Flawless Maneuver

Instant

If you control a commander, you may cast this spell without paying its mana cost.

Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Dandan	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Judge's Tower	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with me …

4 days ago

Welcome back to another episode of Build a Deck with Me. In the first two episodes I focused on a couple decks that want to go infinite and combo out. I realize that playing infinite combos is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but one of the things I enjoy is finding cool interactions/ways to break cards. So today instead of finding ways to break cards, I’m simply going to start with a card that is already broken and build a deck around it. That card is Voja, Jaws of the Conclave. Ok, so maybe it isn’t broken, but you have to admit, you see this good boy on the field and you need to find a response quickly.

Research

In the last episode, I had some comments that suggested I talk about some of the general research that goes into deck-building. One thing to keep in mind is that when you’re building a deck there are general archetypes that exist and are fairly well known. These can often serve as models when thinking about what cards to use, although relying too heavily on them long term can diminish creativity. If you’re just starting out though, by all means run over to EDHRec and find what cards usually go into a counters deck or a tribal deck (spoiler alert that is what we’re building here). One of the things that I do that helps my deckbuilding is watching youtube channels that play commander. This includes: The Command Zone, Tolarian Community College, Commander at Home, and Elder Dragon Hijinks. There are many others out there, but these are the ones that I’ve watched more than a couple episodes of. As I’m watching an episode, I find myself thinking, “Wow I want to build something like that” or “I really liked the interactions with that”. For instance, there was a Commander at Home game where I got to see the interaction between Dihada, Binder of Wills and Odric, Lunarch Marshal and now they’re sitting on my desk, waiting to be built. Today’s episode is the result of one such instance. I watched The Command Zone episode that covered Murders at Karlov Manor. In that game, the Voja deck was a beast. It was fast, it made huge creatures, it drew tons of cards, and it just couldn’t be stopped, oh and the commander was a big puppy dog (wolf, puppy same thing).

To start building, I went into Gatherer and just began looking for a few things like Wolves, Elves, and Changelings. I started to realize that there are very few changelings and the wolves out there really aren’t that great outside of a few like Hollowhenge Overlord. So I turned back to the Command Zone for some help. They post their decklists on the videos and I began scrolling through it and much to my surprise, the list was similar to the ones that I had found, but wasn’t sure about like Ferocious Pup and Universal Automaton. These aren’t good cards unless you have something that really wants creatures on the field. And that’s when things started to click. The support for Voja didn’t necessarily need to be super strong in their own right, it just needed to enable him to do more.

Changelings

First of all, Voja is an interesting card because it wants both Elves and Wolves on the field. Most tribal decks want just one tribe so it almost feels like you have to make a choice between one or the other here. Well I don’t like choosing between two good options. It’s like deciding between chicken nuggets or a chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A. I say both! (I also might need to reconsider some life choices, but oh well)

Changelings are great because they have all creature types which means any tribal deck can use them. Some are extremely powerful, while others just have an interesting creature type. In this deck, however, we want to focus on low cost creatures. If they do something cool, bonus!

Realmwalker is awesome because it is every creature type but it can also cast creatures from the top of your library which instantly gives you card advantage, we will likely choose elf as our creature type when it comes in because they generally are going to be our lower cost creatures, our mana dorks, and likely the more prominent tribal type in our deck.

Remember any changeling on the field will trigger both aspects of Voja’s triggered ability so a Universal Automaton becomes a 1 drop enabler for both adding counters and drawing cards. Irregular Cohort provides two 2/2 bodies both of whom are changelings and give us more counters and cards.

Of course there are two cards here that are just amazing. Maskwood Nexus which makes all your creatures all creature types, and Shields of Velis Vel which does the same thing in instant form. Both are game changers with voja.

Elves

When it comes to elves, we generally want to have mana dorks. This is going to ramp us out quickly, but also allow us to have bodies out there to add counters to. A couple standouts besides the normal ones like Llanowar Elves are:

Gyre Sage who is going to get huge thanks to Voja.

Beast Whisperer will draw you lots of cards because we are going to be a creature heavy deck.

Yeva, Nature's Herald is also helpful in being able to get your cards out on your opponent’s turns.

All the versions of Tolsimir are great because they often come with a wolf token in tow.

Finally there is Shalai and Hallar… When you’re adding counters to every creature on your board equal to the number of elves you control, this card can take out an opponent.

Wolves

There are a few wolves out there, but its surprisingly fewer than you would think. Hollowhenge Overlord is really good, and so is Ferocious Pup. You play it and suddenly you have two wolves which means two more cards when Voja attacks. Another great wolf is Roaming Throne. I know what you’re thinking, “it’s a golem.” In this deck, it’s a wolf… trust me. Roaming throne will double all of Voja’s triggered abilities and now you’re thinking “Voja only has one triggered ability.“ Actually, Ward is a triggered ability. Which means now in order to target him, your opponents need to spend 6 mana!! So you swing with Voja, let’s be conservative and say that you have just llanowar elves, Voja, and roaming throne, you add 2 +1/+1 counters to everything and you draw 4 cards. Speaking of doubling that trigger: Annie Joins Up. A super underrated card so far and triggers on Voja, Shalai, and Tolsimir.

Other fun stuff

There are a couple other things that help support Voja as well. Counter multipliers and additional combat steps are all good things for this deck. You don’t want to put too many of those in though because when push comes to shove you’re likely going to just want a creature to play instead of another counter multiplier. I have Kami of Whispered Hopes in the deck, because it adds counters, but it also produces a crazy amount of mana which I can use to empty my hand of creature cards. Hardened Scales is fine and even Branching Evolution feels worthwhile, but I chose not to add any others.

For additional combats I added only two cards, one was Relentless Assault and the other is Great Train Heist. The latter is great because it has more versatility, is an instant, and costs the same as relentless assault for its first ability. Both of these cards can win the game pretty easily.

There are also wolf producers like Howling Moon which I’ve played in Arena with great results. (also pairs well with Tocasia's Welcome). Sword of Body and Mind produces wolves, gives protection, and mills your opponent. Arlinn, the Pack's Hope  ^Flip is another powerful card since it produces wolves, but can also give you flash on your creatures.

Finally, there is a card that I’m proud to say I noticed before it became super popular. Silver Shroud Costume. I remember playing it in the dogmeat deck and thought, this is good, I’m going to put a copy into voja. At that time it was $5. It has since surged to $20 and there is a reason. It can flash out and attach to Voja, who is now hexproof, (in case ward 3 wasn’t enough) and unblockable gg.

Card Draw, ramp, interaction

Don’t forget your interaction. Just because Voja has ward 3 and is hard to spot remove, doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to be protected. Flawless Maneuver, Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection etc. will help keep him and the rest of your creatures safe.

As far as ramp goes, Voja wants creatures which means a lot of ramp is going to be in the form of mana dorks not mana rocks or traditional green ramp spells. I still added a few green ramp spells, but its definitely fewer than some of my other green decks.

Card draw is also a little different here. We’ve got Beast Whisperer and Tocasia's Welcome already and they work really well with the deck since the Beast whisperer is also an elf and tocasia’s welcome triggers with all of our mana dorks which we can flash out on other turns as well. Voja of course is the main card draw engine (seriously a commander who draws cards is just waiting to be abused). Other good cards here are Inspiring Call and Rishkar's Expertise.

About Card Draw

One quick note on card draw that has recently changed the way I think about it. I used to separate card draw into two different categories. Card draw engines which are ongoing effects that will give me cards as long as they remain on the field. The other is simply cards that draw more cards. Previously, I assumed that the former were excellent cards and the latter were well… not great. But as I was listening to The Command Zone they started talking about cards and the amount of triggers you can expect to get in a single game. This changed the way I thought about it. A card like Rhystic Study is great because you are likely going to get some cards from it, but your opponents can pay the 1 or they can remove it. The idea is to think about your card draw engines in terms of the average cards you get from it. This helped me starting think about the usefulness in a card like Inspiring Call which is likely to give me 4-5 cards when I play it, at least. Rishkar's Expertise similarly will net me upwards of 7-10 cards and play a spell from my hand. Meanwhile, rhystic study, which is a great card, will likely get me 5-6 cards before being dealt with, sometimes only a couple. It helped me shift my thinking and made me consider other cards that I had previously dismissed.

Lands

Not a lot of utility lands are needed in this deck, I did like Rogue's Passage, because a lot of times Voja is swinging for lethal commander damage. Making him unblockable is great.

Here is the final form: Voja, the good boy

And by final form, I mean the form I’m currently playing, but likely will change because decks are always being updated and changed. As always, hope you enjoyed the article and if you have any commanders or interactions that you want to see built, let me know in the comments.

Profet93 on Kaalia of the Funk

1 month ago

SufferFromEDHD

How has Dolmen Gate been playing for you? Specifically, does your meta have a lot of fliers? On the one hand, if they don't have a lot of fliers, given your commander and pretty much all your creatures have flying, is gate necessary? And if they do have a lot of fliers, how impactful is mudslide? Similar question for Bedlam.

Props for running Armageddon and Rebuff the wicked! At the risk of sounding like a broken record, given your deck is commander reliant, Deflecting Swat? Or perhaps even a Flawless Maneuver? Mithril Coat is also a good protection option that is reputable and easy to cast.

Have you thought of potentially swapping out Footfall Crater for Hall of the Bandit Lord? While hall can't be used the same turn, and does cost life, it is a haste outlet that is less likely to get you 2 for 1ed, and it takes a land slot, freeing another slot for whatever you need, probably draw. Unless you don't focus too much on draw given you're game plan is just to destroy them quick and easy with overwhelming cheating into play advantage.

How has Insidious Dreams been and what to do you tutor for? I've personally never liked it given that discard is additional cost to cast and you don't even get them into your hand. Especially given this is a combo deck and you are already low on draw, what exactly is the gameplan with it? Perhaps I'm missing something?

Thoughts on swapping out Strionic resonator for Isshin, Two Heavens as One? Resonator costs less, is less likely to be removed, and is easier to cast but requires you to have mana open. Isshin costs more mana, is harder to cast and easier to remove but doesn't require additional mana.

Mother of Runes - Protection

While I adore expedition map, have you thought of swapping it out for another ramp piece? You have about 5 pieces of ramp. Swapping map for Mind Stone or another 2cmc ramp spell can help you bring your commander out earlier. Of course mind stone's draw is nice too.

I'm sure you've went through most of these suggestions as you originally made the deck given your expertise in EDH but I would love to rack your brain regarding your thought process. Let me know what you think

Last_Laugh on Better Ingredients, Better Vampires, Papa Eddie's

2 months ago

I have a few suggestions for ya, but not a bad start.

Reconnaissance is worth its' weight in gold here. If you're unfamiliar with the card I suggest looking it up, it's pretty busted if you know what you're doing. Long story short is attack with EVERYONE safely, deal combat damage in most situations, and untap each creature at the most opportune time (including after combat damage is dealt... both 1st strike and normal) so everyone is untapped by the end of combat.

Purphoros, God of the Forge makes it so every vamp you cast domes each opponent for 4. It also lets you run Scapegoat as a finisher instead of just as 1 mana answer to wraths (trust me when I say bouncing all your stuff back to hand is 100% worth it in response to wraths so you actually have a grip full of cards to redeploy and get eminence triggers again).

On the subject of protection, this is probably the most important support type for aggro decks and there's zero of them in the deck. Don't get caught with your pants down or that is a miserable game where you end up with no hand topdecking cards until you lose. Teferi's Protection, Clever Concealment, Boros Charm, Flawless Maneuver, and I also lump Plumb the Forbidden in this section (same logic as Scapegoat). Seriously, run them ALL... unless your meta has like 0 removal you won't regret it.

Let me know if you're picking up what I'm putting down, I have more suggestions and/or help with cuts if you want it. Also, feel free to check out my list for inspiration. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Edgar's Dega Vampires

Atheist on Angus McHaggis

2 months ago

Lol, I agree Angus looks a lot like Tim the Enchanter and is one of the reasons why I built the deck!

Group Hug simply means cards that everyone playing benefits from. For example, almost all of the card draw is for everyone at the table not just myself. The cards that are under "Group Hug" let people play more lands each turn, play permanents for free, and cast their spells as if they had flash. This is also why I made a category of "Only I benefit".

But, as you pointed out traditionally group hug decks don't have win conditions. I just couldn't help myself and try and win cutely and cheekily.

I have had a lot of fun playing this deck so far but, I am going to be adding a few cards to it as I found I needed more ways to protect myself! The following cards are for sure going in Disallow, Voidslime, Heroic Intervention, and consider possibly these cards as well Azorius Guildmage, Flawless Maneuver, and Ouphe Vandals

lhetrick13 on Ty-Ramp-A-Saurus Wrex

4 months ago

Grends27 - Thanks for your thoughts on my deck so I wanted to repay the favor! Disclaimer, looking at your decklist, I am assuming more of a budget build so I will take that into account.

So first off, I like the high creature count of the deck. Similar to my deck, I think I counted 8 creatures that are not dinos that will not hit with Gishath. Most of the non-dino creatures in my deck are there for utility/ramp purposes and seems like yours are filling similar roles. Personally, I am a little underwhelmed by Ilysian Caryatid, Llanowar Elves, and Ixalli's Lorekeeper and try to avoid anything with toughless less than 3 due to Marauding Raptor. I would encourage you to try out Kinjalli's Caller, Shaman of Forgotten Ways, and Intrepid Paleontologist as they provide a similar role but usually have something more than just adding mana/acceleration to the deck. You really need to consider Forerunner of the Empire. The tutor effect is great by itself but the ability to trigger your Enrage dinos is very powerful. Plus with the abundancy of 1/1 tokens in EDH, this is a board wipe for any creatures weaker than say 2 toughness. He is another great utility creature for dinosaur decks!

I like the dinos you included. I know I said I would suggest budget but Trapjaw Tyrant and Silverclad Ferocidons do work. Especially when you have the ability to trigger their Enrage ability multiple times per turn!

Your land count is very similar to mine, I did not count up all the ways you have to ramp up but see a lot of ways to do that via creatures, artifacts, sorceries, instants, etc. I was going to try adding Poetic Ingenuity into my deck as a way to add some additional treasure tokens in the early turns via swinging with smaller dinos to generate mana to cast Gishath. Can not suggest it 100% without trying it but I love the idea of it!

On the enchantment/artifact side, the only thing I would really suggest is adding Strionic Resonator. Similar to me, you are running enough triggered effects that this card will win you games. A good drop for it would be Descendants' Path. I ran that for a while and was just not impressed with the results. Maybe Aggravated Assault if you would like to swing multiple times...combos well with the Poetic Ingenuity!

FOr the Instants/Sorceries, my only suggestion is that with how common boardwipes and interactions are in EDH, I would suggest more single/mass protection. Flawless Maneuver is not to expensive and can be cast for free if Gishath is out. Clever Concealment is nice for those pesky mass exile spells as you can just phase out your creatures and if your deck is firing on all cylinders and you have a board presence, you can usually cast it for free as well!

Otherwise, looks pretty solid! You can tell you have a plan...cast Gishath quick...swing hard...raid dinos...repeat.

YStar27 on interaction with katilda and lier

6 months ago

P.S.

if i have Katilda and Lier and give a Flawless Maneuver flashback can i cast it for free if if control my commander even though i am casting it from my graveyard?

GoldenAgeBatman on "It's Good to Be King" [Mardu Vampires]

6 months ago

Last_Laugh

Thank you for the feedback! I am planning on adding Teferi's Protection as soon as I can. I realize you can play Flawless Maneuver for free if Edgar is out on the board. However, could And They Shall Know No Fear work in that role as well?

I wanted to grow my board by way of Invasion of New Capenna but I may just swap that for Purphoros now that the cost has dropped since I last built Edgar.

I completely forgot about Plumb! I'll pick that up today along with Boros Charm.

Last_Laugh on "It's Good to Be King" [Mardu Vampires]

6 months ago

Purphoros, God of the Forge domes all your opponents for 4 every vamp you cast and it makes it so Scapegoat can be used as a finisher. I also recommend more defensive cards to save your boardstate. Flawless Maneuver, Teferi's Protection, and Boros Charm are all good options. Plumb the Forbidden falls in this 'don't overextend and end up in topdeck mode" category for me as well.