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The Seeker of Heaven [Bruna, EDH]

Commander / EDH Control Voltron WU (Azorius)

soly


Maybeboard


This is my budget(ish?) Bruna list. It's slowly being tricked out.

For those unaware, Bruna, Light of Alabaster is an explosive Voltron-style commander who "magnets" auras to her when she attacks. She has her choice of any aura on the battlefield (including your opponents' auras), in your hand, and in your graveyard. This allows Bruna to become lethal basically immediately upon entry and is a major selling point - other Voltron commanders tend to need time to accumulate equipment and auras. As such, Bruna should be a very attractive option in metas rife with removal; it means that the only time your opponents have to answer Bruna is when you're ready to win the game. The downside of this approach is that while Bruna will win the game for you, she'll do basically nothing else for you - your list of 99 has to stand on its own.

There are probably three major ways to play Bruna. The first is to load up on a critical mass of Auras in the deck and play self-mill. You win the game if your opening hand contains Traumatize or Tunnel Vision. Otherwise, you're probably going to end up topdecking. Kor Spiritdancer and Sram, Senior Edificer are probably stars in this style.

The second is to play stax. A while ago, Bruna was used in cEDH, not quite top tier, but apparently usable. Having inspected those lists, I have no idea how they function, but they were built and piloted by better players than I am, so I assume they work. Of course, since I have no idea how they function, there's no way I can copy them.

The third - what I've chosen to do - is to play control/combo, tutoring for your important (aura) pieces and trying your level best to not die until Bruna can swoop in to save you.

Aside from the auras and aura tutors that are a natural fit in Bruna lists, I've opted to double down on card draw and board interaction (removal and wrath effects). Having more card draw options means I get to my auras and aura tutors more quickly, miss less land drops, and are more likely to have answers in hand when I need them. Board interaction, of course, lets me shoot threatening cards. Wrath effects will typically be asymmetrical due to my low creature density and relative lack of utility creatures.

No deck is perfect. It just so happens that, uh, this one is further from perfect than the average. It's exceedingly vulnerable to creature combat, and also slower than I would like.

Now included in the deck is Propaganda alongside Ghostly Prison, as well as Maze of Ith and Expedition Map. I haven't had the opportunity to test them out yet - haven't even collected them from the friendly neighbourhood LGS - but we got these cards coming in.

As for slowness, tutors (and maybe tutors for tutors) are prescribed. The big one is, of course, Intuition which is a star performer in any Bruna deck.

Possible changes Show

The list is divided into subthemes a la the 8x8 rule. Except it's clearly not 8 themes or 8 cards per theme. You can check the Custom Ordering for a good idea.

  1. Auras
  2. Aura Tutors
  3. Haste
  4. Counterspells
  5. Defense
  6. Ramp
  7. Draw
  8. Removal
  9. Wrath
  10. Goodstuff
The heart and soul of any Bruna list, Auras are what win you the game. Unfortunately, they, like Bruna, basically don't do anything until that time. As such I've opted to streamline my Aura package, so as to avoid dead draws.

Auras may be grouped into three major categories: damage, unblockable, and defense.

The Damage auras comprise of Battle Mastery, Corrupted Conscience, Eldrazi Conscription, and Auramancer's Guise. These auras are chosen because any combination of two of them will put Bruna at lethal commander damage. (Auramancer's Guise requires three auras total, but the third can be a defensive or unblockable one.) Eldrazi Conscription is notable in this list because it offers Trample in addition to its massive +10/+10 bonus. Combined with Battle Mastery in particular, Bruna will be doling out 30 commander damage, making her very hard to stop even with blockers.

Unblockable auras ensure that Bruna's lethal commander damage goes through. I'm using Steel of the Godhead, which offers Lifelink in addition - if I'm low on life, the Lifelink helps me stabilise and prevents people from dealing with Bruna via Player Removal. This has been important more than once. In addition, Spectra Ward has made the list - it's an imperfect aura as colourless creatures (notably artifact creatures like Thopters) can still block it, but offers pseudo-Hexproof in addition and can be put on a small utility creature to create an unkillable blocker.

Defense auras keep Bruna on the field by offering Hexproof, Shroud, Indestructible. Shielded by Faith stops common board wipes, and Diplomatic Immunity is an utter pain to deal with.

Cut from the list Show

The great thing about running a lot of aura tutors is that an aura tutor reads "This card is the aura you need." Rather than being a second-rate aura like Ethereal Armor, it's a fast ticket to a Battle Mastery. Such a shame that they're so expensive. Either money-wise, or mana-wise.

The list currently runs Heliod's Pilgrim, Open the Armory, Three Dreams, Idyllic Tutor, Totem-Guide Hartebeest, and Sovereigns of Lost Alara. The last three are on the cutting board. Plea for Guidance is interesting because it also lets me grab regular enchantments like Ghostly Prison if I need card draw or defense respectively.

Enlightened Tutor is a money card.

Imagine this: Bruna is summoned and resolves. The table has 3 turns to deal with her before her first lethal swing. The remaining players together have 2 turns to deal with her before she swings again; then 1 turn. That's 6 turns total to remove her via board wipe, not to mention that she's vulnerable to spot removal during the first three turns due to a lack of Hexproof or Shroud auras.

Now she has Haste. She comes in and swings. Someone's out of the game. 2 turns, she swings again. 1 turn, she swings again, and you win. 3 turns total to deal with her.

Currently my list contains Scout's Warning and Swiftfoot Boots. Open the Armory and Muddle the Mixture tutor for boots, while Expedition Map and Tolaria West fetch Emergence Zone and Hall of the Bandit Lord.

Scout's Warning is sneaky - it allows me to flash in Bruna on the opponent's end step and untap with her. This has a lot of dangerous potential - untapping with Bruna means mana sources untap as well, allowing the deck to (for example) grab auras with Three Dreams after summoning Bruna.

Can't go wrong with Swiftfoot Boots. At 2 CMC, it responds to Tribute Mage and Muddle the Mixture. Lightning Greaves is better. I'd use them both, but the one I'm missing might be pricey.

Emergence Zone cheats in Bruna on the end step, while Hall of the Bandit Lord just outright has a haste effect. Winding Canyons is expensive Emergence Zone that I don't have.

Me, I'm not so good at judging which of the opponent's plays needs to be Counterspelled to stop them from going off or getting lots of value. So I'll save my Counterspells for when I want to get Bruna out and swing with her. As such, I'm focusing on cheap Counterspells that stop Instant-speed spells.

The current list is: Flusterstorm, Swan Song, Arcane Denial, Negate, Muddle the Mixture, Dovin's Veto, and Counterspell.

I've included Mystic Confluence in my list, but since it's 5 CMC, it's not really suited to stopping stuff from going off. Consider it primarily a draw spell, with a sometimes-counterspell tacked on. Also in the deck: Archmage's Charm.

Not much to see here, really. 2 CMC mana rocks, Sol Ring. Smothering Tithe. I added Hedron Archive and Gift of Estates to hit land drops.
Some cards attack your opponents. Some cards defend your planeswalkers. And some cards... the best cards of all... just give you more cards.

This deck won its first game primarily off the back of resolving Fact or Fiction no less than three times (via Spellkeeper Weird recursion, then Mission Briefing). I can't believe I was dumb enough to think about cutting draw sources.

Half of my draw options are literally just stuff I had lying around. I'm rotating them towards stuff that's actually good. Here's some of the notable stuff...

Search for Azcanta   is pretty good card advantage cum ramp. Came in recently. The flipped activation is good for spending excess mana at instant speed.

(Cut) Pull from Tomorrow is an important and essential spell here. It's a big X draw spell at instant speed. Normally something like Sphinx's Revelation would get the nod instead, but Pull from Tomorrow responds to transmuted Muddle the Mixture in a pinch, so it's kinda important.

Mystic Confluence is primarily a draw spell. It's a little too expensive to serve the Counterspell purpose in this deck (prevent opponents from stopping Bruna), but will disrupt plays by opponents if given the chance.

As far as spot removal goes, this deck has three that hit creatures: Swords to Plowshares, Rapid Hybridization, and Reality Shift. Two hit artifacts and enchantments: True Love's Kiss and Aura of Silence. Then Generous Gift and Cavalier of Dawn hit anything.
Four wrath effects here: We have trope namer Wrath of God. We have Day of Judgment. A modal wipe that can hit pesky artifacts and enchantments in Cleansing Nova. Then Hour of Revelation to just get rid of everything.
Mission Briefing. Do I want discount Snapcaster Mage for $2? Yes. Yes I do.

Got me a Soul-Guide Lantern to troll the local Muldrotha deck. Also notable: Scavenger Grounds.

I've just slotted in Mystical Tutor, which grabs half my list. Not drawing auras? Three Dreams. Need a Counterspell? They're all instants, take your pick. Looking for Haste? Scout's Warning.

I've made space for Narset's Reversal, a general goodstuff card I want to test out. It doesn't do anything in particular, which is a problem in my decklist where nearly everything does something in particular. But Narset's Reversal is very versatile so hopefully it'll work out. Steal someone's X=12 Torment of Hailfire, grab card draw out from under them, or copy one of your own spells that was counterspelled to get it back. Or even just copy one of your own spells if you need to double up on it (eg. a Tutor). It's not as "busted" as it could be here (spell copy makes it really pop off). But it's cool.

Maybeboard: I'm thinking of trying out Armageddon and/or Cataclysm. I expect these will be absolutely ruinous to opponents' abilities to stop Bruna once she's out, which ideally secures me the win.

Silence is out of stock everywhere locally but stopping people from casting removal when you want to drag Bruna out is pretty cool. In the same vein, Grand Abolisher, who is not out of stock everywhere, but he is like $10.

Actual Narset, Narset Transcendent offers card draw, doubled spells, and a devastating ult ability that stops people from stopping Bruna. She's 4 CMC and comes with a massive 6 loyalty, so she'll hang around a bit... only I'm not sure how good the deck is at protecting her. I really want to run a planeswalker just for the sake of running a planeswalker, but sometimes it's just not a good idea. Would I run Elspeth, Sun's Champion instead? Maybe. Elspeth's ult is less attractive, but spawning mooks and wrathing the board? That's much better self-defense.

Emergence Zone lets me cheat out Bruna on the end step and untap with her. Pseudo-haste? Yes, please. As for actual haste, that's what Hall of the Bandit Lord is for.

Maze of Ith. Do I like not dying? Yes. Yes, I do.

A mana sink in desperate times: Castle Vantress.

Ghost Quarter blows up Gaea's Cradle and opposing Maze of Ith. And, more generally, things that tap for lots of mana.

Scavenger Grounds is symmetrical grave-hate. The symmetry is unfortunate, but it's built into the land base so I'll excuse it. In fact, being built into the land base means that basically every deck should be using this card... I've slotted in Ipnu Rivulet and Shefet Dunes as fodder for Scavenger Grounds, just in case I happen to draw both in a game where grave hate is needed. Overkill? Maybe. But Ipnu Rivulet and Shefet Dunes come in untapped and can tap for coloured mana. They were also cheap, so I figured it was worth testing. We shall see how this goes.

Notably due to this symmetry and also because I have Ghostly Prison and Propaganda: Hall of Heliod's Generosity. I haven't forgiven him for stabbing Elspeth, but this is a good way to start making it up.

Piloting the Deck Show

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Date added 4 years
Last updated 4 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

3 - 0 Mythic Rares

34 - 0 Rares

31 - 0 Uncommons

16 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.20
Tokens Bird 2/2 U, Elephant 3/3 G, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Golem 3/3 C, Manifest 2/2 C, Treasure
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