Rhys's Pieces Combo

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Elves Hatebears Ramp Stax

Kelvin-escesare

Creature (38)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Captain Sisay
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Elvish Archdruid
• 1x Elvish Harbinger
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Hokori, Dust Drinker
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Ranger of Eos
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Regal Force
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Wirewood Channeler
• 1x Wirewood Symbiote
• 1x Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Land (29)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Brushland
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flagstones of Trokair
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Plains
• 1x Razorverge Thicket
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 5x Snow-Covered Forest
• 2x Snow-Covered Plains
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wirewood Lodge
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Instant (10)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Summoner's Pact
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Artifact (13)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Umbral Mantle
• 1x Winter Orb

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Ravages of War
• 1x Steelshaper's Gift

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Combo/stax deck designed for tier 2-3 competitive multiplayer EDH. 84% chance to combo off on turn 4 or 5. Alternatively, it can tutor into a stax plan. I could use help doing additional playtesting.

The Infinite-Mana Combo

Priest of Titania/Elvish Archdruid/Wirewood Channeler + Umbral Mantle + 3 additional Elves Show

1. Equip Priest/Archdruid/Channeler with Umbral Mantle for
2. Priest/Archdruid/Channeler for
3. Pay to Priest/Archdruid/Channeler. Now we're back where we started with an extra
4. Repeat (2.) and (3.), gaining an extra each time. Now we have

Now there are at least two ways to win:

• Equip Umbral Mantle to every creature with abilities, and and repeatedly (using our ) to gain infinite power/toughness
• and Rhys repeatedly for infinite Elf Warrior tokens

Priest of Titania/Elvish Archdruid/Wirewood Channeler + Staff of Domination + 4 additional Elves Show

1. Priest/Archdruid/Channeler for
2. Pay and Staff to Priest/Archdruid/Channeler
3. Pay to Staff
4. Repeat (1.) to (3.), gaining an extra each time. Now we have

Now there are at least two ways to win:

• Draw as many cards as we want with Staff
• and Rhys repeatedly for infinite Elf Warrior tokens

Both Mantle and Staff are cheaper and stronger than Sword of the Paruns, which doesn't have a built-in way to win immediately. Not to mention, there's no need for both Swords and Mantle because we can already tutor Mantle in 12 ways, for example by tutoring Stoneforge Mystic, summing to 14 total copies of Mantle/Staff. Creature tutors yield 16 total copies of Priest/Archdruid/Channeler.

This gives about 84% chance (if I did my probability algebra right) to assemble the combo on turn 5, if undisrupted. 77% on turn 4, but often not enough mana. Can sometimes assemble the pieces turn 3, but extremely difficult to get enough elves by then.

Backup Infinite-Mana Combo

Priest of Titania/Elvish Archdruid/Wirewood Channeler + Wirewood Symbiote + Mirror Entity Show

1. Have Priest/Archdruid/Channeler in play without summoning sickness
2. Play Symbiote
3. Play Mirror Entity
4. Activate Mirror Entity for , turning Symbiote into an Elf
5. Priest/Archdruid/Channeler for
6. Return Symbiote (since it's an Elf now) to your hand to Priest/Archdruid/Channeler
7. Play Symbiote. Now we're back to the start of (4.) but have an extra
8. Repeat (4.) to (7.) for

Now there are at least two ways to win:

• Activate Mirror Entity for
• and Rhys repeatedly for infinite Elf Warrior tokens

An Elf in hand is just as good as mana on board (reduces mana cost for combo) Show

Keep in mind that the upfront mana cost of this combo = + cost of any pieces in your hand (up to if Symbiote and Mirror Entity are still in your hand). However, just by having an Elf in hand, you reduce the upfront cost by - cost of the Elf because you can tap Priest/Archdruid/Channeler before casting your pieces. For example:

1. Have Priest/Archdruid/Channeler in play without summoning sickness
2. Play Symbiote
3. Play Rhys
4. Priest/Archdruid/Channeler for
5. Play Mirror Entity
6. Activate Mirror Entity for , turning Symbiote into an Elf
7. Return Symbiote (since it's now an Elf) to your hand to Priest/Archdruid/Channeler
8. Priest/Archdruid/Channeler for
9. Play Symbiote. Now we're back to the start of (6.) but have an extra
10. Repeat (6.) to (9.) for

Notice the total cost was even after having to play an additional Rhys. Also fairly obviously, having any pieces or additional Elves already in play further reduces the upfront cost.

Why not play more combos? Show

With 13 ways to tutor both parts of the combo, we already have approximately 77% chance to assemble the combo by turn 4, and 84% by turn 5.

Don't be fooled by fancy combo decks that jam as many (esp. 3 card) combos as possible. Each combo you jam actually reduces your chance to combo because you could just play more tutors (which are useful outside of the combo!). To show how ineffective it is to jam combos without tutors, here's a brief math exercise,

Jamming an extra 2-card combo yields approx. 1.44% chance to assemble

Jamming an extra 3-card combo yields approx. 0.17% chance to assemble. This is worthless. You would need about 500 3-card combos to achieve an 84% assembly chance!

Backup Win-Cons

We can't necessarily combo every game, so we can tutor Mirror Entity, Ezuri or Elesh Norn instead. Armageddon and Ravages of War virtually win the game singlehandedly too, but can't be tutored.

Powerful Synergies

symbiote + reclamation: repeatable artifact/enchantment removal

symbiote + empath/harbinger: repeatable tutor

symbiote + elf: protection from removal

symbiote + elf + priest/archdruid/channeler: lots of mana

seedborn + static/winter/hokori: you're immune to the winter orb effects

seedborn + rhys: create 3 additional elves/turn (or with 6 mana, octuple the number of elves!)

yisan > symbiote > priest > mirror entity: combo line

ranger of eos > safekeeper + wayfarer/land tax: (almost) unlimited protection

yisan > safekeeper > priest > recruiter > stoneforge > umbral: combo line

yisan > wayfarer > thalia > vryn's: stax line

tutor > ewit > sabertooth: 2GGG: tutor a creature

sabertooth + ewit: 2GGG: regrowth

sabertooth + fiend hunter: 2GWW: exile target creature

The Toolbox

Having 17 creature tutors also gives access to a toolbox of removal/hate/stax cards:

Tutorable removal: Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Manglehorn, Fiend Hunter, Nullmage Shepherd, Reclamation Sage, Phyrexian Revoker

Tutorable stax: Aven Mindcensor, Manglehorn, Hokori, Dust Drinker, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Kataki, War's Wage, Vryn Wingmare, Gaddock Teeg

Tutorable utility: Stoneforge Mystic, Wirewood Symbiote, Mother of Runes, Weathered Wayfarer, Sylvan Safekeeper, Selvala, Explorer Returned

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 52 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.23
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Elf Warrior 1/1 GW
Folders	Competitive EDH, Tokens, Commander Decks