Chapter I: Introduction I.1 About My Version of the Deck Maelstrom Wanderer was my first commander and my first full, proper deck, back when I was a wee lad about a year and a half ago and didn't have the resources or time to construct a standard deck and play tournaments regularly. I realized that a fun, casual-yet-competitive, and eternal format like EDH was the place to build my first deck. So I sold my janky Innistrad-block vampire tribal deck and bought a Planechase 2012 Maelstrom Wanderer, which was upgraded to a Commander's Arsenal foil a few months later.
I chose Maelstrom Wanderer for a few reasons. First and foremost, am I a Gruul man (if you haven't figured out by my name), so I knew I wanted by first commander to be RG. I like casting big creatures and smashing face. I also like casting those things for free (who doesn't?). Once you get to learn your deck you will be able to abuse the double cascade by recasting him very often. Wanderer is a pretty unique commander in that he invites your opponents to get rid of him. Now with tuck gone, he will always be available at your side ready to give you more free things. I did some research and saw that blue gave me access to a plethora of fantastic spells and also some quite good creatures.
So I had my colors before my commander. Initially, I went with Riku of Two Reflections. What's better than having an awesome creature and an awesome spell? Two awesome creatures and two awesome spells! But a few games into testing I wasn't very excited. I realized a few things - the deck, especially the combo variant, relies heavily on its commander (who kept being removed when I played with him), and I knew I didn't want a deck that relies on my commander. I wanted a deck chock-full of huge spells that could win on their own.
So now we are where I am today. Like with most commanders, there are plenty of different paths one can go down. Maelstrom Wanderer is no exception. I built the deck to maximize cascade potential. This means lots of big, useful, impactful creatures and spell, but not many cards with CMC > 7. You will see a large sub-theme of enter the battlefield effects, and cards like Conjurer's Closet and Deadeye Navigator to reuse them. While I'd like to think that I don't rely on my commander, that doesn't mean I don't want to abuse him! Something like Crystal Shard to bounce and recast Wanderer every turn really doesn't sit well with opponents...but more on individual cards later.
While this deck is pretty competitive, some might say I have not maxed out its full potential. These people are talking about strategies such as using Selective Memory to ensure a cascade into something like Apocalypse, leaving the board with nothing but a lonely Wanderer, at which point most people scoop. While this is absolutely a viable strategy (and easy to implement, the deck is relatively the same), its just not my play style. I enjoy overpowering my opponents with large spells. I particularly enjoy cards like Knowledge Exploitation and Bribery because they make every game unique.
I.2 The Deck's Strength's and Weaknesses
Strengths
It plays large creatures and spells, and its designed to overpower your opponents. It can control the board and really terrify your opponents.
This deck recovers very well from board wipes and wraths. Because of cascade, it can refill the board and dominate the board very quickly.
The ramp game is strong. I don't know if I've just been super lucky all this time or not, but after mulligans resolve I'm usually very well positioned to cast wanderer T4-6, and I don't usually cascade into ramp cards with Wanderer late game.
The deck has lots of great interactions between cards to exploit their full potential.
Weaknesses
Unless you hit double jank cascades like Sol Ring and Cultivate, (and it does happen) you usually become a target after you first cast Wanderer. Be prepared to face opposition.
Graveyard based strategies are tricky. I'm talking about the decks that mill you and take things from your grave, like Lazav, Dimir Mastermind with cards like Spelltwine and reanimation. We get hit with our own stuff - its basically a taste of our own medicine.
My current decklist doesn't have any particular answers to token strategies, so I do have to be a bit careful, since my creatures go big while their's go wide. But there are certainly plenty of good options which will be discussed in the card choices section.
Mass Land Destruction. While recovering from wraths is easy, loosing your lands is not. I have yet to find a good wrath insurance card, so any help there would be great. Otherwise, be vigilant (and by that I mean kill whoever might cast MLD first) and hope for the best.
I.3 Why You Should Or Should Not Play Maelstrom Wanderer
Play Him If...
You like casting your commander
You like free things
You like ETB effects
You like smashing face
You like casting big stuff
You like toolbox decks and tutoring answers
Don't Play Him If...
You want your win condition to be a combo
You like having the commander as the centerpiece of your deck
You can't afford an extensive three color landbase
You feel bad for obliterating opponents
I.4 Other URG Commanders
Intet, the Dreamer: This commander is very interesting. I really don't know what to think of him. I've never seen him in action, nor have I tested him in my Wanderer deck, so I really don't know what kind of shell he fits in. He doesn't appear to be a control commander, but his built in card advantage allows you to play big spells for cheap
Surrak Dragonclaw: This guy is king of Temur Aggro. If you want to bash face only with creatures, and drop the whole spell side of RUG, then this guy or Animar (discussed below) are your commanders.
Animar, Soul of Elements: A very deadly general, and certainly a deck to watch out for should you play against it. But similarly to Surrak, very creature based. You won't find many awesome noncreature spells that can be cheated into play with this guy. Unlike Wanderer, he has a very specific, linear play style, and doesn't allow much leeway in terms of deckbuilding, which is Wanderer's advantage over this guy - lots of room for customization.
Riku of Two Reflections: As mentioned earlier, he works best in a combo shell. The colors have some of the best combo pieces, but it is a very different play style. He is the spell-slinger's Animar.
Chapter II: Decklist
For clarity and detail I have presented two decklists. The first is ordered by card type, for example Artifacts and Creatures. This allows you to see the distribution and ratios of cards types, which is important to know if you want to figure out if cards like Garruk's Horde payoff often and are worth running. The second decklist is ordered by role, for example Ramp and Utility, another effective method of displaying decklists to see what cards fit what purpose, how many of that purpose is required, etc. Both versions have cards listed by increasing mana cost under each category, and both versions included Lands as a category, despite some lands filling multiple roles. This will be discussed in the Lands section under card choices.
Chapter III: Chard Choices
The following chapter has card summaries ordered by role. Important Note: At the end of each section, you will find cards that are NOT in the deck. I have done this for a few reasons. Firstly, to show why some cards are better than others. Secondly, to provide alternatives to certain cards that are possibly interchangeable with what I'm currently using. Thirdly, to emphasize that my decklist is not perfect, and that there are plenty of good cards that belong in this deck and that it is up to the pilot's discretion to craft his ship.
III.1 Ramp
1 Sol Ring - EDH Staple since forever. The go-to ramp artifact for every deck.
2 Coiling Oracle - A strictly better Elvish Visionary. Easy ramp/draw early game and chump block or ETB effect recurrence late game.
2 Dreamscape Artist - Pretty good in my experience. In addition to the lands coming in untapped (essentially making his activation cost 1) he can make use of extra lands or dead cards in your hand and ramp you up nicely.
2 Farseek - Staple ramp spell for 3+ color decks. I want at least 1 early ramp spell.
3 Food Chain - This card is very interesting...I've only recently started testing it, and it draws a surprising amount of hate, but its still very good. What usually catches me is that it produces mana of any one color, so I have to tap lands correctly to ensure I can cast a multi color spell off of this guy. Works very well with our ETB creatures, because if we can't reuse them, we can always exile them to Food Chain. Also works well with cards that let us gain control of our opponent's things, and after we;ve exploited them exile them to Food Chain as well.
4 Oracle of Mul Daya - More classic ramp, digs through our library and is a great land flood savior.
4 Tempt With Discovery - This card is bonkers for three reasons: it fetches you any land, can potentially get you 2-5 lands total, and they come into play untapped. My first search is usually for Temple of the False God, then from there any other utility lands that I might need, like a Homeward Path.
3 Farhaven Elf / Wood Elves - Creature ramp for chump block later on. This deck most certainly favors ramp on creatures because of its ability to reuse ETB effects. Note that Wood Elves fetches a Forest, which comes into play untapped.
3 Harrow - I use Cultivate/Reach over this guy because they ramp me 1 and get a land for next turn, while this ramps for a net gain of 1, without the additional land for next turn.
3 Courser of Kruphix - definitely want to test him out after he rotates out of standard and his price drops...
4 Solemn Simulacrum - Staple EDH card that ramps and blocks, nothing to talk about here.
4 Ondu Giant - This is what I might replace Xenagos with if he doesn't work out. Like a Solemn Simulacrum without the draw, and can be used for Food Chain.
4 Xenagos, the Reveler - He trumps other ramp in that by T4 he can potentially be adding 2 mana, and even more from there. I've put Xenagos under ramp because that is primarily what he will be doing. We really don't need hasty 2/2s, and he usually doesn't stick around to set his ultimate off. Getting to his -6 is definitely a goal, and its a relevant ability, which is why he hasn't been replaced by some other 4cmc ramp spell. He is currently in the "testing phase" so I'll keep an eye on his usefulness in games.
III.2 Removal/Sweepers
4 Wickerbough Elder - I prefer this card over any ETB artifact/enchantment hate, because if its an unplanned cascade you might not have any greta targets.
4 Decimate - I'm not gonna lie, its a risky cascade
5 Æther Gale - Originally, this was Cyclonic Rift. However, I cascading into Rift is very underwhelming, but I knew I still wanted a big sweeper like it in the deck. Found this gem while looking through Commander 2014 decklists, and has been quite successful. Bad cascade post wrath because if you don't have the targets the spell fizzles.
6 Bane of Progress - We don't run enough artifacts/enchantments to make this an iffy choice. A great sweeper, and can get very big easily.
6 Steel Hellkite - Great mana sink and repeatable removal against problematic cards. Tokens hate this card.
7 Disaster Radius - Potentially and an effective one-sided board wipe. One of the not-so-great cascades on an empty board.
8 Terastodon - A powerful ETB effect creature, capable of dealing with multiple problematic permanents.
9 Blasphemous Act - The best mass removal spell for the deck. Conveniently dodges Wanderer's cascade, so no accidental self-destructs happen. But when you need it, its very useful.
-Other Options-
2 Cyclonic Rift - A very underwhelming cascade, but a powerful spell if overloaded.
3 Reclamation Sage - Definitely a viable alternative to Trygon Predator; an ETB effect to recurr and a chump blocker/Food Chain fodder later game. However, I went with Trygon Predator in the end simply because there is always an artifact or enchantment to blow up, and 1 or 2 Sage effects is not enough. If anything, I'd remove Krosan Grip for this guy if I need to for the extra utility.
3 Krosan Grip - Premium artifact/enchantment hate. Cascading into it shouldn't be a problem because there is always something to blow up.
3 Trygon Predator - Reusable artifact/enchantment hate. Dropping him T3 will make your opponents rethink their game plan.
4 Nevinyrral's Disk - Another good board wipe that doesn't accidentally blow up in our face off cascade.
5 Acidic Slime - More noncreature removal. Powerful recursion and chump blocker.
5Apocalypse / Jokulhaups - I talked a little bit about this in the intro, so i'll be concise: I don't run them because I don't enjoy such mass removal, but they are very viable, effective, and game-winning strategies. Its up to the pilot to decide whether they want to include them or if their playgroup is okay with it.
8 Woodfall Primus - More ETB removal effect (get the picture yet?)
III.3 Card Advantage
2 Scroll Rack - The mother of card advantage with cascade spells. For one extra mana, you can choose what two cards in your hand you want to cascade away. Refuel your hand after dumping things on the board. Dig for answers. This is probably the single most synergetic and effective card in the whole deck.
6 Consecrated Sphinx - The mother of draw in EDH. Will draw hate immediately but can pay off hugely if unanswered.
7 Sphinx of Uthuun - Fact or Fiction sphinx, ETB abuse and heavy beater.
-Other Options-
2 Sylvan Library - Probably the best green draw spell, and lets you dig deeper into your deck and see what you have to cascade. For me it was this or Scroll Rack, which is why this was is not maindecked. I should probably get a spot for this in the deck though...
3 Crystal Ball - This is where i'm going to talk about scry. Scry, while very good with this deck, just gives us information. We want to be able to manipulate that information, which is why you won't find many scry effects in here. I personally do no recommend cheap card advantage spells like Serum Visions, Ponder, Preordain or any other cheap draw/scry/look/organize type cards. The best of these would be Brainstorm, as it can put big spells from your hand onto the top of your library to set up a cascade. That being said, this is probably the best repeatable scry effect for the deck and a budget version of Scroll Rack. Definitely a good substitute until you find one.
4 Fact or Fiction - I personally prefer the creature version, Sphinx of Uthuun, but its still a good early and late game draw spell.
5 Future Sight - Another good card with Wanderer. Lets you plan ahead and its great card advantage overall. Triple U casting cost is quite difficult though.
6 Recurring Insight - Great drawing power on a great cascade. I usually don't like stuff that just draws me cards, I would prefer it on a body, but its still great.
10 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - More great drawing power with the upside of screwing your opponents over. While both the Praetors we run in this deck can't be cascaded into, they are powerful inclusions nonetheless.
III.4 Tutor
2 Fauna Shaman - The poor man's Survival of the Fittest. If you have survival, definitely upgrade. Not essential though, we are not a reanimator deck.
4 Birthing Pod - The perfect artifact for all our ETB needs. The nature of ETB effects is that we have gained a card's maximum usefulness when cast (except for potential damage it can deal) and is therefore no longer required. Birthing Pod is here to recycle your creatures if you can't bounce and recast them. I currently don't have any, but if you want you can find some good 9cmc creatures, Pod Wanderer away and recast him.
6 Brutalizer Exarch - Very useful creature. I've included him in the tutor section because i've tutored more then tucked, but that's just me.
7 Tooth and Nail - An awesome cascade and fantastic spell. It is very important to note that additional costs, such as entwine or kicker/multikicker, can be paid when cascaded into. That just makes this card much more powerful.
-Other Options-
1 Worldly Tutor - Green's Mystical Tutor. Not essential, we have lots more powerful tutor effects, but can be neat if you hit it on the first cascade.
4 Pattern of Rebirth - Its a unique form of wrath insurance, but easy to remove. Flashing it in would be the best policy, but thats not the easiest thing to do.
4 Defense of the Heart - Considering how powerful this is, in my experience, my opponents don't remove it much. Of course, its a mistake and they learn their lesson when I fetch both Praetors on T5... The dynamic in multiplayer games is interesting, because the more people there are the easier it is to turn on, but the more likely it is someone can remove it. I've been mostly successful with it.
4 Deathrender - A slightly different artifact variant of Patter of Rebirth.
III.5 Utility
3 Mimic Vat - Use Birthing Pod to recast your recyclables. Good for exiling your reanimator opponent's stuff and using it to your own advantage.
3 Crystal Shard - Our go-to bounce artifact. Erratic Portal is available as well if you want more. Keep in mind opponents can forget about these things and tap out, in which case you don't have to target your own guys with it. Combo's nicely with Horobi, Death's Wall if an opponent is playing it.
4 Flameshadow Conjuring - A cool new edition from Magic Origins. Makes use of big ETB effects and huge beatsticks.
5 Tezzeret the Seeker - Great for finding our cheap yet good artifacts and then untapping them for maximum effect.
-Other Options-
2 Vexing Shusher - For pesky counter decks. A very political card as well as you can protect your ally's spells.
3 Cloudstone Curio - A very effective artifact for bouncing creatures. Can also flash in creatures with Prophet to save one of your guys being targeted or wrathed.
4 Kiora, the Crashing Wave - Protecting yourself from huge creatures on generals. Not very good against tokens. The -1 is what we really care about, and activating it twice to ramp 2 and draw 2 isn't the worst thing ever. Sarkhan Unbroken is worth a try.
4 Ral Zarek - Want to test this guy out. Can untap a land and tap down your opponent's things. His -2 is good removal and his ultimate is cute.
4 Vedalken Orrery - Currently in the testing chamber. Of course there is the classic Seeborn Muse combo with this, but I don't like a combo like that requires two very different cards, especially while I have Prophet of Kruphix. It don't see myself using this often. Still worth a try.
5 Mindclaw Shaman - Another cute card that can be very useful sometimes. Not an auto include, but I enjoy it.
5 Sarkhan Unbroken - a potential replacement for Kiora. I don't like that his other abilities are pretty useless in our deck.
5 Riku of Two Reflections - Good for copying awesome spells for ETB effect creatures, if you have the mana open. Still not too sure about this guy, but he's pretty good.
III.6.1 Best Cascades - Creatures
There are plenty of other creatures not listed in this section that would be good cascades, but have not been listed here because they fit in other roles.
5 Prophet of Kurphix - Ah, the classic "If you don't answer this, I will vomit my hand onto the table and proceed to destroy everyone" card. I really hope this guys doesn't get the ban hammer...If it isn't obvious enough to you, this card is insane. If you have the right set up, forget dumping your hand, you can just recast Wanderer every turn, but that requires some sort of artifact untapping for Crystal Shard. By himself though, he combos very nicely with Etherium-Horn Sorcerer.
6 Soul of New Phyrexia - One of the few board wipe-insurance cards we can play. Big body with great effects.
6 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer - Our only other cascade spell. The return effect is just bonkers with Prophet of Kruphix. Bloodbraid Elf is an option, but it will usually hit ramp or an artifact. Nothing wrong with that though!
6 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu - Very good beater, and even better when cascaded into with haste. Archetype of Imagination is another potential beater if you can't get your hands on the sexy FTV:Legends foil of Sun Quan. Be careful of Silklash Spider...
7 Molten Primordial - More fun shenanigans! I love the Primordial cycle, and it breaks my heart that i can't use Sylvan Primordial anymore.
7 Diluvian Primordial - The better Primordial in my opinion. Cousin of Chancellor of the Spres, another very viable card. What i find is that I often hold back on this guy because I wait for all my opponent's graveyards to have a goodie I can recast, but this is not always the best policy. Definitely cast if you can make use of any card that your opponents can offer.
7 Sphinx Ambassador - Essentially a repeatable Bribery, if you outsmart your opponent (shouldn't be too hard, you're playing Wanderer and they're not), it pays off very nicely.
-Other Options-
4 Nylea, God of the Hunt - Giving all our guys trample and pumping our general to finish someone off. Not hard to turn on.
5 Species Gorger - Huge, undercosted body with a useful ability that we can abuse in this deck. If you want to lower your curve, Roaring Primadox pulls his weight as well.
7 Platinum Angel - In the testing phase, I figured I needed some kind of combo insurance card. Easily removable, though.
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - A terrible, fantastic, yet terrible card. Play it. It can't be cascaded into (why is it under the "Best cascades" section??) but completely worth it either way.
III.6.2 Best Cascades - Spells
Again, there are plenty of non-creature spells we would love to cascade into, such as Recurring Insight, but for classification purposes they have been listed elsewhere.
5 Bribery - Great against other aggro/big creature decks like Kaalia of the Vast or Prime Speaker Zegana for example. Great with cascade because the creature gets haste from Wanderer!
6 See the Unwritten - Without Ferocious, it digs through the deck and lets us pick the next creature we cast. Otherwise, we get 2 creatures from one spell. Seems good.
7 Temporal Mastery - I'm not to big on extra turns, but they are nice and very useful. 1 spell is enough.
7 Knowledge Exploitation - A fun card that just never looses. In multiplayer, there is bound to be someone that will have a spell that you would want to cast.
-Other Options-
5 Time Warp - Another extra turn card should you want to include more.
0 Forest 7x / Mountain 4x / Island 5x - Ever heard of these cards? I hear they're pretty good. More forests because we need to draw green very early on for ramp.
Chapter IV: Strategy IV.1 Opening Hand
I like to mulligan aggressively; 2 Ramp spells in hand is not much to ask for. All the card advantage we need is within our commander, so all we have to do is cast him as early as possible. I usually mulligan away anything with CMC >4.
IV.2 The First Few Turns
Ramp, ramp, ramp! Get those lands out in preparation of casting your big fatties.
IV.3 Casting Wanderer
Now comes the part where I tell you that he can backfire. Its not very major, so nothing serious that needs rethinking, but certainly something to think about. If you play your cards right and get your recursion engine going, one bad cascade won't be bad amongst the other million cascades you'll be triggering. But here is a list of bad cascades:
Most ramp spells are not ideal when we want to be bashing face.
Ironically, while we want to get Wanderer out as soon as possible, most of our bad cascades happen because our opponents haven't done much (i.e. empty graves or no creatures). I guess you could say Wanderer thrives on a chaotic board, and so he gets better in the late game. But it comes down to the situation where if you really have no good targets for your removal or steal spells, then you probably have the upper hand.
IV.4 Winning the Game
This deck wins by overpowering your opponents. Wanderer allows us to go tall and wide. I have found Disaster Radius or Sun Quan, Lord of Wu to be the most effective wincons. Any trample enabler against token strategies also works as well. Similarly, Bribery and Knowledge Exploitation are really good because they let us get similar wincons from our opponents.
IV.5 Synergies & Combos
I've listed a few in the card choices section, but I will summarize them here.
Of course, with Tooth and Nail and access to blue, there are a few combos available should you want to run them.
Chapter V: Changelog and Testing
Unfortunately, considering the time i've spent working on the deck without this primer, I could not keep track of all the changes I've made since i've started playing. However, hopefully by reading through the card choices section you have gotten a sense of why cards that I might have had in before are no longer included. I have also managed to scour my memory for recent changes and have listed them below.
Additionally, my love for the deck has me always testing new cards. Section V.2 lists all the cards that I have yet to test and/or find room for. Any information regarding these cards is welcome for discussion! Most of the cards listed in my sideboard can be found in the card choices section, and for those I can honestly say that their summaries are speculation since I have not tested with them yet.
Fellow Wanderer player here (with a similar mindset). How has Kiora been treating you?
I would try to fit in Equilibrium and Cloudstone Curio somewhere in the deck. Equilibrium can allow you to use smaller creatures to bounce MW or opponent's creatures out of the way, and Cloudstone Curio is amazing at returning MW back to your hand.
I would also fit in Surrak and Kessig Wolf Run. It is very annoying getting Wanderer chump blocked, and these two deal with the situation quite nicely
Fellow Wanderer player here (with a similar mindset). How has Kiora been treating you?
I would try to fit in Equilibrium and Cloudstone Curio somewhere in the deck. Equilibrium can allow you to use smaller creatures to bounce MW or opponent's creatures out of the way, and Cloudstone Curio is amazing at returning MW back to your hand.
I would also fit in Surrak and Kessig Wolf Run. It is very annoying getting Wanderer chump blocked, and these two deal with the situation quite nicely
Kiora has been okay, she can keep Voltron guys or other big dudes at bay, but its that -1 ability that I really like. I've been considering replacing her with Sarkhan Unbroken as his +1 is very good, but his other abilities don't help us. Is he worth running because he has a good +1?
I definitely want to fit at least another bounce effect into the deck, I think ill test Curio.
For me, the only reason I would run Surrak is his anti-counter ability, but I don't know If i run enough creatures for that. Chump blocking my commander is usually not an issue because He is accompanied by a boat load of other big guys. Kessig is nice though because its a land slot and its a great mana sink.
That's a nice list you got there. I recently transformed my Animar deck into Wanderer and I got to say it's really bonkers as commander (especially with the new no-tuck-rule). Here are some notions:
While Wanderer is indeed great at kicking back from wraths, I found some extra protection really helpfull. I use all of the on color gods,except for Keranos, because all have very relevant abilities and all of them (except Purphoros) are really easy to turn into creatures and swing...and they are very hard to kill.
Eldrazi Monument is AWESOME with Wanderer. You protect your board and can swing for lethal VERY fast. You can also sac Wanderer to recast him.
Temur Sabertooth is also great insurance, bounces Wanderer for recasts and allows shenanigans with ETB creatures.
Tezzeret, the Seeker helps to find you your powerful artifact enablers and untaps them and Garruk, Wildspeaker is fast ramp and overrun wraped into one neat package.
I know it's always annoying when people suggest a bunch of cards and nothing to cut: I would remove all the carddrawers like Mulldrifter, Sphinx of Uthuun and even Consecrated Sphinx because Wanderer usually is all the card advantage you need and once you start casting him there wont be much mana left for the cards in your hand.
I hope you find some of that usefull, have fun cascading into bombs
That's a nice list you got there. I recently transformed my Animar deck into Wanderer and I got to say it's really bonkers as commander (especially with the new no-tuck-rule). Here are some notions:
While Wanderer is indeed great at kicking back from wraths, I found some extra protection really helpfull. I use all of the on color gods,except for Keranos, because all have very relevant abilities and all of them (except Purphoros) are really easy to turn into creatures and swing...and they are very hard to kill.
Eldrazi Monument is AWESOME with Wanderer. You protect your board and can swing for lethal VERY fast. You can also sac Wanderer to recast him.
Temur Sabertooth is also great insurance, bounces Wanderer for recasts and allows shenanigans with ETB creatures.
Tezzeret, the Seeker helps to find you your powerful artifact enablers and untaps them and Garruk, Wildspeaker is fast ramp and overrun wraped into one neat package.
I know it's always annoying when people suggest a bunch of cards and nothing to cut: I would remove all the carddrawers like Mulldrifter, Sphinx of Uthuun and even Consecrated Sphinx because Wanderer usually is all the card advantage you need and once you start casting him there wont be much mana left for the cards in your hand.
I hope you find some of that usefull, have fun cascading into bombs
Thanks for the input! I do agree that some card advantage can be cut if we can abuse Wanderer so much. I like the idea of using the RUG gods, Kruphix and Thassa have both been on my mind...but what do you think about Purphoros? I don't see him being very useful. Sabertooth is nice too.
I had originaly discounted Tezzeret because I hate to waste a card on finding sol ring, and untapping it, but I realized that there are lots of searchable artifacts that we need and untapping them is double the utility.
Fellow Wanderer player here (with a similar mindset). How has Kiora been treating you?
I would try to fit in Equilibrium and Cloudstone Curio somewhere in the deck. Equilibrium can allow you to use smaller creatures to bounce MW or opponent's creatures out of the way, and Cloudstone Curio is amazing at returning MW back to your hand.
I would also fit in Surrak and Kessig Wolf Run. It is very annoying getting Wanderer chump blocked, and these two deal with the situation quite nicely
Kiora has been okay, she can keep Voltron guys or other big dudes at bay, but its that -1 ability that I really like. I've been considering replacing her with Sarkhan Unbroken as his +1 is very good, but his other abilities don't help us. Is he worth running because he has a good +1?
I definitely want to fit at least another bounce effect into the deck, I think ill test Curio.
For me, the only reason I would run Surrak is his anti-counter ability, but I don't know If i run enough creatures for that. Chump blocking my commander is usually not an issue because He is accompanied by a boat load of other big guys. Kessig is nice though because its a land slot and its a great mana sink.
Sarkhan 3.0 is blah in the deck. His +1 is not *that* impressive, and his other 2 abilities do not fit.
For PW's I run Jace, The Mind Sculptor and Garruk, Primal Hunter. Garruk is card advantage, chump blocker creation and is funs with Cloudstone Curio. JTMS is...JTMS.
I would also cut Farseek & Farhaven Elf for Explosive Vegetation and Skyshroud Claim. I want my sorceries to fetch me at least 2 lands, and FE is meh for.
Fellow Wanderer player here (with a similar mindset). How has Kiora been treating you?
I would try to fit in Equilibrium and Cloudstone Curio somewhere in the deck. Equilibrium can allow you to use smaller creatures to bounce MW or opponent's creatures out of the way, and Cloudstone Curio is amazing at returning MW back to your hand.
I would also fit in Surrak and Kessig Wolf Run. It is very annoying getting Wanderer chump blocked, and these two deal with the situation quite nicely
Kiora has been okay, she can keep Voltron guys or other big dudes at bay, but its that -1 ability that I really like. I've been considering replacing her with Sarkhan Unbroken as his +1 is very good, but his other abilities don't help us. Is he worth running because he has a good +1?
I definitely want to fit at least another bounce effect into the deck, I think ill test Curio.
For me, the only reason I would run Surrak is his anti-counter ability, but I don't know If i run enough creatures for that. Chump blocking my commander is usually not an issue because He is accompanied by a boat load of other big guys. Kessig is nice though because its a land slot and its a great mana sink.
Sarkhan 3.0 is blah in the deck. His +1 is not *that* impressive, and his other 2 abilities do not fit.
For PW's I run Jace, The Mind Sculptor and Garruk, Primal Hunter. Garruk is card advantage, chump blocker creation and is funs with Cloudstone Curio. JTMS is...JTMS.
I would also cut Farseek & Farhaven Elf for Explosive Vegetation and Skyshroud Claim. I want my sorceries to fetch me at least 2 lands, and FE is meh for.
While those are better, I do want to do things early game. I hate just land dropping the first few turns, I want to ramp into ramp, If you get me. What does your early game look like?
What do y'all think of Bident of Thassa? Messes with opponents and draws cards, could be good
I generally ramp during the first few turns. I mulligan aggressively, and I generally have at least 1 ramp card in my opening hand. I also try to find ways to harass my opponents (Trygon Predator is AMAZING) at this
One card I want to try out is Ulvenwald Tracker . He's removal on a stick.
Thassa, God of the Sea seems strong because it gives a way to swing through with big commander damage, even when she's an enchantment. Topdeck manipulation is a nice secondary thing. Purphoros, God of the Forge shouldn't make the list because we're not planning on bringing a ton of little guys to the field, we want a few big timmytastic guys.
Just curious, why no other cascaders except the minotaur? Just to maximize the bang for the single card buck?
Thassa, God of the Sea seems strong because it gives a way to swing through with big commander damage, even when she's an enchantment. Topdeck manipulation is a nice secondary thing. Purphoros, God of the Forge shouldn't make the list because we're not planning on bringing a ton of little guys to the field, we want a few big timmytastic guys.
Just curious, why no other cascaders except the minotaur? Just to maximize the bang for the single card buck?
I have been thinking about Bloodbraid Elf, maybe even Shardless Agent. They will usually hit small things obviously, but that's not a bad thing if you can get them off T3 or T4. What other cascades do you run?
Thassa, God of the Sea seems strong because it gives a way to swing through with big commander damage, even when she's an enchantment. Topdeck manipulation is a nice secondary thing. Purphoros, God of the Forge shouldn't make the list because we're not planning on bringing a ton of little guys to the field, we want a few big timmytastic guys.
Just curious, why no other cascaders except the minotaur? Just to maximize the bang for the single card buck?
I have been thinking about Bloodbraid Elf, maybe even Shardless Agent. They will usually hit small things obviously, but that's not a bad thing if you can get them off T3 or T4. What other cascades do you run?
As cascade spells, I just run MW, Etherium-Horn Sorcerer and BBE. Shardless Agent and Violent Outburst are in out colours bit don't do enough.
My list is all permanents, so it's a bit more creature heavy (I also have Avenger of Zendikar and a few ways to have infinite triggers) but Purphoros does a lot of work in it. In a multiplayer round with four players you do 6 damage per trigger. On top of all the hasty fatties that creates an incredibly fast clock.
Another card you might want to consider is Momir Vig. While he is a bit fragile he basically lets you choose what you want to cascade into, often making it easy to win off of one Wanderer cast.
What about Pyxis of Pandemonium in a permanent heavy list? seems like it's basically like an artifact cascade and will most likely come out on top if you have all permanents like Volango said.
Since I've played this deck for a little over a year now, I have a few general rules I play by. I only play ramp that gives 2+ mana (lotus cobra is the exception, but often times he makes your other ramp spells way awesome). I used to play Fyndhorn Elder as well, but that got cut when I finally got a Mana Crypt. I don't like playing infinite combos or extra turns (even though they are exceptionally good in this deck) as a personal preference. I have a few reactionary spells that don't suck as a cascade, namely Spelljack, which essentially lets you cascade 3 times instead of 2. I try to keep the number of dead cascades to a minimum, although some are unavoidable, such as Sylvan Library and occasionally Treachery, Defense of the Heart, Hellkite Tyrant, Cyclonic Rift, and Carpet of Flowers.
The Carpet is pretty amazing in here. If you are playing against a blue deck, it is amazing. IF you are not, then you will probably win anyways, so I find its ok to have the dead card.
I don't really like playing tutors, because cascading into them pretty much sucks. Plus, this way I get to play more awesome cards.
I have a low land count that is balanced by the significant % of ramp the deck has.
If you want an optimized build, Palinchron is pretty good here.
Often times it is much better than Mana Crypt, especially since we don't have a whole lot of instant-speed interaction. And the times that it isn't as good, we are probably winning anyways. I am always happy to have it in my starting hand, and I am only slightly sad to cascade into it.
Also in my deck, I don't run as much card filtering/tutoring as other Wanderer decks. Mostly because I want more awesome cards in there, and also it really, really sucks to work for a t3 wanderer only to cascade into double filtering spells. Very disappointing.
I've been thinking about some of the graveyard interactions we have...
On one side, there is Eternal Witness. It has immediate impact, and has a reusable ETB effect. On the other hand, I'm testing Genesis and Moldgraf Monstrosity. I don't like Artisan of Kozilek because his effect triggers on cast, so he can't be cheated into play with Pod or Tooth and Nail. Getting Genesis into the GY is essentially a repeatable Witness, but its effect is not immediate (I once won a game by Witnessing my Sun Quan, Lord of Wu back to hand, casting him, then swinging in for lethal with an army of huge tokens on the other side). Monstrosity is cool in that most of our big guys get targeted, so our GY should be filled with big guys and the randomness is less hurtful. Can also be Pod'ed away.
I play Wildfire and Destructive Force with great results. It's like playing Kaalia of the Vast: Overflooding the board with creatures and sweeping their lands, resulting in a fast win. The difference: Kaalia can't manage to do all that in one turn (creatures, land destruction and haste), but Wanderer can. Of course, Kaalia is still faster and more competetive, but in multiplayer, I value the surprise factor very high and that point goes to Wanderer.
I play a lot more ramp due to the land destruct and higher curve, but it works quite well for me that way.
I value lands without ETB tapped very high. My list could be built even more budgetfriendly with painlands and similar cards. I dislike to draw my 8th mana source and it needs to ETB tapped - urgh!
Extra turn effects are brutal with Wanderer. So are untap-effects. Great Whale, Palinchron and Treachery may seem unexciting, but they act very much like extra turn effects, increasing your amount of impact with one Wanderer cast even more. You would love to cascade into a Great Whale, untap 7 lands and your second cascade reveals a Rite of Replication that you can pay kicker for - leaving you with a minimum of 37 mana and 6 5/5s with haste. Muhahaha!
Greater Good: Another great way to send Wanderer back into his zone. But compared to other options, you get to draw 7 (!) and discard 3 cards. It can be used with our other fatties too, of course. Even with all the Wanderer action, I still want to draw as much as possible, especially to recover against massive disruption.
I play more sweepers, like All is Dust or Bane of Progress. I think it's important to clear the board for Wanderer often enough due to the lack of reactive answers (like counterspells).
Hey there, thanks for the input! I need to do some touching up on the primer, I haven't been active in the last few weeks.
Otherwise, i've looked at a few new cards.
Devastating Summons an interesting card. Combined with heavy ramp before casting wanderer, this certainly can be a game ending spell. However, certainly very high risk to say the least.
Dosan, the Falling Leaf. This guy intrigues me. We play a very un-interactive game. So this guy has his advantages and disadvantages. I say he competes with Vexing Shusher. It probably depends on your meta, and whether you frewuently play control decks, but I run a Shusher. The thing is, Dosan doesn't allow your opponents to play interactively with their opponents, which can sometimes be beneficial for us. Additionally, he does work well with Prophet of Kruphix. The pros are that he shuts down opposing Prophets, very interactive decks like I mentioned before, etc.
Updated the main decklist significantly, will get to updating card choices as well soon. I think my overall game plane has shifted a tiny bit, I'm not pursuing the sub-theme of abusing ETB effects. The few bounce spells I play will be mainly for wanderer, and occasionally for other creatures.
I just wanted to say, after all the games I played, I really have to highlight one card: Sun Quan, Lord of Wu. This guy with wanderer just winds games, period. I think he is an absolute all-star, and I highly recommend ANYONE played wanderer run this guy. (For a more budge option there is the also extremely effective Archetype of Imagination). especially in a creature heavy version, filled with huge 5, 6, and 7 power fatties, Sun Quan is a nightmare for opponents.
Dissapointed by the lack of playables in the spoilers so far for BFZ....i can absolutely see and landfall themed Wanderer deck but I don't think thats what we are going for. Unfortunately Animar decks will love this set with the abundance of great colorless monstrosities that they can cast for free (in their own way). However I do like Nissa's Renewal as a ramp spell. Its definitely one of the better ramp cascades and ramps perfectly from 5 to the 8 we need to cast Wanderer. Speaking of 7 life, I also want to give Primal Command a try in the deck.
Chapter I: Introduction
I.1 About My Version of the Deck
Maelstrom Wanderer was my first commander and my first full, proper deck, back when I was a wee lad about a year and a half ago and didn't have the resources or time to construct a standard deck and play tournaments regularly. I realized that a fun, casual-yet-competitive, and eternal format like EDH was the place to build my first deck. So I sold my janky Innistrad-block vampire tribal deck and bought a Planechase 2012 Maelstrom Wanderer, which was upgraded to a Commander's Arsenal foil a few months later.
I chose Maelstrom Wanderer for a few reasons. First and foremost, am I a Gruul man (if you haven't figured out by my name), so I knew I wanted by first commander to be RG. I like casting big creatures and smashing face. I also like casting those things for free (who doesn't?). Once you get to learn your deck you will be able to abuse the double cascade by recasting him very often. Wanderer is a pretty unique commander in that he invites your opponents to get rid of him. Now with tuck gone, he will always be available at your side ready to give you more free things. I did some research and saw that blue gave me access to a plethora of fantastic spells and also some quite good creatures.
So I had my colors before my commander. Initially, I went with Riku of Two Reflections. What's better than having an awesome creature and an awesome spell? Two awesome creatures and two awesome spells! But a few games into testing I wasn't very excited. I realized a few things - the deck, especially the combo variant, relies heavily on its commander (who kept being removed when I played with him), and I knew I didn't want a deck that relies on my commander. I wanted a deck chock-full of huge spells that could win on their own.
So now we are where I am today. Like with most commanders, there are plenty of different paths one can go down. Maelstrom Wanderer is no exception. I built the deck to maximize cascade potential. This means lots of big, useful, impactful creatures and spell, but not many cards with CMC > 7. You will see a large sub-theme of enter the battlefield effects, and cards like Conjurer's Closet and Deadeye Navigator to reuse them. While I'd like to think that I don't rely on my commander, that doesn't mean I don't want to abuse him! Something like Crystal Shard to bounce and recast Wanderer every turn really doesn't sit well with opponents...but more on individual cards later.
While this deck is pretty competitive, some might say I have not maxed out its full potential. These people are talking about strategies such as using Selective Memory to ensure a cascade into something like Apocalypse, leaving the board with nothing but a lonely Wanderer, at which point most people scoop. While this is absolutely a viable strategy (and easy to implement, the deck is relatively the same), its just not my play style. I enjoy overpowering my opponents with large spells. I particularly enjoy cards like Knowledge Exploitation and Bribery because they make every game unique.
I.2 The Deck's Strength's and Weaknesses
Strengths
Weaknesses
I.3 Why You Should Or Should Not Play Maelstrom Wanderer
Play Him If...
Don't Play Him If...
I.4 Other URG Commanders
Chapter II: Decklist
For clarity and detail I have presented two decklists. The first is ordered by card type, for example Artifacts and Creatures. This allows you to see the distribution and ratios of cards types, which is important to know if you want to figure out if cards like Garruk's Horde payoff often and are worth running. The second decklist is ordered by role, for example Ramp and Utility, another effective method of displaying decklists to see what cards fit what purpose, how many of that purpose is required, etc. Both versions have cards listed by increasing mana cost under each category, and both versions included Lands as a category, despite some lands filling multiple roles. This will be discussed in the Lands section under card choices.
II.1 Decklist by Card Type
Creatures (33)
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Dreamscape Artist
2 Fauna Shaman
3 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Elvish Piper
4 Temur Sabertooth
4 Wickerbough Elder
5 Prophet of Kurphix
5 Genesis
5 Kruphix, God of Horizons
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
5 Surrak Dragonclaw
6 Brutalizer Exarch
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Bane of Progress
6 Inferno Titan
6 Frost Titan
6 Hellkite Tyrant
6 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
6 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
6 Scourge of the Throne
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Soul of New Phyrexia
7 Molten Primordial
7 Diluvian Primordial
7 Phyrexian Ingester
7 Sphinx of Uthuun
7 Sphinx Ambassador
7 Phyrexian Ingester
7 Balefire Dragon
8 Terastodon
1 Sol Ring
2 Scroll Rack
3 Mimic Vat
3 Worn Powerstone
3 Crystal Shard
4 Birthing Pod
Enchantments (3)
3 Food Chain
4 Flameshadow Conjuring
7 Spirit Away
Planeswalkers (2)
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
Sorceries (17)
2 Farseek
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
4 Tempt With Discovery
4 Explosive Vegetation
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Decimate
5 Æther Gale
5 Bribery
6 See the Unwritten
6 Time Spiral
7 Disaster Radius
7 Temoporal Mastery
7 Blatant Thievery
7 Tooth and Nail
7 Knowledge Exploitation
9 Blasphemous Act
Lands (38)
0 Commander Tower
0 Evolving Wilds
0 Terramorphic Expanse
0 Frontier Bivouac
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Stomping Ground
0 Steam Vents
0 Breeding Pool
0 Rootbound Crag
0 Sulfur Falls
0 Hinterland Harbor
0 Temple of Abandon
0 Temple of Epiphany
0 Temple of Mystery
0 Mosswort Bridge
0 Homeward Path
0 Temple of the False God
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Alchemist's Refuge
0 Desolate Lighthouse
0 Forest 7x
0 Mountain 5x
0 Island 4x
II.2 Decklist by Card Role
Keep in mind that some cards do fulfill multiple roles, which I will talk about in the individual card choices section.
Turn 1 Sol Ring (Ramp) (15)
1 Sol Ring
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Dreamscape Artist
2 Farseek
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Food Chain
3 Worn Powerstone
3 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Tempt With Discovery
4 Explosive Vegetation
4 Skyshroud Claim
5 Kruphix, God of Horizons
Kill or Be Killed (Removal/Sweepers) (12)
4 Decimate
4 Wickerbough Elder
5 Æther Gale
7 Spirit Away (pseudo removal)
6 Bane of Progress
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Inferno Titan
7 Phyrexian Ingester
7 Disaster Radius
7 Blatant Thievery (pseudo removal)
8 Terastodon
9 Blasphemous Act
Fueling the War Machine (Card Advantage, Tutor, Utility) (16)
2 Scroll Rack
2 Fauna Shaman
3 Mimic Vat
3 Crystal Shard
4 Birthing Pod
4 Elvish Piper
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Temur Sabertooth
4 Flameshadow Conjuring
5 Genesis
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Brutalizer Exarch
7 Sphinx of Uthuun
7 Tooth and Nail
5 Surrak Dragonclaw
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
5 Bribery
6 Time Spiral
6 Frost Titan
6 Hellkite Tyrant
6 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
6 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
6 See the Unwritten
6 Scourge of the Throne
6 Soul of New Phyrexia
7 Balefire Dragon
7 Molten Primordial
7 Temoporal Mastery
7 Blatant Thievery
7 Knowledge Exploitation
7 Diluvian Primordial
7 Sphinx Ambassador
7 Quicksilver Gargantuan
How Do I Pay For All This? (Lands) (38)
0 Commander Tower
0 Evolving Wilds
0 Terramorphic Expanse
0 Frontier Bivouac
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Stomping Ground
0 Steam Vents
0 Breeding Pool
0 Rootbound Crag
0 Sulfur Falls
0 Hinterland Harbor
0 Temple of Abandon
0 Temple of Epiphany
0 Temple of Mystery
0 Mosswort Bridge
0 Homeward Path
0 Temple of the False God
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Alchemist's Refuge
0 Desolate Lighthouse
0 Forest 7x
0 Mountain 5x
0 Island 4x
Chapter III: Chard Choices
The following chapter has card summaries ordered by role. Important Note: At the end of each section, you will find cards that are NOT in the deck. I have done this for a few reasons. Firstly, to show why some cards are better than others. Secondly, to provide alternatives to certain cards that are possibly interchangeable with what I'm currently using. Thirdly, to emphasize that my decklist is not perfect, and that there are plenty of good cards that belong in this deck and that it is up to the pilot's discretion to craft his ship.
III.1 Ramp
1 Sol Ring - EDH Staple since forever. The go-to ramp artifact for every deck.
2 Coiling Oracle - A strictly better Elvish Visionary. Easy ramp/draw early game and chump block or ETB effect recurrence late game.
2 Dreamscape Artist - Pretty good in my experience. In addition to the lands coming in untapped (essentially making his activation cost 1) he can make use of extra lands or dead cards in your hand and ramp you up nicely.
2 Farseek - Staple ramp spell for 3+ color decks. I want at least 1 early ramp spell.
3 Cultivate / Kodama's Reach - 3 cmc for 2 lands, ensures that you hit your next land drop.
3 Food Chain - This card is very interesting...I've only recently started testing it, and it draws a surprising amount of hate, but its still very good. What usually catches me is that it produces mana of any one color, so I have to tap lands correctly to ensure I can cast a multi color spell off of this guy. Works very well with our ETB creatures, because if we can't reuse them, we can always exile them to Food Chain. Also works well with cards that let us gain control of our opponent's things, and after we;ve exploited them exile them to Food Chain as well.
3 Worn Powerstone - More early game artifact ramp.
3 Shaman of Forgotten Ways - Biorhythm on a stick! Another great ramping creature.
4 Oracle of Mul Daya - More classic ramp, digs through our library and is a great land flood savior.
4 Tempt With Discovery - This card is bonkers for three reasons: it fetches you any land, can potentially get you 2-5 lands total, and they come into play untapped. My first search is usually for Temple of the False God, then from there any other utility lands that I might need, like a Homeward Path.
4 Skyshroud Claim / Explosive Vegetation - I like a little more bang out of my buck from ramp spells.
5 Kruphix, God of Horizons - Powerful mana ability which lets us recast Wanderer much more easily, and can easily be turned into a creature himself.
-Other Options-
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder - Creature ramp and chump block if need be.
3 Farhaven Elf / Wood Elves - Creature ramp for chump block later on. This deck most certainly favors ramp on creatures because of its ability to reuse ETB effects. Note that Wood Elves fetches a Forest, which comes into play untapped.
3 Harrow - I use Cultivate/Reach over this guy because they ramp me 1 and get a land for next turn, while this ramps for a net gain of 1, without the additional land for next turn.
3 Courser of Kruphix - definitely want to test him out after he rotates out of standard and his price drops...
Somberwald Sage - Another Shaman of the Great Hunt. More mana but can't add a variety.
4 Solemn Simulacrum - Staple EDH card that ramps and blocks, nothing to talk about here.
4 Ondu Giant - This is what I might replace Xenagos with if he doesn't work out. Like a Solemn Simulacrum without the draw, and can be used for Food Chain.
4 Xenagos, the Reveler - He trumps other ramp in that by T4 he can potentially be adding 2 mana, and even more from there. I've put Xenagos under ramp because that is primarily what he will be doing. We really don't need hasty 2/2s, and he usually doesn't stick around to set his ultimate off. Getting to his -6 is definitely a goal, and its a relevant ability, which is why he hasn't been replaced by some other 4cmc ramp spell. He is currently in the "testing phase" so I'll keep an eye on his usefulness in games.
III.2 Removal/Sweepers
4 Wickerbough Elder - I prefer this card over any ETB artifact/enchantment hate, because if its an unplanned cascade you might not have any greta targets.
4 Decimate - I'm not gonna lie, its a risky cascade
5 Æther Gale - Originally, this was Cyclonic Rift. However, I cascading into Rift is very underwhelming, but I knew I still wanted a big sweeper like it in the deck. Found this gem while looking through Commander 2014 decklists, and has been quite successful. Bad cascade post wrath because if you don't have the targets the spell fizzles.
6 Bane of Progress - We don't run enough artifacts/enchantments to make this an iffy choice. A great sweeper, and can get very big easily.
6 Steel Hellkite - Great mana sink and repeatable removal against problematic cards. Tokens hate this card.
7 Phyrexian Ingester - ETB removal effect, can potentially be very huge (ever ingested a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth?)
7 Disaster Radius - Potentially and an effective one-sided board wipe. One of the not-so-great cascades on an empty board.
8 Terastodon - A powerful ETB effect creature, capable of dealing with multiple problematic permanents.
9 Blasphemous Act - The best mass removal spell for the deck. Conveniently dodges Wanderer's cascade, so no accidental self-destructs happen. But when you need it, its very useful.
-Other Options-
2 Cyclonic Rift - A very underwhelming cascade, but a powerful spell if overloaded.
2 Mizzium Mortars - The same deal as with Cyclonic Rift.
3 Reclamation Sage - Definitely a viable alternative to Trygon Predator; an ETB effect to recurr and a chump blocker/Food Chain fodder later game. However, I went with Trygon Predator in the end simply because there is always an artifact or enchantment to blow up, and 1 or 2 Sage effects is not enough. If anything, I'd remove Krosan Grip for this guy if I need to for the extra utility.
3 Krosan Grip - Premium artifact/enchantment hate. Cascading into it shouldn't be a problem because there is always something to blow up.
3 Trygon Predator - Reusable artifact/enchantment hate. Dropping him T3 will make your opponents rethink their game plan.
4 Nevinyrral's Disk - Another good board wipe that doesn't accidentally blow up in our face off cascade.
5 Acidic Slime - More noncreature removal. Powerful recursion and chump blocker.
5Apocalypse / Jokulhaups - I talked a little bit about this in the intro, so i'll be concise: I don't run them because I don't enjoy such mass removal, but they are very viable, effective, and game-winning strategies. Its up to the pilot to decide whether they want to include them or if their playgroup is okay with it.
8 Woodfall Primus - More ETB removal effect (get the picture yet?)
III.3 Card Advantage
2 Scroll Rack - The mother of card advantage with cascade spells. For one extra mana, you can choose what two cards in your hand you want to cascade away. Refuel your hand after dumping things on the board. Dig for answers. This is probably the single most synergetic and effective card in the whole deck.
6 Consecrated Sphinx - The mother of draw in EDH. Will draw hate immediately but can pay off hugely if unanswered.
7 Sphinx of Uthuun - Fact or Fiction sphinx, ETB abuse and heavy beater.
-Other Options-
2 Sylvan Library - Probably the best green draw spell, and lets you dig deeper into your deck and see what you have to cascade. For me it was this or Scroll Rack, which is why this was is not maindecked. I should probably get a spot for this in the deck though...
3 Crystal Ball - This is where i'm going to talk about scry. Scry, while very good with this deck, just gives us information. We want to be able to manipulate that information, which is why you won't find many scry effects in here. I personally do no recommend cheap card advantage spells like Serum Visions, Ponder, Preordain or any other cheap draw/scry/look/organize type cards. The best of these would be Brainstorm, as it can put big spells from your hand onto the top of your library to set up a cascade. That being said, this is probably the best repeatable scry effect for the deck and a budget version of Scroll Rack. Definitely a good substitute until you find one.
4 Fact or Fiction - I personally prefer the creature version, Sphinx of Uthuun, but its still a good early and late game draw spell.
5 Future Sight - Another good card with Wanderer. Lets you plan ahead and its great card advantage overall. Triple U casting cost is quite difficult though.
5 Mulldrifter - ETB draw. More effects to abuse.
6 Recurring Insight - Great drawing power on a great cascade. I usually don't like stuff that just draws me cards, I would prefer it on a body, but its still great.
10 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - More great drawing power with the upside of screwing your opponents over. While both the Praetors we run in this deck can't be cascaded into, they are powerful inclusions nonetheless.
III.4 Tutor
2 Fauna Shaman - The poor man's Survival of the Fittest. If you have survival, definitely upgrade. Not essential though, we are not a reanimator deck.
4 Birthing Pod - The perfect artifact for all our ETB needs. The nature of ETB effects is that we have gained a card's maximum usefulness when cast (except for potential damage it can deal) and is therefore no longer required. Birthing Pod is here to recycle your creatures if you can't bounce and recast them. I currently don't have any, but if you want you can find some good 9cmc creatures, Pod Wanderer away and recast him.
6 Brutalizer Exarch - Very useful creature. I've included him in the tutor section because i've tutored more then tucked, but that's just me.
7 Tooth and Nail - An awesome cascade and fantastic spell. It is very important to note that additional costs, such as entwine or kicker/multikicker, can be paid when cascaded into. That just makes this card much more powerful.
-Other Options-
1 Worldly Tutor - Green's Mystical Tutor. Not essential, we have lots more powerful tutor effects, but can be neat if you hit it on the first cascade.
4 Pattern of Rebirth - Its a unique form of wrath insurance, but easy to remove. Flashing it in would be the best policy, but thats not the easiest thing to do.
4 Defense of the Heart - Considering how powerful this is, in my experience, my opponents don't remove it much. Of course, its a mistake and they learn their lesson when I fetch both Praetors on T5... The dynamic in multiplayer games is interesting, because the more people there are the easier it is to turn on, but the more likely it is someone can remove it. I've been mostly successful with it.
4 Deathrender - A slightly different artifact variant of Patter of Rebirth.
III.5 Utility
3 Mimic Vat - Use Birthing Pod to recast your recyclables. Good for exiling your reanimator opponent's stuff and using it to your own advantage.
3 Crystal Shard - Our go-to bounce artifact. Erratic Portal is available as well if you want more. Keep in mind opponents can forget about these things and tap out, in which case you don't have to target your own guys with it. Combo's nicely with Horobi, Death's Wall if an opponent is playing it.
3 Eternal Witness - Regrowth on a stick. Use, Recycle, Reuse.
4 Flameshadow Conjuring - A cool new edition from Magic Origins. Makes use of big ETB effects and huge beatsticks.
5 Tezzeret the Seeker - Great for finding our cheap yet good artifacts and then untapping them for maximum effect.
-Other Options-
2 Vexing Shusher - For pesky counter decks. A very political card as well as you can protect your ally's spells.
3 Cloudstone Curio - A very effective artifact for bouncing creatures. Can also flash in creatures with Prophet to save one of your guys being targeted or wrathed.
4 Erratic Portal - Crystal Shard #2.
4 Kiora, the Crashing Wave - Protecting yourself from huge creatures on generals. Not very good against tokens. The -1 is what we really care about, and activating it twice to ramp 2 and draw 2 isn't the worst thing ever. Sarkhan Unbroken is worth a try.
4 Ral Zarek - Want to test this guy out. Can untap a land and tap down your opponent's things. His -2 is good removal and his ultimate is cute.
4 Vedalken Orrery - Currently in the testing chamber. Of course there is the classic Seeborn Muse combo with this, but I don't like a combo like that requires two very different cards, especially while I have Prophet of Kruphix. It don't see myself using this often. Still worth a try.
5 Conjurer's Clost - Bouncing for free every turn. Very nice!
5 Mindclaw Shaman - Another cute card that can be very useful sometimes. Not an auto include, but I enjoy it.
5 Sarkhan Unbroken - a potential replacement for Kiora. I don't like that his other abilities are pretty useless in our deck.
5 Riku of Two Reflections - Good for copying awesome spells for ETB effect creatures, if you have the mana open. Still not too sure about this guy, but he's pretty good.
III.6.1 Best Cascades - Creatures
There are plenty of other creatures not listed in this section that would be good cascades, but have not been listed here because they fit in other roles.
5 Prophet of Kurphix - Ah, the classic "If you don't answer this, I will vomit my hand onto the table and proceed to destroy everyone" card. I really hope this guys doesn't get the ban hammer...If it isn't obvious enough to you, this card is insane. If you have the right set up, forget dumping your hand, you can just recast Wanderer every turn, but that requires some sort of artifact untapping for Crystal Shard. By himself though, he combos very nicely with Etherium-Horn Sorcerer.
5 Xenagos, God of Revels - 14/12 Wanderer is a nightmare waiting to happen.
5 Surrak Dragonclaw - Was able to remove Nylea, God of the Hunt and Vexing Shusher just for this guy. A very useful creature with a great body.
6 Inferno Titan - Removal, Burn, Fatty, Bomb.
6 Frost Titan - (Pseudo) Removal, Protection, Fatty, Bomb.
6 Hellkite Tyrant - Hey artifact player! Don't mind if do... Hoard-Smelter Dragon is also a thing.
6 Scourge of the Throne - Oh my god cascading into this guy is disgusting.
6 Soul of New Phyrexia - One of the few board wipe-insurance cards we can play. Big body with great effects.
6 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer - Our only other cascade spell. The return effect is just bonkers with Prophet of Kruphix. Bloodbraid Elf is an option, but it will usually hit ramp or an artifact. Nothing wrong with that though!
6 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu - Very good beater, and even better when cascaded into with haste. Archetype of Imagination is another potential beater if you can't get your hands on the sexy FTV:Legends foil of Sun Quan. Be careful of Silklash Spider...
7 Molten Primordial - More fun shenanigans! I love the Primordial cycle, and it breaks my heart that i can't use Sylvan Primordial anymore.
7 Diluvian Primordial - The better Primordial in my opinion. Cousin of Chancellor of the Spres, another very viable card. What i find is that I often hold back on this guy because I wait for all my opponent's graveyards to have a goodie I can recast, but this is not always the best policy. Definitely cast if you can make use of any card that your opponents can offer.
7 Sphinx Ambassador - Essentially a repeatable Bribery, if you outsmart your opponent (shouldn't be too hard, you're playing Wanderer and they're not), it pays off very nicely.
-Other Options-
4 Nylea, God of the Hunt - Giving all our guys trample and pumping our general to finish someone off. Not hard to turn on.
5 Body Double - The only clone I run because he is basically my only insurance against reanimator. Other good clones include Clever Impersonator and Phyrexian Metamorph.
5 Zealous Conscripts - Fun shenanigans, Molten Primordial's little brother. Definitely not a huge bomb, can be cut for other preferences.
5 Species Gorger - Huge, undercosted body with a useful ability that we can abuse in this deck. If you want to lower your curve, Roaring Primadox pulls his weight as well.
6 Deadeye Navigator - Blink, Abuse, Fatty, Bomb.
7 Platinum Angel - In the testing phase, I figured I needed some kind of combo insurance card. Easily removable, though.
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - A terrible, fantastic, yet terrible card. Play it. It can't be cascaded into (why is it under the "Best cascades" section??) but completely worth it either way.
III.6.2 Best Cascades - Spells
Again, there are plenty of non-creature spells we would love to cascade into, such as Recurring Insight, but for classification purposes they have been listed elsewhere.
5 Bribery - Great against other aggro/big creature decks like Kaalia of the Vast or Prime Speaker Zegana for example. Great with cascade because the creature gets haste from Wanderer!
6 See the Unwritten - Without Ferocious, it digs through the deck and lets us pick the next creature we cast. Otherwise, we get 2 creatures from one spell. Seems good.
7 Temporal Mastery - I'm not to big on extra turns, but they are nice and very useful. 1 spell is enough.
7 Blatant Thievery - Kind of a bummer on an empty board.
7 Knowledge Exploitation - A fun card that just never looses. In multiplayer, there is bound to be someone that will have a spell that you would want to cast.
-Other Options-
5 Time Warp - Another extra turn card should you want to include more.
III.7 Lands
0 Commander Tower - Land #1 in commander.
0 Temple of the False God - Land #2.
0 Evolving Wilds / Terramorphic Expanse - Filters deck, gets any basic.
0 Frontier Bivouac - Our all-colors tapland.
0 Wooded Foothills / Scalding Tarn / Misty Rainforest - Fetches.
0 Stomping Ground / Steam Vents / Breeding Pool - Shocklands.
0 Rootbound Crag / Sulfur Falls / Hinterland Harbor - Checklands.
0 Temple of Abandon / Temple of Epiphany / Temple of Mystery - Scry temples.
0 Mosswort Bridge - Awesome card in a Wanderer deck. Easily turned on, can flash in huge bombs.
0 Homeward Path / Reliquary Tower / Alchemist's Refuge / Desolate Lighthouse - Utility lands.
0 Forest 7x / Mountain 4x / Island 5x - Ever heard of these cards? I hear they're pretty good. More forests because we need to draw green very early on for ramp.
Chapter IV: Strategy
IV.1 Opening Hand
I like to mulligan aggressively; 2 Ramp spells in hand is not much to ask for. All the card advantage we need is within our commander, so all we have to do is cast him as early as possible. I usually mulligan away anything with CMC >4.
IV.2 The First Few Turns
Ramp, ramp, ramp! Get those lands out in preparation of casting your big fatties.
IV.3 Casting Wanderer
Now comes the part where I tell you that he can backfire. Its not very major, so nothing serious that needs rethinking, but certainly something to think about. If you play your cards right and get your recursion engine going, one bad cascade won't be bad amongst the other million cascades you'll be triggering. But here is a list of bad cascades:
IV.4 Winning the Game
This deck wins by overpowering your opponents. Wanderer allows us to go tall and wide. I have found Disaster Radius or Sun Quan, Lord of Wu to be the most effective wincons. Any trample enabler against token strategies also works as well. Similarly, Bribery and Knowledge Exploitation are really good because they let us get similar wincons from our opponents.
IV.5 Synergies & Combos
I've listed a few in the card choices section, but I will summarize them here.
Chapter V: Changelog and Testing
Unfortunately, considering the time i've spent working on the deck without this primer, I could not keep track of all the changes I've made since i've started playing. However, hopefully by reading through the card choices section you have gotten a sense of why cards that I might have had in before are no longer included. I have also managed to scour my memory for recent changes and have listed them below.
Additionally, my love for the deck has me always testing new cards. Section V.2 lists all the cards that I have yet to test and/or find room for. Any information regarding these cards is welcome for discussion! Most of the cards listed in my sideboard can be found in the card choices section, and for those I can honestly say that their summaries are speculation since I have not tested with them yet.
V.1 Changelog
- Kiora, the Crashing Wave
+ Garruk Wildspeaker
Figured he did a better job of ramping and his ultimate is easy to get to and effective.
- Krosan Grip
+ Reclamation Sage
Reusable artifact/enchantment hate is better than split second.
- Vedalken Orrery
+ Cloudstone Curio
Orrery was unimpressive, testing a different utility artifact.
- Cloudstone Curio
+ Flameshadow Conjuring
- Reclamation Sage
+ Bane of Progress
I've made lots of changes recently, too many to keep track. I'll update this section incrementally.
V.2 Testing
Nothing on the drawing board currently.
Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed reading the Primer. Let me know if you have any questions, and I am eager to hear everyone's contributions.
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I would try to fit in Equilibrium and Cloudstone Curio somewhere in the deck. Equilibrium can allow you to use smaller creatures to bounce MW or opponent's creatures out of the way, and Cloudstone Curio is amazing at returning MW back to your hand.
I would also fit in Surrak and Kessig Wolf Run. It is very annoying getting Wanderer chump blocked, and these two deal with the situation quite nicely
Kiora has been okay, she can keep Voltron guys or other big dudes at bay, but its that -1 ability that I really like. I've been considering replacing her with Sarkhan Unbroken as his +1 is very good, but his other abilities don't help us. Is he worth running because he has a good +1?
I definitely want to fit at least another bounce effect into the deck, I think ill test Curio.
For me, the only reason I would run Surrak is his anti-counter ability, but I don't know If i run enough creatures for that. Chump blocking my commander is usually not an issue because He is accompanied by a boat load of other big guys. Kessig is nice though because its a land slot and its a great mana sink.
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While Wanderer is indeed great at kicking back from wraths, I found some extra protection really helpfull. I use all of the on color gods,except for Keranos, because all have very relevant abilities and all of them (except Purphoros) are really easy to turn into creatures and swing...and they are very hard to kill.
Eldrazi Monument is AWESOME with Wanderer. You protect your board and can swing for lethal VERY fast. You can also sac Wanderer to recast him.
Temur Sabertooth is also great insurance, bounces Wanderer for recasts and allows shenanigans with ETB creatures.
Tezzeret, the Seeker helps to find you your powerful artifact enablers and untaps them and Garruk, Wildspeaker is fast ramp and overrun wraped into one neat package.
I know it's always annoying when people suggest a bunch of cards and nothing to cut: I would remove all the carddrawers like Mulldrifter, Sphinx of Uthuun and even Consecrated Sphinx because Wanderer usually is all the card advantage you need and once you start casting him there wont be much mana left for the cards in your hand.
I hope you find some of that usefull, have fun cascading into bombs
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer
Thanks for the input! I do agree that some card advantage can be cut if we can abuse Wanderer so much. I like the idea of using the RUG gods, Kruphix and Thassa have both been on my mind...but what do you think about Purphoros? I don't see him being very useful. Sabertooth is nice too.
I had originaly discounted Tezzeret because I hate to waste a card on finding sol ring, and untapping it, but I realized that there are lots of searchable artifacts that we need and untapping them is double the utility.
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For PW's I run Jace, The Mind Sculptor and Garruk, Primal Hunter. Garruk is card advantage, chump blocker creation and is funs with Cloudstone Curio. JTMS is...JTMS.
I would also cut Farseek & Farhaven Elf for Explosive Vegetation and Skyshroud Claim. I want my sorceries to fetch me at least 2 lands, and FE is meh for.
While those are better, I do want to do things early game. I hate just land dropping the first few turns, I want to ramp into ramp, If you get me. What does your early game look like?
What do y'all think of Bident of Thassa? Messes with opponents and draws cards, could be good
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One card I want to try out is Ulvenwald Tracker . He's removal on a stick.
Just curious, why no other cascaders except the minotaur? Just to maximize the bang for the single card buck?
I have been thinking about Bloodbraid Elf, maybe even Shardless Agent. They will usually hit small things obviously, but that's not a bad thing if you can get them off T3 or T4. What other cascades do you run?
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As cascade spells, I just run MW, Etherium-Horn Sorcerer and BBE. Shardless Agent and Violent Outburst are in out colours bit don't do enough.
BBE is surprisingly effective.
Another card you might want to consider is Momir Vig. While he is a bit fragile he basically lets you choose what you want to cascade into, often making it easy to win off of one Wanderer cast.
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer
My deviantART; if you're interested in alters, PM me!
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Eternal Witness
1 Greenweaver Druid
1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
1 Somberwald Sage
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1 Trinket Mage
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Malignus
1 Mercurial Chemister
1 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Progenitor Mimic
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Diluvian Primordial
1 Sphinx Ambassador
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
1 Terastodon
Spells:38
1 Mana Crypt
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Noxious Revival
1 Sol Ring
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Sylvan Library
1 Beast Within
1 Dack Fayden
1 Food Chain
1 Song of the Dryads
1 Decimate
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Greater Good
1 Hunting Wilds
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Plasm Capture
1 Ranger's Path
1 Rite of Replication
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Acquire
1 Bribery
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Sarkhan Unbroken
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Treachery
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mob Rule
1 Spelljack
1 Stolen Identity
1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
1 Time Spiral
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Boundless Realms
1 Karn Liberated
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cavern of Souls
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Flooded Grove
7 Forest
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mana Confluence
1 Mountain
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of the False God
1 Tolaria West
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Cryptic Command
1 Krosan Drover
1 Body Double
1 Sunder
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Dragonlord Atarka
1 Knowledge Exploitation
1 Tyrant of Discord
1 Insurrection
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 Jokulhaups
Since I've played this deck for a little over a year now, I have a few general rules I play by. I only play ramp that gives 2+ mana (lotus cobra is the exception, but often times he makes your other ramp spells way awesome). I used to play Fyndhorn Elder as well, but that got cut when I finally got a Mana Crypt. I don't like playing infinite combos or extra turns (even though they are exceptionally good in this deck) as a personal preference. I have a few reactionary spells that don't suck as a cascade, namely Spelljack, which essentially lets you cascade 3 times instead of 2. I try to keep the number of dead cascades to a minimum, although some are unavoidable, such as Sylvan Library and occasionally Treachery, Defense of the Heart, Hellkite Tyrant, Cyclonic Rift, and Carpet of Flowers.
The Carpet is pretty amazing in here. If you are playing against a blue deck, it is amazing. IF you are not, then you will probably win anyways, so I find its ok to have the dead card.
I don't really like playing tutors, because cascading into them pretty much sucks. Plus, this way I get to play more awesome cards.
I have a low land count that is balanced by the significant % of ramp the deck has.
If you want an optimized build, Palinchron is pretty good here.
Also in my deck, I don't run as much card filtering/tutoring as other Wanderer decks. Mostly because I want more awesome cards in there, and also it really, really sucks to work for a t3 wanderer only to cascade into double filtering spells. Very disappointing.
On one side, there is Eternal Witness. It has immediate impact, and has a reusable ETB effect. On the other hand, I'm testing Genesis and Moldgraf Monstrosity. I don't like Artisan of Kozilek because his effect triggers on cast, so he can't be cheated into play with Pod or Tooth and Nail. Getting Genesis into the GY is essentially a repeatable Witness, but its effect is not immediate (I once won a game by Witnessing my Sun Quan, Lord of Wu back to hand, casting him, then swinging in for lethal with an army of huge tokens on the other side). Monstrosity is cool in that most of our big guys get targeted, so our GY should be filled with big guys and the randomness is less hurtful. Can also be Pod'ed away.
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I thought I share my take on Wanderer with you:
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
//creature
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Wood Elves
1 Eternal Witness
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Archaeomancer
1 Temur Sabertooth
1 Thragtusk
1 Mulldrifter
1 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Acidic Slime
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Progenitor Mimic
1 Bane of Progress
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Crater Hellion
1 Inferno Titan
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Palinchron
1 Great Whale
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Molten Primordial
1 Food Chain
1 Greater Good
1 Treachery
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Mana Reflection
//artifact
1 Sol Ring
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Crystal Shard
1 Erratic Portal
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Eldrazi Monument
//sorcery
1 Regrowth
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Cultivate
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Hunting Wilds
1 Ranger's Path
1 Harmonize
1 Concentrate
1 Rite of Replication
1 Urban Evolution
1 Devastation Tide
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Time Warp
1 Walk the Aeons
1 Wildfire
1 All Is Dust
1 Boundless Realms
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Temporal Mastery
1 Destructive Force
1 Blatant Thievery
12 Forest
10 Island
4 Mountain
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Command Tower
1 Temple of the False God
1 High Market
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
Notes:
Otherwise, i've looked at a few new cards.
Devastating Summons an interesting card. Combined with heavy ramp before casting wanderer, this certainly can be a game ending spell. However, certainly very high risk to say the least.
Dosan, the Falling Leaf. This guy intrigues me. We play a very un-interactive game. So this guy has his advantages and disadvantages. I say he competes with Vexing Shusher. It probably depends on your meta, and whether you frewuently play control decks, but I run a Shusher. The thing is, Dosan doesn't allow your opponents to play interactively with their opponents, which can sometimes be beneficial for us. Additionally, he does work well with Prophet of Kruphix. The pros are that he shuts down opposing Prophets, very interactive decks like I mentioned before, etc.
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I just wanted to say, after all the games I played, I really have to highlight one card: Sun Quan, Lord of Wu. This guy with wanderer just winds games, period. I think he is an absolute all-star, and I highly recommend ANYONE played wanderer run this guy. (For a more budge option there is the also extremely effective Archetype of Imagination). especially in a creature heavy version, filled with huge 5, 6, and 7 power fatties, Sun Quan is a nightmare for opponents.
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