Hello fellow Commander players, and welcome to my first ever public EDH thread! Prime Speaker Zegana was my first EDH love and I play it more than any of my other decks to this day. There’s something about playing in Simic that just feels right. Blue and Green pair so beautifully, covering each other's weaknesses and playing off each other's strengths. Simic specifically is more combo-heavy than most other green pairings, but the consistency you get with the card draw in blue and the mana ramp in green is unmatched by other combo heavy color combinations. Prime Speaker Zegana looks to take those strengths and abuse them to achieve wins in a multiplayer setting.
Why Play Prime Speaker Zegana?
-PSZ offers a very solid commander option that your deck isn’t relying on to win, but it is very helpful when you get the opportunity to use her.
-Consistent combo. The card draw in blue paired with the mana ramp in green assures that you will draw into the pieces you need sooner rather than later, and that when you get it you’ll have the tools and resources to cast it safely with the counter spells in hand to protect it.
-Who doesn’t like a clean OTK?
-This color pairing offers a lot of answers to a lot of things.
-If you really enjoy politics and thinking about threat assessment, and balancing that with not putting a target on your own back. This deck thrives off of it.
Why NOT Play PSZ?
-Prime Speaker has a few weak match ups: true control, dedicated combo, and “go wide” aggro. You get out controlled by true control, outpaced by dedicated combo, and you have to rely heavily on cards like Cyclonic Rift against the “go wide” aggro decks.
-You feel like playing the sheep and sitting on the “mana flooded” board (with a hand full of stuff) is going to get you killed.
-You feel like one turn kills and alt win cons are lame/degenerate.
-You feel like your commander should be a key piece of your game plan.
-You enjoy turning things sideways.
Commander Alternatives: Thrasios, Triton Hero - This commander is probably better than PSZ given the fact you get to play him as a partner commander, but the other partner commanders you’d pair him with kind of steer you away from the goals of this deck. Edric, Spymaster of Trest - This commander is undoubtedly powerful and serves a similar purpose in his decks as PSZ serves. As an engine for your deck more than a key win con or combo piece. The biggest difference being that PSZ has more top end power but comes out later than Edric. Momir Vig, Simic Visionary - This commander would be a suitable replacement for PSZ if you wanted to shift the deck to a more creature focused theme. Ezuri, Claw of Progress - Ezuri falls into a similar spot as Momir Vig.
Deck History:
This deck was my first ever attempt an EDH deck. It started off pretty powerful; not sure if by my own intuition, or just by luck, but the deck just felt good to pilot right out of the gate. The first version of this deck was much less tuned than the current iteration and had a few too many “noob bait” cards in it like Omniscience and Stormtide Leviathan, but other than that it was a fairly good(budget) foundation for the deck I have today. As I play tested and brewed and fell more and more in love with this deck I started to optimize the cards I was putting into it. Taking out cards like Mana Leak, Omniscience and Stormtide Leviathan, and replacing them with better cards, like Mana Drain, Deadeye Navigator, and Venser, Shaper Savant. The strongest my deck ever was was probably just before the Prophet of Kruphix banning. Holy moley, that card was strong. Since then the biggest change I’ve made was taking out six cards that I felt weren’t helping me win more games and replacing them with a Simic Flash/Protean Hulk combo that I will discuss later on in this post. Most of the changes besides that have been minor balance tweaks, like taking out some excess mana rocks and putting in more counter magic, and things like that to adapt to an ever changing meta.
About Me:
First of all, thank you for reading this far into this guide, and secondly, I hope you find any of the information in this guide to be helpful. I started playing EDH about seven years ago and instantly fell in love. The the politics at the table and the interesting and diverse meta game and instantly drew me in. The deck building, discussion, and the community around it all kept me here. The greatest aspects of EDH, the things that really allow it to stick out and grow are the table politics of a multiplayer game paired with the emphasis on deck building, and playing something you really care about and enjoy. Modern and legacy are the formats for the skilled and competitive, but they don’t allow room for the expression of being a good deck builder, and playing something unique that you yourself thought of and curated with your own time and energy, and that’s what I love about the format.
Card Options:
Mana Base- Nothing special here; just you typical auto-include mana rocks and solid utility lands and duals in the colors available. Some things like Reliquary Tower and Boseiju, Who Shelters All are optional depending on how heavily your meta plays counter spells and how often you find yourself in situations where “No max hand size” matters. You could also add Maze of Ith if your meta plays a lot of voltron, or add Homeward Path if your things are going to get stolen.
Budget Options- Don’t feel like you need Alpha Duals and fetches to make this deck run smoothly. Cards like Oracle of Mul Daya and Exploration allow you to play extra lands and fix your mana that way, and there are plenty of ramp spells that will let you fetch out your basics in each color. Not finding double or even triple of each color by turn 3-5 between both of those options and the plethora of cheap dual lands is very rare.
Mana Ramp- Just your classic Kodama's Reach, Cultivate and Rampant Growth. Some more powerful options that I chose to include are Traverse the Outlands, and Boundless Realms, but these are of course optional, and may feel a little redundant in some games. After all, 5+ mana is really expensive for mana ramp, but they are good bait for counter spells, and are often game breaking if they resolve. Just casting Boundless Realms on curve with no other mana ramp (which it’s rare to not get any other ramp) allows you to untap for 14 mana on turn 8, which is more than enough mana to end the game via Tooth and Nail or hard cast your Deadeye Navigator/Palinchron OTK.
Counter Magic- Again, nothing special here. Just your everyday counter spells. Magic has so many to pick from that there is certainly no shortage of options here.
Budget Options- Feel free to cut out the pricier spells like Mana Drain and Force of Will for cheaper options like Mana Leak, Dispel, etc.
Combos- This is where this deck really thrives. Every other card in the deck is there to make it easier for you to get these combos off faster, safer, and more consistently. Often times it is more valuable to save your counters to protect your own combos than it is to use them on enemy threats. Having alt win cons like Laboratory Maniac makes it hard for decks without instant speed spot removal to deal with, and the something like a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir would make it a real challenge to stop a Flash/Protean Hulk combo.
Win the game combos: Deadeye Navigator/Palinchron. This is fetchable with Tooth and Nail, and you don’t need to wait a turn to untap or have haste. The combo works as soon as these two creatures enter. The main goal off this combo is to make infinite mana, then cast Prime Speaker Zegana, flicker Deadeye, and re-pair it with Prime Speaker, then flicker her over and over until you draw Laboratory Maniac, cast him, and re-flicker Prime Speaker until you deck yourself out. GG.
Avenger of Zendikar/Craterhoof Behemoth. Another combo that you can grab with Tooth and Nail. It is less powerful that Deadeye/Palinchron, but can be used in place of it if you find yourself in a position without Lab Maniac or either Deadeye or Palinchron (Surgical Extraction, Thoughtseize can rip them from your hand, and board wipes can ruin your combo plans). It’s also good if you find yourself in a 1v1 because the other players are dead. Setting this combo up with a Boundless Realms before, or a Traverse the Outlands after also makes for some funny ramp opportunities.
Flash/Protean Hulk. This combo isn’t fetchable with Tooth and Nail, but it does however mean you just win the game if you start with it in your opening hand. You cast Flash putting into play Protean Hulk, and electing to not pay. Protean Hulk then dies and allows your to search for a combined 6 CMC of creatures. You’re going to grab Pili-Pala, Grand Architect, Rootwater Diver, and Walking Ballista. Walking Ballista enters, and immediately dies, going to your graveyard. You return it to your hand with Rootwater Diver, create infinite mana with Pili-Pala/Grand Architect, and recast a Walking Ballista for (X large number), and ping all of your opponents for 40. The best way to do this is to cast flash on the end step before you untap, allowing you to do it all in one turn, without letting your opponents get a turn to react.
Strategy- The basic strategy with this deck is to sit back and just draw cards and ramp, utility, counter/remove serious threats, and wait until you have an opportunity to combo off. One of the biggest strengths to this deck is that it’s good at not drawing aggro early enough from the decks you’re playing against for it to matter. By the time they realize you are a threat it’s too late. The amount of available card draw and deck filtering allows you to find your combo pieces quickly, while ramping to mana required to cast it. In an ideal world you’ll be at Tooth and Nail mana on turn 6 or 7 (or turn 5 if you get good draws), then cast it with a grip of counter magic, and get it to resolve, from there if is very hard to disrupt the Deadeye Navigator/Palinchron combo, since Deadeye flickering dodges spot removal, and when Palinchron enters you get to untap 7 lands, which lets you flicker at least 3 more times. If they target Deadeye, you can in response, flicker it. If they respond to the flicker trigger, you can respond to their response with another flicker. The only way around this for them is an instant speed board wipe. Worse comes to worse, and they dump a full hand of spot removal onto your combo. It isn’t the end of world, the deck still has the tools and creatures required to get a win by turning things sideways or drawing into another combo. Also, remember that entwining Tooth and Nail isn’t the same thing as search your library for two creatures and put them onto the battlefield. You get to search for 2 things, put them into your hand, then cast any 2 from your hand. This allows you to sometimes complete two combos; eg. if you have Flash and Palinchron in hand, you can go get Protean Hulk, and Deadeye Navigator, can then put Palinchron and Deadeye onto the battlefield, with the Flash/Hulk Combo to fall back on.
Starting Hand and When to Mulligan- In your starting hand you ideally want at least 3 lands, or 2 lands and some turn 1-2 ramp spells. It isn’t worth it to mulligan away a good hand unless it has only 1 land or more than 4. A counter example to this would be if you had a one land hand with something like Forest, Birds of Paradise, Rampant Growth, Kodama's Reach, and 3 other cards, where you have a play for the first few turns even without drawing lands. With a hand like this and hitting no lands, you’d still be untapping with 5 mana turn 4, and even more if you drew into extra lands.
Matchups- There are a couple things that this deck tends to do poorly against. They are Control, and Combo. Combo deck matchups are usually 50/50, whoever gets to their combo first wins, unless you can disrupt them, and they can’t disrupt you or vice versa. Control decks do well here simply by just never letting you cast your things. They’ll let all of your ramp and card draw resolve all game, and just counter your combo pieces. This isn’t an issue against mid ranged and other decks that have counter spells because you can usually win those counter wars, but against something like mono blue or UW control, often times they will just outright win the counter war, and counter your most important spells, which is an issue because unlike aggro and midrange, not every card in your deck is replaceable. Getting your big fat hydra countered in aggro isn’t as back breaking as getting tooth and nail countered in combo.
Hello fellow Commander players, and welcome to my first ever public EDH thread! Prime Speaker Zegana was my first EDH love and I play it more than any of my other decks to this day. There’s something about playing in Simic that just feels right. Blue and Green pair so beautifully, covering each other's weaknesses and playing off each other's strengths. Simic specifically is more combo-heavy than most other green pairings, but the consistency you get with the card draw in blue and the mana ramp in green is unmatched by other combo heavy color combinations. Prime Speaker Zegana looks to take those strengths and abuse them to achieve wins in a multiplayer setting.
Why Play Prime Speaker Zegana?
-PSZ offers a very solid commander option that your deck isn’t relying on to win, but it is very helpful when you get the opportunity to use her.
-Consistent combo. The card draw in blue paired with the mana ramp in green assures that you will draw into the pieces you need sooner rather than later, and that when you get it you’ll have the tools and resources to cast it safely with the counter spells in hand to protect it.
-Who doesn’t like a clean OTK?
-This color pairing offers a lot of answers to a lot of things.
-If you really enjoy politics and thinking about threat assessment, and balancing that with not putting a target on your own back. This deck thrives off of it.
Why NOT Play PSZ?
-Prime Speaker has a few weak match ups: true control, dedicated combo, and “go wide” aggro. You get out controlled by true control, outpaced by dedicated combo, and you have to rely heavily on cards like Cyclonic Rift against the “go wide” aggro decks.
-You feel like playing the sheep and sitting on the “mana flooded” board (with a hand full of stuff) is going to get you killed.
-You feel like one turn kills and alt win cons are lame/degenerate.
-You feel like your commander should be a key piece of your game plan.
-You enjoy turning things sideways.
Commander Alternatives:
Thrasios, Triton Hero - This commander is probably better than PSZ given the fact you get to play him as a partner commander, but the other partner commanders you’d pair him with kind of steer you away from the goals of this deck.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - This commander is undoubtedly powerful and serves a similar purpose in his decks as PSZ serves. As an engine for your deck more than a key win con or combo piece. The biggest difference being that PSZ has more top end power but comes out later than Edric.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary - This commander would be a suitable replacement for PSZ if you wanted to shift the deck to a more creature focused theme.
Ezuri, Claw of Progress - Ezuri falls into a similar spot as Momir Vig.
Deck History:
This deck was my first ever attempt an EDH deck. It started off pretty powerful; not sure if by my own intuition, or just by luck, but the deck just felt good to pilot right out of the gate. The first version of this deck was much less tuned than the current iteration and had a few too many “noob bait” cards in it like Omniscience and Stormtide Leviathan, but other than that it was a fairly good(budget) foundation for the deck I have today. As I play tested and brewed and fell more and more in love with this deck I started to optimize the cards I was putting into it. Taking out cards like Mana Leak, Omniscience and Stormtide Leviathan, and replacing them with better cards, like Mana Drain, Deadeye Navigator, and Venser, Shaper Savant. The strongest my deck ever was was probably just before the Prophet of Kruphix banning. Holy moley, that card was strong. Since then the biggest change I’ve made was taking out six cards that I felt weren’t helping me win more games and replacing them with a Simic Flash/Protean Hulk combo that I will discuss later on in this post. Most of the changes besides that have been minor balance tweaks, like taking out some excess mana rocks and putting in more counter magic, and things like that to adapt to an ever changing meta.
About Me:
First of all, thank you for reading this far into this guide, and secondly, I hope you find any of the information in this guide to be helpful. I started playing EDH about seven years ago and instantly fell in love. The the politics at the table and the interesting and diverse meta game and instantly drew me in. The deck building, discussion, and the community around it all kept me here. The greatest aspects of EDH, the things that really allow it to stick out and grow are the table politics of a multiplayer game paired with the emphasis on deck building, and playing something you really care about and enjoy. Modern and legacy are the formats for the skilled and competitive, but they don’t allow room for the expression of being a good deck builder, and playing something unique that you yourself thought of and curated with your own time and energy, and that’s what I love about the format.
Deck List:
Commander: Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Expedition Map
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Thought Vessel
1 Wood Elves
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Trygon Predator
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Terastodon
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Palinchron
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Mystic Snake
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Kiora's Follower
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Bane of Progress
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Acidic Slime
1 Protean Hulk
1 Pili-Pala
1 Grand Architect
1 Walking Ballista
1 Rootwater Diver
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Asceticism
1 Exploration
1 Leyline of Anticipation
Instants:
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Disallow
1 Krosan Grip
1 Mana Drain
1 Plasm Capture
1 Pongify
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Swan Song
1 Voidslime
1 Flash
Lands:
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Botanical Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Grove
1 Halimar Depths
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Homeward Path
1 Lumbering Falls
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of the False God
1 Thornwood Falls
1 Woodland Stream
7 Forest
7 Island
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Boundless Realms
1 Cultivate
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Genesis Wave
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Rampant Growth
1 Rite of Replication
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Traverse the Outlands
1 Urban Evolution
Card Options:
Mana Base- Nothing special here; just you typical auto-include mana rocks and solid utility lands and duals in the colors available. Some things like Reliquary Tower and Boseiju, Who Shelters All are optional depending on how heavily your meta plays counter spells and how often you find yourself in situations where “No max hand size” matters. You could also add Maze of Ith if your meta plays a lot of voltron, or add Homeward Path if your things are going to get stolen.
Budget Options- Don’t feel like you need Alpha Duals and fetches to make this deck run smoothly. Cards like Oracle of Mul Daya and Exploration allow you to play extra lands and fix your mana that way, and there are plenty of ramp spells that will let you fetch out your basics in each color. Not finding double or even triple of each color by turn 3-5 between both of those options and the plethora of cheap dual lands is very rare.
Mana Ramp- Just your classic Kodama's Reach, Cultivate and Rampant Growth. Some more powerful options that I chose to include are Traverse the Outlands, and Boundless Realms, but these are of course optional, and may feel a little redundant in some games. After all, 5+ mana is really expensive for mana ramp, but they are good bait for counter spells, and are often game breaking if they resolve. Just casting Boundless Realms on curve with no other mana ramp (which it’s rare to not get any other ramp) allows you to untap for 14 mana on turn 8, which is more than enough mana to end the game via Tooth and Nail or hard cast your Deadeye Navigator/Palinchron OTK.
Counter Magic- Again, nothing special here. Just your everyday counter spells. Magic has so many to pick from that there is certainly no shortage of options here.
Budget Options- Feel free to cut out the pricier spells like Mana Drain and Force of Will for cheaper options like Mana Leak, Dispel, etc.
Card Draw- Prime Speaker Zegana is a good utility commander for the random card draw you can get off her throughout the game. The other card draw options that I’ve included are Solemn Simulacrum, Brainstorm, Ponder, Preordain, Blue Sun’s Zenith, Urban Evolution, and Sensei’s Divining Top.
Combos- This is where this deck really thrives. Every other card in the deck is there to make it easier for you to get these combos off faster, safer, and more consistently. Often times it is more valuable to save your counters to protect your own combos than it is to use them on enemy threats. Having alt win cons like Laboratory Maniac makes it hard for decks without instant speed spot removal to deal with, and the something like a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir would make it a real challenge to stop a Flash/Protean Hulk combo.
Win the game combos:
Deadeye Navigator/Palinchron. This is fetchable with Tooth and Nail, and you don’t need to wait a turn to untap or have haste. The combo works as soon as these two creatures enter. The main goal off this combo is to make infinite mana, then cast Prime Speaker Zegana, flicker Deadeye, and re-pair it with Prime Speaker, then flicker her over and over until you draw Laboratory Maniac, cast him, and re-flicker Prime Speaker until you deck yourself out. GG.
Avenger of Zendikar/Craterhoof Behemoth. Another combo that you can grab with Tooth and Nail. It is less powerful that Deadeye/Palinchron, but can be used in place of it if you find yourself in a position without Lab Maniac or either Deadeye or Palinchron (Surgical Extraction, Thoughtseize can rip them from your hand, and board wipes can ruin your combo plans). It’s also good if you find yourself in a 1v1 because the other players are dead. Setting this combo up with a Boundless Realms before, or a Traverse the Outlands after also makes for some funny ramp opportunities.
Flash/Protean Hulk. This combo isn’t fetchable with Tooth and Nail, but it does however mean you just win the game if you start with it in your opening hand. You cast Flash putting into play Protean Hulk, and electing to not pay. Protean Hulk then dies and allows your to search for a combined 6 CMC of creatures. You’re going to grab Pili-Pala, Grand Architect, Rootwater Diver, and Walking Ballista. Walking Ballista enters, and immediately dies, going to your graveyard. You return it to your hand with Rootwater Diver, create infinite mana with Pili-Pala/Grand Architect, and recast a Walking Ballista for (X large number), and ping all of your opponents for 40. The best way to do this is to cast flash on the end step before you untap, allowing you to do it all in one turn, without letting your opponents get a turn to react.
Strategy- The basic strategy with this deck is to sit back and just draw cards and ramp, utility, counter/remove serious threats, and wait until you have an opportunity to combo off. One of the biggest strengths to this deck is that it’s good at not drawing aggro early enough from the decks you’re playing against for it to matter. By the time they realize you are a threat it’s too late. The amount of available card draw and deck filtering allows you to find your combo pieces quickly, while ramping to mana required to cast it. In an ideal world you’ll be at Tooth and Nail mana on turn 6 or 7 (or turn 5 if you get good draws), then cast it with a grip of counter magic, and get it to resolve, from there if is very hard to disrupt the Deadeye Navigator/Palinchron combo, since Deadeye flickering dodges spot removal, and when Palinchron enters you get to untap 7 lands, which lets you flicker at least 3 more times. If they target Deadeye, you can in response, flicker it. If they respond to the flicker trigger, you can respond to their response with another flicker. The only way around this for them is an instant speed board wipe. Worse comes to worse, and they dump a full hand of spot removal onto your combo. It isn’t the end of world, the deck still has the tools and creatures required to get a win by turning things sideways or drawing into another combo. Also, remember that entwining Tooth and Nail isn’t the same thing as search your library for two creatures and put them onto the battlefield. You get to search for 2 things, put them into your hand, then cast any 2 from your hand. This allows you to sometimes complete two combos; eg. if you have Flash and Palinchron in hand, you can go get Protean Hulk, and Deadeye Navigator, can then put Palinchron and Deadeye onto the battlefield, with the Flash/Hulk Combo to fall back on.
Starting Hand and When to Mulligan- In your starting hand you ideally want at least 3 lands, or 2 lands and some turn 1-2 ramp spells. It isn’t worth it to mulligan away a good hand unless it has only 1 land or more than 4. A counter example to this would be if you had a one land hand with something like Forest, Birds of Paradise, Rampant Growth, Kodama's Reach, and 3 other cards, where you have a play for the first few turns even without drawing lands. With a hand like this and hitting no lands, you’d still be untapping with 5 mana turn 4, and even more if you drew into extra lands.
Matchups- There are a couple things that this deck tends to do poorly against. They are Control, and Combo. Combo deck matchups are usually 50/50, whoever gets to their combo first wins, unless you can disrupt them, and they can’t disrupt you or vice versa. Control decks do well here simply by just never letting you cast your things. They’ll let all of your ramp and card draw resolve all game, and just counter your combo pieces. This isn’t an issue against mid ranged and other decks that have counter spells because you can usually win those counter wars, but against something like mono blue or UW control, often times they will just outright win the counter war, and counter your most important spells, which is an issue because unlike aggro and midrange, not every card in your deck is replaceable. Getting your big fat hydra countered in aggro isn’t as back breaking as getting tooth and nail countered in combo.