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Kruphix: Smash with Style

Commander / EDH Control Eldrazi Goodstuff GU (Simic) Primer Ramp

firebird10006

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Land (35)

Artifact (9)

Enchantment (3)

Creature (18)

Instant (14)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Kruphix, God of Horizons

Sorcery (16)

Planeswalker (4)

General Info

Welcome to Kruphix, where big green ramp is protected by blue magic. And then Eldrazi come in and smash things to bits. The game plan of the deck is to ramp quickly, play big creatures, then beat opponents to death. Plan B is to cast a very large X draw spell on them and have them draw their deck. And if that all fails, plan C is to stop any other spells from resolving. Kruphix was the first deck that I built from scratch, and it has grown and changed alongside my playstyle.

One of the best things about kruphix is that fact that he’s a GOD. AKA, once he gets on the battlefield, he’s here to stay. Indestructible limits the ways that people can remove him (exile, bouncing, “tucking” are some of the few), and the fact that he is often just an enchantment actually helps him survive. There is a limited amount of indestructible enchantment removal, and having blue in the color identity provides access to counterspells to stop the few spells that may remove indestructible enchantments. This makes it safer to build around his ability, and not have to worry too much about having the commander removed.

His first ability, no maximum hand size, makes it so that you can hold up 20 cards in your hand, and not have to discard them all at the end of turn. This lets you play Stroke of Genius or Blue Sun's Zenith for a lot of mana, and not have to discard all of the cards later.

The ability that this deck really abuses, however, is the fact that he can hold mana as colorless mana rather than having it disappear after phases. This makes it so that you can store a ton of mana between turns, and then use that mana to throw out big scary threats one after the other.

Early game

Ramp hard, either with spells like Rampant Growth , Farseek , Cultivate , or with mana rocks like Mana Vault , Mana Crypt , or Sol Ring . Getting Kruphix out as early as possible is usually the right way to go. Spells like Ponder , Preordain , and Brainstorm help make the early draws as smooth as possible. Scroll Rack is another way of getting rid of any really big cards early on, or if you have a garbage hand, just put it on the top of the library and get lots of new cards. Usually a fetchland or land-based ramp spell will be in there, and you can use that to push the junk cards away. The best things about these cards are that they can also be used to cheaply smooth out the draws in the late game as well.

Mid and Late Game

Use countermagic and other such spells while you put lots of mana into Kruphix’s mana battery. This mana can then later be used for big scary eldrazi, like Emrakul, the Promised End , Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger , and others. Also, the Praetor Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is a solid threat, though he shouldn’t be played without counterspell backup or other protection for it since people aren’t usually fans of having their hands messed with. These spells get much easier to cast once Omniscience is up and running, which is usually able to be cast early on with the plentiful amount of mana. Meanwhile, cards like Seedborn Muse work with Kruphix to generate lots of mana to save up to cast those big spells. This mana can also be used to cast big X spells like Blue Sun's Zenith / Stroke of Genius / Pull from Tomorrow . However, Seedborn Muse and the big creatures usually paint a big target on your head. This is where the counterspells and other protection come in.

  • Mana Crypt , Sol Ring : Some of the fastest mana in the format, amazing in the early game, but also really good for the late game. Sol ring is extremely good for turn 1 or for any other turn where you don’t need the colored mana. Mana crypt is best saved for the turn where you want to play the big spell.
  • Mana Vault : It’s a great turn one play so you can play Kruphix turn 2, or other things. Even if you can't untap it for a while, it is still a very good colorless one-time effect.
  • Mox Diamond : While it is technically card disadvantage, the fact that it can come out turn 1 and not to cost mana is really nice for casting spells quickly. Plus it plays very well with Crucible of Worlds .
  • Crucible of Worlds : Speaking of Crucible, this is just a very all-around good card. Whether it is using fetch lands over and over again, getting back a land someone blew up, or ruining someone's day by looping Wasteland / Ghost Quarter , crucible has many different uses.
  • Sensei's Divining Top , Scroll Rack : Good for digging through your deck, fetchlands make these really shine.
  • Oblivion Stone : a good colorless wipe that, once cast, can be used at instant speed. If nothing scary ends up coming out, it can put a fate counter on a permanent so that it can be safe when the stone wipes the board. The effect is a bit on the expensive side, but being able to hold up the stone activation as a threat is a very good deterrent for people messing with the board.
  • Simic Signet : provides filtering, and also is cheap. An all around solid mana rock.
  • Azusa, Lost but Seeking : If you get flooded with lands, either in your early hands or after drawing a lot of cards it’s very good for getting lands out. Also combos with Crucible of Worlds and Wasteland / Ghost Quarter / Strip Mine to ruin peoples' day.
  • Birds of Paradise : Mana dork, excellent for a turn 1 play, but still very useful late game.
  • Bane of Progress : In a meta where lots of ramp is through artifacts, this is a very good way to clear the board of those. Plus, since Kruphix is indestructible, this doesn't interfere with the commander's plan.
  • Consecrated Sphinx : Insane card draw. Unless it’s countered or killed during your turn, you’re drawing at least two cards off this thing.
  • Emrakul, the Promised End : One of the win cons of this deck. It’s hard for someone to come back from being mindslavered, even given an extra turn to recover, and then you also have a flying 13/13 with trample and protection from instants to beat up people.
  • Blightsteel Colossus : If this hits someone and isn't blocked, then they die. Simple as that. If it blocks or gets blocked, the other creature gets smaller. Infect is a very powerful mechanic. The risk for this is that it can be stolen or bribed...but that's what homeward path is for.
  • Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  : An all star card. Jace can be cast very early in the game, and then can help you draw cards while discarding any that you don't need. Once he flips, his -3 ability can be used to cast ramp instants or sorceries again, cast card draw spells again, or use counter spells again, though only on our turn.
  • Snapcaster Mage : Similar to Jace in reusing spells, except with snapcaster, the instants can be cast on opponents' turns as well.
  • Jin-Gitaxias, Core Auger: The flash is really what does it for Jin-Gitaxias, it either forces opponents to discard their hand save for a reliquary tower type of effect, or it lets you draw 7.
  • Joraga Treespeaker : another 1 mana creature. While it needs to level up to be able to tap for mana, once it does, then it gives 2 for each tap.
  • Kozilek, Butcher of Truth : A huge creature, draws 4 cards on cast, and annihilator 4, this card can really pack a punch.
  • Lotus Cobra : This makes it so that any time a land enters under your control, it provides mana, even if the land enters tapped. It also makes it so that lands that don't normally provide mana, such as fetches or Eye of Ugin , can provide mana.
  • Scavenging Ooze : Great graveyard hate, if your meta has that type of thing.
  • Seedborn Muse : Amazing for ramping if you have kruphix out, or does great things with tapping effects. Also it can untap mana vault without having to pay the 4 mana.
  • Selvala, Heart of the Wilds : It may occasionally draw a card, but the real draw of this card is that it also mana fixes and if you have big creatures out, then it makes a ton of mana.
  • Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger : Exiles two things on cast, is indestructible, and when it attacks, it exiles 1/5 of the defending player’s cards. Since it's indestructible, it makes a good blocker too if needed.
  • Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre : Destroys a permanent on cast, and it has annihilator 4. Also, protects against mill. Also indestructible.
  • Omniscience : Usually after dropping this, big things drop. If you drop this, prepare to have counterspells cuz opponents don’t like it when you cast things for free.
  • Song of the Dryads : Hard for an opponent to use a threatening permanent when it turns into a tree.
  • Sylvan Library : Digs 3 down in your draw step, and if you really want to keep all 3, you can pay 8 life to do so.
  • Pact of Negation Force of Will : The “zero mana” counterspells, or ones that either require mana later or require exiling a card. While the cost is expensive, when you’re tapped out and an opponent casts a game winning spell, those costs become worth it, so it gives bluffing power.
  • Counterspell : The classic blue way of saying “No”.
  • Mana Drain : It's counterspell that gets mana afterwards.
  • Arcane Denial : A less blue intensive counterspell with no real restrictions. Sure your opponenst draw two later, but this is also useful as a political tool. Plus, you also get to draw a card. This one is a very subjective choice, but I personally find the drawing a card later very helpful, and the spells countered are often scarier than the cards drawn.
  • Negate : Another less blue intensive counterspell. While it is restricted to noncreatures, it still counters the other types of spells and the deck has other means of dealing with creatures (such as reality shift, song of the dryads, or even bigger creatures).
  • Swan Song : Only hits instants, sorceries, or enchantments, but it is only one mana. It's a very good and cheap way to protect spells from being countered.
  • Cryptic Command : The blue mages toolbox. It’s a very versatile spell, and a terrible, terrible card to make as a textless promo.
  • Mission Briefing : cast something from the graveyard, or if one of the top 2 cards are good, cast one of those. You can use alternate costs for this too, such as overloading cyclonic rift and casting force of will for free.
  • Reality Shift : cheap removal and exiles creatures so that they stay gone. Even though the opponent manifests the top card, it often isn't a creature that is more troubling than what was exiled. And if it's a non-creature, that means that it's stuck as a 2/2 so they can't cast that one either.
  • Nature's Claim : Super cheap artifact and enchantment removal. Even though the opponent gains 4 life, the life is then sucked away when they are attacked by a massive eldrazi.
  • Krosan Grip : It's a little more expensive artifact/enchantment removal, but it has split second, so the opponents can't activate any abilities or cast spells to stop it, so it almost always goes through.
  • Brainstorm : Draw the top three cards of your deck, then put what you don’t need in from your hand in its place. Can be used with fetches to shuffle unwanted cards away.
  • Mystical Tutor : Get whatever instant or sorcery you need and put it on the top of your library. Can be counterspells, draw spells, or even ramp. Can combo with Time Stretch and Seasons Past for infinite turns (the one infinite in the deck that I know of, and it’s only in because all the cards are amazing on their own too)
  • Cyclonic Rift : Wipe everyone else’s board, at instant speed, and bathe in their salty tears.
  • Beast Within : kills (almost) anything for the low price of that opponent getting a 3/3 beast.
  • Pull from Tomorrow , Stroke of Genius , and Blue Sun's Zenith : The various instant speed draw X spells. Really good way to use up the mana that Kruphix has stored. I typically like to cast these at the end step of the person before.
  • Ugin, the Spirit Dragon : He may be a lot of mana, but Ugin is such a powerhouse that it’s worth it. His +2 can kill a mana dork or something with toughness 3 or less, but his –X ability is where he shines: he can wipe the board of colored permanents with CMC X or less. Sure, that includes your stuff, but this is a super hard reset in case an opponent gets really scary.
  • The Great Aurora : A board wipe in green that also disrupts hands. While it is expensive, it completely and utterly resets the board. With all of the card draw in this deck, this spell typically draws over 15-20 cards, and often more. Plus any mana that was floating before stays floating after this is cast, which can be used for any big spells in hand. An all star in this deck.
  • Gitaxian Probe : Looks into someone else's hand and draws a card. Plus you get to use the joke "I'm probing you". All for the low low cost of 2 life.
  • Cultivate : three mana ramp spells are great when you start out with turn one ramp.
  • Farseek , Nature's Lore , Rampant Growth : Two mana ramp. Farseek and Nature’s Lore get out Breeding Pool , Tropical Island or an Island or Forest respectively, with Nature’s lore having the benefit of coming in untapped. Rampant Growth can get either a Forest or Island.
  • Ponder , Preordain : One mana library manipulation spells, really good for early game and still good for late game draw fixing.
  • Seasons Past : really good grave recursion, and it can go infinite with Mystical Tutor and Time Stretch .
  • Time Spiral : If your hand is full of junk, it’s a good way to send it into your library. It also untaps 6 lands once it resolves, so it pays for itself.
  • Time Stretch : 10 mana is easy to reach in this deck, and it gets us two turns as a big payout. Goes infinite with Mystical Tutor and Seasons Past .
  • All Is Dust : Colorless board wipe. It also makes everyone sacrifice their permanents, so it gets around indestructible. Plus, the big creatures we have are colorless so this doesn't affect them.
  • Temporal Manipulation : another extra turn card. Getting to 5 in this deck is very easy, and can be used to accumulate more mana, get more cards, or just stall out. Plus it doesn't exile itself, so it can be recurred with Eternal Witness or Seasons Past .
  • Temporal Mastery : While it does normally cost 7 mana, top deck manipulation such as scroll rack and brainstorm can be used to cast this for only 2 mana. Mystical tutor also is a good way to do this. It does exile after cast, so it's not abusable, but it is still a strong effect.
  • Green Sun's Zenith : Fetches a whole suite of green creatures to be used for utility and mana. If this is in hand turn 1, it can be used as a ramp spell by fetching Dryad Arbor.
  • Laboratory mainiac: As much as drawing tons of cards seems like laboratory maniac’s thing, I’ve always found him to be a dead draw, as he always pops up early game when I don’t need him.
  • Enter the Infinite: Paints a big target, and it feels like a win-more type of card in this deck. If I am able to cast it, usually I’m already in a good spot, or I’m already screwed. Either way, I haven’t found it to be super useful.
Kruphix, God of Horizons + Seedborn Muse : ALL THE MANA Force of Will + Mystical Tutor + Sensei's Divining Top : Can counter a spell at any point with only one mana, or, if opponents don't cast anything, can be used to get Genesis Wave or any other instant/sorcery you see fit Mystical Tutor early on: can be used as a ramp spell Symbol:GU Seasons Past + Mystical Tutor + Counterspell + Force of Will + Omniscience: Repeating counterspells for days Symbol:GU Mystical Tutor + Seasons Past + Time Stretch : Infinite Turns
The biggest thing with Kruphix is that you want to have lots of cheap ramp spells, fat things to use the mana for, and some counterspells/other forms of protection for your threats. The big eldrazi can get kind of expensive, so hydras, leviathans, or other big creatures can be a good substitute. Apart from that, Kruphix is a very flexible commander, and he can lend himself to decent budget-friendly builds.
Apologies if the decklist and the deck description dont quite sync up...I try to keep them both up to date, but sometimes I forget to update the description when swapping cards

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