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Omnath High Tide [Primer]

Commander / EDH* Combo Infinite Combo Mono-Green Multiplayer Primer Ramp

Tartaras

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Creature (22)

Sorcery (11)

Land (36)

Instant (11)

Planeswalker (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: Omnath, Locus of Mana

Enchantment (11)

Artifact (6)

Maybeboard

Instant (1)

While I'll try and keep this list up to date, I've largely ignored updating the primer itself. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me at u/Tartaras1 on Reddit.

Omnath, Locus of Mana Artwork credit goes to Kixar. You can find him on:

Hello there! My name is Andrew, and I've been playing Magic since 2011. I started right around the time New Phyrexia came out. I was first introduced to Commander as a format when the 2011 precons were released, and I got myself a copy of Devour for Power because The Mimeoplasm has a dinosaur for an arm, and who can say no to that?

My first attempt at my own deck saw Sigarda, Host of Herons at the head, and it was far from optimized. I distinctly remember it running Adventuring Gear and Steppe Lynx, but that's for another discussion.

Having started when Zendikar and Worldwake were legal, I've always been in love with Landfall and ramping in general. Seeing Valakut decks kill people in Standard just by putting a bunch of lands into play made me want to build my own deck similar to that. This is where my journey to mono-green truly began, and it started with Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer. I would ramp endlessly, strap him with a Strata Scythe and start swinging. Surprisingly, I found myself winning games. Turns out if you have a giant commander whose power and toughness check lands on the battlefield, you spent the whole game ramping, and have an equipment that effectively doubles your general's power and toughness, you kill people really quick.

  • You enjoy doing a lot of mana math.

  • The idea of casting multiple spells in a turn is enjoyable.

  • Green is your favorite color.

  • You want to have multiple game-winning lines that can be switched between during the course of a turn.

  • Having a deck not be directly reliant on its general is a benefit, not a hindrance.

If you've ever wanted to play a big mana green deck that doesn't play like a big mana green deck, this is the list for you. That's not to say, though, that this isn't entirely unlike any other green deck before it. You are still looking to generate obscene amounts of mana, but the endgame is much different than most other decks. With this, the ultimate goal is to be able to kill the entire table in one fell swoop, rather than pick people off turn after turn.

  • You want a straight-forward win condition.

  • You want your deck to be centered around your commander.

  • You don't often have time to get multiple games in.

  • You prefer playing big dumb creatures.

The primary win condition for this deck is to assemble one of four infinite combos, all of which generate boundless amounts of mana which can be put into one of two win conditions.
Lightning Greaves + Magus of the Candelabra + Temur Sabertooth : You're most likely going to want to have at least one of the several mana doubling effects on board before you start this. It can still be done without, but it's going to be a lot more difficult. Make sure you have access to at least 8x mana before you start. The combo works as follows:

  • Tap 4 lands, producing 8x. 8x floating.

  • Pick up the Magus of the Candelabra with the Temur Sabertooth. 6x floating.

  • Replay the Magus. Equip Lightning Greaves. 5x floating.

  • Pay 4 to untap 4 lands. floating.

    • Repeat ad infinitum, generating with each iteration.

    Eternal Witness + Rude Awakening + Temur Sabertooth : This one works very similarly to the first combo. You're bouncing the Eternal Witness to keep returning Rude Awakening to your hand, and then casting it to untap your lands multiple times. Once again, you're going to want to have access to a Heartbeat effect before starting. You'll need to have access to 12 mana beforehand. It works as such: - Produce 12x.

    Repeat this loop, generating with each iteration.

    Selvala, Heart of the Wilds + Staff of Domination : This can potentially require the fewest amount of resources. All you need is a creature with 5 or more power, Selvala, the Staff and, if Selvala hasn't been on the battlefield or there isn't a haste effect available a la Concordant Crossroads, Lightning Greaves. It goes like this:

    Repeat the process infinitely, producing with each iteration.

    Priest of Titania + Staff of Domination : This is possibly the easiest combo in the deck to establish, since you're already running a number of incidental utility elf creatures. All that's required is Priest, Staff and 4 other Elves. It operates almost exactly the same as the Selvala loop, but as such:

    Repeat as many times as required, adding to your mana pool each time.

    Once you've assembled one of these infinite combos, you can either cast an arbitrarily large Walking Ballista and shoot your opponents or funnel it into a colossal Squall Line. If you go for the latter option, make sure you're either at a higher life total than your opponents, or you have a Glacial Chasm out. Squall Line is a symmetrical effect, and you can't win the game if you die along with everyone else.
    For the majority of the game, you're going to want to try and lay low, so as not to attract attention to yourself. That means focusing on just casting ramp spells, and a large majority of the deck is full of them. The more lands you have access to on the turn you try and go for the win, the easier and more consistent your lines are going to be. The examples given above are based on what I believe to be the bare minimums to be mana positive.

    Don't hesitate to use your recursion effects early if it means you can get a ramp spell back. I routinely use Regrowth and Eternal Witness to get back my Nature's Loreeffects or other ramp spells. If you've managed to chain together a number of spells, and have enough mana to cast it, don't be afraid to fire off the Praetor's Counsel either. It serves a dual purpose in both getting all of your ramp effects back to your hand, as well as giving you no maximum hand size. The latter point can be especially useful as the game progresses, since you no longer need to worry about discarding a good card if your hand gets full.

    When it comes to Worldly Tutor and Green Sun's Zenith, use them whenever. I've kept a number of hands solely based on the fact that I can either cast a turn 1 Worldly Tutor or a turn 3 Green Sun's Zenith, both fetching Sakura-Tribe Elder. The only word of caution goes without saying, but make sure you have a second land before you try to resolve a turn 1 Worldly for Tribe Elder. You obviously need to be able to cast it turn 2. Also worth mentioning is that you shouldn't be concerned with holding onto the Eldritch Evolution, looking for just the right moment to cast it. It's easy to set up board positions where you can recur Riftsweeper. From that point, you can just get back whatever happens to be exiled and shuffle them back into your deck.

    Don't shy away from using your draw spells either. Momentous Fall, Life's Legacy, Greater Good and Rishkar's Expertise are all amazing draw effects. Similarly, casting Tooth and Nail finding Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Force is a great way to draw a bunch of cards at once.

    Memory Jar can be both a blessing, as well as a curse. Whenever I'm activating it, it's usually on the upkeep. This way I can get a fresh grip of 7 cards, as well as the card for my draw step. A curious interaction also exists with the Jar and Sylvan Library. The way Library is worded, Since it only checks cards you've drawn so far this turn, you can put back two cards you drew off of the Jar.

    There aren't too many notable flex slots in the deck, but you can easily cut some of the 1cmc elf creatures in favor of more graveyard hate, such as Scavenging Ooze, or more removal, such as Caustic Caterpillar. The secondary win condition of Squall Line can also be taken out entirely for something else, but it puts more stress on Walking Ballista being your primary wincon.
    It goes without saying that your biggest weaknesses are that you're playing a mono-color deck, and that singular color isn't blue. The former leaves you exposed to cards like Oona, Queen of the Fae, and latter means you have to let those cards resolve. That said, you can have ways to deal with them in the form of Beast Within or Duplicant. Years ago there was a Kaalia player in my meta that loved to put me under Iona locks. Therefore, there was a period where I can Arashi, the Sky Asunder as a way to deal with it. Since you're discarding it and activating its Channel ability, you're not technically casting the spell, allowing you to slip under the Iona and kill it.

    Another big problem you might face is mass land destruction, a la Armageddon or Jokulhaups. Being as how you're wanting to ramp and accelerate faster than the rest of the table, and you achieve that goal by putting lands onto the battlefield, having your lands destroyed can be a potentially backbreaking setback. The only real ways to deal with MLD is to either use your Heroic Intervention or hope you've got lands in your hand to cast Ramunap Excavator.

    Inversely, being mono-color means you can run mostly basic lands, which doesn't open you to up to land destruction spells like Ruination and nonbasic land hate like Blood Moon or Back to Basics. Your lands also don't hurt you, since there aren't shock lands coming in untapped. You may still take multiple points off of fetch lands, since you can replay them from your graveyard with Ramunap Excavator, but at most they'll deal 1 damage instead of 3.

    • Chameleon Colossus: I found I was headed more toward the combo route, and removed it in favor of another streamlined spell. If you don't want to be as all-in on combo as I am, Colossus is absolutely a worthwhile include.

    • Oblivion Stone / Nevinyrral's Disk: I ran O-Stone for a long time, only recently cutting it for the Staff of Domination. I came to terms with the fact that I'm all in combo, and was willing to take the risk of not being able to answer a problematic board if it meant that I had another infinite mana combo.

    • Beast Within / Krosan Grip: The same as above. Everything was done in an attempt to speed up and streamline the list to be as low and fast as possible.

    • Concordant Crossroads: I feel like the risk of giving the entire table haste greatly outweighs the reward of not needing Lightning Greaves to execute one of the combos.

    • Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Not only is having an 8 drop mana doubler needlessly expensive when I already run Mana Reflection, but Vorinclex is generally perceived as an all-around feel bad card that's likely to get you killed on the spot.

    • Regal Behemoth: It's a 6cmc doubler that only works if you're the Monarch. I very rarely ever attack with this deck at all, and I would need to make sure I had the Monarchy on the turn I want to go off. This is a pretty easy pass.

  • Forest

  • Strip Mine

  • Reliquary Tower

  • Worldly Tutor

  • Sylvan Library

  • Reclamation Sage

  • Garruk Wildspeaker

    • This hand lets you T1 Worldly for Tribe Elder, T2 cast Tribe Elder, and then T3 Library. You have the option of sacrificing Tribe Elder, or holding onto it to potentially shuffle away bad cards off of the Library.

    This hand is an example of being greedy and getting punished. If there was a third land soemwhere in the hand, it'd be a great turn 2 Wood Elves. However, there isn't. Often times I have to be careful not to get hooked into the trap hands with an Exploration in them.

    I can go a couple different directions with this hand, and it's largely dependent on what I draw off the top for my first turn. Turn 1 Sol Ring opens up turn 2 Wood Elves, whereas turn 1 Worldly Tutor should probably find Priest of Titania since I already have 2 elves in my opening seven.

    If you're wanting to play the deck, but are looking for cheaper options, there are several simple changes you can make:

    • The fetch lands are absolutely nonessential to the deck, and can be simply swapped for basic lands.

    • Staff of Domination: Can easily be replaced with Umbral Mantle and still achieve the same result with Selvala.

    • Three Visits: Can be cut for Kodama's Reach and still operate fine.

    • Mana Reflection: While incredibly powerful, can be substituted with Extraplanar Lens and not have too much of a reduction in power. Be mindful, however, of playing the Lens too early. It's often a favorite target of removal because it sets you back, not to mention it helps anyone else running basic forests.

    • Gaea's Cradle: This is completely unnecessary to the plan. The price tag it commands is completely justified, but you can get along just as well with a basic Forest in its place and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as a multi-mana producing land.

    I want to give a shout out to ChaosHazard, or Bill from the Spike Feeders, for reaching out to me about playing this deck in a future episode. It's the first time a content creator I follow has asked me about a deck I built, never mind one that I've poured as much time and effort into as this. Without further ado, here's that episode:

    Thank you so much for taking the time to read this primer! This deck has been a labor of love, and has gone through several iterations before finally settling on what you see before you. I'm constantly playtesting to try and figure out new lines of play, as well as to make sure to keep the rust from building. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them. I'll try my best to explain something, or give a reason, whenever I can.

    "I mean... the deck is unkind. Fair, but rough." [Even though it's a one trick pony and isn't subtle at all]." It's kinda like a sledgehammer in that regard."

    "It's important to get your daily servings of greens." - CloverAlters

    "Just wanted to let you know that i really liked your Primer on Tappedout and boy was i pumped as i saw your Contest decklist. So: credit where credit is due. You helped me loving my Omnath again!" - u/L3ll3ck

    "It always seems like your deck has nothing on the battlefield, and then everything."

    Foiled / Signed / Altered: 95/100

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    Updates Add

    Theros Beyond Death — Jan. 19, 2020
    Edit

    With the release of Theros Beyond Death comes another, incredibly powerful, addition to the deck in the form of Nyxbloom Ancient. It's almost exactly the same as the Mana Reflection that's already in the deck, but with a couple notable upsides:

    1) It makes my permanents tap for 3x as much mana, as opposed to just 2x.

    2) It's a creature, which gives me the ability to put it into play much easier than if it weren't. Suddenly Green Sun's Zenith, Chord of Calling, Natural Order, Tooth and Nail and Eldritch Evolution just put it straight from the deck to the board. There's presently no way to achieve that effect with Mana Reflection.

    Both of those points make it abundantly clear that this is something that's rightfully earned a spot in the deck. That just leaves the cut. Initially I thought of just doing a 1:1 swap of Reflection for Ancient, since they're almost the same card. However, after discussing it with people and mulling over it myself, I actually believe The Great Henge is the right choice. I was initially big on the Henge, and rightfully so because it's incredibly powerful. However, after getting in numerous games after including it, I never felt like it did anything truly remarkable for me. Therefore, the change is as follows:

    Add:

    Cut:

    Memory Jar — Dec. 26, 2019
    Edit
    Throne of Eldraine — Oct. 2, 2019
    Edit
    Magic 2020 — June 24, 2019
    Edit
    Modern Horizons — June 17, 2019
    Edit
    War of the Spark — April 21, 2019
    Edit
    Cutting the Strip Mine — March 13, 2019
    Edit
    Gaea's Cradle — March 3, 2019
    Edit
    Ravnica Alliegance — Feb. 14, 2019
    Edit
    Hareruya Sale — Jan. 17, 2019
    Edit

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