Topic: Takeno Samurai General EDH

http://deckbox.org/sets/428965
im just looking for ways to improve a tried and tested edh deck

Re: Takeno Samurai General EDH

i am trying to figure out what if any cards i should get rid of for land or better cards. any ideas?

Re: Takeno Samurai General EDH

So for starters, it's typically a good idea to allocate somewhere between 30 and 35 cards to being land for the deck.  You're sitting at 28 currently, meaning you'll often find yourself on the short end of the mana stick.  In no other format will you be as frustrated as EDH if you're land screwed, as the creatures and plays your opponents make will continue to get more and more extravagant and expensive while you're just sitting playing a game of draw-pass-go.  Oath of Lieges could help in this regard.

For the land, I'm not sure I'm following why you would put Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds over just two more plains.  You're only going to get more plains... so why not?

Are you set on having Takeno as your general?  I'm seeing several legendaries that could work equally well, if not better.  I'd suggest when you're playtesting to change generals around to see how it plays with some of the other options.  If you can, cheaper generals are great.  If you have an expensive one, it should likely win the game almost immediately (for instance, Raksha Golden Cub when equipped with several of the swords can deal fatal general damage in a single swing, justifying the wait until you have seven or more mana to bring him in).

You have a LOT of equipment based stuff in here, but I'm not really seeing much in the way of meaningful or essential equipment.  This might be an area to drop some cards to help create space.

I would suggest thinking about some things that would benefit from the mostly humans/samurai tribal thing you have going.  I'm thinking both Door of Destinies and potentially Coat of Arms could be of use.  If you decide to keep equipment as a part of the deck, Konda's Banner for sure.  I could also see where things like Thraben Doomsayer or other human stuff from the Innistrad block might be helpful too.  Riders of Gavony would be hilarious against another tribal deck.

Disenchant or some means of artifact removal would be great too.  Perhaps some more open removal like Oblivion Ring could help deal with opposing walkers too.

Lastly, I'm thinking perhaps a board wipe or some other means to totally shift the board in your favor for your big game-winning swing would be in order.  Mass Calcify is one option, as would be Blinding Light.  You've done well to include plenty of Fog effects as EDH tends to be an all-or-nothing format where the ability to dodge the first killing stroke can easily lead to victory, but if you want to make the first move, you'll need a way to ensure you can get through.  Spare from Evil is another card that could work wonders as tribal humans typically doesn't get much play in EDH.

I hope all this helps.  Good luck!

Re: Takeno Samurai General EDH

thank you for the imput.
i have included both terramorphic and evolving wilds in over plains because they help to thin the deck so that i can draw what i need.
i am kinda set on keeping takeno as my general because he does have quite a bit of meaning for me.
i do love your idea for mass calcify and the other card that is very similiar to tithe but is on an enchantment.
i do feel however that my board whipes for artifacts and enchantments are better than just the spot removial such as disenchant.

if you could help me figure out a few cards to take out currently for some of the cards that you think should be in there and lands that would be great.

thanks again for the imput

Re: Takeno Samurai General EDH

While you are correct that your artifact and enchantment board wipes are more capable of taking out opposing gear, they also take out yours and given all the equipment and enchantments you're running, well, who do you figure will lose out more from a board wipe like that.  I mean if you're just wanting to completely clear the field, you could easily run Planar Cleansing and chuckle as you take out EVERYTHING.  But then you're just as wiped out without anything to really fall back on and no real way to get it out of your yard.  Targeted artifact/enchantment hate can let you keep yours up and then drop their most important pump after they commit to an attack, letting you blow them out.

As far as cards I would cut, start with the following and work down the list:

- Bushi Tenderfoot (how many times does he actually get flipped?)
- Signal Pest
- Accorder Paladin
- Auriok Steelshaper (without better equipment, really, many of the equipment support cards can be dropped - think the swords for equipment you'd want, at which point you'll want to toss in Stoneforge Mystic, Stonehewer Giant, and a few others like that)
- Odric, Master Tactician - I'm just not completely sold on him being in here... he might work wonders though if used correctly
- Captain of the Watch - unless you're whole-heartedly into the soldiers tribal... why?
- Darien, King of Kjeldor - same as CotW
- Jareth, Leonine Titan - not seeing why he's here at all
- I think you have a few too many fog effects - so feel free to remove a few of them
- Rebuff the Wicked - what's the ONE thing you're looking to protect that much?
- Debt of Loyalty
- Ghostway - not sure why this is in here to begin with... flickering can be useful, but there are better, more consistent ways to do this
- Hold the Line - if you're sitting on that many fog effects, wouldn't you just let them through, cast that, and then swing for the win?  Why worry about this pump?
- Choose between the equipment and the pumping enchantments you really could focus on one or the other
- Gideon, Champion of Justice - he does what for you?

- Add more plains, you might as well drop the Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse - trust me, thinning out the deck by two cards isn't worth the delay you get bringing your lands into play tapped
- Also, Emeria, the Sky Ruin can be epic if your games go on long enough
-

Re: Takeno Samurai General EDH

bushi tender foot seems to flip for me about 2/3rds of the time so i find him to be very usefull early game.
i would like to keep some form of battle cry because for a combat deck i feel that it helps.

i agree that accorder palladin and auriok should be removed. (Im substitueing them for plains)

Odric is fricking amazing because he gives me free swings at a person. well worth the slot in the deck.

cotw and darien will come out for plains

jareth is a huge blocker that i can pump for protection.

i do agree that hold the line could come out but i dont know for what.

gideon is just good. as he changes the focus from me to him. it also is a great help against token decks.

debt of loyalty, with the way that it is worded i believe it can allow me to just take control of a creature so that is why i have it in there.

i thank you again for the help and if you see any other changes that i could make with the collection i have please sudgest them

Re: Takeno Samurai General EDH

I'd look into adding That Which Was Taken to turn Myojin of Cleansing Fire into a repeatable board wipe. Or to just make other things indestructible, that's always fun.

Everything else i could think of seems to have been covered.

Re: Takeno Samurai General EDH

i dont feel like that would really make all that much difference in the deck. ive tried that card before for the same combo and all it led to was a lot of player hate and focusing down. so its best just to leave it out when it only ever came up on a few occasions to begin with.