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Abzan Tymna boonweaver combo is a competitive EDH build with a primary focus on playing the fair game and a combo finish. The deck itself is a mix of elements with a very defined plan for the first several turns of the game, an adaptable mid game, and a strong inevitable win condition. If left alone this deck is capable of winning as soon as turn 3 and consistently around turn 5. While this is slower than other cEDH decks, Tymna boonweaver is well suited to forcing games to go to this length or longer in preparation of its attempted win. Lets begin breaking down the deck now.
Your deck looks like X and Why arent you playing X
I get a lot of comments or observations about the deck thinking it either does something it doesnt, or its trying to be something its not. Ultimately a lot of these misconceptions come down to simple misconceptions about either which cards I actually want in the deck or about what the actual game plan the deck is trying to achieve is, so lets get the most common of these out of the way first.
Karador Boonweaver: This is the most obvious, and also the strongest comparison for the simple reason that it makes sense. Karador is the same color set as the Tymna//Sidar Kondo pair and includes many of the same cards, including the primary win condition. The reason that this deck is different from Karador is actually quite straightforward: this deck is running a different engine. Karador relies on the commanders ability to cast cards from the graveyard to generate card advantage, and is drawing a lot of its strength from the raw power of the spells it runs. Tymna on the other hand is generating card advantage by actually drawing cards (through Tymnas ability) and is drawing strength from synergy between the core cards of the deck and the interactive pieces (such as eidolon of rhetoric). If the decks still seem too similar for you to separate them, then you can feel free to think of Tymna as small Karador, since in many ways it is.
Tymna//Thrasios: This connection comes from the relative prevalence and power of the Tymna//Thrasios deck, and the mistaken idea that Tymna boonweaver is running a similar game plan. The Thrasios builds are dedicated combo decks, and they use their cards to build toward and protect that combo as much as possible. Tymna boonweaver is first and foremost a fair deck, and the cards here are used to make it difficult for opponents to win the game before the boonweaver loop can be established.
Stax (of any flavor you like): For reasons I have yet to comprehend there seems to be a misconception that any deck playing rule of law or sphere of resistance variants is a stax deck. In a proper stax deck, the objective of these cards and effects is to try and put opponents under a lock of some variant and ultimately ends in the opponent never casting spells. This means that for a dedicated stax deck, the entire game plan is to shut the opponents down and hold them down. In the case of Tymna boonweaver, the prison elements serve the purpose of interacting with the opponent. Lacking in counterspells and discard being less effective in a multiplayer format means that abzan has to resort to other means to interact with opponents. Tutor able prison elements fulfill that requirement while also feeding into the engine of the deck. In many cases, slowing opponents down for the 1 or 2 turns it takes for them to answer any given hate piece is all that is needed to string together a win.
How the deck works
Tymna boonweaver operates by feeding into its core engine as much as possible and using a predictable formula to build a fluid game plan. The formula is as follows: 1) set up the Tymna draw engine, 2) draw into or tutor for hate pieces to interact with the opponents, 3) play the fair game and assemble the cards necessary to attempt a win, and 4) execute your combo and kill the opponents. The games this deck tends to lose are the games where the draw engine never gets turned on, or opponents arent affected by interaction. As simple as the plan is, actually executing it can be quite complicated, so lets break it down.
Winning the Game
Plan A: Cutthroat Drain
Tymna boonweaver has a very large number of graveyard loops which it can set up, frequently using the namesake card Boonweaver Giant. These loops can be used to fuel Zulaport Cutthroat triggers to drain all opponents to 0 life without targeting a single player. This combo is the most versatile since it requires the fewest cards and the least time to go off.
Primary Loop: sacrifice outlet + 2 of (Saffi Eriksdotter/ Reveillark/ Karmic Guide) + Cutthroat
Alternate loops:
Saffi Eriksdotter + Loyal Retainers + Cutthroat
sac outlet + Felidar Guardian + Karmic Guide + Cutthroat
There are other, more complex loops as well.
Plan B: Silence Lock
This is the second strongest way to win through sac loops, however requires much more specific pieces. If going through Birthing Pod or Boonweaver its a relative no-brainer to assemble, however otherwise it can be difficult to do so. The goal is to use sac loops to recur eternal witness and through eternal witness, silence. Then cast silence on each opponents upkeep forever and lock them out of ever casting spells again. This works much better if paired with one of the several ways to destroy opponents hands described below. After establishing silence lock, simply attack over time to formally win. This method also requires a lot of white mana to work, so it has a lot of fail cases. Note that in order for this lock to work you need a sac loop involving reveillark, so its a non option if reveillark is unavailable.
Available loops:
Eternal Witness + Reveillark + Karmic guide + sac outlet + Silence
Eternal Witness + Reveillark + Felidar Guardian + sac outlet + Silence
Eternal Witness + Reveillark + Saffi Eriksdotter + sac outlet + Silence
Plan C: Hand Shredding
There are 3 methods to shred all opponents hands in this build of the deck, and when they work they are quite potent. The first method is to use one of the above loops getting thoughtsieze instead of silence. This method requires oodles of black mana as well as life, so it should be generally considered untenable. The second, and probably easiest way to shred hands is to use Sadistic Hypnotist as the sac outlet in any loop you can engineer. This does allow your opponents 1 card per turn to try and dig out of it though, and can require cards like scavenging ooze to be considered safe, which makes it the softer of the viable hand locks. The final method is to use one of Mesmeric Fiend or Tidehollow Sculler as part of a sacrifice loop to exile all nonland cards from all opponents hands. This is done by sacrificing the card in response to the exile trigger, which causes the return trigger to be placed on the stack above it, and the card to become permanently exiled. Once an opponents hand is annihilated, simply go through combat steps to formalize the win. The Mesmeric Fiend method is the strongest hand shredding lock.
Loops, Sadistic Hypnotist: See plan A
Loops, Thoughtsieze: See plan B
Loops, Mesmeric Fiend:
Sculler/Fiend + Reveillark + Karmic guide + sac outlet
Sculler/Fiend + Reveillark + Felidar Guardian + sac outlet
Sculler/Fiend + Reveillark + Saffi Eriksdotter + sac Outlet
Plan D: Mirror Entity
This is the combo version of the combat damage plan. If for some reason opponents are not dead to one of the above loops, if infinite mana is available, or if untap step simply comes around with a lot of creatures and a lot of mana, mirror Mirror Entity quickly converts to a win. While it should be clear that simply activating for a large amount of mana gets the job done, mirror entity can pair with Sidar Kondo to sneak in a very large amount of damage. Simply activate mirror entity for 2 or 1 to push past blockers with Kondos ability, then activate Mirror Entity again for a larger amount and get in a massive hit. This is plan D because it can benefit from grave loops, which should be considered the primary route to victory, but doesnt actually require them.
Plan E: Ramp/Reanimator
This version of the deck plays a reanimator package which is quite devastating against certain opponents/strategies/board states. Sometimes it is sufficiently game ending simply to slam an Iona or an Elesh Norn, and The deck does support that strategy even if actually putting those cards into the graveyard can be difficult. If this proves too difficult, one can always try to cast these cards. The deck runs a very high mana dork count, as well as Gaeas Cradle and Priest of Titania, which means that generating enough mana to cast these enormous threats reasonably quickly is not out of the question.
Plan F: Fair Game
There are a solid number of games where it simply isnt prudent, or possible, to go for a combo kill or a big splashy play. For these games simply using tutors to find interaction, and trying to slowly grind opponents down through combat damage is the best path. It isnt flashy, and it isnt necessarily pretty, but it is a strong plan, and both commanders play well into it. Especially against opponents relying on Ad Nauseum or Necropotence to draw cards, whittling their life total down in stages is not only effective, but game deciding.
How to Hate
Tymna boonweaver relies on a suite of hate pieces to interact with opponents, lacking the counter-magic available to the blue decks. This means that while the interaction we have can shut down entire decks, without the right pieces in place we dont get to interact at all. In order to avoid such foolishness, we have to understand what broad archetypes of deck exist, and what hate packages we have for those decks so that we can tutor for those cards early.
Hating on Everyone
There are some hate pieces in this deck that just generally interfere with opponents, use them to deal with anything you dont know how to answer, or you arent otherwise prepared to answer. These cards are also usually just solid choices if you dont know what else to do. In the case of Sanctum Prelate, naming 3 or 4 allows you to play around the most common sweepers and prtect your board.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Tidehollow Sculler
Mesmeric Fiend
Sanctum Prelate
Hating on Storm
There are many variations of storm, but they all have a few things in common: they all like to draw cards and they all like to cast a lot of spells. The easiest way to shut down storm decks is therefore to stop them from casting a lot of spells. This can also frequently be managed by simply shutting down the efficiency with which they cast spells, so Glow Riders are good here as well. Sanctum prelate on 3 can shut off wheels in storm decks you know play them, and 2 or 5 tend to shut off draw spells. It should also be noted that storm decks tend to use their graveyards to some degree, so the grave hate cards can assist in dealing with them as well.
Ethersworn Canonist
Eidolon of Rhetoric
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Sanctum Prelate
Gaddock Teeg
Hating on Graveyard Decks
Graveyard strategies are incrediably powerful in EDH, and nearly every deck incorporates some degree of graveyard synergy. These can be anything from the full on dredge of Gitrog, to the infinite mana of Worldgorger Dragon loops, to the instant death of Necrotic Ooze. Even this deck uses grave loops as a primary win condition (which has the unfortunate side effect of preventing us from using Rest in Peace). In my opinion, not packing any grave hate in a cEDH game is tantamount to suicide.
Deathrite Shaman
Scavenging ooze
Bojuka Bog
Faerie Macabre
more coming soon.
