Queen's Mighty Servants (Superfriends, primer)

Commander / EDH Combo Control Five Color Multiplayer Primer Superfriends

jorjo10

Land (37)

Sorcery (20)

Enchantment (9)

Creature (7)

Commander (1)

Planeswalker (15)

Instant (8)

Artifact (3)

Maybeboard

Planeswalker (4)

Instant (1)

1x Utter End

Artifact (1)

1x Honor-Worn Shaku

Creature (4)

Sorcery (3)

Status: Update on the description to be applied soon

Welcome to yet another deck from my deck lab. This time we will take a look at my multiplayer EDH deck that I have had a lot of success with within the past few months. Be advised that this deck is not meant for a tournament play, its primary purpose is to have fun with my friends at the kitchen table, and therefore many cards are left out as they would be a little bit too oppressive.

What you are looking at is a five-colour superfriends control-ish deck.

Many months ago I decided to build a superfriends deck. As my idea kept evolving, I knew I would like to have my walkers as the primary win condition which very much derived the rest of the deck.

In EDH the worst threats of all to walkers are creatures rather than anything else. Sure, there is some targeted removal that can take care of walkers present in most of the decks, but it is run in such insignificant amount of copies that it is irrelevant. Other than that, walkers suffer from hate cards such as Suppression Field or Pithing Needle, but these cards see next to no play in multiplayer EDH.

So, with that in mind I built a shell revolving around the powerful wizards and magicians that would make as much profit of them as possible and at the same time would be able to adequately protect them from anything that might be threatening to kill them.

Without any further talking, lets jump right into it!

The Primer

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Explanation of card choices and game plan outline:

Commander

One of the very first things I was thinking about when I was building this EDH was the commander. I knew I wanted it to be five-coloured as that would grant me access to any walkers my heart would desire. But at the same time I wanted a commander powerful enough that it would be beneficial, wouldnt ruin my game plan and, if possible, would be able to protect the walkers.

Luckily I ran into Sliver Queen. That beauty matched all my requirements. So, lets break it down:

- She is five-coloured; therefore I have access to any walkers that have ever been printed.

- She can protect the walkers. I have already mentioned that the biggest threat to walkers has always been creatures. Thanks to her ability she can produce a huge army of tokens that can easily block any attackers and can, therefore, keep the walkers safe.

- She can end the game just by herself if needed. If those tokens are not on the defensive duty, they are free to attack. And as the army grows, the more threatening it becomes, and it can eventually kill an opponent. Not to mention that 7/7 body is quite big and on a relatively empty board she can quickly mean the end for an opponent.

- And lastly but not least, she is not on the contrary with the walker part of the deck as Child of Alara would have been as she can very easily co-exist alongside them.

All in all, I think that the Queen is a very decent commander and at the moment I am not aware of any other commander that would match my requirements and at the same time would be better than the Queen.

Gameplan

The first rule of this deck is to land a land every single turn. If you are able to do that, then you are on a good way. This deck is at its strongest when it hits 10+ mana a turn as it is a bit mana intense and aims to play a long, long game.

Mulligans

With the above in mind, you should accordingly decide on your mulligans. The optimal hand I am usually looking for contains 3-4 lands where at least one of them grants , and preferably also and at least one mana ramp or a tutor that can fetch that mana ramp card. The rest of the hand is optional with additional ramp spells or draw engines being an advantage.

Early Game

In the first turns of the game your main interest is to ramp. As I mentioned above, this deck is a bit mana intense, and you should always try to speed it up. Do not hesitate to spend some resources on it; the deck is designed so that you are easily able to refill later.

Other than that, you do not want to fall behind on the board. If you anticipate a quick aggro opponent, keep a wrath effect in your opening hand or try to look for some. The board it the best when it is clear (with the exception when only your creatures are on the board, of course).

My very often play is to use Mystical Tutor or Demonic Tutor so search up a Cultivate as it ramps and secures a land drop the turn after it is played.

Mid Game

Now that you have mana you want to start doing the powerful things. If the board is too messy, look for a wrath effect and in doing so, do not hesitate to sacrifice one or two walkers. Once the board is safer, start deploying your own threats.

Do not be too greedy. A Genesis Wave does not have to have X=15, X=6 is almost always good enough to run away with the game. Do not sit on your walkers in the fear that they might die. This deck is designed so that it does not have one particular win-con, there are many of them (each of the walkers is a win-con just by itself, sooner or later). As long as you are not dying, you are doing perfectly fine.

This deck also top decks very well due to many tutors, walkers, and stuff, so you are free to go to even waste some of your resources.

Try to look for some tool how to end the game.

Late Game

Now you want to finish the game if possible. You want to keep one or two walkers on the board long enough so that they can win you the game just by themselves or you want to set up one of the combos. Never forget that you have Sliver Queen which is a great tool how to finish the game. Unless something nasty and unexpected happens, you should be able to seal the deal.

Walkers

Here comes the tricky part. One may say that I left out an important walker but I believe that the mix I have is made up of the best of the best. Before I go through individual walkers I will give you an outline of what I expect of walkers so that I would consider them worthy enough to serve the Queen.

- They should be able to provide card advantage or reliable mana acceleration.

- They should be able to protect themselves.

- If they neither provide direct card advantage nor they provide mana acceleration they should have an effect that is powerful enough that it can effectively impact the board

- Good ultimate that can win a game is a huge upside. Yes. In this deck, I do care about ultimates.

Now lets take a look at all the walkers.

Jace, Architect of Thought - his most relevant abilities are his -2 and his ultimate. -2 is a mini Fact or Fiction, and that can never hurt. His ultimate just wins games, and it is a natural combo with Doubling Season that wins games on the spot.

Jace Beleren - he basically functions as Phyrexian Arena but without the life loss. He is also a great political tool and can be very important in free-for-all games when a player must be answered, and there isnt enough mana left for ourselves. Can also help someone out that can help forge an alliance for some duration of the game.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor - one of the most powerful walkers of mtg history just cant be left out.

Teferi, Temporal Archmage oddly enough, the most massive mana ramp card in the whole deck. +1 is a great form of card advantage, and his ultimate is just nuts.

Garruk Wildspeaker - this Garruks form is much more important for this deck. And that is purely for his +1 ability. That ability is just sick. Such mana acceleration is invaluable and therefore cant be neglected. With other mana accelerators, he can be easily played on T3, and that just means a rocket start for this deck. He is strongest in the early game, obviously.

Here comes one of the newest additions, Nissa, Vastwood Seer . She is the reason behind double Forest in the mana base; she can be played as an early drop, secures a land drop, which is very important and when flipped, she provides a fascinating form of card draw as it can turn into mana ramp.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion - one of the no-brainers and the only pure-white walker in this deck. Thanks to her +1 she can win the game just by herself, and at the same time, she can easily help in defending the walkers. In case it is needed she can wipe the biggest threats out of the board and remain on the field. An invaluable walker.

Liliana Vess - included purely for her -2 ability. The repeatable tutor is something great. I have never used her ultimate because she is usually dead by the time I play her but I imagine it would be cool.

Ob Nixilis Reignited his +1 is a Phyrexian Arena effect, -3 can somehow manipulate with the board and -8 means the end of a game for some player in the multiplayer game.

Multicolour

Ajani, Mentor of Heroes - his first +1 ability and almost every single time his ultimate are irrelevant in this deck. What is important is his second +1 ability which is powerful enough that he is included in the deck. It serves as a repeatable mini-tutor which is insane.

Garruk, Apex Predator - one of the worse ones. Abilities to easily get rid of any opposing Walker and killing any creature threat on the board while gaining life are so strong that the just cant be left over. His other abilities are not important.

Narset Transcendent - One of the very few walkers on which all the abilities are great. +1 is a form of card advantage, -2 is awesome when combined with a Wrath of God effect and -9 is just a game ender.

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker I refuse to comment on this one. How could I possibly left out one of the most powerful walkers of the multiverse lore?

Sorin, Grim Nemesis - the newest addition to this deck. In for just his +1 ability. Have you checked the average CMC of this deck? It is a win-con and a card advantage in the same ability. Whats not to love?

Vraska the Unseen I just like her. She is not that good, but her -3 is pretty powerful as it can be repeatable. No other ability is that important.

Colourless

Karn Liberated - the most powerful effect is that he exiles, not destroys, which is the main reason why he is present in this deck.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - THE BEST walker in this deck. 90% of the time he patiently waits to pair up with Doubling Season. I wont describe what happens, but believe me, it is awesome! Oh and btw, it happens approximately every third game I play. Cool, isnt it? And sure, his X is a nice board wipe when there is no other option.

Wrath effects

I won't describe the reasoning behind all of my card choices here as I think that most of them are pretty clear.

We have here Akroma's Vengeance, Austere Command, Day of Judgement, Descend upon the Sinful, Merciless Eviction, Supreme Verdict, Wrath of God, Cyclonic Rift, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Elspeth, Sun's Champion and lastly but certainly not least Pernicious Deed. As I said, I think that my choices are pretty clear.

What might interest you are cards like Akroma's Vengeance. This deck plays creatures, artifacts, and enchantments of its own, however, as any good strategist would tell you, on the path to victory, you sometimes have to sacrifice something. I am aware that it can cost me my resources, yet I designed this deck so that its core does not stand on any of these card types and I wont usually lose that many cards by casting it as my opponents.

Targeted Removal

Yes, even here in a deck full of walkers and board wipes we have targeted removal. Sometimes we might want to get rid of something at instant speed in order not to lose the game or a walker and sometimes we might want to dissipate something that a board wipe wouldnt be able to clear.

I am a greedy bastard so I was trying to include cards that might clear more than just enough card at a time. We have here Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Cyclonic Rift, Utter End, Detention Sphere, Song of the Dryads, Maelstrom Pulse and walkers.

Worth noting is especially Song of the Dryads as it is the best way of removal of an opposing commander as that commander will remain on the field but wont function the way its controller would have wanted to.

Card Advantage

Well, you already know that this is a grindy deck and so it tries to draw a handful of additional cards. In that category we have Genesis Wave, Tezzeret's Gambit, Villainous Wealth, Oath of Jace, Rhystic Study, Staff of Nin, Dormant Sliver, most of the walkers and Narset, Enlightened Master.

Oath of Jace is one of the more interesting cards as it is a useful card in every stage of the game and it later offers card selection when some walkers remain on the field.

Genesis Wave and Villainous Wealth are one of the nono-walker win condition cards.

Narset, Enlightened Master is a card that many people before me were using together with walkers, and it is no different here. She is way too good to not be present in this deck.

Tutors

Every good mtg deck should be consistent, and it is not different here in EDH. I decided to include only the best of the best as there is not enough space for other, less efficient tutors. I will list here cards that grab cards from graveyard as well as the graveyard can be pretty stacked in the late game and is often is as big as the library itself.

We have here Call the Gatewatch, Demonic Tutor, Wargate, Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, 'grave tutors' Obzedat's Aid, Regrowth, Noxious Revival, Eternal Witness and the all-star tutor, Liliana Vess.

Probably the best tutor which I discovered only very recently is Wargate. The fact that it can fetch ANY permanent is just insane. It can grab part of a combo, Eternal Witness to reanimate something or it can just fetch a walker of choice. Very versatile and insanely good.

Obzedat's Aid is another excellent card, the ability to reanimate walkers directly to play is just awesome, but again, the versatility it has is what makes it truly perfect.

Slivers

Even though I have Sliver Queen as my commander, I decided not to include many slivers in that EDH. The reasoning behind the Queen is described above and from that, you can easily conclude that this is not a sliver deck. However, some slivers affect powerful enough that it just cant be ignored.

Manaweft Sliver and Gemhide Sliver function as mana ramp in this deck, but more than that, they have the bonus of being great together with the Queen and her tokens. However, this interaction is simply beneficial and should not be something to pursue. When it happens, it happens, and you can profit from it. When it does not, you are OK with that just as well.

Dormant Sliver is a great card advantage. I sometimes play it just to cycle, but it shines the most when paired with the Queen. Sure, it gives your slivers defender as well, but you do not mind, and there are enough resources that you can kill the Dormant whenever you want.

Necrotic Sliver is the last sliver included and he is just too good to be left out. Also, together with the Queen, it serves as five mana repeatable Vindicate which is just nasty. Also, happens to be a part of a combo.

Cards I will not include

We all have our own opinion, taste, and desires and that is why no EDH can be the same if piloted by two different players. In this part, I will try to give you a reasoning behind some of the cards I left out that you might feel would fit into this deck. Some were too powerful, some I did not like, others were not as good as I thought they would have been and in certain cases, I just do not feel like running the card because of personal preferences.

Cards that grant additional turns

Those are cards such as Time Warp or Part the Waterveil which would have been an absolute blast in this deck and I even had them in for a short time, but they tend to make your opponents want to punch you in your face. Activating abilities of walkers is always fun, but usually only for the one who activates them. I have had many games where my opponents just conceded after I played such a card and that is just not the way I want to go. But if you are considering this deck as your future EDH and you do not like having friends I highly recommend adding some of these effects in.

Cards that destroy lands

I mean, Jokulhaups, Obliterate or Decree of Annihilation are all super cool to play, especially if you have some walkers on the field, but it is not a good example of interactive cards. Just as in the case of extra turns, your opponents do not like to suffer, and you should not make them if you plan to play with them again in the future.

Additional slivers

I mean yeah, I do have Sliver Queen as my commander, I do have some slivers in, but that does not make it a Sliver EDH. Cards such as Blur Sliver might be nice in certain situations, but there would be a much more significant amount of cases when it would be just plain bad. Slivers I include are good on their own (mana slivers provide a form of fixation, Necrotic Sliver is never a bad card to have) and the fact they are great when there are more slivers on the field is just an icing on the cake. You cannot say the same about Blur Sliver and most of the other slivers. Situation might change if Wizards print some other slivers in the future.

Brago and the Chain Veil

Hey, Brago, King Eternal and The Chain Veil are great in your deck, you should play them! I have heard that so many times I cannot even remember it. But the fact is that they are just not. If you like to show your superiority but do not care when you are losing then hey, these cards are great for you! I, on the other hand, like cards that are good, if not great, in almost ANY situation. I want them to be able to help me get out of my misery as soon as possible. If I am behind and I draw The Chain Veil or Brago, King Eternal, I do not really feel like they would have helped me in any way. They are good only when you already are in a winning position, but what card is not, hmm? I figured I would be served better if I run cards that are generally good, not just in a particular situation. It has worked for me so far.

Oaths, Deploy the Gatewatch

You have quite a lot of planeswalkers, run the Oaths! Another of those statements that just are not true. The only reasonable Oath would have been Oath of Nissa have I not had all the dual lands I have. But thanks to them, I suffer from mana screw in like 5% of my games at maximum, yet the actual number is probably even smaller. Other than that, Oath of Nissa is just a terrible card draw spell compared to all the other options I have. The only Oath I run is Oath of Jace, which is sheer madness in this deck. It is good early, it is good late, it is good in any situation. Love that one.

I will not add Deploy the Gatewatch to my deck either. I have had it in but I just was not satisfied with it. My walker count is not high enough to consistently hit 2 walkers and therefore it is below the power level of most of the other cards that could possibly be included in here.

Other cards I will not include

Some of these cards just cannot make the cut, others would be plain bad in this particular deck. Yet the reasoning behind my decisions is not that hard to guess and I therefore I decided not to give detailed info why I have not included them. Here is the list:

Intruder Alarm, Vindicate, Maelstrom Pulse, Enlightened Tutor, Call the Gatewatch, most of the other planeswalkers (their power level is too low) and many other cards that I cannot remember right now. Will update this list over time.

Combos

Yes, this is a superfriends deck, but it has some combos inside it as well! Here is the breakdown of combos I am aware of:

Doubling Season

A natural combo with almost any walker you take a look at. Especially good with Jace, Architect of Thought (you search your library for Obzedat's Aid in order to reanimate Jace and repeat the process) and with Ugin, the Spirit Dragon which will often win the game, especially if you have/draw some other walkers.

Sliver Queen

You can go infinite with Mana Echoes and the Queen, which is only a one-card combo that grants you an infinite army and infinite colourless mana.

Pair this combo together with Dormant Sliver, and you can draw your entire library! You should let some coloured mana open or be sure you have both Coalition Relic and Chromatic Lantern in your deck or hand so that you can play Necrotic Sliver. Since you have infinite slivers and infinite mana, you can easily Vindicate any permanent you want!

Some Other Decks I Made

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If you guys have any idea how to improve this deck, definitely let me know. I am open to any constructive criticism and suggestions. If you like this deck, do not forget to give it +1! Thanks in advance!

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Updates Add

New Description! — June 6, 2016

Edit

Took me a few hours, but now this deck has a new, more appropriate description and I hope it is detailed enough so that you can fully understantd how the deck works and why some cards are included and why some aren't.

Hope you like it!

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Card Odds v1 Draw hand

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Date added	8 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	20 - 0 Mythic Rares 60 - 0 Rares 7 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.79
Tokens	Ashaya, the Awoken World, Beast 3/3 G, Elemental 3/1 R, Emblem Dack Fayden, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Emblem Narset Transcendent, Emblem Nissa, Vital Force, Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Emblem Tamiyo, Field Researcher, Emblem Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Sliver 1/1 C, Soldier 1/1 W, Vampire Knight 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Commander, Inspiration, Sounds Fun - EDH, EDH (Superfriends), Decks I like, Commander, superfriends, Idée supperfriend, Interesting Commander Decks, Superfriends (EDH)
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