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Thread: Athreos, God of Passage

  1. #1

    Athreos, God of Passage

    I've been playtesting with this guy a little bit and it turns out he's just nuts.

    General: Athreos, God of Passage

    Doomed Traveler
    Mikaeus, the Lunarch
    Serra Ascendant
    Grand Abolisher
    Imposing Sovereign
    War Priest of Thune
    Archetype of Courage
    Devout Chaplain
    Frontline Medic
    Mirror Entity
    Xathrid Necromancer
    Heliod, God of the Sun
    Linvala, Keeper of Silence
    Odric, Master Tactician
    Geist-Honored Monk
    Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
    Spear of Heliod

    Mentor of the Meek
    Disciple of Bolas
    Erebos, God of the Dead
    Harvester of Souls
    Skullclamp
    Vampiric Tutor
    Demonic Tutor
    Necropotence
    Phyrexian Arena

    Corpse Hauler
    Reveillark
    Sun Titan
    Angel of Glory's Rise
    Phyrexian Reclamation
    Immortal Servitude
    Malevolent Awakening

    Blood Artist
    Suture Priest
    Syndic of Tithes
    Vizkopa Guildmage
    Kingpin's Pet
    Falkenrath Noble
    Blind Obedience

    Skirsdag Flayer
    Fiend Hunter
    Necrotic Sliver
    Magus of the Abyss
    Shriekmaw
    Condemn
    Attrition
    Vindicate
    Grave Pact
    Return to Dust
    Akroma's Vengeance

    Viscera Seer
    Cartel Aristocrat
    Teysa, Orzhov Scion
    Maw of the Obzedat
    Sadistic Hypnotist
    Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

    Burnished Hart
    Solemn Simulacrum
    Sol Ring
    Armillary Sphere
    Orzhov Signet
    12 Plains
    7 Swamp
    Scrubland
    Godless Shrine
    Caves of Koilos
    Fetid Heath
    Isolated Chapel
    Orzhov Basilica
    Command Tower
    Evolving Wilds
    Marsh Flats
    Terramorphic Expanse
    Thawing Glaciers
    Emeria, the Sky Ruin
    Mistveil Plains
    Bojuka Bog
    Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
    Dust Bowl
    Vault of the Archangel
    Volrath's Stronghold

    I've discovered a few things while playing this deck so far:

    1) People are unwilling to pay life for obviously non-abusive creatures (that is, not stuff like Necrotic Sliver) even if you're not pressuring them. It makes it incredibly easy to get a bunch of incremental card advantage out of sacrifice outlets and seemingly suicidal attacks.

    2) The tribal Humans subtheme is nice and gives the deck some structure, but it could use more support.

    3) The deck could use some more library manipulation, plus ways to clear out a cluttered board. I'm actually thinking of running Killing Wave because it seems incredibly punishing even at X=2 or 3 just because you sacrifice all your non-Athreos creatures to it and then aim all the Raise Dead triggers at the guy with the lowest life.
    Last edited by Aggro_zombies; 04-25-2014 at 05:00 AM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    This deck looks like a blast to play. A bunch of random thoughts:

    Is something like Circle of Despair and/or Martyr's Cause worth inclusion?

    Martyr's Bond is a little pricey mana-wise, but it's essentially a white grave pact for permanents. There's also the new flash Grave Pact from Journey into Nyx. If you'd prefer, there's World Queller on the creature side of things, but it's not as passive as Martyr's Bond.

    What about Elspeth 1.0 or 3.0?

    Lastly, Austere Command seems like it could be good in here. It gives you a little control over whether or not your guys are going to the bin, and also pinch hits for artifact/enchantment removal if that's what you need.

  3. #3

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    I like the idea of Austere Command. I think Command, Killing Wave, and maybe Akroma's Vengeance are worth running, but I don't want to cut creatures for them.

    Elspeth 3.0 seems best here.

    As for the others, I'll have to think about it.

  4. #4

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    I'm looking into Athreos as well but am unsure of which direction to go in. Maybe clerics.

    I'm for sure going to add in Bloodchief Ascension and Mindcrank. The big problem with Athreos is that your opponent is given a choice so you might as well make that decision a tough one.

    Also some sort of dredge enabler would work well with the human sub-theme with Dread Return suddenly becoming very powerful.

  5. #5

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    Thus far, most opponents have simply chosen to give the creatures back to me. It's really not worth it to pay the life for generic aggressive dorks.

    Dredge is one direction you could consider. You're probably better off doing a good stuff list at that point.

    Clerics might be too defensive. If your stuff isn't dying left and right, Athreos gets less interesting.

  6. #6
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    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    I was shuffling through some stuff the other day and stumbled on Silverblade Paladin - seems like a solid inclusion for your human package. It's also targetable by Reveillark and Sun Titan should your opponent decide to pay the life.

  7. #7
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    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    It's interesting because this really does look like a decent deck to have so many non-bruisers in the deck. I'm so conditioned to treat 5/5s in EDH as 2/2s in most other constructed formats that a list like this almost makes my tummy hurt, like I'm nervous for you bro

    It looks really flipping cool though.

    I am curious as to why a creature-centric list would not run Stoneforge Mystic and good equipment cards. Unless you're just not trying to 'be that guy', and so maybe I am incorrectly taking some of my Orzhov woes with me from my own lists, but your 5-power commander is just one Sword of Beavis and Butthead away from being 7 power (and therefore a relevant 3-turn clock when commander damage is the right path to victory). Even without that as a concern, you still probably want SFM because it plays right into the deck's engine; it's a small, killable dude that has a noteworthy effect and makes the opponent have to think about whether or not they want to pay that life.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dissection View Post
    Creature type - 'Fuck you mooooooom'
    Quote Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee View Post
    EDIT: Tsumi, you are silly.

  8. #8

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    Creature size is less relevant if you have other ways to close out games. In EDH, big smashy dudes are valuable because most removal spells are sweepers, so having a bunch of small utility dorks means you'll never put out enough damage before you lose all your guys. Athreos lets me cheat on that because people really don't want to pay life for the likes of Kingpin's Pet or Vizkopa Guildmage, so Wraths just let my little dorks be relevant again on a fresh slate.

    Also, extort lets me reduce other people's life totals much faster than you would think based on the size of my creatures. If I wasn't trying to stick to a light tribal theme, I would definitely be running all of the two-drop extort guys, plus the one-drop Thrull. Extort is bonkers in this deck.

    As for equipment...

    My original, hundred-and-something-card draft for this deck had Stoneforge, SoFI, SoFF, Jitte, and Greaves. In the process of trimming that down to sixty-three cards, I scrapped the entire package. My logic was something like this: equipment is mostly nice to have, but since I'm not trying to Voltron anything, it's not really a necessity. Furthermore, because I wanted to have a much higher ratio of creatures to spells than I normally do to support Athreos, a package that ate up a full four non-creature slots needed to be really good in order to justify the reduced flexibility in deckbuilding. Of the equipment I was running, only SoFF really stood out as being super sweet. However, running Stoneforge just to find SoFF seemed...loose. At that point, I was now down to just SoFF in the maindeck. I ended up cutting it in a later round of revisions mostly because having a random one-of Sword didn't really seem all that good, even if it did untap all my lands.

  9. #9
    Land Destruction Enthusiast
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    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    I thought about this guy as a general. I just figured 3 damage was something that would easily be paid in a format of 40 life. Killing wave seems absolutely hilarious here though.
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
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    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  10. #10

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    It's not worth it to Bolt yourself for the likes of Kingpin's Pet or Vizkopa Guildmage. Even Shriekmaw sometimes comes back.

    Killing Wave is a blast. I Unsummon my own guys and hit everyone else for 8-12 life.

    I'm considering Requiem Angel since Xathrid Necromancer has been so good. Village Cannibals and Unruly Mob might also be sweet.

  11. #11
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    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    Since you target the opponent to make the decision about paying the life, you can significantly abuse cards like Bone Shredder and Shriekmaw and Wispmare by making deals with people to target things that they want dead. Diplomacy can really pay off. If there is a monoblack player, then you get mad value because they know you're never going to target them and will let you recycle Shriekmaw all day. As in, you can pay 5BBBBB and Plague Wind selected players.

  12. #12

  13. #13

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    That deck is so sweet I think you broke my brain.
    "We are goblinkind, heirs to the mountain empires of chieftains past. Rest is death to us, and arson is our call to war."

  14. #14
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    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    There are a lot less Extort men than I thought there were. That makes me sad. It's basically, Blind Obedience, Treasury Thrull, Pontiff of Blight, and Crypt Ghast. Not much else is worth playing.
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Cheese View Post
    I've been taking shitty brews and tier 2 decks to tournaments and losing with them for years now. Welcome to the club. We meet for cocktails after round 6.
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevestamopz View Post
    Top quality german restraint there.

    If I'm at the point where I'm rage quitting, you can bet your kransky that I'm calling everyone involved a cunt.

  15. #15

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    @FTW I recommend adding in Angel's Grace, Ad Nauseam and Edgewalker. It adds another win out of nowhere combo and ignores graveyard hate.

  16. #16

  17. #17

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    Have you tried doomed necromancer? He's proven to be useful in my build (which is similar to yours), and is a human to boot.

  18. #18

    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    Quote Originally Posted by kirkusjones View Post
    Have you tried doomed necromancer? He's proven to be useful in my build (which is similar to yours), and is a human to boot.
    I have had it suggested to me before, but I dunno. I might try him if Auramancer doesn't work out, but I feel like Apprentice Necromancer might be better in that role.

    I managed to work Dictate of Erebos into the deck, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get Dictate of Heliod in. I may just cut a creature for it. I'd also like to get in Merciless Eviction since I run few planeswalkers, non-expendable artifacts, or creatures that can't be profitably sacrificed.

  19. #19
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    Re: Athreos, God of Passage

    This is my current build that I've been playing with for about a month now. There is room for a few more cuts and changes that I plan on making later on, but the deck overall has been consistent enough to merit me keeping it and tinker with. The deck gains traction best with thrumming Stone in play and dropping 1 Shadowborn Apostle. Although I have had times when the initial Shadowborn got no hits they are few and the typical expectation is to see 1-3 hits on each ripple. This should only take 1-2 attempts to drop all your Shadowborn onto the field. Razaketh, the foulblooded is your first tutor when sacing the first round of Shadowborn. Don't forget that Athreos, God of Passage will trigger for each individual Shadowborn. Pick one person and stay on them till dead or they quite. Razaketh is not needed for the win, so if the opponent tries to kill him just tutor for every piece you need to finish the kill in response:
    Dark Ritual
    Swamp and Mox Diamond
    Zulaport Cutthroat
    Blood Artist
    Phyrexian Altar

    At this point you should have dropped in 24-27 Shadowborn Apostles, so lets say 24 on the low end. You sacrificed 6 of them already to tutor for Razaketh. You have also just sacrificed 6 more Shadowborn Apostles for the key cards to drop combo the same turn (If you have the mana or have already played some of them adjust the math accordingly from what I'm typing) and should have about 12 Shadowborn Apostle on the field. Mox, discard swamp, play dark ritual, drop Phyrexian Altar, sac 2 Shadowborn Apostle to drop zulaport cutthroat first (this is because he triggers on all opponents and doesn't target), trigger on Athreos for each, sac 2 Shadowborn Apostle to altar to drop blood artist, trigger on Athreos for each, trigger on blood artist for each, gain 2 life, they lose 2 life, and you should have 8 Shadowborn Apostles left on the field ready to trigger the field on sac for 2 life each (thats 16 life lose total for the opponent), and be very assure that at this point they are not paying 3 life to keep the Shadowborn Apostle in the graveyard as you have pushed them into a corner and brutally drained them in a very horrific way. The other opponent(s) at this point have been drained as well to a point and are most likely not in a position to deny you from the rest of their life.

    *Note: Phyrexian Altar can potentially gain you infinite mana if Edgewalker is also in play.

    *Note: Edgewalker works very well in Phyrexian Altars place, if the altar is for some reason unavailable for use. Just use Shadowborn Apostle's sac ability to tutor (even if there is no available demon to grab).

    **Note: Immortal Servitude becomes valuable if you have multiple opponents to kill and you've sac'ed everything you can for your 1 drops. tendrils of Agony is another viable choice to use for the storm count if you are at this point in the game, but I don't currently run it.

    Commnader:
    Athreos, God of Passage

    Key Creatures:
    27 Shadowborn Apostle
    1 Suture Priest
    1 Zulaport Cutthroat
    1 Blood Artist

    Demons:
    1 Razaketh, the Foulblooded
    1 Rune-Scarred Demon
    1 Lord of the Void
    1 Bloodgift Demon
    1 Demon of wailing agonies

    Supporting Creature Roles:
    1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
    1 Scion of Darkness
    1 Dark Supplicant
    1 Edgewalker
    1 Cabal Archon
    1 Rotlung Reanimator
    1 Mother of Runes
    1 High Pries of Pennance
    1 Crypt Ghast
    1 Grim Haruspex
    1 Dark Confidant

    Planeswalker:
    1 Liliana Vess

    Enchantments
    1 Phyrexian Arena
    1 Dark Tutelage
    1 Grave Pact
    1 Dictate of Erebos

    Tutor
    1 Diabolic Intent
    1 Demonic Tutor

    Removal:
    1 Vindicate
    1 Toxic Deluge
    1 Killing Wave
    1 Damnation

    Mana Ramp:
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Mox Diamond
    1 Dark Ritual
    1 Expedition Mag
    1 Orzhov Signet

    Key Artifact:
    1 Thrumming Stone

    Supporting Artifacts:
    1 Phyrexian Altar
    1 Skullclamp
    1 Sensei's Divining Top

    Reboot:
    1 Immortal Servitude

    Lands:
    13 Swamp
    9 Plains
    1 Evolving Wilds
    1 Terramorphic Expanse
    1 Vivid Marsh
    1 mana Confluence
    1 Grand Coliseum
    1 Godless Shrine
    1 Rupture Spire
    1 Isolated Chapel
    1 Caves of Koilos
    1 City of Brass
    1 Tainted Field
    1 Temple of Silence
    1 Scrubland

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