Mighty Manifestin' Spirit Dragon

Commander / EDH Budget BUG (Sultai) Control Midrange Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick

MigZangetsu19

Creature (19)

• 1x Arashin War Beast
• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Dread Defiler
• 1x Kheru Lich Lord
• 1x Profaner of the Dead
• 1x Qarsi Deceiver
• 1x Rakshasa Vizier
• 1x Sage-Eye Avengers
• 1x Sagu Mauler
• 1x Salt Road Ambushers
• 1x Shorecrasher Elemental
• 1x Stratus Dancer
• 1x Sultai Emissary
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Temur War Shaman
• 1x Torrent Elemental
• 1x Whisperwood Elemental
• 1x Youthful Scholar

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Land (36)

• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 6x Forest
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Haven of the Spirit Dragon
• 8x Island
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Novijen, Heart of Progress
• 1x Opulent Palace
• 10x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Thornwood Falls
• 1x Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Cloudform
• 1x Deadbridge Chant
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Secret Plans
• 1x Skywise Teachings
• 1x Sultai Ascendancy
• 1x Trail of Mystery

Instant (17)

• 1x Altar's Reap
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Disperse
• 1x Enhanced Awareness
• 1x Ethereal Ambush
• 1x Grim Affliction
• 1x Hero's Demise
• 1x Learn from the Past
• 1x Overwhelming Denial
• 1x Plasm Capture
• 1x Rakshasa's Disdain
• 1x Silumgar's Command
• 1x Steady Progress
• 1x Sultai Charm
• 1x Voyage's End
• 1x Weave Fate
• 1x Whisk Away

Sorcery (16)

• 1x Bitter Revelation
• 1x Damnable Pact
• 1x Day's Undoing
• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Explosive Vegetation
• 1x Ghastly Conscription
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Restock
• 1x Spread the Sickness
• 1x Tasigur's Cruelty
• 1x Treasure Cruise
• 1x Ugin's Insight
• 1x Villainous Wealth
• 1x Void Snare
• 1x Wildcall
• 1x Write into Being

Unknown (1)

• 1x Obscuring Æther

Commander (1)

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Manifest. A seemingly useless mechanic?

What if i told you there was more to it than meets the eye?

Without further ado, here we goooo!

Background Show

Having cracked an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon right as I started playing EDH/Commander, I wondered how I could use this card to it's full potential - making it seem as though he was the commander behind the deck, manipulating the actual commander like a puppeteer in the shadows. Tasigur, the Golden Fang happens to be the puppet of the Spirit Dragon.

Strategy Show

Finding the Spirit Dragon

The idea behind the deck is to get Ugin out as quickly as possible through a number of ways such as: using cards that manifest your library (Ethereal Ambush, Arashin War Beast, Whisperwood Elemental etc), card draw cantrips (Painful Truths, Weave Fate, Steady Progress, Damnable Pact etc), tutors (Liliana Vess, Diabolic Revelation), and Tasigur's ability (Delving away the useless cantrips and keeping beefy cards in the yard, forcing your opponents to most likely hand you the cards to kill them).

Goal

Once he's out use his -X ability to wipe the board of almost everything most of the time, or his +2 to ping players if the board is clear and climb back up in loyalty so I can -X all over again. Rinse repeat.

Cards that help proliferate Steady Progress, Spread the Sickness and Grim Affliction can get the -X to hit the big fatties, and occassionally you'll manage to ultimate Ugin (not really the end goal though).

On a side note, I think it should be mentioned that Villainous Wealth has won me so many games. It's a fantastic finisher and gets better the longer he game goes on.

Control

The deck has many aspects of control in the sense that Ugin can really keep my opponents in line with the aid of a few counters here and there. I'm only likely to counter something if it messes up with the overall game plan, otherwise nothing really phases me that much because more often than not, it'll get exiled anyway.

Manifesting Ugin, and graveyard recursion

If Ugin happens to get manifested then I'd get him back with cards like Disperse, Whisk Away, Sage-Eye Avengers, Temur Sabertooth and others.

If he gets sent to the graveyard then Tasigur's ability can get him back. Barring that, Haven of the Spirit Dragon (Flavourful right!), Restock, and Den Protector can get him back.

Manifest and Morph

Ugin's synergy with Manifested cards and Morph cards works well because they are colourless, meaning that my opponents have no creatures, while I can swing with some 2/2's, or use them to block and protect Ugin in the event of haste creatures until the turn comes back around and creatures with colour get exiled again. I would also like to point out for people that are unaware, that Ugin does not exile the new 'Devoid' Eldrazi's, so there are plans to incorporate them into the deck over time.

Cards like Secret Plans, Qarsi Deceiver, Obscuring Æther, Trail of Mystery etc can benefit my Morphing and Manifesting.

Why the Golden Fang? Show

Motivation

Originally when i first made the deck, Tasigur, the Golden Fang was the first Legendary Creature I opened that had utility built right into him. He was also made the commander because he has the ideal colour combination to make the idea work as intended. And the artwork! Nothing says "I'm a badass" like eating fruit from a dude's skull!

Delve into madness!

With the deck being full of cantrips to cycle through to find Ugin, I can cast Tasigur for 1 almost always by delving the cards I won't need back. It adds extra usefulness because I've played many games with my playgroup where I've had to spend upwards of 20 mana to cast him again because he gets exiled and sent to the command zone so many times because of Ugin!

His ability

Tasigur's ability of getting stuff back from the graveyard, if you know your deck well enough and Delve away the silly cantrips, can really make your opponents shiver in their boots. Nothing spells 'impending doom' quite like having your opponent hand you the very card that's likely to kill them. Better yet, Tasigur allows for political play by having one opponent hand you a card to take care of another opponent who's been keeping them down.

Weaknesses Show

Flying

While I'd like the deck to be perfect, I have to acknowledge the fact that the deck doesn't fair too well against flying. The most i can do to combat flying is by bouncing the creatures back to their opponents hands (Disperse, Whisk Away, Profaner of the Dead etc) and kill spells (Spread the Sickness, Sultai Charm, Silumgar's Command) which is why it's imperative that Ugin comes online as soon as possible.

Counterspells

Counterspells ruin my day. Period. While I can manage with having Ugin countered, if my opponent counters one of my tutors or a similarly important piece to the strategy, it could really put some pressure on me. The reason I run counters is most often to negate their counters. If I ever play a high risk/high reward card, it's either because all my opponents are tapped out or because i have a counter ready in hand and ample mana to cast it.

Voltron

The deck also seems to suffer against Voltron commanders. Which is the main reason I run Hero's Demise. That being said though, a fully equipped Sigarda, Host of Herons will most likely kill me pretty easily.

Early game

Seeing as the main centerpiece for the deck costs 8 mana, it's no wonder that the early turns are not my friend. This is a deck that is in no rush to win on turn 3. This is a deck that likes to take its time and gather it's resources before it makes itself a direct target. It's especially devastating if i'm missing a certain colour of mana in the early turns, which is another reason for excessive draw spells.

Exiling my graveyard

Seeing as my graveyard plays such an important role in the layout of the deck, having my graveyard exiled by way of Tormod's Crypt, Bojuka Bog and Relic of Progenitus when it's nice and full (or worse, when Ugin is in it), makes me shed many manly tears. In that case, I run Learn from the Past and Day's Undoing so that doesn't happen.

Artifact decks

Probably the worst match-up i could ever have is if one of my opponents is playing an artifact based deck or a deck with lots of colourless creatures, because when I -X Ugin, usually some of my creatures and enchantments get exiled too - which in the grand scheme of things doesn't matter too much because I'd likely have some Manifests/Morphs. However in the event of an artifact deck, using Ugin's ability will almost always mean card disadvantage for me, and super card advantage for that particular opponent. If that dreaded match-up were to ever come true, the first card i would tutor for would be Villainous Wealth. Forcing my opponent to exile his library, while casting all nonland cards without paying their mana costs (if I paid enough - which I always will) meaning more colourless creatures for me and less for them!

Conclusion Show

Thanks for staying and reading this far! I hope you like my deck. Seeing as it was my first real unique commander deck, it will always hold a special place in my heart, and as such, I hope it's loved by all of you as well! Please feel free to leave a comment, feedback is always welcome (and preferred!), and recommendations are always welcome too!

If you like the deck please +1 ;)

Date added	9 years
Last updated	9 years
Exclude colors	WR
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 32 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.13
Tokens	Djinn Monk 2/2 U, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C