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Reyhan & Ravos; Make it Count!

Commander / EDH BGW (Abzan, Junk) Combo Counters Partner Sacrifice

bushido_man96

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Add Counters (21)

Removal (10)

Draw (8)

Sac Outlets (6)

Recursion (1)

Counter Creatures (20)

Land (36)

Counter Utility (6)

Boardwipes (2)

Commanders (2)

Commander: foil Ravos, Soultender
Commander: foil Reyhan, Last of the Abzan

Ramp (11)

Move Counters (7)

Protection (5)

Maybeboard

Other (3)

Abzan Partners

Introduction

This is my first attempt at putting together a deck helmed by partners. I saw Wedge from The Mana Source do a deck tech on Reyhan, Last of the Abzan *f-etch* and Ravos, Soultender *f-etch* with a +1/+1 counters theme, and thought the idea was brilliant. This is not his list, but what I've been able to throw together from what I have in my collection. The old Spikes from the Tempest block don't see much play, and I thought this would be a great place to play old cards like that. Throw in some sac outlets, and Reyhan and Ravos have some great synergy together in reusing these creatures.

Partner vs. Partner With

I really liked the first group of Partner commanders that came out in C16. It was a great space that allowed for lots of creative design in deck building. Since then, Wizards has only made "Partner With" commanders, limiting the design space. I believe the main culprits here to be Tymna the Weaver *f-etch* and Thrasios, Triton Hero. The way things seem to be going forward, I wonder if these original Partner commanders will ever be reprinted. Don't get me wrong, here; I still like the new "Partner With" commanders and the potential that they bring, and I still think it's a fun design space. But these free-for-all Partners just seem like more fun can be had. I can't wait to see more of them. Edit: I've recently learned that a bunch of new Commanders with "Partner" are to be released in Commander Legends, so I'm excited to see that. They will all be mono-colored, but I'm good with that.

With that little spiel over, on to the deck tech. I don't want to run a set of Partners where one does a bulk of the work, and the other merely sits in the Command Zone as a color banner. I want to be casting and using the abilities of both commanders throughout the game. So for me, its important that the Partners feed off each other.

Reyhan's Role

When playing this deck, I find that I usually I want to cast Reyhan first. I like to get Reyhan, along with other counter creatures, onto the battlefield so I can start using Reyhan's ability to move those counters around and make bigger creatures. A suite of creatures have abilities that allow me to move these counters around, like the old Spikes, Spike Worker, Spike Soldier, and Spike Colony. I can pay mana to move the counters, and when the creature dies, that's ok, because Ravos will be around eventually to get them back. Alternatively, some sac outlets will allow me to sac the creatures with counters on them to take full advantage of Reyhan's ability to move those counters to another creature all at once, and then get the creature back out of the graveyard eventually. In order to take full advantage of Reyhan, most of the creatures in this deck come into play with +1 counters on them, or I have some way of putting +1 counters on them. Reyhan also makes removal tricky, because if a creature becomes a threat and gets removed, so long as it isn't exiled, I can move the counters to another creature, making a bigger threat.

Ravos's Role

Ravos is usually going to be the second commander I cast, due to his recursion ability...and his higher CMC. The little buff he offers other creatures is nice (I wish he gave a +1 counter, but oh well), but he's really here for the recursion. Ideally, sacrificing a creature with lots of counters on it and then getting it back the next turn to cast again is my preferred line of play. Letting the creatures die in combat is ok, too, but it's much less reliable than having a sacrifice outlet, which gives me much more control over how and when things happen. Who doesn't like sac outlets, right?

Counter Utility

Having a bunch of creatures with +1 counters on them is ok, but getting utility from them is better. To that end, a handful of creatures offer up some extra bonuses to the counter theme. Abzan Falconer gives flying to creatures with +1 counters on them. Elite Scaleguard taps down would-be blockers. Pridemalkin gives trample to creatures with +1 counters on them. Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter turns any creature with a +1 counter on it into a mana dork.

Combos

Ashnod's Altar + Cathars' Crusade + Ghave, Guru of Spores

Ashnod's Altar + Ghave, Guru of Spores + Juniper Order Ranger

These combos are just awesome and versatile for this deck. They can be used to generate infinite saprolings, or infinite mana, or infinite +1 counters to put on a creature. I'm not running any tutors to get this combo put together, but each of the cards are useful on their own in the deck, and a combo win out every now and then ins't a bad thing (not to me, anyways). Great for combat. If I discover any other combos as I play the deck out, I'll make sure to add them in here.

Conclusion

This is my first Partners build. I'm sure there's room for improvement, and I've got a few ideas listed in the maybeboard. I don't plan on adding Doubling Season, Primal Vigor, Parallel Lives, or Anointed Procession for budgetary reasons. I welcome any and all suggestions. Thanks for taking a look!

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98% Casual

Competitive

Revision 12 See all

(1 month ago)

+1 Assassin's Trophy main
+1 Beast Within main
-1 Citadel Siege main
-1 Custodi Soulbinders main
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+1 Evolutionary Leap maybe
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+1 Genesis Hydra main
+1 High Market maybe
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+1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch main
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+1 Vastwood Hydra main
-1 Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel main