Sheathe The Blackblade

(This meant to go up last Thursday. Whoops!)

The cards from Commander 2020 definitely have a place in this Dakkon deck. What I'm still not sure about is the mana base. 34 lands isn't much, yet I still seem to find myself mana flooded. 

That might just be bad luck, but it doesn't seem like it, since I have more cards than ever with cycling. 

I've also realized that I've overlooked some cards out of Onslaught block, which I can't believe I'd forgotten had cycling, until I saw Eternal Dragon as part of the current Commander deck with cycling as its theme. 

But there are much better cards to use now, even while I do not forget the spice of the previous cards. Decree of Silence seems SO good and yet...I just can't justify it.

Another task that I cannot believe I forgot until recently was that I had failed to recalibrate the color requirements for this deck after making changes. Turns out I need a lot more Swamps than I thought. 

So there's been more tweaks but play still was difficult. The deck just kept floundering, until I realized that I couldn't have a 'one turn I win' moment. I needed to pace my play out slower and play defense-meaning play out my creatures, and just wait it out. I have reanimation strategies so it really is in my interest to stall until I'm ready.  

So here's were I'm going to leave it, for now. There's some tutors, some resets and a nice combo finish if I can get there. 

Commander: Dakkon Blackblade

Instant 1 Batwing Brume 1 Ensnare 1 Gleam of Resistance 1 Forsake the Worldly 1 Hieroglyphic Illumination 1 Hampering Snare	Artifacts 1 Armillary Sphere 1 Obelisk of Esper 1 Fluctuator 1 Alhammarret's Archive 1 Commander's Sphere
Enchantment 1 Moonlit Wake 1 Cast Out 1 Faith of the Devoted 1 Lay Claim 1 Drake Haven 1 Dragon Wings	Sorcery 1 Incremental Blight 1 Living End 1 Forced March 1 Living Death 1 Absorb Vis 1 Call to Mind 1 Akroma's Vengeance 1 Razaketh's Rite 1 Wander in Death 1 Stir the Sands 1 Finale of Eternity 1 Dismantling Wave 1 Decree of Justice 1 Cleansing Nova
Lands 1 Barren Moor 1 Drifting Meadow 1 Remote Isle 1 Coastal Tower 12 Swamp 8 Island 7 Plains 1 Desert of the Glorified 1 Desert of the Mindful 1 Desert of the True Planeswalker Liliana Vess	Creatures 1 Jhessian Zombies 1 Esper Sojourners 1 Dromar, the Banisher 1 Sanctum Plowbeast 1 Glassdust Hulk 1 Twisted Abomination 1 Disciple of Malice 1 Scion of Darkness 1 Undead Gladiator 1 Viscera Dragger 1 Shoreline Ranger 1 Primoc Escapee 1 Pendrell Drake 1 Keeneye Aven 1 Yoked Plowbeast 1 Noble Templar 1 Disciple of Grace 1 Tribute Mage 1 Winged Shepherd 1 Oketra's Attendant 1 Angel of the God-Pharaoh 1 Vile Manifestation 1 Lurching Rotbeast 1 Striped Riverwinder 1 Wasteland Scorpion 1 Horror of the Broken Lands 1 Shimmerscale Drake 1 Curator of Mysteries 1 Herald of the Forgotten 1 Drannith Healer 1 Void Beckoner 1 Avian Oddity 1 Archfiend of Ifnir

Bad Blackblade, No Donut

(Note: these games were played before Ikoria came out, or I even knew cycling would be a mechanic in that set.)

The initial games went about as well as I figured they would.

There was the game where I had Living Death put into the graveyard via Wheel of Fortune. There goes my win condition!

There was the game where the creatures in my graveyard started getting eaten. There goes my win condition!

These are not very good signs.

There's something uniquely frustrating about those first games, it seems. Murphy's Law seems to be in full effect, with what seems like bad luck but is also inexperience, inattentiveness, and having to live with the bad decisions of past me-be they in the deckbuild or mere moments ago.

And it is born entirely out of the notion that this SHOULD work, it just DOESN'T. Of course, navigating that is also important to detaching myself enough to really make the fixes that this deck needs to be fun to play.

So the first thing I did was go through the deck and yank every non-cycling card. Then I went to the Ahmonket block and pulled every relevant card I could.

Out:
Resurrection
Sever Soul
Disenchant
Excise
Misdirection
Sky Weaver
Punish Ignorance
Mindleech Mass
Steal Strength
Brass Secretary
Brilliant Ultimatum
Thistledown Liege
Braidwood Sextant
Memory Plunder

Maybe pull:
Dust to Dust
Energy Flux
Stormscape Familiar
Forced March
Stormscape Battlemage
Dromar, the Banisher
Dromar's Charm
Batwing Brume
Esper Charm
Unmake
Seal of Cleansing
Feldon's Cane
Incremental Blight

Probably keeping:
Obelisk of Esper
Armillary Sphere
Moonlit Wake
Ensnare
Call to Mind

To add:
Mortal Combat (thanks to Tyler for the suggestion)
Tribute Mage (to find Fluxuator)
Winged Shepherd
Oketra's Attendant
Forsake the Worldly
Cast Out
Angel of the God-Pharaoh
Vile Manifestation
Razaketh's Rite
Lurching Rotbeast
Striped Riverwinder
Wasteland Scorpion
Wander in Death
Stir the Sands
Horror of the Broken Lands
Faith of the Devoted
Shimmerscale Drake
Lay Claim
Hieroglyphic Illumination
Drake Haven
Curator of Mysteries

Of these, only Faith of the Devoted and Drake Haven both have the potential to augment my cycling cards but cannot cycle.

Of the maybe keeps, I'm holding on to Batwing Brume, Incremental Blight, Dromar,the Banisher, Feldon's Cane and Forced March.

That should represent a pretty big shift.

Commander-Dakkon Blackblade

I'll admit, Dakkon Blackblade is only in this deck to be a "color commander"; it's a general that lets me play Blue, White and Black. But I have a Dakkon and I wanted to use it. And what the heck; when I do cast it, it'll likely be pretty big.

Instant 1 Dromar's Charm 1 Punish Ignorance 1 Esper Charm 1 Batwing Brume 1 Memory Plunder 1 Unmake 1 Steal Strength 1 Swat 1 Rebuild 1 Misdirection 1 Traumatic Visions 1 Resounding Wave 1 Ensnare 1 Excise 1 Disenchant 1 Gleam of Resistance	Artifacts 1 Feldon's Cane 1 Armillary Sphere 1 Obelisk of Esper 1 Wayfarer's Bauble 1 Braidwood Sextant 1 Fluctuator
Enchantment 1 Energy Flux 1 Lingering Mirage 1 Moonlit Wake 1 Seal of Cleansing	Sorcery 1 Brilliant Ultimatum 1 Incremental Blight 1 Living End 1 Forced March 1 Living Death 1 Absorb Vis 1 Sever Soul 1 Call to Mind 1 Dust to Dust 1 Resurrection 1 Akroma's Vengeance
Lands 1 Barren Moor 1 Drifting Meadow 1 Remote Isle 1 Coastal Tower 11 Swamp 11 Island 11 Plains	Creatures 1 Jhessian Zombies 1 Mindleech Mass 1 Esper Sojourners 1 Dromar, the Banisher 1 Sanctum Plowbeast 1 Glassdust Hulk 1 Thistledown Liege 1 Brass Secretary 1 Twisted Abomination 1 Disciple of Malice 1 Scion of Darkness 1 Undead Gladiator 1 Viscera Dragger 1 Shoreline Ranger 1 Primoc Escapee 1 Pendrell Drake 1 Stormscape Familiar 1 Drifting Djinn 1 Sky Weaver 1 Keeneye Aven 1 Stormscape Battlemage 1 Yoked Plowbeast 1 Noble Templar 1 Disciple of Grace

So why bring this up? Because Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation have cycling as a central mechanic in those sets. (Edit: I started working on this before I knew cycling was a mechanic in Ikoria!)

And this deck wants to cycle a bunch of creatures and then cast Living Death to bring them all back and attack for victory. I'll start off with a few games, of course but with a whole bunch of new cards to choose from, I am expecting to be able to hack away some chaff for some solid beats-and maybe even find enough room to make Dakkon a problem when I play it!