Ok so i need some help here. Im new to Commander and this is my first deck. I got this list by taking a bunch of lists and trying to mash it together but i think i messed up. I picked Sedris because i thought he was really cool and the concept seemed simple, dump a bunch of bigs in grave and unearth them. Now last night some people told me im supposed to take a "heavy control" approach when playing Sedris. Is that thw way its supposed to be played and im playing the deck the wrong way? or does it really matter how im supposed to play it?
Also any tips on how to make the deck better would be appreciated. Im trying to stay away from Sorin/Sphinx so any suggestions other than those two would be helpful.
Well the thing about Sedris and Unearth is that the turn you Unearth a fatty from your graveyard is the same turn you have to exile it. Sedris is great for getting one more use out of a good, evasive beater or a creature with an impressive ETB effect that you can't otherwise reanimate. Unearthing creatures like Izzet Chronarch, Chancellor of the Spires and Shriekmaw are great because they have good ETB effects but are otherwise unimpressive. Creatures like the Titans, Wurmcoil Engine and Sheoldred are creatures you want to permanently reanimate with spells like Reanimate, Beacon of Unrest and Profane Command. The reason why I think your friend told you to play heavy control with Sedris is because that is something Grixis colors do very well and the tendancy for the deck to be filled with fatties, counters and removal lends itself to that.
If I may make a couple of suggestions
Cards you might want to remove:
Big Game Hunter- Black has much better removal than a card that is only good if you can discard it.
Nightscape Familiar- You're better off with actual ramp, like Darksteel Ingot or any of the signets you could run in your colors.
Army of the Damned- It has a splashy effect and it also has flashback (which is like Unearth but for spells) but it doesn't seem to help the overall theme of your deck.
Patriarch's Bidding- This card is more for tribal decks as you usually can get more out of it than your opponent.
Arcane Denial- I get that it's a splashable counterspell but it's just not that great in my opinion. Letting your opponent draw cards is never usually a good idea. same thing goes for Dream Fracture. Suitable replacements for these cards would be Cryptic Command, Dismiss and Dissipate
Desertion- Most of the time you're not going to want to keep the mana open for this, it would be better to replace it with something else.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor- a lot of people think this is a really powerful card in EDH and they're wrong. Brainstorming every turn is great but he makes you a huge target just for being on the table. Card Advantage is great but you can get it in less threatening forms elsewhere.
Oversold Cemetery- In my experience this card in mind-numbingly slow. If you're going to be Unearthing a lot of your dudes then it will also be kind of inconsistent as well.
Cards to consider:
There are a multitude of black reanimation effects that I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding, but consider adding Doomed Necromancer to your deck. At least he'll be "2B: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Flashback 2BB."
Volrath's Stronghold- Easily one of the better lands you could run, along with Cabal Coffers because more recurrsion is never a bad thing.
REmember that these are only suggestions and it's up to you how to run your deck. The best part of EDH in my opinion is finding the synergies in your own strategy and choosing your favorite path to victory.
How is JTM$ a bad card in EDH? Fateseal either yourself or an opponent, brainstorm, bounce a dude and well, a win-con? Hmmmm..... I don't see those as bad options at all.
Teferi's Veil is a good card IMO for Sedris since it gets around the Unearth effect.
How is JTM$ a bad card in EDH? Fateseal either yourself or an opponent, brainstorm, bounce a dude and well, a win-con? Hmmmm..... I don't see those as bad options at all.
Teferi's Veil is a good card IMO for Sedris since it gets around the Unearth effect.
I'm not saying JTMS is a bad card, I said that he's not that great in EDH and in case I did say that in my post this is what I meant: JTMS has a slew of powerful abilities as you mentioned, no question, but he really shines in other formats. In a multiplayer format like EDH he draws the hate of the board more often than not based on his reputation alone and if left alone he can back it up. In a heavy control deck like this I suppose he could see some use but I would rather have Phyrexian Arena or something similar that is more reliable and lower profile albeit less versatile.
tl;dr- JTMS will make you a target and if you can stick him, kudos to you.
Edit: Teferi's Veil is awesome, I totally missed that. Keep in mind that the creatures Unearthed and then phased out are still exiled if they leave play as the Veil only skips the EoT exile trigger.
Well the thing about Sedris and Unearth is that the turn you Unearth a fatty from your graveyard is the same turn you have to exile it. Sedris is great for getting one more use out of a good, evasive beater or a creature with an impressive ETB effect that you can't otherwise reanimate. Unearthing creatures like Izzet Chronarch, Chancellor of the Spires and Shriekmaw are great because they have good ETB effects but are otherwise unimpressive. Creatures like the Titans, Wurmcoil Engine and Sheoldred are creatures you want to permanently reanimate with spells like Reanimate, Beacon of Unrest and Profane Command. The reason why I think your friend told you to play heavy control with Sedris is because that is something Grixis colors do very well and the tendancy for the deck to be filled with fatties, counters and removal lends itself to that.
If I may make a couple of suggestions
Cards you might want to remove:
Big Game Hunter- Black has much better removal than a card that is only good if you can discard it.
Nightscape Familiar- You're better off with actual ramp, like Darksteel Ingot or any of the signets you could run in your colors.
Army of the Damned- It has a splashy effect and it also has flashback (which is like Unearth but for spells) but it doesn't seem to help the overall theme of your deck.
Patriarch's Bidding- This card is more for tribal decks as you usually can get more out of it than your opponent.
Arcane Denial- I get that it's a splashable counterspell but it's just not that great in my opinion. Letting your opponent draw cards is never usually a good idea. same thing goes for Dream Fracture. Suitable replacements for these cards would be Cryptic Command, Dismiss and Dissipate
Desertion- Most of the time you're not going to want to keep the mana open for this, it would be better to replace it with something else.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor- a lot of people think this is a really powerful card in EDH and they're wrong. Brainstorming every turn is great but he makes you a huge target just for being on the table. Card Advantage is great but you can get it in less threatening forms elsewhere.
Oversold Cemetery- In my experience this card in mind-numbingly slow. If you're going to be Unearthing a lot of your dudes then it will also be kind of inconsistent as well.
If I may make a couple of suggestions
Cards you might want to remove:
Big Game Hunter- Black has much better removal than a card that is only good if you can discard it.
Nightscape Familiar- You're better off with actual ramp, like Darksteel Ingot or any of the signets you could run in your colors.
Army of the Damned- It has a splashy effect and it also has flashback (which is like Unearth but for spells) but it doesn't seem to help the overall theme of your deck.
Patriarch's Bidding- This card is more for tribal decks as you usually can get more out of it than your opponent.
Arcane Denial- I get that it's a splashable counterspell but it's just not that great in my opinion. Letting your opponent draw cards is never usually a good idea. same thing goes for Dream Fracture. Suitable replacements for these cards would be Cryptic Command, Dismiss and Dissipate
Desertion- Most of the time you're not going to want to keep the mana open for this, it would be better to replace it with something else.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor- a lot of people think this is a really powerful card in EDH and they're wrong. Brainstorming every turn is great but he makes you a huge target just for being on the table. Card Advantage is great but you can get it in less threatening forms elsewhere.
Oversold Cemetery- In my experience this card in mind-numbingly slow. If you're going to be Unearthing a lot of your dudes then it will also be kind of inconsistent as well.
Cards to consider:
There are a multitude of black reanimation effects that I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding, but consider adding Doomed Necromancer to your deck. At least he'll be "2B: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Flashback 2BB."
Volrath's Stronghold- Easily one of the better lands you could run, along with Cabal Coffers because more recurrsion is never a bad thing.
REmember that these are only suggestions and it's up to you how to run your deck. The best part of EDH in my opinion is finding the synergies in your own strategy and choosing your favorite path to victory.
Something i probably should have added to the first post...im fairly new to magic, i started this past spring. So other than reading these forums im not exactly sure on what to put in the deck.
Thanks for the suggestions ill post sometime later this week on how they worked out
My Sedris deck has undergone extensive testing for a very long time. It's my second oldest deck, and I am still finding bizarre and useful synergies and interactions every time I play. It is an extremely versatile deck, and much more interactive and interesting than any of the other "Top-Tier" Grixis decks. It is by far the most fun I have had piloting a deck.
Some of the tools you could use (I only use a few of these). In case you don't know why these are amazing, I'l tell you: When a creature gets exiled and returned to the game it is a new permanent. So an unearthed creature gets exiled. Exiled is exiled (so the unearth drawback is nullified). And you can return the creature permanently with these options.
Teferi's Veil is kind of a half measure, but does its job reasonably well.
Safe Haven has been fantastic. Built in protection, and sacrifice effect. Protect what you need when it needs it, get it back when you need it.
Helvault is a more versatile (in some ways) Safe Haven. It is cheaper to use, but costs more. It can exile opponent's stuff, but it comes back under their control, so that isn't a huge advantage for 7 mana. The trick here, is that you have to run a consistent amount of artifact hate (of the destruction kind and not bounce, shuffle, topdeck, exile sort) to get use out of it, and you will be using that hate on your own tools instead of your opponents. Helvault was a card I looked forward to more than any other in the DA spoilers and has been exceptionally disappointing.
Cold Storage & Tawnos' Coffin are superstars in the deck.
Faceless Butcher & Worldgorger fill a similar role. One of the coolest things to do is on a turn, use Sneak Attack to puke your hand (except for worldgorger) all over the board and wreck face. Next turn, Unearth all of them and swing. Then before the end step, sneak attack Worldgorger exiling everything. Then at the end of turn he get's sacrificed, and all your stuff comes back, permanently, and he goes to the graveyard and you Volrath's Stronghold him back on top. It's brutal.
1 Sedris, the Traitor King
Creatures:
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Bloodghast
1 Body Double
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
1 Glen elendra Archmage
1 Grave Titan
1 Inferno Titan
1 Ink-eyes, servant of oni
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Nightscape Familiar
1 Phyrexian Metamore
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Scion of Darkness
1 Sheoldred, the Whispering One
1 Shriekmaw
1 Skithiryx, the Blight dragon
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Thraximundar
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Sorcery:
1 Army of the Damned
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Bribery
1 Buried Alive
1 Compulsive Research
1 Damnation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Dread Return
1 Exhume
1 Grim Tutor
1 Overwhelming Forces
1 Patriarchs Bidding
1 Reanimate
1 Rise From the Grave
1 Rite of Replication
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Syphon Mind
1 Wheel of Fate
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Arcane Denial
1 Cauldron Dance
1 Counterspell
1 Countersquall
1 Crosis's Charm
1 Desertion
1 Dream Fracture
1 Entomb
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Intuition
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Vampiric Tutor
Planeswalker:
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifact:
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Thran Dynamo
Enchantment:
1 Animate Dead
1 Oversold Cemetery
Land:
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Command Tower
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Graven Cairns
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Strip Mine
1 sunken ruins
1 Temple of the False God
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Volcanic Island
1 Watery Grave
6 Islands
5 Mountains
5 Swamps
Ok so i need some help here. Im new to Commander and this is my first deck. I got this list by taking a bunch of lists and trying to mash it together but i think i messed up. I picked Sedris because i thought he was really cool and the concept seemed simple, dump a bunch of bigs in grave and unearth them. Now last night some people told me im supposed to take a "heavy control" approach when playing Sedris. Is that thw way its supposed to be played and im playing the deck the wrong way? or does it really matter how im supposed to play it?
Also any tips on how to make the deck better would be appreciated. Im trying to stay away from Sorin/Sphinx so any suggestions other than those two would be helpful.
If I may make a couple of suggestions
Cards you might want to remove:
Big Game Hunter- Black has much better removal than a card that is only good if you can discard it.
Nightscape Familiar- You're better off with actual ramp, like Darksteel Ingot or any of the signets you could run in your colors.
Army of the Damned- It has a splashy effect and it also has flashback (which is like Unearth but for spells) but it doesn't seem to help the overall theme of your deck.
Patriarch's Bidding- This card is more for tribal decks as you usually can get more out of it than your opponent.
Arcane Denial- I get that it's a splashable counterspell but it's just not that great in my opinion. Letting your opponent draw cards is never usually a good idea. same thing goes for Dream Fracture. Suitable replacements for these cards would be Cryptic Command, Dismiss and Dissipate
Desertion- Most of the time you're not going to want to keep the mana open for this, it would be better to replace it with something else.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor- a lot of people think this is a really powerful card in EDH and they're wrong. Brainstorming every turn is great but he makes you a huge target just for being on the table. Card Advantage is great but you can get it in less threatening forms elsewhere.
Oversold Cemetery- In my experience this card in mind-numbingly slow. If you're going to be Unearthing a lot of your dudes then it will also be kind of inconsistent as well.
Cards to consider:
There are a multitude of black reanimation effects that I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding, but consider adding Doomed Necromancer to your deck. At least he'll be "2B: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Flashback 2BB."
Volrath's Stronghold- Easily one of the better lands you could run, along with Cabal Coffers because more recurrsion is never a bad thing.
REmember that these are only suggestions and it's up to you how to run your deck. The best part of EDH in my opinion is finding the synergies in your own strategy and choosing your favorite path to victory.
Teferi's Veil is a good card IMO for Sedris since it gets around the Unearth effect.
I'm not saying JTMS is a bad card, I said that he's not that great in EDH and in case I did say that in my post this is what I meant: JTMS has a slew of powerful abilities as you mentioned, no question, but he really shines in other formats. In a multiplayer format like EDH he draws the hate of the board more often than not based on his reputation alone and if left alone he can back it up. In a heavy control deck like this I suppose he could see some use but I would rather have Phyrexian Arena or something similar that is more reliable and lower profile albeit less versatile.
tl;dr- JTMS will make you a target and if you can stick him, kudos to you.
Edit: Teferi's Veil is awesome, I totally missed that. Keep in mind that the creatures Unearthed and then phased out are still exiled if they leave play as the Veil only skips the EoT exile trigger.
Something i probably should have added to the first post...im fairly new to magic, i started this past spring. So other than reading these forums im not exactly sure on what to put in the deck.
Thanks for the suggestions ill post sometime later this week on how they worked out
Some of the tools you could use (I only use a few of these). In case you don't know why these are amazing, I'l tell you: When a creature gets exiled and returned to the game it is a new permanent. So an unearthed creature gets exiled. Exiled is exiled (so the unearth drawback is nullified). And you can return the creature permanently with these options.
1 Safe Haven
1 Helvault
1 Cold Storage
1 Tawnos' Coffin
1 Wordgorger Dragon
1 Faceless Butcher
Teferi's Veil is kind of a half measure, but does its job reasonably well.
Safe Haven has been fantastic. Built in protection, and sacrifice effect. Protect what you need when it needs it, get it back when you need it.
Helvault is a more versatile (in some ways) Safe Haven. It is cheaper to use, but costs more. It can exile opponent's stuff, but it comes back under their control, so that isn't a huge advantage for 7 mana. The trick here, is that you have to run a consistent amount of artifact hate (of the destruction kind and not bounce, shuffle, topdeck, exile sort) to get use out of it, and you will be using that hate on your own tools instead of your opponents. Helvault was a card I looked forward to more than any other in the DA spoilers and has been exceptionally disappointing.
Cold Storage & Tawnos' Coffin are superstars in the deck.
Faceless Butcher & Worldgorger fill a similar role. One of the coolest things to do is on a turn, use Sneak Attack to puke your hand (except for worldgorger) all over the board and wreck face. Next turn, Unearth all of them and swing. Then before the end step, sneak attack Worldgorger exiling everything. Then at the end of turn he get's sacrificed, and all your stuff comes back, permanently, and he goes to the graveyard and you Volrath's Stronghold him back on top. It's brutal.
The Commandments of EDH