Commander Deck Tech: Kaalia of the Vast
This week we are going back to a Commander that has been around for a while. As time goes by more and more Magic sets are printed. With these new sets we get new cards to try out and put in older decks. Updates are always needed and all of us have that one magical moment where we open a really cool card. We want to play with that card and crush all of our enemies with that card. Most will take out a card from their deck and then jam that new one in. It's a bit more rare and time consuming to revamp the whole entire deck. This is one of those times where I find an older Commander deck and revitalize it with newer cards.
Kaalia of the Vast has a really cool attack ability trigger. Whenever you attack an opponent you get to put an Angel, Demon, or Dragon from your hand into play tapped and attacking.
So we want to get Kaalia into play and attack as soon as possible. The deck runs a lot of higher casting cost Angels, Demons, and Dragons. We want to cheat them into playing with Kaalia's ability. One item that will help this ability be more efficient is by giving Kaalia haste. There are 3 cards within this build that give haste which are: Dragon Tempest, Lightning Greaves, and Swiftfoot Boots.
We also need to do our best to try and protect Kaalia from dying. We also want to try and mitigate some counterspelling of Kaalia. We run a Cavern of Souls which can be used to name Human to protect Kaalia, or one of the other 3 tribes. Either way that gets around some counterspells of a few of your Creatures when you play against a Blue deck. When Kaalia is already in play we have 3 spells which can protect her. Our protection spells consist of: Teferi's Protection, Akroma's Will, and Boros Charm.
That covers the basics for support for Kaalia, and you could also try to get Kaalia out a turn or so earlier. This build only runs a few mana rocks which help mana acceleration. I just couldn't justify playing more signets over 6-8 casting cost Angels, Demons, and Dragons. This might be one area that changes over time after playtesting the deck. The current build runs 3 mana rocks which can help mana accelerate your Creatures. I am running: Arcane Signet, Chromatic Lantern, and Sol Ring. If you want to run more mana acceleration I recommend running more of the 2 casting cost signets.
By running a Commander in the Black, Red, and White colors we have access to all kinds of wrath effects and spot removal. This is a key component of the deck and its resiliency to deal with all different kinds of threats. The deck runs 10 different pieces of spot removal, and some of them are situational. The spot removal consists of: Anguished Unmaking, Bedevil, Crackling Doom, Despark, Heliod's Intervention, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Terminate, Utter End, and Vindicate. The build also runs 3 wrath effects which consists of Farewell, Damn, and Ruinous Ultimatum.
We'll be running a pair of tutors in Vampiric Tutor, and Demonic Tutor. We also have the ability to tutor again with Rune-Scarred Demon. I think in most cases you will be tutoring for a Creature or removal spell. There may be that odd time where you are missing some mana and tutor for a land or artifact as well.
Now onto the most exciting part of the deck which is the Creatures. The deck runs 33 Creatures including Kaalia. We wanted to focus on the 3 different tribes to which Kaalia can cheat into play. The deck is definitely more Angel oriented with: 18 Angels, 8 Demons, and 5 Dragon in the build. Overall I feel that the 7 most powerful Creatures in the deck are: Aurelia, the Warleader, Reya Dawnbringer, Master of Cruelties, Lord of the Void, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Ancient Copper Dragon, and Ancient Brass Dragon. These Creatures are the most powerful due to what they do when they get put into play from your hand with Kaalia's ability. They gain added triggers or bonuses which makes the power level that much greater.
Overall this deck is very well rounded with plenty of big flying Creatures with crazy abilities. It also contains a plethora of removal, wrath effects, protection spells, and some ability to reanimate Creatures. The mana base is on the upper end in pricing but could be more expensive or cheaper. You could play with dual lands, or you could play with more basic lands. You can also modify the Creatures within the build to make it a little more budget friendly. Playtesting will be needed as the deck has lots of multiples of the same color of mana within the casting cost of Creatures. You need to adjust the mana within the deck to suit which colors are more heavy within your deck. The potential weakness in the deck is not being able to exploit Kaalia's attack abilities. If she keeps getting removed or countered eventually we will just have to hardcast big Creatures from our hand. Knowing when to play your more powerful Creatures and less important Creatures is necessary. We may want to cast a Bloodgift Demon into a counterspell rather than a Rune-Scarred Demon etc.
I hope this build gives you a good starting point for building your own Kaalia of the Vast Commander deck. Be sure to try and add some of your own flavor to your build and try new things. I'm sure you will get plenty of enjoyment attacking with Kaalia!
Until Next Time,
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