Monday, June 30, 2014

Commander Mondays: Revamping a Sek'Kuar Deck

So I built what I initially thought to be a really awesome EDH deck and it couldn't be defeated for a while, but then I met competitive EDH decks, like a mono-green Elf tribal EDH deck, and then I started losing in all of my games, and I lost very badly. This article is all about what I started with (random cards plus cards legal around Avacyn Restored's release) and what I'm ending with. I don't play with this as much now because I have a really good deck that starts with "S" and ends with "livers" but I want to ramp this up to be more competitive.

My commander for this deck is set and will remain as Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, it's just some of the other cards that will be changing. So let's take a look at the original:




Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper

Legendary Creatures (2)

x1 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper (Commander)
x1 Radha, Heir to Keld

Creatures (22)

x1 Arc Runner
x1 Birds of Paradise
x1 Blood Artist
x1 Broodmate Dragon
x1 Darksteel Sentinel
x1 Dread Warlock
x1 Duskdale Wurm
x1 Elvish Visionary
x1 Flameblast Dragon
x1 Hound of Griselbrand
x1 Infectious Horror
x1 Jund Sojourners
x1 Monstrous Carabid
x1 Nacatl Savage
x1 Scab-Clan Mauler
x1 Spined Wurm
x1 Streetbreaker Wurm
x1 Tyrant of Discord
x1 Wall of Bone
x1 Wall of Fire
x1 Wall of Vines
x1 Wurmskin Forger

Instants (9)

x1 Fires of Undeath
x1 Fling
x1 Giant Growth
x1 Hideous End
x1 Jund Charm
x1 Lightning Bolt
x1 Naturalize
x1 Plummet
x1 Undying Evil

Sorceries (12)

x1 Act of Treason
x1 Appetite for Brains
x1 Blessings of Nature
x1 Bountiful Harvest
x1 Demolish
x1 Exploding Borders
x1 Explore
x1 Gift of the Gargantuan
x1 Grave Exchange
x1 Pillar of Flame
x1 Rain of Thorns
x1 Yawning Fissure

Enchantments (9)

x1 Crusher Zendikon
x1 Electropotence
x1 Khalni Heart Expedition
x1 Leyline of Lightning
x1 Leyline of Punishment
x1 Leyline of Vitality
x1 Leyline of the Void
x1 Soul Stair Expedition
x1 Zektar Shrine Expedition

Artifacts (12)

x1 Armillary Sphere
x1 Black Mana Battery
x1 Expedition Map
x1 Green Mana Battery
x1 Mossfire Egg
x1 Obelisk of Jund
x1 Oblivion Stone
x1 Onyx Goblet
x1 Red Mana Battery
x1 Star Compass
x1 Trailblazer's Boots
x1 Veinfire Borderpost

Lands (34)

x1 Ancient Ziggurat
x1 Bojuka Bog
x1 Evolving Wilds
x1 Golgari Rot Farm
x1 Kazandu Refuge
x1 Khalni Garden
x1 Lavaclaw Reaches
x1 Madblind Mountain
x1 Piranha Marsh
x1 Polluted Mire
x1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
x1 Sapseep Forest
x1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
x1 Smoldering Spires
x1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
x1 Tectonic Edge
x1 Teetering Peaks
x1 Terramorphic Expanse
x1 Turntimber Grove
x5 Swamp
x5 Mountain
x5 Forest

I won multiple games with this deck, but it is honestly pretty bad... So let me fix that...

First and foremost is the direction I want to take this. The deck originally was pretty much anything that matched the colors of Sek'Kuar that I just happened to have. Let's change this up a bit. Let's add graveyard shenanigans, and how about land destruction as well? Let's have fun with this.


Legendary Creatures (5)

x1 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper (Commander)
x1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
x1 Kresh the Bloodbraided
x1 Radha, Heir to Keld
x1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Creatures (26)

x1 Arc Runner
x1 Birds of Paradise
x1 Blood Artist
x1 Blood Bairn
x1 Broodmate Dragon
x1 Champion of Stray Souls
x1 Darksteel Sentinel
x1 Deathrite Shaman
x1 Dragonlair Spider
x1 Duskdale Wurm
x1 Eater of Hope
x1 Fate Unraveler
x1 Flameblast Dragon
x1 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
x1 Hellkite Overlord
x1 Hound of Griselbrand
x1 Nessian Wilds Ravager
x1 Reaper of the Wilds
x1 Scab-Clan Mauler
x1 Scavenging Ooze
x1 Scourge of Skola Vale
x1 Trench Wurm
x1 Tyrant of Discord
x1 Wall of Fire
x1 Wall of Vines
x1 Zhur-Taa Druid

Instants (9)

x1 Fated Return
x1 Fling
x1 Giant Growth
x1 Hideous End
x1 Jund Charm
x1 Lightning Bolt
x1 Naturalize
x1 Plummet
x1 Undying Evil

Sorceries (11)

x1 Appetite for Brains
x1 Exploding Borders
x1 Explore
x1 Flesh//Blood
x1 Gift of the Gargantuan
x1 Grave Exchange
x1 Harmonize
x1 Pillar of Flame
x1 Praetor's Grasp
x1 Rain of Thorns
x1 Yawning Fissure

Enchantments (4)

x1 Crusher Zendikon
x1 Electropotence
x1 Leyline of Punishment
x1 Soul Stair Expedition

Artifacts (9)

x1 Armillary Sphere
x1 Ashnod's Altar
x1 Expedition Map
x1 Firewild Borderpost
x1 Lightning Greaves
x1 Obelisk of Jund
x1 Ring of Three Wishes
x1 Trailblazer's Boots
x1 Veinfire Borderpost

Planeswalkers (5)

x1 Garruk Relentless
x1 Garruk Wildspeaker
x1 Liliana Vess
x1 Sarkhan Vol
x1 Vraska the Unseen

Lands (31)

x1 Command Tower
x1 Dragonskull Summit
x1 Encroaching Wastes
x1 Evolving Wilds
x1 Jund Panorama
x1 Lavaclaw Reaches
x1 Opal Palace
x1 Piranha Marsh
x1 Rootbound Crag
x1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
x1 Sulfurous Springs
x1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
x1 Tectonic Edge
x1 Teetering Peaks
x1 Temple of Abandon
x1 Terramorphic Expanse
x1 Thespian's Stage
x1 Turntimber Grove
x1 Woodland Cemetery
x4 Swamp
x4 Mountain
x4 Forest


Scroll back up to the top of this article and reread Sek'Kuar's ability. Done? Good. His ability inspired the inclusion of the sacrifice and graveyard abilities. The goal is to sacrifice creatures, replace them with hasty 3/1 black and red Graveborn creatures, then use the creatures for some other effect and use them later.

Deathrite Shaman  Scavenging Ooze  Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

These three cards are pretty crucial to the deck. Deathrite Shaman can deal with almost anything (except artifacts, enchantments, or Planeswalkers) found in graveyards and give you an added boost. Scavenging Ooze can take care of creatures in the graveyard and also give a boost to you and a creature. Skullbriar is great because you can bring it back using several graveyard manipulation and he keeps his counters so Scourge of Skola Vale and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord can effectively utilize their abilities.

Even since starting this article, I considered a couple more cards that could definitely improve this deck: Varolz, the Scar-Striped and Elixir of Immortality.

Varolz, the Scar-Striped  Elixir of Immortality

Varolz would improve creatures because you could then scavenge them and add their power to others you control, and then Elixir of Immortality could help return spells. Reevaluating the new form of the deck, Arc Runner and Crusher Zendikon could stand to go and be replaced by Varolz and Elixir.

Granted there are some more modifications that could be made, but it is a good start and is relatively affordable.

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