“All Things Can Be Conjoined”
Art:Koll, the Forgemaster
by Bram Sels
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Koll is one of my favorite commanders for Pauper EDH, so when I saw people rocking with him in CEDH, I was extremely excited. This deck certainly is unique and different and allows you to pilot a different side of CEDH and play a game plan that is very atypical of the norm in CEDH, with almost no stack interaction and a ton of fast equipment and mana producers. I enjoy the alternate gameplay and being a little different. There is nothing wrong with being different and not following the format norms, I have been having a blast with this one at my LGS and with my playgroup. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Koll, the Forgemaster Artifact Combo!
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Why Koll, The Forgemaster?
Koll is a huge part of our deck and a key piece in almost every one of our combos, because many players know how huge Koll is in our deck, he is often the target of counterspells/removal, we do need to be mindful about when we are casting Koll and casting him on the curve is almost never worth it because of the hate he draws when he hits the field. Koll is a huge and strong combo piece for our deck, but we do need to be careful about when we run him out, typically the turn we are about to win or if we have protection like Silence
.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck! The infinite combos and loops in the deck are listed below in the “Main Win Conditions” Section.
Creatures:
To start off we have our strong combo creatures like Auriok Steelshaper
, Puresteel Paladin
, and Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty
when combined with our free creatures like Crimson Kobolds
and Myr Moonvessel
we can infinitely loop them and deal huge damage or get huge card advantage. Some decks don’t run both, but I love both Fury
and Solitude
within the deck as they are both strong says to kill a key creature for free and have an additional Swords to Plowshares
effect. Since we need specific creatures to go off, we have strong creature tutors like Imperial Recruiter
, Ranger-Captain of Eos
, and Recruiter of the Guard
. We have to talk about Grand Abolisher
, which is our creature with Silence right on it, and we also have Esper Sentinel
, which is a great way to get supplemental card draw for the deck.
Planeswalkers:
Nahiri, Storm of Stone
is the only planeswalker in our deck, and we mostly use them for their passive, which can make certain equip costs free most importantly Skullclamp
, Nahiris ability is very rarely relevant, but when I do use it, I typically just kill key mana dorks like Bloom Tender
.
Instants:
To start off we have Pyroblast
and Red Elemental Blast
, which is the only ways for the deck to interact in the stack, unless an opponent is going directly for a win we typically want to save these for when we go for our combos. We have some protection from removal in Apostle's Blessing
and Deflecting Swat
. Silence is one of the most important cards in our deck since it allows us to combo off freely. We do have some removal like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile
which are great cheap pieces of removal for the deck, and can take out really any creature that’s a threat to us, works very well against stax creatures like Collector Ouphe
.
Sorceries:
Reckless Handling
is pretty much an artifact version of Gamble
, which we also run, for both of these cards, we can always get unlucky and discard the card we wanted so it comes down to a luck and hope. Some Koll decks don’t run Open the Armory
, but I think it is extremely strong and not expensive and allows us to grab Skullclamp or any one of our combo equipment. The same is true for Steelshaper's Gift
, which is just one mana cheaper and another very strong tutor for the deck. Even though Rip Apart
is sorcery speed, it can help us take out many popular commanders in the format, and having the option to blow up an artifact or enchantment is strong as well. Sevinne's Reclamation
is not just a combo piece in our deck it can be a great way to recur destroyed equipment.
Artifacts:
We have a ton of strong mana rocks like Mana Crypt
, Mox Opal
, and Mox Diamond
, but there isn’t a ton to say about them so I am going to discuss some of our non-rock artifacts like Bladehold War-Whip
which makes a ton of our equip costs free which and help us combo off with ease. Speaking of combos, we also have Defense Grid
, which doesn’t affect us really at all and allows us to combo off pretty much freely since most opponents don’t have that much extra lying around. Conqueror's Flail
is a very cool equipment that is effectively a Silence effect which allows us to combo off. Portable Hole
is mostly used as a way to slow down opponents by removing usually one of their mana rocks.
Enchantments:
We only have three enchantments in the deck, and two of them are solely combo pieces in Underworld Breach
and Fighter Class
; we rarely play out either of these unless we are ready to combo off. The enchantment we actually do use is Forge Anew
which can be cast as early as the first turn, can be a strong piece of recursion if we need it, gives us a free equip, which typically doesn’t matter but doesn’t hurt and allowing us to equip at instant speed makes it so we can Skullclamp in the face of removal and help us get some card advantage. I will say that while I like Forge Anew in the deck it can easily be replaced by something else.
Land Base:
Because of the high emphasis on low-cost creatures and just a generally low cost among the deck, we are very light on lands running only twenty-six; even with this low land count, I found the land base to be very successful, and I have had no issues getting together my combos and casting all of the spells I need. Since we have a ton of artifacts, we have lands that help with that, like Urza's Saga
, Inventors' Fair
, and Spire of Industry
, which are all great support lands for the deck. We also have staples like Ancient Tomb
, which in this deck can let you usually cast one or two artifacts, which can be very strong, especially in the early game. We, of course, have CEDH staples like Sacred Foundry
, Plateau
, and a ton of fetch lands, which are all great ways to help us get our colors established. We are running one of each basic, and that is for effects like Assassin's Trophy
and Path to Exile, which are quite common within my meta.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We have a ton of different ways to combo off, and these combos are packed with redundant pieces, which allows us to go off in a ton of different ways; because of this, we can go off from pretty much any point in the game, and with backups like Silence
and Grand Abolisher it can be hard to stop us. - While we can’t counter spells, we do have many ways to protect key pieces like Koll with cards like Deflecting Swat and Apostle's Blessing, which allows us to be less susceptible to single-target removal.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We have almost no way to interact with the stack outside of Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast. If an opponent has a crazy seven-card hand, it can be quite hard for us to do anything about them.
- Extremely weak to Praetor's Grasp, this almost always targets our Skullclamp, which is arguably the most important card in the deck.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
We are a combo deck through and through with a ton of different ways to end the game. One of my favorite elements of this deck is how we are able to execute combos with a ton of the same cards allowing us to threaten a win regularly. Not all of our combos end the game by themselves, but they usually give us an outlet too, Below are all of the combos in the deck explained:
Combos with Skullclamp:
Requires:
Koll, the Forgemaster + Skullclamp + Crimson Kobolds (or any zero mana creature) and any of the following: Auriok Steelshaper, Puresteel Paladin, Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty or Bladehold War-Whip
Steps:
- Activate Skullclamp targeting Crimson Kobolds or any of our zero mana creatures.
- Once the ability resolves Crimson Kobolds or whatever Zero mana creature used dies.
- Koll, the Forgemaster and Skullclamps ability resolve returning Crimson Kobolds or whatever zero mana creature to your hand and draw 2 cards.
Results:
Draw your entire library
Combos with Dockside Extortionist
Requires:
Koll, the Forgemaster + Dockside Extortionist (and will trigger to create four plus treasures) and either Mortarpod
or Mask of Immolation
Steps:
- Activate Mortarpod or Mask of Immolation targeting Dockside Extortionist. Let the equip trigger resolve
- Activate Dockside Extortionist sacrificing Dockside Extortionist pinging an opponent for one damage.
- Koll, the Forgemaster triggers returning Dockside Extortionist to your hand.
- Dockside Extortionist triggers creating four treasures or more and repeat the process.
Results:
Infinite damage to our opponents.
Combos with Fighter Class:
Requires:
Koll, the Forgemaster + Fighter Class and any one of Mortarpod, Mask of Immolation or Skullclamp (Must be in the deck) and any zero mana creature Crimson Kobolds
Steps:
- With Fighter Class enter the battlefield trigger tutor for Mortarpod, Mask of Immolation or Skullclamp.
- Level up Fighter Class to level 2, reducing equip costs by 2.
- Cast Mortarpod, Mask of Immolation or Skullclamp.
- Equip Mortarpod, Mask of Immolation or Skullclamp to your zero mana creature.
- If Mortarpod or Mask of Immolation sacrifice it dealing 1 damage to an opponent
- If Skullclamp, Zero mana creature dies, resolve draw trigger, drawing two cards.
- Koll, the Forgemaster trigger; returning NNC to hand.
- Replay zero mana creature
Results:
Infinite damage to any opponent, infinite draw
Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond
+ Wheel of Fortune
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Lion’s Eye Diamond must be on the battlefield. Wheel of Fortune must be in the graveyard. You have at least six other cards in hand and/or graveyard.
Steps:
- Activate Lion’s Eye Diamond by discarding your hand and sacrificing it, adding RRR.
- Cast Wheel of Fortune from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling 3 cards from your graveyard.
- Resolve Wheel of Fortune, causing each player to discard their hand and draw seven cards.
- Cast Lion’s Eye Diamond from your graveyard for its escape cost by exiling 3 cards from your graveyard.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite draw triggers. Infinite looting. Infinite looting for opponents. Near-infinite storm count.
Underworld Breach + Jeska's Will
+ Wheel of Fortune
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Wheel of Fortune must be in the graveyard. Jeska’s Will must be in the graveyard. You have at least six additional cards in your graveyard, plus an additional six cards between your hand and/or graveyard. An opponent has at least six cards in hand. Mana needed: 2R
Steps:
- Cast Jeska’s Will from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling three other cards from your graveyard, adding at least six R.
- Cast Wheel of Fortune from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling three other cards from your graveyard, causing each player to discard their hand and draw seven cards.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite draw triggers for all players. Infinite looting for all players. Near-infinite magecraft triggers. Near-infinite storm count.
Underworld Breach + Grinding Station
+ Mana Crypt
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Grinding Station must be on the battlefield. Mana Crypt must be on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Mana Crypt by tapping it, adding CC.
- Activate Grinding Station by tapping it and sacrificing Mana Crypt, causing yourself to mill three cards.
- Cast Mana Crypt from your graveyard for its escape cost by exiling three cards from your graveyard.
- Grinding Station triggers, untapping itself.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite self-mill. Near-infinite colorless mana. Near-infinite storm count.
Underworld Breach + Grinding Station + Dockside Extortionist + Skirk Prospector
Requires:
Dockside Extortionist must be in hand, or in the graveyard. Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Grinding Station must be on the battlefield. Skirk Prospector must be on the battlefield. You have at least three additional cards in your graveyard if Dockside Extortionist is in your graveyard. Opponents control at least two artifacts and/or enchantments. Mana needed: 1R
Steps:
- Cast Dockside Extortionist either from your hand by paying 1R or from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 1R and exiling three other cards from your graveyard.
- Dockside Extortionist enters the battlefield, creating at least two Treasure tokens.
- The Treasures enter the battlefield, triggering Grinding Station that many times, untapping Grinding Station.
- Activate Grinding Station by sacrificing a Treasure, causing you to mill three cards.
- Activate Skirk Prospector by sacrificing Dockside Extortionist, adding R.
- Activate a Treasure by tapping and sacrificing it, adding 1.
- Repeat.
- If opponents control three or more artifacts/enchantments, this combo will net near-infinite Treasure tokens and colored mana.
Results:
Infinite self-mill. Near-infinite colored mana. Near-infinite death triggers. Near-infinite ETB. Near-infinite LTB. Near-infinite mill. Near-infinite sacrifice triggers. Near-infinite storm count. Near-infinite Treasure tokens.
Conclusion:
Koll is a very cool deck, being able to play different cards and deviate from the norm in CEDH is something many players don’t do, and I think it is wonderful to be a combo deck with a ton of adaptive lines and different cards, it is quite jarring for opponents who have never played Koll to see you sit down with a Boros deck and it helps make the format unique and give a different touch. I have been having so much fun with this one. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!