Zedruu EDH PRIMER

Commander / EDH Chaos Combo Control Donate RUW (Jeskai, America)

marco-online

Land (38)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deserted Beach
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Homeward Path
• 4x Island
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Ondu Skyruins  ^Flip
• 5x Plains
• 1x Plaza of Heroes
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Raugrin Triome
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Spectator Seating
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stormcarved Coast
• 1x Sundown Pass
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Training Center

Draw (6)

• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Pendant of Prosperity
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Smuggler's Share
• 1x Whirlwind of Thought

Combo (4)

• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Knowledge Pool
• 1x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
• 1x Possibility Storm

Recursion (3)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Cavalier of Dawn
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity

Donation Targets (13)

• 1x Banishing Light
• 1x Clout of the Dominus
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gift of Immortality
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Leyline Binding
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Paradox Haze
• 1x Pentad Prism
• 1x Sphere of the Suns
• 1x Transmogrifying Wand

Engine Cards (11)

• 1x Donate
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Pendant of Prosperity
• 1x Perplexing Chimera
• 1x Political Trickery
• 1x Puca's Mischief
• 1x Rainbow Vale
• 1x Role Reversal
• 1x Sudden Substitution
• 1x Vedalken Plotter

Pro (7)

• 1x Clout of the Dominus
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Gift of Immortality
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Plaza of Heroes
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Unwind

Bad Gifts (5)

• 1x Crown of Doom
• 1x Illusions of Grandeur
• 1x Nine Lives
• 1x Pyromancer's Swath
• 1x Statecraft

Fix (4)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Tolaria West

Commander (1)

Removal (12)

• 1x Banishing Light
• 1x Cavalier of Dawn
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Leyline Binding
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Ondu Skyruins  ^Flip
• 1x Skyclave Apparition
• 1x Tragic Arrogance
• 1x Transmogrifying Wand
• 1x Treachery

Ramp (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Keeper of the Accord
• 1x Knight of the White Orchid
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Pentad Prism
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Smuggler's Share
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sphere of the Suns
• 1x Thieving Skydiver

Pillow (5)

• 1x Collective Restraint
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Keeper of the Accord
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Sphere of Safety

Other (3)

• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Mirrormade

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Zedruu EDH PRIMER

The main strength of Zedruu is its ability to donate permanents to other players, which can create political alliances and opportunities for backhanded deals. Additionally, its triggered ability to gain life and draw cards for X donated permanents is an unreached draw engine printed on a commander.

Besided protection staples like Teferi's Protection, Fierce Guardianship, Plaza of Heroes there are some unique inclusions to protect Zedruu. The auras Gift of Immortality and Clout of the Dominus can be donated. Muddle the Mixture finds a combo pice and Unwind untaps mana for another upkeep donation.

Basic Rules that you should really know. Show

Taken and altered from this resourceful thread written by tstorm823 >click<

Ownership

Zedruu counts cards you own but don't control. The owner of a card is fairly obviously whoever's using the deck it started in. Ownership in the game does not care about the real world owner of the card, only the person who is using that deck. The only cards you own when playing Zedruu are the cards from the deck you're playing. Ownership of tokens works differently because they don't exist at the start of the game. For tokens, the owner is whoever made them. For example, if you were to play Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and use it to make a token, you would be the owner of that token. If you play Forbidden Orchard and make an opponent make a token, the opponent owns that token, so you do not draw off of those tokens. If you play Political Trickery and give someone Forbidden Orchard and then they give you the token (as will happen if it's 1 on 1), you own those and can donate them for value. This can get a little tricky with some cards because they've changed the rules over time, and most recently changed the text of cards to accommodate those rules. So while the text on Forbidden Orchard tells you to put a token under their control, the oracle text tells the opponent to create the token.

Control

Changing control is sort of the whole point of Zedruu. The two rules situations where control is iffy are auras and multiple control effects. Auras are easy, you just need to remember that control of an aura doesn't change what it's attached to. e.g. Paradox Haze - If I enchant myself with Paradox Haze and then donate it, it still enchants me and thus I still get the extra upkeep. There are entire Zedruu decks dedicated to playing auras and then donating them to draw cards. In the situation where multiple effects are giving players control of an object, the most recently applied effect is the one that counts, and an earlier effect ending doesn't change later effects. Example, if you Mind Control a creature and then donate the creature (not that you would, but you could), there would be two static effects giving control of the creature, but Zedruu was more recent and would be the one that wins. If Mind Control is destroyed later, it doesn't change control back to the original controller because Zedruu's effect still applies (and will continue to apply until the object leaves play or you or the current controller lose the game). More likely, if you play a Threaten effect and donate the stolen creature, it will remain donated even after Threaten ends. And if someone plays Mind Control on something donated with Zedruu, that effect will be most recent and give them control, but you'll end up drawing anyway so who cares!

A specific case of changing control is during combat. If an attacking or blocking creature changes control, it is removed from combat, and thus takes no damage. Thus, you can block a creature with your own, let's say it's Memnite, and then pay 3 into Zedruu to donate that Memnite, the attacker remains blocked but instead of Memnite dying it moves to the other side to help you draw more cards. I highly recommend avoiding creatures as donations as they can be easily sacrificed or used as chump blockers to deny you cards, but it's better to donate than just chump block yourself.

Trigger Resolution

Zedruu's only trigger condition is that you reach the beginning of the upkeep with her. No player gets priority during the before occuring untap step, and upkeep triggers happen before priority passes, so as soon as someone passes the turn to you, you're guaranteed that Zedruu will trigger. Even if your opponents control nothing you own, Zedruu's trigger still goes on the stack. Then priority passes before the trigger resolves, which means you can do things before it resolves, which is important because you can donate things in response to the trigger, and then X is counted during resolution. A possible play is Pentad Prism on turn 2 followed by Zedruu on turn three and donating the prism on turn 4 in response to the trigger. Mind that this works both ways though, so if your opponents remove your donations in response to the trigger you'll draw less. But the trigger resolves independent of whether you still control Zedruu when it resolves, so targeted removal at Zedruu wont stop the draw, and if you're desperate enough, you can donate Zedruu to draw off of Zedruu's trigger.

Players Leaving the Game

I'm just going to paste a section of the comprehensive rules here because this is important.

    800.4a When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game and any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end. Then, if that player controlled any objects on the stack not represented by cards, those objects cease to exist. Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that player, those objects are exiled.

If you die while someone controls one of your cards, your card leaves with you. If they die while controlling a card donated to them, the effect giving them control ends and it returns to whoever would control it without that effect. If a card you own entered play under an opponent's control (e.g. they used Bribery), there is no effect giving them control, thus it stays in their control and falls under the last clause where everything left is exiled.

Taken and altered from this resourceful thread written by tstorm823 >click<

The build leans towards an enchantment subtheme.

• Enchantments tend to be sturdy permanents and stick around for Zedruus triggered ability.
• Most auras e.g. Paradox Haze can be donated after they enchant permanents or players.
• Removal enchantments e.g. Oblivion Ring can be donated.
• Build is running Sphere of Safety and Serra's Sanctum.
• White recursion access Hall of Heliod's Generosity.
• White tutor access Enlightened Tutor.

Avoid Creatures:

• Running Whirlwind of Thought as second Zedruu.
• Creature inclusions are mainly needed for card type locked exchanges with Role Reversal and Sudden Substitution.
• Donating creatures is shortlived - I dont invest in creature donations for Zedruus ability since creature permanents are removed easily or will die in combat.
• Creatures I do run should ideally pay off with ETB effects so that after a swap they are vanilla creatures for opponents.

Avoid helping your opponents

• I feel that ramp and card advantageous effects are game winning. I want such effects only for me.
• The mainstream Zedruu decks prefer symmetrical effects like Howling Mine etc.
• Symmetrical cards are superior from a donate perspective but I mostly pass on them.
• Having 'only you benefit' instead of symmetrical 'everyone benefits' is less mana efficient but you do not fuel your opponents ressources.
• Example: Whirlwind of Thought will draw multiple cards only for you while Dictate of Kruphix will give you one and your opponents three.
• Example: Smoke does not care who controlls it but you will be hated. I rather play Propaganda.
• Example: Oath of Lieges Ramps and unscrews anybody until the point where they threats take over the game. I rather play Land Tax.
• Besides I run enough Donation Targets that I can easily pass on such disadvantages.

Zedruu's Ability Count

I run three types to increase Zedruu the Greathearted {X} count: Bad Gifts, Donation Targets and Engine Cards.

Bad gifts for my opponent with the sole purpose of inducing a major downside for it's controller.

• Illusions of Grandeur is the most iconic Zedruu card. Gives mad style points and is a combo piece later in the game (described below).

• Nine Lives can be a combo piece later in the game (described below).

• Pyromancer's Swath breaks spines. Politically interesting to donate to control players or the one anoying bugger with to expensive or salty cards.

• Crown of Doom Politically interesting as it can't return to you. The controller swap is build in the card for {2}.

• Statecraft turns your vanilla creatures into blockers untill you donate it to the most creature based agressive opponent shutting his primary strategy down.

Donation Targets which serve any purpose and can be donated once resolved or depleated:

• Paradox Haze is giving us two beneficial card pairings on the way. One is Paradox Haze + Zedruu the Greathearted and the other is Paradox Haze + Puca's Mischief . We stay enchanted even when we donate this aura away.

• Banishing Light, Imprisoned in the Moon, Oblivion Ring, Darksteel Mutation and Grasp of Fate act as synergystic removal.

• Note that if you would swap lands with Leyline Binding in mind you could swap an Island for an opponents Bayou to gain all 5 basic land types. Not only will Leyline Binding cost only {W} also Collective Restraint will benefit and protect for 5.

• Clout of the Dominus is one mana +2+2 shroud and hast for Zedruu that can be donated while still protectimg her.

• Gift of Immortality can also be donated while still protectimg play these auras over Swiftfoot Boots.

• Forbidden Orchard is donated with some political deals in mind so that you net some tokens eventually.

• Treachery is free, can be donated and be treated as pseudo removal for creatures.

• Pentad Prism and Sphere of the Suns can ramp efficiently any color until they turn into dead pieces of metal. If you donate this it will just stay around on your opponents side and no one will spend resources to remove it.

Engine Cards that make opponents crontroll our permanents:

• Sudden Substitution is weird and this is why it fits here. If you have a creature on board you can swap it with target spell. If you play a bad gifts spell like Pyromancer's Swath or any symmetrical spell e.g. Possibility Storm you can let it enter directly under opponents control and you gain control of target creature.

• Donate is a backup that mimics Zedruus donation ability (or rather was the partial basis for Zedruus ability). Usefull to keep in hand for the lategame.

• Gilded Drake auto swaps itself for any threat or commander. If your exchange piece dies one can get Drake back with Homeward Path.

• Political Trickery and Vedalken Plotter are the best engine cards Zedruu has. The exchanged lands will never be removed in most games. Run them!

• Role Reversal and Puca's Mischief are the second best engine cards. RR has a type restriction and PM has a CMC restriction. They help you to keep up with the game by evening out boardstates.

• Pendant of Prosperity is a group-hug card for a single opponent that can be used politically. It has nice synergy due to it auto swap ability.

• Humble Defector turns into a draw engine with Homeward Path. It can be activated in response to Zedruus triggered ability to increase the {X} draw from it and then get it back.

• Rainbow Vale can be tapped for Zedruus donate ability in response to Zedruus trigger paying for one of {R}{U}{W} and counting +{1} for Zedruus {X}. It also allows for political plays.

• Perplexing Chimera is nuts with Homeward Path. The card itself but especially the pair Homeward Path + Perplexing Chimera can discourage the table from playing anything fancy.

##Additional draw engines Show

Besides Zedruu the Greathearted and the already mentioned options with Homeward Path + Humble Defector and Pendant of Prosperity there are powerful static options that will net you some more cards.

• The fish Mystic Remora is great since It can be reccured with Cavalier of Dawn or Hall of Heliod's Generosity.

• Rhystic Study ...

• Smuggler's Share is the card that pairs up niceliy with Humble Defector or Pendant of Prosperity.

• Whirlwind of Thought is our second general.

Win the game by combo not damage.

Included winconditions require 2 cards and do not lead to infinite scenarios. This can easily be downgraded to other less competetive win conditions or can be smoothed with cutting tutoring effects.

For some consistency atm I run some tutors:

• Muddle the Mixture that tutors for key creatures.

• Imperial Recruiter that tutors for key creatures.

• Enlightened Tutor that tutors key artifacts or enchantments.

Recursion is currently sparsely included since I do not rely on a single option.

However, I still enjoy some recursion options in my games:

• Cavalier of Dawn recurs artifacts or enchantments with its LTB.

• Academy Ruins and Hall of Heliod's Generosity recurs artifacts or enchantments.

Combo Winconditions

1. Lock - ~{4}{R}{R}{WU}:

Drannith Magistrate + Possibility Storm = only you can cast spells.

Lavinia, Azorius Renegade + Possibility Storm = only you can cast spells.

You either play Possibility Storm and play creatures until you achieve the lock via chaos or you have one of the creatures on the board and then you play Possibility Storm.

1. Lock - ~{7}{WU}:

card:Knowledge Pool + Drannith Magistrate = only you can cast spells.

Knowledge Pool + Lavinia, Azorius Renegade = only you can cast spells.

The KP combination is less strict. With Knowledge Pool you just have to play the key creature first then a second one to assemble the lock. Or you play the creature, then Knowledge Pool.

Themed Winconditions

Casting Nine Lives and Donate it to an opponent.

Within time the counters will accumulate and eventually the death trigger of Nine Lives takes him out.

Or you cast Nine Lives, wait until the 9th counter is placed on it - hold priority - then you donate it via Zedruu the Greathearted's ability with instant speed taking out one opponent. I consider Nine Lives + Zedruu the Greathearted thee tightly coupled Zedruu wincon.

Illusions of Grandeur + Zedruu the Greathearted is another themed combo.

Casting Illusions of Grandeur, donating it leaves you with +20 life. Illusions of Grandeur's new controller need to bother with -20 life.

Illusions of Grandeur and Nine Lives can be duped with Mirrormade to extend their blowouts to further opponents.

In 4 player games and with a pillow fort build like this Luminarch Ascension shines. It will reach state of activation since we run multiple tax effects like Sphere of Safety, Collective Restraint, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda that hinder opponents from attacking us.

The ideal pairing with some boardstate is Luminarch Ascension + Sphere of Safety . With Serra's Sanctum or Smothering Tithe one will be able to spawn several angles per turn.

Ongoing Considerations Show

Considered Winconditions...

Since Academy Ruins is already in the deck I seek space to fiddle with Mindslaver.

Academy Ruins + Mindslaver == gain control of all of target player's turns for {11}{U}.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch + Mindslaver == gain control of all of target player's turns for {10}. Emry, Lurker of the Loch does double as another recursion option.

Mages' Contest + Mindslaver would snipe an opponent to death if he does not bow to you since you could bid his remaining life points with Mages' Contest for him while he is mindslaved.

Considered Cardchoices...

Reins of Power seems interesting to deal a fatal blow out of nowhere or to let opponents creatures kill each other before I can get hit by them.

Guardian of Faith could replace Teferi's Protection.

Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs could replace a pillow fort effect.

Pramikon, Sky Rampart would provide an impactful and political way of restricting who can attack you.

Slaughter the Strong clears the board while you can keep zedruu alive.

Weathered Wayfarer would let you further tutor for your utility lands.

Date added	8 months
Last updated	1 month
Key combos	Academy Ruins + Mindslaver Paradox Haze + Zedruu the Greathearted Illusions of Grandeur + Zedruu the Greathearted Knowledge Pool + Lavinia, Azorius Renegade Homeward Path + Humble Defector Mages' Contest + Mindslaver Homeward Path + Perplexing Chimera Lavinia, Azorius Renegade + Possibility Storm Emry, Lurker of the Loch + Mindslaver Drannith Magistrate + Possibility Storm Nine Lives + Zedruu the Greathearted Paradox Haze + Puca's Mischief Luminarch Ascension + Sphere of Safety
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 62 - 0 Rares 14 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.11
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Golem 3/3 C, Illusion */* U, Ox 2/4 W, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure
Folders	EDH