Shanghai Dawn - Obeka, Splitter of Seconds

Commander / EDH Alt Win Combo Enchant Enchantment Jank Monarch Suspend UBR (Grixis) Unblockable

EquivocalVision

Lands (37)

• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bottomless Vault
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Dwarven Hold
• 1x Haunted Ridge
• 4x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sand Silos
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shipwreck Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stormcarved Coast
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Xander's Lounge

Tutors (4)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Profane Tutor
• 1x Tamiyo's Journal
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Ramp (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x As Foretold
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Replicating Ring
• 1x Rousing Refrain
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Auras/Equipment (10)

• 1x Aether Tunnel
• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mithril Coat
• 1x Ring of Evos Isle
• 1x Ring of Valkas
• 1x Ring of Xathrid
• 1x Silver Shroud Costume
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice

Interaction (6)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Reality Strobe
• 1x Reverse the Polarity
• 1x Terminate

Duplicate Permanents (4)

• 1x Court of Vantress
• 1x Estrid's Invocation
• 1x Extravagant Replication
• 1x Mechanized Production

Finishers (3)

• 1x Darksteel Reactor
• 1x Descent into Avernus
• 1x Hatred

Commander (1)

Upkeep Creatures (11)

• 1x Bonehoard Dracosaur
• 1x Caves of Chaos Adventurer
• 1x Chronozoa
• 1x Creeping Bloodsucker
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1x Jhoira of the Ghitu
• 1x Laughing Jasper Flint
• 1x Plargg and Nassari
• 1x Rilsa Rael, Kingpin
• 1x Skyline Despot
• 1x Twilight Prophet

Card Draw (5)

• 1x Call of the Ring
• 1x Honden of Seeing Winds
• 1x Inspiring Refrain
• 1x Mind Unbound
• 1x Psychic Vortex

Monarch (5)

• 1x Court of Ambition
• 1x Court of Cunning
• 1x Court of Embereth
• 1x Court of Ire
• 1x Court of Locthwain

Recursion (3)

• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Portal to Phyrexia
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One

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Maybeboard

Currently Cut From The Deck (47)

• 1x Aether Vial
• 1x Aggravated Assault
• 1x Ancestral Vision
• 1x Anger
• 1x Arc Blade
• 1x Avarice Amulet
• 1x Braids, Conjurer Adept
• 1x Break Through the Line
• 1x Charnel Serenade
• 1x City on Fire
• 1x Cloak of Mists
• 1x Crosis's Catacombs
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Escape Tunnel
• 1x Eyes Everywhere
• 1x Fiery Emancipation
• 1x Gate to the AEther
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 1x Indulgent Tormentor
• 1x Karlach, Fury of Avernus
• 1x Kumena's Awakening
• 1x Midnight Clock
• 1x Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1x Mox Tantalite
• 1x Mystic Redaction
• 1x Obeka, Brute Chronologist
• 1x Paradox Haze
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Professional Face-Breaker
• 1x Protection Racket
• 1x Ringsight
• 1x Rising of the Day
• 1x Sin Prodder
• 1x Sol Talisman
• 1x Sonic Screwdriver
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Sword Coast Sailor
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x The Ninth Doctor
• 1x Tricks of the Trade
• 1x Triskaidekaphile
• 1x Valakut Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Viconia, Drow Apostate
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak
• 1x Wild Evocation
• 1x Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Cards to Test (8)

• 1x Endless Evil
• 1x Herald of Leshrac
• 1x Mithril Coat
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Tomb of Horrors Adventurer
• 1x Vanishing
• 1x Venser's Journal

Strong Considerations (2)

• 1x Sword of Forge and Frontier
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice

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You've been living on borrowed time...

Breakdown of the Deck

Mana Base

Basics - Island, Mountain, Swamp

Storage Counter Lands - Bottomless Vault, Dwarven Hold, Sand Silos Eratta - Whether or not it is tapped is checked at the beginning of upkeep. If it is not tapped, the ability does not trigger. It also checks during resolution and you only get a counter if it is still tapped then.

Evasion Lands - Rogue's Passage I know there are more evasion lands available like Access Tunnel, etc, but Grixis can be pretty difficult to mana fix, so I stuck to one as an alt-evasion tactic rather than going full blown into it as a focus.

Rakdos Lands - Badlands, Blood Crypt, Bloodstained Mire, Dragonskull Summit, Haunted Ridge, Luxury Suite

Dimir Lands - Drowned Catacomb, Morphic Pool, Polluted Delta, Shipwreck Marsh, Underground Sea, Watery Grave

Izzit Lands - Scalding Tarn, Steam Vents, Stormcarved Coast, Sulfur Falls, Training Center

Grixis Lands - Xander's Lounge, Command Tower, Prismatic Vista, Reflecting Pool, Cavern of Souls There are more Grixis lands available, but the majority of these got cut because it became apparent that too many mana sources would enter tapped, so I opted to bump up my basic land base instead.

Mana Rocks

So, where is Aether Vial? The problem with Aether Vial is you can only use it to cast creatures and the mana cost has to be equal to Aether Vial's counters. With so few creatures in the deck, and a focus more towards enchantments, etc., Aether Vial just didn't make sense to keep. The 0 cost suspend rocks may be added in again later.

{1}Sol Ring

{2} Arcane Signet, Dimir Signet, Izzet Signet, Talisman of Creativity, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Indulgence

{3} As Foretold, Replicating Ring, Chromatic Lantern

Grixis can be very slow to ramp. Mana fixing is essential. As Foretold and Replicating Ring are here obviously for their Obeka upkeep trigger benefits.

Suspend

Having something to do with that extra mana hanging around on turns is always nice. Cards that exile and re-suspend upon resolution give us the added benefit of never having to cast these spells again, but get reoccurring benefits from them.

Inspiring Refrain

Reality Strobe

Rousing Refrain

Profane Tutor

Evasion & Protection

I hear a lot about "Nonbos"... and while there are certainly a few artifacts that render Obeka untargetable, the upsides are much bigger than the potential downsides. And Silver Shroud Costume only has shroud the turn it's cast. The "downside" is gone after then, leaving what we really want... unblockable.

Unblockable Auras - Aether Tunnel, Aqueous Form

Flash Equipment - Silver Shroud Costume

Other Equipment - Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots

Duplicating Permanents

Being a singleton format, certain commanders have a harder time focusing their strategy. Obeka knows what she's about, but the Upkeep Trigger cards that are out there are all over the place, so a few cards dedicated to duplicating effects to focus the deck as needed based on the state of the game is super helpful.

Court of Vantress, Estrid's Invocation, Extravagant Replication, Mechanized Production

Upkeep Equipment & Artifacts

I separated these three equipment from the rest, because of their upkeep triggers explosive potential.

Ring of Evos Isle, Ring of Valkas, Ring of Xathrid

Darksteel Reactor, Portal to Phyrexia These two are merely artifacts with upkeep triggers that I liked. Why not diversify my upkeep triggers sources to extend beyond creatures and enchantments, in case the mono-white Voltron player is holding onto a Farewell and doesn't want to lose all their stuff. I want to ensure I keep at least some of mine too.

Main Upkeep Triggers

Admittedly, these are still all over the place. Open to ideas regarding possible substitutes.

Creatures - The initiative is a minor sub-theme in this deck, and after 5 games in which I've somehow maintained a 100% win-rate against different power lvl 7-8 decks, I can safely say that maybe I haven't gone far enough into this mechanic... Obeka will have you speedrunning The Undercity multiple times a turn in no time at all. I usually follow the same far left path down through the dungeon every time, but occasionally it's fun to goad someone's key win-con or commander into swinging into a bunch of 1/1 tokens. Caves of Chaos Adventurer, Rilsa Rael, Kingpin

The rest of these range from cheating out permanents, card advantage, life-drain, etc. They are essentially what I consider to be the best bang for your buck and have respectably low casting costs considering some of the other options. Bonehoard Dracosaur, Braids, Conjurer Adept, Chronozoa, Creeping Bloodsucker, Dragonmaster Outcast, Jhoira of the Ghitu, Laughing Jasper Flint, Plargg and Nassari, Skyline Despot, Thassa, God of the Sea, Twilight Prophet, Sheoldred, Whispering One

Enchantments - Monarch Sub-Theme: While the main effects of these cards range from damage to discard, the Court series all came with added upkeep benefits that boosted their abilities. Simply being able to trigger some of these twice can be absolutely devastating. Court of Ambition, Court of Cunning, Court of Embereth, Court of Ire, Court of Locthwain

Card Advantage: Now you'll notice... I didn't include Phyrexian Arena. That's because I already have enough things in this deck that run the risk of killing myself. Be absolutely careful when you cast Mind Unbound. Psychic Vortex is fun because you can stack those upkeep triggers, and then just fail to pay the cumulative upkeep on the final upkeep triggers so you don't have to discard your hand. Call of the Ring, Honden of Seeing Winds, Inspiring Refrain, Mind Unbound, Netherese Puzzle-Ward, Psychic Vortex

Recursion: The sheer versatility of these pieces made them instant includes. Palace Siege can either return cards to hand or drain opponents. These are great cards to wheel into if an opponent employs that type of strategy as well. Palace Siege, Portal to Phyrexia, Sheoldred, Whispering One

But What It Do Tho?

Past Wins

In playing this deck, I have won by the following plays.

1. Ring of Valkas and Swiftfoot Boots equipped for too long and eventually one-shotting an opponent and then milling everyone else for 200+ cards a piece with Court of Cunning.

2. Casting Portal to Phyrexia sacking my opponent's creatures and then returning all of them to the battlefield under my control, then free-casting Sheoldred, Whispering One off As Foretold. They scooped.

3. Suspending Plargg and Nassari, Twilight Prophet, and Skyline Despot off of Jhoira of the Ghitu using only mana rocks after an opponent destroyed all lands with Armageddon, and then next turn paying 30 life into Hatred and swinging with Obeka at the land destruction guy.

4. Having so many random triggers resulting in such a long turn, two people quit before turn 6.

5. Undercity Speed-Running.

Conclusion

Suffice it to say, it's been a very fun deck and you should definitely try it sometime, but remember to be organized. Set a life counter in order to keep track of what upkeep number you're at, or you'll get lost and people will get upset. Don't be apologetic. This deck goes from 0 to 60 very very quickly and will outvalue everyone else at the table if they aren't careful, so play unassuming. And for the love of god... protect Obeka.

Thanks for stopping by!

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 3 weeks ago
Date added	4 weeks
Last updated	5 hours
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 52 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.45
Tokens	City's Blessing, Clue, Copy Clone, Dinosaur 3/1 R, Dragon 5/5 R, Dungeon: Undercity, Replicated Ring, Skeleton 4/1 B, The Initiative, Monarch Emblem, The Ring, The Ring Tempts You, Treasure
Folders	Best Deck Ever, Kick Ass Decks, Decks To Annoy My Friends With, +1 Decks I Want to Emulate, bookmarked, Commander try, Cool, Interesting ideas, Commander, Future Deck Building Ideas