The Shawshank Redemption

Commander / EDH* Vinman

SCORE: 5 | 7 COMMENTS | 4319 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS


Shadows Over Innistrad Update —April 23, 2016

I've been playing this deck for quite some time, I did some tweaking when SoI first released and added a few cards. My deck is quite expensive mana-wise to play. My main strategy is just to constantly dump cards, mainly creatures, into the graveyard and just wait to Living Death and then win. However, my deck can be slow at times, and I can get killed if teamed up on easily. But with the changes I'm making, I'll be making the deck cheaper and more synergistic. So the Praetor's will be gone. They're really superb creatures, but they're just too difficult to cast reliably. Having my deck a little cheaper to play will help immensely, and with me playing value creatures, I can play them to get value off of, and either sacrifice them for some effect that will fuel my deck, or just keep them around as blockers and kill them. Either way they're value before they die, and again when I eventually Living Death.

Changes: (CUTTING --> REPLACEMENT)

Garruk, Apex Predator --> Forgotten Creation; Replacing Garruk which is big, clunky, but still good, with no synergy in my deck. Once he hits the bin, it's dead because using Tasigur, the Golden Fang's ability will never net me Garruk. Forgotten Creation can have huge upside, and if I have a way to sculpt what I'm pitching, will be awesome. It can also help if I have to dig for answers. Dumping seven to draw seven is pretty great.

Sheoldred, Whispering One --> Wonder; Sheoldred is a powerful Praetor and works well with my deck; however, my meta has quite a bit of token decks, so it isn't advantageous. Also most of the time, she's gone before I get to bring something back. She's also expensive to cast, when most of the time she's in the bin and just brought back with Living Death, it's just win more, instead of helping me win and work with what the deck is trying to do.

Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger --> Ulvenwald Hydra; Vorinclex is just a hot mess. His abilities are game warping, and can force scoops, but that's not fun. Hard to cast. Ulvenwald Hydra is a land tutor, with reach. That's pretty game changing, without being oppressive. Can play him, let him die, then bring him back and get more value. Also ramping on a creature is pretty damn good.

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur --> Forbidden Alchemy (Eventually Arcanis the Omnipotent will take this spot); Jin-Git deserves the cut more than the others, just because of 10 CMC. I have NEVER casted him, only ever got him out of the bin. Again, powerful, but very oppressive. Forbidden Alchemy is card selection for my hand and for the graveyard, too good. Eventually replacing with another creature with similar abilities, Aracnis the Omnipotent. Having creatures with abilities is what this deck wants, because I can get them back. It's hard to keep things in the graveyard for too long.

Erebos, God of the Dead --> Golgari Thug; I don't have enough lifegain in the deck for Erebos' ability to work, plus I have a ton of card draw already. Also keeping others from gaining life is good, but not good enough for my meta. Golgari Thug will be boss in this deck. Especially if combo'd with Evolutionary Leap. It'll be essentially a tutor.

Sultai Charm --> Evolutionary Leap; It's difficult taking about Sultai Charm because of the modes, but Evolutionary Leap can do work with this deck. Leap plus Fauna Shaman will be pretty brutal.

Craterhoof Behemoth --> Fauna Shaman; Craterhoof is another win-more card. Most of the time it's in the bin, I Living Death and one shot someone with Craterhoof due to a ton of creatures hitting the field at one time with ETB effects. Fauna Shaman is a tutor while putting relevant creatures into my graveyard for later. I have been trying to find a way to put Fauna in, now I can, and it'll will do Wonder's

Deadbridge Chant --> The Gitrog Monster; Chant has done well since the deck has been built, BUT it's in the same boat as Sheoldred, Whispering One. Dumping cards into graveyard is great, but not getting value until my next turn is kind of bad. Especially when it's random. I'll get a card no matter what, but no selection. Gitrog I think will do wonders for the deck. 1) It's "ramp," and for a deck with green and hardly any ramp, is needed. 2) More card draw is fantastic. 3) With ways to get lands back and not fall behind, Gitrog will do work. I'm trying to get Drownyard Temple (forgot to get that and Arcanis with my updates), which will pair well with with not just Gitrog, but also Ulvenwald Hydra. Tutor it up, and then I have all the card draw I need between Gitrog and the Temple. So Deadbridge Chant will go in my sideboard for now just while I play around with Gitrog.

So these will be the current changes that I'll be testing. I'm excited to see what Eldritch Moon will bring and see if there's anything I can change with that set. But it'll be difficult to find cuts. It took me a while to find cuts for these cards. Parting with the Praetors will be tough, but I think it'll be for the best.

In EDH, you want to have a lot of ramp cards... you have the Cultivate type cards, but none of the mana rocks... sol ring, gilded lotus, thran dynamo, the 3 signets, Birds of Paradise, Frontier Siege (4 a turn is unbelievable), Sylvan Caryatid, Shaman of Forgotten Ways etc.

Craterhoof Behemoth combos well with Avenger of Zendikar especially if you Tooth and Nail it.

Running neck and neck of most importance with ramp is card draw, and you can get help out of all 3 of your colors for the card draw, depending on how you want to go...for stable card draw Phyrexian Arena, Greed, Erebos, God of the Dead. Fact or Fiction, Urban Evolution, Plea for Power are some of my favorite 1 time spells, 1 is an instant, 2 lets you play an extra land and the 3rd gives you a small chance at an extra turn.

If I were building this deck I would have 48-50 cards whose primary job is getting me mana, whether that be a land, a rock or a cultivate type card. right now I count 44 including vorinclex and oracle. I would add the rocks, birds, and a whatever else and maybe actually cut a land or 2.

Card advantage, i would have at least 15-20 ways to draw or access extra cards. I counted at least 18, including Tasigur, so you're doing very well there. You should not have a problem with options to play.

For being your first EDH deck, you seem to understand the concept of the game very well, this deck should be very successful, especially if you can get your early game ramp up a little bit.

*oops this is only your first paper deck with black... Anyway not gonna delete what I said earlier. Look into those black card draw enchantments I mentioned, they are all very wicked. Erebos and greed are especially awesome if you absolutely need an answer and have a few life to spend as you can keep drawing cards. Other good black draw Necropotence Diabolic Revelation, Gravestorm and don't forget all the awesome black tutors. Diabolic Intent, Demonic Tutor, etc.

Maybe you play duel commander where rocks are banned???

May 6, 2015 5:11 a.m.

Vinman says... #2

garrettlstewart Thank you for the suggestions. My main thing with the deck is to always make the decision difficult for my opponents when I use Tasigur, the Golden Fang's ability. I want to really avoid the mana rocks, especially since I am running 3 colors, many with two or three mana symbols. I also want as many utility creatures as possible, and want to really avoid too many enchantments or artifacts. In that case, I will probably go with Erebos over the other two enchantments. Also, I don't like using mana dorks in EDH because they can get removed too easily, so the ramp spells are much better as the land is more permanent. Thanks again for your suggestions!! Truly appreciated. I've been looking at other Sultai Reanimator, and just reanimator decks in general to get a good idea. I have had a bit of a hard time figuring it out, and balancing everything, but I think it has come together well!

May 6, 2015 10:24 a.m.

Sweet, yeah it seems really nice. I would also add either Nature's Lore or Skyshroud Claim either as a replacement for one of the others or as an additional card. Two reasons, 1. they don't come into play tapped so they effectively cost less to cast. and 2. you can grab an Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden or if you got the itch to play one a Dryad Arbor instead of just basic land. I can't tell you how much the untapped part has helped me. t Just the other day I was in a match where I had 5 lands a skyshroud claim and a Reclamation Sage. instead of only being able to play one, i was able to get both out, blow up my opponents Sol Ring which resulted in them taking 3 more turns to play their commander (narset). during that time I was able to draw an Arcane Lighthouse which allowed me to Reality Shift Narset before she ever got going. It was wicked!!

Just another thing to think about. Like I said great deck. I've been thinking about building Mr. T for a while now, and probably would've if I actually owned one right now. I've been working on a couple of decks, but neither of them are really inspiring me. I think one is the wrong colors (mardu) and the other is more or less a rebuild of a deck I had before, optimized toward the new general. Anyway Tasigur looks like fun to build, and fun to play.

May 7, 2015 1:35 a.m.

Busekros says... #4

I feel like you have so many basics in here that you could run Boundless Realms. To include mana rocks while also having your colored mana available you could run the three signets in your colors? Simic, Dimir, and Golgari Signet. I would probably keep Elixir of Immortality in case a game goes long and you risk decking yourself. Either run that or replace it with something like Psychic Spiral. Overall I really like the deck though.

May 12, 2015 3:52 p.m.

I'm going to make some wild suggestions for you.

I would cut Jarad, Sidisi BT, Naturalize, Fact or Fiction, Vraska, and maybe Jace.

I would consider adding Demonic Collusion, Wood Elves, Augur of Bolas, Rites of Flourishing, Krosan Grip, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Liliana's Shade.

May 18, 2015 9:43 p.m.

I run a deck called Tasigur's Court if you want to see a more themed version of Tasigur.

May 18, 2015 9:57 p.m.

nayrash5 says... #7

Entomb is a cheap way of dumping something into your graveyard. Sylvan Library is a solid way to draw cards every turn, and the free Ponder effect is powerful too. Jarad's Orders is an entomb effect and a tutor effect stapled together. Misthollow Griffin is another card you can cast from exile, which is good with Delve.

May 21, 2015 3:40 p.m.