Reality Twist *PRIMER*

Commander / EDH Annihilator Artifact Battlecruiser Bracket 3 Casual Eldrazi Stax

NV_1980

Artifact (29)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Forsaken Monument
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lux Cannon
• 1x Mana VaultGC
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Moonsilver Key
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sol Talisman
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Staff of Nin
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Unwinding Clock
• 1x Ur-Golem's Eye
• 1x Urza's Incubator
• 1x Voltaic Key

Sorcery (4)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Environmental Sciences
• 1x Introduction to Prophecy
• 1x Selective Obliteration

Instant (1)

• 1x Null Elemental Blast

Land (35)

• 1x Ancient TombGC
• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Crystal Vein
• 1x Darksteel Citadel
• 1x Desert
• 1x Eldrazi Temple
• 1x Eye of Ugin
• 1x Haunted Fengraf
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Mutavault
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Ruins of Oran-Rief
• 1x Sanctum of Ugin
• 1x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terrain Generator
• 1x Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Urza's Mine
• 1x Urza's Power Plant
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x Urza's Tower
• 1x War Room
• 9x Wastes

Planeswalker (5)

• 1x Karn Liberated
• 1x Karn, Scion of Urza
• 1x Ugin, Eye of the Storms
• 1x Ugin, the Ineffable
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Commander (1)

Creature (25)

• 1x Artisan of Kozilek
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Cityscape Leveler
• 1x Emrakul, the World Anew
• 1x Endbringer
• 1x Hedron Crawler
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x It That Heralds the End
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Kozilek, the Broken Reality
• 1x Kozilek's Channeler
• 1x Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter
• 1x Metalworker
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Pathrazer of Ulamog
• 1x Platinum Emperion
• 1x Roaming Throne
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Ulamog, the Defiler
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Void Winnower
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Wandering Archaic  ^Flip
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

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Welcome to Reality Twist {C}

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of this colorless, artifact and Eldrazi-tribe deck; commanded by Kozilek, the Great Distortion. This wielder of void-magic has great potential as a commander. His vast power comes from realms unreachable by mere mortals, and twists reality into something that benefits him. He simply nullifies opposing spells by using energies alien to other spellcasters. Should anything slip by his spell-shield, it will still have to deal with the awesome power of his physical prowess. This deck is meant to be played casually. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; hope you will enjoy it!

Why Kozilek?

Multi-functionality. When he is summoned, his caster gets to draw seven cards minus the amount in my hand at the time. So, when timed right, that can mean a summon along with a full-hands worth draw. The main advantage he gives though, is his spectacular countering ability. With him on the field, any card in hand is a potential counter-spell. This makes opposing spell-casting a bit tricky. Even without any available mana, he can potentially counter anything. He begs the question: are opponents willing to play chicken? Last but not least, Kozilek’s combat ability (a 12/12 menace) is pretty impressive. His only drawback? Casting cost. But this is colorless mana we are talking about, and this deck can create a lot of that pretty fast.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The following ten parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck (maximum score is 50 points).

• Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
• Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
• Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
• Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
• Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
• Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
• Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
• Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
• Resilience: indicates whether the deck can prevent and take punches.
• Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

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Mana: 5

One of the great advantages of a colorless deck, is that there are abundant artifact mana sources available to generate a shit-ton of energy. This deck contains a whopping fourteen mana rocks and four creatures with mana generating abilities.

Ramp: 3

Artifacts can provide great opportunity for ramping. This deck only features six ramping options, of which one comes in creature form.

Card Advantage: 4

There’s a nice combination of different card-advantage abilities featured in this deck. In terms of direct draw, it contains seven options. Then there’s two tutors (which are for artifacts specifically), two cards can be used to filter cards and one card with which opponents’ properties can be stolen.

Overall speed: 5

The average CMC of this deck is high compared to others on this page. However, the deck’s abundant mana resources and decent card advantage opportunities make up for that to a significant extent. So much in fact, that it is capable of casting high-powered, high-CMC cards quicker than most other decks it will come across.

Combo: 1

Sure, there are some combos in here.

Army: 5

This deck brings da smack down! As a race of creatures, the Eldrazi add a number of beings into the mix that by themselves can be considered one-man-armies, wiping away the opposing force with annihilator before the first blow even lands. Let’s not forget some of the wildest artifact creatures out there will also join the rumble-team. All in all, powerful stuff.

Commander: 4

There is no doubt that the Great Distortion brings some tactical advantages to this deck. However, with resources aplenty, a ton of nasty creatures and even some (infinite) combos, this deck can hold its own very well against a lot of decks without needing him all that much.

Interaction: 5

As a matter of fact, this deck has a surprising amount of interaction for a colorless deck with three non-permanent spells. Most of it is comprised of Kozilek’s magnificent countering ability but a decent portion of it is forced sacrifice (seven options), destruction (four cards) , two damage- and two stealing spells.

Resilience: 3

All-out destruction is a lot more fun when the deck’s stuff is unaffected. A couple of options have been added to make them impervious to harm, along with a few cards that provide recursion.

Spellpower: 1

Not this deck’s strong suit; it relies heavily on permanents.

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Total power score: 35

Colorless is quick because obtaining large quantities of colorless mana is relatively easy. Mana requirements are therefore easier to meet as well, even if the required quantities are a bit higher than average. The deck is decently resilient and its creatures are very powerful; able to win battles by themselves if left unchecked.

General strategy

There’s not that much to it. Build up resources, release Kozilek, the Great Distortion as early as possible (because this will allow access to his countering ability) and then proceed to summon as many Eldrazi and other powerful colorless creatures as possible to stomp on enemies. If one can combo off in the meantime, do that too. Simple.

Combos

For variety’s sake, some combos have been add:

• Basalt Monolith + Forsaken Monument: With Monument in play, Monolith grants 4 instead of 3 colorless mana upon tapping. One can use 3 of that mana to untap Monolith again and presto: infinite colorless mana.
• Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + an additional 2 mana in mana pool:
  1. Tap Monolith for 3 mana.
  2. Pay 3 mana to untap Monolith (gets put on the stack first) and pay 2 mana to copy this untap ability with Rings (this copy ends up on top of the stack).
  3. Now let the copied untap resolve.
  4. As a reaction, tap Monolith to generate 3 colorless mana.
  5. Now the original untap resolves.
  6. As a reaction, tap Monolith to generate 3 colorless mana again.
  This series of steps has a net-yield of one colorless mana each time and can thus be repeated an infinite amount of times.
• Everflowing Chalice/Metalworker + Rings of Brighthearth + Voltaic Key:
  1. In order for this to work, Chalice/Worker need to be able to generate at least 4 colorless mana upon tapping.
  2. Tap Chalice/Worker to generate this amount of mana.
  3. Pay 1 mana to activate Key’s untap ability (with target = Chalice/Worker).
  4. Pay 2 mana to copy this untap ability with Rings; target in this case is Key.
  5. First, the copied untap ability resolves (Key untaps).
  6. Next, the original untap resolves (Chalive/Worker untaps).
  Repeat this cycle (it nets one colorless mana each time).
• Mana VaultGC + Forsaken Monument + Rings of Brighthearth + Voltaic Key:
  1. Tap Vault to generate 4 colorless mana (3 + 1 from Monument).
  2. Pay 1 mana to activate Key’s untap ability (with target = Vault).
  3. Pay 2 mana to copy this untap ability with Rings; target in this case is Key.
  4. First, the copied untap ability resolves (Key untaps).
  5. Next, the original untap resolves (Vault untaps).
  Repeat this cycle (it nets one colorless mana each time).
• Metalworker + Staff of Domination:
  1. In order for this combo to work, Worker needs to be able to generate at least 5 colorless mana upon tapping.
  2. Tap Worker to generate this amount of mana.
  3. Pay 3 of this mana to activate Staff’s ‘untap creature’ ability.
  4. Then pay 1 mana to activate Staff’s own untap ability.
  Repeat this cycle (it nets one colorless mana each time).
• Nevinyrral's Disk + Soul of New Phyrexia: Activate Soul’s first ability and then activate Disk; this will destroy all opposing permanents and spare the deck’s (due to indestructibility).
• It That Betrays + All is Dust: By itself, “It” is already spelling doom for most opponents, but when you also cast Dust, which then transitions control of just about everything on the battlefield to our side, it’s basically game over.

Card Choices

Lands

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

• Ancient TombGC: major colorless mana for a small price in life-points; excellent land to start games with.
• Blast Zone: works as a wipe in case one is needed.
• Cavern of Souls: keeps them from countering my Eldrazi spells.
• Crystal Vein: tap for 1 or sacrifice once for 2; could be handy in a pinch.
• Desert: a single damage to an attacking creature may not seem like much; but it can still prove to be a deterrent in some cases.
• Eldrazi Temple: more colorless mana for Eldrazi casting.
• Eye of Ugin: cheaper Eldrazi; yay! It also acts as a tutor for any colorless creature in the deck.
• Haunted Fengraf: a chance to get back something significantly powerful.
• Homeward Path: Eldrazi are not supposed to be stolen.
• Inventors' Fair: aside from decent life-gain potential, this land can help find combo-pieces.
• Mutavault: gives a little mana, and … *in the voice of Optimus Prime*: Mutavault, … Transform into … Dirticus!
• Mystifying Maze: let’s not get damaged by something terrible, shall we?
• Reliquary Tower: keep options open, as in more than seven options.
• Ruins of Oran-Rief: very useful as all the deck’s creatures are colorless and can always use another power/toughness boost.
• Sanctum of Ugin: as this deck contains sixteen colorless spells of CMC 7 or more, this land can prove pretty useful to find more expensive spells.
• Shrine of the Forsaken Gods/Temple of the False God: more mana for (colorless) spells once the deck’s land-base gets going.
• Terrain Generator: the deck's single ramp card, though it can only use land cards that are already in hand.
• Tomb of the Spirit Dragon: nice potential for life-gain in a deck filled with colorless creatures.
• Urza's Mine/card:Urza’s Powerplant/Urza's Tower: with your powers combined, much more mana will be available!
• War Room: it’s not necessary to pay life for this land's secondary ability!

Mana and ramp

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

• Burnished Hart: a small sacrifice that gets two basic lands from the deck; brilliant.
• Basalt Monolith: classic rock that becomes downright dangerous when combined with some cards within the deck; infinite mana FTW baby!
• Everflowing Chalice: a great variable mana rock that can be kicked into the stratosphere for more mana.
• Expedition Map: not as effective as Sphere or Hart, but still pretty damn nifty to fetch lands; and it comes at a cheaper casting cost.
• Gilded Lotus/Thran Dynamo: not exactly cheap-to-cast mana rocks; but they do grant a ton of mana in return.
• Hedron Archive: decent mana rock that can be sacrificed for some card draw.
• Hedron Crawler/Palladium Myr/Kozilek's Channeler: yes, bring the colorless mana dorks; love them.
• It That Heralds the End:
• Mana VaultGC: this is such a great accelerator rock; especially when used at the start of games to get some more mana sources active, or perhaps an early Eldrazi.
• Mind Stone: a little colorless mana, with some draw-in-a-pinch.
• Mox Opal: with this many artifacts around, obtaining the three-artifact threshold to use this (and summon it for free!) is a piece of cake.
• Pristine Talisman: mana and life-gain in one.
• Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree: steals opposing lands.
• Sol Ring: are there EDH decks without this card?
• Sol Talisman: a delayed Ring; still nice.
• Thought Vessel: decent mana rock and prevents having to discard with a 7+ hand-size; sweet.
• Wandering Archaic  : an excellent spell-stealer and/or a taxation engine.

Card Advantage

The mechanisms that provide card advantage:

• Artisan of Kozilek: gets one card back from the ol’ dirt nap, and is a very powerful creature with annihilator to boot.
• Emrakul, the World Anew: this is bloody powerful against any creature heavy deck.
• Endbringer: great utility creature that can provide some draw.
• Introduction to Prophecy: scrying and drawing for almost minimal cost.
• It That Betrays: you need to sacrifice something? What a shame … hand it over :-)
• Karn, Scion of Urza: draw enabler that gives the opponent a choice on what the deck’s controller gets to keep first.
• Moonsilver Key: a great tool for finding some of the best (mana) artifacts or useful lands in this deck.
• Mind's Eye: someone draws, a small tax paid, and there’s some additional draw.
• Scroll Rack/Sensei's Divining Top: fantastic filtering card that allows for (additional) draw in a pinch.
• Staff of Nin: not just one extra card per turn, but a weenie-killer as well!
• Ugin, the Ineffable: generates 2/2 minions that upon death grant some draw; also cheapens colorless spells significantly.

The Colorless Force

These creatures are not as bland as they seem; prepare for some pain:

• Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: one of the most frightening annihilators in MTG with some added card-draw chance.
• Kozilek, the Broken Reality: great booster for most creatures in here and some draw ETB as well.
• Pathrazer of Ulamog: menacing annihilation for everybody!
• Platinum Emperion: you can’t damage meeee (and I can’t gain life, … oh well)!
• Roaming Throne: standard fare for every deck that looks even remotely like a tribe deck.
• Soul of New Phyrexia: not just a nice, relatively cheap bulldozer, but also an enabler that can make all my permanents indestructible.
• Steel Hellkite: my flying, selective wipe engine; especially powerful against anyone trying to take me on with a creature token deck.
• Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger: the ultimate exiler of libraries.
• Ulamog, the Defiler: an ETB that will rue the day of a very unlucky opponent.
• Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: my most powerful, indestructible annihilator.
• Void Winnower: you’d better be playing odds; or you’re in biiiiiig trouble.

Removal

You are going to lose some stuff!

• All is Dust: a wipe that by definition only affects my opponents; nice!
• Cityscape Leveler: has an ability similar to annihilator and can be retrieved from the graveyard.
• Introduction to Annihilation/Scour from Existence: not the cheapest removal spells, but still very effective.
• Karn Liberated: omg this guy is cool; exiles like a champ and can restart entire games and gives his boss a huge edge in the process; welcome to the team bud!
• Lux Cannon: charge this up and fire a destructive beam of pure light at anything worth destroying.
• Nevinyrral's Disk: a portable black hole, in case the game goes awry and others have way more stuff (or stuff that can’t be destroyed in other ways).
• Null Elemental Blast/Selective Obliteration: your colors offend us!
• Ugin, Eye of the Storms: colorful things are going to get hurt ... a lot.
• Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: throws colorless card:Lightning Bolts’s, wipes away entire gatherings of colorful permanents with the same CMC and to top it all off, can give one hell of a boost in terms of life, card advantage and board-presence.
• Walking Ballista: pinging power; ow yeah!

Utility

And then there are these cards to enjoy while using this deck.

• Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter: all the deck’s spells can be cast at instant speed!
• Lightning Greaves: let’s give the great distortion some protection.
• Rings of Brighthearth: lots of interesting activated abilities can be copied with this.
• Staff of Domination: though this beauty is mostly in the deck for its utility ‘creature untap’ ability, one can’t help but notice it can also be used for draw in a pinch.
• Torpor Orb: this deck doesn’t include any ETB effects, so let’s prevent everyone else from potentially profiting from them!
• Unwinding Clock: like Seedborn MuseGC, but just for artifacts!
• Voltaic Key: untapping any of the ‘facts for just 1 is a steal.

Thank you for reading!

Appreciate the time you took to read this primer. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	27 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 0 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.67
Tokens	Construct 0/0 C, Powerstone, Spirit 2/2 C, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink
Folders	eldrazi, Commander Decks For TTS, Other Decks Frm Tppout