Pursuing Perfection, Part 11: Simic Commanders
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Oct. 30, 2021, 2:14 p.m. by Mana_Mythic_Legendary
All hail our magical gene-splicing overlords, having taken all elections by storm via a platform of ignoring the ever-loving Sharktocrab out of Ian Malcolm. Much as I love this color combo, I’m first to admit it’s a bit much: combining the draw and control of Blue with the ramp and board presence of Green is taking things to excess. Glorious, opponent-crushing excess. Play your cards right (haha) and you will neither have an empty hand nor an empty board. Maybe an empty social calendar, but that’s a problem for another color pairing.
All hyperbolic joking aside, there is considerable promise under Simic’s hood. Kruphix, God of Horizons supports the tendencies both colors to a nearly unbearable extreme. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy doesn’t just break mana dorks, he shatters them, and don’t get any veteran started on the ruinous politics of Edric, Spymaster of Trest. And it’s not just the commanders: Prophet of Kruphix, banned though it may be, is a testament to the potency here. Mystic Snake is a constant presence for a reason, as is the Trygon Predator. There’s even a pair of worthwhile upkeep wins: Biovisionary, with the profligacy of cloning effects, is actually plausible in EDH (and hilarious), while Simic Ascendancy is downright heinous.
Blue and Green together encourage a beautiful game, a dance constantly wavering across the line between strength and subtlety that I, personally, find incredibly appealing. But we’re not here to talk only about the things I like: we’re here to talk about theme, and today we have three: Card Advantage, Counters Matter, and Tokens Matter. As always, please bear in mind that our focus here is not necessarily competitive but rather on thematic, archetypical commanders.
Card Advantage
In most games, you will have a solution to any given problem. Trouble is, that solution is somewhere in your deck and not in your hand. Where Green is equipped to solve the broadest spectrum of challenges, Blue is inclined to sidestep those problems, and fill up on those sidesteps with draw, until a solution to the game itself appears. Filling up Blue-style on Green’s kit? Wondrous. Whether tutoring or going full beast mode and drawing half your deck, Simic is singularly positioned to solve any problem by readying an overwhelming suite of answers and then slamming down enough mana to use all of them at once.
The original vintage of true bullshit, circa 2006. The sheer quantity of quality in Green’s menagerie of ETB effects is staggering. With hot garbage like the Snapcaster Mage and Gilded Drake shoring up those already beastly reserves, if you need it and it comes on a creature-shaped stick, you got it. I just hope you can tutor fast.
What is it about Innistrad and terrifying frogs?! This was the first new legend to impress me in a while. Milling yourself isn’t hard when you have blue on hand, and Grolnok’s presence means that instead of filling your graveyard you’re creating a permanent hand that’s safe from any interference that isn't a Riftsweeper. That’s incredibly appealing to me. It’s a little like a sugar-free, exile version of Enter the Infinite. Obligatory mention of the Hermit Druid goes here, but my first thought was actually Dreamborn Muse.
Every deck reaches a point where drawing land is no longer desirable. Every deck eventually draws lands once too often and suffers a crippling, disappointing crash-and-burn. Aesi is unimpressed. Combining a self-only Horn of Greed and Exploration on a 5/5 body, a little flooding is nothing to worry about. Drop a few things like Reshape the Earth, draw nine cards profit, play the additional lands you drew, draw more cards, and so on. You’ll catch a bit of a stink-eye off your opponents, but that’ll wash out. In mana.
Counters Matter
White hands out +1/+1 counters like candy, but doesn’t do much with them. In justice, any lifelink card with a pile of +1/+1 counters doesn’t need to do much. Just swing. Simic, though, seems to think that getting bigger should get you access to cool new things. Cards, for instance, via Fathom Mage, or creatures via Cytoplast Manipulator. And then, once you’ve done all that cool stuff… well, just swing.
To be honest, I don’t like this section, and our first commander is a perfect illustration why. Fair warning: salt incoming.
Ok, now THIS is a little much. I don’t even remember playing against this guy: I just didn’t like it from the first. It’s very easy to build, very powerful, VERY unsubtle. The reliability that comes of experience counters is undeniably potent and, in my opinion, boring. I like to think my own style is a bit more elegant than simply hosing down midgets, then turning a Blighted Agent loose. But then this is all just my opinion AND I own an Omnath, Locus of Rage deck, so what do I know?
This is both goofy and highly contextual. If you’ve got a Kenrith, the Returned King fanboy running around the local meta, you’re probably going to wreck face. There is a respectable pile of activated abilities in every color, let alone Blue-Green, that would let you build a deck with adequate support. It’s not the most optimal choice, but running the original legendary goo would certainly be the odd bit of fun.
I DO remember playing against this guy, though it was a while ago. If I recall rightly, the pilot refused to add Darksteel Reactor, instead relying on the Elusive Krasis and little else. Dude needed Freed from the Real, too. Things have changed. Now you can do silly stuff with Liquimetal Coating and any number of planeswalkers, ruin lives with Magistrate's Scepter, or whatever other hateful things come to your devious little mind. Options. Vorel has them.
Tokens Matter
This is more my speed. There are several contestants for best in token quantity, though Selesnya is probably the best in blending quality and quantity. Simic watched this contest, watched the parades of copy-paste legions, and decided there was a market for going hard in quality. Progenitor Mimic, Spitting Image, and Repudiate / Replicate are all examples of this trend: token copies. I’m not sure cloning someone’s field is more polite than actually stealing their stuff, but kicking Rite of Replication into the face of some smarmy bastard gloating over his Blightsteel Colossus would be a highlight for anybody.
Very direct, and nothing wrong with a little hexproof lite. Having Parallel Lives for your general, if we’re honest, has got to be a dream come true for a LOT of people. Just don’t cast rite of replication on the sphinx (you know the one) unless you have your Laboratory Maniac ready.
Oooooooooo. I like. Not quite enough to build, but I like! Drop Fable of Wolf and Owl, a card I’ve always wanted but never needed, and drop a clone every turn. And… on second read, this says choose, not target, so shroud does jack-all to prevent this… maybe I do want to build this…
Not bad! It’s not too hard to keep your creature base diverse, and a free copy of anything is nice. As said earlier, there’s a wealth of ETB effects to chose from, and doubling those effects is a great start to a plan. Just stay away from changelings.
And, for my personal favorite:
There is a pervading, understandable trend in commander toward tutoring needful things. My wife, however, hates tutoring: she’s not a patient creature, so asking her to wait while I dig for that one, particular solution is not conducive to a fun game, let alone suggesting she go digging herself. Rashmi was built for her with the intent of drawing so much that tutoring was pointless. Her effect was more a perk than anything. At worst, you draw an extra card every turn. At best, you get a freebie! The deck turned out to be so competitive that I… well, I kind of stole it back. I even splurged and got a Sensei's Divining Top, which with Rashmi is exceedingly rude, and added Counterbalance, a pairing which let me successfully counter Krosan Grip at a tournament. The raw card advantage and efficiency that Rashmi lends a deck, it turns out, can win games by itself.
That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back soon for Orzhov!
Omniscience_is_life says... #3
griffstick I disagree! Sure, there's a lot of Aristocrats, but Orzhov also has Aryel, Knight of Windgrace, Arvad the Cursed, Breena, the Demagogue, Daxos the Returned, Killian, Ink Duelist, and many more interesting and unique commanders. I peg Boros as the most homogenous color pair in EDH
October 30, 2021 8:44 p.m.
griffstick says... #4
This according to edh rec. The most popular themes orzhov
- Lifegain 6869 decks
- Aristocrat 4217 decks
- Shadowborn Apostle 910 decks
- Token 879 decks
- Aura 735 decks
- Sacrifice 532 decks
- +1/+1 Counter 410 decks
- Hatebear 137 decks
- Stax 126 decks
- Rat Colony 83 decks
- Lurrus Companion 73 decks
October 30, 2021 9:05 p.m.
griffstick says... #5
Simic is way more diverse
Popular themes for Simic
- +1/+1 Counter 2750 decks
- Token 1945 decks
- Lands 1470 decks
- Pod 1181 decks
- Clue 700 decks
- Sea Creatures 643 decks
- Big Mana 531 decks
- Topdeck 377 decks
- Cantrip 343 decks
- Clone 295 decks
- Infect 270 decks
- Wheel 219 decks
- Card Draw 151 decks
- Spellslinger 140 decks
- Landfall 121 decks
- Storm 116 decks
- X Spell 101 decks
- Snow 78 decks
- Group Hug 77 decks
- Planeswalker 72 decks
- Mill 43 decks
October 30, 2021 9:42 p.m.
Omniscience_is_life says... #6
griffstick the question wasn't whether or not Simic is more diverse than Orzhov--you said "Orzhov...is the least diverse color pair", and I was disputing that. Plus, the metric you chose to show diversity isn't the best, seeing as people will generally just play what's most powerful; you can't tell how many strategies a color combo has just by what's most played in it.
October 30, 2021 10:05 p.m.
griffstick says... #7
Sorry Omniscience_is_life I just love statistics
Popular themes for Boros
- Equipment 4848 decks
- Artifact 3546 decks
- Sunforger 2983 decks
- Vehicle 1135 decks
- Burn 432 decks
- Aura 271 decks
- Extra Combat 241 decks
- Theft 181 decks
- Sacrifice 178 decks
- Spellslinger 137 decks
- Soldier Token 96 decks
Boros is gonna be hard too
That's a true statement and that's how I feel too but when it comes to diversity I in my opinion put Orzhov at the bottom. Then azourious then boros. But that's an opinion. It's also a feeling.
It's simply put in the article that simic is card draw counters and tokens. Buy my feeling for simic, simply put is simic value.
You disagree and say boros can be the least diverse color pair and that's a good argument because boros is mostly just combat
October 30, 2021 10:21 p.m.
I might revisit an Experiment Kraj idea I had some time ago. Basically, Kraj with a counter on Gilder Bairn and any creature that can produce or better as a tap effect instantly gives everything with a counter as many of those counters as it wants. With Llanowar Tribe, Canopy Tactician, some new planeswalkers, Sage of Hours, Strixhaven Stadium, and other fun bits and pieces, this might be doable.
October 31, 2021 2:49 a.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #9
I only just dismantled Koma, Cosmos Serpent, but this article tickled me to rebuild it. Kraj is fun with Koma, as well...We'll see.
October 31, 2021 4:19 a.m.
Mana_Mythic_Legendary says... #10
Koma is another one I’d have been happy to discuss: fun, fun card. I also like this debate about Orzhov and Boros, and am equally curious where I’ll end up going with it!
October 31, 2021 10:59 a.m.
griffstick says... #11
Mana_Mythic_Legendary I don't want to talk too much about it because I don't want to influence your next articles
griffstick says... #2
Orzhov will be hard as it is the least diverse color pair
October 30, 2021 8:14 p.m.