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Cormela's Copy Combos [Primer]

Commander / EDH* Bracket 3 Budget Combo Infinite Combo Sacrifice Storm Tokens UBR (Grixis)

guywitharock

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Lands (33)

Interaction and Protection (11)

Draw and Tutor (16)

Mana Help (13)

Commander (1)

Commander: Cormela, Glamour Thief

Triggers for the Win (14)

Making Copies (12)

Maybeboard

Budget Considerations (14)

Copy Combos, extended (7)

Tutor Options - Power Level Considerations (6)

Draw Options (14)

Other (7)

Protection and Interaction (5)

Mana Options (12)

Triggers (10)

Recursion (3)

Cormela, Glamour Thief is a great combo commander traditionally used with sac outlets to create an infinite recursion combo that wins the game. However, there is actually another method for achieving the same end goal: taking advantage of the legend rule and making copies of Cormela to force death triggers for spell recursion, ETB/death effects, and the rest. This deck attempts to take a different approach with Cormela which doesn't require loading the deck with recursion spells and is a lot easier on the wallet.

Quick disclaimer: I have actually de-powered this list due to it's unexpectedly strong and consistent showing.... hitting combo wins by turn 5-6 regularly. So most tutors have been cut out for the sake of my personal pod's meta. If maintaining friendships is not of concern, you can easily slot in the typical budget friendly (or expensive) tutors found on this maybeboard, taking out the budget card draw/dig options, and the deck will become significantly more consistent in going infinite.

See below for more.

This is a great question, strawman. If you're familiar with Cormela, you've no doubt seen the "conventional" casual method of building her deck which involves sac outlets like Phyrexian Altar and recurring her with spells like Demonic Gifts. And yes, this obviously works and is solid. So with that said, we again ask "how and why copies?"

Because the copy combos are just... better? Or at least they can be better. For one, copies actually do lead to creature death via the legend rule, which is how we take advantage of her death trigger. And two, copying Cormela for death triggers can actually provide value in game before going infinite - like dealing damage, recurring draw spells, gaining life, or generating creatures. In addition, Cormella is not the only creature which we can take advantage of using copy shenanigans, as a sac outlet deck would depend on, and we run some here. And finally, the combo cards themselves are easier to come by than recursion cards as there are simply more cards available which fill those critical roles.

If you haven't seen, the sacrifice combo requires four or more cards to work: Cormela herself, a sac outlet, a recursion spell that has her enter untapped, and a spell/permanent which capitalizes on the triggers. My copy combos typically require the same, such as Cormela, Glamour Thief + Molten Duplication + Pitiless Plunderer plus a trigger. But we can do even better in one case: The best possible option is this combo - Cormela, Glamour Thief + Molten Duplication + Urabrask - a three card infinite combo able to kill the table, which I'll explain in depth later.

In short, it works, and is also much more budget friendly than the typical cards needed for Cormela decks.

First things first, let's take a look at the primary line. Cormela, Glamour Thief + Molten Duplication + Urabrask - Quick explanation with an example, as this is the main line that should be sought out with whatever options you can dig up.

  • Pay 1 and tap Cormela, spending 3 mana to cast a copy spell like Molten Duplication. Target Cormela, making a copy of her, and sending MD to the graveyard.
  • With Urabrask   out, you pick up 1 red mana from casting Molt Dup, and ping an opponent for 1. Leave this floating.
  • State-based actions are then checked, and the legend rule must be satisfied before anything else can happen. Choose to kill off the original, tapped Cormela (put her in the command zone), leaving just the untapped copy out.
  • Cormela dying to the legend rule triggers her on-death ability, letting you get an instant/sorcery from grave: select MD.
  • The floating red mana can then be used to activate the Cormela copy's mana ability, casting Molten Duplication again, repeatable ad infinitum for table kill.

This interaction creates infinite death triggers, infinite etb, and infinite spellcasts as well (in case Urabrask isn't the mana engine you have out). These plays feed into basically any wincon we have, so if you didn't already win, just grab one of those and GG. There are tons of variations of this main path to victory. Look out for the important pieces and Cormela will get you the W.

  • I would be remiss if I didn't call out Saw in Half, whose unique ability to make two copies at once means that you get two Cormela death triggers from the cast (destroying the first and then legend rule sac one of the two copies), therefore letting you get back both Saw in Half itself and a second card from your graveyard, which can have strong uses as well. This deck doesn't utilize the common Cormela / Saw in Half / Dark Ritual combo (infinite mana) mostly because there's no reliable way to get all those pieces at once or take advantage of infinite black mana, but a more competitive list with such outlets could certainly use this to great effect. Even still, Saw in Half does have some other great interactions, described in the Supporting Cast section.

Outside of the infinite line, I'd also like to mention the repeatable copy sources: Endless Evil / Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink / Rionya, Fire Dancer / Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance. What kinds of shenanigans can we get up to with these?

  • Spell recursion is the most obvious benefit. Create a one-time copy of Cormela, immediately sac the otherwise temporary copy to trigger her on-death ability to get back anything you want. Card draw is most common, but nothing is off the table so long as it's an instant or a sorcery.
  • This list also provides a couple of handy ETB triggers, currently those are Charming Scoundrel and Kardur, Doomscourge who can be repeatedly copied to great effect.
  • Don't underestimate the power of doubling up on good creature effects to help close out games. For example, one common line is to simply dump all your mana for turn into copying+saccing Cormela non-infinitely to trigger cards like Guttersnipe multiple times. For just a couple extra mana, you can double-up on those value effects to keep yourself alive longer or kill the table even faster. Or alternatively, make a temporary copy of non-legendary mana generators to go from mana-neutral to mana-positive in those interactions.
  • As will be explained shortly, Dualcaster Mage and Naru Meha, Master Wizard can be wincons of their own, but normally require that the creature be in your hand with a copy spell. The on-demand creature copy effects of Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink or Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance can let you pull the infinite Dualcaster creature trick when it's already on the battlefield (and for less mana!).
  • Rionya, Fire Dancer is in a league of her own and has the potential to create huge plays from humble beginnings. Create several copies of your favorite creature-based trigger ability and go to the moon.

Since we're talking about abusing Cormela, I'd like to point out one of my favorite value interactions - Vesuvan Duplimancy. Ves Dup can be considered an abuse-able trigger for the purposes of the primary infinite line of copying Cormela. Targeting Cormela infinitely means creating an infinite army of Cormelas, all of whom have haste, which you can swing with for the win. Even more interestingly, because the copies made by Ves Dup are not legendary, you can get tons of value even without going infinite. Each Cormela is a cheap mana dork for instants and sorceries, so more likely than not you'll be able to play out your hand extremely quickly with several of her on the battlefield. Then if your hand is empty you can just throw Cormela bodies at your opponents, and either they take the damage or they kill them and give you spell recursion. Absolute hilarity, and no infinite loop required.

When designing a decklist built around instants and sorceries that copy creatures, we can't ignore obvious, complementary copy creatures: Dualcaster Mage and Naru Meha, Master Wizard. In case you aren't already familiar with this interaction, here's how it works with an example: Dualcaster Mage + Molten Duplication . (Remember than Naru can take place of DcM and any copy spell here will do).

  • With Dualcaster Mage and Molten Duplication in hand, cast Molten Duplication targeting a creature already on the battlefield.
  • Hold priority with Molt Dup on the stack and cast Dualcaster Mage in response to Molt Dup.
  • If DcM resolves, it hits the battlefield and it's ETB triggered ability goes on the stack. Target the Molt Dup waiting to resolve on the stack.
  • The new Molt Dup copy you created goes on the stack, and you target the newly resolved DcM that's now on the battlefield.
  • If the Molt Dup copy resolves, then a new DcM copy token hits the battlefield and its ETB triggered ability goes on the stack. Target the original Molt Dup still waiting to resolve on the stack.
  • A loop is created by repeating the above two steps ad infinitum, and when you decide to break the loop, the last spell to resolve is the first, original Molten Duplication which targeted the original creature.

It's important to note that Cormela was not needed here, simply some first creature to target before casting Dualcaster Mage + Molten Duplication . Cormela is nice in this because commanders are reliable creatures, and her mana ability can pay for the copy spell.

With that explained, allow me to quickly go over how well the "copy creatures" fit into this deck's gameplan as they both go infinite with the several copying options we run.

Let's call out the cool pieces of the deck to watch out for:

Saw in Half is one of the strongest cards in the deck. It has some great interactions on this list, and several more not included. The important bits to note are that it can be cast with Cormela's mana ability and that the creature destroy on top of two copies means that you get two death triggers out of targeting Cormela - get Saw in Half back, plus an additional card. This is where it can get nutty... here are some key interactions you can find.

  • Saw in Half + most mana generators + the right draw spell = repeatedly draw cards. There are multiple valid variants, but here's the strongest example: Cormela, Glamour Thief + Storm-Kiln Artist + Saw in Half + Frantic Search. With Cormela and SKA on the battlefield, tap 3 lands to cast Frantic Search to draw/discard two cards and untap those same lands. SKA makes a treasure token. Use the treasure token to activate Cormela's mana ability and use that mana to cast Saw in Half. As it resolves, you get two Cormela death triggers to get back two instants/sorceries from grave - choose Frantic Search and Saw in Half, and SKA makes another treasure token. Now you're back to your starting state, but you looted through two cards in your library and went positive one treasure token. Repeat until you find the cards and generate the treasure tokens needed to win the game. If you have Guttersnipe or a similar trigger out then you probably just win by looting your library.
  • You don't need to go infinite for good value here. Replace Frantic Search with Curate and the end result is surveiling two and drawing one for just one mana, repeatable as often as you like. This is stronger card draw than most decks can hope for and shouldn't be overlooked.
  • Cormela, Glamour Thief + Pitiless Plunderer + Saw in Half is very strong as you will get two creature deaths when targeting Cormela, thereby yielding 2 treasure tokens per 1 mana spent to tap Cormela and cast Saw in Half. So in the rare event you have those 3 pieces but no trigger to take advantage of, you can still generate infinite treasure tokens.
  • Saw in Half also has the potential to let you LOCK DOWN THE TABLE AND COUNTER EVERY SPELL. Since Saw in Half amounts to "free-ish" and repeatable spell recursion, this also means repeatable uses for removal and counterspells. Most deviously, since it is an instant you can rip out a counterspell from your graveyard in response to a spell being cast for just two mana! With an opponent's spell on the stack, tap one and cast Saw in Half on Cormela. A fresh, untapped copy of her is made, and you can use the two death triggers to get Saw in Half and Ionize back in hand. Tap one more land to activate the new Cormela copy's mana ability to cast Ionize in response to your opponent's spell. Repeat as often as mana allows. If you have one of the better mana generators out like Storm-Kiln Artist then you can use its mana to pay for repeated activations of Cormela, Glamour Thief without limitation. Interestingly, this trick only works with counterspells that Cormela can pay for herself, which is a surprisingly short list.

Miscellaneous Parts

  • As mentioned before, some special mana sources can allow us to go infinite with the copy combo. Not only that, but even outside of infinite loops these mana-generators can enable powerful interactions and provide immense value. Look out for Urabrask  , Birgi, God of Storytelling  , Storm-Kiln Artist, Pitiless Plunderer, and Runaway Steam-Kin as major players in the game plan.
  • Since Cormela is such a key piece in making the deck run well, protection is paramount to the plan. Tidal Barracuda and Conqueror's Flail lock out counterspells and removal during your turn which is huge when you finally hit your combo turn. Malevolent Hermit   does the same for your copy spells, but all the time, with a one-time counterspell option before even that.
  • I'm a fan of board state protection too, so we're running Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in addition to the above to make it that much harder for our opponents to interact, in addition to some typical removal spells like Feed the Swarm. Also have Kardur, Doomscourge which is some of the best creature protection you can ask for, especially when paired with the likes of repeated copy sources like Endless Evil.
  • Nearly all other cards here are geared towards digging for the combo. Instants and sorceries like Night's Whisper get you to the important stuff. The more you can dig through the deck, the faster you'll hit a combo. And when you come across recurring copy sources, don't forget to bring these back for further digging/fetching.

It's not hard to imagine ways to win once you've assembled a copy combo. Simply field one of the many trigger options we have to kill the table, and most can provide value even before going infinite. In fact, I believe it's best to have a mix of different outlets as they bring different angles for playing and winning.

  • The milling effect of Brain Freeze tends to be the best at killing the table and getting around things like opposing life gain or pillow fort.
  • Life loss/gain effects like Bastion of Remembrance blends effectiveness at table kills while also having some lifegain supplement before you can win out, in addition to getting around damage prevention.
  • Creature creation effects like Third Path Iconoclast tend to be the best at keeping yourself protected from external aggression until you hit a combo. And of course, they go nuts with Impact Tremors.
  • The classic Guttersnipe has the best value proposition for damage to opponents with just a few interactions (2 damage per one spell cast). For example, if you have just 5 mana sources, Molten Duplication, Cormela, and Guttersnipe out, you could execute at least 5 copy loops and deal 10 damage to the whole table in one turn with mana left over for more instants/sorceries. Then repeat on the following turns as desired.

Some cards have been left out after trial and error and theory. Here are some notes for this current list:

  • Game changers and most expensive good stuff cards have been left off for power level and budget reasons. Not doing cEDH here, this is real life cardboard for me.
  • Diabolic Tutor and most other inexpensive tutors have also been left off for power level concerns, relative to my specific playgroup.
  • Dark Ritual and Rite of Flame have been excluded because these cards really only work with Saw in Half... but without tutors, I can't reliably find them all at once. So those don't make the cut.
  • Carnival of Souls is potentially powerful, one of few mana-providing options available that allows Cormela to go infinite with a copy combo. The catch is that you end up incidentally killing yourself when playing against decks with a normal number of creatures. Could still be great with the right pod/match-ups, but it is inherently risky.
  • The only copying instants and sorceries which make the cut are ones which Cormela can pay for with her mana ability. So options like Cackling Counterpart and Quasiduplicate don't work.
  • Since we're taking advantage of the legend rule in most cases, circumventing the legend rule is usually detrimental to the plan. Therefore, things like Helm of the Host and Irenicus's Vile Duplication are excluded.

If you're looking for a more competitive take on this, then powering these combo copies up to cEDH level is actually quite straightforward. I would personally recommend the following:

  • As mentioned at the start, tutors are immensely powerful in this deck as opposed to the draw/loot selections I have. Consider classics like Wishclaw Talisman and Diabolic Tutor for budget-friendly options, or go full competitive with Vampiric Tutor and related cEDH staples.
  • Some game changers or otherwise expensive cards for card draw are also easy slot-ins. Rhystic Study and The One Ring come to mind.
  • Instant and Sorcery speed mana fits much better in an environment where you can reliably tutor for Saw in Half. Replace my budget mana rocks for things like Dark Ritual and Rite of Flame.
  • Better control pieces would fit perfectly, such as Opposition Agent, Cyclonic Rift, Force of Will, and Fierce Guardianship instead of my budget options.
  • The typical fast mana works here too like Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond.
  • I'm sure that Thassa's Oracle + Demonic Consultation would be great here. And if you were including those, might as well also grab Dragon's Rage Channeler which can play the role of Dem Con in this deck.
  • Underworld Breach is also probably excellent in a more competitively-oriented variant of this deck.
  • Check out my "Budget Considerations" list in the maybeboard for win cons that are more effective, but cost more irl $$.
  • Land base can definitely be upgraded with more expensive options. Fetch lands, shock lands, and any of the classic expensive lands are obvious inclusions.

Absolutely open to suggestions, but the deck is already performing very well.

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