Hello all. This is my very first post on MTGSalvation. I've been lurking for some time now, but I decided to share the Commander deck that I just finished building with you.
I see a lot of people playing Azusa online, and I don't know if it's because of my meta or what, but they play her a lot more casually. My deck aims to get Azusa out ASAP and power out a big fatty that sets everyone else back. I also hope I don't mess up the deck tags. *Crosses fingers*
General Synergies or Strategies:
- I try to keep an opening hand with a lot of lands in it. Might just be a personal preference, but it's always worked out well.
- Crop Rotation is a terrific card. Having your creatures stolen is awful so being able to fetch Homeward Path at instant speed is a boon. I've also gotten Eye of Ugin at the end of an opponent's turn and activated it.
- This deck has a lot of targeted land destruction. Your friends will probably hate on you. My strategy against mass LD that usually sets a ramp deck back is to blow up their lands first so they ca't do it.
- Horn of Greed and Recycle are insane.
Possible Changes:
- I usually played Hornet Queen as my anti flying tech in days past, but if their fliers had first strike as a lot of them tended to do, it was sort of moot. I'm testing Silklash Spider as a way to just wipe all the fliers out, but I'm not sure which is better.
- Mwonvuli Acid-Moss is a card that I'm not entirely sure belongs here. It's a great card no doubt, but it might just be too narrow
Please tell me any thoughts, comments or concerns though. I've had this deck for about a year now. I've been tuning it, and it works very well at the moment, but I might be missing some crucial tech that I didn't even know about.
Basically this is where my deck is today, after so many changes.
Explanation of Changes: Sylvan Primordial was banned, so my deck actually lost a lot of oomph. It just feels that much weaker honestly. He was turned into a Worldly Tutor so I could find Rofellos early or anything else late. Courser of Kruphix is amazing in this deck. It might as well be Oracle number 2. Steel Hellkite is my flying defense of choice. Bonus points cause it also blows up…pretty much anything else. Reap and Sow was recommended in this very thread. Wasteland seemed like a better choice than Winding Canyons. I never really left mana up to take advantage of the Canyons, but Wasteland was a great second Strip Mine.
Storm Cauldron I didn't add because I tap out like...all the time. It is nice since I can play so many extra lands, but I'd rather not lose the tempo.
Reap and Sow is amazing and I can't believe I forgot about it. Creature tutors I have plenty of, but land tutors I could use another. AND it LD's? Sign me up.
Craterhoof Behemoth has won me the game every time I've cast him. With the draw and tutors, I can usually get out an Avenger of Zendikar then just hoof for the win.
What did you have in mind for card draw? I had Seer's Sundial for a while, but I cut it because I figured Greater Good was probably just better.
High Market is an interesting card. I can tutor for it easily, but Greater Good is probably a better sac outlet. I haven't had any problems against Bribery with the whole land denial and Homeward Path thing.
Asceticism is mostly included because there really is a lot of spot removal in my meta, and it makes it so I pretty much always win in combat (If I wasn't doing that anyway). I don't typically play into wraths, but even if I do, I find that recovering is trivial with the mountains of mana I have.
What did you have in mind for card draw? I had Seer's Sundial for a while, but I cut it because I figured Greater Good was probably just better.
I run both in my Azusa, Lost but Seeking build. I also run Mind's Eye and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea. But you have to be careful with that last card. You want to use it in a metagame where you're pretty sure you're draws will be better than your opponents. Another good, pseudo card draw spell is Praetor's Counsel. As long as your opponents are not heavy on getting rid of your graveyard (because of other players are better targets or they don't run a lot of graveyard removal), playing this mid-game can give you a ton of used / destroyed cards. There are some timing issues to be wary of, especially if you have a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in play (able to destroy your graveyard), but I have never been disappointed when I draw and play it.
High Market is an interesting card. I can tutor for it easily, but Greater Good is probably a better sac outlet.
Again, I run both. I also run Tawnos's Coffin as a general way of dealing with a troublesome creature, recurring my "Enters the battlefield" ability or protecting one of my guys from removal. My deck runs 11 creatures with EtB abilities, so I almost always have a creature I can use with it even if my opponents never play a creature.
For lands, I see that you are going for a heavy forest basic-land built, but a few extra lands to consider would be Eye of Ugin to find your wonderful Eldrazi (I also run Artisan of Kozilek and Steel Hellkite for it to find), I've also gotten great mileage out of Oran-Rief, the Vastwood. I just boosts your guys out nicely, like the tokens from Avenger of Zendikar or to get rid of the -1/-1 counter on Woodfall Primus, but you'll obviously have to weight that against both a land that comes into play tapped and something that is not a basic forest.
One other thing to consider might be Gaea's Touch. With all of your forests, it should help with playing lots of cards and when you just need the mana, but not the land dropping ability, you can sac it to get back your GG investment.
Praetor's Counsel is a little too expensive for my taste. It's a very powerful effect, but I can sac my eldrazi and shuffle my graveyard for infinite recursion that way.
Tawnos' Coffin is interesting, and I think I'm going to test it for a bit. I already run Eye of Ugin in my list and it is indeed fantastic. How has Steel Hellkite been? I think I might actually go back on what I said and test him in place of the coffin. I could always use some more creature removal. Bonus points because I can tutor for the hellkite.
Yeah the comes into play tapped on Oran-rief, the vastwood really kills it for me. There's only one land in here that enters tapped, and it makes it so my Genesis Wave's are uncounterable.
Gaea's Touch seems like it would be dead just because with only Azusa out, I'm already emptying my hand quickly. Brutalizer Exarch is an interesting card. I play against a lot of black though, and they can usually tutor for whatever I target. Black also isn't particularly good at reanimating artifacts as well as they are creatures.
Praetor's Counsel is a little too expensive for my taste. It's a very powerful effect, but I can sac my eldrazi and shuffle my graveyard for infinite recursion that way.
To be fair, while the legendary Eldrazi do give you "infinite" recursion, your chances of getting any of those cards back is still limited to either random chance or whatever tutors you have available for creatures. Not terrible and probably better in this deck than in most, but still not perfect. Besides, each time you cast Praetor's Counsel and "draw" ten cards from your graveyard is always fun.
How has Steel Hellkite been? I think I might actually go back on what I said and test him in place of the coffin. I could always use some more creature removal. Bonus points because I can tutor for the hellkite.
That's why I run him. He can be tutored by Eye of Ugin and is great at removing pesky creatures or mana rocks as needed. Opponents with such permanents either answer him right away or suffer.
Oh, the reason I'm not running Mind's Eye is because I don't really want to be drawing on other people's turns. I more so want to draw on mine. For an entire year of playing her, I've only ever been screwed on draws....maybe three times. Two of those, I still won.
If I'm at the point where I'm cycling Eldrazi for recursion, then I'm probably at a point where I can pretty much just put my deck in my hand or my field.
I can't test Steel Hellkite until a while from now, but I really don't know why I never thought of him. As for Gaea's Touch, I've never really had trouble landing Azusa. I usually play her turn 1 or 2. There IS a very real chance that she gets hindered though. Perhaps I should run Cavern of Souls? I don't care if they kill her, as I've still gotten 2 land drops if she hits the board.
The mana doublers are very essential. When I first built her, I didn't run any, and she was just.......sloooooowwwwww. Even with two extra lands. In the later turns of the game, with mana doublers, I can gen wave out half my deck, then play my whole hand and draw the other half.
Yeah but you can't tutor for GWave. Nor most of the mana doublers. You also usually lose a turn casting a doubler. What we can tutor for, cards like Cradle, Rofellos, Oracle of Mul Daya, and etc. are much cheaper. The closest thing I run to a mana doubler would be Stone-Seeder Hierophant. Always looking at it as cuttable but then I get games where it produces an absurd amount of mana or throws out half the lands in my list with Thawing Glaciers and I think, maybe its worth keeping.
I don't usually just drop a mana doubler whenever I can unless it's super early and I think nobody has removal for it. I just played a game actually where my opponent Bribery'd out my Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and I was able to flash out enough blockers to kill it because of Winding Canyons in conjunction with 2 mana doublers. I don't always see gen wave, but with all the draw, I usually go through half of my deck. Gen wave or Tooth and Nail are both huge blowouts. Plus you can cast a turn two Vernal Bloom and that's just as crazy as playing your general is.
I see a lot of people playing Azusa online, and I don't know if it's because of my meta or what, but they play her a lot more casually. My deck aims to get Azusa out ASAP and power out a big fatty that sets everyone else back. I also hope I don't mess up the deck tags. *Crosses fingers*
2 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
2 Lotus Cobra
3 Eternal Witness
3 Fierce Empath
3 Yavimaya Elder
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking (Commander)
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
5 Indrik Stomphowler
5 Acidic Slime
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Duplicant
6 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
7 Regal Force
7 Avenger of Zendikar
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
8 Terastodon
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
8 Woodfall Primus
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Artifacts: 10
0 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Horn of Greed
3 Oblivion Stone
6 Caged Sun
7 Akroma's Memorial
2 Sylvan Library
4 Vernal Bloom
4 Greater Good
5 Asceticism
6 Recycle
6 Mana Reflection
Instants: 4
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Crop Rotation
3 Krosan Grip
3 Beast Within
Sorceries: 8
1 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Genesis Wave
4 Harmonize
4 Reap and Sow
4 Natural Order
5 Primal Command
7 Tooth and Nail
7 Boundless Realms
Planeswalkers: 3
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
7 Karn Liberated
Lands: 48
0 Dryad Arbor
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Wasteland
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
0 Eye of Ugin
0 Strip Mine
0 Deserted Temple
0 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
0 Homeward Path
35 x Forests
With a good hand, I've done Sylvan Primordial on turn two. Sometimes even Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger Basically a Sylvan Primordial, Woodfall Primus, or Terastodon dropped early will set everyone back enough usually to the point of no return. On a god hand, I've cast Genesis Wave for 33ish on turn two before.
General Synergies or Strategies:
- I try to keep an opening hand with a lot of lands in it. Might just be a personal preference, but it's always worked out well.
- Crop Rotation is a terrific card. Having your creatures stolen is awful so being able to fetch Homeward Path at instant speed is a boon. I've also gotten Eye of Ugin at the end of an opponent's turn and activated it.
- This deck has a lot of targeted land destruction. Your friends will probably hate on you. My strategy against mass LD that usually sets a ramp deck back is to blow up their lands first so they ca't do it.
- Horn of Greed and Recycle are insane.
Possible Changes:
- I usually played Hornet Queen as my anti flying tech in days past, but if their fliers had first strike as a lot of them tended to do, it was sort of moot. I'm testing Silklash Spider as a way to just wipe all the fliers out, but I'm not sure which is better.
- Mwonvuli Acid-Moss is a card that I'm not entirely sure belongs here. It's a great card no doubt, but it might just be too narrow
Please tell me any thoughts, comments or concerns though. I've had this deck for about a year now. I've been tuning it, and it works very well at the moment, but I might be missing some crucial tech that I didn't even know about.
Basically this is where my deck is today, after so many changes.
Out: Silklash Spider, Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, Mimic Vat, Winding Canyons, and most regrettably Sylvan Primordial
In: Reap and Sow, Worldly Tutor, Wasteland, Steel Hellkite, Courser of Kruphix
Explanation of Changes: Sylvan Primordial was banned, so my deck actually lost a lot of oomph. It just feels that much weaker honestly. He was turned into a Worldly Tutor so I could find Rofellos early or anything else late. Courser of Kruphix is amazing in this deck. It might as well be Oracle number 2. Steel Hellkite is my flying defense of choice. Bonus points cause it also blows up…pretty much anything else. Reap and Sow was recommended in this very thread. Wasteland seemed like a better choice than Winding Canyons. I never really left mana up to take advantage of the Canyons, but Wasteland was a great second Strip Mine.
Sydri's Magical Castle WUB
Chainer, Dementia Master: "Bring out your dead!" BBB
Riku Because Copying Decimate URG
Xira Arien, Jund StaxBRG
The Sylvan-Primordial-PlasmBUG
Trostani ComboGW
Vizkopa Guildmage - Peasant VariantBW
Reap and Sow is amazing and I can't believe I forgot about it. Creature tutors I have plenty of, but land tutors I could use another. AND it LD's? Sign me up.
Craterhoof Behemoth has won me the game every time I've cast him. With the draw and tutors, I can usually get out an Avenger of Zendikar then just hoof for the win.
What did you have in mind for card draw? I had Seer's Sundial for a while, but I cut it because I figured Greater Good was probably just better.
High Market is an interesting card. I can tutor for it easily, but Greater Good is probably a better sac outlet. I haven't had any problems against Bribery with the whole land denial and Homeward Path thing.
Asceticism is mostly included because there really is a lot of spot removal in my meta, and it makes it so I pretty much always win in combat (If I wasn't doing that anyway). I don't typically play into wraths, but even if I do, I find that recovering is trivial with the mountains of mana I have.
I run both in my Azusa, Lost but Seeking build. I also run Mind's Eye and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea. But you have to be careful with that last card. You want to use it in a metagame where you're pretty sure you're draws will be better than your opponents. Another good, pseudo card draw spell is Praetor's Counsel. As long as your opponents are not heavy on getting rid of your graveyard (because of other players are better targets or they don't run a lot of graveyard removal), playing this mid-game can give you a ton of used / destroyed cards. There are some timing issues to be wary of, especially if you have a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in play (able to destroy your graveyard), but I have never been disappointed when I draw and play it.
Again, I run both. I also run Tawnos's Coffin as a general way of dealing with a troublesome creature, recurring my "Enters the battlefield" ability or protecting one of my guys from removal. My deck runs 11 creatures with EtB abilities, so I almost always have a creature I can use with it even if my opponents never play a creature.
For lands, I see that you are going for a heavy forest basic-land built, but a few extra lands to consider would be Eye of Ugin to find your wonderful Eldrazi (I also run Artisan of Kozilek and Steel Hellkite for it to find), I've also gotten great mileage out of Oran-Rief, the Vastwood. I just boosts your guys out nicely, like the tokens from Avenger of Zendikar or to get rid of the -1/-1 counter on Woodfall Primus, but you'll obviously have to weight that against both a land that comes into play tapped and something that is not a basic forest.
One other thing to consider might be Gaea's Touch. With all of your forests, it should help with playing lots of cards and when you just need the mana, but not the land dropping ability, you can sac it to get back your GG investment.
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Praetor's Counsel is a little too expensive for my taste. It's a very powerful effect, but I can sac my eldrazi and shuffle my graveyard for infinite recursion that way.
Tawnos' Coffin is interesting, and I think I'm going to test it for a bit. I already run Eye of Ugin in my list and it is indeed fantastic. How has Steel Hellkite been? I think I might actually go back on what I said and test him in place of the coffin. I could always use some more creature removal. Bonus points because I can tutor for the hellkite.
Yeah the comes into play tapped on Oran-rief, the vastwood really kills it for me. There's only one land in here that enters tapped, and it makes it so my Genesis Wave's are uncounterable.
Gaea's Touch seems like it would be dead just because with only Azusa out, I'm already emptying my hand quickly. Brutalizer Exarch is an interesting card. I play against a lot of black though, and they can usually tutor for whatever I target. Black also isn't particularly good at reanimating artifacts as well as they are creatures.
So I'm gonna try:
-1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
-1 Asceticism
+1 Steel Hellkite
+1 Reap and Sow
Right, I should have clarified. I have all of those too in addition to Mind's Eye and Seer's Sundial. I don't know how I missed both Eye of Ugin and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea from your list, but sorry for the oversight.
To be fair, while the legendary Eldrazi do give you "infinite" recursion, your chances of getting any of those cards back is still limited to either random chance or whatever tutors you have available for creatures. Not terrible and probably better in this deck than in most, but still not perfect. Besides, each time you cast Praetor's Counsel and "draw" ten cards from your graveyard is always fun.
That's why I run him. He can be tutored by Eye of Ugin and is great at removing pesky creatures or mana rocks as needed. Opponents with such permanents either answer him right away or suffer.
I draw a lot of hate on Azusa, Lost but Seeking and I sometimes have trouble getting her to stick, so I like some redundancy so I run Oracle of Mul Daya and Gaea's Touch for land playing redundancy.
BRGrenzo, Dungeon Warden EDH
GAzusa, Always in a Rush EDH
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Warlord EDH
Trade thread on MOTL
If I'm at the point where I'm cycling Eldrazi for recursion, then I'm probably at a point where I can pretty much just put my deck in my hand or my field.
I can't test Steel Hellkite until a while from now, but I really don't know why I never thought of him. As for Gaea's Touch, I've never really had trouble landing Azusa. I usually play her turn 1 or 2. There IS a very real chance that she gets hindered though. Perhaps I should run Cavern of Souls? I don't care if they kill her, as I've still gotten 2 land drops if she hits the board.
The mana doublers are very essential. When I first built her, I didn't run any, and she was just.......sloooooowwwwww. Even with two extra lands. In the later turns of the game, with mana doublers, I can gen wave out half my deck, then play my whole hand and draw the other half.
BRGrenzo, Dungeon Warden EDH
GAzusa, Always in a Rush EDH
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Warlord EDH
Trade thread on MOTL