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The Empyrial Tax Bureau (IRL)

Commander / EDH

GoblinWizard

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Playtest v1
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Lands (32)

Interaction (4)

Judgment (3)

Pod (11)

Tutors & Draw (9)

Recursion & Protection (8)

Legislation (7)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

Mana Ramp (10)

Value (8)

Taxation (7)

Sideboard

Other (10)

Maybeboard

Other (16)

What I'll actually be buying while Tundra and Tropical Islands are $200+...

The Stasis Soft Lock

Stasis, on the surface, is a good way to slow down a game for a few turns but even Derevi, on her own, cannot escape its upkeep cost. However, a number of cards can help perpetuate the soft lock:

-Druids' Repository is perhaps the best card for the job. With Derevi out, you can attack, get a charge counter and use Derevi's untap trigger on the attacker, giving it pseudo vigilance. The charge counter, in turn, pays for Stasis next turn. Repository also helps to cheat on Static Orb and Winter Orb.

-Sakashima the Impostor easily one of the best cards in the deck, Sakashima does so much simply by being able to clone legendaries. With Stasis out, Sakashima can clone Derevi, allowing you to untap both the attacker and a mana source.

-Stoic Angel, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Brago, King Eternal round out the Stasis support. Angel and Elesh naturally have viglnce, allowing you to attack and untap Stasis without cost. Brago provides pseudo-vigilance to your entire board by blinking everything, letting mana dorks untap or Derevi triggers to be aimed at your own resources.

The Pod Package

Derevi has long been hated because of her ability to cheat on the commander tax. For , Derevi can hit play at instant speed, avoiding counterspells and ignoring effects like Iona and Arcane Laboratory altogether. She can untap a surprise blocker, tap down a Gaea's Cradle or other threat on your opponent's upkeep, "turn off" a Static/Winter Orb so you can untap or just flash in to save on mana the following turn.

In this list, Derevi also helps fuel a Birthing Pod package of powerful 4-drops. Derevi can even, with enough mana, untap Pod so you can tutor up many in a single turn!

  • Stoic Angel. She can really punish go-wide strategies and because of Derevi and Seedborn Muse we can get around her tax easily.

  • Angel of Jubilation Handle with care. This one wrecks anything hoping to sacrifice or pay life, but it turns off our Pod and fetches as well.

  • Loxodon Gatekeeper Kismet on a stick. Usually my first pick with an early Pod.

  • Hokori, Dust Drinker Winter Orb on a stick and another good early tutor target.

  • Linvala, Keeper of Silence Hoses tribal decks in a hard way, and has a great body for equipment.

  • Grand Arbirter Augustin IV The absolute king of taxation, GAAIV helps our spells get under our other taxers.

  • Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa A great way for our weenies to punch through and get triggers off Derevi or Edric.

  • Phyrexian Metamorph A flexible clone, Metamorph should always make its way into any deck.

  • Sakashima the Impostor In a deck full of Legendaries, Sakashima is an excellent way to double up on a tax, triggers off Edric/Derevi or just ensure a crucial hatebear (like Gaddock Teeg) sticks around.

  • Captain Sisay Tutors up so many cards, though obviously Gaea's Cradle is almost always #1.

  • Brago, King Eternal _Great an squeezing more value from ETBs. Especially good at resetting Glen-Elendra Archmange, "untapping" Pod and dancing around Static Orb or Stasis. If you have Containment Priest out, don't fret--you can flicker everything so long as you flicker Priest as well and she won't exile anything when they all come back in.

  • Rafiq of the Many A great beater that turns the Swords and Jitte into absolute monstrosities. Rafiq supports commander damage as an alternate wincon as well.

Other Pod Targets

By no means is the above list exhaustive or perfect. There exist plenty of other options for a Derevi Pod package.

Swords or Silence

There's a "transformative" sideboard of sorts to this deck: if you want more of an edge against artifact-centric decks and the swap is simple: take out Stoneforge Mystic, the four equipment and (optionally) Birthing Pod for the cards in the sideboard (Bane of Progress being the analogous swap with Pod). The remaining four slots in the board can be filled with whatever silver bullets you need for your group/meta. For mine:

Terminology used in the custom categories:

Taxation:

Refers to a card that makes your opponents pay more for their spells or one that limits their mana resources. These are the cards which hinder your opponents' game while you develop yours.

Legislation:

Refers to a card which alters the rules of the game. These control what your opponents can do once they pay for your taxes, or help impose the taxes more effectively by limiting their options.

Judgment

Finishers, both in combat and on their own. Rarely do I pay their full price--usually I dump them in the bin with Survival of the Fittest and tutor up Loyal Retainers.

[Note: some people wonder why I've omitted cards like Arcane Laboratory or Eidolon of Rhetoric from my list. While these cards are good--essential, really, if your meta is rife with Ezuri or Krenko tribal decks--they aren't very impactful on their own. Tax cards can fulfill the same role through mana denial and help to outright deny your opponent the chance to play any spells in their turn. ]

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Date added 7 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

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

12 - 3 Mythic Rares

65 - 5 Rares

12 - 2 Uncommons

8 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.88
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