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Quantum Unicorns (Optimized-7)

Commander / EDH* Blink Counters GW (Selesnya) Tokens

CGhormley

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Land (34)

Draw (13)

Token (9)

Wincon (7)

Lifegain (4)

ETB (25)

Removal (15)

ETB Payoff (11)

Counters (5)

Board Wipe (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: Emiel the Blessed

Ramp (18)

Flicker (12)

Utility Land (10)

Cost Reduction (5)

Lure (2)

Sideboard

ETB (18)

Lifegain (6)

Board Wipe (4)

Token (4)

Cost Reduction (2)

Manifest (1)

Flicker (15)

Ramp (8)

Unicorn (5)

Wincon (4)

Land (2)

Removal (9)

Draw (8)

ETB Payoff (7)

Lure (4)

Counters (3)

Recursion (2)

Maybeboard

ETB Payoff (7)

Counters (3)

Infinite Combo (1)

Ramp (1)

Recursion (1)

Utility (1)

Unicorn (6)

Lifegain (4)

Land (1)

Removal (1)

Draw (4)

ETB (4)

Tokens (2)

Lure (1)

At the head of the herd, Emiel leads. The Quantum Unicorns, are formidable steeds.

Though they are indeed, creatures of light. Many respectfully, fear their might.

Through reality, they flicker and pierce. Make no mistake, the herd is quite fierce.

Primer:

This a mid range ETB Flicker deck, that aims to win via combat damage. Emiel the Blessed's flicker ability creates a high capacity for retriggering ETB effects. This is the primary exploit of the deck. Unfortunately, the combination of +1/+1 counters and flickering is actually an anti-synergy because the counters are lost when you flicker the creature. So, I leaned a lot more into the flicker synergies than the +1/+1 counters, mostly because I felt it was a more interesting version of the deck. However, since the primary win condition is combat damage, Emiel the Blessed's +1/+1 counter ability can still be advantageous, but it's a good idea to avoid spending mana on +1/+1 counters if you think you're going to flicker that creature in the near future. Overall, the goal of the deck is to build up advantage through re-triggering ETB effects while removing threats, then deliver sufficient combat damage by capitalizing on one of the win conditions and/or lures.

The primary utility gained from flicker is retriggering ETB effects. However, flicker can also be used to remove a creature from combat or dodge targeted spells and abilities, or even board wipes, depending on the type of flicker.

  • Instant Speed Flickers, like Cloudshift, Ephemerate, Restoration Angel, Eldrazi Displacer, and Emiel the Blessed, can remove a blocker from combat, and will cause targeted spells and abilities to lose their target and fizzle. So, it's beneficial to hold off on using this type of flicker for ETB effects, until the end phase before your turn. In case you need to dodge a targeted spell or ability, or prevent a creature from receiving combat damage. This provides defensive flexibility and consumes otherwise unused mana to gain advantage.
  • Battlefield-Wide Flickers, like Eerie Interlude, Ghostway, Lae'zel's Acrobatics, and Semester's End, can be used to avoid board wipes. This can also be used to break parity and avoid the negative impact of your own board wipes like Ondu Inversion  , Hour of Revelation, and Austere Command. However, they can also be used to re-trigger a large number of ETB abilities all at once. Just keep in mind that your creatures don't return to the battlefield until the end phase, leaving you vulnerable to attack. Additionally, if you use one of these spells during the end phase before your turn begins, they won't return to the battlefield untill your end phase. So, the best time to use these is when the opponent that goes right before you enters their post-combat main phase.
  • End-Step Auto Flickers, like Teleportation Circle and Conjurer's Closet don't provide any form of dodge, but they're cheap reusable flicker abilities that help the overall engine of the deck by retriggering ETBs every turn.

Since this is a combat driven deck, lure creatures like Taunting Elf, Shinen of Life's Roar, Noble Quarry, Golgari Decoy, and Prized Unicorn, create mass evasion for your creatures to get through and deal unfettered damage. However, the optimal way to use these creatures is to flicker them after blockers are declared. This removes the lure from combat and allows for multiple rounds of unblockable damage. Since it's more resource intensive to attack with two lures at the same time, if you already have a lure on the board, it's often beneficial to keep any additional ones that you draw in your hand rather than playing it. Especially since they're often high value targets for removal spells.

The deck is highly focused around exploiting the ETB flicker synergy, but it also has the trinity of any high level commander deck: Card Draw, Mana Ramp, and Spot Removal. Along with some other synergistic components.

  • ETB effects cover a wide spectrum of functionality. I chose cards that either contribute to one of the other core components of the deck, provide specific utility such as recursion or protection, or build up the board state for a combat damage victory.
  • Flicker isn't an especially prolific ability. So I chose cards that I felt were exceptionally good or provided utility in other ways. I focused primarily on reusable flickers and cheap instants, but also included a few flickers on a stick (i.e. a creature), to help round it out. It may be worth adding more of these, especially instant speed flickers like Long Road Home, Otherworldly Journey, and Pegasus Guardian.
  • Draw is crucial for keeping pace, building card advantage, and getting the key pieces you'll need to win the game. Most of the draw in this deck is focused on reusability and is primarily creature based or synergistic, since this is advantageous in a combat meta.
  • Ramp will help you get your bigger pieces out earlier, give you the capacity to flicker on command, and compensate for any missed land drops. Again, most of the ramp in this deck is creature based and focused on reusability. The ETBs that tutor lands are especially useful, as they often have the same impact as multiple ramp spells over the course of a game. Though Seedborn Muse and Wilderness Reclamation aren't traditional ramp cards, they can provide a lot of capacity for on-demmand flicker abilities. So, it may be worth swapping these in.
  • Removal is essential for handling key threats, and will provide you the time needed to build up your board state. and excel at artifact and enchantment removal. So about half of the removal cards are focused on this. The other half is focused on creature removal, since this is the most impactful card type in Commander. I suspect there might not be enough removal in this deck. So I would consider adding cards like, Nature's Claim, Kabira Takedown  , Halana, Kessig Ranger, Austere Command, and Hour of Revelation.
  • Lifegain is a fairly useful ability to have in a combat meta. However it isn't essential enough to the functionality of this deck to take a key role. So most of the lifegain in this deck is just an added bonus in addition to the core utility of the card.
  • +1/+1 Counters and Tokens both support the combat focus of the deck, but also have an anti-synergy with the flicker abilities that the deck hinges on. So there aren't as many of them as you would typically expect in a and deck.
  • Lures are so powerful that you could consider them a win condition, but it's open to interpretation. Since having too many of these can be counterproductive, I only included the 5 with the lowest mana cost. Having decent card draw will help counteract the low quantity of lures by churning through your deck.
  • The Board Wipes and WinCons have a pretty large overlap. Since I prefer board wipes that don't destroy your creatures, this tends to constitute a possible win condition. Most of the other wincons orient around some form of evasion like flying or trample.
  • I initially had a lot more Unicorns in this deck, but I felt that they're just not focused enough on a single concept to build a high level deck around. You could build more around the +1/+1 Counters, but you'll probably get less utility out of Emiel the Blessed's flicker ability. I felt the flicker deck was more interesting so I decided to go that route.
  • I usually start with around 35 Lands when building a deck. Then fluctuate depending on how mana hungry the deck is, and the quality and quantity of ramp. If it turns out that this deck needs more lands, I would start with Kabira Takedown  /Kabira Plateau   and Turntimber Symbiosis  /Turntimber, Serpentine Wood  , since they add additional value beyond just being a land.

There are a few synergies and additions to this deck that are worth explicitly calling out.

  • Wait until the end phase before your turn, to use your instant speed flicker spells or abilities to re-trigger ETBs. This is worth reiterating because of just how impactful it can be. If you are going to use an instant speed flicker to retrigger an ETB effect, it's best to save this until the end phase before your turn begins. This leaves you with available resources to react during your opponents turn, and will dramatically increases the flexibility of this deck.
  • Scroll of Fate may seem like a strange addition to this deck, but if you flicker a manifested permanent, it returns to the board face up. So it can be used to cheat out some of your more expensive cards like Blessed Sanctuary, Armada Wurm, Soul of the Harvest, Avenger of Zendikar, Titan of Industry, and Craterhoof Behemoth. (110.6b Permanents enter the battlefield untapped, unflipped, face up, and phased in unless a spell or ability says otherwise.)
  • Since, Emiel the Blessed can't flicker himself, having Eldrazi Displacer on the board will dramatically improve your commander's survivability. There is one Wastes in the deck specifically for Eldrazi Displacer's ability. This can be retrieved by cards like Evolving Wilds, Prismatic Vista, Terramorphic Expanse, Farhaven Elf, and Topiary Stomper, but you may want to wait to retrieve it until you have Eldrazi Displacer in hand, since it's utility is circumstantial. Similarily, Slippery Bogbonder will also increase the survivability of Emiel the Blessed. Just keep in mind that the hexproof token will need to be replaced if you cast a battlefield-wide flicker.
  • You can use board wipes in combination with battlefield-wide flicker spells to break parity, but I felt there wasn't quite enough battlefield-wide flicker spells to make this a core part of the strategy. So I put a number of, what I feel are the better board wipes in this color selection, on the side board. Depending on what you're playing against, it may be worth swapping these in. If you do, some of the token producing ETB cards would be good candidates for replacement.

You can easily make this deck more powerful by throwing in some infinite combos. For example (Emiel the Blessed or Eldrazi Displacer) and (Brood Monitor or Workhorse) creates an infinite ETB loop that can be exploited by cards like Cathars' Crusade, Doubling Season, Primal Vigor, Conclave Mentor, Earthcraft, etc. You can also use tutors like Eladamri's Call or Worldly Tutor to make these combos more reliable in each game. Alternatively, you could play more to the Unicorn tribal theme. Which has more flavor, but probably won't be quite as strong. I tend to aim for around an Optimized 7 (highly focused and optimized, usually a game ending threat if left mostly uninterrupted by turn 8 or 9), but it's really up to you and your preferences. Similarly, most of the cost of this deck is in a few expensive cards that can easily be swapped out. I'm not a huge fan of the "Pay to Win" aspect of Magic. So I advocate for the use of proxies as long as everyone playing is on board. If you or your play group feels otherwise, these cards can easily be replaced with a fairly minimal performance impact to the deck.

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Date added 2 years
Last updated 5 months
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

12 - 6 Mythic Rares

54 - 19 Rares

12 - 20 Uncommons

16 - 12 Commons
Cards 103
Avg. CMC 3.55
Tokens 2/2 W Token Creature Unicorn, Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Elephant 3/3 G, Golem 3/3 C, Human 1/1 W, Illusion */* U, Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch, Manifest 2/2 C, Pegasus 1/1 W, Phyrexian Beast 4/4 G, Phyrexian Golem 3/3 C, Plant 0/1 G, Rhino Warrior 4/4 G, Samurai 2/2 W w/ Double strike, Soldier 1/1 W, Timeless Witness 4/4 B, Treasure, Wurm 5/5 G w/ Trample
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