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Thrasios and Kydele, Simic Combo Tag Team!

Commander / EDH Combo GU (Simic) Infinite Combo Ramp

SkyMage


Thrasios and Kydele, the Ultimate Simic Combo Tag Team!

Introduction

I'm combo trash. There's no other way to look at it, I'm a combo player, and I absolutely adore playing solitaire with my Magic cards. I also like drawing said cards; it's soooooooo satisfying. That said...

Play this deck if you...

  • Are combo trash.
  • Like drawing cards.
  • Like decks that do not hinge on their commanders to win, but are greatly reliant upon them.

Don't play this deck if you...

  • Prefer aggro/midrange strategies that use the combat step to with the game.
  • Prefer to get your entire hand into play as fast as you can.
  • Almost never cast your commanders.

The Commanders

Thrasios, Triton Hero is really good. Like, the single best card to come out of the C16 product kind of good. This is because he's a combo piece in the command zone. He's an infinite mana sink that's definitely better than Tasigur, 4 colorless is infinitely easier to gather than 2 U/G U/G. That said, Thrasios might just be good enough to be a commander on his own, given that he's in two of the best colors for EDH, but getting another Commander out of the deal just makes him even sweeter.

Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix is both the bread and the butter of the deck. Not only is she one of our most reliable win conditions, she can create crazy amounts of value at the drop of a hat. You could arguably drop her for Tymna the Weaver or another card that gives you access to more colors, but having 2/3 of your combo in the command zone just seems more reliable to me.

The Combos

Well, this is a combo deck, so its bread and butter are obviously the infinite combos. Unlike many other EDH decks, we do not hinge on one single combo, instead, I've inserted several combos that all make infinite mana so that we can just cast Thrasios, draw our deck, and win the game from there. Without further ado, here are our glorious, glorious combos.

  • Mind Over Matter + Azami, Lady of Scrolls: Can you say, "Loot until you have the perfect hand and win"? Because that's what this does. You loot with Azami to either find the cards you need, or dump your library into your graveyard and win with Laboratory Maniac.

  • Power Artifact + Grim Monolith/Basalt Monolith: One of the many ways this deck produces infinite mana, Power Artifact decreases the untap cost of our Monoliths so that we net mana each time, allowing us to get infinite colorless mana, cast Thrasios, and win.

  • Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal: Imprinting Dramatic Reversal on Isochron scepter with at least three mana's worth of mana rocks/dorks out allows you to have as much mana you could possibly want, occasionally even colored mana, depending on the rocks/dorks you have out.

  • Paradox Engine: Okay, so this one isn't really an infinite combo, but Paradox Engine is just so good that sometimes resolving one with enough rocks/dorks out is just a win. Though not an infinite combo, this card is just nuts.

  • Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith: This one's a little weird. You tap Basalt Monolith and float three. Then, pay three to untap it, after that, pay 2 from Rings of Brighthearth to double the ability. Basalt Monolith untaps, then in response to the second trigger from Rings, you tap it again. That gives you six mana, just enough to keep the loop going infinitely and netting extra mana. From there, just do what the deck does (cast Thrasios) and win.

  • Staff of Domination/Umbral Mantle + Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix: Once you've got Kydele tapping for 4 mana or more (5 mana for Staff of Domination), which is fairly easy through the likes of Brainstorm and Sylvan Library, you can start and infinite loop. Tap Kydele, tap Staff of Domination to untap, pay to untap it, then do it again, netting some extra mana. Umbral Mantle just requires you to tap Kydele, then untap it, paying three, which also gives you an absolutely monstrous Kydele. Both cards have their upsides, Staff of Domination is a two card combo, giving you a sink for your infinite mana once you've assembled it, but Umbral Mantle requires a mana less.

  • Palinchron + Deadeye Navigator: This one's fairly self explanatory. Play Palinchron, untap everything. Play Deadeye Navigator, bond to Palinchron. Exile and return Palinchron, untap seven. Tap everything, and repeat the proccess. This combo is expensive, but has the added benefit of granting infinite colored mana.

We have a lot of ramp. Like, a lot. This may seem like a weird decision, but the deck is not really meant to have a whole bunch of counterspells, in other word, we're a combo-ramp build, not a combo-control build. We've got counterspells to protect our combos, but we're by no means trying to stop people from doing their things. Anyways, I'll briefly be going through our ramp cards, even though most of the choices I've made are pretty obvious.

It's worth noting that we have a whole bunch of ramp of all different kinds in order to make the deck as resilient as possible.

  • Arbor Elf: Really just another elf dork in the deck, no awesome synergies here.

  • Basalt Monolith: A mediocre-to-bad card when you don't have Paradox Engine, this is an okay card that also happens to be a combo piece (which is really the main reason we run it).

  • Birds of Paradise: Maybe the best one mana dork in magic, there's no reason not to run this in your ramp package.

  • Bloom Tender: This is literally my favorite card in all of magic, and even though it's only mediocre in our deck, I'm not about to pass up on a two mana dork that taps for two.

  • Carpet of Flowers: I love this card. It will pretty much always do something for you, and in some games, it can ramp you by bonkers amounts, so much so that it is really worth those games where it's dead.

  • Chrome Mox: Gotta love this card. Good in the early game and late game, it lets you turn your dead draws into mana and can ramp out early game threats.

  • Elvish Mystic: Elf dork. Not much to see here.

  • Exploration: This card generates explosive amounts of value. Being able to have ten lands on turn five is absolutely bonkers. It's not as great in the late game, unfortunately, but it's worth it.

  • Fyndhorn Elves: Elf dork. Move along.

  • Gilded Lotus: Great mid-game mana rock, it's a reusable Black Lotus that is absolutely bonkers with Paradox Engine.

  • Green Sun's Zenith: One of the quirkier ramp cards of the deck, we mainly just use this to tutor out a Dryad Arbor, which can be really useful.

  • Grim Monolith: A good Basalt Monolith, aside from comboing with Power Artifact, this is a colorless ritual that can really help us out from time to time.

  • Llanowar Elves: Elf dork, muh doods.

  • Lotus Cobra: Nuts with fetches, good without them, this accelerates your mana by temporarily turning every land into a Ravnica bounceland (that's a sketchy comparison, but you get my point...).

  • Mana Crypt: The original fast mana, this card's drawback is worth it, especially with the ridiculous plays it can enable. Unfortunately, you'll sometimes end up having to bounce this yourself to keep from dying to it.

  • Mana Vault: This card is literally a ritual on a stick, with the upside of going nuts with Paradox Engine. You have to untap it every once in a while to keep from dying to it, but it's still really good.

  • Mox Diamond: This card is good in the early game by turning the lands you can't play this turn into a functional land, and can also help you in the late game. This card is just good.

  • Mox Opal: Even though we're not playing a dedicated artifact deck, this card is nuts. We play so many artifacts that it's most always turned on. It's crazy when it works, and it almost always does.

  • Oracle of Mul Daya: This card is real good. We have to reveal the top card of our deck, but it's an Exploration that also helps us find cards, which is awesome.

  • Sakura-Tribe Elder: Steve is good, he ramps you after he chump-blocks (or before, if no one has any good creatures).

  • Shaman of Forgotten Ways: Not only is this a great dork, and it's also Biorhythm on a stick, turning him into one of our only non-infinite win conditions short of the Kydele/Thrasios beatdown plan.

  • Simic Signet: An auto-include in almost every simic deck, this baby is decent ramp. Nothing game-breaking, but it will filter some of your infinite colorless mana.

  • Sol Ring: There's no reason not to run this, it's the fastest mana out there with literally no downside. It's just great.

  • Thought Vessel: This ramps you some mana, which can help out, though it's really just for those awkward moments when you have 15 cards in hand and don't know want to discard down.

We don't have many counterspells since we aren't playing a very control-y deck. We're really only playing the bare minimum of counterspells we need to protect our combo.
  • Counterspell: The original counterspell, not much of a reason not to paly this card in a blue deck.
  • Flusterstorm: This is one of my favorite cards in all of Magic. At its worst, it's a Spell Pierce, at its best, it's a hard counter.
  • Force of Will: Any competitive deck that plays blue in a format where this card is legal should be playing this. 0 mana counterspells are always great.
  • Mana Drain: A strictly better Counterspell.
  • Mental Misstep: This card counters so many staples of the format. Sol Ring and the one-mana tutors just to name a couple.
  • Negate: This is combo protection that also hits pesky artifacts and enchantments, and it's also easier to cast than Counterspell.
  • Pact of Negation: 0 mana counterspells are good, especially when you're using them to protect your combo and know you won't have to pay the cost at the beginning of your next upkeep.
  • This Primer is to be continued! Coming soon are explanations of tutors, utility cards, card-draw and lands! Please upvote and leave suggestions to make this deck as amazing at it can be! Thank you for taking your time to read about my efforts~!

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    Date added 6 years
    Last updated 6 years
    Legality

    This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

    Rarity (main - side)

    14 - 0 Mythic Rares

    42 - 0 Rares

    19 - 0 Uncommons

    17 - 0 Commons

    Cards 100
    Avg. CMC 2.61
    Tokens Beast 3/3 G
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