I help maintain the Waiting for Godo - cEDH primer, but this list has a few modifications that I find useful for playing in tiered matchups against very good decks in the cEDH discord meta, or for testing. Currently, the list is synonymous with the primer but with a couple of minor changes (inclusion of Memory Jar instead of Worn Powerstone).
Currently testing Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Trinisphere (and cutting the 1-2 mana rituals), Mishra's Workshop, Tabernacle at Pendrel Vale, Karn, the Great Creator, Blast Zone, Emergence Zone, Whipflare, and Sweltering Suns.
Mulliganing is a difficult task with this deck, so I have prepared the following Mulligan Guide. There are 30 sample random hands with a rationale for how to mulligan with them. There are 25 that came up at random, and then 5 more to demonstrate some other typical early win strategies. (this guide was written with an earlier version of the deck so may contain a few cards that are no longer played in the decklist currently)
Mulligan Guide
Mulliganing is a bit of an art with any deck, but especially with this deck, so I have prepared the following Mulligan Guide. There are 30 sample hands with rationale for how to mulligan with them. The first 25 came up at random, and then there are 5 more to demonstrate some other typical early win strategies.
Hand 1:
City of Traitors
,
Chrome Mox
,
Chaos Warp
,
Red Elemental Blast
,
Possibility Storm
,
Vandalblast
A perfect example of a hand that has nowhwere to go. You can make 3 mana on turn 1, but it leads nowhere. You ship this one back.
Hand 2:
Scavenger Grounds
,
Gemstone Caverns
,
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Cavern of Souls
,
Sol Ring
,
Panharmonicon
This hand is a bit flooded on lands, but actually isn't bad. So long as you didn't win the roll, you can throw out a mountain for Gemstone Caverns for a free ramp. Against heavy blue you have Cavern, and against graveyard strategies you have Scavenger Grounds as early as Turn 1. The plan with this hand is to play panharmonicon on turn 2, and cast an uncounterable Godo on turn 3. Unless there is a risk of a wheel going off, I would play Cavern of Souls on the turn you combo off, so that the blue players think they have you covered.
Hand 3:
City of Traitors
,
Buried Ruin
,
Seething Song
,
Everflowing Chalice
,
Ricochet Trap
,
Honor-Worn Shaku
,
Treasonous Ogre
This hand is supremely annoying. It has it all, except red mana. This hand can go off on turn 2 if you draw a red source in the first two turns of the game. I'd consider throwing it back if it was my first lot of 7, and I'd think about keeping it if I knew I was versing some fast decks that I needed to race (hoping on drawing a red source).
Hand 4:
Crystal Vein
,
Mox Diamond
,
Metalworker
,
Seething Song
,
Goblin Welder
,
Dire Fleet Daredevil
,
Helm of the Host
Helm is a card we rarely like to see in the opener unless the rest of the hand is very, very good. This hand is doubly bad instead. Mox Diamond in a land scarce opener sucks, though metalworker can sometimes make use of it. However, this hand generally doesn't have anywhere to go.
Hand 5:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Mox Diamond
,
Buried Ruin
,
Thought Vessel
,
Gamble
,
Thunderclap
This hand is decent. Gamble should aim for
Treasonous Ogre
and you should probably play the gamble Turn 1 to have the best chance of keeping the ogre from the random discard. The Hand has an easy path to victory lined up for turn 3 depending what card you end up discarding to Gamble. If you discard the Ogre, you are probably going to have a slow game.
Hand 6:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Dwarven Ruins
,
Buried Ruin
,
Metalworker
,
Krark-Clan Ironworks
,
Argentum Armor
This hand is slow and not particularly decent, with bad synergy. Argentum is never a card we like to see in the opener, as it is pretty much always a dead card, in this case at least we have the Metalworker that can make use of it. The hand has a bit too much land and not enough small artifacts to feed the Ironworks to get going anywhere. I would probably send this one back if it was the first 7, and keep it if it was the second 7; if you decided to keep I would probably recommend Dwarven T1, followed by sacing it to play the Metalworker T2, You'll likely tap for 6-8 on turn 3, casting the Ironworks on Turn 3. Depending what you draw, this could enable a Turn 3 win with the right enablers, but otherwise it is a pretty fragile turn 4 hand.
Hand 7:
Mountain
,
Crystal Vein
,
Mana Vault
,
Pyretic Ritual
,
Hammer of Nazahn
,
Mogg Salvage
,
Magnetic Theft
This is a great hand. You can easily win turn two: play Mountain->Vault T1, then T2 Crystal Vien (sac), tap out and play Pyretic Ritual for 7 mana. Play godo and get Helm, Magnetic Theft with 1 remaining mana to equip.
Hand 8:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Ancient Tomb
,
Fractured Powerstone
,
Honor-Worn Shaku
,
Treasonous Ogre
,
Helm of the Host
A good example of a hand with Helm that we want to keep. T1 Tomb->Powerstone, T2 Mountian->Ogre and then pay enough life to cast Godo, get
Hammer of Nazahn
from library with his trigger, and then pay life to cast Helm (you should be at 6), which will auto-equip courtesy of the Hammer and you can win T2.
Hand 9:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Gemstone Caverns
,
Chrome Mox
,
Dire Fleet Daredevil
,
Ricochet Trap
,
Fork
At first glance this hand seems bad with a capital B. but depending who you are playing against, it might not be. If there are a lot of black decks at the table, you might consider playing the hand (especially if it is your second set of 7). If you didn't start, drop the Caverns and play a mountain, otherwise play Chrome Mox and a Mountain T1, Keeping Fork ready to copy a green or black tutor to go and grab
Treasonous Ogre
. Against blue decks with lots of counterspells I'd probably Chrome Mox the Daredevil, against other decks it is the Trap. If I didn't start, I would ditch the same card to Caverns and wait to play the Mox until later. It is a risky hand, but with the right opponents, and a bit of luck, it could be good.
Hand 10:
Mountain
,
Dwarven Ruins
,
Honor-Worn Shaku
,
Desperate Ritual
,
Goblin Welder
,
Panharmonicon
,
Twinflame
This is an awkward hand to keep, it goes nowhere slowly unless you draw more rocks or lands. I'd probably ship it back regardless of wheather it was the first hand of 7 or the second, although if you draw a couple of lands you could possibly win on Turn 4: T1 Ruins, T2 Mountian->Ritual->Shaku, T3 Land->tap out->Panharmonicon, T4 Land->sac ruins->Godo into Hammer+Helm for autoequip.
Hand 11:
Mountain
,
Lotus Petal
,
Gamble
,
Abrade
,
Goblin Welder
,
Mogg Salvage
,
Final Fortune
While a hand with Gamble is generally a keeper, this one is tough to justify. Gambling for Mana Crypt doesn't lead anywhere, though you are guaranteed not to lose the crypt as you can get it back with welder. You could gamble for Ogre and hope to draw some lands, but both these lines rely on quite a bit of luck to be able to do anything. Gamble is a shiny trap card here and I'd send both hands back.
Hand 12:
Mountain
,
Crystal Vein
,
Chrome Mox
,
Lotus Petal
,
Seething Song
,
Soulbright Flamekin
,
Thran Dynamo
This hand is all ramp, and that is all good in Godo town. How you play this depends what your top card is, if it is red and not better than something in your hand you can feed it to the mox. You can't cast Godo Turn 1 with this hand and pass, because you won't have mana to equip the next turn, so you are going to need to build up. I'd probably drop Soulbright Turn 1 with the Mox and a mountain, then play Dynamo off the petal the next turn. this should give you access to 11 mana on turn 3 if you sac the Vein and cast Song (11 for Godo+equip Helm).
Hand 13:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Mox Diamond
,
Fractured Powerstone
,
Red Elemental Blast
,
Treasonous Ogre
,
Grafdigger's Cage
This hand is good. Play Mountian, Diamond, Powerstone and the Cage T1 and hope that one of your first two cards is a land. REB doesn't help us until after Ogre resolves unfortunately, unless we get lucky and draw a 2 mana tapper like Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, or Mana Crypt. If you draw Cavern of Souls, set it to Ogre as you will have anti countermagic for godo after the Ogre resolves.
Hand 14:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Crystal Vein
,
Lotus Petal
,
Lightning Bolt
,
Magus of the Moon
While an early Magus can be cripling for a lot of decks, this hand is quite bad unless you are playing against 3 Hermit Druid decks (in that case by all means drop a turn 1 Magus and slow roll the game I guess).
Hand 15:
Chrome Mox
,
Lotus Petal
,
Voltaic Key
,
Rite of Flame
,
Thran Dynamo
,
Dire Fleet Daredevil
,
Last Chance
It is really too bad this hand doesn't have 1 land, I'd consider burning the Rite and the petal to untap T2 with Dynamo+Volt Key+Mox. This hand is just too risky to keep as it pretty much requires drawing a land turn 1 for anything to happen with it.
Hand 16:
Mountain
,
Sandstone Needle
,
Mana Crypt
,
Metalworker
,
Desperate Ritual
,
Abrade
,
Hammer of Nazahn
There is a turn 3 win here. While the play might change depending on what you draw, the general play should be to drop Hammer on turn 2 and drop godo turn three for the helm autoequip win. There are a few lines for doing that here, the best is T1 Mana Crypt, Mountain, Mwetalworker. You may even have some spare mana on turn 2 in the middle of this line to drop Abrade on something if you draw another artifact. If you draw artifacts on both Turn 1 and turn 2, Yo can win on turn 2 with 10 mana (including the ritual) as the Metalworker will tap for 6: play hammer and then Godo for the 10 mana win.
Hand 17:
Cavern of Souls
,
Thran Dynamo
,
Brass Squire
,
Heat Shimmer
,
Dire Fleet Daredevil
,
Last Chance
,
Thunderclap
Leave this one on the orphanage doorstep, it is unwanted.
Hand 18:
Mountain
,
Ancient Tomb
,
Chrome Mox
,
Mox Diamond
,
Voltaic Key
,
Seething Song
,
Grafdigger's Cage
You look at this hand and think "With so many of the cards I love to see early, how can it be that bad?" Key has nothing to untap, Chrome has nothing to exile. With a lucky topdeck of a red card to feed to Chrome Mox you could cast Godo Turn 1, but you would only have 4 mana on turn 2 instead of the requisite 5 to equip. The hand is bad, throw it back.
Hand 19:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Great Furnace
,
Chrome Mox
,
Chalice of the Void
,
Twinflame
,
Krark-Clan Ironworks
This hand can win Turn 4, and with a little luck, Turn 3. Consider dropping Chrome Mox and playing Chalice for 1 on turn 1 if there are some green decks at the table, you might also just drop the chalice on 0 after playing the Mox Turn 1. Unless you draw more fast mana you can't drop Ironworks until Turn 3, which means you can combo off on turn 4. Playable, I'd keep it.
Hand 20:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Jeweled Amulet
,
Prismatic Lens
,
Expedition Map
,
Grim Monolith
,
Goblin Welder
Its an odd hand, but totally playable. You could play T1 Welder, T2 Monolith, then cast and crack map off of the monolith, planning on weldering Monolith into the grave after you tap it for mana (at the end step before your turn--getting back Map), then swap it untapped for the amulet on your next turn. You could crack map for Ancient Tomb to speed up the hand a little, or you could get cavern for uncounterability. A lot of interesting possibilities with this hand.
Hand 21:
Mountain
,
City of Traitors
,
Chrome Mox
,
Rite of Flame
,
Mogg Salvage
,
Magnetic Theft
,
Hammer of Nazahn
It is decent. Playing this hand does depend on what you draw, and you are going to need a bit more land or rocks to make it work. The easiest line though is T2 Hammer with CoT and Mox, T3 Godo with Rite of flame and a land you need to draw. Having Magnetic Theft is slightly redundant, as it seems easyiest here to go the Hammer route. If you draw some quick gas on turn 1, i.e. Mana Vault or Grim Monolith, you could change tack and aim to win on Turn 2 with the Magnetic Theft instead.
Hand 22:
Mountain
,
Sandstone Needle
,
Inventors' Fair
,
Simian Spirit Guide
,
Faithless Looting
,
Fork
,
Abrade
This hand is't stellar, but is probably keepable because of Faithless Looting. I'd keep it if it were the second 7. Faithless Looting gives a lot of chances that this hand can become quite good.
Hand 23:
Mountain
,
Sandstone Needle
,
Darksteel Citadel
,
Desperate Ritual
,
Codex Shredder
,
Abrade
,
Treasonous Ogre
Turn 2 Treasonous Ogre is always good. Drop Sandstone Needle Turn 1, then ritual for the Ogre Turn 2 and pay life for 11 mana (7 left over). You could instead consider playing a different land and the Codex Shredder turn 1 if someone casts Imperial Seal Turn 1 before your turn, but this is likely to delay your combo to turn 3.
Hand 24:
Cavern of Souls
,
Buried Ruin
,
Twinflame
,
Treasonous Ogre
,
Possibility Storm
,
Thunderclap
,
Brass Squire
I love Treasonous Ogre in the opening hand, but with only two lands and no ramp, this one is going to have to be shipped back.
Hand 25:
Mountain
,
Mountain
,
Seething Song
,
Worn Powerstone
,
Honor-Worn Shaku
,
Vandalblast
,
Possibility Storm
A lot of great cards, but all the ramp starts at 3, and we only have 2 lands. This hand would be very slow even if we could garantee another land, so it should be sent back where it came from.
5 more hands to highlight interesting plays.
Hand 26:
Mountain
,
Mana Crypt
,
Rite of Flame
,
Lion's Eye Diamond
,
Imperial Recruiter
,
Goblin Welder
,
Panharmonicon
With this hand, there is an interesting play. You play all your 0 drops, cast rite of flame off the mountain and then cast Imperial Recruiter. In response to the Recruiter's ETB ability, crack the LED and discard your hand, this should give you 4 mana to play Treasonous Ogre immediately. If the Recruiter gets countered, play Goblin Welder off the 1 spare mana and if you draw a land you could drop Panharmonicon second turn and then do some welder shenanigans with LED to sac it twice and win on T2.
Hand 27:
Mountain
,
Great Furnace
,
Mox Diamond
,
Sol Ring
,
Jeweled Amulet
,
Seething Song
,
Krark-Clan Ironworks
This hand is all in, but can win Turn 1. Chuck the Mountain to the Mox, play furnace-->Sol Ring-->Song and cast KCI, Play the Jewled amulet and by sacrificing everything you should have 10 colourless and one red available (isn't that convenient?)
Hand 28:
Mountain
,
Sandstone Needle
,
Chrome Mox
,
Mana Vault
,
Voltaic Key
,
Final Fortune
,
Red Elemental Blast
The exact play depends on what you draw, but you will want to play Ruins tapped and Chrome Mox-->Vault-->Key (untap). Do not put the Final Fortune into the Chrome Mox. Turn 2 you can play a mountain and have 5RRR available. This allows you to cast Godo and then have RR left over for Final Fortune. In your second and last turn, pay 5 to equip helm and win.
Hand 29:
Ancient Tomb
,
Mana Vault
,
Voltaic Key
,
Chrome Mox
,
Lion's Eye Diamond
,
Final Fortune
,
Wheel of Fortune
Dump everything T1, Mox the FF, and wheel into a new hand. While you might want to crack LED in response to a wheel sometimes, I think in this case you don't. If you don't you are virtually guaranteed 11 mana turn 2 to go off, and you don't have to crack the diamond until equip time, so you will still probably be able to use whatever anti-countermagic you draw with the new hand to protect your Godo cast. The chance of whiffing with the new hand of 7 is a very unlikely/almost impossible scenario, as you only need one land in your next hand of cards to go off, and I can't think of a hand of non-land cards that also would not go off.
Hand 30:
Sol Ring
,
Simian Spirit Guide
,
Rite of Flame
,
Pyretic Ritual
,
Desperate Ritual
,
Mox Opal
,
Lion's Eye Diamond
This hand might seem like too many rituals and not enough land, but it is OK. Simian spirit guide for the Sol ring, play opal and LED, now the opal is online and you can use its red mana to start a ritual chain the lets you play Godo on your first turn without cracking the LED. Passing the turn with Godo+Helm on the board is generally a bad idea, but Turn 1 and possibly T2 it is a decent move. Counterspells can't stop you at this point, only artefact/creature removal. If you draw a land you won't even need to crack the LED on turn 2 to equip. If Your plan is to ritual Godo onto the battlefield turn 1 and pass, just make sure that you will have 5 mana to equip the next turn.
