I’m trying something new this week. It's very rewarding to Make EDH Weird all the time, but it can be a challenge to stay ahead and test so many diverse strategies. This new series will be different. I’m calling it Stripped Out. The genesis came from some people at Wizards describing Commander precons. The long and short is that the decks are good but they have signpost cards for people to remove to upgrade a deck. Now, I’ve never purchased or played a precon before but I would feel a little cheated if I purchased something that was telling me it was inadequate and needed more money invested. With this new series I’m going to do just that. Take out a whole mismatched theme from a deck and make something new. This will not be an upgrade series but rather a new direction for the deck or an opportunity to let a less played legend or strategy shine.
Since it’s a new series I’m going to start with a newer deck and legend, Kasla, The Broken Halo. The original deck is themed around the convoke mechanic. People love cost reduction strategies. I never really understood convoke though. Its an overcosted spell that I won’t get a discount for after a board wipe when I need to start rebuilding. And I like to throw out my fair share of board wipes. Regardless, tapping my creatures for mana just means I didn’t tap them to attack. I would just play a mana dork if I wanted to build into a fragile ramp plan. At least it can help pay for all my spells, not just the ones with the key word. But lucky for her Kasla has some other great key words and is in one of my preferred color combinations. I’ll keep some of the non creature spells with convoke because drawing cards is an easy sell off of her ability, but only the non creatures. I want to lean into Kasla’s identity so I’m stripping out all of the creatures in the deck. I’m saving those slots for Allies.
Ally is a great tribe if you’re looking to be rewarded by over committing to the board, which is admittedly one of my weak points as a player. I have a 5 color General Tazri deck in my personal collection that I genuinely love to play. Normally I avoid 5 color decks because they eat up so many resources in terms of the mana base. I avoid that with General Tazri because mine is secretly a Gates/Maze’s End deck. Let me know if you want me to write up that one.
Getting back on track, Kasla opens up an opportunity to play a 3 color Ally deck. I take tribal very seriously and only allow creatures that are of that tribe or make tokens of that tribe for a great payoff. I would never pair Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder or Akiri, Line Slinger with a non Ally just to get access to 1 or 2 additional colors. That means my options for Ally Tribal decks had previously been limited Tazri, 2 mono colors, Gruul, Boros, or Azorious. Great color combinations for sure, but none with enough density or payoff to make a competitive deck. I will only be including creatures with the Ally type in this deck. Creatures like Firemantle Mage, Kabira Evangel and Kor Entangler. These creatures help clear a path for my army to get in for damage. Murasa Pyromancer will further punch a hole through enemy defenses by clearing out blockers or other troublesome creatures. Hero of Goma Fada keeps my attackers safe going into combat but can be timed right to protect against an opposing board wipe.
There is other value that Allies bring besides just profitably attacking. Tuktuk Scrapper is repeatable removal that happens to do damage to my opponents too. Ondu Cleric gains a ton of life without much set up. Sea Gate Loremaster can keep me stocked with new cards. It doesn’t play well with convoke on its own with that tap ability though. This works great with Munda, Ambush leader who can sculpt the top of the deck with more allies which the Loremaster will draw for me to play to further fuel Munda and the Loremaster the next turn.
That’s a lot on the replacement strategy so far. But what’s left behind from the original Convoke plan? Hour of Reckoning remains for sure. There are some token producers for Allies specifically so it won’t be a total blow out. Conclave Tribunal is more targeted removal. I find these kind of exile enchantments work well against Commanders. People don’t want to wait to draw into enchantment removal to get it back on the cheap. Artistic Refusal gives me a counter option and some draw. It's so pricey though so not super reliable. Ephemeral Shields and Chant of Vhitu-Ghazi act as protection in their own way. Wand of the World Soul is pricey ramp but it extends Convoke to my Allies so it can be a greater cost reducer on a turn I can’t attack. Collective Effort is less conventional. It doesn’t say Convoke, but any extra modes work similarly.
I have a couple more options to fuel convoke as well as move my Ally plan forward. Allied Reinforcements and Unified Front get me token creatures on my turn. This is great for multiple triggers of my Rally type abilities. Captain’s Claws works on attack, so I need to already have a creature to make this pay off, but that token comes in before my attackers are in grave danger so the payoffs will still be worth it. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar makes a beefier token but the Rally trigger I can get is really where its at. I have Join The Ranks and Retreat To Emeria to round it out. Join The Ranks is an Instant so I’ll hold onto this to make the timing work out in my favor. You might not think that’s the case with Retreat, but if I play a fetch land like Evolving Wilds I can wait to crack it until the trigger I get from the token entering the battlefield is more relevant, like if I have Hero of Goma Fada out and someone casts a board wipe.
What else is new to round out the adds? Brave the Sands, Radiant Destiny, Jeskai Ascendency and To Arms! I just wrote that sentence to save on the punctuation. Vigilance is extra beneficial as I can push forward my attack plan without leaving myself vulnerable or use those surviving attackers to power my convoke spells. The untapping almost works better than vigilance as it not only powers the attacking and blocking plan put also enables creatures like Seagate Loremaster multiple times a turn. That’s why I run Jeskai Ascendency and To Arms! Did it again. The land base I plan to keep mostly unchanged with this series. I'm reducing the overall land count here but also adding in an Ally Encampment because it just makes sense. I'll remove one basic and Skycloud Expanse for the encampment.
What else stayed from the precon? Not much when it comes to non land cards. Wear//Tear and Austere Command are solid and prevalent removal options for these types of decks. Fractured Powerstone and Commander’s Sphere add to my ramp options. That is not a lot. That leaves only 14/62 non land cards the deck started with. With this being the first in the series I’m not sure if 22.5% is a high, low, or where we want to be.
Here’s the List
Kasla, The Broken Halo
Angel Of Renewal Allied Reinforcements Artistic Refusal
Chasm Guide Captain's Claws Chant Of Vhitu Ghazi
Firemantle Mage Gideon, Ally Of Zendikar Conclave Tribunal
Hero Of Goma Fada Join The Ranks Devouring Light
Highland Berserker Unified Front Ephemeral Shields
Kabira Evangel Retreat To Emeria Hour Of Reckoning
Kazandu Blademaster Oath Of Gideon Meeting Of Minds
Kazuul Warlord Crush Contraband Wand Of The Worldsoul
Kor Bladewhirler Collective Effort Fractured Powerstone
Lantern Scout Crush Of Tentacles Commander's Sphere
Makindi Patrol Terminus Arcane Signet
Munda, Ambush Leader Hallowed Burrial Wear//Tear
Murasa Pyromancer Hold The Gates Austere Command
Ondu Champion Brave The Sands Blue Sun's Zenith
Resolute Blademaster Radiant Destiny Jeskai Ascendency
Seagate Loremaster Wayfairer's Bauble Obelisk Of Urd
Seascape Aerialist Jeskai Banner Clever Concealment
Talus Paladin Mana Geyser Transcendent Message
Tuktuk Scrapper Reverberate City On Fire
Ondu Cleric Star Compas
Jwari Shapeshifter To Arms!
Island x7 Plains x8 Mountain x7
Ally Encampment Evolving Wilds Frostboil Snarl
Command Tower Exotic Orchard Furycalm Snarl
Kher Keep Rogue's Passage Mystic Monastery Temple of Triumph Terramorphic Expanse Port Town Temple of Enlightenment Prairie Stream Temple of Epiphany
Let me know what you think about the deck and the format for this series. Should I try to keep more cards or gut the original deck? Keep too many and the deck can feel too similar, too few and what would even be the point of starting with the precon?
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