This is my list for a colorless edh deck using Kozilek, Butcher of Truth as the commander.
Building a colorless commander deck was harsh on the landbase up to now. The lands aren't exactly cheap and most of them weren't even that useful. Fortunately, Oath of the Gatewatch brought us the bland, yet so important colorless basic land
Wastes
, which help tremendously. Not only is the deck a lot cheaper now, it isn't completely obliterated by cards like Ruination. Furthermore, we can finally use cards such as Solemn Simulacrum or Wayfarer's Bauble to search some lands for additional speed!
Some of you are probably very intrigued by the idea of an colorless edh deck, but I learned a few things from constructing and playing the deck for a while that you should be aware of:
- the deck is still pretty expensive
- I consider it rather tame in terms of power when compared to most other commander decks
- It's difficult to play
- It's not a very good deck for multiplayer edh
So, why should you play the deck again?
- It's loads of fun once you get a feeling for it
- You like to play challenging decks
- It looks, feels and plays in a unique way
- It has a LOT of potential for the future*
*in other words, there are several cards that I would gladly cut would something better appear in a future mtg set, which means theres a lot of unexplored room for the deck.
Colorless legendary creatures are still scarce in mtg, so our choices here are very limited. The Deck runs a lot of mana rocks, like a ton of them. Said rocks grant speed, but also mean you quickly run out of cards in your hand. Kozilek refuels your hand , while posing an immediate threat to your opponent with his annihilator ability.
By now you might ask yourself, why not run Kozilek, the Great Distortion from oath of the gatewatch instead? Answering that question is a bit tricky. Drawing up to 7 cards and countering spells sounds insane, until you realize that both abilities can fluctuate wildly. Having the exact same mana-costed cards in hand to counter your opponents spells is way too unreliable. The issue with drawing cards is, new Kozilek rarely gives you more than the four cards old Kozilek would give you. But this isn't all about drawing cards, it's butcher of truths annihilator ability that wins the competition for me. It's very opressive, especially in the early game, and so much more relevant than menace. Lastly, his ability to reshuffle your grave can be VERY relevant when you desperately need that Ugin, the Spirit Dragon Oblivion Stone or Darksteel Forge back in your deck.
How to play
As mentioned before, it's a unique, challenging deck. Explaining every card and synergy would be impossible (and boring), I think, so I'll try to go into the most important aspects.
Let's start with something that's easy to explain: mulligan agressively! If your starting hand looks slow, then it's really slow in most cases, so trash it. What you always want are mana generating artifacts and some other cards that provide some value, such as Trading Post, Solemn Simulacrum or Memory Jar. The faster you are, the sooner you get to Kozilek, which means new cards and pressure. The two most powerful cards that you want in your opening hand are Mishra's Workshop and/or Metalworker. Both can provide absolutely busted speedgains, powering out Kozilek on turn four or even sooner! I'm well aware (and not happy) of workshops price tag, but the card is just fantastic in this deck, you can only smile when it's on your opening hand, creating a whopping 3 colorless mana for your artifacts. Memory Jar is another very powerful card that's a good reason to keep a hand. The card advantage it provides can win you the game very quickly. One last card I'd like to mention is Torpor Orb. It's unbelievable how many decks this card destroys! Yes, your Solemn Simulacrum and Duplicant won't work either, but believe me, some decks weep when this card comes down on turn two.
How to really play the deck is best learned by actually playing it, unfortunately. Plan A is usually to get to Kozilek as quickly as possible using your mana-generating artifacts. An unanswered Kozilek can easily crush an opponent in the early-stages of the game, especially when you slap a pair of Lightning Greaves on him.
If you can't win this way, it's time for Plan B, which means you're in for a long, grindy game. Darksteel Forge, Trading Post, Wurmcoil Engine and
Batterskull
are good examples of that. If your opponents are playing red, green or white, then always be aware of artifact mass-removal, which can spell game-over if you drop too much trinkets on the board.
Keep an eye out for Doubling Cube in the later stages of the game. It can generate a lot of colorless mana that's well spent on another Kozilek for new cards. Voltaic Key is another super-star in the deck. You can use it to untap stuff like Mana Vault, Trading Post, Scroll Rack and many, many more.
In the end, all those artifacts form a huge machine and you'll have to utilize those parts to their fullest to compete with what other colors can do with ease. Is it worth it? I'd say yes, because the deck is so very different than any other commander deck. It's unique, fun, strange, sometimes very fast, sometimes very slow. If you are looking for something to spice up your edh life while providing challenging gameplay, then Kozilek, Butcher of Truth might be the commander you are looking for!
