I Can't Believe It's Not Pod

Commander / EDH d3sden0va

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The Future is Ashaya —Nov. 7, 2020

It's been quite some time since the last update to the deck, but honestly with over a year of cards I only made 3 changes reviewing the list.

-Timetwister
+Finale of Devastation
Twister loops were a secondary wincon anyway, the pricetag of twister scares people away even though proxying it should be the norm regardless, and it was a questionable cast to run out "for value". Overall I prefer to not have it in my list, but it's certainly not unreasonable to play it. In its place I've put in Finale of Devastation as both a decent tutor and a much cleaner wincon than our looping options. I prefer to build these kind of decks (infinite mana+deck in hand state) "winconless" and Finale's non-wincon utility is a bit questionable but it can be relevant enough of the time to warrant a slot.

-Mana Drain
+Fierce Guardianship
Not much to say here. Cutting the counter I'm least happy with and adding a new one I like a lot. It was Drain of Misdirection, but straight UU cost is just too much for me to want to play.

-Reality Shift
+Veil of Summer
Same as above. Cut the worst piece of interaction with one of the best. Was always trying to fit Autumn's Veil in this deck and then we just got a better version of it. Happy to slot it in.

Besides that, I think that with some upcoming cards, namely Jeweled Lotus, the land-restrictive Deadeye Drake line is reaching the end of its lifetime. In its place we see a few options, namely the Hulk pile I discussed in my previous list, which trades a slightly higher number of cards in the combo for those cards being less useless on their own. It also isn't bound to having a certain number and kind of lands in play, which makes Lotus' ability to have explosive early turns more appealing. It also makes room for other explosive mana like Mox Diamond, Lotus Petal, and Elvish Spirit Guide, since lands aren't quite as paramount. Overall I think the deck is slightly more explosive at a negligible loss of consistency. The combo is also a lot easier to assemble "manually", which gives better backups to Vannifar getting Elked or the like.

Perhaps the most interesting new printing, however, is Ashaya, Soul of the World, which has not only opened up several combo lines already, such as replacing Deadeye Navigator and Peregrine Drake with Ley Weaver to generate infinite mana, and she brings along her own outlet, too! (The combo line for these is a bit rough and probably a bit worse than current options, but it's always exciting to see new options. Also in the works with Ashaya is a hulk pile involving her to generate infinite landfall triggers, which notably doesn't need any Haste enabler in the line, ending our dependence on Thousand-Year Elixir and opening up the ability to play more stax pieces, as well as having less fear of artifact removal. Most exciting about Ashaya, however, is that at 5 CMC, she sits at a comfortable place in pod chains to potentially open up combos with new cards. Her interactions with lands and creatures mean that a wide variety of new effects could potentially open up combo possibilities with her, broadening the scope of potential Vannifar upgrades.

I'm going to try to have up decklists for both the GraftHulk line and the Ashaya lines sometime in the next few days, although full-on primers to the extent of this one may have to wait for bigger breakthroughs.

As always huge thanks to the Vannifar discord, in particular Chuck and Lizzy Wylde for brainstorming new tech with me and keeping the dream alive. Vannifar may never be tier 1, but she's a deck that has new and exciting possibilities in every new set and, especially with Ashaya in the mix, who knows when we'll get The Card that changes everything. Until then, I'll keep my eyes turned toward the future.