~cPDH~ Tatyova Combo/Control (primer)

Pauper EDH* Competitive GU (Simic) Lands Pauper Ramp Value Engine

Snips500

Counter Magic (13)

• 1x Dispel
• 1x Intervene
• 1x Vines of Vastwood
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Daze
• 1x Deprive
• 1x Logic Knot
• 1x Memory Lapse
• 1x Miscalculation
• 1x Negate
• 1x Disruptive Pitmage
• 1x Dissolve
• 1x Foil

Protection (9)

• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Echoing Truth
• 1x Lignify
• 1x Lull
• 1x Neurok Stealthsuit
• 1x Snap
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Deep Freeze
• 1x Fade Away

Redundancy (5)

• 1x Dizzy Spell
• 1x Reclaim
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Drift of Phantasms

Value (2)

• 1x Floodbringer
• 1x Soratami Cloudskater

Card Draw (10)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Sleight of Hand
• 1x Whispers of the Muse
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Tragic Lesson
• 1x Gush
• 1x Treasure Cruise

Ramp/Land Tutors (10)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Dreamscape Artist
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Search for Tomorrow
• 1x Spoils of Victory
• 1x Reap and Sow
• 1x Shoreline Ranger

Land (30)

• 1x Command Tower
• 11x Forest
• 16x Island
• 1x Rimewood Falls
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber

Instant Land (4)

• 1x Sakura-Tribe Scout
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Llanowar Scout
• 1x Walking Atlas

Commander (1)

Infinite Combo (9)

• 1x Tidal Bore
• 1x Compulsive Research
• 1x Displace
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Salvager of Secrets

Utility Lands (7)

• 1x Bant Panorama
• 1x Desert
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Khalni Garden
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

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Sideboard

Other (7)

• 1x Tormod's Crypt
• 1x Natural State
• 1x Relic of Progenitus
• 1x Haze of Pollen
• 1x Tangle
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Reverent Silence

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Maybeboard

Other (3)

• 1x Quandrix Campus
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study

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Pauper EDH Deck Compendium

Pauper EDH* Podkomorka

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More of the Primer to come later

Overview- Playing cPDH Tatyova, Benthic Druid as a Combo/Control deck

This particular version of Tatyova I am aiming for a competitive control build with a combo win in contrast to a more combo oriented list. The general plan is to slow the early game with a large protection and interaction package and then drop Tatyova around turn 6-7 while leaving mana open for a Counterspell . Then there are multiple ways that you can proceed from there but basically continue to control the game with a Mystic Sanctuary + Deprive loop and perhaps Capsizing with buyback each turn. As the game drags on you will hopefully be the one generating the most card advantage and thus drawing into either the combo pieces or tutors. From there you are pretty much golden. It's always smart to have 2+ counters at the ready when you want to combo. The pay off for the infinite mana that I have chosen is to mill the opponents with either Compulsive Research or Deep Analysis so they could very well find an answer along the way. Well, that's the short of it and below you will find more detail about the game plan and fun little interactions that I have discovered while playing this exceptionally fun and versatile deck.

The name of the Game (Ramp)

Ramp is the name of the game for this deck. Hitting our land drops for as many turns as possible (I would say a minimum of 8 turns) is really what will get this deck going and then propel us to sweet victory. As this deck is very mana hungry and the fact that we draw a card off of playing lands that means that having a land to drop every turn is crucial.

To aid us in this bold endeavor we run Harrow and Harrow on a Stick to ramp us early and later draw us crazy amounts of cards. In addition we play Cultivate , a staple of both green EDH and PDH decks, as well as Search for Tomorrow to ramp us out and help us hit land drops. Sakura-Tribe Scout , Llanowar Scout , and Walking Atlas in conjunction with 36 lands means that with one of them out most turns we will be playing 2 lands per turn (or during our opponents turns). Another card in a similar vein as these “Insta-Landers,” as I like to call them, we have Growth Spiral . Growth Spiral in conjunction with Tatyova is some insane value that will help put us ahead pretty quickly. As far as mana rocks its just Thought Vessel which is serving double duty. It will let us keep all of the fun and exiting cards that we draw off of Tatyova while also producing 1 generic mana to boot.

Entering: Value Town (Value Engine)

At the core of every good strategy, there is a way of “out valuing” your opponents. When playing competitively this is often the difference between winning and losing, being able to draw more cards and get more mana will mean that you are finding the cards you need (be that answers, protection for your stuff, or win conditions) while having the mana to use them. At the core of this decks engine is of course Tatyova, Benthic Druid . She is great as an engine because she we want mana and Tatyova rewards us with cards. More mana equals more cards and more cards equals more mana and there we have it, a value engine. Now just playing 1 land each turn is not good enough so we must find a way of getting more. What makes Tatyova so great is that ramp does not actually cost us cards because it will just get replaced. Harrow and Dreamscape Artist are great examples of this. Dreamscape Artist will let us draw ridiculous amounts of cards while also ramping us 1 land each turn. Each of the “Insta-Landers” is also just another card each turn.

Unfortunately, there will be games where we just do not draw lands that we can play. Luckily there are two cards in this deck that can help us out of this pinch. Floodbringer , and Soratami Cloudskater . Each of these guys lets us pay 2 generic mana and return a land to our hand for an effect. Floodbringer lets us tap our opponents high value lands down, or early game even lock them out of a color. Soratami Cloudskater lets us loot which can help us dig through our deck for answers but it is also a sink for lots of mana when we need some gas. There is another reason for playing these creatures other than being able to re-play lands for value. When we have lands such as Mystic Sanctuary , Halimar Depths , and Khalni Garden then being able to replay these lands for additional value is pretty great. Looping Sanctuary and a counter spell is gross ( Deprive works very well). You can also loop fogs to buy you some time to set up, or loop a cantrip for some great value ( Gush is insane here).

I say NO! (Protection/Interaction)

With a grand total of 24 pieces of interaction and an unhealthy amount of recursion it's safe to say that our opponents will only be playing the things that allow. My favorite little combo here is Mystic Sanctuary + Deprive + Tatyova . If you don't already see it, it's basically looping Deprive each turn (or multiple times a turn if you have an “Insta-Lander” out) and then countering anything that your opponents play. In this deck there are eight hard counters (meaning that your opponent has no way of paying a cost to negate the effect), and five soft counters as well as a Vines of Vastwood that can fizzle an opponent's spell. Two cards that you will probably not see elsewhere are Disruptive Pitmage and Disruptive Student . These two are our version of Stax LITE. When we want to we can tax or even counter an opponent's spell. Disruptive Pitmage has the added spice of being a morph. This means we can play him out for 3 neutral, wait a turn and then for one blue flip him up and counter a spell out of nowhere! The reason for their inclusion was because I needed a way of building my board presence while still being able to control the game and these guys were the perfect way to disrupt the game. They also fit in nice because they make opponents play around them and thus slows their game plan down a few turns, which is the time that we need to set ourselves up for victory. Plus making our opponents leave up at least three mana for a counterspell is just great. The other 10 protection spells come in various forms. There are three bounce spells , one fog , one pieces of artifact and enchantment hate , two cards worth of commander removal , Neurok Stealthsuit to keep our Tatyova safe and a situational board wipe in the form of Fade Away .

Even though there is quite a lot of protection here, as the pilot you need to know when to hold your counters and let stuff resolve. For a while I would always try and counter everything that my opponents played and while this does work with varying degrees of success in a 1v1 format, in commander the value of your one counterspell goes way down. This is due to there being 3+ other players trying to drop combo pieces or other threats, so knowing what cards to counter, that will disrupt our opponents the most is key. But, that being said, protecting Tatyova is generally the most important job of the protection suit. For this purpose I run Intervene and Vines of Vastwood (both are basically the same spell, one in blue and one in green, although Vines of Vastwood is slightly more versatile). Although, before we can protect her we need to resolve her. In order to accomplish this there are Dispel and Negate (as well as the 10 other counterspells that can counter a counterspell).

Other key effects to point your countermagic are:

• Graveyard hate: graveyard hate presents probably one of the largest threats to this deck. This deck wants to be able to cast instant and sorceries early and then reuse them later. The Peregrine Drake combo and Tidal Bore combo both do not work if their combo pieces are in exile (permanently) and thus ensuring that this deck will (probably) not win. So if there is one thing you look out for, especially if you know your opponent is running it, would be: Relic of Progenitus , Tormod's Crypt , and a Nihil Spellbomb
• Other Commanders: it's no surprise that most commander decks want to have their commander in play, so... Countering their commanders will slow down your opponents, hopefully enough so you can cast your very own commander and start to out value your opponents. This however is not always possibly and not always the best course of action. Countering a commander can and will draw the attention away from other people and put it into you, who will likely be sitting with no creatures to block with, or with too few counterspells to counter with.
• Land Destruction: The last category of interaction that I would watch out for is land destruction. Land destruction could potentially be VERY bad for this deck. As it turns out, Mystic Sanctuary is a very good land and not having access to it could be very detrimental to this deck, so protecting it at all costs is likely the right move. This comes with one big asterisk though, and that is that land destruction is rarely played. This is because just like counterspells get worse for each opponent beyond the first, so does land destruction. That is not to say that some people will play an Army Ants deck or jam a Sinkhole into some black decks.

Knowledge is Power (Card Draw)

Drawing cards… the sole reason why I play **Magic**. No, just kidding, but it's definitely a great part of the game and for this reason, as well as smoothing the game out we run a multitude of cantrips and ways of drawing cards other than playing lands. As can be expected there is the standard package of blue cantrips: Ponder , Preordain , Gush , Brainstorm , Treasure Cruise , and everyone's favorite, Gitaxian Probe . On top of this there are also arguably two of the most powerful cards in PDH: Fishstick Study and Rhystic Study . These two can straight up win you the game. Playing a Mystic Remora turn one could be good but in my experience it draws me 1-2 cards even though I keep it around for 2-3 turns because many people will wait till its gone or just aren't doing anything in the early turns, so waiting until turn 3-4 to play this will draw you more cards or make your opponents think twice about playing some more powerful spells and delay their game. Rhystic Study on the other hand is stupid good and should be played ASAP in most situations. Ok, storytime. I was playing a game of PDH and was able to get Rhystic Study out turn 3 and follow that up with a Library of Leng (I played that in an earlier iteration of the deck). Over the course of the game, I drew something like 30+ cards and had a hand size of around 20 for most of the game. I won that game. Basically what happened was, I was able to have a counterspell in hand for each threat and did not need to tutor for any combo pieces because I just drew into them. The only hiccup that I faced that game was the fact that I was up against a mill deck so at the time that I won the game I had two cards left in my library (it is worth noting that Rhystic Study ’s ability is MAY, saving the game for me). Alright back to the primer. The last card in the card draw category is Impulse . While it is not an auto-include in all blue pauper decks, it has its uses and functions well as a way of filtering through your deck. Last but definitely not least we have two cards that are actually in the infinite combo section. Those are: Compulsive Research and Deep Analysis . As you can see both are cantrips that target a player. These will win us the game later on but first, they will help us set up and find what we need. Compulsive Research synergizes well with the way this deck is built because later in the game we will likely have an excess of lands that we can pitch to it. The flashback on Deep Analysis is useful but seeing as it is our win-con it is advisable not to use it.

LANDS!

What would a primer for a lands mater deck be without a section dedicated to the best card type in the game? Not a good primer, and therefore this section exists. This deck runs quite a few lands, which is a surprise to no one, this is after all a Tatyova deck. In total there are 37 lands in the deck to ensure that we will always have some to play. Of those 37, 7 are utility lands, which as you may have guessed provide this deck with a range of utilities. There are 3 fetches here, Bant Panorama , Evolving Wilds , and Terramorphic Expanse . Even though we don't get the fast fetches like EDH does, these 3 fetches all do double duty. With Tatyova out they are 2 triggers off of her, while early they will help fix our mana. Bant Panorama , in addition to the double Tatyova trigger, can also get the MVC (most valuable card) of this deck: Mystic Sanctuary . Speaking of which, holy crap that card is good. Mystic Sanctuary lets you get an instant or sorcery back from the bin with the requirement of having at least 3 other islands. On its own it's pretty good but pair that with Tatyova and you have a land that is an Archaeomancer . In this deck, lands are easier to repeatedly bounce and replay making this incredibly powerful. Just think, Deprive , Gush , Daze ... It's disgusting the amount of value that this one land provides. It is also one of a few combo pieces but that is for a different section of this primer. Next up is another powerhouse: Halimar Depths . This land early can help us set up the next few turns but later could end up being a ponder each turn. Play this an stack the triggers so that you do Halimar Depths first and then draw one with Tatyova . Playing this in conjunction with one of the two moonfolk means you can churn through your deck like it's nobody's business. Then we have Khalni Garden . While not quite as potent as Mystic Sanctuary or even Halimar Depths it can still pull its weight. Oftentimes this deck will have some trouble dealing with early aggression from opponents and having a chump blocker can be key. It's also good edict protection and later could serve as the means to build a massive board of plants (fingers crossed for no Shrivel or Electrickery ). Last but not least there is Desert . Desert, while unfortunately not dealing damage to the creature before it deals damage to us it can act as a repellent against X/1s attacking as they will be killed at the end of combat. I have found it pretty useful against a particular ninja deck that is running around my playgroup as well as other creature based decks. That's it for utility lands but and the other 30 lands are 27 basics, Command Tower , Path of Ancestry , and Simic Growth Chamber . That's it for utility lands but and the other 30 lands are 27 basics, Command Tower , Path of Ancestry , and Simic Growth Chamber . One note on Simic Growth Chamber , it can be used to save Mystic Sanctuary . Let's say someone goes to destroy Sanctuary , you can respond by getting Simic Growth Chamber into play and bouncing Sanctuary . If Simic Growth Chamber is in your hand then you can use an "insta-lander," if it's in your library, Crop Rotation works best.

Re-re-re redundancy (Tutors/Recursion)

In a singleton format such as Pauper EDH (PDH) for a deck to be competitive, it has to consistently at least threaten to go off. So to mitigate the high variance of this format we run tutors. Tutors in PDH are slower, more expensive, and worse by most metrics than something like Demonic Tutor or Mystical Tutor . But hey, what-ya gonna do? In this deck we run all three blue transmute cards: Dizzy Spell , Muddle the Mixture , and Drift of Phantasms . Drift of Phantasms will find most of the drake combo pieces and Muddle the Mixture finds all of the Tidal Bore combo. Drift of Phantasms will also find Rhystic Study , Compulsive Research , and Deep Freeze just to name a few of the best options in most games. Deprive and Counterspell , Lignify , Llanowar Scout and Walking Atlas , and Merchant Scroll are some of the best options to go and find with Muddle the Mixture other than the combo. Dizzy Spell will find Crop Rotation or Expedition Map for when we want Mystic Sanctuary . It can also find Sakura-Tribe Scout or a Dispel when we desperately need to resolve something. The last tutor is Merchant Scroll . Although it has pretty specific parameters for what you can find it will get you Ghostly Flicker as well as both Dizzy Spell and Muddle the Mixture if you want to find a non-blue or non-instant card. It can also find Tidal Bore , Counterspell s, or Gush .

All I do is WIN!

You win with this deck essentially by not losing. What this means is that we will be decking our opponents. The strategy is simple: create infinite mana, draw (most) of your own deck, and then proceed to make your opponents draw all of the cards in their decks. Infinite Mana (combo #1): There are a number of ways in which you can create infinite mana with this deck but the strategy I like best is Tidal Bore + Tatyova + Mystic Sanctuary + Sakura-Tribe Scout (or either of the other two creatures that tap to put a land into play). I am particularly proud of this one because although I was likely not the first to discover this combo I did discover it for myself while playtesting this deck as a sort of happy accident. For those that would like the combo explained, here goes: For this to work you will need the 3 permanents listed above in play and Tidal Bore in hand (you will also need at least 3 other islands so that Sanctuary is active). To start the combo tap Mystic Sanctuary and float , then cast Tidal Bore for its alternate cost and pick up Mystic Sanctuary . The target of Tidal Bore is your insta-land creature and you choose to untap it (even if it is already). Then use the insta-land creature to put Mystic Sanctuary back into play. When Mystic Sanctuary hits the battlefield two triggers will go on the stack, Tatyova's and that of Mystic Sanctuary . Order it so that Sanctuary's trigger resolves first. With Sanctuary's trigger target Tidal Bore and put it on top of your library. Then Tatyova's trigger resolves and you draw Tidal Bore . Now rinse and repeat making sure to tap Mystic Sanctuary for each time. With this process, you will generate infinite mana and infinite life. Unfortunately, this will not automatically win you the game. Infinite Mana (combo #2): This is one many of you will already know if you play pauper EDH, Pauper, or really most other formats for that matter. The Drake Combo. The Drake Combo (since there are many) that I am talking about here is: Peregrine Drake + Archaeomancer (or any other creature that has the same etb ability)+ Ghostly Flicker / Displace . This combo is pretty simple. With Drake and Archaeomancer out, cast Ghostly Flicker targeting them. With Archaeomancer 's etb you return Ghostly Flicker to your hand and Drake's etb will net you 2 mana (once you subtract the 3 it costs to cast Ghostly Flicker ). Repeat this any number of times for infinite mana of any color (in our case it will be and ) The next step in the process is either to draw most of your deck (which I would recommend even if you have all the pieces you need to win just for the extra security of having an entire library's worth of countermagic and protection) or deck your opponents. I'll first cover how you win because this is more straightforward with fewer variants than drawing your deck.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Pauper EDH legal.
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.51
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C, Plant 0/1 G
Folders	Pauper EDH Decks, Pauper EDH
Based on	~PDH~ Tatyova Combo Kill Snips500 PDH