Kruphix, God of Horizons is the first EDH deck I ever constructed, and I've been building/tuning it for months now. Initially, I was drawn to it as a means to consistently drop large Eldrazi, but the more I played, the more I realized that dropping in Eldrazi was one of the least powerful things this commander could accomplish. In its current state, the deck is heavily ramp and control oriented, relying more on a number of alternate win conditions as opposed to combat with creatures.
The first win condition (in keeping with why I wanted to play the deck) is to cast Spawnsire of Ulamog, and paying 20 mana to cast 10 Eldrazi spells from my sideboard that normally results in my opponents immediately scooping. The combination of All Is Dust + It That Betrays
allows me to take control of all of my opponent's colored permanents (leaving them with only lands and artifacts), and then whoever is left with the strongest board or the most likely to have a comeback is who I target with Emrakul, the Promised End. Additionally, by properly ordering the cast triggers of Kozilek, Butcher of Truth + Kozilek, the Great Distortion
, I guarantee I will have at least 11 cards in my hand once this resolves. Void Winnower makes it difficult for my opponents to have a follow-up. Normally, if I am going for this combo, Cavern of Souls is on the field (with Eldrazi named) or I have enough counter spells in hand to feel comfortable with the play.
The second win condition is Helix Pinnacle. While this is fairly straightforward and generating 100 mana is fairly easy for this deck, I have never actually won with this method. That said, most of the time, it causes my opponent's to focus on it, and make sub-optimal plays in order to deal with it.
The third (and most commonly used) win condition is Enter the Infinite + Laboratory Maniac
. The deck runs plenty of "draw X" spells allowing me to draw my entire deck, cast Laboratory Maniac, and then force myself to draw with another draw spell. Again, I normally save my Cavern of Souls and Boseiju, Who Shelters All to ensure the combo goes off. Additionally, I'll have a full grip of counter spells by this point, so if the initial draw spell goes off, I'm set. This can also be achieved by generating infinite mana followed by casting Thrasios, Triton Hero and using this mana to draw out my deck.
A recent addition to the deck is the inclusion of Walking Ballista which can ping my opponents to death if I have sufficient mana stockpiled.
The last win condition is to force my opponents to draw their decks. This is obviously more difficult to pull off than the Laboratory Maniac combo when there are still four players on board, however if I can make it to one of the final spots, this can be a quick finish.
The general strategy is that early game is entirely focused on ramping. I tend to cast Kruphix, God of Horizons as early as possible so that I can start banking mana. From here, I tend to take a more control approach while also stockpiling resources. Having a mana doubler such as Mana Reflection or Zendikar Resurgent or untap cards such as Seedborn Muse or Awakening significantly speeds things up, but arguably the most important piece in the deck is Doubling Cube as it also doubles the colorless mana that Kruphix, God of Horizons has stockpiled. For this reason, Whir of Invention is almost exclusively used to tutor Doubling Cube.
Should your opponents somehow allow Defense of the Heart or Tooth and Nail to resolve, I typically set up an infinite mana combo with Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron
. However, if I need something more aggressive, I could also choose Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur or Spawnsire of Ulamog.
The drawbacks of the deck is that it can have a fairly slow start, and doesn't have creatures on the board for most turns. As a result of this, aggressive decks that target me early are obviously a concern. However, I can also use this to my advantage by flying under the radar during the early game. Additionally, this deck makes use of politics by using my counter spells to protect others in exchange for not getting attacked.
I'd appreciate any feedback, and I would especially appreciate any suggestions that would help lower the mana curve without sacrificing the decks' power.
