Overview:

This Kaalia of the Vast deck focuses on cheating massive Angels, Demons, and Dragons into play via Kaalia's attack trigger, supported by reanimation, combat multipliers, and a backup Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond combo. Kaalia is the linchpin, enabling explosive early threats like Master of Cruelties or Avacyn, Angel of Hope, but the deck includes redundancy through reanimation (Animate Dead, Hoarding Broodlord) and tribal synergies (Conspiracy). Secondary strategies include extra combats (Aurelia, the Warleader, Port Razer) and value engines like Terror of the Peaks.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-3): Prioritize ramp (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone) and protection (Lightning Greaves). Use looting effects (Faithless Looting, Cathartic Reunion) to discard high-cost threats for later reanimation.
2. Kaalia Deployment (Turns 3-4): Cast Kaalia with haste enablers (Hall of the Bandit Lord) or protection. Attack immediately to cheat in game-warping threats like Master of Cruelties (instantly reducing a player to 1 life) or Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (doubling damage).
3. Mid-Game Domination (Turns 5-7):
   • Use Isshin, Two Heavens as One to double Kaalia triggers or extra combat effects.
   • Reanimate key creatures (Hoarding Broodlord fetching Exquisite Blood, Reya Dawnbringer recurring threats).
   • Deploy Conspiracy to turn all creatures into Angels/Demons/Dragons, enabling Kaalia to cheat out any creature.
4. Win Conditions:
   • Combat: Overwhelm with evasive beaters enhanced by Dragon Tempest and Terror of the Peaks.
   • Combo: Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond for infinite lifedrain.
   • Lock: Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Blasphemous Act for a one-sided board wipe.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with Kaalia, 1-2 ramp pieces, and protection (Swiftfoot Boots, Teferi's Protection).
• Prioritize looting/rummage effects if holding high-CMC creatures.
• Avoid hands lacking early plays or with only 5+ CMC creatures.

Key Tips:

• Use Underworld Breach to recur key combo pieces or protection spells.
• Ashes of the Fallen + Conspiracy ensures all creatures in graveyard are valid Kaalia targets.
• Maze of Ith protects Kaalia post-combat after her trigger resolves.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Kaalia reliance: Repeated removal on Kaalia cripples the deck’s primary engine.
• Minimal stack interaction: Lacks counterspells to protect against combo disruption or key wraths.
• Weak to Rest in Peace/Leyline of the Void, shutting down reanimation and Underworld Breach.

Moderate

• Vulnerable to flyer blockers (e.g., Propaganda effects less relevant, but Ghostly Prison slows attacks).
• High average CMC risks getting "stuck" without Kaalia or reanimation.

Minor

• Limited card advantage beyond looting; relies on explosive starts.

Most Important Cards:

• Kaalia of the Vast (Primary engine)
• Exquisite Blood (Combo piece)
• Sanguine Bond (Combo piece)
• Demonic Tutor (Finds combo/answers)
• Master of Cruelties (Instant life reduction)
• Avacyn, Angel of Hope (Indestructible lock)
• Lightning Greaves (Protection for Kaalia)
• Conspiracy (Tribal redundancy)
• Hoarding Broodlord (Tutor + reanimation target)
• Teferi's Protection (Game-saving protection)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 7/10

• Can threaten T4 kills with Kaalia + Master of Cruelties or T5-6 combo finishes, but inconsistent without perfect draws.

Resilience: 5/10

• Protection spells and reanimation provide some recovery, but over-reliance on Kaalia and vulnerable graveyard strategies limit robustness.

Consistency: 6/10

• Strong tutors (Demonic, Vampiric) and looting, but high variance due to reliance on attack triggers and limited card draw.

Interaction: 5/10

• Spot removal (Swords to Plowshares, Anguished Unmaking) is efficient but lacks countermagic or stax to disrupt opponents’ combos.

Rating Justification:

This deck has high explosive potential (T4-7 wins) via Kaalia or combo, but its reliance on an easily disrupted commander and vulnerability to graveyard hate cap its ceiling. It aligns with "Focused" (T7-8 wins) but lacks the redundancy and interaction of higher tiers.

Power level: 6.0 - 6.5