Okay, I’m full on board with building The Locust God and this is what I’ve decided on. A couple caveats before looking at the list: I’m not in a super cut-throat competitive meta, and we actually stray away from those who try to win on T4-5 or whatever. We actually like to play a bit, let things develop and it’s rare a game ends nearly as soon as it began. There are, however, infinite combos that come up from time to time to close out games. I rarely ever play 1v1. Most all games are 3-5 players. This build IS on a budget – not bare bones, but I’ll explain why some pricier cards are not included and why others are, and you can certainly see this in the lands as I don’t have all the shocks/fetches. I’ll explain a lot of the card selection below, but I’d love to hear your feedback, criticism, and thoughts! I really want to make this deck fun for me, but I also want it to be playable and functional, which is the precursor to the fun. Thanks everyone!
STRATEGY
The general strategy is getting The Locust God out there, draw cards, make hasty 1/1 locusts, and then get value from those locusts – either by damage or more card draw.
WIN CONDITIONS
There are several win cons mixing both red and blue themes, from infinite combo to damage and a little in-between.
1. Enter the Infinite
The one-card-win-con. Getting it early enough should produce some 70+ 1/1 hasty locusts, which is a near game-ender on its own, but definitely seals the deal if another trick or card is involved, such as Impact Tremors.
2. Ashnod’s Altar + Skullclamp
I shouldn’t have to explain this one too much, but I would’ve included these cards anyway just because this is a token generating deck and both of these cards turn those into great value. I’ll likely not abuse this combo unless I hate someone else at the table.
4. Intruder Alarm + any looter (Bonded Fetch is good with haste, but there’s a couple others in the deck)
Activate the looter, untap all creatures from the Alarm trigger when the 1/1 locust enters, activate the looter again and repeat as you dig through your deck to get other win cons or just build a big enough army of locusts to finish the game. Elixir of Immortality refills your library for more value and this combo goes infinite, as far as I can tell, with Library of Leng.
5. Intruder Alarm + Splinter Twin
This combo has been seen around awhile and I include it because a) I’m already including Alarm from the above win-con and b) it doesn’t actually require The Locust God. A win-con just in case TLG is getting hated of the board despite returning to my hand if he dies. Cast Splinter Twin on any creature with Alarm out, activate Twin, Alarm untap trigger, repeat for infinite hasty tokens of whatever.
6. Splinter Twin + Teardrop Kami + Purphoros, God of the Forge / Impact Tremors
Shout out to random card of the day (COTD) recently in Teardrop Kami. As just above, this combo does not require TLG and I’m already including two of the three cards – granted one of those two because I’m also already including Alarm (so if Alarm goes I might as well cut these too!). I’m a sucker for janky-come-out-of-nowhere-cards-no-one-has-really-heard-of-or-used-in-EDH. Cast Twin on the Kami, activate Twin, sac the copied Kami to untap the original, repeat for infinite ETB triggers, which translates to infinite damage with Purp or Tremors.
5. Commander damage possibility
Get a full grip of cards, get TLG out (not needed in that order), then equip Empyrial Plate. Made easier with Rogue's Passage. When this is pulled off, will likely be for lethal or near lethal.
OTHER CHOICE CARDS Clever Impersonator is such an awesome card and has won me so many games that I feel I have to include it just for the versatility of whatever it is that I’m playing against. I don’t have an Eldrazi Titan, but I’ll copy yours! Oh, nice Caged Sun you have there, I guess I’ll have one too! So fun.
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser seems like a powerhouse in this deck. If he’s out with a bunch of locusts, but I can’t seal the deal, he makes it harder for opponents to attack me back, or I can pick off opponents spells to try to finish it out. I love the possibilities with this.
Glorious End is totally in here for the suspense factor. I’m not even running Disallow to counter the delayed trigger because where’s the fun in that? Sometimes you just need that one extra untap step to end the game or I might need to strike twice with the amount of locusts I currently have and this allows that, plus ends other combos going off before one of mine. I’m certain that as soon as I play this, everyone at the table is all of a sudden going to become very interested in my next turn. I have a personal achievement goal of having a Glorious End with a Fateful Showdown.
NOTABLE OMISIONS Psychosis Crawler I felt would just be another combo piece with Enter the Infinite and a win more. I feel like I want to actually be swinging with all these locusts I’m making and cut this for more aggro pieces.
Crackleburr is a great creature removal piece, but I feel like the deck is already squeezed on the creature count and I dunno what I’d cut for it, but I do like it. Do you think it’s worth running? What should I cut for it if so? NOW INCLUDED IN THE DECK.
Consecrated Sphinx is one of a handful of pricier cards that I do not own so is not included here, although I’m not sure I would include it if I did have it since the casting cost is stricter than, say, a similar effect with Alhammarret’s Archive. The body is nice, but also more easily removed as a creature and I shouldn’t be short on body count if TLG is in play.
Speaking of Bident of Thassa / Coastal Piracy – Breath of Fury was left out mostly because it would just add another combo package to the win-cons and I felt that was getting a little full, plus my only copy is already in another deck so I’ll just leave it there for now.
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (and Curiosity would, again, just add more combo, and I like to be a little more original than one of the most well-known combos in m colors. If I wanted this, then Niv would be my commander and not TLG.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is Kiki-Jikijikijikijikijiki broken, and, despite acting as a second Splinter Twin effect is out of where I would want to spend money for it.
Careful Study, Deep Analysis, and much of the cheap cantrips: I feel like this decks performs better, and I may have more fun, if it is more explosive with the draw/locust creation. I don’t see slowly building a few locusts here and there as effective as drawing for 20+, then swinging in with all the haste. I cut a lot of them save Brainstorm. Same reason Fevered Visions was eventually cut – too incremental of damage.
Blue Sun’s Zenith was cut because I had a small handful of other big draw spells that I felt were more efficient than paying UUU to begin the draw, such as Pull from Tomorrow discarding instead. I’m already intending to cast these for 10-15+, so the scale on Tomorrow I felt was superior for that. Ditto for the other choice big draw spells.
Coat of Arms / Eldrazi Monument were cut for more explosive buffs. While not totally out there expensive for me (I don’t own either yet), I’ve been the beneficiary of a Coat of Arms on the other side of the board and seen it backfire on my opponents before.
Empyrial Plate I felt would be pretty spicy with this deck as a surprise commander damage win con. The whole time everyone is focusing on your locusts, you have so many (and so many cars in hand), and the board gets wiped. You have tons of cards, but have to restart your locust swarm. Instead, just recast TLG from hand then next turn cast the Empyrial Plate on him and any sucker that didn’t get a flyer on the board after the wipe is looking at lethal (or at least near-lethal) commander damage. Spicy, but would add to the crowded win-con space so I cut it to focus more on a streamlined strategy focusing around the locusts. NOW INCLUDED IN THE DECK.
Five-Alarm Fireand Goblin Bombardment is already in another deck that I’m not yet willing to part with, plus thinking it's a bit win more here as well with all the other explosive damage from other cards.
Arjun, the Shifting Flame, Mindmoil, and Teferi’s Puzzle Box were all cut because I’m not a fan of the puzzle/chaotic turns they create, although I can certainly see that they can draw a ton of cards. With all the combo-type win-cons going on I feel like these would really screw me until I got lucky enough to get them all in the same draw, or sometimes I really do just want to hold that counterspell for an opponent.
Thought Reflection I felt was also expensive mana-wise for the effect and not as explosive as I’d like.
Opposition seems like a great defensive card, but I feel with what I’m trying to do – be more explosive on my draw and attack, build a combo quickly – that I would rarely use the effect or may not even play it for better turn options getting closer to a giant locust swarm to attack with.
Mana Echoes is another card I would love to include as this can definitely generate big mana for me to chain spells together with and just get crazy and push me to win games turns earlier than if not, but the price is out of my range for now. Definitely love the card and have intention to eventually include it if this deck sticks around a while.
Mystical Tutor, Gamble, and other tutors: I absolutely understand the power of a tutor in a singleton format, and I'm crippling myself a bit by not including them, but I have so much more fun with the spontaneity of how the game develops and feel more satisfied with a naturally drawn win than one I tutored all the pieces for.
Laboratory Maniac: Nice alternate win condition card, but feels like too much of a shoo-in for this deck. Good card and solid alt win-con, but I'm passing on it for now to explore more unique ways to win with this deck.
CURRENT CONSIDERATIONS
9/1/17: I feel the deck is very heavy on the idea to get The Locust God out and make as many locusts as possible, so naturally if feels fairly fast and extremely powerful if a lot of things aren't answered. With that, it still feels like some speed bumps are harder to get over and could possibly use more removal for pesky artifacts and enchantments that ruin the strategy if I couldn't counter them initially, so I'll be brainstorming and looking at where I can make room for that.
Otherwise, the deck often feels too powerful a lot of times, where - as soon as TLG is out - I railroad the entire table and totally shut things down and make the game end fast. I might consider replacing some cards to lower the power level for my meta.
What else do you think? Does this strategy and card selection seem to be effective? Are there some cards or synergies I’m missing? Any feedback would be awesome, and thank you! I haven’t been this excited for a new commander in a while so I’m looking forward to unleashing the locust swarm!
@JDviant
Thanks for the suggestions. I have seen Neurok Stealsuit before, but forgot about it when building this. Definitely seems like a good protection piece for also protecting against targeted activated abilities too, so I will consider this.
Drake Haven seems to have value and something else to do if/when TLG is not out - getting more bodies to block or protect myself. What would I cut for this?
I like the number of infinite wincons the deck has. I also like that the majority of the pieces work well on their own. What I like even more is that you're sticking to a budget. I love budget decks. If you see my primers, they each have a budget section. I also worked on the budget section of a primer-in-progress (Zada, Hedron Grinder). So I'm very interested in where you take the deck! Keep in mind that if The Locust God sees play in Standard or Modern then it's not gonna be a budget piece.
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I agree about budget decks - I love how a budget restriction presents a challenge to deck building and adds variance to play. I think most any budget deck can stand against other bigger budget decks in a multiplayer game as long as there is solid deck synergies and the player is skilled. Also, politics at the table is priceless in comparison.
You're right about The Locust God possibly not being so budget friendly if it sees enough play in other formats - at least until it rotates out of Standard or something.
@Rogzor97 Rhystic Study is just an awesome card in general for EDH (no pun intended). I don't actually own a copy, but I have a couple decks that would just love it, so I might actually pick one up in time, despite it skirting with price-unfriendliness. In this particular deck, at least with how I'm intending it, I feel it would be too incremental of a card draw machine when I want to be drawing lots of cards at one time. It's a card draw engine, true, but in my playgroup experience it doesn't hang around the board very long and it's not as effective mid to late game when opponents likely have mana to spare. I acknowledge that it forces opponents to use mana less efficiently in terms of casting their spells or else you get card advantage, but I feel I would have to play this real early in the games to get true value out of it since late game I can see the mana being paid for it for a quick time before it's removed or by late game I'm really wanting to use that mana to draw a lot more cards than one or two each players' turn (possibly, if the cost isn't paid).
Doubly so that the opponent(s) would pay the mana to deny the card draw if they know it will also net me a 1/1 flying locust.
Do you think Rhystic Study has some other applications for this deck? Is it too good for me to pass up?
Goblin Bombardment is another great card to add for that final kill. If it isn't enough to burn with Impact Tremors and then hurt with combat damage, you can sacrifice all creatures afterwards and continue to burn with Goblin Bombardment.
Also, you're drawing a ridiculous amount of cards. Maybe add Platinum Angel to prevent losing to decking yourself or Laboratory Maniac to win due to decking yourself?
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
@DementedKirby
I had included Goblin Bombardment under the Notable Omissions with Five-Alarm Fire. I like this card since it gets around a lot of pollowfort or go-wide-prevention strategies just as Purp and Tremors do. Plus I liked that each card draw could potentially result in 5 damage of return with Purp, Tremors, and Bombardment out. However, I cut it since I already knew I wanted to include Purp and Tremors, which are giving me nice damage with the ETB triggers. Finishing off someone with Goblin Bombardment was an idea I had with my other deck when including it there as well, but I've never been in a situation to make that happen yet. For me it's found itself working as a utility sac outlet in response to board wipes and other effects to just a couple damage back at the board wiper or, and I almost like more when this later situation happens, it hits the board and everyone scrambles to remove it right away thinking it a huge threat. Most often when the later happens, I'm smirking inside because they used that possibly limited/precious removal on Bombardment when I'm sitting on Purp or Tremors in my hand. I dunno, I guess I wasn't impressed with the intention I had for it in that deck and so shied away from including it in this one, although sac outlets can be powerful by themselves (even to save my own commander from exile effects). Do you think I should really include it here? What do you think I could possibly cut to fit it in?
I agree that I need to watch out from decking myself with all the huge bouts of card draw, especially with Alhammarret's Archive included, and I do have a Platinum Angel sitting unused, and I like the idea of using it since I know none of the other decks in my playgroups do and so it would be a little unexpected. However, I have included other specific (budget) pieces to prevent this such as Library of Leng if I'm trying to draw a ton through loot, and Elixir of Immortality. If I had the cash, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre would go in and I may pick one up over time. Building this deck I foresaw myself constantly counting my library and playing the math game for what I want my next play to be. I do like the Angel and it definitely helps out in preventing loss from other ways too (infect!), but I don't like the CMC of 7. Do you think there's something worth cutting to include Platinum Angel?
Thanks again for the suggestions, this is all really helpful!
Personally I think Rhystic study would be too good to pass up. I understand what you are saying how you feel mid/late game it might not do as much as people will have plenty of mana but that isn't always the case either. They might of just drawn of a bunch of cards themselves they want to play but can't if they want to deny draw. Also if they are paying the extra mana to deny the draw they aren't playing as many spells so it's win-win. In addition, you are running blue so if you were to like Cyclonic Rift even mid/late game. They would have to start playing everything again having to decide if they want to get as much out as possible or deny card draw and play less.
Sakashima the impostor That clone as well. She can clone your locust god giving you twice as many tokens.
These are much more janky idea's but like the Onslaught block Words of warWords of wind If you have tons of extra mana and don't want to draw at the moment due to thinking you might deck or just don't need to draw that much right then.
@Rogzor97
I'll run through the list and see if there's anything I feel might not net me as much value over Rhystic Study to see if I can fit it in. Something stand out to you worth cutting for Rhystic Study?
Sakashima the Impostor is a really good clone effect since she bypasses the "legend" rule and can protect herself by bouncing back to hand. I'm running Clever Impersonator as my clone effect of choice for it's versatility of copying any kind of permanent, not just creatures. I'm giving up the one-off instance niche of copying my own commander (or other legendary creature of mine, of which there are only a couple real targets for that effect, and Purp may not always be a creature through devotion) and the bounce protection to be able to copy any permanent on the field - even any creatures that are not my own legendary - for the same CMC. Copying my own commander with a card like Sakashima is actually one of those instances where I would prefer the legendary rule to apply so that I could sac my original commander, have it go back to my hand at end-step, and now I have it in my hand ready to recast if needed and a copy on the field with an embedded bounce protection ability. But alas, that can't actually happen with Sakashima. Clever Impersonator has won me so many games - from copying an opponent's Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon from an infect deck and killing my opponent with infect to copying an opponent's Saheeli Rai and +1'ing her enough until my Scourge of Fleets hit the field and then -2'ing her each turn (targeting Scourge) to effectively bounce the table of threats until I was able to kill everyone off with damage. Opponents' Caged Sun has been copied countless times to my benefit as well. I just feel that the versatility and flexibility of a copy outweighs any niche effects and protection for it. That and the fact that Clever Impersonator is about 1/3 the price of Sakashima the Impostor.
I've seen the "Words" cards from Onslaught, but didn't think of them when building this - great suggestion! I think I prefer Words of Wind over Words of War since there's a lot more damage effects than (bounce) removal in the deck, and I notice that Rhystic Study might combo well with Words of Wind. . . Opponent casts, don't pay for Rhystic, instead of drawing I actually pay 1 mana to have them bounce another permenent, for which they will need to recast, maybe not pay the Rhystic tax again, etc. Hmmmm, I'll have to run through this list for this too and contemplate if I want to have that going. What might you cut to fit Words of Wind?
I played tested a deck with The Locust God with some friends of mine (we did a God Battle with each of the new Gods) and I had a lot of fun with this guy. I wasn't prepared for how ridiculously strong the Locusts were going to be. You have a handful of cards that buff your guys but I think you'll find those to be unnecessary. I built my deck fairly different than yours by including a semi-TurboFog element minus the Fog. Howling Mine, Font of Mythos, Dictate of Kruphix and Kami of the Crescent Moon help keep opponents on your side while keeping your hand full (good for Kefnet and the Whirlpool guys). I didn't play any removal or interaction outside of Wheel of Fortune/Windfall effects and I was winning games pretty consistently. If you untap with TLG, you basically win right there. Windfall two times with 15 cards in your hand and you're swinging for lethal on at least one person. Let alone if you have Impact Tremors or Purphoros, God of the Forge out.
Any of the enchantments where I was paying mana while drawing a card were all pretty ineffective. You draw so many cards, you'd be wasting mana or only activating it a few times a turn. Open into Wonder was also fairly underwhelming. I'm planning on replacing those cards with Skullclamp and some mana rocks for a bit of ramp though I don't think the deck really needs it. I do want to fit Fateful Showdown and Incendiary Command into the deck as well.
@Capt. Nick
Thanks for the awesome suggestions. After some consideration, I think you're right about having more token buff pieces than needed. I'm thinking I should include some more removal and smaller card draw. I'll be updating the deck soon and include these types of changes.
Flux stands out to me as I can choose which cards I want to discard to draw more for those moments I want to keep that counterspell in hand or that Imprisoned in the Moon valuable removal piece. I'll definitely consider that.
I was just considering Open into Wonder earlier today as I was skimming through my Amonkhet cars and saw it! Thanks for the tip of it p=not really working out.
What is Hazoret's Undying Fury supposed to be doing for you? Netting card advantage or just a fun card? It seems interesting though.
How did the speed of the games go for you when you play tested? Were they over fairly quickly once TLG got out? I'm actually reconsidering some of my combos listed in the win cons because I feel they would make games end too early to where the table isn't developing more and possibly cutting a lot of the fun out for everyone. I want a chance to win, but I'm reconsidering that I may not want every game to end before T8 or something. As I mentioned, my playgroup is a little less competitive and we're actually trying to curb some powercreep going on. The next changes in my list will reflect this.
Hazoret's Undying Fury looked like it would be fun. With the number of 1-5cmc cards in the deck it should hit one or two and getting a couple Wheel effects off of one card with TLG out seemed good.
Yeah, my play group isn't super competitive either. We've been playing together for awhile and have a good idea of power level in decks that's fun for us. Basically I try to play with no tutors, no counter spells and just a handful of removal spells that require some hoops be jumped through in order to work. Which opens up space for cards that make interesting board states. Thus leading to the Group Hug stuff.
Like I said though, if you untap with TLG, you should be able to win or get close that turn. The haste on the Insect tokens being the major strength of the card. You can always just say something like "I'm not going to attack until I can kill everyone in a turn with my swarm," or whatever nonsense stipulation you want to have some fun with it. The long-short of it is, that if he sticks around long enough for you to draw cards, you're going to win very fast. But if your play group has more removal and counters, he may need more protecting. Which will probably push your games longer.
The biggest change is removing the Intruder Alarm combos (so also removing Splinter Twin, and thus follows with removing Teardrop Kami). Taking a good hard look at the deck, it looked more and more to me like a "ramp out general and combo out" kind of deck, which is fun when you do it once or twice because you can show others how fast and synergistic you've built a deck, but then I feel it can get boring and, more importantly, un-fun - to both play and play against. I had a Talrand, Sky Summoner deck that would get Talrand out (easily on T2 with a Sol Ring), then totally just start smashing face and countering or removing anything that opponents (my friends!) attempted and quite often sealed the deal. Those games became less and less fun for me and so I took it apart (some of the remnants I'm using for this deck!). I didn't want another deck like that, so I decided to take out the big combo-type stuff and add the interesting surprise commander damage win condition of Empyrial Plate and Rogue's Passage. I added Crackleburr over Teardrop Kami for some repeated removal effect. I think this may prove more entertaining and fun over the life of the deck. Sure, once I try the Empyrial-Passage shenanigan, my normal playgroup will know it's there, but that doesn't stop me from using it again at the right opportunity! Plu it can go right on another creature (or token) to likely make a big beater. I'm positive Crackleburr will have value, and he's a perfect target for one of my additional protection pieces.
I removed Ogre Battledriver for a more static and harder to remove (and cheaper CMC) buff in Favorable Winds. I figure if I'm not trying to swing to kill everyone at the earliest opportunity, then my locusts may be sticking around more than one turn and I'd like a buff/pump with longevity even if it's a smaller buff/pump. I imagine that in most scenarios the extra +1/0 may not make a difference if it comes down to end-game.
I removed Purphoros, God of the Forge and Shared Animosity for a few reasons: a) they were pretty much the most expensive cards in the deck, and so I considered for budget reasons (I'd actually have to pick up a copy of Animosity), b) again, I felt I wanted to tone down the look of the deck saying "I'm trying to blast you all out by T8! - these are powerful cards, true, but also fairly competitive choices when, as I mentioned, my playgroup has recently cohort-ed an effort to curb powercreep and keep games fun and extended, and c) I felt there were similar effects already in the deck. Instead, I decided to add Goblin Bombardment for replacing the Purp effect and acting as a protective sac outlet for The Locust God, and Throne of the God-Pharaoh for also replacing the Purp damage effect, but in a more fair way since I have to attack/tap creatures to get value out of it, plus it's flavor!
I removed Alhammarret's Archive since it was one of the semi-pricey cards that I didn't already have a copy of and I felt I might lose control of it from time to time by letting it deck me one a misplayed big draw spell or something. The life bonus was, well, just a bonus I saw to the card and my only real lifegain piece is Venser's Journal. Instead, I added Glimmer of Genius as a more tame, much smaller draw that I can use with or without TLG for good value. I'm a HUGE fan of the scry ability and think it is a very powerful thing to be able to see cards before you draw them (even better at instant speed!), so this is one of my more recent choice favorites that I'd like to play more.
I removed Counterflux because there are a few other counterspells and there's a better reason, to me, to keep the other ones around. Basically, I felt this was the area I could afford to cut (counterspells) for more permanent protection, and Counterflux was the least priority of the counterspells. Instead, I added the previous suggestion by JDviant of Neurok Stealthsuit. I plan to use the suit as instant speed protection for my creatures since I can move it around as much as I'd like so long as I have enough U. This should keep TLG around the field longer than the one-off counterspell, and since I already have a few still in the deck.
At this point, I wanted to add DementedKirby's suggestion of Platinum Angel for both the "just in case" scenario and to prevent loss from decking myself if the card draw gets too out of hand before I can secure Elixir of Immortality, but really didn't know what to cut. Sitting on 40 lands at the moment drew my attention there and I cut Desolate Lighthouse. A land that lets me loot is nice, but I feel there's enough card draw from other sources, and for cheaper in many cases, that I'd never really use the effect and it's not producing colored mana for me. I feel the deck can certainly perform without it, so I cut in in favor of the Platinum Angel.
Rummaging through my Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, and Amonkhet cards today in an attempt to organize them, I stumbled upon a gem that I really thought I liked when I first saw it too: Indomitable Creativity. A fairly bad removal against an opponent, but when used on my own locust tokens . . . the thought of turning a 1/1 flyer into Kefnet the Mindful, Clever Impersonator, Platinum Angel, or any other valuable creature or artifact I have sounds so appealing and so fun. I think I remember cutting this from another tokens deck I had with red in it and I'm glad I ran into it again today. Pay 8 mana to flip the top 5 creatures or artifacts from my library right onto the battlefield can be a fun game-changer. But all of that is only about 20% reason why I like this card - the other 80ish% is the ART. So beautiful. I love how they chose to border all that striking blue on red so it stands out even more. I felt I really wanted to include this in the same fun spirit as a late-game Glorious End, so I looked to the lands again fro cuts and came up with letting Terramorphic Expanse. I'm already including Evolving Wilds and Ash Barrens to fetch basics similarly. Decided to keep Wilds because it now has the Amonkhet flavor art and decied to keep Barrens because it can tap for colorless if I draw it later than I needed to use it (and can still basic landcycle it to thin my deck if needed).
Whelp, that's the updates for now and the list is already looking more fun to me! Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions thus far.
Read the Runes seemed more appropriate when I was thinking about digging for specific combo pieces: I could keep those pieces in my hand by sac'ing the tokens I just made, and keep some tokens on the field by discarding the cards that did not have value at that point in the game. But, as far as raw drawing power, Recurring Insight can be super efficient, and the locusts have haste, so instant vs sorcery speed isn't much of a difference unless I want to use the draw to get me a cheap blocker.
Thassa, God of the Sea is another great suggestion. Unfortunately, I'm in the precarious position of having a Thassa deck, which is my favorite deck. It's like that one deck I imagine most everyone has that they will not take apart and is their longest running deck. I put her together as my first complete-from-scratch deck (after a couple pre-cons) and my playgroup pretty much knows she's my "baby", so I'd feel weird if I just started including her in other decks, although she is capable and powerful enough. I'm not really trying to make the commander damage idea work into too much of the deck, and I feel I'd be drawing cards too fast to really be taking advantage of her scry over the time of the game (when I even draw her). I think Rogue's Passage is just good enough, and even if the unblockable commander win con isn't needed on the table, I can still tap it for a mana source.
I felt if there was one thing the deck could improve on, then it was ramp. Having draw aplenty in the deck I was looking for a way to possibly drop something for ramp and I'm really interested in the new Neheb, the Eternal. I like the idea of using 1/1 locusts to ramp post-combat to play other fun things - Neheb doesn't even have to attack if I have enough evasive fliers out, but he can if he had to. A 4/6 body can take a hit or so. I also like how Neheb is a 5 CMC, so it's likely I can drop him before TLG. I decied to cut Arcanis the Omnipotent. Drawing three each tap is nice, but I don't have a lot of untap tricks now that Intruder Alarm was cut, so I can't really abuse it, plus there's lots of other big draw spells and looters, etc to keep draw up. Plus, Arcanis is 6 CMC, so competing in that slot with TLG. Neheb just seems like more fun and he's ramp in red.
I was comparing Tolarian Winds and Flux, the latter which I saw from Capt. Nick's deck list. Winds seems very efficient being a 2 CMC instant, whereas Flux is a 3 CMC sorcery, however Flux allures me because I get to choose which cards to keep and which to pitch for new cards, which allows me to keep any precious removal or other spell I plan to play in just another turn or two but just needed locusts on the board or something. Sure, it allows my opponents to do the same, but I'll likely have the most cards in hand when it resolves and so will be able to take the greatest advantage of it, digging deeper into my library than other players do. The selective aspect of Flux makes me really want to try it over Winds, and I can still take advantage of locusts it makes with TLG as long as I cast before combat. I'm losing flexibility of casting it in response to things if, say, I needed to dig for answers, but I'm willing to try it over Winds.
Hellrider seems like an obvious include for a deck like this, and in the same vein since you don't seem to be running a ton of Anthem effects, had you considered Raid Bombardment? Both let you push more damage through even if your insectile friends can't connect or your opponents are saving up combat tricks for when you swing.
BlackVise, I'm still really considering Opposition. I just don't know what to cut for it at this point.
Temmen, I've heard of Hellrider and briefly considered him, but as a creature, I was worried he would be dying/removed from the board more often than an enchantment, like Raid Bombardment, which I am actually less familiar with so thank you for the suggestion. After thinking it over, I reasoned that Raid Bombardment is a NOBO if I'm running Mindwrack Liege since the locusts would be 3/3s with MWL out. I could consider cutting MWL for Raid Bombardment, but I feel MWL is doing much more than squeezing in more damage from pumped tokens - it is also making The Locust God 6/6, and allows me to play a red or blue creature from my hand for 4 mana, which, admittedly, only cheats TLG and Neheb, the Eternal in, but replaying my commander each time he's removed for just 4 mana seems great. It is also making the locusts static 3/3s, which can become important if an opposing player has flying blockers that I might want to get rid of on a block (it would require less locusts held back for defense), and they stand up to un-pumped Talrand, Sky Summoner Drakes, and many other token 1/1 flyers like Thopters. I really think MWL is being multifaceted in this deck and so I don't want to cut it, and I don't want to include Raid Bombardment if MWL is in to avoid the off-chance that I draw both of them or have on in play when I also want to play the other, neutering the Bombardment effect. I could consider Hellrider instead again, but I feel like he could be a removal magnet since he does have much more "surprise" potential playing him pre-combat than MWL might be. What do you think I could cut if I wanted to fit Hellrider in?
Honestly? The Merfolk Looter. Looting is fine and all but it doesn't seem all that impactful when it's on a 1/1 body with all the incidental damage that runs around in your average EDH game. I'm a little iffy on the Cryptologist, too, but if it sticks around a couple turns that can at least turn into straight card draw.
Meanwhile I wouldn't discount Raid Bombardment just because you run the Liege. Like I said, I suggested it because you're only running like two anthem effects. Chances are you won't get them out every game and if you're using Mindwrack to flash your general in repeatedly it's going to become a target itself. The bombardment gives you a bit of redundancy so that if say, your Liege or a theoretical Hellrider get taken out you can still push damage through even with blockers.
On a slightly unrelated note, had you also given any thought to Dogpile?
I like the looters because they give me early plays that help dig deeper into the deck - often at cheap passive triggers or cheap activated ability, such as a simple tap. I run Merfolk Looter, Enclave Cryptologist, and Monastery Siege in a mono-U deck, and it gets pretty powerful if that engine gets off early. I subscribe to the adage that you should always loot if you can because the worst case you pitch the card you had just drawn off the loot and best case you replaced the worst card in your hand for a better card. The looters are more there for the early deck digging and less so for the locusts they would eventually create. I feel like cutting one and replacing it with something like Hellrider cuts out my earlier turns card draw for another card I'd either want to keep in my hand until I can actually get TLG down or be wanting to trade it in for something else that is more beneficial at the time (ramp, draw, etc.), which would ironically be possible if I could loot. The looters are tiny bodies, but at least in my meta, I haven't seen low incidental damage to creatures board-wide - I feel it's typically targeted damage to creatures or board-wide damage to players' faces. I also feel like looters are less threatening and so are likely to stick around a while until a board wipe. I've gotten the feeling that opposing players see a little body looter and think, "Oh, he gets to draw just one card each activation, AND he has to discard one too anyway, so he gets no net card advantage," and so don't pay too much attention as I'm looting a card each turn, all the while working on improving my current hand and digging deeper to win cons. I'm actually half considering putting Monastery Siege in this deck too so I can situationally choose Khans or Dragons based on if I get it early to loot or if I get it later in the game for more protection to my commander. I feel it's very tough to cut that out of the deck.
I absolutely agree that Mindwrack Liege will be a big target if my opponents realize I'm also mainly using it to cheat out TLG, so I'm still considering cutting it for Raid Bombardment. I think I likely will since Bombardment is a harder to remove enchantment, and I already have some potentially deadly enchants in Impact Tremors and Goblin Bombardment, so if my opponents can remove one, it's more of a "pick your poison" scenario. That way I'd still have the one pump that still keeps Bombardment active.
I had just seen Dogpile for the first time a couple days ago (I forget if it was on a Locust God list or not) and it seems like exactly what this deck is trying to do - build that locust swarm and then lay out some surprise heavy damage! It's a great suggestion. I don't think I've room to fit it in though, as I feel it's competing with Dynacharge, Fateful Showdown, and Rites of Initiation in the surprise bulk damage department. You think it's worth cutting one of these for Dogpile, or cut something else (save my poor looters!)?
Thanks again for all the suggestions! I'm putting this together on paper this week as the set release (and thus, The Locust God) is upon us.
Both Dynacharge and Rites of Initiation seem pretty underwhelming for multiplayer, but especially Rites since the discard is random. Dogpile as the distinction of being a card that you can hold up. Oh, your opponent Cyclonic Rifted in response to your attack? Maybe they were saving a Fog? Now instead of losing insane value on your attack you get to say "well too bad because I'm going to make sure this sucks for you anyway."
Both Dynacharge and Rites of Initiation seem pretty underwhelming for multiplayer, but especially Rites since the discard is random. Dogpile as the distinction of being a card that you can hold up. Oh, your opponent Cyclonic Rifted in response to your attack? Maybe they were saving a Fog? Now instead of losing insane value on your attack you get to say "well too bad because I'm going to make sure this sucks for you anyway."
This is interesting to think about. I don't feel Dynacharge can be underwhelming in multiplayer considering the overload ability on it - it's won me a couple games in another token deck. Compared to Dogpile I see it as costing one mana more (compared to the overload on Dynacharge), but actually doing one less "total damage" per creature since the Dyna buff would be +2/0, although I definitely hear your explanation that the Pile isn't combat damage, and so is more likely to get through combat tricks. I've used Dynacharge in my other deck enough to know what it's capable of, so I feel I really want to stick with it for now. I wasn't considering Rites of Initiation's discarding being random, because in my mind I was totally thinking of it for an alpha strike by discarding my entire hand of (what would likely be, with all the card draw and no max hand size) 7-10 cards. Turning a handful of 1/1 fliers into 8/8s or 11/11s with a single R and discarding my hand. It's the kind of card that would allow me to maximize a big draw spell like Pull from Tomorrow and in the same turn swing with all those hasty fliers I just made and for one more mana, discard and buff the heck out of them. I'm understanding the application you're mentioning for Dogpile in that it can be reactionary as well as proactive that still guarantees some kind of damage gets through, whereas a buff to the creature itself is still prone to last minute removal like the aforementioned Cyclonic Rift - and I've definitely been on the receiving end of a Cyclonic Rift when attempting an alpha strike with tons of buffed creatures, my stomach right to the floor! Dogpile is a more fun name for a card too. With all of that considered, I'm going to agree that Rites may be fun and offer the potential for more total damage, but Pile is kind of a safer and more flexible card in how I use it - kind of like a surprise Raid Bombardment, so I will cut Rites of Initiation for Dogpile.
I'm also deciding to fit in Raid Bombardment and Hellrider. To do so, I'm going to cut Deprive and Abjure, and add the repeatable (with buyback) counterspell of Forbid. The discard buyback shouldn't be an issue later in the game, or mid-game if I've been drawing enough cards by then. That leaves me an open slot of Raid Bombardment. I'll cut Mindwrack Liege and add Hellrider. After watching Sean's The Locust God deck on MTG Muddstah earlier today ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYRGxDvZaHM ), Hellrider looks great. He used it in that match, seems powerful enough to me, and thinking about it in that particular situation where he used it, I would want Hellrider over MWL.
I'll update the decklist in the OP. This is looking exciting. I just hope my Locust God isn't stolen the first time I attempt to cast it like Sean's was!
Both Dynacharge and Rites of Initiation seem pretty underwhelming for multiplayer, but especially Rites since the discard is random. Dogpile as the distinction of being a card that you can hold up. Oh, your opponent Cyclonic Rifted in response to your attack? Maybe they were saving a Fog? Now instead of losing insane value on your attack you get to say "well too bad because I'm going to make sure this sucks for you anyway."
This is interesting to think about. I don't feel Dynacharge can be underwhelming in multiplayer considering the overload ability on it - it's won me a couple games in another token deck. Compared to Dogpile I see it as costing one mana more (compared to the overload on Dynacharge), but actually doing one less "total damage" per creature since the Dyna buff would be +2/0, although I definitely hear your explanation that the Pile isn't combat damage, and so is more likely to get through combat tricks. I've used Dynacharge in my other deck enough to know what it's capable of, so I feel I really want to stick with it for now. I wasn't considering Rites of Initiation's discarding being random, because in my mind I was totally thinking of it for an alpha strike by discarding my entire hand of (what would likely be, with all the card draw and no max hand size) 7-10 cards. Turning a handful of 1/1 fliers into 8/8s or 11/11s with a single R and discarding my hand. It's the kind of card that would allow me to maximize a big draw spell like Pull from Tomorrow and in the same turn swing with all those hasty fliers I just made and for one more mana, discard and buff the heck out of them. I'm understanding the application you're mentioning for Dogpile in that it can be reactionary as well as proactive that still guarantees some kind of damage gets through, whereas a buff to the creature itself is still prone to last minute removal like the aforementioned Cyclonic Rift - and I've definitely been on the receiving end of a Cyclonic Rift when attempting an alpha strike with tons of buffed creatures, my stomach right to the floor! Dogpile is a more fun name for a card too. With all of that considered, I'm going to agree that Rites may be fun and offer the potential for more total damage, but Pile is kind of a safer and more flexible card in how I use it - kind of like a surprise Raid Bombardment, so I will cut Rites of Initiation for Dogpile.
I'm also deciding to fit in Raid Bombardment and Hellrider. To do so, I'm going to cut Deprive and Abjure, and add the repeatable (with buyback) counterspell of Forbid. The discard buyback shouldn't be an issue later in the game, or mid-game if I've been drawing enough cards by then. That leaves me an open slot of Raid Bombardment. I'll cut Mindwrack Liege and add Hellrider. After watching Sean's The Locust God deck on MTG Muddstah earlier today ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYRGxDvZaHM ), Hellrider looks great. He used it in that match, seems powerful enough to me, and thinking about it in that particular situation where he used it, I would want Hellrider over MWL.
I'll update the decklist in the OP. This is looking exciting. I just hope my Locust God isn't stolen the first time I attempt to cast it like Sean's was!
Well I was thinking in terms of the fact that cards like War Horn and Orcish Oriflamme exist which get you similar value to things like Dynacharge without being simple one-shots. Dynacharge is fine, don't get me wrong, but if you spend it and your opponents have some way to save themselves then you've just painted a bigger target on your head because you've spent resources on a turn that you can't immediately threaten people with again.
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1 The Locust God
Creatures
1 Bonded Fetch
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Crackleburr
1 Enclave Cryptologist
1 Forgotten Creation
1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
1 Hellrider
1 Merfolk Looter
1 Neheb, the Eternal
1 Whirlpool Rider
1 Whirlpool Warrior
Sorcery
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Burn at the Stake
1 Collective Defiance
1 Commit // Memory
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Devastation Tide
1 Distant Melody
1 Enter the Infinite
1 Indomitable Creativity
1 Molten Psyche
1 Recurring Insight
1 Winds of Change
1 Ætherize
1 Arcane Denial
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dogpile
1 Fateful Showdown
1 Forbid
1 Glimmer of Genius
1 Glorious End
1 Keep Watch
1 Pull from Tomorrow
Artifact
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Bident of Thassa
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Credit Voucher
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Hedron Archive
1 Izzet Cluestone
1 Izzet Signet
1 Library of Leng
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mind Stone
1 Neurok Stealthsuit
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Thought Vessel
1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1 Venser's Journal
1 Coastal Piracy
1 Favorable Winds
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Impact Tremors
1 Imprisoned in the Moon
1 Kyren Negotiations
1 Raid Bombardment
Land
1 Ash Barrens
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Forgotten Cave
1 High Market
15 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
10 Mountain
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Remote Isle
1 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of the False God
STRATEGY
The general strategy is getting The Locust God out there, draw cards, make hasty 1/1 locusts, and then get value from those locusts – either by damage or more card draw.
WIN CONDITIONS
There are several win cons mixing both red and blue themes, from infinite combo to damage and a little in-between.
1. Enter the Infinite
The one-card-win-con. Getting it early enough should produce some 70+ 1/1 hasty locusts, which is a near game-ender on its own, but definitely seals the deal if another trick or card is involved, such as Impact Tremors.
2. Ashnod’s Altar + Skullclamp
I shouldn’t have to explain this one too much, but I would’ve included these cards anyway just because this is a token generating deck and both of these cards turn those into great value. I’ll likely not abuse this combo unless I hate someone else at the table.
3. Enter the Infinite / Pull from Tomorrow / Collective Defiance / any other big draw spell +
Purphoros, God of the Forge/ Impact Tremors / Burn at the Stake / Fateful Showdown /Rites of Initiation/ DogpileCast that big draw spell annnnnnnd:
-trigger tons of damage with
Purphoros, God of the Forgeor Impact Tremors-tap those hasty tokens you just generated to cast Burn at the Stake (single target though)
-cast Fateful Showdown, single opponent takes a ton of damage from all the cards you just had drawn, you wheel away and draw that many more cards, creating that many more hasty tokens to swing at another opponent or finish off the original recipient
-attack with all those hasty locusts you just made, then cast Dogpile to push damage through.
4. Intruder Alarm + any looter (Bonded Fetch is good with haste, but there’s a couple others in the deck)Activate the looter, untap all creatures from the Alarm trigger when the 1/1 locust enters, activate the looter again and repeat as you dig through your deck to get other win cons or just build a big enough army of locusts to finish the game. Elixir of Immortality refills your library for more value and this combo goes infinite, as far as I can tell, with Library of Leng.
5. Intruder Alarm + Splinter TwinThis combo has been seen around awhile and I include it because a) I’m already including Alarm from the above win-con and b) it doesn’t actually require The Locust God. A win-con just in case TLG is getting hated of the board despite returning to my hand if he dies. Cast Splinter Twin on any creature with Alarm out, activate Twin, Alarm untap trigger, repeat for infinite hasty tokens of whatever.
6. Splinter Twin + Teardrop Kami + Purphoros, God of the Forge / Impact TremorsShout out to random card of the day (COTD) recently in Teardrop Kami. As just above, this combo does not require TLG and I’m already including two of the three cards – granted one of those two because I’m also already including Alarm (so if Alarm goes I might as well cut these too!). I’m a sucker for janky-come-out-of-nowhere-cards-no-one-has-really-heard-of-or-used-in-EDH. Cast Twin on the Kami, activate Twin, sac the copied Kami to untap the original, repeat for infinite ETB triggers, which translates to infinite damage with Purp or Tremors.
4. Locust swarms to the face!!
Swing out with buffed hasty locusts with
Ogre Battledriver, Favorable Winds,Mindwrack Liege, orShared Animosity, among others.5. Commander damage possibilityGet a full grip of cards, get TLG out (not needed in that order), then equip Empyrial Plate. Made easier with Rogue's Passage. When this is pulled off, will likely be for lethal or near lethal.
OTHER CHOICE CARDS
Clever Impersonator is such an awesome card and has won me so many games that I feel I have to include it just for the versatility of whatever it is that I’m playing against. I don’t have an Eldrazi Titan, but I’ll copy yours! Oh, nice Caged Sun you have there, I guess I’ll have one too! So fun.
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser seems like a powerhouse in this deck. If he’s out with a bunch of locusts, but I can’t seal the deal, he makes it harder for opponents to attack me back, or I can pick off opponents spells to try to finish it out. I love the possibilities with this.
Glorious End is totally in here for the suspense factor. I’m not even running Disallow to counter the delayed trigger because where’s the fun in that? Sometimes you just need that one extra untap step to end the game or I might need to strike twice with the amount of locusts I currently have and this allows that, plus ends other combos going off before one of mine. I’m certain that as soon as I play this, everyone at the table is all of a sudden going to become very interested in my next turn. I have a personal achievement goal of having a Glorious End with a Fateful Showdown.
NOTABLE OMISIONS
Psychosis Crawler I felt would just be another combo piece with Enter the Infinite and a win more. I feel like I want to actually be swinging with all these locusts I’m making and cut this for more aggro pieces.
Crackleburr is a great creature removal piece, but I feel like the deck is already squeezed on the creature count and I dunno what I’d cut for it, but I do like it. Do you think it’s worth running? What should I cut for it if so?NOW INCLUDED IN THE DECK.Consecrated Sphinx is one of a handful of pricier cards that I do not own so is not included here, although I’m not sure I would include it if I did have it since the casting cost is stricter than, say, a similar effect with Alhammarret’s Archive. The body is nice, but also more easily removed as a creature and I shouldn’t be short on body count if TLG is in play.
Windreader Sphinx I felt was a win more card and I have already included Bident of Thassa and Coastal Piracy for like effect. Again, I didn’t feel I would need the body either.
Speaking of Bident of Thassa / Coastal Piracy – Breath of Fury was left out mostly because it would just add another combo package to the win-cons and I felt that was getting a little full, plus my only copy is already in another deck so I’ll just leave it there for now.
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (and Curiosity would, again, just add more combo, and I like to be a little more original than one of the most well-known combos in m colors. If I wanted this, then Niv would be my commander and not TLG.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre would replace Elixir of Immortality, but is tons more pricy. Maybe eventually.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is Kiki-Jikijikijikijikijiki broken, and, despite acting as a second Splinter Twin effect is out of where I would want to spend money for it.
Careful Study, Deep Analysis, and much of the cheap cantrips: I feel like this decks performs better, and I may have more fun, if it is more explosive with the draw/locust creation. I don’t see slowly building a few locusts here and there as effective as drawing for 20+, then swinging in with all the haste. I cut a lot of them save Brainstorm. Same reason Fevered Visions was eventually cut – too incremental of damage.
Blue Sun’s Zenith was cut because I had a small handful of other big draw spells that I felt were more efficient than paying UUU to begin the draw, such as Pull from Tomorrow discarding instead. I’m already intending to cast these for 10-15+, so the scale on Tomorrow I felt was superior for that. Ditto for the other choice big draw spells.
Coat of Arms / Eldrazi Monument were cut for more explosive buffs. While not totally out there expensive for me (I don’t own either yet), I’ve been the beneficiary of a Coat of Arms on the other side of the board and seen it backfire on my opponents before.
Empyrial Plate I felt would be pretty spicy with this deck as a surprise commander damage win con. The whole time everyone is focusing on your locusts, you have so many (and so many cars in hand), and the board gets wiped. You have tons of cards, but have to restart your locust swarm. Instead, just recast TLG from hand then next turn cast the Empyrial Plate on him and any sucker that didn’t get a flyer on the board after the wipe is looking at lethal (or at least near-lethal) commander damage. Spicy, but would add to the crowded win-con space so I cut it to focus more on a streamlined strategy focusing around the locusts.NOW INCLUDED IN THE DECK.Five-Alarm Fire
and Goblin Bombardmentis already in another deck that I’m not yet willing to part with, plus thinking it's a bit win more here as well with all the other explosive damage from other cards.Arjun, the Shifting Flame, Mindmoil, and Teferi’s Puzzle Box were all cut because I’m not a fan of the puzzle/chaotic turns they create, although I can certainly see that they can draw a ton of cards. With all the combo-type win-cons going on I feel like these would really screw me until I got lucky enough to get them all in the same draw, or sometimes I really do just want to hold that counterspell for an opponent.
Thought Reflection I felt was also expensive mana-wise for the effect and not as explosive as I’d like.
Opposition seems like a great defensive card, but I feel with what I’m trying to do – be more explosive on my draw and attack, build a combo quickly – that I would rarely use the effect or may not even play it for better turn options getting closer to a giant locust swarm to attack with.
Mana Echoes is another card I would love to include as this can definitely generate big mana for me to chain spells together with and just get crazy and push me to win games turns earlier than if not, but the price is out of my range for now. Definitely love the card and have intention to eventually include it if this deck sticks around a while.
Mystical Tutor, Gamble, and other tutors: I absolutely understand the power of a tutor in a singleton format, and I'm crippling myself a bit by not including them, but I have so much more fun with the spontaneity of how the game develops and feel more satisfied with a naturally drawn win than one I tutored all the pieces for.
Laboratory Maniac: Nice alternate win condition card, but feels like too much of a shoo-in for this deck. Good card and solid alt win-con, but I'm passing on it for now to explore more unique ways to win with this deck.
CURRENT CONSIDERATIONS
9/1/17: I feel the deck is very heavy on the idea to get The Locust God out and make as many locusts as possible, so naturally if feels fairly fast and extremely powerful if a lot of things aren't answered. With that, it still feels like some speed bumps are harder to get over and could possibly use more removal for pesky artifacts and enchantments that ruin the strategy if I couldn't counter them initially, so I'll be brainstorming and looking at where I can make room for that.
Otherwise, the deck often feels too powerful a lot of times, where - as soon as TLG is out - I railroad the entire table and totally shut things down and make the game end fast. I might consider replacing some cards to lower the power level for my meta.
What else do you think? Does this strategy and card selection seem to be effective? Are there some cards or synergies I’m missing? Any feedback would be awesome, and thank you! I haven’t been this excited for a new commander in a while so I’m looking forward to unleashing the locust swarm!
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Thanks for the suggestions. I have seen Neurok Stealsuit before, but forgot about it when building this. Definitely seems like a good protection piece for also protecting against targeted activated abilities too, so I will consider this.
Drake Haven seems to have value and something else to do if/when TLG is not out - getting more bodies to block or protect myself. What would I cut for this?
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
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I agree about budget decks - I love how a budget restriction presents a challenge to deck building and adds variance to play. I think most any budget deck can stand against other bigger budget decks in a multiplayer game as long as there is solid deck synergies and the player is skilled. Also, politics at the table is priceless in comparison.
You're right about The Locust God possibly not being so budget friendly if it sees enough play in other formats - at least until it rotates out of Standard or something.
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Rhystic Study is just an awesome card in general for EDH (no pun intended). I don't actually own a copy, but I have a couple decks that would just love it, so I might actually pick one up in time, despite it skirting with price-unfriendliness. In this particular deck, at least with how I'm intending it, I feel it would be too incremental of a card draw machine when I want to be drawing lots of cards at one time. It's a card draw engine, true, but in my playgroup experience it doesn't hang around the board very long and it's not as effective mid to late game when opponents likely have mana to spare. I acknowledge that it forces opponents to use mana less efficiently in terms of casting their spells or else you get card advantage, but I feel I would have to play this real early in the games to get true value out of it since late game I can see the mana being paid for it for a quick time before it's removed or by late game I'm really wanting to use that mana to draw a lot more cards than one or two each players' turn (possibly, if the cost isn't paid).
Doubly so that the opponent(s) would pay the mana to deny the card draw if they know it will also net me a 1/1 flying locust.
Do you think Rhystic Study has some other applications for this deck? Is it too good for me to pass up?
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Also, you're drawing a ridiculous amount of cards. Maybe add Platinum Angel to prevent losing to decking yourself or Laboratory Maniac to win due to decking yourself?
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I had included Goblin Bombardment under the Notable Omissions with Five-Alarm Fire. I like this card since it gets around a lot of pollowfort or go-wide-prevention strategies just as Purp and Tremors do. Plus I liked that each card draw could potentially result in 5 damage of return with Purp, Tremors, and Bombardment out. However, I cut it since I already knew I wanted to include Purp and Tremors, which are giving me nice damage with the ETB triggers. Finishing off someone with Goblin Bombardment was an idea I had with my other deck when including it there as well, but I've never been in a situation to make that happen yet. For me it's found itself working as a utility sac outlet in response to board wipes and other effects to just a couple damage back at the board wiper or, and I almost like more when this later situation happens, it hits the board and everyone scrambles to remove it right away thinking it a huge threat. Most often when the later happens, I'm smirking inside because they used that possibly limited/precious removal on Bombardment when I'm sitting on Purp or Tremors in my hand. I dunno, I guess I wasn't impressed with the intention I had for it in that deck and so shied away from including it in this one, although sac outlets can be powerful by themselves (even to save my own commander from exile effects). Do you think I should really include it here? What do you think I could possibly cut to fit it in?
I agree that I need to watch out from decking myself with all the huge bouts of card draw, especially with Alhammarret's Archive included, and I do have a Platinum Angel sitting unused, and I like the idea of using it since I know none of the other decks in my playgroups do and so it would be a little unexpected. However, I have included other specific (budget) pieces to prevent this such as Library of Leng if I'm trying to draw a ton through loot, and Elixir of Immortality. If I had the cash, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre would go in and I may pick one up over time. Building this deck I foresaw myself constantly counting my library and playing the math game for what I want my next play to be. I do like the Angel and it definitely helps out in preventing loss from other ways too (infect!), but I don't like the CMC of 7. Do you think there's something worth cutting to include Platinum Angel?
Thanks again for the suggestions, this is all really helpful!
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Sakashima the impostor That clone as well. She can clone your locust god giving you twice as many tokens.
These are much more janky idea's but like the Onslaught block Words of war Words of wind If you have tons of extra mana and don't want to draw at the moment due to thinking you might deck or just don't need to draw that much right then.
I'll run through the list and see if there's anything I feel might not net me as much value over Rhystic Study to see if I can fit it in. Something stand out to you worth cutting for Rhystic Study?
Sakashima the Impostor is a really good clone effect since she bypasses the "legend" rule and can protect herself by bouncing back to hand. I'm running Clever Impersonator as my clone effect of choice for it's versatility of copying any kind of permanent, not just creatures. I'm giving up the one-off instance niche of copying my own commander (or other legendary creature of mine, of which there are only a couple real targets for that effect, and Purp may not always be a creature through devotion) and the bounce protection to be able to copy any permanent on the field - even any creatures that are not my own legendary - for the same CMC. Copying my own commander with a card like Sakashima is actually one of those instances where I would prefer the legendary rule to apply so that I could sac my original commander, have it go back to my hand at end-step, and now I have it in my hand ready to recast if needed and a copy on the field with an embedded bounce protection ability. But alas, that can't actually happen with Sakashima. Clever Impersonator has won me so many games - from copying an opponent's Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon from an infect deck and killing my opponent with infect to copying an opponent's Saheeli Rai and +1'ing her enough until my Scourge of Fleets hit the field and then -2'ing her each turn (targeting Scourge) to effectively bounce the table of threats until I was able to kill everyone off with damage. Opponents' Caged Sun has been copied countless times to my benefit as well. I just feel that the versatility and flexibility of a copy outweighs any niche effects and protection for it. That and the fact that Clever Impersonator is about 1/3 the price of Sakashima the Impostor.
I've seen the "Words" cards from Onslaught, but didn't think of them when building this - great suggestion! I think I prefer Words of Wind over Words of War since there's a lot more damage effects than (bounce) removal in the deck, and I notice that Rhystic Study might combo well with Words of Wind. . . Opponent casts, don't pay for Rhystic, instead of drawing I actually pay 1 mana to have them bounce another permenent, for which they will need to recast, maybe not pay the Rhystic tax again, etc. Hmmmm, I'll have to run through this list for this too and contemplate if I want to have that going. What might you cut to fit Words of Wind?
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Some notable cards I was using that you don't have: Sphinx's Tutelage, Humble Defector, Jace's Archivist, Recurring Insight, Minds Aglow, Flux, and Visions of Beyond.
Actually, here's the list I played:
1 Howling Mine
1 Font of Mythos
1 Staff of Nin
1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
1 Bident of Thassa
1 Library of Leng
1 Venser's Journal
1 Memory Jar
// 17 Creature
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Kami of the Crescent Moon
1 Nin, the Pain Artist
1 Jace's Archivist
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Magus of the Wheel
1 Whirlpool Drake
1 Whirlpool Rider
1 Whirlpool Warrior
1 Sturmgeist
1 Arjun, the Shifting Flame
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
1 Windreader Sphinx
1 Humble Defector
1 Aeon Chronicler
1 The Locust God
// 9 Enchantment
1 Compulsion
1 Military Intelligence
1 Unifying Theory
1 Words of Wind
1 Impact Tremors
1 Dictate of Kruphix
1 Mental Discipline
1 Sphinx's Tutelage
1 Coastal Piracy
1 Brainstorm
1 Runeflare Trap
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Tolarian Winds
1 Vision Skeins
1 Words of Wisdom
1 Cerebral Vortex
1 Sudden Impact
1 Keep Watch
1 Careful Consideration
1 Commit // Memory
1 Plagiarize
1 Intellectual Offering
// 34 Land
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Steam Vents
1 Shivan Reef
1 Command Tower
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Wandering Fumarole
1 Highland Lake
7 Island
7 Mountain
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Dwarven Ruins
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Temple of the False God
1 Jace Beleren
1 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
1 Dack Fayden
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
// 15 Sorcery
1 Wheel of Fate
1 Burning Inquiry
1 Minds Aglow
1 Control of the Court
1 Open into Wonder
1 Flux
1 Molten Psyche
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Distant Memories
1 Plea for Power
1 Master the Way
1 Time Reversal
1 Recurring Insight
1 Hazoret's Undying Fury
Any of the enchantments where I was paying mana while drawing a card were all pretty ineffective. You draw so many cards, you'd be wasting mana or only activating it a few times a turn. Open into Wonder was also fairly underwhelming. I'm planning on replacing those cards with Skullclamp and some mana rocks for a bit of ramp though I don't think the deck really needs it. I do want to fit Fateful Showdown and Incendiary Command into the deck as well.
Thanks for the awesome suggestions. After some consideration, I think you're right about having more token buff pieces than needed. I'm thinking I should include some more removal and smaller card draw. I'll be updating the deck soon and include these types of changes.
I considered the symmetrical draw effects like Howling Mine and Kami of the Crescent Moon, but my preference is to keep the draw effects asymmetrical. I actually run a Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug deck and all that extra draw sometimes backfires. I think I'll leave them out for now. I'm digging the Runeflare Trap, Sudden Impact, Recurring Insight, and Plagiarize synergy you have going on with the group draw effects though.
Flux stands out to me as I can choose which cards I want to discard to draw more for those moments I want to keep that counterspell in hand or that Imprisoned in the Moon valuable removal piece. I'll definitely consider that.
I was just considering Open into Wonder earlier today as I was skimming through my Amonkhet cars and saw it! Thanks for the tip of it p=not really working out.
What is Hazoret's Undying Fury supposed to be doing for you? Netting card advantage or just a fun card? It seems interesting though.
How did the speed of the games go for you when you play tested? Were they over fairly quickly once TLG got out? I'm actually reconsidering some of my combos listed in the win cons because I feel they would make games end too early to where the table isn't developing more and possibly cutting a lot of the fun out for everyone. I want a chance to win, but I'm reconsidering that I may not want every game to end before T8 or something. As I mentioned, my playgroup is a little less competitive and we're actually trying to curb some powercreep going on. The next changes in my list will reflect this.
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Yeah, my play group isn't super competitive either. We've been playing together for awhile and have a good idea of power level in decks that's fun for us. Basically I try to play with no tutors, no counter spells and just a handful of removal spells that require some hoops be jumped through in order to work. Which opens up space for cards that make interesting board states. Thus leading to the Group Hug stuff.
Like I said though, if you untap with TLG, you should be able to win or get close that turn. The haste on the Insect tokens being the major strength of the card. You can always just say something like "I'm not going to attack until I can kill everyone in a turn with my swarm," or whatever nonsense stipulation you want to have some fun with it. The long-short of it is, that if he sticks around long enough for you to draw cards, you're going to win very fast. But if your play group has more removal and counters, he may need more protecting. Which will probably push your games longer.
-Ogre Battledriver
-Purphoros, God of the Forge
-Teardrop Kami
-Counterflux
-Alhammarret's Archive
-Intruder Alarm
-Shared Animosity
-Splinter Twin
-Terramorphic Expanse
-Desolate Lighthouse
+Crackleburr
+Platinum Angel
+Indomitable Creativity
+Glimmer of Genius
+Empyrial Plate
+Neurok Stealthsuit
+Throne of the God-Pharaoh
+Favorable Winds
+Goblin Bombardment
+Rogue's Passage
The biggest change is removing the Intruder Alarm combos (so also removing Splinter Twin, and thus follows with removing Teardrop Kami). Taking a good hard look at the deck, it looked more and more to me like a "ramp out general and combo out" kind of deck, which is fun when you do it once or twice because you can show others how fast and synergistic you've built a deck, but then I feel it can get boring and, more importantly, un-fun - to both play and play against. I had a Talrand, Sky Summoner deck that would get Talrand out (easily on T2 with a Sol Ring), then totally just start smashing face and countering or removing anything that opponents (my friends!) attempted and quite often sealed the deal. Those games became less and less fun for me and so I took it apart (some of the remnants I'm using for this deck!). I didn't want another deck like that, so I decided to take out the big combo-type stuff and add the interesting surprise commander damage win condition of Empyrial Plate and Rogue's Passage. I added Crackleburr over Teardrop Kami for some repeated removal effect. I think this may prove more entertaining and fun over the life of the deck. Sure, once I try the Empyrial-Passage shenanigan, my normal playgroup will know it's there, but that doesn't stop me from using it again at the right opportunity! Plu it can go right on another creature (or token) to likely make a big beater. I'm positive Crackleburr will have value, and he's a perfect target for one of my additional protection pieces.
I removed Ogre Battledriver for a more static and harder to remove (and cheaper CMC) buff in Favorable Winds. I figure if I'm not trying to swing to kill everyone at the earliest opportunity, then my locusts may be sticking around more than one turn and I'd like a buff/pump with longevity even if it's a smaller buff/pump. I imagine that in most scenarios the extra +1/0 may not make a difference if it comes down to end-game.
I removed Purphoros, God of the Forge and Shared Animosity for a few reasons: a) they were pretty much the most expensive cards in the deck, and so I considered for budget reasons (I'd actually have to pick up a copy of Animosity), b) again, I felt I wanted to tone down the look of the deck saying "I'm trying to blast you all out by T8! - these are powerful cards, true, but also fairly competitive choices when, as I mentioned, my playgroup has recently cohort-ed an effort to curb powercreep and keep games fun and extended, and c) I felt there were similar effects already in the deck. Instead, I decided to add Goblin Bombardment for replacing the Purp effect and acting as a protective sac outlet for The Locust God, and Throne of the God-Pharaoh for also replacing the Purp damage effect, but in a more fair way since I have to attack/tap creatures to get value out of it, plus it's flavor!
I removed Alhammarret's Archive since it was one of the semi-pricey cards that I didn't already have a copy of and I felt I might lose control of it from time to time by letting it deck me one a misplayed big draw spell or something. The life bonus was, well, just a bonus I saw to the card and my only real lifegain piece is Venser's Journal. Instead, I added Glimmer of Genius as a more tame, much smaller draw that I can use with or without TLG for good value. I'm a HUGE fan of the scry ability and think it is a very powerful thing to be able to see cards before you draw them (even better at instant speed!), so this is one of my more recent choice favorites that I'd like to play more.
I removed Counterflux because there are a few other counterspells and there's a better reason, to me, to keep the other ones around. Basically, I felt this was the area I could afford to cut (counterspells) for more permanent protection, and Counterflux was the least priority of the counterspells. Instead, I added the previous suggestion by JDviant of Neurok Stealthsuit. I plan to use the suit as instant speed protection for my creatures since I can move it around as much as I'd like so long as I have enough U. This should keep TLG around the field longer than the one-off counterspell, and since I already have a few still in the deck.
At this point, I wanted to add DementedKirby's suggestion of Platinum Angel for both the "just in case" scenario and to prevent loss from decking myself if the card draw gets too out of hand before I can secure Elixir of Immortality, but really didn't know what to cut. Sitting on 40 lands at the moment drew my attention there and I cut Desolate Lighthouse. A land that lets me loot is nice, but I feel there's enough card draw from other sources, and for cheaper in many cases, that I'd never really use the effect and it's not producing colored mana for me. I feel the deck can certainly perform without it, so I cut in in favor of the Platinum Angel.
Rummaging through my Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, and Amonkhet cards today in an attempt to organize them, I stumbled upon a gem that I really thought I liked when I first saw it too: Indomitable Creativity. A fairly bad removal against an opponent, but when used on my own locust tokens . . . the thought of turning a 1/1 flyer into Kefnet the Mindful, Clever Impersonator, Platinum Angel, or any other valuable creature or artifact I have sounds so appealing and so fun. I think I remember cutting this from another tokens deck I had with red in it and I'm glad I ran into it again today. Pay 8 mana to flip the top 5 creatures or artifacts from my library right onto the battlefield can be a fun game-changer. But all of that is only about 20% reason why I like this card - the other 80ish% is the ART. So beautiful. I love how they chose to border all that striking blue on red so it stands out even more. I felt I really wanted to include this in the same fun spirit as a late-game Glorious End, so I looked to the lands again fro cuts and came up with letting Terramorphic Expanse. I'm already including Evolving Wilds and Ash Barrens to fetch basics similarly. Decided to keep Wilds because it now has the Amonkhet flavor art and decied to keep Barrens because it can tap for colorless if I draw it later than I needed to use it (and can still basic landcycle it to thin my deck if needed).
Whelp, that's the updates for now and the list is already looking more fun to me! Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions thus far.
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
-Read the Runes
+Recurring Insight
Read the Runes seemed more appropriate when I was thinking about digging for specific combo pieces: I could keep those pieces in my hand by sac'ing the tokens I just made, and keep some tokens on the field by discarding the cards that did not have value at that point in the game. But, as far as raw drawing power, Recurring Insight can be super efficient, and the locusts have haste, so instant vs sorcery speed isn't much of a difference unless I want to use the draw to get me a cheap blocker.
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
I just imagined Kefnet the Mindful, Thassa, God of the Sea, and The Locust God (and Purphoros, God of the Forge if I still planned to run it here) all on the field at the same time - looking like God tribal.
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
-Arcanis the Omnipotent
-Tolarian Winds
+Neheb, the Eternal
+Flux
I felt if there was one thing the deck could improve on, then it was ramp. Having draw aplenty in the deck I was looking for a way to possibly drop something for ramp and I'm really interested in the new Neheb, the Eternal. I like the idea of using 1/1 locusts to ramp post-combat to play other fun things - Neheb doesn't even have to attack if I have enough evasive fliers out, but he can if he had to. A 4/6 body can take a hit or so. I also like how Neheb is a 5 CMC, so it's likely I can drop him before TLG. I decied to cut Arcanis the Omnipotent. Drawing three each tap is nice, but I don't have a lot of untap tricks now that Intruder Alarm was cut, so I can't really abuse it, plus there's lots of other big draw spells and looters, etc to keep draw up. Plus, Arcanis is 6 CMC, so competing in that slot with TLG. Neheb just seems like more fun and he's ramp in red.
I was comparing Tolarian Winds and Flux, the latter which I saw from Capt. Nick's deck list. Winds seems very efficient being a 2 CMC instant, whereas Flux is a 3 CMC sorcery, however Flux allures me because I get to choose which cards to keep and which to pitch for new cards, which allows me to keep any precious removal or other spell I plan to play in just another turn or two but just needed locusts on the board or something. Sure, it allows my opponents to do the same, but I'll likely have the most cards in hand when it resolves and so will be able to take the greatest advantage of it, digging deeper into my library than other players do. The selective aspect of Flux makes me really want to try it over Winds, and I can still take advantage of locusts it makes with TLG as long as I cast before combat. I'm losing flexibility of casting it in response to things if, say, I needed to dig for answers, but I'm willing to try it over Winds.
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Temmen, I've heard of Hellrider and briefly considered him, but as a creature, I was worried he would be dying/removed from the board more often than an enchantment, like Raid Bombardment, which I am actually less familiar with so thank you for the suggestion. After thinking it over, I reasoned that Raid Bombardment is a NOBO if I'm running Mindwrack Liege since the locusts would be 3/3s with MWL out. I could consider cutting MWL for Raid Bombardment, but I feel MWL is doing much more than squeezing in more damage from pumped tokens - it is also making The Locust God 6/6, and allows me to play a red or blue creature from my hand for 4 mana, which, admittedly, only cheats TLG and Neheb, the Eternal in, but replaying my commander each time he's removed for just 4 mana seems great. It is also making the locusts static 3/3s, which can become important if an opposing player has flying blockers that I might want to get rid of on a block (it would require less locusts held back for defense), and they stand up to un-pumped Talrand, Sky Summoner Drakes, and many other token 1/1 flyers like Thopters. I really think MWL is being multifaceted in this deck and so I don't want to cut it, and I don't want to include Raid Bombardment if MWL is in to avoid the off-chance that I draw both of them or have on in play when I also want to play the other, neutering the Bombardment effect. I could consider Hellrider instead again, but I feel like he could be a removal magnet since he does have much more "surprise" potential playing him pre-combat than MWL might be. What do you think I could cut if I wanted to fit Hellrider in?
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Meanwhile I wouldn't discount Raid Bombardment just because you run the Liege. Like I said, I suggested it because you're only running like two anthem effects. Chances are you won't get them out every game and if you're using Mindwrack to flash your general in repeatedly it's going to become a target itself. The bombardment gives you a bit of redundancy so that if say, your Liege or a theoretical Hellrider get taken out you can still push damage through even with blockers.
On a slightly unrelated note, had you also given any thought to Dogpile?
I absolutely agree that Mindwrack Liege will be a big target if my opponents realize I'm also mainly using it to cheat out TLG, so I'm still considering cutting it for Raid Bombardment. I think I likely will since Bombardment is a harder to remove enchantment, and I already have some potentially deadly enchants in Impact Tremors and Goblin Bombardment, so if my opponents can remove one, it's more of a "pick your poison" scenario. That way I'd still have the one pump that still keeps Bombardment active.
I had just seen Dogpile for the first time a couple days ago (I forget if it was on a Locust God list or not) and it seems like exactly what this deck is trying to do - build that locust swarm and then lay out some surprise heavy damage! It's a great suggestion. I don't think I've room to fit it in though, as I feel it's competing with Dynacharge, Fateful Showdown, and Rites of Initiation in the surprise bulk damage department. You think it's worth cutting one of these for Dogpile, or cut something else (save my poor looters!)?
Thanks again for all the suggestions! I'm putting this together on paper this week as the set release (and thus, The Locust God) is upon us.
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
This is interesting to think about. I don't feel Dynacharge can be underwhelming in multiplayer considering the overload ability on it - it's won me a couple games in another token deck. Compared to Dogpile I see it as costing one mana more (compared to the overload on Dynacharge), but actually doing one less "total damage" per creature since the Dyna buff would be +2/0, although I definitely hear your explanation that the Pile isn't combat damage, and so is more likely to get through combat tricks. I've used Dynacharge in my other deck enough to know what it's capable of, so I feel I really want to stick with it for now. I wasn't considering Rites of Initiation's discarding being random, because in my mind I was totally thinking of it for an alpha strike by discarding my entire hand of (what would likely be, with all the card draw and no max hand size) 7-10 cards. Turning a handful of 1/1 fliers into 8/8s or 11/11s with a single R and discarding my hand. It's the kind of card that would allow me to maximize a big draw spell like Pull from Tomorrow and in the same turn swing with all those hasty fliers I just made and for one more mana, discard and buff the heck out of them. I'm understanding the application you're mentioning for Dogpile in that it can be reactionary as well as proactive that still guarantees some kind of damage gets through, whereas a buff to the creature itself is still prone to last minute removal like the aforementioned Cyclonic Rift - and I've definitely been on the receiving end of a Cyclonic Rift when attempting an alpha strike with tons of buffed creatures, my stomach right to the floor! Dogpile is a more fun name for a card too. With all of that considered, I'm going to agree that Rites may be fun and offer the potential for more total damage, but Pile is kind of a safer and more flexible card in how I use it - kind of like a surprise Raid Bombardment, so I will cut Rites of Initiation for Dogpile.
I'm also deciding to fit in Raid Bombardment and Hellrider. To do so, I'm going to cut Deprive and Abjure, and add the repeatable (with buyback) counterspell of Forbid. The discard buyback shouldn't be an issue later in the game, or mid-game if I've been drawing enough cards by then. That leaves me an open slot of Raid Bombardment. I'll cut Mindwrack Liege and add Hellrider. After watching Sean's The Locust God deck on MTG Muddstah earlier today ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYRGxDvZaHM ), Hellrider looks great. He used it in that match, seems powerful enough to me, and thinking about it in that particular situation where he used it, I would want Hellrider over MWL.
I'll update the decklist in the OP. This is looking exciting. I just hope my Locust God isn't stolen the first time I attempt to cast it like Sean's was!
Current EDH
UThassa, God of the Sea devotion control
WRGTana, the Bloodsower & Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa partners weenie tokens
UUnesh, Criosphinx Sovereign Sphinx tribal
WUTaigam, Ojutai Master tokens on the rebound spellslinger
GRhonas the Indomitable green creature beats
UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ETB tribal
Retired EDH
WURGKynaios and Tiro of Meletis group hug
URThe Locust God draw swarm
UTalrand, Sky Summoner funsies blue spells
WBObzedat, Ghost Council life gain/drain
Well I was thinking in terms of the fact that cards like War Horn and Orcish Oriflamme exist which get you similar value to things like Dynacharge without being simple one-shots. Dynacharge is fine, don't get me wrong, but if you spend it and your opponents have some way to save themselves then you've just painted a bigger target on your head because you've spent resources on a turn that you can't immediately threaten people with again.