Waaaay back around 1999 I used to play a (kitchen table) Horseshoe Crab/Hermetic Study "combo" deck. The deck started out just alright with a bit of redundancy in Morphling and Fire Whip, but WotC was very kind to the deck in the coming years. First Charisma out of Mercadian Masques and then Quicksilver Dagger out of Apocalypse really upped the value of Horseshoe Crab. The very next set brought Psionic Gift, which really saturated the "auras" half of the combo. The variants of Crab/Study I built around that time were often too dependent on drawing a Crab (Morphling was a little pricey to be worth turning into a pinger) early on to cut it, even around the kitchen table. Eventually, I dropped the deck in favor of other casual mondo-combos like Pestilence/Fungusaur/Whirling Dervish. Although I never ended up building a Crab/Study style deck using them, the creatures with "untap: do a thing" from Shadowmoor and Eventide did not escape my notice. At this time I was playing mostly competitive Vintage and so didn't really have an outlet for playing janky casual stuff. Eventually, however, EDH caught on big in the Vintage community (and elsewhere). Still, there wasn't really a commander of the right colors at the time. The pinger auras are red and/or blue while the all the enchantment support, and a few of the untappers, are white. So once again I sat on the idea of a Crab/Study deck... and then Zedruu the Greathearted got spoiled. Zedruu has great synergy with the Crab/Study plan because, in addition to being in the right colors, she can donate Hermetic Study/Psionic Gift (though not Fire Whip) for more value. You can take a look at the deck I ended up building here. While the pinger deck certainly was capable of doing some crazy things, including going off with Quicksilver Dagger and Mind Over Matter, it just wasn't very powerful over all. Turns out that most EDH creatures are really tough to kill one damage at a time. What playing that deck taught me, though, was that Zedruu is insane with auras. That lead me pretty quickly to the idea of Zedruu Voltron, the first version of which can be found here. The deck is a blast to play, and over the years I've tried many variations and a lot of different cards. Getting the tempo just right to make the deck viable has been a constant struggle, and I'm still not sure it's there. The list below is what I currently feel is the best way to implement a pure Zedruu Voltron plan, but I also realize that there's always room for improvement. Hence this post carries with it the usual implicit (now made explicit) "Dear MTGS Community, Please help me make my deck better. Love, Hunding."
Deck Philosophy
No thanks. I don't enjoy kicking puppies.
Like all Voltron decks the primary goal here is to kill players by applying 21 or more Commander damage to their domes. Unlike most standard Voltron generals, however, Zedruu the Greathearted doesn't naturaly hit hard or do anything to protect herself. These deficits put a lot of pressure on the card choices since we need to pump up Zedruu in a major way while also keeping her safe. The thing Zedruuis good at is generating a large amount of card and life advantage. This deck tries to leverage that by running as many cheap things to donate as possible. I've played versions of this deck with more expensive, i.e. more individually powerful, cards, but gift-giving for profit is a much slower engine if playing and donating a thing is a two-turn process. I've found that playing a thing and leaving up mana to counter or respond with other instants and/or donate said thing at end of an opponent's turn is more powerful than tapping out for a bomb and hoping you get to untap and donate it away. Obviously, leaving up mana is easier if your spells are cheaper, so the curve of this deck is quite low. Even though a typical 1 or 2 CMC card in EDH is going to be dominated in power level by a typical 5 or 6 CMC card, this deck makes use of the inexpensive cards by casting many more of them.
Affinity for minotaurs!
There are a few cards out there that are tremendous with Zedruu all by themselves (they don't really need any set up aside from Goat Lady) that are simply absent from this deck. Things like Test of Endurance and Transcendence aren't stuck warming the bleachers because they can't get it done. They're left out because they don't have much synergy with the Voltron plan. There is an argument to be had for including a backup plan that's independent of the beatdowns; attacking from multiple angles makes it harder for opponents to stop everything. It's worth noting, though, that the plan of donatingacurse isn't all that distinct from the Voltron plan in that both require Zedruu to not be priced out by commander tax. Even so, this list could probably incorporate some of these "oops, I win" elements and be mechanically better for it, but I'm trying to stray from the beaten path here and those strategies have already been implemented frequently and thoughtfully by others.
There's also the possibility of adding a stax element to the deck. Stuff like Winter Orb, Sphere of Resistance and Thorn of Amethyst are already asymmetrical due to the deck's low mana curve, and being able to cash them in via donation breaks the symmetry even further. With a new mana base, the deck could also get a lot of mileage out of Null Rod and Blood Moon effects. Since the days of Strip Mine being better with a Kird Ape in play than without, applying pressure is a great thing to combine with mana denial, so the stax plan actually has synergy with the main plan of the deck. Thing is, though, that a lot of people would rather be able to play their cards than to see the price of spellsgoupagain. Also, I already have a more competitive Commander deck so this one's probably better off staying closer to "cute" than to "obnoxious." I wouldn't fault anyone for going staxy, though.
There are many excellent Voltron generals out there in pretty much any color or combination of colors, from Uril to Skullbrair to Godo. If you're dead-set on Jeskai Voltron the list of candidates is substantially shorter, but it's full of heavy hitters like the bruisers pictured above. A big part of why I like to play Zedruu Voltron is simply because you don't see it very often. When you sit down for a game and reveal that your general is Zedruu people are going to be expecting shenanigans, but they probably won't expect the combat step to be involved (of course, if you regularly play with the same group of people they'll know what's up). When I first started drafting up this deck all those years ago, I thought it would end up being amusing and passable for a little while. But it turns out the interaction between Zedruu and auras with enchant creature is really strong and provides a mechanical basis for picking the original Jeskai monk as your Voltron commander.
Narset is similar to Zedruu in a lot of ways. They both provide stupendous card advantage if you get to untap with them; they can both be built into completely broken decks (e.g.Zedruu donates Transcendence and Narset chains together Time Warp-effects); and their abilities require being built around. Narset brings hexproof to the table, which is a really big deal, but you get to play Counterspell in your Zedruu deck, which is probably the single most compelling reason to to with the minotaur monk over the human monk in the first place.
Shu Yun is a different type of creature for a much faster type of game. He encourages you to play him earlier by costing less than Zedruu and then asks that you play a lot of spells in a row on your own turn. Countermagic is better with Shu Yun than with Narset but it's still a little awkward given how Prowess plays out. With Zedruu you get to play a longer grindier game because your general is a source of card advantage, and that's where I want to be. Having staying power gives Zedruu an edge over Shu Yun should his one-inch-punch fail to connect.
Ruhan smash! Ruhan crush! Ruhan never pumps the breaks! A 7/7 for 4 mana is a great rate, especially outside of green, and in some pods you'll be able to avoid retaliation on the grounds that Ruhan attacks at random. However, all Ruhan does is beat face; he's very one-dimensional. Shu Yun also only beats face, but the amount of face he beats is open-ended whereas Ruhan needs dedicated pump spells to hit any harder. Since they cost the same, the main trade-off between Ruhan and Zedruu is power and toughness for card draw. As with Shu Yun, Zedruu offers a grindier midrangier deck with the potential to bury a whole table of opponents in card advantage.
Should I build this deck?
Maybe! First of all, it's not all that expensive to throw a version of this deck together. Mana Drain, Cryptic Command, Moxen, dual-lands and Cavern of Souls are far and away the most expensive cards in the deck and playing with them is a continual reminder of why they're format staples. However, with the exception of Cavern, the expensive cards don't offer any unique effects so lower budget substitutions are completely reasonable here. Obviously the deck loses a little bit of power by downgrading, e.g.Mox Diamond to Coldsteel Heart, but such budget choices aren't terminal to the deck. Zedruu Voltron is a blast to play and is far off the beaten path so I highly recommend giving it a try.
You may like playing this deck if...
you like to bring the beatdown.
you like decks that can snowball out of control.
you don't feel comfortable without a wide array of answers available.
you hate having to shuffle a lot during games
you have a soft spot for really janky old commons.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our cruising altitude of
35,000 feet and the captain has turned off the 'fasten your seatbelt'
sign. You are now free to beat face."
Zedruu is naturally quite fragile so this deck needs a pretty hefty amount of protection for her. Unfortunately, the auras plan is at odds with things that grant shroud like Lightning Greaves and Clout of the Dominus. The three modes of protection I have are hexproof, indestructible, and blink. Two of the three hexproof providers, Swiftfoot Boots and Champion's Helm, are very solid inclusions but the last one, Ring of Evos Isle is a little more suspect. Two to cast and one to equip are reasonable costs, but having to leave up mana to threaten hexproof is a significant downside. That drawback is actually mitigated somewhat because leaving up tons of mana is something this deck is already trying to do. Moreover, the Ring slowly grows Zedruu which helps with the Voltron plan more. Overall Ring of Evos Isle is the worst source of hexproof that I run, but it's still worth running. Other sources, including Elgaud Shieldmate and Mask of Avacyn, have been in and out of the deck a couple of times. Their effects are certainly powerful, but they're probably too mana intensive for what they do. I keep thinking about giving Elgaud Shieldmate another chance because hexproof is just so powerful, but then I never do. Someday, maybe. Pemmin's Aura is an honorary hexproof provider as it only keeps Zedruu from being targeted when I want it to. Stapling Morphling's text box onto a 2/4 is also extremely effective on its own.
As for the indestructible elements, Darksteel Plate is a pretty standard choice because it protects its self as well as the creature wearing it. At various times this deck has had a Sunforger package featuring Boros Charm, in which case Darksteel Plate gets cut. The Sunforger plan always looks so good on paper but then never really impresses during game play. Better, I think, to just go with the protection spell that costs less and always works. Indestructibility costs as much as another card that I just said was too expensive, but it does at least three things that the Shieldmate can't do: 1) save Zedruu from most sweepers, 2) keep her safe inside of combat, and 3) be donated for value. One card that doesn't quite grant indestructibility that I'm on the fence about is Bubble Matrix. This card would keep Zedruu from being killed by a blocker, makes a good gift, and randomly hoses stuff like Rolling Earthquake, Blasphemous Act and Repercussion. On the other hand it would make blocking my Voltron general entirely too easy. Being a totally sweet bulk rare from Weatherlight is a mark in its favor, and if there ever comes a day when most or all of the pump auras grant meaningful evasion (Gryff's Boon upgraded Pursuit of Flight and Giant Spectacle replaced Hyena Umbra so we are heading in that direction) I could see Bubble Matrix being good enough.
To round out the protection suite are two cards that let Zedruu dodge just about anything: Vanishing and Flickerform. Vanishing is the better one because it costs less to cast and activate and, almost more importantly, when Zedruu phases back in all the auras on her phase back in under the control of whoever controlled them last in contrast to Flickerform which specifically says that auras attached to the flickering creature return to the battlefield under their owners' control. While Flickerform does undo all the aura donation done before it's activated, that's much less bad than having Zedruu killed and all the auras going to the graveyard. Thanks to some early posters on this thread for convincing me of that. Four mana is a lot to be leaving up to activate Flickerform, and heaven help you if you want to leave up enough to activate it twice, but flickering into exile is just such a solid mode of protection that it's worth it.
Finally, the protection afforded by Spirit Mantle is not something to be overlooked. If it just gave +1/+1 and made the creature unblockable it might be good enough, but the protection puts it over the top. Having protection from creatures means that Zedruu becomes an extremely effective blocker, even against deathtouch threats. More importantly, Spirit Mantle provides immunity from activated and triggered abilities of creatures that might kill [card=Zedruu the Greathearted]Zedruu; e.g. Royal Assassin|Limited Edition Beta and Spinal Villain, or whatever the kids are running these days.
Pump
The sincerest form of flattery...
These cards are really the heart and soul of this deck. I've tried to pick the auras with the right combination of cost, power boost, evasion and other utility. Blessing of the Nephilim is the best of the bunch in terms of efficiency, but my favorites are the Red, White and Blue Scarabs. The Scarabs are so much fun because of how they interact with being donated; e.g.White Scarab under one of my opponents' control will see Zedruu and be satisfied that "an opponent of this card's controller controls a white permanent." That the Scarabs provide some limited evasion is just gravy, but comes up more than you would think. Ethereal Armor, an otherwise outstanding Voltron aura, is a touch awkward in this deck because it pumps the enchanted creature for each enchantment Ethereal Armor's controller controls. This isn't a huge drawback since we're trying to give everyone a bunch of auras anyway but, whereas the safest distribution of auras is evenly amongst your opponents, Ethereal Armor pays off the best when you have one opponent hold all your stuff. That said Ethereal Armor is still great even though it sometimes forces you to put all your eggs in one basket. There's also the distinct possibility that the opponent you hand it off to will cast a couple enchantments of their own, so choose the recipient wisely.
Not exactly a format staple, but it gets the job done.
The auras included primarily for their evasion are easy enough to spot, and notice that none of them fail to also pump Zedruu's power. This is very important because a base power of 2 a beater does not make. As discussed above Spirit Mantle is the best here since it also protects the goat from Nekrataal- and Avatar of Woe-type effects. Gryff's Boon is like half of a Spectral Flight with the potential to come back should something go wrong. Finally, at the bottom of the barrel are Immolation and Tahngarth's Rage. These two bring an acceptable amount of pump for their cost and might occasionally tag a Fauna Shaman or some such. That, combined with their old-school value, is enough for me.
As I mentioned in the Deck Philosophy section, cheap efficient auras are favored over expensive bomb auras for tempo reasons. This is why things like Righteous Authority, Sunbond, and Spectra Ward aren't found in this category. Let me now elaborate on why the pump-spell cutoff is CMC 2. When you cast Zedruu it costs 4 mana plus whatever you need to leave up for protection. Making a land drop the following turn means having 5 mana (plus protection mana) available, which is enough to play and donate a one or two CMC card, but not something more expensive. Being able to play and donate in a single turn cycle puts you up on cards because of Zedruu's upkeep trigger, and it frees up your mana to play and donate the those extra cards sooner. Still, some of the 3 CMC auras such as Steel of the Godhead and Empyrial Armor might be strong enough to be worth considering anyway.
Answers
Don't try anything fancy, now.
People are going to try and do mean things in a game of EDH, so any deck that isn't trying to kill by the third turn has to have answers. The big four for any Zedruu deck are Oblivion Ring, Detention Sphere, Grasp of Fate and Banishing Light with Faith's Fetters trailing only slightly behind. Having the right answers at the right time is so important, and these cards all answer a very broad class of threats. Because they're almost completely one-sided in this deck Rest in Peace and Torpor Orb are excellent hosers against some of the more popular strategies in EDH. Along similar lines, in the past I've run Null Rod and Stony Silence, but I think this deck gains more by being able to play artifact mana and protection equipment. In a metagame with lots of Arcum Dagsson, Daretti, Scrap Savant, etc. the scales may tip back in favor of the powerful artifact hosers. Spreading Seas was first included just to be a cantripping donation with some upside, but the card is excellent. Color hosing is great, slamming Spreading Seas onto a Golgari Rot Farm feels like Time Walk and turning off Gaea's Cradle/Cabal Coffers feels like justice. Imprisoned in the Moon may ramp an oponent (unless it's shutting off a busted land) but it hits a variety of things and doesn't induce any zone changes, which means it dodges the wrath of all sorts of scary triggered abilities. Crucially, Imprisoned in the Moon is great at shutting down problematic commanders who would just head back to the Command Zone if you sent them farming or put the in detention. Darksteel Mutation does similar things, but it also leaves behind a hell of a road block so, as with Bubble Matrix, it doesn't make the cut. The deck is not above running effects which can only take down creatures, though, as Faith Unbroken takes two so-so cards - Journey to Nowhere and Giant Strength and staples them together. The combination of proactive and reactive effects justify the uncommonly high 4 CMC.
Only the fashionably-dressed survive.
Powerful artifacts and enchantments are ubiquitous in EDH so having answers to them is essential. This deck has the O-Ring effects to deal with individual cards, but the artifact/enchantment sweepers aren't exactly playable here since the deck plays so much to the board. Consulate Crackdown may not hit enchantments, but ringing up all the opposing artifacts at once is really great because mana rocks will get swept up along with the Birthing Pod that you really wanted to tag. There is a little bit of tension with Torpor Orb since it's an artifact I want to donate, but it's the only one so it's probably fine. Finally there are a few Zedruu the Greathearted-safe sweepers: Curse of the Swine, Tragic Arrogance and Winds of Rath. If Zedruu was a legitimate beater on her own then sweepers that killed her would be more acceptible, but as it is traditional sweepers like Wrath of God would only be good when I'm way behind on the board. Tragic Arrogance is bonkers in this deck because you get to decide that your opponents keep the permanents you donated to them while sacrificing the ones they own. The card is so powerful in this deck that I sometimes want to run Mystical Tutor just to find it, however this is a pretty casual deck and I'm not usually a fan of tutors in that context. Because of how good it is to kill all the things except for the Voltron general, I kind of want to find room for Wave of Reckoning in here as well. If that card makes it into the list there's a very real chance that it gets cut again after the first time it fails to save me from an army of Kobolds of Kher Keep (probably via Proshh, Skyraider of Kher) or of plant tokens (probably via Avenger of Zendikar). Regretably the best sweeper in these colors, Cyclonic Rift, is something of a non-bo with Zedruu's gift-giving nature. As with Flickerform that particular drawback may be outweighed by how strong the card is, so it could be worth testing.
Although Zedruu has a built-in card advantage engine, the deck is sensitive to drawing the right combination of cards from the various categories. An opening hand where all the non-land cards are, for example, pump auras, is not very good. That's why the emphasis here is more on card selection than on gaining card advantage. Jeskai Ascendancy fits into that plan while allowing for some true insanity should my hand become filled with cheap auras. Oath of Jace is an answered prayer. While it doesn't generate any card advantage when it comes down, it does a lot of filtering and is usually a pretty much harmless card to donate away. I'm not playing a fetch-land mana base, even though it may be mechanically superior to what I am running, so Brainstorm isn't great unless the top three cards of my library are all good. After Brainstorm the next best blue one mana cantrips are in order are (I think): Ponder, Preordain, Serum Visions, Sleight of Hand, Portent and Opt. At one point I had three 1 CMC cantrips (not counting Scout's Warning) but over the years new printing have obsoleted several of these. The aformentioned Oath of Jace replaced one cantrip and Key to the City replaced another. The Key is an interesting card because it doesn't actually generate any card advantage, just filtering. As a glorified Merfolk Looter it doesn't cut it but making our Voltron Commander unblockable is a pretty big deal. Also worth noting that you can make your opponents' creatures unblockable for a turn, should multiplayer politics demand that. While is does look at more cards and cost less mana Impulse probably is not better than either Compulsive Research or Thirst for Knowledge because the latter help to make up a card deficit from laying out some mana rocks or casting an early counterspell. Scout's Warning is in this section because of how I play it. If it's time to cast Zedruu the Scouts let me do it at the end of an opponent's turn just before untapping all my lands. If it's not time for the goat I always just cycle it away and draw something else. Having more things that cantrip lets me cheat a little bit on the land count, which in turn makes the late-game with Zedruu more effective.
I'm staying away from the more powerful expensive card drawers like Fact or Fiction and Sphinx's Revelation because, at 4+ mana, they conflict with casting Zedruu and leaving mana up. These effects are different than the card drawers I am running, aside from their mana costs, in that they are engine cards by themselves. For example, it's easy to imagine chaining Stroke of Genius into Sphinx's Revelation into Blue Sun's Zenith, etc. Those types of plays are great except that they eat up all the mana I would have otherwise used for donations. Zedruu's built-in draw engine is more convenient to use and more synergistic with the Voltron strategy. Relying on our Commander's draw engine means that card draw spells which help set it up are more useful than the bigger draw spells. Finally, unless things are going horibly wrong this deck is not very good at filling its graveyard, which procludes Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time.
Countermagic
Three turns is an eternity when a minotaur monk's riding your back.
Nothing beats a classic.
To help protect Zedruu, and to generally keep control of the game, I'm running all the unconditional 2 CMC Counterspells. Counterspell leads the charge followed by Mana Drain. Because of the low colorless mana demands, this is probably one of the worst Mana Drain decks of all time. The card is basically just Counterspell here. But you know what? This deck actively wants a second copy of Counterspell so that's just fine. The other unconditional 2 CMC counters come with the drawback of not finishing the job. The decision to run them forces the deck into a more aggressive stance. Remand, Delay and Arcane Denial are actually pretty bad if you're not also doing something proactive on the board while casting them. This means you really want Zedruu to be in play before Remanding something. These three pieces of countermagic only buy you a turn or two and that only really matters if you're drawing extra cards and turning up the heat in combat. Past that the counters are chosen very deliberately. Forbid turns into a soft lock once the engine gets going, Rewind lets me counter something and donate stuff at end of turn, and Cryptic Command is Cryptic Command. When it comes to protecting sorcery speed threats you can't do much better than Force of Will and Misdirection, but unfortunately this deck doesn't have nearly enough blue cards to support it. The problem is really that most of the good cards to donate are white while the pitch-counters need most of your cards to be blue. The power level of these cards is abstractly high and they have good synergy with this deck's strategy so I'm always on the lookout for blue cards that might make the cut in this deck. Unfortunately there just isn't enough support for the pitch-counters right now.
I'm generally pretty leery when it comes to conditional counters in EDH, but Negate and Stubborn Denial are right on the edge of playability in this deck. Most of the things that make me go "Holy crap! Gotta counter that!" are non-creature spells, but there are enough Terastodons and whatnot in the format that I don't feel entirely comfortable with Negate effects. Mana Leak-like effects are going to be blank cards far too often in this "elder-reach-witness-reach" format of ours.
Ramp
Would you be a dear and hold onto this for me?
...and once you've used up the charge counters it makes a lovely vase!
Signets and the Knight are nearly indispensable for white non-green EDH decks, so they should come as no surprise. Knight of the White Orchid is admittedly a non-bo with Torpor Orb but this rarely comes up because of when you want to be playing the two cards in the game. The signets are so good that I wanted another one, hence Talisman of Progress. Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond are excelent here since we have a low curve to actually take advantage of +1 mana starting on turn 1. Chrome Mox also has the "Darksteel Relic" mode so it makes a fine gift if drawn late in the game. This is not a deciding factor for running the card, but it is good to keep in mind. The rest of my ramp, Sphere of the Suns, Pentad Prism, Oath of Lieges and Mana Vault are in here because they make good gifts. Sphere and Prims in particular are virtually blank cards once all the charge counters are used up. There's a little risk in giving away Mana Vault since its new controller could use it to store up mana and make a big play. Since I'm never going to donate an untapped Vault, I'm fine with an opponent paying 4 mana now to get 3 mana later. The strangest feature of the mana base may also be the most uncommon feature of the deck, and that is the lack of Sol Ring. There are only 26 cards in the deck which cost 2 or more colorless mana (including Flickerform's activated ability). There are also only a dozen cards whose cost includes a single colorless mana, which makes it tough to pair up two in a turn to take advantage of Sol Ring (this doesn't count countermagic since those spells are nearly impossible for this deck to pair with anything). Moreover the deck is so colored-mana hungry that spending a card to produce only colorless mana caries a lot of risk. Mana Vault gets the pass because most of the time I need a bunch of colorless mana it's to do something like cast Zedruu and immediately suit her up with equipment or Indestructibility. In other words, my colorless mana needs come in bursts so my colorless mana source(s) need only provide bursts of mana. I used to run Grim Monolith as well but it turns out that costing 2 is hugely different than costing 1 when it comes to developing the during the early turns.
Lands
Hot potato!
This section is probably pretty much what you'd expect out of a random three color deck, but a few choices need a little explanation. First of all, I decided against a nine-fetch-land mana base just because I already have several decks that max out fetch-lands for other reasons. Mechanically, maxing out on fetch-lands is strictly better than what I'm running but because the deck doesn't have cards that care if you have a lot of Islands (or Plains or Mountains) in play the difference is minimal. Since I've argued against Sol Ring in the previous section Ancient Tomb is bound to raise a few eyebrows. The reason it's in here is simply that it's a land and not a spell. It's been decent enough for me, even if it sometimes is a very painful way to generate the 1 colorless mana I need (at least there's no mana burn any more!). Rainbow Vale is potentially great with Zedruu, but being a Lotus Petal land is something of a liability. Since this deck tends to play draw-go until a big turn where I cast and protect Zedruu, the one-time-use aspect of Rainbow Vale matters less than it otherwise would. Later in the game, people often give it back to me to prevent an even bigger Zedruu trigger and that's fine, too. In short, Rainbow Vale looks kinda cute and half-way decent but it's actually pretty good.
Slow and steady wins the race.
The artifact lands would be basics but for Thirst for Knowledge. They have a low opportunity cost (only because I'm not running Null Rod effects) so I'll take the occasional Thirst fodder over a basic. Calciform Pools and Myriad Landscape are here because they fit right into my early game draw-go plan and are exciting because they sometimes let me ramp even when I don't draw any ramp cards. Tapping for C is a definite drawback but storing up a whole bunch of blue mana is really good, especially when the plan was already to leave mana up every turn. Myriad Landscape sets the basic land count. Originally, I had three of each basic land type. The reasoning behind that number is that I could draw one and still use Myriad Landscape for the other two. This is great for finding Islands and Plains but as time went on I noticed that I was never fetching up a pair of Mountains. In fact, the deck only has a few red cards, none of which cost more than a single R. This lead to me cutting a Mountain for Needle Spires. The Spires are a bit speculative, but they give the deck a backdoor way to win the game should something aweful happen to Zedruu. I've yet to actually animate it, but the other night my opponents slowed way down out of respect for the Spires with Jeskai Ascendancy on the table. Cavern of Souls serves a pretty obvious purpose and Tolaria West is in here primarily to find it. You're not going to want Cavern of Souls in every game but when you want it, you really want it. The bouncelands help me to get away with running fewer lands and make more opening hands keepable, in addition to having synergy with the white ramp spells and Mox Diamond. Temples are an extension of the card drawing section because of the way they can smooth out draws and help they me to put together the right combination of cards to get the engine going. A relatively large number of these lands enter the battlefield tapped which means that an opening hand with multiples is going to be really slow. I'm thinking about cutting one of the ETBT lands, probably Temple of Triumph, for this reason. If the backup plan with Needle Spires ends up being too weak then that land would go instead.
Other Cards to Consider
Taste for Mayhem could be funny because it asks if its controller is hellbent.
Errantry. Just another reasonably efficient pump aura. The drawback is irrelevent.
Bestial Fury cantrips and makes Zedruu hell to block, but it does cost 3 and your opponents get to decide if it actually pumps.
Force of Will would be fantastic here, but there aren't really enough blue cards to support it. It's close, though. I want to run this card in this deck like you have no idea.
Moat. Excluded for budget reasons. Also, physically handing over a zillion-dolar card to an opponent could be a bit nerve-wracking.
Magus of the Moat is a decent substitute for the real thing. Unlike most creatures you could donate, the Magus's new controller can't just send him on a suicide attack or block.
Narset, Enlightened Master might be good to have as a backup plan. She's a pretty self-contained package and in this deck she'll likely hit 3 out of 4 cards.
Crackdown is in the spirit of the sweepers that don't hit Zedruu, but I'm not sure it's high-impact enough.
Smoke. A totally sweet old card that's just too easy to play around to really do much of anything.
Pithing Needle. This card is right on the bubble because it shuts down so many things. On the other hand it only affects one thing at a time.
Encrust is worse than Faith's Fetters but there's some room between Fetters and a bad card.
Wall of Omens. Good early defense. Cantrips out of the way. Can't go on a suicide attack (so it's a reasonable donation).
Land Tax would require a pretty big reworking of the land base and isn't something I'd want to donate very often.
Tithe could replace a cantrip since it does what I want cantrips to do much of the time; find some lands. It could also replace a land for the same reason.
Wear // Tear is another good answer should we need another good answer.
Replenish/Retether. These cards should be great here, and they've been in and out of the list several times each. The main issue is that they usually are just worse than having another piece of countermagic in hand.
Hesitation is a counterspell I can donate! Sooner or later somebody will have to burn a card to get rid of it, even if I don't get to choose which card.
Green Scarab. Because sometimes people play green cards.
Black Scarab. Because sometimes people play black cards.
Monastery Mentor is an army in a can. Yet another potential backup plan.
Nevermore. Specific one-way hate, usually for Commanders. It's a little narrow unless there's a General at the table you really need to ban.
Hallowed Moonlight doesn't dig as well as my other cantrips, but man does it hate.
Mage-Ring Network. Calciform Pools is so much better because U/W is so much better than colorless, [s]but this card still may be worth while[s]. Not worth it.
Disallow. I bought myself a Mana Drain as a graduation pressent to replace Counterfluxright before Disallow was spoiled. Can't exactly not run Mana Drain, but Disallow would be fantastic in this deck. Costing 1UU is non-trivial but the utility is off the charts.
How to Play
Overview
Aromatic and delicious, but not especially intimidating.
Ultimately this is a beatdown deck so sooner or later spells will have to fly. However, I've found that a major key to success with this deck is knowing how long to wait before deploying the minotaur. The exact timing depends on the specific cards in your hand, your opponents' decks, and the tempo of their draws. Generally speaking, though, you'll want to spend the first couple of turns setting up with cantrips and mana rocks. Once you have enough mana to cast and protect Zedruu, it's usually right to do so. Then the fun can begin! This deck is all about generating an exponential advantage. Because drawing more cards means having more things to donate, the number of extra cards you draw is proportional to the number of turns Zedruu's been in play. Thus, you want to cast the commander as soon as possible, but being too reckless is a good way to make minotaur vindaloo. On the other hand, many of the cards in this deck are quite weak and you need lots of them to do anything impactful. This is a big part of the reason why it's important to cast Zedruu ASAP: you need to be drawing extra cards because your cards are individually less powerful than your opponents'. Also, as discussed above, stalling the game with Remand, Delay and Arcane Denial doesn't do anything productive if you're not also applying pressure with Zedruu. There are draws you can have where it's possible to play and protect Zedruu as early as turn 3 (for example, turn 1 Ancient Tomb into Izzet Signet, turn 2 Temple of Enlightenment and Swiftfoot Boots, turn 3 Great Furnace, Zedruu the Greathearted, and equip Swiftfoot Boots) but these tend to be the exception rather than the rule and a turn 5 or 6 Zedruu with backup is much more likely.
At the same time you have to do a lot of threat evaluation. This deck runs tons of answers, but tempo has to be respected. This means that you don't necessarily have to cast turn 3 O-Ring to deal with a moderate threat from an opponent. If casting the removal spell would slow down your development more than resolving the removal spell would slow down your opponent, it's probably not right to cast it. However there are some cards, like Survival of the Fittest, that must be answered right now no matter what.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Some decks are more powerful than others, but no deck is unstoppable. When playing, it's important to know what your deck does better than your opponents' and what it does worse. As a corollary to that, knowing how to palliate your deck's built-in weaknesses with play style can help to overcome them. Likewise, knowing how to capitalize on a deck's strengths keeps you from losing games you "should have" won. Here are some strengths and weaknesses of Zedruu Voltron.
Strengths
Jeskai colors are great for covering all your bases. I've come to my selection of
answers through years of play and thought experiments, but your meta is probably different
from mine. If Proshh is getting you down, Nevermore deserves a slot. Got lots of combo decks to contend with? Cut some of
the enchantment-based answers for instants. Blue/white/red has excellent answers to
just about any situation and being able to customize your answer suite to deal with
your meta is great.
Counterspells are especially good against the ever-popular ramp strategies.
Catching Greater Good with Forbid will do things
to an Omnath deck that Disenchant never could.
Countermagic is, as I mentioned way above, one of the big reasons to play Zedruu
Voltron over, e.g.Narset Voltron.
This deck is (nearly) immune to graveyard hate and can (almost) ignore Hushwing Gryff
-effects. It may not feel like it when you start out a turn by gaining 4 life and drawing 4
extra cards, but this deck is doing something quite fair so many hosers commonly played in EDH
don't touch it. Getting to play those cards for ourselves, and even donating them for value, is
just superb. A card like Rest in Peace or Torpor Orb can be so powerful in some
pods that the gameplan can easily shift from "play and protect Zedruu"
to "play and protect a hate card."
Weaknesses
There is some tension in this deck between having a low mana curve, and
so not wanting many lands, and needing to play spells and leave up mana for
protection, and so wanting lots of lands. There are only a few dedicated card-
drawers in this deck, but they help a ton with smoothing this out. Cheap card
draw/selection lets you get away with running fewer lands while still being
able to draw into them when you need them.
Let's face it, a lot of the cards in this deck just aren't very impactful.
It sucks when you can topdeck into one of a dozen cards and win the game, only
to peel an Immolation. It could be that some of the cheap auras
have to go in favor of cards that actually do stuff, but mulligan decisions
and vigorous shuffling will get you out of most poor draws.
I haven't played them very often, but this deck has some bad matchups.
Don't donate Sphere of the Suns to the Muzzio, Visionary Architect player.
Don't give anything to Barrin, Master Wizard. In a multiplayer game you'll
want to try and take out these bad matchups first because if you save them for last
you'll have no one to give all your gifts to.
When to Mulligan
How could a hand with this and lands not be a keep?
There are some pretty obvious opening hands that just have to go back; all-landers, no-landers, etc. If I know that my opponents are on slower more controlling decks then those "obvious" mulligans can sometimes become more difficult. In a control-heavy pod I would consider keeping upwards of 6 lands in my opening hand because it enables a draw-go plan that's powerful against control. On the other end of the spectrum, your opening hand needs to have something going on early to keep up with faster aggressive and/or combo decks. Generally speaking you need to mulligan away hands that won't lead to establishing an engine without a string of good draws. For example, this hand
has a lot of good things going for it. It's got all three colors of mana, it's got some ramp, a Cryptic Command, and even a little insulation against not drawing enough lands in Izzet Boilerworks. Unfortunately, this hand is also a one-way ticket to nowhere. In this case there are quite a few draws that would make this hand really good, for instance Oblivion Ring or Faith's Fetters. Even something as small as swapping Azorius Signet for Sphere of the Suns would make this a snap-keep, since then it would have some good donation fodder to get Zedruu's engine going. As it is, though, this hand has nothing to donate and no way to dig through the deck so keeping it is very risky. You can keep a lot of different types of hands with this deck, but your opening hand and first couple of draws have to influence how you attempt to play. If Signet were replaced by Sphere of the Suns I would want to lean back into a more controlling role. Play out the mana rock and sit on the counters. On the other hand, if the Signet were replaced by the more explosive but less stable Pentad Prism instead I would be looking to use it to hit 6 mana (for Zedruu plus Delay) as soon as possible.
Since she's so fragile having protection for Zedruu is very important. However, if it's early enough in the game your opponents might not have a way to answer the goat in hand (this gets less true the more competative the meta). If you suspect this to be the case then hands like this one
become quite good. This hand has no interaction at all in it, but it's got a lot of ramp, plenty of lands and some things to donate. The idea behind keeping a hand like this is that you'll get the engine up and running fast enough that by the time you need to have interaction you'll have drawn it. That plan is definitely risky since casting Zedruu with Pentad Prism mana compounds the Commander tax, should she get Terrored. But the deck is flush with interaction so it's very likely you'll find some by drawing three cards per turn.
Fast mana is really important for this deck, which is certainly not to say that hands not including any ramp are unkeepable. The list does have a fairly low average CMC so it's possible to simply draw the small end of the deck and curve out by playing one land per turn. Those hands are pretty easy to identify, especially with the reduction in the number of cantrips in the deck taking some of the mystery out of opening hands. What's a little more tricky is sending back hands that are close, like this one:
The only real problem here is the lack of cheap protection for Zedruu. Forbid doesn't come online for a long time thanks to its 1UU cost and Spirit Mantle's protection isn't enough by itself to reliably keep the goat alive. There are a bunch of cheap things to donate so it's tempting to keep this hand with the intention of running out Zedruu quickly and drawing into some interaction before you get punished for not having enough. The problem is that, unless you topdeck some acceleration, that plan is going to be too slow in a lot of pods.
Early Game
The rock upon which Zedruu builds her church.
Short story is "play lands, cast mana rocks, cast cantrips" but it gets more complicated if your opponents are likely to present something threatening at this stage of the game. Most of the time playing out mana ramp is going to serve you better in the long run than holding up Arcane Denial from turn 2 onward, but sometimes you have to tap into your opponents' intrinsic fear of casting spells that matter into double blue mana. This is really only the case in competitive metagames, so go ahead, get your ramp on. Although they're just fine to draw later in the game, this is when you'd like to be casting Preordain and Thirst for Knowledge to get the ball rolling. As seen in the example hand to mulligan above, you want to sculpt a hand of cards from a good mix of catergories. Don't be afraid to "waste" a Scout's Warning or a Spreading Seas early on; cycling into, e.g. land number 4, is way better than waiting for someone to play an awesome land for you to spread the seas over. If you can, play a Temple on the first turn. In some decks it's going to be better to wait on a Temple so you can base your scry on another draw and maybe a play from an opponent. In this deck you want to represent countermagic, which only takes 2 open mana, as soon as possible just to keep the table honest. Moreover scrying early is nearly as good as casting a cantrip at smoothing out an awkward draw.
As mentioned above there are opening hands you can draw that will lead to a turn 3 protected Zedruu. These are rare but if you stumble upon one then go for it! In some pods nobody will have 1 or 2 CMC answers to a creature, so if you can pay for Zedruu on turn 2 then it's often correct to do so. Because of the risk that running out Zedruu unprotected entails, I wouldn't recommend this approach unless you're intimately familiar with all the decks in your pod. Also, you should only make this type of play if you have protection ready to deploy the next time you untap, or if you're going to start drawing lots of extra cards quickly. Even though it's extremely hard to play a proactive early game with this deck, you do have a lot of efficient versatile answers. This is part of what gives the deck some degree of ruckus in more competitive pods.
Mid Game
It's time to attack now.
Depending on how many mana rocks were in your opening hand, this second stage of the game typically begins around turns 5 or 6. That's usually the earliest you can deploy Zedruu and protect her in some way, be it countermagic in hand or equipment in play. Once you get to untap with Zedruu in play life is good. The rate at which you enchant her matters a lot. It's better to play just one aura at a time on her, while leaving up mana for interaction or donation, than to dump your hand. This is because getting value out of otherwise bad cards (lookin' at you, Tahngarth's Rage) with Zedruu is so important. In fact, since the engine is slow to get going, it's often worth responding to Zedruu's upkeep trigger with an activation to draw an extra card and move things along, especially if you're at risk of missing a land drop. This is a deck that can make use out of virtually any amount of mana, so you definitely want to try to make every land drop you can, which sometimes means having to make an upkeep donation. It also means that sometimes you can't sandbag answers such as Detention Sphere for as long as you'd otherwise like to because you need more gifts to give. This deck actually packs a good amount of removal, so having to play out an early O-Ring can easily lead to drawing a replacement effect in short order.
Whenever Zedruu becomes big enough to give you a favorable attack (i.e. big enough to not die in combat to what's across the board), that's when it's time to start attacking. The usual tendency when you're drawing extra cards every turn is to want to make the game go on for more turns so that you're more advantaged in it. However, once again the low average power of our individual draws changes the calculation. We can't use the extra cards from Zedruu to put the control cards we run over the top like a midrangier deck could. Rather, the extra cards are sort of the end which justifies the means in that the pump spells in bulk actually allow us to pressure players with a base 2/4 Commander. The life gain aspect of Zedruu's upkeep trigger also makes racing feasible in more situations. Be aggressive, but smart. Squashing an 0/1 plant token every turn is probably not as good as leaving back a gigantic blocker. There are kind of a lot of 0/1 plant tokens in EDH (even if they call themselves 1/1 goblin tokens or Elvish Visionarieswhatever) which can shut down non-evasive single-creature offense. Hence the emphasis on evasion in the selection of pump auras and Key to the City.
Late Game
Side of bacon.
By now the draw engine should be in full swing... but sometimes it isn't. In the former case you need to focus on ending the game and on not getting randomly punked out. It's easy to lull yourself into a false sense of security with a handfull of countermagic and a board full of lands, but both those resources are finite; plan accordingly. It's OK to let your opponents spend cards and tempo on killing the things you donate to them as long as you can keep Zedruu alive and unmolested. In short, let Disenchant resolve but counter the hell out of Living Death. The latter case is a little more grim as this deck isn't great at playing from far behind. The thing to remember when trying to salvage a bad situation is that you still need to be patient. Zedruu doesn't do anything by her self so you may need to take some time to build up a hand of action before redeploying her for 8 or 10 mana. Waiting doesn't seem like a very good strategy when you're behind but hopefully you can sort of lay low in a multi-player game for a couple of turns. The other option of running out a naked goat in the late game just isn't very likely to get there since everyone's going to have creature removal ready. Also be on the lookout for anyone who leaves themselves open to getting punked out by Needle Spires and a few auras, as this is one of the few ways you can steal a game that's gone South.
The sweepers, which with enough mana include Quarentine Field, help a lot at this stage of the game whether you're ahead or behind since they don't kill Zedruu. Don't burn one on just a creature or two to save some damage. Sometimes, however, it is right to sweep away a small board. From Phyrexian Revoker to Phantatog, some creatures single-handedly stop us from playing our game and it's sometimes worth spending a sweeper to get rid of them. Having the table clear of blockers, at least temporarily, is usually important for this deck's ability to close out a game since it kills with combat damage. If you're down to one opponent you can be a little more liberal with sweepers because if you only have to contain one player with counterspells and answers then the time they can buy by chump blocking is much less relevant.
Closing Remarks
Yours truly, HG.
Hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. As you've probably figured out by now, this is something of a pet deck of mine and a big part of the reason why are the old, strange, 1 CMC auras. Most paper copies of Blue Scarab are in mint condition. Know why? Because that card is nigh unplayable and it always has been! Yet, it and its white and red bretheren are big players in this deck. In my humble and non-authoritative opinion that - giving the spotlight to cards which have never held it - is one of the strongest draws toward EDH as a format.
Having this deck has completely changed the kinds of cards I get excited about during spoiler seasons, and that's a great thing. While everyone else drools over the latest 7-drop dragon or planeswalker, I'm keeping an eye out for the latest version of Holy Strength. Another thing this deck has going for it is that R&D seems to really like O-Ring type effects and keeps churning out variants. Not every one of them is even remotely playable here, but there's been a steady stream of these cards flowing in for the last few years. When I first started playing Zedruu you were only allowed to play one copy of O-Ring and now we gettoplayfour.
There are a number of possible variations of this deck, mostly focusing in on strategies already present. Stax, big-aura Voltron, draw/go control and Enchantress are all potential directions to take the deck, depending on personal taste. Obviously I favor this build, but a lot of that has to do with getting to run draft leftovers in the Battlecruiser format. Also, the inevitable "it really works like that?!" from people encountering the bug/goat interaction for the first time, and their corresponding facial expressions, are priceless.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Let me know!
Call for Help: Try as I might, I still can't get the formatting of this Primer down right. On some screens most things display fine but on others, images and floats get shuffled around in weird ways. Also, I can't for the life of me figure out how to force a decklist to have two columns and not three. If anyone knows how to address these issues, or any other formatting oddities you may find, please let me know by PM.
Set Reviews
Welcome to my very first set review! Origins has a lot of really nifty cards which support a variety of archetypes as well as some flavor home-runs. As I imagine is true for any deck, only a handful of cards from the new set are even worth consideration. For the sake of discussion I've included here all the cards from ORI that made me stop and think about their implications for Zedruu Voltron. Let me know if you agree/disagree with my evaluations, if I've missed a good card, and/or what to cut to make room for all the new shinies.
Blessed Spirits
It's conceivable that this deck or a variant of it might have an enchantress element to it. In that case, having a one-card backup plan has some merit. The problem with Blessed Spirits is that it lives in the shadow of Sigil of the Empty Throne and Monastery Mentor, so it's really unlikely that this card will ever be good enough.
Hallowed Moonlight
Oh boy, what a hoser! Ever since Containment Priest was spoiled the majority of the EDH community responded with cries of "Yas! Moar!" and it seems those demands have been answered. I don't know about the rest of the environment, but this deck greatly prefers a 2 CMC cantrip over a 2 CMC creature. This card has the ability to be the biggest of blow-outs, but it also just cycles away should you draw it too early in the game. I'm looking forward to cycling it on turn 2 during the first game of the night and then having everyone nervously playing around it in subsequent games. I think it's between Serum Visions, Compulsive Research, and Stupefying Touch, but this card almost certainly deserves a slot.
Knight of the White Orchid
C'mon, R&D, you couldn't have named it Knight of the White Daisy or something so we could play two? Lame...
Starfield of Nyx
This card seems pretty neat at first, and I'm sure it will be a reasonable card in a number of decks. Here, though, it's behind Sun Titan, Replenish, and Retether for the enchantment recursion part. Controlling 5 enchantments at once is actually though for this deck to do since it's so much better to give up control of your enchantments. That isn't really a drawback for Starfield since the Opalescent part of the card is virtually meaningless text in this deck.
Suppression Bonds
Now we're talking! It's pretty easy to place this in between Faith's Fetters and Encrust in terms of power level, but I claim it's much closer to Fetters. Obviously it can hit Planeswalkers, which is actually only so-so in Commander, but it can also shut down enchantments. Off the top of my head, notable enchantments with activated abilities include Survival of the Fittest, Greater Good, Necropotence, and Mind Over Matter (to be fair, though, if someone resolves MoM there's a really good chance you never get to untap again). This card is certainly of the quality level of the cards I already run; maaaaybe it replaces Chaos Warp?
Tragic Arrogance
Not sure what to think of this one. Cataclysm was not very good in this deck because people would just bin all the gifts I'd been giving them, but this card does the opposite. My opponents will have to hold onto my auras and Torpor Orbs and sacrifice all their own things. It might be better to think of this as sort of an Austere Command that's more friendly to my main strategy. I know three things about this card for sure: it's interesting, powerful, and worthy of consideration in this deck.
Magmatic Insight
A one mana cantrip that sees two cards and is neutral on card advantage is worth a look. In this deck the cantrips are often looking for lands, so I donno about this one. On the other hand, there are definitely times when this would be better than a Serum Visions. This card's stock goes way up if Land Tax and/or Tithe ever make it into the deck.
Sword of the Animist
This is one of those equipment, like Ring of Evos Isle, that take a little while to get going. It doesn't protect Zedruu or pump her appreciably, but this deck loves loves loves its lands. Except in the rare case when I can stick it onto a Knight of the White Daisy and attack on turn 3, it's not really going to help ramp into the main play of Zedruu plus protection.
Mage-Ring Network Calciform Pools is so good that I might have to give this one a try. Never being able to make colored mana is the only thing keeping it from being a snap inclusion. I can't run stats like that in my head so we'll just have to see if it's worth being color-screwed slightly more often.
Ah, Zendikar. Land of adventure, danger and treasure. Oh yeah, and the Eldrazi. As we return to this plane from 6 years ago we see a few themes returning and few new ones emerging. Allies, landfall and the Eldrazi producing mana tokens are all back in a big way with new and interesting twists on our old favorites. New themes include "colorless matters," awakening lands as a side effect of casting spells, and oh yeah, there's a noticable sub-theme of "cards that are awesome for Zedruu!"
Angelic Gift is nothing special, but it's worth noting it since a critical mass of cheap cantripping auras might one day make an enchantress package worthwhile in this deck. This is an often-slightly-better version Stratus Walk.
Quarantine Field. Oh wowowowowow! For 4 mana you get another Oblivion Ring which honestly might have been enough by its self but the fact that it's open ended makes me giggle. For 6 mana you're competing with Exclusion Ritual, which never gives the card back, but you get to tag two things with it. I have high hopes for this card and will definitely be trying it out. It may even end up replacing a sweeper.
Stasis Snare is interesting because Journey to Nowhere is right on the outside of the bubble in this deck and the Snare has flash. Costing WW isn't a huge drawback but it isn't irrelevant, either. Having flash is super important in a deck with this many counterspells so I'm going to give this card a try. On the other hand, its ceiling is exiling one creature which makes it a little narrow. We'll have to see how it goes.
Brilliant Spectrum is basically an easier-to-cast Concentrate in this deck. This is relevant because I've been desperately wanting a third three mana draw spell along the lines of Compulsive Research. "But wait, Hunding" you say "four is in fact greater than three!" and you're right. I think this card is worthy of consideration but I'm far from sold on it as my missing draw spell. The painful truth is that Painful Truths is a black card...
Retreat to Coralhelm is another candidate for the position of third 3 CMC card drawer. The card turns all of your lands into Temples but does nothing the turn you cast it (probably) and does not actually generate card advantage. It's also not something I'd want to donate away. In the end I suspect this is not as good as Jeskai Ascendancy, but it's worth remembering that this is an aggro deck so tapping down a creature could be useful.
The red cards in this set don't seem to have much to offer EDH. Some mono red decks will get a few tools for working around protection from red, but by and large the red cards are all about early agression and moderate amounts of fire. Whatever potential they may have elsewhere, none of the red cards in Battle for Zendikar look remotely playable in this particular deck.
Aligned Hedron Network. Now we're talkin'! This is probably the card in the set I'm most excite about on behalf of Zedruu, but it isn't just a windmill slam auto-include because Zedruu's power frequently creeps up over 5. There are reasonable ways around this drawback, like only cast it before Zedruu gets that powerful. This won't always be an option, though, so sometimes this card will be a not-Zedruu-safe sweeper, which isn't the worst thing in the world. Mondo combo with either Tahngarth's Rage or Pemmin's Aura.
Prairie Stream. This cycle of cards is going to have a huge impact on EDH. I'm really looking forward to Smoldering Marsh and Cinder Glade powering up my Jund deck featuring Gauntlet of Might. In this deck, however, this/these land(s)* will almost always come into play tapped and there's no payoff for them having basic land types. Cool cards, but they don't really help here.
*I'm only assuming that the next set will have the enemy versions of these lands.
TheBlightedLands. As we've seen over and over again this deck has tremendous colored mana requirements so lands that only tap for colorless are a big liability. Moreover, the ability on Blighted Gorge is usually irrelevant in EDH and that of Blighted Steppe is not going to do much in this deck of only one creature. Drawing two cards off a land is more tempting, but at 5U plus tapping its self Blighted Cataract would only be any good if you're flooding out in the worst way. Short story: tapping for colorless will screw you more often than saccing for some cards will save you.
Ok, so maybe two cards isn't really enough to be a sub-theme, but getting to replace some expensive sweepers with cheaper cards that also make good gifts is exactly what this deck wants. Quarantine Field and Aligned Hedron Network will substantially increase this deck's large colorless mana needs if they end up making the cut (as I think they probably will) so it might be right to reintroduce Grim Monolith into the deck along with them. The deck's hunger for colored mana remains, though, so maybe just adding more colored mana ramp would be better.
Well, another round of spoilers has come and gone and we've got some real winners this time. C15 looks, on the surface of it anyway, to be much more balanced than previous Commander releases. Even so, R&D seems to have found a way to churn out a whole bunch of color-appropriate flavorful powerful cards that don't just invalidate everything that came before them. Since EDH is all about big spells while this deck is all about small spells we rarely gain much from commander-specific products. That's the case for this release, too, but there is still some greatness to be gained. Let's dive in.
Bastion Protector. The hits start early this time around with the very first card of the set being worthy of consideration. Obviously, +2/+2 and indestructible is a great deal for 2W, but the card is not perfect. First of all, you can't donate a Hill Giant for profit and especially not one that stops working for you if you do. This devoted soldier is also a lightning rod, which might not be the worst thing in the world since a Terror aimed at Bastion Protector is one less that can try to take down Zedruu. Finally, there's the subtlety, that doesn't matter for this deck, that the protector protects any Commanders you happen to have under your control and not just the one that started the game in your Command Zone. This guys might be better than Darksteel Plate because 2W < 5.
Grasp of Fate. After Detention Sphere I never thought we'd see another strict upgrade over Oblivion Ring but here we are. Without even playing it I can tell that this card is going to be fantastic in this deck. So the only thing that remains to discuss is what to cut for it. I'm thinking that at the worst is replaces Banishing Light but this deck wants to max out on that effect so something else will have to go. Because it takes out 3+ things Grasp of Fate could possibly replace Curse of the Swine, adding some flexibility in the targets in exchange for not being a permanent answer and rarely functioning as a sweeper. If Aligned Hedron Network ends up being a liability this card is a very natural replacement for it. Very excited about this printing.
Oreskos Explorer. I definitely appreciate that this guy can get dual-lands but there are a few other versions of the plains-tax effect that are in line before the kitty. Leaving behind a 2/2 body, as opposed to Tithe and Gift of Estates, is relevant because early in the game it might sometimes be possible to squeeze a card out of donating a small creature before your opponents can dispose of it. That seems pretty corner-casey, though, so the Cat Scout is going to be stuck warming the benches for the foreseeable future.
Righteous Confluence. This card would be worth thinking about even if it only had the middle mode. Exiling three enchantments for five mana actually seems halfway decent and throwing in a Waylay or a maxed out Life Burst ain't bad, either. The main problem is that Righteous Confluence is competing with the artifact tagging sunforgableReturn to Dust for a slot and it's not really better than that card. At sorcery speed the knight tokens aren't going to ambush anything and playing a spell to gain life is a little weak when your Commander is Sphinx's Revelation.
Shielded by Faith. The main hook of this card -that it can be moved onto other big scaries- is what makes it not just a straight upgrade over Indestructibility for this deck. Like Prison Term before it you just can't donate Shielded by Faith. On the other hand a discount, however slight, on one of the deck's more expensive cards is something to look into. Like Bastion Protector, this card might be a little better than Darksteel Plate because it's cheaper. I suppose there are some corner cases where you'll actually want to move this onto one of your opponents' creatures, like when one player resolves Avenger of Zendikar and the next player drops a Magus of the Moat. You (and probably the rest of the table as well) are going to want the Magus to be Shielded by Faith.
Aethersnatch is listed here only because it effectively counters spells. Six mana is just too much for this deck to be paying for a counterspell, even for one that leads to epic blowouts. The real issue with spells like this and Spelljack is that they're only really good once you've established a board and can leave up tons of mana every turn. In other words, they don't actually help land and protect Zedruu early. That's why I choose to leave these "good cards" behind and focus more on "garbage" like Mana Leak and Hesitation.
Mystic Confluence gets me excited. But wait, wasn't I just saying that 6 mana is too much to pay for a counterspell? Indeed, but as every armchair mathematician knows 6 > 5. On the other hand Cryptic Command really pushes the limits of what kind of countermagic I want to be playing in this deck and 5 > 4 as well. Still, the power level of Mystic Confluence is through the roof and every time I read it I think of new applications. Sometimes it's just plain old hard-cast-Force of Will; sometimes it's Jace's Ingenuity; sometimes its Inundate. Just a moment ago I realized that it can counter multiple spells that happen to be on the stack at the same time. The only mark against Mystic Confluence -and it's a big one- is that it doesn't help protect the goat early. Super-duper tempting card, though, and I'm sure that even if it's not right for this deck it will go on to become a format staple.
Fiery Confluence. I'd feel a lot better about replacing Return to Dust with Righteous Confluence if Fiery Confluence were also included. This card is probably going to be bemoaned as the worst confluence (including Confluence) but it's not all that bad. If Vandalblast is good enough then this card probably is, too. It's a mini-sweeper with some artifact control built in. Doming everyone for 6 isn't completely irrelevant, either. However, in this deck, I don't think it's good enough. If it were sunforgable that might well make the difference but as it stands this card is too narrow in applications.
Meteor Blast is another mini-sweeper, although it's significantly less mini than Fiery Confluence is. The card is fine but outside of mono-red I think there are just better options available. Wave of Reckoning comes to mind as a better goat-safe sweeper than this.
Overall C15 looks like a great infusion of cards that are powerful but not format warping (no, I don't want to bet on that statement). Grasp of Fate will be an extremely solid inclusion for this deck because, if nothing else, it's a strict upgrade over Banishing Light which is already an all-star. Mystic Confluence is tremendous and I'll probably end up testing it. Ultimately, though, I suspect that 3UU is way too much for this deck to be paying for a counterspell. Guess I really just need to bight the bullet and invest in a Mana Drain if I want more 2 cmc counterspells.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the set that's bent around colorless-matters cards has little to offer this colored-mana-hungry deck. However, there are some cards that are at least interesting and there's one that's the answer to my prayers.
Thought-Knott Seer. This guy is getting a lot of people excited for his Modern applications, where he is very likely to come down on turn 2 and is immune to the format's best removal (Abrupt Decay and Lightning Bolt). In ETB/dies based EDH decks he could also do some cool things, especially when you consider how political his dies trigger is in multiplayer. What piqued my interest is the fact that I can play the Eldrazi, strip a bomb from someone's hand, and then pass the body along to someone else. The card he exiles is face up, and if it's a card that makes the table breath a sigh of relief when it gets exiled then maybe someone would be inclined to reward me with a free card when the Seer dies. This probably falls square under the "too cute" category, not to mention that this deck may have trouble generating colorless mana, but hand disruption is something that Jeskai colors don't typically have access to. Not likely to be good enough, but something to think about, anyway.
Iona's Blessing. A decent buff aura. It's a little more interesting in this deck since, when she's all suited up, Zedruu could possibly take down two attacking creatures at a time. Ultimately it suffers from costing four mana to cast, and at that CMC it's got some stiff competition. Another card that's almost certainly not good enough, but is still worth keeping in mind.
Isolation Zone. Yet another O-Ring variant. This one's more expensive and less versitile than the others, but it's nice to know our options for this kind of effect are steadily growing. Isolation Zone is a fine budget choice for all sorts of Zedruu decks, but it's just not optimal.
Oath of Gideon. The cycle of Oaths in this set are a bunch of legendary enchantments with ETB effects and that makes them interesting. This deck can't do much with a pair of 1/1's and runs zero planeswalkers, so Gideon's oath is not one that Zedruu will be taking any time soon. Still, the card does have a potential application in this deck. If my metagame ever becomes saturated with edict effects then getting a couple of allies for padding before dropping the Goat would be much more attractive. Even though it doesn't donate its self I feel like Oath of Gideon is a better choice than Akroan Horse because enchantments are substantially harder to remove/sacrifice than artifact creatures are. As it stands there are edict effects in my meta, but not enough to really justify Oath of Gideon.
Oath of Jace. After reading this card, I needed a cigarette. For a while now (
...One other thing is that both Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge have been consistently fantastic. So much so that I kind of want a third 3 CMC card-advantage-generating card drawer. I don't think this deck wants wheel effects but I'm ready to hear arguments to the contrary. Artificer's Epiphany isn't good enough to run, is it?...
I run enough artifacts that it should almost always be an instant speed Divination. It will cost three and net +1 card advantage, but it only ever looks at 2 cards (as opposed to the three each that Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge see) so that's why I'm not sure about it. I'd rather just run Night's Whisper... Think anyone would notice?...
...Brilliant Spectrum is basically an easier-to-cast Concentrate in this deck. This is relevant because I've been desperately wanting a third three mana draw spell along the lines of Compulsive Research. "But wait, Hunding" you say "four is in fact greater than three!" and you're right. I think this card is worthy of consideration but I'm far from sold on it as my missing draw spell. The painful truth is that Painful Truths is a black card...
) I've been in the market for another Compulsive Research-type card and man, oh man, does this card deliver. Yeah, drawing three and discarding two means that Oath of Jace just breaks even on cards, but that level of filtering is exactly what I want to be doing on turn 3. What puts it over the top is that it can be donated. Filetring now, value later. Sure, its new controller will be able to scry if they have some planeswalkers, but it shouldn't be too hard to find a single opponent who has none. Most EDH decks that aren't planeswalker-centric have between zero and one planeswalkers total so I'm not especially worried about donating a scry engine to anyone. And even if they do get to scry 1, so what? I get to draw 1, which is a little bit better. Thank you, Master Beleren.
Overwhelming Denial. In this deck full of mana rocks and cheap auras turning on Surge on your own turn is pretty trivial, making this card another 2 CMC Counterspell... but only on your own turn. People usually like to try and remove Zedruu during my end step for obvious reasons so this limitation is at least somewhat mitigated. This deck doesn't have a lot of cheap spells to cast on opponents' turns, but Overwhelming Denial looks pretty good in a counter-war. Also, it's not as though Last Word is a bad card or anything. I'm really not sure if the card is what this deck needs or not, but it's close enough that it probably deserves some testing.
Ah, Innistrad, land of Gothic horror. It seems a little bit strange to be revisiting a plane so soon after leaving it, but I don't hear anyone complaining, especially not in the EDH community. We love us some werewolves, demons and blue zombies. Heck, I'm sure some people are looking forward to the influx of human tribal cards coming in, which could build on those from the last time we crashed Sorin's pad and make another half-way decent tribal deck for our beloved format. As usual when reviewing a set for this deck, my eyes see right past the flashy bomb-mythics (though there actually is one in this set that's interesting) and focus on the bottom of the draft-leftovers bin. Let's scrounge, shall we?
Angelic Purge is cheap, tags a variety of things, and even exiles. But at sorcery speed this is nearly out-classed by Council's Judgment; nearly because costing a single, instead of double, white mana is non-negligible in a deck where the colored mana is stretched so thin. It's also worth looking at because the cheap cantrip permanents for donation also make fine fodder for this card's additional cost. Ultimately I don't think Angelic Purge will make the cut but it's good to know there are options out there.
Gryff's Boon. I'm pretty much obliged to review every cheap aura that comes out of a new set, but this one actually looks good here. Plus one power is nothing special, but the fact that this gives flying as well makes it very interesting. There are someother auras that add one power and grant flying, but they cost at least two mana. This card could replace Pursuit of Flight, which has been under-performing for its cost. The recursion ability could aid recovery after a fully suited-up Greathearted Goat gets blown away, which is certainly nice, even if it's a small effect. Definitely something I'll be testing (ya know, if I ever get to play Magic again). This block of text probably represents the most ink that's been spilled over this card in the context of Commander (seems great in sealed deck), which is a big part of the reason why I love this deck.
Open the Armory. This one's interesting because it can find a pump spell, Sunforger, or Faith's Fetters. Not sure if the deck really has enough worthwhile targets for it, though, especially since Sunforger is under audit. Open the Armory is clearly a gift to Voltron decks, but paying 1W for a 1 CMC aura doesn't sound great so it's probably not right for this deck.
Epiphany at the Drownyard. I'm always on the lookout for cheap card draw to smooth out the early turns and this seems to qualify at first blush. However, the fact that an opponent picks which pile you get means you're not going to be able to cast it for 2U to dig for a land drop (some opponents may cooperate sometimes, but that's not exactly reliable). A fun card to be sure and scalability is great in Commander.
Senseless Rage. Though it's hardly a madness/graveyard based deck we do have a handful of discard outlets. Now that I think of it, if this is even vaguely playable then Strength of Isolation has to be a zillion times better. I guess if most of the draw/filter cards involve discarding (right now the deck already has Compulsive Research, Thirst for Knowledge, Jeskai Ascendancy and Oath of Jace), having a handful of madness auras could be a reasonable way to try and build back up to critical mass after Zedruu dies by providing some more card advantage. That might be a sort of backdoor way to build in a Bruna-type auxiliary plan without actually taking up a card slot.
Fevered Visions is a card that many other Zedruu decks are going to want, but Howling Mines have no place in this deck. It's very much worth noting that you get to draw a card before anyone else does (unless you flash it into play somehow), but still, not my jam.
Invocation of Saint Traft does nothing to aid the Commander damage plan, and it doesn't give hexproof (like Geist of Saint Traft has). I got excited when I read the name on the spoiler, and de-excited when I read the card text. Bummer. If I did play this card (which I won't) there's a strange rules question that'd come up. If an opponent controls Invocation attached to my Zedruu then they'd get the attacking angel. What happens when you control an attacking creature during someone else's turn? There must be a ruling for this card because in principle it could come up in draft just by playing Invocation on an opponent's creature.
Nahiri, the Harbinger. It'd be tough to protect her without a vigilant goat, but her first two abilities are both things this deck is in the market for. If I end up cutting Sunforger then Nahiri might be better than Return to Dust, which is really saying something. The ultimate is irrelevant here, but who would ever let it get to that point in EDH anyway? Kind of makes me wonder if Dack Fayden would be worthwhile, too. Both those 'walkers qualify as discard outlets which would further push the deck toward the madness auras. Dack being another blue card helps as well since this deck would love to be able to run Force of Will.
Corrupted Grafstone. I need my mana rocks to work as soon as they untap, which is a shame since this one costs 2 and potentially offers all three colors. As mentioned above, there are a fair number of discard outlets in this deck already, but they start at three mana and so don't help turning this on early enough. Conversely, Corrupted Grafstone is unlikely to ramp me into a draw spell plus removal/counter spell turn to set up the Minotaur Monk.
So there you have it. We get to upgrade a garbage aura (Pursuit of Flight -> Gryff's Boon), maybe throw in a few planeswalkers (Nahiri, the Harbinger and Dack Fayden), and maybe get a very small madness package (Senseless Rage and Strength of Isolation) for some added value before the deck snowballs out of control. Not too shabby. It's interesting how considering new cards makes one see old cards in a new light. I guess that's part of what keeps Eternal Magic fresh and wonderful.
Eldritch Moon is easily the strangest set I've seen in a long while. Emrakul's presence is having some really bizarre effects on Innistrad, and as a result we get a bunch of cards that work the Eldrazi way: differently. The set has a lot of cool cards and unique effects, several of which might be great for this deck. We've been spoiled lately (not sarcastic) with stuff like Gryff's Boon and Oath of Jace and it seems the hits just keep rolling in. However, some of these new effects that are difficult to evaluate so they may end up not being that great. Let's have a look!
Faith Unbroken. An aura that pumps Zedruu while simultaneously taking out a creature. Wow. At first blush this card looks absolutely insane for this deck, but it's not all sunshine, rainbows and Springtime. First of all, it costs 3W at sorcery speed. That cost is well justified by the power gained by stapling Giant Strength to Journey to Nowhere so this isn't a terminal drawback, but it's something to keep in mind. Another issue is that the first line of text reads "enchant creature you control" meaning that if you donate Faith Unbroken it will fall off the Minotaur since its new controller won't control the enchanted creature. That's a little bit annoying, given that this deck really needs to ship everything it can across the table in order to gain enough advantage to compensate for playing lots of low-power cards. It does, however, come with a silver lining: if somebody goes to sweep creatures (assuming you can't stop it in some way) the owner of the creature trapped in Faith Unbroken stands to get it back on an empty board. But because of that first line on Faith Unbroken you can donate it away in response to the sweeper, ensuring that the trapped creature gets swept up as well. Given the prevalence of creature sweepers in EDH, this back-door sac outlet gives Faith Unbroken an edge over other Bannisher Priest (as opposed to Fiend Hunter) effects. The last point against Faith Unbroken is that, as a removal spell, it's expensive and narrow. Nevertheless, the combination of offense and defense is appealing enough that I'll be testing this one out. Since more and more people across more and more formats are realizing how awesome Nahiri, the Harbinger is, her price tag keeps going up and up. Although that's bad news for me (trying to pick on up on the cheap) it's great news for other 4 CMC sorcery-speed spells that need testing.
Sigarda's Aid. This card is really interesting because it's a one-drop with an ability that this deck is very much in the market for. We're all about leaving up mana and giving approximately a fifth of the deck flash seems like a good way of doing that. The virtual mana production off of the second ability won't come up as much because we only have a few equipment, but it'll still be great when it happens. If Sigarda's Aid makes the cut then Mask of Avacyn, which was already on the bubble, should probably also start looking for an apartment in Jeskai-town. The thing about this card is that it doesn't do anything on its own, so it could contribute to some awkward opening hands and/or topdecks. Definitely worth testing but I could see this one going either way.
Imprisoned in the Moon. I guess this is blue's version of Song of the Dryads - a thoroughly playable card. It's a donatable piece of removal which puts us one step closer to being able to run Force of Will and, even though it's limited in what it can imprison, there are only two other cards in the deck that can interact with lands (this is where everyone yells at me about Political Trickery and Vedalken Plotter existing). One of them, Chaos Warp is on the way out after losing its friend and college Sunforger. Actually using Imprisoned in the Moon ramps an opponent, but one edge it has over Oblivion Ring effects is that the target never changes zones so you don't have to play around "enters/leaves the battlefield" triggers. Because it's blue and it has some range in targets, I think this one's worth testing, too.
Lunar Force. This is a downgrade, not an upgrade to Hesitation. Obviously 2U > 1U but this card makes a lousy gift. Pass.
Spontaneous Mutation. This card looks great until you actually read what it does. CMC: great! Art: dude gets scary squid-hands! Type: awesome! Has flash? Nice! Shrinks enchanted creature: dang. There's no way to get a negative number of cards in the graveyard, right...?
Summary Dismissal. Four mana is a lot to pay for a counterspell but this one sure does shut everything down. This will be something to watch out for whenever a player has 2UU up going forward in EDH, but I don't think this card is compelling enough to run over a random 3 CMC counter in this deck.
Unsubstantiate. Two weak effects can sometimes combine to make a great card, for example Remand. For 1U you get a very flexible tempo play that's much better against spells with non-mana additional costs. But I keep going back and forth on whether or not this card is playable because it doesn't actually solve any problems and it gets worse as the game goes on. One could say similar things of Remand and Delay but the former cantrips and the latter buys a lot of time to find an answer. Something else to think about is that Unsubstantiate should function fine as a cheap counter to protect an early Zedruu because if you get to untap sometimes you'll be able to invalidate the spot removal spell you just bounced off the stack with Indestructibility or Ring of Evos Isle or something.
Harmless Offering. Just got to give this card a shout-out. Take that, reserve list!
Nahiri's Wrath. A sweeper that only hits the stuff I want and works best with a full hand? In principle that should be pretty good, but in practice, I fear, this deck's average CMC is too low to make this card matter.
Spell Queller. In EDH the "less than 4 CMC" drawback is a big deal, but I'd snap this card up in a second if it weren't a creature and thus made a better gift. Oh well, can't have everything.
Aside from being a weird melding of story-lines, this set gives further support to the recent trend of making equipment and auras be "one thing" (i.e. more cards read "...aura or equipment card..." instead of "...aura card..." or "...equipment card..."). That's certainly a good thing for an aura-high Voltron deck with a few key equipment, like this one.
Like its predecessor Conspiracy: Take the Crown looks like it's going to be an absolute blast to draft. Now, that may sound great for a deck which runs a whole bunch of draft left-overs, but the reality is a bit less exciting. In my opinion, CN2 offers exactly nothing to either improve this deck or take it in new and interesting directions. This sentiment begs the question "then why write a set review?" The answer is that there's always the distinct possibility that I'm mis-evaluating certain cards, and putting my evaluations up online gives people the chance to call me out on it. So here's my ultra-short set review for CN2 (obviously there's no need to review the conspiracies or reprints).
Becoming the Monarch. This isn't a card but a whole class of cards from the set. While I'm sure this will be a good and interesting mechanic for Commander, it doesn't do a whole lot for this deck because we're not great at blocking. Rather, the plan is to just gain the life back. If you're not in a good position to defend the crown, you probably don't want to be bringing it into the game.
Sanctum Prelate, like most creatures, makes a lousy gift. However, banning a CMC for three mana is a unique piece of permission. This deck does have an uncommonly low curve, so there could be some merit to naming something like 5 or 7. My gut feeling though is that, for example, naming 5 will stop Rout from clearing the board but then Sanctum Prelate will just bite it to Earthquake for 3.
Spectral Grasp is an aura and auras are good, right? Like the Vows, this card only works right if you retain control of it. Basically there's a long list of Pacifism-like effects that are much better for this deck.
Illusion of Choice could be OK if Council's Judgment made its way into the deck... and I moved to Magical Christmas Land where I'd always draw them together.
Subterranean Tremors is easily the closest card in the set to being playable in this deck. We don't run many artifacts and Zedruu will often fly, so this could be a psuedo-Austere Command of sorts. At the end of the day, though, I don't like damage-based sweepers in this format because they have a way of just not killing the things you need dead.
And that's it! As promised, there's essentially nothing in CN2 that benefits this deck. I can't get too mad, though, since the last year of expansions has been overall terrific for this silly deck.
It feels like I just finished the Conspiracy 2: Take the Crown set review and yet here we are for another installment of new card goodness. Actually, from a flavor perspective I'm disappointed. Kaladesh looks and feels much more like Star Wars: Episode 1 than like Magic to me. But, even though the spells-and-dragons flavor is what got me into the game 21 years ago (ugh, I'm old) it's the phenomenal gameplay that's kept me going all this time. But enough whining. Despite the fact that this deck borderline wants to run Null Rod and Stony Silence, there are some neat things in this newest "artifacts matter" set. Let's dig in!
Consulate Surveillance. This card is probably not very good but it fits the general mold of a good card for this deck. That is, it does something and then it can be harmlessly donated away. I'm not sure it's worth 3W to prevent some damage, but that could potentially induce someone to over-extend into a sweeper. And on the off chance an opponent can gain energy counters this would be quite good against us. Actually, in a metagame infested with other Voltron decks this could be a reasonable choice. That's not the world I like in, though, so this one's a pass.
Disappearing Act. This one may seem a bit odd but this deck does run a handfull of permanents with enters-the-battlefield effects. Bouncing a land Deprive style helps enable thetaxeffects, which is small but not nothing. I always thought that if I had to run another 3 CMC counterspell it would be Dissolve, but Disappearing Act is certainly interesting.
Giant Spectacle. Oh no! Someone spilled Defensive Stance all over my Madcap Skills! The extra toughness is unlikely to matter very often, especially since Zedruu starts life as a 2/4 so this is basically a strict downgrade compared to the Skills. On the other hand, there's a lot of room between Madcap Skills and "not good enough" so I'll be testing this one for sure. Thing is I have no idea what to cut for it. Earlier in the year this could have easily replaced Pursuit of Flight, but Gryff's Boon took care of that weak link. Definitely want to test this card and I'm very optimistic about it.
Glassblower's Puzzleknot is probably just a worse Ichor Wellspring, but scrying 4 is a lot and there will usually be someone who's not playing U to donate it to safely. Although with the end of Rule 4 even non-blue players can potentially pop this for value. If there are energy-spending cards in Aether Revolt that would be insane in this deck, I could see giving the puzzleknot a shot.
Key to the City. This is one I initially dismissed, but looking more carefully it does do several things this deck's in the market for. Obviously, Teleporting a huge Goat every turn would be good, but the key can also provide some early game filtering. Neither ability is really strong enough on its own, but together we could be on to something here. It's also worth noting that if this made it into the deck the hypothetical madness package (really just Senseless Rage and Strength of Isolation) would gain another support card. The one thing I'm worried about, and it's a big worry, is getting it Disenchanted before getting to untap once when I was banking on it fixing my hand. This one's worth testing, too, but I'm not sure where to slot it in. Incidentally, since I can donate it the flavor text is a huge flavor win.
As is often the case the best cards for this deck aren't especially flashy. The ones above are certainly humble, and two of them could well become future staples.
I love this product. I love the four-color commanders, I love how they effectively printed hundreds of new legends via the partner mechanic and I love the reprints. Sadly, this fantastic set has nothing at all for Zedruu. We almost got a bigger Pentad Prism, but it's a creature and it's never really out of charge counters. Oh well. Ash Barrens is also a great card in general, but it doesn't work here because the C is actively bad.
Consulate Crackdown. It takes a lot for a five mana sorcery speed card to be worthwhile in this deck, and I think Consulate Crackdown is worth it. There are always going to be random artifacts on the board, sometimes scary ones like Birthing Pod or Claws of Gix, that you'll want to sweep up and this gets them all while making a great gift. Of course, there are going to be games where Consulate Crackdown is only able to get between zero and one artifacts and it's going to look rather silly. I suppose that means this card is a metagame call. We'll see how it works out.
Thopter Arrest falls somewhere in between O-Ring, which is good enough to play, and Journey to Nowhere, which is not. Ultimately, I don't think it's good enough since it can only hit two card types. That's kind of embarrassing when you lay it out next to the other 3 CMC removal enchantments in the deck. Still, the fact that there's been a steady stream of this sort of card for the last couple of years is in itself good for this deck. If R&D favors removal "until ~this~ leaves the battlefield" then they're likely to push the effect; Grasp of Fate is probably an example of this.
Disallow. If I didn't just get a Mana Drain this card would immediately go in the deck. Voidslime has always been a fantastic card in EDH and now we get to run it, too! Unlike most pieces of countermagic Disallow can be helpfull after some horrible threat resolves. It fights back against the Pernicious Deed/Oblivion Stone/Nivenyrral's Disks of the format, which are really strong against this permanent-heavy deck. And as we've seen in Standard, being able to swallow up a planeswalker ultimate is pretty great. The only problem is I'm not at all sure what to cut for Disallow. Rewind is probably the least awesome counterspell in the deck, but it's still really awesome. Maybe it's OK to cut a non-counterspell card for Disallow because it can interact with the board.
Ice Over is cheaper than Encrust but it stops fewer things. If something in my head snaps one day and I decide that this deck needs to run and support Force of Will and Misdirectionno matter what, I guess Ice Over could help. We're not quite there yet but every time I'm blown out after tapping out for a removal enchantment we get a little bit closer...
Overall the power level of Aether Revolt is really high, with a combo card that's a huge player in Standard and making waves in Modern and one card - Fatal Push - reverberating throughout all the competative constructed formats. The set presents a few new options for this deck, too, which is always nice.
You wouldn't think that, on a plane ruled by the Grixis Nicol Bolas, there would be an honored place in the afterlife for a Jeskai monk. Yet Amonkhet is a land full of wonders both subtle and gross. As is quite common there are a handful of of oddball cards that might fit into this niche deck, but this time there's a new version of an old favorite that really sets the bar.
Cast Out is a huge upgrade over Banishing Light, which is already one of the better cards in the deck. Because this deck is so focused on leaving up lots of mana, having flash is a really big deal and more than makes up for the extra 1 cost. If that was the end of the story Cast Out would be an easy inclusion... but it gets even better! Not only does this card provide the canonical removal effect that this deck craves, it has cycling W. Despite my best efforts to streamline, Zedruu Voltron can definitely draw into some clunky hands. Also being a one mana cantrip - in addition to being the best spot removal spell in the deck - means that Cast Out won't contribute to any of that nonsense. Very excited for this card but not sure what to cut for it. We're starting to get saturated with this effect and I don't know what the optimal number is for it.
As Foretold. When I first saw this card I thought "huh, Aether Vial for spells" but it's so much more than that. As Foretold lets you cast a free spell each turn. This deck has a lot of spells in the 1-3 CMC range (biased toward 1 CMC) and those spells are a reasonable mix of instants and sorcery-speed spells. Actually, there are way more sorcery-speed spells than instants, but the instants make up for that by being cheap countermagic that's quick to become free. Consider As Foretold an amazing ramp spell. Definitely looking forward to trying this one out.
Cartouche of Knowledge. See, the problem with the cartouches is that they have "Enchant creature you control" and will fall off Zedruu if donated. That's a fatal defect for the red and white cartouches, but Cartouche of Knowledge might still be good enough because it gives you a card up front for your troubles. Again, though, only being able to enchant your own creatures with it means that you're not likely to be able to 'cycle' it in the early game on a random mana dork from an opponent. Ghostly Wings wasn't good enough. Stratus Walk wasn't good enough. Mix them together and get something that is good enough? Perhaps not but I'll try this one out, anyway.
Censor only gets a sideways glance, as is the case in Standard, because it has cycling U. Force Spike is well known to lead to either epic blowouts or to burning holes in your hand and cycling. If I actually had any game-play information about how Scout's Warning plays out (it mysteriously continues to evade me in actual games) I might think about swapping it for Censor. The more I think about it, they'd play out in a similar way in that the plan for each primarily just to cantrip and get value if/when you can.
Trial of Knowledge. Horray! Another Oath of Jace, and this one is even card advantage up front! There's one slight issue: the card costs 3U. As a 4 CMC sorcery-speed spell it not only competes with Zedruu for your time and attention, it seriously begs the question: if you're going to pay four mana to see three cards and go up one card, why not do better at instant speed with, e.g.Fact or Fiction or Glimmer of Genius? The obvious answer is that you can both donate and/or potentially recast the Trial if that Cartouche gets involved, but I'm not sure that's a good enough answer. Having a very low (by casual EDH standards) mana curve is really important for this deck's functionality and four mana is a lot to ask. Nevertheless, this card undeniably is an effect this deck wants attached to a nice gift. Another one to test out for sure.
Consuming Fervor is a color-shifted Unstable Mutation. Neat. However, if we don't want one Unstable Mutation then we certainly don't want two. Still a cool card. Maybe a dedicated 1v1 variant of this deck would be more interested in that sort of effect. The issue is that Zedruu wants the game to go on for more upkeeps whereas Unstable Mutation and Consuming Fervor don't.
Irrigated Farmland is part of a cycle of lands which are great for EDH and Magic in general. Always entering the battlefield tapped is a major drawback to be sure, so it would have to replace another ETBT land. The reason I'm even considering it is that sometimes you get into spots where you're drawing 3 or 4 extra cards per turn but are only hitting lands and more auras instead of the interaction you desperately need. Moreover, even when things aren't that dire, if the engine is even barely online you're still probably drawing more lands than you can play so cycling has some appeal. I'm a little skeptical that it's worthwhile in this deck, but it's interesting enough to try out. It might actually be a good replacement for Temple of Enlightenment as . Irrigated Farmland helps me dig for non-lands in the early game if I'm flooded, similar to Temple of Enlightenment, but it gives me a new card right away in the frustrating scenario described above. The only real issue is that cycling lands are not especially good at digging for land drops in the early game, which is a big part of why the deck likes to have cantrips around in the first place.
Well, at worst we're looking at a substantial upgrade of at least one key card and that's not a bad place to be. We'll have to wait and see, during the Hour of Devastation, whether faith in the God-Pharoh will be rewarded with more variants of our best cards or with damnation. Stay tuned.
I found Izzet Charm to be too narrow and not as good at its primary function, filtering cards, as Jeskai Ascendancy is. There was nothing really wrong with Darksteel Plate but I'm giving Boros Charm a try because it pairs with Sunforger for a surprise save or, sometimes, a surprise win. Eel Umbra was just not pulling its weight and I'm eager to try Bruna, Light of Alabaster as an alternate win condition. Bruna is a great draw to have right after Zedruu gets blown up, but it may not be very good at all outside of that situation. Time will tell.
09/27/15 Out
Dust Corona was the worst aura I was running. Sometimes this deck feels like it's a little too heavy on the "bad" auras, especially when you opening hand contains 3+ of them. I've got my eye on Pursuit of Flight as the next one on the chopping block, but cutting these guys is risky business since the deck also needs a critical density of them to make Zedruu.
Boros Charm just wasn't good enough at what it was here for; protecting the goat. As a one-shot effect it can't hold a candle to Reality Ripple or some Counterspell Sunforger was supposed to compensate for that, but really you're just better off Sunforging up Counterflux for whatever was going to destroy Zedruu in the first place.
Bruna, Light of Alabaster was only good when things were going really bad in a very particular way. The rest of the time it just rotted in my hand.
Quarantine Field has been great. O-Ring is good and this card is several of those stapled together.
Coalition Relic would be better if it didn't cost 3 but there's not much to be done about that. It's a colored Worn Powerstone which is exactly the kind of thing this deck needs.
Chrome Mox works well here since this is a deck that can take advantage of the extra mana starting on turn 1. The only time it's awkward is when your opening hand is already kind of a mess and pitching any card would break up what little it has going.
07/26/16 Out
Sunforger was very hard to cut because of its power level, but it's just too mana intensive for this deck.
Stupefying Touch most often just sat in my hand doing nothing and not even cycling consistently.
Mox Diamond. Opening hands with Chrome Mox are so much better than opening hands without it that I want another Mox.
Oath of Jace. I've been begging for this card for what feels like years. Thanks, Jace.
Boros Garrison is a fine land in its own right, but it plays extra nice with the white ramp spells and with Mox Diamond.
Hesitation or Dissolve or Unsubstantiate. I don't want to decrease the number of counterspells in the deck, but I'm not sure which of these is best. I'll update this after some testing. Edit: Settled on Dissolve.
Nahiri, the Harbinger will be the first planeswalker to join the team. The abilities are great but I'm a little worried about protecting her. Until I can actually pick up a copy, this slot will be Faith Unbroken, which I'm also expecting to be great.
Gryff's Boon is just what this deck is in the market for.
Sigarda's Aid could end up being a key player in this deck.
03/13/17 Out
Weathered Wayfarer just never works out for me. Even against land-ramp decks I found that putting more lands into my hand wasn't actually getting me ahead.
Sigarda's Aid, much to my surprise, was a virtual blanck in this deck during the time I ran it. I think the issue is that all my auras are cheep, so it doesn't help you to leave up very much mana. Still, I could be pursauded to give it another shot someday.
Hyena Umbra is another one that looks solid but just never does enough.
Mountain. Turns out there are only about half a dozen red spells in this deck, none of which cost RR. Even with R in Zedruu's cost and activated ability, I so rarely need more than one red mana per turn that I'm comfortable cutting a Mountain (read: comfortable with not always being able to fetch two Mountains with Myriad Landscape).
Ponder is substantially less powerful in a deck without fetchalnds, but I'm still replacing it with a card that helps filter my early draws.
Reflecting Pool only ever ended up fixing my mana when my mana was great to begin with.
In
Consulate Crackdown is expensive and somewhat narrow, but odds are that in a typical game of EDH it'll be able to scoop up 3 or 4 artifacts. This one could be meta-dependent but I'm expecting it to do good work.
Mana Drain is basically just a second Counterspell and this deck is in the market for that. The card is broken in half but this deck will usually use it like a fair spell.
Key to the City. Card filtering early, evasion on Voltron later. It's not the best at either thing but doing both should make it worthwhile.
Mystic Gate. Generic replacement for Reflecting Pool. Enters the battlefield untapped, taps for two colors, helps make the UU and UUU costs in this deck more practical. Good - if boring - stuff.
Needle Spires for the secret back-door win! I don't expect to fire off a bunch of auras onto the 2/1 double striking elemental land, or go off with Jeskai Ascendancy, very often. Just having the possibility on a land that taps for two colors is good enough.
Talisman of Progress is another new recruite which isn't especially exciting, but the deck can be clunky (to say the least) and functions so much better when it gets a jump on mana.
Note: This primer is newer than the thread's original post. That post, to which replies 2-20 refer, is here:
That's right, Zedruu the Greathearted Voltron. This isn't my first iteration of the deck, nor was I even the first to post a Voltron Antelope-Minotaur build on these boards. My older (and very outdated) list can be found here and the other one by Le Shirrif is here. The idea behind Zedruu Voltron is that you don't need to control the auras that you suit her up with in order to beat face. This biggest thing that was missing from my older list was speed. The goal is to play some auras, give them away, draw more cards, play more auras, and repeat. Since the rate at which you can deploy auras is proportional to the number of auras you've given away, this engine is one of the few that's truly exponential, albeit with a full-round characteristic time. While big expensive auras like Angelic Destiny and Righteous Authority are super powerful, they make it take forever to get the engine going. Also, they make it difficult to leave up mana for protection. With that in mind, here's my current list:
tl;dr: GOAT LADY SMASHY SMASHY!!! Here's my current list:
As promised, the deck is stuffed to the gills with one and two cmc auras. My favorites are definitely the Scarabs. Sometimes your opponents will turn them on for you, but that's not the point. When you gift them to an opponent they'll all see Zedruu and grant +2/+2. Conditional evasion isn't bad, either. I have no plans of becoming hellbent to turn on Taste for Mayhem and not much hope that its foster parent will either. Plus two plus oh for one mana is good enough for me. Immolation and Tahngarth's Rage occasionally pick off a utility critter or small general, but usually they just buff the Minotaur.
The sweepers are meant to be Zedruu-safe. Winds of Rath is far and away the best of the bunch, but it's a highlander format after all. Wave of Reckoning is a new inclusion that I haven't drawn in a game yet. Can't wait to see how it performs. I used to run Divine Reckoning but I've just never had much luck with cards that let my opponents decide who lives. If someone can make a compelling case for it, though, I'd give it another try. Definitely on the outside of the bubble.
The countermagic is as cheap as possible so I can slam and protect Zedruu as soon as possible. If I ever get a Mana Drain, it's going straight in. Forbid gets the nod because it can lock some folks out when the engine's going and Cryptic Command gets to play here because it's Cryptic Command. Taxing countermagic is awful in this format, the possible exception being Izzet Charm.
In putting together this list I had imagined wanting to get to 4 mana by turn 3 to drop the general, but it turns out that's only a good way to make minotaur vindaloo. So, the new goal is to hit 6 or 7 mana quickly so that Zedruu can give more than just her hide. To that end I'm thinking the rocks need to be reworked. Fewer two drops and more Coalition Relics. Thoughts? The lack of Sol Ring is intentional, but not because of some sort of power-level boycott. I just don't think there are enough colorless mana symbols in the deck to make it worthwhile. Mana Vault, on the other hand, makes a good gift.
Dude, props, I actually was theory crafting this deck awhile ago. Retether + Replenish are auto includes, don't run the deck without them.
Flickerform is tech with aura'd up generals as well.
To leave mana open during other people's turns, since you play loads of cheap enchantments, you should play a skybind. You can flicker lands and mana rocks with it.
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
I had Retether and Replenish in a much older version if the deck and they never really panned out. This build is a lot different, though, so maybe they're worth another try. Better than Scarab of the Unseen, anyway. Flickerform is already in the deck. It's somewhat less techy here since all the auras come back under my control, but that's definitely better than having them all die. At 5 mana I think I'd get more milage out of a Gilded Lotus than Skybind. The deck has virtually nothing to flicker for value.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
So let me get this straight. You can enchant Zedruu with an aura, then use her ability to give it away to other player and then you still get the draw and the buffs on Zedruu?!?!?!?!?!
So let me get this straight. You can enchant Zedruu with an aura, then use her ability to give it away to other player and then you still get the draw and the buffs on Zedruu?!?!?!?!?!
It depends on how the aura is worded, but yeah, that's the idea. It works fine with things like Pursuit of Flight which say that enchanted creature has "[ability]" but fails to work with things like Pemmin's Aura which its self has the abilities.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I was going to come post that I've done a similar deck before, but I realised I already had in your other thread, and that my list had already been posted online(which I forgot about)
Yes, they do. When a Scarab asks "does your opponent control a [color] card?" its controller, who is always the "you" any card refers to, will look across the table, see Zedruu, and have to answer "yessir."
It got cut in the make-over. There's definitely merit to including it, and now that I think of it, he's probably better in this deck than either Retether or Replenish.
I did run this for a while, but with the new lower mana curve I had fewer and fewer opportunities to actually cast it. By the time it's time to tutor for auras I should already be drawing 3-4 extra cards per turn.
I was going to come post that I've done a similar deck before, but I realised I already had in your other thread, and that my list had already been posted online(which I forgot about)
That you did. Sorry I missed that in the opening post. For reference, here's TheEndIsNear's list.
I'm going to go -Mask of Avacyn, -Errantry, +Sunforger, +Counterflux. I kind of want to make some room for a few basic lands and run Oath of Lieges. If anyone's playing green, or if I just didn't go first, Oath should keep a steady flow of lands coming, and I don't have to control it for it to work. Thoughts? I'm also considering Tumble Magnet and/or Briber's Purse. Their effects are small but they wind down and make good gifts.
It's too bad Jeskai Charm isn't more relevant to the strategy. Oh well, can't have everything.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I love it. I've been playing a version of Zedruu that has gotten stale. It never occurred to me to donate auras :P.
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U Thassa, God of the Sea (Seafood) G Yisan, the Wanderer Bard BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion BU Phenax, God of Deception WGR Hazezon Tamar WUBRGSliver Queen - Zelda Theme
Thanks! I'm not going to lie and say this deck is "competitive" in the sense of Azami, Lady of Scrolls or Animar, Soul of Elements but it's waaaaaaay better than I thought it would be and has more than a little ruckus against top tier decks. It is definitely capable of generating so much card advantage and pressure that nothing can keep up.
-Dragon Mantle, +Chaos Warp. The mantle has been surprisingly underwhelming since I never have any extra mana to pump into it. Warp has been in and out of the deck several times, but it gets much better with Sunforger now in the deck. It also helps the deck to have a more even mix of blue, white, and red cards which makes me happy for some reason.
The deck still has issues I need help resolving. Running lots of auras is great for beating face but not so much for dealing with problems. Conversely, flexible answers are essential in EDH but without the looming threat of Minotaur Monk (she's totally a Jeskai) doom they just delay the inevitable. Consistency is the issue; is cutting mana rocks for cantrips the cure?
Replies to my SCD thread on Curse of the Swine have persuaded me to run it here. Sweeping away everything but Zedruu seems pretty good. There have been a lot of changes to the list based on the suggestions in this thread. Also, Mana Vault has been good enough that I'm going to give Grim Monolith a try. Finally, the list in the original post was 101 cards so I'm shaving Umbra Mystic. I'm putting an updated list in the original post.
Yea I think Absolute Grace might be too narrow. Is there somethings specific in your meta that you want to stop?
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U Thassa, God of the Sea (Seafood) G Yisan, the Wanderer Bard BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion BU Phenax, God of Deception WGR Hazezon Tamar WUBRGSliver Queen - Zelda Theme
are all commonly played cards in EDH. Protection for Zedruu that I can donate is at a premium. However, if I sit down for a game and no one's playing black then the card at best has no text and at worst someone Sleight of Mind's it to make all Zedruu's auras fall off. Absolute Grace probably is just too narrow to be any good.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I have an odd suggestion: Ardent Plea. You're probably attacking with only one creature at a time anyway, right? So there's value there. And there's a lot of auras and equipment in your list that are 2 mana or less, so your chances of hitting a value card are high.
Ardent Plea is fun (because cascading is awesome) but it just isn't right for this deck. First of all, I run a bunch of 2 cmc counters that are awful to cascade into. Also, I can't donate it for value.
I've been playing this deck a lot lately and have made a lot of changes since September. Rather than try and figure out all the cuts and additions I've made, here's the updated list:
What I'm trying to do here is to streamline the deck. It's pretty sensitive to drawing the right combination of answers, protection, and pump so I've added some cheap card draw spells to help smooth things out. There are also Stupefying Touch and Spreading Seas which shut down a lot of things in this format, cost 2, and cantrip. Scout's Warning is like protection in that it can let me slip Zedruu into play right before untapping for my turn, but it also cantrips out of the way when I don't need that.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Just looking at this deck, I can imagine it playing. The curve sings a ballad of the deck's strategy. You don't ramp to bomby spells, you ramp into 1 drop auras with lots of mana left open. If they aim at Zedruu, you counter. If they don't, you can dump the mana into donation and feed yourself more protection. Cheap auras that are usually worthless not only become powerful because you have them so plentifully, but swiftly replace themselves. It's really quite beautiful.
I'd love to make suggestions, but the only thing popping into my head are big-play Sunforger targets like Overblaze which I'm pretty sure you don't need specifically bomby things when turning Zedruu nuclear with Scarabs, or the world's most comically unflavorful application of Tenza, Godo's Maul (which the idea of putting in the hand opposite her censer makes me laugh on the inside).
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
Thank you for the kind words, tstorm823. Regarding your suggestions, Overblaze is out of the question because Psychotic Fury does more for less. P-Fury might be worth considering, though.
...or the world's most comically unflavorful application of Tenza, Godo's Maul (which the idea of putting in the hand opposite her censer makes me laugh on the inside).
That mental image made me laugh out loud. As far as power-to-cost ratio goes, Tenza, Godo's Maul is actually really close. Plus 3 plus 3 and trample is no joke. Unfortunately, I think the Swords and Jitte are just better.
To everyone: I've modified the opening post and stuffed it with way more information about Zedruu Voltron than you ever wanted to know. Check it out, won't you?
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I read through the newly updated post and enjoyed it.
With regards to the "Cards to Consider" section:
I agree with not playing Narset, since playing her at a relevant point is very likely putting yourself off of countermagic for the turn, and in that turn you are immediately enemy number one because you played her. Bruna is a tougher call, because she offers resilience after a blowout if someone does manage to break through your Zedruu protection. And where with Narset, if you have the opportunity to cast Narset or Zedruu, you'd have to deliberate, with Bruna you can play Zedruu, force out the disruption to stop her, and then go right back from zero to lethal with Bruna after. But if the situation of getting Zedruu blown up with a pile of auras doesn't happen often, it's not even worth considering.
I think Mesa Enchantress is probably the thing on that list most worth considering specifically because it curves beneath Zedruu, but on the other hand, with Zedruu absolutely needing to hit anyway, 3-drops like Political Trickery, Vedalken Plotter, and Paradox Haze would offer you draw over time with a little more versatility while also being less fragile than a creature with no protection and easier to cast than double white. The land trading things can color fix yourself, color screw your opponent, or disable utility lands all while enabling Zedruu draws on curve in a way that peple are very unlikely to undo. (and also, one time, I stole all of Urzatron with a bouncing Vedalken Plotter. Not that you would do that here, it's just a funny thing.) And a quick list of triggers that would benefit from Paradox Haze: Zedruu, Ring of Evos Isle, Zedruu, Oath of Lieges, Zedruu, and Zedruu, and also it can be donated with Zedruu without you losing the double upkeeps for Zedruu.
And while I'm just talking up my own experience, the card in my deck that sometimes single-handedly goes Zedruu aggro is Jeskai Ascendancy. You can get Zedruu pumps from your removal, untap your mega blocker with your counterspells, and dig deep through the deck with all the looting you can do off of one-mana auras.
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
I'm not sure you have room for it, but with Zedruu I think Empyrial Armor and Empyrial Plate are worth a look in the pump category. Heck, I'm not even running a voltron in my Zedruu build, but I put both of them in to experiment with as late game win conditons to bring out when my hand is more than full.
I just borrowed your list for my meta. I needed another deck with red in it for my little closed meta game. Also a voltron deck. this is one of the better ones I've seen because it doesn't try to go over the top and is capable of actually winning. Cheers. Can't wait to watch this list grow and change once it's introduced next weekend. I made some revisions based on card availability (namely I don't have a Volcanic Island)
Bruna is a tougher call, because she offers resilience after a blowout if someone does manage to break through your Zedruu protection... with Bruna you can... go right back from zero to lethal with Bruna after.
That's a good point. Bruna is like Retether that comes with a 5/5 flying body to attach all those auras to.
I think Mesa Enchantress is probably the thing on that list most worth considering specifically because it curves beneath Zedruu, but on the other hand, with Zedruu absolutely needing to hit anyway, 3-drops like Political Trickery, Vedalken Plotter, and Paradox Haze would offer you draw over time with a little more versatility while also being less fragile than a creature with no protection and easier to cast than double white.
The land-swappers are interesting, as you say, because they fit the curve under Zedruu and help to get the draw engine up and running. Thing is they compete for a spot with Spreading Seas and I think drawing a card on two mana is going to smooth out more games than a swap on three. Paradox Haze is a card that I've become disenchanted with over time. With generalisimo in play and a few things donated it's absolutely insane, but it doesn't actually do anything on its own. Moreover, even in the best-case-scenario it doesn't do anything until your next upkeep.
And while I'm just talking up my own experience, the card in my deck that sometimes single-handedly goes Zedruu aggro is Jeskai Ascendancy. You can get Zedruu pumps from your removal, untap your mega blocker with your counterspells, and dig deep through the deck with all the looting you can do off of one-mana auras.
I've thought about Jeskai Ascendancy but never pulled the trigger on it because this deck used to play Erayo, Soratami Ascendant and could rarely ever flip it. Whereas Erayo says "cast at least four spells or I'm Sea Eagle" Ascendancy says "just do your best and cast as many spells as you can" so there's that. It's also probably better at looting and fixing than Izzet Charm is.
I'm not sure you have room for it, but with Zedruu I think Empyrial Armor and Empyrial Plate are worth a look in the pump category.
Empyrial Armor is sort of odd because it's not something you usually want to donate. Because it's got that in common with Empyrial Plate, I think I'd prefer the equipment because 2+2 is more manageable for this deck than 1WW. (Edit: I suppose you could donate Empyrial Armor to the player who thinks they're one-upping your draw engine with Consecrated Sphinx. Show 'em who's really in charge.) It makes me a little hesitant to play these cards that they're only awesome when my hand's already full.
I'm not running a single Sunforgeable counterspell because there aren't others out there. I don't think the deck really needs to have more than one because 2 cmc counterspells are so much better for the overall strategy.
So the cards I want to add are Bruna, Light of Alabaster, Jeskai Ascendancy, and Boros Charm. The card that didn't come up above is Boros Charm. I want to include this because, upon inspection, the deck is only running 4 Sunforger targets one of which, Izzet Charm, is about to get the axe. I figure the Charm can replace Darksteel Plate since having it in the deck is like having two copies. Also double strike is pretty good on a Voltron Commander. The other card I'm cutting to make room is Eel Umbra and because it's like Viscerid Armor stapled to Mystic Veil; lacking in power and a consistent under performer.
Welcome to my very first set review! Origins has a lot of really nifty cards which support a variety of archetypes as well as some flavor home-runs. As I imagine is true for any deck, only a handful of cards from the new set are even worth consideration. For the sake of discussion I've included here all the cards from ORI that made me stop and think about their implications for Zedruu Voltron. Let me know if you agree/disagree with my evaluations, if I've missed a good card, and/or what to cut to make room for all the new shinies.
Blessed Spirits
It's conceivable that this deck or a variant of it might have an enchantress element to it. In that case, having a one-card backup plan has some merit. The problem with Blessed Spirits is that it lives in the shadow of Sigil of the Empty Throne and Monastery Mentor, so it's really unlikely that this card will ever be good enough.
Grasp of the Hieromancer
This is a pretty reasonable aura; +1/+1 and some evasion is not that bad. On the other hand, Grasp of the Hieromancer has to wait in line behind Wings of Hope and Wings of Aesthir.
Hallowed Moonlight
Oh boy, what a hoser! Ever since Containment Priest was spoiled the majority of the EDH community responded with cries of "Yas! Moar!" and it seems those demands have been answered. I don't know about the rest of the environment, but this deck greatly prefers a 2 CMC cantrip over a 2 CMC creature. This card has the ability to be the biggest of blow-outs, but it also just cycles away should you draw it too early in the game. I'm looking forward to cycling it on turn 2 during the first game of the night and then having everyone nervously playing around it in subsequent games. I think it's between Serum Visions, Compulsive Research, and Stupefying Touch, but this card almost certainly deserves a slot.
Knight of the White Orchid
C'mon, R&D, you couldn't have named it Knight of the White Daisy or something so we could play two? Lame...
Starfield of Nyx
This card seems pretty neat at first, and I'm sure it will be a reasonable card in a number of decks. Here, though, it's behind Sun Titan, Replenish, and Retether for the enchantment recursion part. Controlling 5 enchantments at once is actually though for this deck to do since it's so much better to give up control of your enchantments. That isn't really a drawback for Starfield since the Opalescent part of the card is virtually meaningless text in this deck.
Suppression Bonds
Now we're talking! It's pretty easy to place this in between Faith's Fetters and Encrust in terms of power level, but I claim it's much closer to Fetters. Obviously it can hit Planeswalkers, which is actually only so-so in Commander, but it can also shut down enchantments. Off the top of my head, notable enchantments with activated abilities include Survival of the Fittest, Greater Good, Necropotence, and Mind Over Matter (to be fair, though, if someone resolves MoM there's a really good chance you never get to untap again). This card is certainly of the quality level of the cards I already run; maaaaybe it replaces Chaos Warp?
Tragic Arrogance
Not sure what to think of this one. Cataclysm was not very good in this deck because people would just bin all the gifts I'd been giving them, but this card does the opposite. My opponents will have to hold onto my auras and Torpor Orbs and sacrifice all their own things. It might be better to think of this as sort of an Austere Command that's more friendly to my main strategy. I know three things about this card for sure: it's interesting, powerful, and worthy of consideration in this deck.
Artificer's Epiphany
Cute, but not in the same league as Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge.
Magmatic Insight
A one mana cantrip that sees two cards and is neutral on card advantage is worth a look. In this deck the cantrips are often looking for lands, so I donno about this one. On the other hand, there are definitely times when this would be better than a Serum Visions. This card's stock goes way up if Land Tax and/or Tithe ever make it into the deck.
Sword of the Animist
This is one of those equipment, like Ring of Evos Isle, that take a little while to get going. It doesn't protect Zedruu or pump her appreciably, but this deck loves loves loves its lands. Except in the rare case when I can stick it onto a Knight of the White Daisy and attack on turn 3, it's not really going to help ramp into the main play of Zedruu plus protection.
Mage-Ring Network
Calciform Pools is so good that I might have to give this one a try. Never being able to make colored mana is the only thing keeping it from being a snap inclusion. I can't run stats like that in my head so we'll just have to see if it's worth being color-screwed slightly more often.
Ah, Zendikar. Land of adventure, danger and treasure. Oh yeah, and the Eldrazi. As we return to this plane from 6 years ago we see a few themes returning and few new ones emerging. Allies, landfall and the Eldrazi producing mana tokens are all back in a big way with new and interesting twists on our old favorites. New themes include "colorless matters," awakening lands as a side effect of casting spells, and oh yeah, there's a noticable sub-theme of "cards that are awesome for Zedruu!"
Angelic Gift is nothing special, but it's worth noting it since a critical mass of cheap cantripping auras might one day make an enchantress package worthwhile in this deck. This is an often-slightly-better version Stratus Walk.
Quarantine Field. Oh wowowowowow! For 4 mana you get another Oblivion Ring which honestly might have been enough by its self but the fact that it's open ended makes me giggle. For 6 mana you're competing with Exclusion Ritual, which never gives the card back, but you get to tag two things with it. I have high hopes for this card and will definitely be trying it out. It may even end up replacing a sweeper.
Stasis Snare is interesting because Journey to Nowhere is right on the outside of the bubble in this deck and the Snare has flash. Costing WW isn't a huge drawback but it isn't irrelevant, either. Having flash is super important in a deck with this many counterspells so I'm going to give this card a try. On the other hand, its ceiling is exiling one creature which makes it a little narrow. We'll have to see how it goes.
Brilliant Spectrum is basically an easier-to-cast Concentrate in this deck. This is relevant because I've been desperately wanting a third three mana draw spell along the lines of Compulsive Research. "But wait, Hunding" you say "four is in fact greater than three!" and you're right. I think this card is worthy of consideration but I'm far from sold on it as my missing draw spell. The painful truth is that Painful Truths is a black card...
Retreat to Coralhelm is another candidate for the position of third 3 CMC card drawer. The card turns all of your lands into Temples but does nothing the turn you cast it (probably) and does not actually generate card advantage. It's also not something I'd want to donate away. In the end I suspect this is not as good as Jeskai Ascendancy, but it's worth remembering that this is an aggro deck so tapping down a creature could be useful.
The red cards in this set don't seem to have much to offer EDH. Some mono red decks will get a few tools for working around protection from red, but by and large the red cards are all about early agression and moderate amounts of fire. Whatever potential they may have elsewhere, none of the red cards in Battle for Zendikar look remotely playable in this particular deck.
Brutal Expulsion has some neat utility and it's even Sunforgable... oh wait, no it isn't...
Aligned Hedron Network. Now we're talkin'! This is probably the card in the set I'm most excite about on behalf of Zedruu, but it isn't just a windmill slam auto-include because Zedruu's power frequently creeps up over 5. There are reasonable ways around this drawback, like only cast it before Zedruu gets that powerful. This won't always be an option, though, so sometimes this card will be a not-Zedruu-safe sweeper, which isn't the worst thing in the world. Mondo combo with either Tahngarth's Rage or Pemmin's Aura.
Prairie Stream. This cycle of cards is going to have a huge impact on EDH. I'm really looking forward to Smoldering Marsh and Cinder Glade powering up my Jund deck featuring Gauntlet of Might. In this deck, however, this/these land(s)* will almost always come into play tapped and there's no payoff for them having basic land types. Cool cards, but they don't really help here.
*I'm only assuming that the next set will have the enemy versions of these lands.
The Blighted Lands. As we've seen over and over again this deck has tremendous colored mana requirements so lands that only tap for colorless are a big liability. Moreover, the ability on Blighted Gorge is usually irrelevant in EDH and that of Blighted Steppe is not going to do much in this deck of only one creature. Drawing two cards off a land is more tempting, but at 5U plus tapping its self Blighted Cataract would only be any good if you're flooding out in the worst way. Short story: tapping for colorless will screw you more often than saccing for some cards will save you.
Ok, so maybe two cards isn't really enough to be a sub-theme, but getting to replace some expensive sweepers with cheaper cards that also make good gifts is exactly what this deck wants. Quarantine Field and Aligned Hedron Network will substantially increase this deck's large colorless mana needs if they end up making the cut (as I think they probably will) so it might be right to reintroduce Grim Monolith into the deck along with them. The deck's hunger for colored mana remains, though, so maybe just adding more colored mana ramp would be better.
Well, another round of spoilers has come and gone and we've got some real winners this time. C15 looks, on the surface of it anyway, to be much more balanced than previous Commander releases. Even so, R&D seems to have found a way to churn out a whole bunch of color-appropriate flavorful powerful cards that don't just invalidate everything that came before them. Since EDH is all about big spells while this deck is all about small spells we rarely gain much from commander-specific products. That's the case for this release, too, but there is still some greatness to be gained. Let's dive in.
Bastion Protector. The hits start early this time around with the very first card of the set being worthy of consideration. Obviously, +2/+2 and indestructible is a great deal for 2W, but the card is not perfect. First of all, you can't donate a Hill Giant for profit and especially not one that stops working for you if you do. This devoted soldier is also a lightning rod, which might not be the worst thing in the world since a Terror aimed at Bastion Protector is one less that can try to take down Zedruu. Finally, there's the subtlety, that doesn't matter for this deck, that the protector protects any Commanders you happen to have under your control and not just the one that started the game in your Command Zone. This guys might be better than Darksteel Plate because 2W < 5.
Grasp of Fate. After Detention Sphere I never thought we'd see another strict upgrade over Oblivion Ring but here we are. Without even playing it I can tell that this card is going to be fantastic in this deck. So the only thing that remains to discuss is what to cut for it. I'm thinking that at the worst is replaces Banishing Light but this deck wants to max out on that effect so something else will have to go. Because it takes out 3+ things Grasp of Fate could possibly replace Curse of the Swine, adding some flexibility in the targets in exchange for not being a permanent answer and rarely functioning as a sweeper. If Aligned Hedron Network ends up being a liability this card is a very natural replacement for it. Very excited about this printing.
Oreskos Explorer. I definitely appreciate that this guy can get dual-lands but there are a few other versions of the plains-tax effect that are in line before the kitty. Leaving behind a 2/2 body, as opposed to Tithe and Gift of Estates, is relevant because early in the game it might sometimes be possible to squeeze a card out of donating a small creature before your opponents can dispose of it. That seems pretty corner-casey, though, so the Cat Scout is going to be stuck warming the benches for the foreseeable future.
Righteous Confluence. This card would be worth thinking about even if it only had the middle mode. Exiling three enchantments for five mana actually seems halfway decent and throwing in a Waylay or a maxed out Life Burst ain't bad, either. The main problem is that Righteous Confluence is competing with the artifact tagging sunforgable Return to Dust for a slot and it's not really better than that card. At sorcery speed the knight tokens aren't going to ambush anything and playing a spell to gain life is a little weak when your Commander is Sphinx's Revelation.
Shielded by Faith. The main hook of this card -that it can be moved onto other big scaries- is what makes it not just a straight upgrade over Indestructibility for this deck. Like Prison Term before it you just can't donate Shielded by Faith. On the other hand a discount, however slight, on one of the deck's more expensive cards is something to look into. Like Bastion Protector, this card might be a little better than Darksteel Plate because it's cheaper. I suppose there are some corner cases where you'll actually want to move this onto one of your opponents' creatures, like when one player resolves Avenger of Zendikar and the next player drops a Magus of the Moat. You (and probably the rest of the table as well) are going to want the Magus to be Shielded by Faith.
Aethersnatch is listed here only because it effectively counters spells. Six mana is just too much for this deck to be paying for a counterspell, even for one that leads to epic blowouts. The real issue with spells like this and Spelljack is that they're only really good once you've established a board and can leave up tons of mana every turn. In other words, they don't actually help land and protect Zedruu early. That's why I choose to leave these "good cards" behind and focus more on "garbage" like Mana Leak and Hesitation.
Mystic Confluence gets me excited. But wait, wasn't I just saying that 6 mana is too much to pay for a counterspell? Indeed, but as every armchair mathematician knows 6 > 5. On the other hand Cryptic Command really pushes the limits of what kind of countermagic I want to be playing in this deck and 5 > 4 as well. Still, the power level of Mystic Confluence is through the roof and every time I read it I think of new applications. Sometimes it's just plain old hard-cast-Force of Will; sometimes it's Jace's Ingenuity; sometimes its Inundate. Just a moment ago I realized that it can counter multiple spells that happen to be on the stack at the same time. The only mark against Mystic Confluence -and it's a big one- is that it doesn't help protect the goat early. Super-duper tempting card, though, and I'm sure that even if it's not right for this deck it will go on to become a format staple.
Fiery Confluence. I'd feel a lot better about replacing Return to Dust with Righteous Confluence if Fiery Confluence were also included. This card is probably going to be bemoaned as the worst confluence (including Confluence) but it's not all that bad. If Vandalblast is good enough then this card probably is, too. It's a mini-sweeper with some artifact control built in. Doming everyone for 6 isn't completely irrelevant, either. However, in this deck, I don't think it's good enough. If it were sunforgable that might well make the difference but as it stands this card is too narrow in applications.
Meteor Blast is another mini-sweeper, although it's significantly less mini than Fiery Confluence is. The card is fine but outside of mono-red I think there are just better options available. Wave of Reckoning comes to mind as a better goat-safe sweeper than this.
Overall C15 looks like a great infusion of cards that are powerful but not format warping (no, I don't want to bet on that statement). Grasp of Fate will be an extremely solid inclusion for this deck because, if nothing else, it's a strict upgrade over Banishing Light which is already an all-star. Mystic Confluence is tremendous and I'll probably end up testing it. Ultimately, though, I suspect that 3UU is way too much for this deck to be paying for a counterspell. Guess I really just need to bight the bullet and invest in a Mana Drain if I want more 2 cmc counterspells.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the set that's bent around colorless-matters cards has little to offer this colored-mana-hungry deck. However, there are some cards that are at least interesting and there's one that's the answer to my prayers.
Thought-Knott Seer. This guy is getting a lot of people excited for his Modern applications, where he is very likely to come down on turn 2 and is immune to the format's best removal (Abrupt Decay and Lightning Bolt). In ETB/dies based EDH decks he could also do some cool things, especially when you consider how political his dies trigger is in multiplayer. What piqued my interest is the fact that I can play the Eldrazi, strip a bomb from someone's hand, and then pass the body along to someone else. The card he exiles is face up, and if it's a card that makes the table breath a sigh of relief when it gets exiled then maybe someone would be inclined to reward me with a free card when the Seer dies. This probably falls square under the "too cute" category, not to mention that this deck may have trouble generating colorless mana, but hand disruption is something that Jeskai colors don't typically have access to. Not likely to be good enough, but something to think about, anyway.
Iona's Blessing. A decent buff aura. It's a little more interesting in this deck since, when she's all suited up, Zedruu could possibly take down two attacking creatures at a time. Ultimately it suffers from costing four mana to cast, and at that CMC it's got some stiff competition. Another card that's almost certainly not good enough, but is still worth keeping in mind.
Isolation Zone. Yet another O-Ring variant. This one's more expensive and less versitile than the others, but it's nice to know our options for this kind of effect are steadily growing. Isolation Zone is a fine budget choice for all sorts of Zedruu decks, but it's just not optimal.
Oath of Gideon. The cycle of Oaths in this set are a bunch of legendary enchantments with ETB effects and that makes them interesting. This deck can't do much with a pair of 1/1's and runs zero planeswalkers, so Gideon's oath is not one that Zedruu will be taking any time soon. Still, the card does have a potential application in this deck. If my metagame ever becomes saturated with edict effects then getting a couple of allies for padding before dropping the Goat would be much more attractive. Even though it doesn't donate its self I feel like Oath of Gideon is a better choice than Akroan Horse because enchantments are substantially harder to remove/sacrifice than artifact creatures are. As it stands there are edict effects in my meta, but not enough to really justify Oath of Gideon.
Oath of Jace. After reading this card, I needed a cigarette. For a while now (
Overwhelming Denial. In this deck full of mana rocks and cheap auras turning on Surge on your own turn is pretty trivial, making this card another 2 CMC Counterspell... but only on your own turn. People usually like to try and remove Zedruu during my end step for obvious reasons so this limitation is at least somewhat mitigated. This deck doesn't have a lot of cheap spells to cast on opponents' turns, but Overwhelming Denial looks pretty good in a counter-war. Also, it's not as though Last Word is a bad card or anything. I'm really not sure if the card is what this deck needs or not, but it's close enough that it probably deserves some testing.
Ah, Innistrad, land of Gothic horror. It seems a little bit strange to be revisiting a plane so soon after leaving it, but I don't hear anyone complaining, especially not in the EDH community. We love us some werewolves, demons and blue zombies. Heck, I'm sure some people are looking forward to the influx of human tribal cards coming in, which could build on those from the last time we crashed Sorin's pad and make another half-way decent tribal deck for our beloved format. As usual when reviewing a set for this deck, my eyes see right past the flashy bomb-mythics (though there actually is one in this set that's interesting) and focus on the bottom of the draft-leftovers bin. Let's scrounge, shall we?
Angelic Purge is cheap, tags a variety of things, and even exiles. But at sorcery speed this is nearly out-classed by Council's Judgment; nearly because costing a single, instead of double, white mana is non-negligible in a deck where the colored mana is stretched so thin. It's also worth looking at because the cheap cantrip permanents for donation also make fine fodder for this card's additional cost. Ultimately I don't think Angelic Purge will make the cut but it's good to know there are options out there.
Gryff's Boon. I'm pretty much obliged to review every cheap aura that comes out of a new set, but this one actually looks good here. Plus one power is nothing special, but the fact that this gives flying as well makes it very interesting. There are some other auras that add one power and grant flying, but they cost at least two mana. This card could replace Pursuit of Flight, which has been under-performing for its cost. The recursion ability could aid recovery after a fully suited-up Greathearted Goat gets blown away, which is certainly nice, even if it's a small effect. Definitely something I'll be testing (ya know, if I ever get to play Magic again). This block of text probably represents the most ink that's been spilled over this card in the context of Commander (seems great in sealed deck), which is a big part of the reason why I love this deck.
Open the Armory. This one's interesting because it can find a pump spell, Sunforger, or Faith's Fetters. Not sure if the deck really has enough worthwhile targets for it, though, especially since Sunforger is under audit. Open the Armory is clearly a gift to Voltron decks, but paying 1W for a 1 CMC aura doesn't sound great so it's probably not right for this deck.
Epiphany at the Drownyard. I'm always on the lookout for cheap card draw to smooth out the early turns and this seems to qualify at first blush. However, the fact that an opponent picks which pile you get means you're not going to be able to cast it for 2U to dig for a land drop (some opponents may cooperate sometimes, but that's not exactly reliable). A fun card to be sure and scalability is great in Commander.
Senseless Rage. Though it's hardly a madness/graveyard based deck we do have a handful of discard outlets. Now that I think of it, if this is even vaguely playable then Strength of Isolation has to be a zillion times better. I guess if most of the draw/filter cards involve discarding (right now the deck already has Compulsive Research, Thirst for Knowledge, Jeskai Ascendancy and Oath of Jace), having a handful of madness auras could be a reasonable way to try and build back up to critical mass after Zedruu dies by providing some more card advantage. That might be a sort of backdoor way to build in a Bruna-type auxiliary plan without actually taking up a card slot.
Fevered Visions is a card that many other Zedruu decks are going to want, but Howling Mines have no place in this deck. It's very much worth noting that you get to draw a card before anyone else does (unless you flash it into play somehow), but still, not my jam.
Invocation of Saint Traft does nothing to aid the Commander damage plan, and it doesn't give hexproof (like Geist of Saint Traft has). I got excited when I read the name on the spoiler, and de-excited when I read the card text. Bummer. If I did play this card (which I won't) there's a strange rules question that'd come up. If an opponent controls Invocation attached to my Zedruu then they'd get the attacking angel. What happens when you control an attacking creature during someone else's turn? There must be a ruling for this card because in principle it could come up in draft just by playing Invocation on an opponent's creature.
Nahiri, the Harbinger. It'd be tough to protect her without a vigilant goat, but her first two abilities are both things this deck is in the market for. If I end up cutting Sunforger then Nahiri might be better than Return to Dust, which is really saying something. The ultimate is irrelevant here, but who would ever let it get to that point in EDH anyway? Kind of makes me wonder if Dack Fayden would be worthwhile, too. Both those 'walkers qualify as discard outlets which would further push the deck toward the madness auras. Dack being another blue card helps as well since this deck would love to be able to run Force of Will.
Corrupted Grafstone. I need my mana rocks to work as soon as they untap, which is a shame since this one costs 2 and potentially offers all three colors. As mentioned above, there are a fair number of discard outlets in this deck already, but they start at three mana and so don't help turning this on early enough. Conversely, Corrupted Grafstone is unlikely to ramp me into a draw spell plus removal/counter spell turn to set up the Minotaur Monk.
Port Town and the other lands look great for Standard, especially with the battle-lands. Personally, I own a Tundra so... naw. It's good that they're printing more interesting and different fixing lands, though. I like the design on these. A fine budget option but in that context it's more than a little awkward that Port Town works better when you've got the full six dual- and shock-lands in the deck.
So there you have it. We get to upgrade a garbage aura (Pursuit of Flight -> Gryff's Boon), maybe throw in a few planeswalkers (Nahiri, the Harbinger and Dack Fayden), and maybe get a very small madness package (Senseless Rage and Strength of Isolation) for some added value before the deck snowballs out of control. Not too shabby. It's interesting how considering new cards makes one see old cards in a new light. I guess that's part of what keeps Eternal Magic fresh and wonderful.
Eldritch Moon is easily the strangest set I've seen in a long while. Emrakul's presence is having some really bizarre effects on Innistrad, and as a result we get a bunch of cards that work the Eldrazi way: differently. The set has a lot of cool cards and unique effects, several of which might be great for this deck. We've been spoiled lately (not sarcastic) with stuff like Gryff's Boon and Oath of Jace and it seems the hits just keep rolling in. However, some of these new effects that are difficult to evaluate so they may end up not being that great. Let's have a look!
Faith Unbroken. An aura that pumps Zedruu while simultaneously taking out a creature. Wow. At first blush this card looks absolutely insane for this deck, but it's not all sunshine, rainbows and Springtime. First of all, it costs 3W at sorcery speed. That cost is well justified by the power gained by stapling Giant Strength to Journey to Nowhere so this isn't a terminal drawback, but it's something to keep in mind. Another issue is that the first line of text reads "enchant creature you control" meaning that if you donate Faith Unbroken it will fall off the Minotaur since its new controller won't control the enchanted creature. That's a little bit annoying, given that this deck really needs to ship everything it can across the table in order to gain enough advantage to compensate for playing lots of low-power cards. It does, however, come with a silver lining: if somebody goes to sweep creatures (assuming you can't stop it in some way) the owner of the creature trapped in Faith Unbroken stands to get it back on an empty board. But because of that first line on Faith Unbroken you can donate it away in response to the sweeper, ensuring that the trapped creature gets swept up as well. Given the prevalence of creature sweepers in EDH, this back-door sac outlet gives Faith Unbroken an edge over other Bannisher Priest (as opposed to Fiend Hunter) effects. The last point against Faith Unbroken is that, as a removal spell, it's expensive and narrow. Nevertheless, the combination of offense and defense is appealing enough that I'll be testing this one out. Since more and more people across more and more formats are realizing how awesome Nahiri, the Harbinger is, her price tag keeps going up and up. Although that's bad news for me (trying to pick on up on the cheap) it's great news for other 4 CMC sorcery-speed spells that need testing.
Lunarch Mantle. I had to read this one several times to realize it's just a worse Pursuit of Flight. Bummer.
Sigarda's Aid. This card is really interesting because it's a one-drop with an ability that this deck is very much in the market for. We're all about leaving up mana and giving approximately a fifth of the deck flash seems like a good way of doing that. The virtual mana production off of the second ability won't come up as much because we only have a few equipment, but it'll still be great when it happens. If Sigarda's Aid makes the cut then Mask of Avacyn, which was already on the bubble, should probably also start looking for an apartment in Jeskai-town. The thing about this card is that it doesn't do anything on its own, so it could contribute to some awkward opening hands and/or topdecks. Definitely worth testing but I could see this one going either way.
Imprisoned in the Moon. I guess this is blue's version of Song of the Dryads - a thoroughly playable card. It's a donatable piece of removal which puts us one step closer to being able to run Force of Will and, even though it's limited in what it can imprison, there are only two other cards in the deck that can interact with lands (this is where everyone yells at me about Political Trickery and Vedalken Plotter existing). One of them, Chaos Warp is on the way out after losing its friend and college Sunforger. Actually using Imprisoned in the Moon ramps an opponent, but one edge it has over Oblivion Ring effects is that the target never changes zones so you don't have to play around "enters/leaves the battlefield" triggers. Because it's blue and it has some range in targets, I think this one's worth testing, too.
Lunar Force. This is a downgrade, not an upgrade to Hesitation. Obviously 2U > 1U but this card makes a lousy gift. Pass.
Spontaneous Mutation. This card looks great until you actually read what it does. CMC: great! Art: dude gets scary squid-hands! Type: awesome! Has flash? Nice! Shrinks enchanted creature: dang. There's no way to get a negative number of cards in the graveyard, right...?
Summary Dismissal. Four mana is a lot to pay for a counterspell but this one sure does shut everything down. This will be something to watch out for whenever a player has 2UU up going forward in EDH, but I don't think this card is compelling enough to run over a random 3 CMC counter in this deck.
Unsubstantiate. Two weak effects can sometimes combine to make a great card, for example Remand. For 1U you get a very flexible tempo play that's much better against spells with non-mana additional costs. But I keep going back and forth on whether or not this card is playable because it doesn't actually solve any problems and it gets worse as the game goes on. One could say similar things of Remand and Delay but the former cantrips and the latter buys a lot of time to find an answer. Something else to think about is that Unsubstantiate should function fine as a cheap counter to protect an early Zedruu because if you get to untap sometimes you'll be able to invalidate the spot removal spell you just bounced off the stack with Indestructibility or Ring of Evos Isle or something.
Strange Augmentation. Can we just pretend this is a red card? Pleeeaaaaaase?
Harmless Offering. Just got to give this card a shout-out. Take that, reserve list!
Nahiri's Wrath. A sweeper that only hits the stuff I want and works best with a full hand? In principle that should be pretty good, but in practice, I fear, this deck's average CMC is too low to make this card matter.
Spell Queller. In EDH the "less than 4 CMC" drawback is a big deal, but I'd snap this card up in a second if it weren't a creature and thus made a better gift. Oh well, can't have everything.
Aside from being a weird melding of story-lines, this set gives further support to the recent trend of making equipment and auras be "one thing" (i.e. more cards read "...aura or equipment card..." instead of "...aura card..." or "...equipment card..."). That's certainly a good thing for an aura-high Voltron deck with a few key equipment, like this one.
Like its predecessor Conspiracy: Take the Crown looks like it's going to be an absolute blast to draft. Now, that may sound great for a deck which runs a whole bunch of draft left-overs, but the reality is a bit less exciting. In my opinion, CN2 offers exactly nothing to either improve this deck or take it in new and interesting directions. This sentiment begs the question "then why write a set review?" The answer is that there's always the distinct possibility that I'm mis-evaluating certain cards, and putting my evaluations up online gives people the chance to call me out on it. So here's my ultra-short set review for CN2 (obviously there's no need to review the conspiracies or reprints).
Becoming the Monarch. This isn't a card but a whole class of cards from the set. While I'm sure this will be a good and interesting mechanic for Commander, it doesn't do a whole lot for this deck because we're not great at blocking. Rather, the plan is to just gain the life back. If you're not in a good position to defend the crown, you probably don't want to be bringing it into the game.
Sanctum Prelate, like most creatures, makes a lousy gift. However, banning a CMC for three mana is a unique piece of permission. This deck does have an uncommonly low curve, so there could be some merit to naming something like 5 or 7. My gut feeling though is that, for example, naming 5 will stop Rout from clearing the board but then Sanctum Prelate will just bite it to Earthquake for 3.
Spectral Grasp is an aura and auras are good, right? Like the Vows, this card only works right if you retain control of it. Basically there's a long list of Pacifism-like effects that are much better for this deck.
Illusion of Choice could be OK if Council's Judgment made its way into the deck... and I moved to Magical Christmas Land where I'd always draw them together.
Subterranean Tremors is easily the closest card in the set to being playable in this deck. We don't run many artifacts and Zedruu will often fly, so this could be a psuedo-Austere Command of sorts. At the end of the day, though, I don't like damage-based sweepers in this format because they have a way of just not killing the things you need dead.
And that's it! As promised, there's essentially nothing in CN2 that benefits this deck. I can't get too mad, though, since the last year of expansions has been overall terrific for this silly deck.
It feels like I just finished the Conspiracy 2: Take the Crown set review and yet here we are for another installment of new card goodness. Actually, from a flavor perspective I'm disappointed. Kaladesh looks and feels much more like Star Wars: Episode 1 than like Magic to me. But, even though the spells-and-dragons flavor is what got me into the game 21 years ago (ugh, I'm old) it's the phenomenal gameplay that's kept me going all this time. But enough whining. Despite the fact that this deck borderline wants to run Null Rod and Stony Silence, there are some neat things in this newest "artifacts matter" set. Let's dig in!
Consulate Surveillance. This card is probably not very good but it fits the general mold of a good card for this deck. That is, it does something and then it can be harmlessly donated away. I'm not sure it's worth 3W to prevent some damage, but that could potentially induce someone to over-extend into a sweeper. And on the off chance an opponent can gain energy counters this would be quite good against us. Actually, in a metagame infested with other Voltron decks this could be a reasonable choice. That's not the world I like in, though, so this one's a pass.
Disappearing Act. This one may seem a bit odd but this deck does run a handfull of permanents with enters-the-battlefield effects. Bouncing a land Deprive style helps enable the tax effects, which is small but not nothing. I always thought that if I had to run another 3 CMC counterspell it would be Dissolve, but Disappearing Act is certainly interesting.
Giant Spectacle. Oh no! Someone spilled Defensive Stance all over my Madcap Skills! The extra toughness is unlikely to matter very often, especially since Zedruu starts life as a 2/4 so this is basically a strict downgrade compared to the Skills. On the other hand, there's a lot of room between Madcap Skills and "not good enough" so I'll be testing this one for sure. Thing is I have no idea what to cut for it. Earlier in the year this could have easily replaced Pursuit of Flight, but Gryff's Boon took care of that weak link. Definitely want to test this card and I'm very optimistic about it.
Glassblower's Puzzleknot is probably just a worse Ichor Wellspring, but scrying 4 is a lot and there will usually be someone who's not playing U to donate it to safely. Although with the end of Rule 4 even non-blue players can potentially pop this for value. If there are energy-spending cards in Aether Revolt that would be insane in this deck, I could see giving the puzzleknot a shot.
Key to the City. This is one I initially dismissed, but looking more carefully it does do several things this deck's in the market for. Obviously, Teleporting a huge Goat every turn would be good, but the key can also provide some early game filtering. Neither ability is really strong enough on its own, but together we could be on to something here. It's also worth noting that if this made it into the deck the hypothetical madness package (really just Senseless Rage and Strength of Isolation) would gain another support card. The one thing I'm worried about, and it's a big worry, is getting it Disenchanted before getting to untap once when I was banking on it fixing my hand. This one's worth testing, too, but I'm not sure where to slot it in. Incidentally, since I can donate it the flavor text is a huge flavor win.
As is often the case the best cards for this deck aren't especially flashy. The ones above are certainly humble, and two of them could well become future staples.
I love this product. I love the four-color commanders, I love how they effectively printed hundreds of new legends via the partner mechanic and I love the reprints. Sadly, this fantastic set has nothing at all for Zedruu. We almost got a bigger Pentad Prism, but it's a creature and it's never really out of charge counters. Oh well. Ash Barrens is also a great card in general, but it doesn't work here because the C is actively bad.
Consulate Crackdown. It takes a lot for a five mana sorcery speed card to be worthwhile in this deck, and I think Consulate Crackdown is worth it. There are always going to be random artifacts on the board, sometimes scary ones like Birthing Pod or Claws of Gix, that you'll want to sweep up and this gets them all while making a great gift. Of course, there are going to be games where Consulate Crackdown is only able to get between zero and one artifacts and it's going to look rather silly. I suppose that means this card is a metagame call. We'll see how it works out.
Thopter Arrest falls somewhere in between O-Ring, which is good enough to play, and Journey to Nowhere, which is not. Ultimately, I don't think it's good enough since it can only hit two card types. That's kind of embarrassing when you lay it out next to the other 3 CMC removal enchantments in the deck. Still, the fact that there's been a steady stream of this sort of card for the last couple of years is in itself good for this deck. If R&D favors removal "until ~this~ leaves the battlefield" then they're likely to push the effect; Grasp of Fate is probably an example of this.
Disallow. If I didn't just get a Mana Drain this card would immediately go in the deck. Voidslime has always been a fantastic card in EDH and now we get to run it, too! Unlike most pieces of countermagic Disallow can be helpfull after some horrible threat resolves. It fights back against the Pernicious Deed/Oblivion Stone/Nivenyrral's Disks of the format, which are really strong against this permanent-heavy deck. And as we've seen in Standard, being able to swallow up a planeswalker ultimate is pretty great. The only problem is I'm not at all sure what to cut for Disallow. Rewind is probably the least awesome counterspell in the deck, but it's still really awesome. Maybe it's OK to cut a non-counterspell card for Disallow because it can interact with the board.
Ice Over is cheaper than Encrust but it stops fewer things. If something in my head snaps one day and I decide that this deck needs to run and support Force of Will and Misdirection no matter what, I guess Ice Over could help. We're not quite there yet but every time I'm blown out after tapping out for a removal enchantment we get a little bit closer...
Overall the power level of Aether Revolt is really high, with a combo card that's a huge player in Standard and making waves in Modern and one card - Fatal Push - reverberating throughout all the competative constructed formats. The set presents a few new options for this deck, too, which is always nice.
You wouldn't think that, on a plane ruled by the Grixis Nicol Bolas, there would be an honored place in the afterlife for a Jeskai monk. Yet Amonkhet is a land full of wonders both subtle and gross. As is quite common there are a handful of of oddball cards that might fit into this niche deck, but this time there's a new version of an old favorite that really sets the bar.
Cast Out is a huge upgrade over Banishing Light, which is already one of the better cards in the deck. Because this deck is so focused on leaving up lots of mana, having flash is a really big deal and more than makes up for the extra 1 cost. If that was the end of the story Cast Out would be an easy inclusion... but it gets even better! Not only does this card provide the canonical removal effect that this deck craves, it has cycling W. Despite my best efforts to streamline, Zedruu Voltron can definitely draw into some clunky hands. Also being a one mana cantrip - in addition to being the best spot removal spell in the deck - means that Cast Out won't contribute to any of that nonsense. Very excited for this card but not sure what to cut for it. We're starting to get saturated with this effect and I don't know what the optimal number is for it.
As Foretold. When I first saw this card I thought "huh, Aether Vial for spells" but it's so much more than that. As Foretold lets you cast a free spell each turn. This deck has a lot of spells in the 1-3 CMC range (biased toward 1 CMC) and those spells are a reasonable mix of instants and sorcery-speed spells. Actually, there are way more sorcery-speed spells than instants, but the instants make up for that by being cheap countermagic that's quick to become free. Consider As Foretold an amazing ramp spell. Definitely looking forward to trying this one out.
Cartouche of Knowledge. See, the problem with the cartouches is that they have "Enchant creature you control" and will fall off Zedruu if donated. That's a fatal defect for the red and white cartouches, but Cartouche of Knowledge might still be good enough because it gives you a card up front for your troubles. Again, though, only being able to enchant your own creatures with it means that you're not likely to be able to 'cycle' it in the early game on a random mana dork from an opponent. Ghostly Wings wasn't good enough. Stratus Walk wasn't good enough. Mix them together and get something that is good enough? Perhaps not but I'll try this one out, anyway.
Censor only gets a sideways glance, as is the case in Standard, because it has cycling U. Force Spike is well known to lead to either epic blowouts or to burning holes in your hand and cycling. If I actually had any game-play information about how Scout's Warning plays out (it mysteriously continues to evade me in actual games) I might think about swapping it for Censor. The more I think about it, they'd play out in a similar way in that the plan for each primarily just to cantrip and get value if/when you can.
Trial of Knowledge. Horray! Another Oath of Jace, and this one is even card advantage up front! There's one slight issue: the card costs 3U. As a 4 CMC sorcery-speed spell it not only competes with Zedruu for your time and attention, it seriously begs the question: if you're going to pay four mana to see three cards and go up one card, why not do better at instant speed with, e.g. Fact or Fiction or Glimmer of Genius? The obvious answer is that you can both donate and/or potentially recast the Trial if that Cartouche gets involved, but I'm not sure that's a good enough answer. Having a very low (by casual EDH standards) mana curve is really important for this deck's functionality and four mana is a lot to ask. Nevertheless, this card undeniably is an effect this deck wants attached to a nice gift. Another one to test out for sure.
Consuming Fervor is a color-shifted Unstable Mutation. Neat. However, if we don't want one Unstable Mutation then we certainly don't want two. Still a cool card. Maybe a dedicated 1v1 variant of this deck would be more interested in that sort of effect. The issue is that Zedruu wants the game to go on for more upkeeps whereas Unstable Mutation and Consuming Fervor don't.
Irrigated Farmland is part of a cycle of lands which are great for EDH and Magic in general. Always entering the battlefield tapped is a major drawback to be sure, so it would have to replace another ETBT land. The reason I'm even considering it is that sometimes you get into spots where you're drawing 3 or 4 extra cards per turn but are only hitting lands and more auras instead of the interaction you desperately need. Moreover, even when things aren't that dire, if the engine is even barely online you're still probably drawing more lands than you can play so cycling has some appeal. I'm a little skeptical that it's worthwhile in this deck, but it's interesting enough to try out. It might actually be a good replacement for Temple of Enlightenment as . Irrigated Farmland helps me dig for non-lands in the early game if I'm flooded, similar to Temple of Enlightenment, but it gives me a new card right away in the frustrating scenario described above. The only real issue is that cycling lands are not especially good at digging for land drops in the early game, which is a big part of why the deck likes to have cantrips around in the first place.
Well, at worst we're looking at a substantial upgrade of at least one key card and that's not a bad place to be. We'll have to wait and see, during the Hour of Devastation, whether faith in the God-Pharoh will be rewarded with more variants of our best cards or with damnation. Stay tuned.
07/11/15
Out
In
I found Izzet Charm to be too narrow and not as good at its primary function, filtering cards, as Jeskai Ascendancy is. There was nothing really wrong with Darksteel Plate but I'm giving Boros Charm a try because it pairs with Sunforger for a surprise save or, sometimes, a surprise win. Eel Umbra was just not pulling its weight and I'm eager to try Bruna, Light of Alabaster as an alternate win condition. Bruna is a great draw to have right after Zedruu gets blown up, but it may not be very good at all outside of that situation. Time will tell.
09/27/15
Out
In
07/26/16
Out
In
03/13/17
Out
In
Note: This primer is newer than the thread's original post. That post, to which replies 2-20 refer, is here:
That's right, Zedruu the Greathearted Voltron. This isn't my first iteration of the deck, nor was I even the first to post a Voltron Antelope-Minotaur build on these boards. My older (and very outdated) list can be found here and the other one by Le Shirrif is here. The idea behind Zedruu Voltron is that you don't need to control the auras that you suit her up with in order to beat face. This biggest thing that was missing from my older list was speed. The goal is to play some auras, give them away, draw more cards, play more auras, and repeat. Since the rate at which you can deploy auras is proportional to the number of auras you've given away, this engine is one of the few that's truly exponential, albeit with a full-round characteristic time. While big expensive auras like Angelic Destiny and Righteous Authority are super powerful, they make it take forever to get the engine going. Also, they make it difficult to leave up mana for protection. With that in mind, here's my current list:
tl;dr: GOAT LADY SMASHY SMASHY!!! Here's my current list:
1 Zedruu the Greathearted
Protection
1 Umbra Mystic
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Ring of Evos Isle
1 Vanishing
1 Elgaud Shieldmate
1 Champion's Helm
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Spectra Ward
1 Indestructibility
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Mask of Avacyn
1 Flickerform
Beef
1 Taste for Mayhem
1 Dust Corona
1 Dragon Mantle
1 Madcap Skills
1 Daybreak Coronet
1 Red Scarab
1 White Scarab
1 Blue Scarab
1 Blessing of the Nephilim
1 Etherial Armor
1 Furor of the Bitten
1 Immolation
1 Magefire Wings
1 Spectral Flight
1 Tahngarth's Rage
1 Spirit Mantle
1 Hyena Umbra
1 Eel Umbra
1 Pursuit of Flight
1 Errantry
1 Bestial Fury
1 Enlightened Tutor
Gifts for Friends
1 Detention Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Banishing Light
1 Torpor Orb
1 Rest in Peace
Interaction
1 Wear//Tear
1 Return to Dust
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Winds of Rath
1 Mass Calcify
1 Inundate
1 Wave of Reckoning
Countermagic
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Remand
1 Delay
1 Forbid
1 Rewind
1 Cryptic Command
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
Rocks
1 Izzet Signet
1 Boros Signet
1 Azorius Signet
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Pentad Prism
1 Sky Diamond
1 Fire Diamond
1 Marble Diamond
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Mana Vault
Land
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Remote Farm
1 Sandstone Needle
1 Saprazzan Skerry
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Rainbow Veil
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Mana Confluence
1 Mystic Monastery
1 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Mystic Gate
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Shivan Reef
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Battlefield Forge
As promised, the deck is stuffed to the gills with one and two cmc auras. My favorites are definitely the Scarabs. Sometimes your opponents will turn them on for you, but that's not the point. When you gift them to an opponent they'll all see Zedruu and grant +2/+2. Conditional evasion isn't bad, either. I have no plans of becoming hellbent to turn on Taste for Mayhem and not much hope that its foster parent will either. Plus two plus oh for one mana is good enough for me. Immolation and Tahngarth's Rage occasionally pick off a utility critter or small general, but usually they just buff the Minotaur.
“Misc” is a section because at various points it's had more cards. Highlights include Scarab of the Unseen, Wild Research, Kor Spiritdancer, and Mesa Enchantress. As you can see, I've cut it down to just one tutor.
The sweepers are meant to be Zedruu-safe. Winds of Rath is far and away the best of the bunch, but it's a highlander format after all. Wave of Reckoning is a new inclusion that I haven't drawn in a game yet. Can't wait to see how it performs. I used to run Divine Reckoning but I've just never had much luck with cards that let my opponents decide who lives. If someone can make a compelling case for it, though, I'd give it another try. Definitely on the outside of the bubble.
The countermagic is as cheap as possible so I can slam and protect Zedruu as soon as possible. If I ever get a Mana Drain, it's going straight in. Forbid gets the nod because it can lock some folks out when the engine's going and Cryptic Command gets to play here because it's Cryptic Command. Taxing countermagic is awful in this format, the possible exception being Izzet Charm.
In putting together this list I had imagined wanting to get to 4 mana by turn 3 to drop the general, but it turns out that's only a good way to make minotaur vindaloo. So, the new goal is to hit 6 or 7 mana quickly so that Zedruu can give more than just her hide. To that end I'm thinking the rocks need to be reworked. Fewer two drops and more Coalition Relics. Thoughts? The lack of Sol Ring is intentional, but not because of some sort of power-level boycott. I just don't think there are enough colorless mana symbols in the deck to make it worthwhile. Mana Vault, on the other hand, makes a good gift.
Some things that have been on my mind lately:
Updated list (09/23/14)
1 Zedruu the Greathearted
Protection
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Ring of Evos Isle
1 Vanishing
1 Elgaud Shieldmate
1 Champion's Helm
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Spectra Ward
1 Indestructibility
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Flickerform
Beef
1 Taste for Mayhem
1 Dust Corona
1 Madcap Skills
1 Daybreak Coronet
1 Red Scarab
1 White Scarab
1 Blue Scarab
1 Blessing of the Nephilim
1 Etherial Armor
1 Furor of the Bitten
1 Immolation
1 Magefire Wings
1 Spectral Flight
1 Tahngarth's Rage
1 Spirit Mantle
1 Hyena Umbra
1 Eel Umbra
1 Pursuit of Flight
1 Bestial Fury
Misc
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Sunforger
Gifts for Friends
1 Detention Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Banishing Light
1 Torpor Orb
1 Rest in Peace
1 Wear//Tear
1 Return to Dust
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Chaos Warp
1 Winds of Rath
1 Mass Calcify
1 Inundate
1 Curse of the Swine
Countermagic
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Remand
1 Delay
1 Forbid
1 Counterflux
1 Rewind
1 Cryptic Command
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
Rocks
1 Izzet Signet
1 Boros Signet
1 Azorius Signet
1 Grim Monolith
1 Pentad Prism
1 Sky Diamond
1 Fire Diamond
1 Marble Diamond
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Mana Vault
Land
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Remote Farm
1 Sandstone Needle
1 Saprazzan Skerry
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Rainbow Veil
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Mana Confluence
1 Mystic Monastery
1 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Mystic Gate
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Shivan Reef
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Battlefield Forge
Retether + Replenish are auto includes, don't run the deck without them.
Flickerform is tech with aura'd up generals as well.
To leave mana open during other people's turns, since you play loads of cheap enchantments, you should play a skybind. You can flicker lands and mana rocks with it.
Hope that helps!
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Thraximundar Control voltron
Darien, King of Dudes The swarm
Karador, Ghost ChieftainJunk graveyard
Erebos, God of the DeadMy BIG BLACK.......deck
Zedruu the kindhearted My take on Pristaxcontrombmodruu!
Roon of the Hidden Realm Bounce house
It depends on how the aura is worded, but yeah, that's the idea. It works fine with things like Pursuit of Flight which say that enchanted creature has "[ability]" but fails to work with things like Pemmin's Aura which its self has the abilities.
Do the scarabs really work like that?
Why no Eldrazi Conscription?
Why no Sun Titan?
Seems like Sunforger would be an auto-include, along with Mistveil Plains, to reuse Wear/Tear, Return to Dust, Enlightened Tutor, and Unexpectedly Absent.
Maybe consider a Snow manabase so you can run Glacial Plating and Skred.
GET THREE DREAMS.
Yes, they do. When a Scarab asks "does your opponent control a [color] card?" its controller, who is always the "you" any card refers to, will look across the table, see Zedruu, and have to answer "yessir."
It's absurdly expensive (mana cost).
It got cut in the make-over. There's definitely merit to including it, and now that I think of it, he's probably better in this deck than either Retether or Replenish.
Agreed. The only thing missing is a fetchable counterspell. Which is best?
Naw, the colored mana requirements of this deck are intense. Besides, Glacial Plating is not something I can donate for profit and Skred is worse than Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile.
I did run this for a while, but with the new lower mana curve I had fewer and fewer opportunities to actually cast it. By the time it's time to tutor for auras I should already be drawing 3-4 extra cards per turn.
That you did. Sorry I missed that in the opening post. For reference, here's TheEndIsNear's list.
It's too bad Jeskai Charm isn't more relevant to the strategy. Oh well, can't have everything.
G Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion
BU Phenax, God of Deception
WGR Hazezon Tamar
WUBRG Sliver Queen - Zelda Theme
-Dragon Mantle, +Chaos Warp. The mantle has been surprisingly underwhelming since I never have any extra mana to pump into it. Warp has been in and out of the deck several times, but it gets much better with Sunforger now in the deck. It also helps the deck to have a more even mix of blue, white, and red cards which makes me happy for some reason.
The deck still has issues I need help resolving. Running lots of auras is great for beating face but not so much for dealing with problems. Conversely, flexible answers are essential in EDH but without the looming threat of Minotaur Monk (she's totally a Jeskai) doom they just delay the inevitable. Consistency is the issue; is cutting mana rocks for cantrips the cure?
I'll post a new list when I finish it.
Edit: How about Absolute Grace? Too narrow?
G Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion
BU Phenax, God of Deception
WGR Hazezon Tamar
WUBRG Sliver Queen - Zelda Theme
Actually my LGS is closing so the meta I play in is due for a shake-up. I was thinking Absolute Grace might be worthwhile because
are all commonly played cards in EDH. Protection for Zedruu that I can donate is at a premium. However, if I sit down for a game and no one's playing black then the card at best has no text and at worst someone Sleight of Mind's it to make all Zedruu's auras fall off. Absolute Grace probably is just too narrow to be any good.
Same goes for Sovereigns of Lost Alara.
Sovereigns into Eldrazi Conscription: sweet. Sovereigns into Spectral Flight: not very impressive.
1 Zedruu the Greathearted
Protection
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Ring of Evos Isle
1 Vanishing
1 Champion's Helm
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Indestructibility
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Flickerform
Pump
1 Dust Corona
1 Madcap Skills
1 Daybreak Coronet
1 Red Scarab
1 White Scarab
1 Blue Scarab
1 Blessing of the Nephilim
1 Ethereal Armor
1 Immolation
1 Magefire Wings
1 Spectral Flight
1 Spirit Mantle
1 Hyena Umbra
1 Eel Umbra
1 Pursuit of Flight
1 Steel of the Godhead
1 Sunforger
Answers
1 Detention Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Banishing Light
1 Spreading Seas
1 Stupefying Touch
1 Torpor Orb
1 Rest in Peace
1 Return to Dust
1 Chaos Warp
1 Winds of Rath
1 Mass Calcify
1 Inundate
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Ponder
1 Serum Visions
1 Preordain
1 Scout's Warning
1 Compulsive Research
1 Thirst for Knowledge
Countermagic
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Remand
1 Delay
1 Forbid
1 Counterflux
1 Rewind
1 Cryptic Command
Ramp
1 Izzet Signet
1 Boros Signet
1 Azorius Signet
1 Grim Monolith
1 Pentad Prism
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Mana Vault
1 Oath of Lieges
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Knight of the White Orchid
Lands
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Calciform Pools
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Tolaria West
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
1 Mystic Monastery
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Mana Confluence
1 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Myriad Landscape
3 Plains
3 Island
3 Mountain
What I'm trying to do here is to streamline the deck. It's pretty sensitive to drawing the right combination of answers, protection, and pump so I've added some cheap card draw spells to help smooth things out. There are also Stupefying Touch and Spreading Seas which shut down a lot of things in this format, cost 2, and cantrip. Scout's Warning is like protection in that it can let me slip Zedruu into play right before untapping for my turn, but it also cantrips out of the way when I don't need that.
I'd love to make suggestions, but the only thing popping into my head are big-play Sunforger targets like Overblaze which I'm pretty sure you don't need specifically bomby things when turning Zedruu nuclear with Scarabs, or the world's most comically unflavorful application of Tenza, Godo's Maul (which the idea of putting in the hand opposite her censer makes me laugh on the inside).
That mental image made me laugh out loud. As far as power-to-cost ratio goes, Tenza, Godo's Maul is actually really close. Plus 3 plus 3 and trample is no joke. Unfortunately, I think the Swords and Jitte are just better.
To everyone: I've modified the opening post and stuffed it with way more information about Zedruu Voltron than you ever wanted to know. Check it out, won't you?
With regards to the "Cards to Consider" section:
I agree with not playing Narset, since playing her at a relevant point is very likely putting yourself off of countermagic for the turn, and in that turn you are immediately enemy number one because you played her. Bruna is a tougher call, because she offers resilience after a blowout if someone does manage to break through your Zedruu protection. And where with Narset, if you have the opportunity to cast Narset or Zedruu, you'd have to deliberate, with Bruna you can play Zedruu, force out the disruption to stop her, and then go right back from zero to lethal with Bruna after. But if the situation of getting Zedruu blown up with a pile of auras doesn't happen often, it's not even worth considering.
I think Mesa Enchantress is probably the thing on that list most worth considering specifically because it curves beneath Zedruu, but on the other hand, with Zedruu absolutely needing to hit anyway, 3-drops like Political Trickery, Vedalken Plotter, and Paradox Haze would offer you draw over time with a little more versatility while also being less fragile than a creature with no protection and easier to cast than double white. The land trading things can color fix yourself, color screw your opponent, or disable utility lands all while enabling Zedruu draws on curve in a way that peple are very unlikely to undo. (and also, one time, I stole all of Urzatron with a bouncing Vedalken Plotter. Not that you would do that here, it's just a funny thing.) And a quick list of triggers that would benefit from Paradox Haze: Zedruu, Ring of Evos Isle, Zedruu, Oath of Lieges, Zedruu, and Zedruu, and also it can be donated with Zedruu without you losing the double upkeeps for Zedruu.
And while I'm just talking up my own experience, the card in my deck that sometimes single-handedly goes Zedruu aggro is Jeskai Ascendancy. You can get Zedruu pumps from your removal, untap your mega blocker with your counterspells, and dig deep through the deck with all the looting you can do off of one-mana auras.
Also Ojutai's Command is another possible (but conditional) counterspell sunforger can hit. Some non-conditional counterspells maybe worth looking at are Lapse of Certainty, Absorb, Double Negative, Render Silent and Suffocating Blast.
That's a good point. Bruna is like Retether that comes with a 5/5 flying body to attach all those auras to.
The land-swappers are interesting, as you say, because they fit the curve under Zedruu and help to get the draw engine up and running. Thing is they compete for a spot with Spreading Seas and I think drawing a card on two mana is going to smooth out more games than a swap on three. Paradox Haze is a card that I've become disenchanted with over time. With generalisimo in play and a few things donated it's absolutely insane, but it doesn't actually do anything on its own. Moreover, even in the best-case-scenario it doesn't do anything until your next upkeep.
I've thought about Jeskai Ascendancy but never pulled the trigger on it because this deck used to play Erayo, Soratami Ascendant and could rarely ever flip it. Whereas Erayo says "cast at least four spells or I'm Sea Eagle" Ascendancy says "just do your best and cast as many spells as you can" so there's that. It's also probably better at looting and fixing than Izzet Charm is.
Empyrial Armor is sort of odd because it's not something you usually want to donate. Because it's got that in common with Empyrial Plate, I think I'd prefer the equipment because 2+2 is more manageable for this deck than 1WW. (Edit: I suppose you could donate Empyrial Armor to the player who thinks they're one-upping your draw engine with Consecrated Sphinx. Show 'em who's really in charge.) It makes me a little hesitant to play these cards that they're only awesome when my hand's already full.
I'm not running a single Sunforgeable counterspell because there aren't others out there. I don't think the deck really needs to have more than one because 2 cmc counterspells are so much better for the overall strategy.
That's awesome. Let me know how it plays out.
So the cards I want to add are Bruna, Light of Alabaster, Jeskai Ascendancy, and Boros Charm. The card that didn't come up above is Boros Charm. I want to include this because, upon inspection, the deck is only running 4 Sunforger targets one of which, Izzet Charm, is about to get the axe. I figure the Charm can replace Darksteel Plate since having it in the deck is like having two copies. Also double strike is pretty good on a Voltron Commander. The other card I'm cutting to make room is Eel Umbra and because it's like Viscerid Armor stapled to Mystic Veil; lacking in power and a consistent under performer.