Give Me the Precious (Thada Thievery)

Commander / EDH Aikido Artifact Mono-Blue Theme/Gimmick

ENZU

Answer (12)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Disdainful Stroke
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Memory Lapse
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Relic of Progenitus
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Turn Aside

Wipe (8)

• 1x Aether Gale
• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Ixidron
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Wash Out

Other (40)

• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 34x Island
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Wasteland

Copycat (11)

• 1x Body Double
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Diluvian Primordial
• 1x Faerie Artisans
• 1x Knowledge Exploitation
• 1x Phantasmal Image
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Steal Enchantment
• 1x Stolen Identity
• 1x Vizier of Many Faces

Manascrew (8)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Lingering Mirage
• 1x Lorthos, the Tidemaker
• 1x Quicksilver Fountain
• 1x Reef Shaman
• 1x Sea's Claim
• 1x Spreading Seas
• 1x Vedalken Plotter

Draw (5)

• 1x Braingeyser
• 1x Day's Undoing
• 1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain

Commander (1)

Ramp (10)

• 1x Aphetto Alchemist
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Retraced Image
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Utility (5)

• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Stormtide Leviathan
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x Trinket Mage

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Maybeboard

Other (24)

• 1x Acquire
• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Bribery
• 1x Expropriate
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Future Sight
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x MImic Vat
• 1x Mind's Dilation
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Power Artifact
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Psychic Possession
• 1x Recurring Insight
• 1x Rishadan Port
• 1x Scourge of Fleets
• 1x Spelljack
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Trickbind
• 1x Vision Charm

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Introduction Show

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Is this deck for you? Well, let me ask: Do you love rings? Do you love stealing them?

Then you've come to the right place friend! The original idea of this deck was to try to kill players with their own broken stuff. Beat Daretti, Scrap Savant with his own Wurmcoil Engine. Kill Rafiq of the Many players with his own swords. Break stax parity with a cloned Brago, King Eternal. This deck can do it all. Even against decks that run very few artifacts just fishing out Sol Rings to ramp is pretty powerful in mono-blue (hence the name of this deck). Versatility is the name of the game here because this deck plays differently each time and, by its nature, matches the power level of the decks it is playing.

How to Play Show

Deciding what to tutor for:

One thing I enjoy about this deck is that the skill cap is incredibly high because, for optimum play with all the tutors, you'll have to memorize or at least have a good idea of what's in your opponent's deck and, as always with blue, you need to know when to go all in on spending mana and when you need to hold back for your own spells. The times I could have won the game because I went for the fully ridiculous artifacts like Colossus of Akros when I should have gone with something more functional like Wurmcoil Engine haunt me. I'll update this section with more gameplay advice as I go along.

Matchups Show

When your opponent draws their Vandalblast:

Overall, the decks best match-ups I've found are against other artifact decks, voltron decks, big creature decks, and generally decks with three or more colors. The worst match-ups for this deck are generally token-based swarm strategies (little to clone and generally little relevant artifacts), spellslinger decks (nothing to clone), mono-colored decks (renders Sea's Claim package pretty null).

Contrary to that gif, I actually don't run that many artifacts compared to other "artifact" decks. This adds greater resilience to the deck imo. Also even though Thada is a ton of fun and I love having her out the deck runs perfectly fine without her. I'll update this section with match histories in the future.

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Breakdown By Category Show

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Copycat Show

• Body Double: One thing that can be a drag about this deck is lack of suitable creatures to copy. This avoids that problem handily. Never been upset to draw this. Almost always at least relevant if not a complete blowout by using someone's own reanimate shenanigans against them. 4/5
• Clever Impersonator: Any permanent is insane. The impersonator can copy people's enchantments, artifacts, and even planeswalkers which is huge. Auto include for any blue deck and its especially useful here. 5/5
• Faerie Artisans : An excellent card both because it can put a screeching halt to a lot of combos but this guy is just pure value aside from that. In multiplayer games especially you'll be getting a crazy amount of value from etb triggers off this. 5/5
• Knowledge Exploitation - Thada Adel, Acquisitor is a rogue so the prowl cost on this will be paid a fair amount of the time and being able to go through an opponents deck and cast their spells for free is incredible in EDH. Even at the sticker price of 7cmc I would easily play this card. 5/5
• Diluvian Primordial : Pretty much a blowout in multiplayer and very good in single player. This is a slot I swap around Chancellor of the Spires and Mind's Dilation a lot with. 4/5
• Phantasmal Image: If I had the money this would be a Gilded Drake but alas. Phantasmal image is good in his own way though. He's super cheap but as a downside his illusion ability will be popped a lot. Ultimately he's a very powerful and fair card. 3/5
• Phyrexian Metamorph: Just absurd. Another auto-include in blue. About 60% of the time I play Tezzeret the Seeker it's to immediately sac it to play this guy. 5/5
• Rite of Replication: The rite is another auto-include for blue in EDH. Early game viability that scales absurdly into the late game. 5/5
• Stolen Identity: A pet card of mine. Many won't like to run it but I find that being able to potentially copy two things in one turn to be very strong (and then one copy every turn after that). Can easily out-grind games especially on an unblockable creature like Thada Adel. A note: You can cipher the stolen identity card onto the creature that you copied with the initial resolution of this spell so if your opponent has an Aurelia, the Warleader or something you can just go crazy. 3/5
• Twincast: A niche include. In multiplayer you're likely to find a viable target for this but in single player it'll often just sit in your hand. Can sometimes pull off amazing things very cheaply though i.e. copying an opponents Genesis Wave. 2/5
• Vizier of Many Faces: Trying this out lately and I've been very pleased with his performance so far. Can help you recover from boardwipes and give you essentially 5cmc copy target etb ability from the graveyard. 3/5

Note: All clones except for Rite of Replication can copy hexproof or shrouded creatures because their abilities do not target. Also clone effects can't "fizzle" for instance by having a creature be sacrificed in response. An opponent can choose to respond to the casting of the spell by sacrificing a creature but your clone would still be able to become a copy of something else.

Answer Show

• Counterspell: Thada tends to be mana hungry so she doesn't play too well with counterspells over 2cmc. She plays well with these though since, if you have a response in hand you can easily tutor your remaining manabase to keep it ready if you have the luxury of playing conservatively. 5/5
• Disdainful Stroke: See above. 4/5
• Imprisoned in the Moon: Good for locking down pesky commanders. Also can work in conjunction with Sea's Claim & friends to deny opponents a color. 5/5
• Memory Lapse: My favorite counterspell. With Thada Adel, Acquisitor you can force them to shuffle their spell or not. My favorite is countering a commander and them choosing to put it on top thinking they can block Thada just before I play a Key to the City or something to ruin their day. 5/5
• Negate: There are plenty of ways for this deck to deal with creatures. Not so many to deal with non-creatures. Hence this. 3/5
• Pithing Needle: Can be tutored for by Tezzeret the Seeker and Trinket Mage. Really a pretty handy card. Can stop equipment from equipping and planeswalkers from doing anything among many other things. 3/5
• Pongify: It's removal. It's 1cmc, it's hilarious. What more could you want? 4/5
• Rapid Hybridization : See above. 4/5
• Relic of Progenitus: Part of my Trinket Mage package to just hate on graveyard decks. Wish it shuffled them back in so I could repillage their decks with thada but you can't have everything you want. 5/5
• Spell Pierce: You'd be surprised how many people tap all the way out for critical things. This is pretty helpful in the early game. Might replace with Annul to scale better in the late game. 2/5
• Swan Song: Thada loves her some cheap countermagic. 5/5
• Turn Aside: The way I play Thada tends to draw some hate and this can help cover her back. Can also prevent someone bouncing a stolen artifact back to their hand from time to time. 3/5

Wipe Show

• Aether Gale : Every single bounce boardwipe I play here is one-sided because I don't want to give people card advantage through the artifacts I've stolen. In that vein, this has rarely ever disappointed me even in single player. Oftentimes it lets me just reset my mana rocks like Grim Monolith, Mana Vault, & Sol Ring etc. 3/5
• AEtherspouts: This slot used to be Scourge of Fleets and I still have a soft spot for that card. But I like this because it potentially throws artifact creatures back in the deck for Thada to fish out again. 3/5
• All Is Dust: One of the best cards you can play here. Other artifact decks are the strongest matchup for this deck so the fact that this is ineffective against them is not really a problem. 5/5
• Cyclonic Rift 5/5
• Ixidron: Once again I don't want to give people artifact creatures back. This has the advantage of locking down commanders potentially. 3/5
• Nevinyrral's Disk: An excellent option to tutor in with Tezzeret the Seeker when things get out of control. I like in multiplayer that you can use this politically. 3/5
• Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: See All Is Dust above. Added benefit of being able to win the game by ulting or by damage. Insane. 5/5
• Wash Out: Often hits about 70% or more of an opponent's board. 4/5

Ramp Show

• Aphetto Alchemist: Not strictly ramp but essentially. Pretty much just untaps the fast mana rocks. 3/5
• Basalt Monolith: I like the luxury of being able to hold up mana for counterspells and then, if I don't need to use them I can just untap this for an explosive turn. 2/5
• Fellwar Stone: The idea is that sometimes my clones and artifacts might sometimes need more than just U to activate their abilities. 3/5
• Grim Monolith: See Basalt Monolith. 5/5
• Mana Vault: See Basalt Monolith. 5/5
• Mind Stone 3/5
• Prismatic Lens - See Fellwar Stone 3/5
• Retraced Image - Nifty mana ramp in blue. Turn two thada is beautiful. 3/5
• Sol Ring 5/5
• Thran Dynamo A great play is this into a Thada Adel attack. You don't get to play a 4 drop. But playing a 3 drop and ramping 3 is great. 4/5
• Wayfarer's Bauble: I like the option of holding up counter mana this gives. 3/5

Draw Show

• Future Sight: Can win in top deck wars. Pretty insane way to convert the mana ramp this deck is capable of into card advantage. I find this usually either takes over a game or isn't able to do that much. 2/5
• Kozilek, the Great Distortion: A great way to seal the game and replenish the hand. Great vs. control as his cast effect can't be countered. Sometimes after an artifact wipe he can be dead in hand though. 3/5
• Ponder: A great 1 drop that lets one be fairly confident about keeping a 1 to 2 land hand. Never really a dead card. 4/5
• Preordain: See Ponder but better. 5/5
• Recurring Insight: A solid draw spell though I have been in grindy top-decking games where this hasn't been all that effective. Fortunately, Thada is really good in that environment so I don't feel too bad about including this. 3/5

Misc (Utility) Show

• Key to the City: Amazing for making Thada unblockable while also helping to grind out late game wins by filtering hard. 4/5
• Tezzeret the Seeker 5/5
• Thassa, God of the Sea: Makes thada unblockable. Also serves as a respectable beater and filterer herself. 4/5
• Trinket Mage: Can fetch any 1 drop artifact in the deck. Also Seat of the Synod. 5/5
• Stormtide Leviathan: Another pet card. There are a lot better blue spells at 8cmc I just like this guy because he was my first rare and this is probably the only deck I can put him in. Has saved my butt and won me the game enough times to justify the slot. 3/5

Manascrew Show

• Lorthos, the Tidemaker: Definitely a pet card. I just love the way he can take over games. Serves a practical purpose of being able to win by himself if your opponents spells, creatures, and artifacts just aren't doing it for you. 3/5
• Vedalken Plotter : Political Trickery on a stick. Very easily the most reliable way of getting thada unblockable. Can also do fun things like nab a Gaea's Cradle or an Inkmoth Nexus. 4/5
• Lingering Mirage : This is definitely a sub par card, no doubt. However it has the benefit of making my commander unblockable and being relatively low cost. Combined with my color disruption cards this can really pull its weight. 2/5
• Sea's Claim: See Lingering Mirage . 2/5
• Spreading Seas: The best of the land disruption package. Only upset to see it if I'm playing mono-blue. Even then it can handle some troublesome lands for this deck like Homeward Path. 5/5
• Reef Shaman : See Lingering Mirage . She has the added benefit of being able to fix your mana to use abilities of things you copy. Blue lacks for really good 1 drops which also explains why this is here. 3/5
• Back to Basics: This deck is mostly a meta call against high powered multicolored EDH decks that run tons of crazy lands so this is really a natural choice. Definitely the meanest card in the deck though so I might take it out for that reason. 5/5
• Strip Mine: The dream is really to hit an opponent that plays Crucible of Worlds when I have this. 5/5
• Tectonic Edge: See above. 5/5
• Wasteland: See above. 5/5

Note: Might be too much for some people to bear. They can lead to excruciatingly painful games for opponents and also can be potentially just be dead cards against mono-Blue or in multiplayer games. The decision to include this package is my own preference and can easily be substituted for something else. It's important to remember that you probably won't be able to deny an opponent their mana base, just maybe keep them off or limited in one-color and are more of a hinderance. At the very least, these cards are playable because they guarantee that Thada will be unblockable in a cheap and reusable way.

Other Lands Show

• Inventors' Fair: Comes in untapped, slight lifegain, and artifact tutor. 5/5
• Reliquary Tower: I often don't have that many cards to make this relevant. But this coming in untapped makes it relevant for the niche situations when I do. 3/5
• Seat of the Synod: Can be tutored with Trinket Mage and untapped with Aphetto Alchemist. 3/5
• Island: Most broken card in magic wotc plz ban. 10/5

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Chopping Block Show

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These are cards I am running that I feel underperform. I would be open to replacement ideas that are cheap, fun, fair, and synergistic with the deck.

• Spell Pierce >> Annul ?
• Psychic Possession >> Future Sight?
• Kozilek, the Great Distortion
• ~two Island

Needs more card draw probably.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 26 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.07
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Boar 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Morph 2/2 C, Vizier of Many Faces 0/0 W
Folders	Modern/EDH, b, My decks, z. Archive