Endless Forms Most Beautiful: Vadrok EDH [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH* Daedalus19876

SCORE: 161 | 126 COMMENTS | 20900 VIEWS | IN 42 FOLDERS


Viera says... #1

Good afternoon, darling~! I heard you built a voltron deck of your own, and could not help but tune in what you had in store. From what I see Sword of Feast and Famine is a must -- as it not only strips a card from an opponent's hand -- it untaps all lands to ensure play a reactive or proactive role depending on game state; synergistic with Sunforger too.

April 5, 2020 5:41 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #2

Viera: Thank you for your thoughts -- I'm a fan of SoFaF in general, but what would you cut here? I'm going to have enough trouble cutting for new Ikoria/C20 cards as-is...

April 5, 2020 6:22 p.m.

Viera says... #3

I think you should remove Crystal Shard or Isochron Scepter.

April 5, 2020 8:18 p.m.

Eskmohunter says... #4

Make sure to use the evil vadrok card Restore Balance

April 6, 2020 10:57 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #5

Eskmohunter: What would you cut for it?

April 7, 2020 3:40 a.m.

Eskmohunter says... #6

Daedalus19876 im not the most massive fan of Forebear's Blade and this deck doesnt really have any sweepers. Forcing people down to your lands and creatures once or twice should let you connect without a fear of crack back.

April 7, 2020 10:58 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #7

Eskmohunter: The reason I like Forebear's Blade here is because with mutate your commander does allow 'die' triggers, so you can move it for free onto your next host.

April 7, 2020 12:23 p.m.

zombob57 says... #8

I think Adorned Pouncer would be better than Warren Instigator since you have one other goblin in here and adorned Pouncer can be recurred. Also as a backup plan you should include Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker because if you mutate her into a non-legend you can go infinite

April 7, 2020 4:30 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #9

zombob57: I'm only playing blue and red, unfortunately -- so Adorned Pouncer isn't in my colors here. I do love the option of mutating and self-cloning Kiki, but I can't DO anything with infinite tapped creatures in this list :( unless I'm missing something about the combo?

April 7, 2020 6:44 p.m.

zombob57 says... #10

You just attack with them!

April 8, 2020 1:23 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #11

zombob57: OH! I didn't think about doing it at an opponent's end step. Welp.

Guess that has to go in now.

April 8, 2020 2:23 a.m.

Harizin says... #12

I also made a similar deck for Vadrok, so I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this commander is SUPER cool! My deck, though, is taking a more spellcaster/token/infinite combo theme than yours. If you want to check it out I'd really appreciate any feedback or recommendations! If you google search it, it's just called Vadrok the Spellcaster, but if you want a link it's here!

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/vadrok-the-spellcaster/?cb=1586402565

April 8, 2020 11:32 p.m.

Timp0p says... #13

Can I ask why you are only using red and blue? Wouldn't using white make it better?

April 9, 2020 2:39 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #14

Timp0p: I really should put this in the deck description :) But the primary reasons are as follow:

  1. For the last couple years, I've only enjoyed decks with two or less colors. Not only does restriction breed creativity, but it also means I am forced to play less generic "goodstuff", and I'm forced to get more clever since I have a smaller card pool. You should try it sometime -- restricting your colors forces you to improve as a deckbuilder!
  2. Two-color decks are also cheaper, since I build all of my decks in paper. It requires a much less expensive landbase, and I have to spend less slots on color-fixing.
  3. I already own a Boros voltron deck (around Archangel Avacyn  Flip), and I have no interest in making another similar deck -- I like my decks to be very distinct, so that I don't get bored with them :)
  4. I like the challenge! And I like tinkering with stuff nobody else is doing.

...Now of course, the natural question is, "if you insist on doing UR mutate voltron, why aren't you running Illuna, Apex of Wishes instead, since she's better in essentially every way?"

And, uh, my answer to that is that I prefer the lower cost and cooler art of Vadrok! :)

This isn't meant to be a competitive deck, it's more of an amusing jank-fest, since my playgroup is getting irritated at my high-power decks. But I'm still trying to optimize it within the restriction of Izzet colors ;)

April 9, 2020 3:09 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #15

I'm trying to fit Collective Defiance back in -- what would you cut?

April 11, 2020 5:43 p.m.

I don't know about the deck, but personally I would cut Wake Thrasher, because it doesn't have any relevant keyword abilities. I guess its good with Vadrok. Maybe take out O-Naginata? I also would highly recommend Rielle, the Everwise Because she is great with any discard/draw spell in the deck, which you have a lot of.

April 11, 2020 5:58 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #17

I_Want_To_PlayAllTheDecks: Wake Thrasher's purpose is to be really, really big, and let me cast Vadrok on curve XD When Vadrok is mutated onto it, Vadrok will become a 3/3 flying first-striker WITH the power boost, and get larger each turn. But yes, I do wish that it gave her any keywords -- Trample would be amazing.

The issue with Rielle is that she's a human, so she's not something I can mutate onto :/ If she were non-human, she'd be in here in a flash. I only have maybe 9 cards in here that are decently good with her, and many of them are going to be cast on T2 -- meaning that I draw her later she's much less useful. Still, I do want an excuse to run her...

April 11, 2020 6:56 p.m.

Virto says... #18

A question of the plan 1. If you mutade a creature into the kiki she becomes non-legendary. But she needs to tap to activate his abilit how do you have infinits hasty atacker if them are all tapped?

April 16, 2020 3:12 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #19

Virto: If you execute your combo during the endstep of the opponent before you, the creatures will be sacrificed "at the beginning of the next end step" -- ie, during YOUR end step, after your attack phase. They untap during your untap step, and kill everyone (hopefully) on attacks.

April 16, 2020 6:57 p.m.

Grind says... #20

very cool deck. never seen this combo before, nice!
looks pretty competitive, it is interesting to me that you are not running Mystical Tutor.
given that your commander has white you could in theory run Recruiter of the Guard to tutor kiki jiki, as a backup to Imperial Recruiter.
Chart a Course is an interesting choice, i like that it can net you positive cards, but generally i would run instants like Anticipate or Brainstorm over this just to have the instant options. especially if you are trying to be competitive. and you are running several counterspells so instant speed seems good.
speaking of counterspells Arcane Denial and Delay are good options in 2+ colors, but im sure youve seen those before...
also Char-Rumbler is cool but at a 4 drop, is this guy pulling his weight? i would run Archaeomancer over him. but maybe he is needed for the mutate value...
anyway cool deck and hope my thoughts are not useless to you and keep on having fun! cheers

April 17, 2020 10:33 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #21

Grind: Thanks for your thoughts! In order --

1) I have not yet added Mystical Tutor, but I definitely should. Part of the reason is that this isn't really INTENDED to be consistent, per se -- it came from a silly idea I had, not a desire to make an optimized deck -- but as it's gotten more tuned, Mystical Tutor's fit better. I probably should run Merchant Scroll too, since that's much better to cast off Vadrok's mutation trigger.

2) I'm pretty dedicated to only running UR here (with the possible exception of Restore Balance). Also, Recruiter of the Guard can't get one of my primary three targets (Lore Drakkis), so I'll have to pass on this one.

3) Chart a Course is actually rather intentionally included over a straight draw spell. I often cast it in my precombat main even when I have something that COULD attack. The reason is that I want to have as many spells as possible that let me dump something into GY to cast with Vadrok in early turns, so I have value ready and waiting when I mutate her. Also, comparing it with Brainstorm, the problem is that Brainstorm can be pretty bad when I cast it from GY, since I'll often be drawing through the same cards I just put on top (unless I can crack a fetch in between, or whatever).

4) I am not a huge fan of Arcane Denial -- I'd very much not like to give my opponents cards when I can help with it. Delay is cute, but if I add another counterspell my go-to will certainly be Mana Drain ;)

5) Char-Rumbler is not spectacular, but when he goes off it's pretty hilarious. I mutate my commander onto him, swing for 3 double strike... Then on the next turn I swing, pump with RRRRR, and kill my opponent from lethal commander damage. He's probably the weakest of my current hosts, but I'm just so amused by getting to play the most janky uncommon ever printed. I was considering War Elemental in its place, but I could never manage to make it survive the ETB trigger.

Your thoughts definitely weren't useless! Thanks, I really appreciate them :)

April 17, 2020 11:07 p.m. Edited.

DankMagicianD says... #22

What about Invisible Stalker to grant hexproof and unblockability?

April 18, 2020 9:06 a.m.

Tornitrualis says... #23

You, Sir, get points for a new Commander list and bonus points for the Nightwish reference.

April 18, 2020 9:57 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #24

DankMagicianD: Unfortunately, mutate specifies that you can't target humans. Which is actually a decently large problem -- things like Prophetic Flamespeaker, Rielle, the Everwise, etc would be in here otherwise.

Tornitrualis: Thank you! I'm a huge fan of their music :3 You're welcome to upvote the list if you like it :D

April 18, 2020 2:05 p.m.

DankMagicianD says... #25

Oh crap, I totally forgot about that! Thanks for reminding me. Last Ride of the Day is my personal favorite from Nightwish.

April 18, 2020 8:01 p.m.

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