Countdown to Infinity [Counters Primer]

Commander / EDH Artifact Counters Graft GU (Simic) Jank Primer Tap/Untap Theme/Gimmick

UltimateRoxas40

Creature (34)

• 1x Biophagus
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Deepglow Skate
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Evolution Sage
• 1x Fathom Mage
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Gyre Sage
• 1x Herald of Secret Streams
• 1x Hydroid Krasis
• 1x Incubation Druid
• 1x Ioreth of the Healing House
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 1x Kiora's Follower
• 1x Kodama of the West Tree
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Master Biomancer
• 1x Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• 1x Plaxcaster Frogling
• 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade *f-pre*
• 1x Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Simic Manipulator
• 1x Thrummingbird
• 1x Toothy, Imaginary Friend
• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
• 1x Zameck Guildmage
• 1x Zegana, Utopian Speaker

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Thirsting Roots
• 1x Three Visits

Land (34)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dreamroot Cascade
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Commander (1)

Instant (11)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Repulsive Mutation
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Artifact (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Astral Cornucopia
• 1x Darksteel Reactor
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x The Millennium Calendar
• 1x The Ozolith *f-pre*

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Doubling Season
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Helix Pinnacle
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Simic Ascendancy *f-pre*
• 1x Sylvan Library

---

Sideboard

Artifact (3)

• 1x Manifold Key
• 1x Sonic Screwdriver
• 1x Voltaic Key

Instant (1)

• 1x Bioshift

Creature (1)

• 1x Danny Pink

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Body of Research
• 1x Fabricate

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Court of Garenbrig

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter
• 1x Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

---

Maybeboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Ripples of Potential

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Wave Goodbye

Creature (1)

• 1x Ravenous Slime

---

I've internally cycled through several Simic commanders, and always found that I'd prefer playing that potential deck archetype with someone else - Ezuri, Claw of Progress -> Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, or Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait -> Yarok, the Desecrated.

But with the release of Lost Caverns of Ixalan, and the release of The Millennium Calendar, I found an archetype and deck design that feels unique. Plus, I spent some time in school studying the culture of the Mayan People, who are the inspiration behind the River Guides civilization on the plane of Ixalan, so seeing an MTG version of the Mayan Calendar was cool.

The Commanders Herald released an article discussing the inspirations behind the different civilizations on Ixalan

---

Our Commander

As I said, finding a Simic commander who was more than just 'Good Stuff' proved to be a challenge for me. But honestly, once I decided the core of this deck would focus around +1/+1 Counters and The Millennium Calendar, there was really only one option, and he was a familiar face to me as well, so I liked it even more. My second round of coming back to Magic was in the Return to Ravnica block, and my favorite color combos then were Dimir, Simic, and Golgari.

Vorel of the Hull Clade - The Counter Doubler! For {G}{U}{T}, we can double the number of each kind of counter on target artifact, creature, or land. While this is predominately used for +1/+1 Counters, I wanted to double other types of counters in addition to +1/+1 Counters.

This leads to the core of this deck, which is to primarily utilize alternative win conditions, with a backup option of smashing faces with pumped-up creatures.

---

Alternative Win-Cons!

• Darksteel Reactor - I got a copy of this Indestructible Artifact early on in my EDH days, intending to add it to my Atraxa, Angel of New Phyrexia [Infect Primer] deck, way before I stabilized it around Infect and some +1/+1 Counters. However, it can shine bright in this deck too! It gains a charge counter on each of our upkeeps, and once we hit 20, we win the game on the spot! With our sources of Proliferation and Untap abilities to abuse Vorel of the Hull Clade's ability, hitting 20 on this shouldn't be too difficult.

• Helix Pinnacle - While this is an Enchantment, and thus can't be targeted by Vorel of the Hull Clade, it is a good mana dump, especially when paired with our untappers like Seedborn Muse or Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood. Combine this with Vigean Graftmage and a mana source with a +1/+1 counter on it (Incubation Druid or Gyre Sage), and we can generate infinite mana and dump it all into Helix Pinnacle, then wait for our next upkeep and win the game!

• Simic Ascendancy *f-pre* - Another Enchantment that we can't technically target with Vorel of the Hull Clade. However, since this cares about putting +1/+1 Counters on our creatures, anytime we double +1/+1 counters on another one of our creatures, we put that many counters on Simic Ascendancy, allowing us to hit 20 easily, then wait for our next upkeep and win the game!

• The Millennium Calendar - One of the main reasons I finally decided to build this deck! This artifact was based on the Mayan Calendar (As the Jade Empire on Ixalan is also based on the Mayan civilization). I got to spend a month in Central America for a class studying Mayan culture, so this hit home for me. This is the ultimate win-con for the deck: Reaching 1,000 time counters! We add a counter to it for each permanent we untap during our untap step and can pay {2}{T} to double the number of counters on it. With Vorel of the Hull Clade, we could potentially quadruple the counters on it each turn!

And to maximize the number of times we can double some of the counters on these, we have a suite of untappers, who can help up either untap Vorel of the Hull Clade to Double something, or untap things like The Millennium Calendar or Gyre Sage.

Untappers

• Ioreth of the Healing House - Can either untap any target permanent, or untap two target legendary permanents. Could double the number of activations for The Millennium Calendar by untapping it and our commander!

• Kiora's Follower - We can {T} this creature to {UNTAP} any permanent.

• Minamo, School at Water's Edge - We can pay {U} and {T} this land to {UNTAP} any Legendary permanent. Primary targets would be The Millennium Calendar or our commander.

• Seedborn Muse - During each other player's untap step, we can untap all permanents we control. While the extra mana is always good, being able to consistently double or quadruple the number of +1/+1 counters or counters on The Millennium Calendar will make it easier to pull off our alternate win-con.

• Tezzeret the Seeker - His +1 ability allows us to untap two Artifacts.

• Vigean Graftmage - For {1}{U}, we can untap any creature with a +1/+1 counter on it.

• Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood - At the end of turn, this gigantic Axolotl untaps all permanent we control with counters on them.

---

However, it's possible that our opponents will remove one or more of our primary win conditions. So we have our backup option of pumping up our creatures and overwhelming our opponents!

+1/+1 Counters

While it's fun to win in a non-combat way, if for some reason our alternate wincons are destroyed or exiled, we can crush our opponents with boosted creatures.

• Biophagus - Taps for any color, and if it was used to cast a creature, it enters with a +1/+1 Counter. Both a mana dork and a source of +1/+1 Counters.

• Fathom Mage - It starts small, but as larger creatures enter the battlefield, it can Evolve and grow larger. Plus, it is one of our sources of card draw.

• Forgotten Ancient - An excellent defensive creature and +1/+1 Counter source. We can play this and sit back and watch it grow, as we add a +1/+1 counter to it each time an opponent casts a spell.

• Gyre Sage - We can tap it for {G} equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on it, and it has Evolve, so it can grow on its own as we play out progressively larger creatures.

• Hydroid Krasis - A beater, source of card draw, and excess mana outlet all in one. Plus, 'Jellyfish Hydra Beast' is one of the coolest creature-type combinations I've seen.

• Kalonian Hydra - Another powerful beater. Once he starts attacking, our board will become very large very quickly.

• Llanowar Reborn - Has Graft 1, which can let us give an additional +1/+1 counter to another creature later.

• Managorger Hydra - Same as Forgotten Ancient, it gains +1/+1 counters as our opponents cast spells, but is a more offensive creature, since it has Trample.

• Master Biomancer - Adds +1/+1 counters to all other creatures when they enter the battlefield equal to his power. So if we start pumping him up, all our subsequent creatures will enter pumped up.

• Oran-Rief, the Vastwood - We can tap this and add a +1/+1 counter to each Green creature that entered the battlefield this turn. We do miss a few Blue creatures that wouldn't mind additional counters like Simic Manipulator or Toothy, Imaginary Friend, but the majority of our big attackers are either Green or Simic colors, so this land would hit most of them.

• Ozolith, the Shattered Spire - We can pay {1}{G} and {T} it to give any creature or artifact a +1/+1 counter, albeit at Sorcery speed (Boo...).

• Plaxcaster Frogling - Has Graft 2, so it can distribute out +1/+1 counters to other creatures when they ETB.

• Prime Speaker Zegana - One of our more expensive cards, but it enters the battlefield with {X} +1/+1 counters on it, with {X} being equal to the highest power creature on our board. We then draw cards equal to its power (So effectively {X} + 1 cards)

• Repulsive Mutation - A flexible pump and/or counterspell. We can dump {X} into it and pump up a creature and potentially counter something, or put nothing into the {X}, and hopefully already have a powerful creature on board to assist with countering an opponent spell.

• Rishkar, Peema Renegade *f-pre* - Turns all our creatures with +1/+1 Counters into sources of {G}, and distributes two +1/+1 counters when he enters the battlefield.

• Roalesk, Apex Hybrid - When he enters, we put two +1/+1 counters on another of our creatures. When/if he dies, we proliferate twice.

• Scavenging Ooze - One of our sources of graveyard hate, we can exile a card from a graveyard, and if it was a creature card, we put a +1/+1 counter on our oozey friend.

• Simic Ascendancy *f-pre* - One of our win-cons, but also a source of +1/+1 counters. For {1}{G}{U}, we can put a +1/+1 counter on any of our creatures.

• Simic Manipulator - Has the keyword Evolve, allowing it to grow stronger over time. Plus, we can use it to steal permanents from our opponents.

• Toothy, Imaginary Friend - Whenever we draw a card, we put a +1/+1 counter on our Imaginary Friend.

• Vigean Graftmage - Has Graft 2, but also has a base power and toughness of 0/0, so we can't really afford to give away too many of its counters. But if we start doubling +1/+1 counters or Proliferating, then we can have enough counters to consistently give one to another creature when it enters the battlefield.

• Walking Ballista - For {4}, we can add a +1/+1 counter onto this construct, then remove as many counters as we want and deal that much damage to any target. A great outlet for infinite mana, we can use this to ping our opponents to death.

• Zameck Guildmage - Has an abusable ability to pay {G}{U}: Creatures enter the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter this turn. With enough mana, this can be activated multiple times, so that creatures will enter with {X} additional +1/+1 counters, {X} being the number of activations.

• Zegana, Utopian Speaker - Zegana can Adapt and add four +1/+1 counters to herself, making her a massive threat.

Counters Doublers or Boosters

• Deepglow Skate - Doubles the number of any kind of counters on our permanents.

• Doubling Season - The OG doubler. If an effect would put one or more counters on a permanent you control, it puts twice that many of those counters on that permanent instead.

• Evolution Sage - On Landfall, we Proliferate. With all our doublers and boosters, this could easily turn into Proliferate -> Add four +1/+1 counters.

• Hardened Scales - If one or more +1/+1 counters would be placed on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are placed on it instead.

• Kalonian Hydra - Whenever this Hydra attacks, we double the number of +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.

• Kami of Whispered Hopes - Same as Hardened Scales. If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a permanent you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on that permanent instead.

• Karn's Bastion - For {4}{T}, we can Proliferate.

• Ozolith, the Shattered Spire - Similar to Hardened Scales, but also includes artifacts. If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on an artifact or creature we control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead.

• Pir, Imaginative Rascal - If one or more counters would be put on a permanent we (or our team) controls, that many plus one of each of those kinds of counters are put on that permanent instead.

• Roalesk, Apex Hybrid - When he dies, we Proliferate twice.

• Thirsting Roots - For {G}, we can either get a basic land or Proliferate.

• Thrummingbird - When this creature deals combat damage to a player, we Proliferate.

• Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider - If we would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put twice that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead.

---

Notable Exclusions

Notable Exclusions:

Magistrate's Scepter - I'm not a huge fan of infinite-turn style wincons, but it would fit the theme of winning with alternative wincons. Depending on how it plays, it might come in.

---

If you got this far, please leave a comment and/or a like! I built this deck almost exclusively with cards I already owned; the only cards I bought specifically for this deck were The Millennium Calendar and Ioreth of the Healing House, so if you have suggestions or replacements, I'd be happy to hear them!

Date added	3 months
Last updated	1 week
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 1 Mythic Rares 46 - 2 Rares 17 - 6 Uncommons 7 - 1 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.62
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Beast 3/3 G, Construct 0/0 C, Fractal 0/0 GU, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, The Monarch