The Ten Plagues: Locust God cEDH [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH Daedalus19876

SCORE: 829 | 487 COMMENTS | 131796 VIEWS | IN 299 FOLDERS


IT'S SO SHINY —Oct. 9, 2018

I may...have spent a little too much of my paycheck here, don't judge me. The deck is now my strongest deck by miles (turns out Transmute Artifact is BONKERS!) and loses maybe 5% of games at this point, even in metas with good opponents.

I've updated the primer, and also updated the curve of the deck using the new T/O feature to override CMC. I now have Force of Will marked as a 0-mana spell as it should be, though Cyclonic Rift is now marked as costing 7 mana (as it does in reality). Along with a couple other modifications, this gives a more accurate reading of how much mana this deck actually NEEDS to function.

And, as always, check out the $125 version of the deck if you're not interested in spending $700+ emulating the fully-powered list! Thank you all for all the help you've given, and I look forward to seeing where this deck will evolve!


$125 Budget Locust God EDH

Commander / EDH Daedalus19876

SCORE: 86 | 12 COMMENTS | 12046 VIEWS | IN 46 FOLDERS


philktoken8998 says... #1

Very cool deck! Not a ton to recommend however I did want to mention that in one of your initial paragraphs you talk about being able to play Earthquake style effects that allow your tokens to live (unless I missed some). Only wipe I saw was Blasphemous Act which makes sense in cEDH so nothing necessarily wrong. Might just want to take out the Earthquake bit.

August 20, 2018 4:13 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #2

philktoken8998: Yeah, the deck description is a tiny bit outdated, heh. I need to take some time to update it and take out older cards. Thanks for the feedback (and +1!).

August 20, 2018 4:15 p.m.

FlamingSamich says... #3

May I suggest Cavern of Souls and Inventors' Fair? Because of the reliance on the commander, Cavern of Souls ensures he gets to the battlefield. Inventors' Fair because it is nice to have another tutor for the artifact win-cons, especially on a land.

I'm also testing High Market as an instant speed kill for The Locust God in response to someone trying to exile him. Dodges the commander tax you would have had to pay quite nicely.

August 21, 2018 9:05 a.m.

dododestroyer says... #4

A lack of good tutors you say? Never fear! Blue has the best artifact tutors around as well as transmute cards! I run an artifact centric locust god deck and have had great success using Mana Echoes and especially Grand Architect with a sac outlet to substitute for ashnods altar. Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal also lets you win from the command zone (with eldrazi and other GY shuffle effects). You can also get some nice instant/sorcery tutors which let you get your dramatic scepter combo as well as fetch artifact tutors.

August 21, 2018 9:32 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #5

FlamingSamich: You're completely right re:Cavern of Souls, and it's been added! I'm not overly convinced on Inventors' Fair, but I could give it a try I suppose. High Market is also cute, but my biggest problem is Locust God getting countered - once he hits battlefield he tends to be safe-ish in my meta, generally speaking.

dododestroyer: I'm running most of the cards that can fetch Dramatic Reversal/Isochron Scepter (excluding Transmute Artifact and Long-Term Plans). I used to run Mana Echoes here, but honestly it didn't do enough for my list.

Thanks to both of your for your thoughts!!

August 25, 2018 6:53 p.m.

gdm1989 says... #6

your thoughts on Psychic Corrosion?

September 6, 2018 11:23 p.m.

rptmata says... #7

what do you think of the power artefact?

September 13, 2018 8:18 a.m.

Switch out Recurring Insight for the new Niv Mizzet?

September 14, 2018 4:52 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #9

gdm1989: Ehh, it’s a fine card, but not as a wincon here. If I draw 50 I’m going to win anyway, and it gives opponents more stuff to use in their GY :/

rptmata: I mean, it doesn’t really...do much in this deck? The only thing it works with here is Grim Monolith. (Unless you meant Transmute Artifact?)

Zimmers_0: I’m considering him. He, Thousand-Year Storm, and Mission Briefing are kinda competing for a slot.

September 22, 2018 2:23 p.m.

AlucardZain says... #10

No Lab Maniac?

September 22, 2018 7:07 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #11

AlucardZain: If I had a penny for every time someone asked me that...

IMO, Lab Man is better in a deck that either self-mills, or wins through some way of exiling their library (say, Doomsday). In this deck, I need to actually draw 100 cards to win with him, and if I do that, I will win through any one of a myriad of other win conditions...or he's simpy out-classed by Firestorm in the same slot. This is particularly true with the Kindred Discovery combo.

September 22, 2018 10:24 p.m.

AlucardZain says... #12

Daedalus19876. True, but also for decks that like to draw a lot. He's my main and only wincon kin my Azami EDH. I also want to build a Locust God EDH, and I already have Mana Echoes for it. Which I'm surprised you dont run that as well. Any reason why?

September 22, 2018 11:25 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #13

AlucardZain: In mono-blue infinite-draw decks, I can see Laboratory Maniac being the best available wincon, but he's proven to not be very helpful here in Izzet colors shrug

I also used to run Mana Echoes! But as I tuned, I found that my deck rarely lacked colorless mana when I'd gotten to the point of having The Locust God on the battlefield. The biggest requirement of colorless mana was casting my commander, and if he's not on field, Mana Echoes does relatively little. When I'm comboing, I'm mostly limited by colored mana, so I focus on fetching Paradox Engine instead (which can provide the colored mana at all points of the game).

There definitely is a possible deck where you use Mana Echoes after a Wheel to cast spells like Comet Storm, and I played around with that build for a while, but I found it too intermittent and fragile.

I hope that answers your question! :)

September 26, 2018 10:51 a.m.

darker says... #14

Any thoughts of using Mindmoil or Teferi's Puzzle Box? Your deck may be too finely tuned to need these chaos-ish cards but in my Kydele-Vial Smasher deck they really increase the velocity of churning through cards for value.

September 26, 2018 11:08 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #15

darker: Thanks for the comment! :) I used to run them (and still run them in my budget version), but I've found that 1) they make sequencing annoying - if I draw both combo pieces in the same hand, I'm SOL - and 2) they don't really help me when comboing much. This is a pretty dedicated combo deck at this point, and having to choose random hands is generally not something I want to be forced to do.

(If you like the deck, you're welcome to give a +1!)

September 26, 2018 11:28 a.m.

pipster258 says... #16

Maybe Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind? Basically acts as removal with the amount you draw. Same for the new one, Niv-Mizzet, Parun

September 26, 2018 11:50 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #17

pipster258: Thanks for the comment and upvote! :D they have both been tested here, and honestly they've been...okay? They just both cost a lot of mana, conflict with my commander in that CMC slot, and tend to eat removal. I wish I could find space for the new one, but for the moment I don't know what (if anything) I'd cut. Maybe Murder of Crows, if I decide to drop that combo line of play.

September 26, 2018 11:56 a.m.

ChaosJester says... #18

Hey Bro I already upvoted your deck few months before, and I still love the fact, how much passion you put into that. I am not an EDH player but the flavor is awsome! In my point of view I would replace Recurring Insight with Mission Briefing. And what about Prosperity? In my point of view, Sorrow's Path would be great here in combination with Political Trickery. I mean Sorrow would definitely support your theme and is a very very punch in your face-card that creates a wtf-moment for your opponent. And it goes well with Opposition that you already use. Just wanted to inform you about this possibility. :D

September 27, 2018 7:06 a.m.

KayneMarco says... #19

I’m sure you have already looked at this one, Distant Melody

September 27, 2018 8:41 a.m.

Dr.Crust says... #20

I LOVE IT <3 Im taking some ideas to my Locust God :)

I'm running something similar with Kefnet the Mindful on the mainboard

have you ever tried Him? NICE DECK <3

September 27, 2018 5:54 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #21

Writing up a new draft of the Primer tonight, I'd love if you guys would take a look at it! We players have to stick together ;)

September 29, 2018 1:59 a.m.

CheatingLefty says... #22

Thank you for what you do for the great ! Your deck has been an inspiration to me for a while and now I am finally getting around to building TLG now that I dismantled Nekusar.

With the new set, what are your thoughts on Mission Briefing ? Additionally I see you took out Snapback. Was this due to already having Stifle and means of recurring it?

September 29, 2018 12:25 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #23

CheatingLefty: Honestly, I really liked Snapback here, but it eventually got cut for Transmute Artifact, which has been INSANE (sped the whole deck up by almost a turn).

And Mission Briefing is BONKERS, I love it. I opened on in the prerelease last night, and it fits right in here (over the slot formerly occupied by Personal Tutor).

September 29, 2018 4:36 p.m.

CrimsonKing says... #24

Have you tried Whir of Invention? I like it in my list because I can flash in one of my win cons before I untap.

October 1, 2018 2:18 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #25

CrimsonKing: I've definitely been considering it, but the most common thing I'd want to flash in would be Paradox Engine, and it's pretty tricky to hold up 8 mana. Moreover, I have relatively few cards that synergize with the Improvise (most of my artifacts are mana rocks). Still, you're right that I should consider it - what would you cut?

October 1, 2018 3:25 p.m.