pie chart

A Deck for All Seasons

Commander / EDH Battlecruiser Five Color Infinite Combo Midrange Multiplayer Primer

IronTiger

Upvote 0
0

Land (37)

Recursion (7)

Answers (23)

Draw (11)

Elemental Beatdown (8)

Tutor (5)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Horde of Notions

Combo (14)

Landfall (9)

Mana (8)

Sideboard

Other (15)

The primer below is outlined in two main sections: Paths to Victory & Making the Magic Happen. That is to say, "What I'm doing & How I do it." I hope it to be helpful, questions and comments are welcome. Peace.

Paths to Victory

COMBAT

Winning games the old-fashioned way; attacking your opponents until they die. Simple, yet effective.

The deck's commander, Horde of Notions , was not chosen solely for the purpose of allowing me to use all five colors. Horde is efficiently costed as a 5/5 for 5cmc, and he sports three of the best keyword abilities in the game; Vigilance, Trample and Haste.

A sizable body and great abilities make for a great start to a commander damage aggro strategy, and he remains untapped for defense as you shift into control mode on opponents' turns.

...

COMBO

The network of cards in the deck that combine for infinite loop interactions have many potential arrangements with a great deal of overlap.

(SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Reveillark + Karmic Guide -- Beautiful synergy, can be cast in either order to have both.

Reveillark + Saffi Eriksdotter Slightly trickier, as Saffi needs to be in play with Reveillark to start the loop

Reveillark + Body Double -- This pair was actually in standard together, and boy was it cool. Body Double is quite elegant with 'Lark, as the Body Double is able to simply bounce in and out of play all on its own while 'Lark sits in the yard. Body Double enters as a 'Lark, sac to an effect, hits the yard, triggers the 'Lark ability and is back in the yard as a 0/0 by the time the ability resolves. Repeat!

Karmic Guide + Saffi Eriksdotter -- Saffi starts us off once again, as she will need to sacrifice herself to target the Karmic Guide while it is in play. But this pair is convenient in that Karmic Guide will bring Saffi into play when you cast it, setting you up for the loop to start.

Karmic Guide + Fiend Hunter --

Karmic Guide + Body Double --

Sun Titan + Saffi Eriksdotter --

Sun Titan + Fiend Hunter --

Goblin Bombardment is the optimal choice as it allows an instant win with infinite damage aimed directly at your opponents. When you want to end the game, accept no substitutes.

Martyr's Cause allows you to prevent all damage indefinitely when you combine it with any above pair. It can save your life, save another of your creatures, or even make a political move by saving an opponent.

Viscera Seer can infinitely scry through your deck, one card at a time. Also of note; as a creature, he is accessible with Survival and T&N. Thus adding to his versatility.

Mirror Entity is a bit trickier to use for facilitating the recursion loops, and he doesn't work with all pairs.

Here's the trick: activate Mirror Entity's X ability for Zero. Hold Priority. Respond to your activation by activating Mirror Entity again for Zero. Repeat until you have stacked as many activations as you want! The end result of this is that Mirror Entity is able to act effectively as a sac outlet, due to the stack of ability activations.

With such versatility, it's no wonder Reveillark is one of my favorite cards. In this setup, Reveillark is able to team up with a host of creatures to generate a seemingly endless number of results!

As described in the previous section, there are several cards that act as the second piece to create a recursion loop with Reveillark . Once you have 'Lark on the battlefield with the looping piece of your choice and loop facilitator, the real fun can begin. When Reveillark's ability triggers you'll usually bring back a recursion loop piece, but you will still have a second creature to target.

Making it Matter

The second creature that you bring back is where you make the recursion loop matter. Just throw in a creature that has a cool ability (and power 2 or less) to let you win the game!

(SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Venser, Shaper Savant doesn't really 'win' the game outright when he jumps in the loop. But he creates one of the most hopeless situations imaginable; opponents cannot keep lands in play or resolve spells. That's a ticket to Scoopsville.

Acidic Slime is an unforgiving destructive force when it jumps into the loop, blowing up all lands, artifacts and enchantments opponents control. Unless your opponent has a massive board presence of creatures or planeswalkers, then Slimer is gonna seal up the game.

Murderous Redcap . Ruthless Assassin. Direct Damage to the Dome. Repeatedly. Good Game.

CONTROL

How to Win a Game of Magic: Make sure you can do what you want and your opponents cannot do what they want.

When you play in a competitive group, ya gotta pack some answers if you want to stand any chance of winning. Listed below are what I see as some of the most universally applicable answers in the game. One of the many advantages of running WUBRG!

(SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Arcane Denial

Anguished Unmaking

Utter End

Assassin's Trophy

Oblation

Chaos Warp

Knight of Autumn

Acidic Slime

(SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

-- Austere Command is in my mind, tied with Cryptic Command for best modal spell. Flexible enough to allow you to set opponents back while preserving your own game state. An auto-include for any white EDH deck. One of my favorites.

-- Cyclonic Rift is a single target in a pinch, or one of the biggest blowout cards in the format if you can Overload it. One of blue's best tools and arguably an auto-include.

Making the Magic Happen

MANA

The best spells in the game are useless if you can't cast them. Half of the cards in this deck are dedicated to mana production.

-- Sol Ring is the first card that goes in every single EDH deck. One if the most powerful cards ever printed.

-- Birds of Paradise is the first best mana creature in the game. Bolt the Bird if you can, fair warning.

-- Noble Hierarch is a fantastic mana creature, tapping for the three most prevalent colors in the deck, and the Exalted trigger can make a big difference when aiming for a commander damage win.

-- Bloom Tender taps for WUBRG when Horde is on the battlefield. Prime payoff for 1G investment. Worth every penny.

-- Chromatic Lantern ramps and fixes my mana beautifully. Also allows me to tap my fetches for mana and save the sac for when I need a shuffle.

I am running all ten of the original dual lands. With Green being the color I need most, I also chose to run all of the green shock lands.

Running eight fetches is key to getting a five color manabase to run consistently and effectively; Ramunap Excavator & Crucible of Worlds are a perfect compliment to fetchlands. That synergy is strong enough on its own, insuring you hit your land drops every turn. But if Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Oracle of Mul Daya join the scene, you start fetching two, three, or even four lands a turn!

-- Knight of the Reliquary lets me tutor for any land, either fixing my colors or picking the perfect tech land. And she works well with Crucible and Excavator.

Nine basics in total, because Blood Moon is a thing. One of each type, and a second for each of my three primary colors ( ), and a third Forest, as Green is my most prevalent color.

-- Command Tower and Opal Palace are my only two five-color lands.

-- Horizon Canopy turns my mana-engine into a draw engine and fixes colors as its day job. Excellent Card.

-- Flooded Grove and Mystic Gate for the finest blue mana filtering.

-- Strip Mine just to let'em know you care.

CARD VALUE

The Path to Victory is paved by superior card advantage and card quality.

-- Sensei's Divining Top is one of the best cards ever printed. Almost always my first target if I find myself with a tutor in hand early game.

-- Sylvan Library can put you way ahead early game if you want to pay for it. If not, it still provides valuable information and improves quality of draws.

-- Jace, the Mind Sculptor can Brainstorm every turn, adding up to tremendous value over time, especially with fetches online.

-- Nissa, Vital Force has one of the best emblems of any planeswalker. Once you land it (ha) you will be drawing a card for every land that enters the battlefield on your side. Fetchlands draw you two cards. Amazing!

-- Rhystic Study is perhaps the best draw spell in EDH. Very often it's the deciding factor in who wins a game. Auto-include for any blue deck.

-- Mulldrifter is unassumingly powerful. Curves out early setting up a re-cast after Horde is out, or just re-cast once a turn for the Evoke cost with Muldrotha.

-- Wheel of Fortune is one if my favorite spells, and one of the strongest ever printed. Refill my hand for 3cmc. Disrupt opponents. (...maybe cast immediately following an overloaded Cyclonic Rift .. )

-- Sword of Fire and Ice can be great incremental card advantage over a few turns, or it can draw multiples when I hit Double Strike and/or extra combat phases.

-- Horizon Canopy is wonderful as a color fixer and pseudo-cycle when you need it. But it becomes a powerful draw engine when combined with the Azusa/Oracle/Crucible/Excavator engine described in the 'Mana' section above.

-- Maelstrom Wanderer is not technically card draw, but he provides immense value every time. And my ability to recast him for out of the 'yard with Horde makes him exponentially better.

One of the reasons I love EDH so much is that we get to play with some of the most powerful cards in the game. I've included many of the best tutors, elsewhere only to be found in Vintage!

...

Intuition is a little more complex. While yes, Intuition can get any three cards in the deck, the card is strongest when there are specific sets of cards included in the deck that the card is ideally aiming for. In a pinch, Intuition can search for three spot removal spells or counterspells. But the biggest reason I included Intuition,is because it perfectly sets up the central combo. By searching for Reveillark, Karmic Guide, and Body Double, you will have access to the others in the yard no matter which one goes to your hand. Just Add Sac Outlet

Survival of the Fittest has been banned in every format other than EDH & Vintage. Provided enough green mana, you are able to cycle through as many creatures as you need to put together the right pieces and win the game. Arguably the best green tutor ever printed.

Fact or Fiction offers a ton of card value as a 5-for-1. And with all the recursion in the deck, I don't really mind putting cards into the graveyard. Sometimes it's a benefit!

The original and still strongest, Demonic Tutor is any card in the game.

-- Nissa, Vital Force 's second mode can rescue some key permanents in a pinch.

-- Eternal Witness is one of the best value creatures in green. An amazing EtB trigger makes her useful for anything from getting back a fetchland for early game tempo, to getting back your key win condition to finish the game.

-- Kess, Dissident Mage is like having a free Snapcaster on every one of your turns. Doubling the value of all of nearly half the spells in my deck, Kess earns her spot with flying colors.

-- Muldrotha, the Gravetide --I'm so excited that they printed this card, for so many reasons. As an Elemental, the ability to cast her from the 'yard with Horde turns her into a pseudo-Commander that can only be stopped with exile effects. A perfect insurance plan for any of my key permanents that I may lose throughout the game. And she even functions as a mini-Crucible in my mana engine. And she has a great link to the storyline as Multani's daughter. What a great card!

SideBorde of Notions

The Sideboard of Notions is designed to shift the deck into full-on Battlecruiser beatdown mode!

It only takes a few enhancements to put your opponents on a very short clock. This strategy is mainly inspired by my countless matches Vs. The Great Rafiq of the Many . As I shifted the strategy to rely on commander damage, Rafiq was the first card I thought of. Naturally, Finest Hour was the next thought that followed. These two cards defined the style of my commander damage tactics--Double Strike & Additional Combat Phases.

-- Rafiq of the Many grants not only Double Strike but a handy Exalted buff; easily the best card to make Horde a massive threat. Next best effects are Duelist's Heritage for an efficient way to give any creature Double Strike every turn, and Boros Charm for a surprise effect-- these two helped to form the 'combat tricks' branch strategy.

-- Finest Hour is the most efficient way for Horde to get Additional Combat Phases every turn, and the Exalted triggers happen with each attack; adding up to a sizable threat all on its own. The second effect is Seize the Day ; it offers card advantage with flashback, and it can target a creature other than Horde since Horde has vigilance.

-- For additional power buffs there is: Umezawa's Jitte , Sword of Fire and Ice . Exalted triggers from four different permanents, counters from Opal Palace , and the upset victory from a surprise Berserk !

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Suggestions

Updates Add

Comments

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment