Deadeye Navigator WHY DOES NO ONE SEE THE POTENTIAL IN THIS CARD IT IS BEAUTIFUL
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Aug. 1, 2014, 9:32 p.m. by slurpiee
I'm still relatively new to magic ( started in dragons maze) but I've jumped in feet first and i play edh and I've seen literally ONE person use the navigator besides me. and it wasn't even in a a derevi deck. Can we just talk about the insane combo's that are possible with this card??
Good!! At least SOME people see his glorious ability. He's sooooo cheap too. $0.75 is too good
August 1, 2014 9:44 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #4
He's also very restrictive since he sets up infinite combos and powerful enter the battlefield abilities. He's a good reason why Sylvan Primordial was banned.
August 1, 2014 9:47 p.m.
Well I'm going to play him SOMEHOW. I'll use him in any format I can until he's banned from the game altogether
August 1, 2014 9:56 p.m.
Lol? Another troll thread? Most people not running blue for control run him. Heck, even people running blue just for control run him + snapcaster anyway. He's insane. Well, he's not insane on his own. He's shit on his own. But hes a good enabler.
August 1, 2014 9:56 p.m.
Not a troll thread at all! I honestly NEVER see him played and I wasn't sure if any one else did or not. haha
August 1, 2014 9:58 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #8
Dude, he's everywhere in EDH.
One of the most insane cards.
August 1, 2014 10:16 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #9
Just a tip: local playgroups are a bad means of generalizing what happens in the larger EDH community. Poke around online first.
As the others said, Deadeye Navigator is one of the quintessential combo enablers. I run it in Dominus - Dreamcrusher Edition to great effect.
August 1, 2014 10:24 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #10
I run it in Every piece, another puzzle. to a semi-great effect.
:P
August 1, 2014 10:30 p.m.
I've not even seen it on here either though so I assumed not many people used it. Guess i didn't look in the right places lol
August 1, 2014 11:48 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #12
It was very popular with my local group as well until everyone sort of got bored of him, I think. He still shows up from time to time, but having him hit the board usually draws a lot of aggro now, moreso than any of the things he might want to pair up with. I think some other groups have similar experiences.
August 2, 2014 12:58 a.m.
SevenSeasAgo says... #13
It's actually so good, it was speculated by some to be banned in EDH during the last banning, along with Prophet of Kruphix
August 2, 2014 1:34 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #14
People who say Prophet of Kruphix needs to be banned really don't understand EDH ban workings.
August 2, 2014 1:56 a.m.
Deadeye is in every EDH deck that is run in my City (portland Oregon) that has blue in it. I am not even exaggerating that much. every shop
August 2, 2014 3:01 a.m.
Schuesseled says... #16
I haven't seen anyone running it. But i can see the potential.
August 2, 2014 4:20 a.m.
Prophet of Kruphix is REALLY good, But not ban worthy. I mean Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger is much worse in comparison.
August 2, 2014 9:31 p.m.
FancyTuesday says... #18
I don't get why anyone thinks Prophet of Kruphix deserves a ban. It offers zero card advantage or threat on its own, and if you're going to start banning cards because it "works well with other cards" then you should probably start with Birthing Pod and keep going until you hit Omniscience . In EDH there are innumerable combinations of two or three specific permanents that will just give you the game if your opponent doesn't have an answer in their hand, PoK is just another good piece with great synergy in some decks.
Deadeye Navigator isn't banworthy either. It's a powerhouse but it's only ever as good as your board-state allows it to be. Again, another piece in a potentially deadly machine but on its own not so incredibly potent that it blows the game open.
August 3, 2014 1:41 a.m.
You can't be serious slurpiee... Only 2 people including you use Deadeye??? At my LGS, EVERY blue deck runs Deadeye. Even if it's a counter/control deck. My mind is blown.
August 5, 2014 3:11 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #21
I am not sure you play EDH if you feel that this card is underrated. It is a must add to any deck that is allowed to run blue, and even then decks make sure they can run blue to use him.
August 5, 2014 4:10 p.m.
This might just be me, but I don't run Deadeye Navigator in any of my Blue EDH decks. There are a number of reasons but the main one is that he draws a ton of hate. The lack of Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial help make him less broken (btw, he's still broken), but he can still do tons of work with cards like Auramancer , Sharuum the Hegemon , Magister Sphinx , etc and combos well with Ephara, God of the Polis . (I only referenced cards I use in my EDH decks). I just don't run him for gameplay reasons. It might make me less of a Spike, but I'm ok with that.
August 5, 2014 4:21 p.m.
That's certainly true JWiley129, he does draw a lot of hate. In my EDH Games, the first player to play a deadeye is either the first player to lose or the winner of the pod.
August 5, 2014 4:25 p.m.
FancyTuesday says... #24
Deadeye Navigator is not an "instant include" in every blue deck by any means. He has a lot of synergy with common themes, but he still requires a few things of your deck to be anything more than a 5/5 for 6 with shroud for 2. You need:
- A Commander with an ETB ability, or...
- Enough creatures with ETB abilities to consistently have them on the field to get use out of him.
If you have either of those two things then yeah, Deadeye is an instant slot in. Big creatures with big ETB effects are common in EDH so he sees a lot of play, but there are plenty of things he doesn't work in. If you're playing Voltron Rafiq of the Many or Counters Vorel of the Hull Clade Deadeye is a waste of a slot and building around him hurts your deck.
I see Deadeye played a fair bit, but I've never seen him "go off" as it were. He requires another creature so that's one dependency, it takes 6 to drop him and 2 to blink him or his buddy, and Wraths are really common in EDH because of the card advantage they give players. Honestly, 9 times out of 10 I'd rather see Venser, the Sojourner in my hand than Deadeye.
August 5, 2014 6:19 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #25
FancyTuesday not exactly. He is removal protection, and a combo piece. EtB is not required for him to dominate, though it does help.
I would auto include him in both of those decks you mentioned.
August 5, 2014 6:44 p.m.
FancyTuesday says... #26
How exactly does a 5/5 with activated protection from spot removal "dominate" without that other piece?
My point is that he's not worth the slot if he's not a combo piece in your deck, and he doesn't go well with everything. In Voltron his "protection" throws off equipment and destroys Auras. A protection effect that runs against your theme is a pretty weak use of a slot.
August 5, 2014 7:13 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #27
My point is that he is. He protects against many things when he is not a part of that combo.
I try not to build on a theme, and more towards a very strong deck. I could see if you are limiting your self to a theme how he would not be as good though. I do not know of any decks that do not run something that would not benefit from him being around. Those decks are few and far between.
August 5, 2014 7:51 p.m.
FancyTuesday says... #28
Building a strong deck and building towards a theme are not exclusive goals. If Deadeye Navigator depends on 4 targets in your deck of 99 cards to make him anything more than a modestly sized creature that's kinda annoying to remove he's a poor use of a slot.
Just as protection instant-return blinking is pretty poor. It won't save him or his buddy from board wipes, you have to pay to activate it every time as opposed to static shroud or hexproof, it resets summoning sickness, destroys auras, bucks equipment, and a host of other things that can be good or bad depending on what you're built around like resetting counters.
Your decks are a clear example of what I'm talking about. Your profile shows two EDH decks with blue in them, a Roon deck where he fits right in and a Merieke deck where he'd just be silly. I have the same deal where he works great in Sharuum the Hegemon but he's a just a shot in the foot in Vorel of the Hull Clade .
I agree he fits in with a lot of decks, and in those decks he's a beast. I just don't see him as an auto-include in the color for a lot of reasons.
I'm not sure what I'd consider an auto-include in blue. Cyclonic Rift maybe?
August 5, 2014 8:20 p.m.
TheGamer unfortunately I am serious. the guy that first introduced me to EDH runs it and when he used it to draw fifty billion cards with his commander, Prime Speaker Zegana , I knew I was gonna run blue in my first deck.
Didgeridooda - I guess saying it's underrated in my town would be more appropriate lol
And in retrospect i guess it makes a little more sense considering how few people in my town actually play commander.
August 5, 2014 9:44 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #30
FancyTuesday I am actually looking for another deadeye to put in to that deck. I had him in there, but he was even better in roon, so I moved him over. He is getting a spot back in there for sure as soon as I get another one.
julianjmoss says... #2
It may be your play group because to my knowledge it is an incredibly popular card in edh
August 1, 2014 9:41 p.m.