Zedruu the Greathearted deck featuring lifegain and enchantments

Look at other Zedruu decks and you'll notice that they almost all feature a bunch of "screw over everyone else" cards. I don't feel like this is a great strategy since you're board isn't going to be that strong. It's far better to lay low, protect your stuff, gain life, and then win quickly. This deck aims to do just that.

Zedruu gains life and draws cards so most cards are built around this theme. In order to do this, cards like Akroan Horse, Cultural Exchange, Daring Thief, Djinn of Infinite Deceits, Gilded Drake, Humble Defector, Puca's Mischief, Rainbow Vale, Perplexing Chimera, Shifting Borders, and Vedalken Plotter allow you to swap cards without using Zedruu's ability.

Cards like Statecraft, Voidmage Husher, Fog Bank, Wall of Omens, Mystic Remora, Dualcaster Mage, Dictate of Kruphix, Stasis Snare, Act of Authority, and others make great gifts to opponents. It's probably not a bad idea to help someone out with a free blocker in order to gain some favors for later.

More card draw and lifegain is the name of the game. Venser's Journal, Reliquary Tower, and Thought Vessel allow for infinite hand size so you won't need to discard.

Venser's Journal also gives some intense lifegain along with Aetherflux Reservoir, Authority of the Consuls, Dovin Baan, Illusions of Grandeur. Together with Zedruu the Greathearted, you'll be getting huge life totals.

But now that you have 80 life, how do you keep it until the game is won? Luckily there's a bunch of cards that will do just that.

Counterspells, Lockdown, and Damage Prevention:Arcane Denial, Archaeomancer, Counterflux, Detention Sphere, Darksteel Mutation, Dualcaster Mage, Faith's Reward, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Gift of Immortality, Mystic Barrier, Repel the Abominable, Sphere of Safety, Stasis Snare, Voidmage Husher, Comeuppance and Wild Ricochet.

Board Wipes:Retribution of the Meek, Keldon Firebombers, Cyclonic Rift

On a side note, many of these creatures can be swapped to an opponent after their "Enter the Battlefield" effect is used. The same goes with enchant creature enchantments.

Of course, no Zedruu deck would be complete without at least SOME jerk cards. I'd usually wait until someone comes across as the jerk of the game, which will help earn some more friendship points with other players. These cards include Illusions of Grandeur, Statecraft, and Curse of Bloodletting.

Ok, so you have a bunch of life and cards. What now? Well we should go ahead and win the game.

Win-cons: Felidar Sovereign, Ajani Goldmane, Dovin Baan, Storm Herd, Insurrection and Aetherflux Reservoir

You should hopefully be drawing enough cards to pull 2-3 of these throughout the game. Hold onto them. Felidar Sovereign is going to be targeted so make sure you have plenty of ways to keep him and your life total safe for a round.

So this is the way that I think Zedruu the Greathearted should be played. This deck isn't necessarily budget, but it also isn't crazy expensive. I'll continue to update as I playtest. Please leave comments and suggestions as I'm always willing to improve!

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Date added 7 years
Last updated 7 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

4 - 0 Mythic Rares

42 - 0 Rares

25 - 0 Uncommons

11 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.54
Tokens */* W Creature Avatar, Angel 4/4 W, Emblem Dovin Baan, Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1 R, Pegasus 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders Commander/EDH
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