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[[Primer]] Cthulhu's Scrapyard Ω

Commander / EDH Annihilator Artifact Eldrazi Primer Ramp

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Lands (35)

CardAdvantage (8)

Ramp (17)

Utility (12)

Protection (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

TheTentacleGang (15)

Removal (10)

Maybeboard

Utility (4)

Introduction

It all began when I first got my hands on All is Dust. The art, the power level, the flavor, everything just resonated with me. At that moment, I knew I had to make a colorless deck. At first, it was mostly about generating value from artifact and using the Eldrazi titans as a finisher. My playgroup back then was super casual and this strategy proved successful for a while. As we all upgraded our decks, though, it was clear that I needed to redesign mine.

This is the third iteration of Cthulhu's Scrapyard, foregoing the artifact combos of the last version in favor of a tighter eldrazi list.

This primer, as is the case with all of them, is a work in progress. If I do not currently have the budget to buy some of the more expensive cards, they will be included in the maybeboard.

While colorless is fun and have plenty of tools, it certainly isn't going to compete against the highly tuned decks in a competitive environment. If you thought mono white or boros were subpar in EDH, oh boy do I have some bad news for you. Colorless has all the disadvantages of the other mono-colored decks combined without any of the upsides! That being said, ultimately, fun is subjective. This deck is generally explosive and difficult to slow down once it gets going. The speed at which it can ramp backed up by The Tentacle Gang is usually enough to come out on top. Don't be fooled, this very much is an all-in deck, but one where the commander is not essential.

Advantages of being colorless

No color fixing required; you can have as much utility lands as you want

We can run as much mana rocks as we want

Resilient against color hate, protection from color, etc.

You get to be "that guy" piloting a colorless deck

Disadvantages of being colorless

Very dependent on artifacts

Card advantage is an issue without much tutors available

Lack of interaction; there aren't many colorless instants

Generally speaking, an effect in colorless has a higher CMC than its colored counterpart

You might like this deck if:

You like to ramp and do it fast

You like to play big, dumb creatures

You like having the options for combos without it being the focus of the deck

You like non-traditional strategies

You like having a clear path to victory

You might not like this deck if:

You prefer an attrition/recursion game plan

You prefer small but resilient creatures

You prefer a deck filled with combos

You prefer sticking to a proven strategy

You prefer to have multiple and/or complicated win conditions

Kozilek, the Great Distortion shines when you cast him with an empty hand, as it will refill your hand and keep the engine going so to speak. The ability to counter spells is more relevant than you'd think, albeit situational. I've stolen games on the back of countering big spells that targeted me multiple times, and with a bit of luck, you can do it too. Using Kozilek, the Great Distortion helps with 2 of the major weaknesses of colorless, which is the access to card draw and the lack of interaction. However, Kozilek, the Great Distortion is not as consistent, which leads us to the other Kozilek.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth trades the draw up to 7 for guaranteed draw 4, which is already much more consistent. It also means you will draw 4 cards regardless of your hand size. It also trades Menace for Annihilator 4 and the ability to counter for graveyard shuffling/anti mill. Considering the speed at which we can cast it, Annihilator 4 is much more powerful than Menace, and the problem with the counter ability is its inconsistency.

Colorless lacks certain things colored decks take for granted. If cEDH is of any indication, then we can all agree that having a draw engine sitting in the command zone is really good. In a colorless deck, it's amazing, especially considering it can't be countered (on cast trigger). In fact, it's the only reason why we can get away with running so much ramp. The two-turn clock of a 12/12 big boi and the annihilator triggers or counter magic are just a plus. Ultimately, which of the 2 Kozilek you choose is up to you; there's very few cards that will need to be changed accordingly.

Zhulodok, Void Gorger: The double cascade trigger makes this the runner up for the best commander in a big mana deck. It might now be card draw, but it's the next best thing we have access to. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all this boi brings to the table. Cascade's RNG makes for an inherently fun/varied play experience and can lead to explosive plays, but it is less reliable than the 2 Kozilek.

Emrakul, the Promised End: As fitting thematically as it is salt inducing. Potentially the cheapest of the titans to get in play, but you will struggle with card draw and run out of gas.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger/Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Colorless removal is somewhat limited and having one in the command zone is pretty cool, but once again, you will struggle with card draw and run out of gas.

Karn, Silver Golem/Karn, Legacy Reforged/The Peregrine Dynamo: Best suited for an artifact/combo deck.

Hope of Ghirapur/Traxos, Scourge of Kroog/Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter: Best suited for a stax/Voltron deck.

Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut: Best suited for a token deck.

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate: Best suited for a +1/+1 deck.

The main goal is to cast Kozilek, Butcher of Truth as early as possible. To be able to do this, we run as many good mana rocks as we possibly can and play them as soon as possible. While this strategy is fairly consistent, it means you will most likely end up with only one or two cards in hand when you finally get to cast Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. That where the choice of our commander comes into play, as you will draw 4 cards as you cast it, which mean going all in isn't an issue since you'll refill your hand anyway.

Having huge Eldrazis is a win condition in and of itself, but having a backup is a good idea. There are some combos that can be done in colorless, which I've listed in the Combos section of this primer.

An easy way to make sure you can win by combat is to slow down the game and/or lock your opponents out of the game with stax effects. Dropping a Winter Orb the same turn Kozilek, Butcher of Truth comes in is devastating. That being said, I specifically chose to cut stax effect in favor of a healthier playgroup; you should definitely add stax if your only goal is to win.

The biggest weakness of the deck is effects such as Null Rod/Karn, the Great Creator. Hardcasting cards like Spine of Ish Sah, Meteor Golem, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre can get rid of those cards once they are in play, but doing so without our mana rocks might prove difficult. With a fair bit of luck, we can stop such cards from ever entering the battlefield by countering them with Kozilek, the Great Distortion. Hellkite Tyrant is another card that can really screw with our game plan. Fortunately, it doesn't have typically comes with haste, though.

Forced sacrifice effects such as Grave Pact/Sheoldred, Whispering One are also a problem since we have very few creatures and would like to keep them. Recasting Kozilek, Butcher of Truth isn't all that bad though, since you will draw a massive amount of cards (and hopefully mana rocks) to leverage against the commander tax. If facing this kind of strategy, try and tutor for combo pieces and not rely on the beat down strategy.

We are also vulnerable to early aggression and token swarm. Steel Hellkite and the plethora of removal we are running helps mitigate the effects of early game hate.

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Coming soon

Cards marked with a "~" are cards I'm considering cutting.

The namesake of the deck.

Artisan of Kozilek: Huge annihilator beater that also act as recursion.

Bane of Bala Ged: Huge "annihilator" beater.

Blightsteel Colossus: Can potentially one-shot someone and is indestructible.

Emrakul, the Promised End: Huge, evasive annihilator beater that can't be countered and possibly screw over an opponent of our choice and can be used politically.

Flayer of Loyalties: Huge annihilator beater that also makes another huge annihilator beater!

It That Betrays: Huge annihilator beater that makes All is Dust/Ugin, the Spirit Dragon/Annihilator much more potent.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion: Huge, hard to block beater that draws us cards and potentially allow us to counter problematic spells.

Pathrazer of Ulamog: Huge, hard to block annihilator beater.

Rise of the Eldrazi: Basically, a mix of the three titans' abilities on a single card.

Steel Hellkite: A great way to get rid of problematic tokens and/or specific permanents, albeit not that reliably. Also acts as one of the only ways to block flyers and/or hit in the air.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger: Huge, indestructible beater that exiles on cast and mills our opponent, what's not to love?

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Yet another huge, indestructible annihilator beater. This one destroys a permanent on cast. It is also one of our only tools against mill decks.

Void Winnower: Huge beater that slows our opponents down while leaving us unaffected.

~Wurmcoil Engine: Not a particularly strong beater on its own, but is somewhat resilient and is a rare source of lifelink.

Zhulodok, Void Gorger: Not a particularly strong beater either, but the blowout potential of a double cascade trigger is huge.

Although generally good, colorless removal options are usually paired with high CMC.

All is Dust: In this deck, this pretty much is Cyclonic Rift on steroid.

Calamity of the Titans/Titan's Presence: Can be cast reliably enough and have a low enough CMC to justify the downside.

Cityscape Leveler: Huge beater in its own right that is a repeatable single target removal.

Desecrate Reality: Multi-target removal and a reanimation on a single card.

Duplicant/Meteor Golem: Removal that gives us a body.

Karn Liberated: Repeatable single-target removal.

Portal to Phyrexia: Multi-"target" (edict) removal and a reanimation on a single card.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: Repeatable single/multi-target removal that leaves us unaffected.

We don't run a lot of creatures and want them to stick.

Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots: Gives haste to our big beaters whilst protecting them.

Card advantage is a weakness of colorless, so we'll pick every good one that comes our way.

Endbringer: The card draw is the most relevant ability on this card, but the ping/unblockable abilities can come in handy.

Memory Jar: Pseudo wheel-ish? Allows us to dig quite deep in our deck.

Mystic Forge: Allows us to cast our whole deck except lands (which we can exile). Absolutely nuts.

Palantir of Orthanc: Can be very dangerous for our opponents to deny us the draw considering our average CMC.

Scroll Rack: Allows us to "filter" our hand/draws like no other cards.

Sensei's Divining Top: Allows us to filter our draws and allows for infinite draw if we have infinite mana.

Solemn Simulacrum: Land ramp and card draw on a body.

The One Ring: Repeatable and exponential card draw.

These are our value engines, combo pieces, shenanigans, etc.

Abstruse Archaic: Can copy a myriad of abilities, from Annihilator to Cascade.

Conduit of Ruin: Act both as cost reduction and a tutor. Colorless does not have a lot of tutor options, so we'll pick every good one that comes our way.

Darksteel Monolith: Allows us to cheat obscene amount of mana.

Forsaken Monument: An anthem for our creatures, a source of life gain, ramp AND a combo piece.

Karn, Living Legacy: Ramp and card advantage on a single card. The emblem isn't what we are necessarily after, but can prove useful.

Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter/Skittering Cicada: Allows us to play at instant speed while also being able to become decent threats on their own.

Oblivion Sower: Decent body and can potentially ramp us. Especially strong with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger/Bane of Bala Ged as it doesn't care how the card was exiled.

Staff of Domination: Allows for infinite life gain/card draw if we have infinite mana.

Ugin's Mastery: Somewhat acts as card advantage while providing blockers if needs be, as well as a pseudo-cascade.

Ugin, the Ineffable: Cost reduction for the whole deck, card advantage and removal in a single slot.

Wandering Archaic  : Explore the Vastlands   will most likely never be used, but Wandering Archaic   can provide insane value or at the very least tax our oppoents.

We want every good piece of ramp we can get our hands on.

Basalt Monolith: Amazing ramp for the CMC & an important piece for the infinite mana combo.

Everflowing Chalice: Decent ramp for the CMC; Scalable.

Fellwar Stone: Great ramp for the CMC.

Grim Monolith: Amazing ramp for the CMC.

Jeweled Lotus: Amazing ramp for the CMC.

Lion's Eye Diamond: Amazing ramp for the CMC. Pairs really well with Kozilek, the Great Distortion.

Mana Crypt: Great ramp for the CMC.

Mana Vault: Amazing ramp for the CMC.

Metalworker: Amazing ramp for the CMC, if a bit unreliable. Can cause a huge swing in tempo by allowing us to play cards we just drew if it's on board when we cast our commander and refill our hand.

Mind Stone: Ramp that can also be used as card draw if needs be.

Moonsilver Key: Land ramp for more resilience or tutor for one of our better mana rock.

Mox Diamond: Amazing ramp for the CMC.

Mox Opal: Amazing ramp for the CMC.

Sol Ring: Great ramp for the CMC.

Thought Vessel: Great ramp for the CMC. No maximum hand size can come in handy with infinite card draw.

Thran Dynamo: Great ramp for the CMC.

Wayfarer's Bauble: Land ramp for more resilience.

We can get away with running a lot of utility lands since we don't care about colors.

Ancient Tomb: Taps for more than 1 mana.

Buried Ruin: Artifact recursion.

Cavern of Souls: Makes The Tentacle Gang uncounterable.

Command Beacon: Lets us avoid paying the commander tax.

Eldrazi Temple: Taps for more than 1 mana.

Eye of Ugin: Cost reduction for our beaters and a couple of utility creatures, which also lets us tutor.

Field of the Dead: MAkes us plenty of tokens considering the amount of different utility lands we are running.

Gemstone Caverns: Magical Christmas Land #1, which may allow us to start the game with a land already in play.

Haven of the Spirit Dragon: Recursion for our Ugin planeswalkers.

Homeward Path: Prevents our opponents from stealing The Tentacle Gang.

Inventors' Fair: Artifact tutor.

Reliquary Tower: No maximum hand size can come in handy with infinite card draw.

Rogue's Passage: Makes The Tentacle Gang unblockable.

Sanctum of Ugin: Tutor for The Tentacle Gang.

Scavenger Grounds: Graveyard hate.

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods: Taps for more than 1 mana.

Strip Mine: Land destruction.

Temple of the False God: Taps for more than 1 mana. Contentious inclusion in any deck, but if this card goes in any deck at all, this is the one.

The Grey Havens: Scry/Filtering is always welcomed, especially since colorless needs all the help it can get with card advantage.

Thespian's Stage: Most of the time, this will copy lands that taps for more than 1 mana or gives cost reduction, but it can also copy other utility lands according to the state of the game.

Urza's Mine/Urza's Tower/Urza's Tower/Urza's Workshop: The opportunity cost isn't all that high and an argument could be made in favor of the Magical Christmas Land #2 in which you just happen to draw all three/four lands in your early game. Don't hold your breath, though.

Urza's Saga: Artifact tutor.

Vesuva: See Thespian's Stage.

War Room: Card advantage on a land, and the activation doesn't cost us life.

Wasteland: Land destruction.

Wastes: Every deck needs basics for effects like Solemn Simulacrum or Path to Exile and we're also running Wayfarer's Bauble.

Zhalfirin Void: See The Grey Havens.

Tutors

They make the game repetitive and inherently more unfun, and I will die on that hill. Add them if you want to win, though.

Stax

Silent Arbiter: A lot stronger with Kozilek, the Great Distortion at the helm, but feels lackluster otherwise. Decent stax piece in a more casual meta where combat is more prevalent than combos.

Instants, Sorceries & Enchantments

Eldrazi Conscription: Somewhat slow and isn't all that impactful. The +10/+10 is often irrelevant and paying 10 for Annihilator 2 just doesn't cut it.

Not of this World: We're already running Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots to protect The Tentacle Gang, which is not only more reliable but can be switched around. Its effect is once again too narrow to be worth an inclusion.

Warping Wail: If you're lucky, countering a game winning sorcery with this feels really good, but its effect is too narrow to be included in the deck. Probably worth a slot if you are running into a lot of Vandalblast/Shatterstorm/Merciless Eviction.

Utility

Mirage Mirror: Still on the fence on this one as well. The value it can provide can be bonkers, but I'd rather further my game plan than hope to copy something someone else is doing, thus having this slot dedicated to a combo piece of my own seems like the sensible choice.

Trading Post: A lot of people used to be in love with this card, but I found it too slow compared to the other options we have at our disposal. The card does shine with infinite untap, though, as you can gain infinite life, create a myriad of goats, recur almost anything from your graveyard and draw your entire deck.

Vedalken Orrery: Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter and Skittering Cicada are both superior version of an effect we don't absolutely need.

Ramp

Burnished Hart/Thaumatic Compass  : I'd rather run more utility lands than Wastes, and could not justify running this card for such a low count of basics. I definitely would if the cost was lower, but I found mana rocks put in more work than this. That being said, obviously if you often run into Blood Moon/Back to Basics type of effects, swapping some of the narrower utility lands for more Wastes is a good idea. If you do, this card becomes a whole lot better.

Lands

Lotus Field/Lotus Vale/Scorched Ruins/Maze of Ith: The mana base is already greedy as hell and adding these would increase the probably of dead lands even further.

Infinite mana

Forsaken Monument + Basalt Monolith

While Forsaken Monument is in play, tap Basalt Monolith for 4 mana. Then, use 3 of that mana to untap it, rinse and repeat, netting you 1 mana each time.

Infinite card draw

Infinite mana OR Ugin, the Ineffable + Sensei's Divining Top + Mystic Forge

Generate infinite mana and tap Sensei's Divining Top to draw a card, putting on the top of your library. Play it using Mystic Forge and repeat as much as you want to draw a card every time. Alternatively, you can achieve the same result by using the cost reduction of Ugin, the Ineffable to play Sensei's Divining Top for 0 CMC.

Infinite card draw & life gain

Infinite mana + Staff of Domination

Generate infinite mana and simply pay for the ability of your choice and its ability to untap itself.

Upgrades and/or additions

Mishra's Workshop:

Possible replacements; meta dependent

Wastes ⇔ Utility lands, for a more consistent but less toolboxy mana base. Doing so would also allow us to run Terrain Generator/Endless Atlas/Extraplanar Lens to great effect but deprive us from the miscellaneous utility of certain lands.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Cthulhu's Scrapyard REDUX — Aug. 26, 2023
Edit

I hadn't updated this deck for years, and we've seen the release of a lot of very powerful colorless options across different sets since then.

With the amount of eldrazi cards/support now available, this deck is plenty strong as a stompy deck. As such, I've trimmed the combos and will be relocating then to a new home.

Overhaul and officialization of the primer. — Aug. 15, 2019
Edit
Changing the general & lowering the CMC — Aug. 1, 2019
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Lowering the CMC — July 5, 2019
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Top Ranked
Date added 5 years
Last updated 1 year
Exclude colors WUBRG
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

26 - 0 Mythic Rares

42 - 0 Rares

22 - 0 Uncommons

4 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 5.15
Tokens Construct 0/0 C, Emblem Karn, Living Legacy, Manifest 2/2 C, Powerstone, Spirit 2/2 C, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders EDH decks i want to try, ploos, Eldrazi, Ramp, colorless ideas, EDH, 1, Commander/EDH, Colourless, Edh
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