Hello there. You seem to have stumbled into the Maelstrom Nexus. Before you ask, no. There isn’t a way out. My name is Sam and I’ve been stuck in here playing with Maelstrom Wanderer since Alara Reborn. Well, back then he wasn’t Maelstrom Wanderer. He was Ulasht, the Hate Seed. When I decided I needed blue in my ramp deck back during Return to Ravnica, right around the time Commander’s Arsenal was released, I found this monstrosity. I never looked back.
Maelstrom Wanderer, or Maelsy, as I call him, is quite threatening. He’s big, he’s fast, and he play’s spells for free. This means that, much like Kaalia of the Vast or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, you’ll start out with a target on your head. This makes a casual Wanderer deck much harder to play. If your deck can’t win quickly, you’ll die first. This, as much as it saddens me, necessitates the need for infinite combos.
If you’re looking for a fun casual deck however, you can still run this type of deck. I’d simply recommend using Intet, the Dreamer or Surrak Dragonclaw. Also, if you’re not a fan of infinite combos, leave out the Deadeye Navigator and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to make the deck much less threatening. I will include a casual, infinite-comboless list below the competitive Wanderer list (The Superfriends Version!) if that’s what you’re looking for.
“The Maelstrom sent a wave of raw mana through the battlefield, carrying off the fighting and the fallen alike.”
When playing Maelstrom Wanderer, it is important to know how he works with the stack. Here’s a diagram for your viewing pleasure.
You cast Wanderer, opponents frown, two cascade triggers occur simultaneously.
The first Cascade Trigger starts to resolve. You exile the top cards until you exile nonland card that costs less. For this example, lets assume it’s Cyclonic Rift to make things more complicated. You cast Cyclonic Rift, it goes on the stack. The other exiled cards go on the bottom of your library in a random order. The first Cascade Trigger resolves.
The second Cascade Trigger starts to resolve. You exile the top cards of your library until your reveal a nonland card that costs less. Let’s assume it’s Faerie Impostor. You cast Faerie Impostor. It goes on the stack.
Faerie Impostor resolves. Faerie Impostor’s ability triggers. However, Maelstrom Wanderer is still on the stack not on the battlefield and cannot be returned to your hand and lets assume you have no other creatures. Faerie Impostor is sacrificed and its ability resolves.
EDH was a tricky subject for me. I learned about it working as a camp counselor, when one of my co-workers (a much better magic player than I) began telling tales of a format where not every deck needed to be built to win. A format where big, splashy, inefficient bombs would have there day in the limelight.
His first general was Borborygmos. That was a beautiful deck.
A general that can support multiple styles of play while existing as a win condition on his own, all the while providing you with two of the most powerful colors in EDH. (Blue and Green)
When I first built the deck in 2012, it was originally meant to be a control oriented superfriends decklist, filled with planeswalkers. (This deck is shown at the bottom of the page. I think it is more fun to play and has a significantly lower price. It wins much less frequently, but it is awesome all the same.)
1. He is HUGE: A hasty 7/5 can kill an opponent in 3 unblocked attacks. As unlikely as that sounds, a post-boardwipe Wanderer can swing the game in your favor from a seven commander damage attack.
2. Colors: Probably the biggest reason to play Maelsy. Blue and Green provide ramp and card draw, two extremely important aspects of EDH. Red is less prominent here, but it does give some utility and win cons in Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Zealous Conscripts and Blasphemous Act.
3. Resilience: While most aggro decks have to worry about overextending, If you take a board wipe (exceptions being Terminus and Hallowed Burial), Maelsy can just come back on swinging, probably bringing some threats along with him.
4. Diversity: Aggro, control, voltron, combo, you name it, the Wanderer can do it. The benefit of having a deck that doesn’t rely on the general too much is that you can make it whatever you want it to be.
1. Colors: Yes, yes, Blue and Green are amazing. But you know what else is amazing? Wrath of God. Temur (RUG) lacks reset buttons, with the only reliable ones (that I run) being Blasphemous Act, All is Dust, and Cyclonic Rift. All of which are much easier to come back from than a Planar Cleansing or Damnation. Well, maybe not All is Dust. But you know what I mean. (There is stuff like Apocalypse but there’s no point to that is there.)
2. You enjoy a commander-based strategy: Yes, you will usually want to cast Maelsy as soon as possible. Yes, the haste he gives is amazing. Could you play this deck with Animar, Soul of Elements, Surrak Dragonclaw, Riku of Two Reflections, or Intet, the Dreamer? Yes… Maybe. The other Temur commanders do require some building around, but Maelsy is just pure goodstuff.
3. You like interacting heavily with other players: Unless you lose your deadeye and can’t recover it, this is primarily a combo deck. You’ll usually have won the game by turn 8 at the latest, sometimes as early as turn 4. The extent of answers you’ll have are blowing upother combo pieces or wrathing. Kinda.
4. You don’t like everyone hitting you: Maelsy’s a target. You will get smacked. It will suck. You’ll have to adapt. This is not the place for politics.
“As the shards merged into the Maelstrom, their mana energies fused into new monstrosities.”
Other Commander Choices
Animar, Soul of Elements: A strong contender for general and a stupidly overpowered commander. (In my humble opinion) However, Maelsy’s deck focuses more on noncreature spells than any Animar list would want to.
Intet, the Dreamer: Another strong contender for the deck. In my experience, paying nothing for two spells usually trumps paying three for one spell. She is evasive and her ability is repeatable if you want to go the voltron route.
Riku of Two Reflections: Yet another strong contender for general. Probably too slow and fragile for the Maelsy’s job, but can get crazy if left unchecked.
Surrak Dragonclaw: Yet another strong contender for general. He’s undercosted, can’t be countered, is a viable win-con on his own, and makes your creatures ridiculous. However, he doesn’t cast spells for free, and that’s why we don’t use him.
3. Tap at least three of your lands, making sure at least 2 is generated. Lets assume you tap a Mountain, a Forest and three Islands. There should be in your mana pool.
4. Use two mana ( in the example, now there is in your mana pool) to activate the ability that Deadeye Navigator gives to Great Whale/Palinchron. It will leave, then reenter the battlefield and its ability will trigger, untapping seven lands (and it will re-soulbond to Deadeye Navigator If you tap the same lands you did in the example, you will now have in your mana pool.
5. Repeat for infinite mana of any color.
6. When you achieve the desirable nonsensical amount of mana, activate Deadeye Navigator’s ability that it gives itself to flicker it. When it reenters, soulbond it to…
6a. Acidic Slime: Destroy all artifacts, enchantments, and lands you don’t control.
6b. Avenger of Zendikar: Infinite 0/1 plants that get bigger when you play lands.
6c. Brutalizer Exarch: Put all noncreature permanent’s you don’t control at the bottom of their owner’s libraries, then search for any number of wincons.
6d. Coiling Oracle: Draw your library and put every land into play. (Cuz that matters.)
6e. Duplicant: Exile all creatures you don’t control and get a big dude.
Yavimaya Elder: More free chumps! Replaces itself and fixes. An all around solid dude.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer: So when this card was first spoiled it was met with a resounding "meh" from me. But holy crap does this card do work. Its just soooo easy to flip her and that +1 is just pure value. She's just a great all around goodstuff card.
Eternal Witness: Returns any card from the ‘yard and has an etb ability that can be abused with Deadeye Navigator. Just a nice recursion engine that can be a blowout with the Deadeye.
Feldon of the Third Path: C14 was excellent (for me at least). He’s a phenomenal recursion engine, especially in a deck based around abusing ETB. Get Prophet of Kruphix out and it gets nuts.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: When you’re a target, anything that diverts attention from you is a good thing. Drawing cards is an excellent motive. Plus it draws cards for you, which is never a bad thing. (Shut Up)
Solemn Simulacrum: Ramp, draw, fixing, an ETB ability that can be abused? Perfect for this deck. Well, almost every deck actually. Run it.
Oracle of Mul Daya: One of the best accelerants legal in the format. If you’re running green, it should probably be in your deck.
Shaman of the Great Hunt: On paper, looks quite narrow. In game, it over performs when post-wath Maelsey comes in, or when you just need a little more oomph.
Acidic Slime: A green staple. Blows up something relevant, then blocks like a champ. Oh, lets not forget that Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron/Great Whale blows up every artifact, enchantment, and land you don’t control.
Prophet of Kruphix: Before Theros, this spot was taken by Seedborn Muse. Turns out, giving Maelstrom Wanderer flash is really, really good. Very abusable and very powerful. Expect it to attract removal like a magnet.
Consecrated Sphinx: Draw all the cards ever. Hope one of them is a Reliquary Tower. Then answer everything and win the game. This card is redonkulous.
Deadeye Navigator: If you have read any of the other card suggestions thus far, you will know how important this card is to the deck. It will likely be the first thing tutored for. Don’t let it die. If it does get it back. Just remember, if anyone sees this, the game will likely turn its attention on you, so you better win quickly.
Duplicant: Speaking of Deadeye Navigator (and Palinchron/Great Whale), exiling all creatures you don’t control seems good. Getting a huge dude along with it also seems good. Even without the combo, it’s excellent removal attached to a big guy.
Avenger of Zendikar: Speaking of just winning, infinite 0/1s means you just need a single land to kill everyone. It can hold its own without the combo, providing lots and lots of bodies for just 7 mana.
Mana Crypt: Most of the time you can ignore the life loss and its just a free Sol Ring. Because it wasn’t broken enough to begin with.
Sol Ring: 2 mana! For the low, low, price of 1 mana! Something seems wrong about that.
Sensei’s Divining Top: When you can pay 1 mana to manipulate the top of your library in a deck based around cascading… Also fixes your draws all the time.
Worldly Tutor: Searches for wincons, answers, combo pieces, tucked Maelstrom Wanderers. Yeah, its card disadvantage, but that doesn’t matter when it lets you win the game.
Ancient Grudge: Kills off troublesome artifacts twice. A nice answer to lots of things.
Cyclonic Rift: A blue staple and an extremely one sided wrath effect. Sadly, you cannot overload it if it’s cascaded into, but it’s excellent nonetheless.
Temur Charm: Psudo-removal attached to a psudo-counterspell attached to psudo-unblockable. A swiss army knife that is effective in many a situation.
Chord of Calling: And suddenly, Deadeye Navigator at the end of your turn, flicker Inferno Titan a bunch. Win. You’d be surprised how much that happens. Cascading into it sucks. Just search for Dryad Arbor or don’t cast it at all. It’ll go on the bottom of your library.
Fact or Fiction: End of turn, Fact or Fiction. I win. That probably won’t happen, but you will usually get at least three cards from this and will always be digging five cards deep. You should always be happy when it shows up.
Ancestral Vision: A turn one suspend from this lets you get into the game faster. Cascading into this is just an Ancestral Recall.
Vandalblast: Makes the artifact based decks cry at it’s best and blows up all the Sol Rings at it’s worst. You still can’t overload after a cascade though.
Farseek: Searches for your duals or shocks. Gets Maelsy out earlier.
Regrowth: Green’s first and probably best recursion spell. Somewhat self explanatory.
Hull Breach: I use this over Krosan Grip due to my meta not being too Counterspell heavy, but that could easily be a replacement for this. As it stands however, it’s usually a 2 for 1, and that’s great.
Cultivate/Kodama’s Reach: Ramping and fixing are important when your 3-colored general costs eight mana. Great early ramp.
Skyshroud Claim: Searches for duals and shocks and puts them in untapped. Can be chained into other spells.
Rite of Replication: You’re running an ETB based deck. If you kick this, you probably win. Have you ever seen anyone come back from six Inferno Titans? Remember, if you cascade into this, you can still pay five mana to get the kicker.
All is Dust: A pretty standard board wipe for decks lacking white and black. Gets through indestructibility and dismantles enchantress strategies. Don’t go using this on the Sharuum the Hegemon deck though. Blighty don’t care. Remember, if it’s cascaded into, All is Dust will resolve first, then the Wanderer, giving you a free 7 commander damage attack.
Tooth and Nail: When your strategy consists of a two creature combo, a card that searches for two creatures and puts them onto the battlefield is amazing. If this resolves, you should win the game.
Praetor’s Counsel: One of the only two cards in the deck unable to be cascaded into. Sometimes games will go on for longer than expected. When you have a massive graveyard, recurring everything can sometimes win you the game. That’s what this card is for.
Blasphemous Act: The other card unable to be cascaded into. Usually just blows up everything on the board for one mana, giving you plenty of resources to get another Maelsy cast off. (It’s a ramp strategy. 11 mana is not out of the question.)
Rhystic Study: Playing this on turn two or three usually means drawing many, many cards. You’d be surprised how many people ignore it because they’re too lazy to tap another land.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Mostly used for the +1. Two mana ramp in a ramp deck. The -1 provides bodies and the -4 can be an alternate wincon with Avenger of Zendikar.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Not nearly as threatening in a multiplayer format, but amazing just the same. Sets up cascades with the +2 and the 0. Lets you reuse Maelsy or acts as psudo removal with the -1. Don’t bother with the -12. You’ll never get there. An all star.
Xenagos, the Reveler: One of the most underrated walkers in the format in my opinion. Very, very rampy card in creature based decks like this one with the +1. Also provides free bodies with the 0. A small Genesis Wave with the -6 can win you the game.
Tropical Island/Volcanic Island/Taiga: You can find them with farseek. You can find them with fetches. There is no downside to these lands. They are the perfect lands.
Breeding Pool/Steam Vents/Stomping Ground: They’re so close to being true duals it hurts. It actually does hurt. Two life in fact. However, this is usually negligible. Almost the perfect lands.
Flooded Grove/Cascade Bluffs/Fire-Lit Thicket: As long as you have another mana-generating land in play, these are excellent mana fixers. They’re like the signets, but less vulnerable to destruction.
Misty Rainforest/Scalding Tarn/Wooded Foothills: I only run three fetches to keep the number of basics I have higher. But these lands are great. They search for original duals. They search for shocks. They search for basics. They shuffle your library for your Sensei’s Divining Top.
Temple of Mystery/Temple of Epiphany/Temple of Abandon: Some people don’t like the temples. I find that in a deck that benefits from the manipulation of the top of your library, free scrys as well as the fixing they provide are quite helpful.
Gaea’s Cradle: Even though you’re not usually making an enormous amount of creatures, being able to tap one land for 4 or 5 green mana the turn it enters play is pretty amazing in a ramp strategy.
Reliquary Tower: This deck draws lots of cards. Discarding isn’t fun. With this land, you skip the discarding part and get back to the drawing one.
Maze of Ith: Eek gads. It’s a Balefire Dragon. The maze shuts down singular threats very effectively and can occasionally save your creatures from cheap combat tricks.
If Maelsy cascades into any of these three cards, the entire board (including lands) will be wiped clean, and you will be left with a 7/5 hasty commander on the battlefield. This usually means you win. I have chosen not to use any of these cards in the deck because the people in my playgroup are babies.
However, if your meta is a competitive one, I would strongly recommend using one, two, or all three of these monstrosities.
Playing the Deck
Early Game (Turns 1-4):
These turns should consist of ramp, refilling your hand, then more ramp. (Or Survival of the Fittest to just win.
Depending on your boardstate and hand. If you’re doing well, you should start pulling your combo together. If not, start looking for answers. At this point you should definitely be casting Maelsy and trying to recur his effect or drawing lots o cards. If you’re really behind, do be afraid to wipe.
Overextending. The act of playing too many things to quickly, then getting Wrathed. It sucks. Maelstrom Wanderer mitigates the problem slightly by bringing threats in with him whenever he is cast, but it is still definitely something to be wary of. InstantSpeedWraths are especially dangerous, as they can wipe your board at any point, usually a crucial one. If the white player is keeping 7 mana up or has lots of cards in his hand but isn’t playing any threats, it’s probably not a good idea to try to combo off.
With Wanderer on board giving everything haste it's usually an insta-win. Remember, if you cascade into a TnN, you can choose to pay the entwine cost assuming you have extra mana!
I'd keep Spelljack IMO. It's the only counterspell I run in my Maelstrom deck, purely because I can Spelljack Maelstrom Wanderer if I cascade into Spelljack. Then I can get 2 more cascades for free!
Maelstrom Wanderer is a very broken commander.
MrCoupon and ambivalentduck both have threads on these boards with different playstyles. Both brutal decks.
Don't get me wrong. I reeeeeally like spelljack. I have two wanderer lists on here, a competitive one and one that is... Less so. The spelljack is great in that.
Don't get me wrong. I reeeeeally like spelljack. I have two wanderer lists on here, a competitive one and one that is... Less so. The spelljack is great in that.
Sounds good!
Have you tried Bribery and Knowledge Exploitation? Both cards get better and better as the decks you're up against get better.
I have tried Bribery. I don't really like relying on other people's cards. (I say as I try to build Sen Triplets) I'm hesitant to use Knowledge Exploitation for the same reason.
I'd keep Spelljack IMO. It's the only counterspell I run in my Maelstrom deck, purely because I can Spelljack Maelstrom Wanderer if I cascade into Spelljack. Then I can get 2 more cascades for free!
Overwhelming Intellect is another good one that you can cascade into for profit. Countering your own Wanderer (where you get to cast him again) to draw eight cards seems like a fair trade.
You say board wipes like Apocalypse are no good here, but if you can cascade into that or Jokulhaups you'll end up with Maelstrom Wanderer (and possibly another thing if the board wipe was the first cascade) on a totally empty board. Unless someone can float mana and kill him afterwards, that's probably a win.
Awesome deck! Just started playing Wanderer but my list is a little outdated. Glad to see you on the same page with me, the deck is so much fun and is so broken its amazing!
Question, where are your time walks? Am i missing them?
If you mean my Time Warp or Temporal Manipulation they are under "Sorceries" in decklist by type and "other nonsensical choices" in decklist by function.
Scroll Rack would be excellent for this deck. Being able to stack the top seven cards of your deck is amazing in general, but especially when it lets you choose which free spells you want to get.
I can see that reasoning. I've cut cards with the same idea before. I cut Sundering Titan from my deck back before it was banned because I just felt like a dick every time I cast it.
Well I do run Faerie Impostor, and the card is a house. I think a bunch of cards that Boomerang your own cards could work really well. I am going to stick with just the Impostor cuz it's so cheap, but I think that could have potential.
The combo isn't with Maelsy and Deadeye, it just runs lots of combos involving Deadeye navigator. (Great Whale/Palinchron + Inferno Titan/Avenger of Zendikar/Eternal Witness)
Maelstrom Wanderer, or Maelsy, as I call him, is quite threatening. He’s big, he’s fast, and he play’s spells for free. This means that, much like Kaalia of the Vast or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, you’ll start out with a target on your head. This makes a casual Wanderer deck much harder to play. If your deck can’t win quickly, you’ll die first. This, as much as it saddens me, necessitates the need for infinite combos.
If you’re looking for a fun casual deck however, you can still run this type of deck. I’d simply recommend using Intet, the Dreamer or Surrak Dragonclaw. Also, if you’re not a fan of infinite combos, leave out the Deadeye Navigator and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker to make the deck much less threatening. I will include a casual, infinite-comboless list below the competitive Wanderer list (The Superfriends Version!) if that’s what you’re looking for.
When playing Maelstrom Wanderer, it is important to know how he works with the stack. Here’s a diagram for your viewing pleasure.
You cast Wanderer, opponents frown, two cascade triggers occur simultaneously.
Stack:
Cascade Trigger
Cascade Trigger
Maelstrom Wanderer
The first Cascade Trigger starts to resolve. You exile the top cards until you exile nonland card that costs less. For this example, lets assume it’s Cyclonic Rift to make things more complicated. You cast Cyclonic Rift, it goes on the stack. The other exiled cards go on the bottom of your library in a random order. The first Cascade Trigger resolves.
Stack:
Cyclonic Rift
Cascade Trigger
Maelstrom Wanderer
Cyclonic Rift resolves. You return a Blightsteel Colossus to it’s owner’s hand. Good job.
Stack:
Cascade Trigger
Maelstrom Wanderer
The second Cascade Trigger starts to resolve. You exile the top cards of your library until your reveal a nonland card that costs less. Let’s assume it’s Faerie Impostor. You cast Faerie Impostor. It goes on the stack.
Stack:
Faerie Impostor
Maelstrom Wanderer
Faerie Impostor resolves. Faerie Impostor’s ability triggers. However, Maelstrom Wanderer is still on the stack not on the battlefield and cannot be returned to your hand and lets assume you have no other creatures. Faerie Impostor is sacrificed and its ability resolves.
Stack:
Maelstrom Wanderer
Maelstrom Wanderer resolves. Opponents concede and cry.
His first general was Borborygmos. That was a beautiful deck.
Inspired by the ramping style that the Borborygmos deck had, I went to work building an Ulasht, the Hate Seed deck.
For a first attempt, it wasn’t bad.
It was garbage.
That’s when I found Maelstrom Wanderer.
A general that can support multiple styles of play while existing as a win condition on his own, all the while providing you with two of the most powerful colors in EDH. (Blue and Green)
When I first built the deck in 2012, it was originally meant to be a control oriented superfriends decklist, filled with planeswalkers. (This deck is shown at the bottom of the page. I think it is more fun to play and has a significantly lower price. It wins much less frequently, but it is awesome all the same.)
As time went on, I began winning most of my games with combos from Deadeye Navigator or just beating face with the big guy himself. Some of the low impact walkers (such as Koth of the Hammer, Chandra Ablaze, and Jace Beleren) had to be cut.
Now the deck focuses on an ETB/Aggro strategy, usually winning through a Deadeye Navigator, Palinchron/Great Whale, Inferno Titan/Zealous Conscripts/Acidic Slime/Avenger of Zendikar/any other high impact creature.
1. He is HUGE: A hasty 7/5 can kill an opponent in 3 unblocked attacks. As unlikely as that sounds, a post-boardwipe Wanderer can swing the game in your favor from a seven commander damage attack.
2. Colors: Probably the biggest reason to play Maelsy. Blue and Green provide ramp and card draw, two extremely important aspects of EDH. Red is less prominent here, but it does give some utility and win cons in Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Zealous Conscripts and Blasphemous Act.
3. Resilience: While most aggro decks have to worry about overextending, If you take a board wipe (exceptions being Terminus and Hallowed Burial), Maelsy can just come back on swinging, probably bringing some threats along with him.
4. Diversity: Aggro, control, voltron, combo, you name it, the Wanderer can do it. The benefit of having a deck that doesn’t rely on the general too much is that you can make it whatever you want it to be.
2. You enjoy a commander-based strategy: Yes, you will usually want to cast Maelsy as soon as possible. Yes, the haste he gives is amazing. Could you play this deck with Animar, Soul of Elements, Surrak Dragonclaw, Riku of Two Reflections, or Intet, the Dreamer? Yes… Maybe. The other Temur commanders do require some building around, but Maelsy is just pure goodstuff.
3. You like interacting heavily with other players: Unless you lose your deadeye and can’t recover it, this is primarily a combo deck. You’ll usually have won the game by turn 8 at the latest, sometimes as early as turn 4. The extent of answers you’ll have are blowing up other combo pieces or wrathing. Kinda.
4. You don’t like everyone hitting you: Maelsy’s a target. You will get smacked. It will suck. You’ll have to adapt. This is not the place for politics.
Intet, the Dreamer: Another strong contender for the deck. In my experience, paying nothing for two spells usually trumps paying three for one spell. She is evasive and her ability is repeatable if you want to go the voltron route.
Riku of Two Reflections: Yet another strong contender for general. Probably too slow and fragile for the Maelsy’s job, but can get crazy if left unchecked.
Surrak Dragonclaw: Yet another strong contender for general. He’s undercosted, can’t be countered, is a viable win-con on his own, and makes your creatures ridiculous. However, he doesn’t cast spells for free, and that’s why we don’t use him.
Yasova Dragonclaw: A deck could be made for her. It would be hilarious. This is not that deck. It simply has no ways to boost her power outside of Garruk Wildspeaker, Craterhoof Behemoth, Kessig Wolf Run, and Nylea, God of the Hunt. Four cards does not an edh deck make.
Ramp: When you have a general that cost’s eight mana, ramp is a priority. Stuff like Oracle of Mul Daya, Cultivate, and Skyshroud Claim supplement the standard package of signets, Mana Crypt and Sol Ring.
Card Draw: You’re not running black. You don’t have Demonic Tutor and friends. What you do have is Consecrated Sphinx, Edric, Spymaster of Trest and others to get you ahead.
Creature Tutors: You may not have Demonic Tutor, but it is still a combo deck. You need to find your combo pieces. When they’re all creatures, what do you run? Defense of the Heart, Tooth and Nail, Survival of the Fittest, and other creature tutors to find your win-cons.
Combos: As said previously, this is a combo deck. Full explanations are
1. With Deadeye Navigator on the battlefield, play Palinchron or Great Whale (Or in the opposite order/At the same time.
2. Deadeye Navigator and Palinchron/Great Whale will soulbond together.
3. Tap at least three of your lands, making sure at least 2
4. Use two mana (
5. Repeat for infinite mana of any color.
6. When you achieve the desirable nonsensical amount of mana, activate Deadeye Navigator’s ability that it gives itself to flicker it. When it reenters, soulbond it to…
6a. Acidic Slime: Destroy all artifacts, enchantments, and lands you don’t control.
6b. Avenger of Zendikar: Infinite 0/1 plants that get bigger when you play lands.
6c. Brutalizer Exarch: Put all noncreature permanent’s you don’t control at the bottom of their owner’s libraries, then search for any number of wincons.
6d. Coiling Oracle: Draw your library and put every land into play. (Cuz that matters.)
6e. Duplicant: Exile all creatures you don’t control and get a big dude.
6f. Eternal Witness: Return your graveyard to your hand.
6g. Faerie Impostor: Cascade through your entire library. *Requires Maelstrom Wanderer as the target for returning to your hand.*
6h. Inferno Titan: Infinite damage to everything.
6i. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: Infinite hasty copies of Deadeye Navigator.
6j. Mulldrifter: Draw your library (If it’s divisible by 2)
6k. Nylea, God of the Hunt: Make lots of infinitely big tramply guys.
6l. Solemn Simulacrum: Search your library for every basic land. (Why you would want to do this, I don’t know.)
6m. Zealous Conscripts: Insurrection
6n. Craterhoof Behemoth: Infinitely big dudes. Hastey big dudes when combined with Maelstrom Wanderer.
1. Play Zealous Conscripts and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
2. Tap Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker targeting Zealous Conscripts.
3. The copy of Zealous Conscripts’s ability targets Kiki-Jiki, untapping it.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 until too many dudes has been reached.
1. Play Time Warp or Temporal Manipulation.
2. Play Eternal Witness targeting Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation.
3. Play Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Cast Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation.
4. Tap Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker targeting Eternal Witness. The copy of Eternal Witness targets Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation.
5. Cast Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation.
6. Repeat steps 4-5 for infinite turns.
*If Eternal Witness is in the graveyard, use Feldon of the Third Path instead of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker*
1 Faerie Impostor
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Yavimaya Elder
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Trygon Predator
3 Eternal Witness
3 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
3 Feldon of the Third Path
4 Shaman of the Great Hunt
4 Nylea, God of the Hunt
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
5 Zealous Conscripts
5 Mulldrifter
5 Acidic Slime
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Surrak Dragonclaw
5 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Duplicant
6 Deadeye Navigator
6 Inferno Titan
7 Palinchron
7 Great Whale
7 Avenger of Zendikar
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
Instants (5)
1 Worldly Tutor
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Temur Charm
3x Chord of Calling
4 Fact or Fiction
0 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Gruul Signet
2 Simic Signet
2 Izzet Signet
Enchantments (3)
2 Survival of the Fittest
3 Rhystic Study
4 Defense of the Heart
Planeswalkers (3)
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Xenagos, the Reveler
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries (16)
0 Ancestral Vision
1 Vandalblast
1x Green Sun’s Zenith
2 Farseek
2 Regrowth
2 Hull Breach
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama’s Reach
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Rite of Replication
5 Time Warp
5 Temporal Manipulation
7 All is Dust
7 Tooth and Nail
8 Praetor’s Counsel
9 Blasphemous Act
Lands (38)
0 Dust Bowl
0 Inkmoth Nexus
0 Strip Mine
0 Tropical Island
0 Volcanic Island
0 Taiga
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Breeding Pool
0 Steam Vents
0 Stomping Ground
0 Ghost Quarter
0 Cascade Bluffs
0 Flooded Grove
0 Fire-lit Thicket
0 Kessig Wolf Run
0 Temple of Abandon
0 Temple of Epiphany
0 Temple of Mystery
0 Frontier Bivouac
0 Command Tower
0 Temple of the False God
0 Dryad Arbor
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Gaea’s Cradle
0 Maze of Ith
4 Forest
4 Island
3 Mountain
3 Mountain
4 Island
4 Forest
0 Breeding Pool
0 Cascade Bluffs
0 Command Tower
0 Dryad Arbor
0 Fire-Lit Thicket
0 Flooded Grove
0 Frontier Bivouac
0 Gaea’s Cradle
0 Maze of Ith
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Steam Vents
0 Stomping Ground
0 Taiga
0 Temple of Abandon
0 Temple of Mystery
0 Temple of Epiphany
0 Temple of the False God
0 Tropical Island
0 Volcanic Island
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
2 Simic Signet
2 Izzet Signet
2 Gruul Signet
2 Farseek
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama’s Reach
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Xenagos, the Reveler
0 Ancestral Vision
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Coiling Oracle
3 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
3 Rhystic Study
3 Yavimaya Elder
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Shaman of the Great Hunt
5 Mulldrifter
6 Consecrated Sphinx
Wraths (3)
2 Cyclonic Rift
7 All is Dust
9 Blasphemous Act
Tutors (6)
1x Green Sun’s Zenith
1 Worldly Tutor
2 Survival of the Fittest
3x Chord of Calling
4 Defense of the Heart
7 Tooth and Nail
Combo Pieces (5)
5 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
5 Zealous Conscripts
6 Deadeye Navigator
7 Great Whale
7 Palinchron
Combo-Related Win Conditions (5)
4 Nylea, God of the Hunt
5 Acidic Slime
6 Duplicant
6 Inferno Titan
7 Avenger of Zendikar
Answers (8)
0 Dust Bowl
0 Ghost Quarter
0 Strip Mine
1 Vandalblast
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Hull Breach
3 Trygon Predator
3 Temur Charm
0 Inkmoth Nexus
0 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Rite of Replication
5 Surrak Dragonclaw
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
Recursion (4)
2 Regrowth
3 Eternal Witness
3 Feldon of the Third Path
8 Praetor’s Counsel
Other Nonsensical Things (They are sensical, see “Card Choices”) (7)
0 Reliquary Tower
1 Faerie Impostor
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Time Warp
5 Temporal Manipulation
Faerie Impostor: It’s a two power flyer for one mana! Prepare your beats! Nah. But it does let you reuse Maelsy’s ability as long as you don’t Cascade into it. Lets you Cascade through your entire library with Deadeye Navigator, Maelstrom Wanderer, and Palinchron/Great Whale.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: Ramp is important. I prefer this over Rampant Growth for the chump blocks it can provide.
Coiling Oracle: This is card that should be in every deck with
Yavimaya Elder: More free chumps! Replaces itself and fixes. An all around solid dude.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer: So when this card was first spoiled it was met with a resounding "meh" from me. But holy crap does this card do work. Its just soooo easy to flip her and that +1 is just pure value. She's just a great all around goodstuff card.
Eternal Witness: Returns any card from the ‘yard and has an etb ability that can be abused with Deadeye Navigator. Just a nice recursion engine that can be a blowout with the Deadeye.
Feldon of the Third Path: C14 was excellent (for me at least). He’s a phenomenal recursion engine, especially in a deck based around abusing ETB. Get Prophet of Kruphix out and it gets nuts.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: When you’re a target, anything that diverts attention from you is a good thing. Drawing cards is an excellent motive. Plus it draws cards for you, which is never a bad thing. (Shut Up)
Trygon Predator: Doubling Season? No. Survival of the Fittest? Nope. Sol Ring? Nah. He blows stuff up. Value!
Solemn Simulacrum: Ramp, draw, fixing, an ETB ability that can be abused? Perfect for this deck. Well, almost every deck actually. Run it.
Oracle of Mul Daya: One of the best accelerants legal in the format. If you’re running green, it should probably be in your deck.
Shaman of the Great Hunt: On paper, looks quite narrow. In game, it over performs when post-wath Maelsey comes in, or when you just need a little more oomph.
Nylea, God of the Hunt: Deadeye Navigator + Great Whale/Palinchron for infinite mana. Then make a bunch of things enormous and beat face. It’s a win con. Pure and simple. Plus, giving Maelsy trample is pretty good.
Acidic Slime: A green staple. Blows up something relevant, then blocks like a champ. Oh, lets not forget that Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron/Great Whale blows up every artifact, enchantment, and land you don’t control.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: If you somehow lose your Deadeye Navigator, this guy will be your secondary combo wincon. Making etb creatures every turn for value is great. Plus, it gets stupid with Prophet of Kruphix and makes infinite hasty 3/3s with Zealous Conscripts. Also makes infinite 5/5s with Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron/Great Whale.
Mulldrifter: Oh look. An abusable etb ability. Draws your deck with Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron/Great Whale. Gets you ahead early game. It’s great.
Prophet of Kruphix: Before Theros, this spot was taken by Seedborn Muse. Turns out, giving Maelstrom Wanderer flash is really, really good. Very abusable and very powerful. Expect it to attract removal like a magnet.
Surrak Dragonclaw: As we discussed with Nylea, God of the Hunt. Trample is relevant. Making all your creatures uncounterable is just gravy.
Zealous Conscripts: Mostly here to be combo’d with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, but stealing planeswalkers and ultimating them is hilarious, as is stealing everyone’s creatures with Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron/Great Whale.
Consecrated Sphinx: Draw all the cards ever. Hope one of them is a Reliquary Tower. Then answer everything and win the game. This card is redonkulous.
Deadeye Navigator: If you have read any of the other card suggestions thus far, you will know how important this card is to the deck. It will likely be the first thing tutored for. Don’t let it die. If it does get it back. Just remember, if anyone sees this, the game will likely turn its attention on you, so you better win quickly.
Duplicant: Speaking of Deadeye Navigator (and Palinchron/Great Whale), exiling all creatures you don’t control seems good. Getting a huge dude along with it also seems good. Even without the combo, it’s excellent removal attached to a big guy.
Inferno Titan: Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron/Great Whale. Yeah. You just win.
Avenger of Zendikar: Speaking of just winning, infinite 0/1s means you just need a single land to kill everyone. It can hold its own without the combo, providing lots and lots of bodies for just 7 mana.
Great Whale: Combo piece! Just add Deadeye Navigator for infinite mana and flickers.
Palinchron: C-c-c-combo piece. See Great Whale.
Craterhoof Behemoth: Avenger of Zendikar and Tooth and Nail with haste from Maelstrom Wanderer. But also makes infinitely big dudes with Deadeye Navigator and Great Whale/Palinchron.
Mana Crypt: Most of the time you can ignore the life loss and its just a free Sol Ring. Because it wasn’t broken enough to begin with.
Sol Ring: 2 mana! For the low, low, price of 1 mana! Something seems wrong about that.
Sensei’s Divining Top: When you can pay 1 mana to manipulate the top of your library in a deck based around cascading… Also fixes your draws all the time.
Simic Signet/Gruul Signet/Izzet Signet: Best cheap mana fixing in edh. Nothing else to say about them.
Worldly Tutor: Searches for wincons, answers, combo pieces, tucked Maelstrom Wanderers. Yeah, its card disadvantage, but that doesn’t matter when it lets you win the game.
Ancient Grudge: Kills off troublesome artifacts twice. A nice answer to lots of things.
Cyclonic Rift: A blue staple and an extremely one sided wrath effect. Sadly, you cannot overload it if it’s cascaded into, but it’s excellent nonetheless.
Temur Charm: Psudo-removal attached to a psudo-counterspell attached to psudo-unblockable. A swiss army knife that is effective in many a situation.
Chord of Calling: And suddenly, Deadeye Navigator at the end of your turn, flicker Inferno Titan a bunch. Win. You’d be surprised how much that happens. Cascading into it sucks. Just search for Dryad Arbor or don’t cast it at all. It’ll go on the bottom of your library.
Fact or Fiction: End of turn, Fact or Fiction. I win. That probably won’t happen, but you will usually get at least three cards from this and will always be digging five cards deep. You should always be happy when it shows up.
Ancestral Vision: A turn one suspend from this lets you get into the game faster. Cascading into this is just an Ancestral Recall.
Vandalblast: Makes the artifact based decks cry at it’s best and blows up all the Sol Rings at it’s worst. You still can’t overload after a cascade though.
Green Sun’s Zenith: It really is a shame that this can only get green creatures. As it stands, it’s more utility than win-con. It can search for answers like Trygon Predator or Acidic Slime or for creatures meant to improve your position in the game, such as Prophet of Kruphix or Edric, Spymaster of Trest. Finally, it can search for some backup win-cons in Avenger of Zendikar or Surrak Dragonclaw. Remember, if you cascade into it, cast it no matter what. You can search for Dryad Arbor and it will shuffle into your library.
Farseek: Searches for your duals or shocks. Gets Maelsy out earlier.
Regrowth: Green’s first and probably best recursion spell. Somewhat self explanatory.
Hull Breach: I use this over Krosan Grip due to my meta not being too Counterspell heavy, but that could easily be a replacement for this. As it stands however, it’s usually a 2 for 1, and that’s great.
Cultivate/Kodama’s Reach: Ramping and fixing are important when your 3-colored general costs eight mana. Great early ramp.
Skyshroud Claim: Searches for duals and shocks and puts them in untapped. Can be chained into other spells.
Rite of Replication: You’re running an ETB based deck. If you kick this, you probably win. Have you ever seen anyone come back from six Inferno Titans? Remember, if you cascade into this, you can still pay five mana to get the kicker.
Time Warp: While hilarious to cascade into, it also infinite combos with Eternal Witness + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker/Deadeye Navigator/Feldon of the Third Path for infinite turns.
Temporal Manipulation: See Time Warp.
All is Dust: A pretty standard board wipe for decks lacking white and black. Gets through indestructibility and dismantles enchantress strategies. Don’t go using this on the Sharuum the Hegemon deck though. Blighty don’t care. Remember, if it’s cascaded into, All is Dust will resolve first, then the Wanderer, giving you a free 7 commander damage attack.
Tooth and Nail: When your strategy consists of a two creature combo, a card that searches for two creatures and puts them onto the battlefield is amazing. If this resolves, you should win the game.
Praetor’s Counsel: One of the only two cards in the deck unable to be cascaded into. Sometimes games will go on for longer than expected. When you have a massive graveyard, recurring everything can sometimes win you the game. That’s what this card is for.
Blasphemous Act: The other card unable to be cascaded into. Usually just blows up everything on the board for one mana, giving you plenty of resources to get another Maelsy cast off. (It’s a ramp strategy. 11 mana is not out of the question.)
Survival of the Fittest: With Eternal Witness, Feldon, and Regrowth in the deck, there are plenty of ways to recur your discards. When those discards are also creature tutors, you have a little engine going.
Rhystic Study: Playing this on turn two or three usually means drawing many, many cards. You’d be surprised how many people ignore it because they’re too lazy to tap another land.
Defense of the Heart: Oh no! My opponent’s have threats! Let me just Tooth and Nail for free. If you can recur this it gets crazy very quickly, if you haven’t already won the game from tutoring for Deadeye Navigator and Great Whale/Palinchron.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Mostly used for the +1. Two mana ramp in a ramp deck. The -1 provides bodies and the -4 can be an alternate wincon with Avenger of Zendikar.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Not nearly as threatening in a multiplayer format, but amazing just the same. Sets up cascades with the +2 and the 0. Lets you reuse Maelsy or acts as psudo removal with the -1. Don’t bother with the -12. You’ll never get there. An all star.
Xenagos, the Reveler: One of the most underrated walkers in the format in my opinion. Very, very rampy card in creature based decks like this one with the +1. Also provides free bodies with the 0. A small Genesis Wave with the -6 can win you the game.
Forest/Island/Mountain: We need the basics for cards like Cultivate. Also, sometimes basics are just more fun.
Tropical Island/Volcanic Island/Taiga: You can find them with farseek. You can find them with fetches. There is no downside to these lands. They are the perfect lands.
Breeding Pool/Steam Vents/Stomping Ground: They’re so close to being true duals it hurts. It actually does hurt. Two life in fact. However, this is usually negligible. Almost the perfect lands.
Flooded Grove/Cascade Bluffs/Fire-Lit Thicket: As long as you have another mana-generating land in play, these are excellent mana fixers. They’re like the signets, but less vulnerable to destruction.
Misty Rainforest/Scalding Tarn/Wooded Foothills: I only run three fetches to keep the number of basics I have higher. But these lands are great. They search for original duals. They search for shocks. They search for basics. They shuffle your library for your Sensei’s Divining Top.
Temple of Mystery/Temple of Epiphany/Temple of Abandon: Some people don’t like the temples. I find that in a deck that benefits from the manipulation of the top of your library, free scrys as well as the fixing they provide are quite helpful.
Ghost Quarter/Strip Mine/Dust Bowl: Don’t complain about land destruction. When the guy across the table swings you with a 40/40 Inkmoth Nexus or taps his Gaea’s Cradle for 6,000, you will thank me for running these.
Command Tower: It taps for everything. Next.
Frontier Bivouac: A Command Tower that comes in tapped. Still pretty good.
Temple of the False God: Bet you can guess what you do with this one. (You tap it.)
Gaea’s Cradle: Even though you’re not usually making an enormous amount of creatures, being able to tap one land for 4 or 5 green mana the turn it enters play is pretty amazing in a ramp strategy.
Reliquary Tower: This deck draws lots of cards. Discarding isn’t fun. With this land, you skip the discarding part and get back to the drawing one.
Maze of Ith: Eek gads. It’s a Balefire Dragon. The maze shuts down singular threats very effectively and can occasionally save your creatures from cheap combat tricks.
Dryad Arbor: For when you accidentally cascade into a Chord of Calling or Green Sun’s Zenith. Also provides a nice chump blocker.
Inkmoth Nexus: An alternate win-con with Kessig Wolf Run. Provides a free evasive threat or a blocker if required.
Kessig Wolf Run: This deck makes a lot of mana and this is a great sink for it. A very effective alternate win-con with Inkmoth Nexus.
If Maelsy cascades into any of these three cards, the entire board (including lands) will be wiped clean, and you will be left with a 7/5 hasty commander on the battlefield. This usually means you win. I have chosen not to use any of these cards in the deck because the people in my playgroup are babies.
However, if your meta is a competitive one, I would strongly recommend using one, two, or all three of these monstrosities.
These turns should consist of ramp, refilling your hand, then more ramp. (Or Survival of the Fittest to just win.
Some good plays:
- Simic Signet/Izzet Siget/Gruul Signet
- Sakura-Tribe Elder
- Sensei’s Divining Top
- Survival of the Fittest
- Cultivate/Kodama’s Reach
- Oracle of Mul Daya
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Xenagos, the Reveler
- Survival of the Fittest
- Edric, Spymaster of Trest
- Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- Mulldrifter (Don’t be afraid to evoke it.)
Mid Game (Turns 5-7):
Depending on your boardstate and hand. If you’re doing well, you should start pulling your combo together. If not, start looking for answers. At this point you should definitely be casting Maelsy and trying to recur his effect or drawing lots o cards. If you’re really behind, do be afraid to wipe.
Some good plays:
- Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
- Zealous Conscripts
- Chord of Calling
- Jace, the Mind Sculptor
- Faerie Impostor
- Prophet of Kruphix
- Shaman of the Great Hunt
- Blasphemous Act
- Nevinyrral’s Disk
- All is Dust
- Consecrated Sphinx
- Maelstrom Wanderer
Late Game (Turn 8+)
Here’s where you win. Look for blowouts and deny your opponents’ big plays with removal or wipes. Try to combo off or recur your threats.
Some good plays:
- Cyclonic Rift
- Praetor’s Counsel
- Craterhoof Behemoth
- Deadeye Navigator
- Great Whale/Palinchron
- Eternal Witness
- Feldon of the Third Path
- Tooth and Nail
- Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation
- Inferno Titan
- Avenger of Zendikar
Also, for the love of all that is holy. Don’t play your entire hand into an untapped Nevinyrral’s Disk.
1 Faerie Impostor
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Coiling Oracle
3 Yavimaya Elder
3 Eternal Witness
3 Trygon Predator
3 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Nylea, God of the Hunt
4 Bloodbraid Elf
5 Acidic Slime
5 Mulldrifter
5 Zealous Conscripts
5 Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
6 Inferno Titan
6 Duplicant
6 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
6 Intet, The Dreamer
6 Prime Speaker Zegana
7 Avenger of Zendikar
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
8 Terastodon
Instants (6)
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Beast Within
3x Chord of Calling
4 Fact or Fiction
6 Spelljack
1x Green Sun’s Zenith
2 Farseek
2 Hull Breach
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama’s Reach
4 Rite of Replication
4 Skyshroud Claim
7 Tooth and Nail
9 Blasphemous Act
Artifacts (7)
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Gruul Signet
2 Izzet Signet
2 Simic Signet
4 Nevinyrral’s Disk
4 The Chain Veil
Enchantments (2)
3 Song of the Dryads
5 Doubling Season
Planeswalkers (12)
3 Jace Beleren
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
4 Ral Zarek
4 Sarkhan Vol
4 Xenagos, the Reveler
5 Chandra Nalaar
5 Freyalize, Llanowar’s Fury
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
5 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
6 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
9 Forest
5 Island
4 Mountain
0 Command Tower
0 Frontier Bivouac
0 Terramorphic Expanse
0 Evolving Wilds
0 Swiftwater Cliffs
0 Rugged Highlands
0 Thornwood Falls
0 Steam Vents
0 Stomping Ground
0 Breeding Pool
0 Temple of Epiphany
0 Temple of Abandon
0 Temple of Mystery
0 Dryad Arbor
0 Inkmoth Nexus
0 Kessig Wolf Run
0 Ghost Quarter
0 Strip Mine
0 Dust Bowl
Just the cards I need a little convincing to run.
- Kiora, the Crashing Wave
- Frontier Siege
- Guided Passage
- Savage Ventmaw
- Den Protector
- Sarkhan Unbroken
[1]:-Spelljack|+Craterhoof Behemoth
Summary: Spelljack is just too durdley. It was cool when it did stuff but... Craterhoof Behemoth just does work. Ramp into Tooth and Nail, win the game.
[1]:-Arcanis the Omnipotent|+Shaman of the Great Hunt
Summary: Oh Arcanis. I love you so. But you are so slow and clunky. Shaman of the Great Hunt on the other hand, is a beautiful piece of orc that synergies beautifully with Maelstrom Wanderer after a wrath, Avenger of Zendikar in a stalled board state, and Prophet of Kruphix all the time ever.
[2]: Added a section on Jokulhaups, Apocalypse, and Devastation
8/22/15: Oh look at that I'm updating. There was nothing in DRAGONS OF TARKIR that I liked for this deck, and only one in MAGIC ORIGINS that I liked was...
[1]:-Brutalizer Exarch|+Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Summary: The only thing ever accomplished with Brutalizer Exarch was tucking everyone's land. While that is nice, it just seemed like it was wasting a slot. Nissa, Vastwood Seer is usually just a repeatable Coiling Oracle once she transforms, but that's pretty darn good.
LegacyUBRDelverRBU
Spelljack removed.
I'd keep Spelljack IMO. It's the only counterspell I run in my Maelstrom deck, purely because I can Spelljack Maelstrom Wanderer if I cascade into Spelljack. Then I can get 2 more cascades for free!
Maelstrom Wanderer is a very broken commander.
MrCoupon and ambivalentduck both have threads on these boards with different playstyles. Both brutal decks.
LegacyUBRDelverRBU
Sounds good!
Have you tried Bribery and Knowledge Exploitation? Both cards get better and better as the decks you're up against get better.
LegacyUBRDelverRBU
You say board wipes like Apocalypse are no good here, but if you can cascade into that or Jokulhaups you'll end up with Maelstrom Wanderer (and possibly another thing if the board wipe was the first cascade) on a totally empty board. Unless someone can float mana and kill him afterwards, that's probably a win.
Question, where are your time walks? Am i missing them?
If you mean my Time Warp or Temporal Manipulation they are under "Sorceries" in decklist by type and "other nonsensical choices" in decklist by function.
Scroll Rack would be excellent for this deck. Being able to stack the top seven cards of your deck is amazing in general, but especially when it lets you choose which free spells you want to get.
Stuff like that.