Protean Chromium, Elder Dragon

Commander / EDH Starsky2814

SCORE: 332 | 164 COMMENTS | 35719 VIEWS | IN 120 FOLDERS


Starsky2814 says... #1

lonely1, you can have fetchlands, such as, Verdant Catacombs in the deck. Even with it not being possible to search for a forest. The fetchland has no mana symbols and does not have a color identity tied with it, so it is legal to have in the deck.

July 7, 2018 7:07 p.m.

Inanity says... #2

A must add? No. But it would certainly be potentially very potent. It's definitely a good way to cheat a bunch of stuff on the board though, and I am strongly considering it. In the process of a serious revamp now, to bring mine more to the auratron side than the voltron side. I'll get the chance to see it work again next week. And now I might even have to consider the Transmuters/Transfigurer.

On a side note, have you considered Umbra Mystic? I'm eyeing that one for some additional protection.

July 8, 2018 4:25 a.m.

Starsky2814 says... #3

Inanity, I like the updates you made to Elder Mutable Ninja Dragons. Let me know how it plays out next week. I’ll be out of town for the next couple of weeks, so I won’t be able to play my build against my meta for a while. Though, I have been doing a lot of play testing and I do like the additions of both Traumatize and Tunnel Vision that I included to my build. Very terrifying, if they go unanswered. Just need to be careful of graveyard hate.

I did consider Umbra Mystic when I first constructed the deck. Not a bad addition at all. I just decided against it, at the moment. I felt like I had a decent amount of protection already included. Plus, Chromium, the Mutable protects itself. My meta uses more spot removal than mass removal, so I figured I’d be transforming into a 1/1, unblockable human, often.

July 8, 2018 11:16 a.m.

iscottboy123 says... #4

Why do you run omniciance and how do you cast it?

July 8, 2018 3:51 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #5

Replenish, why cast?

July 8, 2018 3:57 p.m.

Starsky2814 says... #6

iscottboy123, I cheat in Omniscience by discarding it and casting Replenish or Open the Vaults. Alternatively, you can run Academy Rector and some sort of sac outlet to cheat Omniscience in from your library.

July 8, 2018 3:58 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #7

High Market is consitently a good card for sacrificing Academy Rectors, Arena Rectors, and Protean Hulks. Flash is good too.

July 8, 2018 4:06 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #8

Good job! Congrats on being Top Rank #1!

July 9, 2018 8:36 a.m.

Tunman says... #9

Why don't you play Vanishing instead of Predator's Gambit or Indestructibility?

July 9, 2018 12:55 p.m.

skoobysnackz says... #10

Congrats on the #1, keep it up!

July 9, 2018 12:57 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #11

Vanishing Requires to activate, which isn't always easy to get. Indestructibility costs , and for Vanishing to be useful even once, you need , two times is more than wasteful, and otherwise it isn't than great of a card.

The reason I could see running it is for removal, which I don't think is super nessecary, despite being a way to get rid of commanders.

July 9, 2018 2:08 p.m.

jesusaintnodj says... #12

This is a beatiful list! Saved and upvoted. I have a couple thoughts/suggestions for you, and I’d love your opinion on them.

Have you thought about alternative win cons in a non voltron setting? Such as adding Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage to drain out your opponents if you can get an attack off with Chromium? You already run plenty of enchantments that double life, gain life, etc.

I also vote for the addition of a couple extra turn shenanigans (if we want to go a little more multiplayer and less voltron). Time Sieve comes to mind, since we’re returning a ton of artifacts to play, why not also take an extra turn? Also, since we’re running Tunnel Vision we could take advantage of such spells as Temporal Mastery.

One last thing on my mind; I think a way to put stuff back into our deck might be useful, just in case the game goes long (or we Tunnel Vision ourselves to death). So maybe a Day’s Undoing.

July 9, 2018 5:24 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #13

Day's Undoing has some application, but Time Reversal doesn't end the turn. Given infinite money, Timetwister is the preferred card.

This deck I feel would much rather not shuffle the whole graveyard into it's deck. Stream of Consciousness works out pretty well in that way.

On another note, Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond combo would be the route this deck would take if it really did go with that, as both pieces are Replenishable.

Final point: Effects like Time Sieve have little application in this deck. Time Warp would be much better, as would most effects in that realm. Sacrificing 5 artifacts is almost back-breaking for this deck, and even with an Open the Vaults in hand, you's have wasted a turn using it, which defeats the whole purpose.

July 9, 2018 6:02 p.m.

Starsky2814 says... #14

Thank you, SynergyBuild and skoobysnackz.

Tunman, like SynergyBuild stated. I also, didn’t find Vanishing too beneficial in this case. It is an option for protection, if extra is needed for certain metas. Right now, for me, the flex Auras that can be swapped out for alternate spells are, Predator's Gambit, Indestructibility and Spirit Loop. So if this were to be used as a blueprint. Those spells are good as gone for other flavor spells.

jesusaintnodj, thanks for the +1! I’m glad you enjoy the build! SynergyBuild, did mention before that I should add an infinite combo. So by popular demand, I’ll do just that. I’ll add Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond . Also, I have been playing around with a couple prototype builds based on this. One that is the “Control Edition” and the other I have dubbed the “Time Walk Edition.” Time Walk Edition, includes Nexus of Fate, Time Warp, Temporal Mastery, Temporal Trespass, Karn's Temporal Sundering, Temporal Manipulation, Capture of Jingzhou and Walk the Aeons. Cards that I cut for those are, Predator's Gambit, Indestructibility, Spirit Loop, Gilded Lotus, Consecrated Sphinx, Hero of Iroas, Kor Spiritdancer and Sram, Senior Edificer.

July 9, 2018 6:54 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #15

Those all seem like great options for the extra turn varient, will you write up a decklist and put it in the description?

Also, what are you dropping for the combo?

It seems like Intuition might be a fun joke card with the combo.

Here is what you do: Fetch an Archeomancer, Mnemonic Wall, and an Unburial Rites

Whichever is left in hand, cast it, recurring Intuition (or recur Archaeomancer then recur Intuition if that was the card left in hand), then cast Intuition again, fetching Auramancer, Monk Idealist, and Exquisite Blood, then whatever is left in hand, cast it, if it wasn't Exquisite Blood then recur and cast Exquisite Blood.

After all of that, flashback the Unburial Rites targeting either Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer (whichever is left) recurring Intuition a final time. Cast it, fetching Argivian Find, Mine Excavation, and Sanguine Bond. Whatever is left in hand, cast it, if it wasn't Sanguine Bond, return Sanguine Bond to hand, and cast it.

It is an 8 card combo, but every piece is fetchable with one Intuition The combo costs , so it is really easy to go off turn one with it.

July 9, 2018 8:11 p.m.

MalcolmTent says... #16

Necropotence is great for mass draw and you're in the right colours to remove it before discarding if need be. Chain of Vapor

July 9, 2018 8:17 p.m.

Starsky2814 says... #17

SynergyBuild, the decklist is now in the description.

I’m not quite sure what I’d cut to include the combo. What are your thoughts on cuts? I’m probably leaning towards removing Predator's Gambit and Spirit Loop.

I love the 8 card combo! No one will ever see that coming. lol.

MalcolmTent, bouncing Necropotence before discard, isn’t a bad idea at all. Also, protects it from removal, if need be. I’ll definitely keep that in mind. Thank you!

July 9, 2018 9:27 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #18

I could see those drops (Spirit Loop and Predator's Gambit), possibly drop Hero of Iroas for Cloud Key while you are at it, because it affects more of your deck, and is harder to remove.

Otherwise the combo doesn't need any support, as Chromium, the Mutable is a sure-fire source of life-loss.

July 9, 2018 9:36 p.m.

iiTzSeb says... #19

I'm honestly surprised that you don't have any of the swords in the decklist tbh

July 10, 2018 2:29 a.m.

Starsky2814 says... #20

iiTzSeb, the only swords that are worth it to me, would be, Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of Fire and Ice. I thought about adding those two, but didn’t find it necessary, since I decided I’d be fully committed to the Auratron route, rather than equipment Voltron.

July 10, 2018 2:49 a.m.

iiTzSeb says... #21

Starsky2814 I'd say run the feast and famine so that you can have the possible threat of fully open mana during opponents' turns while playing an Esper commander

Always good to be intimidating.

Also Mycosynth Lattice + Unwinding Clock would be a similarly effective combo that would create tons of value that would support your Voltron strat/board state as well

or a Celestial Dawn + Caged Sun combo

Just things that I run in my Esper EDH decks that kind of help give the various strategies a little boost to get there faster or stay there longer

July 10, 2018 3:42 a.m.

SynergyBuild says... #22

Celestial Dawn/Mycosynth Lattice is only run in Esper because of Sen Triplets, otherwise, they aren't worth it for their comboes.

Mycosynth Lattice sets you up for the Vandalblast loss, and Celestial Dawn isn't good for the deck with all of our fixing. Unwinding Clock and Caged Sun also aren't very good.

As neither combo wins us the game, both are expensive, and all 4 cards are dead, they shouldn't be run.

July 10, 2018 8:41 a.m.

iamJesus1234 says... #23

I made this strategy the day chromium came out but I trashed it because it was too janky. you did much better! I really liked the deck. but do you think you could build a budget version for me?

July 10, 2018 10:26 a.m.

Starsky2814 says... #24

iamJesus1234, sure thing! What would you like the budget to be?

July 10, 2018 10:29 a.m.

iamJesus1234 says... #25

total costs should be under 150 but individual costs don't matter

July 10, 2018 12:17 p.m.

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