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Thalassophobia [Primer]

Commander / EDH* Bracket 4 Clone Combo Competitive Island Midrange Mono-Blue Shapeshifter Tokens

Brightwrath

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Commander: foil Orvar, the All-Form

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Thalassophobia

--"Thalassophobia is the persistent and intense fear of deep bodies of water such as the sea, oceans, or lakes. Thalassophobia can include fear of being in deep bodies of water, fear of the vast emptiness of the sea, of sea waves, aquatic creatures, and fear of distance from land."--

Welcome to the Deep...

Welcome to my Orvar, the All-Form primer! The purpose of this primer is to give anyone interested in playing Orvar the All-Form a good look at the general ways to build and pilot the deck. This also serves as a love letter to my favorite Commander. Due to the complicated nature of the deck there may be some occasional faults for which I ask patience; I find I have to learn a new ruling or two almost every time I play this deck. I will work to keep this as updated as possible and I welcome constructive feedback and comments! I have to say that this is hands down my favorite MTG Commander deck. My Lathril, Blade of the Elves deck, Death March [Primer] is my second favorite; Check that out if you like some classic combat with some clever twists and give it a +1 if you like it! A +1 is also greatly appreciated for this deck! :)

As time has gone on my love and appreciation for the Kaldheim set has only increased; Vikings, Heavy Metal, and Magic the Gathering blended together to create something genuinely special; despite it's flaws, it remains a personal favorite set to this day! Kaldheim brought many incredible Commanders that I would readily recommend! When the set first dropped, commanders such as Toralf, God of Fury  , Tergrid, God of Fright  , Esika, God of the Tree  , Kardur, Doomscourge, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Fynn, the Fangbearer, and Orvar, the All-Form caught my eye! Funny enough, Lathril, Blade of the Elves didn't despite it now being my second favorite deck! I brewed Orvar a few dozen times before the Deck finally clicked with me and I vaguely understood what it could bring to the table. What I initially built was a bit more of an open ended cEDH build but I soon departed from that as I learned how to pilot the deck and frankly got bored of that way of playing it. Though I wouldn't call the deck "done" but it is essentially what I want it to be! Proceeding changes will mostly focus on optimizing my game plan and looking for fun new things to slot in to try!

What initially caught my eye with this commander was the very "Lovecraftian" or "Cthulhu-esque" vibe of the card! That initial impression has shaped a lot of the fantasy and flavor when building and playing this deck! There is a soft "existential horror" vibe in my heart and mind as I play and build this deck. Deep dark and wet caves, claustrophobia, "dead" still waters with dark forms writhing in the deep, and the eerie stillness before the waters break and formless entities rise to surface bringing your mind to the utter fringes of sanity. These, and more, fuel the deck Philosophy. The MTG Wiki States:

Orvar is one of the oldest and most experienced Covewalkers. Like all his kin, Orvar is capable of changing his shape, preferring marine creatures and water-adjacent humanoids (fishermen, lighthouse keepers, etc.). Orvar has been around for such a long time that he has learned to use his powers in more creative ways. For example, he has learned how to spread his physical form across multiple bodies. As long as he has a reference, he can create "copies" of an observed creature, although the copies are quite literally an extension of himself. Orvar's intentions are cloaked in mystery. He has spent centuries gathering both knowledge and new forms, but his end goals are unknown. Whenever an ancient tale involves a changeling, it is often secretly about Orvar himself.

In addition to my initial impressions this bit of lore has really driven home my approach to building this deck. One on the biggest issues we run into with magic is getting tired of the deck we play. I have long wanted a deck that has high re-playability/Variability and also the power to compete. I wanted to play everyone's deck! I Initially considered Sen Triplets but the color fixing, general aesthetic, high CMC, and its proclivity towards "arch-enemy" made me lose interest quickly. As I have worked to reflect the flavor, and lore in the way that I build and play, this deck has given me all that I could have asked for and more! Orvar the All-Form is truly the King of Copies! All that being said, lets get into it! This is going to be a good(long) one!

Starting off, there are a couple things to know; The first is pod rules that may effect the way I build. We have some cards we wont play that would or could be obvious upgrades. Two examples are Jeweled Lotus, and Transmute Artifact. There are more, but they either have too high a price tag or they don't fit into the established power level of the pod. The other rule to mention is no more than half of a decks removal sources can be counterspell type effects. We do not generally allow any "stax" type effects. This deck does reasonably well against stax but a few cards can really ruin our game such as Drannith Magistrate. We are also generally pretty chill about mulligans but I personally try to build for consistency even with the modern mulligan rules. I generally play against Kaalia of the Vast, Saheeli, the Giftedfoil, The Gitrog Monster, Chulane, Teller of Tales, Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest, Elsha of the Infinitefoil, Lathril, Blade of the Elves, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Tuvasa the Sunlitfoil, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, and Krenko, Mob Boss.

The other thing to know is power level. We generally play decks from a 6-9 power level or "sub-cEDH." It can be just as fast sometimes but our games are increasingly chill. I have tried to build this deck to be able to compete in that range. For me I would call this build a ~80% optimized build. Of course this is somewhat subjective but do with it what you will.

I have chosen to play this deck in a way that may not be optimal. My priority when I play is to first: Look for something fun and unique to do and then Second: "Win." I win if I did a cool thing or discovered a neat new interaction. If you want to win, Orvar will absolutely give you the tools. However, I have built this deck to be the most fun for me and to reward me for game knowledge and creativity. I rarely start a game with a plan. I will almost always ignore a potential combo win when I have a goal in sight. This deck inevitably combos off. The best cards in the deck you can't do without also cause you to combo so I frequently ignore the combos. **THIS IS ABSOLTELY CRITICAL TO UNDERSTANDING MY CARD SELECTION.**

Rather than traditional pros and cons, I want to just make note of a couple things as this primer is intended to give you a view of multiple ways to play.

  • This deck is challenging to pilot. It is not going to be the best choice for a new player. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, I would simply warn you that it will take time, and a lot of frustration and homework to learn. I playtested the initial version maybe 30 times before I understood the combo lines reasonably well; do your pod a favor and learn to play the deck before you play a game so they don't have to sit and watch you figure it all out lol... That being said, this deck rewards you enormously as you become a more skilled player and can utilize knowledge of the games inner mechanics. This is the MTG endgame content ladies and gentlemen.
  • This deck is strong! If you aren't careful it can be oppressive in the wrong pod. Be sure to moderate your play a bit if you are not cEDH. Often times the deck is just as frustrating for you to learn as it is for the opponent and if someone doesn't understand the stack it genuinely looks like you are just cheating. Prioritize your real life relationships over the card game lol.
  • You will need to learn and keep learning a lot of rules
  • If you just want to smash in some heads with combat this deck can be for you but probably isn't.
  • This is a genuinely unique commander no matter how you choose to play it! The ways to play Orvar are only as limited as your creativity.
  • This deck wins relatively slow but it has very very high resilience and maybe the highest inevitability in the game. You will accumulate so many resources through the game that it will become practically impossible to stop you at some point. If you want to do your thing and not be disrupted this is a great deck!
  • The biggest weakness of the deck is Orvar himself. He is a HOT target for removal oftentimes and it is worth being careful about when you choose to play him. This matters exponentially more as you climb into cEDH. This deck will give you the tools to protect him but you still need to be careful.
  • At times this deck can definitely be weak to fast combat decks, I play mostly against combat decks these days and you can definitely manage as time goes on. If the table decided to kill you in the early game they probably will though.

Lets start by breaking down the card:

  1. Orvar is a changeling. This means that he has ALL creature types. Is he a hippo? Yes. Is he a god? Yes. Is he a god of hippos? Ye....no that doesn't exist in the game. There are a number of cards that benefit from this that we will get into later but just think Sliver Legion :)
  2. "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell,"- Orvars ability triggers at the cast of an instant or sorcery. This means that it is a triggered ability that goes on the stack separate to the actual cast. If the cast is countered it doesn't matter the triggered ability from Orvar is still on the stack; the spell does not need to resolve to create a token copy. The other important words are "you" and "Cast." I hope "you" is self-explanatory or you are possibly reading the wrong primer... As for cast, Orvar's triggered ability only triggers when you CAST an instant or sorcery. Copies of spells regardless of who made the copy do not trigger his ability.
  3. "if it targets one or more other permanents you control,"- His ability only triggers IF an instant or sorcery targets something. "One or more;" This means if you have a spell you cast that targets two things, Orvar's ability only creates a token for ONE of the two targets, Dream's Grip only creates one copy when entwined. A sneaky word here is also "Other" you cannot make copies of Orvar with his ability. "Permanents," This is the kicker, YOU CAN COPY ANY PERMANENT including land! And the final word indicates that you can only make copies of things that YOU control.
  4. "Create a token that's a copy of one of those permanents" - This is a token copy and again it can only be one copy.
  5. Finally, "When a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard this card, create a token that's a copy of target permanent." - This has almost never happened for me but its awesome when it does! This ability only triggers if AN OPPONENTS spell or ability makes you discard Orvar. (this means from your hand) You can then create a token copy of ANY permanent on the field! Pretty cool! You can bounce Orvar back to your hand in response to a wheel type effect if you really need someone's Rhystic Study or something like that!

The next question then is what kind of instants and sorceries that "Target something" do we want? There are many of these spells and all are not equal! In a heavy creature build we could use spells like Leap or Shadow Rift but these don't fully realize Orvar's potential. There are a few things we are looking for in our targetting spells: Cheap, Repeatable, target's any permanent, effects our permanents positively such as untap, and replaces itself with a card draw clause. Not every card has all of these but we try to run the best of each! Orvar is based on effects like Twiddle, Twitch, and Whim of Volrath. Cards like Twiddle are great however it isn't repeatable by itself and most importantly it doesn't replace itself. Orvar has a interesting problem; I like to call him an aggro-spellcaster. You will empty your hand quickly using up all of these low cost targeting spells and you need to re-fuel. Same as with a elf or goblin deck where you need to "feed the swarm" so replacement and card draw are essential for this deck to operate smoothly.

I run a lot of cards that can be used for multiple purposes but our main targeting spells are: Alter Reality, Argent Mutation, Clockspinning, Crystal Spray, Dream's Grip, Enervate, Glamerdye, Jinx, Mind Games, Shimmering Mirage, Thermal Flux, Twitch, Whim of Volrath, Aquitect's Will, and Hidden Strings.

Buyback 0

The most common way to win is to get infinite mana and infinite card draw. When this has been done its simply a matter of choosing how you want to win. Buyback 0 is the most common way to do this and there are several ways to accomplish this. The three cards that can establish a true "Buyback 0" are Whim of Volrath, Clockspinning, and Mind Games. Those cards in combination with cards like Sapphire Medallion, or High Tide can create infinite mana. Cards like Sapphire Medallion can reduce the cost of additional or alternative costs thus reducing the buyback cost by for each copy of Sapphire Medallion. Adding in something like Archmage Emeritus gives us the draw we need though we need to be careful not to draw ourselves out as his ability is not a "may draw" ability. This will be described in the "Combos" section.

The basic objective for a midrange Orvar is to build an engine and out-value the opponents over the long run. We don't plan on winning fast, we plan to dominate the late game. The deck is by no means slow but especially in cEDH there are much faster options. This involves careful threat analysis; we only want to stop things that we absolutely have to. Counter magic is for protecting Orvar. On that note, again Orvar is the weakest link here; most of our cards are useless without Orvar on the board. If your opponents have the impression that Orvar is a storm commander and is going to hit the table and combo he will draw too much hate too early. So, be careful about when you cast Orvar and be prepared to interact. From there we go into building our engine. The first thing we want to do every game is typically to make copies of our lands. As we do we are looking to set up protection and a draw engine. We need to fuel our hand to keep Orvar chugging. So typically the priority is: Untap with Orvar --> Copy Islands --> Establish a draw engine --> Protect Orvar --> Repeat until we find a win. This is the foundation stone to the deck along with Buyback 0.

So now on to the way I play this deck specifically. With the understanding that we want to build an engine as our base we now need an objective. You can definitely look for Buyback 0 and other combos but as I said earlier that is not really the way I play at this point. I stay selectively blind to those Combos. When I start a game, I build up a value engine as normal and then I watch and wait, looking for something new and interesting to do! Do I want to win via Burn? sure! Do I want to make a ton of Mana Crypt and just see how many upkeeps it takes to die will trying to win first? Absolutely! How about 10 Dragon Mage and wheel the entire table to death when it triggers 10+ times? Ecstasy! Played this way, the deck become a wonderful mini-game that changes every time it's played! The deck gives you the tools to be as creative as you can! Having a couple flex slots to frequently try new things yourself is also fun!

The heart and soul of my build is Shapeshifters and copy spells. Artisan of Forms is the all-star of this build. I usually tutor for her with any of the wizardcycle tutors (Step Through) rather than cards like Archmage Emeritus or Spellseeker that are preferred for the combo lines and cEDH routes. Artisan of Forms provides us with a cheap and quick way to copy valuable creatures and fill the board. She also serves as protection for Orvar as you can target her --> turn her into Orvar --> let OG Orvar die to the legend rule --> and you are still left with one Orvar token and one Artisan token while the threat typically fizzles. When it comes to normal creatures you can actually choose to stack Artisans Heroic trigger first then Orvar's ability trigger and be left with two copies of whatever the target creature is. The rest of the Shapeshifter effects are used to accomplish similar things. Its important to know that once a shapeshifter enters the battlefield (ETB) as a target permanent it is now literally that permanent plus any other effects stated as specific to the shapeshifter. You cannot copy a Shapeshifter that is Sliver Legion and have it ETB as another creature; it always will enter as Sliver Legion. That being said many of our copiers say that you MAY have them enter as target (Creature, Enchantment, Artifact, Etc...) so with cards like Mirrormade and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces you ideally want to have them resolve without copying anything, and then use targeting spells to have subsequent copies ETB as normal. (This works with cards likeSakashima of a Thousand Faces because they aren't 0/0's that die on entry) This slows us down a good bit but the decision has to be made strategically. Sometimes there is more value in copying an early Rhystic Study than lettings it sit for a turn as nothing. If you have them around though they are obnoxiously powerful tools. I try to run a few diverse "Clone" type effects for this purpose as I want to have the tools to copy anything rather than just creatures.

These are the "clone" type effects I run: Metamorphic Alteration, Mirrormade, Vesuvan Duplimancy, Artisan of Forms, Clever Impersonator, Phyrexian Metamorph, Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Wandering Archaic  , and The Mycosynth Gardens.

While I could run many more of these effects, I find that in a more competitive meta a couple go a long way and too many clog my hand and slow the game down too much. We want the smoothest feeling deck while also playing the way we love! Creature based builds may benefit from more of these effects. I do continue to test new cards often though.

The Flavor win for this deck, when there is nothing more interesting to do, is to use a card like Vesuvan Duplimancy in combination a buyback spell like Whim of Volrath and Orvar, the All-Form to create enough Orvar's to go infinite and clean up via combat. I love this way to win personally but down to the last second I am looking (begging) for something more interesting to do.

This section will give you a more detailed look at the basic Combo wincons. While the list is not exhaustive I will include many of the most common or interesting as well as how to do them. The first two are the most common to any Orvar deck and you must know them well.

Buyback 0

Generate infinite tapped Islands: Requires: Whim of Volrath/Clockspinning/Mind Games and:Sapphire Medallion/Cloud Key.

  1. Have Orvar, the All-Form and Sapphire Medallion on the field and Whim of Volrath in your hand with at least and available.
  2. Cast Whim of Volrath with buyback for targeting the Sapphire Medallion, making a copy, and returning Whim of Volrath to your hand.
  3. Cast Whim of Volrath again with buyback for , targeting an island, making an untapped copy and returning Whim of Volrath to your hand.
  4. Repeat. Do this at instant speed on someone's end-step to start your turn with infinite UNTAPPED islands.

    5. This can also be done with a few copies of Orvar or 2+ casts of High Tide in one turn.

Sanctuary Loops

This is a much more complex combo but worth mastering. Once you do, you will see variations of this appear all the time.

Generates infinite Islands (at a minimum)

Requires: High Tide/Sapphire Medallion, Twitch and Aquitect's Will/Aquitect's Will and Shimmering Mirage, Mystic Sanctuary.

  1. Have Orvar, the All-Form and an untapped Mystic Sanctuary on the field and a source.
  2. Use to cast High Tide.
  3. Tap Mystic Sanctuary, adding , to cast Aquitect's Will targeting the Mystic Sanctuary leaving a hanging.
  4. Orvar, the All-Form triggers, making an untapped copy of Mystic Sanctuary. Mystic Sanctuary triggers on ETB, (Assuming you have the 3 islands) and you may return an instant or sorcery to the top of your deck. (If nothing else choose high tide to be safe) Aquitect's Will resolves drawing you the card from the top of your deck because Orvar is a merfolk.
  5. Tap the Untapped Mystic Sanctuary token for to cast Shimmering Mirage targeting Mystic Sanctuary.
  6. Orvar, the All-Form triggers, making another untapped copy of Mystic Sanctuary. Mystic Sanctuary triggers on ETB, returning Aquitect's Will to the top of your deck. Shimmering Mirage resolves drawing you Aquitect's Will from the top of your deck.
  7. Repeat for Infinite tapped Mystic Sanctuary and hanging .

    8. You can use a number of different cards for this adjusting the cost reducers or high tide casts to accomplish it. With the right cards and careful stacking you can add another spell cast in the middle, do this at instant speed on an opponents end-step, or draw your deck.

How to Win

Of course drawing your deck is neat and all but what do you do when you do or what cards do you want when you hit infinite? In this section I will only list a few of my go to options. See stand out cards for more options.

  • Ipnu Rivulet: When you can make infinite mana and have a buyback spell you can make enough of these to pay for and sacrifice them to themselves to mill each opponent out. This is one of the most resilient and safe outlets.
  • Idol of Oblivion: When you can make infinite mana and have a buyback spell you can make enough of these to pay for and sacrifice them and make a bunch of 10/10 Eldrazi! Ideall you do this on an enemy end-step to untap and swing for the win.
  • Spellseeker: Essentially the same as above but with any non-legendary creature. You will frequently see this creature be Spellseeker.
  • Venser, Shaper Savant: Also similar to above but you can let the venser token die to the legend rule and its ETB still goes on the stack allowing you to bounce every permanent your opponents have. This is essentially a forced fold.

There are many ways to play Orvar. This will not be a comprehensive list but I will try to hit as many of them as I can in increasing detail as time goes on.

  • All-Forms: I like this one! :) For the moment that is what I have deemed this list.
  • Pure Value: Most average lists seem to fall in this category. You use Orvar's ability out-value your opponents and find a win with sheer numbers. Many of these builds are creature based such as changeling/Shapeshifter Tribal. You can go for the combat win with cards like Master of Wavesfoil or Docent of Perfection  /Final Iteration  . I will list many other cards in the "standout" section.
  • Spookhulk/Gearhulk: This is basically another pure value deck but I think the win-con has been significant enough to Orvar to have a place of its own! This method of play revolves around filling the graveyard with instants and sorceries (which we do anyway) and then casting Torrential Gearhulk or Spectral Arcanist. on ETB you can cast all your instants and sorceries targeting the Spooky-boi/Hulk and repeating to fill the field and swing for lethal! Pretty cool!
  • Aura-Var: A really interesting approach as well! This method involves using Orvar to "break open" auras and enchantments and go for a Voltron (Commander Damage) win!
  • Twitch Control/Storm: These are the standard cEDH approach to Orvar. "Twitch Control" is a more midrange and resilient approach while "Twiddle Storm" is a fast, but vulnerable, "storm" type of approach. Most win through cards like Ipnu Rivulet, Spellseeker, Coveted Jewel, and Venser, Shaper Savant Most decks I have seen do not run Thassa's Oracle as it is somewhat a dead card outside of the win.

This section and the "Orvar's many forms" section will probably be where I spend the most time as time goes on! This section will include some of the coolest synergies and cards I have played along with other notable cards that see play in Orvar. This list will also not be exhaustive but it will be a good place to look when considering cards!

This section covers notes I make to myself, some relevant rulings, and frequently asked questions.

**FAQ: **
**Rulings:**
**Notes:**
  • Copies of cards come in untapped
  • orvar's cast trigger goes on the stack as soon as the card is cast. It does not go away if the spell is countered or if orvar is removed. (similar to an annihilator tigger (triggered ability))
  • orvar's ability checks for a legal target on cast and resolution of his ability. If the targeted permanent is removed in response to your targeting when it resolves there will be no legal target and the ability fizzles.

Alright this one is just for fun and something I have been looking forward to! :) I have long wanted to add a sort of Journal or Trophy section to catalogue some of the cool ways I have won games, interesting interactions or things I have pulled off, and assorted notes on cards. This is mostly for the fun of it and memories but I realize this is also a good way to show what sort of things this deck can do to help you get a feel for the build I have made! I hope you Enjoy it! I will update it as I play!

Section for those people and primers I learned from and inspired me!

!!!(PRIMER IN PROGRESS)!!!

While this Primer is in progress I hope you like what you see and find it useful! Thank you!

Feedback is much appreciated and an upvote would be even more so!! Thanks!! :)

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