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Sagas and Shrines and Gates, Oh My!

Commander / EDH Jank

onua1

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Gates and Gate Accesories (33)

Shrine and Enchantment Support (7)

Sagas (14)

Non Gates (10)

Card Advantage (7)

Saga Manipulation (7)

Commander (1)

Commander: Go-Shintai of Life's Origin

Shrines (14)

Reccursion (7)

Sideboard

Other (3)

Maybeboard

Other (21)

Introduction to this Frimer

Whats better than a Saga deck, a Shrine deck, or a Gates deck? A deck that plays a sub-obtimal version of each strategy, crammed into a single list! With the added wrench of running Juicy J as companion, and an intentional sub-par legendary creature mini-theme, this certainly is one of the most decks I've ever made. And so, I welcome you brave player who is determined to play sub-par strategies, to this Frimer (Fake Primer™)

The worst part is, it's actually fun! the deck uses Gates as efficiently as a bad deck can, and usually starts with either the shrine plan or the saga plan; it can later pivot late gate to the other strategy to try to close out a match. Apart from being astronomically slow, it does actually accomplish its goal, which is surprising to say the least.

I can't promise this deck will work for you if you try it, unless you believe in The Heart Of The Cards! Then it will certainly work, since it certainly works for me.


The Deck Details

I decided I wanted to play an equal number of sagas and shrines, not including Go-Shintai of Life's Origin or Urza's Saga, purely for the aesthetics of the list.

Shrines

There are 16 printed shrines across three cycles, but not all of them could fit in this list.

I chose to cut Sanctum of Shattered Heights for two reasons.
  • It requires discarding a land or shrine in addition to paying , which is not an ideal activation cost considering I need all the gates I can get and only have 14 available shrines.
  • Its effect only deals damage to creatures and planeswalkers. Even though it can be activated at any time, it is not super useful early game, and late game it is costly single target removal. Unlike the other red shrines, it cannot deal damage directly to players, making it not ideal for the list.

Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom and Sanctum of Tranquil Light were both on the chopping block. In the end I chose to keep Sanctum of Tranquil Light due to its low casting cost, allowing for quick shrine count increase, and a semi-useful ability. I currently feel that Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom, even with its low casting cost does not make the cut. Its effect of single target mill for a cost is not strong enough for my playgroup and the format as a whole, and it’s also a creature, making it easier to remove.

NOTE: After playing a few games, if I have a draw engine and some recursion, I could actually use Sanctum of Shattered Heights reliably. Also I am considering adding Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom to target myself with the mill to provide an outlet for all of my recursion. Sanctum of Tranquil Light is very cheap, but I have not established a strong enough fixing presence to guarantee white mana, so its effect is not as reliable as previously expected. I may change the included shrines if these issues persist.

INSERT SPOILER HERE FOR SHRINES, BROKEN INTO GROUPS OF WHEN THEY TRIGGER

Shrines and Trigger Times
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Sagas

Sagas were a harder pick or this list. One of the main goals of this list was to be able to mess with sagas and reuse chapter effects as much as possible. If you need a refresher on saga rules, they will be covered in the PLAYING THE DECK section of this Frimer. In this section we will cover what each saga is used for in the list.

This list does not have much removal outside of Honden of Infinite Rage and Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty, so the majority of the removal is found in the sagas. This list does not have much removal outside of a single shrine, so the majority of the removal is found in the sagas. There are three sagas with abilities for targeted removal: With manipulation, the following sagas can permanently tap down creatures or steal them for ourselves. Lastly, Battle of Frost and Fire can serve as a serviceable wrath effect.

Four Sagas are played for board development, All of them make tokens on , and typically involve putting counters on creatures or building a board state on subsequent chapter abilities. These four sagas are: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  , Jugan Defends the Temple  , The Bloodsky Massacre, and The First Iroan Games.

There are three sagas left that are edge cases.
  1. The Trickster-God's Heist is almost removal, insofar that it can neutralize/steal dangerous effects your opponents control, but typically it is best played when you have tokens and bad lands to exchange. This card can really help pull you ahead, but it cannot do so on its own, so I don’t consider it truly removal.
  2. Michiko's Reign of Truth   is one of three win conditions to having strong board development, the others being Glaive of the Guildpact and Basilisk Gate. It has the same problem as The Trickster-God's Heist, since it requires proper timing on when to play it. It can turn the tide of the game when paired with other shrine damage effects, so that is why it is in the list.
  3. Invasion of the Giants is played exclusively for card advantage. There are other card advantage abilities tied to abilities of some of the previously listed sagas. Between the other abilities and a few shrines and enchantress effects in the list, there is no need for multiple dedicated card advantage sagas.

In spots for utility and support effects, I tried to find legendary creatures to fulfill the same task, even if they were worse than their nonlegendary creature or spell counterparts. Because why not add mini-theme to a three-theme mashup list! It also balances a bit since all shrines are legendary, so there is some payoff for future legendary matters inclusions. Support for the core list comes in four forms: Card advantage, Recursion, Saga abuse, and Shrine and Enchantment support. INSERT SPOILER HERE FOR THE FOUR CATEGORIES

Gates

I chose to prioritize playing Gates and cards that care about Gates instead of making a good mana base. That is why there is no Command Tower or other good multicolor lands, and the few utility lands I have are notable exceptions. All printed gates are in this list at time of design (Battle for Baldur’s gate), for a total of 20 gates. INSERT THRAN PORTAL SPOILER HERE

A TLDR NOTE on Thran Portal: DON’T
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Gate Accessories

This list plays 10 gates related nonland cards. Five cards that are gate payoff, and five ramp spells that can fetch gates. There are five cards that play off gates, and these are the best available. They cover the range of removal to card draw to a win condition, all making a dumb subtheme actually helpful. INSERT INDIVIDUAL CARD SPOILER HERE

Gate Payoff Spells
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All spell based ramp in this list can grab gates, so by nature, its all pretty bad. If the spell costs 4-5 mana, it has to grab at least two lands. All available options are not great, but they do the job. It is a small price to pay for a for a joke deck. The only exception is Expedition Map which is actually good and cheap to cast. It rounds out the ramp nicely, giving the list a spread of available ramp from turns 3-5. INSERT INDIVIDUAL CARD SPOILER HERE

Ramp Spells
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There are 3 non-gate lands that fit into the gate accessories group. This is because they either care about gates, or come in tapped and provide some support or payoff for the fact that the list is playing so many gates.
  • Plaza of Harmony I didn’t even realize wasn’t a gate when I added it to the list. This is a Reflecting Pool for gates, and fits the vibe of the list perfectly. The lifegain is incidental at best, but as a gate flavored land, it is perfect.
  • Maze's End is an obvious inclusion. It serves as a slow gate fetcher, and as a win condition. Now that there are double the available gates than when originally printer, Maze's End is bordering on actually good.
  • The World Tree might as well be a an honorary gate in this list. It comes in tapped, and only taps for mana. The big reason this is played is that it acts as a Chromatic Lantern, except on a land. The last ability is completely useless, as it has no hits in this list. After turn 6, it is just a five color gate. It fits great in this list.

Remaining Mana Base

The remaining mana base not previously detailed includes three utility lands and the full text secret lair in this list (5 normal basics + Terramorphic Expanse)! I am playing this secret lair in paper purely because it is funny, since losing a precious land slot to Terramorphic Expanse is not ideal. My group is allowing a Rule 0 to consider my normal basics as snow basics for the purpose of grabbing them with Search for Glory, so they are tracked in this list as snow basics. I play in groups that regularly play blood moon, so I will always play at least one of each basic per color in a deck. If I played less gates, I would play more basics on principle. The four utility lands each serve a particular purpose not covered by the rest of the decklist. They are all good in their own right and are worth a slot for their unique abilities. INSERT INDIVIDUAL CARD SPOILER HERE

Utility Lands
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Suggestions

Updates Add

NEW GATES!! — June 11, 2024
Edit

Ok first things first, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  Flip was cut from the list since it is 1) realistically too good for this deck, and 2) The Huntsman's Redemption is surprisingly versatile, and reasonably does the same category of things as Fable.

Now, MH3 exists, and the new changelingesque deck is born. We have received the following relevant cards:

Talon Gates of Madara

Planar Nexus

Sage of the Maze

Wonderscape Sage

The two new gates are pretty cool, especially Talon Gates of Madara; it is removal and another gate, so it is an auto include, will likely replace Plaza of Harmony . Planar Nexus is unfortunately just a worse Heap Gate in this list, so it wont make the cut.

Sage of the Maze seems too good to be true: a mana dork and a new wincon to turn gates into dudes! Amazing, I must add it. Might repalce Nine-Fingers Keene, but not 100% sure.

Lastly, Wonderscape Sage. This one seems not so great, but in this deck, is a free draw on every bounce of a land, given the high gate density. This one is a long shot addition, and will likely not happen, but who knows. I guess I will, but this list has a mind of its own.

There are also 2 new cards in the sideboard, The Day of the Doctor and Yenna, Redtooth Regent. The saga is functional card advantage that finds legends and shrines, and Yenna creates duplicates of all sagas and shrines. The Doctor who card may not make the cut due to it being universes beyond, it doesnt seem fitting for this list. Yenna might not replace anything, and be only goodstuff. They are still on the adding list, for now.

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Revision 15 See all

(1 year ago)

+1 The Day of the Doctor side