Crouching Kadena, Hidden Phage [v4]

Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) Combo Jank Morph Primer Unblockable

Slurpz

Lands (36)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 1x Forest
• 1x Island
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Swamp
• 1x The World Tree
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Winding Canyons
• 1x Yavimaya Coast
• 1x Zagoth Triome
• 1x Zoetic Cavern

Counterspells (5)

• 1x Kadena's Silencer
• 1x Stratus Dancer
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Voidmage Apprentice
• 1x Voidmage Prodigy

Give Morphs Flash (3)

• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Tidal Barracuda
• 1x Vedalken Orrery

Tutors (3)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Scheming Symmetry

Morph (22)

• 1x Ainok Survivalist
• 1x Aphetto Alchemist
• 1x Bane of the Living
• 1x Brine Elemental
• 1x Chromeshell Crab
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Echo Tracer
• 1x Fledgling Mawcor
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Icefeather Aven
• 1x Kadena's Silencer
• 1x Mischievous Quanar
• 1x Nantuko Vigilante
• 1x Riptide Survivor
• 1x Silumgar Assassin
• 1x Stratus Dancer
• 1x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
• 1x Voidmage Apprentice
• 1x Voidmage Prodigy
• 1x Willbender
• 1x Zoetic Cavern

Draw (11)

• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Riptide Survivor
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight
• 1x Toski, Bearer of Secrets

Removal (6)

• 1x Ainok Survivalist
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Chromeshell Crab
• 1x Nantuko Vigilante
• 1x Silumgar Assassin

Recursion (5)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Commander (1)

Combo/Wincon (14)

• 1x Aphetto Alchemist
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Beastmaster Ascension
• 1x Body of Research
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Fledgling Mawcor
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Phage the Untouchable
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Simic Ascendancy
• 1x Slimefoot, the Stowaway
• 1x Time Warp
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Ramp (10)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Curiosity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Resilience
• 1x Three Visits
• 1x Zoetic Cavern

Protection (8)

• 1x Echo Tracer
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Icefeather Aven
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x March of Swirling Mist
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak
• 1x Willbender

Boardwipes (3)

• 1x Bane of the Living
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Other (3)

• 1x Scroll of Fate
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Time Warp

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Alternative deck name: Kadena's Turbo Jank

With a lot of input from the community, thought, tinkering, and lessons learned from others' decks, I think I've finally gotten this deck optimized for what it's trying to do: play some morphs, draw cards, and win with some fun combos.

Morphs, Kadena, and Draw Engine Fuel

A card with the morph keyword can be played facedown for {3} and then flipped face up later at any time, for their morph cost, to trigger an effect on the card. In this deck the morph slots largely compose the deck's interaction. Playing and flipping morphs is pretty inefficient until Kadena is in play. The first morph you play face down each turn is now free and also draws you a card. This gives morphs a new role as they help dig through our deck.

Building a Draw Engine

Typically the first things you want to do are ramp and establish a draw engine.

Give Morphs Flash

Giving morphs flash allows us to play a free morph and draw a card on each of our opponents turns. With enough morph fuel this results in a high amount of card draw and a way to build a board of morphs extremely quickly.

Vedalken Orrery

Leyline of Anticipation

Tidal Barracuda - This one is a cool card and gets reactions at the LGS, people really like being able to play everything at instant speed

Alchemist's Refuge

Winding Canyons

More Cards Per Morph

All of the following are 4 CMC and allow you to draw an additional card every time you play a morph. Combining these cards with the Give Morphs Flash cards will allow your draw engine take off.

Beast Whisperer

Guardian Project

Teferi's Ageless Insight - Doubles all our card draw except our draw step. Especially powerful is getting this in play with one of the above two cards and drawing 4 cards every time you play a morph.

One card engines

We're going with the broken stuff here. Jank combos by any means.

Rhystic Study

Necropotence

Toski, Bearer of Secrets

How to Win

Make Phage or The Token Unblockable

Step 1: Cast Phage the Untouchable / Body of Research

Step 2: Equip protection (this step is optional but recommended)

Lightning Greaves

Swiftfoot Boots

Whispersilk Cloak

Step 3: Make Phage / The Token unblockable

Rogue's Passage - This can be searched for with Crop Rotation

Whispersilk Cloak

You can also phase out some blockers with March of Swirling Mist

Transcend Humanity

Simic Ascendancy + Body of Research

Just remember to always feel the power of The Token

Kadena's Gatling Gun

Aphetto Alchemist + Illusionist's Bracers + Fledgling Mawcor

Aphetto Alchemist equipped with Illusionist's Bracers for infinite untap. Add in Fledgling Mawcor for infinite damage and mow down everything and everyone. The morph combo pieces can be deployed early and under the radar which is pretty sweet and on theme.

The Circle of Life

Slimefoot, the Stowaway + Illusionist's Bracers + Ashnod's Altar + 4 mana

Equip and activate Slimefoot, get two saprolings, sac 2 saprolings for 4 colorless mana, drain each opponent with Slimefoot triggers, repeat.

We're Gettin' Moldy Tonight

Aphetto Alchemist + Illusionist's Bracers + mana rock + Slimefoot, the Stowaway

Aphetto Alchemist equipped with Illusionist's Bracers for infinite untap. Add in any mana rock for infinite mana. Activate Slimefoot, the Stowaway infinite times for infinite saproling tokens.

Trial by Combat

I would say combat damage is more of a back up wincon but it is pretty easy to build a board of morphs with this deck. Beastmaster Ascension to turn your morphs into 7/7s, Craterhoof Behemoth for overrun, Cyclonic Rift and March of Swirling Mist to clear the way.

Pickle Lock

For anyone who doesn’t know you use Vesuvan Shapeshifter to recur Brine Elemental’s flip effect every turn for 2 mana. This grinds the game to a halt for everyone else and the locking player gets so much value out of it there’s no point in continuing the game unless someone happened to hold up removal. Technically this is not a way to actually win and could def get someone salty (heh) so it's up to you if you want initiate the brine. I like to have a line to close the game in sight before locking.

Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Time Warp + Den Protector + Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Cast Time Warp, morph Den Protector to get Time Warp back in your hand, use Vesuvan Shapeshifter to recur Den Protector’s ability every turn and now you can cast Time Warp every turn and take infinite turns. Replace Time Warp with an overloaded Cyclonic Rift to give the table high blood pressure.

Notable Cards

Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Vesuvan Shapeshifter

This card is your MVM (Most Valuable Morph). It can recur any morph flip effect each turn for 2 mana as long as that morph is face up on the board. Really just take any morph and ask the question “Would I like to do this more than once?”. If yes, it pairs well with Vesuvan Shapeshifter. It’s used in pickle locks and for taking infinite turns as under How To Win. With Chromeshell Crab you can steal a high value creature, or dare I say it, commander? Every turn. For 2 mana. It can be a repeatable 2 mana spell steal (Kheru Spellsnatcher). It can hose artifacts and enchantments (Ainok Survivalist). Or change it up every turn if you have the morphs to be flexible.

Seedborn Muse

Seedborn Muse

You’re pretty much always happy to draw this card. Tons of free mana for morphing to your heart’s content.

Combined with the two lands that can enable flash, Winding Canyons and Alchemist's Refuge you can give your morphs flash, play one, and draw a card each opponent's turn a la the Give Morphs Flash cards.

Scroll of Fate

Play additional free morphs, turn dead cards into 2/2s, trigger Kadena with the previus actions and draw cards, hide creature combo pieces (Slimefoot and Thassa), or manifest Phage for an assassination mission

This deck was a 2+ year WIP I began when I was new to Magic, starting with a C19 Faceless Menace precon. Thanks for taking the time to check out my first fully-realized deck.

Also be sure to check out Crouching Kadena, Hidden Phage [~$20] edition courtesy of thijmnesoy!

Top Ranked	Achieved #6 position overall 1 year ago Achieved #4 position in Commander / EDH 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Morph 1 year ago
Date added	1 year
Last updated	a few seconds
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 55 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.96
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Construct 0/0 C, Fractal 0/0 GU, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C, Saproling 1/1 G
Folders	Decks To Copy, Cool Concepts, Masked Riders, Saved, Future EDH Deck Ideas, References, Uncategorized, Commander, Deck that I want to build that aren't mine., Inspiration, See all 42
Based on	Sultai Morph Upgrade Slurpz EDH