Thantis: OUCH

Commander / EDH* BRG (Jund) Jank Theme/Gimmick

radiantsync

Creature (33)

• 1x Acid Web Spider
• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Adaptive Automaton
• 1x AEther Membrane
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x Dragonlair Spider
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Dread
• 1x Fumiko the Lowblood
• 1x Giant Trap Door Spider
• 1x Graverobber Spider
• 1x Hatchery Spider
• 1x Hellrider
• 1x Hornet Nest
• 1x Ishkanah, Grafwidow
• 1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
• 1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1x Nyx Weaver
• 1x Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1x Platinum Emperion
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Silklash Spider
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Taurean Mauler
• 1x Undergrowth Champion
• 1x Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire
• 1x Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor
• 1x Verdurous Gearhulk
• 1x Vorapede
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Land (37)

• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Fire-Lit Thicket
• 7x Forest
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Memorial to Folly
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Savage Lands
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Assault Formation
• 1x Conspiracy
• 1x Doubling Season
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Quest for Renewal
• 1x Sight of the Scalelords

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Arlinn Kord  ^Flip
• 1x Domri Rade
• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter

Commander (1)

Artifact (9)

• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Dragon Throne of Tarkir
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Peregrine Mask
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Dreadbore
• 1x Flesh / Blood
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Spider Spawning
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Instant (4)

• 1x Arachnogenesis
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Moment's Peace
• 1x Putrefy

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Maybeboard

Creature (8)

• 1x Dawnstrider
• 1x Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Stonehoof Chieftain
• 1x Vigor
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Garruk, Apex Predator

Land (1)

• 1x Swarmyard

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Koskun Falls
• 1x Marchesa's Decree
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Rite of the Raging Storm
• 1x Vow of Wildness
• 1x War's Toll

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Disrupt Decorum
• 1x Harness by Force
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Seize the Day

Artifact (5)

• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Crown of Doom
• 1x Dolmen Gate
• 1x Forebear's Blade
• 1x Obelisk of Urd

Instant (2)

• 1x Curtains' Call
• 1x Windgrace's Judgment

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QUIT BITING ME SPIDER

lmao I scrapped Ishkanah: Don't Let It Bite You as soon as I saw this boi. This card looks great in foil

(This deck is still a work in progress! Cards will fluctuate in and out of the maybeboard!)

Concepts & Strategies

Spider tribal seems very difficult to do with Thantis. Spiders in Magic want to sit back and lie in wait, much like their real life counterparts, but Thantis says all creatures attack each combat if able. Also, most spiders in MTG are also pretty bad in commander, as you'll see in a bit. Despite this, I'll still give it a shot, because it seems like an interesting problem.

Option #1 - Prevent our creatures from attacking

I looked at Glacial Chasm right out of the gate, but 2 life cumulative is a pretty big price to pay. The color scheme we're in is pretty restrictive for these types of effects, too. Perhaps Dragon Throne of Tarkir could be good for Thantis, so we can at least buff the team but prevent him from attacking. In that same vein, Peregrine Mask could allow us to choose which creature to block with.

We can also consider creatures that can't attack, like walls or creatures with defender. AEther Membrane could be interesting, as well as mana dorks such as Sylvan Caryatid.

Option #2 - Protect and buff our creatures while attacking

If we have to attack, we should get more value out of it than everyone else by being prepared. We might consider Assault Formation to buff the team's toughness and get a little bit more bite out of our spoders, as well as Bow of Nylea for some utility and team deathtouch.

Option #3 - Allow our creatures to both attack and block

We can consider granting vigilance to the whole team so we can block too, taking the hint from Thantis' text. The only problem with that plan is it's wayyy out of our colors, save for Sight of the Scalelords.

So how about untapping after the fact? Seedborn Muse and Quest for Renewal seem right up our alley.

Option #4 - Prevent our opponents from attacking us

Still hanging outside of our color pie, the forbidden fruit of "pay X to attack" and "can't attack you" lie in almost every color we're not playing. We're not entirely out of options, though - Assault Suit might entice attacks at others, and Koskun Falls is weirdly in for some reason. Aside from that, there's some splashy enchantments we can consider including, like Form of the Dragon and Sandwurm Convergence. Crown of Doom also gives opponents a reason to attack someone other than us. Potentially we can include Crawlspace as well.

Option #5 - Punish opponents for attacking into us

This is where our options start to open up as we trek back, reluctantly, into our side of the color pie. Cards like Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs just give us pure value, and Fumiko the Lowblood get huge on defense. Royal Assassin can target creatures that have attacked if we can find some way to prevent him from attacking too. Vow of Wildness, Vow of Malice and Vow of Lightning might be useful politics tools too. Finally, if anything does hit us, we can consider Dread to make them pay the ultimate price.

Option #6 - Protect ourselves from attacks

We have a few options for this as well, since is the Fog color. Moment's Peace has a bit of reusability which might make it make the cut, and Dawnstrider could potentially be reusable provided we can prevent it from attacking. Colorless options include Maze of Ith, Mystifying Maze, and Thaumatic Compass  .

Cards

Below are what I actually decided to include in the deck after my above analysis.

Creatures

Creatures - Spiders

So Thantis, the Warweaver is cool because my dream of playing Ishkanah, Grafwidow and Dragonlair Spider in the same deck is now a thing.

But man pretty much all spiders suck except for Thantis, Ishkanah, and Dragonlair. Oh well, we'll put a few in to tick this deck down below 75%.

• Acid Web Spider probably serves a purpose in commander for blowing up equips.
• Dragonlair Spider is an EDH all-star and a spider to boot.
• Giant Trap Door Spider can snatch an attacker.
• Graverobber Spider might be alright.
• Hatchery Spider is like a Genesis Wave!
• Ishkanah, Grafwidow just seems really fun. Lots of combat in this deck, so lots of dudes in the graveyard. Plus that activated ability might go off, who knows.
• Nyx Weaver is a spider with some decent value.
• Silklash Spider blows up flyers, repeatedly!

I think it's safe to say this deck will be spider themed instead of tribal. It seems the addition of made Thantis too spicy. Let's also include a few other honorary spiders:

• Adaptive Automaton because I don't have a Metallic Mimic which would arguably be better with Doubling Season.
• Taurean Mauler gets counters and "is a spider."

Creatures - Utility

Reluctantly, we move on to the non-spiders.

• Acidic Slime is basically where it's at for green utility in commander, to blow up our opponents' stuff.
• AEther Membrane is cheap, bounces in Red (?!), and can't attack.
• Dread will punish anyone who hits us!
• Hornet Nest can't attack and will make some deathtouchers that sort of I guess fit the theme.
• Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs is exactly the kind of effect that pairs well with Thantis.
• Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is a repeatable Overrun effect, exactly what we want if we're attacking a lot.
• Platinum Emperion so that we might endure large alpha strikes when we're struggling.
• Purphoros, God of the Forge for team buffs, and a ton of damage from our Spider and token generation effects.
• Seedborn Muse just seems really good if we're attacking every turn.
• Shriekmaw for an extra removal spell and creature in the grave.
• Solemn Simulacrum for ramp, draw, and creature in the grave.
• Sylvan Caryatid can't attack and is a good mana dork.
• Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor gives our opponents creatures that they can't attack us with.
• Zealous Conscripts is basically where it's at for red utility in commander, to grab a tapped dude from our opponents to alpha strike with.

Creatures - Attackers

Finally, these our are cream of the crop, absolute alpha strikers.

• Drana, Liberator of Malakir loves attacking and buffs the team.
• Hellrider gets better the more Alpha we're Striking, so Always Be Alpha Striking.
• Fumiko the Lowblood is a great attacker and blocker that works with our strategy.
• Pathbreaker Ibex is a smaller Craterhoof Behemoth that triggers every attack, and with any luck, it'll play off Thantis' large number of counters.
• Undergrowth Champion gets counters and doesn't die immediately if it attacks badly.
• Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire for a big, flying beater with some chaos warp attached to him.
• Verdurous Gearhulk for counters and a big attacker body.
• Vorapede best attacker NA, has vigilance, doesn't afraid of anything.

Artifacts

• Chromatic Lantern for fixing.
• Coat of Arms buffs our Spiders and works better than Door of Destinies for our large spider-generating effects and is more effective than Obelisk of Urd.
• Dragon Throne of Tarkir can prevent a valuable or utility creature from attacking, and buff the team.
• Lifecrafter's Bestiary helps us draw and draw what we want.
• Swiftfoot Boots to protect our commander because I'm too lazy to dig out my Lightning Greaves.
• Peregrine Mask serves the same duty as Dragon Throne, but is cheaper and grants some nice bonuses for blockers.
• Sol Ring is an auto-include.
• Thaumatic Compass   ramps and then turns into a Maze land.

Enchantments

• Assault Formation makes our spiders hit harder and allows some of our defenders to attack. It can also protect during an alpha strike by buffing toughness or make a block better.
• Bow of Nylea grants our have-to-attack bois deathtouch, which seems good if they're a bit understatted.
• Conspiracy supports our goal of activating Ishkanah for lethal. EVERYTHING IS SPIDERS. :D
• Doubling Season doubles the cost of our deck, but also doubles our spider tokens and counters on Thantis.
• Phyrexian Arena for a card draw staple in black.
• Quest for Renewal is another Seedborn Muse and is fairly easy to activate.
• Sight of the Scalelords is the only vigilance-granting enchantment in our colors, so we'll take it.

Instants

• Arachnogenesis is literally perfect for this deck. It's a fog effect that works with the theme.
• Chord of Calling lets us call out an ETB effect at will, or even Ishkanah in magical Christmasland.
• Moment's Peace is a repeatable emergency Fog effect.
• Putrefy because there's never enough removal.

Sorceries

• Dreadbore because we're in good colors for straight up removal.
• Flesh / Blood for a potential win condition and a way to make Thantis, an attacker, or a blocker larger. I really wanted to put Fling in here for comedic value, but this wins out just for pure utility. Mage Slayer I also considered for repeatability, but it feels clunky and winmore.
• Harmonize snaps fingers
• Kodama's Reach because it's just cooler than Cultivate and I'd be a fool to not run it with Green.
• Rishkar's Expertise draws cards with extra value.
• Spider Spawning is great flavor and can produce a large number of tokens for us.
• Toxic Deluge boardwipe that we can potentially adjust to avoid hitting our huge toughness dudes.

Planeswalkers

• Arlinn Kord   because of vigilance granting and team buffs.
• Domri Rade because removal, filtering and good stuff.
• Garruk, Primal Hunter because Thantis can get big for card draw.

Lands

• Cavern of Souls because I have one and naming "Spider" is a great way to instill fear.
• Command Tower yes indeed.
• Maze of Ith and Mystifying Maze help defend us in bad situations.

Over budget cards I don't own lul

• Garruk, Apex Predator can paint a huge target on someone else and Thantis can force them to get pummeled.
• Swarmyard can regenerate Spiders!
• Koskun Falls
• Dolmen Gate protects our attacking creatures, if we end up in a situation where an alpha strike is bad for us.
• Crown of Doom can provide incentive to attack not-us.

Other cards I'm too lazy to write up a description for because RIP EDH

Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.00
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Emblem Arlinn Kord, Emblem Domri Rade, Insect 1/1 G, Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch, Ogre 3/3 R, Spider 1/2 G, Survivor 1/1 R, Wolf 2/2 G, Wurm 6/6 G
Folders	Previous EDH Decks