Darien, King of Kjeldor Token/Lifegain EDH

Commander / EDH hyped1221

SCORE: 157 | 86 COMMENTS | 20219 VIEWS | IN 54 FOLDERS


March 14, 2024

Quick Update - My playgroup has taken a break from organized play for quite a while now. I have maybe played this deck a few times over the last year. Updates and testing of new cards has not been happening. With that said I do plan on revisiting this deck soon as we should have more time to play this summer. In the meantime if anyone has found some fun new cards that have come out in the last year or so and you think it might be a good fit for Darien I am all ears. Appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to read this!

Snapshotdan says... #1

You may want to take out City of Brass, Tarnished Citadel, and Grand Coliseum due to only needing plains mana.

September 30, 2018 10:17 p.m.

crabclaw says... #2

Snapshotdan -- Darien is somewhat unique in that any of his decks want to have damage lands because of his ability.

If Darien, King of Kjeldor is on the battlefield, any damage dealt to you creates that many 1/1 soldiers. So Tarnished Citadel, with Darien out, effectively has "Tap: Add one mana of any color, deal 3 damage to yourself, and create 3 1/1 soldier tokens.

With one single card like Auriok Champion on the field, Darien's controller doesn't lose any life in the above scenario. With more than one effect like that, you end up gaining life.

October 1, 2018 12:09 a.m.

crabclaw says... #3

hyped1221 -- Nice list! How has Collective Effort played for you? I feel I would usually play it for its enchantment removal, and then escalate it as necessary. I may have glossed over the first 'destroy creature with P>4' mode, which does seem like pretty great value.

October 1, 2018 12:14 a.m.

hyped1221 says... #4

crabclaw --Thank you! Collective Effort has actually been working quite well for me in my playgroup. I try to make sure I have enough tokens to be able to use it to its fullest when possible. I play against decks with lots of big creatures (Selvala, Heart of the Wilds and Kaalia of the Vast) so the creature removal is awesome. But in a pinch the enchantment removal is most important in my playgroup and prioritized. Overall I've been very happy with it!

October 1, 2018 7:40 a.m.

DRmagic2017 says... #5

Hi! As soon as you play tokens Intangible Virtue is a must. I would also recommend to concentrate on token generators: Elspeth, Sun's Champion,Elspeth Tirel, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Precinct Captain, Attended Knight etc. Akroma, Angel of Wrath is a nice finisher. By the way Akroma's Memorial improves your creatures too. And you need something to boost your Soldier tokens, for example: Metallic Mimic, Adaptive Automaton, Vanquisher's Banner, Obelisk of Urd. Good luck in brewing!

October 6, 2018 7:40 a.m.

hyped1221 says... #6

DRmagic2017 -- Hey there! Thanks for all of the ideas. I think I will slot Intangible Virtue back in. Makes a lot of sense. I originally had two Elspeths in the deck until I realized my playgroup targets them down almost instantly. They show a lot of hate towards planeswalkers lol! Taking them out did let me slot in The Immortal Sun, which the few times I've been able to play it has been an all-star for me.

Metallic Mimic, Adaptive Automaton, and Obelisk of Urd are all cards I have not heard of until now. I'll definitely pick them up and at the very least sideboard them until I try a variation that will slot them in. Thanks again for the ideas!

October 6, 2018 6:28 p.m.

Xenephrim says... #7

Love me a Darien EDH deck and I have a single sugguestion.

Karma and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Free tokens on your turn and damage on everyone else's. I ran this in mine and it did WORK.

Also, Ajani's Welcome might be something to consider.

October 8, 2018 11:17 a.m.

hyped1221 says... #8

Xenephrim -- Thanks for the feedback! I do have Karma and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in my maybe board, as well as a few other cards that would synergize with Urborg. I was going to try these cards soon for fun just to see how they do. Just running the two you mentioned though seems pretty fun. I'll probably try slotting those in in the next week or two and see how they do over the course of a month or so. I'll let you know how they do in my playgroup!

October 8, 2018 9:30 p.m.

PaulaTicks says... #9

I run Angel's Trumpet in my Darien deck, not only does it incentive people to attack you (creating tokens when you have Darien), it lets you ping yourself for free damage by holding your soldiers back (and you don't really mind about them being tapped since you'll just take more damage anyways).

October 28, 2018 5:54 p.m.

Pervavita says... #10

Righteous Aura you might want as a way to deter an occasional big creature if commander damage or infect are something you ever need to deal with. otherwise not so much.

Fumigate would be a better wrath in your deck then Wrath of God.

Oath of Lieges is good ramp considering White doesn't do it well. It also can help make a few friends as it will help ramp the other players.. this should also help protect it. Not as good as Land Tax but still nice. Tithe I also like in here as another ramp option.

November 1, 2018 10:08 a.m.

thrane says... #11

Here is some of my favorite cards in my Darien deck:


Jinxed Choker, does not look like a threat at first but when it gets around 8-10 counters people start to worry.
Mask of Memory can draw you a lot of cards + if you have Land Tax, it can turn lands into pure gas.
Secure the Wastes can win you the game out of nowhere.
Luminarch Ascension is a power house and puts your oppenents in a strange spot with Darien out, "to attack or not to attack".
Oketra the True is a very good plan B commander when Darien is either removed or not working.
Hour of Revelation is a must.
Buried Ruin, Isolated Watchtower, Scavenger Grounds and Shefet Dunes are some great utility lands, worth trying.


I've played my paper Darien deck for a year, at my local store an in my playgroups. He is too much fun!


Best regards

November 1, 2018 10:10 a.m.

hyped1221 says... #12

PaulaTicks - I've been debating on getting Angel's Trumpet. It does sound very interesting. I'll probably grab a copy of it and try it out soon. Thanks for the idea!

Pervavita - I do play against a guy who likes to use infect in a few decks so I may sideboard Righteous Aura once I get a copy. I've debated on Fumigate. One more mana but it could make for a ton of life with my group. I'll swap it out for a while and see how it does. I do run against a lot of regenerate so that is my only hesitation. Oath of Lieges looks pretty good. I don't really have too many issues with ramp despite being mono white. I actually have one so I might try it at some point. Thank you very much for the suggestions!

thrane - Howdy! That's a lot of good ideas. I really like Shefet Dunes and Isolated Watchtower. I'll be getting those soon. I have all of the others in a side sideboard lol. I want to try Oketra the True one of these days as commander. The other recommendations I'll probably try with her. There are so many neat cards that work with Darien. It's hard to make a solid set in stone list. But a lot of the fun has been pulling cards and trying different stuff out. No cards have really disappointed me yet. Anyway thank you very much for the ideas and input. It's greatly appreciated!

November 1, 2018 1:36 p.m.

spaceman42 says... #13

Dude I really wish this is what I meant by a tight budget for mtg

November 1, 2018 1:59 p.m.

hyped1221 says... #14

spaceman42 - I did spend quite a bit to build up the deck along with the maybe and side boards yes. But moving forward I'm trying to keep it under $50 for any more additions. Most of my decks are $40-$100. One is a bit more but I traded work for a lot of those cards.

This one I've splurged on since Darien is my son's name (well it's Darian but close enough), and I hope to someday give him this deck. Hopefully someday you won't be restricted by a tight budget! :)

November 1, 2018 2:50 p.m.

spaceman42 says... #15

hyped1221- that's really cool. I hope your son appreciates the deck. I like the build a lot. It actually kind of reminds me of the kind of deck my dad used to play.

Only question I have is how Crucible of Worlds has panned out. It seems only usable with Strip Mine unless you're playing against land destruction. Enjoy your gathering! :)

November 1, 2018 5:24 p.m.

hyped1221 says... #16

spaceman42 - Crucible of Worlds is in here solely due to my playgroup. I would say at any time there is one to two decks that play land destruction. Kaalia of the Vast, Reaper King, Numot, the Devastator are often out. Even our other mono white player runs it...

It's quite annoying so it's mostly in the deck for that. Strip mine just for extra value. I would love to take it out though if the group didn't love to blow up lands.

November 1, 2018 7:08 p.m.

WhichKing says... #17

Your commander plays such an important role in the deck such that I feel that Stoneforge Mystic should be included just to tutor up the greaves and swiftfoot boots. Since you run Divine Visitation and Anointed Procession I also strongly recommend resilient token producers like Heliod, God of the Sun and Oketra the True.

November 4, 2018 1:15 p.m.

hyped1221 says... #18

WhichKing - I like the idea of Stoneforge Mystic, but it's a bit pricey for me at the moment. Maybe around tax time I can look into adding her. I really like the idea of another token producer. I've been on the fence about Court Street Denizen. She hasn't really made any impact in any of the games I've played with her. I think I'll throw Heliod, God of the Sun in there in her place. Catapult Master has been hit or miss for me. Sometimes I just don't have enough tokens to make use of him. Not sure if I want to swap him out for Oketra the True or not. Maybe down the road. I have a lot of cards to try to swap in and out so it might actually be sooner than later! Thanks for the ideas!

November 5, 2018 1:48 p.m.

Was just tweaking my list and when I reloaded the front page your list was at the top! Darien, King of Tokens

We have a ton of overlap in strategy. How has Jazal Goldmane performed for you?

November 10, 2018 10:54 p.m.

hyped1221 says... #20

SufferFromEDHD - Hello! Jazal Goldmane has done some serious work for me. Because of that (the best I've had with him is something like forty 40/40+'s attacking) he is a big target. I play some annoying cards that usually get removed before him though. So if I can eat a few removals early and get him out and he resolves almost always someone at the table is dead.

I took a quick look at your deck and it's pretty sweet looking. One of the more unique Darien decks I've seen. I'll ask a few questions on your board about a few cards. I think I'm going to get a copy of Council's Judgment and Rebuff the Wicked. They seem like they could be quite good!

November 11, 2018 4:50 p.m.

KayneMarco says... #21

Here’s a few ideas for possible additions:

Karmic Guide combos with Reveillark and ashnods altar works good to fuel your skullclamp when you have a decent amount of tokens.

November 29, 2018 10:20 a.m.

KayneMarco says... #22

Couple of other creatures that came to mind as well are Aven Mindcensor and Linvala, Keeper of Silence

November 29, 2018 2:36 p.m.

hyped1221 says... #23

KayneMarco - Hey thanks for the comments! I could have sworn I had Karmic Guide on my maybe list. I do own it so it's at least going to go there. I want to play my current iteration of the deck for a while before I make other changes but there is a good chance that will get slotted in at some point.

I've meant to get Ashnod's Altar. I never thought of that interaction. Could be pretty awesome with some X cost cards too. I will definitely get that card the next time I run to my lgs.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence is in my maybe board and Aven Mindcensor is currently slotted in. Aven has been an awesome addition so far. Thanks for the great recommendations though! Happy holidays!

November 29, 2018 10 p.m.

epajula says... #24

Have you considered Entreat the Angels, Decree of Justice, Mikaeus, the Lunarch, White Sun's Zenith, Marshal's Anthem?

Ancient Tomb, and Staff of Nin are great for the damage dealing.

In terms of random good stuff Eldrazi Displacer (but you need colorless), ComeuppanceSerra Ascendant, Victory's Herald, and Reconnaissance (gives your creatures psuedo vigilance, and protects them). My favorite white card of all time is Lapse of Certainty.

I always miss stuff that people already have, so I'll apologize ahead of time.

December 16, 2018 11:43 a.m.

Metachemist says... #25

Altar of Dementia can also be a great way to kick someone in the teeth for a poorly timed board time wipe. Oh you Wrath and cost me all these tokens? Okay, mill 78, my current record, cards in response as I sacrifice my whole board to the Altar.

December 17, 2018 1:51 p.m.