**Note: Credit for the format of this primer goes to ISBPathfinder for his Jenara thread.**
“Little is known about the bizarre entity that crawls the world of Muraganda. The fang druids call it The Mimeoplasm, as it absorbs the traits of anything it engulfs. The saurid warriors of the south seek out The Mimeoplasm wherever it roams, believing it to be the key to a mysterious afterlife, hoping to see in it traces of their fallen loved ones. The elves of the tropics believe it to be part of nature's cycle, a way to channel death back into life. The scarwitches hiss when it approaches, seeing it as the ultimate enemy of the world. Whether it's a natural process or a malevolent force, The Mimeoplasm never fails to command respect.”
-Doug Beyer, Savor the Flavor
Deck History and Personal Bio
I started playing EDH about three years ago, but really got into it when the Commander precons came out during summer of 2011. This is the second EDH deck that I ever built, and the one that I have spent by far the most time testing and refining. The very first incarnation of this deck was the Devour for Power deck, which I picked up around the time that it was first released. I've been tuning it ever since, to the point that it shows very few similarities to the original deck. However, one thing that has remained the same is the general: The Mimeoplasm. The amazing versatility that he provides, combined with the potential for a surgical strike at a dangerous player, makes him one of the most powerful generals available. This has become my favorite deck that I have ever built, for any format, because of the amount of money, time and effort that I have invested into it.
Just in case you wanted to know more about me (you probably don’t) I’ll include this section. I’m a 19 year old student attending college at the University of Michigan. I’m going to school to be an Engineer. I like doing pretty typical things, like hanging out with friends, playing video games, reading, watching sports, and, of course, playing Magic. I've been playing Magic for about seven years now, since the release of Time Spiral block. I was introduced to the game by a couple of friends who had been playing it since a couple years before me. I was a pretty casual player for a while, but I eventually discovered MTGS and learned a ton about the game from coming here. I started to get into EDH about three years ago, but I didn't really focus on it until about two years ago when the precons came out. That’s when I discovered The Mimeoplasm, which has gone on to become my favorite general. Nowadays, EDH is basically the only format I play. I love the challenge of building decks with all the unique restrictions, as well as the fun and politics of multiplayer games. I’m not really sure what else to say here, but if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask me in this thread or through a private message.
Why Play The Mimeoplasm?
You might like The Mimeoplasm if:
You enjoy being able to take advantage of all zones of play, especially the graveyard.
You like a general that gives you a lot of utility, but can also serve as a wincon.
You like to use many of the most powerful cards in the format to ramp, draw, and tutor.
Your meta likes wrath effects and you want immediate value from your creatures.
You think an ooze with a dinosaur arm is awesome (who doesn’t?).
You might not like The Mimeoplasm if:
You’re looking for a deck that combos off as quickly as possible.
Your meta is filled with graveyard hate.
You don’t like using staple cards and prefer something more unique.
You don’t plan to cast your general.
You’re evil.
The Competition:
Damia, Sage of Stone- While Damia is an extremely powerful card drawing engine, she doesn't have nearly as much versatility as The Mimeoplasm. She also has an extremely high casting cost and paints a huge target for removal on herself. Works pretty well for a control deck, but we definitely want Mimeo for goodstuff reanimator.
Vorosh, the Hunter- Vorosh can be a pretty solid beater, but he's by far the weakest of the three BUG Commanders. Copying Skithiryx kills people more efficiently if you want a quick aggro kill, and The Mimeoplasm also has significantly more utility and even costs one less mana.
The whole deck has been built up around what I consider to be one of the most powerful generals around: The Mimeoplasm. He can copy utility ETB creatures to gain value, exile someone else's fatties, and reanimate my own threats in a pinch. I also run Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon so I have the option to perform a quick, surgical strike against a player who is getting too dangerous. He can also serve as a win condition if I can protect him for a couple of turn cycles. The fact that The Mimeoplasm comes in the three best colors for EDH certainly doesn't hurt his case either.
This deck was intially developed around a strong ETB theme backed up by cards like Survival of the Fittest and Birthing Pod. The inspiration for this idea initially came from ISBPathfinder's Jenara Primer. However, over time I have gradually moved away from the ETB package and into a more focused reanimator deck. If I had to categorize it into a particular archetype, I would call it reanimator control. The typical gameplan is to sit back using your removal, counterspells, and card draw spells until your are ready to throw a couple of fatties in the bin and go to town. The deck features quite a bit of tutoring and recursion for other card types, which allows me to gain a ton of value over time from various utility cards. It can also go crazy in a single turn with mass graveyard recursion like Living Death or Yawgmoth's Will, both of which usually provide massive blowouts and will commonly lead to victory soon after.
Early Game
A typical game will usually have you playing out some utility creatures and spells to draw and ramp up early on. Key cards here include Sol Ring, Birds of Paradise, Oracle of Mul Daya, Fact or Fiction, Sylvan Library, and Thirst for Knowledge. It’s always good to get out Sylvan Primordial as early as possible, either through getting him in the graveyard and reanimating him, or by using Flash to put him into play extremely early. Blowing up your opponents' permanents while ramping yourself gives you a huge advantage, and copying him only makes it even better. Alternatively, you will occasionally stumble upon some insane draws where you can simply reanimate a bomb creature on turn two or three. If you are able to pull this off and protect the creature(s) for a few turns, you may be able to take over the game quickly enough to seal a victory before your opponents even know what hit them. However, this will not happen in the majority of games, so you will usually need to play the more conservative gameplan.
Mid Game
After you have your resources up and running, you need to focus on building up card advantage through the use of value creatures and graveyard manipulation. Survival of the Fittest is amazing here because it fills up your graveyard while simultaneously tutoring the perfect creature for any given situation. Make sure to get added value from your creatures by attacking whenever you have a clear shot. Prophet of Kruphix, Seedborn Muse, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir tend to be amazing at this point in the game because they allow us to sit back and play most of our spells during other players’ turns, which is very helpful for dodging removal and keeping mana open for our own answers. I used to run a Sword of X and Y package to enhance my smaller creatures and make them into significant threats, but the deck became a bit too grindy and tempo oriented for my liking. This strategy might work well if you are in a control heavy metagame.
End Game and Winning
When you reach the late game, you should have a sufficient advantage in resources over your opponents to go for a win. This is usually done by either dumping all your graveyard creatures into play off of Living Death, or getting in some swings with a huge Mimeoplasm. The Skithiryx plan is useful in 1v1 games and to kill off players who threaten to get out of control, but it isn't resilient enough to win all by itself. If you play a lot of 1v1 games, I would definitely suggest using him as one of your primary win conditions, but in multiplayer you will need usually need a bit more. As of now, the deck's main multiplayer win condition is just to beat down with a bunch of huge creatures like the Praetors, which tend to dominate the board and demand answers or else they will overwhelm the opposition. I'm currently considering adding some type of combo to build into the deck that I can use to close out long games without being too degenerate. I would like something that includes pieces which are still relevant outside of the combo to increase the consistency of the deck and mitigate "dead draws."
Potential Improvements
I haven't quite gone all in on spending yet. I tend to cap my reasonable expenditures at $20 per card, but I should be able to get something up to around $30-$40 if I'm patient enough and feel the deck really needs it. After $40, I just don't really feel that it's worth spending that much on cardboard. I like to think I can make a fairly competitive deck without compromising my financial security. If you have an unlimited mtg budget I would recommend updating the list with the remaining ABU Dual Lands, namely Underground Sea and Tropical Island, as well as potentially better spells like Mana Drain, Force of Will, and Mana Crypt. Bazaar of Baghdad is another extremely expensive card that could potentially improve the deck.
Intuition Packages
Intuition is one of the best cards in the deck, allowing us to tutor for a variety of different “packages” of cards to set up our various engines or find the right set of cards for any situation. The fact that it can be cast at instant speed means that you can usually cast it on your opponent’s end step, then untap and pull off some very powerful plays. The following packages are some of the ones that I search for most frequently. I don’t always run all of these cards, but they are always good options depending on which other cards you run to support them:
With these two packages, you are guaranteed to end up with all three cards eventually (other than Crucible in the second package), regardless of what your opponent gives you. Very useful for setting up cards like Memory Jar and utility creatures, or Birthing Pod in a more ETB focused build.
This package lets you simply tutor up any single card in your deck. Keep in mind that it costs a lot of mana to do this, so you won’t want to choose this package unless you are in a pinch.
This is the package to go for if you want to make sure you are hitting all of your land drops. This one is especially strong in the early game, and can become even more powerful if you have an Oracle of Mul Daya or Lotus Cobra out.
This package allows you to set up a surgical strike to eliminate one player with Skithiryx. No matter what creature they give you, you can use the Undead Gladiator to make sure Skithiryx and the 6+ power creature end up in your graveyard, allowing you to cast as a 10 power Skithiryx and kill someone. I don’t personally run this package in my deck, but it is a nice option to have if you want to pull this one off.
Life from the Loam Synergies
Life from the Loam is another card that has a ton of synergy with other pieces in this deck. Its dredge ability means that you can always get it back for more uses, and we have a lot of nice lands to take advantage of:
This is usually a poor man's Bazaar of Baghdad, but with Loam active it is usually better than Bazaar. Once we have Threshold online, we can activate Coliseum's ability to draw 3 cards and discard 3 cards, then replace one of those draws by dredging Loam, which we can then use to return Coliseum to our hand and do it all over again. Getting this synergy set up allows us to go through our deck very quickly to fill our graveyard with reanimation targets and find the card that we are looking for.
Some players may frown on you using these two cards together, but you cannot deny that Loam and Strip Mine make an awesome combination, allowing you to kill of an opposing land every turn. If you get the game down to a 1v1 match with this combo available, it becomes almost impossible for the opponent to win as you widdle away their land base. Even if you are not using this pairing abusively, it is still very strong for keeping opposing utility lands off the table.
Bog doesn't kill itself as easily as Strip Mine and Cephalid Coliseum, so you may have to get creative on this one, but if you get out both Strip Mine and Bojuka Bog, you can destroy your own Bog and then return both Mine and Bog with Loam for another go round. Other people shouldn't be allowed to use graveyard shenanigans against you, so this can be an awesome way to put a stop to whatever they are trying to do. It gets even better if you can get out Cephalid Coliseum as well, giving you a free way to dredge Loam, and thus allowing you to get back Mine and Bog at will as well.
Fetchlands are obviously super awesome with Life from the Loam, and with this setup, you should never miss a land drop for the rest of the game. If you somehow manage to run out of targets for your fetchlands, they can be turned into Swamps with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and by the time you reach that point, you should have so much mana that it doesn't even matter.
This list includes many cards that I don't run in my deck simply because I don 't have enough room for all of them. If there are cards from my list that you either don't have or don't want to run, I would recommend replacing them with either cards from here or cards from the budget decklist which can be found a few sections below. Conversely, if you own cards like the originial dual lands, Force of Will, Mana Crypt, and Mana Drain, feel free to run those cards in the list even though I can't afford to run them in mine.
The Mimeoplasm- Obviously, he’s the general of the deck. His ability to copy creatures from any graveyard while exiling them can be extremely versatile. He can come in as an ETB or utility creature, he can serve as graveyard hate against an opponent’s shenanigans, or he can become Skithiryx for a lethal poison strike. The fact that he comes in the three best colors for EDH doesn’t hurt him either.
Birthing Pod- Since this deck runs a lot of ETB creatures, Birthing Pod becomes an incredible engine card. It can tutor up whatever I need for a given situation, and it can set up lots of really powerful interactions. The fact that it puts the creature directly into play is awesome. This is one of the best cards in the deck and should be considered a staple for most decks running green. Crucible of Worlds- Crucible is an awesome card for getting any of our various utility lands back from the graveyard, as well as recurring fetchlands every turn to guarantee you hit all of your land drops. It’s nice in an Intuition package because it can ensure that you get whatever land package you want out of your deck and it works very nicely with cards like Expedition Map and Academy Ruins. Lastly, it can be used with Strip Mine or Wasteland along with Oracle of Mul Daya to essentially lock your opponents out of getting any more land for the rest of the game, but I would advise against this strategy in all but the most cutthroat playgroups. Crystal Shard- Another very versatile card. Mainly serves to reuse my ETB creatures and to save my guys from a wrath. In a pinch it can be used to bounce a creature against a tapped out opponent. It’s also one of the pieces that can be used to set up an infinite turn combo with Eternal Witness or Archaeomancer. Expedition Map- We have a lot of really good value engines that are built around utility lands in this deck, so Expedition Map is a great way to find them. One of my favorite ways to get things going early is to tutor for Academy Ruins, then use Ruins to recur map and get another utility land and keep the value chain going. Lightning Greaves- A staple for any EDH deck that gets a lot of use out of its general. One of the most efficient haste outlets in the format, and also serves as protection from spot removal. Extremely useful to protect Jin-Gitaxias or give haste to beaters and utility creatures. Allows me to get more mileage out of my creatures, which is always good. Memory Jar- Effects that cause each player to draw and discard a lot of cards are very strong in a deck like this which likes to take advantage of all graveyards. It gives us a lot of new fuel since we tend to play out our hands pretty quickly a lot of the time. This card is also insane with Notion Thief because you get to destroy everyone else’s entire hand and draw 7 cards for each player at the table, which usually gives you an almost insurmountable advantage. Oblivion Stone- A recurable and tutorable board wipe is really amazing in EDH. It’s always nice to grab this thing with Tezzeret when you need to kill everything. It’s not quite as good here as it is in Bant decks because we don’t have access to Sun Titan, but I believe that it’s worth a slot in here. Sensei's Divining Top- I think this card is a pretty obvious staple. The ability to pay 1 mana to look at the top 3 cards of your library at any time is really powerful. The fact that it can draw you one of those 3 cards is really nice too. It’s also nearly unkillable because you can just put it on top in response. Skullclamp- This card is so good that it never should have been printed. The fact that it’s banned in both Modern and Legacy should give you a clue as to just how broken it is. It allows you to repeatably pay 1 mana to draw 2 cards as long as you have 1 toughness creatures. It gets especially crazy with something like Avenger of Zendikar. Sol Ring- Perhaps the most ubiquitous of all EDH staples. You would be hard pressed to come up with a deck where Sol Ring doesn’t fit. The fact that it taps for more mana than it costs is just ridiculously powerful. Landing one of these turn 1 will often put you so far ahead that the game turns into Archenemy. Sword of Feast and Famine- In my opinion, the best Sword in EDH. The land untap ability is incredibly powerful, especially if you can strap it on Primeval Titan. The discard ability is gravy, although it can force people into awkward situations where they have to choose between dumping fatties for The Mimeoplasm to eat, or losing cards that they were planning to cast. Sword of Fire and Ice- Not as powerful as Feast and Famine, but provides nice card advantage while killing off utility creatures. This deck really loves both draw and ramp, so getting out an early sword is really helpful. We also run a lot of utility guys that become infinitely more threatening when they pick up a sword. Sword of Light and Shadow- Yet another Sword of X and Y to that we can strap onto our ETB creatures to get more utility out of them. The gain 3 life mode isn't that useful, but returning a creature from the graveyard to your hand with every hit can be incredibly powerful. In addition, the protections that this Sword gives happen to be from the two best removal colors, which can significantly increase the longevity of our creatures.
Acidic Slime- The best noncreature permanent hate available to this deck. He can come in, kill a problem permanent, and then sit back to block and kill a fatty with his deathtouch ability. The versatility and card advantage that he provides makes him one of the best green creatures in EDH. Archaeomancer- Recurs a lot of our powerful Instants and Sorceries for a second use. The fact that he only costs 4 and can carry a sword gives him a big advantage over Mnemonic Wall, which would probably be in this slot if Archaeomancer hadn’t been printed. Avenger of Zendikar- More than any other creature, Avenger of Zendikar gives you an “army in a card.” He will usually make at least 7 guys, while often making many more. Pairing him with Deadeye Navigator basically turns the game into “sweep or die” for all of your opponents. He’s always a solid Tooth and Nail target along with Primeval Titan, giving you a quick pile of 2/3s. Body Double- Another extremely versatile card (it’s sort of a theme in this deck), Body Double can copy the best card in any graveyard. He’s usually something of my own, but occasionally I can turn him into somebody else’s best dead creature. There are just so many things that you can do with this guy; he’ll just about never be a dead card. Once again, pairing him with Deadeye Navigator lets you do an incredible variety of different things, all in the same turn. Consecrated Sphinx- One of the most powerful creatures in the entire format. If left alone for even a single turn, he simply ends games. Be wary if someone else tries to copy him. This can result in both Sphinx players drawing their entire decks. This should result in a win for whichever player gets to take a turn sooner, so make sure you’re getting the biggest advantage out of this guy. Deadeye Navigator- This guy is crazy with any ETB creature. The ability to repeatedly use your creatures for 1U is amazing, in addition to the fact that he also protects them and himself from targeted removal. He can also blink himself out to pair up with a different creature at any time. He’s another one of the ways that we can set up infinite turns by pairing him with Archaeomancer or Eternal Witness and recurring an extra turn card. Disciple of Bolas- This guy can generate a huge advantage or bail you out when you're low on life. He generates a ton of card advantage and gains you life while also having a body which can carry swords, get eaten by skullclamp, or podded away for a five drop. The lifegain is actually fairly relevant because this deck tends to do quite a bit of damage to itself. Duplicant- This is one of the best examples of cards that are chosen because they come with a spell effect on a creature body. He’s yet another creature that’s highly abusable with Deadeye Navigator, giving you a one-sided Final Judgment. The fact that he exiles the creature can be a little annoying if you want to copy it with Mimeoplasm, but the fact that it avoids graveyard triggers and stops others from abusing the creature means that it usually worth it. Eternal Witness- One of the best green creatures ever printed. She allows you to get any card back from your graveyard for just 3 mana. I don’t think much more needs to be said about it; this card is a staple. Just to note, it can be paired with Deadeye or Crystal Shard to recur a Time Warp effect every turn. Farhaven Elf- Essentially another copy of Wood Elves. I've gone back and forth between this guy and Yavimaya Dryad. Dryad has more upside because it can grab the shocklands, but the double green cost is often a pain. Right now I'm using this guy, but i could switch back at any time. Fierce Empath- This guy is a really efficient tutor on a body. He usually grabs either Prime Time or Consecrated Sphinx before being eaten by Skullclamp or Birthing Pod. This deck runs a lot of really powerful 6+ CMC creatures, so there should always be something good to grab. Fleshbag Marauder- A nice removal option on a cost effective body. 99% of the time he just gets sacrificed to himself so that you can use him again from the graveyard. Kills things like Blightsteel Colossus that are very hard to remove through conventional means. Really good with Havengul Lich to repeatedly force sacrifices for 4 mana. Genesis- This guy generates a lot of advantage over time. Obviously the goal is to get him into the graveyard so that he can start recurring your guys. His ability may not seem game breaking, but it helps contribute to the steady card advantage that this deck loves to generate. Glen Elendra Archmage- One of the few counters that this deck runs. The fact that it can only counter noncreature spells isn’t that big of a deal because we can usually just kill creatures. Being able to counter 2 spells takes this card from good to incredible. As I said, this deck is light on counters, so having one this good on a body is imperative. Havengul Lich- While he doesn’t have an ETB effect, this guy earns his slot because of his ability to consistently recur utility creatures from any graveyard, provided you can pay the mana for it. Absolutely amazing with things like Phantasmal Image and Fleshbag Marauder, which tend to get put back in the graveyard very easily. Ixidron- I was hesitant about this guy for a while, but after trying him out he's really good. He's essentially a wrath on an ETB creature that stops them from getting their general back. He also gets pretty huge if you play him at the right time. He can really turn the game around in a way that few other cards in this deck can. Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur- Possibly the most powerful effect on any creature in the entire format. Griselbrand is better but he's banned, so Jin-Gitaxias fills the role of the ultimate reanimation target. The draw seven every turn is absoluetly huge. The fact that he destroys everyone else's`hand is just gravy. Kokusho, the Evening Star- I was extremely happy to see Kokusho's unbanning, which eased a little bit of the pain of losing Primeval Titan. Draining everyone for 5 and gaining 15 in a multiplayer game is impressive. When you're able to recur him it gets crazy. Lotus Cobra- I've been trying this guy out recently and he has been really explosive. With fetchlands, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Life from the Loam, he's able to generate a ton of mana. Ideally I will eventually have a Crucible of Worlds in here, which will make him that much better. Mulldrifter- This guy is pretty self-explanatory. He’s either a Divination that can be tutored for and recurred later, or he’s a 2/2 flying body that also draws 2. He carries Swords well and blocks flyers if he has to. A 3 for 1 that comes on a body for just 5 mana is just so much value in this format. Notion Thief- This guy is incredibly strong against opponents who try to get greedy and draw multiple cards in a single turn. He also forms half of the back-breaking combo with either Memory Jar or Windfall, drawing you a massive number of cards while destroying everyone else’s hands. He can potentially get you killed by being forced to draw your whole library if someone else has a Consecrated Sphinx out, but we make sure to run plenty of instant speed removal so this doesn’t happen. Oracle of Mul Daya- Oracle is one of the best ramp creatures available. The fact that he allows you to play an additional land as well as the ability to play them off the top of your library helps clear land clumps quickly while also ramping up to play your spells. The fact that he shows what you will be drawing is unfortunate at times, but is mitigated because of the fact that we don’t run many Instants anyway. Phantasmal Image- Clones tend to be really good in this format, and this guy is the most efficient clone effect ever printed. Sure, he dies pretty easily, but even a single Primeval Titan or Rune-Scarred Demon trigger is worth the low price of 1U. Him and the other clones also have the ability to kill any general regardless of Shroud, Hexproof, Indestructible, etc. Phyrexian Metamorph- Another extremely efficient clone. This guy is even better than Phantasmal Image because of his ability to copy Artifacts. The fact that he is an artifact himself means that he is tutorable off Tezzeret as well. Most of the time he’ll become a copy of the best permanent on the board, but, like Image, he can also kill generals. Primeval Titan- Banned Prophet of Kruphix- Untapping all your lands and creatures and giving all your creatures flash? There’s not a lot that needs to be said about this card. The amount of mana this card gives you as well as the flexibility of playing The Mimeoplasm or any of your other creatures at instant speed is too good to pass up. Rune-Scarred Demon- While he is pretty expensive for a tutor, the fact that he can be cheated into play or reanimated easily makes him much more abusable than most tutors. I love to chain a bunch of creatures through Survival of the Fittest and then reanimate this guy to tutor Living Death and get all my guys back. Another fun thing to do is to tutor for Rite of Replication and kick it on him, giving you 5 more tutors and six 6/6 flyers. Sakura-Tribe Elder- He’s basically a Rampant Growth on a body, which is plenty good enough for me. I usually leave him around until the end of my last opponent’s turn to serve as a chump blocker and sacrifice before damage. If it’s late in the game and I don’t need more lands, I’ll let him stick around to carry a Sword or get Skullclamped. Seedborn Muse- Very similar to Prophet of Kruphix but not quite as good. Still strong enough to earn a spot though. The fourth point of toughness makes her a little harder to kill than Prophet and untapping Artifacts can be nice on occasion. Any card that lets you untap all of your lands is going to be a strong card in EDH. Sheoldred, Whispering One- A huge threat once she lands on the board. She’s a must answer threat that will take over the game between killing your opponents’ creatures and reanimating yours. She’s one the of the big targets that we want to reanimate early on if possible, especially since she allows us to bring back even more fatties if we dump them into the graveyard as well. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon- Skittles is one of my main ways to win. He’s in the deck solely to be copied by The Mimeoplasm while getting at least six +1/+1 counters and haste, allowing him to be instantly lethal to any opponent who doesn’t have a flying blocker. He’s great to snipe a player who gets too threatening, but he usually doesn’t make it around an entire turn cycle to kill multiple people, which is where the extra turn cards come in. Snapcaster Mage- An instant staple in all formats, Snapcaster is incredible for his ability to reuse any spell in your graveyard. The fact that he has flash means that we can even use him to flashback a counterspell or other Instant during an opponent’s turn. He can also serve as a surprise blocker in a pinch, particularly when someone taps out expecting a Sword of Feast and Famine trigger. Solemn Simulacrum- While he isn’t the best at any of his effects, he does a lot of things well. He ramps, carries equipment, and draws a card when he dies. He’s a great card to funnel through Birthing Pod because you get a benefit when he comes in and when he leaves. Sphinx of Uthuun- Similar to how Rune-Scarred Demon is Demonic Tutor on a stick, Sphinx of Uthuun is Fact or Fiction on a stick. Considering that we run both of these spells, the creature versions should be almost auto-includes. Dumping Sphinx into the graveyard early and reanimating it can give you enough card advantage to run away with the game. Sylvan Primordial- Banned Terastodon- The big elephant is one of our best ways to clear out noncreature permanents, as well as giving a massive number of counters when exiled by The Mimeoplasm. The fact that he can hit 3 different permanents gives him the edge over Woodfall Primus in multiplayer games. Trinket Mage- The amount of things that this guy can tutor off just a 3 mana body is incredible. In this deck I run Sol Ring, Sensei’s Divining Top, and Skullclamp as targets for him. I’d like to find a slot for Tormod’s Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb as well. If you want even more options, you can run the Artifact Lands, though I chose not to because of their vulnerability to artifact sweepers. Trygon Predator- This guy is amazing against artifact and enchantment strategies. He really benefits from having haste, which is a large part of the reason why Lightning Greaves is in here. Eventually I would like to replace him with a 3 cmc destroy target artifact or enchantment ETB creature, but unfortunately we don't have one in our colors yet. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger- Another creature that we want to try to reanimate early on because he is such a huge threat. Doubling your mana means that you will likely have more big plays to follow him up, and stunting your opponents’ mana means they will be hampered by him even if they do have an answer, especially if you can just reanimate him again next turn. Wood Elves- This guy is amazing because he can tutor up one of my shocklands and put it into play untapped. He dies to Skullclamp, carries Swords, and can be Podded just like all the other creatures in here. I try to run most of my ramp in the form of creatures, so this guy is essential. Yavimaya Dryad- Essentially a second copy of Wood Elves, at least in the fact that it can grab a nonbasic forest. While it puts the land into play tapped, it also has a 2/1 body rather than 1/1. The biggest draw is that it has Forestwalk, which is key in a format where many of the best decks rely on green for ramp.
Animate Dead- I’m now running this in addition to Necromancy because having a large suite of cheap reanimate type spells is something this deck definitely wants. Oftentimes we are trying to play our early game similar to a legacy reanimator deck and just run people over early on, in which case a critical mass of cards like this are needed. Necromancy- The main reason to choose this over Animate Dead is the fact that it can be played at Instant speed if you’re willing to sacrifice the creature at the end of turn. I think this benefit is worthwhile considering that you only have to pay one extra mana to get it. The fact that it doesn’t give -1/-0 will almost never matter, but it could be potentially relevant, which gives a bit more support for Necromancy. Necropotence- One of the most powerful Enchantments ever printed. The ability to turn life into cards at a rate of one-for-one has only been seen on two other cards in Magic, and both of them are banned in this format, while it may be annoying that you don’t get the cards until end of turn, you can fix this by taking an extra turn or using Alchemist’s Refuge. I typically just use it to draw up to seven every turn, since I don’t want my cards getting exiled. One of the biggest drawbacks is the BBB cost, since this is the only card in the deck that requires 3 mana of a single color. Also, make sure you don’t pay too much life and watch out for Mindslaver. Pernicious Deed- An amazing sweeper if you're playing BG. The fact that you can drop it for 3 mana and then sit back with mana open lets you play some interesting politics. The fact that you get to choose which permanents to hit means this will usually be better than Oblivion Stone, and also less vulnerable to hate since it's an enchantment rather than an artifact. Phyrexian Arena- This is like a more relaxed version of Necropotence. It only gives you one extra card per turn at the cost of one life, but you get the card in your hand right away. It also doesn’t draw nearly as much hate, meaning it will often stick around to gain you continued advantage over time. Survival of the Fittest- Survival is an incredibly potent tool for filling your graveyard and grabbing whatever creature you need for the situation. The fact that it can be activated immediately and more than once per turn makes it miles better than Fauna Shaman. This card, perhaps more than any other, is used to set up my win conditions. Sylvan Library- Library is absolutely a card advantage and card selection machine. It is significantly more powerful than Sensei’s Divining Top, which is considered to be one of the best card selection tools ever printed. The price of four life per extra card might seems steep, but in a 40-life format we can afford to pay it at least a couple times.
Abrupt Decay- This one might be a little questionable in the stereotypical EDH meta filled with bombs, but I've noticed that my playgroup has started to use a lot of lower cmc cards lately. The fact that it can't be countered is really nice when you go against plenty of blue decks. Arcane Denial- A very efficient counterspell option at the cost of just 1U. Giving your opponent cards isn’t always something you want to do, but it can be a good political play because they’re likely to be less angry about their spell getting countered if they get to replace it with another spell or two. As with all the counters in this deck, you’ll want to save it for things that will be game breaking since we’re pretty light on countermagic. The fact that it cantrips is nice and you can actually turn the downside in your favor if you have Notion Thief. Beast Within- One of the most versatile and efficient spot removal spells available to us. It hits any type of permanent, at Instant speed, for just 3 mana. Usually giving the opponent a 3/3 Beast won’t matter too much, so this is almost an Instant speed Vindicate, in green. It doesn’t get much better than that. Brainstorm- This card is considered to be one of the best cards in Legacy, but many people think it doesn't deserve a spot in EDH. However, the fact that it's actually a draw 3 rather than filter 3 and draw 1 makes it quite good in my opinion. The amount of fetches and tutors that we run means that you will usually be able to shuffle away the cards you put back and see new ones next turn. Cyclonic Rift- A huge bomb that can also be played early on for tempo advantage. The fact that this card is good both early and late game is exactly what we want. There are many games where I cast this, untap, play another threat, and get concessions on the spot. It's that good. Entomb- Considering that we can basically use our graveyard as an extension of our hand, this is almost as good as a one mana demonic tutor that can be played at any time. Paying one mana to put any card in your graveyard is incredibly powerful with all the ways we have to abuse it. Going turn one Entomb, turn two Reanimate is one of our strongest opening plays. Fact or Fiction- As with Entomb, Fact or Fiction becomes absurdly powerful in a graveyard based deck. Most of the time it can be looked at as 3U: draw 5 cards. The fact that you get to choose the pile means that you will always get what you want in hand or the graveyard. This is one of the most useful draw spells available to us. Flash- A notorious part of the famous Flash Hulk deck and for good reason, this card can enable incredibly early wins. Flashing in Sylvan Primordial on turn 2, ramping 3 lands and letting him die, and then casting The Mimeoplasm copying him on turn 3 is probably the most back breaking thing we can do in this deck and should probably earn the win right there considering you will probably be on 7-8 lands while each opponent will have somewhere from 0-2. Grisly Salvage- This is a card that I haven’t gotten a chance to play with yet, but would like to try out. Digging five cards deep for just two mana is quite the deal, even if you can only put lands or creatures into your hand. Putting cards into the graveyard is almost as good as into the hand for us, which means this card can generate amazing value for such a low cost. Intuition- Just picked this one up. It's basically a more flexible Buried Alive that can be played at instant speed. Thinking about including Undead Gladiator so that I can guarantee to get Skithiryx and a fatty in my graveyard if I want to. Krosan Grip- Every deck needs at least a little bit of Artifact and Enchantment hate, and this is the one that is best suited to our cause. K-Grip is extremely useful against the most common forms of graveyard hate, such as Tormod’s Crypt and Relic of Progenitus, because they won’t be able to activate the artifact’s ability in response to it being destroyed. Lim-Dûl's Vault- Another fantastic tutor that we have access to in these colors. There really isn't much that needs to be said about this card. The fact that you get to see 5 cards rather than just one means that you can set up your next few turns (or a great stack for Fact or Fiction). Mystical Tutor- Tutors are one of the best ways to increase consistency in EDH. While Mystical Tutor only gets Instants and Sorceries, that still gives it plenty of options. At worst, you can always grab Demonic Tutor to get whatever other type of card you need. Pact of Negation- Arguably better than Force of Will in this deck, and at a fraction of the price. This can be a nasty surprise if someone tries to do something degenerate or game winning while you're tapped out. You shouldn't use this on just anything; make sure to save it for something especially gamebreaking. Putrefy- Been running this in addition to Abrupt Decay lately for another piece of flexible spot removal. While Decay is uncounterable and can hit enchantments and Planeswalkers, Putrefy hits scary things that have a CMC of 4 or greater like Kaalia of the Vast. Plus, just having a bit of redundancy for spot removal is nice. Vampiric Tutor- Once again, tutors are extremely useful in EDH. The fact that this and Mystical tutor to the top of the library rather than the hand can be easily offset by using them on the opponent’s end step, so that you will immediately draw them on your turn. The loss of 2 life is negligible in a 40 life format. Voidslime- This deck doesn’t run very many counters, so we want to make sure we get as much utility out of them as possible. Voidslime, like Krosan Grip, is very useful against graveyard hate because it can counter the activated ability. Voidslime can basically counter anything, so you should probably save it for the situation where you need it most.
Tezzeret the Seeker- Tezzeret is one of the few Planeswalkers that I would consider to be actually good in EDH. He tutors for any artifact in the deck, and can be used to untap Birthing Pod and Crystal Shard if necessary. Most of the time he goes and gets either Pod or Oblivion Stone, depending on the board, but other prime targets include the Swords and Metamorph.
Beacon of Unrest- One of the most versatile reanimation spells available. It can take artifacts in addition to creatures, as well as being able to target opponents’ graveyards in addition to your own. Add in the fact that it shuffles itself back into your library for later use, and you have one of the best reanimation spells ever. Buried Alive- If getting one card into the graveyard with Entomb is good, getting three is amazing. While you can only grab creatures, they’re usually what you would want to grab anyways. This spell can instantly set you up for a lethal Mimeoplasm by grabbing Skithiryx and any 6+ power creature, as well as grabbing a utility creature for backup. One of the most useful spells in our 99. Damnation- The most efficient board sweeper ever printed in our colors, Damnation is Wrath of God in black. There will always be situations where our opponents are building up a strong board position, and this can take them out on the cheap, allowing you to follow it up with a threat of your own. Decree of Pain- While it may not be the cheapest mass removal spell, it is certainly the most powerful. You can typically expect to draw 10 or more cards off of this thing in a multiplayer game, which, combined with clearing away all the threats on the board, can take you from a losing position to a winning position in the blink of an eye. Demonic Tutor- Tutoring is inherently powerful in a 100 card singleton format, and tutors just don’t get any better than this one. The ability to go get any card from your deck and put it into your hand for just 2 mana is unparalleled by any other card ever printed. There’s a reason that this is the most played non-colorless card in the format, at least according to scoeri’s statistics. Green Sun's Zenith- I find this superior to Worldly Tutor because it puts the creature directly into play rather than onto the top of your library. The fact that it can only get green creatures rarely matters since the number one tutor target is just about always going to be Primeval Titan. Also gets Eternal Witness, Acidic Slime, and many others. Jarad's Order's- Tutoring a creature to hand and one to the graveyard? Sign me up. This deck has so many ways to take advantage of this card that it's not even funny. You can stock your graveyard to go for the kill with Skithiryx, reanimate Jin-Gitaxias, set up an engine with Genesis, etc. The uses for this card are almost endless. Life from the Loam- A really efficient way to fill up our graveyard while also guaranteeing our land drops with fetchlands. I've thought about including cycling lands for their incredible synergy with this card, but the fact that they come into play tapped is too big of a downside for me. Life // Death- The next most efficient reanimate spell after Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Necromancy. This one is right on the border of making the cut in my decklist, so it may end up in the list in the future, but currently is sitting just on the outside. Not much else to say since it just contributes to a critical mass of reanimate effects. Living Death- This card will usually be an absolute blowout. We can set it up with cards like Survival of the Fittest and Buried Alive while making sure that we don’t overcommit to board position. Then we can drop this thing to serve two functions: sweep the board and reanimate all of our best creatures in one go. This is one of our strongest win conditions. Reanimate- Easily the most efficient way to get a creature out of the graveyard. The fact that you lose life can occasionally be annoying, but most of the time it doesn’t matter. Just make sure that you’re not taking too much damage as there are several other cards which require you to pay life in here as well. Regrowth- It’s Eternal Witness without the body, which is still extremely good. Gets back anything you want for the low price of 2 mana. I find it to be particularly useful when grabbing back lands, artifacts, and enchantments that we can’t recur as easily otherwise. Since we don’t have access to Sun Titan in our colors, cards like Regrowth are essential. Rite of Replication- An absolute bomb when kicked on nearly any ETB creature. Hitting Prime Time gives you 10 lands. Rune-Scarred Demon gives you 5 tutors. Even hitting something like Solemn Simulacrum can be powerful because you get to ramp 5 lands and draw 5 cards the next time someone sweeps the board. Just be careful of spot removal because it will fizzle if the target is removed. Time Warp- The best extra turn that will fit in the budget. I’m not going to go spend $50+ on Temporal Manipulation or $200+ on Capture of Jingzhou when we have a $5 version that is almost exactly the same. This can be used to take infinite turns, but often will just be used to get in an extra attack and cast some more spells. Tooth and Nail- One of the most hated cards in the format, Tooth and Nail is known for fetching up two card combos to instantly end the game. In this deck however, I don’t run any such combos, other than Deadeye Navigator + Eternal Witness, but that only goes infinite if I have a Time Warp effect in the graveyard already. I used to run Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion, but I removed them because my playgroup doesn’t really like infinite combos. Toxic Deluge- Probably one of the strongest cards out of the new set of Commander decks. This has several upsides over Damnation, such as costing less mana and being able to kill indestructible creatures. It does have the downside of costing life as well as mana, but most of the time they life you are paying is life you would have been losing anyway from getting hit by the creatures, and most of the time you don’t have to pay more than 5 or 6, which isn’t too bad. Walk the Aeons- Our other extra turn effect. I decided to stay away from Time Stretch because of the extremely high mana cost and the fact that two extra turns is much less fun for your opponents than one extra turn. The buyback cost on this is pretty much irrelevant, but I suppose it could be used if you’re sure that you won’t need those islands and that getting another extra turn will help you win. Windfall- As I said with Memory Jar, this card is excellent for refilling our hand and dumping a bunch of cards into graveyards for us to take advantage of. The major differences is that we get to keep the new cards we drew rather than discarding them at end of turn to get back our old hand. Also works very nicely with Notion Thief. Yawgmoth's Will- An incredibly powerful spell that lets you play any card from your graveyard, including lands. The only downside is that cards put into your graveyard for the rest of the turn will be exiled instead. This usually isn’t a problem because playing this card will usually give you so much of an advantage that you don’t really need those cards again.
Academy Ruins- We have a lot of nice artifacts that we want to be able to recur, especially Birthing Pod and Memory Jar, and this does a great job of doing that while also producing mana when we need it to. Very useful in an Intuition package and provides a strong start alongside Expedition Map to get a lot of our other utility lands going. Alchemist's Refuge- This land is simply incredible if you’re running blue and green. Giving all of your spells flash basically means that you can play draw-go without worrying about losing value. While Vedalken Orrery and Leyline of Anticipation aren’t worth dedicating slots to, Refuge is great because it takes up a “free” land slot. Bojuka Bog- Although this deck is designed to abuse the graveyard, it’s still important to have at least a couple slots dedicated to stopping other people from doing the same. Like Alchemist’s Refuge, Bog is great because it takes up a “free” land slot. This card should probably be in every black EDH deck. Boseiju, Who Shelters All- Being able to make a key spell uncounterable can be absolutely essential, especially if you’re playing against a bunch of blue decks. This is typically used with spells like Tooth and Nail, Rite of Replication, and Decree of Pain to make sure that you’re not wasting all that mana just to run into a counter. Cabal Coffers- When combined with Urborg, this land makes unparalleled amounts of mana. You have to be careful however, because with Urborg it is unlikely to tap for a net gain in mana, considering that there are only 5 swamps in the whole deck. Still, it’s worth the risk for the possibility to nearly double your mana. Cephalid Coliseum- This is our budget replacement for Bazaar of Baghdad. It lets us draw into some new cards while dumping our fatties into the graveyard to be reanimated. Getting to Threshold is very easy for this deck, and Coliseum usually comes back multiple times because of its fantastic synergy with Life from the Loam, which turns into an amazing card drawing and graveyard fueling engine. High Market- High Market’s main function is to serve as a sacrifice outlet, both to get creatures into the graveyard for later abuse as well as to protect them from being stolen by my opponents. The fact that you gain one life each time you use it can be relevant when it comes to cards like Necropotence and Birthing Pod which require life payments. Minamo, School at Water's Edge- Basically an Island with the added bonus of being able to untap a legendary creature. The only reason not to run this would be if you encounter a lot of nonbasic land hate. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers- Same as Minamo, but obviously a Forest rather than an Island. The +1/+1 buff can be relevant if you're only able to get a 9/9 Skithiryx out off of Mimeoplasm. Shizo, Death's Storehouse- Once again, this card has almost no drawbacks. It can help to force Skithiryx through for damage in the presence of flying blockers, or help you get Sword damage with other legendary creatures. Strip Mine- Strip Mine is here to take care of opposing utility lands. Oftentimes opponents will be running an Alchemist’s Refuge or Cabal Coffers of their own that cannot be allowed to remain on the board. There are also some other lands that can get extremely annoying, such as Maze of Ith or Kor Haven. Thespian's Stage- Better than Vesuva in my opinion. The fact that it comes into play untapped can be huge at certain points in the game. It also helps mitigate the fact that you often have nothing good to copy with Vesuva by allowing you to change into something else later on. This land has a lot of upside over Vesuva without very much downside. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth- Urborg is such a useful land. It ensures that I’ll never be short on black mana for the rest of the game, while also setting up Cabal Coffers to produce obscene amounts of mana. The fact that it fixes your opponents’ black mana as well usually doesn’t matter. Volrath’s Stronghold- We already have a lot of ways to recur creatures, but one that comes on a land is just too good to pass up. Very useful in Intuition packages, allowing us to eventually tutor for any creature we want. The utility lands are one of the engines that make this deck tick, and Stronghold is one of the best of the bunch.
This is a more budget friendly version of the deck that I am working on for players who may not have access to the money or old cards necessary to build the full version of the deck. This entire deck can be bought for less than $150 going by TCGPlayer average prices. The deck is designed to be used in slightly more relaxed, casual games, since it lacks some of the speed and raw power of the original list. The main build tends to draw a lot of attention to itself from the rest of the table, so I'm hopeful that this built can lie low a bit more. That said, I still want it to be capable of powerful plays that will lead to wins. Feel free to make suggestions, as this is still in the development stage. Obviously you can feel free to upgrade the deck over time and include any of the more expensive cards that you may already have in your collection. My deck started out as a $35 precon, and has developed into the list you see today through lots of trading and purchasing. The key is just to acquire the cards over time, so that it's never too much at once.
As I said, it's still in the works, so I'm sure there are lots of improvements to be made. However, since this is a budget deck, please stick mostly to cards that cost $1 or less and make sure anything you suggest is under $5 unless it's absolutely necessary. The ultimate goal is to build a deck that plays a similar style to the main deck, but sacrifices some of the most expensive cards while still remaining true to its goals.
Metagame
I would consider my playgroup to be middle of the road, with several powerful decks, but several more that are relatively untuned. Combos and mass land destruction tend to be frowned upon in my group, though I'm trying to convince people otherwise, especially after some of the things Azusa has been doing lately. Here is a breakdown of the decks in my meta.
As you can see, it's a pretty wide mix. I would consider this deck to be near the top of the class, although it often has difficulty in multiplayer games because it has a reputation of becoming a threat early on.
So the main point of this whole thread is to improve the deck. That's where you guys come in. I'm always open to hearing peoples' suggestions for how to make this deck better. No card is sacred, and I welcome the opportunity to discuss any card with you if you think that cutting it would help the deck become better, or help me become better as a player. The opposite is also true. I'm sure there are some obvious exclusions that I haven't even thought of to try out in this deck. It's also possible that I have already tried a card in a previous incarnation of the deck, but that it works much better in the current list. Also, don't hesitate to point out typos and errors as you find them, I'm sure I've made plenty.
As I said, I'm open to all comments, suggestions, and advice. Please don't hesitate to say something if you have a good idea. Thank you for taking the time to read over my thread. I really appreciate all the help that the people on this forum have given me, as well as everything I'm sure they have yet to contribute.
Even though its $10, nothing will go farther in consistency than a Demonic Tutor. It's a Diabolic Tutor for 1B
I like less mil and more control.
Try things like Dissipate, Rewind, Counterspell. Rethink is alright as is the new counter from Innistrad that also forces a discard.
I like more utility in my creatures. Wickerbough Elder, Terastodon and Woodfall Primus are all fun. I like trying different things like Jin and Teferi, as well as Pathrazer of Ulamog and other large fats. I like variety. You could use things like Sakura Tribe Elder to obtain lands. Also, Mulldrifter dont resist not playing it, the evoke for 2U is good, especially off of things like Living Death.
I've made some more changes. I would really like some advice on this deck. Which combos are worthwhile? Which cards are ineffective and should be replaced? Which cards should I replace them with?
Not sure if Army of the Damned will be very good but it's too cool to pass up. As far as creatures go, I'm not sure if I prefer Avatar of Woe or Kederkt Leviathan. What do you guys think?
Go with the leviathan as it can be played from the graveyard, and the avatar only works versus creatures and is unlikely to come out for only 2 until close to late game.
Go with the leviathan as it can be played from the graveyard, and the avatar only works versus creatures and is unlikely to come out for only 2 until close to late game.
Thanks for the input! I completely forgot that the Leviathan can be played from the graveyard. I think I'll definitely go with that.
Bloodgift Demon draws cards and has evasion, what's not to like? There are more decent demons (and there will be likely even more) like Rune-scarred Demon. If you run enough of them, Blood Speaker gives you access to this nice toolbox.
Now, about your deck... One thing I notice is that you aren't running a lot of creatures. It's not that every deck needs creatures, but your general needs creatures in any graveyard. As I see it, you can achieve this in three ways:
1. Get cards in your own graveyard. Dredge them, mill yourself, discard them from your hand or cast them and reuse them when they're dead. This will actually help the Teneb player, so beware.
2. Mill your opponents. This might double as a win-condition, but unfortunately you might be helping your opponents out. The Teneb player could be eating graveyards faster than you, for example, and my Glissa deck would love you if you milled it. Decks that pack a lot of recursion don't mind to get milled.
3. Kill opposing creatures and let the mimeoplasm eat their bodies. This is also a win-condition, because if you kill everything you'll have a hard time losing.
From these three, I like the third option best because it has an immediate impact on your board position. Personally I try do achieve this goal by playing Grave Pact and similar forced sacrifice effects. I trigger Grave Pact by sacrificing my own creatures, so I prefer creatures like Sakura-tribe Elder over Cultivate (just an example, feel free to run both). In this way, goal number 3 actually helps achieve goal number 1. If a deck is not working properly, determine some viable paths to victory and tune the deck to one of these goals. I feel your deck is lacking purpose. This is demonstrated by the addition of powerful cards that don't add to a specific goal and that have a high casting cost, like Praetor's Counsil. A simple Grave Pact can be played earlier and does add to your main strategy.
Now, about that Teneb player, without knowing his deck it's clear that he likes to steal stuff from graveyards. You can counter this by removing the cards in response to being targeted (with withered wretch or krosan reclamation, for example) or by stealing back the stolen stuff. There aren't many cards that do this, but Homeward Path and Brooding Saurian do.
All the reanimation is really good, but you need ways of populating the graveyard in order to fully abuse them. Living Death especially requires ways of making sure your graveyard is the fullest. Fauna Shaman is one of my personal favorites for the Mimeoplasm. It acts as a tutor while allowing you to dump creatures into your graveyard for reanimation as well as being much cheaper than Survival of the Fittest. True, this also helps the Teneb player, but you actually have the edge here: Your Commander is cheaper and doesn't take a turn to get online.
If you're looking for combo's, my Mimeoplasm list runs Necrotic Ooze, Triskelion and Phyrexian Devourer. This combo is easily enabled with Buried Alive or Fauna Shaman and ether the Mimeoplasm plus another creature in a graveyard, or another random reanimation spell. You simply reanimate the ooze and it gains the devourer's ability to remove the top card of your library from the game to put +1/+1 counters on it equal to that cards mana cost, and Triskelion's ability to remove those counters to deal damage to something. Because Phyrexian Devourer's "7 or greater" ability is triggered, not activated, this is not a problem for the ooze so you can repeat this until all other players are dead. This combo is not optimal however, because a card like devourer is a dead weight if you draw it and if the teneb player runs many non-taneb reanimation spells, this could just lead to him going off from your combo. It pays to wait until you can reanimate the ooze in the same turn before you entomb it.
All the reanimation is really good, but you need ways of populating the graveyard in order to fully abuse them. Living Death especially requires ways of making sure your graveyard is the fullest. Fauna Shaman is one of my personal favorites for the Mimeoplasm. It acts as a tutor while allowing you to dump creatures into your graveyard for reanimation as well as being much cheaper than Survival of the Fittest. True, this also helps the Teneb player, but you actually have the edge here: Your Commander is cheaper and doesn't take a turn to get online.
If you're looking for combo's, my Mimeoplasm list runs Necrotic Ooze, Triskelion and Phyrexian Devourer. This combo is easily enabled with Buried Alive or Fauna Shaman and ether the Mimeoplasm plus another creature in a graveyard, or another random reanimation spell. You simply reanimate the ooze and it gains the devourer's ability to remove the top card of your library from the game to put +1/+1 counters on it equal to that cards mana cost, and Triskelion's ability to remove those counters to deal damage to something. Because Phyrexian Devourer's "7 or greater" ability is triggered, not activated, this is not a problem for the ooze so you can repeat this until all other players are dead. This combo is not optimal however, because a card like devourer is a dead weight if you draw it and if the teneb player runs many non-taneb reanimation spells, this could just lead to him going off from your combo. It pays to wait until you can reanimate the ooze in the same turn before you entomb it.
Thanks for the reply. The Teneb deck has sort of faded away because it's owner has built several other decks. This means that my deck is the only real graveyard deck in my meta. I think this is the perfect time to add the Necrotic Ooze combo. I also plan on using
Love Mikeaus, he'll turn Tooth and Nail into 7GG: You win the game. He's is so full of synergy and combo potential he deserves an EHD deck to himself.
How often do you play the mimeoplasm? In my version of the deck, I only ever reanimate my creatures because most of the time the game will be over before I get to cast say, Jin. (although I have done this once. Turn one: land, Sol Ring, signet. Turn two: land, Harrow, Coalition Relic. Turn four: Jin)
If you cast the mimeoplasm often, you may find Simic Sky Swallower or Inkwell Leviathan good targets for him once you have more ways of getting them to the graveyard. I find when I cast the mimeoplasm in a targettable (is that a word?) form such as Putrefax he dies before successfully doing any damage, but that depends on your meta.
Have you considered Hermit Druid? I know you're trying to stare away from mill, but you gotta get stuff to the graveyard somehow right? Hermit Druid is cheap, and, when you start running less basics, very effective. This doesn't have to be through expensive lands ether. There are plenty of cheap non-basic lands you don't have in yet (bounce lands, pain lands, refuges etc.). I even run some really terrible lands that are pretty much basics plus a really terrible effect that doesn't effect their price too much (e.g. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers or Centaur Garden) as well as the artifact lands just to make Hermit Druid better.
Finally, if you do happen to have some money to spend on this deck, I recommend investing in Demonic Tutor and Survival of the Fittest. They're expensive for a reason.
Love Mikeaus, he'll turn Tooth and Nail into 7GG: You win the game. He's is so full of synergy and combo potential he deserves an EHD deck to himself.
How often do you play the mimeoplasm? In my version of the deck, I only ever reanimate my creatures because most of the time the game will be over before I get to cast say, Jin. (although I have done this once. Turn one: land, Sol Ring, signet. Turn two: land, Harrow, Coalition Relic. Turn four: Jin)
If you cast the mimeoplasm often, you may find Simic Sky Swallower or Inkwell Leviathan good targets for him once you have more ways of getting them to the graveyard. I find when I cast the mimeoplasm in a targettable (is that a word?) form such as Putrefax he dies before successfully doing any damage, but that depends on your meta.
Have you considered Hermit Druid? I know you're trying to stare away from mill, but you gotta get stuff to the graveyard somehow right? Hermit Druid is cheap, and, when you start running less basics, very effective. This doesn't have to be through expensive lands ether. There are plenty of cheap non-basic lands you don't have in yet (bounce lands, pain lands, refuges etc.). I even run some really terrible lands that are pretty much basics plus a really terrible effect that doesn't effect their price too much (e.g. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers or Centaur Garden) as well as the artifact lands just to make Hermit Druid better.
Finally, if you do happen to have some money to spend on this deck, I recommend investing in Demonic Tutor and Survival of the Fittest. They're expensive for a reason.
You know, I don't find myself casting The Mimeoplasm nearly as much as I used to. When I do, it's usually for the Triskelion + Lord of Extinction combo. I just like to have Putrefax in the deck as an emergency kill condition if nothing else. The thing with Hermit Druid is that the instant he hits the board I become a huge target. I also can't see myself getting a low enough basic land count for it to be that great. I ran Tunnel Vision for a while but got sick of it because it takes too long to work. If it put the card into your hand it would be much more useful. As for Survival of the Fittest and Demonic Tutor, those are both on my list to obtain.
I'm thinking about putting Fauna Shaman back in as well as adding Worldly Tutor. The question is if these are worth including and if so then what to take out. The creatures I tend to find the least useful are: Geth, Lord of the Vault, Puppeteer Clique, and Damia, Sage of Stone. my opponents graveyards are usually not as well stocked as mine.
Hey guys, I feel like this deck is a bit off track and I would really like some help refocusing it and making it more fun to play against. In its current incarnation, the deck induces groans whenever I pull it out because it is considered by most of my friends to be the most powerful deck in our playgroup. Oftentimes it gets to the point where I'm playing 1 vs 3 or 4 just trying to survive. I feel that the deck has become too much of a good stuff deck and has lost some of the fun factor.
I still love to resolve a Tooth and Nail or a kicked Rite of Replication, but I also would like to lean the focus of the deck back towards the reanimation theme. I've noticed that I hardly ever cast my general anymore because I almost always have something better to do. The only time I really use him is when I've got the rest of the table basically locked down and I just need to finish them off.
This is why I'm asking for your help. I want to make this deck more fun again. I want it to be a deck that people don't mind playing against or perhaps even enjoy playing against. That's not to say I want to play group hug. I still want to be able to win fairly often, I just want to take some more interesting or fun routes to get there. Thank you for all suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.
If you want more use of your general, try taking out some of your reanimate effects for mill/dredge effects.
Actually I would prefer to make the deck a bit more like a reanimator deck, dumping an extremely powerful creature into the graveyard to reanimate for cheap. Because of this I don't want to cut a lot of the reanimation spells. I just felt like the deck was leaning too much towards a goodstuff deck. I want to go for a more thematic graveyard deck. I plan to keep all of the bomb creatures, but I want to run some fun stuff as well.
I'm currently in the process of building my own version of the 'plasm. I found that having enough defense against graveyard hate is indispensable.
Since your artifacts are not a critical aspect of the deck, I'd take them out and add Null Rod, to void those pesky gravehate trinkets.
I use mainly creature and spell based ramp to get around this. Also, the rod hinders most opponents considerably. Trickbind and Stifle are also great to have, being able to nullify Bojuka Bog and shutting down other detrimental abilities in a pinch.
edit: Realised the previous card I mentioned is in the list.
River Kelpie - Fantastic card draw in a reanimator deck. It triggers every time a permanent is reanimated. Combos nicely with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to draw your entire library when a sac channel is present.
I'm currently in the process of building my own version of the 'plasm. I found that having enough defense against graveyard hate is indispensable.
Since your artifacts are not a critical aspect of the deck, I'd take them out and add Null Rod, to void those pesky gravehate trinkets.
I use mainly creature and spell based ramp to get around this. Also, the rod hinders most opponents considerably. Trickbind and Stifle are also great to have, being able to nullify Bojuka Bog and shutting down other detrimental abilities in a pinch.
Life from the Loam is a nice way to fill your graveyard and gives you the potential to function as card draw, if you add the cycling lands.
Survival of the fittest is an awesome tutor for this deck giving you reanimation targets, combo pieces and/or solutions.
Hope, these are some ideas you can work with!
Ardeyn
Thanks for the reply. I would definitely consider the Null Rod, Stifle, Trickbind package if my group ran more graveyard hate, but the reality is that I don't need it at this point.
As for Deed, Damnation, LftL and Survival, those are all cards that I am looking to acquire whenever I get the chance. Their price tags are fairly high so I'm looking to aquire them through trading. Those are the kind of cards that I consider to be long-term wants. I'm definitely pick them up if I see them.
Would Fauna Shaman be worth using until I can obtain a Survival, or is it too slow / vulnerable?
edit: Realised the previous card I mentioned is in the list.
River Kelpie - Fantastic card draw in a reanimator deck. It triggers every time a permanent is reanimated. Combos nicely with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to draw your entire library when a sac channel is present.
Thats a pretty sweet combo! I actually have a spare River Kelpie lying around so I'll add him as soon as I get ahold of a Mikeaus, the Unhallowed.
Thanks to Argetlam at Verdant_Flame Studios!
**Note: Credit for the format of this primer goes to ISBPathfinder for his Jenara thread.**
Just in case you wanted to know more about me (you probably don’t) I’ll include this section. I’m a 19 year old student attending college at the University of Michigan. I’m going to school to be an Engineer. I like doing pretty typical things, like hanging out with friends, playing video games, reading, watching sports, and, of course, playing Magic. I've been playing Magic for about seven years now, since the release of Time Spiral block. I was introduced to the game by a couple of friends who had been playing it since a couple years before me. I was a pretty casual player for a while, but I eventually discovered MTGS and learned a ton about the game from coming here. I started to get into EDH about three years ago, but I didn't really focus on it until about two years ago when the precons came out. That’s when I discovered The Mimeoplasm, which has gone on to become my favorite general. Nowadays, EDH is basically the only format I play. I love the challenge of building decks with all the unique restrictions, as well as the fun and politics of multiplayer games. I’m not really sure what else to say here, but if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask me in this thread or through a private message.
Average CMC: 3.20
1 The Mimeoplasm
Artifact (3)
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
Creature (22)
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Body Double
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Kederekt Leviathan
1 Notion Thief
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Terastodon
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Woodfall Primus
Enchantment (7)
1 Animate Dead
1 Dance of the Dead
1 Greater Good
1 Necromancy
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Beast Within
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Entomb
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Frantic Search
1 Intuition
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pact of Negation
1 Sultai Charm
1 Swan Song
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Voidslime
Sorcery (14)
1 Buried Alive
1 Careful Study
1 Damnation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Jarad's Orders
1 Life // Death
1 Life from the Loam
1 Living Death
1 Reanimate
1 Regrowth
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Victimize
1 Windfall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
Land (35)
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Grove
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Strip Mine
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Twilight Mire
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
This deck was intially developed around a strong ETB theme backed up by cards like Survival of the Fittest and Birthing Pod. The inspiration for this idea initially came from ISBPathfinder's Jenara Primer. However, over time I have gradually moved away from the ETB package and into a more focused reanimator deck. If I had to categorize it into a particular archetype, I would call it reanimator control. The typical gameplan is to sit back using your removal, counterspells, and card draw spells until your are ready to throw a couple of fatties in the bin and go to town. The deck features quite a bit of tutoring and recursion for other card types, which allows me to gain a ton of value over time from various utility cards. It can also go crazy in a single turn with mass graveyard recursion like Living Death or Yawgmoth's Will, both of which usually provide massive blowouts and will commonly lead to victory soon after.
Early Game
A typical game will usually have you playing out some utility creatures and spells to draw and ramp up early on. Key cards here include Sol Ring, Birds of Paradise, Oracle of Mul Daya, Fact or Fiction, Sylvan Library, and Thirst for Knowledge. It’s always good to get out Sylvan Primordial as early as possible, either through getting him in the graveyard and reanimating him, or by using Flash to put him into play extremely early. Blowing up your opponents' permanents while ramping yourself gives you a huge advantage, and copying him only makes it even better. Alternatively, you will occasionally stumble upon some insane draws where you can simply reanimate a bomb creature on turn two or three. If you are able to pull this off and protect the creature(s) for a few turns, you may be able to take over the game quickly enough to seal a victory before your opponents even know what hit them. However, this will not happen in the majority of games, so you will usually need to play the more conservative gameplan.
Mid Game
After you have your resources up and running, you need to focus on building up card advantage through the use of value creatures and graveyard manipulation. Survival of the Fittest is amazing here because it fills up your graveyard while simultaneously tutoring the perfect creature for any given situation. Make sure to get added value from your creatures by attacking whenever you have a clear shot. Prophet of Kruphix, Seedborn Muse, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir tend to be amazing at this point in the game because they allow us to sit back and play most of our spells during other players’ turns, which is very helpful for dodging removal and keeping mana open for our own answers. I used to run a Sword of X and Y package to enhance my smaller creatures and make them into significant threats, but the deck became a bit too grindy and tempo oriented for my liking. This strategy might work well if you are in a control heavy metagame.
End Game and Winning
When you reach the late game, you should have a sufficient advantage in resources over your opponents to go for a win. This is usually done by either dumping all your graveyard creatures into play off of Living Death, or getting in some swings with a huge Mimeoplasm. The Skithiryx plan is useful in 1v1 games and to kill off players who threaten to get out of control, but it isn't resilient enough to win all by itself. If you play a lot of 1v1 games, I would definitely suggest using him as one of your primary win conditions, but in multiplayer you will need usually need a bit more. As of now, the deck's main multiplayer win condition is just to beat down with a bunch of huge creatures like the Praetors, which tend to dominate the board and demand answers or else they will overwhelm the opposition. I'm currently considering adding some type of combo to build into the deck that I can use to close out long games without being too degenerate. I would like something that includes pieces which are still relevant outside of the combo to increase the consistency of the deck and mitigate "dead draws."
Potential Improvements
I haven't quite gone all in on spending yet. I tend to cap my reasonable expenditures at $20 per card, but I should be able to get something up to around $30-$40 if I'm patient enough and feel the deck really needs it. After $40, I just don't really feel that it's worth spending that much on cardboard. I like to think I can make a fairly competitive deck without compromising my financial security. If you have an unlimited mtg budget I would recommend updating the list with the remaining ABU Dual Lands, namely Underground Sea and Tropical Island, as well as potentially better spells like Mana Drain, Force of Will, and Mana Crypt. Bazaar of Baghdad is another extremely expensive card that could potentially improve the deck.
Intuition Packages
Intuition is one of the best cards in the deck, allowing us to tutor for a variety of different “packages” of cards to set up our various engines or find the right set of cards for any situation. The fact that it can be cast at instant speed means that you can usually cast it on your opponent’s end step, then untap and pull off some very powerful plays. The following packages are some of the ones that I search for most frequently. I don’t always run all of these cards, but they are always good options depending on which other cards you run to support them:
Life from the Loam Synergies
Life from the Loam is another card that has a ton of synergy with other pieces in this deck. Its dredge ability means that you can always get it back for more uses, and we have a lot of nice lands to take advantage of:
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Crucible of Worlds- Crucible is an awesome card for getting any of our various utility lands back from the graveyard, as well as recurring fetchlands every turn to guarantee you hit all of your land drops. It’s nice in an Intuition package because it can ensure that you get whatever land package you want out of your deck and it works very nicely with cards like Expedition Map and Academy Ruins. Lastly, it can be used with Strip Mine or Wasteland along with Oracle of Mul Daya to essentially lock your opponents out of getting any more land for the rest of the game, but I would advise against this strategy in all but the most cutthroat playgroups.
Crystal Shard- Another very versatile card. Mainly serves to reuse my ETB creatures and to save my guys from a wrath. In a pinch it can be used to bounce a creature against a tapped out opponent. It’s also one of the pieces that can be used to set up an infinite turn combo with Eternal Witness or Archaeomancer.
Expedition Map- We have a lot of really good value engines that are built around utility lands in this deck, so Expedition Map is a great way to find them. One of my favorite ways to get things going early is to tutor for Academy Ruins, then use Ruins to recur map and get another utility land and keep the value chain going.
Lightning Greaves- A staple for any EDH deck that gets a lot of use out of its general. One of the most efficient haste outlets in the format, and also serves as protection from spot removal. Extremely useful to protect Jin-Gitaxias or give haste to beaters and utility creatures. Allows me to get more mileage out of my creatures, which is always good.
Memory Jar- Effects that cause each player to draw and discard a lot of cards are very strong in a deck like this which likes to take advantage of all graveyards. It gives us a lot of new fuel since we tend to play out our hands pretty quickly a lot of the time. This card is also insane with Notion Thief because you get to destroy everyone else’s entire hand and draw 7 cards for each player at the table, which usually gives you an almost insurmountable advantage.
Oblivion Stone- A recurable and tutorable board wipe is really amazing in EDH. It’s always nice to grab this thing with Tezzeret when you need to kill everything. It’s not quite as good here as it is in Bant decks because we don’t have access to Sun Titan, but I believe that it’s worth a slot in here.
Sensei's Divining Top- I think this card is a pretty obvious staple. The ability to pay 1 mana to look at the top 3 cards of your library at any time is really powerful. The fact that it can draw you one of those 3 cards is really nice too. It’s also nearly unkillable because you can just put it on top in response.
Skullclamp- This card is so good that it never should have been printed. The fact that it’s banned in both Modern and Legacy should give you a clue as to just how broken it is. It allows you to repeatably pay 1 mana to draw 2 cards as long as you have 1 toughness creatures. It gets especially crazy with something like Avenger of Zendikar.
Sol Ring- Perhaps the most ubiquitous of all EDH staples. You would be hard pressed to come up with a deck where Sol Ring doesn’t fit. The fact that it taps for more mana than it costs is just ridiculously powerful. Landing one of these turn 1 will often put you so far ahead that the game turns into Archenemy.
Sword of Feast and Famine- In my opinion, the best Sword in EDH. The land untap ability is incredibly powerful, especially if you can strap it on Primeval Titan. The discard ability is gravy, although it can force people into awkward situations where they have to choose between dumping fatties for The Mimeoplasm to eat, or losing cards that they were planning to cast.
Sword of Fire and Ice- Not as powerful as Feast and Famine, but provides nice card advantage while killing off utility creatures. This deck really loves both draw and ramp, so getting out an early sword is really helpful. We also run a lot of utility guys that become infinitely more threatening when they pick up a sword.
Sword of Light and Shadow- Yet another Sword of X and Y to that we can strap onto our ETB creatures to get more utility out of them. The gain 3 life mode isn't that useful, but returning a creature from the graveyard to your hand with every hit can be incredibly powerful. In addition, the protections that this Sword gives happen to be from the two best removal colors, which can significantly increase the longevity of our creatures.
Archaeomancer- Recurs a lot of our powerful Instants and Sorceries for a second use. The fact that he only costs 4 and can carry a sword gives him a big advantage over Mnemonic Wall, which would probably be in this slot if Archaeomancer hadn’t been printed.
Avenger of Zendikar- More than any other creature, Avenger of Zendikar gives you an “army in a card.” He will usually make at least 7 guys, while often making many more. Pairing him with Deadeye Navigator basically turns the game into “sweep or die” for all of your opponents. He’s always a solid Tooth and Nail target along with Primeval Titan, giving you a quick pile of 2/3s.
Body Double- Another extremely versatile card (it’s sort of a theme in this deck), Body Double can copy the best card in any graveyard. He’s usually something of my own, but occasionally I can turn him into somebody else’s best dead creature. There are just so many things that you can do with this guy; he’ll just about never be a dead card. Once again, pairing him with Deadeye Navigator lets you do an incredible variety of different things, all in the same turn.
Consecrated Sphinx- One of the most powerful creatures in the entire format. If left alone for even a single turn, he simply ends games. Be wary if someone else tries to copy him. This can result in both Sphinx players drawing their entire decks. This should result in a win for whichever player gets to take a turn sooner, so make sure you’re getting the biggest advantage out of this guy.
Deadeye Navigator- This guy is crazy with any ETB creature. The ability to repeatedly use your creatures for 1U is amazing, in addition to the fact that he also protects them and himself from targeted removal. He can also blink himself out to pair up with a different creature at any time. He’s another one of the ways that we can set up infinite turns by pairing him with Archaeomancer or Eternal Witness and recurring an extra turn card.
Disciple of Bolas- This guy can generate a huge advantage or bail you out when you're low on life. He generates a ton of card advantage and gains you life while also having a body which can carry swords, get eaten by skullclamp, or podded away for a five drop. The lifegain is actually fairly relevant because this deck tends to do quite a bit of damage to itself.
Duplicant- This is one of the best examples of cards that are chosen because they come with a spell effect on a creature body. He’s yet another creature that’s highly abusable with Deadeye Navigator, giving you a one-sided Final Judgment. The fact that he exiles the creature can be a little annoying if you want to copy it with Mimeoplasm, but the fact that it avoids graveyard triggers and stops others from abusing the creature means that it usually worth it.
Eternal Witness- One of the best green creatures ever printed. She allows you to get any card back from your graveyard for just 3 mana. I don’t think much more needs to be said about it; this card is a staple. Just to note, it can be paired with Deadeye or Crystal Shard to recur a Time Warp effect every turn.
Farhaven Elf- Essentially another copy of Wood Elves. I've gone back and forth between this guy and Yavimaya Dryad. Dryad has more upside because it can grab the shocklands, but the double green cost is often a pain. Right now I'm using this guy, but i could switch back at any time.
Fierce Empath- This guy is a really efficient tutor on a body. He usually grabs either Prime Time or Consecrated Sphinx before being eaten by Skullclamp or Birthing Pod. This deck runs a lot of really powerful 6+ CMC creatures, so there should always be something good to grab.
Fleshbag Marauder- A nice removal option on a cost effective body. 99% of the time he just gets sacrificed to himself so that you can use him again from the graveyard. Kills things like Blightsteel Colossus that are very hard to remove through conventional means. Really good with Havengul Lich to repeatedly force sacrifices for 4 mana.
Genesis- This guy generates a lot of advantage over time. Obviously the goal is to get him into the graveyard so that he can start recurring your guys. His ability may not seem game breaking, but it helps contribute to the steady card advantage that this deck loves to generate.
Glen Elendra Archmage- One of the few counters that this deck runs. The fact that it can only counter noncreature spells isn’t that big of a deal because we can usually just kill creatures. Being able to counter 2 spells takes this card from good to incredible. As I said, this deck is light on counters, so having one this good on a body is imperative.
Havengul Lich- While he doesn’t have an ETB effect, this guy earns his slot because of his ability to consistently recur utility creatures from any graveyard, provided you can pay the mana for it. Absolutely amazing with things like Phantasmal Image and Fleshbag Marauder, which tend to get put back in the graveyard very easily.
Ixidron- I was hesitant about this guy for a while, but after trying him out he's really good. He's essentially a wrath on an ETB creature that stops them from getting their general back. He also gets pretty huge if you play him at the right time. He can really turn the game around in a way that few other cards in this deck can.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur- Possibly the most powerful effect on any creature in the entire format. Griselbrand is better but he's banned, so Jin-Gitaxias fills the role of the ultimate reanimation target. The draw seven every turn is absoluetly huge. The fact that he destroys everyone else's`hand is just gravy.
Kokusho, the Evening Star- I was extremely happy to see Kokusho's unbanning, which eased a little bit of the pain of losing Primeval Titan. Draining everyone for 5 and gaining 15 in a multiplayer game is impressive. When you're able to recur him it gets crazy.
Lotus Cobra- I've been trying this guy out recently and he has been really explosive. With fetchlands, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Life from the Loam, he's able to generate a ton of mana. Ideally I will eventually have a Crucible of Worlds in here, which will make him that much better.
Mulldrifter- This guy is pretty self-explanatory. He’s either a Divination that can be tutored for and recurred later, or he’s a 2/2 flying body that also draws 2. He carries Swords well and blocks flyers if he has to. A 3 for 1 that comes on a body for just 5 mana is just so much value in this format.
Notion Thief- This guy is incredibly strong against opponents who try to get greedy and draw multiple cards in a single turn. He also forms half of the back-breaking combo with either Memory Jar or Windfall, drawing you a massive number of cards while destroying everyone else’s hands. He can potentially get you killed by being forced to draw your whole library if someone else has a Consecrated Sphinx out, but we make sure to run plenty of instant speed removal so this doesn’t happen.
Oracle of Mul Daya- Oracle is one of the best ramp creatures available. The fact that he allows you to play an additional land as well as the ability to play them off the top of your library helps clear land clumps quickly while also ramping up to play your spells. The fact that he shows what you will be drawing is unfortunate at times, but is mitigated because of the fact that we don’t run many Instants anyway.
Phantasmal Image- Clones tend to be really good in this format, and this guy is the most efficient clone effect ever printed. Sure, he dies pretty easily, but even a single Primeval Titan or Rune-Scarred Demon trigger is worth the low price of 1U. Him and the other clones also have the ability to kill any general regardless of Shroud, Hexproof, Indestructible, etc.
Phyrexian Metamorph- Another extremely efficient clone. This guy is even better than Phantasmal Image because of his ability to copy Artifacts. The fact that he is an artifact himself means that he is tutorable off Tezzeret as well. Most of the time he’ll become a copy of the best permanent on the board, but, like Image, he can also kill generals.
Primeval Titan- Banned
Prophet of Kruphix- Untapping all your lands and creatures and giving all your creatures flash? There’s not a lot that needs to be said about this card. The amount of mana this card gives you as well as the flexibility of playing The Mimeoplasm or any of your other creatures at instant speed is too good to pass up.
Rune-Scarred Demon- While he is pretty expensive for a tutor, the fact that he can be cheated into play or reanimated easily makes him much more abusable than most tutors. I love to chain a bunch of creatures through Survival of the Fittest and then reanimate this guy to tutor Living Death and get all my guys back. Another fun thing to do is to tutor for Rite of Replication and kick it on him, giving you 5 more tutors and six 6/6 flyers.
Sakura-Tribe Elder- He’s basically a Rampant Growth on a body, which is plenty good enough for me. I usually leave him around until the end of my last opponent’s turn to serve as a chump blocker and sacrifice before damage. If it’s late in the game and I don’t need more lands, I’ll let him stick around to carry a Sword or get Skullclamped.
Seedborn Muse- Very similar to Prophet of Kruphix but not quite as good. Still strong enough to earn a spot though. The fourth point of toughness makes her a little harder to kill than Prophet and untapping Artifacts can be nice on occasion. Any card that lets you untap all of your lands is going to be a strong card in EDH.
Sheoldred, Whispering One- A huge threat once she lands on the board. She’s a must answer threat that will take over the game between killing your opponents’ creatures and reanimating yours. She’s one the of the big targets that we want to reanimate early on if possible, especially since she allows us to bring back even more fatties if we dump them into the graveyard as well.
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon- Skittles is one of my main ways to win. He’s in the deck solely to be copied by The Mimeoplasm while getting at least six +1/+1 counters and haste, allowing him to be instantly lethal to any opponent who doesn’t have a flying blocker. He’s great to snipe a player who gets too threatening, but he usually doesn’t make it around an entire turn cycle to kill multiple people, which is where the extra turn cards come in.
Snapcaster Mage- An instant staple in all formats, Snapcaster is incredible for his ability to reuse any spell in your graveyard. The fact that he has flash means that we can even use him to flashback a counterspell or other Instant during an opponent’s turn. He can also serve as a surprise blocker in a pinch, particularly when someone taps out expecting a Sword of Feast and Famine trigger.
Solemn Simulacrum- While he isn’t the best at any of his effects, he does a lot of things well. He ramps, carries equipment, and draws a card when he dies. He’s a great card to funnel through Birthing Pod because you get a benefit when he comes in and when he leaves.
Sphinx of Uthuun- Similar to how Rune-Scarred Demon is Demonic Tutor on a stick, Sphinx of Uthuun is Fact or Fiction on a stick. Considering that we run both of these spells, the creature versions should be almost auto-includes. Dumping Sphinx into the graveyard early and reanimating it can give you enough card advantage to run away with the game.
Sylvan Primordial- Banned
Terastodon- The big elephant is one of our best ways to clear out noncreature permanents, as well as giving a massive number of counters when exiled by The Mimeoplasm. The fact that he can hit 3 different permanents gives him the edge over Woodfall Primus in multiplayer games.
Trinket Mage- The amount of things that this guy can tutor off just a 3 mana body is incredible. In this deck I run Sol Ring, Sensei’s Divining Top, and Skullclamp as targets for him. I’d like to find a slot for Tormod’s Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb as well. If you want even more options, you can run the Artifact Lands, though I chose not to because of their vulnerability to artifact sweepers.
Trygon Predator- This guy is amazing against artifact and enchantment strategies. He really benefits from having haste, which is a large part of the reason why Lightning Greaves is in here. Eventually I would like to replace him with a 3 cmc destroy target artifact or enchantment ETB creature, but unfortunately we don't have one in our colors yet.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger- Another creature that we want to try to reanimate early on because he is such a huge threat. Doubling your mana means that you will likely have more big plays to follow him up, and stunting your opponents’ mana means they will be hampered by him even if they do have an answer, especially if you can just reanimate him again next turn.
Wood Elves- This guy is amazing because he can tutor up one of my shocklands and put it into play untapped. He dies to Skullclamp, carries Swords, and can be Podded just like all the other creatures in here. I try to run most of my ramp in the form of creatures, so this guy is essential.
Yavimaya Dryad- Essentially a second copy of Wood Elves, at least in the fact that it can grab a nonbasic forest. While it puts the land into play tapped, it also has a 2/1 body rather than 1/1. The biggest draw is that it has Forestwalk, which is key in a format where many of the best decks rely on green for ramp.
Necromancy- The main reason to choose this over Animate Dead is the fact that it can be played at Instant speed if you’re willing to sacrifice the creature at the end of turn. I think this benefit is worthwhile considering that you only have to pay one extra mana to get it. The fact that it doesn’t give -1/-0 will almost never matter, but it could be potentially relevant, which gives a bit more support for Necromancy.
Necropotence- One of the most powerful Enchantments ever printed. The ability to turn life into cards at a rate of one-for-one has only been seen on two other cards in Magic, and both of them are banned in this format, while it may be annoying that you don’t get the cards until end of turn, you can fix this by taking an extra turn or using Alchemist’s Refuge. I typically just use it to draw up to seven every turn, since I don’t want my cards getting exiled. One of the biggest drawbacks is the BBB cost, since this is the only card in the deck that requires 3 mana of a single color. Also, make sure you don’t pay too much life and watch out for Mindslaver.
Pernicious Deed- An amazing sweeper if you're playing BG. The fact that you can drop it for 3 mana and then sit back with mana open lets you play some interesting politics. The fact that you get to choose which permanents to hit means this will usually be better than Oblivion Stone, and also less vulnerable to hate since it's an enchantment rather than an artifact.
Phyrexian Arena- This is like a more relaxed version of Necropotence. It only gives you one extra card per turn at the cost of one life, but you get the card in your hand right away. It also doesn’t draw nearly as much hate, meaning it will often stick around to gain you continued advantage over time.
Survival of the Fittest- Survival is an incredibly potent tool for filling your graveyard and grabbing whatever creature you need for the situation. The fact that it can be activated immediately and more than once per turn makes it miles better than Fauna Shaman. This card, perhaps more than any other, is used to set up my win conditions.
Sylvan Library- Library is absolutely a card advantage and card selection machine. It is significantly more powerful than Sensei’s Divining Top, which is considered to be one of the best card selection tools ever printed. The price of four life per extra card might seems steep, but in a 40-life format we can afford to pay it at least a couple times.
Arcane Denial- A very efficient counterspell option at the cost of just 1U. Giving your opponent cards isn’t always something you want to do, but it can be a good political play because they’re likely to be less angry about their spell getting countered if they get to replace it with another spell or two. As with all the counters in this deck, you’ll want to save it for things that will be game breaking since we’re pretty light on countermagic. The fact that it cantrips is nice and you can actually turn the downside in your favor if you have Notion Thief.
Beast Within- One of the most versatile and efficient spot removal spells available to us. It hits any type of permanent, at Instant speed, for just 3 mana. Usually giving the opponent a 3/3 Beast won’t matter too much, so this is almost an Instant speed Vindicate, in green. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Brainstorm- This card is considered to be one of the best cards in Legacy, but many people think it doesn't deserve a spot in EDH. However, the fact that it's actually a draw 3 rather than filter 3 and draw 1 makes it quite good in my opinion. The amount of fetches and tutors that we run means that you will usually be able to shuffle away the cards you put back and see new ones next turn.
Cyclonic Rift- A huge bomb that can also be played early on for tempo advantage. The fact that this card is good both early and late game is exactly what we want. There are many games where I cast this, untap, play another threat, and get concessions on the spot. It's that good.
Entomb- Considering that we can basically use our graveyard as an extension of our hand, this is almost as good as a one mana demonic tutor that can be played at any time. Paying one mana to put any card in your graveyard is incredibly powerful with all the ways we have to abuse it. Going turn one Entomb, turn two Reanimate is one of our strongest opening plays.
Fact or Fiction- As with Entomb, Fact or Fiction becomes absurdly powerful in a graveyard based deck. Most of the time it can be looked at as 3U: draw 5 cards. The fact that you get to choose the pile means that you will always get what you want in hand or the graveyard. This is one of the most useful draw spells available to us.
Flash- A notorious part of the famous Flash Hulk deck and for good reason, this card can enable incredibly early wins. Flashing in Sylvan Primordial on turn 2, ramping 3 lands and letting him die, and then casting The Mimeoplasm copying him on turn 3 is probably the most back breaking thing we can do in this deck and should probably earn the win right there considering you will probably be on 7-8 lands while each opponent will have somewhere from 0-2.
Grisly Salvage- This is a card that I haven’t gotten a chance to play with yet, but would like to try out. Digging five cards deep for just two mana is quite the deal, even if you can only put lands or creatures into your hand. Putting cards into the graveyard is almost as good as into the hand for us, which means this card can generate amazing value for such a low cost.
Intuition- Just picked this one up. It's basically a more flexible Buried Alive that can be played at instant speed. Thinking about including Undead Gladiator so that I can guarantee to get Skithiryx and a fatty in my graveyard if I want to.
Krosan Grip- Every deck needs at least a little bit of Artifact and Enchantment hate, and this is the one that is best suited to our cause. K-Grip is extremely useful against the most common forms of graveyard hate, such as Tormod’s Crypt and Relic of Progenitus, because they won’t be able to activate the artifact’s ability in response to it being destroyed.
Lim-Dûl's Vault- Another fantastic tutor that we have access to in these colors. There really isn't much that needs to be said about this card. The fact that you get to see 5 cards rather than just one means that you can set up your next few turns (or a great stack for Fact or Fiction).
Mystical Tutor- Tutors are one of the best ways to increase consistency in EDH. While Mystical Tutor only gets Instants and Sorceries, that still gives it plenty of options. At worst, you can always grab Demonic Tutor to get whatever other type of card you need.
Pact of Negation- Arguably better than Force of Will in this deck, and at a fraction of the price. This can be a nasty surprise if someone tries to do something degenerate or game winning while you're tapped out. You shouldn't use this on just anything; make sure to save it for something especially gamebreaking.
Putrefy- Been running this in addition to Abrupt Decay lately for another piece of flexible spot removal. While Decay is uncounterable and can hit enchantments and Planeswalkers, Putrefy hits scary things that have a CMC of 4 or greater like Kaalia of the Vast. Plus, just having a bit of redundancy for spot removal is nice.
Vampiric Tutor- Once again, tutors are extremely useful in EDH. The fact that this and Mystical tutor to the top of the library rather than the hand can be easily offset by using them on the opponent’s end step, so that you will immediately draw them on your turn. The loss of 2 life is negligible in a 40 life format.
Voidslime- This deck doesn’t run very many counters, so we want to make sure we get as much utility out of them as possible. Voidslime, like Krosan Grip, is very useful against graveyard hate because it can counter the activated ability. Voidslime can basically counter anything, so you should probably save it for the situation where you need it most.
Buried Alive- If getting one card into the graveyard with Entomb is good, getting three is amazing. While you can only grab creatures, they’re usually what you would want to grab anyways. This spell can instantly set you up for a lethal Mimeoplasm by grabbing Skithiryx and any 6+ power creature, as well as grabbing a utility creature for backup. One of the most useful spells in our 99.
Damnation- The most efficient board sweeper ever printed in our colors, Damnation is Wrath of God in black. There will always be situations where our opponents are building up a strong board position, and this can take them out on the cheap, allowing you to follow it up with a threat of your own.
Decree of Pain- While it may not be the cheapest mass removal spell, it is certainly the most powerful. You can typically expect to draw 10 or more cards off of this thing in a multiplayer game, which, combined with clearing away all the threats on the board, can take you from a losing position to a winning position in the blink of an eye.
Demonic Tutor- Tutoring is inherently powerful in a 100 card singleton format, and tutors just don’t get any better than this one. The ability to go get any card from your deck and put it into your hand for just 2 mana is unparalleled by any other card ever printed. There’s a reason that this is the most played non-colorless card in the format, at least according to scoeri’s statistics.
Green Sun's Zenith- I find this superior to Worldly Tutor because it puts the creature directly into play rather than onto the top of your library. The fact that it can only get green creatures rarely matters since the number one tutor target is just about always going to be Primeval Titan. Also gets Eternal Witness, Acidic Slime, and many others.
Jarad's Order's- Tutoring a creature to hand and one to the graveyard? Sign me up. This deck has so many ways to take advantage of this card that it's not even funny. You can stock your graveyard to go for the kill with Skithiryx, reanimate Jin-Gitaxias, set up an engine with Genesis, etc. The uses for this card are almost endless.
Life from the Loam- A really efficient way to fill up our graveyard while also guaranteeing our land drops with fetchlands. I've thought about including cycling lands for their incredible synergy with this card, but the fact that they come into play tapped is too big of a downside for me.
Life // Death- The next most efficient reanimate spell after Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Necromancy. This one is right on the border of making the cut in my decklist, so it may end up in the list in the future, but currently is sitting just on the outside. Not much else to say since it just contributes to a critical mass of reanimate effects.
Living Death- This card will usually be an absolute blowout. We can set it up with cards like Survival of the Fittest and Buried Alive while making sure that we don’t overcommit to board position. Then we can drop this thing to serve two functions: sweep the board and reanimate all of our best creatures in one go. This is one of our strongest win conditions.
Reanimate- Easily the most efficient way to get a creature out of the graveyard. The fact that you lose life can occasionally be annoying, but most of the time it doesn’t matter. Just make sure that you’re not taking too much damage as there are several other cards which require you to pay life in here as well.
Regrowth- It’s Eternal Witness without the body, which is still extremely good. Gets back anything you want for the low price of 2 mana. I find it to be particularly useful when grabbing back lands, artifacts, and enchantments that we can’t recur as easily otherwise. Since we don’t have access to Sun Titan in our colors, cards like Regrowth are essential.
Rite of Replication- An absolute bomb when kicked on nearly any ETB creature. Hitting Prime Time gives you 10 lands. Rune-Scarred Demon gives you 5 tutors. Even hitting something like Solemn Simulacrum can be powerful because you get to ramp 5 lands and draw 5 cards the next time someone sweeps the board. Just be careful of spot removal because it will fizzle if the target is removed.
Time Warp- The best extra turn that will fit in the budget. I’m not going to go spend $50+ on Temporal Manipulation or $200+ on Capture of Jingzhou when we have a $5 version that is almost exactly the same. This can be used to take infinite turns, but often will just be used to get in an extra attack and cast some more spells.
Tooth and Nail- One of the most hated cards in the format, Tooth and Nail is known for fetching up two card combos to instantly end the game. In this deck however, I don’t run any such combos, other than Deadeye Navigator + Eternal Witness, but that only goes infinite if I have a Time Warp effect in the graveyard already. I used to run Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion, but I removed them because my playgroup doesn’t really like infinite combos.
Toxic Deluge- Probably one of the strongest cards out of the new set of Commander decks. This has several upsides over Damnation, such as costing less mana and being able to kill indestructible creatures. It does have the downside of costing life as well as mana, but most of the time they life you are paying is life you would have been losing anyway from getting hit by the creatures, and most of the time you don’t have to pay more than 5 or 6, which isn’t too bad.
Walk the Aeons- Our other extra turn effect. I decided to stay away from Time Stretch because of the extremely high mana cost and the fact that two extra turns is much less fun for your opponents than one extra turn. The buyback cost on this is pretty much irrelevant, but I suppose it could be used if you’re sure that you won’t need those islands and that getting another extra turn will help you win.
Windfall- As I said with Memory Jar, this card is excellent for refilling our hand and dumping a bunch of cards into graveyards for us to take advantage of. The major differences is that we get to keep the new cards we drew rather than discarding them at end of turn to get back our old hand. Also works very nicely with Notion Thief.
Yawgmoth's Will- An incredibly powerful spell that lets you play any card from your graveyard, including lands. The only downside is that cards put into your graveyard for the rest of the turn will be exiled instead. This usually isn’t a problem because playing this card will usually give you so much of an advantage that you don’t really need those cards again.
Alchemist's Refuge- This land is simply incredible if you’re running blue and green. Giving all of your spells flash basically means that you can play draw-go without worrying about losing value. While Vedalken Orrery and Leyline of Anticipation aren’t worth dedicating slots to, Refuge is great because it takes up a “free” land slot.
Bojuka Bog- Although this deck is designed to abuse the graveyard, it’s still important to have at least a couple slots dedicated to stopping other people from doing the same. Like Alchemist’s Refuge, Bog is great because it takes up a “free” land slot. This card should probably be in every black EDH deck.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All- Being able to make a key spell uncounterable can be absolutely essential, especially if you’re playing against a bunch of blue decks. This is typically used with spells like Tooth and Nail, Rite of Replication, and Decree of Pain to make sure that you’re not wasting all that mana just to run into a counter.
Cabal Coffers- When combined with Urborg, this land makes unparalleled amounts of mana. You have to be careful however, because with Urborg it is unlikely to tap for a net gain in mana, considering that there are only 5 swamps in the whole deck. Still, it’s worth the risk for the possibility to nearly double your mana.
Cephalid Coliseum- This is our budget replacement for Bazaar of Baghdad. It lets us draw into some new cards while dumping our fatties into the graveyard to be reanimated. Getting to Threshold is very easy for this deck, and Coliseum usually comes back multiple times because of its fantastic synergy with Life from the Loam, which turns into an amazing card drawing and graveyard fueling engine.
High Market- High Market’s main function is to serve as a sacrifice outlet, both to get creatures into the graveyard for later abuse as well as to protect them from being stolen by my opponents. The fact that you gain one life each time you use it can be relevant when it comes to cards like Necropotence and Birthing Pod which require life payments.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge- Basically an Island with the added bonus of being able to untap a legendary creature. The only reason not to run this would be if you encounter a lot of nonbasic land hate.
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers- Same as Minamo, but obviously a Forest rather than an Island. The +1/+1 buff can be relevant if you're only able to get a 9/9 Skithiryx out off of Mimeoplasm.
Shizo, Death's Storehouse- Once again, this card has almost no drawbacks. It can help to force Skithiryx through for damage in the presence of flying blockers, or help you get Sword damage with other legendary creatures.
Strip Mine- Strip Mine is here to take care of opposing utility lands. Oftentimes opponents will be running an Alchemist’s Refuge or Cabal Coffers of their own that cannot be allowed to remain on the board. There are also some other lands that can get extremely annoying, such as Maze of Ith or Kor Haven.
Thespian's Stage- Better than Vesuva in my opinion. The fact that it comes into play untapped can be huge at certain points in the game. It also helps mitigate the fact that you often have nothing good to copy with Vesuva by allowing you to change into something else later on. This land has a lot of upside over Vesuva without very much downside.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth- Urborg is such a useful land. It ensures that I’ll never be short on black mana for the rest of the game, while also setting up Cabal Coffers to produce obscene amounts of mana. The fact that it fixes your opponents’ black mana as well usually doesn’t matter.
Volrath’s Stronghold- We already have a lot of ways to recur creatures, but one that comes on a land is just too good to pass up. Very useful in Intuition packages, allowing us to eventually tutor for any creature we want. The utility lands are one of the engines that make this deck tick, and Stronghold is one of the best of the bunch.
Change Log
Birthing Pod -> Thirst for Knowledge
Skullclamp -> Forbidden Alchemy
Acidic Slime -> Careful Consideration
Duplicant -> Terastodon
Mulldrifter -> Life // Death
Trinket Mage -> Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Wood Elves -> Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Phyrexian Arena -> Frantic Search
11/22/13
Sakura-Tribe Elder -> Deathrite Shaman
11/20/13
Arcane Denial -> Counterspell
Expedition Map -> Birds of Paradise
11/15/13
Llanowar Wastes -> Bayou
11/3/13
Sword of Fire and Ice -> Sphinx of Uthuun
Sword of Feast and Famine -> Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Sword of Light and Shadow -> Sheoldred, Whispering One
Lotus Cobra -> Expedition Map
Disciple of Bolas -> Memory Jar
Solemn Simulacrum -> Animate Dead
Crucible of Worlds -> Flash
Farhaven Elf -> Lim-Dûl's Vault
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon -> Toxic Deluge
10/9/13
Havengul Lich -> Seedborn Muse
Prime Speaker Zegana -> Prophet of Kruphix
7/27/13
Plasm Capture -> Arcane Denial
Brutalizer Exarch -> Scavenging Ooze
Consecrated Sphinx -> Prime Speaker Zegana
5/16/13
Crystal Shard -> Brutalizer Exarch
Thirst for Knowledge -> Windfall
Braids, Cabal Minion -> Plasm Capture
Island -> Cephalid Coliseum
Swamp -> Volrath's Stronghold
5/2/13
Prime Speaker Zegana -> Notion Thief
Lim-Dul's Vault -> Braids, Cabal Minion
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers -> Forest
Shizo, Death's Storehouse -> Swamp
Minamo, School at Water's Edge -> Island
4/25/13
Trygon Predator -> Putrefy
Genesis -> Crucible of Worlds
Thespian's Stage -> Academy Ruins
Forest -> Windswept Heath
Island -> City of Brass
4/12/13
Brainstorm -> Thirst for Knowledge
Kokusho, the Evening Star -> Prime Speaker Zegana
2/6/13
Ixidron -> Pernicious Deed
Lightning Greaves -> Sword of Light and Shadow
2/3/13
Vesuva -> Thespian's Stage
Terastodon -> Sylvan Primordial
11/14/12
Alchemist's Refuge -> Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Grim Backwoods -> Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Nephalia Drownyard -> Shizo, Death's Storehouse
10/25/12
Beacon of Unrest -> Brainstorm
Avenger of Zendikar -> Jarad's Orders
Scapeshift -> Genesis
Nezumi Graverobber -> Lightning Greaves
Yavimaya Dryad -> Farhaven Elf
Decree of Pain -> Kokusho, the Evening Star
Rite of Replication -> Cyclonic Rift
Tooth and Nail -> Abrupt Decay
Deadeye Navigator -> Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Tezzeret the Seeker -> Pact of Negation
Oblivion Stone -> Intuition
Fierce Empath -> Lotus Cobra
Cabal Coffers -> Nephalia Drownyard
Boseiju, Who Shelters All -> Grim Backwoods
Temple of the False God -> Vesuva
9/21/12
Primeval Titan -> Scapeshift
Time Warp -> Ixidron
Walk the Aeons -> Nezumi Graverobber
Green Sun's Zenith -> Lim Dûl's Vault
Island -> Marsh Flats
Archaeomancer -> Life from the Loam
8/14/12
Island -> Flooded Grove
Swamp -> Reflecting Pool
Farhaven Elf -> Yavimaya Dryad
Skyshroud Claim -> Walk the Aeons
8/9/12
Animate Dead -> Necromancy
Putrefy -> Krosan Grip
Nihil Spellbomb -> Archeomancer
Evacuation -> Time Warp
Mystic Snake -> Decree of Pain
8/6/12
Swamp -> Overgrown Tomb
Island -> Watery Grave
Forest -> Breeding Pool
Swamp -> Verdant Catacombs
Forest -> Misty Rainforest
7/31/12
Forest -> Twilight Mire
Swamp -> Sunken Ruins
Reliquary Tower -> High Market
Mana Reflection -> Yawgmoth’s Will
Coalition Relic -> Skyshroud Claim
Rhystic Study -> Disciple of Bolas
7/30/12
Sheoldred, Whispering One -> Phantasmal Image
Worldly Tutor -> Green Sun's Zenith
7/16/12
Hinder -> Mana Reflection
Spell Crumple -> Mystic Snake
Increasing Ambition -> Vampiric Tutor
Knowledge Exploitation -> Deadeye Navigator
7/14/12
Darksteel Ingot -> Coalition Relic
6/7/12
Cavern of Souls -> Forest
Fauna Shaman -> Survival of the Fittest
5/28/12
Life's Finale -> Damnation
Exsanguinate -> Tezzeret the Seeker
5/26/12
Yavimaya Elder -> Fierce Empath
Diabolic Tutor -> Mystic Snake
5/21/12
Cultivate -> Yavimaya Elder
Kodama’s Reach -> Exsanguinate
Forest -> Alchemist’s Refuge
Mystifying Maze -> Cavern of Souls
Budget Decklist
The current Deck Stats
Average CMC: 3.51
1 The Mimeoplasm
Artifact (6)
1 Birthing Pod
1 Crystal Shard
1 Dimir Signet
1 Golgari Signet
1 Simic Signet
1 Skullclamp
Creature (29)
1 Acidic Slime
1 Archaeomancer
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Body Double
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Duplicant
1 Eternal Witness
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Ixidron
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Mulldrifter
1 Mystic Snake
1 Notion Thief
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Putrefax
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Trinket Mage
1 Wood Elves
1 Yavimaya Dryad
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Animate Dead
1 Necromancy
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
Instant (13)
1 Arcane Denial
1 Beast Within
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Grisly Salvage
1 Krosan Grip
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Putrefy
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Trickbind
Sorcery (11)
1 Buried Alive
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Jarad's Orders
1 Life from the Loam
1 Life's Finale
1 Living Death
1 Reanimate
1 Regrowth
1 Whispering Madness
1 Windfall
Land (37)
1 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Buried Ruin
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Hinterland Harbor
5 Island
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Simic Guildgate
4 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Underground River
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Yavimaya Coast
As I said, it's still in the works, so I'm sure there are lots of improvements to be made. However, since this is a budget deck, please stick mostly to cards that cost $1 or less and make sure anything you suggest is under $5 unless it's absolutely necessary. The ultimate goal is to build a deck that plays a similar style to the main deck, but sacrifices some of the most expensive cards while still remaining true to its goals.
Metagame
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
Vorel of the Hull Clade
Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Krenko, Mob Boss
Kuro, Pitlord
Sedris, the Traitor King
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Roon of the Hidden Realm
Kaalia of the Vast
Sharuum the Hegemon
Kemba, Kha Regent
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
As you can see, it's a pretty wide mix. I would consider this deck to be near the top of the class, although it often has difficulty in multiplayer games because it has a reputation of becoming a threat early on.
Other People's Decks
ChefStiX's Deck | metalheadmarker's Deck | Lio's Deck
Secularon's Deck | Kamahl, the Fallen's Deck | Throst54's Deck
Mise_Mage's Deck | Dreaden's Deck | Vashden Arada's Deck
Marpy's Deck | Splatterthrash's Deck | Volango's Deck
Shadowswithin's Deck | um0123's Deck | Solash's Deck
Conclusion
As I said, I'm open to all comments, suggestions, and advice. Please don't hesitate to say something if you have a good idea. Thank you for taking the time to read over my thread. I really appreciate all the help that the people on this forum have given me, as well as everything I'm sure they have yet to contribute.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
I like less mil and more control.
Try things like Dissipate, Rewind, Counterspell. Rethink is alright as is the new counter from Innistrad that also forces a discard.
I like more utility in my creatures. Wickerbough Elder, Terastodon and Woodfall Primus are all fun. I like trying different things like Jin and Teferi, as well as Pathrazer of Ulamog and other large fats. I like variety. You could use things like Sakura Tribe Elder to obtain lands. Also, Mulldrifter dont resist not playing it, the evoke for 2U is good, especially off of things like Living Death.
Your reanimation can be things like:
Dread Return, Exhume, Reanimation, Victimize, Puppeteer Clique, Hell's Caretaker, Vigor Mortis, Living Death and Living End.
EDH:
UBGMimeoplasm (Reanimator Control)
WGBURProgenitus (Dream Halls//Good Stuff)
RNorin, the Wary (Metaddited Gaka List)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
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GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
I'd like to make the deck a little more contolling and add a couple more game winning combos. All help is greatly appreciated.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
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Not sure if Army of the Damned will be very good but it's too cool to pass up. As far as creatures go, I'm not sure if I prefer Avatar of Woe or Kederkt Leviathan. What do you guys think?
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
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GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
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[url]http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=5301342#post5301342"]What kind of Magic Player are you?
Probably the most brokenly created commander deck ever:http://deckstats.net/decks/811/1859-ubr-teps-desire-commander
Thanks for the input! I completely forgot that the Leviathan can be played from the graveyard. I think I'll definitely go with that.
What's the consensus on Bloodgift Demon?
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Now, about your deck... One thing I notice is that you aren't running a lot of creatures. It's not that every deck needs creatures, but your general needs creatures in any graveyard. As I see it, you can achieve this in three ways:
1. Get cards in your own graveyard. Dredge them, mill yourself, discard them from your hand or cast them and reuse them when they're dead. This will actually help the Teneb player, so beware.
2. Mill your opponents. This might double as a win-condition, but unfortunately you might be helping your opponents out. The Teneb player could be eating graveyards faster than you, for example, and my Glissa deck would love you if you milled it. Decks that pack a lot of recursion don't mind to get milled.
3. Kill opposing creatures and let the mimeoplasm eat their bodies. This is also a win-condition, because if you kill everything you'll have a hard time losing.
From these three, I like the third option best because it has an immediate impact on your board position. Personally I try do achieve this goal by playing Grave Pact and similar forced sacrifice effects. I trigger Grave Pact by sacrificing my own creatures, so I prefer creatures like Sakura-tribe Elder over Cultivate (just an example, feel free to run both). In this way, goal number 3 actually helps achieve goal number 1. If a deck is not working properly, determine some viable paths to victory and tune the deck to one of these goals. I feel your deck is lacking purpose. This is demonstrated by the addition of powerful cards that don't add to a specific goal and that have a high casting cost, like Praetor's Counsil. A simple Grave Pact can be played earlier and does add to your main strategy.
Now, about that Teneb player, without knowing his deck it's clear that he likes to steal stuff from graveyards. You can counter this by removing the cards in response to being targeted (with withered wretch or krosan reclamation, for example) or by stealing back the stolen stuff. There aren't many cards that do this, but Homeward Path and Brooding Saurian do.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Fauna Shaman is one of my personal favorites for the Mimeoplasm. It acts as a tutor while allowing you to dump creatures into your graveyard for reanimation as well as being much cheaper than Survival of the Fittest. True, this also helps the Teneb player, but you actually have the edge here: Your Commander is cheaper and doesn't take a turn to get online.
If you're looking for combo's, my Mimeoplasm list runs Necrotic Ooze, Triskelion and Phyrexian Devourer. This combo is easily enabled with Buried Alive or Fauna Shaman and ether the Mimeoplasm plus another creature in a graveyard, or another random reanimation spell. You simply reanimate the ooze and it gains the devourer's ability to remove the top card of your library from the game to put +1/+1 counters on it equal to that cards mana cost, and Triskelion's ability to remove those counters to deal damage to something. Because Phyrexian Devourer's "7 or greater" ability is triggered, not activated, this is not a problem for the ooze so you can repeat this until all other players are dead. This combo is not optimal however, because a card like devourer is a dead weight if you draw it and if the teneb player runs many non-taneb reanimation spells, this could just lead to him going off from your combo. It pays to wait until you can reanimate the ooze in the same turn before you entomb it.
Thanks for the reply. The Teneb deck has sort of faded away because it's owner has built several other decks. This means that my deck is the only real graveyard deck in my meta. I think this is the perfect time to add the Necrotic Ooze combo. I also plan on using
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Love Mikeaus, he'll turn Tooth and Nail into 7GG: You win the game. He's is so full of synergy and combo potential he deserves an EHD deck to himself.
How often do you play the mimeoplasm? In my version of the deck, I only ever reanimate my creatures because most of the time the game will be over before I get to cast say, Jin. (although I have done this once. Turn one: land, Sol Ring, signet. Turn two: land, Harrow, Coalition Relic. Turn four: Jin)
If you cast the mimeoplasm often, you may find Simic Sky Swallower or Inkwell Leviathan good targets for him once you have more ways of getting them to the graveyard. I find when I cast the mimeoplasm in a targettable (is that a word?) form such as Putrefax he dies before successfully doing any damage, but that depends on your meta.
Have you considered Hermit Druid? I know you're trying to stare away from mill, but you gotta get stuff to the graveyard somehow right? Hermit Druid is cheap, and, when you start running less basics, very effective. This doesn't have to be through expensive lands ether. There are plenty of cheap non-basic lands you don't have in yet (bounce lands, pain lands, refuges etc.). I even run some really terrible lands that are pretty much basics plus a really terrible effect that doesn't effect their price too much (e.g. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers or Centaur Garden) as well as the artifact lands just to make Hermit Druid better.
Tunnel Vision. Again, I know you don't want to mill, but who doesn't want to Tunnel Vision into Living Death?
Finally, if you do happen to have some money to spend on this deck, I recommend investing in Demonic Tutor and Survival of the Fittest. They're expensive for a reason.
You know, I don't find myself casting The Mimeoplasm nearly as much as I used to. When I do, it's usually for the Triskelion + Lord of Extinction combo. I just like to have Putrefax in the deck as an emergency kill condition if nothing else. The thing with Hermit Druid is that the instant he hits the board I become a huge target. I also can't see myself getting a low enough basic land count for it to be that great. I ran Tunnel Vision for a while but got sick of it because it takes too long to work. If it put the card into your hand it would be much more useful. As for Survival of the Fittest and Demonic Tutor, those are both on my list to obtain.
I'm thinking about putting Fauna Shaman back in as well as adding Worldly Tutor. The question is if these are worth including and if so then what to take out. The creatures I tend to find the least useful are: Geth, Lord of the Vault, Puppeteer Clique, and Damia, Sage of Stone. my opponents graveyards are usually not as well stocked as mine.
Thanks for the suggestions!
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Also added Demonic Tutor and a few other things.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
I still love to resolve a Tooth and Nail or a kicked Rite of Replication, but I also would like to lean the focus of the deck back towards the reanimation theme. I've noticed that I hardly ever cast my general anymore because I almost always have something better to do. The only time I really use him is when I've got the rest of the table basically locked down and I just need to finish them off.
This is why I'm asking for your help. I want to make this deck more fun again. I want it to be a deck that people don't mind playing against or perhaps even enjoy playing against. That's not to say I want to play group hug. I still want to be able to win fairly often, I just want to take some more interesting or fun routes to get there. Thank you for all suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Actually I would prefer to make the deck a bit more like a reanimator deck, dumping an extremely powerful creature into the graveyard to reanimate for cheap. Because of this I don't want to cut a lot of the reanimation spells. I just felt like the deck was leaning too much towards a goodstuff deck. I want to go for a more thematic graveyard deck. I plan to keep all of the bomb creatures, but I want to run some fun stuff as well.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
I'm currently in the process of building my own version of the 'plasm. I found that having enough defense against graveyard hate is indispensable.
Since your artifacts are not a critical aspect of the deck, I'd take them out and add Null Rod, to void those pesky gravehate trinkets.
I use mainly creature and spell based ramp to get around this. Also, the rod hinders most opponents considerably.
Trickbind and Stifle are also great to have, being able to nullify Bojuka Bog and shutting down other detrimental abilities in a pinch.
Also, Pernicious Deed has been better for me than Oblivion Stone most of the time.
I'd also add Damnation and Decree of Pain, probably.
Life from the Loam is a nice way to fill your graveyard and gives you the potential to function as card draw, if you add the cycling lands.
Survival of the fittest is an awesome tutor for this deck giving you reanimation targets, combo pieces and/or solutions.
Hope, these are some ideas you can work with!
Ardeyn
River Kelpie - Fantastic card draw in a reanimator deck. It triggers every time a permanent is reanimated. Combos nicely with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to draw your entire library when a sac channel is present.
WUBRG Reaper King - Elf Tribal WUBRG | Tribal Fun
WRG Gishath, Sun's Avatar - Dinosaur Tribal WRG | Rawr!!!
WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - Enchantress Tactics WUG | Enchantments Focused
GBG The Gitrog Monster - Land Shenanigans GBG | Lands/Mill Focused
WBW Kambal, Consul of Life Allocation Matters WBW | Life Gain/Loss focused
UBR Kess, Dissident Mage of the Lotus UBR | Spellslinger
BGB Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons - Counters & Tokens BGB | -1/-1 counters focused
Thanks for the reply. I would definitely consider the Null Rod, Stifle, Trickbind package if my group ran more graveyard hate, but the reality is that I don't need it at this point.
As for Deed, Damnation, LftL and Survival, those are all cards that I am looking to acquire whenever I get the chance. Their price tags are fairly high so I'm looking to aquire them through trading. Those are the kind of cards that I consider to be long-term wants. I'm definitely pick them up if I see them.
Would Fauna Shaman be worth using until I can obtain a Survival, or is it too slow / vulnerable?
Thats a pretty sweet combo! I actually have a spare River Kelpie lying around so I'll add him as soon as I get ahold of a Mikeaus, the Unhallowed.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios