Introduction
Atla Palani, Nest Tender optimized to my max without including PL8+ only fast mana such as Mana Crypt or Jeweled Lotus. This deck knows it will be the archenemy once eggs start popping, and it is able to 1v3 or 1v4 in those situations with a good starting hand.
The basic idea is that every successful Atla Palani, Nest Tender trigger should win the game, no whiffs allowed.
As such, the baseline for creatures to include is Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, if it has less impact when found with Atla Palani, Nest Tender, its not included.
If you can manage to get a Atla Palani, Nest Tender trigger though completely on turn 4, the game should be in the bag.
Deck Details
As she is so central to the decks plan, never ever cast Atla Palani, Nest Tender if you cannot protect her until you can use her. this means either Lightning Greaves or Heroic Intervention/Deflecting Swat/Loran's Escape/etc. should always be available if you drop Atla Palani, Nest Tender onto the field.
This means that we will almost never cast her on the turn where we reach 4 mana. On this turn we usually want to ramp one more time or drop a sac outlet on the board.
Setting up atla is very important since she is such a removal magnet. Only cast her once you have everything else in place and you know you can protect her.
Activating Atla is another topic, since she can make eggs at instant speed, you usually wait until the end of turn before your untap, or until you are getting attacked or boardwiped before creating eggs, so they are on the board and thus vulnerable for the shortest possible amount of time, and also since having eggs on board makes opponents VERY jumpy so you should try to lay low as long as possible.
The "real" average mana value of this deck is not 3.11 but 2.12 since our big creatures will never be hard-cast from hand.
Thus, only our cards from 1-4 mana and Blasphemous Act should be considered:
(1x19 + 2x21 + 3x13 + 4x3 + 9x1) / 57 = 2.12.
the 4-cost slot is crucial, since we never want to play anything other than atla when we have exactly 4 mana + enough mana for interaction open, this means that the only other 4 mana cards are Decimate and Day of Judgment since we only want to cast them in situations where casting atla would not be helpful.
Wincons
The Deck can usually win, just by overwhelming your opponents with your big hitters in early turns alone.
If that is not enough, there are also some infinite, or non deterministic combos to that can be included into the deck to ensure victory.
These are currently not possible with this main board as pieces are not included to keep the deck from becoming a combo deck.
You need to include the following cards to turn this deck into combo, and you can remove any creatures not mentioned in the combos to make space:
Maskwood Nexus, Greater Good, Dockside Extortionist, Goblin Sharpshooter.
** Mirror Entity Combo **
Step 1:
Have Atla on the field and Mirror Entity on the field, or Mirror entity in hand.
Step 2:
Buff Atla. You need Atla to receive at least one extra thoughness, using cards such as Tyvar's Stand, Blossoming Defense or Shields of Velis Vel if you dont have mirror entity on the field yet.
Step 3:
Stack an arbitrary but large number of Mirror Entity triggers for X=0.
When the first trigger resolves, you will find a creature from your deck, which will become a egg type and die as soon as the next mirror entity trigger resolves.
This loops though all the creatures in your deck until you find something that will shuffle the graveyard into your library, such as Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre.
Step 4:
Now that Ulamog has shuffled the grave back into your library, you can continue resolving your mirror entity triggers until you win.
Step 4.5:
Win using the loop, this is currently not possible as the required cards are not in the main deck:
** Maskwood Nexus Combo **
This combo works similarly to the mirror entity combo, but we dont need to buff atla and we need a sac outlet.
Step 1:
Have Atla, Maskwood Nexus and a instant speed sac outlet like Altar of Dementia on the board.
Step 2:
Sac another creature to trigger Atla.
Step 3:
The new Creature that enters the battlefield becomes a egg type due to Maskwood Nexus static ability.
Step 4:
Sacrifice the creature you got and repeat until you hit Ulamog, shuffling your graveyard into the deck.
Step 4.5:
Win by using your sac outlets:
Cool Cards and Interactions
Shout out to these cool cards:
-
Shields of Velis Vel is a instant speed eggification, meaning you can turn any boardwipe or targeted removal into free Atla Palani, Nest Tender triggesr!
-
Enlightened Tutor is one of the best cards, since it can tutor Lightning Greaves / Mithril Coat / Swiftfoot Boots for protection or Skullclamp either as sac outlet or draw engine.
With Sensei's Divining Top out you could even instant speed protect atla by tutoring Mithril Coat, drawing it with top and then flashing it onto atla.
-
Tail Swipe, as mentioned above, can pop eggs instant speed by making them fight with a power > 1 creature, but can also be used to remove creatures once you have out your big hitters like Worldspine Wurm.
-
All sac Outlets( Altar of Dementia, Goblin Bombardment etc ) can serve as protection from exiling creatures, which would be the only way to permanently stop the deck. If an opponent tries to Path to Exile our Blightsteel Colossus to stop it from shuffling back into our deck, or even if an opponent casts Merciless Eviction, we can instead sac our creatures at instant speed to ensure recursion.
-
As already mentioned multiple times, Sensei's Divining Top is insane in this deck. It can be used as topdeck manipulation for atla triggers, instant speed draw with tutors, to pop off with Jeska's Will or help find interaction, and it is tutorable with Enlightened Tutor!
-
Marauding Raptor has not quite made the cut for now, but its notable that he is a ramp and sac outlet on a cheap stick! Hes excluded since hitting him with Atla Palani, Nest Tender would be horrible.
-
Even though not in the main board currently, Maskwood Nexus gives all of our creatures the "egg" creature type. This essentially means that we can combo off infinitely with Atla and one Sac outlet.
-
As described in the wincons section, Mirror Entity can easily become a combo piece in this deck I have elected to exclude some of the other pieces needed to go infinite in order to keep the deck as a non-combo deck. Mirror Entity itself is still included, since it can effectively turn atla into an egg and thus essntially acts as a one time double for an atla trigger when you hit it.
Potential Changes and Upgrades to consider
-
Stax Route: Winter Orb, Trinisphere, Stony Silence, etc. make sure the opponents are suffering even before we trigger Atla Palani, Nest Tender and also make sure they dont have the resources to stop us.
-
Combo Route: using stuff such as Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Restoration Angel, or Maskwood Nexus which goes infinite with any sac outlet such as Altar of Dementia, Ashnod's Altar or Greater Good since Blightsteel Colossus and the eldazi titans shuffle themselves back into the deck allowing them to be found again. Alternatively, include card:Dockside Extortinist and other combo creatures to go infinite with Mirror Entity.
-
F-You Route: Slap in fast mana such as Mana Crypt, Chrome Mox, Jeweled Lotus, Mox Diamond etc, as well as other cards currently excluded for power level reasons.
Potential Cuts to make:
-
Carpet of Flowers might be too specific, maybe run Jeska's Will instead, since it synergizes nicely with our topdeck manipulation from Mirri's Guile, Sylvan Library and Sensei's Divining Top?
-
Search for other win-more cards like Thornbite Staff that are still in the main list and replace them with instant speed interaction?
-
Find out if using fight cards like Tail Swipe as "protection" is worth it (fight cards can help you trigger eggs instant speed if atla is about to be dead, or they can be used when you have found the big hitters to remove any creature). Also check if the constriction of only fighting with enemy creatures, thus excluding atla is a problem.
-
Maybe rethink mana base, remove some red sources and add in more green and white? although it should be more than enough currently since the mana distribution is bait with things like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Worldspine Wurm or Avacyn, Angel of Hope never being hardcast not to be considered for mana base optimization.
-
If you want to build this list into the combo version, cut all non required creatures such as Flayer of Loyalties, It That Betrays, Blightsteel Colossus, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Worldspine Wurm, leaving you only with Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Mirror Entity and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, since you will need the eldazi titans to ensure recursion from graveyard, and running two gives you some safety.
Then, replace the removed creatures with Maskwood Nexus, Greater Good, Dockside Extortionist, Goblin Sharpshooter, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Restoration Angel more buff spells for atla for the Mirror Entity line, and additional protection pieces or fast mana.
Any tips or help is always welcome!
