[EDH] Daxos, the Returned

[Davran]

I was pretty disappointed with a lot of the C15 stuff, but Daxos caught my eye as something new and different...so I figured I'd give him a go. Here's the list:

Commander:
Daxos, the Returned

Enchantments:
Aura of Silence
Black Market
Blind Obedience
Cage of Hands
Daxos's Torment
Debtors' Knell
Ghostly Prison
Gift of Immortality
Grasp of Fate
Greater Auramancy
Karmic Justice
Land Tax
Luminarch Ascension
Myth Realized
Opalescence
Parallax Wave
Phyrexian Arena
Seal of Cleansing
Seal of Doom
Sigil of the Empty Throne
Soul Snare
Sphere of Safety
Spirit Bonds
Underworld Connections
Vow of Duty
Vow of Malice

Creatures:
Academy Rector
Ajani's Chosen
Ashen Rider
Celestial Ancient
Doomwake Giant
Erebos, God of the Dead
Grim Guardian
Mesa Enchantress
Monk Idealist
Oreskos Explorer
Silent Sentinel
Solemn Simulacrum
Sun Titan
Underworld Coinsmith

Instant:
Argivian Find
Mortify
Path to Exile
Return to Dust
Swords to Plowshares
Utter End

Sorcery:
Damnation
Death Grasp
Merciless Eviction
Obzedat's Aid
Open the Vaults
Replenish
Toxic Deluge
Unburial Rites

Artifacts:
Commander's Sphere
Crystal Chimes
Lightning Greaves
Mind Stone
Orzhov Signet
Sol Ring
Wayfarer's Bauble

Lands:
Bojuka Bog
Caves of Koilos
Command Tower
Fetid Heath
Ghost Quarter
Godless Shrine
Isolated Chapel
Marsh Flats
Orzhov Basilica
11 Plains
11 Swamp
Tainted Field
Temple of Silence
Temple of the False God
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Vault of the Archangel
Volrath's Stronghold


The general plan here is to cast enchantments and rack up experience counters. Plan B is to use Constellation triggers to do various things, and otherwise beat down with tokens.

[Baumeister]

Skybind is criminally underplayed and is effective even with only a few enchantments in the deck. I imagine it would be quite good here. If you pair it with Heliod, God of the Sun you can do some silly things as the tokens he creates are all enchantments. If those cards are not dealt with, you can essentially control the ebb and flow of the game.

[Davran]

Skybind is criminally underplayed and is effective even with only a few enchantments in the deck. I imagine it would be quite good here. If you pair it with Heliod, God of the Sun you can do some silly things as the tokens he creates are all enchantments. If those cards are not dealt with, you can essentially control the ebb and flow of the game.

Huh. I didn't even know that Skybind existed. It does seem quite good here, especially since Daxos also makes enchantment tokens for one less mana than Heliod. I'll have to track a copy down and give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Baumeister]

I didn't really read Daxos' text very well - he is quite solid! All of the new cards from the Commander set seemed mediocre, but I like that the BW deck has tracked in a slightly different direction. He would be really awesome if he cost BGW as that would push you into some excellent draw engines.

I have more suggestions, but I'm not sure how competitive you are looking to make this list. You seem to be running a grindy control shell and could benefit with a lot of format staples. White tends to benefit a lot from reusing its spells for value.

Serra's Sanctum
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Buried Ruin

Knight of the White Orchid
Kor Cartographer
Burnished Hart - excellent with Gift of Immortality

Weathered Wayfarer
Enlightened Tutor
Idyllic Tutor

Wall of Omens
Mind's Eye

Cloudshift
Martyr's Cause

Emeria Shepherd
Crucible of Worlds

Oblivion Ring - solid removal and good with Sun Titan and a sac outlet
Martyr's Bond
Austere Command

[3drinks]

Skybind is criminally underplayed and is effective even with only a few enchantments in the deck. I imagine it would be quite good here. If you pair it with Heliod, God of the Sun you can do some silly things as the tokens he creates are all enchantments. If those cards are not dealt with, you can essentially control the ebb and flow of the game.

Pretty solid, like an Astral Slide effect.

[square_two]

Skybind was actually pretty powerful in a certain Abzan Constellation deck before Theros rotated out. Repeatedly bouncing Siege Rhino was entertaining. Even the "gain 1 life" lands were nice in conjunction with Courser of Kruphix to gain life, or the scry lands for additional filtering.

Here, it increases the power of Ashen Rider, the land grabbers...basically any ETB effect. Bojuka Bog too. Emeria Shepherd and Karmic Guide could also do work. I'm probably pointing out the obvious, but I love the look of this deck and will hopefully get the Daxos deck among my xmas gifts this year.

[Davran]

I didn't really read Daxos' text very well - he is quite solid! All of the new cards from the Commander set seemed mediocre, but I like that the BW deck has tracked in a slightly different direction. He would be really awesome if he cost BGW as that would push you into some excellent draw engines.

I have more suggestions, but I'm not sure how competitive you are looking to make this list. You seem to be running a grindy control shell and could benefit with a lot of format staples. White tends to benefit a lot from reusing its spells for value.

Serra's Sanctum
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Buried Ruin

Knight of the White Orchid
Kor Cartographer
Burnished Hart - excellent with Gift of Immortality

Weathered Wayfarer
Enlightened Tutor
Idyllic Tutor

Wall of Omens
Mind's Eye

Cloudshift
Martyr's Cause

Emeria Shepherd
Crucible of Worlds

Oblivion Ring - solid removal and good with Sun Titan and a sac outlet
Martyr's Bond
Austere Command

All of these are great suggestions, and most of them were on my original "short list" for inclusion. I eventually made a conscious decision to exclude them (especially the tutors) in an effort to make the deck less "competitive". This is actually a big step for me, because most of my other decks run stuff like that pretty much without question. That said, I would really like to get a copy of Serra's Sanctum for the deck - I don't think it's too over the top, and I've never really had a chance to play around with it.

Wall of Omens should absolutely be in here - definitely an oversight on my part. I'll find some room somewhere. As for Oblivion Ring - I'm trying out Grasp of Fate in its place. It's still recurrable with Sun Titan, and it hits the same stuff, but it also hits every opponent, which I think is a big step up.

I don't particularly like Burnished Hart, just my personal opinion. It's pretty slow, and with most of the deck sitting at or below 3 CMC, I feel like I won't want to take 2 turns "off" to make it worthwhile.

[Baumeister]

All of these are great suggestions, and most of them were on my original "short list" for inclusion. I eventually made a conscious decision to exclude them (especially the tutors) in an effort to make the deck less "competitive". This is actually a big step for me, because most of my other decks run stuff like that pretty much without question. That said, I would really like to get a copy of Serra's Sanctum for the deck - I don't think it's too over the top, and I've never really had a chance to play around with it.

This is eminently understandable. I believe white still needs all the help it can get even in an underpowered meta, but I can't presume to know what kind of decks you are playing against.

As for Oblivion Ring - I'm trying out Grasp of Fate in its place. It's still recurrable with Sun Titan, and it hits the same stuff, but it also hits every opponent, which I think is a big step up.

This is a good point. Oblivion Ring can go infinite with Sun Titan and a sac outlet, but something tells me you're not trying to do that.

I don't particularly like Burnished Hart, just my personal opinion. It's pretty slow, and with most of the deck sitting at or below 3 CMC, I feel like I won't want to take 2 turns "off" to make it worthwhile.

I felt this away about this guy for a long time, but he is really good to push you into the late game especially when you can recur him repeatedly. I don't really know how to explain his benefits without direct play experience, but he's surprisingly solid.

[Davran]

This is eminently understandable. I believe white still needs all the help it can get even in an underpowered meta, but I can't presume to know what kind of decks you are playing against.

You're probably right. I haven't had an opportunity to actually play the deck yet, so I'll see how it goes. I've got a Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper deck I've been messing around with since he came out too, and that thing is hemorrhaging white cards every time I play it.

I felt this away about this guy for a long time, but he is really good to push you into the late game especially when you can recur him repeatedly. I don't really know how to explain his benefits without direct play experience, but he's surprisingly solid.

I've used it before in a less-cohesive deck, and I was always fairly "meh" on it. There were times where I'm playing it Turn 3 and activating Turn 4 with nothing else going on, and yes, that's pretty great. The rest of the time I find it rotting in my hand, or sitting on top of my deck when I'd rather be drawing anything else. I've tried to keep my ramp to 1 and 2 mana where possible, and I tend to value cards that do other stuff too (see Mind Stone and Commander's Sphere) so that they're not completely and totally dead late. I think if I were going to add another ramp spell it would probably be Hedron Archive for exactly that reason.