This deck write up is an early attempt at making a competitive Toolbox / Reanimator deck with Lazav, the Multifarious at the helm. While this may never be a top-tier deck in cEDH I believe that with Lazav's unique ability there are multiple resilient lines to close out the game or foil the plans of your opponents. This write up will be brief as testing is still on going with the deck and because this is my first attempt at brewing for cEDH.
I look forward to getting feedback from everyone, thank you.
So why Lazav?
Because of his unique ability Lazav allows us to utilize the graveyard as few other decks can, provided that our combos are mostly creature-based. While creatures are easy to interact with, we can take solace knowing that Lazav is a second copy of any combo piece in the deck but with added protection. When building around the needs of our commander, the deck naturally wants to take a reanimator route for additional resilience. Additionally, Lazav is a cheap commander that can be replayed once or twice without the cost getting too high, and his ability cost can be reduced.
Combos and Where Lazav Fits
Infinite Mana:
Grand Architect + Pili-Pala
- infinite mana of any color. Lazav fits into this combo by acting as a back up copy of either creature. The downside of this is that Lazav cannot do both- this is where reanimation spells fill holes in the plan. Fortunately, this combo relies on low CMC creatures which makes it inexpensive to set up.
Necrotic Ooze + Palladium Myr + Pili-Pala
- infinite mana of any color. This is an infinite combo I am not sold on yet, which is why Palladium Myr is in the maybe board. While having a secondary combo for infinite mana, this one requires much more set up. The good news is, Lazav slots in easily as an extra copy of Necrotic Ooze with evasion.
Game-Winning Combos
+1/+1 Ping Combos
Necrotic Ooze + Bloodline Keeper + Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Walking Ballista - Infinite +1/+1 counters and ping damage. One of the most common necrotic ooze combos, with a substitution of Ballista for the classic Triskelion. While this change means very little for the classic necrotic ooze combo, but it does have implications for a back-up combo listed below. While testing has not given me any feedback for this combo, I believe it is powerful enough to make the final cut.
Infinite mana + Walking Ballista - While infinite mana has been covered already, the implications of substituting Ballista for Triskelion will be gone over here. On the plus side, we do not have to pay 6 mana to turn Lazav into a copy of Triskelion. On the downside, Lazav will need to have at least one +1/+1 counter before copying Ballista in order to survive the transformation. While this substitution does not matter for the classic necrotic ooze combo, it does make this combo more hard to execute while using Lazav. While not the most efficient, I see this combo making the final cut because of it's pieces being used in other combos
Lab Maniac Combos
Demonic Consultation + Laboratory Maniac
- Easily the win con I use most often when testing. It is very easy to use Lazav as a backup piece or reanimate Maniac. Demonic Consultation allows for a win at instant speed, which helps as well. I am very pleased with this combo, and see it making the final cut.
Mirror-Mad Phantasm is an additional way to exile your library when attempting to utilize Lab Maniac as a win con. However, there are problems that arise when using taking this route. Phantasm works best when Lazav is copying it- failing to find the actual card will successfully exile the remaining library. The problem then arises that mana is needed to play and make Lazav a copy of Maniac, while holding up protection. Reanimation can help fill this by either reanimating Lazav or Maniac for cheap. Because of these complications, I am still unsure if Mirror-Mad Phantasm is viable enough to make the cut.
Combat Damage
This win con follows a generic formula: Lazav, the Multifarious + Evasive Creature + Pumping Creature. Each creature card has it's own pros and cons which we will examine a bit right now. This primer will be updated with pros and cons of selected creatures as more notes are made through play testing.
Evasive Creatures:
Invisible Stalker is the best of the best. Hexproof AND Unblockable makes this the go-to card to put into our graveyard in order to provide Lazav with protection and evasion.
Looter il-Kor is the second best evasive creature to copy. Shadow is not too common, and the looting effect can help improve our hand or dump a key creature card.
Hada Spy Patrol is, in my opinion, the worst evasive / protection creature because of it's level up mechanic. While it is a neat trick that level up counters stay on Lazav, it is a slow mechanic that will most likely be cut from the list entirely, removing Guul Draz Assassin and Enclave Cryptologist.
Pump Creatures:
Vector Asp is not a conventional pump creature, but by giving infect for one black mana, the damage dealt by this creature has a big impact. If anything, this is best used as a way to give Lazav infect before copying a larger creature.
Phyrexian Dreadnaught is the best "pump creature", turning Lazav into a 12/12 for 1 mana and no downside. Pairs very well with Vector Asp.
Mindshrieker is only a mediocre pump creature, but it provided evasion with flying as well as a way to get the library into the graveyard.
Moving Forward
While I am pleased with the first iteration of the deck, there is much work to be done. First and foremost I would like to research and test even more combos. From there, trying to add consistency and dig power is next. Cards like Frantic Search and Forbidden Alchemy are on the maybe board for such reasons.
Flip
