Junk in the Trunk: Doran, the Siege Tower

   A few days ago, I received a request from fellow blogger and forum member Viperion to do a Deck Doctor article on one of his decks. He had a number of decks that weren’t performing to his expectations and he wanted to see if I would be interested in helping out with one of them. I agreed immediately, partly because I was in dire need of some content for my blog. But the other reason I jumped at the opportunity was because Viperion’s chief concern was that his decks tended to stick to strictly to their core themes, eschewing the often necessary but boring utility slots in favor of more thematic cards. My principal fault lies in exactly the opposite direction – I tend to skew too heavily to the “good-stuff” end of the spectrum, which can unfortunately lead to a certain uniformity and repetitiveness in my decks. 

   So, it seemed to me a good fit, pitting Viperion’s theme-heavy approach against my tendencies toward ubiquitous good-stuff. The trick would be to find a good balance between the two approaches, while keeping the core of Viperion’s deck intact, but thinning it out enough to make room for the effects the deck was lacking.

   Viperion provided a handy write-up with his decklist, outlining some concerns with the existing list and some restrictions on where he didn’t want to go with the revisions. I definitely like having these guidelines, as it helps me tailor my alterations to suit the person who’s going to be playing the deck, rather than just building to suit my own tastes. Fortunately, Viperion’s strictest objections were to mass land destruction and combos that lock other players out and keep them from participating. I happen to share strong aversions to such tactics myself, so it seems our preferences run along the same lines.

   He also provided a short list of cards that he would prefer to keep in the deck, which I was certainly happy to oblige as much as possible.

   Most importantly, Viperion detailed his primary issues with the deck’s performance, listing two key areas he felt needed the most work. First, the deck seemed to rely too heavily on its general, performing poorly when his general wasn’t in play.  Second, and more importantly, the deck was lacking in answers, having too few ways to deal with problematic permanents.

   Finally, he expressed a desire to keep the deck largely Aggro-centric, with Doran remaining  an important part of the deck’s strategy, while being slightly less dependent on him overall. He did not want to see the deck become some generic WBG Rock control deck. Well, as it happens I think we can accommodate all of these requests while still improving on the deck’s overall performance by shoring up those key weaknesses Viperion has outlined. Let’s start with the initial list:

"I like big butts and I cannot lie."

General

Doran, the Siege Tower

Treefolk Creatures

Battlewand Oak

Black Poplar Shaman

Bog-Strider Ash

Bosk Banneret

Cradle Guard

Deadwood Treefolk

Everbark Shaman

Heartwood Storyteller

Indomitable Ancients

Orchard Warden

Old Ghastbark

Sapling of Colfenor

Sheltering Ancient

Thorntooth Witch

Timber Protector

Treefolk Harbinger

Verdeloth the Ancient

Wickerbough Elder

Treefolk Tribal Spells

Lignify

Reach of Brances

Rootgrapple

Other Big-Butted Dudes

Ancient Spider

Blessed Orator

Carven Caryatid

Chorus of the Conclave

Citanul Woodreaders

Cuombajj Witches

Deathless Angel

Herald of Leshrac

Juvenile Gloomwidow

Kami of Old Stone

Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Marble Titan

Noble Templar

Oathsworn Giant

Ohran Viper

Opal Acrolith

Oran-Rief Recluse

Priests of Norn

Sanctum Guardian

Shield Dancer

Silklash Spider

Tangle Angler

Teneb, the Harvester

Tree of Redemption

Wall of Blossoms

Windbrisk Raptor

Toughness Pumpers

Eland Umbra

Slagwurm Armor

Solidarity

Spidersilk Armor

Random Stuff

Ajani Goldmane

Crime // Punishment

Door of Destinies

Green Sun's Zenith

Leyline of Vitality

Oblivion Ring

Oversoul of Dusk

Pestilence

Privileged Position

Proper Burial

Regrowth

Shield of the Oversoul

Farseek

Skyshroud Claim

Lands

Bojuka Bog

Eiganjo Castle

Forbidding Watchtower

Godless Shrine

Golgari Rot Farm

Murmuring Bosk

Orzhov Basilica

Overgrown Tomb

Saltcrusted Steppe

Selesnya Sanctuary

Sunpetal Grove

Tectonic Edge

Temple Garden

Terramorphic Expanse

Twilight Mire

Wooded Bastion

Forest x8

Plains x7

Swamp x3

   Well that seems like a perfectly good starting point. Ideally, when messing with other people’s decks I like to keep as much of their initial build intact as possible, because I want the deck to feel like it’s still their deck, not like they’re just piloting someone else’s borrowed deck. For this deck, though, I think that on a card-by-card basis I will wind up making a drastic number of changes. However, I do think that the deck will still be the same at its core – I will retain the Treefolk and high-toughness themes that give the deck its identity and make Doran a relevant and important general. And of course I’ll try to avoid cutting the cards Viperion specifically wished to keep. Beyond that, all bets are off!

   The first step, for me, is to address an issue Viperion didn’t mention in his write-up, but still has me worried nonetheless. A quick count reveals a total of 34 Lands in the deck, and only a few mana-search spells. There are a whopping ZERO mana-rocks, which I can understand a certain hesitancy to include. Mana rocks are possibly the most boring and uninteresting cards you could play in EDH, yet there’s a reason they’re so ubiquitous – they aren’t just good, they’re often necessary.

   So, my first and strongest recommendation is to increase the land count to 36 and add a few other mana-ramp spells. First let’s take a look at just the lands. Here is my ideal list…

Tech!

Bojuka Bog

Eiganjo Castle

Tectonic Edge

Temple of the False God

High Market

Murmuring Bosk

Forbidding Watchtower

Stirring Wildwood

Godless Shrine

Overgrown Tomb

Temple Garden

Golgari Rot Farm

Orzhov Basilica

Selesnya Sanctuary

Sunpetal Grove

Fetid Heath

Twilight Mire

Wooded Bastion

Terramorphic Expanse

Forest x8

Plains x6

Swamp x3

   My additions were: Temple of the False God, High Market, Stirring Wildwood, and finally Fetid Heath, to complete the trifecta of Shadowmoor/Eventide filter lands. I’m sure Viperion would have included the Heath if he had one, so I’m assuming it would be an acquisition for him. I do think a Basic Swamp would work just fine instead. I added High Market because the deck had zero sacrifice outlets, which always makes me extremely nervous, especially against Blue decks that often run things like Treachery and Rite of Replication. Being able to bin your guy in response to one of those spells is pretty important. Temple of the False God is just really good. Stirring Wildwood is a nice companion to Forbidding Watchtower, which, by the way, is good by itself but hilariously powerful with Doran on the board!

In addition to the tweaks to the mana base, I recommend the following mana-helpers:

Seedguide Ash (seriously!)

Cultivate

Skyshroud Claim

Sol Ring

Darksteel Ingot

Mirari's Wake

   Seedguide Ash is a Treefolk and he gets mad Forests…  win-win! I think Cultivate is worth the additional mana over Farseek, though I do realize that Farseek can get a RAV dual… I still think this is the right call. Skyshroud Claim is friggin’ awesome and it stays put! Sol Ring is the most boring card in the format to many people, but I simply think it’s important to have here. It doesn’t help cast Doran (at least the first time) but Treefolk in general tend to be a bit mana-intensive. Darksteel Ingot is also pretty good, and if Viperion is worried about artifact hate killing his mana rocks, he at least doesn’t have to worry much with the Ingot. Finally, Mirari’s Wake is just Tha Bomb, and even if it gets killed right away 90% of the time, at least it’s drawing removal away from other, more critical permanents.

   Having addressed my mana concerns, let’s move on to the issues Viperion outlined. First, let’s tackle the removal shortage issue. It’s probably the more critical of the two problems, and the easiest to fix. My first suggestion is, quite possibly, my single favorite bit of “Secret Tech” for a Doran deck:



Wave of Reckoning!

    Oh yeah, baby! Gotta love the one-sided Wrath effects. The beauty is that Doran specifically says  “Combat Damage” which means even with Doran on the battlefield Wave of Reckoning will spare the vast majority of your creatures, while usually wrecking the majority of your opponents. Oh sure, sometimes it’ll spare a Consecrated Sphinx or something, but more often than not it’ll be a massive swing in your favor. In addition to Rootgrapple and Lignify – two excellent choices Viperion is already running – I’d suggest the following

Duplicant

Crib Swap

Beast Within

Path to Exile

Pernicious Deed

Wrath of God

Wave of Reckoning

Decree of Pain

   Duplicant’s has a higher toughness than his power! Go theme! Crip Swap is an Exile effect, which is almost always better than Destroy effects, plus it counts as a Treefolk spell! Beast Within is one of the few ways to deal with Planeswalker at Instant speed (other than burn, which isn’t usually great in EDH), but it’s pretty great as a universal answer to almost any permanent, too. Path to Exile could be Swords to Plowshares, but in an Aggro deck the life gain is marginally more of a drawback than the land search. I still think running BOTH is the correct answer, but whatever. Pernicious Deed is obviously a tremendously powerful card, but I’ll go ahead and spoil it for you now: Deed + Sun Titan. Nuff said. Wrath of God (or Damnation, based on preference/availability) is a must, even in creature-centric Aggro decks. Treefolk are awesome and all, but there will be times that they just get outclassed and outmuscled. You need an out for when that happens. Finally, Decree of Pain provides a much-needed sweeper effect along with some also-much-needed card draw. Plus, they’re still really cheap to buy, so there’s really no downside at all!

   Also worthy of consideration, or use as stand-ins for anything above that isn’t available: Putrefy, Mortify, Vindicate, Akroma’s Vengeance.

   That’s one major point addressed. Moving on to the next, let’s see what we can do to protect our prized general, Doran the Siege Tower. Here’s what I recommend:

Dauntless Escort

Eland Umbra

Shield of the Oversoul

Sword of Light and Shadow

Asceticism

   Under the “Protect Doran” mandate, one of the more useful abilities is Hexproof (troll-shroud to some), and Privileged Position is already included in Viperion’s list. In fact, it was one of the few cards he specifically asked me not to cut if at all possible. Here I am, though, debating on whether or not to cut it. But not without good reason, you see, because I feel like, to quote Master Yoda, “there is… another.” [cue dramatic revelation score]

   I am, of course, talking about Asceticism. The two Enchantments are very similar in most respects – they’re both CMC five, and grant Hexproof to all  your guys. However, they are not identical, and thus one needs weigh the pros and cons of each when deciding which of these two cards will better achieve the desired results. Thusly, what follows is a quick and dirty compare/contrast evaluation, to help us decide which Enchantment gets to stay. Oh, and I  have already considered the ultimate compromise of running both… I’d love to do so, but I have already determined that there just isn’t room in the deck for both, unless Viperion decides to cut something I wouldn’t to make room. It’s possible one or more cards I add to the deck he will not have access to, thus opening up a slot. And, with that, the comparison:

Privileged Position grants Hexproof to all other permanents you control. This means an opponent will have to deal with Privileged Position before he can use targeted effects on any of your non-Privileged Position permanents. It protects Lands, Planeswalkers, other Enchantments, etc. It has a CMC of five, including triple Hybrid symbols of W/G, making it fairly easy to play. One of the advantages to playing Privileged Position in this specific deck is that it combines nicely with Shield of the Oversoul to make Doran or another creature very, VERY hard to kill. It also protects other high-profile targets like Mirari’s Wake or True Conviction.

Asceticism also grants Hexproof to your army, but only your Creatures. It does not extend its protection to other permanent types. To make up for the broader range of protection, Asceticism instead includes a second layer of protection for your creatures, by being able to Regenerate your creatures at a cost of 1G per target. So while Asceticism protects fewer of your permanents, it protects your creatures on two different fronts. Its CMC of five includes a very firm two Green in its cost making it slightly less flexible, but still probably very easy to cast. It’s very hard to pin down in a three-color deck weather GG or {w/g}{w/g}{w/g} is statistically going to be easier to cast, but with the very heavy emphasis on Green in this deck, I’m inclined to thin GG would be easier, though I also think the difference is minimal enough to make the point largely irrelevant.

   What I know about this deck, from my past experiences with my own version, and from the write-up Viperion provided on his own build, this deck is meant to be an Aggro deck primarily, and its only real route to victory is attacking with creatures. In light of this fact, I am inclined to give the edge to Asceticism, for two reasons. First, Creatures are clearly the most important permanent type in the deck, and Doran is arguably the most crucial permanent of all. Second, the ability to Regenerate lets you attack more freely and aggressively, because you’ll be much less worried about losing your creatures to combat damage – something Privileged Position doesn’t help with.

   So, after considering all of this, I’m going to go with Asceticism for the purposes of this article, but I do allow that there might be a wide variety of mitigating factors that I would be unaware of that might tip the balance back into Privileged Position’s favor, in Viperion’s metagame. For example, targeted LD is a highly annoying thing to have to play against, and if someone in Viperion’s group plays a bunch of Stone Rains, then Asceticism loses some of its luster.





   As for the rest, Shield is obviously great, and Eland Umbra is surprisingly delicious-looking in this deck. I can’t see it being much good anywhere else, but in a Doran deck I can see it being pretty sweet. Dauntless Escort can protect Doran and the rest of your army from most board-sweepers. Finally, Sword of Light and Shadow plays a dual-role in protecting Doran from the two colors most likely to have targeted removal, and by adding some good recursion to the deck, giving us some long-game reach and consistency. In fact, since I brough it up, let’s talk about another issue I believe this deck might have: Long-game reach and the ability to keep applying pressure.

   The deck is sorely lacking for card-draw, which for me is a deal breaker, but not everyone is as obsessed with drawing cards as I am. Of course, card-draw isn’t the only means by which we can obtain the desired reach in the late game. Recursion is another great way to keep our deck running without running out of steam. After a lengthy internal debate, I decided that boosting the recursion capabilities worked better for this deck than adding a bunch of card-draw, for a number of reasons.

Teneb and Karador are already present in the list, as is Regrowth. I also already know I want to add Sun Titan, and with all the low-power, high-toughness critters in the deck, Reveillark also looks like a strong contender. Then, once I start to consider Sun Titan and Reveillark, Eternal Witness suddenly becomes vastly more desirable than Regrowth. While I still strongly recommend Decree of Pain, I think that a strong recursion package will do more for the deck’s late game, without sacrificing a bunch of slots to not-particularly-synergistic draw spells like Phyrexian Arena and Harmonize.

   Toughness-Enhancers are another important facet of a Doran deck. They help make Doran relevant and they can play unfair, because toughness-boosting effects are usually a good deal cheaper mana-wise than power-boosting effects. Yet, with Doran in play, they function as if they were power-boosters. So, with something like Slagwurm Armor, you are effectively getting a power-boost effect for the mana cost of a toughness-boost effect. Just how good this really is depends on the effect and how reliably you can keep Doran on the battlefield.

   One of the facets of making your deck less-reliant on its general is protecting that general, obviously. But a slightly less obvious approach to the problem is to eliminate or cut down on the number of cards that are actually or nearly unplayable unless you have your general. Slagwurm Armor is probably a bit mediocre without Doran’s help, but it’s not strictly unplayable. Solidarity, on the other hand, is a card that will be virtually worthless without Doran. If you’re having trouble keeping Doran on the board, you don’t want to be drawing too many of these conditional cards. Cards that are weaker but not useless without Doran are fine, but cards that are outright terrible without him should be avoided. Taking that into consideration, this is my recommended package:

Oathsworn Giant

Unstoppable Ash

Slagwurm Armor

Spidersilk Armor

Leyline of Vitality

   Unstoppable Ash is, in my opionion, a crucial piece of the Doran puzzle. He definitely fits the criteria above, in that he’s certainly not terrible without Doran’s help, but the synergy with our general is amazing. The “Champion a Treefolk” part might cause some hesitation, but I very much intend to make sure we have enough Treefolk to make this guy work. He’s definitely worth it. The other four cards were in Viperion’s list already, and I see no reason to cut them. Spidersilk Armor, in particular, seems vitally important as a way to keep Flyers from owning us in the face.

   Now we come to the miscellaneous stuff that fits well within the deck, but doesn’t belong to the categories above. There were a lot of things in this section that were neat and interesting, and I tried to preserve as much as I could, to keep the decklist fairly unique and interesting, but in the end, I cut most of these random cards in favor of more Treefolk or just more powerful stuff. Here’s what stayed in:

Ohran Viper

Tree of Redemption

Silklash Spider

Ancient Spider

Marble Titan

   I liked the walls, but Wall of Blossoms and Carven Caryatid are dreadful topdecks in the late game, while Tree of Redemption just seemed like the most odd and interesting of them, so I left it alone. Ohran Viper is well-known to be amazing either on his own, or in collusion with Doran. Silklash Spider and Ancient Spider were the cream of the crop as far as Spiders go. Both are acceptably playable with or without Doran, so I kept them too. Marble Titan was an amusingly tech-y choice that I highly appreciated so it too stayed in the list.

   And, last but not least, we come to the very heart of the deck. Treefolk. There were quite a few inclusions that were sub-par in my estimation, and quite a few noteworthy absences as well. I also wanted to supplement the actual Treefolk creatures with some cheaters that don’t say “treefolk” on their type-line but still function as though they did. Changelings are a great way to support a tribe that might need a little hole-filling. Goblins and Elves have enough support you probably wouldn’t want to need Changelings, but Treefolk probably have room for a few. I like the following package:

Actual Treefolk

Ridonkulous.

Indomitable Ancients

Black Poplar Shaman

Thorntooth Witch

Treefolk Harbinger

Bosk Banneret

Battlewand Oak

Cradle Guard

Dauntless Dourbark

Unstoppable Ash

Wickerbough Elder

Leaf-Crowned Elder

Magnigoth Treefolk

Seedguide Ash

Timber Protector

Deadwood Treefolk

Orchard Warden

Verdeloth the Ancient

Woodfall Primus

Doran, the Siege Tower

Sapling of Colfenor

   My additions were: Dauntless Dourbark, Leaf-Crowned Elder, Magnigoth Treefolk, Woodfall Primus, as well as the already-discussed Seedguide Ash and Unstoppable Ash. Woodfall Primus is pretty played-out, but he’s one of the best Treefolk in the format so it seems a shame to slight him a spot here where he actually fits the theme, as well as provides yet another removal option in a deck that was lacking in that area. Viperion mentioned Tooth and Nail as being a bit pricey, but still possibly within reach if I thought it was truly important. Well, honestly, I think T&N would be a fine addition, but if I were to shell out for something, I’d definitely pick Woodfall Primus up first. It’s a bit cheaper than Tooth anyway. If you’re going to spend some dough anyway, I think Woodfall Primus is by far the better choice here. The only downside is, with a CMC of eight, once you have Woodfall in the deck, Tooth and Nail starts to look more and more appealing (but it’s still not critically important).

Poser Treefolk

Changeling Hero

Chameleon Colossus

Changeling Titan

Adaptive Automaton

   I also considered Brass Herald, and indeed that is a fine card, but it just didn’t quite seem to fit the right spot on the mana curve. Even without the potentially great card-advantage, Adaptive Automaton seems to be a better cost-to-impact value. The two Changelings both have the ability to Champion any of your creatures, which is intended as a sort of additional cost, but frankly I see it as a benefit. They are great for protecting important guys from Wrath effects, if you sense one might be coming, and they can do cute things with ETBF creatures, too. Try putting Eternal Witness under one of them, you’ll see what I mean!

Putting It All Together

   I think I’ve rambled on more than was necessary, so let’s just cut to the chase and have a look at the decklist. All I will say is that this is as close as I could get it to be balanced between theme and power. I feel like this list should, theoretically, alleviate most of Viperions chief complaints while still retaining a very definite and clear theme as a Treefolk/Toughness-Matters deck, and Doran should still be highly relevant. It might not have reduced the reliance on Doran quite as much as I’d hoped. He still seems to be the centerpiece of the deck to a fault, but hopefully the deck will still have some game in it without the Siege Tower’s presence.

Creatures

Doran the Siege Tower

Indomitable Ancients

Black Poplar Shaman

Thorntooth Witch

Treefolk Harbinger

Bosk Banneret

Battlewand Oak

Cradle Guard

Dauntless Dourbark

Unstoppable Ash

Wickerbough Elder

Leaf-Crowned Elder

Magnigoth Treefolk

Seedguide Ash

Timber Protector

Deadwood Treefolk

Orchard Warden

Verdeloth the Ancient

Woodfall Primus

Sapling of Colfenor

Changeling Hero

Chameleon Colossus

Changeling Titan

Adaptive Automaton

Oathsworn Giant

Ohran Viper

Tree of Redemption

Silklash Spider

Ancient Spider

Duplicant

Reveillark

Sun Titan

Eternal Witness

Teneb, the Harvester

Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Marble Titan

Dauntless Escort

Spells

Slagwurm Armor

Spidersilk Armor

Leyline of Vitality

Eland Umbra

Shield of the Oversoul

Sword of Light and Shadow

Asceticism

Lignify 

Rootgrapple

Crib Swap

Beast Within

Path to Exile

Pernicious Deed

Wrath of God

Decree of Pain

Wave of Reckoning

Cultivate

Skyshroud Claim

Sol Ring

Darksteel Ingot

Mirari's Wake

Crime // Punishment

Door of Destinies

Green Sun's Zenith

Opal Acrolith

True Conviction

Reach of Branches

Lands

Forest x8

Plains x6

Swamp x3
Bojuka Bog

Eiganjo Castle

Tectonic Edge

Temple of the False God

High Market

Murmuring Bosk

Forbidding Watchtower

Stirring Wildwood

Godless Shrine

Overgrown Tomb

Temple Garden

Golgari Rot Farm

Orzhov Basilica

Selesnya Sanctuary

Sunpetal Grove

Fetid Heath

Twilight Mire

Wooded Bastion

Terramorphic Expanse

   - Enjoy!