ok, so technically the real General is Ghost Council of Orzhova, but this is a deck about Haakon!
Why To Play Haakon:
You like having a deck that is "inevitable"
You don't want your creatures to ever stay dead
You want your commander to be hidden in your deck instead of in the command zone for everyone to see!
Along with your commander being hidden, the theme of your deck is completely different from what anyone would expect, which changes their mulligans and play styles in the early game
You want to play a lesser used tribe
Knights... from the graveyard!!! How cool is that Sh**!?!
Why NOT To Play Haakon:
You like to only play "good" cards
You don't like Tribal (Play Karador then. A similar deck, minus tribal, plus green)
You want to smash with Giant Monsters, or Combo-Off with tried and true combos
You want your real general to be important to your deck
Deck History/Other stuff that might be boring:
Long long ago somewhere around the middle of Planar Chaos, i put together my first home brewed deck. Yes, it was a T2(standard) Haakon knights deck, and it was pretty good considering i developed it myself instead of net decking for the first time. Also note, that the deck crushed the "best" deck in the format boros, but lost to almost everything else haha (not sure if lost because bad deck, or because bad pilot at the time~)
Anywho, fast forward to late Alara block, and i am completely obsessed with EDH and building decks for it. So i set out to build my second EDH deck, a deck based on my favorite card, Haakon. I choose black/white, and chock it full of every knight that seems fun! It turns out kind of badly~ but it is basically a knight themed weenie deck, no consistency to speak of, but i still love it cause it plays my favorite card!
A while passes and i tune the deck with different tutors, and pick up an entomb etc., and now the deck is a fun and viable deck to play in my meta!
been playing this deck for a while now, and a friend asked me for the list because it was just a fun deck to play with and against.
Strategies
Main: Your Main Strategy with this deck is always going to be to overrun your opponents one by one with little dudes that just won't stay dead (thank you Haakon!)and maybe give them some weapons to bash harder with, or double strike via kinsbaile cavalier and pump them via knight exemplar, wipe their boards clear of blockers with changeling removal nameless inversion and crib swap
Combo: sometimes everyone is just putting up too much board presence and you need to kill everyone at once, else risk the swing back from the people who survive your killing spree. As such, i put in a fun little combo to kill everyone's deck, you need to assemble Basal Sliver, Skeletal Changeling, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, and Bitter Ordeal... what you do is, sacrifice the Skeletal Changeling using Basal Sliver's add mana ability, then recast him with the BB you just got... and repeat 100x for each opponent, then cast Bitter Ordeal with lots of gravestorm'd copies to remove everyone's decks from the game... then pass turn and win~ most people aren't even upset when you win this way since it requires 4 pieces and doesn't use any normal combo pieces (aka, if this combo goes off you only have yourself to blame)
a little background on why i chose some of the cards in the deck
General Ghost Council of Orzhova - well i needed white and black, and he seems better than the other choises... also he can protect haakon from tuck and exile effects, if i fear those i play Ghost council first, then haakon, he is more of an after thought, i tend to forget to play him in most games, as i am too focused on my haakon strategy; but he is a great backup strategy!
Knights: (the backbone of the deck) crusading knight - the biggest creature in the deck, typically he is a 8/8 in a 3 man game before urborg hits play, and the pro-black makes him surprisingly tough to kill Haakon, Stromgald Scourge - best card in the deck, makes your creatures impossible to kill (forever) and makes some of the removal reusable over and over and over (and the consitency is there that i get him every game without question... except once when someone used bitter ordeal against me early) I only wish he had flavor text... i'm sure it would have been badass Hero of Bladehold - the newest addition to my knights line up, haven't had much experience with him yet, but he seems obviously powerful kinsbaile cavalier - do you like it when almost all your creatures have double strike? 'cause i know i do knight-captain of eos - sometimes you need to fog... and other times you want to keep making tokens, either way here is your guy knight exemplar - making everything a little bit bigger and indestructible is pretty awesome, especially once your opponent's outs become wrath effects knight of the white orchid - this deck loves lands, and it loves it when it's land comes with an aggressively costed knight that can keep coming back Mirran crusader - mostly useful for the pro-green/black, double strike is just fluff thanks to kinsbaile cavalier riders of gavony - testing this out, so far i am liking the random "oh look, i have protection from your 2 creatures that happen to share a creature type", also helps me battle other tribal decks skeletal changeling - the cheapest and easiest to cast knight in the deck, good blocker, part of my only infinite combo, also synergizes with necrotic sliver and Haakon, Stromgald scourge to have 4B:destroy target permanent stillmoon cavalier - great blocker with the pro-2 popular spot removal colors, and jumps (other abilities not as important) which makes him a good weilder of equipment that trigger off of hitting a player stromgald crusader - see stillmoon cavalier only cheaper to cast white shield crusader - see stillmoon cavalier only cheaper to cast
Non-Knights: basal sliver - probably the worst card in the whole deck, i only included it because i wanted a "fun" infinite combo, random mana accel sometimes lol corpse connoisseur - amazing Haakon tutor, and unearth for a second choice~ deathbringer liege - turns your general and other colored cards into kill spells, and pumps ALL your knights disciple of bolas - currently testing this guy, will get back on it some other time eternal dragon - not sure why this guy is still in here... i just love him in any white decks that play plains, also blocks random dragons/angels necrotic sliver - answer to pesky permanents + synergy with skeletal changeling rotting rats - if haakon is in your hand, this is one of the best ways to get him back into the grave, burried alive or entomb both get him into the grave, or if he is in your hand too, you can cast, good even if he is countered! rune-scarred demon - tutor on a creature, can be reanimated with ashes of the fallen and haakon, big ol' booty! solemn simulacrum - mana accel/color fixer and happily sac'd dude, i just kinda play him in all decks with basic lands
Artifacts: ashes of the fallen - i like to reanimate my non-knights too sometimes, and i love playing bad cards to their fullest! Much better than conspiracy since it's easier to cast, faster to cast, and doesn't turn off my other random creature type interactions like knight-captain of eos, myslivers, or Riders of Gavony (<--this is the exact card interaction that made me cut conspiracy) Chromatic Lantern - i sometimes had color issues (since everything in the deck is either WW or BB), but since this was printed i have been much happier! Darksteel Ingot - standard artifact based mana accel (gonna replace with Orzhov Keyrune when it gets printed) loxodon warhammer - i kind of oftenly find myself needing a life boost, and this on a knight tends to do the trick mask of memory - amazing card draw, and i pitch a knight, then cast it from grave moratorium stone - i like graveyard hate, i think the graveyard is over utilized in casual and competitive decks (and especially this deck), and i like to pray upon that fact.... also i am waiting for the day when i use it's second ability to kill something! nihil spellbomb - see above, also replaces itself! Orzhov signet - typical multi color deck's mana accell/fixing Orzhov Keyrune - decent mana/color fixing and can block/carry a sword sensei's divining top - i should probably take this out, then i can make it french list legal, otherwise, it's just a good card for draw fixing, so you know when to tutor and when not to sol ring - best mana accel in the game pretty much, might also take out to become french legal sword of fire and ice - this sword gives protection from blue, the only color i don't already have protection from on any of my creatures... also sofai (sword of fire and ice) is an amazing card advantage engine, normally killing small utility creatures, or you swing at an opponent who has no blockers only to use the sword to shock another opponent's creatures! sword of feast and famine - this deck can eat up a lot of mana every turn recasting stuff from the grave, also synergy with underworld connections the discard is just gravy Umezawa's Jitte - best and one of the cheapest equipments ever, many a game i have won by playing a creature turn 2, this turn 3, then equip+swing turn 4+
Planeswalkers: Liliana of the Veil - enables Haakon early if he is in your hand, while also keeping opposing control decks in check, also helps out against indestructible/hexproof creatures Liliana Vess - tutors on a stick all day, or slowly wreck your opponent's hand then mass reanimate!
Enchantments: Aura of Silence - i just love this card, it completely hoses enchantment and artifact centric strategies, while also being removal in itself when they finally land their overcosted bomb Faith's Fetters - universal removal for anything that doesn't have an annoying static or triggered ability! and the lifegain isn't anything to be sneezed at Oblivion Ring - see faith's fetters above, except deals with anything that isn't a land based threat Phyrexian Arena - probably the best ongoing card advantage enchantment there is (considering casting cost) Underworld Connections - currently testing this out... i like the interactions with sword of feast and famine
Instants: crib swap - reusable exile instant with haakon Entomb - grab either haakon, an important knight, or changeling removal Mortify - very versitile removal, and instant speed makes it a prime choice nameless inversion - machine gun the board with haakon, also early on, kills random utility/mana dorks... sometimes removing creature types matters too, but not often swords to plowshares - sometimes you need to exile a creature, now, and for a tiny mana investment.... well here you go! pull from eternity - amazing junk card, everyone always thinks that they have finally gotten rid of Haakon, when suddenly.... heeee's baaaacck (or used on random suspend cards/play politics with a karador player) Return to Dust - the best artifact/enchantment removal spell there is in my opinion, 2 for 1 almost all the time, and exiled, plus the flexibility to cast at instant speed if needed! unmake - exile at instant speed, any combination of white and black mana to cast... it's not bad
Sorceries: demonic collusion - i love tutoring and discarding some knights to get my tutor back increasing ambition - this guy is still in testing, i think i like it
Paladin en-vec - pro red didn't matter that much to me, not many people in my meta play red Pentarch Paladin- i was running this guy for the longest time, and the turn to wait before i could destroy the permanent always meant that i was either dead, or i was recasting him and waiting another turn student of warfare - cheap and can get big? yes, but there are so many sweepers in this deck that i don't want to level this guy up at sorcery speed dakmor lancer - i liked the etb doomblade effect, but at 6 mana it was killing me to recast him Zhalfirin Commander - sooo much mana and so color intensive for such a small pump Kabira Vindicator - that is a lot of mana, 10 mana for a 3/6 with glorious anthem and another 9 mana for +1/+2 and a second anthem... i'd rather play Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, only 7 mana, and it kills some stuff probably on entry
That's all for now, I'll add more in the future. Let me know if you have any questions about my choices, or suggestions/comments
1/15/13
-1 Jeweled Amulet - wasn't really doing anything for my deck, i don't need 3 mana on turn 2 much, and i don't have any other cards to do the same thing... so 1 card in 99 isn't very useful
+1 Hero Of Bladehold - i felt having a finisher knight wasn't too bad of an idea... so he is my biggest threat in the deck now haha(besides crusading knight)
2/7/13
-1 gideon jura - although having a big old planeswalker to kill random things is nice sometimes... planeswalkers tend to put too much of a target on my head, and he wasn't on theme at all
-1 sword of light and shadow - the recursion and life didn't matter enough, and these 2 colors i have protection from the most already
-1 path to exile - always hated giving opponents a land
+1 swords to plowshares - finally picked one up to replace the path to exile
+1 sword of feast and famine - this card helps a lot to let me do more things a turn, because this deck casts multiple creatures per turn a lot! (you know since they are all small, and fragile)
+1 orzhov keyrune - needed more mana, and this offered utility at the same time as color/mana fixing..... so i'll take it
Haakon, The Lord of The Dead
ok, so technically the real General is Ghost Council of Orzhova, but this is a deck about Haakon!
Why To Play Haakon:
Why NOT To Play Haakon:
Deck History/Other stuff that might be boring:
Long long ago somewhere around the middle of Planar Chaos, i put together my first home brewed deck. Yes, it was a T2(standard) Haakon knights deck, and it was pretty good considering i developed it myself instead of net decking for the first time. Also note, that the deck crushed the "best" deck in the format boros, but lost to almost everything else haha (not sure if lost because bad deck, or because bad pilot at the time~)
Anywho, fast forward to late Alara block, and i am completely obsessed with EDH and building decks for it. So i set out to build my second EDH deck, a deck based on my favorite card, Haakon. I choose black/white, and chock it full of every knight that seems fun! It turns out kind of badly~ but it is basically a knight themed weenie deck, no consistency to speak of, but i still love it cause it plays my favorite card!
A while passes and i tune the deck with different tutors, and pick up an entomb etc., and now the deck is a fun and viable deck to play in my meta!
1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
Artifacts - 14
1 ashes of the fallen
1 chromatic lantern
1 darksteel ingot
1 loxodon warhammer
1 mask of memory
1 moratorium stone
1 nihil spellbomb
1 orzhov signet
1 Orzhov Keyrune
1 sensei's divining top
1 sol ring
1 sword of fire and ice
1 sword of feast and famine
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Creatures - 22
1 basal sliver
1 corpse connoisseur
1 crusading knight
1 deathbringer liege
1 disciple of bolas
1 eternal dragon
1 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 kinsbaile cavalier
1 knight-captain of eos
1 knight exemplar
1 knight of the white orchid
1 mirran crusader
1 necrotic sliver
1 riders of gavony
1 rotting rats
1 rune-scarred demon
1 skeletal changeling
1 solemn simulacrum
1 stillmoon cavalier
1 stromgald crusader
1 white shield crusader
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana Vess
Enchantments - 5
1 aura of silence
1 faith's fetters
1 oblivion ring
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 underworld connections
Instants - 8
1 crib swap
1 Entomb
1 mortify
1 nameless inversion
1 swords to plowshares
1 pull from eternity
1 return to dust
1 unmake
Sorceries - 11
1 austere command
1 beseech the queen
1 bitter ordeal
1 buried alive
1 damnation
1 decree of pain
1 demonic collusion
1 Demonic Tutor
1 increasing ambition
1 vindicate
1 wrath of god
Lands - 37
1 Arid Mesa
1 caves of koilos
1 command tower
1 emeria, the sky ruin
1 fetid heath
1 flagstones of trokair
1 godless shrine
1 isolated chapel
1 marsh flats
1 mistveil plains
1 orzhov basilica
9 plains
1 reflecting pool
1 scrubland
1 shizo, death's storehouse
1 strip mine
6 swamp
1 terramorphic expanse
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 vault of the archangel
1 verdant catacombs
1 vivid marsh
1 vivid meadow
1 wasteland
been playing this deck for a while now, and a friend asked me for the list because it was just a fun deck to play with and against.
Combo: sometimes everyone is just putting up too much board presence and you need to kill everyone at once, else risk the swing back from the people who survive your killing spree. As such, i put in a fun little combo to kill everyone's deck, you need to assemble Basal Sliver, Skeletal Changeling, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, and Bitter Ordeal... what you do is, sacrifice the Skeletal Changeling using Basal Sliver's add mana ability, then recast him with the BB you just got... and repeat 100x for each opponent, then cast Bitter Ordeal with lots of gravestorm'd copies to remove everyone's decks from the game... then pass turn and win~ most people aren't even upset when you win this way since it requires 4 pieces and doesn't use any normal combo pieces (aka, if this combo goes off you only have yourself to blame)
a little background on why i chose some of the cards in the deck
General
Ghost Council of Orzhova - well i needed white and black, and he seems better than the other choises... also he can protect haakon from tuck and exile effects, if i fear those i play Ghost council first, then haakon, he is more of an after thought, i tend to forget to play him in most games, as i am too focused on my haakon strategy; but he is a great backup strategy!
Knights: (the backbone of the deck)
crusading knight - the biggest creature in the deck, typically he is a 8/8 in a 3 man game before urborg hits play, and the pro-black makes him surprisingly tough to kill
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge - best card in the deck, makes your creatures impossible to kill (forever) and makes some of the removal reusable over and over and over (and the consitency is there that i get him every game without question... except once when someone used bitter ordeal against me early) I only wish he had flavor text... i'm sure it would have been badass
Hero of Bladehold - the newest addition to my knights line up, haven't had much experience with him yet, but he seems obviously powerful
kinsbaile cavalier - do you like it when almost all your creatures have double strike? 'cause i know i do
knight-captain of eos - sometimes you need to fog... and other times you want to keep making tokens, either way here is your guy
knight exemplar - making everything a little bit bigger and indestructible is pretty awesome, especially once your opponent's outs become wrath effects
knight of the white orchid - this deck loves lands, and it loves it when it's land comes with an aggressively costed knight that can keep coming back
Mirran crusader - mostly useful for the pro-green/black, double strike is just fluff thanks to kinsbaile cavalier
riders of gavony - testing this out, so far i am liking the random "oh look, i have protection from your 2 creatures that happen to share a creature type", also helps me battle other tribal decks
skeletal changeling - the cheapest and easiest to cast knight in the deck, good blocker, part of my only infinite combo, also synergizes with necrotic sliver and Haakon, Stromgald scourge to have 4B:destroy target permanent
stillmoon cavalier - great blocker with the pro-2 popular spot removal colors, and jumps (other abilities not as important) which makes him a good weilder of equipment that trigger off of hitting a player
stromgald crusader - see stillmoon cavalier only cheaper to cast
white shield crusader - see stillmoon cavalier only cheaper to cast
Non-Knights:
basal sliver - probably the worst card in the whole deck, i only included it because i wanted a "fun" infinite combo, random mana accel sometimes lol
corpse connoisseur - amazing Haakon tutor, and unearth for a second choice~
deathbringer liege - turns your general and other colored cards into kill spells, and pumps ALL your knights
disciple of bolas - currently testing this guy, will get back on it some other time
eternal dragon - not sure why this guy is still in here... i just love him in any white decks that play plains, also blocks random dragons/angels
necrotic sliver - answer to pesky permanents + synergy with skeletal changeling
rotting rats - if haakon is in your hand, this is one of the best ways to get him back into the grave, burried alive or entomb both get him into the grave, or if he is in your hand too, you can cast, good even if he is countered!
rune-scarred demon - tutor on a creature, can be reanimated with ashes of the fallen and haakon, big ol' booty!
solemn simulacrum - mana accel/color fixer and happily sac'd dude, i just kinda play him in all decks with basic lands
Artifacts:
ashes of the fallen - i like to reanimate my non-knights too sometimes, and i love playing bad cards to their fullest! Much better than conspiracy since it's easier to cast, faster to cast, and doesn't turn off my other random creature type interactions like knight-captain of eos, my slivers, or Riders of Gavony (<--this is the exact card interaction that made me cut conspiracy)
Chromatic Lantern - i sometimes had color issues (since everything in the deck is either WW or BB), but since this was printed i have been much happier!
Darksteel Ingot - standard artifact based mana accel (gonna replace with Orzhov Keyrune when it gets printed)
loxodon warhammer - i kind of oftenly find myself needing a life boost, and this on a knight tends to do the trick
mask of memory - amazing card draw, and i pitch a knight, then cast it from grave
moratorium stone - i like graveyard hate, i think the graveyard is over utilized in casual and competitive decks (and especially this deck), and i like to pray upon that fact.... also i am waiting for the day when i use it's second ability to kill something!
nihil spellbomb - see above, also replaces itself!
Orzhov signet - typical multi color deck's mana accell/fixing
Orzhov Keyrune - decent mana/color fixing and can block/carry a sword
sensei's divining top - i should probably take this out, then i can make it french list legal, otherwise, it's just a good card for draw fixing, so you know when to tutor and when not to
sol ring - best mana accel in the game pretty much, might also take out to become french legal
sword of fire and ice - this sword gives protection from blue, the only color i don't already have protection from on any of my creatures... also sofai (sword of fire and ice) is an amazing card advantage engine, normally killing small utility creatures, or you swing at an opponent who has no blockers only to use the sword to shock another opponent's creatures!
sword of feast and famine - this deck can eat up a lot of mana every turn recasting stuff from the grave, also synergy with underworld connections the discard is just gravy
Umezawa's Jitte - best and one of the cheapest equipments ever, many a game i have won by playing a creature turn 2, this turn 3, then equip+swing turn 4+
Planeswalkers:
Liliana of the Veil - enables Haakon early if he is in your hand, while also keeping opposing control decks in check, also helps out against indestructible/hexproof creatures
Liliana Vess - tutors on a stick all day, or slowly wreck your opponent's hand then mass reanimate!
Enchantments:
Aura of Silence - i just love this card, it completely hoses enchantment and artifact centric strategies, while also being removal in itself when they finally land their overcosted bomb
Faith's Fetters - universal removal for anything that doesn't have an annoying static or triggered ability! and the lifegain isn't anything to be sneezed at
Oblivion Ring - see faith's fetters above, except deals with anything that isn't a land based threat
Phyrexian Arena - probably the best ongoing card advantage enchantment there is (considering casting cost)
Underworld Connections - currently testing this out... i like the interactions with sword of feast and famine
Instants:
crib swap - reusable exile instant with haakon
Entomb - grab either haakon, an important knight, or changeling removal
Mortify - very versitile removal, and instant speed makes it a prime choice
nameless inversion - machine gun the board with haakon, also early on, kills random utility/mana dorks... sometimes removing creature types matters too, but not often
swords to plowshares - sometimes you need to exile a creature, now, and for a tiny mana investment.... well here you go!
pull from eternity - amazing junk card, everyone always thinks that they have finally gotten rid of Haakon, when suddenly.... heeee's baaaacck (or used on random suspend cards/play politics with a karador player)
Return to Dust - the best artifact/enchantment removal spell there is in my opinion, 2 for 1 almost all the time, and exiled, plus the flexibility to cast at instant speed if needed!
unmake - exile at instant speed, any combination of white and black mana to cast... it's not bad
Sorceries:
demonic collusion - i love tutoring and discarding some knights to get my tutor back
increasing ambition - this guy is still in testing, i think i like it
Paladin en-vec - pro red didn't matter that much to me, not many people in my meta play red
Pentarch Paladin- i was running this guy for the longest time, and the turn to wait before i could destroy the permanent always meant that i was either dead, or i was recasting him and waiting another turn
student of warfare - cheap and can get big? yes, but there are so many sweepers in this deck that i don't want to level this guy up at sorcery speed
dakmor lancer - i liked the etb doomblade effect, but at 6 mana it was killing me to recast him
Zhalfirin Commander - sooo much mana and so color intensive for such a small pump
Kabira Vindicator - that is a lot of mana, 10 mana for a 3/6 with glorious anthem and another 9 mana for +1/+2 and a second anthem... i'd rather play Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, only 7 mana, and it kills some stuff probably on entry
That's all for now, I'll add more in the future. Let me know if you have any questions about my choices, or suggestions/comments
1/15/13
-1 Jeweled Amulet - wasn't really doing anything for my deck, i don't need 3 mana on turn 2 much, and i don't have any other cards to do the same thing... so 1 card in 99 isn't very useful
+1 Hero Of Bladehold - i felt having a finisher knight wasn't too bad of an idea... so he is my biggest threat in the deck now haha(besides crusading knight)
2/7/13
-1 gideon jura - although having a big old planeswalker to kill random things is nice sometimes... planeswalkers tend to put too much of a target on my head, and he wasn't on theme at all
-1 sword of light and shadow - the recursion and life didn't matter enough, and these 2 colors i have protection from the most already
-1 path to exile - always hated giving opponents a land
+1 swords to plowshares - finally picked one up to replace the path to exile
+1 sword of feast and famine - this card helps a lot to let me do more things a turn, because this deck casts multiple creatures per turn a lot! (you know since they are all small, and fragile)
+1 orzhov keyrune - needed more mana, and this offered utility at the same time as color/mana fixing..... so i'll take it
BW Haakon, Stromgald Scourge: Tribal Knights BW
UWG Roon Astral Slide: Cycling and Sliding Based Deck UWG
BW Haakon, Stromgald Scourge: Tribal Knights BW
UWG Roon Astral Slide: Cycling and Sliding Based Deck UWG