During my last upgrade I realized I was running less ramp than I wanted to be. I was at 12 sources, and I wanted to be closer to 15, so I decided to go pick up the rest of what I needed to complete the upgrade I brainstormed the other day. Here are the changes:
Out: Qasali Pridemage. In: Outland Liberator
Flip.
Easier to cast, and the potential to destroy more artifacts and enchantments is more impactful than exalted.
Out: Thrashing Brontodon. In: Haywire Mite.
The Brontodon may be a more useful body, but Haywire Mite's ability to get around Theros gods and things like Darksteel Forge gives it great utility. Plus being a one-drop is great, since we care about cast and ETB triggers. Not to mention it's Skullclampable.
Out: Oblivion Stone. In: Ondu Inversion
Flip.
Another land that produces white, which frees up another slot. O-Stone is great, but being able to squeeze this in as part of the land count pushes it over the top.
Out: Fauna Shaman. In: Worldly Tutor.
Fauna Shaman is a little awkward to sequence around, and it can be a bit hard for this deck to have the creatures in hand to make proper use of it. When it works, it works, but when it doesn't, I'd rather have this piece that also helps sequence into turn-3 Karametra if we have it in hand with one mana dork.
Out: Teferi's Protection. In: Shalai, Voice of Plenty.
Though Shalai herself has less flexibility, she adds more flexibility to both Chord of Calling and Eladamri's Call (possibly also Eldritch Evolution if I decide to add it). With her and Selfless Spirit both in the deck, either of these cards can be whichever part of a Teferi's Protection is more important in most situations. Shalai is also a good creature you don't have to be shy to throw down when you need Karametra/other triggers, and everything this card does is something we want to be doing. I was deciding between cutting TefProt and Heroic Intervention, and decided to keep the latter because it enables boardwipe + Shaman of Forgotten Ways wins, which Teferi's Protection doesn't.
Out: Lightning Greaves. In: Selfless Savior.
Another Skullclampable creature, another one-drop, and a smaller backup Selfless Spirit for the instant-speed tutors. Its main utility is protecting threats and engine pieces, but it can also save a mana dork from an early boardwipe to make recovering easier. This version of the deck goes wider than it used to, so haste on one creature may not be as relevant as it was, but it's something I'll be thinking about during playtesting.
Out: Swiftfoot Boots. In: Saffi Eriksdottir.
Great card with Skullclamp any way you look at it, and fits better into sequencing than the boots. Protects key pieces and mana dorks, just like Selfless Savior, but also lets you repeat sac effects like Outland Liberator
Flip and Haywire Mite, or reuse ETB abilities if something like Loran of the Third Path is dying incidentally or because you Skullclamped it.
Out: Heliod's Intervention. In: Loran of the Third Path.
Another great card in isolation surpassed by versatility and synergy. If there's one thing I've learned about EDH, it's that any combination of ramp, removal, and card draw on one card is hard to pass up. Loran checks two of those boxes, while being a creature for Karametra and having 1 toughness for Skullclamp. The mass removal functionality is mostly covered by the tutorable Bane of Progress. I will miss gaining 30 life out of nowhere, but I'm positive this will wind up in another deck soon.
Out: Liege of the Tangle. In: Awaken the Woods.
I love Liege of the Tangle, and I'm thinking of building another dedicated deck for it, but it was the most logical cut for Awaken the Woods. Both are potentially devastating wincons with the right setup, and Liege requires more setup. Awaken the Woods makes a ton of bodies, a ton of mana for next turn (which Genesis Wave especially likes), and makes any landfall card go sicko mode. Cutting Liege also makes Elspeth and Sun Titan less essential, which frees up slots for other cards.
Out: Elspeth, Knight-Errant. In: Beast Whisperer.
Losing the evasion may be a little unfortunate, but otherwise Elspeth doesn't synergize much with the rest of the deck now that the main reason for granting indestructible is gone. There are more efficient ways to get it for what we do need it for that are more on-plan (ie Heroic Intervention, Vivien Reid). This is a good place to slot in more card draw, since the deck really needs a way to pick up steam after dumping its hand to get Karametra in play.
Out: Sun Titan. In: Primordial Sage.
See above two. Also, with the earlier loss of the Wood Elves clones, Sun Titan has less broad synergy here than it once did.
Out: Evolutionary Leap. In: Soul of the Harvest.
Leap is like another Skullclamp, so it might wind up back in, but Soul of the Harvest snowballs with all my other card draw pieces in a way that Leap doesn't really. It being a creature to help trigger things like Karametra and Beast Whisperer also helps its case. It being a 6/6 trampling beater on top of everything else it's supposed to do is kind of the better version of my thinking back when I was running things like Thrashing Brontodon and Topiary Stomper: fitting bodies onto your staple effects is a good way to build a stompy deck that can apply pressure while also being a functioning commander deck.
Out: Wrath of God. In: Mentor of the Meek.
Because of the focus on indestructible, earlier versions of this deck played lots of boardwipes. Going down one to absolutely cram the deck full of card draw seems reasonable, especially since more of my ramp creatures need to stick around in this version. Wrath hits less than Hour of Revelation and isn't tutorable like Realm-Cloaked Giant.
Out: Krosan Verge. In: Dryad Arbor.
Verge is too slow to curve into a turn-3 Karametra, which is the new standard this version of the deck is gunning for. Dryad Arbor may not be a ramp spell, but it lets Green Sun's Zenith act like another mana dork.
Out: Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. In: Tireless Provisioner.
Nykthos is a late-game ramp engine, while Provisioner has potential to be a much earlier one. Another Lotus Cobra is great on its own or with both in play, since these plus Beast Whisperer effects let you cantrip through as many one (and potentially two) drops as you can draw.
Out: Beast Within, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares. In: Avacyn's Pilgrim, Boreal Druid, Gilded Goose.
I had to cut something to raise my ramp count and fit the rest of the mana dorks in, and I was high on answers. I suspect Swords or Beast Within might find its way back in once I figure out an underperformer, since my other creature and any-permanent answers are higher on the curve.
Out: Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar. In: Wild Growth.
See above; something needed to come out to make room, and I already have a decent amount of finishers and tutors that can get them. The reason Ulvenwald Hydra made the cut and this didn't was its ability to get Rogue's Passage. Another of many of these cards that I'd love to welcome back in under the right circumstances.
Out: Sakura-Tribe Elder. In: Search for Tomorrow.
I deliberated on this for a long time. In the end, Search won out because it's better in your opening hand, and just as good of a draw on turn 2 as long as you played a mana dork turn 1 and haven't missed a land drop yet. Elder may be better when you have bad mulligan luck and completely whiff on any turn-1 ramp, but with 13 other 1-mana ramp spells, I don't think that's a chance we need to take. 7 copies of a card in EDH is similar to 4 in a 60-card format, so I think seeing favorable conditions almost every time I draw this card is probable. It does get worse in the late game since it's not a creature, though. Here's hoping for a future card design to replace this that's a little more Gilded Goose and a little less Rustvine Cultivator.
Out: Void Winnower, Arch of Orazca, 2x Plains. In: Branchloft Pathway
Flip, Fortified Village, Sunpetal Grove, Brushland.
Manabase upgrades! Before tweaking the land count, I made sure I was able to get green on turn 1 and white on turn 3 90% of the time, as per Frank Karsten's calculations (https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/home/how-many-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells-a-2022-update/), and part of that was adding these untapped duals. Note that I did base my numbers on ones I'd written down a while ago, which may now be outdated, so I'll have to check that at some point. As for the cuts, Arch of Orazca made sense because I added so many other card draw pieces that fit better into the plan, and Void Winnower has been on thin ice for a while. Looking over what's still in the deck, I might switch it (and by proxy the Serra's Emissary I switch in and out with it) for Akroma's Memorial. I'm weighing in favor of Memorial right now because Ulvenwald Hydra into Rogue's Passage is already a tutorable way to get evasion and I have other tutorable ways to protect my creatures, but it's close.
