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Commander / EDH* Licid WU (Azorius)

DWM024

Creature (33)

• 1x Abu Ja'far
• 1x Bellowing Aegisaur
• 1x Benalish Hero
• 1x Benalish Infantry
• 1x Breaker of Armies
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Calming Licid
• 1x Cavalry Master
• 1x Chambered Nautilus
• 1x Commander Eesha
• 1x Creepy Doll
• 1x Dominating Licid
• 1x Icatian Phalanx
• 1x Icatian Skirmishers
• 1x Kjeldoran Warrior
• 1x Knight of Valor
• 1x Knights of Thorn
• 1x Kor Cartographer
• 1x Masako the Humorless
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Mesa Pegasus
• 1x Noble Elephant
• 1x Pikemen
• 1x Riftmarked Knight
• 1x Saprazzan Heir
• 1x Shield Bearer
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stuffy Doll
• 1x Teferi's Honor Guard
• 1x Tolarian Entrancer
• 1x War Elephant
• 1x Wonder
• 1x Zhalfirin Crusader

Land (33)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Castle Ardenvale
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deserted Beach
• 1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Glacial Floodplain
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Idyllic Beachfront
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 6x Island
• 1x Kjeldoran Outpost
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 9x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Tolaria West

Instant (9)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cosmic Intervention
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Extinguish
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Commander (1)

Artifact (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Baton of Morale
• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Helm of Chatzuk
• 1x Nemesis Mask
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Spear of Heliod
• 1x Sword of the Animist

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Always Watching
• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Cooperation
• 1x Dictate of Heliod
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Glorious Anthem
• 1x Serra's Blessing

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Mind Spring
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Retribution of the Meek
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Wrath of God

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time to take off the kid gloves

The Quick and Dirty

This is an Azorius take on White weenie aggro. We want to control the combat step through an assortment of combat gimmicks from white and control magic from blue.

Ayesha!

She is beauty
She is grace
She is the pilot of this atrocity!
Theres a few reasons that Ayesha is the commander here

• She plays well with Banding, one of our main combat tricks
• Despite her harsh color costing, shes only 4cmc, and can be easily recast at least once
• Having access to blue lets us protect our board state from wraths with interaction, and keep tempo with card draw
• Having access to blue lets us do some weird stuff with morph and licids - More on that later ;)
• Being able to turn off problematic artifacts for non-white players is a very solid cherry on top
• Liquimetal Torque has been included to allow Ayesha to turn off all problematic activated abilities

Banding 101 (Rule 7702.22(a-m))

I'm not going to sugar coat it. This section is just the full comprehensive rules for banding. As far as I'm concerned this is the "you much be this deranged to play" for the deck. Experiencing the Magic the Gathering (tm) comprehensive rules for banding is a right of passage. Pay attention to 22k and 22j

• 702.22a - Banding is a static ability that modifies the rules for combat.
• 702.22b - “Bands with other” is a special form of banding. If an effect causes a permanent to lose banding, the permanent loses all “bands with other” abilities as well.
• 702.22c - As a player declares attackers, they may declare that one or more attacking creatures with banding and up to one attacking creature without banding (even if it has “bands with other”) are all in a “band.” They may also declare that one or more attacking [quality] creatures with “bands with other [quality]” and any number of other attacking [quality] creatures are all in a band. A player may declare as many attacking bands as they want, but each creature may be a member of only one of them. (Defending players can’t declare bands but may use banding in a different way; see rule 702.22j.)
• 702.22d - All creatures in an attacking band must attack the same player or planeswalker.
• 702.22e - Once an attacking band has been announced, it lasts for the rest of combat, even if something later removes banding or “bands with other” from one or more of the creatures in the band.
• 702.22f - An attacking creature that’s removed from combat is also removed from the band it was in.
• 702.22g - Banding doesn’t cause attacking creatures to share abilities, nor does it remove any abilities. The attacking creatures in a band are separate permanents.
• 702.22h - If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature. Example: A player attacks with a band consisting of a creature with flying and a creature with swampwalk. The defending player, who controls a Swamp, can block the flying creature if able. If they do, then the creature with swampwalk will also become blocked by the blocking creature(s).
• 702.22i - If one member of a band would become blocked due to an effect, the entire band becomes blocked.
• 702.22j - During the combat damage step, if an attacking creature is being blocked by a creature with banding, or by both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the defending player (rather than the active player) chooses how the attacking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as they choose among any creatures blocking it. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1c.
• 702.22k - During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding, or both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as they choose among any creatures it’s blocking. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1d.
• 702.22m - Multiple instances of banding on the same creature are redundant. Multiple instances of “bands with other” of the same kind on the same creature are redundant.

Banding 102

A case by case breakdown of some assorted stuff that can happen.

Trample

Banding is a little known hard counter to trample. Whats important to know here is rule 702.19b

• 702.19b - The controller of an attacking creature with trample **first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any excess damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking.** When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. The attacking creature’s controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case can’t assign any damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.

Say for example our opponent is swinging at you with a Giant Adephage. We can block with a band of Benalish Hero and a 1/1 token. Normally what would happen is

1. The Adephage's controller would assign enough damage to be lethal to each blocker
2. Because of trample, excess damage can then be assigned to the player
3. Both blockers die and 5 damage makes it through

Because our two blockers are in a band what now happens however is

1. Because of banding we choose to assign all the damage to a 1/1 token
2. No trample damage is assigned to us or Benalish Hero
3. All that dies is the token, and we dont lose any life

Banding as a damage black hole

The Basics

One important part of banding is the allowance of a single non-banding creature. This creature should usually be your damage black hole. Examples are

• Knights of Thorn - This one has banding so he doesnt cost a slot, and can eat all damage from red sources
• Beloved Chaplain - Cheaply costed, and will eat any creature damage while the rest of your band dogpiles them
• Stuffy Doll - Lets you not just eliminate incoming damage, but pass it back off to an opponent for no cost. \\TODO: consider adding Pariah because its funny
• Commander Eesha - Similar to Beloved Chaplain, but without banding. Has legendary supertype for Cathedral of Serra

The purpose of these creatures is to allow bands to handle bigger creature. Part of our gameplan involves pumping up our entire board at once, through cards like

• Always Watching
• Brave the Sands
• Glorious Anthem
• Dictate of Heliod

and so well usually want to have a few banding creatures that are 2/2 or 3/3. Just block with a band, assign all damage to the black hole, and let the rest of your band dogpile any attacker who comes after you.

Fun with Licids

There are 3 Licid creatures in this deck. Their gimmick is easiest to explain by just reading them so here they are

• Calming Licid - Can turn itself into a psuedo Pacifism
• Stinging Licid - Turns into a weird Stings of war
• Dominating Licid - Control Magic on a creature

Whats important with these isnt what they can turn themselves into, but that they can change. Licids are fun because they're difficult to remove, and make for great blockers. If youre conservative enough with your mana these little guys can be pretty annoying. Put a licid in a band, assign all damage the the licid, then (using an untapper or vigilince enabler) tap the licid to change it into an aura, removing it from combat, and leaving the attacking or blocking creature to be attacked by the rest of the band, while none of our creatures take damage.

One piece of fine print on licids that may be needed. Turning into an aura is an activated ability, and while rare there are cards that can counter this. HOWEVER, if your licid is already an enchantment, and an opponent tries to use Disenchant with the intention of using control magic to stop you from turning the licid back into a creature, it wont work. The reason lies in rule 116.2c, one of the non-stack using special actions in the game.

• 116.2c - Some effects allow a player to take an action at a later time, usually to end a continuous effect or to stop a delayed triggered ability from triggering. Doing so is a special action. A player can take such an action any time they have priority, unless that effect specifies another timing restriction, for as long as the effect allows it.

Turning the licid back into a creature doesnt use the stack at all, and is completely unrespondable. As long as you can spare the single mana to end the effect, the licid is completely immune to enchantment removal.

On what it means to "Become Blocked"

This section goes into the implications of how blocking works with banding. Specifically,

• 702.22h - If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature.

normally creatures that trigger on becoming blocked are weak enough that they risk being killed. However if you get them in a band, you can divert the damage from them and abuse their triggers. The cards selected for this role are

• Saprazzan Heir - if you can protect it well enough this is an insane engine for reusable card draw. Even without a way to divert damage in a band, sacrificing a 1/1 for 3 cards is a great rate.
• Chambered Nautilus - A worse Saprazzan Heir. Easier to protect but higher costed and less payoff.
• Tolarian Entrancer - This card deserves a deck all of its own. Unlike the above 2, this card triggers on each blocker. Swing with a band containing a sacrificial lamb equipped with Nemesis Mask, then watch as your opponents board blocks the entrancer without killing it and becomes yours, all while he survives to do it again

Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.01
Tokens	Elephant 3/3 G, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Foretell, Human 1/1 W, Knight 2/2 B, Soldier 1/1 W