EDH- Daxos the Returned

[WWolfe]

http://deckstats.net/decks/6217/404058-daxos-the-returned-edh/en

The working theory being gain life & tokens while pillow forting and building up enchantment count while still staying somewhat aggressive to keep the opponent on their heels.

There's nothing greatly overpowering about this deck, but the combination of a good portion of the parts is something I've been wanting to try for a while. If it works, it works. If not, then I at least had fun building it. Curious to see how it does in play-testing.

[G. Moto]

     If you add doomwake giant and auramancer then you can recycle enchantments AND get rid of creatures easier just by playing enchantments. Also having some of the other enchantment and constellation creatures from theros like thoughtrender lamia, dreadbringer lampads, and spiteful returned would all be good additions to this deck.

[WWolfe]

Doomwake Giant I've considered but want to watch the mana curve.

Auramancer isn't a bad card and I have her sideboarded atm. (She's an awesome target for Sun Titan- 2 for the price of 1 essentially).

The other constellation creatures you mentioned, only Spiteful Returned really gives bang for the mana cost. Though as I playtest and see how the deck curves out I may change my mind on that.

[G. Moto]

     Fair enough. The big thing (outside mana curves ) is that the creatures and cards effects work towards the goal and stability of the deck. Because when you're running a 100 card deck having 1 doomwake giant wouldn't hurt you too much, especially if you have artifacts that make more mana for you. Also With the other constellation creatures their effects will be stacking and triggering constantly because the majority of this deck will be constellations. That will be an investment worth having.

[ladof]

Starfield of Nyx might be a good addition here, too. Since you have a lot of enchantments, it's a solid recycle for them and can turn the non-auras into creatures.

[WWolfe]

In my meta, Thoughtrender would be nothing more than 6 mana cost removal bait with how much people target discard effects. There's a lot of speedy decks at my LGS so I have to really consider mana curve when building so that I can get the most out of each turn. I really considered the other constellation creatures when putting this deck together for the very reason you mentioned, I just have to see how playtesting goes and if the deck plays at a pace where I can try to utilize them. I do appreciate the input, please don't take it as though I don't.

Starfield of Nyx, crap, cannot believe I didn't think of that...especially since I have it in the current build of my Daxos of Meletis EDH. I actually like it better for this deck than Whip of Erebos. I do believe I'll be making that change at least for playtesting to see how it works out.

[G. Moto]

Well at least you're getting good advice. So in your area what's your meta like? IS it mostly control or combos?

[WWolfe]

Mostly aggro with a few control players mixed in and the occasional combo deck.

The aggro players have a good amount of removal and the control players love to pillow fort. My best success has been playing somewhere in the middle at this shop (I moved here about 7 months ago for my company). My Skullbriar deck is my favorite deck (heavy aggro), but it gets targeted quickly now that everyone has played it a few times as it makes itself a target rather quickly.

Love my Animar deck as well, but with the banning of Prophet of Kruphix I'm in the middle of retooling it.

[G. Moto]

     My only thing is against aggro decks, wouldn't the best strategy be to punish the enemy for playing too many creatures? Or perhaps to keep them from playing creatures at all using discard or mill effects? I've played dozens of different deck types both in this game and other TCG card games. I'm not underestimating the task that you have in front of you but rather see it from a different angle. If you know aggro is prevalent and control is right up there as well then why not study the playstyles of those decks (not just the cards themselves)? Just an example, if you know that meren of clan nel toth is big in people's commander decks then why not use agent of erebos to exile their entire graveyard. Or if R/W giants is a popular deck then how about playing enchantments that keep your opponents from attacking or make them take damage for doing so (cards like sinister possession would do nicely)? Shaping up your deck will be the easiest part once you find out exactly what you need to fight against. Gear your deck towards combating aggro decks then side board for control decks. Am I too far off here or am I hitting the nail on the head a little? 

[WWolfe]

Mostly the shop here does multiplayer EDH pods, so while you're playing against an aggro deck more times than not there's a control player at the table as well so you're deck needs to hold up against both at the same time.

The aggro decks expect the discard & mill effects, thus why I mentioned Thoughtrender being 6 cmc removal bait while the control deck, and include ways to nullify them to some degree.

Agent of Erebos is the one Constellation creature I don't have included atm that I've been eyeing all night debating which card to switch it out for, not so much because of graveyard shenanigans like Meren or dredge, etc.(only one or two decks in the meta really play graveyard tricks like that, one being my Karador) but because a couple of the control decks include ways to bounce Snapcaster Mage for his flashback ability.

If my meta included more 1v1 games I would completely agree with you, but since it's mostly multiplayer (the last 4 tournaments have been pods of 3 or 4 with the winners advancing to another pod of 3 or 4, etc.), the trick is finding the balance to hold your own against each of the deck types that see the most play. That's why, for example, I have Blind Obedience along with No Mercy and Ghostly Prison to slow down aggro players with ways such as Sun Titan, Treasury Thrull, and the swaps suggested including Auramancer & Starfield of Nyx to bring things back from the graveyard against the control decks' counters & removal.

[G. Moto]

     Ok that makes more sense. I've been to modern and standard tournaments but I didn't know that some places had EDH tournaments. My friends play it casually but it definitely sounds a lot more interesting than the conventional 1v1. So the premise that you're going for with your deck is to have its intended play style be geared up enough to stand its ground in a multi player format? Sounds like you'd want cards that either target multiple players, creatures or have effects that can be used more than once. Have you considered cards that have multi-trigger effects? Or perhaps you should utilize the element of surprise by using some graveyard shenanigans of your own. After all the orzhov are fond of using their dead to do dirty jobs. You could always try undercity informer with spirit tokens made by hallowed spiritkeeper, since he's CMC 3 or less he would be a perfect target for your sun titan and would trigger a lot of your other creatures effects. Or you could try adding blessed spirits since you'll be playing a lot of enchantments any way. Also I do see that life gain/loss is somewhat of a recurring theme in your deck. Would you like to place more of an emphasis on this?

[WWolfe]

Good call on Blessed Spirits.

I want to include life gain but not sure if I want to place more emphasis on it until I playtest it, which unfortunately won't be until next week sometime due to my work schedule.

[G. Moto]

I completely understand, I have to go to work tomorrow but it is worth a thought. Having numerous spirit tokens with first strike and life link would be a good way to play. Also look at innistrad's White an Black cards as well. Spiteful shadows can be nasty if the creature being damage can't die.

[WWolfe]

Yup, I have a friend that runs a infect deck, so I included Spiteful Shadows just to be able to convince him not to swing or block with his Blightsteel Colossus (because Blightsteel has infect it deals damage in the form of poison counters it deals the damage to it's owner in the form of Poison counters).

Really awesome the first time he swung out with it and I flashed out my own Blightsteel to block his (thanks to Savage Summoning). His Blightsteel died but mine survived because of the +1/+1 counter from Savage Summoning, but the reflected damage took him out of the game. I sat there unscathed smiling while he looked at me like "wait, what just happened". Especially when I paid the BB to sac Vampire Hexmage and remove the -1/-1 counters from my Blightsteel during my upkeep, played Rogue's Passage as my land for turn, and won with my Blightsteel dealing the 11 poison counters to the other remaining player. (we play 15 poison counters is kill, my friend had already dealt the guy 7)

Never again will I luck into things playing out just how perfectly they did that first time with it.

[G. Moto]

I've got a B/G infect deck but I don't really want to play it. I can but it'd be too easy to kill people with it. Creatures that have first strike, trample, flying and infect is just disgusting to play against. But I'm glad things work out so well for you. I came up with the spiteful shadows combo when I put it in my B/R innistrad deck. That with harvest pyre is a game ender.