A Dragon and His Maze

Commander / EDH Budget Casual Five Color Theme/Gimmick

CrazyChucky

Azorius Senate (5)

• 1x Fieldmist Borderpost
• 1x Soulherder
• 1x Time Wipe
• 1x Turn to Mist
• 1x Unbender Tine

Boros Legion (3)

• 1x Justice Strike
• 1x Solar Blaze
• 1x Squee's Embrace

Cult of Rakdos (5)

• 1x Malfegor
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Unlicensed Disintegration
• 1x Veinfire Borderpost
• 1x Void

Districts (38)

• 1x Azorius Guildgate
• 1x Boros Guildgate
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 9x Forest
• 1x Gateway Plaza
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Gruul Guildgate
• 1x Gruul Turf
• 3x Island
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 1x Maze's End
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 3x Plains
• 1x Plaza of Harmony
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Selesnya Guildgate
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Simic Guildgate
• 3x Swamp

Golgari Swarm (5)

• 1x Deathsprout
• 1x Gaze of Granite
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Status / Statue
• 1x Treasured Find

Gruul Clans (5)

• 1x Firewild Borderpost
• 1x Hull Breach
• 1x Savage Twister
• 1x Signal the Clans
• 1x Struggle / Survive

Guildless (14)

• 1x Circuitous Route
• 1x District Guide
• 1x Explore
• 1x Gatecreeper Vine
• 1x Ghirapur Orrery
• 1x Hour of Promise
• 1x Journey of Discovery
• 1x Realm Seekers
• 1x Skyshroud Ranger
• 1x Stone-Seeder Hierophant
• 1x Summer Bloom
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x Tome of the Guildpact
• 1x Walking Atlas

House Dimir (4)

• 1x Deadeye Brawler
• 1x Far / Away
• 1x Mistvein Borderpost
• 1x Psychic Strike

Izzet League (3)

• 1x Fevered Visions
• 1x Ionize
• 1x Jori En, Ruin Diver

Orzhov Syndicate (5)

• 1x Despark
• 1x Kaya, Bane of the Dead
• 1x Kaya's Wrath
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Unmake

Selesnya Conclave (5)

• 1x Nature's Chant
• 1x Reborn Hope
• 1x Sundering Growth
• 1x Sylvan Reclamation
• 1x Wildfield Borderpost

Simic Combine (7)

• 1x Bounty of the Luxa
• 1x Bring to Light
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Kiora's Follower
• 1x Parcelbeast
• 1x Repudiate / Replicate
• 1x Tatyova, Benthic Druid

Commander (1)

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Who better to reach Maze's End than the maze's discoverer himself, Niv-Mizzet?

The trickiest thing about building this deck is that while there's a great tie thematically, there's almost none mechanically. Almost everything that directly helps assemble the alt-win is mono-green. So it's basically two decks: one that uses Niv-Mizzet Reborn to "draw" you lots of guild-colored cards, which are mostly removal to keep you alive and actual card draw to draw you into the second deck. The "guildless" portion is mono-green, and is most of what assembles all the guildgates.

The philosophical among us might interpret this as a reflection of how the guilds, despite their power, still depend on the ordinary citizens of Ravnica in order to function as a society. The rest of us can hopefully still enjoy the janky deck structure for its own sake.

The most useful choices for Bring to Light are usually Hour of Promise or Circuitous Route, but it can always get you a Tatyova, Benthic Druid if you need more card draw, or Time Wipe or Solar Blaze if you need to clear the board.

If someone tries to remove your Maze's End, hopefully you can bounce it in response (possibly after untapping it with Unbender Tine or Stone-Seeder Hierophant), or regenerate it with Reknit. If it (or your guildgates) go to the graveyard, you can get one back with Treasured Find. (I was also running Down / Dirty and Creeping Renaissance, but I found that in my playgroup they weren't necessary.) Keep in mind that with Gateway Plaza, there are now 11 guildgates total, so you have a margin of error of 1. And if all else fails, you can always hit people in the face with a 6/6 dragon, or possibly a big ol' Realm Seekers.

I'm happy to take suggestions, but please keep in mind that my meta is very budget-oriented. I rarely run cards that cost more than a dollar or so. If you're building a less budget version, some of the first things I'd probably consider adding would be Supreme Verdict, Merciless Eviction, Anguished Unmaking, and Vindicate.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 18 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 33 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.24
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Commander, EDH Budget, .Edh