Maybeboard


Please don't upvote this deck!

This is an evolution of another Djeru Planeswalker which I had built. I'm lazy, so I will be copying some (many) of the descriptions and modifying them slightly.

Djeru, With Eyes Open is in the Command Zone, but Ugin is our commander. Which one? Keep reading.

Djeru, With Eyes Open is the commander of our deck because we need a creature which can tutor up one of our actual commanders, which are Planeswalkers. We do ramp, so playing Djeru on turn four or three isn't out of the question. We're also mono colour because it's tricky (for me anyway) to build a two-plus colour deck and still maintain the number of colourless cards we need to make the game plan work.

Djeru's other ability helps to protect our Ugins from the damage of attacks. This, potentially, helps us against wide attacks or forcing our opponents to commit more resources to try and kill an Ugin or keep it off an ability it could use on our next turn.

Djeru, With Eyes Open's CMC can work in our favour. When we play an early Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and use his -X to clear the board and sometimes he'll be left alone. However, if Djeru is caught in the blast we should be able to replay him the following turn and grab another Ugin.

Ugin, Eye of the Storms - The card we're actually building around. In a perfect world he'll be our first choice for a Djeru, With Eyes Open search. We'll try and hold on to our to snipe our opponents most dangerous coloured permanents. Depending on the quality of our hand we can go for either of the first two abilities. In the following turns we want to try and build to his final ability. To get us to the ultimate we have The Chain Veil to create more activations for our Ugins.

If we get Ugin to ultimate and we can win with Aetherflux Reservoir with a little help from Glaring Fleshraker just play them in front of all the other colourless cards remaining in our deck. Like a Tendrils of Agony in reverse. Before you do this know what beats this. Watch out for Stifle-type effects to counter the down-tick, or even worse, Silence-type cards were we'll Exile *list* all the colourless cards in our deck and won't be able to cast them.

As it's the middle costed Ugin it may be referred to as 'Momma Ugin' in the primer

Ugin, the Ineffable - The definitely least good Ugin right now. That doesn't mean he's bad. There are situations where an early (pre turn 5) Djeru, With Eyes Open we'll only have the following turn and we don't want any of our Ugins lingering in our hands for too long. When we play this we're likely going to destroy a problem card with his -3. We'll also want to have a card or two in hand which take advantage of Ugin's static text and play for . If we're in the rare, and exalted, position to +1 the turn he comes down for a spirit and a delayed draw we also want to immediately follow up with a card or two to take advantage of the static text.

As it's the lowest costed Ugin it may be referred to as 'Baby Ugin' in the primer

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon -

Like with Ugin, Eye of the Storms, we have The Chain Veil to put more loyalty counters on our Ugins and get us to that all important ultimate faster.

As it's the highest costed Ugin it may be referred to as 'Poppa Ugin' in the primer

The Chain Veil - It's been brought up a few times in this section so let's talk about it. It's pretty straight forward every time we use it every Planeswalker gets an extra loyalty activation this turn. Here's the subtle part. We can produce a notable amount of mana in a turn and we're playing both Manifold Key & Voltaic Key so it's possible (in Magical Christmas Land) to get three or four activations in a turn.

One last thing that's not intuitive. Planeswalkers don't have to be in play to see The Chain Veil activate to get the extra loyalty uses. Therefore, if you activate Veil and then cast a Planeswalker they will get two activations. Or if one were to use the Veil then activate a Planeswalker twice and then blink or bounce & recast that Walker it would get another two activations.

The Peregrine Dynamo - Off the top, Djeru's ETB can't be copied. Which is fine. Our Planeswalkers have big CMCs and we don't want too many of them in hand. Speaking of Planeswalkers, that's the main reason Dynamo is here. Just don't forget it's all legendary cards and that includes our legendary lands. Get ready for copying Abstergo Entertainment, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire channels and Inventors' Fair search. He's also a 1/5 for which helps protect our life and our Planeswalkers.

With the exception of Onakke Oathkeeper these cards double as 'protecting us'. Planeswalkers are powerful permanents but they're also the most vulnerable because they can be targets of spells and they can be the targets of attacks. If you don't believe that ask yourself how much worse would artifacts, enchantments and creatures be if they could leave the battlefield after a successful attack. Because our Ugins have this, quite literal, extra angle of attack we have to include extra insurances.

Archon of Absolution - 2 toughness is rough compared to other creatures that add a cost to attacking us and Planeswalkers, like Archangel of Tithes & Baird, Steward of Argive. It makes up for this with protection. The protection from white helps with Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares and their ilk. There's also some synergy with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. We shouldn't underestimate flying when it comes to protecting our Ugins.

Maze of Ith - It will invalidate an attack, including our own, and our opponents can't stop it from entering the battlefield. It doesn't produce mana and thus doesn't count towards our land count. This is personal but when building a land base we shouldn't count any lands that don't produce mana on their own.

Onakke Oathkeeper - How badly do you need to kill a Planeswalker? How much are you willing to give up? If this ogre spirit is on our side it's per creature and we'll still have a chance to block. Oh, Oathkeeper has a more than respectable four toughness. Once Onakke Oathkeeper has laid down their life they're willing to bring a fallen Planeswalker back the battlefield. Tailor made for this deck.

Silent Arbiter -

In a small amount of games colourless, devoid and artifact creatures are a mighty big problem. Our three Ugins aren't especially good at dealing with colourless things and if we can't beat the Onslaught back with board wipes we're not going to have a good time.

Eight-and-a-Half-Tails - Two interesting abilities. First for will give anything protection from white. In a vacuum okay, not great. Second, for we change the colour of any SPELL or PERMANENT. For our purposes, one ability of each of our Ugin's is prevented from targeting and exiling colourless permanents. Now we can card: Exile(ALL) an Emrakul, the Promised End by paying . We can also shield any of our permanents for a combined . Even if we don't need Eight-and-a-Half-Tails to help an Ugin they're still powerful and useful on their own.

Sadly, Painter's Servant is a non-bo with baby Ugin's static text & 3 and Mama Ugin's static text and the ultimate we want to use to win. It would work really well with Papa Ugin's x but that would fall into mass land destruction and this is a Bracket 3 deck.

Cloudchaser Kestrel - This was in the deck but it was a little bit of overkill for the it's purpose and the deck needed another board wipe. There are three cards in white and colourless that change card colours. Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is the absolute best one. Cloudchaser Kestrel is the least bad of the other two (Aurora Griffin is the worst bad one). A 2/2 flyer for is on rate and the destroying an enchantment when it enters the battlefield if also good, enchantments are less common than say artifacts.

Aetherflux Reservoir - We've got a couple of ways to win with Reseroir. The fair way is over a couple of turns we play two or three spells a turn and build up to 51 or life and kill one person. All well an good if we're down to one player and we've exhausted most of our resources we do have better options.

Aetherflux Reservoir + Mystic Forge - Again we'll be trying to get lucky and hit a long string of artifacts of the top. Much like the fair way we'll gain enough to kill one or two players...if we're lucky.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Elspeth is our last, desperate, way to win. She's mainly here to wipe out the big creatures and clog the board. The way she wins is through her -7 and attacking down our opponents. If you've read through any amount of this primer a lot of the strategy is about turtling up and protecting ourselves for one big spell. The time to go for Elspeth's ultimate is very late into the game when one or two people have been eliminated and the last one or two people are lower on life and they've gone though a lot of their own resources.

Glaring Fleshraker - Fleshraker has a few notable synergies which can inflict lethal damage to all our opponents on the spot.

White is not well known for its counterspells. They do exist; Lapse of Certainty, Reprieve, Mana Tithe ect. Regrettably, we're a tap out style deck. There are also cards that make mana that can be used to make a spell uncounterable; Cavern of Souls or card:Delighted Halfing. There isn't one that helps our gameplan so, we're going to make difficult, or impossible, for our opponents to cast spells on our turns.

Defense Grid - This makes it difficult to counter or remove any of our permanents on our turns. This effect is symmetrical so plan ahead when looking at that Swords to Plowshares.

Grand Abolisher & Voice of Victory - Both of these fill the same role of warding off counterspells on our turn. Grand Abolisher's ability is more absolute. Voice of Victory can make extra attackers and is a little easier on our manabase.

Hope of Ghirapur - Our big plays don't rely on combat, for the most part, so having Hope attack and lock out the deck with counterspells until our next turn is just fine. Further, in a deck that cares about its' Planeswalkers, having a cheap flyer around is always welcome.

Ranger-Captain of Eos - The first target of our searches should likely be Esper Sentinel, as the drop with the most powerful ability. After that we should be thinking about one of our 's so we can play defense and prepare for Momma Ugins arrival. When Momma or Poppa are ready to be cast we can sac him to get one counter free turn. When we have Aetherflux Reservoir this is two spells in one.

Since the beginning of the game there has been a need to wipe the slate clean and start over. The threats and abilities have also evolved and there isn't a silver bullet for all situations (and there shouldn't be). We'll be using a variety of ways to wipe the board that are solid in most situations. Our targeted removal are few, but efficient.

All is Dust - Not quite a one-sided board reset but, close enough in most cases.

Austere Command - Flexible mass removal. We'll most commonly go for kill all the creatures modes. In an ideal situation we'll go with the mode that kills the most of our creatures and leaves some of ours untouched and then destroy all the artifacts or enchantments. Again whichever is to our advantage.

Dispatch - This spot could also be a Path to Exile but, our deck is over a third artifacts so in most cases the target will be exiled when we cast Dispatch. It's harped on throughout this guide that commander decks are greedy and Path to Exile won't necessarily net an opponent a basic land. On the other hand, who wants to take that chance when we don't have to?

Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire - Good versatile land that can be a mana source or uncounterable creature removal.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion - See winning without Ugin

Farewell - Austere Command gave us two of four choices. Farewell gives four options and we can take any or all of them. Oh, and destroy is so passé. Farewell is more than a name it's what happens after it resolves. Everything we choose will be exiled. Planeswalkers cannot be chosen so the Ugins will all be safe. Graveyards will almost always be chosen.

Sunfall - Sunfall doesn't destroy. Sunfall exiles and all those creatures in Exile *list* won't be a problem going forward. After wiping the board we'll still be vulnerable and our Ugins will be vulnerable to haste creatures. This card solves that problem by leaving a token behind. We'll still have to pay to hatch it but, we'll be able to defend ourselves or even go on the offensive.

Swords to Plowshares - When it positively, absolutely has to go. We're playing for the long game and the life gain is not an issue.

Tragic Arrogance - The punishing but fair counterpart to Cataclysm's scorched earth policy. Everyone gets to keep their lands but, we get to decide which one: creature, artifact, enchantment and Planeswalker each player gets to keep. Good time for a little bit of negotiations.

This is not a typical eggs deck. There’s no Second Sunrise, Hourglass of the Lost or Faith's Reward (although Ishgard, the Holy See is intriguing). When our eggs are cracked they stay cracked.

Then why use them? It’s two fold. One we want to use our eggs to scary, draw or make mana and get to an Ugin, Eye of the Storms either by dumb luck or by searching it. Two, after Ugin is safely on the table the nature of our eggs changes to pieces of removal. Ugin becomes our sniper rifle and the eggs are now our bullets.

Candy Trail - It's good early, it's good late. Just a solid card all around.

Chromatic Sphere - Sphere & Star are in here so we can pay to draw a card. We're mono white, we take what we can get.

Chromatic Star - Like Chromatic Sphere, Star is here to filter a mana and draw us a card. This is the superior Chromatic because it will draw any time it goes to the grave. Sphere needs to be sacrificed by it's own ability to draw a card.

Expedition Map - First targets are usually Ancient Tomb. It can also be desperation mana fixing. If we're backed into a corner Maze of Ith is a good go to. We have few options to delete problem lands. It's not the way we want to use it but, Abstergo Entertainment does exile all graveyards after it's sacrificed.

Lembas -

Mishra's Bauble - A source of a delayed draw and some information.

Moonsilver Key - May as well read ' sacrifice Moonsilver Key and search your library for a Sol Ring and put it in your hand'.

Soul-Guide Lantern - For we can Exile any card in any graveyard. If we feel secure, or desperate, we draw a card. We can also exile all our opponents' graveyards. Notably, not a non-bo with Abstergo Entertainment, Arena Rector & Haven of the Spirit Dragon . Unlike Rest in Peace which is deeper in this list.

Urza's Bauble - A source of a delayed draw and some information.

Vexing Baublefoil - The floor on this card is draw a card, great value for mono white. On a macro level, the card pool Commander players can draw from anything from Magic's history. There are relatively few free spells but, every colour has a few good ones. bauble protects us from all of them. This includes our own cost cards, spells which have been reduced to and Mama Ugin's ultimate ability. Luckily, there's a built in escape where we can pay , Sacrifice it and draw a card. Plan ahead!

Wayfarer's Bauble - As a mono-coloured deck we'll be playing many Snow-Covered Plains and this is a good way to pull them out of the deck and into play (which makes Wayfarer's Bauble better than Traveler's Amulet) effectively ramping is which is pretty rare for mono white. In a pinch we can get our singleton Snow-Covered Wastes at the end of an opponent's turn and be ready to cast Glaring Fleshraker.

Arcane Signet - Seems odd in a mono coloured deck but, there are very few cost mana rocks that produce a colour and come into play untapped.

Forsaken Monument - Helps to pull us out of bad situations. The life gain can pull us back into a game. The extra mana let's us play more spells (really good with Mystic Forge), and the +2/+2 to our colourless creatures adds extra protection and can let us turn the corner. Works really well with Glaring Fleshraker generating an army out of nowhere.

Foundry Inspector & Jhoira's Familiar - For what our deck is trying to do there isn't a cost reducing card we want to play (Helm of Awakening is symmetrical and who wants that) that covers everything so with these we're trying to get as many types of cards covered as possible.

Gold Myr - There's going to be a few colourless mana dorks in this section. We're playing these over straight mana rocks because we need to be able to ramp AND we need to block to protect our Ugins.

Hedron Archive - At this point there are a few cards that cost , add and an extra bonus. We're playing this one because we want to draw two if we need to. If we want more graveyard control Stonespeaker Crystal would fill this space (and we'd still draw card). Unless we're going full artifacts Sisay's Ring & Ur-Golem's Eye shouldn't be considered.

Honor-Worn Shaku -

Jeweled Amulet - A poor person's Mox. It may be surprising to know we can hold a OR in it (check out the Scryfall rulings).

Lotus Petal - Sometimes just one more can make the difference from making a play this turn or next, or winning now or never.

Manifold Key & Voltaic Key - Are these going to untap a non-mana rock from time-to-time? Of course. Will we untap an artifact creature to provide an extra blocker? Sure. Will we untap an opponent's artifact so that they can stop the biggest threat at the table or to gain some political points? Why not. However, the key is here, more often than not, to untap one of our mana rocks which makes more than one mana.

Ornithopter of Paradise - Like Gold Myr, we need colourless creatures to act as ramp and as blockers for our . We're playing these over straight mana rocks because we need to be able to ramp AND we need to block to protect our Ugins

Palladium Myr - On the same part of the line as Worn Powerstone. Both cost . We can't use them for mana the turn they come into play. This one can block. However, because it's a creature it's vulnerable to removal that Powerstone isn't.

Sol Ring - Let's see. Playing Commander. Check. It goes on the deck. Being a white boarder card makes it easier to find when we're searching.

Thran Dynamo - Simple and straight forward tap for .

Worn Powerstone -

Arena Rector - Cousin to the Academy Rector. On their death they can exile themselves to bring out any Planeswalker in our deck. Like the original this card can be a poor man's Moat, with people not wanting to attack for fear of what will happen next. Unlike the original Rector we're putting a permeant on the battlefield that is far more fragile than an enchantment. We need to be careful of who we get based on the turn order. Clearly, if it's the current player's turn and then us we'll get the most advantageous Walker we can. If we have to wait for three more turns we may want not to block.

There are a few ways we can just destroy Arena Rector on our turn. The easiest way is through a board wipe which destroys (or sacrifices). If we want to get cheeky we can send Rector in for an attack and then channel Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire and destroy it. We can use baby Ugin's -3. There's a narrow situation where after we play papa Ugin we can then follow-up with the +2 and immediately kill Arena Rector and get another Ugin.

Inventors' Fair -

Land Tax - Mono white has ALMOST no ramping land search in it. MOST of it searches for lands to catch up with other players with no guarantee that the lands come into play immediately. That precedent was set by Land Tax. At its best turn 1, although Lotus Petal no land drop can change that, but anytime we're behind on lands it's always a welcome sight. Every upkeep we'll be thinking about the number of cards in our hand, add in a draw and what spells we'll be playing. In most circumstances we want to take as many Snow-Covered Plains as possible but trying not to discard cards. There are a couple of key interactions with our other cards.

Search for Glory - There are many Planeswalker decks which do two things wrong. One, being a slave to theme and just cram all the Planeswalkers they own into the deck. Two, playing Call the Gatewatch. If it's all you have or all you can afford, understandable. Search for Glory is just better. We're not playing sagas but there are possibilities, not including Urza Assembles the Titans. It can search for a snow permanent so we can get a Snow-Covered Plains or our sole Snow-Covered Wastes. The final clause let's us search any legendary card. Which includes lands, artifacts, creatures and Planeswalkers. We can also gain up to 3 life. The only reason to seriously play Call the Gatewatch is if there's already a Search in the deck.

Urza's Saga -

At first glance these seem a little odd in our deck. Why are we playing creatures with few if any abilities? In a deck that depends on its' Planeswalkers Never underestimate some cheap defense. We aren't playing any creatures because we want to be able to block.

Next, when we do get Ugin, Eye of the Storms we want to have some bullets to load into his gun and it doesn't get cheaper than .

Ranger-Captain of Eos can search any of these cards. After a bit of play with this deck three is ideal. If you can't get ahold of any one of these Memnite is a good substitute.

Ornithopter - Is the most important of the three. Flying is vital when we're trying to protect an Ugin.

Phyrexian Walker -

Shield Sphere -

Esper Sentinel -

Karn, the Great Creator - He's here for his static text plain-and-simple. The best use for his +1 is to turn an opponents mana rock into a creature before we wrath. It's best use for us is turning The One Ring into an indestructible blocker and draw our cards at an opponent's end step. He can also turn equipment into a creature and fall off. Equipment which are particularly troublesome are Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. We have ways to take advantage of of the -2; Abstergo Entertainment, Rest in Peace & our opponent's graveyard removal.

Mystic Forge -

Rest in Peace - It's a necessary evil to stop our reanimator opponents from crushing us. It's a highly efficient form of graveyard removal. Yes, it's a non-bo with: Abstergo Entertainment, Arena Rector & Haven of the Spirit Dragon.

Sculpting Steel -

13x Snow-Covered Plains - We want to be playing a land every turn to aide our mana rocks so we can cast Djeru, With Eyes Open and go into our main game plan.

Snow-Covered Wastes - This is a hedge against narrow situations where we have Glaring Fleshraker in hand and no mana rocks or colourless non-basic lands. It can be searched with Fabled Passage & Prismatic Vista. For the most part we don't want to see it.

Abstergo Entertainment - This could also be a Buried Ruin. Here's the case for Abstergo. It can produce coloured mana for an extra . It's Sacrifice ability costs more than card:Buried Ruins|Ruins but what we can return expands from artifacts to historic cards. Simultaneously, it exiles all graveyards which is never a bad thing. The Exile *list* effect has lite synergy with Karn, the Great Creator's -2.

Blasted Landscape & Secluded Steppe - When we flood we cycle these either of these for a shot at action. Secluded Steppe is here because it's the cheapest of the five cycling lands we could play, Drifting Meadow, Desert of the True & Night Market are the others. All three of these produce so why Blasted Landscape over them? Meadow, Desert & Market come into play tapped and Landscape doesn't. On a side note for Night Market; triomes come into play tapped, they produce three different colours, count as three land types & cycle for . Market cycles for and is no triome.

City of Traitors - Kinda surprising this isn't on the Game Changer list but let's not think about that too much. It's another Sol Land (a land that make or more mana [usually with some drawback]) that helps us ramp. This is also an exercise in long term planning because we lose it after we play another land. It can help to trigger Land Tax.

Demolition Field - There are a lot of lands that are a problem and we need to get rid of them or lose. The drawback is you and the opponent get to search for a basic land. Not a problem for us. However, Commander is a format of very greedy manabases and our Demolition Field can be a Strip Mine in disguise.

Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire - see Removal

Emeria, Shattered Skyclave   (Emeria's Call  ), Razorgrass Field   (Razorgrass Ambush  ) & Witch-Blessed Meadow   (Witch Enchanter  ) - These MDFC cards give us value addded of either playing the front side or the land side. These three are in the land section so guess which side we're expecting to play? But the fronts are still valuable. What these have in common is they can come into play untapped if we bolt ourselves.

Fabled Passage & Prismatic Vista - Largely hear to search out our Snow-Covered Wastes when we need it. They can also give us a fresh look when we brick with Mystic Forge.

Fomori Vault -

Ghost Quarter - Nobody likes land destruction but, targeted land destruction is necessary for dealing with problem lands. This one is fair-ish. We'll give them a basic land back and as long as the opponent doesn't have a greedy mana base they'll be fine. If they do get a land it may push us behind on lands and turn on Land Tax. This and Demolition Field can give our opponent's pause before playing Vampiric Tutor or other tutors which put the searched cards on top of their libraries.

Monumental Henge -

Strip Mine -

This is a bracket three deck so we are limited to three game changer cards which are:

Ancient Tomb -

Mana Vault - So it's just a colourless, sorcery speed Dark Ritual. With our Manifold Key & Voltaic Key we could be getting or even out of it once our keys activation costs are paid.

The One Ring - Let’s get the elephant in the room out the way off the bat. This only protects us and pretty much creates a lighted path to our Planeswalkers. If we’re dead we can’t activate any loyalty abilities. The ring can give us breathing room a draw our three to help get us on track or get to an overwhelming board state.

For other cards which could be our game changers:

Enlightened Tutor - This was one of the Game Changers, that is until April 22, 2025 when Teferi's Protection was added to the list.

Lion's Eye Diamond - If it was affordable it could be paired with Auriok Salvagers to build an infinite storm, which would bring us infinite life with Aetherflux Reservoir and kill every creature and Planeswalker our opponents have before ending our opponents.

Teferi's Protection -

This is where the cards with written descriptions. They're kept because the reader may want to see what I thought about them or how they worked in the deck. The other reason is I'm lazy and if I want to them back I have a starting point.

Basalt Monolith - A middle ground between Mana Vault and Thran Dynamo. We really don't want to pay to untap it so we're going to hold it up until we need the mana or have Voltaic Key or Manifold Key in play.

Buried Ruin - One of the few ways to reacquire a sacrificed egg but it's also away to bring back any of our artifacts that were too scary for the table, ieAetherflux Reservoir or The Chain Veil.

Ghost Vacuum - This is not only a good piece of graveyard removal it's also an investment. As the game goes long we can gather a bunch of creatures and release them after a board wipe or when we need emergency blockers.

Oswald Fiddlebender - This isn't a dedicated Fiddlebender deck and this isn't a completely dedicated artifact deck. That doesn't mean that Ossie isn't helpful. There are few key artifacts, The Chain Veil & Aetherflux Reservoir, we want on the battlefield. As we can climb we can Sacrifice our smaller cards along the way to them, as per normal. If nothing else Oswald Fiddlebender has a reputation and may just jump out and tell the table "Hey! Look at me! I'm a distraction." One less removal spell to point at Ugin.

Thalia's Lancers - Functioning as a back-up Djeru. A 4/4 first strike for is a good rate. That AND a search for a legendary card makes it perfect for our deck.

Here in Bracket 3 infinite combos are a no-go so we have to avoid them. In this section cards listed will create infinite loops in combination with other cards in the deck. This section will try to justify why this card or that isn't in the deck. It's also here to help those who like the deck but want something more powerful.

Basalt Monolith - This a took a bit to figure out that Forsaken Monument + Basalt Monolith makes infinite mana. The life gain and +2/+2 is better than the mana Monolith makes.

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