Do you like drawing cards? That was a rhetorical question, of course you do. Everyone loves drawing cards. That's why I created a deck that's all about drawing cards.
Note before I start saying anything, this is NOT a competitive deck. If you take this to your LGS for competitive commander night, prepare to get trounced. Hard. This is a fun, casual deck for multiplayer with your friends. Also, this deck is recommended for playgroups that likes politics and strife. In my tests, it has a lot of fun and havoc in it, as players beg you to give certain cards to the other players (or to them, but more on that later). If your group is more game oriented, you might want to skip this one. No harm feelings.
Now, about this deck. Zedruu is very unnatural to mtg players as he incentivises you to give your permanents away. However, as you will come to see, this has great potential to create friends and enemies alike. But first, the win-cons:
Win Conditions Show
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Psychosis Crawler, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, The Locust God: You're going to be drawing A LOT of cards. Trust me on this one. These four guys are here to capitalise on it. Dealing damage, creating tokens, all the good stuff. Make them stick to the board and you're golden.
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Felidar Sovereign: You win the game, easy and simple. Belive me, with the amount of life gain and pillow fort shenanigans, you're going to be above 40 life, for sure. Hold some counters to protect him, tho.
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Approach of the Second Sun: Gain life and then win the game. You think that opponents would be ready for it the second time, but boy, oh boy, you'd be wrong. In the chaos, people easily forget it, and since you'll be drawing a lot of cards, people can, and will, lose track to when you have it in hand. Plus, most commander players use more permanent removal then counter, since playing control in multiplayer is a fool's endeavor. Use this to your advantage.
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Thought Lash: Honestly, more of a gimmick than a legit win-con, but it drives your opponents MAD. Like, Dead Sea levels of salt. You can, and should, replace it with another better card if you want. But, if you're like me and is more interested in infuriating a friend, this is comedy gold. It's like watching a person slowly descent into madness, as he mills more and more every turn, and sees the responses for the enchantment on the graveyard. It's beautiful.
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Aetherflux Reservoir: Speak softly, but carry a big stick. This is your big stick. Remember to yell your favorite anime finishing move as you use it for maximum effect.
Now, the win-cons sure are necessary, but there's a lot of game before you get to use them. You have to hold out, make friends, and delay the game just long enough. Let's see how you do it:
Zedruu's Toolbox Show
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Creatures: There are 3 types of creatures: give away, pillow fort and win-con. Aside from your win-cons, you'll want to give most of it away. Don't get too attached to them, instead attach them to other players. Give Steel Golem and Grid Monitor to the creatures deck. Trade Humble Defector in the early game for political leverage. Bazaar Trader can give itself away, if you want. Use your imagination.
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Enchantments: This deck runs a lot of enchantments, because the effect of an enchantment doesn't end when it changes control. See where I'm going with this? Use one of your enchantment removal, take out a big threat, and then gift it to another player. Paradox Haze still enchants you if you give it to another player. The effects will remain, and now you're drawing a card and gaining life on top of that. Sweet, sweet value. On the other hand, you have your card draw and pillow fort enchantments. These you want to keep to yourself... for the most part.
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Instant: Your instants serve to protect your win-cons. There's not much to them, but you REALLY want your win-cons to stick.
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Sorceries: A couple of board wipes, a couple of support cards. Not much happening here.
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Artifacts: Like enchantments, you want to give most of these away. Howling Mine and Font of Mythos are great, since everyone draws anyway (this is also true for Dictate of Kruphix). Your mana rocks are also a good bargaining chip. When the late game arrives, you would much rather have more card draw than more mana, most of the times. If you can net some political advantage, that's a bonus!
Zedruu: Political Mastermind Show
Ok, let's get to the meat of this deck: Politics. Sure, in your heart of hearts you want to give all your FU bombs to your opponets, or Fractured Identity + Aggressive Mining, sure, but you'll make a lot of enemies before you can say "It's only a prank, bro!". What you want to do is use your enemies against each other, bide your time.
"But how do I do that?", you must be asking. Well, I'm not saying this is foolproof, but if you give your Rhystic Study to another player, he's going to be very, very happy. Hell, he now doesn't want to kill you because without you, the Rhystic Study goes away. And if someone destroys it, and they will because Rhystic Study draws a lot of hate, they took away his card. Political trickery, at its finest.
Here are some tips and tricks:
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If you play this game silent, you're going to lose. So... don't.
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People are lousy at evaluating political trades and resource value. Use this to your advantage. Azorius Signet for 5 turns not attacking you? Sure. Seems fair.
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Be the one to approach with a proposition, don't wait others to do so. People will only come to you if they feel threatened, so be the one to start the interaction and gain the upper hand.
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When you make a proposition, don't ask what the other player wants. Don't go "Hey, if I give you this, what would you do?", go "I'll give you this if you bla bla bla".
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When offering something, try offering them something that doesn't require active resources, e.g., not attacking you. It doesn't cost them anything, only them to target other players. This will drastically improve your odds of having it your way.
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Don't make politics that you know the other player won't uphold. If you make a pact with everyone to not attack you or use anything targeting your creatures and then play Felidar Sovereign, you're gonna get backstabbed.
If you play this deck right, you'll sneak in victories while your opponents go for each others throats. It's all about making yourself a less attractive target while disrupting your opponents plays.
Now, this deck is far from perfect, but it suits me. Here are some possible changes you can make to make it more your style:
Changes and upgrades Show
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Lands: Yeah, the manabase is budget because I can't afford duals, fetches and all that crap. This is the place where is easiest to upgrade, so go to town. Me? I would rather not pay 80 dollars for a Scalding Tarn, thank you very much.
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Windfall, Jace's Archivist, Jace's Erasure: If you want to go the mill route, this is the way. Windfall and Jace's Archivist also work well with the "card draw matter" creatures. You can easily combo off with these.
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Honden of Seeing Winds, Honden of Cleansing Fire: Draw cards and gain life, just like Zedruu wants. This cards sinergise very well with this deck, I just couldn't find any card to cut them for. You can also add Honden of Infinite Rage if you want, but it's not on par with the other two.
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Grasp of Fate, Replenish, Gilded Drake, Leyline of Anticipation, Vedalken Orrery, Cyclonic Rift, etc: Cut for budget reasons. Gone, but not forgotten.
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Tutors: My playgroup has a very harsh outlook on tutors. We think that part of the fun in commander is the uncertainty of 100 card singleton deck, that you can't rely on a few cards every game. So, with that said, no tutors in this deck. You can add them if you wish.
Well, thank you for your time for reading all of this. I accept any suggestions! Hope you enjoy Zedruu, and remember: Politics makes the world go round.
