Sauron, the Dark Lord - Aristocrat

[verbal violet]

Hello everyone!

https://moxfield.com/decks/EfqXiyvekkCPg-edxP90DQ

Sauron, the Dark Lord was the first commander deck that I brewed and built myself in the aristocrat style. I have made changes here and there after playing to try and fine tune it.

Just want to get people’s opinions on how the deck list looks and to see if anyone has some good ideas for me to further power up this deck.

My idea is to abuse the Amass Orc 1 triggered ability of Sauron to basically sacrifice the token to a sacrifice outlet. Wash and repeat.

I also don’t run that much card draw due to the Ring Tempt triggered ability of being able to wheel my hand.

I am wanting to add a few pieces of protection for Sauron as my entire deck is built around it.

What protection and what cards do you think I should cut along with any other ideas!

Thanks everyone!

[mint portal]

I've run through a few playtests for this deck. It runs pretty well. I was able to cast Sauron fairly consistently on turn 5 or 6 to start doing the things that I wanted to do.

You've got a prettty good balance of Sac Outlets, triggers when things die or enter. The ramp was also there for me in playtesting, and there are a few pieces of evasion that were nice when I wanted to deal combat damage.

It is nice that Sauron has that built in protection already, but if they do get past that or their a board wipe, you could go a couple of different routes:

1. [[Feign Death]] are great because in the event of board wipe or removal (outside of exile) you can react at instant speed and Sauron comes right back.

2. [[Kaya's Ghostform]], it's more proactive instead of reactive, and your opponents can see it. I like the instant speed reaction better for this kind of deck where you have a big scary and obviously dangerous commander.

The first card I would target for removal would be: [[Fiery Emancipation]] mostly because it's so mana intensive. It obviously would do a lot of hurt, but that getting countered puts you a whole turn behind.

• And then I would replace it with one of the two cards from above (reccomending Feign Death).

[tepid pagoda]

https://scryfall.com/card/afr/103/feign-death

Feign Death <:manab:292901508872273920>

Instant
Until end of turn, target creature gains "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it."
A drastic measure for dangerous times.

https://scryfall.com/card/war/94/kayas-ghostform

Kaya's Ghostform <:manab:292901508872273920>

Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature or planeswalker you control
When enchanted permanent dies or is put into exile, return that card to the battlefield under your control.
The Eternals found some sparks to be quite slippery.

https://scryfall.com/card/m21/143/fiery-emancipation

Fiery Emancipation <:mana3:292901508771610624><:manar:292901508796645397><:manar:292901508796645397><:manar:292901508796645397>

Enchantment
If a source you control would deal damage to a permanent or player, it deals triple that damage to that permanent or player instead.
"One day the mountain's fire will rise up to burn away our chains and end this age of oppression." —The Molten Prophecy

[verbal violet]

Thank you for your input.

I’m glad we are on the same page regarding Fiery Emancipation.

I think in all the games I have played with Sauron… I have casted it once because of how mana intensive it is.

That will definitely be a cut in the deck

The only thing that makes me want to go with Kaya’s is I typically don’t want to stop wheeling my hand for a single instant. I know it’s not as good but holding onto things like that drastically slow the pace of my engine

[mint portal]

You’re super welcome!

And - Oh, that’s a great point! Kaya does make more sense in usr context for sure.