This is a tournament-level combo control deck. It is designed to win in high-pressure environments by withstanding incoming disruption, suppressing opponents, and using efficient and powerful combos.
This deck is built around a network of synergies; the combos have interchangeable pieces, and the cards that support them can be used outside of the combo as general utility cards. Because the number of combo-only cards is minimized, the deck's resilience is increased, and the odds of drawing dead cards are decreased.
The classic Godfather theme, "Speak Softly Love" instrumental, fits the calculated ruthlessness and sophistication of this deck. All rights belong to their respective owners; I do not claim ownership of this media.
High-Level Overview
Reading this decklist
Reading this decklist
This decklist is organized, by default, into my custom categories. Cards intended at the high level to have cross-category functionality will appear in multiple categories.
Land: Self-explanatory.
Utility: The tutor, draw, and recursion effects that improve the deck's function and support its fast, efficient style.
Control: The counterspells and removal spells that allow me to respond to opponents' plays and control the game.
Ramp: The ramp spells and permanents that allow me to accelerate mana production and outpace my opponents. Ramp is critical to winning before my opponents do, and it fuels the control elements in the deck so tempo isn't lost when responding to threats.
WinCons: The win conditions used to achieve victory.
The sideboard is a working list of cards that are in the deck, but are being considered for elimination based on performance and developing theory.
The maybeboard is a working list of cards that are not in the deck, but are being considered for inclusion pending testing and developing theory.
Archetype: Combo-control
Archetype: Combo-control
This deck blends elements of combo with elements of control to achieve a balance between powerful end-game strategies and all-around resilience.
As a combo deck, this list wins by executing an infinite mana combo and then using it to enable a finisher of some variety. Combo is the best finisher in multiplayer Commander because it doesn't rely on life totals or board states; rather, it secures the victory by creating an insurmountable threat that functions immediately and applies irrespective of most actions taken by opponents. It also means that the deck has a defined, consistent means of establishing victory: it uses one of a set number of combos to win in a controlled manner rather than with the unreliability of combat-oriented strategies.
As a control deck, this list facilitates a win by suppressing or disrupting opponents' activity to create advantage. Control is also essential to protecting the combo; control spells help to prevent opponents from disrupting the combo and thereby preventing the deck from winning.
Why ?
Why ?
I chose because it offers what I believe to be the best mix of the essential elements of a combo-control deck: mana acceleration, draw power, responsive power (removal, counterspells), tutor power, and synergy. While some color combinations may excel more at one or the other, is a solid performer across all of them.
Why Damia?
Why Damia?
At the time this deck was constructed, there were only three commanders available: Vorosh, the Hunter, Damia, Sage of Stone, and The Mimeoplasm. Since then, more possible commanders have been released, and each has been evaluated for its potential contributions to the deck.
Vorosh, the Hunter doesn't suit the combo goals of this deck because it doesn't offer much utility and it needs to attack to be useful. It was immediately excluded from the decision.
The Mimeoplasm can be used for combos, but its approach is more graveyard-based. It relies on Entomb effects and a reanimator strategy to work. I decided against this kind of strategy because traditional combo-control is more stable; you have more control over your flow of resources, and you risk less overall.
Damia, Sage of Stone is much of a Goldilocks solution: it's good in its own right, but it's the best because the other options are clearly worse. Damia, Sage of Stone brings strong utility to the deck, and it plays a critical role in stabilizing the deck after it spends its Stage I resources ramping ahead of opponents.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant doesn't offer anything to the deck in terms of utility or viability, so it isn't worth considering here.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang does allow me to return any nonland card to my hand with infinite mana, but it doesn't provide the draw power that's so critical for sustaining the deck in the midgame. Its ability is only really useful once I combo out, at which point I already have better alternatives.
Strengths
Strengths
This deck excels at executing resilient, powerful ramp and control strategies and at maintaining a steady tempo throughout the game. Because it relies on efficient, powerful cards in addition to a fast ramp package, the deck is capable of explosive opening turns that quickly accelerate it beyond the reach of all but the most tenacious control.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses
The deck's primary weakness is fast control decks. Zur the Enchanter,
Arcum Dagsson
, and five-color Hermit Druid are examples of decks that have the potential to outrace this list and combo out before I get stabilized. This deck is optimized for multiplayer, so dedicated 1v1 decks tend to have a natural advantage against it in the 1v1 environment.
Anti-control cards like Stranglehold and Aven Mindcensor prove to be problematic if they resolve, but there are answers to such cards in the deck. Getting around these effects is a matter of drawing the answer the traditional way, which makes them harder to deal with. Draw power and countermagic are essential to stopping these cards once they hit (and ideally before).
Ruination, Blood Moon, and
Magus of the Moon
are also threats because of the way the deck's land base was designed. If these cards resolve, I lose.
Why this deck is a strong deck
Why this deck is a strong deck
As part of an article series, I've developed an index of the seven characteristics of a strong deck. This deck demonstrates all seven of these characteristics to a respectable degree.
Flexibility: the ability of a deck to react to various situations and threats during games and adapt to changes in the game state.
This deck includes a high number of control spells and tutors, each of which allow it to react to plays. The control spells allow the deck to deny dangerous plays by countering spells or removing permanents, thus preventing unfavorable conditions. Tutors allow the deck to find the cards that best fit the developing game state and could be used in anticipation of incoming threats.
Resilience: the ability of a deck to endure unfavorable conditions and setbacks without losing momentum.
This deck uses tutors and redundancy to overcome unfavorable circumstances. Tutors allow the deck to quickly and efficiently find an answer to a threat or find a workaround that isn't disrupted by the current or anticipated board state. Redundancy in the form of backup combos allows the deck to transition to a different win condition if one of the main combos or combo pieces is rendered ineffective or unavailable.
Sustainability: the ability of a deck to deliver constant pressure and maintain the flow of resources throughout the game.
This deck uses aggressive ramp and draw effects to sustain itself and set up for the win. Ramp allows the deck to accelerate past opponents, which, in turn, allows it to apply a disproportionate amount of pressure at each stage of the game. Additionally, ramp allows the deck to afford more expensive or more numerous plays without losing tempo. Draw effects fuel the deck by raising the number of options or possible plays at any given time. The more options the deck has, the more plays it can make. Ramp and draw work in conjunction to greatly increase the number of plays the deck makes on average compared to other decks that lack in either utility.
Consistency: the ability of a deck to perform evenly across multiple games.
This deck uses redundancy and tutors to ensure consistent performance across games. By fielding a large number of each of the ramp, control, and draw effects, this deck has increased chances of drawing one or more cards of that function over the course of a game. For example, running Exploration, Burgeoning, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, and Oracle of Mul Daya increases the chances that, in any given game, the deck will be able to play additional lands. Tutors help ensure that the deck has better access to the cards that it absolutely must have every game, such as the combo pieces. They serve almost like additional copies of those cards, but are more flexible in that they can find a number of different cards.
Cohesiveness: the ability of a deck to function as a unit and build upon internal synergies.
This deck plays only necessary and synergistic cards in order to achieve a high degree of cohesion. The combos were chosen because they have interchangeable pieces, and the supporting synergies all allow the deck to function more cohesively during games. For example, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Crucible of Worlds, and fetch lands are individually good, but they work together to provide increased advantage (namely, the ability to find many of the deck's core lands). In addition, the deck excludes cards that don't function well in conjunction with the deck's other cards or in the context of the deck's purpose. For example, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion form a popular combo, but neither card offers much to the deck individually in terms of power or utility, and the combo isn't important enough to warrant inclusion despite that shortcoming. Therefore, the deck eschews these cards in favor of ones that *do* cooperate with the existing combos and support cards.
Efficiency: the ability of a deck to utilize its resources in an economical manner. Efficiency is also a quality of individual cards; efficient cards represent a profitable return on resource investment.
This deck uses many low-cost control and utility spells to help maximize the number of plays it can make on a given turn and ensure that resources are being committed economically. In particular, the deck favors counterspells with converted mana cost 1 or 2, allowing for cheap counterplays. It also uses a number of very low cost ramp cards, such as Exploration and Deathrite Shaman. Efficiency must be balanced with effectiveness (see the next item) in order to ensure that reduced costs don't come with severely reduced applicability or power.
Effectiveness: the ability of a deck to execute its strategy and achieve its goals. Effectiveness is also a quality of individual cards; effective cards succeed in accomplishing specific goals.
This deck includes only cards that are powerful enough to make meaningful contributions to the deck's game plan. In some cases, cards are judged not on whether they are effective in all situations but on whether they are effective in relevant situations. For example, Spell Snare is not a hard counter and cannot target creature spells, but it is an effective way to wage a counter war and protect a combo with as little expenditure of resources as possible. Therefore, it is effective at the task for which it was included.
The above is a basic outline of how this deck exhibits each of the seven characteristics of a strong deck. Greater analysis is possible for any given characteristic.
Card Choices Explained
Criteria for card selection
Criteria for card selection
This deck is built on the strength of the interactions between its cards. It doesn't waste space on offhand utilities or tricks that could be relevant but that don't fit into the deck's overall strategy.
In order to be included in this deck, a card must:
Be individually strong
If a card can't stand on its own and requires other cards in order to be useful, it generally isn't good enough for this deck. Now, exceptions can be made, to some extent, for Palinchron, Deadeye Navigator, and Rune-Scarred Demon because they enable a solid and dependable combo and are also interchangeable with other pieces. However, utility spells or engine enablers that don't actually do anything on their own cannot be considered for this deck. They place too much of a strain on the deck's resources in order to be utilized to any of their potential.
For example, a card like Forbid is expensive to cast and offers mediocre utility in exchange for the resources you have to invest. It can be made marginally more useful, in theory, if paired with draw engines or Damia to fuel the buyback cost, but it's still an expensive and clunky card that doesn't compare favorably to other counterspells. Mana Drain, on the other hand, is strong in a vacuum because it functions at worst as a 2-drop hard counter, which is hard to find and valuable to have. The added utility it can bring is a significant bonus because of how relevant and powerful it is.
Work with the other cards in the deck
This could mean that the card could synergize with other cards in the deck in order to create advantage engines, or it could mean that the card just supports some of the other interactions or goals of the deck. The main point is that no card can be tangential or entirely irrelevant to the rest of the deck. If it is, then its inclusion is a distraction in the deck and a waste of a slot.
For example, a card like
Grindstone
doesn't offer anything to the deck. It doesn't provide any meaningful utility, and it doesn't advance the deck's game plan. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed provides quaint utility, but it's impractical in the deck and would be irrelevant in practice due to resource budgeting. While the deck could run both Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion as a combo and to improve the usefulness of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, the combo doesn't have any interchangeability with the rest of the deck and neither card is useful on its own. In contrast, cards like counterspells and removal help the deck stabilize, and cards like Phantasmal Image or Venser, Shaper Savant can double as utility creatures and combo pieces.
Offer something necessary to the deck
This idea builds on the two above; in basic terms, a card has to actually be good in order to make the cut. Because this deck is intended to put up results in a tournament environment, it must be optimized. Optimization requires that the deck only play cards that are necessary and powerful; there's no room in the list for mediocre cards.
For example, Cancel, though playable in casual and semicompetitive decks, isn't strong enough for inclusion in this deck. It's too expensive for what it does and isn't more powerful or more necessary than the other cards in the deck, especially those that perform the same general function.
Lands
Lands
The land base in this deck combines optimized color fixing with strong utility effects.
The 3-3-9 split
This is the optimal starting point for any three-color EDH deck. "3-3-9" refers to the set of three shock lands, three ABUR duals, and nine fetch lands playable in a tricolor deck. This setup guarantees (to the extent that anything can be guaranteed in EDH) that the deck will have access to the proper colors at the proper times. Furthermore, it allows the deck to play highly-saturated spells like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Necropotence without losing tempo to go find more sources of another color.
These cards should almost always enter the battlefield untapped (given that the deck plays the 3-3-9 split and has other ways to guarantee basic land types), and they provide /X with no real downside.
Snow basics
Although the snow basics aren't strictly necessary, they help against monocolor decks that run snow lands and Extraplanar Lens to avoid accelerating their opponents. In a vacuum, the snow lands don't make a functional difference to this deck. You could easily run non-snow basics instead.
This card is basically the upgraded version of Temple of the False God, another EDH staple. It can tap for mana at any time, and the investment of life is a low price for the extra mana production. The only real downside is that this land won't allow you to combo off if you are forced to rely on it; it will kill you rather quickly.
This card helps guarantee the combo against control decks. An uncounterable Tooth and Nail into Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir (see the section below on combos) shuts your opponents out of your turn and allows you to win the game unhindered.
The downside is that this land comes in tapped, and it can only produce colorless mana and only at the expense of life. It's definitely a late-game play to set up for your combo.
This card makes the cut because it taps for and comes with a decent utility ability. This deck doesn't have any issues reaching threshold by Stage II or Stage III (see the section below on strategy), and the filtering can allow you to draw something you tutored to the top of your library or just help dig for an answer.
This card has definite upsides and downsides. It can be a powerful ramp card when I have multiple utility creatures on the field, thereby allowing me to accelerate the deck without playing any additional spells. The negative is that this land only taps for mana if I control at least one creature. It needs to be played selectively.
This card functions as an additional Command Tower with virtually no downside. The tokens it makes won't lose you the game, and they can be used politically to help temporary allies survive.
This card functions as an additional Command Tower. Because this deck runs the 3-3-9 lineup and the most powerful dual-fetching ramp spells, you're basically guaranteed to have the color fixing to assure that Reflecting Pool is never anything less than a dual land. It'll almost always be a Command Tower by turn two or three.
This card is extremely useful in conjunction with the deck's draw engines. Although it doesn't directly synergize with Damia, Sage of Stone, it's still very useful in breaking Necropotence and its ilk even further.
This card enables a combo with Venser, Shaper Savant (see the section below on combos), and it also allows you to recur Snapcaster Mage. In a pinch, it can be used to keep Damia, Sage of Stone from costing an extra if a board wipe is about to resolve.
These cards have the benefit of both producing mana and serving as low-investment solutions to opponents' utility lands. They're very capable of dealing with an opponent's Boseiju, Who Shelters All or Cavern of Souls and clearing the way for the deck's counterspells.
This card functions as a tutor for Pact of Negation, Mana Crypt, or Mox Diamond, depending on the situation. It's slow as a regular land play, but sometimes it's needed as an additional land. Exploration effects help mitigate the ETB-tapped downside by allowing you to play other lands for immediate use.
This card allows me to focus even more heavily on / lands (which are the most important in the deck) and helps make Necropotence more playable. Although it can also help opponents with color fixing, it should usually provide enough utility to mitigate that downside.
This card is useful for recovering utility creatures like Eternal Witness and Snapcaster Mage, and it can also be used to recover from combo disruption.
Ramp
Ramp
This deck capitalizes on efficient ramp effects in order to outpace opponents, accelerate its win, and maintain pressure.
Extra land-per-turn effects allow the deck to have explosive openers, and they synergize with Lotus Cobra. They also help make more room in hand when Damia, Sage of Stone or Necropotence is online.
These cards are low-cost ramp rocks that allow the deck to produce the extra mana it needs for its two high-cost staples: Damia, Sage of Stone and Tooth and Nail. Don't worry about paying to untap them; they're typically used as single-shot mana sources.
These cards enable explosive opening turns because they require no mana investment, and they're still viable plays later in the game. Although each one has a downside, neither downside is ultimately significant in most games.
Arbor Elf is a cheap way to untap lands, including duals. Kiora's Follower allows me to reuse lands in much the same way that Arbor Elf does, but it also allows the reuse of mana rocks. As an additional bonus, it can be pitched to Force of Will and Misdirection.
This card excels in competitive EDH metas, where most players play some form of blue deck. It's a very cheap, very powerful ramp card that only increases in power as the game progresses. It provides the kind of acceleration that control decks desperately hate to fight.
This card excels in competitive EDH metas, where most players play fetch lands. Even if I am forced to exile my own fetches, the ramp is worthwhile. The fact that Deathrite Shaman can also shut down graveyard strategies and effects is an added benefit.
This card is extraordinarily powerful in a deck that plays nine fetch lands and plenty of Exploration effects. It's a favored find with Green Sun's Zenith, and it makes even regular land plays more valuable.
Control
Control
This deck uses powerful and efficient control cards to disrupt opponents and protect its combo.
These cards are classic counterspells. They hit every kind of target, and they cost only each. Mana Drain comes with the added benefit of also ramping on the following turn.
These cards are all free counterspells, and they're extremely important for that reason. Although they all have some kind of downside, they're fantastic for protecting plays that consume all of the deck's resources or for protecting the combo when it goes off.
These cards are powerful in counter wars because they're cheap, efficient, and hit opponents' counterspells with ease. Although two of them aren't technically hard counters, it's likely that they'll effectively be hard counters in the situations in which they're needed.
These cards both come with downsides, but their costs make them cheap and efficient control spells. The tempo shift is often worth the consolation advantage it gives to the opponent.
This card helps blow opponents out if they get too far ahead in the game. It can sometimes cause opponents to concede if it resolves in the late game, as there's no time to recover before I combo out.
This card is one of the only creature removal spells in the deck, and it's powerful against heavily creature-oriented strategies (for obvious reasons). The life payment is justifiable because the mana cost is low and the spell is only cast if I need to remove something immediately.
This card is a cheap, efficient solution to early-game advantage generators like Sol Ring and Sylvan Library, and it remains just as effective when used against other threats in the late game. The lifegain it permits is irrelevant overall because this deck wins the game in one turn through combos.
This card is a cheap, efficient solution to ability-based combos, and it can often provide advantage at a critical moment in the game. It also has the advantage of being relatively unanticipated; only a few cards can counter abilities, and very few players use them.
This card is effective at answering both permanents and spells, and it also serves as a combo piece (see the section below on combos) to help secure the win.
These cards are vital to finding combo pieces and other critical cards. Tutors greatly improve the consistency of the deck, and they are indispensible assets.
These cards allow me to recur or reuse cards from my graveyard as necessary. They're most useful during the combo turn, when they allow for the recasting of Tooth and Nail or a counterspell. However, they can be used as general utility spells as well.
This card is a decent utility spell, especially because it's an instant, but its primary purpose is to serve as a win condition (see the section below on combos).
This card, apart from being an effective ramp creature, is a strong utility creature because it can disrupt reanimator and other recursion effects for little cost.
This card serves double duty as a combo piece (see the section below on combos) and as a general utility creature, depending on which is most advantageous. Sometimes, it's best saved for the combo. Other times, it's best used to copy a ramp or utility creature.
This card helps to secure a win by locking opponents out of the combo turn either as an EOT cast or as a Tooth and Nail drop (see the section below on combos).
Win Conditions
Win Conditions
The win conditions in this deck were chosen for their synergy and general usefulness outside of combos. See the section below on combos for more information about these cards.
This card is the primary win condition because it instantly forces opponents to lose by causing them to draw more cards than are in their libraries. It also functions as a utility spell, which is vital because it means the card isn't necessarily a dead draw before the combo.
This card is a powerful combo enabler because it provides ETB abuse without the risk associated with recasting spells (it's harder to counter an ability than it is to counter a spell).
This card is the primary combo enabler because it assembles two-card combos at once, and the creatures it puts onto the battlefield cannot be countered.
This card can be repeatedly bounced to remove each opponent's permanents from the board, and it doubles as a general utility creature.
Omissions
Omissions
The following cards are commonly used in BUG decks, but they have been excluded from this list for one reason or another. They are listed in alphabetical order for ease of reference.
This card appears in most goodstuff decks and even in some semicompetitive combo lists, but it's just inefficient and unnecessary in the deck. And while it's possible to use it with Deadeye Navigator to blow up the board, I wouldn't play Deadeye Navigator as a utility creature outside of the combo, and I wouldn't need to nuke the board once I have my combo online. This card is just extraneous; there are myriad other more efficient and relevant answers to artifacts, enchantments, and even lands.
This card was, at one point, in the deck as a ramp land, but it was removed when Primeval Titan was banned. It's only worth including if it can be consistently paired with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and it's unlikely that such a pairing will occur in most games. Cabal Coffers is not worth tutoring for on its own, and the activation cost of its ability is fairly high.
This card was, at one point, in the deck as a utility spell and a combo finisher, but it was removed because it's too expensive. is a hard cost in this deck (CMC 3 is in an awkward spot on the curve, as is CMC 4).
This card was, at one point, in the deck as a utility card and a combo enabler, but it was removed because it's too expensive. is a hard cost in this deck (CMC 4 is an awkward spot on the curve, and having to tie up triple for one spell is unappealing).
This card is sort of like a mini Tooth and Nail, but it's more vulnerable, more obvious, and less reliable. The timing is awkward because getting it to go off and win means having an opponent that controls three or more creatures and having the cards in hand to protect whatever the ability finds (and then win from it). That's a lot of effort and chance, and it's not worthwhile when there are much more effective ways of accomplishing the same task.
This card may be a decent finisher, but that's all it really is. It can't be relied upon to be a useful utility spell if it's drawn before it's needed. In order to reduce the number of dead, single-use cards in the deck, this card has been excluded.
This card is passable in casual and semicompetitive Damia decks, and it's often suggested on the basis that the two discarded cards can be replenished by Damia's draw ability, but the bottom line is that the card is prohibitively expensive to cast and impossibly expensive to buy back. It's not ideal to pay and discard two cards to get a returning counterspell.
This card doesn't really offer desirable advantage to the deck. It's only economical when multiple cards are discarded, and only then if Damia is in play. But it creates a window for an opponent to counter the spell and force me to lose those cards for nothing (the discard is an additional cost) or remove Damia to keep me at a disadvantage. Besides that, the mana cost is high, which makes it somewhat difficult to incorporate into the deck's strategy.
This card doesn't offer anything worthwhile to Damia decks. On paper, the disadvantage you would encounter when casting Damia is "justifiable" in the context of the hand refill you'll get on your next turn, but the risk is far too extreme. If Damia is countered or removed prior to that turn, you're left with an empty hand and one fewer mana source. That's game over for you.
These cards are often played in combo decks because they form a two-card combo that needs no additional support in order to win the game. However, both of these cards are completely useless outside of their one combo, so including them means creating dead draws and reducing the number of viable utility cards in Stage I and Stage II. That's too big a risk.
This card promises to be a more expensive and more productive Mana Drain, but it's too expensive to be practical in a competitive environment. The high and completely saturated mana cost makes it very difficult to budget into turns when you're trying to use as many of your resources as you can to establish a position for yourself.
This card is strong in semi-competitive metas, but it doesn't serve a purpose at the competitive level. It's slow, expensive, and awkward to cast and protect. Additionally, it would only be useful for copying utility creatures or opponents' creatures. That's not a strong enough warrant for its inclusion.
These cards are often played because they help generate a good deal of advantage, especially in control decks. However, they are expensive to cast. They've been omitted from this decklist because they aren't practical and often require quite some effort to play and protect.
This card is too much of a gamble. Exiling cards isn't, on its own, an issue for this deck. But Tainted Pact is inefficient. If I hit one of my combo pieces before I want it, then I have to either take it when I don't need it or exile it and switch to a backup strategy. Neither of those is optimal, and I don't really have a way to guarantee that this situation won't happen. I'd rather not waste tutors to exile potentially useful cards and find a card that I don't need at the moment.
This card has two main issues. As a utility card in the 99, it doesn't offer much in terms of efficiency. The ability is expensive to use, and it would be simpler to just play Eternal Witness or Snapcaster Mage and choose the one card that would help me most rather than allow an opponent to choose the one card that's least relevant at the moment. As a commander, it doesn't offer remotely the same kind of tempo recovery that Damia does. Damia can refill your hand after you invest heavily in ramp and control in the early game. Tasigur is more of a slow advantage commander, and running it would require a restructuring of the deck with more emphasis on draw effects (to help mitigate the loss of tempo from resource investment) and would be generally less explosive in nature. Lastly, as a tool for recovering cards after the combo, Tasigur, the Golden Fang is extraneous. I can already bounce Eternal Witness to get my graveyard back.
This card suffers from the same awkwardness and general irrelevance that plagues Exsanguinate. It's not relevant outside of the combo, and it's just a win-more card once the combo is initiated. There are other finishers (e.g., Blue Sun's Zenith) that serve practical purposes as utility cards outside of the combo. Further, it's generally inadvisable to rely on an opponent's resources to win the game. A good combo deck should be able to rely on only itself to guarantee victory.
This card has been suggested because it pairs nicely with Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Crucible of Worlds, but it's expensive to cast and impractical to buy back without at least having Crucible of Worlds and one extra land drop. Overall, it's not worth including in the deck.
The Strategy
General strategy
General Strategy
This deck was built for heavy control and high consistency. It is played most efficiently using a three-stage approach:
Early game - Ramp, control, set up draw engines
Mid game - Control, set up utility engines
Late game - Control, execute combo
These stages are discussed at length in the sections below.
Stage I - Early Game
Stage I - Early Game
Goals:
Ramp
Establish early draw engines
The main point of Stage I is to set up enough advantage to guarantee a steady lead for the coming turns. The extra resources you gather now will be what fuel your countermagic and on-turn plays in Stage II; you will need to maintain tempo and still have the ability to shut down threats.
The first two to three turns should be spent casting ramp spells and mana rocks like Nature's Lore and Mana Crypt to accelerate your mana production. When you can afford to, cast draw engines like Mystic Remora. Setting these up early means you have longer to reap their rewards and aren't spending your mana on them in the midgame when you need to have countermagic up. Green Sun's Zenith can provide additional ramp in this portion of the game.
The main point of Stage II is to suppress opponents and dig for your win conditions in preparation for your final turn.
This deck transitions to the mid game when its ramp begins to wind down. Although ramp and control are important elements of both Stage I and Stage II, the emphasis in Stage II is on control and tutoring (or digging with Damia, Sage of Stone) for a win condition. Stage II typically lasts from turn three to turn four or five, depending on the board state and on draws.
Stage III - Late Game
Stage III - Late Game
Goals:
Maintain control of boardstate
Combo off
The main point of Stage III is to win the game. It's that simple.
Stage III begins when you have a win condition in your hand and are at or rapidly approaching the turn during which you will be able to combo off.
Don't begin casting into your combo until you have sufficient resources (mana, counterspells) to play and protect it in one turn. Spreading out combo pieces and putting them into play over several turns leaves the strategy vulnerable to removal and lets your opponent know you're gearing up for the endgame. The combo should be assembled and executed in one turn. At the same time, don't wait too long to go off. Every turn you take means more opportunities for your opponents to break through your control setup and take the game; this deck's resources are vast but they are not unlimited. Use your discretion. The perfect opportunity will not always arise and you will occasionally need to take a calculated risk to win. Just make sure to keep countermagic up and think everything through at least twice and preferably three times before executing the combo.
Mulligans
Mulligans
This deck is typically played in games that use a Partial Paris mulligan with a free first mulligan.
The first and foremost rule when taking mulligans with this deck is that you must not be afraid to take aggressive mulligans. If a card is dead in the first two turns of the game, you probably don't want it in your opening hand. If you see a spell with CMC 3 and no way to play it on turn two, consider pitching it.
Generally speaking, you want to see three or four lands in your opening hand. This gives you security for the first few turns. Ideally, you'll start with fetches or duals of some kind. If you have two or more colorless-only lands, consider pitching some (try to keep at least one) to try for color-producing lands.
Additionally, you want to see at least one ramp artifact or Exploration effect playable on turn one (turn two is acceptable, but not as good). A counterspell or tutor is also a welcome sight.
Always mulligan win conditions and high-CMC utility cards. Remember, you start in Stage I, and your main goal out of the gate is to ramp into a stable lead. Don't let late-game cards tempt you into bad openers.
Tutoring
Tutoring
Tutors are the most flexible cards in the deck. They allow the deck to run fewer redundant cards, yet increase the availability of those cards tremendously. Additionally, they can help you adapt to the developing game state by granting you access to contextually appropriate cards in your deck.
It's important to know when to use a tutor. Although you'll usually be able to think of a card you want at any given time, think about the value of having that particular card now versus the value of having another card later on for a different situation. The difficulty is that there's really no "formula" for evaluating whether it's better to use a tutor now or save it for later. Some things to consider:
Whether you can survive, or at least maintain a stable board state, if you don't tutor for something now.
Whether the card you want right now is something you need in order to advance your strategy or something you want in order to make your game easier.
Whether you have draw engines or other tutor effects that can help you find other options.
Whether you're likely to be able to resolve the tutor spell.
Whether your current tutor has any restrictions that affect its viability (for example, Mystical Tutor can't be directly used to find a creature card).
Once you decide to tutor for something, you'll need to narrow down your options. The card you may have in mind when you cast the tutor may not always be the card you end up selecting come resolution. Take the opportunity to thumb through the cards in your deck in order to help you think about the full set of options at your disposal and how they can be used. Some cards can be ignored immediately (for example, non-utility lands won't help you if you need an answer to a counterspell). Others might be viable options that you hadn't originally considered (e.g., Mana Draining a spell that you were just going to Counterspell). Some things to consider:
The relevance of each "tutorable" card in your library.
What resources your opponents have that affect the current and future game states.
Whether your current situation (e.g., available mana, cards in hand, phase/step, turn, cards on field) effectively rules out certain courses of action.
Whether the card you intend to select is only viable right now, sets you up for a stable late game, or can only be used later.
Whether you're able to two-step the tutoring process to find a better option (e.g., use your Mystical Tutor to find Vampiric Tutor to find the card you really want).
Since this comes up frequently, and since it's an unusual effect, I'll address Intuition specifically. The joke about using Intuition is that it's exactly that: you're best off just relying on your own intuition. Read your opponents' playstyles throughout the game, choose an opponent you think you can manipulate (or that you'll promise to kill last), and offer a stacked selection of cards. The idea is to make it not so much a choice of *whether* you get a specific effect, but a choice of *when* you get that effect.
See the following sections for more detail about the nuances of using these combos.
Preparing to combo
Preparing to Combo
Not counting the setup in Stage II (see the section above on strategy), there are three basic steps to comboing with this deck:
Step 1: Assess your options. This deck has many subtle nuances that allow you to micromanage your combo to minimize the risk of disruption. Consider the following:
Opponents' colors and untapped lands, which could indicate possible responses like counterspells or removal spells.
What permanents you already have on the battlefield (in particular, do you control Snapcaster Mage or Eternal Witness?).
What cards are in your graveyard (in particular, do you have any tutors or win conditions in your graveyard?)
Step 2: Plan your combo. How exactly will you play around possible threats (such as countermagic) and execute your win? It's often not as simple as Tooth and Nailing into Deadeye Navigator and Palinchron; you need to actually win the game with your infinite mana. Consider the following:
What do you need to do to minimize the risk of incoming disruption?
Is what you find with Tooth and Nail safe from disruption?
How will you find a win condition?
Step 3: Execute the combo. Hopefully, you properly planned your moves during Step 1 and Step 2. If you find at some point during the combo that you overlooked something and might need to take a different approach, pause whatever move you're currently making and think through your options again. Don't panic.
Using the combo cards
Using the combo cards
The infinite mana combos use the following cards in the specified manners.
Use this card to blink Palinchron or Peregrine Drake to produce infinite mana. If you're relying on a creature-based win instead of on Blue Sun's Zenith, blink Deadeye Navigator after the infinite mana combo and pair it with the other creature you need to blink.
Use this card's ETB ability to untap lands, then blink it repeatedly with Deadeye Navigator or use Phantasmal Image to produce infinite mana. Alternatively, you can combo Palinchron with Eternal Witness and Ghostly Flicker. You can also use Palinchron to set up for the combo by providing the land untaps to hardcast the second combo piece.
Use this card to copy Palinchron, then use its copied activated ability to return it to your hand. Continue to recopy Palinchron to produce infinite mana. You can then recast it to copy Eternal Witness, Snapcaster Mage, or Rune-Scared Demon to enable your win.
Use this card with infinite mana first to draw your deck. Then cast Rune-Scarred Demon or use another means to draw it again. Cast it on an opponent for X=101. Redraw it and repeat for each opponent until you win.
Use this card at the end of the pre-combo turn, or put it onto the battlefield with Tooth and Nail in order to make the rest of your turn unanswerable.
Use this card with Deadeye Navigator and infinite mana to put your entire deck into your hand, then win from there. You can also cast this card prior to the combo in order to find Tooth and Nail (if you're in a situation that demands that you do so).
Use this card to recast Tooth and Nail or a tutor spell in order to find a win condition. You can also use it preemptively to guarantee a counterspell in order to better protect your combo. Just don't forget about flashback's replacement effect.
Use this card to recast Tooth and Nail or a tutor spell in order to find a win condition. You can also use it early in the turn to guarantee access to countermagic from your graveyard. Just don't forget about its replacement effect.
Use this card to recast Tooth and Nail or a tutor spell in order to find a win condition. You can also use it to return a counterspell to your hand in order to better protect your combo.
These are the most common Tooth and Nail picks and when to use them. These pairs are what you'll be putting onto the battlefield with Tooth and Nail (most of the time). Make the necessary fetches depending on what you have in your hand.
This is the most basic pair. Find these two when you have a tutor or win condition in your hand already. It's safer to use the Deadeye Navigator combo instead of the Phantasmal Image combo because it's based only on activated abilities rather than on recasting a creature ad nauseam.
Aside from monetary investment (and perhaps the difficulty of finding some of these cards), the largest challenge you'll face when building this deck is understanding all of its subtleties. There are hidden synergies and interactions everywhere, and some of them can only really be learned through experience with the decklist (since I'm not exhaustively listing all of them in this primer). Combo-control tends to be among the hardest archetypes to learn because it's a mix of correct plays and raw deck and format knowledge. I highly suggest playtesting the deck many times before committing to building it. Feel free to ask for clarification on any aspect you don't understand.
Also, keep in mind that this deck has been optimized for a competitive multiplayer environment. If you're playing in a different environment, the deck may need to change. For example, I don't include some of the slower staples like Seedborn Muse because they don't really add much to the deck at the tournament level. A player taking this list into a semicompetitive meta might find such cards useful, though.
Lastly, make sure that you play this deck in a sporting way. Don't take a combo-control deck to a casual pod where players are still learning the format or looking for a different kind of experience. You'll win, but it won't be enjoyable for anyone else.
On a budget?
On a budget?
As you may have guessed, this deck isn't the easiest to build on a budget. You'll run into issues preserving the consistency and power of the list if you have to make too many changes. In general, try to make replacements that maintain the deck's functionality (for example, swap an expensive tutor for a less expensive tutor, or swap a dual land for a less expensive land that taps for the same colors of mana).
A large part of the deck's cost comes from the mana base. I run an optimized land base, and the three ABUR duals and nine fetch lands cost quite a bit. You could cut them to make the deck easier on the wallet, but doing so will reduce the deck's ability to color fix. You'll also reduce the effectiveness of some cards (such as Lotus Cobra) if you lose the fetch lands. Mana Crypt can also go. Try to at least keep the other ramp rocks and the Exploration effects.
For replacements, consider reliable staples like the check lands, pain lands, and filter lands. They aren't as powerful as the ABUR duals and fetches, but they at least provide fast color fixing. You should also include cards like Coalition Relic and Chromatic Lantern to help with fixing and acceleration.
Some of the less efficient tutors (e.g. Diabolic Tutor) cost much less than Imperial Seal and Vampiric Tutor. Substitute these lower-power tutors to maintain some of the deck's functionality while reducing the price tag.
Thankfully, the combos themselves involve relatively inexpensive pieces. You can preserve them if you reconfigure the deck to run on cheaper ramp and utility cards.
Some cards can't be replaced. For example, there's no cheaper version of Azusa, Lost but Seeking. If you cut these cards, think about other ways to strengthen the deck that may not directly correlate to the cards you lost.
Other Information
Possible cuts
Possible cuts
The following cards are being considered for removal from the deck.
Possible additions
Possible additions
The following cards are being considered for inclusion in the deck.
This card is an effective low-cost tutor that allows me to find a combo piece or utility card by sacrificing a utility or ramp creature. This is a small price to pay for the effect.
These cards would help to mitigate the issues posed by the lack of permanent removal spells in the deck. They are cheap, efficient, and without targeting restrictions.
Event history
Event history
This deck has been entered into only one official Commander tournament. The other events are single-pod matches.
May 30, 2012: 1st place - Icon's Comics & Games EDH Tournament (pod record 1st/1st/2nd)
(Date unknown): 1st place - Commander Pod #2, The Days of Knights
August 05, 2012: 1st place - Commander Pod #7, SCG Open D.C.
Thought Challenges
Scenario #1
Scenario #1
I spent about half an hour creating this game state out of nothing. It's loosely based on some scenarios I've faced before, but I figured I'd give you all a challenge. If you backtrack from the current state, you can actually simulate the previous turns in the game. Don't assume that you can win. I may well have spent this time to construct a devious game state that will force you to think for ten minutes before realizing it can't be won.
It's been a close, but decent game so far. You're in a multiplayer (4-person) pod competing in an SCG side event for some credit. You're up against
Arcum Dagsson
, Riku of Two Reflections, and
Sharuum the Hegemon
. The bad news is that all of your opponents are playing blue. The worse news is that you haven't been drawing creatures, and the Riku player likes to punish exposed, fleshy faces because he plays RUG and his creatures have nonzero power. Luckily, you went first and have been getting otherwise decent draws.
You suspect that Arcum and Sharuum are approaching combo, and you're at 4 life anyway. It's your first main phase. If you can win, you have to do it this turn.
Explain whether you can win the game this turn (and, if so, give a play-by-play) or not (and, if so, why not).
Resolve Tooth and Nail, fetching and putting onto the battlefield Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Palinchron. This will protect the rest of your turn because your opponents can't respond to Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir before it enters the battlefield. Declare the targets for Palinchron's ability to be the six lands that don't cause you to lose life when you activate their mana abilities.
Float the two mana from your remaining mana sources, then resolve Palinchron's ability.
Comments, suggestions, criticisms, and ratings are all welcome!
When recommending cards, please remember that this deck is tournament-oriented and must only contain the most efficient and powerful cards available. Please do not suggest casual or otherwise nonviable cards for inclusion. Also, please keep in mind that the deck is based around a network of synergies; combo-related cards should be useful outside of their combos.
I decided to drop some of the slower and more situational cards to add a major boost to my ramp package. The deck now regularly gets to turn three Damia.
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