r/EDH • u/Whyhuyrah • 8h ago

Question How to make a deck more resilient? (Selesnya)

So I'm playing a pretty basic [[Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood]] + [[Akroma, Vision of Ixidor]] partner deck that sets out a really basic gameplan of "I'm going to ramp into playing big angels with lots of keywords", it's currently Bracket 2-3, no GC's/infinites/tutors but if I get big flyers out I can chunk someone for a bunch of health

My Akroma is a really efficient target for cheap removal, and I've tried playing [[Sigarda, Font of Blessings]] - to give everything else hexproof and +1/+1 in combat via Akroma but even when I play that, it gets shot then Akroma gets shot, then I gotta get to 9 mana to play my commander again and... it just kinda sucks?? Even [[Asceticism]], in response to me playing it my creature gets shot

I don't really know what to do :| I thought I'd try commander but it's not much fun so far

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3

u/magicsucksnow 8h ago

Think of commanders simply as cards you are guaranteed to draw every game, rather than cards you are entitled to keep on the battlefield at all times

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u/Ok-Operation261 8h ago

well how much ramp is ramp? got a decklist?

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u/Whyhuyrah 6h ago

I was playing about with it on moxfield, there's a long list in considering deck

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u/Ok-Operation261 5h ago

hmm. you have a lot of ramp but not a lot of it is high impact ramp which you need because so many of your creatures are high costed. you have a 3 mana commander which is a mana dork, so I like birds of paradise, elvish mystic, utopia sprawl, these are good to get your commander out turn 2. on turn 3, however, you should have 5 mana available to you if you did this (2 mana dorks and 3 lands) so I would trade farseek and three visits for like some stronger ramp, like [[explosive vegetation]] or [[open the way]] and cut bad artifacts like selesnya signet and commanders sphere

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u/EatRiceGetMoney 8h ago

I would recommend running more high mana cards that give value over the long run instead of just big creature threats. something like [skullspore nexus] will draw you a card on cast, and ensure you get value out of your creatures dying. High mana sorceries would also be good

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u/langile 7h ago edited 7h ago

Ramp, protection, and recursion, plus a healthy amount of draw.

Also knowing when your deck should push. If no one has been doing much and you start dropping big angels every turn yeah you're gonna get smoked, hold back and develop engines first, so even if your commander gets targeted you have mana to protect her, replay her, something like [[Celestine, the Living Saint]] to bring her back, and enough draw you won't run out of gas

The type of ramp/draw/etc you include effect resiliency too. Mana dorks are faster than land ramp but they are more likely to be removed (where MLD is common the opposite may be true). Card draw that scales on your board state may have a higher top end but if you need to recover from a boardwipe you may find they're a dead card in hand.

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u/-Rangorok- 5h ago

Well you're playing a commander that presumably buffs your entireboard with a big anthem. Your opponents really have to point removal at it to stay alive so it will get shut down asap no matter what you do.

What you can do, is try and make sure you make it so your opponents can only shoot her down after you gained some value off her. Treat Akroma as a sort of overrun effect, play it and then try to finish the game or take out a player or two.
To buy yourself some time, you could try using silence effects...
You already run [[angelic arbiter]], but how about [[yuriko blade of the mighty]], [[ranger captain of eos]], [[dragonlord dromoka]], [[conquerors flail]] or [[grand abolisher]].
This should ensure you get at least one turns worth of attacks with akromas buff, and Yuriko, or Ranger captain also have some extra uses and Dromoka is a big flyer that synergizes with your lifegain.

the other option would be to run more protection spells, heroic intervention is the posterchild but there's other good options too, like [[dawn's truce]], [[royal tratment]] or [[tamiyo's safekeeping]]

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u/Whyhuyrah 1h ago

I appreciate this, thanks

I was playing Gilanra->Maybe a stepping stone Angel/Ramp->Akroma->Other Angels but it's probably best to make Akroma the last thing I play in some sequence of turns

I was also thinking I should use my mana dorks to cast more expensive ramp like [[Verdant Mastery]] or [[Zendikar Resurgent]] - it just means if I lose my mana dorks to a board wipe I'm not set so far behind, and if I land a card with X in its mana cost or a repeatable activated ability I might get a ton of value

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u/So-Be 8h ago

Have you considered [[The Walls of Ba Song Se]]?