Prepare for trouble, and make it triple (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Prepare for trouble, and make it triple

Commander / EDH Artifact Combo Cruel Control Death and Taxes Enchantment WUB (Esper)

Pygmyrhino990

Land (39)

Sorcery (9)

Enchantment (15)

Instant (12)

Commander (1)

Creature (13)

Artifact (11)

Sideboard

Creature (6)

Enchantment (5)

Instant (2)

Sorcery (1)

1x Thoughtseize

Planeswalker (1)

1x Sorin Markov

Maybeboard

Enchantment (5)

Instant (3)

Artifact (1)

1x Strionic Resonator

Sorcery (2)

Creature (1)

1x Academy Rector

Hello MTV welcome to my Sen Triplets deck. I understand that you have never seen a sen triplets edh deck so today I will show expert tour of my deck.

DISCLAIMER Show

Primer Show

Commander choice

So what is Sen Triplets good at doing? Why the triplets?

The beauty of the triplets is that there is no beauty to them. What they do best is allow us to assess upcoming threats whilst having the correct colour identity to give us access to the best options for control in the game. Also, by using Sen Triplets we can disrupt opponent's combos, use their own combos to our advantage, and disable the other controlling players at the table. They also provide political superiority to us, allowing us to remain untouched so that the opponents, or as I call them, minions, can fight amongst themselves whilst I slowly hatch my plan, and maintain a strong grip on the game being played.

Beginning the construction of the deck

I am a budget player. This deck does not reflect that. If you want to see my budget decks please visit my page. Because of my cheap ass, many of the cards that I have stored into my knowledge include very cheap cards, yet I am open to suggestions of any price.

Whilst constructing this deck, I had two things in mind; How can I prevent the game from being played?; how can I win whilst doing this?

What this led to was some key combos and enabling pieces eventually pulling me towards an artifact/enchantment control deck. The main controllers in the deck include, but are not limited to:

Solemnity: I love this card, I have made a multitude of decks based around this card, not only does it lock many opponents out of the game, but it is cheap and works as an enabler for some of my other combos
Ghostly Prison/Propaganda: Both the exact same, and both incredibly powerful, virtually locking other players out from attacking me, allowing them to focus on each other whilst I ramp into my game.
Painful Quandary: HOW I LOVE THIS CARD, if I could run more than one copy of this card I would, this card is golden and is quite the game finisher directly or indirectly. In a format like commander, 5 life doesn't seem like too much until you're at the bottom.
Web of Inertia , strictly against decks using graveyard shenanigans, which in EDH is most decks, thus it remains a mainboard card (even though Rest in Peace is in the sideboard I know).

Gathering momentum

So as I was building the deck, I thought to myself, "I can't control the deck too much with cards that don't even apply so often". What I needed was something wicked. Something so cruel, no one would dare, or even be able to, oppose me. I needed something infinite.

With Solemnity already in the deck, it became apparent that Decree of Silence would be a fine addition. With the two on the board the game is already locked in in my favour. My minions may aswell have conceded. Godhead of Awe virtually lock my opponents who play aggro out of the game. What's better than turning all your opponents creatures into weenies? killing them at the same time! By using the two aforementioned creatures plus Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite our opponents are locked out of playing creatures. By not playing them, they leave them in hand, allowing us to play them with the triplets (or they can play them using all their mana so that we don't gain the advantage, wasting their own turns).

Okay, so control is good and all, but we still need to protect our board. Using Enchanted Evening we can turn everything into enchantments. Then we can turn over Greater Auramancy to declare our entire board to be under the cover of night. To protect auramancy we can use Indestructibility which also gains shroud from its bearer. Otherwise we can use Indomitable Archangel to protect our artifacts and our ramp.

Other lockout

- Detention Sphere is good against any deck, works well especially against token decks, and there is little chance of it being destroyed.

Rhystic Study is handy card draw in the event a player does play a spell. Even if I don't get the card it throws off that players curve probably messing around with their combos
Angelic Arbiter/ Blazing Archon : the two of these are amazing at protecting me from any damage, pretty much leaving me open only to burn decks which I then have quick solutions to. Also makes players rethink their entire strategy to either revolve around destroying these guys or managing attack/spell resources.
Iona, Shield of Emeria: handy against mono coloured decks to completely stop them from playing (specifically voltron decks and soul sisters) whilst also good against good stuff decks that pretty much only play multicoloured cards (such as dragon tribal). My favourite unseen aspect of this card is that by naming the colour of an opponent's commander you can lock them out of their strategies almost entirely.
Magister Sphinx is handy against lifegain decks and then also becomes a finisher. This sphinx is a very good political tool as it allows me to draw alliances together and crumble others. When playing alongside storm decks or aggro decks, if I can align with them, this card becomes an immediate finisher.

Card advantage

In a deck so reliant around 2 card and 3 card combos, we need some good tutor and card draw. The beauty of this deck is that most of the enhancements needed for the lockout and combos are ~3 mana or less, with exceptions of course. What this means is that Zur the Enchanter can come in handy for throwing down a Solemnity or a Propaganda when we need it. In fact, Zur can fetch up 9 of our 15 enchantments. Them being:

Fetchable enchantments with Zur the Enchanter

List of enchantments fetchable with Zur the Enchanter:

As well as those, from the sideboard it can fetch:

Otherwise in terms of card advantage we have Rhystic Study which has already been discussed, we have Thopter Spy Network which not only generate blockers in the event of an attack, but can give us cards once we start finishing off the game for our opponents. Anticipate will forever be my favourite card draw card because you get to select from the top 3 AND get rid of useless or tutorable cards. Dream Fracture is also good, not much to say there. Enlightened Tutor can search up 31 cards in our deck, which is pretty dang good for 1 mana. Esper Charm is good value for cheap mana which is easily fixable with our mana rocks. Perplex is also good for tutoring up our 3 mana enchantments and providing control. Demonic Tutor is amazing and needs not be discussed. Brilliant Ultimatum is something we can play once we are winning to win some more. Sphinx Summoner is good for scooping up cards we need without mana restrictions.

My other favourite card drawer is Consecrated Sphinx. Not only does it allows me to draw a card when another player draws, but I can draw two. Keyword, MAY. I have the option. This provides me with the option to appear less threatening by "appearing to be scrambling through my deck for answers", or vice versa, when in fact the opposite is true.

Ramp

Most of the ramp is rather straightforward, it comes in the form of mana rocks and mana combos (Grand Architect + Pili-Pala ).

Azorius Signet, Dimir Signet, Orzhov Signet: perfect for mana fixing and they can all set each other off too.
Fieldmist Borderpost, Mistvein Borderpost: if only there was an orzhov coloured one of these it would be great, and they can be played turn 1 by withdrawing the land we tapped.
Obelisk of Esper : rather straightforward mana fix (in case you didn't work it out mana fixing is very important here)
Sol Ring a staple amongst all EDH decks.

Other card choices

So after all that control, we need some finishers. Once the opponents are all emptied out, once all they have is gone, we strike with these:

Sphinx Sovereign : yep, the only non taxing card. Just a good beater that can accelerate the game a little. Otherwise once our opponents are emptied out I can just sounded in with all out huge creatures that have utilities.

As for other spells the list goes as follows:

day of judgement , Supreme Verdict and Merciless Eviction : my 3 favorite esper coloured board wipes. Other than that there is AEther Snap which functions as a semi-solemnity+boardwipe
Bribery: if I can get to an opponent combo before they do it's a win in my book.
Choice of Damnations: I'm way too excited to use this card. I love everything about it, it's the ultimate political tool for the deck.
Fractured Identity : an ideal 'pick on one player' card that also gives me political advantage.
Omniscience: the unsung hero of this deck, if I can ramp into him or cast him for free the game is virtually over for the opponent.
Counter spell , Countersquall, Desertion, Disallow, Dream Fracture , and Perplex: the counterspells of this deck, serve mostly to control the boardstate.
Dismember: always good and is seen in most lists these days regardless of colours

Synergies, combos, and ideal conditions

Decree of Silence + Solemnity : Hard lock against all opponents, my favourite finisher in the deck. Coupled with a board wipe then one of my big boys it can end the game

Enchanted Evening + Greater Auramancy : protects everything, and also becomes a political tool in that my opponents with enchantment removal can easily pick each other off whilst we remain protected.

Paradox Haze + Sen Triplets : Means I can choose two players each turn to draw resources from and lock out from the game

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Godhead of Awe : wicked synergy that destroys all my opponents creatures leaving everyone open for a solid sweep that can't be stopped.

Grand Architect + Pili-Pala : yes I don't NEED this combo, but I do want it because most of my deck is really high mana and this allows me to cast any of my finishers.

Ethersworn Adjudicator + Unwinding Clock : not infinite, but means I can destroy 4 permanents each turn cycle rather than 1. The clock also untaps my mana rocks which is handy in cast I don't have EA out.

Celestial Dawn + Sen Triplets : probably one of the most relevant synergies in the deck. What this allows me to do is play green and red spells from an opponents hand without having to worry about Mana fixing. Normally I would run into issues with this by having to play their lands in some way and then casting their cards, but now I can just play it all as if it were white Mana.

Sideboard

So you may be wondering why there is so much control on the side board. Well the answer is simple: the deck already has enough control anymore is overkill and takes up valuable slots.

Azor's Elocutors does not work with solemnity, so the two would side out for each other

Brago, King Eternal, good, but didn't make the full cut. Not see about the security of him in that slot.

Curse of Verbosity and Curse of Vitality are good political tools, but can be too enabling in some cases. In general it's easier to sideboard them in the first place then switch them in to avoid the risk of losing the first game instantly by enabling the opponent too hard. I purposely excluded the black curse because it gave too much of an advantage to my opponents.

Ethersworn Canonist is handy most of the time, unless against affinity. In that car it becomes a nightmare because more of their deck is artifact than ours and becomes dead weight. Otherwise its a last resort.

Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer does not work with solemnity so they side out for each other. Otherwise it's a great card and provides me with political advantage.

Leyline of Sanctity is good in some cases but can become a dead draw against titanshift or Tron decks.

Murder, Path to Exile, Thoughtseize are want cards in this deck not needs.

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic is an alternative commander in a worst case scenario, but is also a good staller.

Phyrexian Unlife not very useful most of the time, but 10 extra life is great, and let's me go invincible with Solemnity

Rest in Peace for graveyard shenanigans

Sorin Markov had one lying around from a while ago and thought I would put him to some use. Works well with the triplets by being able to anticipate players moves and/or investigate another player as I want.

Sphinx of the Steel Wind: you never know when you'll need a good beater. And esper offers nothing better than this guy

Notable exclusions

So there is a few things I believe it is worth excluding from this deck and some of them are more controversial than others. My main exclusion is the Monarch as an option in the game. As far as is my knowledge there is no way to give someone else the monarch without having it first yourself, and I do not want that. Being the monarch is just a fancy way of saying "ooh hit me please" which I do not want. If you do know an esper coloured way to hand over the crown please tell.

Mycosynth Lattice is way too enabling for my opponents, whilst we are already at "the sweet spot" it gives them an opportunity to come back.

Thoughts and possible additions

This section is about my thoughts about what could possibly go into the deck:

Switcheroo : allows me to trade out pieces I have and don't need for pieces my opponents have that they either really want, or I really want.

Other work Show

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Updates Add

Okay so this happened — Sept. 17, 2017

Edit

I was winning. I had Reliquary Tower on the board yet not many cards in hand. I also had Omniscience and Dictate of Kruphix on the board aswell, so I was in the middle of "the world will learn of our peaceful ways by force" situation. My two cards draw for that turn were Fractured Identity and Consecrated Sphinx. I played them both, with FI targeting my own dictate of kruphix (this is turn 6 so nothing had really happened yet). Now, all 3 opponents had a Dictate of Kruphix. By the end of the next cycle I had drawn:

(2+2+2+2)+(2+2+2+2)+(2+2+2+2)+(4)=36 cards.

Needless to say that I quickly board wiped, played every creature I had, returned Consecrated Sphinx to my hand and thus the battlefield with Academy Ruins WAITED A WHOLE TURN to attack (drawing an additional 36 cards) and then swung with all my might closing out the entire game.

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Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Key combos	Grand Architect + Pili-Pala Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Godhead of Awe Enchanted Evening + Greater Auramancy Decree of Silence + Solemnity Celestial Dawn + Sen Triplets Paradox Haze + Sen Triplets Ethersworn Adjudicator + Unwinding Clock
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 6 Mythic Rares 41 - 6 Rares 14 - 3 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.02
Tokens	Copy Clone
Folders	commander
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