Hi guys! My name is Jonathan and I live in Canada. I started playing mtg in 2011 and the only format I've ever played is Commander. This amazing format is the reason I got into magic and I don't think I'll move on to anything else in the foreseeable future. I play in several different playgroups, some more competitive than others. I consider myself to be half spike and half everything else. I like combos, I like hardcasting fatties, I also pay lots of attention to card arts and flavours.
I love deckbuilding, in fact I think I enjoy building decks more than playing them. In 2014, I had built 23 decks that I did my best to tune to perfection. However, later on I figured that a large number of decks can be very expensive and difficult to maintain, so I decided to take my decks apart and construct a "commander deckbuilding toolbox". I kept one copy of each unique card from my 23 decks, and sold/traded away the rest. As a result, I can have only one deck together at any one time, but with some assembling, I can still play any of the 23 decks. The biggest benefit of the toolbox is that it allows me to constantly try out new lists by only adding an average of 10-20 cards to to the box for each. As of right now, the toolbox consists of approximately 2000 cards and supports 52 different lists that I have individually play-tested. Primespeaker Zegana is currently my favourite deck out of the 52, and hopefully you'll get to see why.
The Commander:
I was very excited when I saw Prime Speaker Zegana spoiled as the Simic leader in Return to Ravnica. This is because Since I started playing Magic, I've always wanted to play fatties, and I remember jamming card like Kalonian Behemoth, Simic Sky Swallower, and Gaea's Revenge into my first deck: Riku of Two Reflections. However, later I was told by more experienced players that those cards are not ideal because they are just big dumb creatures that don't generate any value. As a spikey player, I quickly understood what they were saying and decided to swap them out. Since then I was unable to find a deck that can justify playing those cards, until I saw Zegana.
I believe Prime Speaker Zegana to be the best enabler allowing me to play the timmiest cards that I've always loved. Simply put, Zegana by herself mitigates the biggest drawback of playing cards like Kalonian Behemoth, which is card disadvantage. Yes, you're still getting x-for-oned when you dump a bunch of fatties and someone else casts a wrath of god. However, Zegana can easily fill up your hand again while becoming the biggest fatty on your board to beat up some nerds.
There are many other ways to build Zegana, in fact, she's probably one of the best commanders for Simic goodstuff along with Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, and AFAIK they're probably some of the most powerful and consistent decks you can build in the format. Other than that I can totally see Zegana at the helm of a +1/+1 counter themed deck with cards like Fathom Mage and Give // Take. I've also played against a Voltron deck centered around Zegana pumping her with Multani, Maro-Sorcerer and Realm Seekers and securing the kill by drawing a hand full of cheap/free pump spells, haste enablers, evasion spells and counterspells. So yeah, lots and lots of options.
Exploring Other Options:
While I do think Zegana's value is irreplacable, there are other generals that can work for a deck like this:
Surrak Dragonclaw: A really really cool commander that I would love to try building a similar deck around. However, it seems to be more suitable in a meta with heavy control and lots of permission players. By adding another colour, Surrak allows us to play powerful enablers like Maelstrom Wanderer and a handful of awesome fatties. Unlike Zegana, Surrak doesn't draw cards, so you'll need to add in a bunch of ways to do that in the deck. Cards like Nissa's Revelation, Temur Ascendancy, Soul of the Harvest, and Sphinx of Magosi come to mind.
Maelstrom Wanderer: While he is usually a nasty goodstuff commander, I think Wanderer can also be one of the best candidates to lead a RUG beatdown deck. As a solid beater himself, he also grants your entire team haste, while potentially bringing two other threats with him. However, in order to mitigate the inconsistency issue with Cascade, the deck needs to be packed with top deck manipulation cards, lowering our threat density.
Xenagos, God of Revels: I used to not think of Gruul Beatdown as a very viable Archetype in commander, mostly because the lack of card draw to make up for playing beaters that are efficient in terms of P/T while taking a loss in value/card advantage. This is no longer the case. Wizards seems to be printing more and more massive draw spells in green that don't make too much splash in other formats but are absolutely ridiculous in big green commander decks. There is a Xenagos deck in my playgroup and I can not count how many times I got wrecked by it playing decks that are just a little bit slower.
Why Play This Deck
-The deck is strong. It is very explosive and can win quickly, maybe a little bit too quick for my current playgroup. It is also relatively resilient in the late game and doesn't usually run out of gas. The deck wins in extremely flashy ways. There are times when I was able to overrun even token players with a board full of actual creatures cards.
- On the other hand, Unlike my other tuned decks, this deck is very theme-focused. Many cards in this deck are some of my favourite cards in magic. Many of them can also be swapped out for similar cards without hindering the deck's power level too much, so everyone can have their own version of this deck jammed with their favourite large creatures.
-Similar to Kaalia of the Vast decks, nearly every new set is guaranteed to include a creature or two that will work in this deck, so you can constantly try out the newest cards. For example, we got Outland Colossus from Magic Origins, and Sagu Mauler from Tarkir.
After building the first draft of the deck 2 years ago and playing with it a lot, I slowly figured out some themes and synergies that I want to fit into the deck. Some questions may have popped up when you looked at the list, so here I'll attempt to explain some of them.
Lack of "generic" utility: If you look closely, the deck has no instants, very few removals, card advantage engines and recursion. This maximizes the deck's consistency with cards like Primal Surge, and Lurking Predators and more importantly, allows me to jam in as many fatties as possible. From a power-level standpoint, this may not be a wise choice. It's hard to argue that the deck won't be better if I add Beast Within and Cyclonic Rift, but I have other decks for that. For this one, I'm attempting to strike a balance between my inner spike and inner timmy, and some compromises are made.
47 creatures, 39 with power 5 or greater: There is some synergy in the deck for this, namely Sacellum Godspeaker and Spearbreaker Behemoth. However, this is mostly a theme that I wanted to pursue to satisfy my inner timmy.
Green Dominant, Splashing Blue: The deck has a total of 132 mana symbols, 118 green, 8 blue, 5 hybrid and 1 X. The deck needs 2 blue sources on the board to do everything it needs to do. I used to include more blue creatures like Goliath Sphinx and Shipbreaker Kraken, however for some reason they just don't appeal to me the same way stompy green creatures do. There is some synergy for this, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Primalcrux, but once again, more flavour over power.
Card Choices:
Instead of being a deck where every card choice is solid, the philosophy here is to play a lot of sub-par pet cards, and play a few extremely powerful enablers to fill in the power gap. Due to the nature of this deck, instead of categorizing them by utility, I will sort them by their importance to the deck. The lower you go, the more you'll come across words like "timmy", "pet", "art", "flavour".
Enablers, cards that are key to the deck and will probably never be cut:
Prophet of Kruphix: I don't think this needs too much explanation. Cast her as soon as you have access to 6 mana, and your opponents are doomed if they don't have a timely answer. Even more powerful late game, since you usually have a large grip, which prophet will help you dump onto the board in one go-around.
Lurking Predators: Similar to Prophet of Kruphix, this is one of the cards that allows the deck to spiral out of control early game. The deck has a 47% chance of revealing a creature on top, and a 39% chance of them being power 5 or greater.
Kruphix, God of Horizons: A perfect card for this deck. Both abilities are extremely relevant and he's also a solid beater since devotion is almost always on. I just wish he had 5 power.
Myojin of Life's Web: The best creature cheating spell in the deck. Drop this while holding a huge grip, and dump your entire hand onto the board. Ideally, you want to drop your hand on the end step before your turn with the help of Reliquary tower or Kruphix, God of Horizons.
Primal Surge, Genesis Wave: The big green spells. This is NOT a Primal Surge combo deck, The deck has 8 non-permanent cards so surge should stop after an average of 12-13 permanents. That is more than worth the mana cost. Some times it wiffs completely, and others it just straight up wins you the game. Genesis Wave is not the strongest in this deck, since I can not always consistently generate more than 15 mana, but doing it for 12, or even 10 is well worth the cost.
Craterhoof Behemoth, Overwhelming Stampede, Akroma's Memorial: Finishers, the deck can sometimes finish a game simply by casting an overwhelming number of creatures and swarming my opponents to death, but having one of the cards above can make things so much easier. For example, with craterhoof, I can finish the game with around 8-10 creatures on the board, without craterhoof, I'll probably need 15-20. Akroma's Memorial is the weakest one of the 3 because it doesn't actually give any pump, an more importantly, it can be countered with a shatter. It is in the deck for the haste. When you take your big turn with Genesis Wave, Primal Surge or Nykthos, you don't want to wait an entire round to attack. If fact, if you don't finish the game on the spot, there is a very high chance that you'll die to a team effort from your opponents.
Sacellum Godspeaker, Somberwald Sage, Oracle of Mul Daya, Shaman of Forgotten Ways, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Mana Reflection, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Explosive Vegetation, Skyshroud Claim, Boundless Realms, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and Gaea's Cradle. Ramp spells are key in this deck because you want to be dropping your beaters a turn or two before they're meant to be cast. Late game, it's also not enough to cast 1-2 fatties each turn, 3 or more is where you want to be at. I don't usually play mana elves but this deck plays a few. Somberwald Sage, along with sol ring and mana crypt are my favourite cards to see in the opening hand. Unanswered, they can help you drop a giant beater on turn 4 or even earlier. Sacellum Godspeaker, on the other hand, isn't as consistent, but it's way more explosive in the late game. Making 5-10 mana regularly. Shaman of Forgotten Ways is the worst of the 3, I might include him just for the mana ability anyways, but his spot solidified by his activated ability. The effect is absolutely ridiculous, the mana and formidable requirement are very easy to satisfy in this deck. The deck itself is not built to abuse it, but there are times when the Shaman can just single-handedly win the game on his own.
Outstanding cards, but may not be crucial to the game plan:
Alchemist's Refuge: Not key to the deck's game plan, but flash is so extremely valuable in multiplayer and nothing beats an end-of-turn Primal Surge. Don't tell my playgroup but I'm usually very glad when an opponent uses his only strip mine on this instead of Nykthos or Gaea's Cradle.
Lightning Greaves: Solid card in nearly any deck. Shroud is very nice, but the 0-equip-cost haste enabling is even better. Giving the fatty of your choice one extra combat phase, which might unfortunately be the only combat it gets in such a wipe-heavy format.
Elvish Piper: Kinda like another mana elf, but I rate this card a little lower for 3 reasons. First of all, Piper draws a lot more hate from the table than the mana elves do and usually dies before I can activate her. Also, I find this card to be great in the mid game, allowing me to play 2 fatties a turn with only 7-8 mana. However, she is kind of obsolete in the late game and often times awkward in the early game. Imagine having 4 lands in play on turn 4, with Elvish piper, a 5 drop creature, a 7 drop creature, and a land in your hand. Scenarios like this actually happen somewhat often. And lastly, she doesn't help me drop Zegana.
Nylea, God of the Hunt: Honestly, I'd play this card even if it's just a 6/6 indestructible that requires devotion for 4 mana, since I'm kind of lacking in the 4-drop slot. Nylea is so much more than that. Trample for your entire team is just the ability this deck needs and the mana sink is also useful lategame. Like Kruphix, Nylea is almost always a creature that can attack for 6.
Quicksilver Gargantuan: The only mono blue card in the deck, which kind of annoys me. I also dislike the art. With all these strikes against it the card needs to do something special to earn a spot in the deck, and it does. We all know that clones are great in commander, and being a 7/7 regardless of what you copy meets my timmy criteria. The main reason I play it though, is to copy Prime Speaker Zegana. Imagine having a Zegana with only 5 counters on the field. Casting Quicksilver Gargantuan draws you 12 cards and lets you sacrifice Zegana for recast. Another play I like doing is flashing this in to copy Prophet of Kruphix in response to it being removed.
Spearbreaker Behemoth: Can save most creatures in the deck from a boardwipe effect, can sometimes secure the a win for me. I'm also fine with it baiting a path to exile for my Prophet of Kruphix or Vorinclex. It's becoming less effective now though due to the popularity of cards like Merciless Eviction and Terminus.
Hydra Omnivore: Probably the most efficient beater in the deck. My favourite creature to drop early ahead of the curve.
Soul of the Harvest: Zegana is the only draw spell the deck really needs. But when you hand me a 6/6 trample for 6, that draws you a few cards to boot. I have very little reason to not take it.
Siege Behemoth: Another win-con in this deck. Usually slower than the other ones since he has to attack too for your team to get the buff, but once you get it you can easily kill a player or 2. I also like the hexproof. More on that later.
Cards with some utility, but I'm fine with cutting:
Polukranos, World Eater: I probably won't be cutting any of the 4 mana 5 power creatures in this deck any time soon, since there just isn't enough. Polukranos' ability is also one of the few removal effects in this deck, and serves as a nice mana sink late game. Love the art and flavour.
Surrak, the Hunt Caller: Once again, my bar is very low for 4 drops. Nearly all of them make the cut. Plus Surrak's ability is actually pretty relevant. Dropping this on turn 4 means nearly every fatty you drop as you continue to curve out can attack immediately.
Hydra Broodmaster: The best mana sink in the deck, not close. Making 12 12/12s is a very common occurance in the late game.
Thunderfoot Baloth: Kind of similar to Siege Behemoth, strong pump effect and grants evasion. This one is a little less reliable since either killing it or Zegana disables the effect.
Yeva, Nature's Herald: A recent addition to the deck. I'm not too sure how much utility it provides, and it's not beating as hard as my other creatures. Leaving her in this section for now. Paleoloth: One of the few recursion effects in the deck. I just see it as a little bonus on a decent body. Maybe I'm underrating it a bit, need to test more.
Giant Adephage: Another great card to drop early. Can go out of hand on its own.
Vigor: The effect isn't as useful as it seems, since most of the creatures probably won't die in combat. Still a solid card though.
Arbor Colossus: Big green reach guys are also pretty safe in this deck, since I die to fliers more often than I'd like to. This one kills a flier too.
Cloudthresher: Same as above, and this one has 4 green symbols, which is often a bonus instead of a drawback.
Tornado Elemental: 6 Unblockable damage and kills most fliers, can't ask for too much more than this. Awkward when I reveal this and Akroma's Memorial from a Primal Surge though. I also like the new art a lot.
Overbeing of Myth: The draw ability is pretty mediocre, but this card gives me 5 devotion to turn on the Gods and fuels Nykthos. Also has the potential to become huge late game.
Primalcrux: This card can be difficult to cast for this deck, but he has the potential to be huge and the perfect candidate to lead an overwhelming stampede. Also amazing with Nykthos.
Khalni Hydra: Can be hard to cast sometimes, but can also be free once in a while. Great synergy with Nykthos and Primalcrux. More of a pet card, really.
Pelakka Wurm: Very underrated card, life gain is actually very relevant in this deck because I do have some pay life effects and once again those pesky fliers poking me can sometimes put me in the danger zone. Engulfing Slagwurm: Same as above, this card is interesting because it's actually not that easy to trigger the effect, since no one is dumb enough to feed their creatures into this. Usually I just have to attack this into some one who can't really afford to take 7 more damage and force a chump block.
Garruk's Horde: Similar role to Soul of the Harvest, but a bit weaker.
Thragtusk: Same as above, but worse. It's in here mostly because I like the art, and it can annoy guys who played standard in that era. ("Damnit I thought I'd never see this crap again.")
Sagu Mauler: Hexproof and Shroud are welcome keywords in this deck because I usually don't feel safe casting Zegana into a board with just 1 large creature, since they can kind of blow me out with a removal in response. Hexproof and shroud can effectively prevent that, barring a few corner cases. Sagu Mauler can also be cast as a 3 drop, which can be convenient at times.
Garruk, Caller of Beasts: Pretty decent in the deck. The +1 usually gets 2-3 creatures. I'd consider him to be worth the price if he gets to activate the -3 once and the +1 once the following turn, before dying. Doesn't always happen though, so he's also in mostly because I like the card a lot.
Like I've mentioned earlier, as long as you maintain a decent mana curve, many cards in this deck can be swapped out without affecting the power level too much. Specifically, the number is 37, basically anything that is not labeled as an enabler, I'm okay with cutting. In fact, I have experimented with swapping in 13 random creatures and the deck didn't run that differently. (A few examples are Stomper Cub for Wolfir Silverheart, Vorstclaw for Terra Stomper, andEnormous Baloth for Siege Behemoth .) The customization possibilities are endless. Timmy is a category of players that Wizards specifically print cards for, as a result we get so many awesome big dudes. The downside is even though I've saved 47 out of 62 non-land slots in the deck for creatures, there are still so many creatures I want to play but can not fit it. It's almost come to a point where I want to keep a pile of 60 or so random fatties and every time I play I choose 37 at random to play with. Here are some of the cards that I want to try in my deck eventually.
Green
Regal Force: Once again, the deck doesn't really need more than Zegana for card draw, but regal is just a really solid card and can serve as a second Zegana effect in the late game. Probably will test it sooner or later.
Root Elemental: I think this card will work well in the deck. Can drop it early, and pay 7 mana for 2 fatties later on. Will definitely test.
Krosan Tusker: Another wonderful card that I should play. Cards that are relevant both early and late game are just what this deck needs. In fact I had it in for a long time but something about it's art annoys me a bit, so I swapped it out. If you build this deck you should definitely play it.
Worldspine Wurm: The ultimate new school green fatty. I definitely want to play this card, but the deck already has a very high mana curve. It's possible that you don't draw ramp spells early game and you're stuck doing nothing for a few turns. I'd hate to draw this in those situations.
Patron of the Orochi: The best late game "mana elf". Can ramp and beat on the same turn, and if I choose not to beat he's a pseudo Prophet of Kruphix combined with Yeva. I've never tested this card and I strongly feel that I should.
Phytotitan: Sort of a pet card, but it definite has it's uses. Having another fatty stick around after most boardwipes is very nice and speeds up my reset since I'll always have a beater and a Zegana enabler on the board.
Ghoultree: Another card that I've never tried but should be very good in the deck in theory .
Jedit Ojanen of Efrava: I really like this card and I've always wanted to build a mono green deck around him. But I just couldn't come up with an effective strategy. The least I can do is to find a slot for him in this deck.
Soul of Zendikar: Large dude with reach and a somewhat relevant mana sink ability. Not amazing but if you like the card enough it will work.
Blue
Thassa, God of the Sea: I want to toss in a package of blue creatures, and if I do, they'll be led by Thassa. A 3 drop 5/5 indestructible creature that gives my team unblockable is absolutely amazing in this deck. The Scry is cherry on top.
Inkwell Leviathan: I love everything about this card, and it was in the deck for the longest time. Eventually I decided that it's a bit too expensive for that it does and ended up cutting.
Lorthos, the Tidemaker: I don't think it's possible for a timmy to not love Lorthos, the activated ability is also very relevant late game.
Tromokratis: Not as cool as Lorthos, but still pretty cool. Just slam it into the Riku or Nekusar player and they'll almost always take the 7.
Shipbreaker Kraken: Monstrosity is a wonderful mechanic for this deck because late game you'll have a lot of excess mana between the ramp spells, Nykthos and Gaea's Cradle. Shipbreaker Kraken has a very relevant monstrous ability and will become a 10/10 to boot.
Stormsurge Kraken: This card is absolute amazing in the 5 drop slot. At it's worst is 5/5 hexproof, and at it's best it's a 7/7 that noone wants to block. There is very little competition against this guy because next best 5 drop fatty in blue we get is Water Elemental.
Great Whale: a free 5/5. A FREE FIVE FIVE!!! Untaps lands when dropped with stuff like Primal Surge and Genesis Wave. Absolutely amazing.
Frost Titan: I don't get to play with Primeval Anymore, this isn't anywhere close but is still well worth the 6 mana.
Deep-Sea Kraken: A card to fill in the gap in early game. In a game with 4 players or more, this card usually comes down in no more than 2 turns and can attack right away. And then an opponent of your choice is taking 6 damage a turn, almost guaranteed.
Colossal Whale: We are getting into the Pet card territory again. This card really isn't that powerful, but the art and the flavour makes me want to play it.
Goliath Sphinx: There are times when I see a card and immediately dismiss it as unplayable in Commander, and then after a while of building more decks and play more games, I take a second look at and I actually see a use for it. This is a very satisfying experience and Goliath Sphinx is probably the ultimate example.
Colourless
Soul of New Phyrexia: The only card in the colourless section that I've actually tested. Kinda like another copy of spearbreaker behemoth. The ability to use in graveyard actually puts it one step above spearbreaker in my opinion. Will try to jam it back in.
Wurmcoil Engine: Probably better than most of the 6 drops in my deck. Mostly not playing it because it kinda deviates from the theme of the deck and I play it in way too many other decks.
This is a very nice deck, and I can already see it's pretty tight knit so I have no idea what you could cut. Even the cards your ok with cutting are fun to play.
I would like to know how you feel about vernal bloom though. With so much green in your deck it would definitely benefit, and it's a bit harder to get rid of than something like Elvish Piper. You can also save more mana if you have Kruphix in play. There's also the creature version in keeper of progenitus. He helps more people, but at the same time he could also take the target off your head if you let other people get ahead too. I figure a deck with creatures like yours, you'll eventually come out on top no matter what you're giving away.
Hats off though, this is the best non-Azusa, lost but seeking Timmy deck I've seen. I already have a Maelstrom Wanderer deck that's the least combo-centric version of maelstrom I've seen so far; and I'm still the boogyman at the table when I play it. If I already didn't have that deck, I would build this hands down.
If you need another three drop, Managorger Hydra has proven to grow obscenely fast for me in multiplayer games and comes with trample as well. The biggest drawback is that it's an underwhelming draw in the late game.
This is a very nice deck, and I can already see it's pretty tight knit so I have no idea what you could cut. Even the cards your ok with cutting are fun to play.
I would like to know how you feel about vernal bloom though. With so much green in your deck it would definitely benefit, and it's a bit harder to get rid of than something like Elvish Piper. You can also save more mana if you have Kruphix in play. There's also the creature version in keeper of progenitus....
Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated. I will acquire a copy a vernal bloom. I've always been skeptical with playing group hug mana doublers, but I mean, I play gauntlet of power all the time, vernal bloom is not that different. Im definitely testing it. Keeper of progenitus I don't like as much because unlike vernal bloom, It's probably going to benefit everyone on the table. I think dictate of Karametra might be a bit better.
I won't be cutting most of the cards in this deck but what I meant is the deck is highly customizable. I did a quick count and there are are 37 cards in this deck that can be switched for other similar cards and the deck will still function mostly the same. Yupp I agree many of the cards here are really fun to play, but some people might find Avenger of Zendikar to be more fun then Kalonian Behemoth, or Ghoultree over Khalni Hydra, and they can play their own version of the deck.
And Gosh I love and hate Maelstrom Wanderer. It's one of the generals that will crush you badly yet you still feel like you've had fun. Do you have your list posted anywhere? I've been wanting to try a wanderer beatdown list too.
If you need another three drop, Managorger Hydra has proven to grow obscenely fast for me in multiplayer games and comes with trample as well. The biggest drawback is that it's an underwhelming draw in the late game.
Yupp Managorger Hydra is going straight into my Kresh fling deck. In Zegana I'm trying to stick with simple mostly vanilla fatties, but honestly I don't really know why. I probably should play cards like Managorger Hydra, Primordial Hydra, Realm Seekers, and Multani, Maro-Sorcerer. I guess what's preventing it is that they overlap quite a bit with my other decks. Most of the cards in this Zegana deck are cards that I want to play, but can not justify playing in any other decks. That combo sounds dumb and sweet, one day I'll make a deck filled with such combos.
I just showed your deck to a friend that was thinking of building Primspeaker, and he was a little upset you weren't playing Masumaro, First to Live or Psychosis Crawler. I notice you really don't net from too many cards other than primspeaker, so I could see why you wouldn't want to rely on them too much, but have you every tried them?
I forgot I posted a comment on this post already. Sorry It took me a while to get back, but here's my Maelstrom Wanderer list. Like I said before, It's pretty nurfed from what you might usually see.
I didn't realize the raw power of Maelstrom until I let a friend of mine play my original version of my deck where the whole game was a 3 v 1 from the beginning, and by the end of the game, Maelstrom cost 20 to recast from the command zone. After seeing this, I realized all the combos and extra win cons were super unnecessary or were a win more type of strategy, and cascading into oblivion was the real strategy of the deck. With that in mind I re-built the deck to cascade as much as possible--weather it be sacing maelstrom or returning him to my hand to recast him.
I striped the deck of most of the manipulation(I kept mystical tutor in because I play Temporal Manipulation) for just putting good/fun cards that cost 7 or less. There's no real reason for this other than I like the idea of being able to cascade my entire deck and also the randomness is just too much fun. In the end Maelstrom doesn't need deck manipulation, just hitting anything and getting a badass dude with haste is pretty much enough to rustle everyone's jimmies at the table. I also took out many tricks that maelstrom players like Deadeye Navigator, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Food Chain. Not only are those winning strategies overused, the cards are bad on their own. I like stuff I can use right away or are threatening enough to keep the pressure on my opponents.
There are some combos you can fall into with this version still like infinite mana, not that it really does anything for you though. I have no big X spell that's going to kill everyone. I'd rather win through beats. And I hate to mention this because it's totally non-intentional, but It's still possible to take infinite turns. To be honest though, infinite turns is also pretty unnecessary as I really only need about 2-3 extra turns to kill everyone at the table.
I also stray from the other popular style of play which is to board wipe and have Maelstrom in play. It's just so much more fun to watch the board get out of control from cascading constantly than dragging a slow boring match on.
My deck is not tight knit at all, so I'm open to plenty of suggestions if you have any. The weirder or more fun your suggestions are, the more inclined I'll be into trying them. Competitiveness is not an issue with me, Maelstrom pretty much does that all on his own it seems like.
Jack puddy! Thanks for the reply! Gosh I honestly have no idea what happened to physchosis crawler. It was a house in the deck a while ago and somehow I took it out and just completely forgot about it. I'm pretty sure I'm putting it back in now. Definitely takes priority before stuff like soul of phyrexia and wurmcoil. For masumaro. I kinda just wrote it off because I considered it to be worse than multani. However it's not always worse than multani and the reason I don't play multani is because I don't like the art. I Really like masumaro's art. So I'm gonna test it.
The reason I don't play a lot of draw spells other than Zegana is that I don't need to. From testing a lot of games, it's proven that Zegana is enough draw power the deck will ever need, especially after the change in tuck rule. That's kinda the reason she's my general. So yeah, help me say thanks to your friend, I'm slotting both of them in.
I really like your wanderer list. I love that general because it allows you to play the traditional rug goodstuff, but with an aggressive twist that most goodstuff decks don't have. And your deck seems like exactly that.
A card that I really like is Shaman of the Great Hunt. One of the problems with aggro in edh is finding cards that are aggressively costed but are also impactful when the game inevitably draws long. I think shaman does that really well, attacking for 4 on turn 4 and can grow every turn after. Late game it's also a really solid draw engine with all those fatties you have in the deck.
Lastly, I'm not sure how much the deck needs card draw beyond the Card advantage that Maestrom Wanderer nets you, since I've never really played that deck. However Recurring Insignt and Nissa's Revelation along with the aforementioned Hunt shaman dude are some pretty solid ones. I also think Prime Speaker Zegana herself might even have a spot in the deck too
I know it's been a while, but thanks again for the mini-primer. There's a person that we play with that's new to magic and after a couple of trial and error decks to figure out a play style, I remembered this deck. So, of course we built your deck for her to try out, and it was amazing. This deck is very impactful and at the same time it doesn't require complete attention to everything about that game which might just be the definition of a timmy deck. Congradulations, you did it. Now that I'm out of school and able to respond again, also wondering if there were any updates to your deck if you've been playing it lately.
I've also re-hauled my Maelstrom deck since typing it. After typing it out for you, I thought to myself it still wasn't timmy enough and pretty much tried to maximize the power in the deck...with badass creatures of course.
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Simic Beatdown
I would like to know how you feel about vernal bloom though. With so much green in your deck it would definitely benefit, and it's a bit harder to get rid of than something like Elvish Piper. You can also save more mana if you have Kruphix in play. There's also the creature version in keeper of progenitus. He helps more people, but at the same time he could also take the target off your head if you let other people get ahead too. I figure a deck with creatures like yours, you'll eventually come out on top no matter what you're giving away.
Hats off though, this is the best non-Azusa, lost but seeking Timmy deck I've seen. I already have a Maelstrom Wanderer deck that's the least combo-centric version of maelstrom I've seen so far; and I'm still the boogyman at the table when I play it. If I already didn't have that deck, I would build this hands down.
I run a
I've also seen some Timmy decks use Chord of Calling with Mycosynth Lattice & Spearbreaker Behemoth out to tutor up Bane of Progress to do a one-sided board wipe for the win. It's a bit involved, but was hilarious when I was playing against someone who pulled it off.
Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated. I will acquire a copy a vernal bloom. I've always been skeptical with playing group hug mana doublers, but I mean, I play gauntlet of power all the time, vernal bloom is not that different. Im definitely testing it. Keeper of progenitus I don't like as much because unlike vernal bloom, It's probably going to benefit everyone on the table. I think dictate of Karametra might be a bit better.
I won't be cutting most of the cards in this deck but what I meant is the deck is highly customizable. I did a quick count and there are are 37 cards in this deck that can be switched for other similar cards and the deck will still function mostly the same. Yupp I agree many of the cards here are really fun to play, but some people might find Avenger of Zendikar to be more fun then Kalonian Behemoth, or Ghoultree over Khalni Hydra, and they can play their own version of the deck.
And Gosh I love and hate Maelstrom Wanderer. It's one of the generals that will crush you badly yet you still feel like you've had fun. Do you have your list posted anywhere? I've been wanting to try a wanderer beatdown list too.
Yupp Managorger Hydra is going straight into my Kresh fling deck. In Zegana I'm trying to stick with simple mostly vanilla fatties, but honestly I don't really know why. I probably should play cards like Managorger Hydra, Primordial Hydra, Realm Seekers, and Multani, Maro-Sorcerer. I guess what's preventing it is that they overlap quite a bit with my other decks. Most of the cards in this Zegana deck are cards that I want to play, but can not justify playing in any other decks. That combo sounds dumb and sweet, one day I'll make a deck filled with such combos.
I forgot I posted a comment on this post already. Sorry It took me a while to get back, but here's my Maelstrom Wanderer list. Like I said before, It's pretty nurfed from what you might usually see.
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
The Beats
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Diluvian Primordial
1 Progenitor Mimic
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Duplicant
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Surrak Dragonclaw
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Stormsurge Kraken
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Conquering Manticore
1 Frost Titan
1 Body Double
1 Molten Primordial
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Tyrant of Discord
1 Deus of Calamity
1 Palinchron
1 Inferno Titan
1 Tyrant's Familiar
1 Siege Behemoth
Rad Spells
1 Boundless Realms
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Treachery
1 Knowledge Exploitation
1 Rite of Replication
1 Time Spiral
1 Temporal Mastery
1 Time Warp (also a five mana ramp if need be)
1 Walk The Aeons
1 Cryptic Command
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Devastation Tide
1 Spelljack (Also a rad spell to hit with cascade as it can possibly get you two extra cascade triggers)
Ramp
1 Sol Ring
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Mana Reflection
Early Game
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Shardless Agent (can only hit 3 cards)
1 Bloodbraid Elf (typically a 3/2 that ramps)
Utility
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Eternal Witness
Cascading Beyond Control
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor (I use -1 on myself mostly)
1 Crystal Shard
1 Erratic Portal
1 Greater Good
Lands
11 Forest
5 Island
3 Mountain
1 Myriad landscape
1 Raging Ravine
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Gruul Turf
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Shivan Reef
1 Grand Coliseum
1 High Market (alos helps the cascade as much as possible package)
1 Terrain Generator
1 Command Tower
1 Ancient Tomb
I striped the deck of most of the manipulation(I kept mystical tutor in because I play Temporal Manipulation) for just putting good/fun cards that cost 7 or less. There's no real reason for this other than I like the idea of being able to cascade my entire deck and also the randomness is just too much fun. In the end Maelstrom doesn't need deck manipulation, just hitting anything and getting a badass dude with haste is pretty much enough to rustle everyone's jimmies at the table. I also took out many tricks that maelstrom players like Deadeye Navigator, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Food Chain. Not only are those winning strategies overused, the cards are bad on their own. I like stuff I can use right away or are threatening enough to keep the pressure on my opponents.
There are some combos you can fall into with this version still like infinite mana, not that it really does anything for you though. I have no big X spell that's going to kill everyone. I'd rather win through beats. And I hate to mention this because it's totally non-intentional, but It's still possible to take infinite turns. To be honest though, infinite turns is also pretty unnecessary as I really only need about 2-3 extra turns to kill everyone at the table.
I also stray from the other popular style of play which is to board wipe and have Maelstrom in play. It's just so much more fun to watch the board get out of control from cascading constantly than dragging a slow boring match on.
My deck is not tight knit at all, so I'm open to plenty of suggestions if you have any. The weirder or more fun your suggestions are, the more inclined I'll be into trying them. Competitiveness is not an issue with me, Maelstrom pretty much does that all on his own it seems like.
The reason I don't play a lot of draw spells other than Zegana is that I don't need to. From testing a lot of games, it's proven that Zegana is enough draw power the deck will ever need, especially after the change in tuck rule. That's kinda the reason she's my general. So yeah, help me say thanks to your friend, I'm slotting both of them in.
A card that I really like is Shaman of the Great Hunt. One of the problems with aggro in edh is finding cards that are aggressively costed but are also impactful when the game inevitably draws long. I think shaman does that really well, attacking for 4 on turn 4 and can grow every turn after. Late game it's also a really solid draw engine with all those fatties you have in the deck.
Your list seems very very solid but I noticed a few lands missing. Most notable Kessig Wolf Run and Flamekin Village, and Alchemist's Refuge.
Lastly, I'm not sure how much the deck needs card draw beyond the Card advantage that Maestrom Wanderer nets you, since I've never really played that deck. However Recurring Insignt and Nissa's Revelation along with the aforementioned Hunt shaman dude are some pretty solid ones. I also think Prime Speaker Zegana herself might even have a spot in the deck too
I've also re-hauled my Maelstrom deck since typing it. After typing it out for you, I thought to myself it still wasn't timmy enough and pretty much tried to maximize the power in the deck...with badass creatures of course.