Athreos, Shroud-Veiled Deck Tech

[Flame Dragon 19]

I wrote this up a little while ago and figured I could post it here to see what people think.

 

I've always enjoyed building commander decks and the new Athreos really excited me as a fun build around to make a deck idea I've had really come together, mono-interaction. Since the card is still really fresh and not a lot of references exist to help with building him I thought I'd try my hand at writing up my thought process in putting together my take on what an Athreos deck could look like

-Why Athreos

As I said the starting line for the deck was to play as many interaction cards as possible. That would push me towards WB since it has the strongest interaction pieces. None of the existing commander options really felt like it would work for the deck though. Playing a million pieces of removal is good at shutting down what the opponents might be doing, but it doesn't do much to move you ahead. Thats where Athreos comes in. I feel Athreos does a lot to patch up that weakness since turning your removal into permanent Mind Control effects allows you to move further and further ahead as you push your opponents further and further back.

-The targeted removal spells 11

This was the obvious place to start since WB has some of the best “remove anything” answers. Despark, Anguished Unmaking, Vindicate, Utter End, and Generous Gift are the obvious go to removal spells since they are universal. Pass that White also offers Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile as hyper efficient removal options. Since I'm pushing the theme to 11 I'm rounding it out with Dismember, Go for the Throat, Victim of the Night and Reprisal. All of these have various limits on what they can answer, but their efficiency makes up for the restrictions.

-The wraths 9

One for one removal is powerful because it is often really cheap, but in commander you can still fall behind if that’s all you’re doing. Luckily WB also offers the best ways to clear a board of anything. Merciless Eviction, Austere Commander, and Cleansing Nova can all pick what you clear depending on what the board state demands while Hour of Revelation is a no questions “everything is gone” button. Tragic Arrogance also falls into the destroy everything group and while it might sometimes miss something important it will more often than not get rid of everything you want and unlike Hour you’ll still get to keep your best cards. To supplement this Toxic Deluge and Day of Judgement are cheaper clear options, Rout flexible, and Decree of Pain serves as both removal and draw.

-The creature based removal 18

One of the things that really makes Athreos powerful is that it not only lets you steal whatever it is you’re killing, it also lets you get even more value out of creature ETBs and death triggers. To keep on theme I decided to focus on creatures that removed things when they come in. If you aren't grinding your opponents out by using their stuff against them, getting multiple uses out of an ETB that destroys something should do the trick. The first group I want to highlight are the ones that can send themselves to the yard making it easier to get value out of them with Athreos. Bounty Agent, Mangara of Corondor, and Magus of the Disk are a turn delayed but represent pretty powerful repeated removal. Agent is the weakest, but it is cheap to set up and in a format of legendary creatures it will always have a target. Banewhip Punisher and Necrotic Sliver don't have a turn delay ( though Necrotic is mana intensive) and lastly Bone Shredder is just really easy to loop if you want to and still fine without Athreos. Shadowborn Demon can also eat himself depending on where you are in the game so it too can act as an easily repeatable removal source. Past that Ashen Rider, Angel of Despair, Meteor Golem and Cavalier of Dawn are more universal answers, Luminate Primordial provides a controlled culling and Ravenous Chupacabra and Big Game Hunter are just efficient as far as the creatures that eat other creatures go. Lastly Cavalier of Night and the edict trio (Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner, and Plaguecrafter) can kill off one of my creatures I’ve given gold to while also helping to deal with my opponents boards.

-The card flow 11

In order to keep killing stuff you need a steady stream of cards coming in and this is where Black shines. Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, and Greed provide a constant stream of cards and Promise of Power gives you a nice burst for a pretty reasonable rate. Wretched Confluence gives less but it more versatile since it can be a removal spell or to just rebuy my removal creatures. Liliana, Dreadhorde General also provides draw that doubles as removal while also resetting my creatures with a gold counter. I’m playing Disciple of Bolas, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, and Diabolic Intent for similar reasons. Lastly Harvester of Souls rewards me even more for doing what my deck wants to do while Mind’s Eye is just kind of a catch all even if it is a little mana intensive.

-Mana Acceleration 10

Over all the deck needs a healthy amount of mana with a commander at 6 and a number of expensive cards I’m looking to get out. As such a healthy number of mana rocks is in order. None of them are honestly that surprising. Sol Ring, both Signets (Orzhov and Arcane), Talisman of Hierarchy, and Mind Stone are standard fair. I like Everflowing Chalice for the ability to have it make more mana later and Coalition Relic and Worn Power Stone can enable a turn 4 Athreos. Lastly Knight of the White Orchid and Solemn Simulacrum provide ramp that I can get a little more value out of with Athreos if I have nothing better to put a gold counter on.

-Miscellaneous 4

That covers the vast majority of the deck. All that remains are a handful of cards that don’t really fall into any of the above categories. Strionic Resonator lets me get more value out of Atheros. Dance of the Dead abuses the fact that he can return stuff even if they get exiled with Karmic Guide acting as a secondary way to keep rebuying my dead creatures and thanks to Echo plays very well with Athreos. Lastly Vedalken Orrery is right at home here since it gives me a lot more flexibility on how I use my removal since most is sorcery speed.

-Lands 36

The mana base is pretty standard and not worth delving much. Mostly whatever I felt was good but not super expensive. For utility lands Myriad Landscape and Temple of the False God can get Athreos out a little faster, Bojuka Bog is always nice to have, and Castle Locthwain is pretty free to include and provides a little bit of extra card flow in a pinch.

Put it all together and this is the deck list. 

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/28-12-19-athreos-edh/

And in a bit over 1000 words that what is my initial take on building Athreos. I built the deck because I wanted to play a deck that was nothing but removal and adding Lili and Confluence into the count the deck has 40 cards that can interact with what my opponents are doing. So, mission accomplished. This is very likely too much though, but for the start line I’d rather start high and cut the weaker stuff as I play test and patch whatever holes the deck might have. Over all though, I think this is a solid place to start. The pillars of any deck are three things; mana, interaction, and card flow and this deck certainly does a good job checking all those things off. At the very least you should always be ready to answer whatever it is your opponent does.