#nehebthewordy

[nehebthewordy]

Aminatou, the Fateshifter (Fall 2022 Update)

Hey everyone! It’s been a long while, but today I’ve got an update on my very best commander deck: Aminatou, the Fateshifter. When I first bought her precon not quite a year after it came out, I quickly stuck her into my collection and stripped the deck for parts. After a while though, when my old Vona deck grew old, I started looking into a new angle. Thus, the first iteration of Aminatou (or at least my version of it) was born.

She started as an amalgamation of a flicker deck (based around her -1 ability) and an old superfriends angle I’d been working on for some time. This origin remains a visible part of the deck’s identity even today, with a total of eight ‘walkers and nearly half a dozen planeswalker support cards. Today, we’re looking into the absolute 15 must-have cards for building her yourself. Though these cards a numbered for the sake of this list, the number assigned is entirely arbitrary and not related to the card’s relevance to the deck relative to each other.

#1: Felidar Guardian Card transcription: 3W, 1/4 Cat Beast. When it enters the battlefield, exile another permanent you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control. Those of you who played Standard during the early days of Aether Revolt will recognize this cat as the pivotal partner of the Saheeli Rai infinite cats combo, which functioned by using Felidar Guardian’s enter-the-battlefield effect to essentially “reset” Saheeli, allowing her to -2 to create a duplicate Felidar, with each duplicate gaining haste and repeating the process. It does the former with Aminatou, using her -1 to flicker the Felidar and then Felidar flickering Aminatou in turn. Combine this with Panharmonicon or Oath of Teferi for infinite flickers as either Aminatou flickers something else before flickering Felidar (Oath) or Felidar flickers Aminatou and something else when it enters (Panharmonicon). Add in anything that draw cards and you can have infinite mana and draw with which to seek your win condition. Alternatively, these two with either Vela the Night Clad or Corpse Knight allows you to win on the spot if an opponent can’t stop you.

#2: Panharmonicon Card transcription: 4, Artifact. If an artifact or creature entering the battlefield triggers a permanent you control, it triggers that permanent a second time. Panharmonicon has gained a sort of infamy in EDH, and for good reason. It can double any enter-the-battlefield trigger, from Acidic Slime to Gray Merchant of Asphodel. As stated above, it’s a key combo piece for Aminatou.

#3: Oath of Teferi Card transcription: 3WU, Legendary Enchantment. When it enters, exile another permanent you control until end of turn. and You can activate loyalty abilities of each of your planeswalkers twice each turn. While much more niche to planeswalker decks, Oath of Teferi is an absolute powerhouse, though it must be included in a deck that already runs both blue and white. Activating each of your planeswalkers twice each turn is amazingly powerful in a deck that has both a planeswalker commander and seven others, and with Aminatou specifically it essentially functions as a second Panharmonicon.

#4: Rings of Brighthearth Card transcription: 3, Artifact.Whenever you activate a non-mana ability, you may pay 2 to copy that ability. While the constant cost of 2 mana for each ability being copied (which becomes more pressing once Oath of Teferi hits the board), some of those abilities are certainly well worth the cost. If you choose to run Basalt Monolith (which will not be appearing on this list), Rings of Brighthearth can essentially grant you infinite colorless mana, paying for all the planeswalker ability copies.

#5: Callous Bloodmage (honorable mention: Charming Prince) Card transcription: 2B, 2/1 Vampire Warlock. When it enters choose one: Create a 1/1 Pest; You draw a card and lose 1 life; or Exile target player’s graveyard. Transcription (honorable mention): 1W, 2/2 Human Noble. When it enters choose one: Scry 2; Gain 3 life; or Exile another creature you own until end of turn. Charms have been historically appreciated for their flexibility, and modal creatures are essentially charms with repeatable effects in flicker decks. While both Callous Bloodmage and Charming Prince are amazing, our list will focus primarily on the latter. The Bloodmage’s token production is negligible, however the latter two options both have powerful options: drawing a card is always great and the third exiles an entire graveyard, severely hindering a reanimator deck (popular examples include Meren and Muldrotha) on its own. With the option to choose a different effect every time it enters, you have a one-card toolbox with a gadget for multiple occasions.

#6: Dakkon, Shadow Slayer Card transcription: WUB, Legendary Planeswalker. It enters with loyalty equal to the number of lands you control. +1: Surveil 2. -3: Exile target creature. -6: Put an artifact from your hand or graveyard into play. In the initial version of this deck, this variable slot was occupied by the 2nd Zendikar block Ob Nixilis. Dakkon, however, fills your needs at a lower mana value, has higher average starting loyalty, and can easily reanimate your artifacts (which, as you’ve no doubt noticed, there are quite a few that this deck loves). Even when you aren’t using his ult, his removal option is more powerful than Ob’s and gaining card selection rather than draw is a negligible difference.

#7: Liliana, Death’s Majesty Card transcription: 3BB, Legendary Planeswalker. 5 loyalty. +1: Mill 2 cards and make a 2/2 zombie. -3: Reanimate a creature from your graveyard. It becomes a zombie. -7: Destroy all non-zombie creatures. While her ultimate is largely irrelevant, Lili’s -3 ability is a substantial boon, allowing you to reanimate creatures while dodging expensive or color-intensive mana costs. Her plus is also moderately relevant, creating a blocker for herself while also digging for something to reanimate.

#8: Omen of the Dead Card transcription: B, Enchantment. Flash. When it enters, return a creature from your graveyard to your hand. This simple common from Theros 2 is easy to skip over, and that’s where its power lies. For 1 mana as an instant, you can recur a creature back to your hand, and your various flicker cards can abuse it to grab more creatures from your graveyard. Because it’s so simple, seemingly low-power, your opponents often won’t think to remove it at first. It’s just an ordinary common, right?

#9: Omen of the Sea Card transcription: 1U, Enchantment. Flash. When it enters, scry 2 and draw a card. The blue omen is good for essentially the same reason as the black. It’s cheap, it has flash, and it provides a moderate benefit. Really, the only one of this cycle that isn’t worth playing in Esper is the white one.

#10: Oath of Jace Card transcription: 2U, Legendary Enchantment. When it enters, draw three and discard two. and At the beginning of your upkeep, scry equal to the number of planeswalkers you control. This deck will likely want to run most, if not all, of the Gatewatch oaths it can. Oath of Jace, however, is a particularly powerful card advantage piece. As you accumulate planeswalkers on your board, it can scry deeper into your deck, and when in doubt you can just flicker it to immediately draw three. Discarding the two isn’t much of a problem with the amount of recursion that naturally fits into the deck.

#11: Restoration Gearsmith Card transcription: 2WB, 3/3 Human Artificer. When it enters, return an artifact or creature from your graveyard to your hand. Restoration Gearsmith’s effect is simple recursion, much like what you have plentiful access to. What makes it significant, however, is its ability to grab both creatures and artifacts, allowing it to retrieve Mulldrifters and Panharmonicons alike.

#12: Cloudblazer (honorable mention: Mulldrifter) Card transcription: 3WU, 2/2 Human Scout. Flying. When it enters, gain 2 life and draw two cards. Transcription (honorable mention: 4U, 2/2 Elemental. Flying. When it enters, draw 2 cards. You can cast it for 2U to sacrifice it immediately upon entering. Perhaps one of your best cards for draw (second to Oath of Jace), Cloudblazer’s ability to gain life as well helps buy more time with which to draw and play win conditions. Mulldrifter is nearly identical, but it trades the life gain for a cheaper casting option.

#13: Yorion, Sky Nomad Card transcription: 3HH (Hybrid: WU), 4/5 Legendary Bird Serpent. Flying. When it enters, exile any number of other nonland permanents you control until end of turn. While not a powerful combo piece like Felidar Guardian or a draw engine like Oath of Jace, Yorion certainly brings his own might to the table. On entering, you can use him to re-trigger the enter-the-battlefield effects of any permanent you control other than a land, and he can reset the loyalty of any of your planeswalkers. Since his effect also triggers on his own entry, you can flicker him to flicker your entire board at once.

#14: Gray Merchant of Asphodel Card transcription: 3BB, 2/4 Zombie. When it enters, each opponent loses life equal to your devotion to black. You gain life equal to the total life lost this way. As many of you who’ve played commander extensively know, Gray Merchant of Asphodel (or Gary) can be powerful even outside of mono black decks, making it the most versatile of the devotion cards. Besides Vela or Corpse Knight, Gary is your most reliable win condition, blasting each opponent from anywhere between three and eight life every time it enters and gaining you a bunch of life of your own. In a flicker deck, that difference adds up very quickly.

#15: Sanctum of Eternity Card transcription: Land. Tap: Add one colorless mana. 2, Tap: Return a commander you own from the battlefield to your hand (only during your turn). While it certainly feels weird finishing this list off with a land, Sanctum of Eternity deserves it. With the deck centering around Aminatou’s -1 ability, she’ll run out of loyalty very quickly; Sanctum allows you to bounce her back to hand before you spend her last loyalty counter, so you can replay her fresh to keep going.

She may have been a small child for the past four years, but Aminatou has grown a lot since I first built her deck. While the core identity hasn’t changed, she’s improved her approach significantly, and remains a blast to play even next to many commanders of today. So whether you want to have fun with my take on Aminatou or are simply looking to inspire your next brew, I hope to see you all on the battlefield.

[gallivantcanary]

Well, I’ve got a computer again

so i guess that means i might see about getting back into writing? So idk, maybe ill make a sideblog for that, well see. If i do, ill let you all know

In the meantime, i do still run @nehebthewordy for magic the gathering stuff and @arts-dragon for reblogged art, though the latter might undergo a huge change soon (maybe ill get back into arting too, depends how much i hate this mouse/touchpad)

[nehebthewordy]

EDH Deck Tech: Multani Lands

Hey everyone, welcome back for another commander deck tech. This week we’re looking at a mono-green lands build led by Dominaria’s original most-famous-elemental: Multani, Yavimaya Avatar. Though we aren’t bound by a specific budget on this list, we’ll prioritize cheap cards to their more in-demand counterparts.

As this is a lands deck, Multani will want tons of ramp and landfall synergies. Fortunately, Zendikar has come again and as always brought it’s customary lands-matter theme. Our main win condition, though, is Multani himself: not only is he pumped by the lands you control and those in your bin, but his second ability paragraph allows him to be resilient to removal.

As always, we’ll begin with our RAMP package. This can be sorted into two varieties which you can mix and match as you build: cards that fetch lands from your deck and cards that put lands from your hand directly into play. Starting with fetch we have Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, and Nissa’s Pilgrimage, all of which not only put a land into play but also your hand, empowering cards that play additional lands. For additional landfalls, we can either put them directly into play with cards like Sakura-Tribe Scout, Llanowar Scout, Walking Atlas, Budoka Gardener, and Skyshroud Ranger or we can play additional lands with Wayward Swordtooth and Azusa, Lost but Seeking, the latter of which’s recent core set printing makes her a terriffic option.

Next up we need to generate CARD ADVANTAGE. Fortunately, green does this well in a variety of ways. On the expensive end you have cards like Tireless Tracker, or you can use more budget options such as Harmonize, Seer’s Sundial, Colossal Majesty, Garruk’s Packleader, and one of my personal pet cards Return of the Wildspeaker.

In mono green, REMOVAL tends to be more difficult, especially when dealing with creatures, however with Multani on board you’ll almost always have the biggest creature. Cards like Pounce, Nature’s Way, Ulvenwald Tracker, and Setessan Tactics can use his high power to deal lethal damage to creatures, or you can use Desert Twister, Beast Within, Duplicant, and Meteor Golem to outright destroy them. Your artifact/enchantment removal suite basically builds itself with Acidic Slime, Broken Bond, Krosan Grip, and Reclamation Sage, and to deal with graveyards you have the classic Scavenging Ooze and Selesnya Eulogist.

Next up we’ll take a look at LANDFALL synergies, which green is the undisputed leader of. You can gain life by playing lands with cards like Retreat to Kazandu, Lifegift, and Courser of Kruphix, the latter of which also allows lands to be played from topdeck, while Scute Swarm, Zendikar’s Roil, and Rampaging Baloths create a massive token army as you play lands. For additional creatures that grow with your land count, try implementing Territorial Scythecat, Oran-Rief Hydra, Ulvenwald Hydra, and Beanstalk Giant.

Now you need to be able to PROTECT your board. Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves do a good job for a single creature, while Heroic Intervention can shield your entire board for a turn. Once things are put into your graveyard, the famous Eternal Witness can fetch anything from your bin. Other slightly less well-known cards with similar effects are Once and Future, God-Pharaoh’s Gift, Artisan of Kozilek, Moldgraf Monstrosity, and Seasons Past.

Finally, you’ll want some lands with ETB triggers to reuse with Multani’s last ability. While not technically enter-effects, the cycling lands (Tranquil Thicket/Slippery Karst/Desert of the Indomitable) can be played early as a land and bounced-then-cycled later when you need draw. Fertile Thicket can dig for more lands to play, Gingerbread Cabin and Radian Fountain can gain incidental life, Khalni Garden can create a small token, Mosswort Bridge can stash a card to cast for free later, and Bala Ged Recovery and Khalni Ambush are spells that can be played as lands. Additionally, you can deliberately place Multani in your graveyard with Miren, the Moaning Well, Scourge of Skola Vale, Life Chisel, and Feed the Pack.

While this list is long, almost building the deck for you, it’s full of powerful cards for just this kind of deck. Whether you’re playing around Multani’s enormous P/T or dumping a token army onto the board, landfall can carry you through a powerful game at a comparatively low budget. Until next week, I’ll see you on the battlefield

[nehebthewordy]

Underrated EDH Cards #3: Behold! I Am Immortal!

Hello everyone, welcome back to our third selection of underrated cards to use in your commander decks. This week, we’re taking a look at my top favorite cards that continue generating value even after they’ve died (the first time.)

WHITE Starting us off, let’s look at my top pick for white. Originally from Amonkhet and only reprinted in the 2019 Ghired precon, Angel of Sanctions is a moderately-sized flier with an Oblivion Ring effect stapled onto it. What makes this one in particular useful is its embalm ability: for one mana more than its CMC you can create a token clone of it, which adds further functionality in a deck running populate effects.

BLUE Next up we’ve got blue. Now blue has tons of options for flashback, jump-start, and retrace, but we’re going a different angle with this one. Dragon Wings is a fairly simple aura: enchanted creature has flying. What makes it significant, however, is cycling paired with its final ability, attaching itself from your graveyard when a high-cost creature enters. While not particularly useful for your own large fliers, it can put a Blightsteel into the air or even be used politically to grant someone else’s beater flying.

BLACK Of all the colors, black definitely has its pick of graveyard interactions. From the combo powerhouse Gravecrawler to the simple and effective Reassembling Skeleton, it’s best known for creatures that continue to empower your board after they’ve died. Our pick, however, will be slightly higher on the curve: Scourge of Nel Toth. This 6/6 flier may cost seven mana, but for the small cost of two sacrifices and two mana you can cast it from your graveyard. This is useful both for throwing a large, recur-able beater onto the board and as a sacrifice outlet for your death triggers.

RED Finally, we’re at the top of the list. This one is the best Magic has to offer. Never have we been given such a boon. That’s right, our pick for red is Squee. All joking aside, this three-drop Dominarian legend is legitimately useful in both of his cards: Squee, Goblin Nabob returns himself to your hand from your graveyard on your upkeep, fueling all kinds of rummage shenanigans without losing value while Squee the Immortal can be cast from both your graveyard and exile, making him almost impossible to get rid of. Both can be pitched instead of a more useful card, Nabob almost infinitely, and as one-toughness creatures they play well with Skullclamp to grant your mono-red or white-red deck plenty of card draw.

GREEN And lastly, we have our pick for green. Seconding black for from-graveyard value, this pick was tricky, but finally came down to Genesis. This five-drop 4/4 isn’t particularly valuable for combat nor does it have any effect on board, but once it lands in your bin it’s value begins. On your upkeep, you can pay three to get a creature from your graveyard to your hand, including Genesis if you want.

[nehebthewordy]

Underrated EDH Cards #1: Amonkhet Monuments

Hello again and welcome back. We haven’t done an article in a while so we’ll ease into it with the first in what I hope to be a series about my favorite cards that I never see played.

Heading up this series is the Gods’ Monument(s) cycle of three-drop artifacts from Amonkhet. At face value, you discount your creatures of a particular color and gain an additional benefit for casting them; a 1/1 vigilance token for Oketra, preventing a creature from untapping for Kefnet, draining each opponent for 1 life for Bontu, rummaging for Hazoret, and giving a creature a small pump for Rhonas. What is often missed about these five cards is that while the first ability only benefits a specific color, the second applies whenever you cast any creature regardless of color, and additionally none of them have any colored mana symbols so you can run them in literally any deck. Let’s take a look at them in WUBRG order.

Oketra’s Monument The monument to the god of solidarity often stands out most once players realize you can run it in any deck, because who doesn’t want to get an extra creature with their creatures? Any list with a high creature count or the ability to recast often can use this both to throw out tons of blockers and build a vigilant token army, ensuring a full swing never leaves you defenseless.

Kefnet’s Monument Probably the least I’ve seen of the bunch, Kefnet’s Monument can absolutely stall a voltron player out and even hamper anyone with so much as a tap ability. Rhys loses the ability to double your board. JVP stops being able to loot. Feldon stops cloning his owner’s graveyard. It’s particulaly effective if you include other ways to tap down creatures, making it especially good if you have white access. This effect seems small, but never underestimate how useful it can be on the right board.

Bontu’s Monument Bontu’s Monument is probably the second most used of this cycle. There’s not a lot to say here: cast creatures, your opponents lose life, you gain life. It’s most often played in mono black, but any reanimator deck such as Muldrotha or Chainer is likely to abuse it, and it can even see effective play outside black decks entirely.

Hazoret’s Monument This here is my favorite of the cycle. Overlooked next to more obviously powerful cards, the god of zeal’s monument can provide much-needed value in all kinds of decks. Mimeoplasm wants to fill his bin a little faster? Want to pitch those high-cost creatures to reanimate them later? Mono white card selection? It can do anything from providing Feldon more fuel to giving your Emeria a solid target while digging through that high-CMC finisher you probably won’t cast anyway.

Rhonas’s Monument Unlike the others, I don’t really see a place for this one outside green. Other colors can get stompy, sure, and any kind of voltron will welcome the trample, but the small temporary buff doesn’t seem like much to me. Then again, I may be wrong, and if any of you have any great stories to share with Rhonas’s Monument I’d love to hear them.

And that’s a wrap. At the time this article was written, each of these came in at 50 cents or less, and it’s entirely likely they’ll stay that way for a long time. Keep on getting that overlooked value and you’ll be one step closer to your next victory (or a fun game regardless). Until next time, see you on the battlefield.

[nehebthewordy]

Underrated EDH Cards #2: Vows and Impetuses

Welcome back for another collection of my favorite cards for commander that I just don’t see played that often. This week we’re taking a look at ten auras that I use as sort of political removal options, keeping a powerful creature pointed towards someone else. Unlike last week’s article, we’ll look at these by cycle.

Vow of (Color) First released in the original commander products way back in 2011, the vows are three-drop auras which provide a buff to the attached creature, give it a keyword, and prevent it from attacking you or your planeswalkers. While they eventually lock the creatures up as blockers once there are no more opponents in the game, they still serve a vital purpose of keeping large creatures (Galta, Blightsteel, etc) pointed away from you. In WUBRG order: Vow of Duty grants vigilance, Vow of Flight grants flying, Vow of Malice grants intimidate (which on a colorless creature only allows it to be blocked by artifact creatures), Vow of Lightning grants first strike, and Vow of Wildness grants trample. Among these, Duty may be the worst because vigilance leaves the creature up as a blocker, but all of them can be useful in a tight spot.

(Color) Impetus Released only this year in the Ikoria commander decks, the impetuses vary in size but each provide a small buff, goad the creature, and provide an additional buff or penalty (depending on the card) when the creature attacks. For those of you who don’t know goad, it essentially boils down to the goaded creature must always attack if able and can’t attack you if there’s another player or planeswalker it could attack. If you become the only player/planeswalker left for the creature to attack it can be a disadvantage for you (except for forcing a blocker out of the way), but early game they can force your opponents against each other or make a small utility creature like Zulaport Cutthroat swing into a board full of blockers. In WUBRG order: Martial Impetus gives all other attacking creatures that aren’t attacking you +1/+1, Psychic Impetus lets you scry 2, Parasitic Impetus drains the creature’s controller for 2 life and you gain 2, SHiny Impetus gives you a treasure, and Predatory Impetus forces the creature to be blocked if able.

Though susceptible to enchantment removal, I enjoy using these as a way to answer a threatening creature without drawing its controller’s ire. They play really well into a political deck and can give colors with few ways to deal with creatures. As always, keep a mind on threat assessment and you may snag a few more wins (or wacky, political games). Until next time, see you on the battlefield.

[nehebthewordy]

EDH DECK TECH: Numa + Kamahl

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another EDH deck tech. This week we’re looking at two of the new partners from Commander Legends: Numa and Kamahl leading Double-Green Elfbal. As always, priority will be given to lower-cost alternatives to popular commander cards.

Though Kamahl isn’t an elf and both of our commanders are green, these two complement each other quite well. Between Numa’s mana sink and Kamahl’s ability to end the game quickly once he hits the board, they play well into elf strengths.

First up, let’s take a look at RAMP. This will be mostly the same as most green decks, but with an added focus on creatures. Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf, and Springbloom Druid can each fetch lands directly into play, while Rampant Growth and Nissa’s Pilgrimage are efficient noncreature means of doing so. Additionally, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, and Elvish Archdruid are all fairly standard elf dorks; Incubation Druid, Marwyn, the Nurturer, and Rishkar, Peema Renegade also play well with both our theme of +1/+1 counters and our tribe. Additionally, Blighted Woodland and Myriad Landscape are both must-have lands for any green deck.

Next, we need ways to DRAW into more creatures. Beast Whisperer is absolutely at the top of this package, followed shortly by Vanquisher’s Banner, Sylvan Messenger, and Harmonize. Armorcraft Judge and Inspiring Call both play well with our counters theme to refill our hand, the latter of which also protecting from a board wipe, and Voice of Many and Realmwalker further add to our draw power. Finally, Masked Admirers draws on ETB and can self-recur whenever you cast a creature, and with Numa you can expect Colossal Majesty to come online.

Now for green’s big struggle: REMOVAL. Artifacts and enchantments are easy with Reclamation Sage, Krosan Grip, Slice in Twain, Beast Within, Unstable Obelisk, and Desert Twister, the latter three of which hit creatures as well, but additional creature removal is more difficult. Thanks to Numa’s mana sink, this can be filled in with cards like Nature’s Way, Nissa’s Judgement, Ambuscade and Zendikar Rising’s Khalni Ambush. Additionally, Vow of Wildness and Brittle Effigy can present more steady removal.

With our core out of the way, we need to take a look into how to put COUNTERS on our creatures. Ivy Lane Denizen, Durable Handicraft, Immaculate Magistrate, and Loyal Guardian are effective at spreading counters around, aided by Path of Discovery and Gladehart Cavalry. Finally, Evolution Sage is an absolute powerhouse in any deck that throws counters around, and Oran Rief, the Vastwood can distribute counters on turns where it isn’t used for mana.

Next, let’s look at a combined package for TRIBAL shenanigans and FINISHERS. Lys Alana Huntmaster, Elvish Warmaster, and Imperious Perfect are exceptional at producing token bodies, while Dwynen, gilt-Leaf Daen consistently proves me wrong when I think about cutting her from the deck. Your post powerful single finisher, other than Kamahl himself, is Cultivator of Blades. For this section we do have two honorable mentions that exceed the price at which buying them is recommended, but if you happen to have them lying around they would be spectacular: Beastmaster Ascension and Joraga Warcaller.

Finally, you need to PROTECT your board. While direct protective measures like Heroic Intervention are too expensive to make a special trip for, Cauldron of Souls can protect your board from multiple wipes in conjunction with your counter abilities and Tajuru Preserver protects you from forced sacrifice. Additionally, Creeping Rennaisance, Gaea’s Blessing, Elvish Soultiller, and Seasons Past provide mass recursion while Bala Ged Recovery and Once and Future are effective spot recursive tools.

Though elf tribal decks have been around since the beginning of Magic, the partnership of Numa and Kamahl brings a fresh new take on the classic tribe. Just be careful not to advance your board too quickly: sitting down to the table with elves is enough of a target on your back. Thanks for sticking through another deck tech. If you’d like to see more, or even a particular commander, send in an ask. Until next week, see you on the battlefield.

[nehebthewordy]

Oathbreaker Deck Tech: Lili Waker

Welcome back everyone. It’s been a while, but today we’re taking a look at the how-tos of my latest production. Oathbreaker may be dead, but I still believe we can keep it going, and there’s no planeswalker better to resurrect the format than Liliana.

When Core 21 launched, this new ‘walker for Lili stood out to me more than the rest of the set. I’d been looking into a forced-discard commander to use with my Waste Nots and Geth’s Grimoires for a while and Liliana, Waker of the Dead provides. Yes, we will be focusing on her forced-discard ability, even using madness cards to take advantage of discarding our own things.

As always, let’s start with RAMP. Our deck mostly levels out at three-to-four mana, so we don’t need an abundance of this and we want practically no ramp above two mana. If you’re of a mind to grab one or already have it, Arcane Signet plays well into this mindset, and it can be supplemented well by Mind Stone and Charcoal Diamond. You likely won’t need more than this, but if you do there are an abundance of low-drop ramp cards (of which Wayfarer’s Bauble will always be a top pick.)

Next we’ll take a look at options for CARD ADVANTAGE. This includes both cards that outright draw and cards that mitigate Lili’s discard ability. My top picks for this are Asylum Visitor, Geth’s Grimoire, and circumstantially Waste Not or Bone Miser. To mitigate your discarding, madness cards like Grave Scrabbler and the brawl favorite Bag of Holding can offer you ways to hold on to your stuff. Additional top picks include Shadows over Innistrad’s Geier Reach Sanitarium and Amonkhet’s Wander in Death, the latter of which’s cycling ability plays well with Bone Miser to draw two cards at instant speed.

And for the meat of our deck, let’s take a look at CONTROL: this includes both removal and the means of otherwise diminishing your opponents’ board influence. As always, Ravenous Chupacabra is an eternal favorite of mine and Liliana’s Triumph plays well as a signature spell, while Cast Down is more powerful than in EDH because of the decreased relevance of legends. Plaguecrafter interacts well with Virtus’s Maneuver, while Archfiend of Ifnir turns your discards into a slow poison on your opponents’ boards.

Finally, let’s take a look at our win conditions. Faith of the Devoted and Quest for the Nihil Stone are your best bets, while Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage and cards like Liliana’s Caress further penalize your opponents for either playing their hands of choosing not to. Gravepurge can put the creatures in your graveyard on top of your library to restock for the long game, and  Syr Konrad, the Grim can turn this into a conclusive finisher.

Though Oathbreaker is a faster format compared to the high power of EDH, Liliana can effectively slow the game way down. Simply keep up the value and look out for those rogue Tamiyos and you’ll be well on your way to victory. Until next time, see you on the battlefield

[nehebthewordy]

Theros: Beyond Death EDH Legend Review: Uncommon

Hello everyone and welcome to our first Legend Review. Before we begin, I’d like to apologize for the unplanned hiatus this month; unfortunately, I will not have a budget brewing article for you this week.

But onto the main event! Like Dominaria, the new Theros set has a large number of uncommon legendaries, giving us budget brewers a large selection of new generals to build. While most of these are monocolored, we do have a couple sweet new multicolor legends, which will appear at the end of tonight’s article.

Daxos, Blessed by the Sun Unlike his previous iterations from the original Theros block and the 2015 commander decks, new Daxos has dropped to only one color. At face value, he’s a bear with a combined effect of Ajani’s Welcome and the latter half of Ashes of the Abhorrent. While neither are bad cards in their own right, this new Daxos is not something white needed nor is it a particularly creative legend. As a whole, it feels like the same stuff white’s had since the beginning.

Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea Unlike our previous legend, Callaphe is totally new to us. At base devotion, he’s a 2/3 for 3 with a small taxing effect. Honestly, this is such a small ability that I can’t even think of what to say about it. I’d sooner run Monastery Siege on Dragons, even if it can’t go in the command zone.

Tymaret, Chosen from Death Another returning character, Tymaret has also dropped a color. Similar to Daxos, he’s a bear at base devotion, however his ability may be even smaller than his white counterpart. It’s potentially useful, of course, but I can only recommend Tymaret over another black legend if your meta includes a lot of graveyard decks such as Muldrotha, Karador, or Whisper.

Anax, Hardened in the Forge Our fourth demigod is also our third, and final, returning uncommon legend. As with the other two, Anax has lost his white alongside Cymede. Out of the five, Anax is actually one of the two that I believe could make good commander potential. While his satyrs can’t block, being able to sac away Squees to create more of them can keep a never-ending army swinging every turn. If you can empower your fodder creatures further, you can even get twice the number of goat-men.

Renata, Called to the Hunt Our final demigod may be our most powerful. Literally, a deck led by Renata can easily raise her devotion to over five before she even comes out (on curve!) While it will play a lot like the Rishkar and Nissa lists I’ve written up before, Renata gives you the advantage of automatically empowering a token army. With a few counter-boosting cards like Hardened Scales or Pir, you can quickly build a field of solid beaters.

Alirios, Enraptured And now even Narcissus has a card in Magic. While I can’t personally say much on this new blue legend, I’m sure many of you have already brewed up ways to abuse his EtB effect to create more and more reflections. As a whole though, I think he fits way better in the 99 than as a commander himself.

Siona, Captain of the Pyleas Our first Selesnya auras commander since perhaps Krond himself, Siona... has a weird strategy. Through stacking auras you create tokens, except they’re made on entry rather than Valduk’s combat trigger. Honestly, I can’t figure a way to make this good. Tuvasa does auramancy better, Krond gets more value from your enchantments, Sigarda keeps forced sacrifice from destroying your best stuff. As a whole, I’m not sure Siona will see much play as a general, much less in the 99.

Eutropia, the Twice-Favored Our final uncommon legend from Theros is one of the best on this list. While I’m having trouble building this as more than a generic Simic counters deck, I can see its potential power. It feels like Bred for the Hunt was made for this card, and if removal is a concern you can get good use from Plaxcaster Frogling. As a whole though, enchantments are a huge part of her strategy: don’t build so much goodstuff that you forget all your enchantments.

And that’s the last of Theros: Beyond Death. This is the most uncommon legends we’ve had since Dominaria, and Theros was such a good plane to bring them back on. Though most of them are the power level you’d expect from their rarity, a few may be diamonds hidden among weaker commanders such as Yargle or Callaphe. Thanks for tuning in to our first legend review. I’ll see you all next week.

[nehebthewordy]

EDH DECK TECH: Kunoros Voltron

Hello everyone, welcome back to another EDH deck tech. This week we’re building around one of the new legends from Theros: Beyond Death. While Kunoros is open-ended and flexible enough to lead just about any Orzhov deck, we’re going to be suiting him up so we can take advantage of that lifelink. As always, we’ll be prioritizing budget options over their more well-known alternatives.

Kunoros is extremely flexible; his cast/ETB block stops popular decks such as Muldrotha or Kess, and his vigilance allows him to keep your defenses up while you pressure your opponents. We, however, are building off of his lifelink, and more importantly menace. By suiting him up with a few auras and equipments we can turn him into a solid beater that gains us life.

Starting us off, let’s look at how we plan to RAMP. Most of our mana acceleration is tied to artifacts, so Sol Ring,  Orzhov Signet, and Talisman of Hierarchy are a good initial basis. Mind Stone, Thaumatic Compass, and Unstable Obelisk can all perform additional tasks in addition to their primary function. Finally, Solemn Simulacrum and Burnished Hart are creatures that can grab basics from your library.

With the majority of our mana acceleration handled, we need to next look at CARD ADVANTAGE. being in one of the worst color arrangements for drawing cards, it’s difficult to do this on a budget. A good place to start is with Greed and its slightly cheaper counterpart Arguel’s Blood Fast: While the latter’s transform may draw your attention, our deck cares far more about its front side’s ability. Though the more iconic Phyrexian Arena is fairly expensive, Bloodgift Demon gives you a similar effect for a lower financial cost. Hedron Archive and Dreamstone Hedron are mana-intensive if used exclusively for drawing, but until you’re ready to do so they’re good for ramp as well. Tome of the Guildpact is an expensive manalith, but the added flexibility of drawing on cast can greatly strengthen your deck.

Finally, we get into White and Black’s mutual strength: REMOVAL. You have no shortage of multicolor removal spells: Mortify, Anguished Unmaking, Utter End, and Vindicate are all strong, flexible options. Return to Dust and Aura of Silence are both strong options for enchantments and artifacts, while  Ravenous Chupacabra, Swords to Plowshares, and Hero’s Downfall are potent creature removal. Finally, Ethereal Absolution can buff your field, kill your opponent’s small creatures, and remove key cards from your opponents’ graveyards.

For this particular list, we’ll look at WIPES separately from removal. Merciless Eviction is a fairly standard Orzhov board wipe, but Deathbringer Regent and Extinguish all Hope can also do well. If three isn’t enough for your playgroup, Winds of Rath and Winds of Abandon are easy to acquire and ignore your own board. If you need to attack graveyards as well, Soul-Guide Lantern can exile your opponents’ graveyards or draw an additional card.

Next we’re taking a look at some more PERSONAL touches. Kunoros himself does a lot to block graveyard interactions, but you may want a backup: Ashes of the Abhorrent and Grafdigger’s Cage both do an exception job at this. Though pricy, Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are paramount to keep your general in play, while Palace Siege does well to either recur key creatures or add an additional source of life. Authority of the Consuls and Blind Obedience can slow down your opponents and gain you life. Finally, Sanguine Bond and Vizkopa Guildmage can turn any life you gain into a weapon of its own.

And now we get into the purpose of our deck: VOLTRON. We’ll, of course, look at the usual voltron inclusions: Hero’s Blade, Argentum Armor, and Trusty Machete do well, while Viridian Claw grants first strike protection and Tenza, Godo’s Maul provides a substantial buff at low equip cost. My favorite enchantments to adding to this strategy are Citadel Siege and Gryff’s Boon.

Finally, let’s take a look at a few key LANDS to help you out. Caves of Koilos is probably the cheapest untapped dual land you’ll be able to get for the deck, while Opal Palace and last year’s Forge of Heroes can allow Kunoros to enter with additional counters. Additionally, Arch of Orazca is expensive to activate, but helps dig a little deeper into your deck, while Rogue’s Passage can guarantee an unblocked attacker.

And that’s the end of this week’s deck tech. Thanks again for stopping by, and remember to send in a request if there’s a commander you want to see brewed. As always, keep up the pressure while you buffer your own life total. Until next time, see you on the battlefield.

[nehebthewordy]

EDH DECK TECH: Gahiji, Honored One

Hello everyone and welcome back after an unfortunately long hiatus. Tonight we’re building a political favorite from the second-ever commander precon release. As always, we’ll prioritize cheaper alternatives to more widely-known favorites.

Gahiji is an amazingly flexible commander, however this open-ended-ness can make it difficult to build a deck around him. Our list will focus on his potential as a political tool. By empowering any creature that attacks an opponent of yours and some forced combat we can encourage other players to keep an aggressive focus while you slowly strengthen your own board.

As we always do, let’s begin with RAMP. This section will be fairly standard: Ring and guild Signets supported by Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, and Explosive Vegetation. If you want to keep a creature focus going across the deck, you can make effective use of those abilities stapled onto bodies. Solemn Simulacrum and  Farhaven Elf are reasonably efficient, while Elvish Rejuvenator can often be expected to hit something.

Following up, we need to generate CARD ADVANTAGE, which is where we’ll need to start getting creative. Colossal Majesty is an excellent start for us, which will draw us an additional card for each round we can keep a reasonably-large creature in play. If you’re playing a lot of large creatures or large-creature-producers, Elemental Bond and Garruk’s Packleader can be highly effective means of keeping our hand stocked up. On top of those, Drumhunter can function as both a mana dork and a backup Majesty, while Keeper of Fables draws cards when you go on the offensive. Finally, though this section is nowhere near complete, Rites of Flourishing can replenish your hand while also allowing an extra land drop each turn - at the price of giving your opponents this benefit as well.

Before we look at forced attack though, we need to PROTECT ourselves. Though a little more expensive than many of us would like, Ghostly Prison and Windborn muse do a terrific job of keeping our hordes of mandatory attackers away from us. Fortunately, there are no shortage of alternatives: Archon of Absolution, Baird, Steward of Argive, and Sphere of Safety come to mind. To dissuade other attackers, you may also choose to run Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs. Tapping down problematic creatures may also be useful, and there are few better uses for one of my favorite enchantments of all time: Citadel Siege.

Finally, we’re here, it’s time for MANDATORY CHAOS. This is where Gahiji goes from Naya goodstuff to absolute fun. Fumiko the Lowblood, Curse of the Nightly Hunt, Goblin Diplomats, Goblin Spymaster, and even Boros Battleshaper force creatures to attack. You may not get to choose where for certain, but our package above can certainly encourage certain actions over others.

While all this chaos is nice, you need to be able to win yourself. Because of how Gahiji’s ability applies per-creature, a TOKEN strategy can enable you to quickly close the game against an opponent with no blockers. Goblin Assault is a good start, acting as the important half of Goblin Rabblemaster or Legion Warboss. Taking this to an extreme, Assemble the Legion may be one of the most powerful scaling token producer in our colors. For fliers, Thopter Assembly can churn out five 1/1s whenever you run out and Loyal Apprentice creates one each combat if you have your general. Though expensive, playing Elemental Mastery on Gahiji or another large creature can produce a substantial number of attackers or blockers. For larger tokens, You may choose to run Kazandu Tuskcaller, Rampaging Baloths, or Rakka Mar.

All this gas, however, won’t do you any good if you can never get attacks through: you’ll need REMOVAL for the greatest threats. Like our mana acceleration package, this will be fairly generic, with a few exceptions. Swords to Plowshares, Chaos Warp, and Oblation are all reliable, while Return to Dust and Forsake the Worldly can deal with troublesome artifacts and enchantments. Where we get interesting, however, is with my favorite cycle of political removal cards; while they don’t remove permanents from the board, Vow of Duty, Lightning, and Wildness can make your opponents’ creatures more powerful while completely preventing them from ever attacking you.

From here, you can fill the gaps with whatever you think might work in your playgroup. Just as a whole, remember that playing politics works much better when your board doesn’t look particularly threatening, so perhaps consider some haste enablers while you keep your best cards in your hand until you’re ready to swing for the game. Your mana base can be easily solved with Jungle Shrine, Rith’s Grove, and whatever guildgates and taplands you have on hand; once you have the deck working, you can upgrade those to shock or buddylands as necessary.

Thanks for following another deck tech. If you’d like to see more, be sure to send in requests for your favorite commander (or maybe even your least favorite.) Until next time, keep your opponents focused on each other while you rip victory out from under their noses. See you on the battlefield.

[nehebthewordy]

EDH Budget Tech: Atla Palani, Nest Tender

Welcome back, everyone, to this week’s budget build. Tonight we’re looking at one of the fun alternate commanders from this year’s precon decks: Eggs. Literally, not just the archetype. As always, no cards on our list will be above $5 and we’ll be paying close attention to cheaper alternatives to commander staples.

Atla Palani is certainly a unique build-around commander, especially for her colors; we usually expect a Naya deck to leap forwards aggressively, but our general is perfectly content sitting back and tending her nest (no pun intended.) When playing this deck, you’ll likely have a lot of board hate directed at you because of the frequency with which you can drop big creatures. The simple solution to this is don’t crack all your eggs at the same time. That said, let’s get into our list.

Per the usual, our first order of business is RAMP. As of drafting this article, Sakura-Tribe Elder (yes, the iconic green staple) is only a dollar and a half USD, so it would be a cheap and powerful inclusion. You may also choose to include your guild Signets, or alternatively Cultivate or Kodama’s Reach. Rampant Growth remains efficient ramp, and Perilous Forays will allow you to continue ramping and crack your eggs simultaneously.

Now we move on to your means of establishing CARD ADVANTAGE. Mentor of the Meek can add a draw to each egg you lay, and each round Portcullis Vine can crack an egg to draw a card. Though it’s pricey at just under $5, Skullclamp is an amazingly powerful equipment, and for consistent draw each turn Idol of Oblivion from the same precon deck can help you dig a little deeper as long as you keep producing tokens. Soul of the Harvest may be a worthwhile inclusion as well, especially given you probably won’t even pay for it, and Dark-Dweller Oracle can crack yet more eggs to gain impulsive draw.

Ordinarily I’d go more in-depth on your REMOVAL package, but it’ll be mostly your generic white-red-green set. You’ll want a Swords to Plowshares, Qasali Pridemage, and probably Meteor Golem. Our major deviations, however, are Sundering Growth and Angelic Purge: the former can destroy an artifact or enchantment and clone one of your eggs, while the latter can crack an egg to remove one of a variety of permanents.

Next, we move into the interesting meat of your deck: Sacrifice OUTLETS. Coming fresh from Eldraine we have Witch’s Oven, perhaps the cheapest sacrifice outlet on our list. Spawning Pit can turn any two eggs into a 2/2 on the board in addition to gaining the triggers from cracking them, and Fanatical Devotion can crack an egg to regenerate a creature, potentially saving Atla herself from a boardwipe or spot removal. Though it’s moderately expensive at $4, High Market has a lot of flexibility as both a land and a sacrifice outlet: it may have a weak effect, but it’s mostly protected under commander’s social contract.

To close out the game, simply use your fattest beaters and best muscle to seal the deal. Among my personal favorites are Gahiji, Honored One and Serra Avatar, but there is no one right answer on what to use to fill the last of your deck. Just remember to tie most of your supporting effects to noncreatures so that Atla can find you the biggest monstrosities when her eggs hatch. Just play it slow and let your enemies pick each other apart, then make an omelet on an opponent’s end step to clean up the stragglers.

Until next time, see you on the battlefield.

[nehebthewordy]

EDH Budget Picks: Emmara, Soul of the Accord

Welcome again to this week’s budget list. Tonight we’re discussing one of this year’s tiny leaders: Emmara. As the general of our deck indicates, we’re going for a token strategy with a lot of Inspired synergies. As always, our list will include no more than three cards above $2, and none above $5.

Our biggest concern is untap effects for Emmara. Tap abilities and anthems are abundant, enabling any deckbuilder to effectively fill those roles, so for the most part our list will focus on ways to untap your general for additional value. That said, we will take a look at a few efficient tap effects and an anthem.

#1: Quest for Renewal With Seedborn Muse hovering just outside our budget, Quest is probably your biggest concern when building the deck. Once it’s online, you’ll get free untaps each turn.

#2: Nature’s Chosen This simple aura is on our list really only for one reason: untapping. It has an additional effect, of course, which may prove useful.

#3: Springleaf Drum / Survivors’ Encampment / Holdout Settlement Our #3 picks are all essentially the same, but you’ll want all of them because of the synergies with your general. Drum will essentially be a 1 mana rock, while the two lands allow you to tap creatures to produce colored mana.

#4: Seeker of Skybreak Not a whole lot to say here. It’s just a basic creature untapper.

#5: Volrath’s Gardens While being limited to sorcery speed on this enchantment, the steady lifegain can keep you away from death for quite a while.

#6: Ebony Horse Again replacing a more expensive card on our list, Ebony Horse essentially functions the same as your other untappers, except it’s less vulnerable to creature removal.

#7: Honor-Worn Shaku #7 again falls under the tap effects. In short, it’s a Worn Powerstone that can be used immediately and taps your general.

#8: Glare of Subdual This is one of my favorites on our list. Tapping your creatures to tap down threatening attackers already offers a potent advantage in token decks, but getting the additional creature off of Emmara allows her to basically tap down two threats on her own.

#9: Collective Blessing Here near the end of our list we’ve got the only anthem that stands out enough to make it. While six mana is a lot, giving your creatures an immediate +3/+3 can turn the tide of the entire game.

#10: Puppet Strings And for our final pick, there’s really not much to say. It can either tap or untap a creature, depending on your need.

For filling out the rest of your deck, Theros block provides a number of Inspired synergies. You’ll also want to look into more tap and untap shenanigans, as well as creatures that benefit from being tapped or tapping your other creatures. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, see you on the battlefield

[nehebthewordy]

So it turns out Mindcrank might be too powerful to run with Ayara. Every game I’ve gotten it by turn 3 has been a win.

Is this consistent of a win rate bad? I think I’m going to retire her for a week or two.

[nehebthewordy]

Idk what makes me madder, the entire MtG community thinking Eldraine is Shrekworld or the fact that theyre right

[nehebthewordy]

Magic DIY: Verdant Force

Sometimes that big ol’ 7/7 is far too expensive in your deck, or maybe you’re playing off-color but need that constant source of tokens. Fortunately, I have a solution for you: 

The way to play this is simple: curse yourself. This might seem like an odd choice since you don’t net life, but the simple process of losing life triggers First Response, getting you a token each turn. For additional value off of cursing yourself, play cards like Ajani’s Pridemate and Cliffhaven Vampire. While six mana may seem like a lot, being able to spread it across multiple turns goes a long way. On top of that, if you only have your curse it still triggers your other effects.

It’s a simple interaction and certainly isn’t powerful enough for competitive play, but with constant token production and lifegain triggers your board will almost inexorably expand until you win. Until that happens, see you on the battlefield.