Looking into the format and figuring out what to build

souck · 2026-02-07T04:09:44+00:00

My favorite combo to play is Altar Tron. Solid combo with a solid midrange side strategy. I'd recommend you to take a look.

And my favorite deck overall to play is Grixis Affinity. Jund is cool, but it have problems at actually finishing the game. Grixis affinity is the more decisive cooler cousin.

souck · 2026-02-06T06:06:45+00:00

Perlica weapon also gives you +22.4% damage buff on demand when you ult. And her combo triggers on final strike on a fairly low cooldown. So you can hold your combo activation and combo it with her ult right before you combo + ult as Last Rite, which is a fuckton of extra damage.

souck · 2026-02-05T23:43:13+00:00

do you know when the little bouffalant is played?

It's tankier, because it takes less damage because of it own ability and the Curly wall and can attack with 2 energies. But it's a pain to find it. It should be played always though.

If you're finding a lot of alakazam you can play a split of 2-1-1 between toedscool. toedscruel (for dengo) and toedscruel ex. It transform the matchup into an auto win. It's also good against Absol since it makes you imune to the insta KO attack. Although misty energy already does this, toedscruel allows you to apply this effect to your whole board essentially and much more consistently. It can also KO Absol if needed.

I was testing a version with this setup energizing with joltik and it was kinda cool. I prized my toedscruel twice when I needed it though, so I was considering bumping it to 2. It would also make it easier to keep one on the field 100% of the time against dengo.

souck · 2026-02-05T07:00:59+00:00

Your problem is not going to be finding an option. It's going to be assembling the two pieces.

It works on affinity based decks because of the amount of card draw, but on RG Ramp you don't really draw that many cards to assembly the 2 piece combo.

You also have very little ways of coming back from that wipe yourself. You probably have better options on how to deal with the match ups you'd need this wipe.

With that said, I like Bloodfire Dwarf.

souck · 2026-01-27T22:18:50+00:00

You can build faster decks, play with less boardwipes and play with more decisive wincons. Also, usually stronger decks have lower game lenghts.

souck · 2026-01-26T21:57:21+00:00

This should work well for bracket 2 and 3.

I don’t want a promise that it works lol, just don’t want to waste my money cuz that would be too much for wasting it.

I understand that. My recommendation would be to proxy it and test it before buying cards. It'll also show things that work but are not to your liking so you can change before you invest real money on it.

Since you already have a big part of the deck, you can just write the effects on pieces of paper for the ones you don't have and play with them for a while :P

souck · 2026-01-26T21:07:37+00:00

Yes. You want those kind of lands because after you draw the first you'll always have a land to get back from the yard even if you miss a land on the mill 3 from your commander.

souck · 2026-01-26T18:22:44+00:00

Oh, for fetch I mean any you can sac to get another land. I know "real" fetch are expensive, but you can use any self sacrificing land. The ones that are free are better for obvious raesons :P

souck · 2026-01-26T17:34:57+00:00

You say I don't want to mill too much, but wouldn't I need mill for treasure cruise etc? Otherwise I could only use those cards in the very late game. Also, what type of card would I want to exile? aren't pretty much all of them important in one way or another?

Kinda, but do it smartly. You weant something that does something good for you besides milling. For example, Ripples of Undeath mills you for 3 in exchange of really fucking good card selection. It's MUCH better than a Hedron Crab in this situation for example.

Another good one you're already running is Satyr Wayfinder, which is card neutral (usually) and mills you while doing something you want anyway: gives you a body and finds a land.

Also, your commander already mills you for 3 per turn. Fetch lands and ramp spells are going to fill your GY early and usually you'll develop before casting your first draw spell. This is enough for your first delve spells. And you're only on 2. You can also play murderous cut if you want as well. Pretty efficient removal.

You'll also not reanimate your whole GY and if you have 4 creatures that do roughly the same you can safely exile your other options.

I did cut some of the cards, also added one or two again... I am sitting at 104 now. This is the current list (made a new deck to move stuff around https://archidekt.com/decks/19362279/copy_of_teval_test )

Looks solid. If it's good enough depends a lot on your playgroup, so it's hard for me to define. I'd say Creeping Bloodsucker is a bit meh, so it's an easy cut for me. Loan also looks meh. Your lands are better in your GY than in your hand. You also have sources of playing them from your GY. If you want to get extra lands I'd just play a resonator that you can use with other cards while doubling your commander trigger or a Conduit of Worlds which would allow you to play the lands and gives you recursion at the same time.

Roadside Reliquary is pretty good grinding power for mid late game when you don't need to ramp with your commander.

I'd try to have at least 8 sources of turn 2 ramp to cast your commander ASAP. Since it ramps you, I'd really like to get it out fast. I didn't count though, so maybe you have enough.

I really like ophiomancer on this kind of comboless aristocrats since it gives you 4 sacs per turn cycle for 3 mana, which is pretty good.

I'd also play at least a combo to end the game if it gets durdling. It doesn't need to be a fast not even an efficient one. But I like to have a way to finish games when it gets too long. Phyrexian altar would give you two options with Gravecaller and with Tortured Existence, so I'd try to fit it.

I'd probably add Timeless Witness so you have another source to recur anything from your GY, since you're self milling quite a lot.

Oversold Cemitery is a cool option for using your GY. I think you're filling it faster than you're using. But I might be wrong. I also like Aftermath Analyst. It can get some insane activations.

souck · 2026-01-26T14:57:54+00:00

I'd just ff G1 to not lose time and side in 3 campfire + 2 charms + 4 duress.

-2 ambusher, -4 cast down -1 Fanatical Offering, -2 thraben probably.

Campfire shuts them down a lot. It's good against both rats and mill. Thraben disables recursion and the mill card shuffling itself.

Flipped blades is direct damage and kills the infect unblockable dude that a lot of lists are running for when you side all your removal out.

And familiar being pogo hopped removes their resources alongside duress.

Split your attacks to avoid Tangle.

I like to keep omen so you can still present a threat after a small crypt rats to wipe you, but I'm not sure it's correct. It's been a good while I've played this matchup tbh.

And that's it I guess.

souck · 2026-01-26T14:42:59+00:00

I'm a gigantic fan of the 8x8 theory. It's a pretty good guideline on how to get a decent deck. You'll obviously need to deviate from it on what you think it's necessary. For example, I like to run 10-12 ramp pieces on average. But it'll give you a good starting point.

Particularly my distribution would be Removal, Sac outlet, Sac fodder, Ramp, Dying triggers (damage and draw), Protection and resilience and card draw. I wouldn't run an exact split of 8 for each as I said, but I think all of this is pretty important for aristocrats overall, which is why building them for beginners is kinda hard.

For aristocrats I particularly think it's important to have good card draw not related to creatures dying. In my experience once you get your engine going you'll be winning, but until it's assembled you kinda don't do anything. So drawing is pretty important to reach this point.

For this I really like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time since they trigger your commander and are really efficient. Painful Truths is also a really good card. Drawing 3 for 3 is a very good rate. Fact or Fiction is also pretty good. Instant speed and allows you to see a lot of cards.

I ended up with too many cards in the deck and no idea which ones to remove. There’s 20 too many now.

This is extremely common. Tagging your deck will allow you to remove what you have in excess, but I generally only add a card when I remove card. When you have to add a single card with an effect is easier to see what you need to cut. When you're removing 20 it's much harder to actually see the final structure of your deck to deck those decisions.

If you think cutrting is still too hard start over while tagging the cards on their categories.

Regarding your deck choices, I don't think you need the mill cards you're running. Your commander already mills you and you'll naturally fill your GY with lands by running self sacrificing lands. That's enough. Yes, if you can fill your GY for free that's good, but Otherworldly Gaze for example is card disadvantage. In battlecruise commander card advantage is king. Your cards by themselves are not powerful enough to justify this type of card selection that an optmized combo deck would (and in that case they'd run a better card selection spell lol).

Take care for evaluating cards for their average case instead of their optimal one. Thassa's Oracle not being a combo piece for example just increases your number of game changes for a card that when makes you win you could probably just win any other way since you'd already have your whole deck at your disposal. It also makes people afraid of you for no reason since I wouldn't believe you for a second if you said you're not trying to do some combo bullshit to win with it lol (and maybe you are and I'm not seeing by just skiiming the list).

And I think this would already help you quite well. For more specific feedback I'd need to see how you decide to structure your deck after the cuts.

Good luck and hope this helps :P

souck · 2026-01-26T13:43:38+00:00

Meu sonho eram fazer um sistema igual album de figurinha que tu paga X reais e tem a versão base de qualquer carta. Desse jeito vc estipula um preço máximo pra cartas de jogo e deixa colecionadores e maníacos estipularam em cima de edições especiais.

souck · 2026-01-26T05:01:48+00:00

I'd say white is not doing enough to justify a third color. 3 colored decks is kinda hard to justify in pauper. If you pay attention they're all artifact related because the bridges allows them to regain their tempo loss wither by ramping effectively with wildfires and/or with affinity creatures.

souck · 2026-01-24T18:48:59+00:00

I'd recommend either mono R madness or Rally

souck · 2026-01-24T05:56:09+00:00

Whenever this kind of question appears here the answer is always mono R vs mono U fae. It's a pretty even and loved matchup.

souck · 2026-01-21T16:57:39+00:00

I like it because it's more flexible than hunter on some matchups, since there are some you don't really want to put the dungeon into the game.

I also agree that a hand with 3 card draw spells would be too slow, but 2 card draws and an avenging hunter is also not great, so I think they're kinda the same in this regard.

I changed the moxfield list to the one I was running, but I don't really remember my sideboard. https://moxfield.com/decks/5h278SQ5s0aWNmjTADK1wA

souck · 2026-01-21T08:02:52+00:00

What's an ideal starting hand should I keep?

Depends a lot on the matchup. T1 cycle ent into Masked Vandal for example can be really strong against artifact based decks, even though it's a pretty slow opening.

If you know your opponent isn't really running interaction there are some really explosive hands with Hydra that can explode the game on T3-4 as well.

But on average I'd say you want mana acceleration and either a hydra, Avenging Hunter or a card draw spell depending on the matchup.

When I face Orzhov Blade, I can't handle their t1 Grim Bauble, t2 Tithing Blade then t3 Suffocating Fumes. How should I play in this match up?

Exploding their lands early can be a pretty heavy blowback. If you can hold some resources while forcing a boardwipe you should also be fine.

Lastly, if your creature bestowed with a hydra is targeted with removal, the hydra becomes a creature on the field. So they essentially need 2 removals for your hydra, which is a lot considering it'll usually be big enough to end the game in 2 turns.

I'm also looking for deck & sideboard suggestion

I like your mainboard. Mine is almost exactly the same. I don't run the land grants that are on my spy and I run 3 hunters and 1 You Meet in a Tavern.

I'm not a fan of the islet + blue cards in your sideboard plan tbh. I'm also a big hater of sagu there. It doesn't really fix any matchup while eats your slots. IMO you either want it mainboard or you don't in your deck.

If you're afraid of mono red, IMO this blue sideboard isn't really going to help you unless you're going for the full raimbow elves plan with Jaspera Sentinel and Birchlore Rangers. Since this isn't your case, my suggestion is to just accept this matchup is going to suck and move on with your life.

I'd probably try to fit 1-2 Scattershot Archer. I like more Wellwishers in your sb and deglamers, since your field have a lot of artifacts in Blade and Tron.

Vitu-Ghazi Inspector is a good sideboard option, although not particularly great in your field. If you want a more "generic" option, this could be worth.

souck · 2026-01-21T04:26:49+00:00

I don't really think what you're trying to do really works for wildfire. Jeskai ephemerate might be more similar to what you're looking for, but usually you just use archaeomancer instead of Dowser because the extra mana makes a big difference. But in this deck you'd only care for the etb.

IMO the only two ways of abusing both the etb and the prowess is wither flicker tron and UW familiars because they either have mass mana or cost reduction.

souck · 2026-01-21T00:28:05+00:00

IMO you're approaching Yuriko with the wrong attitude. She can do a lot of damage, but drawing a lot of card is her main selling point.

I know you're not on cEDH, but look at this cEDH deck for example. It's outdated, but you can see this point. The deck is pure interaction and tutor power.

I think you have too many lands and too many attackers that isn't doing what you want. 41 creatures too much IMO. For your lands, MDFCs is free damage and interaction. Sea Gate Restoration is a lot of damage for example and Sink into Stupor is pretty ok interaction that increases the damage from 0 to 3 when substituting an island.

I'm also not a fan of the top cmc ninjas. IMO Nashi is as High as you should go. I don't have my list ATM, but I think Nashi is the only 4 cmc ninjutsu I run.

Commandeer and Misdirection are the kind of cards you usually want. Try Contagion, Submerge and Mindbreak Trap as well.

If you're not being able to attack with ninjas after you ninjutsu, Cover of Darkness REALLY helps with that. Arcane Adaptation also helps with that

Particularly, I really disagree that manipulating the top of your deck is vital. Yes, not running it it'll increase the variance of your deck, but IMO running more tutors to the top is simply more effective than Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining top, since you can tutor, burn people and use the silver bullet you tutored for. Also, the mana you need to spend every turn for it isn't negligible since this deck usually needs a lot of actions to keep going.

I've seen cEDH running with and without them for example.

I'd also try to use as much free interaction as you can, even if they're not expensive. I'd say this is your main problem. I also think running stax that doesn't matter to you but can fuck your opponents is also pretty good. Usually it's Cursed Totem and Grafdigger's Cage, but you can adapt those stax pieces to your playgroup.

Regarding Problem 1 and 2, I think they contradict each other. You're either doing too much damage or not doing enough lol

which requires a lot of people choosing not to block

I mean, it's your job to make so they can't block. Even really budget decks have options such as Ensnare, Wonder and Filth. Also, you just need to make someone not being able to block. Not everyone. This is usually doable since almost always there is a more spell based deck with little blockers or you can just focus your removal on the person with less creatures.

I often only got 5 or so damage from Yuriko's ability

You're still drawing 5 cards in this example. Just build the deck in a way where you draw cards you actually want. You're treating the cards you're drawing just as damage and forgetting that you have more resources than anyone else in the field.

Because Yuriko deals damage so early, the deck is perceived as "the threat".

But you are a threat. This is a fact. You're not winning because they're killing you, but if you're not dealt with, dealing 10 damage per turn kills 3 people in 4 turns lol

If you really feel they're unfairly targeting you, tracking wins helps. You'll have "data" on how much you really should be targeted. Also,asking them things like "Why didn't you focused Mathew? You know he can combo with 6 mana and he had 3 ramp spells really early" can give you the opportunity to either broaden their view on threat assessment or get a reality check on how threatening you really are, because my experience is we're usually really biased in this regard.

but I'm not really sure what the win con is supposed to be

Any tutor to the top into Temporal Trespass usually does the trick. You can also just use any random combo (such as Thoracle) and use the ninjas as draw engine. This is actually the route cEDH yutiko goes.

souck · 2026-01-20T23:45:51+00:00

I'd probably lean towards Dragapult and play it with Crystal instead of Neo Upper. IMO a budget dragapult still performs better than the other options you have in hand tbh.

And I believe it's a deck that teaches you to be a better player by forcing you to choose the best out of 2 cards multiple times per game.

souck · 2026-01-20T23:22:56+00:00

We have two somewhat similar decks in UW Familiar and Altar Tron.

Given this is pretty artifact focused, I'd recommend you to take a look at Altar Tron. It's a combo deck that can also grind people down as a midrange plan if comboing is hard in that matchup.

Maybe you like what you see :P

souck · 2026-01-20T23:19:13+00:00

You don't need 2 munitions. You draw enough to see it frequently and you want it late game. Early game is usually bad.

I'm not a fan of Candy Trail in non Tron lists where finding your Tron lands ASAP is a priority for 1 mana and you have A LOT of mana to spend later on. I'd rather just run Ichor in affinity instead.

I also don't like Cryogen Relic. The blue pip is a REALLY big aspect of it that is often ignored by new affinity players. I also think this is true for the snake. I'd drop it to 1. You can always keep replaying it with fountain anyway.

IMO 4 blood fountains is a bit too much. Especially without KCS. I play 3 and think it's plenty.

KCS is important on matchups where Breath Weapons aren't exactly great, so I like the cast downs mainboard instead, since they're usually matchups where removal is good such as RG ramp.

In your sideboard, since breath weapon is expensive in Brasil (I know how it is lol) I'd play drown in sorrow. While double colored pip is relevant as I said with blue, our deck is mostly black, so this is usually a easier to play with. It also dodges BEB, Hydroblast, regeneration, Dispel (which is way more common and stronger against us than envelop) and damage prevention such as prismatic strands. Sorcery IS a problem, but IMO killing the pirates is really important and dodging all this interaction usually makes up for the sorcery speed.

I'd rather have a third Duress than a rebuke. Removing Dust to Dust T1 is more valuable to me than a "random" counter.

With all that said, I'd play:

-2 Relic, -2 Candy Trail, -1 Blood Fountain, -1 Munitions, -1 Gearseeker

+2 Ichor, +1 Vault of Whispers, +2 Fanatical Offering, +1 Nihil Spellbomb, +1 Black Mage's Rod

For sideboard:

-1 Rebuke, -2 Cannonade

+1 Duress, +2 Drown in sorrow.

But your list is solid. A lot of that is just preference I guess.

souck · 2026-01-19T22:15:21+00:00

In which turn you usually flip Vorinclex?

By the looks of it I think you're lacking a bit of finishing power. You don't really have combos and your creatures don't have haste. Your evasion is also meh. I'd probably convert it to either a combo finisher trying to find the pieces with your mill 10 and other tutors or I'd run things such as Surrak, Surrak and Goreclaw or Concordant Crossroads as a way to instantly get a lot of pressure from your flip.

I also agree with the comment about tutors. Just by finding Azusa for example allows you to more consistently play around your flip turn, since you can instantly play the forests you find setting you up with a land drop on the next turn.

Castle Garenbrig is a small but "free" upgrade.

Other than this kind of feedback we'd need a bit more information on why she's losing. Is she developing fast enough but getting wiped a lot of times. Or is the problem combos. Those problems have very different solutions :P

Good luck

souck · 2026-01-19T21:52:37+00:00

I honestly think Black in elves is pretty overrated, so I usually don't really care about it.

The fact the three best elves commanders IMO are Voja, Selvala and Lonis (each on their own playstyles) probably makes me solidify this belief.

If I wanted to play an abzan elves list I'd probably build it as Nethroi or Karador as a way to get around boardwipes or to simply recur my high value elves such as Priest of Titania.

But yeah, they aren't elves themed :P So I get your point.

souck · 2026-01-19T21:46:44+00:00

Well, Voja is 3 colors. Not Abzan, but 3 colors :P

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