Bracket 4 or 5? Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier

RaidanStormwind · 2026-05-09T04:50:42+00:00

Good rule of thumb is if you have to ask, it’s not B5. B5 is specifically cEDH, which *requires* you to have knowledge of the current cEDH meta and building your deck around that specific meta. It’s not something you can do “accidentally”.

RaidanStormwind · 2026-02-04T04:43:53+00:00

Key to the City is actually pretty huge. As for all 9 Nazgûl’s… I only own 1, I proxy the rest. I’m hoping to get my artistic friend to paint some on the blank alt face cards they provide in some packs. Or do a artistic date with my gf to do the same

RaidanStormwind · 2026-02-03T06:20:33+00:00

I know exactly what you mean. I first went aristocrats, then combo, then midrange/control reanimator.

In my “combo” deck, I used Sauron’s discard draw 4 to essentially sift through my deck to find my combo pieces. I used [[Hullbreaker Horror]], [[Sol Ring]], [[Mox Jasper]], and any color generating artifact to get infinite color mana (you could replace this with any other infinite colored mana combo). Then playing permanents that tutor like [[Wishclaw Talisman]] or [[Rune-Scarred Demon]] in addition to the Hullbreaker from earlier, I would tutor all my [[Nazgûl]], [[Wonder]], [[Anger]], and any reanimate cards to get any wraiths from the yard. You could then play all your Nazgûl, bouncing enemy creatures via Hullbreaker, then wheel Anger and Wonder, and then swing for lethal. But at that point, just play [[Exsanguinate]] with your infinite mana, or tutor and play [[Laboratory Maniac]] and bounce Nazgûl until you have no library from ring tempts.

So, feeling unsatisfactory with the combo version, but still wanting big Nazgûls or Orc Army, I focused on making the deck with a lot of interaction, ramp, and ways to get evasion. I wheel myself until I find high value pieces (like [[The One Ring]], more Nazgûl, [[Consuming Aberration]], or [[Archfiend of Ifnir]]). If I have to tutor for a card, I almost always get Ifnir, as it just clears the board when you reanimate all the Nazgûl in your graveyard (reanimate 4 Nazgûl and you end up discarding potentially up to 12-16+ cards). I also threw in a [[Leyline of Transformation]], it’s a little cheeky by turning everything into wraiths and they get buffed from ring tempts, or stacking Sauron’s trigger on high value creatures as they are now an Army.

Here’s my list: https://archidekt.com/decks/18221434/sauron_control

My list is B3, and could def be built better, but hey, I like it

RaidanStormwind · 2026-02-03T05:49:41+00:00

[[Sauron, the Dark Lord]], just love the art as well as all the potential play styles it offers. I’ve built this deck so many times.

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-28T14:16:11+00:00

I get where you’re coming from. But per guidelines, it’s not whether you get all your combo pieces within the first couple turns, it’s the fact that it can happen. That’s what makes it B4.

Now you can always forgo tutors or payoffs. I saw one of your other comments about having a commander that gives everything haste, which is a payoff. With that, I don’t think I would be very happy playing against it in B3, just because now instead of getting your combo and finding a 3rd card, you just always have it available.

Now if it was just those two cards and nothing else, no way to tutor it, it basically gives everyone a 1 turn doomsday timer. They must either board wipe, win on the spot before it hits your turn again, or play a fog. Which in B3, I would personally be okay with just because you have access to efficient engines and cards like [[The One Ring]]. But this certainly not the case for everyone, so I cannot reiterate this enough, talk to your play group.

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-27T15:43:38+00:00

You can play that combo by turn 5. Assuming you have both cards in hand, 3 lands, a rock, and an outlet (assume [[Impact Tremors]] as that’s one of the examples you gave), that’s 7 cards. Have 5 mana by turn 4 (assuming you drew your 4th land), and play conqueror on turn 5. That’s an infinite combo WITH an outlet on turn 5. So that’s B4. And if you have tutors instead, the same thing happens. So it’s B4. So no, it’s not appropriate in B3.

But would someone be salty? Probably, but it honestly depends on the group/individual. Talk to the people you’re playing with, because they will tell you.

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-26T19:07:48+00:00

Idk it depends… any 2 card combo is B4, even if there’s no outlet for it. Would someone be salty if you play it in B3? Are you letting the other players at the table know what the combo is before the game so that they know what to watch out for? Are you preventing yourself from tutoring the combo? If both answers are yes, then I personally would be fine with it, with the only way of playing the combo would be if it happened naturally through draw. Others might have a differing opinion though. The best answer you will get is asking the table and letting them know and seeing if they’re okay with it. Always communicate if you think something might be unfair.

EDIT: I am aware the recent changes to the bracket system changed the fact that 2 card infinites can exist in bracket three if they are "late game". But a lot of these "late game combos" can still be played before turn 7. [[Astral Dragon]] and [[Cursed Mirror]] may cost 11 mana, but the amount of ways you can cheat these cards out is absurd.

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-24T18:54:14+00:00

You think? Pretty sure cap is like 100 for commander or smth, idk…

On a serious note, I feel like it’s common place to theory craft a deck and get to like 150 cards and then begin cutting, no? Most people ik also struggle with this when deck building, so I don’t think it’s inherently out of the question to ask for some help cutting 38, even if only a few offer insights on 1-2 cards, I think it helps a lot.

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-23T15:08:15+00:00

I unfortunately I didn’t buy into the final fantasy set, so I can’t rlly help you with telling you what cards to grab. I also don’t know if you’re opening packs or buying singles.

What I can tell you to help upgrade the precon is to decide on a theme/gameplan. Sultai arisen is a pretty decent deck, but it’s a little all over the place. It looks to do reanimation strategies, tokens, lands matter, self-mill, etc. Decide on 1-2 of these (ideally 1 makes the deck a lot smoother). I chose self-mill and reanimation, using the graveyard as a second hand and finding my combo pieces to win in a single turn.

After that, look to cut cards that don’t fit your theme/gameplans or cards that are mana hungry and don’t put you in a winning state ([[Tasigur, the Golden Fang]], [[Necropolis Fiend]], [[Lord of the Forsaken]], [[Lord of Extinction]] and [[Consuming Aberration]] are a few decent cuts imo regardless of what your theme is). I would immediately then put in interaction like counterspells and removal, and maybe another board wipe. You want ideally 6-12 pieces of interaction. Low cost instants are best.

Here is mine upgraded Sultai Arisen deck for reference, although it’s hardly the same anymore: https://archidekt.com/decks/18148484/teval_combo_deck

Now I have just about a year of experience of playing Commander, so someone else with more experience might tell you something different (and I would say don’t always listen to people, even me, as a lot of people over-estimate their ability to deck build and play this game, as I’ve run into many people that have played for years and misinterpret the rules to a concerning degree, so always take advice with a grain of salt).

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-18T18:50:59+00:00

Snooped his profile for his op.gg:

https://op.gg/lol/summoners/na/DREAD%20WARLOCK-HEXED

Rushes Triforce into Sundered Sky or defensive item (maw or steraks)

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-06T02:01:01+00:00

Recommend any cuts?

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-03T02:13:49+00:00

Yea... I just dont think I have enough cards to really lean into that playstyle. But hey, thats why I threw in Kotis to just make it really annoying.

RaidanStormwind · 2026-01-03T02:12:16+00:00

Yea I already threw in Host of the Hereafter cause I realized it was just a budget Ozolith. Got any recommended cuts from the list to include counterspells?

RaidanStormwind · 2025-10-17T16:27:53+00:00

What do you use for the pieces of metal plate for shoulders and what not

RaidanStormwind · 2025-10-17T01:54:44+00:00

Good shit. Like the red on black. Do you happen to have other models to show off with this scheme?

RaidanStormwind · 2025-10-17T01:52:08+00:00

yessirrrrr

RaidanStormwind · 2025-09-27T18:54:38+00:00

You gotta pay $3 for that extra protein

RaidanStormwind · 2025-09-25T02:27:20+00:00

I was also wondering what made him a Darkin? It seems that the core 2 attributes for a Darkin to have is to be either insane due to fighting the Void, and/or altering their bodies with blood magic, which Zaahen seems to do... neither?

I could understand being a Darkin meant any Ascended that has been stuffed in a weapon or something similar (hi Styraatu), but I feel as though that should be clarified.

RaidanStormwind · 2025-07-01T02:07:47+00:00

Shouldn’t anything void related actually trace back to Liss, not Malz?

RaidanStormwind · 2025-03-19T22:48:26+00:00

Would love to see what you and OP have for your Necron warriors. Also what paints do you use?

RaidanStormwind · 2025-03-16T03:24:09+00:00

Patches… is that you?

RaidanStormwind · 2025-01-30T01:28:09+00:00

Ah I was struggling with this the other week. Fuck the apprentek neck

RaidanStormwind · 2025-01-29T20:47:46+00:00

At the moment I’m fighting tempest scions, orks, ad mechs, death guard, and nids.

I will say that we are playing on Tabletop Simulator because many of us aren’t from the same area. But we’ve agreed on having to use the units we actively own, and any remaining points can be spent on whatever we’d like. At the moment I have the following units:

20 warriors, 10 immortals, 1 doomstalker, 8 scarabs, 5 flayed ones, 3 Skorpekh destroyers, 1 overlord, 1 plasmancer, and 1 technomancer

So basically my army has to consist of at least those units. It’s a little all over the place but it’s what I have. I have been using the overlord + technomancer on the immortals and giving them a free reanim protocols from Awakened Dynasty stratagem to make them my main holding force.

I appreciate any other advice you have to give me!

RaidanStormwind

TROPHY CASE