Seeing how he was only recently spoiled, I've only just begun my journey with Kruphix and the deck is very much in a state of experimentation. Any and all suggestion are welcome, and I'm curious to hear your take on the God of Horizons! I'm mainly trying to play to his humble core strength of stocking up absurd amounts of cards and mana. In my first game, I struck the finishing blow with Overbeing of Myth and 50 cards in hand, so I decided the deck was on a good path and went from there.
Sky's the limit. With Kruphix and his endless mana storage, cards that would be too expensive even by Commander standards suddenly become perfectly viable. Why think big when we can think even bigger? Play every Eldrazi with Spawnsire of Ulamog, unleash laughably huge Hydras and tutor everything you want with Planar Portal. I'm search for the best and most absurd ways to spend obscene amounts of Mana that Magic has to offer.
Every turn is Kruphix's turn. When you never lose mana, there's really no reason to play anything in your own turn. Give your entire arsenal flash with Leyline of Anticipation and play your threats only at the most opportune moments. By the same token, I imagine Kruphix could work well in a control deck, though that's not my main direction. Control spells in this deck are a supporting pillar to give me time to build and protect what I build once it's on the field.
Draw everything. The rich man's tutor: Just have enough cards in hand that you always have what you need. With as much mana as Kruphix can store for you, Blue Sun's Zenith becomes laughably efficient and Enter the Infinite easily affordable. Time Reversal serves as an emergency button so we can't deck ourselves, and also as a handy counter to Mill and Graveyard strategies.
In my testing so far, the deck has managed to explode to absurd proportions given just a bit of time. It appears very dependent on the commander at first, but Kruphix getting tucked hasn't proved as problematic as I thought. For one, we have tutors and draw to get him back, and we can still produce tons of mana without him - we can't store it, but still put it to good use. And with cards like Omniscience and Venser's Journal, we have several backup plans if all else fails. Losing Kruphix only really hurts when we already have masses of cards and mana that would be lost at the end of turn, but in these situations you usually hold some answers to whatever the enemy might spring on you. The deck's main weakness appears to be that it does take some time to build (remember that Kruphix doesn't do anything by himself and is both weak and expensive by God standards), which makes it vulnerable to being rushed and not as good in 1v1. I'm still thinking about how to improve in this regard without compromising the theme of huge, expensive cards too much. Cards like Polukranos are ideal - you can cast them cheaply early if you want, but have the option of pumping huge amounts of mana into them later on.
Have you given Kruphix a try yet, or plan to put him at the helm of your next deck? Share your ideas!
You mention the possibility of Kruphix being tucked, but how does your deck fare when you don't/can't cast Kruphix at all, ever? What's your curve? How's your game against stax? Aggro with mass land destruction? Combo?
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I found that you can still build up some impressive board states even without Kruphix. Powerful green ramp + Prophet of Kruphix or Seeborn Muse and Vedalken Orrery still let you spend massive mana, even if you can't save it up for a 40 card Stroke of Genius. Enter the Infinite into Omniscience is still in the cards though.
The curve is pretty bad right now, however - mainly because I started out with a mindset of "Think HUGE and worry about the details later". The deck mainly builds mana for the first couple of turns, and faster decks may take advantage of that. It's much better in multiplayer than 1v1. I'm trying to work on that at the moment, first by replacing all the fancy counters like Spelljack with cheaper and more basic versions like Hinder, and by adding some cheaper cards that can still make good use of massive mana later on. RobintM came up with Mindshrieker for his Kruphix deck, which is a pretty great example of what I'm looking for.
Mass Land Destruction could really screw this deck I guess if you don't counter it, however there's no deck like that in my playgroup so I haven't tested it yet.
Generally, I like my ramp to give me two cards. Since I can't abuse creatures the way a Karador deck could I haven't used them, but you have a good point about early chump blockers. Just stopping the first few swings of commander damage could have made a world of difference in some of my recent games. I added your three suggestions, but I did keep Tempt with Discovery. It can search for Alchemist's Refuge, and any way to tutor for the very few Flash cards that actually exist is valuable here. For another blocker, I replaced one of my counters with Mystic Snake.
You're right about the win-more cards, I just recently had a Biomass Mutation sit in my hand all game without enough mana or creatures to make it worthwile. I cut the Mutation and That Which Was Taken and put in Mindshrieker as a cheap creature and better mana sink as well as Shipbreaker Kraken. I also replaced Argentum Armor with Steel Hellkite, which is more of a threat by itself and also another way to put huge amounts of mana to excellent use. Polukranos has actually done well for himself so far though, he's a 4 mana threat in a pinch and his ability is expensive but also powerful. I'm keeping him for the moment. Since I now have quite a few more creatures, I also put in Archetype of Endurance.
I've been on the fence about Yeva for a while since she only gives green creatures Flash. Teferi is pretty damn good I think, though I'd always tutor for Prophet of Kruphix ahead of him anyway so I cut him for space as well. I like the idea of some recursion instead to simply get the Prophet back, so I added Eternal Witness and Creeping Renaissance.
I don't actually have much that can tutor for Vedalken Orrery or the Leyline though. Fabricate/Tezzeret could help, but I think in this deck creature tutors are actually more versatile and helpful. Almost any effect I really need I have in creature form in some way. I do like your idea of more tutoring in general though, and the one blindspot in my creature tutors are the control cards which are largely instants and sorceries. I replaced Fade into Antiquity with Mystical Tutor, that can still search for another artifact removal and is more versatile otherwise.
Buyback is excellent for this deck, it's just that I haven't found any cards other than Capsize with effects this deck really wants. I did replace Cancel with Forbid though, simply because there's no downside to it. And it's no rarity for this deck to have a massive hand size, where this could become extremely useful.
If you're already running Homeward Path, a deck like this is the perfect place to abuse the hell out of Perplexing Chimera. With Homeward Path out, you get to steal a spell every turn sequence. Add Seedborn Muse or Prophet of Kruphix to the equation and it becomes each turn.
Also, you have a decent number of 3 drop creatures and a lot of 5 drop creatures. It might benefit you to add some 4 drop utility / ETB creatures and a Birthing Pod. It would add consistency and help you power out a Prophet of Kruphix or Seedborn Muse.
I'm am genuinely excited to get a build with this guy going as soon as I can get my hands on him. A couple of cards I thought would probably be really synergistic.
Mycosynth Lattice Seems like if what you are going to have in your mana pool is colorless most of the time you should make it easier to cast your spells.
Since I'm more of a control player I'll probably put the base control skeleton in of 10-12 counters. I'll probably take a few plays out of the Omnath playbook such as: Greater Good, Omnath, Locus of Mana (I wonder how the 2 global effects work together, can you choose Omnath over Kruphix? Having some of the mana be green would be great), Genesis Wave.
I wonder how the 2 global effects work together, can you choose Omnath over Kruphix? Having some of the mana be green would be great
There is no choice involved, but luckily you get the best of both worlds. Kruphix's ability is a replacement effect that replaces the event of Mana emptying from your mana pool with turning all that mana into colorless mana instead. Omnath's static ability makes it so green mana simply doesn't empty from the mana pool, so there is no event for Kruphix's ability to replace (at least with the green mana). So, at the end of a phase or step, Green mana will stay green, and any other color will turn colorless, but stay in the pool.
Coiling Oracle is a favorite UG card of mine. Psychic Spiral seems like it could be a good option here, especially if you have a way to discard a bunch of cards for some good effect. Prosperity could be added along with Blue Sun's Zenith in order to draw your opponents to death. Perhaps you could run the Freshmaker for the fun of it?
If you're already running Homeward Path, a deck like this is the perfect place to abuse the hell out of Perplexing Chimera. With Homeward Path out, you get to steal a spell every turn sequence. Add Seedborn Muse or Prophet of Kruphix to the equation and it becomes each turn.
Also, you have a decent number of 3 drop creatures and a lot of 5 drop creatures. It might benefit you to add some 4 drop utility / ETB creatures and a Birthing Pod. It would add consistency and help you power out a Prophet of Kruphix or Seedborn Muse.
Birthing Pod to get the Prophet more consistently could be very helpful indeed. Do you have any ideas for good 4 drops this deck could use, though? Maybe Ondu Giant could be added to the ramp suite.
The chimera sounds like fun, but it only really works with Homeward Path and I only have one card to tutor for that, so it probably wouldn't be consistent. Without the Path the chimera could actually be detrimental because I play bigger and more expensive stuff than many other decks.
I'm am genuinely excited to get a build with this guy going as soon as I can get my hands on him. A couple of cards I thought would probably be really synergistic.
Mycosynth Lattice Seems like if what you are going to have in your mana pool is colorless most of the time you should make it easier to cast your spells.
Since I'm more of a control player I'll probably put the base control skeleton in of 10-12 counters. I'll probably take a few plays out of the Omnath playbook such as: Greater Good, Omnath, Locus of Mana (I wonder how the 2 global effects work together, can you choose Omnath over Kruphix? Having some of the mana be green would be great), Genesis Wave.
Still thinking on it.
Mycosynth Lattice sounds like a neat idea Being able to cast a Voidslime with your saved colorless mana could be really useful. It's also a card that doesn't do much on its own though, you need Kruphix and lots of mana for it to become effective - one of the first problems this deck stumbled over was having too many of these cards.
Has anyone tested Omnath in a Kruphix deck yet? He's a cheap creature that becomes bigger with mana and a backup plan for Kruphix, both of which could make him really good. I'm not sure how powerful he is when only half your mana base is green though, which is why I hesitated to include him so far.
Genesis Wave probably really should be in here. I didn't include it originally because cards like Primordial Hydra are worthless with it and others like Polukranos need further mana to be good, but I probably was a bit too careful there - with enough mana that card will always be a powerhouse.
Coiling Oracle is a favorite UG card of mine. Psychic Spiral seems like it could be a good option here, especially if you have a way to discard a bunch of cards for some good effect. Prosperity could be added along with Blue Sun's Zenith in order to draw your opponents to death. Perhaps you could run the Freshmaker for the fun of it?
If I'm going for chump blockers that also give me ramp and/or value, Coiling Oracle really should be in here The Freshmaker is already included, can't forget him when we're talking big mana! I don't think I'll go for a milling strategy though. It could be done with Kruphix, but I don't find it very fun. When you don't have enough mana to deck them, Prosperity also helps your enemies, can't have that
I was thinking a little more about the Mycosynth Lattice and you are right beyond a spell enabler it really only provides 1 other ability that is kind of a pro and con. Everything is an artifact so artifact removal and interactions can be used with any permanent. So Akroma's Vengeance, Hush and Tranquility are all more deadly. In the end I'll probably play with it just to add a little bit of quirky-ness to the game.
I think this type of deck is going to perform best with a combination of X and aggro type spells. Finding the right mix will be key.
I think Staff of Domination definitely has a place in this deck, even if you aren't playing with infinite mana combos; with the ability to have a lot of colorless mana you will be able to use the staff to great advantage.
I don't think tokens are the way to go with Kruphix. Token generators let you spend your extra mana on tokens so that the mana isn't wasted, but with Kruphix the mana isn't wasted anyways, and you can just save it for bigger effects.
I agree, I don't think tokens are the best way to make use of Kruphix' unique powers. There's better commanders for that anyway, with Kruphix I'd rather have one monstrous Hydra or a bunch of Eldrazi than twenty tokens.
Staff of Domination could certainly be a useful and very versatile Mana outlet, though. I'll give that a try if I can make room for it I've also thought about Tower of Fortunes and its ilk for mana sinks, but those seem like they're rather overcosted even by Kruphix standards for what they do.
Heroes' Bane could be another card to consider. Chameleon Colossus has been mentioned in another thread as a possible aggressive mana sink, and Bane has the same effect permanently. It costs one more and has no protection though.
Gigantomancer seems interesting if you use him with Hydras.
Winter Orb has good synergy if you drop it with a full mana pool and your opponents mostly tapped.
I've been looking for good card advantage. Well of Knowledge seems like a winner, because it works for everyone you'll get a little group hug credit, but you'll be the one getting the most use out of it. Other than Blue Sun's Zenith, Mind's Eye any other clever ideas?
In the really expensive range for protection Forcefield seems ridiculous.
Dark Depths is a card I always wanted to play and it would be right at home here, it costs a ton of money nowadays though. If I had it, I'd put it in without hesitation though.
Grozoth is just the type of weird, expensive card I like for this deck. However, I'd be careful to only include cards for him that I'd also be happy to draw on their own. For example, topdecking the Unspeakable won't really do anything for you. Myojin or Artisan are fantastic on their own though.
Mystic Remora might be another source of good card advantage, since paying the upkeep won't be as much of a problem with Kruphix.
It is so overpowered that I am moving away from this strategy as my play group doesn't want to play against him anymore. I would re-think tokens if you haven't tried it
I've recently converted my Momir Vig deck to Kruphix for the time being to give it a shot. One of my friends runs a very high powered Omnath deck and I like the thought of a U/G "Omnath"
Pros (compared to Vig)
+ Less hate (more of a durdle/card advantage deck until you have the win within reach)
+ Less fragile General and Deck
+ Ability to run flashy and high-impact spells (Good stuff)
Cons
- Kruphix is an enabler rather than a "means to an end"
- Has to spend the early game establishing infrastructure before receiving noticeable benefits.
I dont have the decklist on me (in class ATM) but essentially my main Wincon is casting a Tooth and Nail for Palichron and Eternal Witness then recasting T&N for Vorinclex/Deadeye Navigator. This allows me to cast T&N as many times as I need to win.
Backup plan is to establish some sort of lock on the board:
Seedborn Muse/Prophet of Kruphix + Capsize
Seedborn/Prophet + Deadeye + Mystic Snake/Venser/Acidic Slime.
Basically abuse the untapping effects to either kill/bounce/counter everything until opponents concede due to lack of board while you save the mana for a huge BSZ/Stroke of Genius to refill your hand and continue the lock.
Ramp effects/artifacts are a must for turns 1-4 in order to get Kruphix out and start making use of the mana.
I'm currently looking into building a Kruphix EDH over the summer; I like the basis of this deck but personally I would switch some stuff out. 4 cards I would definitely consider adding are Pygmy Hippo, Vorinclex, Jin-Gitaxias, and Helix Pinnacle.
Pygmy Hippo and Vorinclex to increase mana production, Jin-Gitaxias for the draw ability while giving your opponents no hand, and Helix Pinnacle as a win condition which would be very easily attainable with Kruphix's mana storage ability.
:smileup::smileup:
Pygmy Hippo doesn't work like I think you hope it will. During declare attackers the person who gets attacked can just tap all lands so you get no mana.
Pygmy Hippo doesn't work like I think you hope it will. During declare attackers the person who gets attacked can just tap all lands so you get no mana.
EDIT: Originally misread what you said. I agree, hippo just makes the opponent tap out, it won't realistically give you mana.
Thanks for the ideas everyone! Dreamscape Artist is a weird one, I didn't even know a card like that existed in blue. And with the absurd card draw this deck can generate, this could ramp something fierce... I'm not sure about the other repeatable two though, with the lands coming into play tapped they look a bit slow to me.
In general I tried to stick with ramp cards that would allow me to play my commander one turn earlier, which is why I didn't put the simulacrum in so far. It, the Elder and the Hart are all great cards though, so I may well give them a shot some time.
So far, the deck has done very well for itself. It continues to be a bit iffy under early pressure, but it has won most of its games so far, usually in a big way. One game I got to around 700 mana and blew everyone up with a Steel Hellkite, while yesterday Colossus of Akros and a 50/50 Primordial Hydra won the day. Ring of Three Wishes has been a star as well, if you get to the point where mana is no issue anymore, a repeatable Demonic Tutor is just brutal. Overall, the deck does what it was meant to do and does it well, so I'm rather happy with it
The token strategy sounds pretty cool as well, but since I already have a token deck I won't be taking Kruphix into that direction. I'm sure endless mana and guys like Khamal make for great friends indeed though!
From Conspiracy, Realm Seekers could be interesting for this deck. We both can have a huge hand to turn them into massive beaters, and lots of mana to use their ability for even more of it. If you don't already have a powerful position they don't seem as good though, there's plenty more efficient ways to either get ramp or a powerful creature. What do you guys think of it?
This deck has consistently managed to hold a very large hand of 20 cards upwards, so right now I'm looking for cards that really make use of such a large hand - like being able to buyback Forbid every time with ease, or Overbeing of Myth becoming absurdly large. If anyone has more ideas along those lines, I'd be very grateful for suggestions
Have you thought of playing beacon of tomorrows .... you already play the omniscience, enter the infinite combo.... the beacon allow you to go infinite turns lol
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Psst, hey you! Ever dreamt of infinite power? How about infinite knowledge? Might I interest you in a membership for the church of Kruphix?
1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
Thinking Big
1 Myojin of Life's Web
1 Spitting Image
1 Heroes' Bane
1 Empyrial Plate
1 Genesis Wave
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Psychosis Crawler
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Lorthos, the Tidemaker
1 Colossus of Akros
1 Lifeblood Hydra
1 Hydra Broodmaster
1 Shipbreaker Kraken
1 Planar Portal
1 Ring of Three Wishes
1 Steel Hellkite
Opportunities at Every Turn
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Prophet of Kruphix
Building Endless Power
1 Dreamscape Artist
1 Yavimaya Dryad
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Sol Ring
1 Astral Cornucopia
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Boundless Realms
1 Mana Reflection
1 Doubling Cube
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Tempt with Discovery
1 Wood Elves
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Recurring Insight
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Braingeyser
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Mind Spring
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Mind Unbound
1 Thought Reflection
1 Overbeing of Myth
1 Aeon Chronicler
1 Jushi Apprentice
1 Myojin of Seeing Winds
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 Time Reversal
1 Eternal Witness
1 Stroke of Genius
Controlling the Power
1 Winged Coatl
1 Aetherize
1 Aetherspouts
1 Plasm Capture
1 Mystic Snake
1 Dissolve
1 Hinder
1 Spell Crumple
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Song of the Dryads
1 Beast Within
1 Unravel the AEther
1 Terastodon
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Terrain Generator
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Command Tower
1 Temple of the False God
1 Winding Canyons
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Homeward Path
12 Island
11 Forest
Original deck:
1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
Thinking Big
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Lorthos, the Tidemaker
1 Colossus of Akros
1 Spawnsire of Ulamog
1 Hydra Broodmaster
1 Shipbreaker Kraken
1 Omniscience
1 Planar Portal
1 Ring of Three Wishes
1 Mindshrieker
1 Steel Hellkite
Opportunities at Every Turn
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Prophet of Kruphix
Building Endless Power
1 Sol Ring
1 Astral Cornucopia
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Boundless Realms
1 Mana Reflection
1 Doubling Cube
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Tempt with Discovery
1 Wood Elves
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Sakura Tribe Elder
1 Mind Spring
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Mind Unbound
1 Thought Reflection
1 Overbeing of Myth
1 Biomantic Mastery
1 Aeon Chronicler
1 Enter the Infinite
1 Jushi Apprentice
1 Sphinx of Magosi
1 Myojin of Seeing Winds
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 Chord of Calling
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Primal Command
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Reversal
1 Eternal Witness
1 Creeping Renaissance
Controlling the Power
1 Plasm Capture
1 Mystic Snake
1 Voidslime
1 Forbid
1 Hinder
1 Spell Crumple
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Capsize
1 Spin into Myth
1 Beast Within
1 Unravel the AEther
1 Terastodon
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Command Tower
1 Temple of the False God
1 Winding Canyons
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Homeward Path
13 Island
13 Forest
Seeing how he was only recently spoiled, I've only just begun my journey with Kruphix and the deck is very much in a state of experimentation. Any and all suggestion are welcome, and I'm curious to hear your take on the God of Horizons! I'm mainly trying to play to his humble core strength of stocking up absurd amounts of cards and mana. In my first game, I struck the finishing blow with Overbeing of Myth and 50 cards in hand, so I decided the deck was on a good path and went from there.
Sky's the limit. With Kruphix and his endless mana storage, cards that would be too expensive even by Commander standards suddenly become perfectly viable. Why think big when we can think even bigger? Play every Eldrazi with Spawnsire of Ulamog, unleash laughably huge Hydras and tutor everything you want with Planar Portal. I'm search for the best and most absurd ways to spend obscene amounts of Mana that Magic has to offer.
Every turn is Kruphix's turn. When you never lose mana, there's really no reason to play anything in your own turn. Give your entire arsenal flash with Leyline of Anticipation and play your threats only at the most opportune moments. By the same token, I imagine Kruphix could work well in a control deck, though that's not my main direction. Control spells in this deck are a supporting pillar to give me time to build and protect what I build once it's on the field.
Draw everything. The rich man's tutor: Just have enough cards in hand that you always have what you need. With as much mana as Kruphix can store for you, Blue Sun's Zenith becomes laughably efficient and Enter the Infinite easily affordable. Time Reversal serves as an emergency button so we can't deck ourselves, and also as a handy counter to Mill and Graveyard strategies.
In my testing so far, the deck has managed to explode to absurd proportions given just a bit of time. It appears very dependent on the commander at first, but Kruphix getting tucked hasn't proved as problematic as I thought. For one, we have tutors and draw to get him back, and we can still produce tons of mana without him - we can't store it, but still put it to good use. And with cards like Omniscience and Venser's Journal, we have several backup plans if all else fails. Losing Kruphix only really hurts when we already have masses of cards and mana that would be lost at the end of turn, but in these situations you usually hold some answers to whatever the enemy might spring on you. The deck's main weakness appears to be that it does take some time to build (remember that Kruphix doesn't do anything by himself and is both weak and expensive by God standards), which makes it vulnerable to being rushed and not as good in 1v1. I'm still thinking about how to improve in this regard without compromising the theme of huge, expensive cards too much. Cards like Polukranos are ideal - you can cast them cheaply early if you want, but have the option of pumping huge amounts of mana into them later on.
Have you given Kruphix a try yet, or plan to put him at the helm of your next deck? Share your ideas!
The curve is pretty bad right now, however - mainly because I started out with a mindset of "Think HUGE and worry about the details later". The deck mainly builds mana for the first couple of turns, and faster decks may take advantage of that. It's much better in multiplayer than 1v1. I'm trying to work on that at the moment, first by replacing all the fancy counters like Spelljack with cheaper and more basic versions like Hinder, and by adding some cheaper cards that can still make good use of massive mana later on. RobintM came up with Mindshrieker for his Kruphix deck, which is a pretty great example of what I'm looking for.
Mass Land Destruction could really screw this deck I guess if you don't counter it, however there's no deck like that in my playgroup so I haven't tested it yet.
Generally, I like my ramp to give me two cards. Since I can't abuse creatures the way a Karador deck could I haven't used them, but you have a good point about early chump blockers. Just stopping the first few swings of commander damage could have made a world of difference in some of my recent games. I added your three suggestions, but I did keep Tempt with Discovery. It can search for Alchemist's Refuge, and any way to tutor for the very few Flash cards that actually exist is valuable here. For another blocker, I replaced one of my counters with Mystic Snake.
You're right about the win-more cards, I just recently had a Biomass Mutation sit in my hand all game without enough mana or creatures to make it worthwile. I cut the Mutation and That Which Was Taken and put in Mindshrieker as a cheap creature and better mana sink as well as Shipbreaker Kraken. I also replaced Argentum Armor with Steel Hellkite, which is more of a threat by itself and also another way to put huge amounts of mana to excellent use. Polukranos has actually done well for himself so far though, he's a 4 mana threat in a pinch and his ability is expensive but also powerful. I'm keeping him for the moment. Since I now have quite a few more creatures, I also put in Archetype of Endurance.
I've been on the fence about Yeva for a while since she only gives green creatures Flash. Teferi is pretty damn good I think, though I'd always tutor for Prophet of Kruphix ahead of him anyway so I cut him for space as well. I like the idea of some recursion instead to simply get the Prophet back, so I added Eternal Witness and Creeping Renaissance.
I don't actually have much that can tutor for Vedalken Orrery or the Leyline though. Fabricate/Tezzeret could help, but I think in this deck creature tutors are actually more versatile and helpful. Almost any effect I really need I have in creature form in some way. I do like your idea of more tutoring in general though, and the one blindspot in my creature tutors are the control cards which are largely instants and sorceries. I replaced Fade into Antiquity with Mystical Tutor, that can still search for another artifact removal and is more versatile otherwise.
Buyback is excellent for this deck, it's just that I haven't found any cards other than Capsize with effects this deck really wants. I did replace Cancel with Forbid though, simply because there's no downside to it. And it's no rarity for this deck to have a massive hand size, where this could become extremely useful.
Lastly I added Homeward Path, because getting Kruphix stolen by Aura Thief kinda sucks.
Also, you have a decent number of 3 drop creatures and a lot of 5 drop creatures. It might benefit you to add some 4 drop utility / ETB creatures and a Birthing Pod. It would add consistency and help you power out a Prophet of Kruphix or Seedborn Muse.
Mycosynth Lattice Seems like if what you are going to have in your mana pool is colorless most of the time you should make it easier to cast your spells.
Since I'm more of a control player I'll probably put the base control skeleton in of 10-12 counters. I'll probably take a few plays out of the Omnath playbook such as: Greater Good, Omnath, Locus of Mana (I wonder how the 2 global effects work together, can you choose Omnath over Kruphix? Having some of the mana be green would be great), Genesis Wave.
Still thinking on it.
There is no choice involved, but luckily you get the best of both worlds. Kruphix's ability is a replacement effect that replaces the event of Mana emptying from your mana pool with turning all that mana into colorless mana instead. Omnath's static ability makes it so green mana simply doesn't empty from the mana pool, so there is no event for Kruphix's ability to replace (at least with the green mana). So, at the end of a phase or step, Green mana will stay green, and any other color will turn colorless, but stay in the pool.
Coiling Oracle is a favorite UG card of mine. Psychic Spiral seems like it could be a good option here, especially if you have a way to discard a bunch of cards for some good effect. Prosperity could be added along with Blue Sun's Zenith in order to draw your opponents to death. Perhaps you could run the Freshmaker for the fun of it?
Birthing Pod to get the Prophet more consistently could be very helpful indeed. Do you have any ideas for good 4 drops this deck could use, though? Maybe Ondu Giant could be added to the ramp suite.
The chimera sounds like fun, but it only really works with Homeward Path and I only have one card to tutor for that, so it probably wouldn't be consistent. Without the Path the chimera could actually be detrimental because I play bigger and more expensive stuff than many other decks.
Mycosynth Lattice sounds like a neat idea
Has anyone tested Omnath in a Kruphix deck yet? He's a cheap creature that becomes bigger with mana and a backup plan for Kruphix, both of which could make him really good. I'm not sure how powerful he is when only half your mana base is green though, which is why I hesitated to include him so far.
Genesis Wave probably really should be in here. I didn't include it originally because cards like Primordial Hydra are worthless with it and others like Polukranos need further mana to be good, but I probably was a bit too careful there - with enough mana that card will always be a powerhouse.
If I'm going for chump blockers that also give me ramp and/or value, Coiling Oracle really should be in here
I think this type of deck is going to perform best with a combination of X and aggro type spells. Finding the right mix will be key.
I think Staff of Domination definitely has a place in this deck, even if you aren't playing with infinite mana combos; with the ability to have a lot of colorless mana you will be able to use the staff to great advantage.
You could go a token route as well. Harness Doubling Season, Parallel Lives or Primal Vigor with Ashnod's Alter to keep your mana pool full. Beastmaster Ascension, Overrun, Overwhelming Stampede, Triumph of the Horde FTW. This seems very boilerplate though.
More to come.
Staff of Domination could certainly be a useful and very versatile Mana outlet, though. I'll give that a try if I can make room for it
Heroes' Bane could be another card to consider. Chameleon Colossus has been mentioned in another thread as a possible aggressive mana sink, and Bane has the same effect permanently. It costs one more and has no protection though.
I was doing a little advanced searching on Gatherer and found a few ideas that I'd like to get some feedback on.
Dark Depths seems like it might be really good, requires 30 mana to turn which seems like nothing for Kruphix.
Grozoth and a small 9 CMC package consisting of any Myojin of Life's Web, Artisan of Kozilek, Nullstone Gargoyle, Chromescale Drake, Inkwell Leviathan, The Unspeakable. Alternatively he could be transmuted into Decree of Savagery, Crush of Wurms. And he can be easily tutored up with Worldly Tutor or Fierce Empath, which are auto-includes if your going big creature.
Gigantomancer seems interesting if you use him with Hydras.
Winter Orb has good synergy if you drop it with a full mana pool and your opponents mostly tapped.
I've been looking for good card advantage. Well of Knowledge seems like a winner, because it works for everyone you'll get a little group hug credit, but you'll be the one getting the most use out of it. Other than Blue Sun's Zenith, Mind's Eye any other clever ideas?
In the really expensive range for protection Forcefield seems ridiculous.
Grozoth is just the type of weird, expensive card I like for this deck. However, I'd be careful to only include cards for him that I'd also be happy to draw on their own. For example, topdecking the Unspeakable won't really do anything for you. Myojin or Artisan are fantastic on their own though.
Mystic Remora might be another source of good card advantage, since paying the upkeep won't be as much of a problem with Kruphix.
Kruphix, God of Mythical Beasts
Avenger of Zendikar , Spontaneous Generation , kamahl, fist of krosa , ant queen , fable of wolf and owl or any other big token maker plus a Craterhoof or biomass mutation or kamahl, fist of krosa's pump will kill all 3 opponents quite early into the game.
It is so overpowered that I am moving away from this strategy as my play group doesn't want to play against him anymore. I would re-think tokens if you haven't tried it
Pros (compared to Vig)
+ Less hate (more of a durdle/card advantage deck until you have the win within reach)
+ Less fragile General and Deck
+ Ability to run flashy and high-impact spells (Good stuff)
Cons
- Kruphix is an enabler rather than a "means to an end"
- Has to spend the early game establishing infrastructure before receiving noticeable benefits.
I dont have the decklist on me (in class ATM) but essentially my main Wincon is casting a Tooth and Nail for Palichron and Eternal Witness then recasting T&N for Vorinclex/Deadeye Navigator. This allows me to cast T&N as many times as I need to win.
Backup plan is to establish some sort of lock on the board:
Seedborn Muse/Prophet of Kruphix + Capsize
Seedborn/Prophet + Deadeye + Mystic Snake/Venser/Acidic Slime.
Basically abuse the untapping effects to either kill/bounce/counter everything until opponents concede due to lack of board while you save the mana for a huge BSZ/Stroke of Genius to refill your hand and continue the lock.
Ramp effects/artifacts are a must for turns 1-4 in order to get Kruphix out and start making use of the mana.
Pygmy Hippo and Vorinclex to increase mana production, Jin-Gitaxias for the draw ability while giving your opponents no hand, and Helix Pinnacle as a win condition which would be very easily attainable with Kruphix's mana storage ability.
:smileup::smileup:
EDIT: Originally misread what you said. I agree, hippo just makes the opponent tap out, it won't realistically give you mana.
My decks:
-Modern UWR gifts control
-Modern Mono-G aggro elves
-Azami, Lady of Scrolls EDH
-Glissa the Traitor EDH
-Modern UWR Counterbalance Control
-Modern UW enchantment control: primer, on tapped out
-Modern regular UWR control
Solemn Simulacrum
Burnished Hart
Dreamscape Artist or Frontier Guide or Silverglade Pathfinder (Repeatable ones)
Yavimaya Elder
My decks:
-Modern UWR gifts control
-Modern Mono-G aggro elves
-Azami, Lady of Scrolls EDH
-Glissa the Traitor EDH
-Modern UWR Counterbalance Control
-Modern UW enchantment control: primer, on tapped out
-Modern regular UWR control
In general I tried to stick with ramp cards that would allow me to play my commander one turn earlier, which is why I didn't put the simulacrum in so far. It, the Elder and the Hart are all great cards though, so I may well give them a shot some time.
So far, the deck has done very well for itself. It continues to be a bit iffy under early pressure, but it has won most of its games so far, usually in a big way. One game I got to around 700 mana and blew everyone up with a Steel Hellkite, while yesterday Colossus of Akros and a 50/50 Primordial Hydra won the day. Ring of Three Wishes has been a star as well, if you get to the point where mana is no issue anymore, a repeatable Demonic Tutor is just brutal. Overall, the deck does what it was meant to do and does it well, so I'm rather happy with it
The token strategy sounds pretty cool as well, but since I already have a token deck I won't be taking Kruphix into that direction. I'm sure endless mana and guys like Khamal make for great friends indeed though!
From Conspiracy, Realm Seekers could be interesting for this deck. We both can have a huge hand to turn them into massive beaters, and lots of mana to use their ability for even more of it. If you don't already have a powerful position they don't seem as good though, there's plenty more efficient ways to either get ramp or a powerful creature. What do you guys think of it?