Progress to Compleation

Commander / EDH Counters GU (Simic) Theme/Gimmick Weenie

LordBlackblade

Creature (37)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Blighted Agent
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Champion of Lambholt
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Evolution Sage
• 1x Fathom Mage
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Gudul Lurker
• 1x Gyre Sage
• 1x Incubation Druid
• 1x Invisible Stalker
• 1x Iridescent Hornbeetle
• 1x Kodama of the West Tree
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Loyal Drake
• 1x Mindless Automaton
• 1x Nadir Kraken
• 1x Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• 1x Plaxmanta
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Sage of Hours
• 1x Siren Stormtamer
• 1x Slither Blade
• 1x Steelbane Hydra
• 1x Tangled Florahedron  ^Flip
• 1x Thrummingbird
• 1x Toothy, Imaginary Friend
• 1x Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1x Triton Shorestalker
• 1x Walking Ballista

Land (33)

• 1x Barkchannel Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dreamroot Cascade
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 8x Forest
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 11x Island
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Yavimaya Coast
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Branching Evolution
• 1x Coastal Piracy
• 1x Druids' Repository
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Nature's Will
• 1x Reconnaissance Mission
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Simic Ascendancy
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Three Visits

Commander (1)

Instant (13)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dream Fracture
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Khalni Ambush  ^Flip
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vastwood Fortification  ^Flip

Artifact (3)

• 1x Animation Module
• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x The Ozolith

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Welcome to my Ezuri, Claw of Progress EDH deck! This is the latest version of a deck that has come and gone over the years. It started out as my first foray into EDH that didn't have any black in it at all. While the transition from black was jarring at first, the decks high synergy and focused theme quickly made it one of my favorites. The deck is really based around a simple concept: +1/+1 counters. The real crux of building this deck was realizing that any creature can become a threat if you put enough +1/+1 counters on it. As such, there aren't really any bombs. This results in a well-oiled, and low-to-the-ground deck that can hold its own in many different metas.

Try setting sort to Custom to see my thought process when designing the deck!

The Commander

Ezuri, Claw of Progress is a straight forward commander that is exemplary of his colors. His mechanic is simple, the power of any creature that enters our side of the battlefield is checked. If that power is two or less, we get an experience counter. These experience counters are used to place +1/+1 counters on a creature at the beginning of our combat step. In this way, Ezuri is able to turn any creature on our side into a potential threat. To capitalize on his ability, I chose to focus on unblockable, low-mana creatures that we can then buff with his ability. Only two creatures in the deck, and Ezuri himself, have greater than two power. This means that any creature we play while Ezuri is out increases the number of experience counters, and therefore the number of +1/+1 counters we will be placing.

EDH Staples

Some cards have a place in (nearly) every EDH deck. Most of these so-called staples serve one purpose: color fixing. As the number of colors in a deck increases, so too does the need for color fixing. The primary method of color fixing in the deck is through effective use of dual and fetch lands. My research on the topic has lead me to create what I believe to be an optimized mana base for the deck. This was achieved by removing as many tap lands as possible and replacing them with dual lands that have a way to enter the battlefield untapped.

The Battlebond Lands Show

These lands come in untapped if you have two or more opponents. In casual EDH, that should be the vast majority of games.

• Rejuvenating Springs

The Check Lands Show

These lands check to see if you have a given land type under your control. We'll usually have a basic land under our control, making this an easy requirement to meet.

• Hinterland Harbor

Command Tower Show

The land of lands in EDH, Command Tower should be in every multicolor EDH deck.

• Command Tower

The Fetch Lands Show

The ideal use of the fetch lands is to tutor for our shock lands. Barring that, they can also be used for early game mana fixing.

• Misty Rainforest

The Filter Lands Show

These lands are able to tap for a colorless mana on their own, or can be used to filter mana of one color into another color.

• Flooded Grove

The Pain Lands Show

An underrated type of dual land, the pain lands deal one damage to you when tapped for either of their colors; however, they can also be tapped for a colorless mana at no penalty.

• Yavimaya Coast

The Pathways Show

These relatively simple lands are great! They always come in untapped, and let you choose what you need on the spot. I'm not saying they are as good as the fetch lands; however, their ability to fix you is quite high.

• Barkchannel Pathway  

The Shock Lands Show

Get Shocked in order to get an untapped dual land into play. The shock lands are true color-fixing staples in any format.

• Breeding Pool

The Slow Lands Show

Strictly better battle lands. Only punish you on turns 1 and 2, which is not the majority of the game. Most of the time they function as untapped dual lands.

• Dreamroot Cascade

Miscellaneous Staples Show

These cards don't fit into the other staple categories, but are used still widely used and can be quite powerful.

• Glasspool Mimic   - A clone with zero opportunity cost. Usually going to be a land, but sometimes it will copy something good

• Reliquary Tower - Helps us keep from discarding due to over drawing, which can be a problem with this deck

• Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth - Easy mana fixing for green. Not usually an issue, but low opportunity cost to run

Removal Suite

Removal is a key concept in many EDH decks. If your deck doesn't have the ability to counter a spell, removal is the next best option. The key deciding factor for removal spells in this deck is versatility. Any spell that does more than simply destroy a creature is an outstanding choice.

• Beast Within - This green staple will deal with any problem permanent, even lands

• Caustic Caterpillar - An experience counter and Naturalize all in one

• Cyclonic Rift - Love it or hate it, its a true blue staple. You can't really argue with its power and versatility

• Khalni Ambush   - An over-costed Pounce; however, has a low opportunity cost to run

• Nature's Claim - Essentially Naturalize for one less mana. Our opponent gaining four life is a trivial cost

• Pongify - Destroy any creature for a single blue mana. In return, its controller gets a 3/3 Ape token. I've made worse trades

• Rapid Hybridization - Literally Pongify, but it creates a Frog Lizard instead of an Ape

• Reality Shift - Creature exile, with possible risk of giving them something better

• Steelbane Hydra - Repeatable, over-costed Naturalize on a beater

• Walking Ballista - Scalable removal that synergizes well with our commander, and can potentially be a source of non-combat damage to help resolve tricky boardstates

The Strategy

The deck's basic victory strategy is to do what Simic does best: put +1/+1 counters on creatures. To that end I chose a selection of powerful effects to place and duplicate counters on another selection of evasive creatures. By using small, evasive creatures, I am able to build a threat from an innocuous start e.g. Slippery Boggle has become a 24/24 and actually knocked players out of a game.

Counter Generation Show

Obviously, Ezuri, Claw of Progress is the core counter generator of the deck. To supplement him, I've included several counter doublers and generators.

• Animation Module - Allows generation of servos to generate experience counters with Ezuri, Claw of Progress and comes with a form of proliferate. Very useful

• Branching Evolution - Essentially Doubling Season-light. Doubles our +1/+1 counters for only three mana

• Evolution Sage - A proliferation trigger whenever you drop a land seems very powerful

• Hardened Scales - A small buff to the number of +1/+1 counters that get placed. Very good for the cost

• Iridescent Hornbeetle - While it doesn't directly generate counters, it synergizes extremely well with Ezuri, Claw of Progress

• Karn's Bastion - Repeatable proliferate on a land

• Nadir Kraken - Generates counters on card draw, and the tentacle tokens it makes can generate a ton of experience counters

• Pir, Imaginative Rascal - For our purposes, a Hardened Scales with legs

• Sage of Hours - Heroic may not be a great way to generate counters, but this guy goes infinite with our commander and 5+ experience counters

• Simic Ascendancy - Cheap to deploy, repeatable, but expensive to use

• The Ozolith - Doesn't generate counters on its own; however, enables us to weather removal better by preserving any counters we do generate

• Thrummingbird - Repeatable proliferation on a small, flying body

• Vastwood Fortification   - Instant speed give a single +1/+1 counter is mediocre; however, being an MDFC brings this up into the realm of playability

Evasion Show

In order to capitalize on the counter generation aspect of the deck, we need to be able to connect with our buffed creatures. These creatures are both evasive and small enough to count for Ezuri, Claw of Progress's experience counter trigger.

• Blighted Agent - With poison being as potent as it is, this card is a real threat. Expect it to be a prime target for removal

• Champion of Lambholt - Generates counters on its own, and can effectively make our entire board unblockable over time

• Gudul Lurker - Classic unblocakble 1/1 for one plus megamorph, which is rarely relevant

• Invisible Stalker - Unblockable and hexproof make this card difficult to deal with

• Slither Blade - A strictly better Triton Shorestalker

• Triton Shorestalker - An unblockable 1/1 for one. Simple and effective

Win Conditions Show

There are two cards in the deck, both of which rely on counters, that can lead to a victory with minimal support.

• Sage of Hours - This card goes infinite with Ezuri, Claw of Progress and 5+ experience counters to give us infinite turns

• Simic Ascendancy - A new arrival from Ravnica Allegiance. This card makes victory nearly trivial. For two mana it is a very real threat that demands a response. Worst case scenario, you cast it and it gets removed. Even then, better it gets removed than something truly powerful.

Sub-Themes

Any given deck has a number of sub-themes running in the background of the overall deck architecture.

Card Draw Show

Being able to draw more cards allows us to see more of our deck in a given game. Being in Simic colors gives the deck access to several powerful draw engines.

• Bident of Thassa - Card draw on combat damage. Very effective when coupled with our unblockable creatures. The goad effect isn't always relevant, but options are always good

• Coastal Piracy - Bident of Thassa minus the "goad" ability

• Coiling Oracle - Either card draw or ramp. In either case, the body is a fine trigger for Ezuri, Claw of Progress

• Cold-Eyed Selkie - Properly buffed, this card can draw an obscene amount of cards

• Edric, Spymaster of Trest - An effective card draw engine when coupled with our unblockable creatures. Also useful as a political tool

• Fathom Mage - The amount of cards that this can draw when coupled with Ezuri, Claw of Progress cannot be understated

• Loyal Drake: Repeatable card draw on a relevant body for our deck's plan

• Mindless Automaton - Turns counters into card draw. Very powerful when coupled with our commander

• Reconnaissance Mission - A strictly better Coastal Piracy

• Rhystic Study - An EDH all-star. Almost always an auto-include in blue

• Toothy, Imaginary Friend - Gets counters when we draw cards, then draws cards when it inevitably dies or gets removed. Couples well with Fathom Mage

• Toski, Bearer of Secrets - A green Coastal Piracy on a stick

Counterspells Show

One of Blue's most powerful abilities is countermagic. The ability to answer nearly any threat makes counterspells one of the most powerful card families in the game. On the reverse side, the limited number of counterspells, and their innate card disadvantage in the format, makes using them require careful threat assessment.

• Arcane Denial - Low CMC, multicolor-friendly Counterspell that replaces itself

• Counterspell - The original. Unconditional and cheap to cast

• Dream Fracture - Cancel sans card disadvantage

• Glen Elendra Archmage - Only counters noncreature spells, but can be made repeatable by placing +1/+1 counters on it

• Otawara, Soaring City - An over-costed bounce spell; however, costs us nothing to run

• Siren Stormtamer - Cheap protection from spot removal on a 1/1 flying body

• Swan Song - For one mana, this card counters a reasonable amount of threats. The 2/2 bird is inconsequential the majority of the time

Mana Acceleration Show

Mana fuels all of our spells, so it makes sense that having more of it, earlier, is a great thing. Ramp is considered especially powerful in EDH due to the average length of the games and the mana cost of the cards involved. Most mana dorks are small enough to trigger Ezuri, Claw of Progress, making them an excellent choice for the deck.

• Arbor Elf - Untaps any forest. Ideally coupled with Breeding Pool

• Birds of Paradise - One mana, flying, and can tap for either of our colors. Amazing

• Druids' Repository - We should be attacking quite often, making this card a powerful source of mana

• Dryad Arbor - A land and a creature. Let's us get an experience counter on a land play

• Elvish Mystic - One mana, taps for one green. One iteration of the classic mana dork

• Fyndhorn Elves - See Elvish Mystic

• Growing Rites of Itlimoc   - Build your own Gaea's Cradle. Easy to trigger with the number of creatures in the deck

• Gyre Sage - Has the potential to generate obscene amounts of mana when coupled with Ezuri, Claw of Progress

• Incubation Druid - A recent addition for Ravnica Allegiance. Becomes a Gilded Lotus once a single +1/+1 counter is placed on it

• Kodama of the West Tree - Gives our creatures with counters trample and a Sword of the Animist-esque effect

• Llanowar Elves - See Elvish Mystic

• Nature's Lore - Fetches a Forest, ideally Breeding Pool

• Nature's Will - One of the problems with the deck is drawing more cards than we can play in the late game. This card solves that problem by giving us essentially a second turn's (or more) worth of mana each turn

• Priest of Titania - Similar to Marwyn, the Nurturer, even a handful of elves make this card very powerful

• Tangled Florahedron   - Normally, lands trump mana dorks, especially over-costed ones; however, this can give us an experience counter in a pinch

• Three Visits - See Nature's Lore

• Utopia Sprawl - One mana for one mana. Enchantments are surprisingly difficult to remove, and this is particularly low aggro as well

• Wild Growth - See Utopia Sprawl

Protection Show

As mentioned in the weaknesses section below, removal is one of the deck's biggest issues. These cards serve to remedy that by allowing our board to weather potential board wipes and spot removal.

• Heroic Intervention - The standard for board protection. Powerful for the cost

• Plaxmanta - Shroud at instant speed with a 2/2 body

Weaknesses

This deck, like any deck, has a few weaknesses. First, is its reliance on Ezuri, Claw of Progress. Protecting him should be a priority, as without him the deck becomes much more difficult to pilot. Consider holding up a Counterspell or Arcane Denial to protect him. Second, is its vulnerability to boardwipes. Being a creature-based deck, board wipes are the bane of our existence. The deck's low curve and card draw potential help with recovery, but a well-timed Counterspell or Heroic Intervention are the ideal ways to prevent board wipes. Finally, due to the color identity, the deck struggles somewhat with creature removal. I've included a handful of removal spells from the colors e.g. Pongify, but there simply isn't a lot to choose from. That being said, creature-based deck matchups can be won with proper board positioning and usage of counter magic and protective spells.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.25
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Experience Token, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Insect 1/1 G, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C, Servo 1/1 C, Tentacle 1/1 U
Folders	Completed Decks