Golos Slaps You With His Gates (Primer)

Commander / EDH* Budget Casual Combo Jank

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Instant (22)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Cloudshift
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Disdainful Stroke
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Essence Flux
• 1x Essence Scatter
• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Fog
• 1x Haze of Pollen
• 1x Holy Day
• 1x Negate
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Plasm Capture
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Respite
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Turn to Mist

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Crackling Perimeter
• 1x Guild Summit
• 1x Retreat to Hagra
• 1x Terra Eternal

Artifact (2)

• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Sol Ring

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Jace, Architect of Thought

Land (42)

• 1x Azorius Guildgate
• 1x Baldur's Gate
• 1x Boros Guildgate
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 7x Forest
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Gond Gate
• 1x Gruul Guildgate
• 1x Heap Gate
• 8x Island
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 1x Maze's End
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 6x Plains
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Selesnya Guildgate
• 1x Simic Guildgate
• 5x Swamp

Creature (10)

• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x District Guide
• 1x Flickerwisp
• 1x Fog Bank
• 1x Gatecreeper Vine
• 1x Llanowar Scout
• 1x Restoration Angel
• 1x Soulherder
• 1x Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
• 1x Wall of Frost

Commander (1)

Sorcery (18)

• 1x Animist's Awakening
• 1x Circuitous Route
• 1x Crush of Tentacles
• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Deadly Tempest
• 1x Divine Reckoning
• 1x End Hostilities
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Nylea's Intervention
• 1x Open the Gates
• 1x Planar Cleansing
• 1x Star of Extinction
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x Tempt with Discovery
• 1x Whelming Wave
• 1x Winds of Rath
• 1x Wrath of God

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Intro

I have to admit, I'm not normally the type to play a deck like this. Maze's End has been sitting in my collection for years, and I thought that's how it would be forever. But then I pulled a Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, and having nothing to better to do with my time, I decided to build a deck around him, using Maze's End.

Getting the Gates

The deck runs two main ways of quickly getting Gates. The first is tutoring spells like card:Circuitous Rout, Animist's Awakening and Sylvan Scrying, which help get Gates into your hand and onto the battlefield. Tempt with Discovery is also a fun card, because it means you're probably getting at least two Gates out, and most likely three or four. The second is tutoring creatures and flicker effects. Obviously, Golos himself is the main engine behind this, allowing you to put the Gates directly onto the battlefield, but Gatecreeper Vine and District Guide also work in a pinch. I run 9 flicker cards in the deck, of which 3 are recurring. Thassa, Deep-Dwelling is an especially good card, because it's a no-cost flicker effect which happens every single turn. I've found that consistently by turn 9 you can get all the Gate's out, but the trick is surviving until then, which leads me into my next segment...

Surviving

So although the deck is obviously a Maze's End deck, through playing it I've found that people tend to ignore it as the board doesn't look super scary, until it's too late. I play 12 board wipes to lock the board down, which is your main goal for this deck. You can't die to creature damage if there aren't creatures to attack you. Cards like Wall of Frost, Fog Bank, and Jace, Architect of Thought's first ability also work wonders in keeping creatures from smacking you too hard. However, in case you can't get the boardwipes off, or you made a little miscalculation of damage, I run 4 Fog effects in the deck. These are useful especially when you've finally gotten the ten Gates and Maze's End out, but just need until the next turn to trigger the ability. You have to choose wisely when using these, because if the damage isn't lethal in the early game, it doesn't matter if you take it. Respite helps with gaining life back if you really need it as well.

Winning (with Maze's End)

Winning is pretty straightforward. I've found that consistently, unless I get really, really unlucky, I can win by turn ten. Unless you know that people are playing lots of land destruction, get those Gate's out as fast as you can. It doesn't matter what the board looks like, cause you run enough board wipes and fog effects to not die. Play agressive with the ramp, and focus on getting the gate's out. A handy trick I've found is if at all possible, keep enough mana open for a fog effect if you by chance get stuck with a tapped Maze's end and the ten Gates out.

Alternate Wincons

"Oh," you say, "but what if people ARE playing land destruction?" Well, you're pretty much fucked, but you can still win, it'll just take a long time. Retreat to Hagra should always be chosen for its life drain ability, and with 42 lands in the deck, you can technically kill your opponents. Crackling Perimeter is fun, and is a bit more consistent than the retreat. Unfortunately, the deck doesn't really plan for Maze's End to not be available.

If you like this deck, please give it an upvote, and be sure to leave feedback as well.

Top Ranked	Achieved #36 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #28 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Five Color 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Jank 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 months
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 21 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 27 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.83
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Octopus 8/8 U, Treasure
Folders	new