Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

Legendary Creature — Bird Wizard

Flying

Whenever Derevi, Empyrial Tactician enters the battlefield or a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent.

: Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone.

Discussion (50)

Infactdead76 on There's the Door (EDH)

4 weeks ago

I found a hole: someone playing Derevi, Empyrial Tactician as the commander or someone playing Eternal Scourge or the like could cast stuff or in the case of derevi, activate her ability

Zerraphon on The Jenara Effect

1 month ago

Bababad Thanks!! I really appreciate you taking the time to look at my list!! I have felt with my play through of this that I have felt like using Derevi, Empyrial Tactician but I feel that her popularity will get me hated out of the game out of principle! So that’s why I run jenara, though there have been some shitty cards that just seem VERY lackluster, Vanquisher's Banner Herald's Horn seem to be very good, but in practice aren't as good as you may think! I also think that I have a lot of ramp cards that I never really see,especially after having 10 whole dedicated ramp cards! And cards like Sephara, Sky's Blade seem kinda ‘win-more’ and the one time I had her out on the battlefield I had another angel that was an indestructible, and couldn’t black with sephara, so a lot of damage went through, so I think she’s a bust.

With learning how this original list works, I feel that I need to add some better and more value focused cards, such as Wood Elves , Sun Titan , Stonecloaker come to mind. And I’m actually going to add Mystic Confluence and the masterpiece Cryptic Command to the list here. I think cards like the elves and such will do me better than all the sorcery spells that I have currently. I also think I’m going to add in either Ephara, God of the Polis and/or Kruphix, God of Horizons / Karametra, God of Harvests as they might make a fit here. Most likely when my cards come in I’m going to swap the Vanquisher's Banner for Ephara, God of the Polis will do me much better than a +1/+1 effect.

Overall this deck needs a lot more fine-tuning and alterations before I’m turkey happy with it. As I feel I just added in too many lack-luster instants and sorcories and should put those slots for more impactful and long-term value/recursion engine(s). But once my new cards come in, I’ll defiantly update this list and see what you think!!

Bababad on The Jenara Effect

1 month ago

There is certainly power and some wonderful cmc heavy interactions you have here. Depending on what your matchups are you will do quite well, especially with those evasive angels. Even against my stronger decks I could see issues when squared up 1v1 with this if I couldn't lock you out with tempo plays.

how well do you find yourself operating during midgame? does it feel like you get punished for swinging in? how consistently can you play your opening hands? Does my removal always feel ideal/versatile enough for my matchups? Does my commander feel impactful enough?

These would be the questions I would use to hone cuts and additions by.

My personal thoughts: Since there isn't much in the decklist dedicated to pumping/protecting Jenara, Asura of War , I would heavily consider using Derevi, Empyrial Tactician in lieu of her at the helm. Birb lets you manipulate the tempo of the board, giving your angels pseudo vig, the ability to untap lands, and the synergy with a potential Sunblast Angel is hilarious. Always having access to derevi for 4 mana always feels good, lets you punish any crackback, and with efficient rocks can be used to great efficiency.

If you wish to keep Jenara, Asura of War as the mander, I would recommend some low cmc cards to give her battlecruiser like synergies and leave your favorite angels as curvetoppers. Pir, Imaginative Rascal , Hardened Scales , Animation Module , heck even Rancor can be devastating in an opening hand with Jenara. Most Jenara, Asura of War decks i have squared up against have been extremely punishing control decks that win almost exclusively with commander damage.

overall, for either case I would recommend these cards:

Quicksilver Amulet / Elvish Piper take land count/ramp out of the equation.

Garruk Wildspeaker almost never gets removed, acts as an aggressive rock with surprisingly more evasion than artifacts most of the time. the overrun will serve you well

Angelic Field Marshal / Reconnaissance (use this after the damage step to untap your guys after they connect, silly ruling for a silly card)

True Conviction is an absolute all star in my buddy's angel deck. just deletes everyone with a stable board.

Chameleon Colossus and Mirror Entity are all star angels, even if not aesthetically pleasing ones :P

Greater Good could help you get some value out of your key pieces being spot removed.

Aura Shards even if you aren't using that many bodies, is always an extremely political and welcome topdeck in almost any game.

and you can't go wrong with Sol Ring , Urza's Incubator , Coalition Relic and Ancient Tomb to hopefully make those opening hands smoother.

That being said I am almost certain the deck runs quite well as is, it is more dependent on what you find lacking as you play amongst your meta. Lowering the curve usually always helps smooth things out, but as long as it runs and you are having fun you gotta do you :)

well done!

MEAT_TORNADO on No. [[Gaddock Teeg/Hatebear Primer]]

1 month ago

Weefy117 Bant has a problem where most of its legends are build-arounds for specific strategies. This deck operates as a toolbox and when you expand to 3 colors you need a commander that acts as advantage in multiple areas, rather than a specific strategy. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is a good old Bant toolbox commander, but also is used as a brutal stax commander, which is well-known. You might get murdered early playing that, but it is cost effective. The new card, Chulane, Teller of Tales , is also a really great toolbox commander, which tips its hand less as stax, which is beneficial in my opinion.

Emzed on No. [[Gaddock Teeg/Hatebear Primer]]

1 month ago

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician works really well with stax pieces like Stasis and Winter Orb , so that is one of the most popular Bant stax commanders.

BMHKain on I thought about it. I'll ...

1 month ago

(CAUTION: A Huge List of CMDRS dead ahead. If you can't comply, remember that I apologized for the huge wall.)

Well, I was just told how to do a Folder, but to choose what for decks is another thing entirely. Especially if such decks are either:

A: What Everyone Plays B: Are good, but have since been outdated by a year C: Are Tribal Leaders in a Specific Sense (No Morophon, the Boundless please.) D: Not Underdog CMDRs. E: Other.

Let's Just assume we use that cEDH Deck Tier List One-by-One; but w/ a new rule for Playtesting such decks so none of the cEDH Decks win out of overall ratios ~100% of the time; CHANNELFIREBALL-style. That said, From using the Tier List, I require the following CMDR Decks to not have cEDH Level Power, but are these:

Tier 0:

Thrasios, Triton Hero & Tymna the Weaver Partners

Tier 1:

Kess, Dissident Mage

Kraum, Ludevic's Opus

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

The First Sliver (Not as a Sliver Tribe Leader)

The Gitrog Monster

Urza, Lord High Artificer

Vial Smasher the Fierce

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Zur the Enchanter

(NOTE: Unknown if Kraum, Ludevic's Opus & Vial Smasher the Fierce need to be Parters to be of this level.)

Tier 2:

Animar, Soul of Elements (Morph Decks not allowed.)

Baral, Chief of Compliance (Get your Counterspells Ready!)

Brago, King Eternal

Breya, Etherium Shaper

Circu, Dimir Lobotomist

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

Edric, Spymaster of Trest

General Tazri (Mandatory Ally Tribe Leader)

Ghave, Guru of Spores

God-Eternal Kefnet

Godo, Bandit Warlord

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip

Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain

Kykar, Wind's Fury

Meren of Clan Nel Toth

Mizzix of the Izmagnus

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary

Narset, Enlightened Master

Niv-Mizzet, Parun

Niv-Mizzet Reborn

Oona, Queen of the Fae

Prime Speaker Vannifar

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher

Ramos, Dragon Engine

Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

Scion of the Ur-Dragon (Possible Dragon Tribe Leader)

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Sisay, Weatherlight Captain

Taigam, Ojutai Master

Tana, the Bloodsower

Tasigur, the Golden Fang

Teferi, Temporal Archmage

The Mimeoplasm

Varolz, the Scar-Striped

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Yarok, the Desecrated

Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder

Tier 3: WIP

But, yeah, you get the picture, right? Since I can't find such decks on my own to put in such a folder for decks worth testing against your own. Rules are as follows though:

1. It needs to be up to date, prior to the Iona, Shield of Emeria & Paradox Engine bans & Painter's Servant unbanning/CMDR 2019's release; or just not include any of those at all.

2. Each deck must not be of cEDH-level power; just imagine how much hell I'd have to playthrough against something just to beat a Thrasios/Tymna Partners deck just to have my claim on this notion nullified.

3. Decks must include CMDRs that are Popular, were Popular as well as Tribal Decks w/ Good Tribe Leaders (For example: The First Sliver & Sliver Queen do not fit this category where Sliver Overlord does fit the Sliver Tribe Leadership. Scion of the Ur-Dragon & The Ur-Dragon can both count as Dragon Tribe CMDRs. Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is actually a bad CMDR to use in Superfriends, but Shines in all Counter Life. Make good use of that instead of making a 4< Color Walkers Deck. The rulings go on...)

I know this is too much for now, but I'm making a folder for Playtesting w/ decks as everyone kept telling me to do so; now I want to hold my end of the Bargain. But I seriously need help from you to do this. If you can find any decks here to add to such a Folder, put it on the comments below.

(& no, It's not like it's a personal thing! Anyone is allowed to use it when it's finished!)

Demarge on Bant edh options/opinions

2 months ago

Adding blue is only better if you're going to abuse it, going tribal isn't going to abuse blue, at least Jen isn't going to be the best option if you do want to go tribal elves with bant. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician or the upcoming Chulane, Teller of Tales both will probably serve you better with tribal as they both have good interactions with going wide on tribal.

But for good honest beats ol siggy is still great, I do feel my version of it, The Heron Marked Master, maybe lacking in some places, like I need more removal or ramp, or was it graveyard hate I need. Though honestly my biggest dilemma is if I should use the signed foil original printing copy I have or the box topper one.

But in either case you can always just save the decklists on this site and if you use the same sleeves semi easily swap the shared cards between the two decks if it's a question of where to put your g/w staples where.

enpc on Where did my Library go?

2 months ago

How good is Hermit Druid here, compared to Cephalid Illusionist + Nomads en-Kor ? I get that the combo uses more pieces not through a Hulk deployment, however when you're setting up lab man, I'm guessing it's primarily through Hulk lines (in which illusionist/nomads is better) or from Tainted Pact / consultation which only cares about lab man. Not to mention that Hermit Druid both a) suffers from summoning sickness and b) means you can't run any basics (not generally a problem, however means you can't run a Forest / Island if you go up against Blood Moon ).

Also, have you tought about running Eladamri's Call in the deck? it fetches Hulk, but also increases your tutor density making cards like Derevi, Empyrial Tactician more desirable in the deck to give you more diversity across win conditions.