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TK-ARC

Commander / EDH* Artifact Competitive Infinite Combo Reanimator WUBR

sthagenjr

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Instant (32)

Creature (7)

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Land (29)

Sorcery (11)

Commanders (2)

Commander: Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
Commander: Tymna the Weaver

Artifact (13)

Enchantment (5)

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Tymna/Kraum Artifact Reanimator Combo

This Primer is currently Under Revision thanks to recommendations

As one member of my play group puts it, T/K-ARC is:

"Weird, 4-color good stuff in a Tymna/Kraum shell."

The deck seeks to blend the grindy, resilient pair of Tymna the Weaver and Kraum, Ludevic's Opus with the speed of stormy artifact/graveyard strategies such as Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead, Auriok Salvagers + Lion's Eye Diamond, and Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. This deck uses the infinite mana generated by these two card combos to either cast an infinitely large Walking Ballista, create infinite birds with Copy Artifact + Swan Song, or force everyone to draw their deck by recurring and casting a card like Pull from Tomorrow.

cEDH currently exists in a state where everyone has to prepare or expect to play against Flash + Protean Hulk. This results in more decks playing around and playing with grave hate. This deck is designed to be adaptable for various metas and levels of grave hate. Alternative winning lines such as Demonic Consultation + a lab man effect or Ad Nauseam + Angel's Grace can be included based on meta. These alternatives are discussed further in the match-ups and maybe board sections below.

Theros Beyond Death provided an excellent new card for this deck, Underworld Breach. The card synergies quite well with the strategies already included in this deck. The immediate combo in this list is Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond + Wheel of Fortune which will draw your entire deck. I have been experimenting with the card since its announcement, and it has been quite useful. I look forward to its performance in this list as future cards and sets are released.

This primer is very thorough and veterans of cEDH might find some information redundant or obvious. My intention for being so verbose is to provide established players my personal perspective on piloting a deck like this and to explain to newcomers to the competitive side of EDH what they might find when they sit down for a competitive game.

I am a dimir player at heart and love the strategies of both storm and reanimator. If Griselbrand were to be unbanned, I would be the happiest EDH player in the world. (I know it won't happen but one can dream!) Since joining the cEDH community, I have been torn between these two plans and have sought to devise a deck that could feasibly blend the two.

The primary sources of inspiration for this list come from two decks in particular: SBT Razahulk and Sidisi, Undead Vizier [cEDH]. The Sidisi Brood Tyrant deck is one I have been playing since I started playing competitively and is inspired by LilBrudder's list. The deck seeks to layer several fast graveyard combos that work well together in one deck. However, as great a reanimator list as it is, there are two problems I personally have with the deck. It can not run Ad Nauseam and failure to remove grave hate results in non-games. The mono black Sidisi deck is an artifact storm list that runs a reanimation package with Razaketh, the Foulblooded in order to tutor out the necessary cards for the storm turn. When I found this deck on the database, I loved the idea of it. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same hate pieces as BUG Sidisi and is in mono black which lacks a great amount of interaction.

In attempting to build this list, I wanted to take the idea of mono black Sidisi and layer it with synergistic combos the way BUG Sidisi does. Making the deck sans-green puts it in colors that can storm, reanimate, and interact. The list is capable of removing grave hate and/or winning regardless of its existence in a game.

To best explain my recommendations for piloting the deck, I have broken this section down into three subsections.

Knowing the right game plan in a given game often depends on the opening hand and what the other decks in the pod are. Generally, hands should contain interaction and the means to tutor a combo piece or grind the game out with value cards such as Mystic Remora.

  • The Ad Nauseam Rush

    This is generally a route I take when my hand presents fast mana rituals, the tutors to get Ad Nauseam and/or Angel's Grace, and more than one protection spell. It is a game plan that works both during the earlier and later parts of the game. I would be cautious about going down this route if the opponents are known to run stax effects such as Static Orb and Null Rod.

  • The Graveyard Route

    This deck is built around using the graveyard as a resource. As long as I am not playing into a pod with lots of Grafdigger's Cage and Rest in Peace effects, this is a valuable route to go down. I tend towards this game plan when my hand presents looting effects, Buried Alive/Entomb, or Lion's Eye Diamond. This game plan is often better when trying to win quickly, or during the midgame where there are minimal stax pieces/interaction. The later the game goes, the more likely one or more of the opponents will be able to interact with the graveyard combos. Both the worldgorger + animate dead loop and the bomberman loop have moments where they are quiet vulnerable to disruption and protection is necessary. With the printing of Underworld Breach, this game plan becomes much safer to attempt as the card allows you to keep reusing interaction in your graveyard to protect these loops.

  • The Tymna/Kraum Value Plan

    When the opening hand presents lots of interaction and cards such as Mystic Remora or Dark Confidant, this is probably the safest game plan. It is also the slowest. This strategy plays much like draw-go and is great into grindier/stax-filled pods. A slower build to Ad Nauseam+Angel's Grace is quite feasible in this game plan. I find the key to playing this way is knowing best how/when to use your interaction package.

  • The Consult Plan

    As I mentioned in the introduction to this primer, flash hulk has brought a meta where graveyard/library interaction such as Grafdigger's Cage is very present. If a meta presents too much grave hate, it is probably worth removing Reanimate and Cabal Ritual for Demonic Consultation and Thassa's Oracle. This line gets around most common hate pieces and plays quite well with the draw-go approach of grinding with Tymna and Kraum. This is discussed more in the maybe board and win condition sections.

Here are my thoughts on match-ups versus popular decks in the format. I will continue to update this subsection as I play against and experience more decks.

  • Opus Thief:

    TK-ARC and Opus Thief share quite a few cards and game plans in common. This deck can benefit from quite a bit from Opus Thief's strategy. Cards such as Wheel of Fortune and Windfall can help fill the graveyard and net you treasures if Smothering Tithe is in play. Dockside Extortionist is great as Opus Thief has a ton of artifacts and enchantments. Note: The reverse is true as well. Don't play Dockside Extortionist into an opponent's Dockside Extortionist and be weary about casting windfall when the Opus Thief player has Smothering Tithe in play. The major cards to look out for when playing against Opus Thief are Aven Mindcensor, Notion Thief, and Timetwister as all of these cards slow down this decks game plan.

  • Wanderer's Song:

    Yisan, the Wanderer Bard plays a lot of cards that are a problem for this list. Collector Ouphe, Scavenging Ooze, and Null Rod are all cards to watch out for. It is especially tricky as most of the hatebear creatures are put in play off Yisan's ability, and most decks, this one included, do not run the Stifle effect to stop the activations. The key to this match up, quite frankly, is killing Yisan whenever possible. If necessary, Cursed Totem shuts down Yisan and can be added to this list. Note: the totem does shut down Auriok Salvagers, Razaketh, the Foulblooded, and Walking Ballista. Consider removing at least Salvagers in this case.

  • Consultation Kess: a Primer:

    I personally have more experience with the stormier Aetherflux Reservoir variant of this list, but I feel the strategy against this deck is comparable. Much like Opus Thief, Kess, Dissident Mage runs a lot of cards that work with ARCs game plan. Narset's Reversal becomes a fantastic card in a meta where consult Kess is common. The pseudo-counterspell can shut down the Kess player while benefiting ARCs plan. Great targets for Narset's Reversal include Ad Nauseam, Lim-Dul's Vault, and other tutors. When playing against consult Kess, Angel's Grace is very powerful as it stops the consultation win. Additionally and critically, always attack this player first as their life total is critical to their game plan.

  • The Gitfrog:

    With the suite of interaction in TK-ARC, I have found The Gitrog Monster to be very manageable. The key is to keep a hand that can interact very quickly as the Gitrog player wants to jam Gitrog asap. The card Mana Drain is amazing in this match up as even if Gitrog is put into play off of Cavern of Souls you still get the five mana. Look out for cards that give the frog shroud or hexproof as it can become very difficult and near fruitless to interact after that point.

  • Oracle Core:

    I have not had the misfortune of playing against this list at this time. I will update this primer once I have more games against it. #banFlash

Because this deck focuses on a proactive strategy, it is the exact type of deck that stax can be very effective against. However, some stax pieces effect this deck's game plan more than others. Below are my thoughts on common stax pieces and how critical it is to remove them or prevent them from resolving. Note that these opinions come from experience in my own meta, and the exact right decision varies from game to game. Generally, though, these are my thoughts.

  • Aven Mindcensor:

    This deck is primarily blue and black with Razaketh as part of one of the winning lines. Additionally, it is ideal to fetch out a mana base that provides all colors for worldgorger. In summary, this deck tutors a lot. If aven mindcensor resolves, I find it generally becomes a collective effort to remove it, and the bird is almost always worth bolting. However, as long as the necessary colors are available and aven mindcensor is hurting your opponents more than you, it is reasonable to just cast Tymna/Kraum and draw cards while waiting for someone else to kill the creature. If one or more people are on flash hulk, I recommend letting the bird resolve as this list tends to grind better than traditional flash hulk lists.

  • Collector Ouphe/Null Rod:

    Of all the common stax pieces, Ouphe and it's artifact counterpart Null Rod are some of the worst for this deck. Almost all ramp in ARC is artifact based and one of the better infinite mana outlets is Walking Ballista. Additionally, it shuts off key value cards such as Dockside Extortionist and Smothering Tithe. The only time not to remove these types of cards is when someone is on a deck like Opus Thief. Collector Ouphe is slightly less of a problem than Null Rod as this list runs more removal for creatures than artifacts.

  • Cursed Totem:

    This card hits three critical cards in this deck Auriok Salvagers Razaketh, the Foulblooded, and Walking Ballista. Considering this deck is sans-green, it does not have mana dorks that get shut off by this artifact. If one were to play this deck in a heavy green meta, I would let the card resolve and only remove it if it affects your winning turn.

  • Rest in Peace:

    I'll make this short and simple. Never let this card resolve if it can be helped. So much of the deck works around having access to the graveyard. Even if this list can win through it, it is always better to have access to the yard.

  • Sphere of Resistance/Thorn of Amethyst:

    The mana and spells in this deck are lean. The infinite mana lines usually net only one mana per an iteration. These types of stax piece really slow down the deck and prevent some of the infinite loops. Along with Rest in Peace and Null Rod, these are some of the most problematic stax pieces for the deck. I always try to remove them at the earliest convenience.

  • Trinisphere:

    Surprisingly, I have found Trinisphere to not be as bad a stax piece as Thorn of Amethyst. If it is possible to pull off early, Buried Alive and Necromancy are both three cmc. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As mentioned in the deck motivation section of this primer, part of the goal of TK-ARC is to layer multiple combos/strategies that work fairly well together. This section dissects each of these combos.

  • The Ad Nauseam Line:

    Outside of Razaketh, the Foulblooded and Worldgorger Dragon, the average cmc of the cards in this deck is extreme low which makes Ad Nauseam a very valuable card. It is always better to cast it at the endstep before your turn unless you have the card Angel's Grace. If you have both cards in hand, you can draw your entire deck on your turn and proceed to use any of the following winning lines you desire. Additionally, after casting ad nauseam and angel's grace, you can:

    1. Cast Silence
    2. Cast Underworld Breach
    3. Repeatedly cast Windfall

    You will not lose by drawing from an empty library because of Angel's Grace, but you opponents will lose by drawing from their empty libraries.

  • The Bomberman Loop:

    This loop works by using the activated ability of Auriok Salvagers to recur, cast, and crack Lion's Eye Diamond to make infinite mana. Each iteration of the loop nets one mana. Some important things to note. Neither of the partner commanders in the command zone have an outlet for infinite mana on them. Before attempting this combo, make sure you have a mana outlet or the means to get the mana outlet. Walking Ballista is probably the best outlet with this loop as it can be in either in your graveyard or hand at the start of the loop. You can then use Salvagers ability to put the ballista back into your hand and cast it for an arbitrarily large amount.

    This is probably the weakest line in the deck as it does not work through Cursed Totem, Null Rod, and/or Rest in Peace. Additionally, after you start the loop, you do not have a hand as you pitched it to LED. I highly advise only going for this line if you know your opponents are out of interaction, you have resolved Silence, or you have Underworld Breach in play to protect the loop. This might be the weakest loop, but I have found it to be the one that most frequently surprises and gets the table.

  • The Consultation Line:

    This is currently not included in my list but is absolutely worth talking about. This winning line is compact and gets around most stax pieces. If you find yourself stuck in a stax heavy pod with lots of grave hate, it is worth finding a slot. The mana base can also be modified for Tainted Pact by replacing one of the two remaining islands with a snow island.

  • The IsoReversal Combo:

    NOTE: I am actively experimenting with removing this win condition for the Consultation line as the both get around grave hate. I am leaving this section for completeness. In a game where the Rest in Peace is sticking around, this is a pretty decent backup line that does not need the graveyard. This deck runs plenty of artifacts and tutors like Spellseeker which make it very feasible to go acquire Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal. Just like with the Bomberman combo, you'll need something to do with the mana. Again, Walking Ballista is one option, but the other is to use Copy Artifact targeting the scepter and imprint Swan Song. The latter method require one addition spell that the copied swan song can target start a chain swans. Note: these swans do not have haste and will require a rotation of the table to kill everyone. This is a line I really only recommend if you are locked out of the graveyard.

  • The Breach Line

    The new card Underworld Breach can be used in combination with two cards already run in the list making quite a synergistic card. When Breach is in play, you can go back and forth cracking Lion's Eye Diamond and Wheel of Fortune to cycle through your deck netting one card in your graveyard each time. In this deck, you only need to repeat this loop until you hit one of the other graveyard strategies. The great thing about Underworld Breach is that it not only has its own line but is also useful as a value card that bolsters all the other lines and combos in this deck. With a graveyard full of cards, you can protect whatever winning line you choose. Not that every cast is an opportunity for the opponents to remove the enchantment. Silence would be one of the first spells I cast with Breach in play.

  • The Worldgorger Loop:

    This winning line is one of the reasons I built this deck. The best way to go about this combo is to us the card Buried Alive to put both Worldgorger Dragon and Razaketh, the Foulblooded into the graveyard. You can then use any of Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, or Necromancy to put Worldgorger in play and then begin the loop of flickering and tapping your mana sources to make infinite mana. To break the loop, you must be able to interact with any of the triggers to stop the loop, or another creature must be in the graveyard. This is where Razaketh comes into play. The partners of this deck do not have a mana outlet for all the mana this loop produces, but they are excellent fodder for Razaketh. With the infinite mana and Razaketh in play, you can repeatedly cast your commanders and feed them to Razaketh to tutor an outlet if one is not already in hand.

    Any time you try to win can be improved by casting and resolving Silence; it makes this loop a whole lot safer. There are several critical moments when executing this loop where the other players in the game can interact and leave you in a worse spot then when you started. With any of the enchant dead spells there is a trigger that occurs after Worldgorger has been targeted but before the dragon enters where they can remove the enchantment causing the dragon to enter and exile everything. This leaves you with a bad dragon in play and no other permanents. A similar effect can be caused by bouncing worldgorger in response to its exile trigger. Along with silence, if Underworld Breach is in play, it allows you to cast protection in your graveyard in response to any of the removal your opponents have.

    As an additional note, if you include the consultation line in the deck, you can put Thassa's Oracle in the yard, and if you have Demonic Consultation and Necromancy in hand, you can win at instant speed.

This is not a comprehensive list of the Maybe Board and Cards in the list but rather cards I seriously consider and reasons why some cards are in the deck vs others.

  • Spellseeker:

    The other day I was asked why the list runs Spellseeker over a card like Grim Tutor. In this list, Spellseeker can grab numerous one/two mana cards like Entomb, Reanimate, Demonic Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Demonic Consultation, and Dramatic Reversal. It serves as an attacker/blocker for Tymna and can be fodder for Razaketh. The card can also be an alternate to Razaketh when breaking the Worldgorger loop.

  • The Consultation Package

    I currently do not run this line in the deck, but I am experimenting with replacing the scepter package with it. As mentioned several times throughout the primer Demonic Consultation & lab man effect are great in the current flash hulk meta as it ignores most common hate pieces- a problem the scepter line was trying to solve. The consult line does not require a previous board state and is capable of winning at instant speed. If I were to add consultation, Thassa's Oracle, and Tainted Pact, I would remove Copy Artifact, Dramatic Reversal, and Isochron Scepter. This also requires replacing one island with a snow island.

  • Counterspell Package:

    I am greedy and try a get away with having less interaction. If you find yourself wishing you had more interaction, I would add Drowned in the Loch, Pongify, and Dispel by replacing Reanimate and one or two cantrips.

  • Gilded Drake:

    If you find your meta warped by powerful creatures or commander depended strategies, substituting the drake might be a viable other. It is honest quiet a good "removal"/value spell.

  • Cursed Totem:

    This is a powerful stax piece you can run, but it comes at the cost of Auriok Salvagers, Razaketh, the Foulblooded, and Walking Ballista. If dorks and activated abilities on creaures are truly dominant in your meta, I would substitute the totem in place of Salvagers and add more creature removal such as Pongify.

When sitting down for a game of cEDH (or EDH in general), the commanders your opponents are running usually tell you a lot about their decks game plan. The partner pair of Thrasios, Trident Hero/Tymna the Weaver give no direct clues. Until the game starts, anyone number of different strategies/combos/packages could be in that 99. This is often a benefit TnT get in any new pod of strangers, a benefit that is fairly unique. This deck helmed by Tymna and Kraum gains the same boon. When sitting down at a table, you opponents might suspect Opus Thief, Divergent Transformation, or Midrange Ad Nauseam. There is a tangible benefit to the element of surprise.

This is a reanimator list in sans-green. Now, why would I choose to build a reanimator list without Survival of the Fittest or Life / Death? Well, I believe the deck gains more than it loses in these four colors. For example, if I were to swap one partner for Thrasios, I would still need black which means the new partner pairs are either Thraios/Tymna or Thraios/Vial Smasher the Fierce. In sans-white, the deck loses Angel's Grace, Auriok Salvagers, and Smothering Tithe- an interaction piece for Oracle Hulk, a combo piece, and a fantastic value engine. In sans-red, this list loses, Dockside Extortionist, Underworld Breach, Wheel of Fortune, and Worldgorger Dragon. The game plan and lines of this deck blend well in the colors of sans-green. I do not believe giving up any of these valuable cards are worth the benefit of survival as a tutor effect or an extra reanimate. I also feel that adding a fifth color to the deck dilutes the synergy between the different game plans and reduces the ability for the deck to pivot.

In summary, TK-ARC is a powerful, combo-packed list with an adaptable game plan that can storm off in the early game or grind to the late game. It blends an integrated, synergistic package of graveyard value and winning lines that route around some of the most common stax. I hope all who read this primer found it interesting and insightful. If anyone has any comments, critiques, or questions, please leave a message. I will be happy to answer, discuss, and update as needed. Thanks!

Tl;dr

I wanted to build a deck that could run both a reanimator package and a storm package and not be in mono black.

The Winning Lines are:

Buried Alive a Worldgorger Dragon & Razaketh, the Foulblooded -> Animate Dead on dragon for infinite mana then swap to Razaketh for unlimited tutors by sacrificing and replaying commanders

or

Play Lion's Eye Diamond -> Auriok Salvagers -> crack LED -> activate Salvager's ability -> repeat for infinite mana. Use mana for Walking Ballista

or

Angel's Grace + Ad Nauseam = Deck in Hand

or

Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal for Infinite mana. Use mana for Walking Ballista

or

If you experience a lot of grave hate, replace two cards with Demonic Consultation and Thassa's Oracle.

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Casual

95% Competitive

Date added 4 years
Last updated 4 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

16 - 2 Mythic Rares

53 - 2 Rares

17 - 2 Uncommons

11 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 1.92
Tokens Bird 2/2 U, Treasure
Folders Cedh, cEDH Ideas
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Kraum's ARC thumbnail

Kraum's ARC

sthagenjr EDH
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