Introduction Saffi Eriksdotter is usually known as just a powerful infinite combo engine using either Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Sun Titan, or Loyal Retainers and a sac outlet. I held this same opinion until I tried Saffi out as the centerpiece of a recursion strategy, and I was absolutely blown away. While Saffi can very well be a powerful combo deck, she also works as an extremely synergistic deck that takes advantage of ETB abilities, sac outlets, and recursion to overwhelm the opponent in resources. I believe Saffi is one of the best-kept secrets in Commander, because the majority of players are turned away from her either because they view her solely as a combo piece or because they are turned away by her colors.
Why play this commander
You would like Saffi if:
- You like to abuse your graveyard
- You like synergies/combos with your commander
- You like skill intensive decks with multiple avenues to victory
- You like using creatures for utility, not swinging
- You like using unintuitive strategies/commanders
You might not like Saffi if:
- You like playing aggro
- You think creatures should be used mostly for attacking
- You want to play blue, red, or black
- You like playing simple, one-dimensional decks
Why not X Commander?
Honestly, because Saffi is such a unique effect, there aren't really a lot of options in place of Saffi. Let's look at the popular reanimator choice that uses G/W, as well as other G/W options: Karador, Ghost Chieftan - While Karador tends to be better at cheating fatties into play by virtue of including black, Saffi is better at abusing ETB abilities because she's free to activate and isn't limited to one use per turn. Saffi is also more resilient to graveyard hate because she doesn't need a filled graveyard to work. Karador usually just tries to fill the graveyard, then reanimate them, while Saffi first plays creatures, sacs them and brings them back. Karador is really an entirely different playstyle. Captain Sisay - Saffi runs very few legendary cards and none of them besides Saffi are integral to her strategy, so Sisay doesn't really fit here. Gaddock Teeg - I used to run Teeg in my 99 but he actually hindered too many of my cards and I can't always rely on having a sac outlet handy for when I want to get rid of him. While Teeg does shut down quite a lot of cards, most of them aren't that dangerous to Saffi. Sigarda, Host of Herons - Better used for an enchantress/voltron deck. Also, Saffi usually doesn't care about any of opponents' removal spells. Karametra, God of Harvests - Karametra is pretty insane considering how many small utility creatures Saffi already runs which fits well with Karametra. Karametra could work as an alternative as a toned down version of Saffi that focuses on the big-ramp plan.
Deck History
This deck originally came about in early 2011 when I was brewing and playing decks on Cockatrice. During this time, I often just cobbled together decklists in less than 30 minutes and gave it a spin in a random 4-6 player game. I also wanted to try G/W without using other commonly used commanders, so I threw together a Saffi list with lots of ETB effects and recursion effects because I didn't really want to use combo. While usually my hastily thrown together lists have mixed results, Saffi, to my surprise, was completely demolishing lists left and right, despite the fact that I wasn't using ANY of the typical Saffi combos. Even against competitive generals, I found myself playing archenemy and I still managed to win the majority of the games I played. I knew I had a powerful deck on my hands, and the Saffi Recursion Deck was born. My goal for this deck was to continuously abuse Primeval Titan, which conveniently searches out a recursion engine in Emeria, the Sky Ruin and a sac outlet in High Market, allowing me to ramp at minimum, four lands per turn while being near immune to traditional forms of removal. The deck was capable of insane amounts of ramp, easily capable of ramping out 6-8 lands a turn; it was essentially a one-card combo (Find and play Primeval Titan) that produced so much advantage so quickly that even if opponents did find some way to deal with Prime Time, they would often still be overwhelmed by the massive amounts of ramp and resources I'd have.
Of course, Prime Time was banned (For good reason), essentially destroying the backbone of the deck. I put Saffi on the backburner for a while because of real life, but I loved the Saffi engine and I was determined to make it work again. Four years later, I have a new, completely reworked Saffi list, and while it does lose the Prime Time engine, Saffi does pick up a few new toys and is still every bit as competitive as she used to be. Saffi can win through an entire table of hate (I've done this on a regular basis) and she is immune to upwards of 90% of traditional removal played in Commander. She can be an aggressive combo deck, a ramp-aggro deck, a control deck, a midrange combo deck, or all of the above, simply because Saffi exists as her own powerful engine for ETB abilities and sac outlets. In short, Saffi is, in my opinion, the best kept secret in EDH, and I want to let you guys in on this secret.
I currently switch between two versions of this deck - a mega-ramp/recursion aggro deck with the potential to combo out for normal play, and a ramp/recursion straight combo deck for tournament play. While the majority of both versions are the same (I switch out about 4-6 cards from one version to the other), they end up playing very differently, which really goes to show the versatility of the deck.
Viridian Emissary, Sakura Tribe-Elder, Wood Elves et al. - Creature ramp is better in this deck because they can be sacced and recurred, allowing for multiple uses out of them. Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Sun Titan, Eternal Witness - All great cards on their own, they work even better with Saffi to maximize ETB effects. Mirror Entity - acts as a sac outlet (Set ability to 0, killing all creatures), combo piece (Put a million activations at 0 on the stack, let the first resolve, killing all creatures. Bring them back with Reveillark/Karmic Guide/Saffi and another ETB creature and repeat a million times, or with enough mana, massive pump. This card's an all-star in this deck for how much it can do. Martyred Rusalka/Starved Rusalka - Green is excellent at tutoring for creatures, but not enchantments/artifacts. Many times I found myself in desperate need of a sac outlet that didn't kill ALL my creatures (Mirror Entity), and that's what the Rusalkas provide. Academy Rector - Not abusable with Saffi because she has to be exiled to search, but that doesn't matter. Rector cheats the enchantment into play, and considering how many broken, game winning enchantments this deck runs, that one activation is usually enough. Grand Abolisher - I usually win on my own turn. Abolisher lets me do it in peace without having to deal with pesky disruption. Fiend Hunter - Temporarily gets rid of a creature, or permanently using a sac outlet in response to its ETB ability. Also has the ability to infinite combo with Lark/Guide/Titan and a sac outlet. Triskelion - Traditional combo kill method.
Instants/Sorceries
Crop Rotation - The best of the land tutors. It's one mana at instant speed and puts it directly into play which means you can Maze of Ith in response to an attacker or Emeria the Sky Ruin EOT to avoid disruption. Unexpectedly Absent - Better than Oblation and acts as a catch-all removal spell. Swords to Plowshares - Best removal in the game needs no explanation. Green Sun's Zenith - Usually fetches Dryad Arbor or another utility creature. GSZ, while still good for its ramp capabilities, is actually the worst tutor in the deck not only because it can't get important white creatures, but because it shuffles itself back into your library so you can't abuse it with Eternal Witness. Chord of Calling - My favorite one-time use tutor in the deck, it works like GSZ except it's instant speed, it can get any creature, and I can get E-wit, targeting Chord, then fetch something else. While the mana cost may seem high, it actually isn't because of the high creature count that can be used for Convoke.
Artifacts
Skullclamp - Best equipment in the game, Clamp works especially well here because you already want your creatures to die. Birthing Pod - Surprisingly, actually better than Survival of the Fittest in this deck because it cheats creatures into play and it also acts as its own sac outlet. Mimic Vat - Put any creature with an ETB ability on it and watch Vat go nuts. Pair it with a Seedborn Muse for more fun. Cauldron of Souls - Amazing on its own for its ability to bring your creatures back while abusing sac outlets/ETB abilities, it gets absolutely insane with Saffi, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, or Oran-rief, the Vastwood to be able to use it multiple times.
Enchantments
Survival of the Fittest - There's a reason this card's banned in Legacy. Here, it's legal though so have fun abusing it. Repeatedly search for any creature you want while filling up your graveyard with juicy reanimation targets, all for the low price of :g:. While Saffi can't take advantage of reanimation as well as a dedicated reanimator deck, you can still abuse its capabilities quite a bit. Gift of Immortality - While it's extremely strong recursion on its own, it's downright busted with a free sac outlet. Play it on Sakura Tribe-Elder for example and you've got yourself a Burgeoning that never runs out of lands to play until the combo is dealt with. Greater Good - Its initials say it all: GG. I don't think I've ever lost a game after GG resolved. It's that good, and despite the low count of fatties that Saffi plays, GG still does so much for the deck. First, it's a free sac outlet that digs for cards (Meaning it can draw your deck with Lark/Guide/Titan and Saffi), second, it fills your graveyard (Meaning after you're done drawing your deck, you can switch Lark/Guide/Titan to anything else in your graveyard), third, you can just play it for value as a sac outlet to draw tons of cards/dig through your deck. Fecundity - This card does help opponents, but it will almost always help you more. Every Saffi usage will give you two cards from this. Perilous Forays - Expensive at five mana, it's still worth it for the cheap sac outlet and and insane ramp that it provides. Can combo with Rampaging Baloths and Lotus Cobra to get ALL your basics into play.
Lands
Emeria the Sky Ruin - While Saffi has a low plains count (Starting off with two green sources is extremely important to play the ramp spells), Emeria can still get active at a reasonable rate if you simply ramp into duals and plains after your initial green sources of mana. While Emeria isn't the strongest recursion card in the deck, it is still very important as a mid-late game strategy. High Market - Excellent sac outlet in the form of a land. Oran-reif, the Vastwood - Allows my persist creatures to keep coming back indefinitely. Gaea's Cradle - While Saffi can't abuse Cradle as well as some other decks, it will still frequently produce 3-5+ mana per activation.
Strategy, Part One: The Basics
So now that I've talked up this deck a lot, this might get you thinking: What makes this deck so special, or even, what makes Saffi so special? So on first glance, Saffi is just a 2/2 for two mana, with a neat ability of saving a creature from dying once. Let's look a little deeper though:
- She costs two mana, allowing her to come out extremely early, and making her extremely cheap to replay.
- Her ability doesn't require a tap, allowing you to attack or use her to tap with Chord of Calling or Glare of Subdual.
- You're spending two mana to save your six mana creature from removal. Efficiency is key here.
- The creature she saves still leaves to the graveyard, then re-enters the battlefield. That's right, you're still triggering all the graveyard abilities, as well as enters the battlefield abilities!
- Her ability doesn't care how the creature goes to the graveyard. Destroyed, sacrificed, or put there by a state-based effect, it doesn't matter.
- She combos with any ETB/LB creature recursion for infinite recursion.
Still not convinced? Try stacking all of those bonuses together on a 2-mana card. Bringing back a Yavimaya Granger[/card] that dies from echo is cute, as it nets you a land. Bringing back the Granger equipped to Skullclamp after saccing it to Perilous Forays with Fecundity and Lotus Cobra in play now nets you two lands, four cards and two mana of any color. Start doing this every single turn and you will start to see how insane Saffi gets really fast!
The basic idea is to get value from an initial ETB trigger, value from a sac outlet, value from a die trigger, and value from Saffi allowing you to do it all over again. Saffi is unique in her ability to abuse these triggers because, simply put, she does it faster and using less resources than any other card in the game. The entire deck is packed to the brim with value cards that takes advantage of this principle.
So what does Saffi do that makes her any different from the numerous other ETB abuse generals like Roon of the Hidden Realm, Karador, Ghost Chieftan, etc? Several reasons: First, most ETB decks can only abuse one trigger (The ETB effect). Saffi aims to get at least three triggers minimum from one activation. Second, Saffi does it faster and more efficiently. Saffi comes into play for just two mana, and can immediately be put to use. The vast majority of ETB abuse is on the expensive side. Roon, for example, costs a whopping five mana just to play, then you have to wait a full turn and another two mana just to activate once.
Strategy, Part Two: Gameplan
In the early game, the main goal is simply to ramp up as fast as possible. With the way my deck is set up, it's possible to get 10+ lands as early as turns 3-4. Focus on getting 7 Plains to get an active Emeria, the Sky Ruin. Use the ETB - Sac - LB cycle to maximize creature value, and use Saffi to double the ramp value. Don't be afraid to send Saffi to the grave without a recursion card. At the very least, you still get incredible value out of Saffi. Only in rare instances will you ever send Saffi to the Command Zone.
Lategame, Saffi has a huge advantage here because of how resilient the deck is and how much incremental advantage the deck builds over turns. Saffi can end games quickly with a lot of the usual offenders: Avenger of Zendikar, Craterhoof Behemoth, Genesis Wave, Mirror Entity, or just comboing out.
Strategy, Part Three: Playing Through Hate
One of the most common misconceptions about decks that abuse the graveyard is that it completely folds to any kind of graveyard hate, which is about as true as saying aggro decks completely fold to any sweepers (Hint: It's not true!). So many times I hear opponents say they would have stopped me if only they drew their Relic of Progenitus or Leyline of the Void; I usually just laugh, because it takes too much effort telling them how ineffective those cards actually are against my deck. What graveyard hate DOES do is allow decks to actually interact with graveyard based decks in ways that they couldn't do previously. Let's first look at the Leyline, since this is the easiest to deal with. It doesn't affect any cards currently in the graveyard, only those that get there after Leyline hits play. So all I'd have to do is find one of my numerous enchantment removal cards, destroy Leyline, and combo out. Relic is slightly more problematic because it exiles all cards in your graveyard and it can be activated at instant speed. However, there are several ways around this: First, you can bait your opponent to pop it early. Second, you can force them to pop it early with artifact removal. Third, you can just make it ineffective with Grand Abolisher.
A note on graveyard hate - as I said earlier, all graveyard hate does is allow other decks to interact with Saffi in ways it could not previously interact with. Grave hate has no impact on the current board state. Saffi is very good at overwhelming the board by midgame. Unless the graveyard hate comes early and often, players still need to deal with Saffi's board.
Strategy, Part Four: Advanced Tricks
*Coming Soon!
Do you think Realm Seekers would be a good addition to Saffi
I'm not sure what you'd be trying to do with this card in Saffi. For starters, for 6 mana with a 2 mana activation ability it had better do something amazing. Saffi doesn't really care about +1/+1 counters unless it's comboing, and it doesn't really care about mana fixing unless it puts the lands into play.
Do you think Realm Seekers would be a good addition to Saffi
I'm not sure what you'd be trying to do with this card in Saffi. For starters, for 6 mana with a 2 mana activation ability it had better do something amazing. Saffi doesn't really care about +1/+1 counters unless it's comboing, and it doesn't really care about mana fixing unless it puts the lands into play.
true... if you are going to go the fetch lands with all this search where is top?
Do you think Realm Seekers would be a good addition to Saffi
I'm not sure what you'd be trying to do with this card in Saffi. For starters, for 6 mana with a 2 mana activation ability it had better do something amazing. Saffi doesn't really care about +1/+1 counters unless it's comboing, and it doesn't really care about mana fixing unless it puts the lands into play.
true... if you are going to go the fetch lands with all this search where is top?
Top is a mana hog that this deck can't afford. I'd rather run Sylvan Library if I were to run a draw-fixer.
Original list updated, with a little more detail about the deck. Second time I've tried Wild Pair, second time I've cut it for being win-more. Lotus Cobra has been insane in testing, haven't tried it in a real game yet though. Testing out Mindcensor right now as additional disruption.
Main list completely reworked and updated with a mini-guide. I toned down the list because I was comboing out way too fast, so I changed it to a mega-ramp plan. I still have my combo list for tournaments though. I'm going to continue to add to my guide, because I feel that Saffi is woefully underexposed and underrepresented in Commander right now despite her being one of the most fun, competitive, and flexible generals in the game.
I keep looking at Triskelion and wondering how he ends games quick... the only use I see is with the karmic guide revlark loop
It doesn't need to win right now to end games quickly. If you can recur trike at all (gift of immortality, cauldron of souls ) it's a slow murder engine that can just make people scoop because they can't break the cycle, or don't want to go through the frustration of fighting it. .I find the best games are won through grinding out wins, having some combo routes available are nice in case games go long (I've had larger games take 4+ hours) .. I only combo out if the game needs to end or if someone is likely to win on their next turn themselves
I keep looking at Triskelion and wondering how he ends games quick... the only use I see is with the karmic guide revlark loop
It doesn't need to win right now to end games quickly. If you can recur trike at all (gift of immortality, cauldron of souls ) it's a slow murder engine that can just make people scoop because they can't break the cycle, or don't want to go through the frustration of fighting it. .I find the best games are won through grinding out wins, having some combo routes available are nice in case games go long (I've had larger games take 4+ hours) .. I only combo out if the game needs to end or if someone is likely to win on their next turn themselves
While this is true, recurring Trike is a little too slow for anything but the most casual tables. Three damage isn't enough to do any significant damage, and or creature kill, I'd rather use Duplicant for a six mana artifact creature.
I use Trike solely for a win condition in my pure combo build. Searchable with creature tutors, recurrable with Reveillark and kills all players and all creatures.
Massive update made to my original post. Hopefully I'll get it updated enough to submit as a primer, as there isn't nearly enough exposure for this deck as of yet.
I'm not saying it's an amazing way to win slow, but depending on the game if they go long and people are out of resources the repeat damage can be relevant.. It can also keep several generals off the board. I'm not referring to is taking everyone down from 40 to 0 on its own.. This deck recovers from board wipe better than most, and if someone wipes the board to keep someone else at bay, then trike can put some work in if people are trying to rebuild a board... I play in a fairly strong group and a lot of smaller repeat effects like this sort of fly under the radar and do their work while not putting too much attention my way.. My group knows my deck is strong already so I try to play a slower game...
I'm not saying it's an amazing way to win slow, but depending on the game if they go long and people are out of resources the repeat damage can be relevant.. It can also keep several generals off the board. I'm not referring to is taking everyone down from 40 to 0 on its own.. This deck recovers from board wipe better than most, and if someone wipes the board to keep someone else at bay, then trike can put some work in if people are trying to rebuild a board... I play in a fairly strong group and a lot of smaller repeat effects like this sort of fly under the radar and do their work while not putting too much attention my way.. My group knows my deck is strong already so I try to play a slower game...
Well, my point is that Trisk's main use is comboing out. While I'm sure it can find some uses in other scenarios, it's not what I'm looking for in it as other cards generally will do it better. It's also to answer the question why I took it out "because it ended games too quickly"... and the answer was that it allowed for way too consistent of a combo win. Would you use Trisk if he wasn't a win condition for Saffi combo? I wouldn't.
Slower, more control style Saffi builds are on Bederndern's thread. I'm not a fan of control Saffi though because in my experience, either players have a way of dealing with you and just combo out and kill you, or they don't have a way of dealing with you and just get bored at the inevitability of their slow-rolled death to Saffi recursion. Not saying it's not viable, just that I'm not a fan of it. I like the aggro/combo route or combo route because even if players have no way of dealing with Saffi (Which is very common), I can just win and we'll shuffle up to a new game. In the case of straight combo, I feel it's more effective in tournament play - easiest way to prevent other players from dealing with you is just win before they can find a way to deal with you.
In the case of board wipes, you gotta give Saffi a little more credit than that... my playgroup has learned the hard way never to board wipe when I'm playing my deck as it either gives me the game or at least gives me an overwhelming board position. Besides, I'm sure you'll have better things to bring back than a Trisk post-wrath, right?
Introduction
Saffi Eriksdotter is usually known as just a powerful infinite combo engine using either Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Sun Titan, or Loyal Retainers and a sac outlet. I held this same opinion until I tried Saffi out as the centerpiece of a recursion strategy, and I was absolutely blown away. While Saffi can very well be a powerful combo deck, she also works as an extremely synergistic deck that takes advantage of ETB abilities, sac outlets, and recursion to overwhelm the opponent in resources. I believe Saffi is one of the best-kept secrets in Commander, because the majority of players are turned away from her either because they view her solely as a combo piece or because they are turned away by her colors.
Why play this commander
You would like Saffi if:
- You like to abuse your graveyard
- You like synergies/combos with your commander
- You like skill intensive decks with multiple avenues to victory
- You like using creatures for utility, not swinging
- You like using unintuitive strategies/commanders
You might not like Saffi if:
- You like playing aggro
- You think creatures should be used mostly for attacking
- You want to play blue, red, or black
- You like playing simple, one-dimensional decks
Why not X Commander?
Honestly, because Saffi is such a unique effect, there aren't really a lot of options in place of Saffi. Let's look at the popular reanimator choice that uses G/W, as well as other G/W options:
Karador, Ghost Chieftan - While Karador tends to be better at cheating fatties into play by virtue of including black, Saffi is better at abusing ETB abilities because she's free to activate and isn't limited to one use per turn. Saffi is also more resilient to graveyard hate because she doesn't need a filled graveyard to work. Karador usually just tries to fill the graveyard, then reanimate them, while Saffi first plays creatures, sacs them and brings them back. Karador is really an entirely different playstyle.
Captain Sisay - Saffi runs very few legendary cards and none of them besides Saffi are integral to her strategy, so Sisay doesn't really fit here.
Gaddock Teeg - I used to run Teeg in my 99 but he actually hindered too many of my cards and I can't always rely on having a sac outlet handy for when I want to get rid of him. While Teeg does shut down quite a lot of cards, most of them aren't that dangerous to Saffi.
Sigarda, Host of Herons - Better used for an enchantress/voltron deck. Also, Saffi usually doesn't care about any of opponents' removal spells.
Karametra, God of Harvests - Karametra is pretty insane considering how many small utility creatures Saffi already runs which fits well with Karametra. Karametra could work as an alternative as a toned down version of Saffi that focuses on the big-ramp plan.
Deck History
This deck originally came about in early 2011 when I was brewing and playing decks on Cockatrice. During this time, I often just cobbled together decklists in less than 30 minutes and gave it a spin in a random 4-6 player game. I also wanted to try G/W without using other commonly used commanders, so I threw together a Saffi list with lots of ETB effects and recursion effects because I didn't really want to use combo. While usually my hastily thrown together lists have mixed results, Saffi, to my surprise, was completely demolishing lists left and right, despite the fact that I wasn't using ANY of the typical Saffi combos. Even against competitive generals, I found myself playing archenemy and I still managed to win the majority of the games I played. I knew I had a powerful deck on my hands, and the Saffi Recursion Deck was born. My goal for this deck was to continuously abuse Primeval Titan, which conveniently searches out a recursion engine in Emeria, the Sky Ruin and a sac outlet in High Market, allowing me to ramp at minimum, four lands per turn while being near immune to traditional forms of removal. The deck was capable of insane amounts of ramp, easily capable of ramping out 6-8 lands a turn; it was essentially a one-card combo (Find and play Primeval Titan) that produced so much advantage so quickly that even if opponents did find some way to deal with Prime Time, they would often still be overwhelmed by the massive amounts of ramp and resources I'd have.
Of course, Prime Time was banned (For good reason), essentially destroying the backbone of the deck. I put Saffi on the backburner for a while because of real life, but I loved the Saffi engine and I was determined to make it work again. Four years later, I have a new, completely reworked Saffi list, and while it does lose the Prime Time engine, Saffi does pick up a few new toys and is still every bit as competitive as she used to be. Saffi can win through an entire table of hate (I've done this on a regular basis) and she is immune to upwards of 90% of traditional removal played in Commander. She can be an aggressive combo deck, a ramp-aggro deck, a control deck, a midrange combo deck, or all of the above, simply because Saffi exists as her own powerful engine for ETB abilities and sac outlets. In short, Saffi is, in my opinion, the best kept secret in EDH, and I want to let you guys in on this secret.
I currently switch between two versions of this deck - a mega-ramp/recursion aggro deck with the potential to combo out for normal play, and a ramp/recursion straight combo deck for tournament play. While the majority of both versions are the same (I switch out about 4-6 cards from one version to the other), they end up playing very differently, which really goes to show the versatility of the deck.
Decklist
Creatures (38)
0 Dryad Arbor
1 Martyred Rusalka
1 Spore Frog
1 Starved Rusalka
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Viridian Emissary
3 Eternal Witness
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Mirror Entity
3 Reclamation Sage
3 Stonecloaker
3 Wood Elves
3 Yavimaya Dryad
3 Yavimaya Granger
4 Academy Rector
4 Angel of Finality
4 Seht's Tiger
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Yeva, Nature's Herald
5 Archon of Justice
5 Genesis
5 Karametra, God of Harvests
5 Karmic Guide
5 Reveillark
5 Seedborn Muse
5 Seedguide Ash
6 Duplicant
6 Soul of the Harvest
6 Sun Titan
7 Avenger of Zendikar
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
8 Woodfall Primus
1 Crop Rotation
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Eladamri's Call
2 Unexpectedly Absent
3 Chord of Calling
3 Cultivate
3 Genesis Wave
3 Primal Growth
3 Search for Tomorrow
Artifacts (6)
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
3 Mimic Vat
3 Phyrexian Altar
4 Birthing Pod
5 Cauldron of Souls
Enchantments (10)
2 Survival of the Fittest
3 Aura Shards
3 Fecundity
3 Gift of Immortality
4 Greater Good
4 Marshal's Anthem
4 Pattern of Rebirth
5 Perilous Forays
5 Mirari's Wake
6 Martyr's Bond
9 Plains
13 Forest
0 Command Tower
0 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 High Market
0 Horizon Canopy
0 Maze of Ith
0 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
0 Savannah
0 Sunpetal Grove
0 Temple Garden
0 Winding Caverns
0 Windswept Heath
Changelog
Card choices
Creatures
Viridian Emissary, Sakura Tribe-Elder, Wood Elves et al. - Creature ramp is better in this deck because they can be sacced and recurred, allowing for multiple uses out of them.
Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Sun Titan, Eternal Witness - All great cards on their own, they work even better with Saffi to maximize ETB effects.
Mirror Entity - acts as a sac outlet (Set ability to 0, killing all creatures), combo piece (Put a million activations at 0 on the stack, let the first resolve, killing all creatures. Bring them back with Reveillark/Karmic Guide/Saffi and another ETB creature and repeat a million times, or with enough mana, massive pump. This card's an all-star in this deck for how much it can do.
Martyred Rusalka/Starved Rusalka - Green is excellent at tutoring for creatures, but not enchantments/artifacts. Many times I found myself in desperate need of a sac outlet that didn't kill ALL my creatures (Mirror Entity), and that's what the Rusalkas provide.
Academy Rector - Not abusable with Saffi because she has to be exiled to search, but that doesn't matter. Rector cheats the enchantment into play, and considering how many broken, game winning enchantments this deck runs, that one activation is usually enough.
Grand Abolisher - I usually win on my own turn. Abolisher lets me do it in peace without having to deal with pesky disruption.
Fiend Hunter - Temporarily gets rid of a creature, or permanently using a sac outlet in response to its ETB ability. Also has the ability to infinite combo with Lark/Guide/Titan and a sac outlet.
Triskelion - Traditional combo kill method.
Instants/Sorceries
Crop Rotation - The best of the land tutors. It's one mana at instant speed and puts it directly into play which means you can Maze of Ith in response to an attacker or Emeria the Sky Ruin EOT to avoid disruption.
Unexpectedly Absent - Better than Oblation and acts as a catch-all removal spell.
Swords to Plowshares - Best removal in the game needs no explanation.
Green Sun's Zenith - Usually fetches Dryad Arbor or another utility creature. GSZ, while still good for its ramp capabilities, is actually the worst tutor in the deck not only because it can't get important white creatures, but because it shuffles itself back into your library so you can't abuse it with Eternal Witness.
Chord of Calling - My favorite one-time use tutor in the deck, it works like GSZ except it's instant speed, it can get any creature, and I can get E-wit, targeting Chord, then fetch something else. While the mana cost may seem high, it actually isn't because of the high creature count that can be used for Convoke.
Artifacts
Skullclamp - Best equipment in the game, Clamp works especially well here because you already want your creatures to die.
Birthing Pod - Surprisingly, actually better than Survival of the Fittest in this deck because it cheats creatures into play and it also acts as its own sac outlet.
Mimic Vat - Put any creature with an ETB ability on it and watch Vat go nuts. Pair it with a Seedborn Muse for more fun.
Cauldron of Souls - Amazing on its own for its ability to bring your creatures back while abusing sac outlets/ETB abilities, it gets absolutely insane with Saffi, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, or Oran-rief, the Vastwood to be able to use it multiple times.
Enchantments
Survival of the Fittest - There's a reason this card's banned in Legacy. Here, it's legal though so have fun abusing it. Repeatedly search for any creature you want while filling up your graveyard with juicy reanimation targets, all for the low price of :g:. While Saffi can't take advantage of reanimation as well as a dedicated reanimator deck, you can still abuse its capabilities quite a bit.
Gift of Immortality - While it's extremely strong recursion on its own, it's downright busted with a free sac outlet. Play it on Sakura Tribe-Elder for example and you've got yourself a Burgeoning that never runs out of lands to play until the combo is dealt with.
Greater Good - Its initials say it all: GG. I don't think I've ever lost a game after GG resolved. It's that good, and despite the low count of fatties that Saffi plays, GG still does so much for the deck. First, it's a free sac outlet that digs for cards (Meaning it can draw your deck with Lark/Guide/Titan and Saffi), second, it fills your graveyard (Meaning after you're done drawing your deck, you can switch Lark/Guide/Titan to anything else in your graveyard), third, you can just play it for value as a sac outlet to draw tons of cards/dig through your deck.
Fecundity - This card does help opponents, but it will almost always help you more. Every Saffi usage will give you two cards from this.
Perilous Forays - Expensive at five mana, it's still worth it for the cheap sac outlet and and insane ramp that it provides. Can combo with Rampaging Baloths and Lotus Cobra to get ALL your basics into play.
Lands
Emeria the Sky Ruin - While Saffi has a low plains count (Starting off with two green sources is extremely important to play the ramp spells), Emeria can still get active at a reasonable rate if you simply ramp into duals and plains after your initial green sources of mana. While Emeria isn't the strongest recursion card in the deck, it is still very important as a mid-late game strategy.
High Market - Excellent sac outlet in the form of a land.
Oran-reif, the Vastwood - Allows my persist creatures to keep coming back indefinitely.
Gaea's Cradle - While Saffi can't abuse Cradle as well as some other decks, it will still frequently produce 3-5+ mana per activation.
Strategy, Part One: The Basics
So now that I've talked up this deck a lot, this might get you thinking: What makes this deck so special, or even, what makes Saffi so special? So on first glance, Saffi is just a 2/2 for two mana, with a neat ability of saving a creature from dying once. Let's look a little deeper though:
- She costs two mana, allowing her to come out extremely early, and making her extremely cheap to replay.
- Her ability doesn't require a tap, allowing you to attack or use her to tap with Chord of Calling or Glare of Subdual.
- You're spending two mana to save your six mana creature from removal. Efficiency is key here.
- The creature she saves still leaves to the graveyard, then re-enters the battlefield. That's right, you're still triggering all the graveyard abilities, as well as enters the battlefield abilities!
- Her ability doesn't care how the creature goes to the graveyard. Destroyed, sacrificed, or put there by a state-based effect, it doesn't matter.
- She combos with any ETB/LB creature recursion for infinite recursion.
Still not convinced? Try stacking all of those bonuses together on a 2-mana card. Bringing back a Yavimaya Granger[/card] that dies from echo is cute, as it nets you a land. Bringing back the Granger equipped to Skullclamp after saccing it to Perilous Forays with Fecundity and Lotus Cobra in play now nets you two lands, four cards and two mana of any color. Start doing this every single turn and you will start to see how insane Saffi gets really fast!
The basic idea is to get value from an initial ETB trigger, value from a sac outlet, value from a die trigger, and value from Saffi allowing you to do it all over again. Saffi is unique in her ability to abuse these triggers because, simply put, she does it faster and using less resources than any other card in the game. The entire deck is packed to the brim with value cards that takes advantage of this principle.
So what does Saffi do that makes her any different from the numerous other ETB abuse generals like Roon of the Hidden Realm, Karador, Ghost Chieftan, etc? Several reasons: First, most ETB decks can only abuse one trigger (The ETB effect). Saffi aims to get at least three triggers minimum from one activation. Second, Saffi does it faster and more efficiently. Saffi comes into play for just two mana, and can immediately be put to use. The vast majority of ETB abuse is on the expensive side. Roon, for example, costs a whopping five mana just to play, then you have to wait a full turn and another two mana just to activate once.
Strategy, Part Two: Gameplan
In the mid-game, you can either go for the recursion suite (Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Sun Titan, Eternal Witness, and Cauldron of Souls are the main ones here) or continue with the big-mana plan [Karametra, God of Havests, Perilous Forays, Lotus Cobra, Seedborn Muse, Seedguide Ash]. The third option is to play control, which is usually a last resort if you have a slow start and at least one opponent is going nuts: Spore Frog, Seht's Tiger, Duplicant, Archon of Justice, Martyr's Bond, and Aura Shards are among the best options here. Finally, you can just go for combo if you need to win immediately.
Lategame, Saffi has a huge advantage here because of how resilient the deck is and how much incremental advantage the deck builds over turns. Saffi can end games quickly with a lot of the usual offenders: Avenger of Zendikar, Craterhoof Behemoth, Genesis Wave, Mirror Entity, or just comboing out.
One of the most common misconceptions about decks that abuse the graveyard is that it completely folds to any kind of graveyard hate, which is about as true as saying aggro decks completely fold to any sweepers (Hint: It's not true!). So many times I hear opponents say they would have stopped me if only they drew their Relic of Progenitus or Leyline of the Void; I usually just laugh, because it takes too much effort telling them how ineffective those cards actually are against my deck. What graveyard hate DOES do is allow decks to actually interact with graveyard based decks in ways that they couldn't do previously. Let's first look at the Leyline, since this is the easiest to deal with. It doesn't affect any cards currently in the graveyard, only those that get there after Leyline hits play. So all I'd have to do is find one of my numerous enchantment removal cards, destroy Leyline, and combo out. Relic is slightly more problematic because it exiles all cards in your graveyard and it can be activated at instant speed. However, there are several ways around this: First, you can bait your opponent to pop it early. Second, you can force them to pop it early with artifact removal. Third, you can just make it ineffective with Grand Abolisher.
A note on graveyard hate - as I said earlier, all graveyard hate does is allow other decks to interact with Saffi in ways it could not previously interact with. Grave hate has no impact on the current board state. Saffi is very good at overwhelming the board by midgame. Unless the graveyard hate comes early and often, players still need to deal with Saffi's board.
Strategy, Part Four: Advanced Tricks
*Coming Soon!
Card Choices
*Coming Soon!
Card Omissions
*Coming Soon!
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W
I'm not sure what you'd be trying to do with this card in Saffi. For starters, for 6 mana with a 2 mana activation ability it had better do something amazing. Saffi doesn't really care about +1/+1 counters unless it's comboing, and it doesn't really care about mana fixing unless it puts the lands into play.
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W
true... if you are going to go the fetch lands with all this search where is top?
Top is a mana hog that this deck can't afford. I'd rather run Sylvan Library if I were to run a draw-fixer.
Original list updated, with a little more detail about the deck. Second time I've tried Wild Pair, second time I've cut it for being win-more. Lotus Cobra has been insane in testing, haven't tried it in a real game yet though. Testing out Mindcensor right now as additional disruption.
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W
Feedback is appreciated.
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W
It doesn't need to win right now to end games quickly. If you can recur trike at all (gift of immortality, cauldron of souls ) it's a slow murder engine that can just make people scoop because they can't break the cycle, or don't want to go through the frustration of fighting it. .I find the best games are won through grinding out wins, having some combo routes available are nice in case games go long (I've had larger games take 4+ hours) .. I only combo out if the game needs to end or if someone is likely to win on their next turn themselves
I use Trike solely for a win condition in my pure combo build. Searchable with creature tutors, recurrable with Reveillark and kills all players and all creatures.
Massive update made to my original post. Hopefully I'll get it updated enough to submit as a primer, as there isn't nearly enough exposure for this deck as of yet.
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W
Well, my point is that Trisk's main use is comboing out. While I'm sure it can find some uses in other scenarios, it's not what I'm looking for in it as other cards generally will do it better. It's also to answer the question why I took it out "because it ended games too quickly"... and the answer was that it allowed for way too consistent of a combo win. Would you use Trisk if he wasn't a win condition for Saffi combo? I wouldn't.
Slower, more control style Saffi builds are on Bederndern's thread. I'm not a fan of control Saffi though because in my experience, either players have a way of dealing with you and just combo out and kill you, or they don't have a way of dealing with you and just get bored at the inevitability of their slow-rolled death to Saffi recursion. Not saying it's not viable, just that I'm not a fan of it. I like the aggro/combo route or combo route because even if players have no way of dealing with Saffi (Which is very common), I can just win and we'll shuffle up to a new game. In the case of straight combo, I feel it's more effective in tournament play - easiest way to prevent other players from dealing with you is just win before they can find a way to deal with you.
In the case of board wipes, you gotta give Saffi a little more credit than that... my playgroup has learned the hard way never to board wipe when I'm playing my deck as it either gives me the game or at least gives me an overwhelming board position. Besides, I'm sure you'll have better things to bring back than a Trisk post-wrath, right?
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W