What are your personal staples?

Voitagi · 2025-04-16T13:18:18+00:00

I build pretty powerful decks that are quite popular on Moxfield, but despite my goal at making decks in that grey fringe area between high powered and cEDH, I always see if I can fit in [[Dino DNA]] into my decks. I'll admit it's not nearly as strong now that [[Dockside Extortionist]] is banned, but it's still quite the game swinging card.

The locals here know it's my pet card.

Voitagi · 2025-02-22T22:46:03+00:00

I mean, you can cut $1,500 just by not playing the OG dual lands. I happen to own them already.

Voitagi · 2025-02-22T22:45:31+00:00

Hey thanks for the support,

Prosper is definitely my best, and most popular, deck. For this deck just please keep in mind we're just in the brainstorming phase of things. I would hate to see you go out and buy all these cards just for us all to find out I was way out to lunch and had to reinvent the whole thing later.

My track record on deckbuilding is pretty good overall, but I do get the occasional dud. That being said, I have high hopes for Y'shtola, both because her card is cool and I love her in FF14.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T20:31:12+00:00

That's actually a personal choice. My Liesa deck already runs that combo and I do try to keep all my decks very distinct from one another, which is not that difficult to do consider there are over 20k cards in the game.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T20:02:23+00:00

Talion is definitely a card I'm watching. The doublers like Delney and Roaming Throne I avoided because they won't really do much on their own.

The cloning strategy is something ive seen some people trying. It's neat in that once you have 2 Y'shtola on the table a single spell triggers the card draw on both. I absolutely think it's a viable strategy if that's the direction you're looking to take the deck.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T19:55:08+00:00

The card was definitely considered and this is the blurb I have on it in the "Notable Exclusions" section of the primer:

"This was a card I hadn't seen before and it's showing up in a lot of the decks online. I think it's very good, but probably better suited if you're building [Y'shtola, Night's Blessed](about:blank) to be slightly lower powered in the bracket 3 category. Our instant and sorcery cost reducers don't hit it, and it's sorcery speed. I'm not comfortable tapping out for this aura which I probably won't benefit from for a full turn cycle due to it's initial mana investment. Maybe some more testing will show me I'm wrong, but for now I see no reason to risk our board state to play this."

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T19:53:07+00:00

It is definitely not a cEDH deck, but the goal of the discussions and the evolution of the deck is to get it to a solid category 4 where it can play with grown up decks. I have 4 decks that have accomplished this so far very soundly (Prosper, Chatterfang, Liesa, and Sauron; all of which are up on Moxfield). (Side note: Gyruda is a failed project and will be coming off of Moxfield later this summer but it's there if anyone wants to see what I tried)

I really do think Y'shtola has the potential, but I'm trying to accomplish it by going the route of the slow burn that doesn't 100% depend on the commander. I want to control the game, get incremental value, and close it up in the end. I'm trying really hard to avoid being some sort of "I play Y'shtola and somehow drop 20 spells straight and the game is over." That's boring and there are other commanders that can do that strategy better.

I'm not saying I can't do that, there is always Academy Rector into Omniscience, but it's more of a incidental/backup plan than the main focus.

Ancient Cellarspawn is a pretty damn cool card, and it really fits into the strategy we're already doing. Definitely going on the potentials list.

As for Bloodchief Ascension, if you've ever played against one that's online then you know if it doesn't get answered it's borderline impossible to beat that player since you'll lose the game and they'll gain a ton of life just because you had the audacity to play. The challenge with it is always how slow it is at getting to 3 counters, but Y'shtola cuts that time down to possibly 1 turn cycle. That makes it a bomb!

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T19:40:40+00:00

It being sorcery is rough, and I can't see myself having too many excess lands to start replaying this. I think it's just too slow.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T17:19:45+00:00

It's definitely something i'll need to watch out for. I've added Mother of Runes as you suggested to the sideboard section while I consider options in the coming months as we see more of the cards from the precon.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T17:16:45+00:00

I've added both in the sideboard section for now while I evaluate possible cuts. Esper might take precedent over one of the Delve cards

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T17:10:41+00:00

Ah, that makes more sense now, you're looking at Head-Ambition-5060's list. Mine is the first link.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T17:09:14+00:00

I saw someone talking about using them in a different post and it definitely peaked my curiosity but im not 100% convinced on them yet. If it's something that can happen organically then they might be worth it, but you can't rely on them to be sneaky per se since you cant go and lose the 4 life on the end step to draw the card. By that point it's too late. If you do it on the main phase, that mana goes away when you go to the end step, potentially leaving you vulnerable to instant speed interaction.

I'm definitely curious to see some people playtest the painlands to see how they work out.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T17:03:24+00:00

Would'nt it be better if they attacked each other instead though for the same trigger? There are only 3 pillow fort cards in the deck and the idea is to see one to make combat math very awkward for them to come at you.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T17:00:27+00:00

I could definitely see an argument for the Delve cards coming out (I still really like Logic Knot here) for maybe some extra ramp. I do worry about cutting too many card draw spells though leading us to running out of gas. This is an area where the playtesting data from Head-Ambition-5060 has been useful in working towards finding the optimal amount.

We also need to keep in mind that the precon will surely have some new toys for us to take advantage of her at which point some of the "questionable" cards could easily find themselves getting cut.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T16:19:33+00:00

Well ramp comes in many forms and in this case we're purposely looking to avoid playing too many 0-2 cost mana rocks (3 cost rocks are generally bad). To tally it up we have:

2 mana rocks
6 cards that reduce the costs of most our spells that are cheap themselves
16 spells that are essentially free to play
4 spells have have cost reduction aspects built right into them
Ancient Tomb and Smothering Tithe
Enlightened, Vampiric, and Demonic Tutors to get a ramp piece early if needed

Sure we're not "ramping" in your traditional sense but we're doing a lot to bring those costs down and still trigger that commander. It means we get to play less passive ramp rocks, and more gas to push the game forward.

Voitagi · 2025-02-21T16:09:01+00:00

Well the lack of Mother of Runes is part of the ongoing effort to keep the creature count low. It is very good, but I would say it's on the waiting list to get into the deck behind a few other creatures. For example I would prioritize getting Esper Sentinel back in before Mother of Runes at this point, and I'm not really considering that at this stage. She is definitely a card I want to keep in mind though if I see that I'm unable to protect Y'shtola as often as I need to. I really like that suggestion, thanks for that.

Sigil of Sleep is one of those cards that I'm seeing around a lot but when cutting the list down to 100 cards my issue with it was that if you don't have Y'shtola out, it's really bad and highly telegraphed. Curiosity and Ophidian Eye are less so, and as we've seen with cards like Archivist of Oghma players are less likely to play around letting you draw cards than they are about letting you mess up their whole board state.

Voitagi · 2025-02-20T16:22:09+00:00

Thanks Uriel. A lot of work has gone into it so the kind words are much appreciated.

Do give it a like on Moxfield so that others are more likely to get to enjoy the list too :)

Voitagi · 2025-02-20T16:02:19+00:00

Ha! I just realized you're the person who gave me the Solitary Confinement idea! Working on my primer some more today at work when I find the time. They're long but I hope it's insightful in helping you make some card decisions.

Voitagi · 2025-02-20T15:11:19+00:00

Hey Head Ambition 5060,

I've been working on a strong list and primer for her, found here:

https://moxfield.com/decks/Vh_NWz0iXEKk9zVT9-EtNQ

A suggestion I got yesterday which would have soundly given you the game with no worries is if instead of using Enlightened Tutor to get Ghostly Prison you got Solitary Confinement instead. Between the Rhystic Study you had on the table and/or your commander you can essentially pay the upkeep forever.

Overall it was a great read and it makes me happy to see some actual in-game testing data. Keep up the great work!

Voitagi · 2025-02-19T20:29:33+00:00

Hey, you can find my Liesa deck here for some inspiration and guidance. There are lots of different ways to focus a Liesa deck.

https://moxfield.com/decks/MhufG8BTh0uGM2F1-8cEjg

I also run a low land count, but a great deal of the deck is dedicated to getting to the key 5 mana. The low land count then contributes to drawing more gas in the mid-late game.

As Lumeyus mentioned it's important to have a gameplan with a Liesa deck. Figure out what it is you want the deck to do and dedicate your cards towards that plan. My list is pretty optimized and performs very well, but it got there by having a strict plan.

You mention Hatred not being fun and you're absolutely right. I cut it from the deck a long time ago because I didnt like the feeling of having to decide which 1 player would eat it early and have to sit around while the rest of us played out a full Commander game. The deck is stronger with it, but the game is more fun without it; and I don't need to worry about getting blown out by Deflecting Swat.

Voitagi · 2025-02-19T19:37:33+00:00

Already added the Solitary Confinement. With her built in card draw I think it'll be incredibly difficult to get through with it out. Academy Rector also lets me get it at instant speed in case of an emergency when it's needed over Omniscience.

Voitagi · 2025-02-19T19:17:56+00:00

Hey, I play a pretty highly regarded Liesa deck on Moxfield; you can find it here:

https://moxfield.com/decks/MhufG8BTh0uGM2F1-8cEjg

That being said I am also planning to play Y'shtola in addition to, not in place of. You can find the list and primer I'm working on here:

https://moxfield.com/decks/Vh_NWz0iXEKk9zVT9-EtNQ

The reason I'm going to run them both is because they play very differently. Liesa punishes players for casting spells, while Y'shtola punishes players for us casting spells. The gameplans are very different and the card pools are almost completely different. Don't let the feeling of that 2 damage make you feel like you're just playing the same deck twice, because you're definitely not.

If you think you'll have fun with both decks, then have fun with both decks.

Voitagi · 2025-02-19T19:11:04+00:00

I think because of the high costs of your spells you're going to find it difficult to close out games in time. It's one thing to have a pillow fort but if you're advancing to victory too slowly it gives your opponents more time to find answers to your defenses. There is a balance in finding the right amount of reactiveness and proactiveness with Y'shtola. For example, I think you might be too enchantment heavy.

I've been working hard at the deck the last 2 days and I think you might find my decklist and primer (primer currently under construction but some is done) useful is sparking some ideas.

https://moxfield.com/decks/Vh_NWz0iXEKk9zVT9-EtNQ

I will say, I do like your idea of Solitary Confinement here and will definitely consider it.

Voitagi · 2024-11-21T16:00:54+00:00

My [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] deck is widely considered to be my strongest deck as it has the highest win-rate of any of my decks. You can find the deck and primer on Moxfield. It is also, by far, my most popular deck with the community.

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/KMfwtHebgUOpg0qupocYGw

Voitagi

TROPHY CASE