You Just Activated My Trap Card!

Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) Casual Control Flash Goodstuff Megamorph Morph Primer Storm Theme/Gimmick

Abzkaban

Creature (29)

• 1x Ainok Survivalist
• 1x Bane of the Living
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Brine Elemental
• 1x Chromeshell Crab
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Echo Tracer
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Icefeather Aven
• 1x Ixidron
• 1x Kadena's Silencer
• 1x Kheru Spellsnatcher
• 1x Mischievous Quanar
• 1x Mistfire Weaver
• 1x Nantuko Vigilante
• 1x Ruthless Ripper
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Silumgar Assassin
• 1x Stratus Dancer
• 1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Unblinking Bleb
• 1x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie
• 1x Voidmage Apprentice
• 1x Willbender

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Ghastly Conscription
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Scheming Symmetry

Land (34)

• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 4x Forest
• 4x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Winding Canyons
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Zoetic Cavern

Artifact (7)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Cloudstone Curio
• 1x Mystic Forge
• 1x Scroll of Fate
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring

Commander (1)

Enchantment (15)

• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Earthcraft
• 1x Equilibrium
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Heartless Summoning
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Obscuring AEther
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Secret Plans
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Words of Wind

Instant (8)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Shared Summons
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Ugin, the Ineffable
• 1x Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

Maybeboard

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Glimpse of Nature

Land (1)

• 1x Emergence Zone

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Opposition

Artifact (1)

• 1x Tangleroot

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The #1 Highest Ranked Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer deck on TappedOut!

Thank you for helping me become King of Games!

A Morph deck looking to out value opponents with card draw and morphing creatures to control the board.

It's Time to D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-Duel!

Functional Mana Curve

Since we'll be playing most of our creatures as morphs and not casting them for their casting cost, the mana curve is somewhat skewed. Below you'll find the proper mana curve assuming all morph creatures' morph costs as their casting costs.

Avg. CMC: 3.00

Trap Cards

Morph Creatures

• Ainok Survivalist - Artifact/Enchantment removal
• Bane of the Living - Board wipe for when opponents get out of control
• Brine Elemental - Tap down our opponents
• Chromeshell Crab - Steal an opponent's creature
• Deathmist Raptor - Recurable deathtouch creature
• Den Protector - Graveyard recursion
• Echo Tracer - Bounce a creature
• Gift of Doom - Protection for Kadena
• Grim Haruspex - Conditional card draw
• Icefeather Aven - Bounce a creature
• Kadena's Silencer - "No" on a stick
• Kheru Spellsnatcher - Counter a spell and steal it
• Mischievous Quanar - A blue Reverberate
• Mistfire Weaver - Give a creature hexproof
• Nantuko Vigilante - More artifact/enchantment removal
• Silumgar Assassin - Creature removal
• Stratus Dancer - Counter instant/sorcery spell
• Unblinking Bleb - Scry 2 for each trap card we activate
• Vesuvan Shapeshifter - Copy a creature. This can be an opponent's creature or can reuse any of our trap cards we've already activated.
• Voidmage Apprentice - Counterspell
• Willbender - Mirror Force!
• Zoetic Cavern - Just a land, but lets us draw with Kadena. Can also block for free.

Reseting Trap Cards

Bounce

Activating a morph creature once isn't enough. We want to reset them face-down so that we can activate them again to control the board.

• Cloudstone Curio - Free bounce whenever we set a morph creature. Excellent for reseting activated trap cards.
• Equilibrium - A Cloudstone effect for the cost of . Can also bounce opponents' creatures.
• Temur Sabertooth - Bounce our creatures at any time for .
• Words of Wind - Like Equilibrium but at the cost of a card we would draw. Has the upside of also bouncing opponents' permanents.

Setting Trap Cards On Our Opponents' Turns

Flash

There is something very important in the way Kadena's ability is worded that allows us to exploit it for value:

"The first face-down creature spell you cast each turn cost less to cast."

This means if we can manage to give our morph creatures flash, we can play one for free on each of our opponents' turns for more card draw!

• Alchemist's Refuge - Allows us to play at instant speed if we need it for
• Leyline of Anticipation - Gives us flash and not just to our morph creatures. It's free from our opening hand!
• Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - Not only gives us flash but also limits our opponents to playing at sorcery speed. Has the added bonus of being tutorable straight to the battlefield thanks to it being a creature.
• Winding Canyons - Alchemist's Refuge for indiscriminate mana. Limited to creatures.

Rulings

Morph is a strange mechanic which makes it difficult to play against. The uniqueness of its rulings also allows for some interesting plays and interactions. The rules pertaining to morph are as follows:

702.36. Morph

• 702.36a Morph is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on, and the morph effect works any time the card is face down. “Morph [cost]” means “You may cast this card as a 2/2 face-down creature with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost by paying {3} rather than paying its mana cost.” (See rule 707, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents.”)
• 702.36b Megamorph is a variant of the morph ability. “Megamorph [cost]” means “You may cast this card as a 2/2 face-down creature with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost by paying {3} rather than paying its mana cost” and “As this permanent is turned face up, put a +1/+1 counter on it if its megamorph cost was paid to turn it face up.” A megamorph cost is a morph cost.
• 702.36c To cast a card using its morph ability, turn it face down. It becomes a 2/2 face-down creature card with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost. Any effects or prohibitions that would apply to casting a card with these characteristics (and not the face-up card’s characteristics) are applied to casting this card. These values are the copiable values of that object’s characteristics. (See rule 613, “Interaction of Continuous Effects,” and rule 706, “Copying Objects.”) Put it onto the stack (as a face-down spell with the same characteristics), and pay {3} rather than pay its mana cost. This follows the rules for paying alternative costs. You can use a morph ability to cast a card from any zone from which you could normally play it. When the spell resolves, it enters the battlefield with the same characteristics the spell had. The morph effect applies to the face-down object wherever it is, and it ends when the permanent is turned face up.
• 702.36d You can’t normally cast a card face down. A morph ability allows you to do so.
• 702.36e Any time you have priority, you may turn a face-down permanent you control with a morph ability face up. This is a special action; it doesn’t use the stack (see rule 116). To do this, show all players what the permanent’s morph cost would be if it were face up, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. (If the permanent wouldn’t have a morph cost if it were face up, it can’t be turned face up this way.) The morph effect on it ends, and it regains its normal characteristics. Any abilities relating to the permanent entering the battlefield don’t trigger when it’s turned face up and don’t have any effect, because the permanent has already entered the battlefield.
• 702.36f If a permanent’s morph cost includes X, other abilities of that permanent may also refer to X. The value of X in those abilities is equal to the value of X chosen as the morph special action was taken.
• 702.36g See rule 707, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents,” for more information about how to cast cards with a morph ability.

This leads to some interactions that are technically legal even if it doesn't seem like they should be. Here are a few characteristics I would like to point out specifically:

1. Morph creatures are colorless 2/2 creatures with no abilites and no name.
2. Morph creatures have these characteristics before determining casting cost or alternate costs.
3. Activating a morph ability doesn't use the stack.

Guardian Project triggers upon each morph creature entering the battlefield because they have no name and therefore don't share a name with creatures on the field or in the graveyard. Can't share a name if you don't have one. Mystic Forge allows us to look at the top card of our library and cast it if it is an artifact or colorless nonland card. This allows us to play any morph creature from the top of our deck since they are turned face-down and treated as colorless spells before determining casting requirements. Let's say we have gathered a win con, but an opponent casts Angel's Grace which prevents them from losing the game that turn. We can't respond to it due to it having Split Second right? Wrong! Morph abilites are special actions that do not use the stack. That means while the split second spell is on the stack we can morph our Voidmage Apprentice and counter the spell! Morph creatures are slippery little things, aren't they?

Facedown Spell Cards

Manifest

Sometimes a facedown card isn't a trap card at all. Sometimes we set a spell card to bluff our opponents. They might think we are laying a morph creature when really we just want to place a basic land facedown to get the card draw!

• Primordial Mist - Not only does it allow us to manifest the top card of our library, but we can cast any non-morph cards we manifest with it. This will be one of the ways we can play our "face-down spell cards."
• Scroll of Fate - Manifest from our hand. This could mean a second free morph creature a turn or it could mean ditch an unwanted land for more card draw.
• Whisperwood Elemental - An extra face-down card per turn, but it's not optional like Primordial Mist. It can also help reestablish a board in the event of a board wipe.
• Ixidor, Reality Sculptor - An all star in the deck. His static +1/+1 is nice for our face-down creatures, but his activated ability is why we want him. Not only does he let us turn up any cards that would otherwise be stuck face-down if manifested, but he also lets us activate any morph ability for only !
• Ixidron - This guy can really shut down other board states. It's a good way to get rid of other commanders or any other troublesome creatures. Unfortunately he also flips over our own creatures which is good for resetting our morph creautures but not so good for cards like Kadena. Good thing we have Ixidor and Primordial Mist to help us turn those cards face-up again.

Pot of Greed

Card Draw

• Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer - Most of our card draw should come from our commander just for playing the deck.
• Aphetto Runecaster - Card draw when we activate our trap cards
• Beast Whisperer - Card draw for casting creatures. Doubles up on Kadena's draw.
• Guardian Project - Card draw for when our nameless morphs enter the battlefield. Doubles up on Kadena's draw.
• Mystic Remora - This will usually net a few cards before we can't pay for it anymore. It can last even longer if we manage to get Earthcraft or Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun.
• Rhystic Study - Are you going to pay the ?
• Secret Plans - Card draw when we activate our trap cards but also a static buff to our face-downs.

Heart of the Cards

Top Deck Manipulation and Tutors

Isn't it crazy how Yugi always seems to draw exactly what he needs? Well now we can, too! Manipulating the top of the deck fixes our draws, and tutors will fetch exactly what we need. Fixing the top of the deck also has good synergy with our manifest cards.

• Mystic Forge - Lets us look at the top of our deck and play it if it's an artifact or morph creature.
• Sensei's Divining Top - The ultimate top decking tool.
• Sylvan Library - Allows us to fix the top of our deck or straight up draw more cards.
• Vizier of the Menagerie - Like Mystic Forge but for any creature and fixes our mana for us.
• Defense of the Heart - Probably the best tutor in the deck if you can keep it on the board. Once an opponent gets 3 creatures, we get any two things we want straight to the battlefield.
• Demonic Tutor - Tutor for
• Scheming Symmetry - This one has interesting synergy in this deck. Choose whichever opponent is least threatening then either draw your tutor by casting a morph or cast it from the top of the deck if you're in position to do so.
• Vampiric Tutor - Tutor to the top of the deck which is not a bad thing in this deck.

Ritual Summon

Mana Ramp

• Arcane Signet - The best mana rock not named Sol Ring.
• Birds of Paradise - Best mana dork
• Earthcraft - The best ramp spell in the deck. It turns each morph creature into a hasty mana dork, and the first one is always free!
• Growing Rites of Itlimoc   - It's very easy to get 4 creatures out to flip this. Poor man's Gaea's Cradle.
• Sol Ring - Duh
• Somberwald Sage - Tap for another morph creature
• Talisman of Curiosity - Mana rock 1
• Talisman of Dominance - Mana rock 2
• Talisman of Resilience - Mana rock 3
• Trail of Mystery - Surprisingly good ramp early game and great for thinning the deck late game.

Call of the Haunted

Recursion

Ghastly Conscription - Recover from a board wipe or steal and opponent's graveyard

Den Protector - Grab a card from our graveyard

Deathmist Raptor - Return from the graveyard when we activate a trap card

Polymerization

Synergies

With the help of my Polymerization card, I'll fuse together Seedborn Muse and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir to create Prophet of Kruphix!

• Den Protector (face-up) + Vesuvan Shapeshifter = Repeatedly grab cards from the graveyard. Add a tutor for repeatable tutoring.
• Icefeather Aven + Echo Tracer = Bounce each other and draw with Kadena
• Ixidron + Ixidor, Reality Sculptor = Turn everything facedown then cast Ixidor and flip up our own stuff
• Tomb of the Spirit Dragon + Seedborn Muse = Gain life each turn just for having trap cards set
• Bane of the Living + Ghastly Conscription = Board wipe then steal an opponent's graveyard

The Shadow Realm

Win Cons

After controling the board and maintaining our board presence, we can win the duel and send our opponents to the shadow realm!

Screw the Rules!

Our primary goal is to assemble an infinite bounce combo. This combo consists of several pieces:

1. Any combination of Dream Chisel/Heartless Summoning/Obscuring AEther/Ugin, the Ineffable to reduce the casting cost of morph creatures to
2. Cloudstone Curio or Equilibrium & Earthcraft to bounce morph creatures back to our hand
3. At least 2 morph creatures in hand or 1 in hand and 1 on the field.

This allows us to continually play and bounce our morph creatures and draw the deck into a win con. Once we have our win con, we can bounce Kadena back to our hand so as to not deck ourselves. With this we have have a couple different ways to win.

1. Aetherflux Reservoir - Blast our opponents' life totals
   
2. Altar of the Brood - Mill our opponents out
3. Words of Wind - With enough mana we can clear the board and keep it that way

Lock the board

If assembling our bounce combo proves to be too troublesome, we have a couple different ways to lock down the board.

• Brine Elemental (face-up) + Vesuvan Shapeshifter = Pickles Lock
• Den Protector (face-up) + Vesuvan Shapeshifter + Cyclonic Rift = Overload Cyclonic Rift every turn

Credit to The Deckcoders' Alliance for the code on this page

"I'll just lay one card facedown and end my turn."

+1 to Activate My Trap Card! Join the Kadena Discord Server!

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 10 months ago
Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 60 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.76
Tokens	2/2 Morph, 2/2 Spirit, 2/2 Manifest
Folders	Uncategorized, Sources d'inspiration, Deck Ideas, Potential build, EDH, Things to think on..., Decks, Masked Riders, Edh decks, commander decks, See all 42