Rasputin the Lovemachine

Commander / EDH Infinite Combo Primer WU (Azorius)

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Creature (23)

• 1x Ambassador Laquatus
• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Archaeomender
• 1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Eldrazi Displacer
• 1x Endbringer
• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Sea Gate Oracle
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Vedalken AEthermage
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Whirlpool Rider

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Detention Sphere
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Venser, the Sojourner

Land (36)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Calciform Pools
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Eye of Ugin
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Homeward Path
• 9x Island
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 9x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Tolaria West

Artifact (14)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Mortarpod
• 1x Nim Deathmantle
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Tormod's Crypt

Commander (1)

Instant (14)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Momentary Blink
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Stroke of Genius
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tale's End
• 1x Vanish into Memory

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Serum Visions
• 1x Supreme Verdict

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Sideboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Whir of Invention

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Fabricate

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Maybeboard

Creature (4)

• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Malevolent Hermit  ^Flip
• 1x Trophy Mage
• 1x Urza, Lord High Artificer

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Instant (3)

• 1x Drown in Dreams
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Fateful Absence

Land (1)

• 1x Academy Ruins

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Vanquish the Horde

Artifact (1)

• 1x Archaeomancer's Map

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Deck Philosophy:

I personally refrained myself from adding Eldrazi. While they are strong and Impactful, they don't win the game on the spot and might need multiple turns to end the game in your favour. They also make you a target for Bribery.

Azorius has great counter, removal, Stax-pieces available, but it would be rather miserable to play against. This Deck is semi-competetive and ment to be a stronger deck for kitchen table magic.

No Mindslaver & Academy Ruins - lock!

How we win the game:

Plan A:

Main combo isRasputin Dreamweaver with Eldrazi Displacer on board to generate infinite colorless mana and flicker. Therefore any Creature in this deck has to have some kind of ETB that wins the game for us or finds something that will. We have a large tutor-suite to our advantage that can help us finding our crucial combo pieces.

Our creatures can be abused to win the game by either milling our opponents (Altar of the Brood), decking one player/Drawing until we find a better wincon (Stroke of Genius), burning their faces (Triskelion), flickering their creatures for lifeloss (Suture Priest) or by bouncing all their permanents (Venser, Shaper Savant). Most of our creatures can also be flickered during this state to draw/tutor into a game-finishing card.

Eye of Ugin is a notable mention, since it tutors Displacer while also reducing its mana cost. Temple can also tutor for colorless creatures such as Triskelion to finish out the game - and it can be untapped by Felidar Guardian and Ghostly Flicker.

Plan B:

Another backup combo is Nim Deathmantle with Mortarpod (or Blasting Station, which is currently not in the 99) and Rasputin Dreamweaver.

Plan C:

Gilded Lotus + Archaeomancer + Ghostly Flicker can generate infinite ETB's for Altar of the Brood and Suture Priest. The latter one will not win you the game, but will give you infinite life.

Our Creatures:

• Azami, Lady of Scrolls - We have a moderate Wizard count and we can Displacer-Flicker her to find an out.

• Endbringer - A favourite card of mine. Can be easily cast with Rasputin and gives us great utility in longer games. Mostly used to draw a card in each opponents turn.

• Felidar Guardian - Powerhouse. "Untaps" Lands, Flickers Rasputin for practically 1 White mana. Also flickers removal such as Song of the Dryads and Imprisoned in the Moon whenever we want back what our opponent put under it.

• Triskelion - our budget Walking Ballista that kills all your opponents when the Displacer combo is assembled.

• Sun Titan - Good Beatstick and Blocker. Recursion for relevant combopieces and all Enchantments we got.

• Whirlpool Rider - Fun card. Fill your hand with Land Tax and shuffle them away. Displacer-Flicker Rider as long as you need to find the winning card. Practically you would just need 1 card in your hand and infinite ETB's to find the correct one! :) Sort of a budget Scroll Rack for your Flicker-Decks out there.

• Vedalken AEthermage - Bounces slivers and changelings, which is becoming more relevant thanks to The First Sliver, Finds a wizard, Can be brought back with Sun Titan, draws a card in combination with Azami, Lady of Scrolls and it can be bounced to hand with Riptide Laboratory.

Notable Exclusions:

• Urza, Lord High Artificer - Can't afford it, but that's probably a good thing. Urza would force me to build further into an artifact strategy, which is not what I had in mind. Strong activated ability that'd win us the game with Displacer out.

Our Instants and Sorceries:

• Muddle the Mixture - We rarely use this to counter something, but it's nice to have the option. Usually this tutors a combopiece or Cyclonic Rift.

• Stroke of Genius vs Braingeyser - Both cards fill the slot of our infinite mana finisher. Keep in mind that you want to draw the cards yourself in a multiplayer scenario. Draw your deck and find a better infinite Mana outlet that lets you finish the table instead of just one player. Geyser is tutorable by Muddle the Mixture, but at sorcery speed we couldn't leave our mana open to draw in someone's end step. Geyser also costs double U, which can be missing if you assembled your combo the same turn.

• Vanish into Memory - Weird but strong card paired with Rasputin. We basically protect our commander from removal and boardwipes for one turn, draw 4 discard 1 and get him back with 7 counters. It's hard to find creatures for the 99 with a supporting stat line, but I keep looking!

Our Plainswalkers:

I am not too satisified with my Walkers atm and might swap them out in future

• Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Ok utility, Boardwipe and some Blockers

• Venser, the Sojourner - Ok utility, Slowflicker a creature before you wipe the board - just a non-budget Conjurer's Closet in this deck IMO.

Considerations are Tezzeret the Seeker, Karn and Ugin.

Our Tutor Suite:

• CMC 0: Tolaria West * for Walking Ballista *, Eye of Ugin

• CMC 1: Trinket Mage for Expedition Map, Altar of the Brood

• CMC 2: Tribute Mage, Muddle the Mixture for Mortarpod, Nim Deathmantle, Cyclonic Rift, Mindshrieker *

• CMC 3: Trophy Mage, Drift of Phantasms for Staff of Domination, Eldrazi Displacer, Ambassador Laquatus *

• Land: Weathered Wayfarer, Expedition Map for Eye of Ugin, Tolaria West *

• Colorless Creature: Eye of Ugin for Eldrazi Displacer, Walking Ballista, Triskelion

• 2 toughness Creature: Recruiter of the Guard for ~50% of our creatures.

*(May or may not be in the current 99 depending on budget and available slots)

Budget Version:

I doubt this deck can truly be budget, since Rasputin is a ~40$ card which I luckily got as a christmas present. <3 Most of the expensive cards are interchangable - at the cost of speed and reliability, but if you got money to buy Rasputin, you are probably not restricted by a low budget.

Here are some suggestions, in case you would want to make some budget cuts:

Oreskos Explorer -> Land Tax

Kor Cartographer -> Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Conjurer's Closet//Mistmeadow Witch -> Venser, the Sojourner

Time Wipe -> Supreme Verdict

Citanul Flute -> Eye of Ugin

Gemstone Array -> Coalition Relic

Reflector Mage -> Venser, Shaper Savant

Oblivion Ring -> Grasp of Fate

Secure the Wastes -> Elspeth, Sun's Champion (any cheap boardwipe could replace her, too)

Wizard's Retort -> Swan Song, Delay (any cheap counterspell will do)

Vedalken AEthermage -> Recruiter of the Guard

Mindshrieker//Ambassador Laquatus -> Staff of Domination or Walking Ballista

You can also cut Trophy Mage, since Staff of Domination is not in the budget version of this deck.

You could add in Treasure Mage to tutor Triskelion, Planar Bridge//Planar Portal, Meteor Golem

Generally I'd suggest you make the "Flicker-Package" a little stronger. With more targets to hit for card draw or landfixing. Elite Guardmage, Ephemerate, Boreas Charger Additionally, there's some great budget Wizards that got printed recently and got great ETBs that have early game relevance and are good Displacer-Flicker targets: Watcher for Tomorrow, Overwhelmed Apprentice, Cloudkin Seer

Vedalken AEthermage will cycle for any Wizard you might want in the right Situation.

Sexy custom card:

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 1 Rares 23 - 1 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.61
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	EDH Decks