Finale of Devastation in cEDH
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on March 22, 2020, 3:15 p.m. by ToolmasterOfBrainerd
I've been seeing a lot of cEDH decks playing Finale of Devastation, but I do not quite understand why. It looks too mana-intensive to me.
In my deck I would use it to put combo piece creatures into play. These are Bloom Tender, Faeburrow Elder, Devoted Druid, and Recruiter of the Guard. And if the situation isn't right for any of those, then I'll put Spellseeker into play.
With Green Sun's Zenith, I can play a mana dork turn 1 and then GSZ for x=2 for Bloom Tender on turn 2. I like that curve a lot. With Finale I can't do this.
With Eladamri's Call, it's an instant. I can hold a counterspell and play this on an opponent's end step. And if I'm finding a 2 or 3 mana creature, I don't need the 4 or 5 mana all at once. I also like these properties.
Finale seems like the worst of both worlds. What kind of cEDH decks should be playing this card, and why?
Combo’s well with Craterhoof Behemoth in the precombat main phase, even after he has just been countered and is in the graveyard, for a game winning attack.
March 22, 2020 3:41 p.m.
It is Mana intensive but the decks that really want to run this are shooting for infinite Mana anyway. Personally I want one for my Marwyn deck.
March 22, 2020 4:58 p.m.
I'm mean it's green sun's zenith with a built in craterhoof!!
March 22, 2020 5 p.m.
GhostChieftain says... #6
It searches creatures to the battlefield, it reanimates, and it gives +X/+X. It may not be the best thing at the things it does, but it is passable at 3 excellent things for many decks and all 3 of those can be used in different ways to close out the game. It is an extra (albeit worse) Green Sun's Zenith, Reanimate, and Craterhoof Behemoth all wrapped up in one.
March 22, 2020 5:19 p.m.
In most competitive deck lists Finale offers a win condition that can also function as a tutor. These decks are often running large numbers of mana dorks to pump up, and large numbers of other redundant tutor pieces. The last pertinent point of value comes from Finale also searching graveyards, which other tutors cannot do, this increasing deck resiliency to some degree. In such a deck list sacrificing a small amount of tutor quality for significantly increased degree of flexibility and utility is generally worth doing for the small number of games where these aspects are going to be relevant.
Ultimately not a card I personally play much as if I’m concerned with resilience or utility this card’s inclusion won’t actually solve those problems in the environment I’m likely playing, but in more standard, less progressive metas Finale holds a bit more value in the slot than most other options.
March 22, 2020 7:09 p.m.
It's also worth mentioning that even if you're not going for infinite beats, Finale of Devastation also gives your creatures haste if X>=10. For cards like Selvala, Heart of the Wilds you can play her, pump a bunch of mana into Finale and then tap her for the mana spent that turn. I get that it's a bit corner case, but it's a combination of all of these things that makes the card good.
March 22, 2020 7:59 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #9
In a format where you are trying to make "infinite" mana, Finale becomes its own win condition.
For 1 more mana, it is better than Green Sun's Zenith and here's why:
1) It can get more than only green creatures
2) It can get creatures back from the graveyard and put them right into play
3) It enables "haste" in green
4) It is a win condition in itself
Also, it has the benefit of putting the creature directly into play whereas Eladamri's Call does not do that.
March 23, 2020 12:55 p.m.
dingusdingo says... #10
There are a few things that Finale of Devastation really has going for it, especially compared to other similar cards.
- Finale of Devastation acts as a win condition by pumping creatures and giving haste. This gives big utility by being a win condition that also has a regular purpose too, meaning you aren't holding a dead card just for winning like Laboratory Maniac. Finale is a tutor, its a win condition, both are essential parts of decks when playing cEDH. This is really the single biggest reason decks run the card.
- Finale of Devastation pulls from the library OR the graveyard. In EDH, where you are limited to singleton copies, many tutors to winning lines can be turned off by having the creature in your GY instead of the library. Another way of thinking about it is that Finale of Devastation doubles as an X-cost reanimation spell on top of being an X-cost tutor.
- Finale of Devastation puts into play, which immediately sets it apart from to-hand style tutors. This is seen with a few tutors, especially X cost ones like Green Sun's Zenith. Compare to GSZ, for one more mana you are able to get a creature of ANY color. Compare to Chord of Calling, which has convoke and is instant speed for 1 more mana, but lacks the ability to pull from GY and the color weight is 3 instead of 2, which makes it slightly harder for 3/4/5 color decks
- It serves as layering by having creatures with removal. For example, imagine you have 3 cards in your deck like Caustic Caterpillar. If you run 7 creature tutors that can get you to your Caterpillar, it is like you have 10 copies of that card but you didn't have to spend any extra slots. Now apply this to removal, card draw, combo pieces, mana production, mana outlets, stax pieces, whatever type of card you can think of. Many decks choose to run Finale alongside GSZ and sometimes (but rarely) Chord of Calling too, plus a plethora of other tutor-to-hand effects to give fast access to combo pieces.
TL;DR wincon, tutor, reanimate, layering, at a CMC playable in the meta. Swiss army knife that does so much more for a little extra mana, and it can always be useful no matter when you draw it.
March 24, 2020 6 p.m.
ouroborobelisk says... #11
Yisan said it best: "I'm mean it's green sun's zenith with a built in craterhoof!"
What's so hard to understand about that?!? As soon as I saw it spoiled I preordered a playset. If you grab God-Eternal Rhonas with it, you're paying 10 mana to give your team +20 damage, Vigilance and Haste. I like that alot!
RNR_Gaming says... #2
It's actually fantastic. Play with the card and you'll see. On the surface it appears to be an overly costed green sun's Zenith but...it also acts as a reanimate grabbing back an important combo piece from the graveyard and is a good mana sync in heavy green based decks like yisan and selvala. Lastly, it's a haste enabler for green.
March 22, 2020 3:37 p.m.