Maybeboard


This deck came to be by putting some of my favorite cards (like faithless looting, mulch and pieces of the puzzle) together and made a brew with it that wanted to go BIG with epic experiment and praetor's counsel.

Basically, we're holding off the board and try to generate large amounts of mana until we cast large spells or a lot of spells at once. Though, games can also end pretty quick with an early purphoros+tokens.

Note: no infinite combo's.

**Latest update (May '24): still looking for a way to replace Ashnod's altar. MH3 provided some nice cards as well. Also still looking for some other cards, such ad the other flares and for example Phyrexian Tower.

All cards are pretty much one or more of the below categories:

We're pushing card into our graveyard to enable some synergies:

  • - Confounding Riddle: can either delay, or dig and put cards in our graveyard (usually it's the latter)
  • - Dire-Strain Rampage: to get land in graveyard and fix mana
  • - Epic Experiment: to get a lot of stuff in graveyard (next to casting a lot of stuff)
  • - Faithless Looting: draw discard to get cards of our choice in the graveyard, and with flashback
  • - Forbidden Alchemy: dig and put cards in our graveyard, and with flashback
  • - Grisly Salvage: dig and put cards in our graveyard
  • - Harrow: to get land in graveyard, and fix mana
  • - Mulch: to get lands for hitting our land drops and get other stuff in the graveyard
  • - Pieces of the Puzzle: dig for spells while getting lands in our greveyard
  • - Realms Uncharted: to collect 4 (!) lands and nicely split them between hand and graveyard (where we want them)

Focus is on cards that ramp or provide a lot of mana with additional benefits/synergies (graveyard, search all lands, fix, sacrifice,...)

  • - Ashnod's Altar: the main benefactor for the tokens we generate to turn them into mana
  • - Blood Money: resets the board (for creatures) and provides additional mana while at it. Normally we should easily be able to ramp into the higher cmc.
  • - Cultivate: proper mana fixing and ramp
  • - Dire-Strain Rampage: mainly using it to target our own land. Ramps, fixes, puts in graveyard, has flashback, and has the versatility to optionally target an opponent.
  • - Eureka Moment: we could run into situations where we can't play all the lands in our hand (I did not opt for Exploration or Burgeoning since they are non-land permanents). This draws and ramps and gets rid of lands in our hand.
  • - Farseek: proper mana fixing and ramp
  • - Flare of Cultivation: proper mana fixing and ramp, and with sacrifice option.
  • - Growth Spiral: same reasoning as Eureka moment, nice early cast
  • - Harrow: Ramps, fixes mana and puts a land in our graveyard.
  • - Joint Exploration: same reasoning as Eureka moment
  • - Ranger's Path: proper mana fixing and ramp
  • - Realms Uncharted: does not ramp but fetches 4 lands out of our library and gets 2 in our graveyard. Indirect ramp with other cards. Fixes land.
  • - Reshape the Earth: the big mana ramp spell
  • - Rude Awakening: love it for when we have a lot of mana, as well as being able to generate a lot of tokens
  • - Skyshroud Claim: proper mana fixing and ramp
  • - Spell Swindle: to generate additional mana while delaying an opponent, usually in preparation of our big turn
  • - Splendid Reclamation: main benefactor of getting a lot of land in our graveyard
  • - Tempt with Discovery: fetches all lands (boseju, grim backwoods, kessig wolf run, ...) and proper ramp.
  • - Worldsoul's Rage: Ramps from our graveyard AND hand which works very well with our other synergies. And can benefit from our huge mana pool to be a finisher. Genious card.

Tokens are used for (next to chump blocking and attacking etc):

Cards that cover us until we can or to enable our big turns. I'm not including all the obvious draw and dig cards that are already included in other sections. There are more instant sacrifice effects available to us, but I don't want to be overloaded with them as well.

  • - Akroma's Vengeance: General removal chosen because of the cycle and it hitting multiple types of permanents.
  • - Arachnogenesis: I like it as a both a fog and the ability to unexpectedly create a lot of tokens (with purph).
  • - Bring to Light: Searches for absolutely everything we need that we are missing. Hits Purphoros as well. Love it.
  • - Child of Alara: Well, obviously.
  • - Ill-Timed Explosion: Draw and discard to get things in our graveyard. Epic card.
  • - Confounding Riddle: Counter spell with nice versatility. I have rarely cast it as a counterspell, however.
  • - Dread Return: With all the tokens we should be able to get some nice value and get back purphoros, avenger, or even Child of Alara when we put it in the graveyard.
  • - Eldritch Evolution: Adding this in this section as it basically will always be cast to sacrifice Alara and wipe the board, to then either put any creature we have on the board.
  • - card:Evidcerator's Insight (MH3): Saceifice effect for Alara. Cheap and added synergy with the flashback.
  • - Grim Backwoods: Helps to sacrifice Child of Alara.
  • - Martial Coup: Wipe the board and make (hopefully) a ton of tokens.
  • - Momentous Fall: Oh yes.
  • - Mystic Retrieval: Gets crucial spells back from the graveyard, even when it's in the graveyard itself
  • - Mystical Tutor: Obvious tutor with the huge number of instants and sorceries we have.
  • - Personal Tutor:Tutor for the nice selection of sorceries we have.
  • - Press the Enemy: Testing this out as it seems busted to bounce a huge creature and get to cast something for free. At instant speed.
  • - Seasons Past: I'm not running the infinite combo, this is just to get a lot of stuff back to our hand.
  • - Sunfall: On of the only exile effects, no synergy with Alara but felt like I needed to be able to exile something. I did not opt for Farewell or Merciless Eviction since I cannot cast these off of Bring to Light.
  • - The Scarab God: Nice solo engine also to counter some reanimator strategies. Also an alternative sacrifice target that keeps coming back, even when wiped with Alara.
  • - Unburial Rites: Reanimator to get back our crucial creatures when the end up in the graveyard. Flashback is gold.
  • - Village Rites: Pay 1, wipe board, draw 2 cards.

These are the fun spells, to compensate for all the other unfun spells that wipe the board etc.

Some explanation on the choice of lands:

  • - Tri-lands: need them to support the 5 colors, I opted for all Green ones as it's our main color and also for ranger's path etc. Plus can cycle them to get them in our graveyard.
  • - Man-lands: I chose these based upon their effect and have put quite a few of them in to have some other options in place, they are not a critical element of the strategy though,but them being dual lands and with all the mana we have I don't see a reason not to include them. I think some of these will ge replaced by surveil lands.
  • - Shocklands: I added a few of them (all the green ones same reasoning as the tri-lands) to be able to fix mana and be able to put them into play untapped on the crucial turns.
  • - Basic lands: 2 of each, exept for the 1 mountain, as I have some spells that only allow me to search for basic lands.
  • - Fetch lands: Any of them (which ones, how many) is fine as they all do the same and we can fetch for basically any color anyway.
  • - Surveil lands: These are fetchable which drastically improves their ability to fix mana. I'm not really bothered by the 'untapped' part and getting to basically scry1 and get something nice in our graveyard should be something really good for this deck. Looking to replace some manlands for these.
  • - Kessig Wolf Run: Pump a single unblocked tokens (or blocked whatever the situation)
  • - Boseiju, Who Shelters All: We've spent all that effort and mana on this big spell, I'm not letting it get countered now.
  • - Grim Backwoods: Even though a bit expensive, I like it as a more resilient form of sacrifice effect for Alara, repeatedly.

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96% Casual

Competitive

Date added 7 years
Last updated 4 days
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

13 - 0 Mythic Rares

52 - 0 Rares

7 - 0 Uncommons

18 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 4.02
Tokens Copy Clone, Human 1/1 W, Incubator, Pegasus 1/1 W, Phyrexian 0/0 C, Plant 0/1 G, Soldier 1/1 W, Spider 1/2 G, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
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