Chulane, Teller of Tales: The NeverEnding Story

Commander / EDH Control GWU (Bant)

Forkbeard

Land (35)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Brushland
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 3x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 3x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mystic Gate
• 3x Plains
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Spara's Headquarters
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

No (4)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Mystic Snake

Protection (2)

• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Privileged Position

Ramp (10)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Wood Elves

Removal (9)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Deputy of Detention
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Knight of Autumn
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Solitude
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Tutor (7)

• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Tooth and Nail
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Card Advantage (4)

• 1x Cloudblazer
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Mulldrifter

Overwhelm (3)

• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Moonshaker Cavalry
• 1x Seedborn Muse

Wipe (2)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Supreme Verdict

Commander (1)

Blink (8)

• 1x Brago, King Eternal
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Eldrazi Displacer
• 1x Emiel the Blessed
• 1x Ghostway
• 1x Soulherder
• 1x Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
• 1x Venser, the Sojourner

Control (7)

• 1x Aether Channeler
• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Reflector Mage
• 1x Stonehorn Dignitary
• 1x Thieving Skydiver
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant

ETB x2 (6)

• 1x Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• 1x Lithoform Engine
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Virtue of Knowledge

Recursion (2)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Eternal Witness

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This Chulane build focuses on it's core strategy of controlling and overwhelming the table into submission via 'Enter the Battlefield' creatures and their contemptible effects - bounce, remove, steal and slap your way to victory!

A Brief History of Time: The Blink Saga

After piloting an ETB themed Roon toolbox deck for many years, I decided to give Chulane a shot in the driver's seat. Without changing a single card in the 99, it instantly felt better. Roon, bless his big dang rhino heart, was just way too sluggish. Casting Roon, waiting another turn to use his activated ability and then factoring in the 'end of turn' blink vs instant return? Yeah. It was just all so very, very slow. I found I wasn't utilizing his ability nearly as much as simply casting ETB creatures from my hand. Enter Chulane. Chulane provides the gas this creature heavy deck needs - swift draw + ramp value and his bounce ability lends itself well to my ETB based fleet.

Wait, what does that card do?

As you can see, the deck is jampacked with creatures boasting a wide variety of effects. Between Chulane's inherent card draw ability and a whole bunch of tutor effects, there's ample choice for dealing with any threat coming your way - this truly is the Swiss Army Knife of decks. Each creature can be neatly categorized into what I'll call 'Chulane's Tome of Answers' and I've created custom categories to try and break down the core functions which should help give you an idea of what this deck is trying to do:

Ramp - mana acceleration is step 1! Beyond the dorks & rocks, the ETB land fetchers are wonderful and can be blinked/flickered to great effect.

Removal - speaking of blinking/flickering to great effect, repeatable removal (check out the 'Blink' + 'ETB x2' categories) is the 2nd best way to get your opponents to scoop. Blinking Acidic Slime on someone's land base is heartless and terrible and yes, I've done it many times.

Control - if removal was the 2nd best way to close out games, control is number 1. Be warned, I have it on good authority that this deck is pretty annoying to play against and the control factor is the main reason for that. Stonehorn Dignitary every turn for no attacks allowed ever? Oof. Bounce or lock the board with a suite of jerks such as Aether Channeler, Reflector Mage or Venser, Shaper Savant? Yep! Steal stuff with Agent of Treachery or Gilded Drake? Yoink! Soulbond Deadeye Navigator with Mystic Snake? No you will not!

And then you've got the rest of the deck which more or less exists to enable all of the evil listed above. The only card that may raise an eyebrow is Craterhoof Behemoth as it doesn't necessarily synergize with theme or game plan. The core complaint from friends is that this deck durdles - yes it's fairly potent, but it can take a while to wrap things up as I remove/lock the table and pling away with my weirdo ETB fleet. Because I've got 40-ish creatures in here, I've kept Craterwin in as a means to close out games if needed.

Take note! If you're looking for a swift win, this may not be the deck for you (hence 'The NeverEnding Story', heh). If you enjoy mechanically diverse variety with a wide range of answers at your disposal, I suspect you'd have a lot of fun with this brew.

The NeverEnding Story

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Control 2 years ago
Date added	10 years
Last updated	7 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 56 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.48
Tokens	Bird 1/1 W, Copy Clone, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner, Treasure
Folders	Commander / EDH, EDH Bant, roon, jee, bant, Commander, EDH decks, Commander Folder, Roon EDH, play with josh