. I had 4 Angel's Mercy in it at one point and it was good, but just a bit expensive, so moved to 3, probably still the worst card.
I think Pride Guardian is a terrible card. But it should be good against aggro. Problem is when I got it out I wasn't playing against aggro. Makes no sense in my head.
@ Shadowrulz - I was / am running a similar build. However I will say that Satchel ended up being super underwhelming. There was not a time that I would not rather of had an Elixir or a Talisman or removal or pretty much anything else. Also I would definitely try out Talisman. Lets you ramp to Wurmcoil and is great incremental life gain and plays well with Tez.
I see your point with the Satchel. I figured it might turn out well considering 3 different abilities. But since I've no way to rearrange the top of my deck, I don't think it's worth it. Thank you.
@ Shadowrulz - Yeah and I had the deck set up with no creatures, so that it would only hit for life gain or ramp. But lie I sad it was always just ehh.
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The basic idea is to get to 30+ life so that you can flip Chalice of Life to Chalice of Death. The fun part is that you can build a version of this in all colors. Since Chalice is colorless and can fit in anywhere it leads to very diverse decks and play styles.
Some current strategies being discussed include: Artifacts, Tokens, Soul Sisters Combo, Burn and Turbo Fog. Again as more testing is done I will post the actual lists and more precise card choices.
So far the only consensus is Chalice of Life is in the deck and you want to gain life. The rest is currently up for grabs.
Some of the cards being discussed include:
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas - Able to search up Chalice and any other artifacts that you may be running. Becomes and alt win con with 5/5 artifacts and can be ulted to help the Chalice cause.
Drogskol Reaver - Very strong late game and an excellent enabler for Chalice. And in this deck will allow you to draw may times a turn.
Pristine Talisman - Ramp and incremental life gain. Searchable by Tez and combos very well with Reaver.
Whitesun's Passage - Instant speed life gain. Flips Delver and can be hit with Snapcaster.
Elixir of Immortality - Great one drop for the deck. Allows for explosive plays with Whitesun's Passage.
Phyrexian Metamorph - Can copy Chalice, and is part of the infinite life combo.
Suture Priest - Incremental life gain and damage. Part of the infinite life combo.
Leonin Relic Warder - Part of the infinite life combo.
Buried Ruin - Good at getting Chalice and more back.
Phyrexia's Core - Additional life gain in the artifact builds. Prevents you artifacts from getting exiled so you can shuffle them back in with Elixir or get them back with Ruin.
Delver of Secrets - No explanation needed.
Snapcaster Mage - No explanation needed.
Elspeth Tirel - Life gain and fits in with the Token strategy very nicely.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Reasoning is along the same as Elspeth's.
Wurmcoil Engine - Big beater that can create big life swings.
Consume Spirit - If playing heavy black, this can go a long way.
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Suture Priest
4 Leonin Relic Warder
This will enable us to have infinite lifegain, then destroy the opponent with the chalice.
Currently Working on:
"All is fair in Love and Magic."
Personal Writings:
Scars Have Torn My Soul: A Tale of Mirrodin
Ch. 1 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=283875
Ch. 2 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=304673
Ch.3 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6409825#post6409825
Also, check out Deck Tricks in my blog!
Many thanks to FuxAlt for the awesome banner!
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Suture Priest
4 Leonin Relic-Warder
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Drogskol Reaver
4 Mana Leak
4 Think Twice
4 Gather the Townsfolk
Artifacts: (8)
4 Chalice of Life
4 Pristine Talisman
4 Glacial Fortress
6 Island
6 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Ghost Quarter
My mainboard would look something like that. Bringing in blue and the amazing life gain creature Drogskol Reaver should give you enough heavy lifegain to use the Chalice.
Currently Working on:
"All is fair in Love and Magic."
Personal Writings:
Scars Have Torn My Soul: A Tale of Mirrodin
Ch. 1 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=283875
Ch. 2 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=304673
Ch.3 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6409825#post6409825
Also, check out Deck Tricks in my blog!
Many thanks to FuxAlt for the awesome banner!
Currently Working on:
"All is fair in Love and Magic."
Personal Writings:
Scars Have Torn My Soul: A Tale of Mirrodin
Ch. 1 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=283875
Ch. 2 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=304673
Ch.3 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6409825#post6409825
Also, check out Deck Tricks in my blog!
Many thanks to FuxAlt for the awesome banner!
The BU version.
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Island
4 Phyrexia's Core
5 Swamp
24 lands
4 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Contagion Clasp
3 Sphere of the Suns
4 Chalice of Life
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Pristine Talisman
3 Tumble Magnet
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Spine of Ish Sah
And the RW
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Mountain
2 Phyrexia's Core
5 Plains
1 Devil's Play
4 Elixir of Immortality
4 Red Sun's Zenith
3 Sphere of the Suns
3 Whitesun's Passage
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Pristine Talisman
3 Slagstorm
3 Day of Judgment
4 Tezzeret's Gambit
Currently Working on:
"All is fair in Love and Magic."
Personal Writings:
Scars Have Torn My Soul: A Tale of Mirrodin
Ch. 1 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=283875
Ch. 2 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=304673
Ch.3 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6409825#post6409825
Also, check out Deck Tricks in my blog!
Many thanks to FuxAlt for the awesome banner!
Fear not the night, fear those who walk the night.
And I am he that walks the night,
But only evil need to fear me
And gentle souls sleep safe in their beds
Because I own the night.
I do not feel that gaining infinite life with a combo is subpar. If you look at my list, you will notice that I included the lifegain combo from the old soul sisters. However, I like the idea of using Wurmcoil Engine, Sorin, and Vault of the Archangel. The tokens shell really is worth looking into as a whole.
@Madmaardigan- I have to say, Bant Turbofog would be a fun idea for this archetype. What kind of stall effects do you hope to include?
Currently Working on:
"All is fair in Love and Magic."
Personal Writings:
Scars Have Torn My Soul: A Tale of Mirrodin
Ch. 1 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=283875
Ch. 2 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=304673
Ch.3 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6409825#post6409825
Also, check out Deck Tricks in my blog!
Many thanks to FuxAlt for the awesome banner!
I know someone mentioned a "soul sisters" strategy, and I feel like that's very doable.
We plink our way up to thirty with Suture Priest, Pristine Talisman, and Chalice of Life.
Your thoughts?
3x Elspeth Tirel
4x Pristine Talisman
4x Chalice of Life
4x Suture Priest
4x Oblivion Ring
3x Day of Judgment
2x Black Sun' Zenith
2x Elixir of Immortality
4x Intangible Virtue
3x Lingering Souls
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Vault of the Archangl
11x Plains
4x Swamp
By: mm75658
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Day of Judgment
4 Chalice of Life
4 Pristine Talisman
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
3 Whitesun's Passage
4 Mana Leak
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Lingering Souls
1 Drogskol Reaver
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Plains
2 Swamp
3 Island
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Seachrome Coast
I too really like the Turbo Fog idea. That's all I used to play back in Lorwyn/Shards. THe only issue there is I dont know if we have enough draw engines right now. What would you list look like?
Currently Working on:
"All is fair in Love and Magic."
Personal Writings:
Scars Have Torn My Soul: A Tale of Mirrodin
Ch. 1 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=283875
Ch. 2 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=304673
Ch.3 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6409825#post6409825
Also, check out Deck Tricks in my blog!
Many thanks to FuxAlt for the awesome banner!
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Ghost Quarter
6 Island
6 Plains
1 Buried Ruin
25 Lands
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Sun Titan
4 Creatures
1 Karn, Liberated
3 Planeswalker
3 Chalice of Life
2 Pristine Talisman
5 Artifacts
4 Think Twice
4 Mana Leak
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Day of Judgment
2 White Sun's Passage
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 White Sun’s Zenith
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Dissipate
23 Spells
Currently Working on:
"All is fair in Love and Magic."
Personal Writings:
Scars Have Torn My Soul: A Tale of Mirrodin
Ch. 1 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=283875
Ch. 2 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=304673
Ch.3 http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=6409825#post6409825
Also, check out Deck Tricks in my blog!
Many thanks to FuxAlt for the awesome banner!
A shell looking a little like . . .
2x Wurmcoil Engine
3x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Spellskite
3x Vault Skirge
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
Artifacts 10:
3x Chalice of Life
2x Pristine Talisman
2x Elixir of Immortality
2x Sword of War and Peace
1x Unwinding Clock
3x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3x Mana Leak
3x Go For the Throat
2x Black Sun Zenith
2x Dissipate
Land 23:
4x Drowned Catacombs
4x Ghost Quarter
6x Swamp
5x Island
4x Inkmoth Nexus
Meaning to control the board, gain life, and in late game easily smacking your opponents down to 0 with 5 life a turn from either chalices or from Tezzeret animations. Wurmcoil and Vault skirge for life gain from creatures, Swords are a big help of course. Spellskite and revoker to help control your opponents plays while counterspells and Go for the Throat do the rest. Tezzeret to win, along with Elixir to reshuffle any needed utility.
How's this look to you guys?
GGGMGAGGG
RRRRed AffinityRRR
RGShamansGR
BWB/W ControlWB
EDH:
Maelstrom Wanderer
Heartless Hidetsugu
Cromat
Nicol Bolas
Sapling of Colfenor
Mayael the Anima
4 Elixir of Immortality
1 Clifftop Retreat
4 Pristine Talisman
4 Sphere of the Suns
4 Day of Judgment
2 Red Sun's Zenith
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Plains
2 Phyrexia's Core
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Mountain
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
3 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Doom Blade
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 White Sun's Zenith
2 Ponder
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Tumble Magnet
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Island
2 Swamp
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Isolated Chapel
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Spellskite
2 Divine Offering
2 Revoke Existence
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Negate
2 Whipflare
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Go for the Throat
I like this idea, I think the esper or bant decks would be the most powerful. Definitely need to play this as a control/fog style deck. The other decks in the meta are too fast to not have turn 1/2 responses to things like delvers. As such I don't think the inclusion of delvers to be a good idea.
Running a slew of planeswalkers will help with the board control and lifegain in some cases. The Reaver or sphinx (or both if we're feeling frisky) will provide the late game rock we need to survive other big beat based decks. Every other slot should be dedicated to tutoring/life gain/counters/removal. Artifact recursion is important, so is saving your chalice from being nuked. Steel Sabotage and the ruins should be included.
I'm going to build this deck as soon as release rolls around and see how it goes.
R/ Nasticore
Started out with a GW version that employed the fog effects. It was terrible.
Switched to a mono white version and it seems good, but it's still losing more than winning. Here's the current build. I haven't tested much with Elspeth yet, just threw her in for my last match and didn't draw her. Hero is there in case you can't get Chalice going. I had 4 Angel's Mercy in it at one point and it was good, but just a bit expensive, so moved to 3, probably still the worst card.
I think Pride Guardian is a terrible card. But it should be good against aggro. Problem is when I got it out I wasn't playing against aggro. Makes no sense in my head.
4 Inquisitor Exarch
4 Kemba's Skyguard
4 Pride Guardian
4 Hero of Bladehold
1 Timely Reinforcements
4 Whitesun's Passage
3 Angel's Mercy
1 Day of Judgment
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Faith's Shield
3 Elspeth Tirel
3 Divine Offering
2 Paraselene
3 Timely Reinforcements
3 Day of Judgment
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Elixir of Immortality
UB control has a solution to Chalice called Ratchet Bomb which EVERYONE is siding, at least on Cockatrice.
I think it's a little early to say whether or not it's worth it, but I wouldn't mind a 1 of. I'll put it in my list.
EDIT: Previous list EDITED to include Unwinding clock and Talisman in place of Druidic Satchel and 1 Spellskite.
GGGMGAGGG
RRRRed AffinityRRR
RGShamansGR
BWB/W ControlWB
EDH:
Maelstrom Wanderer
Heartless Hidetsugu
Cromat
Nicol Bolas
Sapling of Colfenor
Mayael the Anima