Follow the Leader. (Nethroi Budget EDH)
Commander / EDH BGW (Abzan, Junk) Budget Casual Dredge Mill Mutate Umori, the Collector
Keywords (28)
- 1x Annex Sentry
- 1x Bishop of Rebirth
- 1x Cemetery Prowler
- 1x Courier Hawk
- 1x Dirge Bat
- 1x Drana and Linvala
- 1x Faeburrow Elder
- 1x Flesh-Eater Imp
- 1x Gemrazer
- 1x Giada, Font of Hope
- 1x Glowstone Recluse
- 1x Gravelighter
- 1x Hovermyr
- 1x Inspiring Overseer
- 1x Jewel Thief
- 1x Killian, Ink Duelist
- 1x Plague Stinger
- 1x Priests of Norn
- 1x Segovian Angel
- 1x Skyshroud Falcon
- 1x Steel Seraph
- 1x Stinkweed Imp
- 1x Swooping Lookout
- 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 1x Vryn Wingmare
- 1x Vulpikeet
- 1x Welcoming Vampire
- 1x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
Interaction (10)
- 1x Annex Sentry
- 1x Dirge Bat
- 1x Fairgrounds Warden
- 1x Gemrazer
- 1x Gravelighter
- 1x Kappa Tech-Wrecker
- 1x Outland Liberator Flip
- 1x Polukranos, Unchained
- 1x Reclamation Sage
- 1x Shriekmaw
Powerless (5)
- 1x Faeburrow Elder
- 1x Polukranos, Unchained
- 1x Sweet-Gum Recluse
- 1x Wall of Blossoms
- 1x Wall of Omens
Stax (5)
- 1x Collector Ouphe
- 1x Drana and Linvala
- 1x Gaddock Teeg
- 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 1x Vryn Wingmare
Reanimation (2)
Lands (36)
- 1x Ash Barrens
- 1x Bant Panorama
- 1x Canopy Vista
- 1x Castle Garenbrig
- 1x Caves of Koilos
- 1x Command Tower
- 1x Dakmor Salvage
- 1x Esper Panorama
- 1x Exotic Orchard
- 7x Forest
- 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
- 1x Jund Panorama
- 1x Krosan Verge
- 1x Llanowar Wastes
- 1x Naya Panorama
- 1x Necroblossom Snarl
- 5x Plains
- 1x Sandsteppe Citadel
- 1x Shineshadow Snarl
- 1x Snowfield Sinkhole
- 3x Swamp
- 1x Tainted Field
- 1x Tainted Wood
- 1x Woodland Chasm
Draw (12)
- 1x Beast Whisperer
- 1x Clattering Augur
- 1x Dusk Legion Zealot
- 1x Elvish Visionary
- 1x Gravelighter
- 1x Inspiring Overseer
- 1x Rumor Gatherer
- 1x Satyr Wayfinder
- 1x Spirited Companion
- 1x Wall of Blossoms
- 1x Wall of Omens
- 1x Welcoming Vampire
Mutate (7)
- 1x Boneyard Lurker
- 1x Dirge Bat
- 1x Gemrazer
- 1x Glowstone Recluse
- 1x Migratory Greathorn
- 1x Necropanther
- 1x Vulpikeet
Wincons (4)
Commander (1)
Companion (1)
Mana (13)
- 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 1x Castle Garenbrig
- 1x Cemetery Prowler
- 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
- 1x Elvish Mystic
- 1x Faeburrow Elder
- 1x Fyndhorn Elves
- 1x Jewel Thief
- 1x Killian, Ink Duelist
- 1x Krosan Verge
- 1x Llanowar Elves
- 1x Migratory Greathorn
- 1x Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
Fill (8)
- 1x Dakmor Salvage
- 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
- 1x Golgari Thug
- 1x Mire Triton
- 1x Satyr Wayfinder
- 1x Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
- 1x Stinkweed Imp
- 1x Stitcher's Supplier
Recursion (5)
- 1x Boneyard Lurker
- 1x Eternal Witness
- 1x Golgari Thug
- 1x Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- 1x Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
Sacrifice (3)
Sideboard
Maybeboard
Introduction
To spread wide, or build tall. To ramp up the speed, or grind on and on for eternity. To draw the longest straw, or simply throw it all away for another day. This deck does all these things and more in a value generating synergistic mess of a card pile where many components might look out of place or simply strange at first glance, but yet all work together in so satisfying ways.
Although it's not the most consistent or the highest of power levels, I've found this deck to be one of my very favorites. Perfect for the power level of most casual tables, budget friendly cards and the ability to be explosive but neither fall behind while building nor being over powering. I've tuned the deck a lot over the last year or two, and it just keeps growing on me!
Summary
This is a casual, budget EDH deck built around several aspects of Nethroi, Apex of Death. The main draw might seem to be its mutate trigger to reanimate large numbers of creatures for huge value, and don't get me wrong - that trigger wins games. But in reality, the most powerful aspect of Nethroi's alternate casting seems to simply be the ability to mutate our commander onto an evasive and vigilant target and swing with pseudo haste. Since Nethroi has lifelink we pad our life total if we can attack safely, and since it has deathtouch we are safe from most counter attacks if we can remain untapped. Thus, an evasive and vigilant Nethroi is pretty much an awesome rattlesnake that gains us five life and deals reliable commander damage while doing so - oh, and remember how we might have mass reanimated a bunch of creatures as we played it in the first place?
For the lulz, we also run Umori, the Collector as our companion. While we are giving up a lot of power in doing so (especially regarding our ability to interact) we gain a lot in return by putting a cost reducer for our entire deck in the companion zone. Casting Wall of Omens or Satyr Wayfinder for a single mana while we have a Welcoming Vampire in play is a lot of value for very little effort.
Enablers
To glue our strategy together we run a few more cards that offer card advantage through either card draw or graveyard recursion, mana acceleration in the form of mana dorks and lands that ramp us (of special note in the package are Cemetery Prowler for doubling the effect of Umori, the Collector and Killian, Ink Duelist who will reduce the mutate cost of Nethroi greatly since it targets a creature). We run a few free sacrifice outlets, and we run a duo of cheaper dredge cards to complement the self mill we've already seen. Arguably, we should be running more of both of these kinds of effects. But at the same time, the mass reanimation seems to not be worth investing too heavily into the filling of our graveyard. Changes may come, however.
As hinted at earlier, we run a few creatures with infect in conjunction with other relevant keywords. These are here to enable very quick wins from time to time, but there is not a critical mass of good enough infect creatures to warrant a larger focus on this strategy.
The same argument is true for the complementary mutate cards. There are simply not enough efficient cards with mutate for it to make sense to make this a big theme of the deck. If we were not so low on removal, I'd like to cut Dirge Bat as well and I well might in the future. The ones we do run are efficient enough or offer enough immediate value to make the cut still, but we simply cannot count on mutatating the same creature more than once unless we are very lucky.
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100% Casual
Competitive
Revision 3 See all
(7 months ago)
| +1 | Annex Sentry | main |
| -1 | Blanchwood Prowler | main |
| -1 | Brutal Cathar Flip | main |
| +1 | Collector Ouphe | main |
| +1 | Drana and Linvala | main |
| +1 | Gaddock Teeg | main |
| -1 | Majestic Myriarch | main |
| -1 | Merciless Executioner | main |
| -1 | Park Heights Pegasus | main |
| -1 | Rampant Rejuvenator | main |
| -1 | Spring-Leaf Avenger | main |
| -1 | Suntail Hawk | main |
| +1 | Swooping Lookout | main |
| +1 | Thalia, Guardian of Thraben | main |
| +1 | Vryn Wingmare | main |
| Date added | 3 years |
| Last updated | 7 months |
| Legality | This deck is Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 3 - 0 Mythic Rares 23 - 1 Rares 30 - 0 Uncommons 24 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.75 |
| Tokens | Companion Zone, Day, Night, Treasure |
| Folders | 1 Budget 8 |
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