Thanks TappedOut Community!!!

You helped make this the #1 deck on Mother's Day! What a wonderful present for my wife. Thank you all for your engagement! If you haven't already, don't forget to upvote the deck!

Introduction

My wife really enjoys playing her Gavi cycling deck, especially the dino cats it generates and the way the triggers stack up. I was going to get her a copy of Vadrok, Apex of Thunder for the deck, but after studying Vadrok's ability a bit more carefully, I decided to create a deck with Vadrok as the Commander and give it to her for Mother's Day. This is that deck.

Overview

This deck leans heavily into combo, eschewing removal and value engines for pure infinite combo stack madness. You setup by looting through your deck with cards like Careful Study, Looter il-Kor, Pollywog Symbiote, and Frantic Search, to fill up your hand and grave with combo pieces. Then, when the pieces are in place, BOOM! The thunder strikes!

Signature Combo

The signature infinite combo of this deck is the interaction between creature copy effects, bounce effects, and creatures that generate mana when they enter the battlefield. Many decks exploit this classic Magic loop to generate infinite mana and ETB triggers. This deck inserts Vadrok's ability into that loop, allowing us to generate infinite freecasts from the grave without exiling those spells.

The most general, signature combo of this deck is: Vadrok + a copy spell + a bounce spell + an ETB-mana creature. There are 278 possible card combinations that create this infinite combo, which is enough to end the game if it isn't interacted with. Other infinite combos in this deck are more restrictive and require specific cards. Each combo is explained in detail below.

2-Card Combos

HOW IT WORKS: 1. Cast Ghostly Flicker (target your lands if you have nothing else). 2. While Ghostly Flicker is on the stack, cast your wizard. 3. Target Ghostly Flicker with your wizards' ETB ability. 4. Target your wizard and another artifact, creature, or land you control with the Ghostly Flicker copy. 5. Repeat steps 3-4 n times, tapping your land for mana as it flickers. 6. End the combo by not targeting your wizard with the Ghostly Flicker copy. 7. You will have n creature/artifact ETBs and n mana. If you used Naru Meha as your wizard, you can copy another instant or sorcery you control n times.

3-Card Combos

HOW IT WORKS: 1. Cast Twinflame/Heat Shimmer on the first creature. 2. While the copy spell is on the stack, cast Dualcaster Mage. 3. Target the copy spell on the stack with Dualcaster Mage's ETB trigger. 4. Target Dualcaster Mage with the copied copy spell. 5. Repeat steps 3-4 n times. 6. End the combo by targeting the first creature with the copied copy spell. 7. You will have 2 token copies of the first creature and n token copies of Dualcaster Mage, all with Haste.

  • Vadrok + a non-Human creature + Chef's Kiss -> Infinite mutates, infinite Vadrok triggers

HOW IT WORKS: 1. Mutate Vadrok onto the non-Human creature. 2. While Vadrok is on the stack, cast Chef's Kiss targeting Vadrok. 3. The Vadrok copy will resolve, and its Mutate trigger goes on the stack before the original Vadrok resolves. 4. The Vadrok copy's mutate trigger allows you to cast Chef's Kiss from the graveyard, repeating the process for n Mutates and (n(n+1))/2 Vadrok triggers. 5. End the combo by targeting spells other than Chef's Kiss with your Vadrok Mutate triggers.

HOW IT WORKS: 0. Your opponents need a combined total of 7 artifacts or enchantments, fewer if you have reduction or the bounce spell creates mana. 1. Mutate Vadrok onto Dockside Extortionist. 2. Use Vadrok's Mutate trigger to cast a bounce spell (e.g. Snap) from your graveyard, targeting the Vadrok stack. 3. Play Dockside Extortionist from your hand, generating enough Treasures to repeat the combo ad nauseum for infinite mana. 4. If the bounce spell has secondary effects (e.g. Winds of Rebuke), you have those too.

HOW IT WORKS: 0. Your opponents need a combined total of 7 artifacts or enchantments. 1. Mutate Lore Drakkis onto Dockside Extortionist. 2. Use Lore Drakkis' Mutate trigger to return a bounce spell (e.g. Snap) from your graveyard. 3. Play the bounce spell from your hand, targeting the Lore Drakkis stack. 4. Play Dockside Extortionist from your hand, generating enough Treasures to repeat the combo ad nauseum for infinite mana. 5. If the bounce spell has secondary effects (e.g. Winds of Rebuke), you have those too.

HOW IT WORKS: 0. Your opponents need a combined total of a+3 artifacts or enchantments, where a is the CMC of your nontoken creature. 1. With Dockside Extortionist and Clodustone Curio already on the field, play your nontoken creature. 2. Use Cloudstone Curio's triggered ability to bounce Dockside Extortionist to your hand. 3. Play Dockside Extortionist from your hand, bouncing the nontoken creature with Cloudstone Curio's triggered ability and generating enough Treasures to repeat the combo ad nauseum for infinite mana.

HOW IT WORKS: 0. The nontoken creature's CMC must be less than the mana untapped by the ETB-mana creature. 1. With the first creature on the battledfield and Cloudstone Curio, play your ETB-mana creature. 2. Untap your lands with the ETB trigger. 3. Bounce the first creature to hand with Cloudstone Curio's triggered ability. 4. Play the first creature, bouncing the ETB-mana creature to your hand with Cloudstone Curio's triggered ability. 5. Repeat this process for infinite mana.

HOW IT WORKS: 1. With Orvar and your wizard on the battlefield, cast your copy spell targeting your wizard. 2. Orvar's triggered ability makes a token copy of your wizard before the copy spell resolves. 3. Target the original copy spell on the stack with your wizard token's ETB ability. 4. Target one of your wizards with the copied copy spell. 5. Repeat steps 3-4 n times. 6. End the combo by targeting Orvar with the copied copy spell.

4-Card Combos

  • Vadrok + a copy spell + a bounce spell + an ETB-mana creature -> Infinite Vadrok triggers, mana, etc. Signature Combo

HOW IT WORKS: 1. Mutate Vadrok underneath your ETB-mana creature (e.g., Peregrine Drake). 2. Vadrok's Mutate trigger allows you to cast a copy spell (e.g., Heat Shimmer) from the graveyard, targeting the Vadrok stack. 4. Use the token copy's ETB ability to generate mana. 5. Cast a bounce spell from your hand, targeting the stack with the original Vadrok. 6. Mutate Vadrok from your hand underneath the token copy - repeat the process for infinite Vadrok triggers, mana, and other effects depending on the creature and spells used.

HOW IT WORKS: 0. You can use any copy spell instead of Twinflame/Heat Shimmer, but the tokens won't have Haste. 1. With Mirror Box on the battlefield, cast the copy spell on the first creature. 2. While the copy spell is on the stack, cast Naru Meha. 3. Target the copy spell on the stack with Naru Meha's ETB trigger. 4. Target Naru Meha with the copied copy spell. 5. Repeat steps 3-4 n times. 6. End the combo by targeting the first creature with the copied copy spell. 7. You will have 2 token copies of the first creature and n token copies of Naru Meha with Haste and +n-1/+n-1, and can copy an instant or sorcery you control n times.

HOW IT WORKS: 1. With Vesuvan Duplimancy and your creatures on the battlefield, cast your copy spell targeting your wizard. 2. Vesuvan's triggered ability makes a token copy of your wizard before the copy spell resolves. 3. Target the original copy spell on the stack with your wizard token's ETB ability. 4. Target one of your wizards with the copied copy spell. 5. Repeat steps 3-4 n times. 6. End the combo by not targeting your wizard with the copied copy spell.

HOW IT WORKS: 1. With Vesuvan/Orvar on the field, Mutate Vadrok underneath your ETB-mana creature (e.g., Peregrine Drake). 2. Vesuvan/Orvar trigger on cast, creating a token copy of the ETB-mana creature. 3. Use the token copy's ETB ability to generate mana. 4. Cast a bounce spell (e.g., Withdraw) from the graveyard with Vadrok's Mutate trigger, targeting the Vadrok stack. 5. Mutate Vadrok from hand underneath the token copy - repeat the process for infinite Vadrok triggers, mana, and other effects depending on the creature and spells used.

  • Vadrok + a copy spell + an ETB-mana creature + Sanctum of Eternity -> Infinite Vadrok triggers, mana, etc.

HOW IT WORKS: 1. Mutate Vadrok underneath your ETB-mana creature (e.g., Peregrine Drake). 2. Cast a copy spell (e.g., Quasiduplicate) from the graveyard with Vadrok's Mutate trigger, targeting the Vadrok stack. 3. Use the token copy's ETB ability to generate mana. 4. Bounce the original Vadrok stack to hand with Sanctum of Eternity. 5. Mutate Vadrok from hand underneath the token copy - repeat the process for infinite Vadrok triggers, mana, and other effects depending on the creature and spells used.

Categories

  • Card Advantage

A key component of this deck is its explosive tempo. The ability to loot your deck has twofold benefits - it lets you dig for your combo pieces and put cards in the graveyard for Vadrok to use later. Except for the options that force a hand dump, they all let you draw before discarding, which means you aren't slowed down if you end up wanting to discard the card you draw.

  • Output Cards

When this deck gets going, casting an infinite number of spells in a turn happens quickly. Burning Vengeance, Grapeshot, and Guttersnipe each offer slightly different ways to kill opponents with these infinite casts. Grapeshot can be cast mid-combo with Vadrok as well, so it makes a great option if you're trying to combo out without resolving the entire stack.

  • Xtra Cards

Dualcaster Mage and Naru Meha, Master Wizard allow you to go infinite with your copy spells, so they're included to take advantage of those potential combos. Ghostly Flicker doesn't work well with the way we bounce Vadrok in this deck, but it does offer great value and combos excellently with the aforementioned copy wizards. Mirror Box lets you Mutate Vadrok on top of creature stacks, making them potentially bigger and giving them flying - it also eases some infinite combos with Naru Meha and offers incredible value if you copy creature like Orvar and Hinata. Last but definitely not least, Sevinne's Reclamation lets you return things to the battlefield that Vadrok normally cannot target, like our lands, Guttersnipe, or Birgi.

  • Honorable Mention

Cephalid Constable can come out Turn 3 and then on Turn 4 get Mutated with Vadrok on top; if that Flying damage connects your opponent will be bouncing three permanents of your choice. I don't think I need to explain how debilitating a stranglehold like this can be on Turn 4.

A Woman's Intuition

Drawing Intuition won't necessarily win you the game, but it can get you close. Besides Chef's Kiss, Intuition is probably the strongest single card for this deck. It lets you search for combo pieces and toss them in the grave - right where you want them to be cast by Vadrok.

So what do you get with Intuition? Well, often it depends on what combo pieces you already have on the field, in the grave, and in hand. For example: Do you already have a copy spell in the grave and a bounce spell in hand? Go tutor for Palinchron, Great Whale, and Peregrine Drake - one of those ETB-mana creatures will go into your hand and let you complete the combo.

Sevinne's Reclamation combos well with Intuition because it allows you to get creatures and lands on the field that Vadrok normally cannot recur, and if you cast it from the grave with Vadrok's ability, you can copy the spell! Not bad at all. So if there's a CMC 3 or less permanent you want to tutor and get on the field, Sevinne's Reclamation can be a good way to make sure it doesn't fester in the graveyard.

Think of Intuition like that blank square in Scrabble - it's whatever generic piece of a combo you want it to be.

But maybe you've got no combo pieces in hand, or you just don't want to think about it! Here are a couple great three-card combos you can tutor (though you'll still be better off adapting your selection to what you have in hand, play, and grave):

  • Chef's Kiss, Lore Drakkis, Sevinne's Reclamation :: Chef's Kiss in hand is the best outcome, combo out with Vadrok ASAP. If Lore Drakkis goes to hand, Mutate it onto a creature to return Chef's Kiss to hand and combo out. Sevinne's Reclamation to hand is the worst outcome, (but still not bad), use it to return Lore Drakkis to the battlefield and Mutate Lore Drakkis to return Chef's Kiss to Hand. You'll want to Mutate the Drakkis with something not-Vadrok if you can, otherwise you'll have to bounce Vadrok to target him with Chef's Kiss properly (although if you do Mutate with Vadrok, you can Intuition again or bounce the Vadrok stack to hand to combo out.)

  • Cloudstone Curio, Dockside Extortionist, Sevinne's Reclamation :: If Cloudstone Curio goes to hand, play it, mutate Vadrok onto a creature to cast (and copy) Sevinne's Reclamation from the grave, returning Dockside Extortionist to the field and bouncing the Vadrok stack, repeat. If Dockside Extortionist goes to hand and you have a creature in play, Mutate that creature with Vadrok and use Sevinne's to recur Cloudstone Curio, then play Dockside to bounce the Vadrok stack; if you have a creature in your hand, then instead play Dockside first, Vadrok it to cast Sevinne's and recur Cloudstone Curio, then play the other creature in your hand, repeat. If Sevinne's Reclamation goes to hand, use it to get the others on the field and set up the bounce cycle.

  • Cloud of Faeries, Lotus Fieldfoil, Sevinne's Reclamation :: This is a great combination if you already have a bounce spell in your hand/grave, especially Snap. Cloud of Faeries and Lotus Field can go infinite with Vadrok if you another land that taps for 2 mana, reduction, or your bounce spell creates mana. The goal here is to use Sevinne's Reclamation to get Lotus Field and Cloud of Faeries onto the field. Don't worry about sacrificing your lands to Lotus Field - you can Mutate Vadrok to cast+copy Sevinne's from your graveyard later and get the lands back if you need more mana to win.

Tips

  • Keep Chef's Kiss in your hand, don't discard it! You must cast it from your hand in order for the combo with Vadrok to work.
  • Get tapped lands onto the battlefield ASAP, even if it means you have to discard down on Turn 2 (usually you have a card in your hand you want to discard.)
  • Remember that Vadrok's ability can be triggered by other Mutate creatures - these are valuable because they let you use Vadrok early game to freecast some card advantage, and then trigger an infinite combo later by Mutating Vadrok with the creature in your hand.
  • Because Vadrok's Mutate requires two red (as does Chef's Kiss), it is a much more valuable color for you. Prioritize generating two red before two blue.

Fun Fact

The five major creature types of Ikoira each align to a color - the mythic beasts of Ikoria represent this with their creature types, appearances, and mutate costs. White is cats, blue is elementals, black is nightmares, red is dinosaurs, and green is beasts.

Cuteness

Here is a Baby Godzilla, you probably need one after reading all that:

Babygodzilla, Ruin Reborn

Suggestions

Updates Add

Comments

99% Casual

Competitive

Revision 4 See all

(2 months ago)

+1 Brighthearth Banneret main
-1 Gingerbrute main
+1 Goblin Electromancer main
-1 Looter il-Kor main
-1 River Sneak main
+1 Thunderclap Drake main
Top Ranked
  • Achieved #1 position overall 1 year ago
Date added 1 year
Last updated 2 months
Exclude colors BG
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

4 - 0 Mythic Rares

38 - 0 Rares

23 - 0 Uncommons

22 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.97
Tokens Copy Clone, Treasure
Folders Infinite Combos, aaa, Other People's deck, A Very Cool EDH Folder, Commander, Decks I've liked , cool deck idea from others, Ideas, To Try, Cool decks I saw
Votes
Ignored suggestions
Shared with
Views