This is a competitive Abzan combo deck filled with redundant game-winning combos. This description highlights the most the powerful interactions and deck-building considerations. Please remember to click +1 Upvote if you enjoy the deck.

Combine:

with:

and:


A few reasons.

  1. Anafenza is efficient. She's cheap to cast and holds many would-be attackers at bay.
  2. Anafenza is a hatebear. Exiling creatures on their way to the graveyard randomly hoses a ton of strategies, and it doesn't affect our combo.
  3. Anafenza is green. Unlike Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, this deck can make use of Survival of the Fittest, Birthing Pod, and Eternal Witness.
  4. Anafenza is the perfect CMC for Birthing Pod. If you find Felidar Guardian you will usually win on the spot.

If you combine Reveillark and Karmic Guide with a sacrifice outlet, and Felidar Guardian is either on the battlefield or in the graveyard, then you can generate infinite mana. Usually, this is set up with a complicated Birthing Pod chain.

Start by using a Birthing Pod on a 3-CMC creature (such as Anafenza) to find Felidar Guardian and use it to untap Pod. Then use Pod again, this time on Felidar Guardian to find Karmic Guide. Karmic Guide's ability triggers and returns Felidar Guardian to the battlefield, which untaps Pod again. Then use Pod on Felidar Guardian again, and find Reveillark. All this costs , and it only requires a resolved Birthing Pod and Anafenza on the board.

At this point if you also have a sacrifice outlet, you have access to infinite mana using Felidar Guardian to untap your lands, and if there are any creatures in your hand or graveyard which trigger by creatures entering the battlefield or dying, then you also have an infinite number of those triggers.

Tutors are an integral part of this deck and because it has such a complex combo (requiring several cards, not just one or two) playing the tutors well can make the difference between winning and losing.

  • If you want a combo piece and have no others in your hand or graveyard and you don't have access to seven mana, the best creature to search for is Saffi Eriksdotter or Reveillark and the best non-creature is Pattern of Rebirth or Birthing Pod.
  • If you want a combo piece and have seven mana, the best card to search for is Protean Hulk or Boonweaver Giant (obviously).
  • The black tutors can be used to find versatile removal spells, like Vindicate, in addition to combo pieces. Importantly, they can also find lands and graveyard hate via Bojuka Bog.
  • The green tutors are best used to find pieces of the combo, but they can also find interaction with Harmonic Sliver and Reclamation Sage.
  • The first activation of Yisan, the Wanderer Bard can gain life, deal damage, and hate the graveyard thanks to Deathrite Shaman, ramp/fix your mana with one of the Llanowar Elves variants, or find a sacrifice outlet in Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder. Subsequent activations usually find combo pieces.
  • Thanks to Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers and Hashep Oasis filling in as extra forests, Tainted Pact can find any card in the deck, but choosing to exile cards can get tricky. Generally, try to save Tainted Pact for when you need cards with the greatest redundancy (lands and removal are good candidates). Always maneuver away from spots where you need to cast this card as an emergency solution. More than other tutors, Tainted Pact gets better the longer you go without casting it. If you have the mana, consider casting Tainted Pact and taking the first real tutor. Only find specific combo pieces if you strongly believe that you will win the game the same turn.

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Revision 53 See all

(3 years ago)

Top Ranked
  • Achieved #51 position overall 6 years ago
Date added 7 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

5 - 0 Mythic Rares

55 - 0 Rares

22 - 0 Uncommons

15 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.31
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Spirit 1/1 C
Folders Commander, interesting, cEDH, EDH, Cool EDH
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