Spirit Bomb (Kalamax EDH)

Commander / EDH RUG (Temur) Spellslinger Voltron

Jokulmorder1

Instant (51)

• 1x Abrade
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Blessed Respite
• 1x Bolt Bend
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Breath Weapon
• 1x Cerebral Vortex
• 1x Choose Your Weapon
• 1x Confounding Riddle
• 1x Entish Restoration
• 1x Firemind's Foresight
• 1x Fling
• 1x Gaea's Gift
• 1x Gigadrowse
• 1x Grab the Reins
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Hithlain Knots
• 1x Hunter's Insight
• 1x Increasing Vengeance
• 1x Invigorating Surge
• 1x Jaheira's Respite
• 1x Leap of Flame
• 1x Life Goes On
• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Manamorphose
• 1x March of Swirling Mist
• 1x Master's Rebuke
• 1x Mortal's Resolve
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Press the Enemy
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Prophetic Bolt
• 1x Reins of Power
• 1x Resculpt
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Reverberate
• 1x Scatter the Seeds
• 1x Shore Up
• 1x Shower of Arrows
• 1x Snap
• 1x Stubborn Denial
• 1x Sundering Vitae
• 1x Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• 1x Thrill of Possibility
• 1x Twinferno
• 1x Tyvar's Stand
• 1x Unleash Fury
• 1x Unravel the Aether
• 1x Unsubstantiate
• 1x Weather the Storm
• 1x Weight of Spires

Land (38)

• 8x Forest
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 1x Holdout Settlement
• 9x Island
• 1x Molten Tributary
• 8x Mountain
• 1x Remote Isle
• 1x Restless Ridgeline
• 1x Slippery Karst
• 1x Smoldering Crater
• 1x Tangled Islet
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Uncharted Haven
• 1x Wooded Ridgeline

Creature (4)

• 1x Cresting Mosasaurus
• 1x Earthshaker Dreadmaw
• 1x Otepec Huntmaster
• 1x Palani's Hatcher

Commander (1)

Artifact (5)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Gruul Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Two-Handed Axe

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Wilderness Reclamation

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• Major Themes/Archetype: Spellslinger Voltron
• Subthemes: Spell copying, Counters, Dinosaur typal
• Planar Flavor: Ixalan, Tarkir, Kamigawa
• Basic Land Art: Dragon Ball vibes

Background

This deck branched off of an earlier Izzet spellslinger deck I built circa 2013 and played through early 2020.

Actual footage of Kalamax splitting off the original Izzet deck, then reabsorbing the nascent Izzet wizards deck (colorized)

By 2020 I finally came to the realization that while my unitary Izzet deck was loaded with instant/sorcery synergies, it was being pulled in two directions:

1. A tribal, creature-focused deck packed with creatures boasting prowess or prowess-like abilities, and small cantrips to enable them

2. A deck of splashy, impactful spells, and a bare minimum of creatures for board presence

This internal contradiction was exacerbated by the commander, Melek, Izzet Paragon, who was always a bit late to the party at 6 MV and had been posting diminishing returns year by year. Unfortunately my choice of commander was not doing much for the small, cantrippy tribal wizards, nor was it pulling enough weight as a big spell copying powerhouse with its "top of library" restriction.

With the printing of Kalamax, the Stormsire, I decided to relocate the spellslinger theme to a new Temur deck, and eventually gave up on making a go of prowess, sorceries, and Izzet wizzies—after all, the spellslinger playstyle can be a bit "mathy" and "busy," and I am "stupid."

TL;DR: Originally I played Izzet spells. Then I added green.

Gameplay

One major theme of this deck is doubling. Various cards double Kalamax's power, which when copied and combined with the +1/+1 counter, can put Kalamax in one-shot range very easily. Sometimes you can rain death on an opponent from out of a clear blue sky!

As a backup, use Fling effects to burn out unsuspecting opponents or make a last desperate maneuver.

Kalamax loves attacking to get tapped and enable your spell copying, a feat which becomes easier the more spells copied and +1/+1 counters gained, but don't forget you can declare him as an attacker, then cast and copy a neat spell to grant him evasion or clear away blockers before damage is dealt.

Kalamax also gets +1/+1 counters whenever you copy an instant, he doesn't have to copy it for you to benefit!

Judge's Corner

One of the first, most vital lessons Magic players learn when they start playing clones is that the copy will only retain the stats and abilities of the printed card. But copying an instant or sorcery spell works a little differently—you copy the full text of it, even if the spell's text has been modified by something like Glamerdye. Copying a spell also copies the values of any additional costs spent to cast it, so if you copy a kicked or entwined spell (or a Fling!!), the copy will be maxed out as well. Just be careful with charms, as the mode is locked in when the original spell is cast—you can't change it for the copy.

Neat Moves

Firemind's Foresight is a fun pet card in this deck. Sort by custom categories to view all cards Firemind's Foresight can tutor for.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	4 months
Exclude colors	WB
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 16 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 34 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.68
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Dinosaur 3/3 G, Dinosaur Egg 0/1 G, Egg 0/1 G, Elemental 4/4 UR, Saproling 1/1 G
Folders	EDH current decks, want to try