[EDH] Darien, King of Kjeldor

[Tog]

I have been in love with the idea of mono-white EDH ever since the printing of Emeria, the Sky Ruin. However, in practice, this has not worked out so well since white’s pool of EDH playables is very small. I was hoping fellow Sourcers could help me with some card suggestions for the weaker slots in the deck.

Darien has been my pet deck for the past three months or so. I win a good percentage of my games with him and my opponents don’t chastise me for it being too degenerate. Darien has an incredibly powerful ability but the deck can operate without him if necessary.

The purpose of the deck is to commit as few permanents to the board as possible and still not be attacked. For this reason, I have omitted artifact mana even Sol Ring. The rationale behind this is due to the mass removal suite (Akroma’s Vengeance, Planar Cleansing, Austere Command, Oblivion Stone, Magus of the Disk, Elspeth Tirel) as they undo any nonland board development. Instead, this deck focuses on building its mana base with cards like Armillary Sphere, Endless Horizons, and Land Tax. Should you become a target, Darien does the best Moat impression. The deck typically wins by amassing a swarm of tokens under Darien by inflicting damage to myself with ‘painlands’. The tokens and multifunctional anthem effects end the game in short order.

Here’s the decklist organized by functionality:

General:
Darien, King of Kjeldor

Lands:
Dust Bowl
Wasteland
Temple of the False God
Thawing Glaciers
Windbrisk Heights
29 Plains

Bitterblossoms that make mana:
Tarnished Citadel
Ancient Tomb
Nomad Stadium
Grand Coliseum
City of Brass

The reason the deck was attempted in the first place:
Emeria, the Sky Ruin

Developing Mana Base:
Armillary Sphere
Darksteel Ingot
Mind Stone
Journeyer’s Kite
Wayfarer’s Bauble

Eternal Dragon
Noble Templar
Solemn Simulacrum
Kor Cartographer

Endless Horizons
Land Tax

Tithe

Tutors:
Expedition Map
Weathered Wayfarer
Stoneforge Mystic
Steelshaper’s Gift
Idyllic Tutor

Mass Removal:
Akroma’s Vengeance
Austere Command
Planar Cleansing
Oblivion Stone
Magus of the Disk
Elspeth Tirel
Hallowed Burial
Martial Coup

Multifunctional Anthems:
Caged Sun
Gauntlet of Power
Crovax, Ascendant Hero
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Marshal’s Anthem
Ajani Goldmane

Multifunctional Token Producers:
Decree of Justice
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Luminarch Ascension
Emeria Angel

Card Draw:
Mind’s Eye
Skullclamp
Sensei's Divining Top

Recursion:
Karmic Guide
Sun Titan
Marshal’s Anthem
Emeria, the Sky Ruin

Yard Hate:
Scrabbling Claws
Stonecloaker

Disruption?
Path to Exile
Swords to Plowshares
Return to Dust
Oblation

General Protection
Lightning Greaves
Swiftfoot Boots
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
Glory

Flash in General Before Combat Damage:
Scout’s Warning

Good Stuff:
Umezawa’s Jitte

Admonition Angel
Baneslayer Angel
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Serra Ascendant
Wall of Omens

Aura of Silence

Karn Liberated

I am currently dissatisfied with the following cards: Slate of Ancestry, Faith’s Fetters, and Honor the Pure. I also want additional yard hate other than Relic of Progenitus because I have a good deal of recursion myself.

Does anyone know of any cards that deal damage to yourself? I am on the fence about adding Mana Vault and Ankh of Mishra to the deck especially since getting a black bordered one would be a difficult.

I would really appreciate any tips for improving the deck. Also, if you happen to have a Foil Darien, King of Kjeldor, contact me!

- Tog

[AlexAI]

Hour of Reckoning and Mass Calcify seem pretty sweet in here. Tithe and Gift of Estates if you want more Land Tax-ish effects.

I liked Soul Warden type of effects with Darien, but you seem to be going the blow everything up route so they might not be fantastic.

Have you considered Konda, Lord of Eiganjo as your general? He's pretty sweet in a sweeper based deck.

Edit: I found Fire and Brimstone, Sivvi's Valor, Blood of the Martyr, and Icatian Moneychanger for self damage, none of them look great though.

[mrjumbo03]

With that many basic lands, why not run the snow-engine with Scrying Sheets? Also, you could also put in scroll rack to revive the old combo of land tax and scroll rack. That's all for now.

[Malchar]

Hallowed Burial and Oblation are usually pretty strong white cards for EDH. For yard hate, perhaps Tormod's Crypt is the best non-symmetrical effect in your color. Ankh of Mishra seems good since you don't run fetchland. Some opponents might get severely punished.

[Amon Amarth]

With that many basic lands, why not run the snow-engine with Scrying Sheets? Also, you could also put in scroll rack to revive the old combo of land tax and scroll rack. That's all for now.

This. I can't think of any reason why a mono color deck shouldn't run the Snow engine.

[Tammit67]

I've always been a fan of Michiko Konda, Truth seeker. City of brass is another land you could use. Other things that deal you damage if you can get your hands on them: mana crypt
Armageddon clock
Barbed wire
Blasting Station
Copper tablet
Jinxed idol
Mana vault
...


Thats just a brief gatherer search on artifacts for "damage".

[Tog]

Thanks for all the replies. I will be sure to address all the suggestions.

Hour of Reckoning - The casting cost of the card is too high for my liking and if I have my token engine going, the tokens overrun any potential blockers anyway.

Mass Calcify - Again, casting cost. I don't like the fact that the nonwhite clause can potentially save my opponents creatures as well. I would much rather run Day of Judgment instead if there was an opening.

Gift of Estates - This deck is really good at hitting its land drops every turn. There have been many games where I have had the most lands on the field simply because I have never missed a land drop. In those instances, Gifts does nothing. In the early game, I'm hesitant to cast it because my hand size is too big and I have to discard during my end step.

Tithe - This is a good one that I forgot about. I will try to squeeze it in.

Soul Warden Effects - I have seen these guys in a number of Darien decks and they don't make a lot of sense to me. If you have Darien out, people shouldn't be attacking you anyway since you're going to be hitting back just as hard if not harder with the anthem effects. With the Soul Warden, it further discourages them from hitting you since they don't even deal damage anymore.

Konda, Lord of Eiganjo - I have tried a bunch of white generals before settling on Darien. A small white ground pounder (however indestructible) just isn't going to get there. Darien generates so much power on the field that, in my opinion, it outclasses any other white general.

Snow Land & Scrying Sheets - I think the benefits of this package is overblown. For instance, let's say we have 30 snow permanents in the deck. That means roughly one in three activations will net me an extra card. To get that card, on average, I will have used up 9 mana producing lands in a deck without library manipulation. Although having it in the deck is strictly better than my current setup, hunting down 29 snow-plains would be a bitch and not worth the minimal gains.

Scroll Rack - I originally dismissed this card and Sensei's Divining Top because I felt that I did not have enough shuffle effects to utilize them. However, looking back it seems that I have 15 shuffle effects (and can potentially add more with the inclusion of fetchlands). For people with more experience with Scroll Rack, is this enough to warrant its inclusion?

Hallowed Burial - Much better than Wrath of God and I will be sure to add it to the deck.

Oblation - I have always had my reservations about the card especially since my opponents get to draw two cards. I will test it in the place of Faith's Fetters.

Tormod's Crypt - Wish there was better yard hate that cantripped...

Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker - Not sure about this one. I might test it if I get around to it.

City of Brass/Mana Crypt/Mana Vault - I had City of Brass in the deck but seems I forgot to add it when I typed up
the list. I tried Mana Vault in the deck for a while but it didn't seem to do all too much other than be a glorified ritual effect. I never wanted to untap the card. I typically don't cast my general until later in the game when I have plenty of mana anyway so the temporary mana from the Vault isn't very useful. Casting my general early just gets it killed. Mana Crypt seems awesome but I will never be able to get one (although it did recently get printed as a Judge Foil). I'll be sure to keep it somewhere in the back of my mind.

Crappy Self Damage Cards - I truly appreciate the effort made on my behalf! However, I don't think any of them do anything relevant beside dealing me damage. Without my general, they aren't worthwhile.

[Malchar]

Oblation can be a meta choice. Shuffling away an annoying general is usually worth letting them draw, especially if it's a combo general. There's also Rune-Tail's Essence which can be pretty annoying for the opponents. As for the self-damage effects, there really aren't that many. The main advantage you get it just the fact that no one will want to attack you.

[Tog]

Changes to Decklist:

In: Sensei's Divining Top, Oblation, Tithe, Hallowed Burial

Out: Faith's Fetter, Wrath of God, Honor of the Pure, Slate of Ancestry