Sacrificial Baby [EDH]

[Oversoul]

In my ongoing quest to build EDH decks led by each of the original 55 legendary creatures, I've noticed my overall lack of consideration for Halfdane, which is easily one of the most interesting and powerful of the bunch. Back when this whole endeavor was confined to the West Coast Commander League, someone else already had a Halfdane deck, and I guess I never fully considered what my own deck would look like. Oh yes, I only halfway considered it. Yeah, I went there.

This new 'Dane, though? Well, sacrificing all of my own creatures is very much in my wheelhouse.

Commander:
1 The Ever-Changing 'Dane

1 Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward
1 Abu Ja'far
1 Angelic Renewal
1 Ao, the Dawn Sky
1 Arcane Denial
1 Arcane Signet
1 Arid Mesa
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Body Double
1 Body Launderer
1 Brainstorm
1 Breathkeeper Seraph
1 Buried Alive
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Cemetery Puca
1 Command Tower
1 Corpse Dance
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Damn
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Dread Return
1 Drivnod, Carnage Dominus
1 Entomb
1 False Demise
1 Flooded Strand
1 Force of Will
1 Generous Gift
1 Gift of Immortality
1 Gilded Drake
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Intuition
1 Iridescent Drake
4 Island
1 Kairi, the Swirling Sky
1 Karmic Guide
1 Kaya's Ghostform
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Living Death
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Luminous Broodmoth
1 Mana Drain
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Metamorphic Alteration
1 Minion's Return
1 Mirage Mirror
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Phyrexian Tower
4 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Raffine's Tower
1 Rakshasa Debaser
1 Ratadrabik of Urborg
1 Reanimate
1 Return Triumphant
1 Reveillark
1 Saw in Half
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Sun Titan
4 Swamp
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Tragic Arrogance
1 Tundra
1 Unburial Rites
1 Underground Sea
1 Unearth
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Vesuvan Drifter
1 Victimize
1 Viscera Seer
1 Volrath's Shapeshifter
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Yosei, the Morning Star

1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
1Persist

 

[Oversoul]

Started off pretty strong with a second turn Entomb into Reanimate on Kokusho. Even in EDH, where players start with 40 life, Kokusho can be pretty deadly when paired with graveyard recursion. I probably made some misplays and put myself in topdeck mode too much, but my opponents had to keep each other in check as well, so I had the breathing room I needed to set up Living Death, copying and recurring Kokusho enough times that I was able to eliminate two players and bring the third to a low enough life total for combat damage to finish the job.

A successful first outing for this deck.

 

[Oversoul]

Bad breaks for this deck yesterday. I don't think my draws were egregiously terrible. First game I tried it, I got my final opponent down to 8 life and could have killed Kokusho again one more time to bring him down to 3 life, but had no way to finish him off and no way to survive his massive army of tokens (Horn of Gondor is a powerful card).

Second attempt I had a slow start against an opponent that was able to rush out Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and Seedborn Muse, followed by activating Kinnan to get Hullbreaker Horror. Couldn't compete with that.

I still really like this deck. Just had some poor luck. That's all.

 

[Oversoul]

Combing through this list for possible revisions, I'm finding that I really like it. Can't bring myself to make a lot of cuts. There is a new card I missed out on earlier. And now that it has my attention, I absolutely want it in here.

-1 Elas, il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
+1 Vesuvan Drifter

 

[Oversoul]

Had a crazy game with this deck, repeatedly copying, killing, and recurring Ao, the Dawn Sky. Ratadrabik of Urborg is insane in this deck. My opponents were able to muster some countermeasures and I took a bit of a beating, but the value engine of my deck overcame that. It was a long game and ideally I should probably have won sooner, but I am pleased with how this deck can keep churning out more creatures.

 

[Oversoul]

Won a quick game with Phyrexian Altar + Gift of Immortality + Iridescent Drake to make infinite mana and set up Buried Alive into Karmic Guide for a Reveillark loop.

 

[Oversoul]

Played this deck last night. Yet again, I really like the deck. And yet again, I'm running into the problem that the deck just kind of defaults to winning by going infinite. After hiding behind Keiga as a threat to steal potential attackers, I was able to disrupt my opponents, pit them against each other, and accrue more resources, eventually building into an explosive engine with Living Death + Kairi, the Swirling Sky. On the last turn of the game, I built up a big enough army of flying dragons that I could have won through combat. But because I also had the option to just go infinite and guarantee my victory without needing to pass the turn, I did.

Amusingly, I found myself in a situation where my line was to repeatedly sacrifice Iridescent Drake (enchanted with False Demise) to Viscera Seer, scrying through my library to get Phyrexian Altar on top. Since I actually already knew that Phyrexian Altar was in the bottom seven cards of my deck (thanks to Ao, the Dawn Sky), this was a matter of essentially reversing the order of almost my entire library. From there I was able to set up another Ao trigger, get the Altar, make infinite mana, and loop Kairi + Living Death with Kokusho for the kill.

 

[Oversoul]

New card came out that totally belongs in this deck. So I made a swap.

-1 Persist
+1 Return Triumphant

The change isn't going to matter. I played a game with this deck and got horrifically manascrewed. While that was just bad luck and not a mark against the deck, it just so happens to be the last game I'll be using the deck in for now. I have what's hopefully a spicy idea for a new deck, and it'll poach some cards from this one. Sacrificial Baby had a good run.