Voltron-inevitability brew with Spider-Girl, Legacy Hero.
The way the deck wins is to chip in here and there with commander damage, occasionally buffing Spider-Girl, and giving her double-strike to increase the clock.
The deck has a lot of boardwipes and interaction to help stay alive (even runs three white counterspells). Spider-Girl has evasion, and at 2cmc can be recast multiple times without too much headache.
There are 10 ramp spells (11 if you count Sol Ring), each of which removes at least two lands from the deck. This was done intentionally, as over time the deck gets access to a large amount of mana, and deck-thinning ensures smoother draws.
In case your life total gets too low, the deck runs 3 methods of regaining life (two of which are instant speed):
- Beacon of Immortality -- instant speed, doubles your life total, shuffles itself back into the deck
- Celestial Mantle -- aura, gives +3/+3 and doubles life total on combat damage (if you have double-strike, then you increase your life 4x)
- Heliod's Intervention -- instant speed, dump X mana into it and get back 2x life (in a pinch, you can destroy artifacts+enchantments instead, but this is not its main purpose)
The general gameplan is as follows:
- T1: play a Plains. If Paladin Class is available, play that. Then Sol Ring. If you have Mana Tithe in hand, might be worth using it to counter an opponent's T1 play
- T2: play a Forest. Cast Spider-Girl
- T3: attack with Spider-Girl. Cast a 3cmc ramp spell
- T4+: attack, ramp, hold up protection. Boardwipe as needed. Favor ramping Plains slightly over Forests
Some notes on card choices:
- Moment's Peace *list* allows you to fog twice. Riot Control gains you some life, plus it also hedges against all damage, not just combat damage
- There are more ways of granting double-strike, but I shied away from auras as Spider-Girl is likely to be targeted a lot, and I did not use equipment as I prefer to have effects that give double-strike (almost) immediately. As I get in more games with the deck, this list will change.
Games run: 1
Cards replaced so far (not strict upgrades)
- Tamiyo's Journal with Mind's Eye: I got to benefit from Tamiyo's Journal once, and it wasn't very helpful to draw a single card on my upkeep. With Mind's Eye, I can draw at least 3 cards per turn cycle, more if I have the mana to spare and my opponents draw extra cards
- Platoon Dispenser with Farsight Mask: I've apparently been misreading Platoon for years; apparently, you need two other creature to draw, which makes this card less good. Farsight Mask serves both as discentive to attack, letting you live longer, and if you take any sort of damage from an opponent, you draw a card. Plus, it's a may ability, so no worries about decking out
- Staff of Nin with Prismatic Undercurrents: I don't recall if I ended up casting Staff of Nin the one game I played so far, but 6 mana to draw on my upkeep and ping for 1 damage isn't great. While goldfishing I often found myself with tons of extra cards in hand, especially lands, so not only while getting +1 land plays be of help for ramp and card keeping, but it effectively acts as a 4 mana ramp spell, getting one (or two if Spider-Girl is on the battlefield) lands out of the deck
Cards being tested
- Praetor's Counsel, replacing [That's Rough Buddy]: regrowth that gets ALL of the cards in your graveyard, and gives you no maximum hand size for the rest of the game
- Cataclysmic Gearhulk, replacing FarewellGC: exiling opponent's things and graveyards is great. Exiling your own? Not so much, at least in this deck. So another boardwipe that sacrifices (albeit letting your opponents choose their things) is in order
- All lands mentioned in Upgrades below: we shall see how my theories play out...
Cards to fit in, somehow
- Thraben Charm: the deck has practically NO graveyard hate, and this can exile all your opponents' graveyards. Hard to say what it could replace -- perhaps one of the cantricks
Upgrades
Upgrades for the deck. Buiget-friendly cards will eventually be moved into the online list upon acquisition, while non-budget friendly cards will remain off the online list ("budget-friendly" is any card $2 or less at time of addition)
Removal
- Fated Clash (replaces Starfall Invocation): 5cmc boardwipe that can also protect Spider-Girl (also makes someone's 1/1 token indestructible; you can live with that). And, it can be cast at instant speed, especially not on your turn, especially especially after damage has been dealt but before combat ends! (yup, look it up)
Lands
(basic lands only is 22 Plains and 16 Forests)
Making the T2 and T3 plays is crucial for the deck to be able to keep up with the others in the pod; it is painful to draw your first seven with only Plains or Forests. With that in mind, these lands were chosen to considerably increase the chances of making those plays:
- Command Tower: untapped land in both colors. Budget-friendly
- Bountiful Promenade: untapped land in both colors
- Starting Town: untapped land T1-T3 in both colors, at the cost of 1 life. When paying generic costs, always use this land
- Temple Garden: land that can be untapped for 2 life
- Razorverge Thicket: untapped land T1 or T2 in both colors. Budget-friendly
- Sunpetal Grove: tapped land T1, high chance of untapped land T2+, in both colors. Budget-friendly
- Tendo Ice Bridge: can make a colored mana once, goood enough to make the T2-3 plays. Budget-friendly
The deck has few spots for utility lands, as the ramp is for basic lands, and to ensure that T2 and T3 plays can be hit. That said, these here give the deck a bit of extra oomph:
- Terrain Generator: it's not uncommon to have plenty of lands in hand, so this will both help ramp you and save on hand space
- Reliquary Tower: EDH all-star. You often want to save interaction, sandbag a little, etc, so you'll end up with lots of cards in hand and difficult decisions to make. This will ease the pain by letting you keep ALL the cards
- Ishgard, the Holy See: A tapland with an Adventure, that can return artifacts/enchantments. Budget-friendly
- Command Beacon: Spider-Girl will die, a lot, and commander tax adds up. You'll be able to sac Command Beacon later in the game to recast Spider-Girl for a piddling two mana
