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Ramos, the Little Dragon Engine that Could

Commander / EDH Counters Exile Tokens

MTGBurgeoning


RAMOS, DRAGON ENGINE

Legendary Artifact Creature - Dragon

Flying

Whenever we cast a spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Ramos, Dragon Engine for each of that spell's colors.

Remove five +1/+1 counters from Ramos, Dragon Engine: Add . Activate this ability only once each turn.

4/4

Our preferred avenue to victory is to stall the game by disrupting our opponents and their board states with our various removal/disruption spells while ramping and drawing an overabundance of cards. Having Ramos, Dragon Engine on the battlefield during this time is optimal, but not necessary. Then in one turn, we cast Omniscience and protect it from counterspell/removal. Then, if not already under our control, we cast Ramos, Dragon Engine in addition to any of our various win conditions (primarily Aetherflux Reservoir, Aria of Flame and/or Thousand-Year Storm) and then cast numerous instant and/or sorcery spells without paying their mana costs in order to trigger our win conditions. This process also places multiple +1 +1 counters on Ramos, Dragon Engine, allowing our General/Commander to be a win condition through combat via lethal General/Commander damage if needed. If this path is unsuccessful, there are additional win conditions included in the deck in order to ensure our imminent victory. Nonetheless, the first road is more fun!

BANNDED was Golos, Tireless Pilgrim: Including Golos, Tireless Pilgrim in our deck provided another potential win condition, especially if our Omniscience engine failed to deliver. Before proceeding, have you ever experienced Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Ramos, Dragon Engine interact on the battlefield together? I recommend it. STRONGLY. Like peanut butter and jelly. Like peanut butter and chocolate. Like peanut butter and ice cream. Full-disclosure: I like peanut butter. Anyway, imagine the following scenario. On our turn we remove five +1 +1 counters from Ramos, Dragon Engine for . We funnel this mana into Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, and we exile the top three cards of our library, and we may play them this turn without paying their mana costs. With the saturation of multicolor spells in our deck, it's safe to believe that after casting the cards exiled by Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, we will put at least five +1 +1 counters back on Ramos, Dragon Engine. We pass the turn. Oh, did I mention that Vedalken Orrery is under our control? No? I thought I did. Well, with Vedalken Orrery under our control, we can play-out this exact scenario during our opponents' turns as well. Vedalken Orrery allows us to cast spells as though they had flash, so if we exile any sorcery, creature, artifact and/or enchantment spells through Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Vedalken Orrery removes the timing restrictions of these spells and permits us to cast them during our opponents' turns. Flash is fun! There is the risk of exiling an spell, in which will be , but it's worth the risk. Golos, Tireless Pilgrim was an alternate win condition in this before it was BANNED.

Taking the place of the banned Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is Veyran, Voice of Duality (see UP & UP REVISIONS #2 for more details)., which may seem like a minor modification but immensely improves the synergy of the deck. Veyran, Voice of Duality immediately pairs magnificently with cards already in the 99 such as Aria of Flame, Aetherflux Reservoir, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Shark Typhoon, Thousand-Year Storm and Swarm Intelligence. Golos's banning worked very well secondary to improving this deck! UPDATE Veyran, Voice of Duality was replaced by Kykar, Wind's Fury (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Kenrith, the Returned King: Kenrith, the Returned King may be the most versatile legendary creature ever printed. As a General/Commander, he can pilot any combination of colors. His five abilities are all relevant: : All creatures gain trample and haste until end of turn. Think: Shark creature tokens with flying, haste and trample. : Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Think: Ramos, Dragon Engine. Think: Shark creature tokens with flying, haste, and trample. : Target player gains 5 life. Think: Aetherflux Reservoir. : Target player draws a card. No need to think: Everyone loves to draw cards. : Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under its owner's control. Think: Recurring Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and/or Ramos, Dragon Engine. As a king, Kenny can politic better than anyone because our opponents can benefit from each of his abilities. We're running five colors and have access to a lot of mana, including Kenrith, the Returned King was an easy decision. We live in the Age of Kenny. Embrace it. Experience it. Fear it. UPDATE Kenrith, the Returned King was replaced by Whirlwind of Thought (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Niv-Mizzet, Parun: Our deck is the perfect home for The Mizz. Niv-Mizzet, Parun can't be countered. Love it! Whenever we draw a card, Niv-Mizzet, Parun deals one damage to any target. Love it!! We'll be drawing A LOT of cards in this deck. Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell, we draw a card. What emotion is stronger than love? Because that's how we feel about Nivvy!! Notice the text on his last ability. It says "WHENEVER A PLAYER casts an instant or sorcery spell." It doesn't say "WHENEVER YOU cast an instant or sorcery spell." If any player casts an instant or sorcery spell, we draw a card and then deal one point of damage to any target. Our deck is loaded with instant and sorcery spells and a lot of card-drawing spells. If we have Omniscience under our control and a grip of instant and/or sorcery spells in our hand, Niv-Mizzet, Parun can create an engine of direct damage and card-draw that can win us the game. We love you, Niv-Mizzy.

Progenitus: What does equal? The answer is a 10/10 hydra avatar creature with protection from everything. PROTECTION FROM EVERYTHING. Additionally, if an opponent is fortunate enough to send Progenitus to the graveyard, we reveal Progenitus and shuffle it into our library instead. Actually, if Progenitus hits the graveyard from anywhere then we shuffle it into our library instead. Take that millers! Progenitus is a win condition independent from any theme and/or focus of this deck. Removing five +1 +1 counters from Ramos, Dragon Engine casts Progenitus. Alternatively, slow-playing Progenitus is entertaining as we get to observe our opponents' reactions to each successive mana source. Something like "I'll tap for , and then , and then , and then , and then , and then , and then , and then , and then , and then , and then I'll cast..........Progenitus.

Charms! They are valued due to their multi-modal versatility. They are preferred in our deck because they can place multiple +1 +1 counters on Ramos, Dragon Engine. There are a lot of charms in Magic: the Gathering's history. So narrowing the expansive list of charms to a manageable number was difficult. The deciding parameters became usefulness, mode relevance and number of colors. The following charms fit these guidelines and were selected for inclusion into this deck:

Abzan Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Exile target creature with power three or greater. 2) We draw two cards and you we lose two life. 3) Distribute two +1/+1 counters among one or two target creatures. Exiling a threatening creature is great, and so is paying two life to draw two cards. However, let's not sleep on mode #3. If we cast Abzan Charm and target Ramos, Dragon Engine with the two +1 +1 counters, our beloved General/Commander will net a total of five +1 +1 counters from this spell. Then, Ramos, Dragon Engine is online and we can remove those five +1 +1 counters for . We love you, Abzan Charm.

Bant Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Destroy target artifact. 2) Put target creature on the bottom of its owner's library. 3) Counter target instant spell. Artifact destruction, creature removal and safety from an instant spell are the modes gifted to us by Bant Charm. Although the tuck rule no longer exists when targeting Generals/Commanders, removing a troublesome or problematic creature from the battlefield by placing it on the bottom of its owner's library, or in the case of a General/Commander, to the command zone, is very valuable. No graveyard recursion. No re-casting it from their hand. Leave it to the fates!

Boros Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Deal four damage to target player or planeswalker. 2) Permanents we control gain indestructible until end of turn. 3) Target creature gains double strike until end of turn. Dealing four damage to a player or planeswalker in EDH/Commander may seem irrelevant. However, casting Boros Charm after five or six other instant and/or sorcery spells with Thousand-Year Storm on the battlefield and under our control makes this charm's first mode much more threatening. Easily the most favorable mode for us, Boros Charms protects our permanents by giving them indestructible for a turn. There is the potential of Ramos, Dragon Engine acting as a Voltron General/Commander and providing it double strike for a turn can be game-ending to an opponent through lethal General/Commander damage. Additionally, this text reads "TARGET CREATURE" and not "TARGET CREATURE YOU CONTROL." We can target an opponent's creature with Boros Charm for an ambush or through a political ploy.

Crosis's Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Return target permanent to its owner's hand. 2) Destroy target nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated. 3) Destroy target artifact. We can return any target permanent to its owner's hand. Ours. Our opponent's. Protection or disruption. Ideally, we do not want a restrictive creature removal spell, but black is just one color and a nonblack creature removal spell is still valuable. If we can't destroy a black creature, we can return to its owner's hand for a turn by choosing mode #1. Destroying an artifact is always valuable.

Esper Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Destroy target enchantment. 2) Draw two cards. 3) Target player discards two cards. Enchantment removal is always important. Drawing cards is always important. Depriving our opponents of resources is always important. Most likely, mode #2 will be the most popular selection, but the other two modes are quite relevant and are valuable enough to include in this deck.

Izzet Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays . 2) Deal two damage to target creature. 3) Draw two cards, then discard two cards. Selecting mode #1 can punish an opponent that left-up just enough mana to cast a counterspell or a removal spell against us. Dealing two damage to a creature is not insignificant as a number of problematic and troublesome General/Commanders sport a toughness of two or less. Lastly, drawing cards. It's a good thing. UPDATE Izzet Charm was replaced by Brokers Charm (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Jund Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Exile all cards from target player's graveyard. 2) Jund Charm deals 2 damage to each creature. 3) Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature. We have a focused direction for our deck, and therefore, we do not include a lot of specific disruption outside of our charms and select removal spells. Jund Charm fills the gap in a big way. We can exile the graveyard of an opponent with recursive shenanigans in mind. We can wipe out a token army. We can place a total of five +1 +1 counters on Ramos, Dragon Engine, thereby preparing for an influx of . Jund Charm's versatility is extremely valuable and can disrupt various opponents or simply buff our General/Commander.

Naya Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Deal three damage to target creature. 2) Return target card from a graveyard to its owner's hand. 3) Tap all creatures target player controls. Naya Charm displays some great versatility and potential for political ploys. We have a restrictive piece of creature removal as our first mode. It's useful, but will never be mistaken as one of the best creature removal spells ever printed. The other two modes are much more valuable. Notice the text on mode #2. It says "RETURN TARGET CARD FROM A GRAVEYARD TO ITS OWNER'S HAND." It doesn't say "return target card from YOUR GRAVEYARD to its your hand." We can choose to return a card to our opponent's hand with the aspiration that that opponent uses it for our benefit in some way. Lastly, choosing to tap all creatures an opponent controls can open the combat floodgates against a player and potentially knock him or her right out of the game. UPDATE Naya Charm was replaced by Inspired Ultimatum (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Rakdos Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Exile all cards from target player's graveyard. 2) Destroy target artifact. 3) Each creature deals one damage to its controller. Rakdos Charm may be the most punishable charm in the EDH/Commander format. How often do we see graveyard shenanigans transpire during a game of EDH/Commander? How often is there an overpowered artifact causing havoc on the battlefield? How often are we staring down an army of creature tokens, goblins, slivers, humans and/or allies? Rakdos Charm is an answer and may be the hardest working charm in Magic: the Gathering.

Simic Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. 2) Permanents we control gain hexproof until end of turn. 3) Return target creature to its owner's hand. Simic Charm offers layers of protection throughout its three modes. Although the +3 +3 can target any creature and can be used as a political tool, it also can grant Ramos, Dragon Engine a temporary boost in power and toughness in order to push lethal General/Commander damage or survive combat or a board wipe. Granting permanents we control hexproof until the end of turn is extremely valuable. We want to protect Ramos, Dragon Engine, Omniscience and any of our other win conditions, and Simic Charm's second mode can do that. Mode #3 offers protection to one of our creatures or bounces an opponent's creature back to their hand.

Sultai Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Destroy target monocolored creature. 2) Destroy target artifact or enchantment. 3) Draw two cards, then discard a card. Sultai Charm only destroys a monocolored creature, which can be a bit restrictive as we can not target multicolored or colorless creatures. Historically, however, there's always a monocolored creature causing some level of disruption and/or trouble. Mode #1's restrictiveness is compensated by mode #2, as we can destroy target artifact or enchantment. Many of the aforementioned charms do not offer a choice, stating "destroy target artifact" or "destroy target enchantment." Sultai Charm provides valuable options. Finally, card-draw! Yay, card-draw!!

Treva's Charm: Three relevant modes: 1) Destroy target enchantment. 2) Exile target attacking creature. 3) Draw a card, then discard a card. Treva's Charm can either destroy a problematic enchantment, exile an attacking creature or draw us a card. Removal. Protection. Cantrip. This charm from Planeshift affords us with great versatility. UPDATE Treva's Charm was replaced by Brilliant Ultimatum (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Although the following spells are not charms, they provide additional value to our deck via removal and disruption:

Anguished Unmaking: Adding versatile removal spells is always optimal when constructing a deck, and Anguished Unmaking is one of the most versatile removal spells in the game. For and the cost of three life we can exile target nonland permanent. As we desire to stall the early-to-mid game, exiling any nonland permanent from the battlefield helps our cause.

Assassin's Trophy: Assassin's Trophy allows us to destroy target permanent an opponent controls. That opponent may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield. Gifting an opponent with a free basic land is not optimal. However, exchanging a troublesome and problematic permanent for a basic land is justifiable.

Crackling Doom: Crackling Doom is not the greatest removal spell in Magic. It's also not the worst, and under certain circumstances, it can be extremely useful. Our deck is inundated with removal spells. That's our plan. Disrupt the board and our opponents. However, sometimes we will be unable to interact with our opponents' creatures. Hexproof, shroud, protection, and indestructible can be difficult to manage. This is especially true for Voltron players. It is under these scenarios where Crackling Doom shines. Crackling Doom deals two damage to each opponent and each opponent sacrifices a creature with the greatest power among creatures that player controls. This spell dances right around hexproof, shroud, protection and indestructible. CAUTION: Watch out for Sigarda, Host of Herons, Tajuru Preserver and Tamiyo, Collector of Tales.

Cyclonic Rift: Casting an overloaded Cyclonic Rift is too advantageous and is included in this deck because, well, honestly, we're playing blue. That's it. Nothing more to see here. Move along to the next description.

Duneblast: The perfect mass removal spell for the quintessential Voltron player. We choose up to one creature, and Duneblast destroys the rest. With Ramos, Dragon Engine under our control, a Duneblast can pave the way to lethal General/Commander damage. Plus, casting it adds three +1 +1 counters to our hallowed dragon. Additionally, notice the text. It says "CHOOSE UP TO ONE CREATURE." We could choose no creatures and destroy them all. The text doesn't say "choose up to one TARGET creature." It doesn't say "choose up to one creature YOU CONTROL." We could choose a Lightning Greavesed Ramos, Dragon Engine. We could play some politics at the EDH/Commander table and strike some deals with our opponents. Duneblast gives us options.

Fierce Guardianship: If we control a commander, we may cast Fierce Guardianship without paying its mana cost. Free spell! What does it do? Counter target noncreature spell. This is a perfect piece of protection if we have Ramos, Dragon Engine under our control. We can protect our General/Commander from removal in addition to any of our numerous win conditions. Having Fierce Guardianship in hand and Ramos, Dragon Engine under our control is the perfect time to remove five +1 +1 counters from our General/Commander and use nearly all of that mana to cast Omniscience. We can freely protect Omniscience from counterspell or removal! Thank you Commander 2020!

Kaya's Guile: Kaya's Guile is not a charm, but it grants us four great modes on one card, and we can choose two of them for just or all four for . Mode #1: Each opponent sacrifices a creature. This is powerful against Voltron players particularly because Kaya's Guile does not target the creature of the player. Mode #2: Exile all cards from each opponent's graveyard. This may be Kaya's Guile's most powerful mode. As the EDH/Commander format has evolved, the vast majority of players (if not all) either include various forms of graveyard recursion spells or graveyard recursion is a preferred theme. Well, at instant speed Kaya's Guile can exile all of the cards from each opponent's graveyard. Mode #3: Create a 1/1 white and black spirit creature token with flying. Chump-blocker. Planeswalker and/or opponent nuisance. Mode #4: We gain four life. Maybe we need a few more points of life in order to get our Aetherflux Reservoir online. It's possible. Entwining this spell is not unreasonable, as each opponent will lose a creature and their graveyards while we create a creature token with flying as well as gain four life.

Merciless Eviction: We're all about those modal spells! Merciless Eviction is the grand-daddy of them all! A card type is going to get exiled from the battlefield, and we make a choice from either artifacts, creatures, enchantments or planeswalkers. We're packing a lot of artifact and enchantment hate, so exiling all creatures or planewsalkers will be our primary choices, most likely.

Mortify: Mortify has two relevant modes, as we can choose to either destroy target creature or destroy target enchantment. Our primary goal is to disrupt our opponents and their board states in order to prolong the game and safely acquire the necessary pieces of our game-ending engine. Mortify checks these boxes. UPDATE Mortify was replaced by Void Rend (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Pact of Negation: Another free counterspell!?!? Sort of. If we're planning to win the game on the turn it's used, then, yes, Pact of Negation is a free counterspell. However, if not, then at the beginning of our next upkeep, we must pay or we lose the game. Ouch! There are no other limitations with this spell. We don't need to control a commander in order to cast it for free. It counters any target spell, so Frilled Mystic, Mystic Snake, Ashiok's Erasure and Draining Welk can be targeted, whereas Fierce Guardianship is useless against those spells. We want Pact of Negation in our hand when we cast Omniscience.

Putrefy: Putrefy has two relevant modes, as we can choose to either destroy target creature or destroy target artifact. Our primary goal is to disrupt our opponents and their board states in order to prolong the game and safely acquire the necessary pieces to our game-ending engine. Putrefy checks these boxes. It feels like I just said this...UPDATE Putrefy was replaced by Endless Detour (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Ruinous Ultimatum: This powerful sorcery from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is part of the ultimatum cycle, first introduced in Shards of Alara. We destroy all nonland permanents our opponents control. Although this will not destroy anything with indestructible, sending nonland permanents to our opponents' graveyards is generally more valuable than sending nonland permanents to our opponents' hands, as an overloaded Cyclonic Rift does. This is not me saying that Ruinous Ultimatum is better and/or more powerful than Cyclonic Rift. It's not. It most likely never will be. It's a different type of board wipe that can affect our opponents' board states much more dramatically than an overloaded Cyclonic Rift. Aside from graveyard recursion, our opponents won't have opportunities to re-cast these spells. Although it's not in this deck, including Leyline of the Void and having it in play prior to casting Ruinous Ultimatum seems pretty enticing!

Supreme Verdict: Supreme Verdict destroys all creatures and it can't be countered. I love when a spell can't be countered. It is likely that we have fewer creature spells in our deck than any of our opponents. Mass removal spells like Supreme Verdict will keep the battlefield clear of creatures and allow us time and space to gather the necessary pieces to our Omniscience engine.

As we are attempting to combo-out and win the game with Omniscience, we've got to assemble the pieces of this engine in order to do so. The following tutors will help us with that:

Demonic Tutor: Best tutor in Magic: the Gathering. to put any card from our library directly into our hand. It's only at sorcery speed, but that's not worrisome. This spell is amazing and helps us get any piece of our game-ending engine.

Enlightened Tutor: With Enlightened Tutor we can search our library for an artifact or enchantment card and reveal that card. Then we shuffle our library, and put that card on top of it. Primarily, we use this spell in order to tutor for Omnscience, Aria of Flame, Aetherflux Reservoir or Thousand-Year Storm. At times, it's been used to grab Prismatic Geoscope. Prismatic Geoscope is awesome! Anyway, not having immediate access to the card, as well as revealing it to our opponents are not favorable components of this spell, but not every tutor can be Demonic Tutor. The instant-speed benefit of Enlightened Tutor is a bonus as we can cast it at the end of our last opponent's turn and then draw it for immediate access during our turn. It's not Demonic Tutor, but it's still a very valuable spell.

Mystical Tutor: With Mystical Tutor we search our library for an instant or sorcery card and reveal that card. Then we shuffle our library and put that card on top of it. All descriptions from Enlightened Tutor apply to Mystical Tutor, except that we're most likely searching for a counterspell like Pact of Negation, Fierce Guardianship or Swan Song, a removal spell such as Cyclonic Rift or Ruinous Ultimatum or an alternate win condition like Debt to the Deathless or Torment of Hailfire.

Vampiric Tutor: With Vampiric Tutor we search our library for ANY card and then shuffle our library and put that card on top of it. We also lose two life. Vampiric Tutor is so valuable because it can search for any card in our library, unlike Enlightened Tutor and Mystical Tutor. We don't have immediate access to it, like Enlightened Tutor and Mystical Tutor, but it's too valuable to not include.

Having a fully-stocked hand of cards is the fuel that will rev our game-ending Omniscience engine. The following spells are included as a means to accomplish this end:

Expansion / Explosion: Expansion / Explosion provides two relevant spells on one card. For we can copy target instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost four or less. We may choose new targets for the copy. We have over two dozen instant and sorcery spells from our deck that are excellent targets for this spell. How about a double Demonic Tutor? Or what about a double Crackling Doom? Notice the text. It says "COPY TARGET INSTANT OR SORCERY SPELL." It doesn't say "copy target instant or sorcery spell YOU CONTROL." We can also copy our opponents' spells! Now, for we deal X damage to any target and target player draws X cards. This is a direct damage AND cantrip spell! Yes, the possibility exists that we can make an opponent draw-out and lose the game by making bigger than their remaining deck size, but it's much more likely that those cards are going into our hand. Expansion / Explosion is a valuable spell due to its versatility.

Finale of Revelation: This is a hulked-out version of Mind Spring. Finale of Revelation may be the most important sorcery spell in our deck. We draw X cards. Drawing as many cards as possible is important in order to fill our hand with instant and sorcery spells for the imminent arrival of Omniscience. If X is or more, instead we shuffle our graveyard into our library, draw X cards, untap up to five lands, and we have no maximum hand size for the rest of the game. We always want to take advantage of these additional lines of text. Shuffling our graveyard into our library adds more resources and maximizes the potential of drawing more instant and sorcery spells. Untapping up to five lands is helpful as we're not left vulnerable to our opponents. The clincher? No maximum hand size for the rest of the game. Discarding down to seven cards at the end of our turn is not a successful formula for the goals of this deck. The more cards we have in our hand, the more opportunities we have to win the game, and Finale of Revelation provides that in spades.

Praetor's Counsel: Praetor's Counsel is a powerful card that can act as an additional win condition. With Omniscience under our control, if we cast each and every instant and sorcery spell from our hand, then cast Praetor's Counsel, we return all of the cards from our graveyard to our hand and we have no maximum hand size for the rest of the game. This is back-breaking for our opponents and should lead us to victory, as having access to every spell from a graveyard AGAIN should be an insurmountable hill to climb.

Reap the Past: We can return X cards at random from our graveyard to our hand. We have to exile Reap the Past, but this spell's inclusion is significant because it can restock our hand with instant and sorcery spells as we are comboing-off with Omniscience under our control. While not as powerful as Praetor's Counsel, the benefit of additional graveyard-to-hand recursion is favorable enough to include in this deck. UPDATE Reap the Past was replaced by Meeting of the Five (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Rhystic Study: "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" Yep.

Sphinx's Revolution: This is another example of a spell that can put numerous cards into our hand as we gain momentum piecing together our end-of-game Omniscience engine. This spell is very straight-forward. We gain X life and draw X cards. The life gain is a nice bonus. Although we are attempting to control and manipulate our opponents' board states, they may be able to lower our life totals nonetheless. Sphinx's Revelation makes it hurt a little less. Plus, we get to draw a bunch of cards! Who doesn't love drawing cards!!?!

Whirlwind of Thought: See UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details.

Brilliant Ultimatum: See UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details.

Inspired Ultimatum: See UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details.

How our opponents meet their doom:

Aetherflux Reservoir: The ultimate one-shot. Seriously. We most likely have just one opportunity to use Aetherflux Reservoir, so we better make it count! Whenever we cast a spell, we gain one life for each spell we've cast this turn. Be mindful of this storm count! Once we have a comfortable amount of life, we can pay 50 life and Aetherflux Reservoir deals 50 damage to any target. It's unreasonable to think we can use Aetherflux Reservoir more than once in this deck. MAKE IT COUNT!

Aria of Flame: Let's keep this card a secret. The EDH/Commander community has not fully grasped this card's potential dominance yet. I'm okay with that. I encourage the community to remain blinded by Aria of Flame's power. In this deck, Aria of Flame is a better win condition than Aetherflux Reservoir. When Aria of Flame enters the battlefield, each opponent gains ten life. This is not optimal. Gifting our opponents with 25% of their starting life totals is not a good thing. However, let's continue. Whenever we cast an instant or sorcery spell, we put a verse counter on Aria of Flame, and then it deals damage equal to the number of verse counters on it to target player or planeswalker. If Aria of Flame comes into play after we successfully cast Omniscience with a fistful of cards in our hand and protection, we will win the game. Nearly half of our deck is comprised of instant and sorcery spells. Casting them all for free through Omniscience with Aria of Flame on the battlefield and under our control is the focus of this deck. We will win the game.

Debt to the Deathless: If our Omniscience engine falters, then we have other game-ending options. Debt to the Deathless causes each opponent to lose two times X life and we gain life equal to the life lost this way. Loss of life is more reliable than damage. With the amount of ramp in our deck and Swarm Intelligence, Ramos, Dragon Engine and Doubling Cube at our disposal, casting a game-ending Debt to the Deathless is not difficult.

Omniscience: This is the key cog to our engine. We've included four tutors that can tutor for it and a tutor that can tutor for a tutor in order to tutor for it. Whoa. Okay. That's a lot of tutoring! We've included two counterspells that can be cast for "free" (Pact of Negation, Fierce Guardianship) and a counterspell that costs only (Swan Song) as well as Izzet Charm and Bant Charm in order to prevent it from being countered or removed. We've included spells granting it and other permanents we control hexproof (Simic Charm) or indestructible (Boros Charm) for a turn. We've invested more than 10% of our deck JUST TO ACQUIRE AND PROTECT Omniscience. It is our prime win condition. If it's on the battlefield and under our control, then we may cast spells from our hand without paying their mana costs. Omniscience is step #1. Casting Aetherflux Reservoir, Aria of Flame and/or Thousand-Year Storm is step #2. Casting as many instant and/or sorcery spells thereafter in order to trigger our aforementioned win conditions from step #2 is step #3. With Omniscience under our control and a handful of spells to protect it, we should win the game. It costs , we better!

Shark Typhoon: Is there any Magic: the Gathering player that doesn't want to create flying shark creature tokens?!? Even the worst galeophobics couldn't resist creating a shiver of them! Whenever we cast a noncreature spell, we create an X/X blue shark creature token with flying, where X is that spell's converted mana cost. We can also cycle Shark Typhoon for and create an X/X blue shark creature token with flying and draw a card. Over 90% of the spells in our deck are noncreature spells. We can consider Shark Typhoon a win condition due to the high number of shark creature tokens with flying it will create if left unchecked.

Swarm Intelligence: Whenever we cast an instant or sorcery spell, we may copy that spell. We may choose new targets for the copy. There are some limitations with Swarm Intelligence. If we cast a modal spell, the copy made by Swarm Intelligence is the same mode as the original spell. We can't choose a different mode. Additionally, the copy of the spell created by Swarm Intelligence will not trigger Aetherflux Reservoir, Aria of Flame, Thousand-Year Storm, Shark Typhoon, Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Ramos, Dragon Engine because we are not CASTING the copy of the spell. Although this is high on the bummer meter, all is not lost. With Swarm Intelligence on the battlefield and under our control, Debt to the Deathless, Villainous Wealth and Torment of Hailfire become even greater threats. We car draw four cards with Esper Charm. We can tuck two creatures with Bant Charm. We can deal four damage to each creature with Jund Charm. We can search for two cards with Demonic Tutor. Each opponents takes four damage and sacrifices up to two creatures with Crackling Doom. Swarm Intelligence's inclusion in this deck is warranted. UPDATE Swarm Intelligence was replaced by Arcane Bombardment (see UP & UP REVISIONS #3 for more details).

Thousand-Year Storm: This is another win condition associated with casting and protecting Omniscience. Whenever we cast an instant or sorcery spell, copy it for each other instant and sorcery spell we've cast before it this turn. We may choose new targets for the copies. Although it's not a throughout-the-game cumulative effect similar to Aria of Flame, Thousand-Year Storm's turn-by-turn storm count is valuable. If we cast seven or eight free instant and/or sorcery spells through Omniscience with Thousand-Year Storm under our control, and then cast Debt to the Deathless and/or Torment of Hailfire, even if is a modest amount, the game is over.

Torment of Hailfire: If our Omniscience engine falters, then we have other game-ending options. Torment of Hailfire causes each opponent to repeat the following process X times: Lose three life unless that player sacrifices a nonland permanent or discards a card. With the amount of ramp in our deck and Swarm Intelligence, Ramos, Dragon Engine and Doubling Cube at our disposal, casting a game-ending Torment of Hailfire is not difficult. I sense I've said this before...

Villainous Wealth: Hilarity ensues when we cast Villainous Wealth and cast a chunk of target opponent's deck. For , target opponent exiles the top X cards of their library and we may cast any number of spells with converted mana cost X or less from among them without paying their mana costs. We have the resources to cast a monstrous-sized Villainous Wealth and borrow a high percentage of an opponent's library. Imagine if Swarm Intelligence is on the battlefield and under our control as we cast a healthy Villainous Wealth. Or what if we cast Villainous Wealth after casting three or four instant and/or sorcery spells before it with Thousand-Year Storm under our control? Although winning the game on the turn we cast Villainous Wealth is not automatic, our board states should rocket ahead of our opponents'.

Lastly, a couple of spells that can help us accentuate the focus of our deck:

Lightning Greaves: We do not have a lot of creatures in our deck. It's constructed to be heavy on the instant and sorcery spells and light on the creatures. When we do put a creature into play, including our beloved General/Commander, we should protect it. Lightning Greaves offers the best equipment protection in the game. It only costs to cast and to equip. It gives the equipped creature haste and shroud. Equipping Lightning Greaves to Ramos, Dragon Engine can present opportunities for lethal General/Commander damage in one attack phase. Each creature in our deck can be a win condition and protecting them is the reason Lightning Greaves is included in this deck.

Vedalken Orrery: With Vedalken Orrery in play, we can increase the number of instances in which we remove +1 +1 counters from Ramos, Dragon Engine as well as the number of spells we cast as a result. By including Vedalken Orrery, we more than double the number of spells we can cast during our opponents' turns. With a fistful of cards, we remove five +1 +1 counters from Ramos, Dragon Engine during our opponent's turn and add to our mana pool. We use this mana to cast spells that put at least five more +1 +1 counters on Ramos, Dragon Engine, and then repeat this process with each subsequent opponent. Vedalken Orrery turns this dream scenario into a nightmarish reality for our opponents.

Spells ain't cheap! Especially Omniscience! The following cards are included in order to ramp-up as quickly as possible, permitting us to get cards in our hands with spells and eventually cast Omniscience:

Arcane Signet: Second best artifact in the format. For the purposes of our deck, Arcane Signet taps for one mana of any color, for just .

Burgeoning: We will have fistfuls of cards throughout the game, and invariably some of these cards are going to be lands. By including a copy of Burgeoning, we can ramp past our opponents by putting a land into play each time one of our opponent's plays a land. Burgeoning REPLACES Farseek FROM THE ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION OF THIS DECK. Burgeoning gives us more bang for our buck and can put onto the battlefield more lands than Farseek, as long as we have lands in our hand and our opponents are playing lands.

Chromatic Lantern: Since we have so many multicolor spells included in our deck in order to take advantage of Ramos, Dragon Engine's +1 +1 counter ability, color-fixing is at a premium. Few spells accomplish this feat better than Chromatic Lantern. It taps to add one mana of any color and gives this ability to all of our lands.

Chromatic Orrery: I still can't believe that this card exists. We may spend mana as though it were mana of any color. Color-fixing! Chromatic Orrery can tap and add to our mana pool, which we can use as mana of any color. Lastly, we can tap it and and draw a card for each color among permanents we control. Aside from having Progenitus under our control, this ability will draw us one to three cards. There are a lot of other card-drawing spells in our deck, and for the purposes of this deck list, Chromatic Orrery's value lies in both its mana-fixing and mana production.

Doubling Cube: By tapping and tapping Doubling Cube we can double the amount of each type of unspent mana we have. Doubling Cube can get Omniscience out more quickly. It can make bigger for spells like Finale of Revelation, Sphinx's Revelation, Debt to the Deathless and Torment of Hailfire. Ramos, Dragon Engine approves.

Fellwar Stone: We're running five colors and the likelihood is pretty high that our opponents are running the aggregate total of five colors as well. Fellwar Stone helps us fix our mana in order to cast our swath of multicolored spells unimpeded by color-screw.

Prismatic Geoscope: Where is the love for Prismatic Geoscope? Okay, so it costs to cast and enters the battlefield tapped. That's a healthy amount of mana for something that does nothing upon arrival. HOWEVER, when we untap, Prismatic Geoscope can tap and add X mana in any combination of colors, where X is the number of basic land types among lands we control. We have one basic land of each type, ten Shock Lands and five Triomes. All of these lands count towards the domain ability that Prismatic Geoscope possesses. This artifact can easily tap for five mana of any combination of colors. I believe the benefits of this card outweigh the risks, but I sense that I'm in the minority in singing the praises of this card. At the time of this deck list's completion, Prismatic Orrery is played in 1,993 out of 421,459 decks through EDHREC.com. That's a meager 0.47%.

Skyshroud Claim: More color-fixing! Skyshroud Claim let's us search our library for up to two Forest cards and put them onto the battlefield. The nuance of the text is very significant. Skyshroud Claim says "SEARCH OUR LIBRARY FOR UP TO TWO Forest CARDS." It doesn't say "search our library for up to two BASIC Forest cards." Additionally, Skyshroud Claim does not tap these lands upon entering the battlefield. There are a total of seven nonbasic lands (4 Shock Lands and 3 Triomes) that carry the Forest card type. These are the targets for Skyshroud Claim. If the mana is necessary immediately, target two Shock Lands and pay two life for each of them and they will be untap upon entering the battlefield. If mana is not immediately necessary, target two Triomes in order to maximize our color-fixing thereby optimizing our ability to cast multicolor spells.

Smothering Tithe: "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" "Are you going to pay for that?" Yep. If our opponents choose not to pay , we create a Treasure token, which provides us with mana-ramp and color-fixing.

Sol Ring: Best artifact in the format.

Now it's time to discuss our land base. As we're running five colors and a lot of multicolor spells, lands that add more than just one mana of any color are favored:

5 Basic Lands: Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest. I understand that including five basic lands contradicts the preceding description about the lands in this deck, but Assassin's Trophy, Veteran Explorer, Path to Exile and Field of Ruin make these lands necessary additions. These spells are fixtures in both my meta-game and local game store. Don't be the player who doesn't benefit by neglecting basic lands!

5 Triomes: Indatha Triome, Raugrin Triome, Zagoth Triome, Savai Triome, Ketria Triome. Thank you Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths! The Triomes are amazing! Each land has three basic land types, can tap for one of three colors and can be cycled for . Yes, they enter the battlefield tapped, but this restriction does not overshadow the benefits of these lands. Our fetch lands should target Triomes in the early-game.

10 Shock Lands: Hallowed Fountain, Watery Grave, Blood Crypt, Stomping Ground, Temple Garden, Godless Shrine, Sacred Foundry, Steam Vents, Breeding Pool, Overgrown Tomb.

10 Fetch Lands: Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath, Marsh Flats, Arid Mesa, Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs.

The full set of ten Fetch Lands helps ensure that we can obtain the full complement of colored mana. Early-game fetch lands should target Triomes in order to fix mana as quickly and as smoothly as possible.

9 lands remain:

Command Tower: Best land in the format. Tap to add one mana of any color to our mana pool.

Reflecting Pool: We have ten Shock Lands, five Triomes and multiple lands that can add one mana of any color to our mana pool. Reflecting Pool is Command Tower #2.

Mana Confluence: We tap Mana Confluence and pay one life in order to add one mana of any color to our mana pool. Paying one life for this mana isn't back-breaking, but be careful because it could add up. Mana Confluence can act as Command Tower #3, for an additional one life per use.

Exotic Orchard: Exotic Orchard is the land version of Fellwar Stone. We're running five colors and the likelihood is pretty high that our opponents are running the aggregate total of five colors as well. It's not unreasonable to think of Exotic Orchard as Command Tower #4.

Field of the Dead: It is disadvantageous to include any lands that produce only colorless mana in a five-color deck with such a high concentration of multicolored spells. Any colorless mana-producing lands must adorn powerful or useful abilities in order to gain inclusion into our deck. Field of the Dead checks these boxes. Field of the Dead can be a win condition. Whenever Field of the Dead or another land enters the battlefield under our control, if we control seven or more lands with different names, we create a 2/2 black zombie creature token. EVERY LAND IN OUR DECK HAS A DIFFERENT NAME. As a true singleton deck, each land that enters the battlefield under our control while meeting Field of the Dead's criteria will create a 2/2 zombie creature token. Fetch Land. 2/2 zombie. Crack the Fetch Land flushing out another land. 2/2 zombie. Field of the Dead's token-producing ability is valuable enough to warrant its inclusion into this five-color deck.

Reliquary Tower: It is disadvantageous to include any lands that produce only colorless mana in a five-color deck with such a high concentration of multicolored spells. Any colorless mana-producing lands must adorn powerful or useful abilities in order to gain inclusion into our deck. Reliquary Tower easily checks this box: No maximum hand size. Acquiring and sculpting a powerful grip of cards is a crucial part of our Omniscience end game. Reliquary Tower assists us by denying the "discard down to seven cards" rule at the end of our turn. This is the land version of Thought Vessel. Reliquary Tower's ability to make our hand size limitless is valuable enough to justify its place in this five-color deck.

Alchemist's Refuge: It is disadvantageous to include any lands that produce only colorless mana in a five-color deck with such a high concentration of multicolored spells. Any colorless mana-producing lands must adorn powerful or useful abilities in order to gain inclusion into our deck. It feels like I've said this before... Anyway, Alchemist's Refuge checks this box. If we tap and tap Alchemist's Refuge we may cast spells this turn as though they had flash. Not as powerful as Vedalken Orrery, Alchemist's Refuge gives our spells with flash during one of our opponent's turns. With Ramos, Dragon Engine online, it's not unreasonable to imagine a scenario where we remove five +1 +1 counters from our General/Commander, use a and a from the mana produced and activate Alchemist's Refuge, with still in our mana pool. Alchemist's Refuge's flash-enabling ability is a valuable resource and its incorporation into this five-color deck is validated because of it.

Cascading Cataracts: This land is perfect for helping to fix mana in order to cast any of the numerous multicolor spells that are in the deck. Additionally, some of the the mana generated from an activation by Ramos, Dragon Engine can be funneled into Cascading Cataracts in order to cast spells that Ramos, Dragon Engine could not, like Omniscience, Praetor's Counsel and Ruinous Wealth. Cascading Cataracts REPLACES Grim Tutor FROM THE ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION OF THIS DECK. In order to strengthen the land base and address the potential need for color-fixing, the deck's overall tutor package was weakened slightly. I believe this change will strengthen the overall deck.

Forbidden Orchard: We can tap this land and add one mana of any color to our mana pool. As a drawback, we gift one of our opponents with a 1/1 colorless spirit creature token. Notice that this colorless spirit creature token does not fly. How does a spirit not fly? Is it tethered to the ground? Is it too heavy to levitate? This quirk is maddening!! However, not as maddening as it will be to our opponents. Providing an opponent with a measly 1/1 evasion-less creature token is worth adding a second Command Tower, particularly with the number of multicolored spells in this deck. Forbidden Orchard REPLACES Swan Song FROM THE ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION OF THIS DECK. In order to strengthen the land base and address the potential need for color-fixing, the deck's overall disruption package was weakened slightly. I believe this change will strengthen the overall deck.

Burgeoning replaces Farseek (revision made prior to primer).

Forbidden Orchard replaces Grim Tutor (revision made prior to primer).

Cascading Cataracts replaces Swan Song (revision made prior to primer).

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99% Casual

Competitive

Revision 5 See all

(10 months ago)

-1 Chromatic Lantern main
+1 Cruel Ultimatum main
+1 Farseek main
-1 Fellwar Stone main
-1 Field of the Dead main
-1 Forbidden Orchard main
+1 Mana Crypt main
-1 Meeting of the Five main
+1 Nature's Lore main
+1 Prismatic Omen main
-1 Progenitus main
-1 Skyshroud Claim main
+1 Three Visits main
+1 Unite the Coalition main
Date added 3 years
Last updated 9 months
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

12 - 0 Mythic Rares

64 - 0 Rares

16 - 0 Uncommons

3 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.62
Tokens Shark */* U, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB, Treasure
Folders MTG Burgeoning's EDH/Commander Decks
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