Scion Hulk-Druid

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Five Color Infinite Combo Multiplayer

Hickorysbane BaconBiscuit53

Land (30)

• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Botanical Sanctum
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Nooze (6)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Morselhoarder
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
• 1x Survival of the Fittest

Entomb (3)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Survival of the Fittest

Ritual (3)

• 1x Elvish Spirit Guide
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Simian Spirit Guide

Ramp (12)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Noble Hierarch

Protection (10)

• 1x Dispel
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Misdirection
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper

Breakfast (9)

• 1x Cephalid Illusionist
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Flash
• 1x Flickerwisp
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Narcomoeba
• 1x Nomads en-Kor
• 1x Protean Hulk

Druid (4)

• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Narcomoeba

Panic (3)

• 1x Memory's Journey
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Phantasmagorian

AlsoHere (1)

• 1x Gitaxian Probe

Commander (1)

Tutor (12)

• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Reanimate (8)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Corpse Dance
• 1x Dance of the Dead
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Postmortem Lunge
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Shallow Grave

BoardInteraction (4)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Flickerwisp
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Steel Sabotage

Worldgorger (4)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Dance of the Dead
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Worldgorger Dragon

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Maybeboard

Other (6)

• 1x Autumn's Veil
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Naturalize
• 1x Pull from Eternity
• 1x Sylvan Tutor

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Overview

This is a combo deck meant to be played at the most competitive levels of multiplayer EDH. It is fast and it is consistent. It's not nice, but it sure is fun. Please play responsibly. It aims to land an early Hermit Druid or Flash and win immediately. There are a number of variations on these win-cons, but they all end with Necrotic Ooze or Laboratory Maniac, and all liberally use the graveyard as a resource. I have not yet goldfished and tracked enough games to get an average win turn. I can tell you that you can very often get a T3 win though, and can threaten to win every turn of the game.

A budget version can be found here and it is actually very similar. Still extremely functional, and not something I'd be ashamed to whip out at any table.

Why This Deck?

What 5c offers

Hermuit Druid lines only take up five slots. This greatly lessens the chance of drawing them, and once Nooze is out there's no chance to kill it that you can't respond to by continuing to combo off. All five colors are used to some extent in this deck

White is by far the least, and it provides Grand Abolisher and Flickerwhisp which are godsends for Hulk lines

Red is the next least and gives cheap stack interaction (redblasts) and a much more compact druid line with Morselhoarder. Not to mention it opens up Worldgorger lines

As for the other three colors...I don't think you can build a good Druid deck without them

What Scion offers

A decent beater in case of emergency, but honestly this is pretty negligible

A way to make a Buried Alive + Reanimate pile (as detailed below under manual Nooze)

Easy assembly of the Worldgorger combo in a pinch

Paths to Victory

Plan A: Hermit Druid

How it Works - Activate Druid, and flip the deck. Trigger narcomeoba onto the battlefield when it gets milled. If you only have two creatures at this point then use a to unearth Fatestitcher. Sacrifice your three creatures to flashback Dread Return targeting Necrotic Ooze. Nooze now has a couple extra activated abilities. Use the ability from Devoted Druid to put a -1/-1 counter one it, and remove it via Morselhoarder's ability to net a mana. This infinite loop will get you as much mana as you need. You'll also have the ability of Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius to ping the table to death. Noteworthy that even though you can work around the draw (if you were actually using Niv) Nooze does not inherit the draw ability so it is irrelevant.

Ideal hand has either druid, a T1 tutor, or a T2 to the battlefield tutor (ex: Dork into GSZ with x=2). From most hands the first course of action will be to get Hermit Druid on the battlefield T2. Easy T3 win, but usually little to no protection.

There is a reanimation package for Druid too. Keeping a reanimation spell with no entomb is bad, but there's a high enough density of reanimation spells you can keep an entomb with no Reanimate. When going for a Druid win the reanimation can be an excellent plan b so long as it is killed and not exiled.

Plan B: Flashhulk

How it Works - Play Flash putting Protean Hulk into play and refusing to pay the cost. Hulk dies and you get a trigger. Fetch Cephalid Illusionist, Nomads en-Kor, Grand Abolisher, and a mana dork/any one drop. Nomads can target Illusionist as many times as you want to mill the whole deck. Flashback Dread Return sacrificing Illusionist, Nomads, and Arbor targeting Necrotic Ooze. Win with the Nooze Line from above.

In the decks current iteration you can also fetch Halpess Researcher and Dryad Arbor instead of the misc one drop. Then reanimate Laboratory Maniac and sac the Researcher to draw and win.

I listed this as Plan B, but it really depends on the hand. Sometime this is faster and it's always harder to interact with. The deck is just set up to go Druid first because it's easier to tutor up if Flashhulk isn't already partially in hand.

If you have Flash or Hulk then it's generally best to tutor up the other half instead of Druid.If Flash resolves and none of the pieces are in your hand/yard you WILL win. There is not a point to respond between Hulk entering and dying. (They can respond to the death trigger, but there's nothing to do except go through your library and grab pieces that could possibly stop you). Then once Grand Abolisher is out they're locked out of your turn.

Flickerwisp is used to remove a stax permanent from the battlefield that may be stopping you. You lose the Abolisher, and have to use Nooze instead of Labman (cannot fetch Hapless Researcher), but it will work. Just less protected.

Sometimes the reanimation package can grab hulk too, but generally you should have a way to kill it immediately if you do. The dies at EoT spells are an option. Instead of Abolisher you grab Sylvan Safekeeper and hope to protect it until your next main phase and combo off.

You can also Flash/Necromancy it in at the end step of the player before you, and get breakfast + Labman and win at your draw step albeit with no protection. This is best used to dodge counterspells you think are lurking in other players' hands.

Plan C: Manual Nooze

How it Works - Get Morselhoarder and Devoted Druid in the yard and Nooze on the field. Make infinite mana, cast Scion, bin Niv, and dump that mana into Nooze's newest activated ability. If Nooze eats removal you can use Scion, but you gotta stack the triggers right so you don't draw to death.

Two enablers; Survival of the Fittest or Buried Alive + Reanimate.

Plan D: Manual Breakfast

How it Works - Play Cephalid Illusionist and Nomads en-Kor. Mill as desired, trigger Narcomoeba, flashback Dread Return on Nooze. Win.

Honestly the order of the plans is fairly useless at this point. Sometimes you draw illusionist and have a Worldly Tutor and this is just the quickest way to get the combo going. Not generally something worth tutoring for specifically unless it just kinda falls in your lap. But it's worth noting that sometimes it's the quickest route.

Plan E: Scion Beats/Worldgorger Combo

How it Works - Start by casting your commander (desperate times call for desperate measures). Attack (very desperate times) the Ad Naus player or wherever there's blood in the water. If you draw an enchantment reanimate or a tutor than go for Worldgorger combo. The best ways to do this is either entomb (via Scion's ability) Worldgorger at the end step of the player ahead of you, and then go off on your turn (this is more mana efficient), or with some fancy trigger stacking. Activate Scion, hold priority and activate Scion again. With the first one (to resolve) bin Worldgorger (making Scion temporarily a Worldgorger), and when the second one (to resolve) happens get Niv making Scion a copy of Niv and entombing Niv. Also, unless you have another target in the yard for reanimating you can't stop the Worldgorger combo. You can only do things at instant speed (like using Scion-Niv's activated ability), but this is enough to win.

Massive drop off in effectiveness. Last resort.

5/5 with flying. Could be worse. Five mana may be hard to get, but once you get there you should have every color due to the stupid high amount of duals. As far as beatsticks go in cEDH it's not great. Maybe if an Ad Naus player fizzles or Tana/Tymna beats up on someone for long enough you'll get there via combat damage, but don't count on it.

If you have an enchantment reanimator spell then bin Worldgorger with Scion, use Animate Dead or what have you for infinite mana. Bin Niv and go from there.

Potential Changes

Additions

Blue spells! I really want to have enough to make Force and Misdirection at least semi-reliable, but I'm not sure what kinda percentage that looks like. Maybe it's already there as much as it can be without destroying the hulk/druid lines.

Lightning Greaves - Haste on Druid or an alternate way to get into the breakfast combo. Just hasn't found a slot. Hasn't been tested yet either so I don't know if it's worth including.

Pull from Eternity - Panic button. Can be looped with Memory or just save an exiled Druid.

Sylvan Tutor - Just the worst of the one mana tutors. If I need another one or a slot opens up then it goes in.

Autumn's Veil - Another protection spell. If you're running it out there T2 you often don't have the extra one mana though. So the blue protection spells get priority due to being pitched to Force and Misdirection.

Disenchant/Naturalize - Just more board interaction if you think you need it. I think going into a blind meta it's best to try and race though.

Cuts

Laboratory Maniac - I like Nooze wins better for breakfast to lessen the number of dead spells, but I don't like the idea of Grasp on Nooze neutering the deck.

Dryad Arbor - In here for breakfast, but Illusionist, Nomad, and Narcomoeba should do the trick. Unless Narco is drawn? On the fence about if a tapland is worth it. I know it turns GSZ into a dork, but I'd much rather play a real dork, and GSZ for Druid on T2.

Hapless Researcher - In here for the Hulk line with Labman which is why it's on the chopping block. However, it has a pretty low opportunity cost due to being a cantrip that can discard something you need to get rid, can be pitched to free counters, and easily getting itself in the graveyard when drawn.

Noteworthy Items not Covered

Notable Exclusions

Sol Ring - The colorless mana jump is just so rarely needed. Because of all the low to the ground colored spells it doesn't always actually let you cast more spells. Basically it doesn't drop Druid or Flash any earlier.

Dark Ritual - The extra mana often feels colorless. Getting that much extra of black doesn't feel like it nets two mana most of the time because you can't use it all.

Pact of Negation - We need all the free counters we can get, but unless we're going Flashhulk then we probably need to let Druid chill for a turn cycle. And because Dread Return is sorcery speed we can't win in response to the pact trigger.

Average CMC

Yes, 2.19 is pretty high. However that's not really the functional cmc of the deck

Nothing above four mana is intended to be hardcast except maybe MAYBE the commander if things have gone horribly wrong. The only four drop you'd cast is Nooze in the case of Survival lines with no reanimate

If you removed all the cards that aren't intended to be cast that bring the cmc down to a beautiful 1.54. Obviously the "functional cmc" is a lil bit higher because that brings it down to about a 87 card deck, but it's probably closer to that than 2.19

Board Interaction

From Aven Minscensor to Humility there's a couple stax pieces that really neuter the deck. Should there be more removal for those? or should the deck rely on racing them and using the counters to stop them?

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Key combos	Buried Alive + Reanimate
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 57 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.17
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C
Folders	Decks I really like
Based on	Budget Scion Hulk-Druid BaconBiscuit53 EDH