Derevi Pod
I've always been frustrated with Bant and Derevi in particular for struggling to end games by including proper wincons. With the additions of Vannifar, Neoform and Eldritch Evolution along with Felidar Guardian and Eldrazi Displacer, I believe toolbox pod decks are in a much better place. The deck is very modular and can move up and down pod chains easily by abusing Sun Titan, Spellseeker, Renegade Rallier, Felidar Guardian and Karmic Guide. Derevi lends herself to being an excellent Pod commander by allowing multiple pod leaps in a turn by podding first main phase and again after her triggers resolve to untap pod. She is also not to mention an excellent synergy with Howling Mine and Winter Orb. This deck is by no means cEDH level but offers a different take on Derevi for players wishing to play bant while avoiding stax/control.
I'm using DarknutNoir's Pod lines below:
Birthing Pod Chain
There are two distinct Birthing Pod chains, each of which requires significant mana (7 and 6 respectively, with three and four lands on board respectively) to perform in one turn, but which could be performed over subsequent turns:
A
Sacrifice Derevi (or Deceiver Exarch) to Pod
Tutor Felidar Guardian, flicker Pod, and sacrifice Guardian to Pod
Tutor Karmic Guide, revive Guardian, flicker Guide, revive Derevi (Or Exarch), untap Pod, and sacrifice Guide to Pod
Tutor DEN, soulbond with Derevi, flicker Derevi, untap Pod, and sacrifice Guardian to Pod
Tutor Drake, soulbond to DEN, untap lands, flicker Drake to generate infinite mana, then flicker DEN, soulbond to Derevi, flicker Derevi, untap Pod. From here, we can perma-tap down all enemy permanents in a soft lock, or we can sacrifice Derevi to Pod.
Tutor any 4cmc creature, recast Derevi to untap Pod, then sacrifice the 4cmc creature to Pod.
Tutor Mulldrifter, soulbond to DEN, then draw your deck to win via any of the aforementioned wincons
B
Sacrifice Eldrazi Displacer to Pod
Tutor Guardian, flicker Pod, and sacrifice Guardian to Pod
Tutor Guide, revive Displacer, flicker Guide with Displacer, revive Guardian, flicker Pod, and sacrifice Guardian to Pod
Tutor Drake, flicker Drake with Displacer to generate infinite mana, flicker Guide to revive Guardian, flicker Pod, then sacrifice a creature to get Drifter to draw deck, or use Derevi to perma-tap all enemy permanents and start swinging
We can Move back down the chain to get what we want by using Sun Titan to start back at 1,2,or 3 and then working back up.
Wincons and Outlets
Once we have infinite mana we can keep saccing, untapping and "recasting" Derevi to either Vannifar or Birthing Pod. We can Draw our Deck by podding out Mulldrifter or Azami, and cast every spell in our deck repeatedly and infinitely. We can also grab either Finale of Devastation with Spellseeker to win with combat, Bounce Venser to create a lock, or loop Reality Shift and Beast Within with Archaeomancer or Eternal Witness.
Additional Wincons:
D.E.N. + (Incubation Druid or Gilded Lotus) + (Derevi or Deciever Exarch) = Infinite Mana, Etb effects, and Untaps
Eldrazi Displacer + (Derevi or Exarch) + (Mana Vault or Basalt Monolith) = Infinite ETB triggers. This can result in a win with Guardian Project. It's not as common but it is possible and does happen.
Additional Outlets:
Guardian Project and Verity Circle both draw our deck once we have infinite Derevi ETB triggers.
Verity Circle has been preforming nicely in this deck. It's useful to use as mana sink on turns when we sadly have not much else to do, creates tempo gain when "recasting" Derevi, and acts as an outlet when comboing off
Notable Synergies
Neoform into Incubation Druid. Well known, but worth mentioning.
Sun Titan can pick up Spellseeker, Snapcaster Mage or Mind Stone multiple times creating a solid engine.
Finale of Devastation is a powerhouse in this deck. It can be used early game to set up, and then late game getting picked up by Archeaomancer or Eternal Witness to fish out a win. It can then be used again to be looped, getting every creature in our deck, giving them haste and giving them infinite power and toughness.
Because Neoform does not exile itself there exists a durdly pod line. Not sure it's worth doing, but felt worth mentioning. It goes Spellseeker or Eternal Witness > Archaeomancer > Karmic Guide > Sun Titan. If Protean Hulk ends up in this deck it might be more worthwhile.
I tried to maximize the number of wizards as much as possible and there a non-neglible amount to capitalize on Azami's inclusion in the deck. Archaeomancer, Spellseeker, Aven Mindcensor, Etc.
Podding a mana dork into Coiling Oracle is a nice early game play. Oracle can then be podded into Rallier picking up Oracle again for a nice early game ramp/draw.
Mystical Tutor into Terminus is a nice reset button for 2 mana.
Renegade Rallier + Fetchlands makes for a pseudo Wood Elves
