Trying hard not to make decisions on this deck based on BCS or WCS (best or worst case senarios). My reasoning for Bonfire over Blinding Angle (who is very good) is two-fold: 1. Bonfire's mana requirement, even a non-miracle cast, is really easy to decimate nearly any tribal board and is still good against decks that deploy small creatures with utility effects to enable combos. 2. Blinding angel needs to hit to work. She has evasion but against nathans wizard deck I'd rather have the bonfire since he doesn't care about attack steps and bonfire would wreck him...that may be a bit of a corner case though. Anyways as far as being controllish is concerned ... your probably right in that. Seems a better way to build it though given the nature of Commander and the varied threats you face in a multiplayer game. Now I really want to play this deck :P
Bonfire is good, but only affects one player, and requires mucho mana even if you miracle it. I think blinding angel has a similar effect, but works better with your general. O-ring is good enough i suppose. About your ramp suite, Coldsteel heart and Star compass are strait up better than the diamonds, and wayfarer's bauble is probably better as well. As for the land count, even with ramp i think you'll run into consistancy issues for drawing land. I have trouble getting mana with my teysa deck, and I run 38 land and about as many mana rocks as this deck. As for haste, i recomend lightning mauler, hall of the bandit lord, fervor, and Mass hysteria. Those effects are particularly important; don't expect Kaalia to live to see your untap step unless she has shroud, hexproof, or indestructibility. In my opinion, you should cut some utility in favor of more kalia targets, but i would play this deck differently than you. you seem to favor more of a controllish, responsive approach than most kaalia players.
I agree on anger (though I love me some haste). Shattered angel was in there to support lifegain to offset necropotence but that is out now. Warstorm surge is cute but probably just a "win more" card.
Vindicate is MUCH better than journey but O-ring is hard to cut considering it deals with about everything. Revoke existence seems excellent because it shuts down Sharrum shennanigins. Dragon mage looks very saucy because of reanimate goodness...i actually really like the oni because of reusing ETB effects (plus it's a demon) but my ETB effects are mostly on non-red dudes...maybe use it as a target for Tutors if I have rakdos the defiler??
The only card I'm in real disagreement with you on is bonfire of the damned...seems soooo good with vampiric tutor...one sided wrath is deliscious. As far as urborg/coffers and expedition map....I like it but takes up a lot of slots for something that, while good, is hard for this deck to capitalize on consistently.
Also I'm having trouble cutting much else to put in too many more lands. Obviously this deck tries to win by getting kaalia out fast witch doesn't require much lands ... I guess in a longer game I'll be hardcasting some of the bombs...something to think about I guess.
Your ramp suite looks pretty good, but you may want to think about coldsteel heart, wayfarer's bauble, and/or star compass in addition or in replacement. I think for this deck you want 37- 0r 38 lands. I think you should cut the following cards : Anger, Shattered Angel, Demon of Death's Gate, Bonfire of the Damned, Journey to nowhere, shield of kaldra, necropotence, oblivion ring, and Warstorm surge. Some of these are too expensive, and hard to cast. Vindicate is a strict upgrade to Oblivion ring. Condemn or unmake is probably better than Journey to nowhere, and Artifact/enchantment removal like Mortify, Revoke existance, or disenchant probably wouldn't be out of place. Oni of wild places combo's well with rakdos the defiler, but if you don't have the combo, oni is mediocre. Some Kalia targets you should definately consider are Blinding angel, Adarkar valkyrie, Platinum Angel, Skytheryx, Furyborn Hellkite, Dragon Mage, Ryusei the Falling star, rune scarred demon, Reaper from the abyss, and Kagemaro, first to suffer. Try and cut utility effects for utility creatures. Also consider putting uborg/cabal coffers + expidition map in.
Vindicate is MUCH better than journey but O-ring is hard to cut considering it deals with about everything. Revoke existence seems excellent because it shuts down Sharrum shennanigins. Dragon mage looks very saucy because of reanimate goodness...i actually really like the oni because of reusing ETB effects (plus it's a demon) but my ETB effects are mostly on non-red dudes...maybe use it as a target for Tutors if I have rakdos the defiler??
The only card I'm in real disagreement with you on is bonfire of the damned...seems soooo good with vampiric tutor...one sided wrath is deliscious. As far as urborg/coffers and expedition map....I like it but takes up a lot of slots for something that, while good, is hard for this deck to capitalize on consistently.
Also I'm having trouble cutting much else to put in too many more lands. Obviously this deck tries to win by getting kaalia out fast witch doesn't require much lands ... I guess in a longer game I'll be hardcasting some of the bombs...something to think about I guess.