EDH *GUIDE*, Baral Combo Control

Commander / EDH Competitive Control Mono-Blue

odirodi

Instant (34)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Desertion
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Dismiss
• 1x Dream Fracture
• 1x Echoing Truth
• 1x Exclude
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Fortune's Favor
• 1x Gush
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Into the Roil
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nexus of Fate
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Peer Through Depths
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Remand
• 1x Rewind
• 1x Snap
• 1x Stroke of Genius
• 1x Telling Time
• 1x Unwind

Artifact (13)

• 1x Cloud Key
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Primal Amulet  ^Flip
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Vedalken Shackles

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Ponder
• 1x See Beyond
• 1x Treasure Cruise
• 1x Wash Out
• 1x Windfall

Creature (5)

• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Guile
• 1x Palinchron

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Commander (1)

Land (36)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 28x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Tolaria West

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Future Sight
• 1x Omniscience
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip
• 1x Thought Reflection

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Maybeboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Force of Negation

Creature (1)

• 1x Spellseeker

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Timetwister

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Rhystic Study

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Introduction

Welcome to my Baral, Chief of Compliance EDH primer, this is the first primer I have wrote for a deck and I hope it can be of use to the community as the deck has brought me lots of success even against top tier cEDH decks. This list has gone through many phases, with different commanders and different play groups changing the mentality and style of the deck itself. At first the deck was a Talrand, Sky Summoner where the idea was to run little to no creatures, use loads of cantrips and ways to draw off of successful token swings, Bident of Thassa, Coastal Piracy and to take plenty of extra turns. This deck however didn't work as well as I wanted because due to board wipes, Toxic Deluge , Wrath of God , Cyclonic Rift, the deck would have a hard time resetting the following turn.

Why Should You Play This List?

You should play this list if you

• Enjoy sitting back with plenty of options/decisions.
• Are an experienced magic player, know the rules greatly.
• Know what cards are dangerous.
• Can determine what your position is within the current game.

Do not play this list if you

• Prefer a deck that uses creatures to win with combat damage.
• Dislikes infinite combos.
• Dislikes counterspelling.
• Are new to edh/new to magic.

Card Choices

Artifact

• Mana Crypt Staple for almost any EDH deck.
• Sol Ring Again, what deck won't play this?
• Sensei's Divining Top One of our few combo pieces that also is a strong stand alone card.
• Sapphire Medallion This card is practically another Baral, Chief of Compliance, very important for allowing yourself to play multiple cantrips end of turn, or reducing your draw x spells.
• Helm of Awakening Another type of Sapphire Medallion also works as a combo piece which will be discussed later in the article.
• Thought Vessel Important for late game when we draw a lot of cards and is a mana rock.
• Pristine Talisman Our only source of life gain, been deciding to cut this for awhile for a Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith.
• Vedalken Shackles A strong tool for removal, very good because we run tons of basic lands, I prefer this over Bribery or Gilded Drake.
• Cloud Key One of our combo pieces, however it can be used as a card reducer in a pinch.
• Hedron Archive Not the best mana rock, however it does it's job and can be used late game for card draw. Consider cutting for better rocks.
• Primal Amulet   A new card that works wonders in here, a little slow to get out, but once it is out does everything the deck needs.
• Thran Dynamo A better mana rock than other cards.
• Gilded Lotus {5} is quite expensive, however once it is out we have 3 blue sources to add.

Creature

• Drift of Phantasms This card functions as a tutor for Blue Sun's Zenith/Stroke of Genius. Note you can only transmute as a sorcery so you cannot tutor for a counterspell. Important card as the game moves towards mid game.
• Consecrated Sphinx Absolute strongest blue creature in the game, if you do not run this in blue then either you are crazy, or your deck is meant to combo as early as turn 3-4. The card draw off this guy is ridiculous, if left untouched the game will be decided in a matter of turns.
• Guile Been testing this guy for awhile now, definitely a card worth cutting for another cantrip or threat, he has negative synergy with Baral, Chief of Compliance due to his replacement effect on counterspells, this in turn will not allow you to draw and discard off of Baral, Chief of Compliance. Besides that he is a threat and can definitely make your opponents think whether to play certain spells. Also Guile cannot be milled.
• Glen Elendra Archmage If Consecrated Sphinx is the best blue creature, Glen Elendra Archmage is a close second. Her threat of countering 2 spells and applying Baral, Chief of Compliance draw and discard mechanic allows her to be a very powerful card and worth putting in the 99.
• Palinchron The only card who is not stand alone, this card is a win condition for late game to generate infinite mana. Not necessary for the deck, however it is so easy to win if he is in your hand plus a tutor for High Tide

Sorcery

• Ponder This card is good because it is {U} to help start the first few turns and make sure you don't miss a land drop. Despite being a sorcery, I feel Ponder is stronger than say Opt or Preordain.
• Merchant Scroll One of the strongest tutors in the deck, this allows you to either get a counterspell, Pact of Negation, Force of Will, or one of our draw x spells Blue Sun's Zenith in ex. Overall must have 2 mana tutor.
• See Beyond This is an interesting card as it is not played much, however with Baral, Chief of Compliance this only costs {U}. The purpose of this card is to put combo pieces back into your library from your hand, Nexus of Fate,Omniscience which cost too much. Drawing 2 cards is also very helpful with win conditions such as Thought Reflection.
• Windfall This can be replaced with Timetwister as they have similar functions, however this deck needs cards in the yard, and shuffling them back in is more problematic than helpful. Also Windfall can act as another form of draw x spell.
• Wash Out One of our few board wipes in the deck, it may seem weak. However as long as you don't name blue you should be in good shape and slow a majority of players down. Depending on play group switch this out with maybe AEtherize.
• Treasure Cruise This card is amazing,{U} to draw three cards! With Thought Reflection you draw six! Talk about value.
• Nexus of Fate This was originally Beacon of Tomorrows, however with M19 a far stronger version got printed Nexus of Fate. For 7 mana, and an instant this can help loop infinite turns. Also the card protects itself as whenever it hits a graveyard it will shuffle back into your library.

Enchantment/Planeswalker

• Jace, the Mind Sculptor Father of all Planeswalkers, this card is really powerful if left untouched, being able to draw 3 cards a turn or with Thought Reflection 6. Overall card has lots of utility, not necessary but if you own him run him.
• Future Sight Combo piece as mentioned below, has a powerful function of allowing you to play the top card of library, essentially giving you one more card in your hand. (Note, does not work with Omniscience).
• Thought Reflection Extremely powerful card that allows you to draw multiple cards off of most things in your deck. Another option is Alhammarret's Archive This costs 5 mana, however doesn't count draw step. Could be stronger, just haven't tested it.
• Search for Azcanta   A new card I started to test, allows you to play something early, fixes draws, then when it flips it can become a new source of card advantage. Overall good card.
• Omniscience Super clunky but if you successfully resolve this you should win the game. Allows you to almost be able to draw your deck with the amount of cantrips the deck has. If you attempt to cast this make sure you have a Force of Will or Pact of Negation available!

Instant

Since there are so many instant's in this deck I will clump a few together with similar functionality and respond in the comments/inbox to any specific questions on card choices.

• Pull from Tomorrow, Stroke of Genius, Blue Sun's Zenith 3 important cards to draw x, Pull from Tomorrow is better than Mind Spring since it is an instant, discarding 1 card in most cases is normal.
• Fact or Fiction, Fortune's Favor Similar functions, both allow you to get the more important pile. Fortune's Favor is more of a fun card and can get cut, but has yet to disappoint me.
• Capsize, Into the Roil, Echoing Truth, All forms of single target removal, can bounce your own things as well as important threats. (Note Kicker and Buyback are reduced by cost reducers such as Baral, Chief of Compliance).
• Snap, Rewind Both free cards, allows us to untap potentially more mana then we spent to cast. Very useful cards.
• Negate, Dream Fracture, Exclude, Remand, Arcane Denial, Delay, Dismiss, Desertion, Mana Drain All very useful hard counters. I do not run Counterspell due to it not being effected by cost reducers. All the listed can be reduced with Baral, Chief of Compliance and or have some form of utility.
• Force of Will, Pact of Negation These are the strongest counterspells in magic. They cost essentially nothing and can counter any spell. These can be used in a pinch and as a constant bluff against your opponents. Don't use these unless your life depends on it. Hold on for as long as possible/the right moment.
• Telling Time, Brainstorm, Gush, Impulse, Peer Through Depths, Dig Through Time Each of these cards allow one to search for answers/fix their draws. These are useful in order to get more consistent turns with. I have the least results with Peer Through Depths might consider running Frantic Search.
• Muddle the Mixture, Mystical Tutor, both cards that allow us to tutor for what we need at the current phase of our gameplan. Muddle the Mixture allows us to grab Pull from Tomorrow and other counterspells like Mana Drain. Mystical Tutor gives us access to any instant or sorcery in a pinch, has good synergy with Sensei's Divining Top.
• Cyclonic Rift Less than 7 mana with cost reducers to bounce all opponents boards back to their hand. I am waiting for the day that this gets banned in EDH as it is an unfair card.
• High Tide Combo piece, pretty much all its used for, helps opponents, however we run so many islands that it helps us more anyway. Don't use this unles you can combo with it or get a giant Stroke of Genius off of it at end of turn.
• Mystic Confluence At first I ran Cryptic Command, however This deck has many cost reducers so Cryptic Command is still {U}{U}{U} for similar effects, while Mystic Confluence gives us more freedom of what we want to do. Your choice of what you prefer, but Mystic Confluence, has definitely been a greater help.
• Disallow At first I didn't like this card, seemed like a far more expensive Counterspell. However after some crazy interactions, Disallow is a counterspell in it's own. Being able to Stifle can really cost people frustration. One time I used Disallow to counter Aetherflux Reservoir activation. My opponent pays 50 life and it gets countered.

Land

• Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn All staples for any EDH deck. Thins out your deck, shuffles. Better than any Evolving Wilds.
• Tolaria West, Tutors for Pact of Negation, Reliquary Tower, Academy Ruins, overall might allows more consistency.
• Academy Ruins Brings back any artifact combo piece, overall used for just that utility.
• Reliquary Tower No hand size, allows us to draw to our hearts content.
• Ancient Tomb Has no downside, adds {2} comes into play untapped.
• 28 Island We run so many islands, we could run snow covered islands, however we do not run Extraplanar Lens so no need. If we do run snow covered islands, Scrying Sheets, and Mouth of Ronom Worth considering for future updates.

3 Phases Of This Deck

When piloting this deck there are 3 phases that you must accomplish and go through. Some of these phases can last longer than others and are important to know what phase you are in and how to perform during each phase.

1. Setup The setup of this deck is usually between (Turns 1 - 5), setup of this deck is identifying how man starting counter spells you have, mana rocks, and combo pieces you have. During the setup you need to conserve what you have, use cantrips to make sure you do not miss a land drop Ponder, Brainstorm, See Beyond. Playing mana rocks, and casting your commander out by turn 2-3 is a priority. During the setup do not counter anything unless it will bring an immediate threat, severely crush your board/game plan. As a side note people generally complain that Baral, Chief of Compliance is a very counter heavy commander who counters every little card someone plays. In actuality you want to only counter things that are worth countering. This leads the deck to have a slightly higher difficulty to pilot than people think. As the setup phase dissipates and your opponents are not insanely far into power, you will be moving into the mid game or Draw X phase.

2. Draw X The Draw X phase is essential for you to continue to have sustenance and card flow. This phase happens immediately after the setup phase (Turns 6 - 9) and can not normally be skipped in usual circumstances. (ex.Phelddagrif group hug) During the Draw X phase we do as it says, we use one of our three draw x spells. Pull from Tomorrow, Stroke of Genius, or Blue Sun's Zenith. These cards allow us to fill our hand, this is accomplished by cost reducers. Baral, Chief of Compliance, Helm of Awakening, Sapphire Medallion, Primal Amulet  , or a desperate Cloud Key. In correlation to early mana rocks we brought out during the setup phase.

3. Combo The final phase is the combo phase. During this point of the game, you should have used a draw x spell, have some decent mana rocks in play (Turns 10+), and have 1-2 counterspells in your hand. This phase begins as soon as you play one of the following cards // combos. Omniscience, Thought Reflection, (Palinchron + High Tide), Consecrated Sphinx. Once you have one of these on the field you will have a huge target on your back. Note that any of these cards or combinations can lead to using one of the infinite combos below. Generally at this point, if you can generate infinite mana (Palinchron + High Tide) then using a draw x spell on yourself with say 1-2 cards left in your deck will mean you win the game. (Note make sure you cast either Thought Vessel or Reliquary Tower). Important thing before comboing off is to make sure you know if anyone could have an answer to stop you, try to have a Pact of Negation or Force of Will available before trying to win.

Win Conditions/Combos

The deck runs a few combos, these cards if left untouched instantly win you the game and luckily do not require to much to get going. The cards I use for infinite combos are pretty strong standalone so if used before the combo they are still useful.

• Sensei's Divining Top with Helm of Awakening or Cloud Key (Naming artifacts) + Future Sight This combo allows you to cast Sensei's Divining Top from the top of your library at the cost of 0, thanks to one of our cost reducers and Future Sight. This combo essentially allows you to draw every card in your deck.
• Palinchron with High Tide A pretty basic combo allowing you to generate infinite blue mana assuming you have 6 Islands in play after casting High Tide
• Nexus of Fate + Last card in library. If you have no cards in your deck you can take infinite turns.
• Infinite Mana + Stroke of Genius or Blue Sun's Zenith, this combo allows you to force your opponent to draw 10,000 cards from their deck, resulting in a loss for them.

To Lab or Not to Lab?

Quick discussion on a card that is in many compettive EDH decks, Laboratory Maniac. I've tested lab maniac, however on its own it isn't standalone and is a dead draw, sure it can win you on the spot but my other combos can do just that and are stand alone. By the time I can go infinite I can usually force draw my opponents. If they have hex proof then I take infinite turns. Lab maniac might be better in Doomsday oriented decks.

Closing

Thank you all who read or found this article helpful. Please leave comments below or suggestions. Feel free to up vote this primer so others can see it.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.30
Folders	NEW EDH, Commander, Mono-BLUE Multiplayer EDH Decks, Edh competetive, EDH, CEDH, Deck do przeróbki, Baral, Decks I like