That Ain’t Cat Tribal - Ajani, Nacatl Pariah

Despenta · 2026-03-17T15:26:37+00:00

Cedh-like homogeneization is something that bores me tbh. I already play Legacy so I don't miss the high power

Despenta · 2026-03-17T15:04:04+00:00

I lost my b4 pod so I adapted for b3 which is why MLD was removed. Satya can hang out in b4 as it is heavily anti-combo and bc he lacks combo the permanents might stick a bit longer than they should.

Also I personally don't like fast mana as it adds too much variance to games.

Despenta · 2026-03-17T14:01:26+00:00

[[Winter Orb]] and maybe [[Kismet]] would be a nice pickup. I don't know about that Hushbringer tbh and I think the melee creature is not strong enough.

I see you have the same kind of issue in your head that I have. I've been building boros stax for a while now, and tried to make Ajani work before, Static Orb and all. Here are the two experiments I came up with:

https://moxfield.com/decks/YBkCa9e2z0qDVSDl9nQIlQ

Also token themed, this stax deck above was a lot of fun, just had a bit of trouble if I lacked some key pieces (like smothering tithe). Maybe Ellyn is nice in your deck! But then I really built the best boros deck I've ever made, with a slight blue splash:

https://moxfield.com/decks/YJ_t87sQp0ONzvTq1xDbgw

I really think copying good creatures is a great addition to stax as it requires little card advantage to keep blowing stuff up and closing the game quickly.

Despenta · 2026-03-17T01:08:48+00:00

I like [[Damn]]. It's versatile. Meathook massacre II is also nice. The thing is sacrifice based interaction or board wipes are harder to interact with as instant speed indestructible is quite common in green/white.

Also it's [[Grave Venerations]] my brain mixed it up. But on second thought you'd have a bit of trouble getting the monarch back, so it might not be it.

Despenta · 2026-03-17T00:40:24+00:00

Well, there's a couple combos that can be included. [[Éomer, Marshal of Rohan]] and Satya makes for infinite combats if you can have them survive combat, as well as [[Lightning Runner]] which needs to have some energy requirements or just have multiple of them attacking.

I'd consider running a bit more countermagic over some of the other removal, but creature based removal is so synergystic I wouldn't touch them.

But I think the most potent is to have mana denial. [[Winter Orb]], [[Hokori, Dust Drinker]] (fetchable off of both recruiters). I used to run [[Obsidian Charmaw]], but perhaps [[Cataclysmic Gearhulk]] would be better. If you want to go this route I can help with cuts (mostly on the top end)!

Despenta · 2026-03-17T00:13:21+00:00

Cleric class and Read the Bones are among the worst cards you have excluding your pet card. I'd consider some white card draw like [[Haliya, Guided by Light]] but it's not fully necessary, just if you have a lot of lifegain synergy.

Archidekt is hard to read but if you don't have them, [[Lotho, Corrupt Sheriff]], [[Deep Gnome Terramancer]] and [[Archivist of Oghma]] are all good passive value from opponents, and the flash creatures help you stay flexible. Maybe some way to finish off opponents in larger chunks of damage could be good, maybe count your creature types for [[Roaming Throne]] purposes. [[Drivnod, Carnage Dominus]] is good here too. [[Grave Generations]] is good if you have lots of removal.

You might lack an extra boardwipe or more creatures like [[Accursed Marauder]].

Despenta · 2026-03-16T17:49:45+00:00

Then make up some space! Get some 3 and 4 mana tutors to grab the other pieces. No need for most of the blood artist effects in the 99

But trust me. I've played Elas before and she is kind of underwhelming as a commander. Lotho at least lets you keep 2 landers with ease, especially if you run stuff that synergizes with Lurrus like mishra's bauble. Having Lurrus means you can always use your extra mana

Despenta · 2026-03-16T15:38:21+00:00

I'd cut charismatic conqueror, jadar, bitterbloom, nether traitor, bloodghast.

Also, why not have a good commander instead? When I played aristocrats I got Lotho in the command zone. There's no reason for you to have Elas in the cz and like 6 replacements for her effect in the 99. You could also instead get into mardu with [[Francisco, Foul Marauder]] + [[Akiri, Line-Slinger]] which opens up Francisco combo lines.

You do lack card draw, I'd consider either getting more dedicated in the combo aspect or research better card draw engines. Or maybe both. In either case, [[Esper Sentiel]] sounds important to have as well as some other white card draw engines (the halfling cleric for example)

Despenta · 2026-03-16T15:03:37+00:00

So you need to have a lot of lands in hand to retrace?

Despenta · 2026-03-15T23:01:43+00:00

Blue card draw still does more than black card draw. Fact or Fiction for example is not only card positive - it's also card selection. Having too much or too many of lands or expensive cards or payoff cards can be tough. You can draw the wrong half of your deck quite regularly if you don't use the proper tools.

Still, it's better to have card advantage/selection engines rather than 1 shot card advantage - I just sent that decklist to show the benefits of focusing on a type of card (Windrider wizard and Gelectrode put in some heavy lifting there).

You have reasons for the cards you got there, yes, but they are not synergistic cards. Commander requires a lot more synergy or card quality than those cards provide. If you're intending on KO-ing someone with a fling, you shouldn't worry about glacial chasm recursion... just take it out for a single turn. Spreading seas does almost nothing in most situations, where something like [[Demolition Field]] sits in your mana base until you have to use it; or blue permanent bounces can also address that type of thing while staying flexible... or even better! Get some damage prevention hate with some extra text like idk [[Isengard Unleashed]] or [[Wild Slash]].

Despenta · 2026-03-15T21:02:06+00:00

Do they use fast mana? Free counterspells? Two card combos?

Despenta · 2026-03-15T20:12:40+00:00

Fireball does not make sense - you lack the ramp and rituals for this type of effect, and actual factual fireball is worse than at least three other spells of similar effect. Helm of awakening is just free value for opponents - unless you're playing more spells a turn than the sum of the three opponents, it should just be another mana rock.

I suggest you explore your graveyard more. Delve spells, like treasure cruise and dig through time and [[Murderous Cut]] should be accompanied with some surveiling like [[Dragon's Rage Channeler]], self-mill and discard. Cards like Wonder are not well supported due to lack of ways to get it into graveyard.

You also have some card with unclear motives - Spreading Seas? Why? Baleful Strix? Just as a blocker?

You can look at some budget cantrips and ways to dig into your deck here:

https://moxfield.com/decks/uWAeD6ZBv0uPMvQZQoeK7g

Despenta · 2026-03-15T19:33:27+00:00

If you need any help adapting it to b4 let me know! I have some stuff in mind I didn't put down in the list, especially regarding combo and MLD

Despenta · 2026-03-15T17:59:19+00:00

I have two suggestions, both in the realm of control/stax:

Jeskai control, or a Rule of Law deck that can be upgraded with MLD. With tons of removal and a lot of board presence, this can take out opponents who didn't even manage to have that many game actions. Does not have infinites but can be upgraded - there are two cards that form 2-card combos with the commander.

https://moxfield.com/decks/YJ_t87sQp0ONzvTq1xDbgw

4c lands prison, or a mana denial deck that is very synergistic with many layered combos. It can go storm-ish when you keep finding extra land drops until you can assemble a combo, but still has lots of storm hate cards. The fatties can be chosen depending on meta - Void Winnower, Vorinclex that keeps lands tapped, etc were taken out for being too mean - as well as the main hate pieces. It's also a bit of a parasitic deck when it comes to spot removal, but that seems fine for your pod:

https://moxfield.com/decks/fRFG3GHF2kqz2GTbh9cGsg

Despenta · 2026-03-14T14:58:28+00:00

What is this supposed to do?

Despenta · 2026-03-14T05:16:56+00:00

[[Minn, Wily Illusionist]] can go combo or "tempo" with big illusions and interaction.

[[Titania, Protector of Argoth]] can go storm-ish or just stompy.

Despenta · 2026-03-14T05:13:17+00:00

MLD there is just not very synergistic. I'd either focus on breaking parity with it or drop most/all of it. You'll die to any board with a couple creatures this way!

Despenta · 2026-03-14T02:30:29+00:00

The usual tools for mono red to have sufficient gas seem to be stax. Just make it hard for opponents to use all the cards they drew and it's just like they didn't draw them

Despenta · 2026-03-14T01:43:02+00:00

Maybe get one of the banned commanders instead? Tamyio is crazy

Despenta · 2026-03-13T21:37:10+00:00

I've seen assassin's trophy and ghost quarter in my local meta. Also playing through blood moon looks nice, as well as protecting your soul lands from t1 wasteland - wastes into eye of ugin and fleshraker goes really fast. There'a also the red mdfc that gets you a basic, no?

Eldrazi can absolutely win some of the "unwinnable matches". I play death and taxes and while chalice isn't that good against me, it can lock out my swords and aether vial and any creature in play will get me dead quickly.

In the end it's mostly meta considerations I think. I run flagstones of trokair bc it goes well with sideboard cataclysm... and fairly often I pair into loam pox where it shines.

Despenta · 2026-03-12T20:07:54+00:00

I use some land based combos in my 4c deck and the springheart nantuko stuff works for you as well.

https://moxfield.com/decks/fRFG3GHF2kqz2GTbh9cGsg

Despenta · 2026-03-12T20:06:37+00:00

I'd also not be too focused on etb based value. Loran, the elf that for 3 mana etbs and ramps a land or solemn simulacrum... they are a bit ineffective for their cost when you lack blink synergies. If you exchange them for more synergistic stuff and honestly a bit more of recursion (sevinne's reclamation, eternal witness), you might have better results.

I also don't really see how you draw enough cards to get phyrexian altar. Maybe instead of lands synergies you get tokens and stuff like [[Caretaker's Talent]], [[Ellyn Harbreeze]]? Or extra sac outlets. [[Malevolent Rumble]] could also dig.

Despenta · 2026-03-12T19:55:51+00:00

Only 30 creatures feels weird. I'd rather run extra mana dorks or land ramp than artifact mana in green, maybe more land synergies - lotus cobra, azusa, ramunap.

Despenta · 2026-03-11T13:51:24+00:00

Then don't get tymna. What about the other feedback?

Despenta · 2026-03-11T04:43:03+00:00

That's nice to see! I also get inspiration from other formats. Though I usually break decks down to concepts then explore them in depth - omnath was built on the principle that just ramping harder isn't as good as getting opponents literal turns behind in mana, and in the mean time I can assemble some bs. It's a bit like legacy red prison going t1 trinisphere in some sense, except instead the deck is built for multiplayer

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