MTG Salvation

For those who don't devote 75% of their waking energy to keeping up with magic, we've got the newly spoiled Derevi:



This guy seems extremely cool to me, and yet also not obvious how to build around. He's a decent body, but he's no jenara or rafiq, and he tends toward a more group-attack sort of strategy, a la edric. So I went with an edric-ish build, focusing on cheap, evasive weenies and control elements for a base, and then used that base to add on some sick tap abilities to take advantage of the general, and some combat-damage-to-player abilities to take advantage of having a bunch of weenies.

So here's my initial attempt at Derevi:



Obviously I haven't gotten to test this at all, and there's a few cards I'll need to pick up before I can give it a try. How would you build this new, intriguing general we've had revealed?

Wow, Thawing Glaciers is SO GOOD in this deck!!!!!!!

Have you considered Bear Umbra as another mana untap ability?

All the mana untapping might work well with Sacred Mesa to pump out more and more evasive weenies.

Also Flurry of Wings? Beck // Call?

Opposition might also be really strong in this deck, using your creatures with pseudo-vigilance to tap down things during your opponents turn.

While I'm pushing the token flyers: Favorable Winds, Gravitational Shift and Intangible Virtue?

Quote from gelf

Have you considered Bear Umbra as another mana untap ability?

All the mana untapping might work well with Sacred Mesa to pump out more and more evasive weenies.

Also Flurry of Wings? Beck // Call?

Opposition might also be really strong in this deck, using your creatures with pseudo-vigilance to tap down things during your opponents turn.

While I'm pushing the token flyers: Favorable Winds, Gravitational Shift and Intangible Virtue?

Bear umbra is decent. hard to protect, though. I like that the general doesn't give a crap about getting killed, so the umbra part is sort of meh. I feel like it just gives more of what I've already got.

flurry is ok, I feel like it doesn't help as much at the beginning when I want it, though. beck/call seems too expensive for my tastes.

opposition is definitely a direction I could go. I think going for a winter orb-based stax deck would be brutal. On the other hand, unless I have vigilance, opposition mostly feels like just another way to do the same thing my general gives me. Although you can tap lands on other peoples' turns, so there is that.

the enchantments are all decent. I'll want to test it out and see how flying-centric it is, or if I want to roll with more shadow/horsemanship/etc. and also whether tokens or weenies are more useful.

I like Tradewind Rider. Keeper of the Nine Gales is also a pretty reliable bounce-stick. With those you could bounce an errant Stasis or Winter Orb. Or the more traditional Venser, Shaper Savant, Mystic Snake and other re-usable ETB's is one way to go.

Birthing Pod is another card that this general seems made for, and I see it's missing here. It's hard to argue with being able to play any 4 drop from your deck for 2 life and 2GWU for as long as it's out. Better than even Survival at that point, I think, then add on the ability to use it twice or even three times per turn with an ETB trigger and/or a combat trigger.

Another thing that's good - Double Strike. Try Rafiq of the Many for some extra Commander damage get-me-there. Or True Conviction if you want to attack with more tokens for more triggers.


I agree on Opposition. A lot of the time it is redundant with the general, and really, in these colors with an activated ability to cast the general in the first place, you really shouldn't get tucked at all. Particularly it's if you do have some sort of anti-untap, it is going to be redundant most often. If you don't have any of it that you might want it, generally to stop a crazy Ulamog from attacking you. But for that, there is also Meekstone, Marble Titan and Crackdown, which keeps the stuff you tapped on your turn tapped down.

In fact now to think of it, the ability to keep something tapped is basically the ONLY real use for being able to tap it on your turn. Maybe once in a while you can tap out someone's Blue before a game-ender so you don't get countered. But it's not useful to tap blockers because it's post-combat, and everything else useful is just going to untap on the opponents turn. At the very least, going the soft-mode Embargo and Storage Matrix instead of Stasis seems sensible.

keeper of the nine gales - not enough birds.
etbers - not enough flicker/bounce/reason to include flicker or bounce.
winter orb - too good not to use. let the hate begin.
static orb/stasis - eh, too hard to use since it really needs vigilance, and most vigilance sucks. Might try staxxier later, for now, no.
pod - not a ton of targets, but they're all really good. ok.
rafiq - swarm deck, so no.
true conviction - swarm deck, so yeah.
meekstone - probably.
crackdown - probably.
marble titan - don't like the body. pod be damned.
embargo/storage matrix - not locking lands makes me sad, plus they hurt me too much.

added:
winter orb
pod
true conviction
looter il-kor
lux cannon

removed:
thousand-year elixir
stolen identity
sword of war and peace
jushi apprentice
enclave cryptologist

I keep thinking this would be good for token strategy.

Make tokens, untap big rocks to make more tokens, attack with slews of tokens, untap more stuff, maybe even throw in a little effball with Nylea, God of the Hunt or Thassa, God of the Sea for evasion.

This general with ISB's bant token/enchant deck might be good.


EDIT:

I found a shiny...

Magistrate's Scepter

throw in Voltaic Key/Rings of Brighthearth/Doubling Season, a hand full of evasive weeny creatures (Think Edric) and some fat mana rocks or Gaea's Cradle and you lock the table.

..

Quote from trancer99

I keep thinking this would be good for token strategy.

Make tokens, untap big rocks to make more tokens, attack with slews of tokens, untap more stuff, maybe even throw in a little effball with Nylea, God of the Hunt or Thassa, God of the Sea for evasion.

This general with ISB's bant token/enchant deck might be good.


EDIT:

I found a shiny...

Magistrate's Scepter

throw in Voltaic Key/Rings of Brighthearth/Doubling Season, a hand full of evasive weeny creatures (Think Edric) and some fat mana rocks or Gaea's Cradle and you lock the table.

..

Nylea's out, trample doesn't work too good with 1-2 power creatures and the pump is too expensive. Thassa's decent, but paying 2 to untap 1 permanent...eh, sort of inefficient. and forget about devotion.

Magistrate's scepter is interesting. Sort of tough, though, with a normal 1-mana land it takes a ton of hits to go infinite turns, less with a karoo but still. Great with cradle though. key/rings/doubling are out since they don't do much for me otherwise.

Evasive weenies is what I'm going for. Lmk if I missed any great ones.

+gaea's cradle
-forest

forgot cradle was a thing :facepalm:.

Yeah after much thought I am backing away from the elaborate combo stuff and sticking to strong 1 on 1 interactions with Derevi, Gaea's Cradle, Aura Shards, ect, cards that are strong without him, but sick with him.

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Its hard to see stuff in your list, did you include Jace's Phantasm ?

Geist of Saint Traft might be interesting

Meekstone has some synergy

EDIT: sorry I posted back to back, i must be very tired.

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Derevi, Impyrial Tactician + Bloom Tender (who gives 3 mana) + Dual Nature + 1

How to use the combo:

1. With Dual Nature and Bloom Tender on the battlefield, tap Bloom Tender to get WUG.
2. Use the WUG+1 to activate Derevi, Derevi ETB and triggers his own ability and dual nature
3. Derevi's ETB trigger targets Bloom Tender.
4. Dual Nature's ability puts a copy of Derevi on the battlefield
5. Legend rule kicks in, choose the original Derevi to go to the gy, returning Derevi to the command zone. When Derevi LTB, the token is removed.
6. Derevi clone's ETB ability kicks in, target Bloom Tender
7. Resolve the 2 untap triggers, tapping Bloom Tender each time.
8. Gets WWUUGG
9. Restart from 2 until you get infinite mana of all colors.

... once you get infinite mana of all colors you can...

• Get infinite untaps on your permanents (eg. draw and play your whole deck with Azami/Arcanis)
• Tap down all opponents' permanents

Quote from trancer99

Its hard to see stuff in your list, did you include Jace's Phantasm ?

Geist of Saint Traft might be interesting

Meekstone has some synergy

EDIT: sorry I posted back to back, i must be very tired.

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ctrl + F is your friend. phantasm is probably worth including. Obviously I don't have much mill per se, but without activation he's still decent, and with activation he's crazy.

Geist is a good card, but I don't see enough ways to let him attack safely.

meekstone is ok. There are some similar effects, I'm going to see how much I wish I had them after playing it a bit.

I think the best way to combo him, bar none, is with hokori/rising waters/winter orb. It seems insanely brutal. You can use derevi to counteract the effects, or to keep people's stuff tapped. Seriously dangerous.

@nekorin

Cute combo, but it's way too janky to actually use. Dual nature is a terrible card, especially for a token-heavy deck like this. Bloom tender is decent, but dual nature is probably going to be a huge liability outside of that particular combo.

I really doubt that Derevi is going to be worth running as a combo commander, there are plenty that are way, way better at it. As a control/stax commander, though, he's nuts.

-sigil tracer
-master of the wild hunt
-magus of the library
-mangara of corondor
-nullmage shepherd
+bloom tender
+rising waters
+hokori, dust drinker
+aura shards
+voidmage prodigy

I have a lot to say on this topic, but it's late.

All I want to say is WHERE IS CAPTAIN SISAY? She's like Archivist, but insane. There are so many good targets in your deck already (especially Edric/Bident), but you could add even more.

You're also missing Thraben Doomsayer, which doubles your team. Too bad there aren't many good free {T} token producers.

Considering our ability to do untap/tap shenannigans, isn't yosei, the morning star a rather powerful inclusion? (along with combo pieces if you want to get degenerate and go infinite off of him, but since you said you don't want elaborate combos his interaction with the general on his own is hugely powerful) I get that the deck is supposed to be lower curve, but I feel like his ability is just too powerful with derevi not to include him.

Quote from DirkGently

winter orb - too good not to use. let the hate begin.
static orb/stasis - eh, too hard to use since it really needs vigilance, and most vigilance sucks. Might try staxxier later, for now, no.

Remember that Static orb have a new oracle text:

Card Text:
As long as Static Orb is untapped, players can't untap more than two permanents during their untap steps.

If you can flash your general at the end of the opponent turn and you tap Static Orb, then all your stuff untap. I run quite a few sacrifice engine though.

for even more card draw, you could try out mentor of the meek

What are your thoughts on Bow of Nylea.... deathtouch seems decent. Plus (well for me at least) helps a semi decent amount against mill or to get key tutor-able cards back. Counters can't hurt and is a mana sink if need be.

Quote from ajprokos

What are your thoughts on Bow of Nylea.... deathtouch seems decent. Plus (well for me at least) helps a semi decent amount against mill or to get key tutor-able cards back. Counters can't hurt and is a mana sink if need be.

It only has deathtouch on attack, it does not feel strong enough IMO.

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What's the combo pieces to this general? I'm new to edh and would like to pick this format up, thanks.

I think dismiss into dream is a sleeper card for Derevi. It shuts down everyone else's equips, it lets you kill anything at will by sac'ing derevi and recasting or using a swing trigger. Pure value. Also kills indestructibles of course which is very nice.

Not sure how this one hasn't been mentioned yet, but Prophet of Kruphix should pretty much always be an auto include no matter how you take Derevi. The Eldric swarm plan means you get to play on everyone else's turns with the cards you draw. If you prefer the stasis plan then she and Seedborn Muse are vital. Personally I'm going to try the swarm plan with coastal piracy, Eldric, and Arcanis for big effects. Basically just a bant Eldric deck that doesn't lose to the first board wipe, but is a bit slower.

Quote from ajacobik

Skyward Eye Prophets are bonkers with Derevi, especially since the Prophets have vigilance (swing, tap in response to damage, untap, activate again on second main).

I have seen a number of people talk about Skyward Eye Prophets in their Derevi, Impyrial Tactician decks and I think I am missing something about it. I mean sure, it can potentially draw you two cards (that are revealed) or accelerate you by up to two lands, but it just doesn't like... enough, I guess, for six mana, especially on a 3/3. It isn't big enough to close the game for you, it doesn't come out very quickly, and it dies to a ton of mass-creature removal, even some of the little red/black stuff that is designed to take out small creatures.

Quote from genini1

Not sure how this one hasn't been mentioned yet, but Prophet of Kruphix should pretty much always be an auto include no matter how you take Derevi... If you prefer the stasis plan then she and Seedborn Muse are vital.

Not to say that I disagree with you on whether these cards should be included, but I'm pretty sure they don't work like that. Stasis says that all players skip the untap phase, which means that Seedborn Muse, for example, won't ever hit an opponent's untap phase with which to untap your stuff.

Would Tamiyo, the Moon Sage be a good fit for this deck?

Nine fetches and eleven targets seems incorrect. Recommend less of the first or more the second.

Quote from robtheman

Nine fetches and eleven targets seems incorrect. Recommend less of the first or more the second.

Also, the thawing glaciers will cut you off from fetching basics.