Talrand

Commander / EDH* Control Mono-Blue Tokens

Rahvin2015

Instant (32)

• 1x Abjure
• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Aetherspouts
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Clockspinning
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cryptic Command
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Hinder
• 1x Illusionist's Gambit
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Opt
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Polymorphist's Jest
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Snap
• 1x Spell Burst
• 1x Stoic Rebuttal
• 1x Thought Scour
• 1x Unsummon
• 1x Vapor Snag
• 1x Whispers of the Muse

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Beacon of Tomorrows
• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Hidden Strings
• 1x Inundate
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Mystic Speculation
• 1x Open Into Wonder
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Relearn
• 1x Serum Visions

Enchantment (6)

• 1x As Foretold
• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Jace's Sanctum
• 1x Kindred Discovery
• 1x Overburden
• 1x Rhystic Study

Creature (4)

• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Docent of Perfection  ^Flip
• 1x Tidespout Tyrant

Land (33)

• 31x Island
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Primal Amulet  ^Flip
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sky Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sphinx-Bone Wand
• 1x Sword of the Animist

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Maybeboard

Instant (4)

• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Insidious Will
• 1x Mana Drain

Artifact (3)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Isochron Scepter

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Ancestral Vision
• 1x Expropriate
• 1x Hands of Binding
• 1x Time Warp

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Coastal Piracy
• 1x Favorable Winds
• 1x Metallurgic Summonings
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip

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This has quickly become my favorite deck of all time.

Early iterations used Palinchron with the aana doubler package to generate infinite mana and spellcasts for a win via Aetherflux Reservoir, Tidespout Tyrant, or Capsize. This worked very well and was extremely consistent, but I've removed all infinite combos from this deck and instead focus on playing the long, grindy control game for an eventual win under weight of spells or drakes.

Ixalan and C17 have prompted a significant set of edits to the deck due to some really nice new toys being printed, particularly Primal Amulet and Kindred Discovery. Iconic Masters is expected to give me access to Flusterstorm and Mana Drain as well, which is just awesome.

This deck tries to play for the long political game. Keep the board from going crazy, but don't counter everything. Hold up your removal and counterspells until you really need them. Use cantrips occasionally to make drakes. Eventually we can set up a win with one of our main win condition cards and start to go off (without going infinite). This could be simply chaining cantrips and other cheap spells until we can win with Aetherflux Reservoir or Sphinx-Bone Wand. We could make a flood of Drake tokens and then drop Coat of Arms to swing in with a giant armada. We could get to the point where we can recast Capsize multiple times each turn and just start bouncing all of the things. There are many paths to victory and not all of them actually rely on Talrand being online.

The key is not becoming the target at the table early. We use a ton of efficient interaction like bounce early in the game, and hold up the counterspells for later. The most important thing about playing a Blue control deck, at least in my meta, is to resist the urge to counter everything. Countermagic is inherently card disadvantage, and there is no way we can have enough counterspells to keep up with multiple opponents. Counterspells are used to prevent us from losing, which is different from preventing our opponents from playing the game. Even the stax pieces like Overburden or Invoke Prejudice should not be played in every circumstance. Primarily I find myself focusing on combat tricks and cheap bounce spells early on, shifting to more oppressive play later after opponents have already overextended and we have the beginnings of a drake armada. At this point we should have a ton of gas, repeatable spells with Buyback, a fistfull of counterspells, etc, and we can start moving toward a win.

This deck will not win with raw power. There's no giant Exsanguinate or Walking Ballista here. We're not generally going to swing in with gigantic creatures, with the possible exception of Coat of Arms. We don't even have access to hard wrath effects. We have to play efficiently. Take a hit if it's not going to lose you the game. Don't bounce that early 2/2. Be patient until you can set up a win.

The main benefit of Talrand (other than Blue, the best color ever) is that he gives a small permanent benefit to every instant or sorcery you cast. Normally these are one-time use limited cards that take slots away from defensive or offensive creatures . With Talrand, you can have both, and in fact other cards like the new Kindred Discovery turn every spell into a cantrip. No longer are counterspells pure card disadvantage. Now, a cantrip is also a combat trick, plopping down a surprise flying blocker at instant speed. We're playing spells for value, and oh boy do we get a lot of value!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	99
Avg. CMC	2.83
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Boar 2/2 G, Drake 2/2 U, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Human Wizard 1/1 U, Manifest 2/2 C
Folders	saved decks