PERSONAL BIO
I have played the game since 1995, and was a longtime tournament player of all formats until I chose to mostly “retire” from competitive play in 2011, for various reasons. I discovered EDH/Commander in 2006 and immediately became fascinated by it, and began building decks with my wife and a couple of friends. I talked up the format as much as I could locally and eventually got pretty much everyone here into the format, and continued to promote it (and the game in general) at the local level. We have a pretty solid scene and play mostly multiplayer, although we do have 1v1 events once a month. I love building decks more than I like playing them, and have a file with probably 150 decks in various stages of construction from the past ~6 years. As a longtime tournament player I tend to have a competitive mindset, but I am capable of building fun decks as well, whether they be theme decks (multiple attack steps) or just collections of certain types of cards (tribal Sphinxes represent). I do my best to be as close as I can to the middle of the casual vs. competitive discussion, because both sides of the argument are right and wrong.
Basically, I just want to have fun games, but still be able to play the decks I want to play. Cheers.
WHY PLAY GLISSA?
While recursion is typical of many black/green based decks, artifact-specific recursion is where Glissa obviously shines. The requirement of returning an artifact with Glissa, an opponent’s creature dying, is exceptionally easy to come by in multiplayer games; after all, playing black allows you access to the best removal for additional Glissa abuse.
REASONS TO PLAY GLISSA:
-Synergy with your Commander is important to you.
-You enjoy interacting with your opponents.
-You enjoy reusing your own cards and interacting with your graveyard.
-You enjoy wiping the board, and destroying creatures in general.
-You enjoy grinding out games via card and resource advantage.
REASONS NOT TO PLAY GLISSA:
-You enjoy aggressive decks.
-You enjoy fast combo decks.
-You enjoy powerful, splashy cards as opposed to utility/role-fulfilling cards.
-You prefer to play Commanders based on their colors as opposed to their specific abilities.
-You do not like graveyard-centric strategies.
DECK HISTORY
When Glissa was first spoiled, I was immediately interested in building a deck around her. I made a couple of drafts and just didn’t like the way it looked, so I abandoned the concept and moved on to other decks. A few months later one of my friends built a Glissa deck that was largely relegated to Standard legal cards, since that was the vast majority of his collection, and to my surprise and delight it was able to keep up with more powerful decks by the benefit of the synergies it contained. His success inspired me, so I trashed my rough draft list and started anew.
I knew I wanted to start with a Stax-esque shell, so I began with pieces like that: Smokestack, Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst, Nether Void, that sort of thing; you know, the fun stuff. I also knew I wanted to take further advantage of Glissa’s triggered ability, and that led me to things like Executioner’s Capsule. Along the way, I began filling out the list with utility pieces and other cards that, if not exactly the most powerful choices, filled specific roles within the context of what I wanted to do, and the deck started to come together.
I don’t have any of my earlier lists saved, but I can tell you that there have been many changes, including one massive overhaul made in an attempt to help curtail the rising combo tide we were seeing locally; this attempt was moderately successful, and it allowed me to make some minor changes to add more utility cards in place of some of the combo hate. I have tried the vast majority of artifacts that I would deem as playable in the deck in its many incarnations, including a version where I tried to use every artifact that drew or filtered cards; that was pretty awful, since the deck just drew into more subpar cards even when it worked. I have tried more generic “goodstuff” builds, and while those are solid, they’re pretty boring to me, and don’t lead to Glissa abuse, which was why I wanted to play her in the first place.
The current list is the result of months of testing and playing in our local multiplayer events. It is meant to be played in a competitive environment where things like mana denial are not frowned upon too much, so please keep that in mind when reviewing the list and wondering about certain cards. I do make frequent 1-2 card tweaks, and if they turn out to be insignificant, I will probably just mention them in passing.
CARD CHOICES
Two notes to keep in mind when I am discussing card choices:
1. Our local group uses a point system, so I often include/exclude cards in my decks with that consideration. Example: be the first to destroy/exile/force the sacrifice of an opposing creature.
2. Budget is not a concern or issue for me, so I will not address it here. There are analogues for several of the higher priced cards in the deck, but I test and play the cards I have, and do not have the time or desire to test budget versions of cards.
Braids, Cabal Minion—With any kind of Stax theme, Braids is an obvious all-star. Granted, this build doesn’t push the Stax theme to an extreme degree, but Braids is a nice way to combat both greedy decks and those that like to be very passive.
Grave Titan—One issue the deck can have is that, after having controlled the board, it devolved into “assemble Urborg + Coffers and Exsanguinate, repeat if necessary”, so I felt the deck could use another closer. The Titan is a strong threat, and its ability to produce more tokens allows me to be more aggressive with Smokestack, Death Cloud, etc.
Sheoldred, Whispering One—Another win condition, but also a nice piece of board control. Swampwalk is huge as well, allowing you to get in for solid damage frequently, with or without Urborg.
Eternal Witness—A card that doesn’t really require explanation. Reusing the best card in your graveyard and getting a body on top of it is clearly excellent.
Primeval Titan—Yeah, this needs less explanation than Eternal Witness.
Duplicant—Removal that leaves a body behind and is easily recurred is worth a slot in this deck, and Duplicant pretty much always carries its weight.
Junk Diver—While a 3 mana 1/1 is pretty underwhelming, Junk Diver’s triggered ability fits very well within the deck. In addition, the Diver is best pals with Skullclamp, which makes his 1 for 1 nature much more tolerable than it would be otherwise.
Lodestone Golem—A nice disruption piece that can also dish out some damage, the Golem is at its best early and/or in combination with other disruptive cards. It has proven itself to be a fine inclusion.
Solemn Simulacrum—Additional ramp that also benefits me when it hits the graveyard is perfectly acceptable, if unexciting. Never amazing but always solid, which is fine with me.
Wurmcoil Engine—A very good deal for six mana, it has the added benefit of being strong with Glissa, and if you have a sacrifice outlet online, you can potentially make a lot of 3/3s if you wish or need to do so.
Damnation—Indiscriminate creature mass removal for four mana. Definitely worth a slot.
Death Cloud—Mass removal + disruption is a match made in Heaven, at least for this deck. You generally don’t even have to put more than 3-4 into X to have the desired effect, so being able to do it in a smaller chunk and maintaining some resources is often the way to go.
Demonic Tutor—No explanation necessary, but a two mana unrestrictive tutor that puts the card directly into your hand seems fair.
Exsanguinate—The big finish, although I have tried to steer the deck away from that angle. I thought about cutting it to force the issue, but sometimes, even if you don’t kill someone, gaining 30+ life puts you in a much better position to go for the win.
Imperial Seal—Ideally, we’re using the majority of our mana every turn doing something, and setting up for your following turn for one mana is typically a good use of a card in most scenarios. Clearly, it’s inferior to Vampiric Tutor, but redundancy is a good thing.
Life from the Loam—One of my favorite green spells of all time, Loam allows you to reuse fetches or get back important lands that were destroyed/discarded/whatever. Clearly a solid choice.
Worm Harvest—Fuel for The Abyss and Skullclamp, as well as a solid defensive card and potentially even a win condition; that is a lot of mileage for one card, and it definitely earns its keep regularly.
Vampiric Tutor—Another card with no explanation necessary.
Krosan Grip—Testing in the place of Beast Within, largely due to a rise in enchantment based combo and such locally. It’s been better than Beast often enough so far to keep it for now, but it’s a flexible slot.
Bitterblossom—A boon in the deck for multiple reasons, primarily with regards to things like Braids and Smokestack. Definitely better if you’re running Grave Pact, it’s still a minimal cost for a creature every turn.
Necropotence—One of the best black cards ever printed, its use in this deck is more as a supplemental piece to maintain your hand size than to fuel anything degenerate. You’ll often only be using it for 2-3 cards, but at such a low cost, it’s worth it even then.
The Abyss—Repeatable removal at a low cost is definitely something worth considering, although it can be awkward when Glissa is myour only nonartifact creature. However, even then it will typically get you 3 triggers via Glissa, so it’s worth it. It competes with Nether Void, unfortunately, and right now I have swapped to The Abyss for metagame reasons, but Nether Void is a great option as well, and will be back in the deck at some point.
Pernicious Deed—Aside from not destroying planeswalkers, Deed blows up the board at whatever cost you need whenever you need it, giving you great flexibility.
Liliana of the Veil—This was originally included in the deck in an effort to get a specific point in our point system, but over time Liliana has proven her value. Whether it’s making everyone pitch a card or allowing me to get a Glissa trigger, I have definitely been satisfied with her inclusion.
Aeolipile—Still in the testing phase, I know this seems to be an odd choice, perhaps, but its inclusion has been solid, if not amazing. I prefer it to Moonglove Extract due to costing 2, as I don’t always plan to use it immediately. Late game you can get it going with Glissa and use it as a way to close out opponents whose life totals have fallen into the teens and below, or help you mow down several low toughness creatures.
Claws of Gix—A quiet MVP of the deck, the Claws allows you to return any artifact in play to your hand with Glissa if you desire, and can also be used to get some benefit out of one of your permanents being destroyed.
Cursed Totem—Included as an early/cheap way to fight Griselbrand, among other things, this has been fantastic. It does not greatly interfere with the deck’s gameplan, and it shows why it earned ths lot in almost every game.
Darksteel Ingot—Acceleration that sticks around comes in handy when you’re constantly blowing things up, even at three mana.
Druidic Satchel—I admit that I simply love this card, and that including it isn't always strictly correct, but Satchel does little things so well that I feel that including it is beneficial more often than not. It offers a little lifegain, which helps with several cards in the deck; it can ramp, which is good for obvious reasons (and in regards to effects like Smokestack and the cost increasers); and it can sometimes offer a chump blocker, or something to throw away to a sacrifice effect. Good utility.
Engineered Explosives—It doesn’t scale as high as I’d like at times, but it does its job well regardless. Being able to set it and sacrifice it in the same turn makes a big difference when compared to something like Ratchet Bomb.
Executioner's Capsule—One of the cards that made me want to build the deck in the first place. While you can’t necessarily wipe the board with it, you can certainly clear out some threats. The nonblack clause can be an annoyance, but it’s usually not a big issue.
Expedition Map—Helps find those important lands, of which there are several.
Forcefield—Another card I go back and forth on, it's made its way back in due to a recent change in my group's deck choices. Being able to blank potentially game ending alpha strikes is great, and it also helps defend against those people trying to General damage you out. For what it does, its mana cost is quite cheap, and the activation cost is even moreso. A worthy inclusion.
Ichor Wellspring—A cheap card drawing tool that allows Claws of Gix to shine, this card has surprised me. I initially figured it would be a decent addition, but the drawing of cards with it hitting play *and* the graveyard have turned it into one of my favorites.
Jester’s Cap—Added as a potential anti-combo measure, the Cap has turned into a solid inclusion, and often allows you to completely dictate the board going forward by removing answers or mass LD, which is typically your biggest worry. It seems like such an innocuous card to most people, which is a benefit when you don't want to look like a threat.
Krark-Clan Ironworks—Another great way to utilize artifacts with graveyard triggers, Ironworks can be a small mana engine in the mid/late game, giving you more quality uses of Glissa or other cards.
Mana Crypt—Costs zero mana, taps for 2, and has a negligible drawback? Sign me up.
Mana Vault—Allows you to power out one of your higher casting cost spells out early, and gets fed to Claws, Ironworks, or Core later, or potentially untaps to do it again. Might be better as Grim Monolith, but I really like the 1 mana cost as opposed to 2, and I didn’t really like having both in the deck.
Memory Jar—A great draw engine that, when combined with Urborg + Coffers and/or Ironworks, allows you to really get ahead of everyone else. Definitely one of the best cards to abuse with Glissa.
Mind Stone—A mana rock that cycles on its own isn’t that exciting, but it definitely fills a role in the deck, and I am never unhappy to see it.
Nihil Spellbomb—A great anti-graveyard card that is cheap and replaces itself is nothing to sneeze at, and reusing it is even better. An MVP.
Oblivion Stone—It kills pretty much everything you care about for a reasonable cost, can even save some of your own stuff, and you can get it back easily. It’s the perfect card for this deck.
Phyrexian Furnace—Cheap, repeatable graveyard hate that replaces itself? Yes, please.
Ratchet Bomb—Originally there to help with tokens (we had a big influx of token decks a while back), the ability to scale up to potentially hit anything is significant. Maximizing its ability is a bit tricky at times, but once you get a feel for the opposing decks, you’ll be able to tick it up to where it needs to be.
Sculpting Steel—More utility; the banning of Sundering Titan allowed me to squeeze this in, and I have been quite satisfied with it so far. Great flexibility, and well costed, it has proven its worth.
Skullclamp—Obviously strong with Bitterblossom and Worm Harvest, but other creatures can carry it as well, and since my guys tend to die a lot, why not draw cards?
Smokestack—One of the deck’s signature cards. Similar to Braids, with the primary difference being that you can scale the ‘stack up to fit your needs, then sacrifice it to reset it and bring it back to continue the process.
Sphere of Resistance—Another disruption piece, it seems straightforward and underwhelming, but, like similar cards, its effect on games is sometimes quite subtle. Of particular note is the ability to often limit opponents to one spell per turn, which is significant for a deck that wants to grind out its advantage.
Tangle Wire—Another part of the resource denial suite, its primary benefit is that it affects everyone else first. The fact that you also get to tap fewer permanents via the ability to tap Tangle Wire itself (as well as your opponents being affected first) also helps a great deal. A great inclusion.
Thornbite Staff—Originally included in my first build, it was cut because I never was able to effectively use it. I decided to try it again and it has been much better this time around, allowing me to get multiple Glissa triggers for two mana per trigger, which is perfectly acceptable.
Trading Post—A new addition, but one it took me a while to really appreciate. When I first tried it, it was pretty lackluster, and just seemed clunky and awkward. When I gave it another chance, however, it crystallized into a perfect inclusion, and I am quite happy with it. I adore flexibility and utility more than probably anyone, and this card is the epitome of those traits.
Tsabo's Web—A bit of a risk/reward card, as I have a few lands that get hit by it, but a low cost cantrip that can shut down significant opposing lands (Volrath's Stronghold, Maze of Ith, etc.) makes it worth consideration, if not outright inclusion.
Ancient Tomb—The two damage you take is a negligible drawback in exchange for the explosiveness you gain with the Tomb, especially with so many artifacts, since colorless mana is often as good as colored.
Bloodstained Mire—I play all 7 Onslaught/Zendikar fetches that actually find lands in my deck, and they help make Sylvan Library even better while fixing my colors. You can look at them as deck thinning as well, but that is pretty negligible.
Bojuka Bog—Graveyard hate at the cost of a land drop is an excellent trade-off, and the fact that it taps for black mana is sometimes a nice bonus.
Cabal Coffers—Most games I win end because of this, either by gaining massive card/board advantage or via Exsanguinate.
Command Tower—A land that taps for either color with no drawback? More please.
Forbidden Orchard—A cheap and easy way to give opponents fodder for Glissa, and it taps for either color, which is a bonus.
Mishra’s Workshop—This is a land I have gone back and forth on for a while, and I feel that I finally have enough artifacts to make it a worthy inclusion. It has been fantastic so far, and is often included in Primeval Titan fetch packages. While it can typically only be used for artifacts, note that with Urborg in play you can use it to cast anything, albeit only with one mana.
Strip Mine—A necessary card to combat other high-powered nonbasics.
Tainted Wood—It sometimes taps for colorless, but it is fairly simple to turn on and be able to tap it for either color.
Twilight Mire—Allows for great fixing early; pretty self-explanatory.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth—Aside from its obvious comboliciousness with Cabal Coffers, a slightly more subtle use is to allow Sundering Titan to destroy a problematic nonbasic.
Volrath's Stronghold—With fewer creatures than I normally play in decks featuring Stronghold, it’s not a standout like it often is, but it does allow for the big threats to be reused pretty easily, and at a low cost.
Winding Canyons—Like Stronghold, fewer creatures lessens the impact of Winding Canyons, but the ability to flash in any number of creatures you have mana for is very, very good.
Woodland Cemetery—An on-color land with a rarely occurring drawback? Sign me up.
Forest/Swamp—As mentioned previously, I like my basic lands, probably more than most, so I tend to include as many as I can and still run the nonbasics I feel accentuate the deck. One thing to note is that, even though my spells have more black mana requirements, I have pretty much even numbers of mana sources for both colors. Needing green mana early for Glissa and other spells is the reason for this, and having a good amount of fixing via fetches and such has allowed this to not be an issue.
CARDS FOR CONSIDERATION Barter in Blood/Fleshbag Marauder/Innocent Blood/Syphon Flesh—All four have been in the deck at one time or another, and I sometimes work one or two back in. Currently, though, I don’t really miss any of them, so they’re on the bench.
Bone Shredder/Shriekmaw—Two cards that have been in the deck before, and could definitely be in again. Both are better if you’re on the Grave Pact plan; however, being unable to target black creatures, while not a dealbreaker in most playgroups, is a possible deterrent.
Grave Pact/Butcher of Malakir—Grave Pact has been in the deck at a couple of different points, but I have never included Butcher, primarily due to it being more easily removed and costing significantly more mana. I don’t have a large amount of creatures, so these won’t work all that well most of the time.
Leyline of the Void—Another card that was in the deck previously, its purpose was to provide the ability to one-shot kill an opponent with Helm of Obedience. It’s a reasonable strategy, but without Helm all it does is prevent you from using Glissa, so I felt removing it was warranted.
Pox—A strong consideration, my real reservation with it is the life loss factor. I tend to attract a lot of damage, and even though Pox would reduce opposing resources, the life loss could definitely put me in the Danger Zone. It’s always on the shortlist of cards I am interested in fitting in, but it hasn’t seemed to be the best fit, but I could be wrong. I definitely plan on testing it out more.
Yawgmoth’s Will—I had this in the deck forever and never really did anything with it. The few times I did cast it were decent but not great, and I was just never able to put it to good use. Maybe it’s my bias coming through, because I sort of hate the card, so maybe I was purposely making it worse than it was.
Acidic Slime--Another card that was in the deck for a long time, it just didn't have as much impact as a 5 mana creature should, typically. A fine card and it's a reasonable inclusion, but it was a victim of more efficient cards.
Avenger of Zendikar—A fine man, and one that will possibly make his way back into the deck. He was removed due to a conscious effort to lower the curve a bit and because in my experience, he is never directly responsible for winning a game.
Awakening Zone—Continuous fodder for a pretty low initial cost is nice, and being able to potentially ramp with it is worth noting, but it takes several turns to get a real return on your investement.
Oracle of Mul Daya—Cheating on permanents is a great way to let Stax elements become asymmetrical, and Oracle definitely lets you do that. This is a card that may very well work its way back in, but outside of certain board positions, it was often underwhelming for something costing 4 mana.
Regrowth—There is sufficient recursion that a 1 for 1 recursion spell with no additional effect just isn’t worth the slot.
Tooth and Nail—Since I don’t include any game-winning packages with it, I have chosen to eschew it. It’s a terrific card, but the 9 mana (yes, 9; when do you ever cast it for 7?) is at times an issue. I also tested Defense of the Heart and liked it a lot more, especially for the cost; if I had to pick one to play, it would definitely be Defense, simply due to its much lower cost.
Crucible of Worlds—A very good card in general, and an excellent one for Stax decks, the removal of this was an experiment; I rarely used it to any great effect, so I wanted to see if it's really that beneficial, or if it's better as something else. The jury is still out, but this is a card that should always be considered for this kind of deck.
Helm of Obedience—As with Leyline, its purpose was for use in the combo. However, unlike Leyline, it actually works well with Glissa, and is a nice, if costly, way to eat away at opponents’ resources. Another reasonable inclusion, both with and without Leyline of the Void.
Mindslaver—Frankly, I think the cost is just too high for the effect, especially when I have three (or four) opponents to be concerned about. Once it gets down to heads up, if you have the mana, this essentially ends the game, but I’d rather have a card that is useful more often and costs a lot less to use.
Moriok Replica—This was cut in order to accommodate Junk Diver, and while I occasionally miss the extra card draw, I am happy with that choice, especially with the inclusion of Cursed Totem. That said, it’s a good enough card to run, especially if you’re less inclined to go the Stax route.
Mycosynth Wellspring—This is in many ways the perfect kind of card for a deck like this, as it is beneficial when combined with several cards in the deck (Smokestack, etc.), but it really doesn't do anything. The rare case where you have an opening hand with two lands and this are fine, but I'd rather have a card with slightly more effect. A fine card, but not really what I want to be doing most of the time.
Nevinyrral’s Disk—I played this for a while, but the one turn delay was too often a liability. It’s still a decent inclusion, but it just doesn’t fit for me.
Throne of Geth—Not enough artifacts requiring counters in the deck, although it’s been briefly considered to help with Engineered Explosives and Tangle Wire. Ultimately not worth the cost, but can definitely be considered if you want to go a less “traditional” route and add more counter-based artifacts (Magistrate’s Scepter, etc.).
Trinisphere—This was in my original list, but was cut due to being underwhelming 90% of the time. It was certainly good the other 10% (turn 1 Trinisphere makes people…unhappy), but it just wasn’t performing the way I’d hoped.
Viridian Longbow—Where Thornbite Staff can, with enough mana, clear out several opposing threats, the Longbow is a once per turn effect that is just unexciting. If you want redundancy it is perfectly fine, but I am ok with only having the Staff; my testing with it definitely showed Staff to be superior. Combining both allows you to kill everything without paying the 2 per activation of the Staff, but you’re also putting in another card that essentially does nothing without Glissa in play, so I chose not to go that route.
STRATEGYThe primary path to victory with this deck is to deplete your opponents’ resources until one or more of your threats can seal the deal. The mana denial theme, though less aggressive than it could be, allows you to grind out your opponents, especially when coupled with the other removal pieces in the deck. By playing more permanents than your opponents, you can break the symmetry of cards like Smokestack, and you can further do so with recursive elements, particularly via Glissa’s triggered ability. The fact that some of the permanents have positive abilities when they go to the graveyard also helps in making these cards more asymmetrical.
While the deck is built with Glissa firmly in mind, it can be competitive without her, so you are not out of the game if she gets tucked or otherwise negated. Remember, you’re going to typically have more resources than your opponents, and exploiting that is key; without Glissa, this means you’ll need to be more selective with your removal/resource denial, but you’ll still have the tools required to win the average game.
A typical game that you win goes thusly:
1. Building your mana and playing spell-taxing effects like Sphere of Resistance or other utility permanents, like Phyrexian Arena.
2. Asserting yourself via board control in the form of mass removal (Damnation, etc.), then deploying Glissa and an oppressive permanent for your opponents (Braids, Smokestack, The Abyss, Sheoldred).
3. While controlling the board, you then begin deploying threats, like Primeval Titan, Avenger of Zendikar, etc. During this time, you will likely be able to use Glissa’s ability many times, so you’ll gain a bigger mana/permanent advantage in order to “break” the Stax effects.
4. You will either refill with Necroptence, or chain together Memory Jar activations to get further ahead while depleting more of your opponents’ resources.
5. The end game, via creatures or Exsanguinate, or even concession.
That is a very basic outline, and since games are fluid they may be done in a different order, but that is the general gameplan. Each step has many decisions to make, and because the margin of error is sometimes quite slim due to the nature of the deck, you must be able to determine which decision offers the best chance of survival. Essentially, all you want or need to do is survive to the late game and the deck’s synergy and threat selection will often turn the tide for you.
There are some things that are huge issues for the deck, the primary one being mass land destruction. You should generally attempt to Jester’s Cap anyone you suspect is playing LD, or hold a land or two and Loam/Crucible if you know it’s coming at some point, but that’s about all you can do, unless you manage to kill them before one of the spells fires off. Chaos decks can be a pain, although Warp World specifically usually turns out ok for you due to the density of permanents in the deck. Any deck with a lot of dedicated graveyard hate can be a real annoyance as well, but you can work around that most of the time. Fast combo is, of course, a problem, but the spell-taxing effects can help stall until you or someone else can either shut down their combo ability or outright kill them; this is one deck that an early Nether Void is golden against, so if you have fast combo in your meta and want to play Glissa, I suggest plugging Void in to help everyone, even though they may not look at it that way.
Creature heavy/midrange decks without a lot of interactive elements (outside of combat) are what you prey upon, and those are the decks that allow Glissa to shine. You can essentially ignore most of their actions and focus on getting your engine(s) online and simply go from there, because aside from out of nowhere kills (Triumph of the Hordes), you can typically weather any storm they throw until you can start wiping the board.
GAME REPORTS 5/27/12
At the first table, the Generals are Glissa (myself), Animar, Soul of Elements (Blake), Wrexial, the Risen Deep (Aaron), and Doran, the Siege Tower (Eric). I play first and end up with Sylvan Library and Mana Vault in play, while everyone else just plays land and passes. I draw Nether Void, and since I am going to be ahead due to Sylvan, I drop it turn 3, effectively shutting down two dangerous Generals before they can even be cast, and slowing the game down to my preferred speed. I continue to build my mana and cast Glissa, while the others are all somewhat stalled due to lack of lands and Nether Void. Eventually, I figure it is time to actually accomplish something, so I play Claws of Gix and sacrifice Nether Void before my turn comes back around. I start playing out some utility artifacts and a creature or two, and things start happening for everyone. Animar hits play along with a couple of dorks, and then Aaron Acquires me, getting my Oblivion Stone. The following turn, he blows it up, allowing me to resolve Sundering Titan to attempt to get Blake’s mana under control (he’d caught up to me).
Naturally, Aaron feels that copying Titan with Evil Twin is appropriate, so I lose a couple of lands, and then he plays out a Top and a mana artifact. I believe that things will go very badly for everyone if Aaron is allowed to untap with Evil Twin, so I suggest Blake block when I attack with Glissa, allowing me to get back my Oblivion Stone, which I cast and use immediately. More lands are destroyed, and the game is back to some semblance of normalcy.
Blake plays out an Elvish Piper and then a Seedborn Muse, and I am temporarily without removal, so I can only watch in horror as he Pipers in Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre at EOT, but he attacks Aaron with it, viewing him as the greatest source of his misery. Aaron lives, but is essentially knocked out of the game due to Annihilator, and Eric (who has been manascrewed all game) and I simply play out a couple of permanents to soak up the Annihilator triggers. To my surprise, Blake attacks Eric, and by Eric sacrificing his Eternal Witness to the Annihilator trigger, I use Glissa’s trigger to return a Duplicant that I’d previously discarded under Nether Void. I drop Duplicant to remove Ulamog, then Aeolipile Elvish Piper; Blake Pipers in Shrieking Drake to bounce the Piper, and I pass. Piper hits again, but he luckily has no haste-granting cards, so when it finally comes back to me, I can wipe the board and replay Glissa, and from there I drop Avenger for 14 tokens, pop a couple of fetches, and win in short order.
My life total eventually drops to 11 before I can pop Pernicious Deed to stabilize, then do a small Exsanguinate (for 7) to bump up my life into a more manageable range. Not much happens, then I hit Myojin of Night’s Reach and dump everyone’s hands, with the realization afterwards that Ethan has Damia in play. Ethan draws some cards, one of which is Forbid, while Nath comes out with the idea to remove my hand. I get Memory Jar and crack it, playing out the hand (land and several cheap artifacts, including Engineered Explosives), and passing; Nath gets 15 tokens due to the Jar hands getting discarded, which I blow up on his main phase and get back Explosives and Jar, and after working around Forbid I begin chaining Jar to dig into the proper cards for the gamestate. Eventually, I have Sheoldred and recurring Ratchet Bomb + Explosives, and after killing Steve with Aeolipile, I dig into Exsanguinate in order to kill Brian and Ethan.
8/3/12
Generals are Glissa (myself), Karador, Ghost Chieftain (Jon), and Krenko, Mob Boss (Joe). The game starts pretty well for me, drawing Workshop turn one so I can drop Darksteel Ingot, and I begin building my mana. I draw a few fetches and start using Worm Harvest to have some protection from Joe, as I have no sweepers at this time. A few turns pass, and Joe's getting a respectable army via Krenko and his Quest for the Goblin Lord, and I am struggling to keep up, while Jon is seemingly biding his time, dropping a couple of creatures here and there. I draw into Damnation and Skullclamp, draw a few cards from my tokens via the 'clamp, and Damnation the board away; after the dust settles, I Bojuka Bog Jon to prevent shenanigans.
On the next turn, I play a couple of cost increasers and Braids, settling in to attrition them out due to my permanent superiority. Joe drops Blood Moon, which is pretty damn annoying, as I have one basic Swamp in play (Jon has Urborg), but survivable. I draw Ratchet Bomb and plan on using it to destroy Blood Moon, even though it will destroy a couple of my permanents as well; a sacrifice well worth it. A couple of turns pass, and I tick up the Bomb and drop Trading Post to get more mileage out of my permanents, which it certainly does; Blood Moon ends up going away, and a couple of turns later I end up using Expedition Map for Coffers to Exsanguinate Joe out of the game, leaving Jon at single digits with no real way to win. I have Witness in hand, and kill him with Exsanguinate the following turn.
8/26/12
I got grouped in the 5 man table with the following Generals: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV (Zac), Reaper King (Connor), Animar (Darryl), and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (Dawane). I started out very well, with a turn 2 Solemn, followed up quickly by a Smokestack, and I figured I was well on my way to a pretty routine victory. However, Smokestack was destroyed, and when I replayed it via Glissa, Zac fired off a pretty devastating Akroma's Vengeance, leaving me with lands in play and in hand.
I threw Glissa back down, but Darryl dropped Stormtide Leviathan and Terastodon back to back, and was ticking up to the Blightsteel Colossus that had been revealed via his Oracle of Mul Daya earlier in the game. I managed to draw Myojin of Night's Reach and waited until Darryl's turn to use the ability to sort of stabilize, but still had Stormtide to deal with. I followed up with Black Sun's Zenith, but I was only able to do it for 7, leaving the Stormtide and Terastodon in play, but much reduced in threat level...until Darryl ripped Splinter Twin and slapped it on Terastodon. He didn't use it right away, and I drew a blank, but Dawane, who hadn't really done much except cast Niv the previous turn due to mana issues, managed to kill both the Terastodon and Stormtide via Niv triggers, and the board was pretty clear again.
Everyone played some more creatures, with nothing being too threatening because of Niv, and I eventually killed Niv via Oblivion Stone. I got Glissa + Thornbite Staff shortly afterwards, along with Wurmcoil + Trading Post, but I wasn't able to push through due to several more board wipes. We ended up timing out (we put 2 hour time limits in place for tables during events), and I ended up winning the table via points.
At the second table, I was up against Riku of Two Reflections (Jon), Niv-MIzzet (Dawane), Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund (Mike), and Iname as One (Aaron; we allow Iname to trigger from the Command Zone). This game was swingy. I had a decent start with Glissa and a quick Thornbite Staff, so I kept the board clear while I hopefully drew into more gas; luckily, Mike had played Howling Mine early, so I burned through some random stuff before hitting Mimic Vat and Primeval Titan.
Someone ended up wiping the board, and then I was immediately the primary target, with Aaron hitting me for 12 shortly afterwards; I also ended up taking 15 damage from my Mana Crypt, which really didn't help matters, so I was down pretty low fairly early in the game. I tried to get back into things with Mimic Vat, but it got blown up shortly afterwards via Beast Within. Dawane had Wheel of Fate fire off, forcing me to discard Myojin, Damnation, and a couple of irrelevant cards, and on Aaron's turn, he cast his own Myojin, ripping away everyone's hand and putting himself in a very strong position. I cast Glissa and some random artifacts to keep myself in the game, and then Dawane dropped Consecrated Sphinx; with Howling Mine in play, this was a problem.
No one was able to deal with the Sphinx in that turn cycle, so he drew an extra 16 cards from it, and the game was definitely getting out of hand, and became even moreso when he cast Psychosis Crawler the following turn. Aaron was able to kill the Sphinx via Profane Command, but things were still looking pretty grim. Jon then destroyed the Psychosis Crawler, and things were more or less back to normal.
I replayed Glissa and an Oblivion Stone, then Aaron hit me with Choice of Damnations; I had 6 mana available, with Claws of Gix and Oblivion Stone as the relevant permanents, and 19 life, so I thought the best play was to sacrifice my Beast token to Claws and then O-Stone to clear the board (Riku and some other stuff was in play) to reduce my permanent count and make his choice more difficult. So, I ended up with 16 lands as my permanents and was at 20 life, so I chose 9 as the number; he chose to make me sacrifice permanents. Jon then cast Riku for the 4th or 5th time, and I knew that unless I killed it, bad things were going to happen. Of course, that was when Mike, who had been relatively quiet all game, cast Karrthus + Moltensteel Dragon and attacked me for lethal damage.
Mike ended up dying not long after to Dawane's Insurrection, and then the remaining three players kept throwing out potential game-ending stuff, with Aaron hardcasting Iname as One to fetch up Iname, Death Aspect to go with his Mortal Combat; the only answer at the time was Dawane's Timewtiser, using Niv in conjunction with another draw spell I don't recall to kill both Inames; so Aaron simply recast Iname as One to go for the win via Mortal Combat again, but this time Jon had the Beast Within. He killed Niv, then cast Mana Reflection, and things were going downhill; he ended up essentially ending the game the following turn by casting Tooth & Nail twice, ending up with Eternal Witness, Glen Elendra Archmage, Terastodon, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Sakashima the Impostor (copying Kiki) in play by the end of the turn. After that, it was simply a matter of time, and he did indeed win shortly afterwards.
9/2/12
This was an incredibly odd game. It ended up being 6 players, with the following generals: Glissa (myself), Riku (Jon), Circu, Dimir Lobotomist(Eric), Karrthus(Mike), Angus Mackenzie(Joe), and Iname as One(Aaron). I got Mana Web out very early, and just tried to keep the board clear of threats. Eventually, Eric hit me with some significant mill, and Aaron took the opportunity to drop Tormod's Crypt and take out my graveyard, which, long term, was backbreaking. Mike and Joe both cast Rites of Flourishing, and then Aaron dropped Seizan, Perverter of Truth, so things were definitely getting a bit out of hand. I dropped Winter Orb to sort of get things back on track, and the board was eventually blown up.
Glissa got hit by Spell Crumple, and I was drawing a bunch of lands, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen, as no one else was really able to control the board. I drew into Death Cloud with 17 mana available, and cast it with X = 14 to blow up all of everyone's lands and sort of restart the game. It did bring me down to 12 life, though, so I wasn't out of the woods yet. Unfortunately, I blank on drawing lands for a couple of turns, while Eric rips 3 in a row and does some more milling on me, and now my library is getting quite depleted.
I find Life from the Loam and get it going to rebuild my mana, but I can only cast it twice so as to not die, and grab Volrath's Stronghold to help with that. I have Worm Harvest in my graveyard, and cast it for 20+ tokens; I end up killing Joe the following turn, but my plan of just casting it repeatedly (I only have 7 mana available) goes south when Eic mills the last cards from my library, and Mike casts Blasphemous Act. I use Stronghold to put Braids on top and recast Worm Harvest, and just hope to stick around long enough to kill everyone with tokens.
Alas, it is not to be. I get Mike low enough so Jon kills him with a couple of random dorks, and then Jon finally has mana again, so he Cryptics my guys on my turn, then drops Hydra Omnivore, equips Lightning Greaves, and attacks Eric, dealing enough damage to me so that Eric can swing in with a Sword of Body and Mind equipped Circu for lethal. Jon ended up winning the race with Eric shortly afterwards.
We played another game afterwards with the following generals: Glissa (myself), Stonebrow, Krosan Hero (Blake), Circu (Eric), and Sharuum the Hegemon (Aaron). I played an early Smokestack, and it got blown up after a cycle of sacrificing s then just tried to build mana and keep the board manageable. Eric got Future Sight, then Wrexial, and cast my Vampiric Tutor with him to fetch up Leyline of the Void, which was clearly going to be an issue. I managed to draw Krosan Grip immediately afterwards, so I killed Leyline with it and then killed Wrexial with Beast Within, and the board was clear again.
Aaron had been quiet, as he was mana screwed, but he dropped Quicksilver Amulet, which threatened to get a bit scary. I then dropped Tangle Wire, and a couple of turns later had Sculpting Steel copy it; I ended up getting Glissa + Sheoldred in play, and ripped Winter Orb to essentially shut the door. I kept recycling Tangle Wire and Sculpting Steel, and no one ever had more than one untapped land at a time, and I killed everyone with Sheoldred.
CHANGE LOG 5/27/12
-Nether Void
+ The Abyss
6/22/12
-Sundering Titan
+ Sculpting Steel
8/23/12
-Druidic Satchel
-Reito Lantern
+ Forcefield
+Trading Post
8/26/12
-Avenger of Zendikar
-Oracle of Mul Daya
-Crucible of Worlds
-Mycosynth Wellspring
+Nether Void
+Druidic Satchel
+Grafdigger's Cage
+Tsabo's Web
9/2/12
-Black Sun's Zenith
-Myojn of Night's Reach
-Nether Void
-Phyrexian Arena
-Sylvan Library
-Grafdigger's Cage
-Mimic Vat
-Thorn of Amethyst
+Chains of Mephistopheles
+Dark Confidant
+Beast Within
+Garruk Relentless
+All is Dust
+Mana Web
+Sensei's Divining Top
+Winter Orb
Very cool take on Glissa and stax. I was wondering if you ever tested Scapeshift? I used to use it in my Savra GB stax with positive results. What about Tectonic Edge or Vesuva in your land package? Thanks for sharing your deck
Very cool take on Glissa and stax. I was wondering if you ever tested Scapeshift? I used to use it in my Savra GB stax with positive results. What about Tectonic Edge or Vesuva in your land package? Thanks for sharing your deck
Scapeshift was something I tried in an early version, but it didn't really thrill me. I like having a lot of mana, and while Scapeshift helps you find Urborg + Coffers, I didn't really like losing 2 lands to fetch them up, even though I had Crucible + Loam. I can see it being reasonable if you're relying more on Urborg + Coffers, but I typically find both pieces in plenty of time if necessary.
Tectonic Edge is fine, but them needing 4 lands in play to use it is a significant drawback too often for me to be able to use it consistently. I'd probably play Ghost Quarter or Dust Bowl if I wanted another effect like that.
I hate ETB tapped lands; HATE. Vesuva was in the deck for a long time, but was rarely more than Coffers #2, and, really, you shouldn't need more than one Coffers. It could also lead to awkward draws at times, so it eventually got cut as I streamlined the manabase a bit. Again, it's a perfectly fine card, but it underperformed for me.
Honestly? Because I am completely opposed to him being printed, much less being legal. Does he have a place in the deck? Probably. But as a matter of principle, I have chosen not to include him.
That said, his mana cost definitely makes me prefer Necropotence in general, since I have no way to cheat him into play and already having some higher cost creatures. The ability to draw the cards immediately is a big one, and being able to freely discard with him in play is a benefit as well, but his mana cost, along with my original statement, is enough for me to not include him.
Why doesn't your list include graveyard hate? Glissa is the best general for recurring any 1 cmc or less graveyard hate.
Graveyard strategies are getting pretty popular, so you have to be able to deal wit hit or you just lose an active Salvaging Station and Solitary Confinement.
The best benefit of including 3/4 Tormod's Crypt effects are Liliana of the Veil becomes insane. Her +1 ability reads target player removes a card from their hand from the game if their graveyard is empty.
I love playing against against decks with no graveyard hate. I get free roam throughout the entire game unlike in my the real games with my playgroup where free roam isn't possible. It's a nice change from the usually turn 2: 4-8 mana rocks, 5-8 Tormod's Crypts' effect on the board.
Pretty sure your meta isn't as "competitive" as mine. Competitive is subjective, our version of competitive is nightmare for most people on these forums. Don't get me wrong, this is a very well thought out deck and I'm sure it wins most the games play, but it's the missing the early game recursion targets for Glissa herself.
I have Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, and Phyrexian Furnace in the deck, all of which are included in the decklist provided and the card choice comments. I had Crypt for a while as well, but graveyard shenanigans began lessening, so I cut it until more hate is necessary.
Pretty sure your meta isn't as "competitive" as mine. Competitive is subjective, our version of competitive is nightmare for most people on these forums. Don't get me wrong, this is a very well thought out deck and I'm sure it wins most the games play, but it's the missing the early game recursion targets for Glissa herself.
As the "leader" of our playgroup, I have taken great pains to lessen the competitive nature of our meta, primarily by instituting a point system. I want more/new people to join, and if we played as we would without the incentive of the point system, I think several people in our group would stop playing, and we would prevent newer players from joining as well.
I have pretty much every card that is remotely good in the format, so I can make the most degenerate deck possible if I really want to, but I simply don't, because that doesn't tend to attract new players; quite the opposite. We also do 1v1 once a month, and that is much more degenerate, and that has definitely alienated people, as at least half of our group just doesn't play it due to how competitive your deck needs to be to have a chance at winning.
So, yes, while my group is competitive, I am sure there are other groups out there who are moreso, because I have put a lot of effort into attempting to have a nice balance, and if player feedback is any indication, our meta is very pleasant right now.
I like the deck =) I have a glissa deck of my own which I have loved for awhile now. It focuses on surviving the short game and generating obscene amounts of mana and then late game with two or three players left it wins with assorted stupidity like repeated mindslavers, Blightsteel Colossus, Ulamog/Kozilek (Odd choice for a graveyard abusive deck I know but they work), pure glissa voltron, and of course Exsanguinate.
One thing that I was curious about with your deck was the lack of Nev Disk and The Boiler. Looping those multiple times during a game is often backbreaking to an opponent while getting all your artifacts back to your hand and being able to recover fairly easily. Also at instant speed they can usually sit there and prevent crazy combo wins nicely (without krosan grip being a factor of course =P).
One thing that I was curious about with your deck was the lack of Nev Disk and The Boiler. Looping those multiple times during a game is often backbreaking to an opponent while getting all your artifacts back to your hand and being able to recover fairly easily. Also at instant speed they can usually sit there and prevent crazy combo wins nicely (without krosan grip being a factor of course =P).
Disk I dislike because it ETB tapped; that doesn't sit well with me, because I can't use it in the turn I cast it. Plague Boiler is similar in that is costs BBBGGG6 to blow it up the turn it comes in; it's possible, sure, but 12 mana is an awful lot. I also dislike having to pay mana to prevent it from blowing up automatically. I used to have both in the deck at various points, and they were just slow and unnecessary, for the most part.
Now I just need to test something in place of Sundering Titan; I have been playing a different deck of late, so my attention has drifted from Glissa. Without Titan, though, I have a free slot I can use to test some other things I have been looking at for a while.
Aah I see, Those disadvantages are both circumnavigated in some part for me by the inclusion of Vedalken Orrery and Shimmer Myr which allows for instant speed disk, and generally I have enough mana to drop the Plague Boiler right away and activate it and still be able to replay most of my mana rocks. (mass land destruction is not so common in my playgroup and glissa capitalizes on that)
Btw being able to play my artifacts at instant speed has been huge for me. Have you ever tried that? And what was your opinion if you did?
Edit: Oh and I was also wondering about the effectiveness of the Engineered Explosives. Since you can only put two colors into it is its only consistent use (aside from "specific" removal) as a token killer?
Aah I see, Those disadvantages are both circumnavigated in some part for me by the inclusion of Vedalken Orrery and Shimmer Myr which allows for instant speed disk, and generally I have enough mana to drop the Plague Boiler right away and activate it and still be able to replay most of my mana rocks. (mass land destruction is not so common in my playgroup and glissa capitalizes on that)
Btw being able to play my artifacts at instant speed has been huge for me. Have you ever tried that? And what was your opinion if you did?
I love all the flash-granting cards, but I feel the nonland versions don't have a place here. I tested Orrery very briefly early on, and it wasn't really where I wanted to be with that slot. If it were on a land, that would be totally different; it's the reason (with several subreasons) I believe that even despite its restriction that you can only use it for creatures, Winding Canyons is just superior to Orrery. Orrery is good situationally, but it costs 4 and tends to get blown up a lot, and I would almost always prefer to return something else via Glissa.
Explosives is pretty amazing, honestly. I have rarely wished I could set it at 3-5 due to the other removal, and being able to destroy all tokens for 2 mana is a good deal. It's a cheap way to consistently trigger Glissa, esepcially since it can never detroy her; if your meta has no/very few tokens floating around, I can see its effectiveness being limited. Unless our meta totally changes, it's pretty much going to stay in the deck forever.
Wow I just realized I don't actually have a copy of Winding Canyons, I better get on that lol.
One last question, I assume you tried out the Glissa ping equipments like Thornbite Staff and Viridian Longbow but I don't see them in the current decklist. Was there a specific reason they are excluded?
I wish I could try your version out to see how it plays. I think I would like it, the style of the build is very different but they contain many of the same pieces =)
One last question, I assume you tried out the Glissa ping equipments like Thornbite Staff and Viridian Longbow but I don't see them in the current decklist. Was there a specific reason they are excluded?
Thornbite Staff is in the list, but Viridian Longbow isn't. I tested them both out early and hated them, because I think I literally got one Glissa trigger from them in my testing, and they were do-nothing cards for the times when Glissa wasn't in play (which happens), so I cut them. Over time, Staff worked its way back in because of its ability to hit multiple creatures every turn. I talk a little about why I don't play Longbow in the Cards for Consideration section in the second post as well. Another, smaller reason is that it is another card that interferes with Cursed Totem, which has been excellent since its inclusion, and I don't want too many cards that are nullified by it.
I wish I could try your version out to see how it plays. I think I would like it, the style of the build is very different but they contain many of the same pieces =)
You can always proxy it up (unless your playgroup frowns on that) or play online via Cockatrice, so card availability is not a concern.
Really well put together, man. Not just the deck, but the presentation and depth of thought that has gone into it all. Thanks for the thorough and complete effort.
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Primarily because it hasn't been a month yet. I might do so once I get back from vacation (7/3), even though there is already a Glissa in the primer section; it's a lot different than my build, though.
Oh, and an update to the list due to the B&R announcement, I replaced Sundering Titan with Sculpting Steel, at least for now.
Possibly. I plan on testing it out, but real life stuff going on right now precludes me from playing much, so it will be a little while.
I will say that it it would probably take Druidic Satchel's slot, at least for testing, but I adore Satchel, so Trading Post will have to perform remarkably well to take its place.
An update to the last post: Trading Post hasn't performed as well as I'd hoped, and it is somewhat awkward in some situations. Satchel is more consistent in its own way, and it has performed much better overall, so it is keeping its slot. Trading Post might eventually work its way in, though.
Well, it is a nice utility card that slots in nicely in the curve, and you don't have to lose a resource to gain anything, unlike the Trading Post. There are times, of course, that sacrificing artifacts is a good thing, and therefore times that the Post is superior, bust costing 4 + needing other cards to really do anything makes me not super happy with it.
Updated with a game report from last night, and to comment that I tried Trading Post again and liked it a lot more this time. I am going to continue to test it in the Satchel slot, but I can say that it was definitely superior to Satchel this time.
Updated the Card Choices section with the recent changes, recorded the most recent change in the Change Log (Forcefield is solid, obv), and tweaked some things here and there.
I have rediscovered my love for the deck after I have spent the last couple of months not playing much at all due to the outside world, so I will be trying to devote more time to both the deck and the thread now that things have more or less gone back to normal at home.
Updated with a few card changes and a new game report. I want to highlight the game report(s) because the games were, from my experience with the deck, somewhat atypical. I didn't draw any tutors or real card drawing in either game, and, overall, just had awkward games throughout by drawing a lot of lands and not a lot else at inopportune times. I am not ready to dismantle or even overhaul the deck just yet, but I am curious to see if these issues were simple variance or the result of deckbuilding in general.
I like throwing half my deck in the graveyard with Hermit Druid, LftL Reliquary Tower and play it, and eventually get half my deck in my hand. I play the unholy quartet of Nether Traitor, Reassembling Skeleton, Gravecrawler and even Bloodghast to give me some sacrifice fodder, which are conveniently dredged into the graveyard by a Hermit Druid activation. Perhaps that could help you enjoy Trading Post. It'd also give you more Smokestack fodder.
I like throwing half my deck in the graveyard with Hermit Druid, LftL Reliquary Tower and play it, and eventually get half my deck in my hand. I play the unholy quartet of Nether Traitor, Reassembling Skeleton, Gravecrawler and even Bloodghast to give me some sacrifice fodder, which are conveniently dredged into the graveyard by a Hermit Druid activation. Perhaps that could help you enjoy Trading Post. It'd also give you more Smokestack fodder.
Well, as a later post reflected, Trading Post has worked out much better in my current testing than previously. In addition, I don't feel I need more Smokestack fodder, as I don't put myself into a position where Smokestack ever really hurts me unless it's unavoidable. The creatures you mentioned are fine, but I would have to take utility, mana sources, threats, card drawing, or disruption out for them, and they will frequently be irrelevant cards without something else in play (Smokestack, Braids, Skullclamp). In addition, I have my artifact count right about where I want it, so cutting some for those cards is not really that beneficial; if anything, I'd want more artifacts.
Hermit Druid is, of course, a fine card, but this deck doesn't really want or need it. My graveyard fills up with artifacts pretty easily simply by the function of many of the cards, and now that my playgroup is finally playing additional graveyard hate, Hermit Druid becomes less desirable in a non-abusive context.
Again, though, I am trying to see if the current build has the kind of balance I am seeking, so any suggestions have merit.
I myself absolutely love my Glissa EDH deck, and it heartens me greatly to see so much variety in the decklists for ROCK-like decks.
You use a lot more artifacts and fewer tutors than I do. Of particular note that I see missing are two essentials: Mindslaver and Salvaging Station.
The Mindslaver, while it does draw extreme multiplayer aggro, can get re-used with abusive Glissa killing. Ten mana is not so difficult for out green-fetch decks, and sometimes can get played the following 2nd turn, if you run things into Glissa right.
The Salvaging Station recycles your spellbombs, and in turn, the card advantage tied to them. Obviously this gets multiplied with black's effortless ability to kill things. And any deck that runs Executioner's Capsule absolutely NEEDS a Salvaging Station. You'll thank me later.
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PERSONAL BIO
I have played the game since 1995, and was a longtime tournament player of all formats until I chose to mostly “retire” from competitive play in 2011, for various reasons. I discovered EDH/Commander in 2006 and immediately became fascinated by it, and began building decks with my wife and a couple of friends. I talked up the format as much as I could locally and eventually got pretty much everyone here into the format, and continued to promote it (and the game in general) at the local level. We have a pretty solid scene and play mostly multiplayer, although we do have 1v1 events once a month. I love building decks more than I like playing them, and have a file with probably 150 decks in various stages of construction from the past ~6 years. As a longtime tournament player I tend to have a competitive mindset, but I am capable of building fun decks as well, whether they be theme decks (multiple attack steps) or just collections of certain types of cards (tribal Sphinxes represent). I do my best to be as close as I can to the middle of the casual vs. competitive discussion, because both sides of the argument are right and wrong.
Basically, I just want to have fun games, but still be able to play the decks I want to play. Cheers.
While recursion is typical of many black/green based decks, artifact-specific recursion is where Glissa obviously shines. The requirement of returning an artifact with Glissa, an opponent’s creature dying, is exceptionally easy to come by in multiplayer games; after all, playing black allows you access to the best removal for additional Glissa abuse.
REASONS TO PLAY GLISSA:
-Synergy with your Commander is important to you.
-You enjoy interacting with your opponents.
-You enjoy reusing your own cards and interacting with your graveyard.
-You enjoy wiping the board, and destroying creatures in general.
-You enjoy grinding out games via card and resource advantage.
REASONS NOT TO PLAY GLISSA:
-You enjoy aggressive decks.
-You enjoy fast combo decks.
-You enjoy powerful, splashy cards as opposed to utility/role-fulfilling cards.
-You prefer to play Commanders based on their colors as opposed to their specific abilities.
-You do not like graveyard-centric strategies.
When Glissa was first spoiled, I was immediately interested in building a deck around her. I made a couple of drafts and just didn’t like the way it looked, so I abandoned the concept and moved on to other decks. A few months later one of my friends built a Glissa deck that was largely relegated to Standard legal cards, since that was the vast majority of his collection, and to my surprise and delight it was able to keep up with more powerful decks by the benefit of the synergies it contained. His success inspired me, so I trashed my rough draft list and started anew.
I knew I wanted to start with a Stax-esque shell, so I began with pieces like that: Smokestack, Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst, Nether Void, that sort of thing; you know, the fun stuff. I also knew I wanted to take further advantage of Glissa’s triggered ability, and that led me to things like Executioner’s Capsule. Along the way, I began filling out the list with utility pieces and other cards that, if not exactly the most powerful choices, filled specific roles within the context of what I wanted to do, and the deck started to come together.
I don’t have any of my earlier lists saved, but I can tell you that there have been many changes, including one massive overhaul made in an attempt to help curtail the rising combo tide we were seeing locally; this attempt was moderately successful, and it allowed me to make some minor changes to add more utility cards in place of some of the combo hate. I have tried the vast majority of artifacts that I would deem as playable in the deck in its many incarnations, including a version where I tried to use every artifact that drew or filtered cards; that was pretty awful, since the deck just drew into more subpar cards even when it worked. I have tried more generic “goodstuff” builds, and while those are solid, they’re pretty boring to me, and don’t lead to Glissa abuse, which was why I wanted to play her in the first place.
The current list is the result of months of testing and playing in our local multiplayer events. It is meant to be played in a competitive environment where things like mana denial are not frowned upon too much, so please keep that in mind when reviewing the list and wondering about certain cards. I do make frequent 1-2 card tweaks, and if they turn out to be insignificant, I will probably just mention them in passing.
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Dark Confidant
1 Grave Titan
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Eternal Witness
1 Primeval Titan
1 Duplicant
1 Junk Diver
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Wurmcoil Engine
SORCERIES:
1 Damnation
1 Death Cloud
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Exsanguinate
1 Imperial Seal
1 Life from the Loam
1 Worm Harvest
1 All is Dust
INSTANTS:
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Beast Within
1 Krosan Grip
ENCHANTMENTS:
1 Bitterblossom
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Necropotence
1 The Abyss
1 Pernicious Deed
PLANESWALKERS:
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Aeolipile
1 Claws of Gix
1 Cursed Totem
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Druidic Satchel
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Expedition Map
1 Forcefield
1 Ichor Wellspring
1 Jester’s Cap
1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Web
1 Memory Jar
1 Mind Stone
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Tangle Wire
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Trading Post
1 Tsabo's Web
1 Winter Orb
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Command Tower
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Marsh Flats
1 Mishra’s Workshop
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Phyrexia's Core
1 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
1 Tainted Wood
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wasteland
1 Winding Canyons
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
7 Forest
6 Swamp
Two notes to keep in mind when I am discussing card choices:
1. Our local group uses a point system, so I often include/exclude cards in my decks with that consideration. Example: be the first to destroy/exile/force the sacrifice of an opposing creature.
2. Budget is not a concern or issue for me, so I will not address it here. There are analogues for several of the higher priced cards in the deck, but I test and play the cards I have, and do not have the time or desire to test budget versions of cards.
Braids, Cabal Minion—With any kind of Stax theme, Braids is an obvious all-star. Granted, this build doesn’t push the Stax theme to an extreme degree, but Braids is a nice way to combat both greedy decks and those that like to be very passive.
Grave Titan—One issue the deck can have is that, after having controlled the board, it devolved into “assemble Urborg + Coffers and Exsanguinate, repeat if necessary”, so I felt the deck could use another closer. The Titan is a strong threat, and its ability to produce more tokens allows me to be more aggressive with Smokestack, Death Cloud, etc.
Sheoldred, Whispering One—Another win condition, but also a nice piece of board control. Swampwalk is huge as well, allowing you to get in for solid damage frequently, with or without Urborg.
Eternal Witness—A card that doesn’t really require explanation. Reusing the best card in your graveyard and getting a body on top of it is clearly excellent.
Primeval Titan—Yeah, this needs less explanation than Eternal Witness.
Duplicant—Removal that leaves a body behind and is easily recurred is worth a slot in this deck, and Duplicant pretty much always carries its weight.
Junk Diver—While a 3 mana 1/1 is pretty underwhelming, Junk Diver’s triggered ability fits very well within the deck. In addition, the Diver is best pals with Skullclamp, which makes his 1 for 1 nature much more tolerable than it would be otherwise.
Lodestone Golem—A nice disruption piece that can also dish out some damage, the Golem is at its best early and/or in combination with other disruptive cards. It has proven itself to be a fine inclusion.
Solemn Simulacrum—Additional ramp that also benefits me when it hits the graveyard is perfectly acceptable, if unexciting. Never amazing but always solid, which is fine with me.
Wurmcoil Engine—A very good deal for six mana, it has the added benefit of being strong with Glissa, and if you have a sacrifice outlet online, you can potentially make a lot of 3/3s if you wish or need to do so.
Damnation—Indiscriminate creature mass removal for four mana. Definitely worth a slot.
Death Cloud—Mass removal + disruption is a match made in Heaven, at least for this deck. You generally don’t even have to put more than 3-4 into X to have the desired effect, so being able to do it in a smaller chunk and maintaining some resources is often the way to go.
Demonic Tutor—No explanation necessary, but a two mana unrestrictive tutor that puts the card directly into your hand seems fair.
Exsanguinate—The big finish, although I have tried to steer the deck away from that angle. I thought about cutting it to force the issue, but sometimes, even if you don’t kill someone, gaining 30+ life puts you in a much better position to go for the win.
Imperial Seal—Ideally, we’re using the majority of our mana every turn doing something, and setting up for your following turn for one mana is typically a good use of a card in most scenarios. Clearly, it’s inferior to Vampiric Tutor, but redundancy is a good thing.
Life from the Loam—One of my favorite green spells of all time, Loam allows you to reuse fetches or get back important lands that were destroyed/discarded/whatever. Clearly a solid choice.
Worm Harvest—Fuel for The Abyss and Skullclamp, as well as a solid defensive card and potentially even a win condition; that is a lot of mileage for one card, and it definitely earns its keep regularly.
Vampiric Tutor—Another card with no explanation necessary.
Krosan Grip—Testing in the place of Beast Within, largely due to a rise in enchantment based combo and such locally. It’s been better than Beast often enough so far to keep it for now, but it’s a flexible slot.
Bitterblossom—A boon in the deck for multiple reasons, primarily with regards to things like Braids and Smokestack. Definitely better if you’re running Grave Pact, it’s still a minimal cost for a creature every turn.
Necropotence—One of the best black cards ever printed, its use in this deck is more as a supplemental piece to maintain your hand size than to fuel anything degenerate. You’ll often only be using it for 2-3 cards, but at such a low cost, it’s worth it even then.
The Abyss—Repeatable removal at a low cost is definitely something worth considering, although it can be awkward when Glissa is myour only nonartifact creature. However, even then it will typically get you 3 triggers via Glissa, so it’s worth it. It competes with Nether Void, unfortunately, and right now I have swapped to The Abyss for metagame reasons, but Nether Void is a great option as well, and will be back in the deck at some point.
Pernicious Deed—Aside from not destroying planeswalkers, Deed blows up the board at whatever cost you need whenever you need it, giving you great flexibility.
Liliana of the Veil—This was originally included in the deck in an effort to get a specific point in our point system, but over time Liliana has proven her value. Whether it’s making everyone pitch a card or allowing me to get a Glissa trigger, I have definitely been satisfied with her inclusion.
Aeolipile—Still in the testing phase, I know this seems to be an odd choice, perhaps, but its inclusion has been solid, if not amazing. I prefer it to Moonglove Extract due to costing 2, as I don’t always plan to use it immediately. Late game you can get it going with Glissa and use it as a way to close out opponents whose life totals have fallen into the teens and below, or help you mow down several low toughness creatures.
Claws of Gix—A quiet MVP of the deck, the Claws allows you to return any artifact in play to your hand with Glissa if you desire, and can also be used to get some benefit out of one of your permanents being destroyed.
Cursed Totem—Included as an early/cheap way to fight Griselbrand, among other things, this has been fantastic. It does not greatly interfere with the deck’s gameplan, and it shows why it earned ths lot in almost every game.
Darksteel Ingot—Acceleration that sticks around comes in handy when you’re constantly blowing things up, even at three mana.
Druidic Satchel—I admit that I simply love this card, and that including it isn't always strictly correct, but Satchel does little things so well that I feel that including it is beneficial more often than not. It offers a little lifegain, which helps with several cards in the deck; it can ramp, which is good for obvious reasons (and in regards to effects like Smokestack and the cost increasers); and it can sometimes offer a chump blocker, or something to throw away to a sacrifice effect. Good utility.
Engineered Explosives—It doesn’t scale as high as I’d like at times, but it does its job well regardless. Being able to set it and sacrifice it in the same turn makes a big difference when compared to something like Ratchet Bomb.
Executioner's Capsule—One of the cards that made me want to build the deck in the first place. While you can’t necessarily wipe the board with it, you can certainly clear out some threats. The nonblack clause can be an annoyance, but it’s usually not a big issue.
Expedition Map—Helps find those important lands, of which there are several.
Forcefield—Another card I go back and forth on, it's made its way back in due to a recent change in my group's deck choices. Being able to blank potentially game ending alpha strikes is great, and it also helps defend against those people trying to General damage you out. For what it does, its mana cost is quite cheap, and the activation cost is even moreso. A worthy inclusion.
Ichor Wellspring—A cheap card drawing tool that allows Claws of Gix to shine, this card has surprised me. I initially figured it would be a decent addition, but the drawing of cards with it hitting play *and* the graveyard have turned it into one of my favorites.
Jester’s Cap—Added as a potential anti-combo measure, the Cap has turned into a solid inclusion, and often allows you to completely dictate the board going forward by removing answers or mass LD, which is typically your biggest worry. It seems like such an innocuous card to most people, which is a benefit when you don't want to look like a threat.
Krark-Clan Ironworks—Another great way to utilize artifacts with graveyard triggers, Ironworks can be a small mana engine in the mid/late game, giving you more quality uses of Glissa or other cards.
Mana Crypt—Costs zero mana, taps for 2, and has a negligible drawback? Sign me up.
Mana Vault—Allows you to power out one of your higher casting cost spells out early, and gets fed to Claws, Ironworks, or Core later, or potentially untaps to do it again. Might be better as Grim Monolith, but I really like the 1 mana cost as opposed to 2, and I didn’t really like having both in the deck.
Memory Jar—A great draw engine that, when combined with Urborg + Coffers and/or Ironworks, allows you to really get ahead of everyone else. Definitely one of the best cards to abuse with Glissa.
Mind Stone—A mana rock that cycles on its own isn’t that exciting, but it definitely fills a role in the deck, and I am never unhappy to see it.
Nihil Spellbomb—A great anti-graveyard card that is cheap and replaces itself is nothing to sneeze at, and reusing it is even better. An MVP.
Oblivion Stone—It kills pretty much everything you care about for a reasonable cost, can even save some of your own stuff, and you can get it back easily. It’s the perfect card for this deck.
Phyrexian Furnace—Cheap, repeatable graveyard hate that replaces itself? Yes, please.
Ratchet Bomb—Originally there to help with tokens (we had a big influx of token decks a while back), the ability to scale up to potentially hit anything is significant. Maximizing its ability is a bit tricky at times, but once you get a feel for the opposing decks, you’ll be able to tick it up to where it needs to be.
Sculpting Steel—More utility; the banning of Sundering Titan allowed me to squeeze this in, and I have been quite satisfied with it so far. Great flexibility, and well costed, it has proven its worth.
Skullclamp—Obviously strong with Bitterblossom and Worm Harvest, but other creatures can carry it as well, and since my guys tend to die a lot, why not draw cards?
Smokestack—One of the deck’s signature cards. Similar to Braids, with the primary difference being that you can scale the ‘stack up to fit your needs, then sacrifice it to reset it and bring it back to continue the process.
Sol Ring—Yep, it’s Sol Ring.
Sphere of Resistance—Another disruption piece, it seems straightforward and underwhelming, but, like similar cards, its effect on games is sometimes quite subtle. Of particular note is the ability to often limit opponents to one spell per turn, which is significant for a deck that wants to grind out its advantage.
Tangle Wire—Another part of the resource denial suite, its primary benefit is that it affects everyone else first. The fact that you also get to tap fewer permanents via the ability to tap Tangle Wire itself (as well as your opponents being affected first) also helps a great deal. A great inclusion.
Thornbite Staff—Originally included in my first build, it was cut because I never was able to effectively use it. I decided to try it again and it has been much better this time around, allowing me to get multiple Glissa triggers for two mana per trigger, which is perfectly acceptable.
Trading Post—A new addition, but one it took me a while to really appreciate. When I first tried it, it was pretty lackluster, and just seemed clunky and awkward. When I gave it another chance, however, it crystallized into a perfect inclusion, and I am quite happy with it. I adore flexibility and utility more than probably anyone, and this card is the epitome of those traits.
Tsabo's Web—A bit of a risk/reward card, as I have a few lands that get hit by it, but a low cost cantrip that can shut down significant opposing lands (Volrath's Stronghold, Maze of Ith, etc.) makes it worth consideration, if not outright inclusion.
Ancient Tomb—The two damage you take is a negligible drawback in exchange for the explosiveness you gain with the Tomb, especially with so many artifacts, since colorless mana is often as good as colored.
Bayou—Yep, it’s an on-color original dual land.
Bloodstained Mire—I play all 7 Onslaught/Zendikar fetches that actually find lands in my deck, and they help make Sylvan Library even better while fixing my colors. You can look at them as deck thinning as well, but that is pretty negligible.
Bojuka Bog—Graveyard hate at the cost of a land drop is an excellent trade-off, and the fact that it taps for black mana is sometimes a nice bonus.
Cabal Coffers—Most games I win end because of this, either by gaining massive card/board advantage or via Exsanguinate.
Command Tower—A land that taps for either color with no drawback? More please.
Forbidden Orchard—A cheap and easy way to give opponents fodder for Glissa, and it taps for either color, which is a bonus.
Llanowar Wastes—On color pain land that doesn’t ETBT.
Marsh Flats—See Bloodstained Mire.
Mishra’s Workshop—This is a land I have gone back and forth on for a while, and I feel that I finally have enough artifacts to make it a worthy inclusion. It has been fantastic so far, and is often included in Primeval Titan fetch packages. While it can typically only be used for artifacts, note that with Urborg in play you can use it to cast anything, albeit only with one mana.
Misty Rainforest—See Bloodstained Mire.
Overgrown Tomb—Yep, it’s an on-color Ravnica dual.
Phyrexia's Core—Another way to maximize Glissa and a good way to benefit from your artifacts with graveyard triggers.
Polluted Delta—See Bloodstained Mire.
Strip Mine—A necessary card to combat other high-powered nonbasics.
Tainted Wood—It sometimes taps for colorless, but it is fairly simple to turn on and be able to tap it for either color.
Twilight Mire—Allows for great fixing early; pretty self-explanatory.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth—Aside from its obvious comboliciousness with Cabal Coffers, a slightly more subtle use is to allow Sundering Titan to destroy a problematic nonbasic.
Verdant Catacombs—See Bloodstained Mire.
Volrath's Stronghold—With fewer creatures than I normally play in decks featuring Stronghold, it’s not a standout like it often is, but it does allow for the big threats to be reused pretty easily, and at a low cost.
Wasteland—See Strip Mine.
Winding Canyons—Like Stronghold, fewer creatures lessens the impact of Winding Canyons, but the ability to flash in any number of creatures you have mana for is very, very good.
Windswept Heath—See Bloodstained Mire.
Wooded Foothills—See Bloodstained Mire.
Woodland Cemetery—An on-color land with a rarely occurring drawback? Sign me up.
Forest/Swamp—As mentioned previously, I like my basic lands, probably more than most, so I tend to include as many as I can and still run the nonbasics I feel accentuate the deck. One thing to note is that, even though my spells have more black mana requirements, I have pretty much even numbers of mana sources for both colors. Needing green mana early for Glissa and other spells is the reason for this, and having a good amount of fixing via fetches and such has allowed this to not be an issue.
Barter in Blood/Fleshbag Marauder/Innocent Blood/Syphon Flesh—All four have been in the deck at one time or another, and I sometimes work one or two back in. Currently, though, I don’t really miss any of them, so they’re on the bench.
Bone Shredder/Shriekmaw—Two cards that have been in the deck before, and could definitely be in again. Both are better if you’re on the Grave Pact plan; however, being unable to target black creatures, while not a dealbreaker in most playgroups, is a possible deterrent.
Grave Pact/Butcher of Malakir—Grave Pact has been in the deck at a couple of different points, but I have never included Butcher, primarily due to it being more easily removed and costing significantly more mana. I don’t have a large amount of creatures, so these won’t work all that well most of the time.
Leyline of the Void—Another card that was in the deck previously, its purpose was to provide the ability to one-shot kill an opponent with Helm of Obedience. It’s a reasonable strategy, but without Helm all it does is prevent you from using Glissa, so I felt removing it was warranted.
Pox—A strong consideration, my real reservation with it is the life loss factor. I tend to attract a lot of damage, and even though Pox would reduce opposing resources, the life loss could definitely put me in the Danger Zone. It’s always on the shortlist of cards I am interested in fitting in, but it hasn’t seemed to be the best fit, but I could be wrong. I definitely plan on testing it out more.
Yawgmoth’s Will—I had this in the deck forever and never really did anything with it. The few times I did cast it were decent but not great, and I was just never able to put it to good use. Maybe it’s my bias coming through, because I sort of hate the card, so maybe I was purposely making it worse than it was.
Acidic Slime--Another card that was in the deck for a long time, it just didn't have as much impact as a 5 mana creature should, typically. A fine card and it's a reasonable inclusion, but it was a victim of more efficient cards.
Avenger of Zendikar—A fine man, and one that will possibly make his way back into the deck. He was removed due to a conscious effort to lower the curve a bit and because in my experience, he is never directly responsible for winning a game.
Awakening Zone—Continuous fodder for a pretty low initial cost is nice, and being able to potentially ramp with it is worth noting, but it takes several turns to get a real return on your investement.
Oracle of Mul Daya—Cheating on permanents is a great way to let Stax elements become asymmetrical, and Oracle definitely lets you do that. This is a card that may very well work its way back in, but outside of certain board positions, it was often underwhelming for something costing 4 mana.
Regrowth—There is sufficient recursion that a 1 for 1 recursion spell with no additional effect just isn’t worth the slot.
Tooth and Nail—Since I don’t include any game-winning packages with it, I have chosen to eschew it. It’s a terrific card, but the 9 mana (yes, 9; when do you ever cast it for 7?) is at times an issue. I also tested Defense of the Heart and liked it a lot more, especially for the cost; if I had to pick one to play, it would definitely be Defense, simply due to its much lower cost.
Crucible of Worlds—A very good card in general, and an excellent one for Stax decks, the removal of this was an experiment; I rarely used it to any great effect, so I wanted to see if it's really that beneficial, or if it's better as something else. The jury is still out, but this is a card that should always be considered for this kind of deck.
Helm of Obedience—As with Leyline, its purpose was for use in the combo. However, unlike Leyline, it actually works well with Glissa, and is a nice, if costly, way to eat away at opponents’ resources. Another reasonable inclusion, both with and without Leyline of the Void.
Mindslaver—Frankly, I think the cost is just too high for the effect, especially when I have three (or four) opponents to be concerned about. Once it gets down to heads up, if you have the mana, this essentially ends the game, but I’d rather have a card that is useful more often and costs a lot less to use.
Moriok Replica—This was cut in order to accommodate Junk Diver, and while I occasionally miss the extra card draw, I am happy with that choice, especially with the inclusion of Cursed Totem. That said, it’s a good enough card to run, especially if you’re less inclined to go the Stax route.
Mycosynth Wellspring—This is in many ways the perfect kind of card for a deck like this, as it is beneficial when combined with several cards in the deck (Smokestack, etc.), but it really doesn't do anything. The rare case where you have an opening hand with two lands and this are fine, but I'd rather have a card with slightly more effect. A fine card, but not really what I want to be doing most of the time.
Nevinyrral’s Disk—I played this for a while, but the one turn delay was too often a liability. It’s still a decent inclusion, but it just doesn’t fit for me.
Throne of Geth—Not enough artifacts requiring counters in the deck, although it’s been briefly considered to help with Engineered Explosives and Tangle Wire. Ultimately not worth the cost, but can definitely be considered if you want to go a less “traditional” route and add more counter-based artifacts (Magistrate’s Scepter, etc.).
Trinisphere—This was in my original list, but was cut due to being underwhelming 90% of the time. It was certainly good the other 10% (turn 1 Trinisphere makes people…unhappy), but it just wasn’t performing the way I’d hoped.
Viridian Longbow—Where Thornbite Staff can, with enough mana, clear out several opposing threats, the Longbow is a once per turn effect that is just unexciting. If you want redundancy it is perfectly fine, but I am ok with only having the Staff; my testing with it definitely showed Staff to be superior. Combining both allows you to kill everything without paying the 2 per activation of the Staff, but you’re also putting in another card that essentially does nothing without Glissa in play, so I chose not to go that route.
While the deck is built with Glissa firmly in mind, it can be competitive without her, so you are not out of the game if she gets tucked or otherwise negated. Remember, you’re going to typically have more resources than your opponents, and exploiting that is key; without Glissa, this means you’ll need to be more selective with your removal/resource denial, but you’ll still have the tools required to win the average game.
A typical game that you win goes thusly:
1. Building your mana and playing spell-taxing effects like Sphere of Resistance or other utility permanents, like Phyrexian Arena.
2. Asserting yourself via board control in the form of mass removal (Damnation, etc.), then deploying Glissa and an oppressive permanent for your opponents (Braids, Smokestack, The Abyss, Sheoldred).
3. While controlling the board, you then begin deploying threats, like Primeval Titan, Avenger of Zendikar, etc. During this time, you will likely be able to use Glissa’s ability many times, so you’ll gain a bigger mana/permanent advantage in order to “break” the Stax effects.
4. You will either refill with Necroptence, or chain together Memory Jar activations to get further ahead while depleting more of your opponents’ resources.
5. The end game, via creatures or Exsanguinate, or even concession.
That is a very basic outline, and since games are fluid they may be done in a different order, but that is the general gameplan. Each step has many decisions to make, and because the margin of error is sometimes quite slim due to the nature of the deck, you must be able to determine which decision offers the best chance of survival. Essentially, all you want or need to do is survive to the late game and the deck’s synergy and threat selection will often turn the tide for you.
There are some things that are huge issues for the deck, the primary one being mass land destruction. You should generally attempt to Jester’s Cap anyone you suspect is playing LD, or hold a land or two and Loam/Crucible if you know it’s coming at some point, but that’s about all you can do, unless you manage to kill them before one of the spells fires off. Chaos decks can be a pain, although Warp World specifically usually turns out ok for you due to the density of permanents in the deck. Any deck with a lot of dedicated graveyard hate can be a real annoyance as well, but you can work around that most of the time. Fast combo is, of course, a problem, but the spell-taxing effects can help stall until you or someone else can either shut down their combo ability or outright kill them; this is one deck that an early Nether Void is golden against, so if you have fast combo in your meta and want to play Glissa, I suggest plugging Void in to help everyone, even though they may not look at it that way.
Creature heavy/midrange decks without a lot of interactive elements (outside of combat) are what you prey upon, and those are the decks that allow Glissa to shine. You can essentially ignore most of their actions and focus on getting your engine(s) online and simply go from there, because aside from out of nowhere kills (Triumph of the Hordes), you can typically weather any storm they throw until you can start wiping the board.
5/27/12
At the first table, the Generals are Glissa (myself), Animar, Soul of Elements (Blake), Wrexial, the Risen Deep (Aaron), and Doran, the Siege Tower (Eric). I play first and end up with Sylvan Library and Mana Vault in play, while everyone else just plays land and passes. I draw Nether Void, and since I am going to be ahead due to Sylvan, I drop it turn 3, effectively shutting down two dangerous Generals before they can even be cast, and slowing the game down to my preferred speed. I continue to build my mana and cast Glissa, while the others are all somewhat stalled due to lack of lands and Nether Void. Eventually, I figure it is time to actually accomplish something, so I play Claws of Gix and sacrifice Nether Void before my turn comes back around. I start playing out some utility artifacts and a creature or two, and things start happening for everyone. Animar hits play along with a couple of dorks, and then Aaron Acquires me, getting my Oblivion Stone. The following turn, he blows it up, allowing me to resolve Sundering Titan to attempt to get Blake’s mana under control (he’d caught up to me).
Naturally, Aaron feels that copying Titan with Evil Twin is appropriate, so I lose a couple of lands, and then he plays out a Top and a mana artifact. I believe that things will go very badly for everyone if Aaron is allowed to untap with Evil Twin, so I suggest Blake block when I attack with Glissa, allowing me to get back my Oblivion Stone, which I cast and use immediately. More lands are destroyed, and the game is back to some semblance of normalcy.
Blake plays out an Elvish Piper and then a Seedborn Muse, and I am temporarily without removal, so I can only watch in horror as he Pipers in Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre at EOT, but he attacks Aaron with it, viewing him as the greatest source of his misery. Aaron lives, but is essentially knocked out of the game due to Annihilator, and Eric (who has been manascrewed all game) and I simply play out a couple of permanents to soak up the Annihilator triggers. To my surprise, Blake attacks Eric, and by Eric sacrificing his Eternal Witness to the Annihilator trigger, I use Glissa’s trigger to return a Duplicant that I’d previously discarded under Nether Void. I drop Duplicant to remove Ulamog, then Aeolipile Elvish Piper; Blake Pipers in Shrieking Drake to bounce the Piper, and I pass. Piper hits again, but he luckily has no haste-granting cards, so when it finally comes back to me, I can wipe the board and replay Glissa, and from there I drop Avenger for 14 tokens, pop a couple of fetches, and win in short order.
At the second table, the generals are Glissa (myself), Uril, the Miststalker (Brian), Nath of the Gilt-Leaf (Steve), and Damia, Sage of Stone (Ethan). I have some fast mana in my opener along with Jester’s Cap, and I know the Uril deck has several mass LD spells, so my first relevant play is to Cap him on turn 4 to remove Armageddon, Cataclysm, and Razia’s Purification. The game gets into an odd state, with no one having much removal, and I get beaten down by a Kor Spiritdancer with Angelic Destiny attached.
My life total eventually drops to 11 before I can pop Pernicious Deed to stabilize, then do a small Exsanguinate (for 7) to bump up my life into a more manageable range. Not much happens, then I hit Myojin of Night’s Reach and dump everyone’s hands, with the realization afterwards that Ethan has Damia in play. Ethan draws some cards, one of which is Forbid, while Nath comes out with the idea to remove my hand. I get Memory Jar and crack it, playing out the hand (land and several cheap artifacts, including Engineered Explosives), and passing; Nath gets 15 tokens due to the Jar hands getting discarded, which I blow up on his main phase and get back Explosives and Jar, and after working around Forbid I begin chaining Jar to dig into the proper cards for the gamestate. Eventually, I have Sheoldred and recurring Ratchet Bomb + Explosives, and after killing Steve with Aeolipile, I dig into Exsanguinate in order to kill Brian and Ethan.
8/3/12
Generals are Glissa (myself), Karador, Ghost Chieftain (Jon), and Krenko, Mob Boss (Joe). The game starts pretty well for me, drawing Workshop turn one so I can drop Darksteel Ingot, and I begin building my mana. I draw a few fetches and start using Worm Harvest to have some protection from Joe, as I have no sweepers at this time. A few turns pass, and Joe's getting a respectable army via Krenko and his Quest for the Goblin Lord, and I am struggling to keep up, while Jon is seemingly biding his time, dropping a couple of creatures here and there. I draw into Damnation and Skullclamp, draw a few cards from my tokens via the 'clamp, and Damnation the board away; after the dust settles, I Bojuka Bog Jon to prevent shenanigans.
On the next turn, I play a couple of cost increasers and Braids, settling in to attrition them out due to my permanent superiority. Joe drops Blood Moon, which is pretty damn annoying, as I have one basic Swamp in play (Jon has Urborg), but survivable. I draw Ratchet Bomb and plan on using it to destroy Blood Moon, even though it will destroy a couple of my permanents as well; a sacrifice well worth it. A couple of turns pass, and I tick up the Bomb and drop Trading Post to get more mileage out of my permanents, which it certainly does; Blood Moon ends up going away, and a couple of turns later I end up using Expedition Map for Coffers to Exsanguinate Joe out of the game, leaving Jon at single digits with no real way to win. I have Witness in hand, and kill him with Exsanguinate the following turn.
8/26/12
I got grouped in the 5 man table with the following Generals: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV (Zac), Reaper King (Connor), Animar (Darryl), and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (Dawane). I started out very well, with a turn 2 Solemn, followed up quickly by a Smokestack, and I figured I was well on my way to a pretty routine victory. However, Smokestack was destroyed, and when I replayed it via Glissa, Zac fired off a pretty devastating Akroma's Vengeance, leaving me with lands in play and in hand.
I threw Glissa back down, but Darryl dropped Stormtide Leviathan and Terastodon back to back, and was ticking up to the Blightsteel Colossus that had been revealed via his Oracle of Mul Daya earlier in the game. I managed to draw Myojin of Night's Reach and waited until Darryl's turn to use the ability to sort of stabilize, but still had Stormtide to deal with. I followed up with Black Sun's Zenith, but I was only able to do it for 7, leaving the Stormtide and Terastodon in play, but much reduced in threat level...until Darryl ripped Splinter Twin and slapped it on Terastodon. He didn't use it right away, and I drew a blank, but Dawane, who hadn't really done much except cast Niv the previous turn due to mana issues, managed to kill both the Terastodon and Stormtide via Niv triggers, and the board was pretty clear again.
Everyone played some more creatures, with nothing being too threatening because of Niv, and I eventually killed Niv via Oblivion Stone. I got Glissa + Thornbite Staff shortly afterwards, along with Wurmcoil + Trading Post, but I wasn't able to push through due to several more board wipes. We ended up timing out (we put 2 hour time limits in place for tables during events), and I ended up winning the table via points.
At the second table, I was up against Riku of Two Reflections (Jon), Niv-MIzzet (Dawane), Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund (Mike), and Iname as One (Aaron; we allow Iname to trigger from the Command Zone). This game was swingy. I had a decent start with Glissa and a quick Thornbite Staff, so I kept the board clear while I hopefully drew into more gas; luckily, Mike had played Howling Mine early, so I burned through some random stuff before hitting Mimic Vat and Primeval Titan.
Someone ended up wiping the board, and then I was immediately the primary target, with Aaron hitting me for 12 shortly afterwards; I also ended up taking 15 damage from my Mana Crypt, which really didn't help matters, so I was down pretty low fairly early in the game. I tried to get back into things with Mimic Vat, but it got blown up shortly afterwards via Beast Within. Dawane had Wheel of Fate fire off, forcing me to discard Myojin, Damnation, and a couple of irrelevant cards, and on Aaron's turn, he cast his own Myojin, ripping away everyone's hand and putting himself in a very strong position. I cast Glissa and some random artifacts to keep myself in the game, and then Dawane dropped Consecrated Sphinx; with Howling Mine in play, this was a problem.
No one was able to deal with the Sphinx in that turn cycle, so he drew an extra 16 cards from it, and the game was definitely getting out of hand, and became even moreso when he cast Psychosis Crawler the following turn. Aaron was able to kill the Sphinx via Profane Command, but things were still looking pretty grim. Jon then destroyed the Psychosis Crawler, and things were more or less back to normal.
I replayed Glissa and an Oblivion Stone, then Aaron hit me with Choice of Damnations; I had 6 mana available, with Claws of Gix and Oblivion Stone as the relevant permanents, and 19 life, so I thought the best play was to sacrifice my Beast token to Claws and then O-Stone to clear the board (Riku and some other stuff was in play) to reduce my permanent count and make his choice more difficult. So, I ended up with 16 lands as my permanents and was at 20 life, so I chose 9 as the number; he chose to make me sacrifice permanents. Jon then cast Riku for the 4th or 5th time, and I knew that unless I killed it, bad things were going to happen. Of course, that was when Mike, who had been relatively quiet all game, cast Karrthus + Moltensteel Dragon and attacked me for lethal damage.
Mike ended up dying not long after to Dawane's Insurrection, and then the remaining three players kept throwing out potential game-ending stuff, with Aaron hardcasting Iname as One to fetch up Iname, Death Aspect to go with his Mortal Combat; the only answer at the time was Dawane's Timewtiser, using Niv in conjunction with another draw spell I don't recall to kill both Inames; so Aaron simply recast Iname as One to go for the win via Mortal Combat again, but this time Jon had the Beast Within. He killed Niv, then cast Mana Reflection, and things were going downhill; he ended up essentially ending the game the following turn by casting Tooth & Nail twice, ending up with Eternal Witness, Glen Elendra Archmage, Terastodon, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Sakashima the Impostor (copying Kiki) in play by the end of the turn. After that, it was simply a matter of time, and he did indeed win shortly afterwards.
9/2/12
This was an incredibly odd game. It ended up being 6 players, with the following generals: Glissa (myself), Riku (Jon), Circu, Dimir Lobotomist(Eric), Karrthus(Mike), Angus Mackenzie(Joe), and Iname as One(Aaron). I got Mana Web out very early, and just tried to keep the board clear of threats. Eventually, Eric hit me with some significant mill, and Aaron took the opportunity to drop Tormod's Crypt and take out my graveyard, which, long term, was backbreaking. Mike and Joe both cast Rites of Flourishing, and then Aaron dropped Seizan, Perverter of Truth, so things were definitely getting a bit out of hand. I dropped Winter Orb to sort of get things back on track, and the board was eventually blown up.
Glissa got hit by Spell Crumple, and I was drawing a bunch of lands, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen, as no one else was really able to control the board. I drew into Death Cloud with 17 mana available, and cast it with X = 14 to blow up all of everyone's lands and sort of restart the game. It did bring me down to 12 life, though, so I wasn't out of the woods yet. Unfortunately, I blank on drawing lands for a couple of turns, while Eric rips 3 in a row and does some more milling on me, and now my library is getting quite depleted.
I find Life from the Loam and get it going to rebuild my mana, but I can only cast it twice so as to not die, and grab Volrath's Stronghold to help with that. I have Worm Harvest in my graveyard, and cast it for 20+ tokens; I end up killing Joe the following turn, but my plan of just casting it repeatedly (I only have 7 mana available) goes south when Eic mills the last cards from my library, and Mike casts Blasphemous Act. I use Stronghold to put Braids on top and recast Worm Harvest, and just hope to stick around long enough to kill everyone with tokens.
Alas, it is not to be. I get Mike low enough so Jon kills him with a couple of random dorks, and then Jon finally has mana again, so he Cryptics my guys on my turn, then drops Hydra Omnivore, equips Lightning Greaves, and attacks Eric, dealing enough damage to me so that Eric can swing in with a Sword of Body and Mind equipped Circu for lethal. Jon ended up winning the race with Eric shortly afterwards.
We played another game afterwards with the following generals: Glissa (myself), Stonebrow, Krosan Hero (Blake), Circu (Eric), and Sharuum the Hegemon (Aaron). I played an early Smokestack, and it got blown up after a cycle of sacrificing s then just tried to build mana and keep the board manageable. Eric got Future Sight, then Wrexial, and cast my Vampiric Tutor with him to fetch up Leyline of the Void, which was clearly going to be an issue. I managed to draw Krosan Grip immediately afterwards, so I killed Leyline with it and then killed Wrexial with Beast Within, and the board was clear again.
Aaron had been quiet, as he was mana screwed, but he dropped Quicksilver Amulet, which threatened to get a bit scary. I then dropped Tangle Wire, and a couple of turns later had Sculpting Steel copy it; I ended up getting Glissa + Sheoldred in play, and ripped Winter Orb to essentially shut the door. I kept recycling Tangle Wire and Sculpting Steel, and no one ever had more than one untapped land at a time, and I killed everyone with Sheoldred.
5/27/12
-Nether Void
+ The Abyss
6/22/12
-Sundering Titan
+ Sculpting Steel
8/23/12
-Druidic Satchel
-Reito Lantern
+ Forcefield
+Trading Post
8/26/12
-Avenger of Zendikar
-Oracle of Mul Daya
-Crucible of Worlds
-Mycosynth Wellspring
+Nether Void
+Druidic Satchel
+Grafdigger's Cage
+Tsabo's Web
9/2/12
-Black Sun's Zenith
-Myojn of Night's Reach
-Nether Void
-Phyrexian Arena
-Sylvan Library
-Grafdigger's Cage
-Mimic Vat
-Thorn of Amethyst
+Chains of Mephistopheles
+Dark Confidant
+Beast Within
+Garruk Relentless
+All is Dust
+Mana Web
+Sensei's Divining Top
+Winter Orb
Deck stats can be found here: http://deck.tk/5XXd2Wfn
I updated the original post and included the rest of the info in the second post, so this thread is good to go.
Scapeshift was something I tried in an early version, but it didn't really thrill me. I like having a lot of mana, and while Scapeshift helps you find Urborg + Coffers, I didn't really like losing 2 lands to fetch them up, even though I had Crucible + Loam. I can see it being reasonable if you're relying more on Urborg + Coffers, but I typically find both pieces in plenty of time if necessary.
Tectonic Edge is fine, but them needing 4 lands in play to use it is a significant drawback too often for me to be able to use it consistently. I'd probably play Ghost Quarter or Dust Bowl if I wanted another effect like that.
I hate ETB tapped lands; HATE. Vesuva was in the deck for a long time, but was rarely more than Coffers #2, and, really, you shouldn't need more than one Coffers. It could also lead to awkward draws at times, so it eventually got cut as I streamlined the manabase a bit. Again, it's a perfectly fine card, but it underperformed for me.
Honestly? Because I am completely opposed to him being printed, much less being legal. Does he have a place in the deck? Probably. But as a matter of principle, I have chosen not to include him.
That said, his mana cost definitely makes me prefer Necropotence in general, since I have no way to cheat him into play and already having some higher cost creatures. The ability to draw the cards immediately is a big one, and being able to freely discard with him in play is a benefit as well, but his mana cost, along with my original statement, is enough for me to not include him.
Graveyard strategies are getting pretty popular, so you have to be able to deal wit hit or you just lose an active Salvaging Station and Solitary Confinement.
The best benefit of including 3/4 Tormod's Crypt effects are Liliana of the Veil becomes insane. Her +1 ability reads target player removes a card from their hand from the game if their graveyard is empty.
I love playing against against decks with no graveyard hate. I get free roam throughout the entire game unlike in my the real games with my playgroup where free roam isn't possible. It's a nice change from the usually turn 2: 4-8 mana rocks, 5-8 Tormod's Crypts' effect on the board.
Pretty sure your meta isn't as "competitive" as mine. Competitive is subjective, our version of competitive is nightmare for most people on these forums. Don't get me wrong, this is a very well thought out deck and I'm sure it wins most the games play, but it's the missing the early game recursion targets for Glissa herself.
EDH
BWG Doran Suicide Tempo BWG
BUW Sharuum Midrange Control BUW
I have Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, and Phyrexian Furnace in the deck, all of which are included in the decklist provided and the card choice comments. I had Crypt for a while as well, but graveyard shenanigans began lessening, so I cut it until more hate is necessary.
As the "leader" of our playgroup, I have taken great pains to lessen the competitive nature of our meta, primarily by instituting a point system. I want more/new people to join, and if we played as we would without the incentive of the point system, I think several people in our group would stop playing, and we would prevent newer players from joining as well.
I have pretty much every card that is remotely good in the format, so I can make the most degenerate deck possible if I really want to, but I simply don't, because that doesn't tend to attract new players; quite the opposite. We also do 1v1 once a month, and that is much more degenerate, and that has definitely alienated people, as at least half of our group just doesn't play it due to how competitive your deck needs to be to have a chance at winning.
So, yes, while my group is competitive, I am sure there are other groups out there who are moreso, because I have put a lot of effort into attempting to have a nice balance, and if player feedback is any indication, our meta is very pleasant right now.
One thing that I was curious about with your deck was the lack of Nev Disk and The Boiler. Looping those multiple times during a game is often backbreaking to an opponent while getting all your artifacts back to your hand and being able to recover fairly easily. Also at instant speed they can usually sit there and prevent crazy combo wins nicely (without krosan grip being a factor of course =P).
GUGEdric, Spymaster of Trest - Elfball
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic- Doomsday!
RWUEphara, God of the Polis - Blink + Control
GBGGlissa, the Traitor - Stax & Lands
URGMaelstrom Wanderer - Goodstuff RUG
RGWMayael the Anima - Timmy
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher - The One Hit Wonder
RGWMarath, Will of the Wild - Old-school Enchantress Hate
RWRAurelia, the Warleader - Equipment Aggro
GGGReki, the History of Kamigawa - Legends + Banding
UBRSedris, the Traitor King - Creatures with : Ability
BUBPhenax, God of Deception - Mill
*Sidenote, I specifically excluded infinite combos from all these decks with the exception of Marath and the squirrel nest + Earthcraft combo.
Looking for something Aggressive in modern? Try - BR Aggro
Disk I dislike because it ETB tapped; that doesn't sit well with me, because I can't use it in the turn I cast it. Plague Boiler is similar in that is costs BBBGGG6 to blow it up the turn it comes in; it's possible, sure, but 12 mana is an awful lot. I also dislike having to pay mana to prevent it from blowing up automatically. I used to have both in the deck at various points, and they were just slow and unnecessary, for the most part.
Now I just need to test something in place of Sundering Titan; I have been playing a different deck of late, so my attention has drifted from Glissa. Without Titan, though, I have a free slot I can use to test some other things I have been looking at for a while.
Btw being able to play my artifacts at instant speed has been huge for me. Have you ever tried that? And what was your opinion if you did?
Edit: Oh and I was also wondering about the effectiveness of the Engineered Explosives. Since you can only put two colors into it is its only consistent use (aside from "specific" removal) as a token killer?
GUGEdric, Spymaster of Trest - Elfball
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic- Doomsday!
RWUEphara, God of the Polis - Blink + Control
GBGGlissa, the Traitor - Stax & Lands
URGMaelstrom Wanderer - Goodstuff RUG
RGWMayael the Anima - Timmy
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher - The One Hit Wonder
RGWMarath, Will of the Wild - Old-school Enchantress Hate
RWRAurelia, the Warleader - Equipment Aggro
GGGReki, the History of Kamigawa - Legends + Banding
UBRSedris, the Traitor King - Creatures with : Ability
BUBPhenax, God of Deception - Mill
*Sidenote, I specifically excluded infinite combos from all these decks with the exception of Marath and the squirrel nest + Earthcraft combo.
Looking for something Aggressive in modern? Try - BR Aggro
I love all the flash-granting cards, but I feel the nonland versions don't have a place here. I tested Orrery very briefly early on, and it wasn't really where I wanted to be with that slot. If it were on a land, that would be totally different; it's the reason (with several subreasons) I believe that even despite its restriction that you can only use it for creatures, Winding Canyons is just superior to Orrery. Orrery is good situationally, but it costs 4 and tends to get blown up a lot, and I would almost always prefer to return something else via Glissa.
Explosives is pretty amazing, honestly. I have rarely wished I could set it at 3-5 due to the other removal, and being able to destroy all tokens for 2 mana is a good deal. It's a cheap way to consistently trigger Glissa, esepcially since it can never detroy her; if your meta has no/very few tokens floating around, I can see its effectiveness being limited. Unless our meta totally changes, it's pretty much going to stay in the deck forever.
One last question, I assume you tried out the Glissa ping equipments like Thornbite Staff and Viridian Longbow but I don't see them in the current decklist. Was there a specific reason they are excluded?
I wish I could try your version out to see how it plays. I think I would like it, the style of the build is very different but they contain many of the same pieces =)
GUGEdric, Spymaster of Trest - Elfball
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic- Doomsday!
RWUEphara, God of the Polis - Blink + Control
GBGGlissa, the Traitor - Stax & Lands
URGMaelstrom Wanderer - Goodstuff RUG
RGWMayael the Anima - Timmy
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher - The One Hit Wonder
RGWMarath, Will of the Wild - Old-school Enchantress Hate
RWRAurelia, the Warleader - Equipment Aggro
GGGReki, the History of Kamigawa - Legends + Banding
UBRSedris, the Traitor King - Creatures with : Ability
BUBPhenax, God of Deception - Mill
*Sidenote, I specifically excluded infinite combos from all these decks with the exception of Marath and the squirrel nest + Earthcraft combo.
Looking for something Aggressive in modern? Try - BR Aggro
Indeed. It is amazing.
Thornbite Staff is in the list, but Viridian Longbow isn't. I tested them both out early and hated them, because I think I literally got one Glissa trigger from them in my testing, and they were do-nothing cards for the times when Glissa wasn't in play (which happens), so I cut them. Over time, Staff worked its way back in because of its ability to hit multiple creatures every turn. I talk a little about why I don't play Longbow in the Cards for Consideration section in the second post as well. Another, smaller reason is that it is another card that interferes with Cursed Totem, which has been excellent since its inclusion, and I don't want too many cards that are nullified by it.
You can always proxy it up (unless your playgroup frowns on that) or play online via Cockatrice, so card availability is not a concern.
Oh, and an update to the list due to the B&R announcement, I replaced Sundering Titan with Sculpting Steel, at least for now.
I will say that it it would probably take Druidic Satchel's slot, at least for testing, but I adore Satchel, so Trading Post will have to perform remarkably well to take its place.
I have rediscovered my love for the deck after I have spent the last couple of months not playing much at all due to the outside world, so I will be trying to devote more time to both the deck and the thread now that things have more or less gone back to normal at home.
Well, as a later post reflected, Trading Post has worked out much better in my current testing than previously. In addition, I don't feel I need more Smokestack fodder, as I don't put myself into a position where Smokestack ever really hurts me unless it's unavoidable. The creatures you mentioned are fine, but I would have to take utility, mana sources, threats, card drawing, or disruption out for them, and they will frequently be irrelevant cards without something else in play (Smokestack, Braids, Skullclamp). In addition, I have my artifact count right about where I want it, so cutting some for those cards is not really that beneficial; if anything, I'd want more artifacts.
Hermit Druid is, of course, a fine card, but this deck doesn't really want or need it. My graveyard fills up with artifacts pretty easily simply by the function of many of the cards, and now that my playgroup is finally playing additional graveyard hate, Hermit Druid becomes less desirable in a non-abusive context.
Again, though, I am trying to see if the current build has the kind of balance I am seeking, so any suggestions have merit.
You use a lot more artifacts and fewer tutors than I do. Of particular note that I see missing are two essentials: Mindslaver and Salvaging Station.
The Mindslaver, while it does draw extreme multiplayer aggro, can get re-used with abusive Glissa killing. Ten mana is not so difficult for out green-fetch decks, and sometimes can get played the following 2nd turn, if you run things into Glissa right.
The Salvaging Station recycles your spellbombs, and in turn, the card advantage tied to them. Obviously this gets multiplied with black's effortless ability to kill things. And any deck that runs Executioner's Capsule absolutely NEEDS a Salvaging Station. You'll thank me later.
~ God, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy