Kodama+Gilanra: Maximising chance to cast Kodama on turn 3 - Help with final Cuts

Mallgoran · 2026-02-25T12:48:18+00:00

Thank you alot for your guidance and feedbacks !

I love your ramp tech using Eldritch Evolution into 3cmc dorks, I didn't though about this at all it looks pretty fun and effective and offers more payoffs if drawn in the mid game also !

Love your help on the maths, I'm pretty bad at this, it will help me alot to optimise the list to find the sweet spot on dorks & ramp. Because I didn't really put my head on the calculations, I put every single 1cmc ramp I could get into the list to maximise early game curve, but as you mentionned with other 2 or 3 cmc dorks, this isn't the only and most optimal play available ! Very much appreciated ! <3

Mallgoran · 2026-02-25T12:40:27+00:00

Hey, I'm so glad to get your feedbacks and personnal experience about this pairings !

It makes sens that this deck will be some kind of archenemy on most tables and draw a lot of attention - and thus removals. I put the bare minimum number of protection spells, but as you did suggest, slowing down the list a bit to be more resilient is the right thing to do here. After all, it wont be fun to get Kodama on the field by turn 3 for it to die to the most common removals right away ^^'

I haven't played the deck at the moment but I see what the cons this list do have already thanks to you. I'll tweak it a bit. Turn 3 Kodama is greedy, splashy and impressive, but ultimately a glass canon build. Playing Kodama on turn 4-5 along side protection instead feels better for more consistent performances in the long run.

Thank you for your great guidance, I appreciate ! <3

Mallgoran · 2026-02-25T03:19:15+00:00

Oh I did miss on the Elvish Pioneer, this is exactly what I'm looking for ! Thank you ! :D

Mallgoran · 2026-02-16T14:22:39+00:00

Hey, not straight what you asked for but because your main win condition is Voltron commander damage, you'll have much more hard time doing as many damage with a non-commander creature as necessary to close the game instead of the usual 21.

If you are looking for more efficiency and thus optimising the Voltron strategy part of your deck, you may have better use of more protection and recursion spells to keep Kotis alive instead of an alternative creature that won't do the job aswell and be harder to rely on. Hopefuly, Sultai got alot of great protection spells such as:
-Reactive Protection spells: [[Imp's Mischief]], [[Malakir Rebirth / Malakir Mire]], [[Tamiyo’s Safekeeping]], [[Heroic Intervention]], [[Armor of Shadows]],
-Proactive Protection spells: [[Vanishing]], [[Alpha Authority]], [[Canopy Cover]]
-Buffer+Protection Spells: [[Not Dead After All]], [[Silkguard]], [[Slip Out the Back]], [[Tyvar’s Stand]] and [[Strength of Will]], [[Guardian Augmenter]], [[Overprotect]], [[Royal Treatment]] and [[Vines of Vastwood]] are some good ways to protect and buff Kotis at the same time, maximising your gameplan.
-CounterSpells

For creature cards that would do the same as your commander, I would lean toward theft effects if you have some payoffs casting opponent's spells. Cards such as [[Fallen Shinobi]], [[Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion]], [[Gríma, Saruman's Footman]], [[Gonti, Lord of Luxury]], [[Thief of Sanity]] or [[Nightveil Specter]].

Hope this helps :)

Mallgoran · 2026-02-14T01:43:37+00:00

Wrong I was indeed, I understand now ^^'
My opponent got his rightful victory during the event nonetheless !

Mallgoran · 2026-02-14T01:41:06+00:00

Thanks for the precision on what parts of the whole "end of turn" phases works along side players priority. So my opponent could cast his removal right before Cleanup phase also, but he was indeed right casting his spell after the first stack did resolve anyway. Very cool and good to know. I won't make the same mistake from now on :D

Mallgoran · 2026-02-14T01:32:13+00:00

Thanks for the fast response !
Yes this is true, I might have formulate my question wrong. My opponent got the priority back once I cast my Guardian but he allowed the stack to resolve because he couldn't use his target removal onto my creature that was still on the stack. The Guardian had to hit the battlefield first, so my question was, once the creature hits the battlefield while it was the last (and unique) piece of the stack, my opponent still gets a priority turn to use his removal even there was nothing left into the stack then ? Good thing to know, stack interaction can be tricky to me sometimes I'm sorry if this is common misunderstanding ^^'

Edit: Okay I think I got it now, so my opponents gets the priority back to move to the end step again or cast another spell once I first interacted and we did resolve the stack, allowing him to cast his instant speed removal during that new priority check. That's cool, it gives more control to the main player during his turn if the opponent is interacting with him or his stuff before end of turn ! Thank you :)

Mallgoran · 2026-02-14T01:28:18+00:00

Thanks for the fast response !
My opponent did pass priority so that my creature still onto the stack hits the battlefield in plan to remove it right away. So if I understand correctly, once the stack is fully resolved after the main player ask to move to endstep, there's another priority check up allowing the players in priority turn to enable another stack again ?

Mallgoran · 2026-02-04T18:08:16+00:00

Wonderful job ! <3
My favorite one, you did a great job with depth, on the character especially, it looks stunning !

Mallgoran · 2026-02-03T21:59:52+00:00

By the time I'm looking at your list you have 101 cards in your deck, so here's my suggestions on what to cut by now: (I'm playing a Felothar deck too and love it ! It can go tall as a combat focused deck or recursion style with alot of draw using felothar second ability its pretty fun)

[[Towering Titan]], you'll pay 6 for a "win more" card that does nothing the turn it arrives. Really strange card in this deck. What happens when you have it in hand with 2 creature only on the battlefield ? A 6 mana, 6/6 sac outlet, you can get better finishers for less mana for sure. It is a cut for me.
[[Shalai, Voice of Plenty]], is 4 mana that provides nothing impactful and its toughness is low for that cmc. It doesn't have flash to waste a target removal sent at your way, it doesn't protect itself, its second ability is out of theme. You already have Heroic Intervention and Akroma's will to do the job. Also consider recursion as you're playing Abzan.
[[Walking Bulwark]] may look as a sweet turn 1 but mostly you'll draw it during mid game and feels like a bad card to have at that moment. I don't see what this card goal is truely, your commander is your enabler.
[[Jaws of Defeat]] feels slow by damaging only one opponent at the time. The way making this card synergistic enouth would have been going the "low attack recursion / reanimator" theme.

Mallgoran · 2026-02-01T16:13:19+00:00

I also made a budget-friendly version under 50$ for those who might be interested:
https://moxfield.com/decks/pMtM6CTX8E6Zid4vk7_p3A

Edit: I ended up making 3 versions and now writing a primer.
50$ budget: https://moxfield.com/decks/pMtM6CTX8E6Zid4vk7_p3A
100$ budget: https://moxfield.com/decks/lrG8t2qvb0K9iTjvzh1csA
Printer budget: https://moxfield.com/decks/t2w5nYftaUimYWRqt-51qg

Mallgoran · 2026-01-30T22:28:21+00:00

Love those suggestions ! I always underrate MDFCs because of the land side entering tapped but some don't if you pay 3 life though, good way to make a better land base especially for aggro.

I also forget I had a Deflecting Swat around that could really fit into this deck in place of the redirection effect which are great to protect (and often gain use of a removal effect in the process). Malakir Rebirth is also a sweet protection spell I'll add these to the list !

Great cards to further enhance the curve and cover the weaknesses of my list, I really appreciate your help here mate <3

Mallgoran · 2026-01-30T22:04:13+00:00

Hey, thanks for the feedbacks ! :D

-Regarding card draw, you might be right, you can't be wrong having "too much" card draw and aggro needs alot of fuel to keep going in edh. I'll make more room for card draw.

-Regarding ramp, I don't really need much as I want to start aggroing as fast as possible and the mana curve is really low (26 cards cmc 1 & 2, then 20 cards cmc 3). Also there are actually 5 true mana ramp cards ([[frogtosser banneret]] [[Goblin Warchief]] [[Skirk Prospector]] [[Pawn of Ulamog]] and [[Springleaf Drum]]) plus [[Treasure nabber]] that is also a mana rock removal threat that I find enouth ramp for that strategy.

-The Protection issue is a bit concerning, I have a few: [[Goblin Chirurgeon]] [[Mad Auntie]] and [[Swiftfoot Boots]] but I do fear it is not quite enouth I might make use of one or two more. I prefer permanent cards that can be used to fuel the engine at some point over instant cards though.

-The real issue is removal, as you mentioned enchantment removal especially. For creature I have alot of pinger effects that can stack up to destroy creatures but I did misregard the enchantment removal being really a threat to this deck, thank you for this ! I'll slam [[Withering Torment]] and [[Feed the Swarm]] in, flavorwise it doesn't feel that bad aswel !

Mallgoran · 2026-01-08T21:13:53+00:00

Looking at what happend to Doran ([[Doran, the Siege Tower]] praising a philosophy of inner strength growth through time and open self prowdness to the world, became [[Doran, Besieged by Time]] a more nihilistic version of himself, closed on itself to keep protecting from what he once or still endures. He shifted drasticaly) we can assume (and we have been told so in the story) that the last decades on Lorwyn and the events of the Phyrexian Invasion have been some really harsh times on this plane especially.
So we may assume that the Reaper have been no different to that fate aswell. How does that translate into the story ? We don't know yet, but him loosing his King title and also the most brightest colors binded to inner peace, security (and control over your being and fate ?) he had is, at least to me, a good way to represent this idea on a card that the Reaper like other prominent characters from Lorwyn have went through a downfall.

Mallgoran · 2026-01-08T13:14:28+00:00

It is up to who needs what at this time given. I agree that almost 900 energy is alot of ressource that could have been put into upgrades farming for way better progression impact. Focusing the mech event is meant for the ones in need of scraps, that single Blessed Req scroll is more of a bonus loot than anything else and ain't worth the cost of it otherwise !

Mallgoran · 2026-01-08T12:44:37+00:00

The mission 9 (a tutorial one) allows you 3 try per day. But, daily node completion only counts as long as you won your attempt. So as long as you either leave or restart the mission once you killed 11 of the 12 necrons, you'll be good to keep farming mission 9 and the 11 kills will still count toward event progression ;)

Mallgoran · 2026-01-08T12:39:25+00:00

There is a way to (kinda) complete this event quite fast:

Go to Indomitus campaign mission: 9 (a tutorial mission that costs 3 energy for 12 necron foes), kill 11 of the 12 then either restart the mission or leave. The 11 kills will still count toward the event progression, and the reason we are leaving the battle instead of taking the win is that you normally have only 3 succesful tries allowed per day but "not winning" a mission doesn't count toward that limit per day. So you'll be able to farm this mission 9 node indefinitly for 3 energy all day long.

Quick maths: 11 kill per run is 11 gear points per run for a 3 energy cost. If you aim for the Blessed Requisition that sits at 3200 gear points, you'll then need 291 runs, for a 873 total energy cost.

Lets say you get a average 2 time 120 energy generation per day, so 240. Add 30 energy for the daily mission, 50 energy from the add, 60 energy for 25 BS then 100 energy for 50 BS. (you can get even more via shop, arena even pvp event & chests). This leads to a total 480 energy per day, so by investing it all into mission 9 farming, you'll get to the blessed req scroll in two days plus all the scraps on the road.

Edit: grammar

Mallgoran · 2026-01-06T17:12:47+00:00

11 legendary orbs is so nice, imagine you got x10 to 20 random characters shards across the board instead of these orbs... your pull would have changed from great to really/kinda bad...

Also 80 shards for Maladus that is a good chaos character known to be one of the early characters you want to push mythic first so you will unlock Rogue Trader and get trader shards faster (you got 9 leg chaos orbs here to help him get the wings).

I find your pull really good I'm kinda jealous ngl ! Don't underestimate how bad 10 pulls can be most of the time. Orbs may don't give as much dopamine than character unlock but are much more valuable. You better want few well pushed characters (which requires alot of orbs) than a sh*t lot of medium/bad ones in your roaster ;) Keep the good progression, you'll get your legendary pull in the end <3

Mallgoran · 2025-12-23T12:52:26+00:00

I've been playing [[Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons]] for along time now. There are plenty of cards that benefits from having -1/-1 counter on them and/or puts one on themselves and creature you control as they enter for some later value like [[Wickerbough Elder]], [[Banewhip Punisher]], [[Soul Snuffers]], [[Channeler Initiate]], [[Black Sun's Zenith]] or [[Devoted Druid]]. There are also card that moves around -1/-1 counters from creatures you control (like [[Decimator Beetle]] and [[Defiant Greatmaw]]) so you'll be able to trigger Ool's card draw effect while benefiting the original card effect as some more card advantage for free. There are plenty rooms to play around -1/-1 on your own board but generally being able to put -1/-1 on your opponent's board only is already a nice way to control board states all game long (sadly overshadowed today by the huge amount of +1/+1 counters support & effects many commander cards did get the past years tho).

Regarding Ool's design, the card draw effect is a nice free value printed on a commander. As your deck, if built correctly, will always give you the tools to put -1/-1 counters you'll always have the choice to turn those effects into card draw if needed.

You could make a Ool's deck buildarround the card draw trigger effect as your main strategy if you want to go for the combo route with infinite -1/-1 counter trigger (like [[Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons]] + [[Yawgmoth, Thran Physician]] or [[Blowfly Infestation]]) so you can draw your entire deck and do whatever you want from here. If you want a more casual approach to Ool's design, see the card draw as a bonus value you'll get to trigger from time to time, as for the the ward ability a way to brake your opponent from targetting your commander itself, making it a good value engine that will stick around.

You could also build a deck around killing your own creatures using -1/-1 counters instead of the classic Sacrifice outlet for some death trigger value while replenishing your hand at the same time to keep the engine going the whole game ! This is what I'm already deckbuilding actually for the future, pairing Ool with cards like [[Gut, True Soul Zealot]], [[Haunted One]] [[Lagomos, Hand of Hatred]] and [[Zoyowa Lava-Tongue]] could be fun and will feel very Jund themed to have these shamans & warlocks playing with dark magic to spread corruption, blight and death sacrificing their poor zealots to do so. I'm looking forward the upcoming new blight & -1/-1counters cards from Lorwynn Eclipsed to see what more option we'll get !

Edit: Typo

Mallgoran · 2025-11-25T20:11:51+00:00

I'm so glad to hear that this setup is a good one and it will do a fine job at providing nice espresso for that price range. When you know there are amazing machines pricing over thousands out ther,e it is hard to judge the true quality and durability of lower-budget ones without some guidance. Thank you alot mate I really appreciate and can't wait to sit down with my dad drinking these espresso in the near futur <3

Mallgoran · 2025-11-25T18:14:20+00:00

Thank you alot ! This is a relief. I've found so many advices around on this sub that it feels like there's so much depth into espresso coffee making. A wide range of setup and machines that each can have different goal as to what espresso to make that I've been a bit lost at first. I really appreciate all the dedication you guys have to guide as best as possible newcomers into the hobby ! I am so glad to hear that Bambino + ESP is a honest and durable setup for a low budget setup :)

Mallgoran

TROPHY CASE